Walking on Frozen Pawsby SaysyChaptersPrologue (edited)Chapter 01: Ponies! They're Everywhere! (edited)Chapter 02: My Head is EmptyChapter 03: Is it a Fox?Chapter 04: Two Ponies, a Phoenix and MyselfChapter 05: TownChapter 06: Magic LessonChapter 07: NaturePrologue (edited)Author's Note This is my first story. Please have mercy! And please say, if you find any mistakes. Have fun reading, Saysy Prologue (edited) “Good evening, sir. How may I help you,” I asked as a man in a business suit walked into the lobby? “Good evening. I’m here to see Mr. Fox. My name is Kaiser, I have an appointment,” said the man in front of me. “Ah yes, he is awaiting you. Just take the elevator to the second floor; he is in room number 204.” “Thanks,” he told me before departing for the elevator. Well, I think it’s time to introduce myself. My name is Jordan Black. I’m 24 years old and work as a clerk at Ceres, a technology research company in Ludwigsburg, Germany. There was not much to do today and I was fine with that. Who wouldn’t be fine with that? “Only fifteen minutes left until I can go home,” I said out loud. “Have you something planned tonight?” asked my coworker Alice. Alice, is probably what you would describe as a carefree person. Always doing what she wants to do without a second thought. She has brown hair, blue eyes, and is about one point sixty-seven meters tall, or five feet and five inches depending on where you live. “Not really,” I said. “Do you want to come with Jane, Tim, and I to the pub? I heard there is a party tonight where you can get two drinks for one.” “Sorry, I’m not a drinker.” “Ok, but you should really come with us sometime. Sitting at your home will do you no good.” “Who are you, my mom?” She just rolled her eyes and got back to work. Ten minutes later the telephone started to ring. “Good evening, you have reached the Ceres company. How may I help you?” “Mr. Black, this is Fox. Please come upstairs before you go home today.” My first thought was if I did something wrong. But that would be stupid. I was here ten minutes before my shift in the morning, everything was done, and my workspace was in top condition. “Yes, I’ll be there in a minute,” was my reply. “Who was it?” asked Alice. “The boss. He wants to speak with me before I go home.” “Have fun.” I turned my PC off and went to the elevator. After the elevator signaled that I was at the second floor, I stepped out and turned left. The office where my boss worked was the door in the middle. I took a deep breath and knocked at the door. The answer came two seconds later. “Come in.” I opened the door and walked in. Mr. Fox’s room was fairly well decorated: a table with two red sofas on each side, a potted plant on both sides next to the door and in each corner, pictures with star nebulas, Saturn, Pluto, and of course the dwarf planet Ceres the smallest dwarf planet ever documented. His desk was in front of a large window and through it you could see a café shop on the other side of the street. On top of his desk there was a laptop, a picture drawn from his ten-year-old daughter and a little flower. Mr. Fox was sitting in his chair behind the table. He was a man in his late forties with black hair, brown eyes, and a big nose. He has a little beer belly and is wearing a black business suit. Mr. Kaiser was sitting on the left sofa with crossed legs and a calm expression on his face. “Ah Mr. Black, please have a seat.” I sat down on the opposite side from Mr. Kaiser. “Mr. Black, you have certainly asked yourself why you’re here. This is Mr. Kaiser, he is the new Manager from our subsidiary company and is searching for a new secretary and I recommended you.” “Why me?” I asked. “Because we don’t want to hire a new one,” said Mr. Kaiser. “How much?” “Three thousand two hundred euro a month.” That is six-hundred more than I get right now. That means there is only one answer that I can give him. “Deal.” “Ok, I’ll see you in my office tomorrow morning.” After we shook hands, I left the office and went to the parking lot where my car was standing. Half an hour later I opened the door to my flat. My place wasn’t that big, only having four rooms: a kitchen, a bathroom, my sleeping room, and a living room next to the kitchen. It was five PM, so I went into the living room and turned the TV on. At seven I made something to eat and after I ate, I took a bath. At half-past nine I went to bed so that I wouldn’t be late in the morning. I woke up at six in the morning, ate breakfast, and washed my hair. As the clock said it was time to go, I was on my way to my new working place. Fifteen minutes before eight I was there. I walked through the entrance and up to the reception desk where a young woman was waiting, with a smile on her face. “Good morning,” I said, “I’m here to see Mr. Kaiser.” “Ah the new one,” she replied, “he said that you’d come by today. He is awaiting you in his office.” “Thanks.” “You’re welcome,” she said with a smile that creeped me out. At that moment I should have known that something was wrong, but I didn’t think about it. I went upstairs to Mr. Kaiser’s office and knocked. The door opened and Mr. Kaiser awaited me with a smile on his face. “Good morning, Mr. Black. It’s nice to see you. I’m starting to like you even more, you’re on point, that is good.” “It is nice to be here,” I replied. “Have a seat, we have much to discuss.” He pointed to a seat in front of his desk and I sat down. After he sat down across from me he said, “First, I need you to fill out this form. After that, we’ll discuss your hours.” I took the form and looked at it. For my name I fill in Jordan Black. Next was, “Favorite mythical creature?” I read out loud with a questioning look on my face and looked at Mr. Kaiser. He only nodded and gestured for me to continue. I fill in Kitsune because I love them. Next was my favorite element, I just wrote down Ice(water). The next and surprisingly last question was if I like kids. I marked yes with a cross and handed the form back. “Ah good, the important part is finished.” I was dumbfounded and said, “That was the important part? Those were just random questions!” I replied, my voice raised. Mister Kaiser just smiled at me and replied with a calm voice, “It will make perfect sense in a few minutes. You only need to sign these two documents over here and then you can start.” I took the two documents and signed them. This action brought a face-splitting smile to Mr. Kaiser. A smile that said, ‘get the hell out of here’ and that was exactly what I tried to do. Emphasis on tried. I jumped out of my chair and made a mad dash to the door. I reached the door and tried to open it--again, emphasis on tried--but the door was locked. I turned around and my eyes fell on Mr. Kaiser. “Your fate was already sealed once you filled out the form. The other two were only there to lessen the paperwork,” he said with a creepy voice. The last words I heard, before I fell through the ground were, “have fun.” I fell and fell, there was only darkness. After a minute or so, I thought I felt a chill rushing through my body. I felt my clothes vanishing and then my skin started to itch. Next were my bones; I felt them shifting, but I couldn’t feel what I was becoming because my body went numb. I could only feel that I was smaller, much smaller. After another minute, I saw a light in the darkness and it was getting brighter and brighter. It was, in fact, so bright that I needed to close my eyes. Shortly after I closed my eyes, I hit the ground and passed out. Chapter 01: Ponies! They're Everywhere! (edited)Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 02: My Head is EmptyAuthor's Note Hello everybody, First, thank you for reading my story. And second, before you ask, I won't write Luna's sentences in old English. Chapter 02: My Head is Empty “Black. Black. And oh, what do we have here, black. Is here something else, except black?” I walked this black void—or whatever you want to call it—for about half an hour now. And there is still no end in sight. Oh, and I’m human again that is a big plus in my book. I could have enjoyed it if it wasn’t so boring right now. I walked again for another fifteen minutes. “Why isn’t here something else, except black!?” I cried into the void. “Well, why don’t you change it. It’s your mind after all.” I halted mid-step. Not prepared to get a reply from a strangely familiar voice. I looked around only to see black. “Where are you.” “Behind you.” I watched over my shoulder. And there, sitting on the ground was a blue fox Cub. I turned around to take a better look. The fur is the same and he has a white tip at the tail too. But now I could see the face. He has sharp silver eyes and in the middle of his for-had-fur a white circle shape. The fur on his ears is white at the peak like his tail. “Didn’t your mother told you, that it is rude to stare at other people.” “Yes, she did,” I replied. “So, why you still staring.” “Well, if I’m right, and please correct me if I’m not, you and I are the same person.” “It is partly true, I’m just a part of you. The new part to be precise. What is left from you is just your mind and memories.” “Aha. So, where are we.” “As I told you before, we are in your mind. You could describe it like lucid dreaming.” “You mean, that I just need to think of a tree and it shall appear.” I looked around to see the tree, but I couldn’t see it. I heard a light chuckle coming from the cub, “I said, ‘like’, not the same as lucid dreaming,” he said, with a paw in front of his snout. “The difference is, that you not just dreaming. You’re, as I said, in your mind and your mind is currently empty.” “You don’t say that I’m dumb, do you?” “No! That would imply that I’m dumb too. What I mean, is that you don’t have any memories yet.” “But I have twenty-four years’ worth of memories as a human!” I said, angrily. More out of fear that I would lose them in time. “Yes, you have. But they're not here.” “How can’t they be here?” “What I mean, is that there not in your mind. More like there somewhere else in a bubble, linked to your mind.” “Why,” Is the only response that I could think of? “My hypothesis, is that the identity that sends you here, didn’t want the pony like creatures to find out where you came from.” “How would they find out, unless they can read mines.” Alone the thought that someone could read my mind sent a shiver down my spine. That the Cub didn’t reply, didn’t lessened my fear. “They can?” He nodded. “How?” “Magic,” came his reply. “Magic… magic doesn’t exist.” “How do you explain all these things happen to you in the last twenty-four hours?” I opened my mouth to make a plausible explanation. Only to close it one second later. “That’s what I thought. Now, back to business.” “What business.” “Your mind! As I said, there are methods to read your mind. But there are also techniques to defend your mind. That doesn’t mean that’ll you need them, but there are also good to have if you don’t want to be mind controlled. As I always say, you can never be too careful.” “That is something I could agree with.” He gave me a deadpan stare. “What?” “Of course, you’d agree with me. We are the same person after all.” “Oh, I forgot that for a second.” “The rules for a mind-battle are simple. If you’re only fighting mind against mind, the weaker mind would lose. If you attack someone, you only attack with your mind and nothing else. But on defense, there it’s where it gets interesting. Now your mind would be easy prey so too say. Zero defense. To boost someone’s resistance against an intruder you build a fortress in your mind- “ “How do you know all that,” I asked? Visibly annoyed that I interrupted his teaching he said, “I don’t know, I just know it. And I felt the need to teach you about yourself. The new you.” “Ok, you do know that that is a bit creepy. Also, it’s a little bit irritating to get lectured by a voice that sounds like an eight-year-old child.” “Now, to build a defense structure in your mind you first need a foundation. This foundation is built on a happy memory. But first, we need to replace this black void,” he said ignoring my reply. “And how do I do that?” “I was getting there. Close your eyes and picture a landscape where you would feel free. And take your time.” I do as I was told. The first place that came to my mind was the sea and the beach. Next was the sky. In my memories, these two were the only places where I would consider be free. Even when I lived alone in my apartment I didn’t consider that myself. Another place I would consider free would be a forest. As I thought about these landscapes an idea sprang into the forefront of my thoughts. Why not combine them all? In a few seconds, I had a picture in my mind. I opened my eyes and saw the sky. I realized that I was laying on the ground. The ground, consisting of sand, was soft. More like the sand in a sandpit, but I liked the felling, so I had no intentions to change it. As I stood up I noticed two things. First, I couldn’t hear any sounds of the ocean and second, where the sea should be, were waves frozen in time. Now, that I looked around, I saw that the trees of the forest behind me were all covered in snow. The only places not covered in ice and snow were the beach and the ground below the trees. “Where does the snow come from?” “That is possible because of the element you wrote down in the form,” said the cub, that was now sitting next to me. “The next step is far simpler than you would think. Just take a memory and picture it as a shield against the dark or something that you’d consider evil.” I closed my eyes again and search my memories. I took one that I considered happy enough and open my eyes. In front of me stand a shed. A wooden shed. "Better than nothing, I guess. At least it looks sturdy. Shall we look inside.” I took the first step of my way to the front door. I opened the door and peeked inside. Nothing. The interior was empty except for another door on the far end of the room. I walked inside the cub on my heels. Walking through the room, I reached the other door. The door was far fancier than the front entrance. Carvings of snowflakes in the middle and icicles at the top. The handle was made of silver with gold on the edges. All in all, everything about this door screams important. “Should I open it?” I asked, my companion. “Yes, you should. It’s the most important part of someone’s mind. This door looks different from person to person, but behind it, are the memories you’ll make in your life.” I slowly grabbed the handle and pushed the door open. Only for the door to do nothing. “Looks like your door doesn’t swing in both ways.” “What do you mean?” “Right now, it doesn’t matter. And before you ask, that is a lesson for later.” I tug at the door and it swung open without a problem. Behind the door, was a bright blue area, with a few white stars, left and right. I could hear a few whispers from some of the stars. “I can hear voices from the stars… What are these?” “Obviously, these are your memories. Some have sounds in them, some don’t. Try to grab one.” I do as I told and as I touched one of the stars, it transformed into a screen and played the memory from the treasury. As I tried out the other stars. I noticed that there are only memories of this world. I also asked my companion, why they weren’t in the black void from before. His answer turned out to be a little scary. Turns out, that a person does this automatically as he or she grows up. That is why we don’t remember much from our years as a baby or preschooler because it wasn’t efficient at the time. And as a human, we never know about this. Except for a few, who reached this state of mind with intense mental training. And as he told me before, my new body came with a new mind liked to my old one. He then said, that my new mind didn’t come with that construct. And, if I didn’t have made it in time, I would have forgotten the day prior. “Wait a second. If we do that in a few years, how did we make it in just one night?” “First, you already did that when you were a human child. That made it easier for you the second time. And second, you had a good instructor. And as you’re now a magical creature yourself, it’s even easier.” “Why is it easier?” “Magic helps a lot when it comes to mental constructs.” “Are there any more lessons?” “Yes, but you’ll wake up soon.” “How do you know?” “I know, because of the blue space turning brighter every second we speak.” “Ah, ok. If my memories aren’t wrong, I’m a young kitsune.” “Yes, that is correct.” “But aren’t kitsune females?” “Yes, mostly. But there are males too. Why’d you ask?” “I just was frightened for a moment that I’m female now.” “Wait, you didn’t think about looking if your male or female?” “No.” “Oh, then it’s my duty to tell you! Dramatic pause. You’re female. See you.” “What…” Was the only word I could say before my vision was enveloped in bright white. Chapter 03: Is it a Fox?Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.Chapter 04: Two Ponies, a Phoenix and Myself‘Ugh, my head, but hey, that means I’m still alive and ready… no! I’m not ready to tackle the day,’ I thought and closed my eyes from the pain in my head that slowly, but steadily subsided. It didn’t take long for my head to get other signals from my body and what I felt was heavenly. I never felt something so soft and fleecy and I hoped, that I could ley on it for the entire day and the next days to come. Alas, someone had something against my wish and it announced itself with a bright blue flash that I could see through my eyelids. I opened my eyes and saw a blue leg right in front of me. I slowly followed the leg up to his owner and saw the same pony, that knocked me into a wall. “Hello, young one,” she said, but I didn’t even react and tried to make a hasty escape only to lose my ground and roll down, the what I know now is a pillow, and landed flat on the floor. As I tried to stand up I felt a tingle all over my body and I could see a blue field around my snout as someone picked me up and placed me back on the pillow without making physical contact. ‘What? Was this telekinesis?’ I sat as still as I could because someone who could pick me up without even touching me is clearly someone I don’t want to anger, especially if said person has a big hammer nearby. "There is nothing to fear little one, your new keeper will keep you safe." ‘Keeper? Is she thinking that I'm an animal?’ <> I said to her, so she would see that I’m not a mere creature, but an intelligent being. Which probably fell on deaf ears because she didn’t give a response to my clarification and continued without a care. “But first I need a name for you I can’t just call you a fox or young one, the whole time.” She seemed to be in thoughts, probably searching for a new name which wasn’t needed. <> … ‘My name is Jordan.’ <> I groaned as my body got crushed in a press made from to two forelegs with blue fell. “Oh, you poor thing everything will be better from now on. I’ll take care of you and then, when needed, we’ll go monster hunting all over Equestria when you’re full-grown,” she said happily as I suffered one of the scariest deaths ever. Suffocation. > I choked out.‘Oh shiny!!’ Finally realizing what she is doing, she let me out of the press, which was probably a hug… for an enemy. “Please forgive me, I sometimes forget how strong I am,” she apologized with a face I would expect on a child but not on a full-grown human or pony in this case, come to think of it I don’t know if she’s full-grown or not but the fact that she goes monster hunting from time to time indicates that she is considered an adult in this world. <> I said to her and wanted to at something only to be interrupted, again. “Glacies,” she said, and I just gave her a blank look. At least I thought I did, I still don’t know if my face is compatible with human expressions or not, but the pony is doing just fine so I gave my face the benefit of a doubt. Or not since she looked as unmoved and happy as ever. So, I again made a comment about the fact that I already have a name. Which again, felt on deaf ears and slowly I got the feeling that she couldn’t understand me. ‘Well, that is great a horse/pony can speak but a fox can’t that is ridiculous.’ I complained, hoping that the guy could hear me. He is probably searching his next victim. Back to my problem. She probably took my silence as an affirmation, because she let out a happy squee, which again locked adorable. And there goes the last thing that held me to my old life. At least I can still think my name. Can I? ‘My name is Jordan.’ Yes, yes, I can. Growl!! The pony, which name I still don’t know, let out a giggle at my stomach which screamed for attention. “Oh, you must be hungry.” <> I replied, and I could see a sarcasm level up symbol in the left corner of my eye. Not really. “I have something that’ll help you with your little problem,” she said and conjured a fish to her site, which I eyed hungrily. A little jump and I held the fish in my paws and I started to devour it. Until I realized two things: First, the fish was raw, and, I jumped at it out of instinct. Even so, these two facts are minor changes in my behavior, I couldn’t get the feeling of fear out of me as I had visions of me turning into an animal not only in body but in mind, too. My face must have once again shown my distress because I was once again between her two forelegs, but this time it didn’t feel like a press, but soothing and caring. “Better,” she asked, and I could only nod as I made my resolve that I never become an animal as long as I have something to say about it. I finished my fish at a normal pace as my new caretaker, name still not known, sit behind me and watched until someone knocked on the door. “Princess Luna?” a male voice came from behind the door. “Yes, what is it?” “It’s time to lower the moon.” Lower the moon? “Thanks for the information private,” she said, stood up and walked to the window with the curtains. “Come I want to show you something.” Since I hadn’t something else to do I followed her out on the balcony. Where I had a full view of the sky, and I was mesmerized by the beauty of the night sky. Back on earth, I had never such a view, because of light pollution and clouds and even if I had I would give the sky back home an F compared to that A+ with a big star. The Stars are like polished diamonds twinkling in the sky making constellations I’ve never seen before in my life. But even the stars palled against the beauty that was the moon easy double as big as on earth and shining with his on light, at least it looked like it. I looked up to the pony named Luna, as I now know thanks to the guard, and I saw a dark blue light around her horn. I looked around and tried to see what she is doing until I remembered what the guard said and looked up. I wished I hadn’t, because I couldn’t comprehend what I saw, the moon was cast in the same blue aura as her horn and it slowly lowered to the ground. All around the Moon, the stars blinked out one after another until the moon touched the horizon and slipped past it not to be seen until the next night. Just a second after the moon was lowered the sun rose, casting the horizon in a reddish-purple light. Luna turned around and walked back into the room not even realizing that I wasn’t following her because I was still awestruck in place. She realized it a few seconds later and come back giggling. “Beautiful isn’t it.” She was sitting by my side waiting for me to come back to the world which took five minutes until my brain has restarted and my thought processes booted. Out came: Luna plus moving moon equals moon-goddess. If this turns out to be true then I am lucky that I didn’t anger her at some time before. Scratch that, I don’t think it matters if she is a god or not I would be screwed one way or another. “Come Glacies, I want to introduce you to someone.” I didn’t move. “Glacies?” Oh, she means me, this will take time to get used to. Walking over to follow Luna we made our way through the hallways and down the tower. On our way, we were accompanied by two guards clad in dark blue armor with a touch of purple and a moon insignia on the front. Irritating was, that they both had the same coat color and mane style. Also, they had both a sword on there side, how they use them without hands was lost on me and they head both no horns, only wings with feathers having the same color as their coat, so no levitation. I felt the stares from the two guards behind me and the guards clad in gold and white linger on me the whole time, as I would attack their princess at any given moment. We arrived at a normal wood door with ornate carvings and two guards stationed on each side. The Guards opened the door for us and we walked in. The room behind was, for a monarchy, plain looking except for one shiny pony and a really cool looking bird. The pony was sitting on a normal chair and the bird sat on a perch eating waffles and fruits. “Good morning, Tia, I want to introduce you to somepony,” Luna said to the white pony, that now was looking at me with an intense glare which was ten times stronger than all the guards’ glares combined. My new animal instincts screamed at me to run away as fast as possible and I made a few steps back to the door, but a leg behind me stopped me from doing so. “Sister, you’re frightening her.” “Sorry, Luna, but I will not lower my guard when a creature as dangerous as she is nearby.” << I, dangerous,>> I said out loud, which was swallowed by the verbal fight between the two sisters. <<You must excuse my friend for her unfriendly attitude towards you, she gets a little overprotective over her sister from time to time,” came a calm voice with a little chirp in it from my left side. I turned my head towards the direction where the voice came from and saw the wall. <> said the same voice, and I looked up where the cool looking bird looked down on me. <<Hello, my name is Philomena,” Philomena said. <<****,>> I said, meanwhile admiring her beautiful color scheme. … … <> she scolded me, which made me look at her as she was crazy until I realized that I gave her my human name out of instinct and just opened my mouth without words coming out of it. I considered giving her my name given by Luna or saying another name which wouldn’t matter because no one could understand me. <> I finally said unenthusiastically. <> she said, letting me stand there dumbstruck with a gaping mouth. ‘Of course, I can speak with an animal, I am one.’ I thought a little bit relieved that I would not have one-sided conversations for the rest of my life. Finally realizing that what I’m doing is highly disrespectful, I promptly closed my mouth and thought of a reply. <> <<Oh, I don’t mind. Few people would ever see a living phoenix before there eyes,” she said, while proudly puffing out her chest at the same time. <> <> she said shocked over my lack of surprise, gliding down and to sit beside me. <> ’And waking up as a female kitsune in another world where talking ponies and animals is normal, is kinda abnormal for me so, yeah not even pretending that I’m amazed seeing another mythical creature in front of me,’ I mentally added. <> ‘Did she just used hay instead of heck?’ <> <> <> She looked a little bit hurt but replied nonetheless. <> <> I asked her. <> <> I answered, expecting her to not know what they are. Which she didn’t. As she asked me if I could tell her more about my species, I told her that I only know its name, which was a lie, but I didn’t know how much of my information’s would be accurate and which won’t. I wanted to ask her more questions, but I was interrupted by a force pulling me over to Celestia with my paws making contact with her fur, which was getting hotter every second. A cry of victory came from Luna, and I was separated from Celestia. Meanwhile, Philomena has returned to her perch and looked between Luna, and Celestia, with an amused face. “Ha, I told you that she can’t turn ponies to ice by contact,” she said in triumph and placed me down on the table. “Be that as it may, I don’t want to see you hurt which means -” she turned to me with a threatening look “- don’t even think about it.” I rapidly bobbed my head up and down trying to get a little bit on her good side. “Good, know- “she began, only to get her words cut off by Luna who shoot a glare towards her sister. “I can look after myself, sister,” she said and turned around giving me a look that said it all. I jumped down from the table and walked over to Luna’s side. Just before the door closed I heard a quick ‘see you’ from Philomena. On the way back to Lunas’ quarters all the guards averted looking at us or more specifically Luna. Alone by the frown on her face and the glare she gave everyone who even dared to look at us sent chills down my spine. I would even say that her mane and coat looked a little bit darker, but that was probably only my imagination. Finally walking into her room, Luna jumped into her bed, levitated me over and hugged me like a teddy bear. At least it wasn’t the press again and I found it awkwardly comfortable. ‘Does this comes from me being a child,’ I thought as my thoughts drifting once again to my odd and calm behavior during the few hours I was awake. Ten minutes later Luna was asleep, and I tried to get out of this position. Which turned out to be fruitless, because I couldn’t move an inch. Nothing else to do I lost myself in my thoughts and slowly I too fell asleep. Author's Note Hi, and welcome back to my story. A few of you could probably tell by now that English is not my native language and are already having fried minds, because of my grammar errors and more. To these people, I once again want to apologize, and I'll promise that I'm working on it. Saysy Chapter 05: TownI awoke three times, despite the comfortable situation I’m in. Not because of discomfort at the time or that I’m just not tired enough. No! It was because of these freaking loud snores she let out from time to time. After the third time of trying to go back to sleep, I gave up. Now I reviewed the day before and tried to figure out why I was not panicking about my sudden gender and species change. I had a few ideas why that could be, though they were far-fetched they were still somewhat plausible. First was that because of my new body and my new memory plane--or whatever this room in my dream is called--my subconsciousness is thinking that I’ve always had this body and therefore my brain isn’t entering a state of panic. Second, I didn’t have the time to panic. Third, someone is controlling my feelings. My last idea is that I simply do not care. I’d vote for one and two. Snooore! Ah, there she goes again. Growl! … ‘And there goes my stomach,’I thought, a little embarrassed that my belly made louder sounds than her vocal sleeping. Come to think of it, it’s even louder than a human being or any being ever existing should make. It’s almost comical. “Turn it down,” my warden said sleepily, still holding me like a little girl or boy, fearful of losing his or her most precious possession. Growl! Luna let out an annoyed puff and turned over, taking me with her. As this happened the door was kicked open with the sound of armored hoofs making contact on wood. I couldn’t see what was happening, but I could feel it as two armored hooves tried to yank me out of Luna’s prison-like grip and I couldn’t try to resist because of Luna. Still trying to get me off her, they didn’t notice that she opened her eyes and her look was turning from surprise to confusion and then anger in mere seconds. “What is the meaning of this?!” Luna demanded, and pried my attackers from me with her telekinesis. “Your Highness, this creature tried to attack you, we heard its growls through the door.” As if on cue, my stomach let out a growl the same volume as before. All eyes turned to me, looking at me as I sheepishly smiled in return, which made the guards’ looks quickly turn from anger to confusion and then to outright fear as they realized that they interrupted Luna’s slumber. “Well, look who is hungry,” Luna said in a soothing manner, possibly thinking that I was scared of the guards; which I am, because I don’t want to know what they would do to me if Luna wasn’t there to save me. Luna then turned to the guards who seemed to shrink a few centimeters under her glare. “And you two should leave this instant,” she said with venom in her voice, possibly not liking these golden-clad guards before they even attempted to harm me. Switching back to the soothing voice, she said, “I’m sorry that they tried to harm you.” Looking down to me with guilt written all over her face. <> I reassured here. Not sure if they just want to protect one of their princesses, or if they just outright hate me. In the end it seemed to help lifting her mood, even though she couldn’t understand me. Growl! She let out a little laugh and said, “So, should we do something for your stomach?” I nodded. “Maid!” she called. “Yes, your Highness,” I jumped at the immediate reply coming from the door. ‘Where did she come from? I didn’t even hear her enter!’ “Bring me my breakfast and some food for little Glacies here,” she said and pointed to me with her hoof. As she ordered our food, I took a closer look at the maid, because I could have sworn that I saw her before. It took me a few seconds to realize that she was the maid I fled past as I was chased by the guards the other day. She was a mare with a straw-blond coat and a bubblegum-pink mane that shined when she held her head in the right angle to the sun. As she turned around to go and get our meal I could see that she had a feather duster tattoo on her flank. ‘How original. They have their job tattooed on their flank. I should ask Philomena about that when I see her again.’ “This evening, first I’ll show you where you’ll be training. After that we’ll go into town so I can order a few things and then we’ll train your ability,” Luna said with glee in her eyes and I was reminded that I’ll be her hound when I’m older. ‘Huh, from clerk to hound. That’ll make for an interesting curriculum vitae.’ It only took the maid five minutes to bring us our meal. She looked a little bit green and I soon found out why as she gave me my food. It consisted of lettuce, bread and a big red slab of meat, probably pork from the looks of it. Now there is the question of if can I eat raw meat. I took a sniff then sampled it with my tongue. A bit hesitantly, I took a small piece of it and chewed. Conclusion: I can eat raw meat. It even tastes the same as cooked meat to me. In the end I wolfed down everything on my plate. “Now that you are finished we can go,” she said with a bit amusement shining through from my display of graceless eating habits. … ‘Wait a second, she finished her meal, too? And she finished before me.’ “Are you coming?” I moved over to Luna who was already at the door. I noticed that at the moment we left the room, two guards clad in the same armor as the guards in the morning moved into their places behind us. This time without a glare centered on me, but I could still feel that they had their eyes on me. Without the hate-filled attention of the guards, I could finally enjoy the hallways in their full glory. The tapestries in the tower where Luna’s quarter is are colored in midnight-blue with silver outlining and a silver moon in the center. After we left the tower, the hallways are lined with vases with fresh roses in all colors and tapestries colored in royal-purple with golden outlining and a blazing sun in the middle. Walking through the halls, we soon came to a place twice as big as a soccer field surrounded by big stone walls thrice the size of a pony. On the field were sparring rings, a training field for archers and of course ponies training in said areas. From somewhere, I could hear a drill sergeant shouting his lungs out, possible scaring half of the recruits back to their mommies. Luna gave none of this a glance and made a beeline to an area on the left side. What I got to see was a parkour course for dogs where guards trained with guard-dogs. “Here we’ll train your stamina, Glacies, after we get your magic under control,” Luna said, turning to me, which got her a few odd looks from the guards around. One of these guards even voiced his confusion. “Your majesty, you can’t possibly think that she understood you.” “You’d be surprised how smart a few animals are, sergeant. Possibly even smarter than you.” The last part she added under her breath so only her guards and I could hear it. ‘Definitely not on good terms with them,’I thought as I controlled myself to not let out a loud laugh. “I’ll keep that in mind, princess.” “Let’s go, Glacies.” Turning around, Luna went back to the entrance. Walking once again through the hallways, we soon came to the main entrance. From there we walked out into the part of town where the nobles resided. If you ask how I know that, I only need to point out the ponies and the residences around us and they screamed “I am rich”. From the looks of it, Luna doesn’t like them either. Walking through the streets, I saw that this feeling is mutual. Don’t understand me wrong, their bowed when we walked through, but I saw a few ponies turning into an alley as fast as possible as soon they laid eyes upon her. Except for one, and Luna wasn’t happy to see her. “Princess.” The white unicorn with a blond mane called out. The guards were on their way to intercept her, but Luna held out a wing. “Lady Money Hoard, I hope you’re not here to give me another one-hour presentation about how to institute a lower tax rate on the nobility,” Luna said with an even but cold voice. “Oh no, nothing like that, your Highness. I just wanted to ask who this little fella is that is following you,” she said, pointing at me. “Her name is Glacies, the new hound of the night and we have to be somewhere. So, I bid you good night.” Walking down the street, I noticed that the houses turned from marble to stone and wood with roofs made of straw. We soon walked into the trade district where even at this late hour the ponies were buying trinkets and goods. The ponies around us bowed down as we walked through and some threw questioning looks at me. Soon we came to the heart of the district where stores were built around a massive golden statue displaying an alicorn with a sun behind her back--Celestia, obviously--forming a big plaza. A market was currently in full action and many ponies were buzzing around the street. Luna’s destination was an oak door on the west side of the plaza. Over it was a sign that said, “Golden Hammer” and was made of… is this gold? If yes, then, man, they are rich. If not, then it still looked good. One of the guards stationed himself at the side of the door as we walked in without knocking. It soon became apparent that this was a store for everything that has something to do with crafting. Many goods were displayed in the entrance, from golden trinkets and silverware to simple tables and stools. At the counter stood an Earth Pony with his back turned to us. “Welcome to Golden Hammer, the store where y-” The pony who I now know is a stallion turned around and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw who had entered his store. “Your high-” A loud thud echoed through the room and I winced as I saw him hammering his forehead into the wooden surface of the counter when he attempted to bow. ‘Well, that just happened,’I thought as he lay unconscious on the floor and Luna let a sigh escape her lips. She walked to the counter to ring a bell that was stationed there. Meanwhile, the stallion was placed on one of the couches by the guard who followed us. Soon another pony, same subspecies, came into the lobby of the store and as well stopped in his/her--I should really figure out how to distinguish their genders from sight--tracks and bowed down while saying “Your highness” with a raspy voice that could be high for a man and deep for a woman, while bowing down. This time without an accident. “Rise.” “Welcome to Golden Hammer. How may I help you?” he/ she said automatically, while he/she was standing up, shakily. “I want to speak with Mr. Rough Iron, and your colleague could use a little help,” she said, while pointing at the unconscious stallion. The newcomer shouted for his/her boss before moving to look over his/her coworker on the couch. We only waited for five seconds until the… Owner? I wasn’t even sure who owned this place anymore. Does not matter. Soon the stallion I could only assume was Rough Iron came into the foyer of the shop and it got even fuller as another pony came in through the front door. Said pony was a little bit shocked to see royalty, but she soon got herself together and bowed before trotting over to the trinkets section. Meanwhile, Mr. Iron led us to the back of the store where several ponies were working on diverse things to sell in the store. He slithered around various workstations before he halted in front of an office, possibly his. A little sweat was forming on his brow as he held open the door. “Please enter, princess,” he said, while trying to imitate the nobles of the upper class. In my opinion, he failed spectacularly. It sounded more like a rich child that was a little too spoiled. … Come to think of it, he probably got the voice right, based on how I saw a few nobles acting on our way down the streets. While I had distracted myself with thoughts of the annoying nobility, Luna and Mr. Iron had sat down around a nice-looking table made of solid wood. “So, p-princess, it’s a rare sight to s-see you p-personally in our s-store-” Luna raise a hoof to silence him. Mr. Irons forehead, meanwhile, was turning into a fountain. “Mr. Iron, calm down, please. I am only here personally because you need the measurements of little Glacies here and I want to make sure that she is safe.” Luna levitated me on his desk to get her point across. “And what would you want us to make for her, your highness?” Iron was noticeably calmer now after he realized that he wasn’t in trouble. He was still sweating though. “A few things.” Luna turned over a scroll to him, which he held in his hoofs, which left me once again wondering how this works. Nevertheless, I now found myself in the hooves of Mr. Iron, who was positioning me on his table. Then he opened a drawer in his table where he extracted a few rectangle-shaped wood blocks. Said blocks were exactly one foot long and soon he got my length and height. “Okay, your highness, I have everything. Your order will be sent to the palace tomorrow evening.” He and Luna talked a little bit longer over a few details concerning the order, but we soon found ourselves back at the entrance, where the pony behind the counter was again tending to the customers. He bowed down again as we walked by and apologized for his wrongdoing. Except he didn’t do anything wrong and Luna tried desperately to assure him that he didn’t do anything bad. Meanwhile, I turned my attention to some of the goods they were selling. I saw a few pieces of furniture I would love to have back home. Soon, something else caught my attention. This time it was not a thing, but a pony. A unicorn, to be precise, and he or she doesn’t look like he/she belong in here. What I mean is, that--I’m just gonna call them a “he” for now--was wearing a cape and a saddlebag looking like they belonged to a beggar. The cape was torn in a few places, he was missing a lid on one side of his saddlebag and his mane looked like it hadn’t seen a bath in weeks. ‘Note to self: figure out how to bathe, preferably without turning said bath into ice.’I couldn’t do anything until he was stealing something, but from how he was acting, I don’t need to wait long. A few seconds later after he looked around to see if someone was looking at him, he picked up a golden necklace and put it into his saddlebag where he still had an intact lid, but it was still not the time to act. Why he’s trying to rob a shop when there are two guards and a princess nearby is still a mystery, but that is his problem and not mine. ‘Well, he still could just go to the– Ah, forget it.’ He is slowly walking to the exit. <<Hey!>> I called out, which got the attention of the whole assemble in the room, including the thief. For them it probably sounded like a loud bark. <<He’s a thief!>> I called out again and made a few steps towards him until I was right in front of him. “Calm down, d-dog.” The mare, probably thinking that I’m just a dog who’s barking at her for no reason, told me. To my dismay, the other ponies in the room thought that too. “Glacies, let her be.” Luna was walking over to me with a stern look on her face that probably means something like this, “No sweets for you for a whole month.” So, I needed to think of a fast way to get my point across. I made my way to the side, where she stored the necklace and jumped for it, but they still didn’t get it. “I am so sorry miss, but I don’t know what got her so riled up.” Apologizing, Luna lit her horn. Fast acting before she got me in her telekinetic grip, I jumped and bit down on the bottom of the saddlebag. Ugh!! It tastes as bad as it looks. I bit so hard on the leather that Luna alone couldn’t get me off. I wanted to let go myself because of the taste, but my will was stronger, and in the end it took the combined effort of Mr. Iron, the salespony, and Luna to get me off the saddlebag. With casualties of course. Rip! Every pony in the room stared at the object that fell out of the now-bottomless saddlebag. “That is one of ours.” The salespony pointed out helpfully and everyone’s eyes turned to the mare, who raced out of the store with Luna and her guards in pursuit, followed a while later by me. The plaza was still buzzing with ponies and because of my small body I can’t see where they are. Hectically looking around the plaza, I soon spotted Luna to the northeast. Lucky that she’s so big. I tried to follow them as fast as I could, but the ponies in front of me didn’t make this task easier. Constantly on alert for incoming hooves, I ran through the legs of the ponies in a snake-like pattern. I got a few shrieks when I passed between their legs and one even tried to hit me before the crowd spit me out at my destiny. I ran face first into a blue-silver armored hoof with a loud clang and fell on my rump, letting out a small puff and a little squeak. “Glacies, are you alright?” A blue face, I think it was a face, but blurry, looked down at me. Said pony, possibly Luna, my brain concluded, slowly lifted me up with her hooves. <> I shook myself a little and my vision turned back to normal. The blue pony turned out to indeed be Luna, a concerned look on her face before she kissed me on the forehead, where a bump will possible sprout in the near future. A little bit shocked that she kissed me like a child, I didn’t realize that she put me on her back. Behind me, the thief was held down by one of the Lunar guards. “Glacies,” Luna began and I turned to look at her. “I’m sorry that I scolded you for something you didn’t do.” Guilt was displayed on her face and I couldn’t be angry at her. It was just a misunderstanding with a happy ending, but I wouldn’t be against some tea or something to get the horrid taste of the saddlebag out of my mouth. <> I told her with an understanding voice. I was surprised that I actually got a reply from her, but it was probably just a coincidence. “No!” Luna insisted, getting attention from all over the plaza. “A hound and its keeper should trust each other. So, can you forgive me?” All eyes were now on me, so I gave her a nod and hoped that she accepted it and we could move on. I don’t like the attention that this whole situation is calling to me. While we waited for the thief to be escorted to the cell by the town guards, Luna and Celestia turned the day to night. I noticed that the plaza was cleared out a few seconds after the night came upon them. On our way back to the palace we only encountered six ponies. When we finally were back at the castle, Celestia already awaited us. “Good evening, Luna. How was your tour into town?” Luna stopped in front of her sister. “Good,” she stated neutrally. “Come on, Luna, I apologized for how I treated Glacies this morning. Please don’t be mad at me anymore.” Lip quivering, Celestia used “Baby-doll Eyes” on her. It wasn’t very effective. “Tia, you shouldn’t apologize to me, but to Glacies.” She turned to the left presenting me before Celestia. “And what is with the change in attitude towards her?” Luna added. Celestia looked down for a moment. “First, I am sorry how I treated you before.” I gave her a nod accepting her apology. “Philomena,” she stated bluntly. Luna cocked her head blinking owlishly at Celestia. “Philomena?” she asked slowly. “At breakfast I noticed that Philomena was interacting with Glacies and you know how she is with strangers. So, I had kind of a conversation with her. It mostly consisted out of me asking questions and her giving a nod or a chirp, but in the end, I found out that she trusted her to be a good pony, or fox in Glacies’ case.” “So, you changed your mind because of Philomena giving her ok on Glacies,” Luna stated with a bemused tone in her voice before it turned into a fit of laughter. “Laugh it up, Lulu. I trust Philomena’s perception,” Celestia said, trying to keep in a chuckle herself, obviously getting the joke. It took Luna a minute to calm down. The guards meanwhile stood there like a rock in the surf, never moving, never saying a word, not even a small chuckle. We followed Celestia until our different destinations required that we part ways. Celestia made her way to her quarters and Luna to the throne, taking me with her. Hooey, politics. Author's Note Hello, Saysy here. I took my time, but the chapter is finally finished. And as always point out errors so I can better myself. A big shout out to Rhawkas, for editing this and future chapters. Have a nice day or night. Chapter 06: Magic LessonNothing happens. Luna is just sitting on her throne, waiting for someone to enter and it had been three hours already since Luna started night court. You would think that a princess would have been swarmed already with nobles and possible suitors, but no! Nothing! The only people nearby were four guards, two positioned in front of the staircase leading up to the throne and the other two positioned next to the entrance. A seneschal on Luna’s right side, who I didn’t know existed until three hours ago. She has grey fur; not original, I know, I already saw a few ponies sporting gray fur. However, unique about her was that she had bat-like wings, slit eyes and small fangs in her mouth. Did I forget something? Ah yes, her mane was a dusky pink almost purple. The only people I didn’t talk about were Luna and myself. She was sitting on her throne and I laid on a pillow next to her. ‘Bored,’ I thought what felt like the second time in one second. As I first entered the room I was stunned by the sheer beauty and serenity. The room practically demanded you to be rooted in your place. Luckily for me I was seated on Luna’s back, meaning I moved forward while stunned. I only was paralyzed for seven seconds, but in these seconds, we already passed half the way to the thrones. The thrones were stationed on two pedestals; one was made from white marble with a golden son emblem in the center. The other one looked like it was made from obsidian with an amethyst gem in the center shaped like a crescent moon. One can reach them through a set of stairs that were one at the beginning and split into two sets half way up. The stairs and the pedestals were also made from the same material as the thrones, which gave the stairs a slight ‘yin and yang’ vibe. Behind the thrones is a big glass window displaying the night on the left and the sun on the right. Some would say, “But Jordan, how can you be bored when there is a throne room to explore?” To that question my answer would be, “I did, but after an hour and a half the novelty of the room subsided.” And now I was sitting here next to Luna. ‘Bored.’ *Sigh* I looked up to Luna who also had a bored expression on her face. “This is… unacceptable!” Luna stated, getting a little bit angry at the end. “Your Highness, I know that you’re not happy with the attendance levels in your court, but the nobility expects the Lunar throne to be occupied in the night.” I was surprised by her seneschal speaking out against her, but Luna didn’t seem to care. Or they already had this discussion. “Oh, come on, Silver Stream, you find it boring as well. Every night, you’re standing here--or, in my case, sitting--and nothing happens.” Silver Stream looked like she wanted to say something, but Luna already seemed to know what she wanted to say. “Lady Money Hoard doesn’t count! I threw her out only one minute after she started to talk about her proposal. And she was the only petitioner in the last three months.” “I know that this sounds discouraging, but–” Silver didn’t proceed any further, Luna not letting her finish her sentence. “No! I have finally had enough of that farce. Get me if they want to speak with me, but until somepony shows up I shall do something productive.” Underlining her statement, Luna jumped up and trotted down the stairs. ‘Should I follow her?’ I asked myself, but that question was almost answered immediately. “Glacies!” Hopefully whatever she planned wasn’t as boring as the last three hours. I quickly stood at attention and before flitting over to her as fast as I could. Luna didn’t make it easy for me to catch up as she trotted out of the throne room in fast strides. I finally caught up to her as she started her ascend to her chambers. Trotting into her room she let herself fall on one of the big cushions that she levitated out of a closet near her bed. She proceeded with levitating a smaller pillow right in front of her and indicated me to sit on it. Then she levitated a wooden bowl in between us, filling it with water which was provided by a sapphire with runes engraved on it, which by usage glowed blue. After the glow subsided I could swear that it looked smaller than before. In the end I had one bowl filled with water right in front of me. “Glacies,” she addressed me and I looked up to her, seeing her lighting her horn before her eyes were bathed in a glow similar to her horn. “Can you put one paw into the bowl.” I do as she said and dip my paw inside the water. I didn’t have the time to get my paw out, because almost immediately the water freezes over, starting at my paw and going outward from there. It only took a second before my paw was encased in an ice prison. I desperately tried to get the bowl of me with no success. “As I thought,” Luna said. I held my paw with the bowl on it up and pointed with my other one on it. “Oh, one moment.” Her horn lit up and a moment later the ice went back to its liquid aggregate state. I swiftly withdraw my paw before it could turn the water back to ice. “No need to be so hasty, my magic power is greater than yours,” she said with a lecturing tone. She must have read my face right, because she swiftly gave an explanation. To my displeasure, her voice still had the lecture tone to it. “You see, when there are two magical signatures with opposed intentions on an object, the signature with more magical power behind it will overpower the other and the object moves to the will of the superior power. Or, in this case my magic holds the water in its liquid form, because it is stronger than yours. “Two factors determine how strong a caster’s magic power is: The size of his or her magic core and how much one can output at once. Both can be trained in one way or another. The core strength and capacity are mostly trained by constant spell usage or physical labor. The output is a little bit harder to train, because it has a higher chance to damage the user’s magic system and on rare occasions it can damage the core, too. As the core is trained through constant spellcasting, the output gets stronger by rapidly casting spells one after another or by spells with higher needs of magic than the caster can output at ones. Understood?” <> I said with a nod. Who would have thought that reading fantasy novels would be helpful one day. “Okay. From what I saw, your magic core is a little smaller than the average untrained adult unicorn. However, that will change as you get older and your core will most likely grow by one-third or a half its current size. Your output is on par with a captain in my sister’s or I’s royal guard and it will probably be bigger too when you reach adulthood. That is without training and you’ll be trained by none other than myself, so you’ll probably be stronger than most arcane mages. Oh, I can’t wait!” After the last part, she practically exploded from happiness, snatching me from my pillow and holding me in her hooves. Shortly after she realized what she did, she let me fall on the pillow. “Sorry, it feels nice to have a goal again. After centuries of sitting on the throne every night hearing about the nobles complaining over something or somepony, no one coming to your court and other things, you’d be surprised how a little bit excitement can bring so much joy.” Luna ended her sentence with a little melancholy in her voice. It seemed that she is more like an outdoor person or pony than someone who likes to be in an office all day. Someone like me, who, against his will, got thrown into the wild. Further thoughts were interrupted by Luna, who by now seemed to be back in her lecture mode. “Okay, Glacies, we know how strong you are, but the fact remains that you freeze water when you touch it. From the test a few minutes ago, I could see that your magic is constantly coating you and gets stronger when you make contact with an object, freezing it. Luckily, the floor can’t be frozen, and ponies’ cores defend them against outer magic attacks. Unluckily, you need to train yourself to only freeze something on commend. But first, let us see if you can deactivate your passive magic.” Levitating the bowl to the side, Luna proceeded with gathering magic in her horn. Soon, a dark blue sphere of the size of a ping pong ball was forming on the tip of her horn. “This will help locating your core,” Luna clarified, right before the ball was send between my eyes where it evaporates into little sparkles. Shortly after I felt a little burning in my head which was slowly traveling down my neck passing by my heart and hips, before It stopped, and my whole tail was engulfed in prickles. “Find your core?” I nodded. “Good. Before we start working on your passive ability, we will see if you can change the direction of your magic flow. We start with a few meditative exercises to feel where your magic ley lines are.” The exercises were mostly the same bag as on earth, though they were converted so quadruped people could do them without a problem. Funny, that when I first tried to do it like a human, it hurt. After Luna saw that I don’t have a clue how to meditate, she showed me how ponies do it and it was a lot more comfortable. We would have been a little bit more successful with my training if it wasn’t so boring to sit in the same position for an hour or two. Nevertheless, in the end I could feel my ley lines and it felt like a second heartbeat in sync with my heart, which made locating it much harder. Other than that, I felt a gnawing hunger forming in my stomach, ending our training session with a loud sound impossible to ignore. “Okay, Glacies, training is on hold for today. We can go eat after I lower my moon,” Luna said, trottinging over to her balcony and stepping outside. Lowering the moon looked a lot like raising it, only in reverse. It still looked beautiful though. On the other tower parallel to us, Celestia raised her sun, painting the sky in the typical orange announcing a nice summer day. Not long after, Luna and I entered the dining room. What surprised me--or rather, what surprised Luna--was that we were faster than Celestia, entering the room three minutes before her. Though we had cleared some of our differences yesterday, I couldn’t help but to be a little bit intimidated by her presence. Thankfully, Philomena was here too. Walking over to her, I was greeted by a friendly hello, which I returned. Finally, someone I can talk to and get some of my questions answered. <> I asked. <> <> She looked a little bit confused by my question before her confusion vanished and turned to one of understanding. <> <> I asked out loud, meanwhile thinking how childish it sounds. <> <> I asked with a little bit of worry showing in my voice and on my face. For a human, free will is a must and hearing this, it sounds like they aren’t allowed to perform work unrelated to their special talent. <> She finished, making it clear that ponies’ work isn’t chosen by their cutie marks. The food arrived shortly after our conversation about cutie marks ended. Though I was a little bit surprised. Looking up to Luna I voiced my confusion. <> The question wasn’t answered by Luna, but surprisingly by Philomena. <> <> I felt a little bit down, but I still ate my fruits. And then I encountered my worst enemy the last few days: Water. A bowl with water was stationed in front of me and I realized that I didn’t feel thirsty. Which surprised me now that I think about it, though, my mouth felt a bit dry. I slowly lowered my head to drink… Nothing. The water stayed water. I took a few more gulps, before I was satisfied. Later I realized that I drank out of a bowl meant for animals, but at the moment I wondered why I could drink without turning it into ice. ‘Time to test a theory!’ Lifting my paw into the water… it turned to ice. Lowering down to drink… it stayed frozen. ‘There goes my theory of ice turning back to water when I want to drink. Wait a second!’ <> I asked her, wondering how she gets meat, because she looks like a predatory bird to me. And I think that she would be sick if she didn’t eat meat sometimes. <> Came the simple reply, making me feel a little bit dumb and slightly embarrassed that I didn’t think of it myself. <> I asked, thinking that they wouldn’t let them run free. <> <> <> I nodded, satisfied with her answers. <> And with one simple question my thoughts went into overdrive. ‘Can I hunt? How do I hunt? Can I kill a living being for food?‘ My thoughts were interrupted by a wing hitting my back. <> <> I slowly said. <> she commanded, extending her wings to take flight. I followed the second time she called. 3rd POV, Dining room Celestia and Luna looked dumbstruck at the pair leaving the room having seen the display between the fox and the avian. “Sometimes, I think they are as smart as we are,” Celestia commented, turning towards her sister. Luna just nodded. The room was bathed in silence for five minutes until Celestia spoke up again. “So, sister, I heard that you canceled you court this night,” she said a bit surprised but not accusingly. “I just wanted to do something worth doing instead of sitting on a throne without a petitioner. They still can visit, but I will not be waiting for them on the throne,” Luna stated making it clear, that she won’t change her mind. Shortly after, Luna went to bed and Celestia prepared for morning court. Chapter 07: NatureSomething has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Prologue (edited)Author's Note This is my first story. Please have mercy! And please say, if you find any mistakes. Have fun reading, Saysy Prologue (edited) “Good evening, sir. How may I help you,” I asked as a man in a business suit walked into the lobby? “Good evening. I’m here to see Mr. Fox. My name is Kaiser, I have an appointment,” said the man in front of me. “Ah yes, he is awaiting you. Just take the elevator to the second floor; he is in room number 204.” “Thanks,” he told me before departing for the elevator. Well, I think it’s time to introduce myself. My name is Jordan Black. I’m 24 years old and work as a clerk at Ceres, a technology research company in Ludwigsburg, Germany. There was not much to do today and I was fine with that. Who wouldn’t be fine with that? “Only fifteen minutes left until I can go home,” I said out loud. “Have you something planned tonight?” asked my coworker Alice. Alice, is probably what you would describe as a carefree person. Always doing what she wants to do without a second thought. She has brown hair, blue eyes, and is about one point sixty-seven meters tall, or five feet and five inches depending on where you live. “Not really,” I said. “Do you want to come with Jane, Tim, and I to the pub? I heard there is a party tonight where you can get two drinks for one.” “Sorry, I’m not a drinker.” “Ok, but you should really come with us sometime. Sitting at your home will do you no good.” “Who are you, my mom?” She just rolled her eyes and got back to work. Ten minutes later the telephone started to ring. “Good evening, you have reached the Ceres company. How may I help you?” “Mr. Black, this is Fox. Please come upstairs before you go home today.” My first thought was if I did something wrong. But that would be stupid. I was here ten minutes before my shift in the morning, everything was done, and my workspace was in top condition. “Yes, I’ll be there in a minute,” was my reply. “Who was it?” asked Alice. “The boss. He wants to speak with me before I go home.” “Have fun.” I turned my PC off and went to the elevator. After the elevator signaled that I was at the second floor, I stepped out and turned left. The office where my boss worked was the door in the middle. I took a deep breath and knocked at the door. The answer came two seconds later. “Come in.” I opened the door and walked in. Mr. Fox’s room was fairly well decorated: a table with two red sofas on each side, a potted plant on both sides next to the door and in each corner, pictures with star nebulas, Saturn, Pluto, and of course the dwarf planet Ceres the smallest dwarf planet ever documented. His desk was in front of a large window and through it you could see a café shop on the other side of the street. On top of his desk there was a laptop, a picture drawn from his ten-year-old daughter and a little flower. Mr. Fox was sitting in his chair behind the table. He was a man in his late forties with black hair, brown eyes, and a big nose. He has a little beer belly and is wearing a black business suit. Mr. Kaiser was sitting on the left sofa with crossed legs and a calm expression on his face. “Ah Mr. Black, please have a seat.” I sat down on the opposite side from Mr. Kaiser. “Mr. Black, you have certainly asked yourself why you’re here. This is Mr. Kaiser, he is the new Manager from our subsidiary company and is searching for a new secretary and I recommended you.” “Why me?” I asked. “Because we don’t want to hire a new one,” said Mr. Kaiser. “How much?” “Three thousand two hundred euro a month.” That is six-hundred more than I get right now. That means there is only one answer that I can give him. “Deal.” “Ok, I’ll see you in my office tomorrow morning.” After we shook hands, I left the office and went to the parking lot where my car was standing. Half an hour later I opened the door to my flat. My place wasn’t that big, only having four rooms: a kitchen, a bathroom, my sleeping room, and a living room next to the kitchen. It was five PM, so I went into the living room and turned the TV on. At seven I made something to eat and after I ate, I took a bath. At half-past nine I went to bed so that I wouldn’t be late in the morning. I woke up at six in the morning, ate breakfast, and washed my hair. As the clock said it was time to go, I was on my way to my new working place. Fifteen minutes before eight I was there. I walked through the entrance and up to the reception desk where a young woman was waiting, with a smile on her face. “Good morning,” I said, “I’m here to see Mr. Kaiser.” “Ah the new one,” she replied, “he said that you’d come by today. He is awaiting you in his office.” “Thanks.” “You’re welcome,” she said with a smile that creeped me out. At that moment I should have known that something was wrong, but I didn’t think about it. I went upstairs to Mr. Kaiser’s office and knocked. The door opened and Mr. Kaiser awaited me with a smile on his face. “Good morning, Mr. Black. It’s nice to see you. I’m starting to like you even more, you’re on point, that is good.” “It is nice to be here,” I replied. “Have a seat, we have much to discuss.” He pointed to a seat in front of his desk and I sat down. After he sat down across from me he said, “First, I need you to fill out this form. After that, we’ll discuss your hours.” I took the form and looked at it. For my name I fill in Jordan Black. Next was, “Favorite mythical creature?” I read out loud with a questioning look on my face and looked at Mr. Kaiser. He only nodded and gestured for me to continue. I fill in Kitsune because I love them. Next was my favorite element, I just wrote down Ice(water). The next and surprisingly last question was if I like kids. I marked yes with a cross and handed the form back. “Ah good, the important part is finished.” I was dumbfounded and said, “That was the important part? Those were just random questions!” I replied, my voice raised. Mister Kaiser just smiled at me and replied with a calm voice, “It will make perfect sense in a few minutes. You only need to sign these two documents over here and then you can start.” I took the two documents and signed them. This action brought a face-splitting smile to Mr. Kaiser. A smile that said, ‘get the hell out of here’ and that was exactly what I tried to do. Emphasis on tried. I jumped out of my chair and made a mad dash to the door. I reached the door and tried to open it--again, emphasis on tried--but the door was locked. I turned around and my eyes fell on Mr. Kaiser. “Your fate was already sealed once you filled out the form. The other two were only there to lessen the paperwork,” he said with a creepy voice. The last words I heard, before I fell through the ground were, “have fun.” I fell and fell, there was only darkness. After a minute or so, I thought I felt a chill rushing through my body. I felt my clothes vanishing and then my skin started to itch. Next were my bones; I felt them shifting, but I couldn’t feel what I was becoming because my body went numb. I could only feel that I was smaller, much smaller. After another minute, I saw a light in the darkness and it was getting brighter and brighter. It was, in fact, so bright that I needed to close my eyes. Shortly after I closed my eyes, I hit the ground and passed out.
Chapter 01: Ponies! They're Everywhere! (edited)Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Chapter 02: My Head is EmptyAuthor's Note Hello everybody, First, thank you for reading my story. And second, before you ask, I won't write Luna's sentences in old English. Chapter 02: My Head is Empty “Black. Black. And oh, what do we have here, black. Is here something else, except black?” I walked this black void—or whatever you want to call it—for about half an hour now. And there is still no end in sight. Oh, and I’m human again that is a big plus in my book. I could have enjoyed it if it wasn’t so boring right now. I walked again for another fifteen minutes. “Why isn’t here something else, except black!?” I cried into the void. “Well, why don’t you change it. It’s your mind after all.” I halted mid-step. Not prepared to get a reply from a strangely familiar voice. I looked around only to see black. “Where are you.” “Behind you.” I watched over my shoulder. And there, sitting on the ground was a blue fox Cub. I turned around to take a better look. The fur is the same and he has a white tip at the tail too. But now I could see the face. He has sharp silver eyes and in the middle of his for-had-fur a white circle shape. The fur on his ears is white at the peak like his tail. “Didn’t your mother told you, that it is rude to stare at other people.” “Yes, she did,” I replied. “So, why you still staring.” “Well, if I’m right, and please correct me if I’m not, you and I are the same person.” “It is partly true, I’m just a part of you. The new part to be precise. What is left from you is just your mind and memories.” “Aha. So, where are we.” “As I told you before, we are in your mind. You could describe it like lucid dreaming.” “You mean, that I just need to think of a tree and it shall appear.” I looked around to see the tree, but I couldn’t see it. I heard a light chuckle coming from the cub, “I said, ‘like’, not the same as lucid dreaming,” he said, with a paw in front of his snout. “The difference is, that you not just dreaming. You’re, as I said, in your mind and your mind is currently empty.” “You don’t say that I’m dumb, do you?” “No! That would imply that I’m dumb too. What I mean, is that you don’t have any memories yet.” “But I have twenty-four years’ worth of memories as a human!” I said, angrily. More out of fear that I would lose them in time. “Yes, you have. But they're not here.” “How can’t they be here?” “What I mean, is that there not in your mind. More like there somewhere else in a bubble, linked to your mind.” “Why,” Is the only response that I could think of? “My hypothesis, is that the identity that sends you here, didn’t want the pony like creatures to find out where you came from.” “How would they find out, unless they can read mines.” Alone the thought that someone could read my mind sent a shiver down my spine. That the Cub didn’t reply, didn’t lessened my fear. “They can?” He nodded. “How?” “Magic,” came his reply. “Magic… magic doesn’t exist.” “How do you explain all these things happen to you in the last twenty-four hours?” I opened my mouth to make a plausible explanation. Only to close it one second later. “That’s what I thought. Now, back to business.” “What business.” “Your mind! As I said, there are methods to read your mind. But there are also techniques to defend your mind. That doesn’t mean that’ll you need them, but there are also good to have if you don’t want to be mind controlled. As I always say, you can never be too careful.” “That is something I could agree with.” He gave me a deadpan stare. “What?” “Of course, you’d agree with me. We are the same person after all.” “Oh, I forgot that for a second.” “The rules for a mind-battle are simple. If you’re only fighting mind against mind, the weaker mind would lose. If you attack someone, you only attack with your mind and nothing else. But on defense, there it’s where it gets interesting. Now your mind would be easy prey so too say. Zero defense. To boost someone’s resistance against an intruder you build a fortress in your mind- “ “How do you know all that,” I asked? Visibly annoyed that I interrupted his teaching he said, “I don’t know, I just know it. And I felt the need to teach you about yourself. The new you.” “Ok, you do know that that is a bit creepy. Also, it’s a little bit irritating to get lectured by a voice that sounds like an eight-year-old child.” “Now, to build a defense structure in your mind you first need a foundation. This foundation is built on a happy memory. But first, we need to replace this black void,” he said ignoring my reply. “And how do I do that?” “I was getting there. Close your eyes and picture a landscape where you would feel free. And take your time.” I do as I was told. The first place that came to my mind was the sea and the beach. Next was the sky. In my memories, these two were the only places where I would consider be free. Even when I lived alone in my apartment I didn’t consider that myself. Another place I would consider free would be a forest. As I thought about these landscapes an idea sprang into the forefront of my thoughts. Why not combine them all? In a few seconds, I had a picture in my mind. I opened my eyes and saw the sky. I realized that I was laying on the ground. The ground, consisting of sand, was soft. More like the sand in a sandpit, but I liked the felling, so I had no intentions to change it. As I stood up I noticed two things. First, I couldn’t hear any sounds of the ocean and second, where the sea should be, were waves frozen in time. Now, that I looked around, I saw that the trees of the forest behind me were all covered in snow. The only places not covered in ice and snow were the beach and the ground below the trees. “Where does the snow come from?” “That is possible because of the element you wrote down in the form,” said the cub, that was now sitting next to me. “The next step is far simpler than you would think. Just take a memory and picture it as a shield against the dark or something that you’d consider evil.” I closed my eyes again and search my memories. I took one that I considered happy enough and open my eyes. In front of me stand a shed. A wooden shed. "Better than nothing, I guess. At least it looks sturdy. Shall we look inside.” I took the first step of my way to the front door. I opened the door and peeked inside. Nothing. The interior was empty except for another door on the far end of the room. I walked inside the cub on my heels. Walking through the room, I reached the other door. The door was far fancier than the front entrance. Carvings of snowflakes in the middle and icicles at the top. The handle was made of silver with gold on the edges. All in all, everything about this door screams important. “Should I open it?” I asked, my companion. “Yes, you should. It’s the most important part of someone’s mind. This door looks different from person to person, but behind it, are the memories you’ll make in your life.” I slowly grabbed the handle and pushed the door open. Only for the door to do nothing. “Looks like your door doesn’t swing in both ways.” “What do you mean?” “Right now, it doesn’t matter. And before you ask, that is a lesson for later.” I tug at the door and it swung open without a problem. Behind the door, was a bright blue area, with a few white stars, left and right. I could hear a few whispers from some of the stars. “I can hear voices from the stars… What are these?” “Obviously, these are your memories. Some have sounds in them, some don’t. Try to grab one.” I do as I told and as I touched one of the stars, it transformed into a screen and played the memory from the treasury. As I tried out the other stars. I noticed that there are only memories of this world. I also asked my companion, why they weren’t in the black void from before. His answer turned out to be a little scary. Turns out, that a person does this automatically as he or she grows up. That is why we don’t remember much from our years as a baby or preschooler because it wasn’t efficient at the time. And as a human, we never know about this. Except for a few, who reached this state of mind with intense mental training. And as he told me before, my new body came with a new mind liked to my old one. He then said, that my new mind didn’t come with that construct. And, if I didn’t have made it in time, I would have forgotten the day prior. “Wait a second. If we do that in a few years, how did we make it in just one night?” “First, you already did that when you were a human child. That made it easier for you the second time. And second, you had a good instructor. And as you’re now a magical creature yourself, it’s even easier.” “Why is it easier?” “Magic helps a lot when it comes to mental constructs.” “Are there any more lessons?” “Yes, but you’ll wake up soon.” “How do you know?” “I know, because of the blue space turning brighter every second we speak.” “Ah, ok. If my memories aren’t wrong, I’m a young kitsune.” “Yes, that is correct.” “But aren’t kitsune females?” “Yes, mostly. But there are males too. Why’d you ask?” “I just was frightened for a moment that I’m female now.” “Wait, you didn’t think about looking if your male or female?” “No.” “Oh, then it’s my duty to tell you! Dramatic pause. You’re female. See you.” “What…” Was the only word I could say before my vision was enveloped in bright white.
Chapter 03: Is it a Fox?Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Chapter 04: Two Ponies, a Phoenix and Myself‘Ugh, my head, but hey, that means I’m still alive and ready… no! I’m not ready to tackle the day,’ I thought and closed my eyes from the pain in my head that slowly, but steadily subsided. It didn’t take long for my head to get other signals from my body and what I felt was heavenly. I never felt something so soft and fleecy and I hoped, that I could ley on it for the entire day and the next days to come. Alas, someone had something against my wish and it announced itself with a bright blue flash that I could see through my eyelids. I opened my eyes and saw a blue leg right in front of me. I slowly followed the leg up to his owner and saw the same pony, that knocked me into a wall. “Hello, young one,” she said, but I didn’t even react and tried to make a hasty escape only to lose my ground and roll down, the what I know now is a pillow, and landed flat on the floor. As I tried to stand up I felt a tingle all over my body and I could see a blue field around my snout as someone picked me up and placed me back on the pillow without making physical contact. ‘What? Was this telekinesis?’ I sat as still as I could because someone who could pick me up without even touching me is clearly someone I don’t want to anger, especially if said person has a big hammer nearby. "There is nothing to fear little one, your new keeper will keep you safe." ‘Keeper? Is she thinking that I'm an animal?’ <> I said to her, so she would see that I’m not a mere creature, but an intelligent being. Which probably fell on deaf ears because she didn’t give a response to my clarification and continued without a care. “But first I need a name for you I can’t just call you a fox or young one, the whole time.” She seemed to be in thoughts, probably searching for a new name which wasn’t needed. <> … ‘My name is Jordan.’ <> I groaned as my body got crushed in a press made from to two forelegs with blue fell. “Oh, you poor thing everything will be better from now on. I’ll take care of you and then, when needed, we’ll go monster hunting all over Equestria when you’re full-grown,” she said happily as I suffered one of the scariest deaths ever. Suffocation. > I choked out.‘Oh shiny!!’ Finally realizing what she is doing, she let me out of the press, which was probably a hug… for an enemy. “Please forgive me, I sometimes forget how strong I am,” she apologized with a face I would expect on a child but not on a full-grown human or pony in this case, come to think of it I don’t know if she’s full-grown or not but the fact that she goes monster hunting from time to time indicates that she is considered an adult in this world. <> I said to her and wanted to at something only to be interrupted, again. “Glacies,” she said, and I just gave her a blank look. At least I thought I did, I still don’t know if my face is compatible with human expressions or not, but the pony is doing just fine so I gave my face the benefit of a doubt. Or not since she looked as unmoved and happy as ever. So, I again made a comment about the fact that I already have a name. Which again, felt on deaf ears and slowly I got the feeling that she couldn’t understand me. ‘Well, that is great a horse/pony can speak but a fox can’t that is ridiculous.’ I complained, hoping that the guy could hear me. He is probably searching his next victim. Back to my problem. She probably took my silence as an affirmation, because she let out a happy squee, which again locked adorable. And there goes the last thing that held me to my old life. At least I can still think my name. Can I? ‘My name is Jordan.’ Yes, yes, I can. Growl!! The pony, which name I still don’t know, let out a giggle at my stomach which screamed for attention. “Oh, you must be hungry.” <> I replied, and I could see a sarcasm level up symbol in the left corner of my eye. Not really. “I have something that’ll help you with your little problem,” she said and conjured a fish to her site, which I eyed hungrily. A little jump and I held the fish in my paws and I started to devour it. Until I realized two things: First, the fish was raw, and, I jumped at it out of instinct. Even so, these two facts are minor changes in my behavior, I couldn’t get the feeling of fear out of me as I had visions of me turning into an animal not only in body but in mind, too. My face must have once again shown my distress because I was once again between her two forelegs, but this time it didn’t feel like a press, but soothing and caring. “Better,” she asked, and I could only nod as I made my resolve that I never become an animal as long as I have something to say about it. I finished my fish at a normal pace as my new caretaker, name still not known, sit behind me and watched until someone knocked on the door. “Princess Luna?” a male voice came from behind the door. “Yes, what is it?” “It’s time to lower the moon.” Lower the moon? “Thanks for the information private,” she said, stood up and walked to the window with the curtains. “Come I want to show you something.” Since I hadn’t something else to do I followed her out on the balcony. Where I had a full view of the sky, and I was mesmerized by the beauty of the night sky. Back on earth, I had never such a view, because of light pollution and clouds and even if I had I would give the sky back home an F compared to that A+ with a big star. The Stars are like polished diamonds twinkling in the sky making constellations I’ve never seen before in my life. But even the stars palled against the beauty that was the moon easy double as big as on earth and shining with his on light, at least it looked like it. I looked up to the pony named Luna, as I now know thanks to the guard, and I saw a dark blue light around her horn. I looked around and tried to see what she is doing until I remembered what the guard said and looked up. I wished I hadn’t, because I couldn’t comprehend what I saw, the moon was cast in the same blue aura as her horn and it slowly lowered to the ground. All around the Moon, the stars blinked out one after another until the moon touched the horizon and slipped past it not to be seen until the next night. Just a second after the moon was lowered the sun rose, casting the horizon in a reddish-purple light. Luna turned around and walked back into the room not even realizing that I wasn’t following her because I was still awestruck in place. She realized it a few seconds later and come back giggling. “Beautiful isn’t it.” She was sitting by my side waiting for me to come back to the world which took five minutes until my brain has restarted and my thought processes booted. Out came: Luna plus moving moon equals moon-goddess. If this turns out to be true then I am lucky that I didn’t anger her at some time before. Scratch that, I don’t think it matters if she is a god or not I would be screwed one way or another. “Come Glacies, I want to introduce you to someone.” I didn’t move. “Glacies?” Oh, she means me, this will take time to get used to. Walking over to follow Luna we made our way through the hallways and down the tower. On our way, we were accompanied by two guards clad in dark blue armor with a touch of purple and a moon insignia on the front. Irritating was, that they both had the same coat color and mane style. Also, they had both a sword on there side, how they use them without hands was lost on me and they head both no horns, only wings with feathers having the same color as their coat, so no levitation. I felt the stares from the two guards behind me and the guards clad in gold and white linger on me the whole time, as I would attack their princess at any given moment. We arrived at a normal wood door with ornate carvings and two guards stationed on each side. The Guards opened the door for us and we walked in. The room behind was, for a monarchy, plain looking except for one shiny pony and a really cool looking bird. The pony was sitting on a normal chair and the bird sat on a perch eating waffles and fruits. “Good morning, Tia, I want to introduce you to somepony,” Luna said to the white pony, that now was looking at me with an intense glare which was ten times stronger than all the guards’ glares combined. My new animal instincts screamed at me to run away as fast as possible and I made a few steps back to the door, but a leg behind me stopped me from doing so. “Sister, you’re frightening her.” “Sorry, Luna, but I will not lower my guard when a creature as dangerous as she is nearby.” << I, dangerous,>> I said out loud, which was swallowed by the verbal fight between the two sisters. <<You must excuse my friend for her unfriendly attitude towards you, she gets a little overprotective over her sister from time to time,” came a calm voice with a little chirp in it from my left side. I turned my head towards the direction where the voice came from and saw the wall. <> said the same voice, and I looked up where the cool looking bird looked down on me. <<Hello, my name is Philomena,” Philomena said. <<****,>> I said, meanwhile admiring her beautiful color scheme. … … <> she scolded me, which made me look at her as she was crazy until I realized that I gave her my human name out of instinct and just opened my mouth without words coming out of it. I considered giving her my name given by Luna or saying another name which wouldn’t matter because no one could understand me. <> I finally said unenthusiastically. <> she said, letting me stand there dumbstruck with a gaping mouth. ‘Of course, I can speak with an animal, I am one.’ I thought a little bit relieved that I would not have one-sided conversations for the rest of my life. Finally realizing that what I’m doing is highly disrespectful, I promptly closed my mouth and thought of a reply. <> <<Oh, I don’t mind. Few people would ever see a living phoenix before there eyes,” she said, while proudly puffing out her chest at the same time. <> <> she said shocked over my lack of surprise, gliding down and to sit beside me. <> ’And waking up as a female kitsune in another world where talking ponies and animals is normal, is kinda abnormal for me so, yeah not even pretending that I’m amazed seeing another mythical creature in front of me,’ I mentally added. <> ‘Did she just used hay instead of heck?’ <> <> <> She looked a little bit hurt but replied nonetheless. <> <> I asked her. <> <> I answered, expecting her to not know what they are. Which she didn’t. As she asked me if I could tell her more about my species, I told her that I only know its name, which was a lie, but I didn’t know how much of my information’s would be accurate and which won’t. I wanted to ask her more questions, but I was interrupted by a force pulling me over to Celestia with my paws making contact with her fur, which was getting hotter every second. A cry of victory came from Luna, and I was separated from Celestia. Meanwhile, Philomena has returned to her perch and looked between Luna, and Celestia, with an amused face. “Ha, I told you that she can’t turn ponies to ice by contact,” she said in triumph and placed me down on the table. “Be that as it may, I don’t want to see you hurt which means -” she turned to me with a threatening look “- don’t even think about it.” I rapidly bobbed my head up and down trying to get a little bit on her good side. “Good, know- “she began, only to get her words cut off by Luna who shoot a glare towards her sister. “I can look after myself, sister,” she said and turned around giving me a look that said it all. I jumped down from the table and walked over to Luna’s side. Just before the door closed I heard a quick ‘see you’ from Philomena. On the way back to Lunas’ quarters all the guards averted looking at us or more specifically Luna. Alone by the frown on her face and the glare she gave everyone who even dared to look at us sent chills down my spine. I would even say that her mane and coat looked a little bit darker, but that was probably only my imagination. Finally walking into her room, Luna jumped into her bed, levitated me over and hugged me like a teddy bear. At least it wasn’t the press again and I found it awkwardly comfortable. ‘Does this comes from me being a child,’ I thought as my thoughts drifting once again to my odd and calm behavior during the few hours I was awake. Ten minutes later Luna was asleep, and I tried to get out of this position. Which turned out to be fruitless, because I couldn’t move an inch. Nothing else to do I lost myself in my thoughts and slowly I too fell asleep. Author's Note Hi, and welcome back to my story. A few of you could probably tell by now that English is not my native language and are already having fried minds, because of my grammar errors and more. To these people, I once again want to apologize, and I'll promise that I'm working on it. Saysy
Chapter 05: TownI awoke three times, despite the comfortable situation I’m in. Not because of discomfort at the time or that I’m just not tired enough. No! It was because of these freaking loud snores she let out from time to time. After the third time of trying to go back to sleep, I gave up. Now I reviewed the day before and tried to figure out why I was not panicking about my sudden gender and species change. I had a few ideas why that could be, though they were far-fetched they were still somewhat plausible. First was that because of my new body and my new memory plane--or whatever this room in my dream is called--my subconsciousness is thinking that I’ve always had this body and therefore my brain isn’t entering a state of panic. Second, I didn’t have the time to panic. Third, someone is controlling my feelings. My last idea is that I simply do not care. I’d vote for one and two. Snooore! Ah, there she goes again. Growl! … ‘And there goes my stomach,’I thought, a little embarrassed that my belly made louder sounds than her vocal sleeping. Come to think of it, it’s even louder than a human being or any being ever existing should make. It’s almost comical. “Turn it down,” my warden said sleepily, still holding me like a little girl or boy, fearful of losing his or her most precious possession. Growl! Luna let out an annoyed puff and turned over, taking me with her. As this happened the door was kicked open with the sound of armored hoofs making contact on wood. I couldn’t see what was happening, but I could feel it as two armored hooves tried to yank me out of Luna’s prison-like grip and I couldn’t try to resist because of Luna. Still trying to get me off her, they didn’t notice that she opened her eyes and her look was turning from surprise to confusion and then anger in mere seconds. “What is the meaning of this?!” Luna demanded, and pried my attackers from me with her telekinesis. “Your Highness, this creature tried to attack you, we heard its growls through the door.” As if on cue, my stomach let out a growl the same volume as before. All eyes turned to me, looking at me as I sheepishly smiled in return, which made the guards’ looks quickly turn from anger to confusion and then to outright fear as they realized that they interrupted Luna’s slumber. “Well, look who is hungry,” Luna said in a soothing manner, possibly thinking that I was scared of the guards; which I am, because I don’t want to know what they would do to me if Luna wasn’t there to save me. Luna then turned to the guards who seemed to shrink a few centimeters under her glare. “And you two should leave this instant,” she said with venom in her voice, possibly not liking these golden-clad guards before they even attempted to harm me. Switching back to the soothing voice, she said, “I’m sorry that they tried to harm you.” Looking down to me with guilt written all over her face. <> I reassured here. Not sure if they just want to protect one of their princesses, or if they just outright hate me. In the end it seemed to help lifting her mood, even though she couldn’t understand me. Growl! She let out a little laugh and said, “So, should we do something for your stomach?” I nodded. “Maid!” she called. “Yes, your Highness,” I jumped at the immediate reply coming from the door. ‘Where did she come from? I didn’t even hear her enter!’ “Bring me my breakfast and some food for little Glacies here,” she said and pointed to me with her hoof. As she ordered our food, I took a closer look at the maid, because I could have sworn that I saw her before. It took me a few seconds to realize that she was the maid I fled past as I was chased by the guards the other day. She was a mare with a straw-blond coat and a bubblegum-pink mane that shined when she held her head in the right angle to the sun. As she turned around to go and get our meal I could see that she had a feather duster tattoo on her flank. ‘How original. They have their job tattooed on their flank. I should ask Philomena about that when I see her again.’ “This evening, first I’ll show you where you’ll be training. After that we’ll go into town so I can order a few things and then we’ll train your ability,” Luna said with glee in her eyes and I was reminded that I’ll be her hound when I’m older. ‘Huh, from clerk to hound. That’ll make for an interesting curriculum vitae.’ It only took the maid five minutes to bring us our meal. She looked a little bit green and I soon found out why as she gave me my food. It consisted of lettuce, bread and a big red slab of meat, probably pork from the looks of it. Now there is the question of if can I eat raw meat. I took a sniff then sampled it with my tongue. A bit hesitantly, I took a small piece of it and chewed. Conclusion: I can eat raw meat. It even tastes the same as cooked meat to me. In the end I wolfed down everything on my plate. “Now that you are finished we can go,” she said with a bit amusement shining through from my display of graceless eating habits. … ‘Wait a second, she finished her meal, too? And she finished before me.’ “Are you coming?” I moved over to Luna who was already at the door. I noticed that at the moment we left the room, two guards clad in the same armor as the guards in the morning moved into their places behind us. This time without a glare centered on me, but I could still feel that they had their eyes on me. Without the hate-filled attention of the guards, I could finally enjoy the hallways in their full glory. The tapestries in the tower where Luna’s quarter is are colored in midnight-blue with silver outlining and a silver moon in the center. After we left the tower, the hallways are lined with vases with fresh roses in all colors and tapestries colored in royal-purple with golden outlining and a blazing sun in the middle. Walking through the halls, we soon came to a place twice as big as a soccer field surrounded by big stone walls thrice the size of a pony. On the field were sparring rings, a training field for archers and of course ponies training in said areas. From somewhere, I could hear a drill sergeant shouting his lungs out, possible scaring half of the recruits back to their mommies. Luna gave none of this a glance and made a beeline to an area on the left side. What I got to see was a parkour course for dogs where guards trained with guard-dogs. “Here we’ll train your stamina, Glacies, after we get your magic under control,” Luna said, turning to me, which got her a few odd looks from the guards around. One of these guards even voiced his confusion. “Your majesty, you can’t possibly think that she understood you.” “You’d be surprised how smart a few animals are, sergeant. Possibly even smarter than you.” The last part she added under her breath so only her guards and I could hear it. ‘Definitely not on good terms with them,’I thought as I controlled myself to not let out a loud laugh. “I’ll keep that in mind, princess.” “Let’s go, Glacies.” Turning around, Luna went back to the entrance. Walking once again through the hallways, we soon came to the main entrance. From there we walked out into the part of town where the nobles resided. If you ask how I know that, I only need to point out the ponies and the residences around us and they screamed “I am rich”. From the looks of it, Luna doesn’t like them either. Walking through the streets, I saw that this feeling is mutual. Don’t understand me wrong, their bowed when we walked through, but I saw a few ponies turning into an alley as fast as possible as soon they laid eyes upon her. Except for one, and Luna wasn’t happy to see her. “Princess.” The white unicorn with a blond mane called out. The guards were on their way to intercept her, but Luna held out a wing. “Lady Money Hoard, I hope you’re not here to give me another one-hour presentation about how to institute a lower tax rate on the nobility,” Luna said with an even but cold voice. “Oh no, nothing like that, your Highness. I just wanted to ask who this little fella is that is following you,” she said, pointing at me. “Her name is Glacies, the new hound of the night and we have to be somewhere. So, I bid you good night.” Walking down the street, I noticed that the houses turned from marble to stone and wood with roofs made of straw. We soon walked into the trade district where even at this late hour the ponies were buying trinkets and goods. The ponies around us bowed down as we walked through and some threw questioning looks at me. Soon we came to the heart of the district where stores were built around a massive golden statue displaying an alicorn with a sun behind her back--Celestia, obviously--forming a big plaza. A market was currently in full action and many ponies were buzzing around the street. Luna’s destination was an oak door on the west side of the plaza. Over it was a sign that said, “Golden Hammer” and was made of… is this gold? If yes, then, man, they are rich. If not, then it still looked good. One of the guards stationed himself at the side of the door as we walked in without knocking. It soon became apparent that this was a store for everything that has something to do with crafting. Many goods were displayed in the entrance, from golden trinkets and silverware to simple tables and stools. At the counter stood an Earth Pony with his back turned to us. “Welcome to Golden Hammer, the store where y-” The pony who I now know is a stallion turned around and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw who had entered his store. “Your high-” A loud thud echoed through the room and I winced as I saw him hammering his forehead into the wooden surface of the counter when he attempted to bow. ‘Well, that just happened,’I thought as he lay unconscious on the floor and Luna let a sigh escape her lips. She walked to the counter to ring a bell that was stationed there. Meanwhile, the stallion was placed on one of the couches by the guard who followed us. Soon another pony, same subspecies, came into the lobby of the store and as well stopped in his/her--I should really figure out how to distinguish their genders from sight--tracks and bowed down while saying “Your highness” with a raspy voice that could be high for a man and deep for a woman, while bowing down. This time without an accident. “Rise.” “Welcome to Golden Hammer. How may I help you?” he/ she said automatically, while he/she was standing up, shakily. “I want to speak with Mr. Rough Iron, and your colleague could use a little help,” she said, while pointing at the unconscious stallion. The newcomer shouted for his/her boss before moving to look over his/her coworker on the couch. We only waited for five seconds until the… Owner? I wasn’t even sure who owned this place anymore. Does not matter. Soon the stallion I could only assume was Rough Iron came into the foyer of the shop and it got even fuller as another pony came in through the front door. Said pony was a little bit shocked to see royalty, but she soon got herself together and bowed before trotting over to the trinkets section. Meanwhile, Mr. Iron led us to the back of the store where several ponies were working on diverse things to sell in the store. He slithered around various workstations before he halted in front of an office, possibly his. A little sweat was forming on his brow as he held open the door. “Please enter, princess,” he said, while trying to imitate the nobles of the upper class. In my opinion, he failed spectacularly. It sounded more like a rich child that was a little too spoiled. … Come to think of it, he probably got the voice right, based on how I saw a few nobles acting on our way down the streets. While I had distracted myself with thoughts of the annoying nobility, Luna and Mr. Iron had sat down around a nice-looking table made of solid wood. “So, p-princess, it’s a rare sight to s-see you p-personally in our s-store-” Luna raise a hoof to silence him. Mr. Irons forehead, meanwhile, was turning into a fountain. “Mr. Iron, calm down, please. I am only here personally because you need the measurements of little Glacies here and I want to make sure that she is safe.” Luna levitated me on his desk to get her point across. “And what would you want us to make for her, your highness?” Iron was noticeably calmer now after he realized that he wasn’t in trouble. He was still sweating though. “A few things.” Luna turned over a scroll to him, which he held in his hoofs, which left me once again wondering how this works. Nevertheless, I now found myself in the hooves of Mr. Iron, who was positioning me on his table. Then he opened a drawer in his table where he extracted a few rectangle-shaped wood blocks. Said blocks were exactly one foot long and soon he got my length and height. “Okay, your highness, I have everything. Your order will be sent to the palace tomorrow evening.” He and Luna talked a little bit longer over a few details concerning the order, but we soon found ourselves back at the entrance, where the pony behind the counter was again tending to the customers. He bowed down again as we walked by and apologized for his wrongdoing. Except he didn’t do anything wrong and Luna tried desperately to assure him that he didn’t do anything bad. Meanwhile, I turned my attention to some of the goods they were selling. I saw a few pieces of furniture I would love to have back home. Soon, something else caught my attention. This time it was not a thing, but a pony. A unicorn, to be precise, and he or she doesn’t look like he/she belong in here. What I mean is, that--I’m just gonna call them a “he” for now--was wearing a cape and a saddlebag looking like they belonged to a beggar. The cape was torn in a few places, he was missing a lid on one side of his saddlebag and his mane looked like it hadn’t seen a bath in weeks. ‘Note to self: figure out how to bathe, preferably without turning said bath into ice.’I couldn’t do anything until he was stealing something, but from how he was acting, I don’t need to wait long. A few seconds later after he looked around to see if someone was looking at him, he picked up a golden necklace and put it into his saddlebag where he still had an intact lid, but it was still not the time to act. Why he’s trying to rob a shop when there are two guards and a princess nearby is still a mystery, but that is his problem and not mine. ‘Well, he still could just go to the– Ah, forget it.’ He is slowly walking to the exit. <<Hey!>> I called out, which got the attention of the whole assemble in the room, including the thief. For them it probably sounded like a loud bark. <<He’s a thief!>> I called out again and made a few steps towards him until I was right in front of him. “Calm down, d-dog.” The mare, probably thinking that I’m just a dog who’s barking at her for no reason, told me. To my dismay, the other ponies in the room thought that too. “Glacies, let her be.” Luna was walking over to me with a stern look on her face that probably means something like this, “No sweets for you for a whole month.” So, I needed to think of a fast way to get my point across. I made my way to the side, where she stored the necklace and jumped for it, but they still didn’t get it. “I am so sorry miss, but I don’t know what got her so riled up.” Apologizing, Luna lit her horn. Fast acting before she got me in her telekinetic grip, I jumped and bit down on the bottom of the saddlebag. Ugh!! It tastes as bad as it looks. I bit so hard on the leather that Luna alone couldn’t get me off. I wanted to let go myself because of the taste, but my will was stronger, and in the end it took the combined effort of Mr. Iron, the salespony, and Luna to get me off the saddlebag. With casualties of course. Rip! Every pony in the room stared at the object that fell out of the now-bottomless saddlebag. “That is one of ours.” The salespony pointed out helpfully and everyone’s eyes turned to the mare, who raced out of the store with Luna and her guards in pursuit, followed a while later by me. The plaza was still buzzing with ponies and because of my small body I can’t see where they are. Hectically looking around the plaza, I soon spotted Luna to the northeast. Lucky that she’s so big. I tried to follow them as fast as I could, but the ponies in front of me didn’t make this task easier. Constantly on alert for incoming hooves, I ran through the legs of the ponies in a snake-like pattern. I got a few shrieks when I passed between their legs and one even tried to hit me before the crowd spit me out at my destiny. I ran face first into a blue-silver armored hoof with a loud clang and fell on my rump, letting out a small puff and a little squeak. “Glacies, are you alright?” A blue face, I think it was a face, but blurry, looked down at me. Said pony, possibly Luna, my brain concluded, slowly lifted me up with her hooves. <> I shook myself a little and my vision turned back to normal. The blue pony turned out to indeed be Luna, a concerned look on her face before she kissed me on the forehead, where a bump will possible sprout in the near future. A little bit shocked that she kissed me like a child, I didn’t realize that she put me on her back. Behind me, the thief was held down by one of the Lunar guards. “Glacies,” Luna began and I turned to look at her. “I’m sorry that I scolded you for something you didn’t do.” Guilt was displayed on her face and I couldn’t be angry at her. It was just a misunderstanding with a happy ending, but I wouldn’t be against some tea or something to get the horrid taste of the saddlebag out of my mouth. <> I told her with an understanding voice. I was surprised that I actually got a reply from her, but it was probably just a coincidence. “No!” Luna insisted, getting attention from all over the plaza. “A hound and its keeper should trust each other. So, can you forgive me?” All eyes were now on me, so I gave her a nod and hoped that she accepted it and we could move on. I don’t like the attention that this whole situation is calling to me. While we waited for the thief to be escorted to the cell by the town guards, Luna and Celestia turned the day to night. I noticed that the plaza was cleared out a few seconds after the night came upon them. On our way back to the palace we only encountered six ponies. When we finally were back at the castle, Celestia already awaited us. “Good evening, Luna. How was your tour into town?” Luna stopped in front of her sister. “Good,” she stated neutrally. “Come on, Luna, I apologized for how I treated Glacies this morning. Please don’t be mad at me anymore.” Lip quivering, Celestia used “Baby-doll Eyes” on her. It wasn’t very effective. “Tia, you shouldn’t apologize to me, but to Glacies.” She turned to the left presenting me before Celestia. “And what is with the change in attitude towards her?” Luna added. Celestia looked down for a moment. “First, I am sorry how I treated you before.” I gave her a nod accepting her apology. “Philomena,” she stated bluntly. Luna cocked her head blinking owlishly at Celestia. “Philomena?” she asked slowly. “At breakfast I noticed that Philomena was interacting with Glacies and you know how she is with strangers. So, I had kind of a conversation with her. It mostly consisted out of me asking questions and her giving a nod or a chirp, but in the end, I found out that she trusted her to be a good pony, or fox in Glacies’ case.” “So, you changed your mind because of Philomena giving her ok on Glacies,” Luna stated with a bemused tone in her voice before it turned into a fit of laughter. “Laugh it up, Lulu. I trust Philomena’s perception,” Celestia said, trying to keep in a chuckle herself, obviously getting the joke. It took Luna a minute to calm down. The guards meanwhile stood there like a rock in the surf, never moving, never saying a word, not even a small chuckle. We followed Celestia until our different destinations required that we part ways. Celestia made her way to her quarters and Luna to the throne, taking me with her. Hooey, politics. Author's Note Hello, Saysy here. I took my time, but the chapter is finally finished. And as always point out errors so I can better myself. A big shout out to Rhawkas, for editing this and future chapters. Have a nice day or night.
Chapter 06: Magic LessonNothing happens. Luna is just sitting on her throne, waiting for someone to enter and it had been three hours already since Luna started night court. You would think that a princess would have been swarmed already with nobles and possible suitors, but no! Nothing! The only people nearby were four guards, two positioned in front of the staircase leading up to the throne and the other two positioned next to the entrance. A seneschal on Luna’s right side, who I didn’t know existed until three hours ago. She has grey fur; not original, I know, I already saw a few ponies sporting gray fur. However, unique about her was that she had bat-like wings, slit eyes and small fangs in her mouth. Did I forget something? Ah yes, her mane was a dusky pink almost purple. The only people I didn’t talk about were Luna and myself. She was sitting on her throne and I laid on a pillow next to her. ‘Bored,’ I thought what felt like the second time in one second. As I first entered the room I was stunned by the sheer beauty and serenity. The room practically demanded you to be rooted in your place. Luckily for me I was seated on Luna’s back, meaning I moved forward while stunned. I only was paralyzed for seven seconds, but in these seconds, we already passed half the way to the thrones. The thrones were stationed on two pedestals; one was made from white marble with a golden son emblem in the center. The other one looked like it was made from obsidian with an amethyst gem in the center shaped like a crescent moon. One can reach them through a set of stairs that were one at the beginning and split into two sets half way up. The stairs and the pedestals were also made from the same material as the thrones, which gave the stairs a slight ‘yin and yang’ vibe. Behind the thrones is a big glass window displaying the night on the left and the sun on the right. Some would say, “But Jordan, how can you be bored when there is a throne room to explore?” To that question my answer would be, “I did, but after an hour and a half the novelty of the room subsided.” And now I was sitting here next to Luna. ‘Bored.’ *Sigh* I looked up to Luna who also had a bored expression on her face. “This is… unacceptable!” Luna stated, getting a little bit angry at the end. “Your Highness, I know that you’re not happy with the attendance levels in your court, but the nobility expects the Lunar throne to be occupied in the night.” I was surprised by her seneschal speaking out against her, but Luna didn’t seem to care. Or they already had this discussion. “Oh, come on, Silver Stream, you find it boring as well. Every night, you’re standing here--or, in my case, sitting--and nothing happens.” Silver Stream looked like she wanted to say something, but Luna already seemed to know what she wanted to say. “Lady Money Hoard doesn’t count! I threw her out only one minute after she started to talk about her proposal. And she was the only petitioner in the last three months.” “I know that this sounds discouraging, but–” Silver didn’t proceed any further, Luna not letting her finish her sentence. “No! I have finally had enough of that farce. Get me if they want to speak with me, but until somepony shows up I shall do something productive.” Underlining her statement, Luna jumped up and trotted down the stairs. ‘Should I follow her?’ I asked myself, but that question was almost answered immediately. “Glacies!” Hopefully whatever she planned wasn’t as boring as the last three hours. I quickly stood at attention and before flitting over to her as fast as I could. Luna didn’t make it easy for me to catch up as she trotted out of the throne room in fast strides. I finally caught up to her as she started her ascend to her chambers. Trotting into her room she let herself fall on one of the big cushions that she levitated out of a closet near her bed. She proceeded with levitating a smaller pillow right in front of her and indicated me to sit on it. Then she levitated a wooden bowl in between us, filling it with water which was provided by a sapphire with runes engraved on it, which by usage glowed blue. After the glow subsided I could swear that it looked smaller than before. In the end I had one bowl filled with water right in front of me. “Glacies,” she addressed me and I looked up to her, seeing her lighting her horn before her eyes were bathed in a glow similar to her horn. “Can you put one paw into the bowl.” I do as she said and dip my paw inside the water. I didn’t have the time to get my paw out, because almost immediately the water freezes over, starting at my paw and going outward from there. It only took a second before my paw was encased in an ice prison. I desperately tried to get the bowl of me with no success. “As I thought,” Luna said. I held my paw with the bowl on it up and pointed with my other one on it. “Oh, one moment.” Her horn lit up and a moment later the ice went back to its liquid aggregate state. I swiftly withdraw my paw before it could turn the water back to ice. “No need to be so hasty, my magic power is greater than yours,” she said with a lecturing tone. She must have read my face right, because she swiftly gave an explanation. To my displeasure, her voice still had the lecture tone to it. “You see, when there are two magical signatures with opposed intentions on an object, the signature with more magical power behind it will overpower the other and the object moves to the will of the superior power. Or, in this case my magic holds the water in its liquid form, because it is stronger than yours. “Two factors determine how strong a caster’s magic power is: The size of his or her magic core and how much one can output at once. Both can be trained in one way or another. The core strength and capacity are mostly trained by constant spell usage or physical labor. The output is a little bit harder to train, because it has a higher chance to damage the user’s magic system and on rare occasions it can damage the core, too. As the core is trained through constant spellcasting, the output gets stronger by rapidly casting spells one after another or by spells with higher needs of magic than the caster can output at ones. Understood?” <> I said with a nod. Who would have thought that reading fantasy novels would be helpful one day. “Okay. From what I saw, your magic core is a little smaller than the average untrained adult unicorn. However, that will change as you get older and your core will most likely grow by one-third or a half its current size. Your output is on par with a captain in my sister’s or I’s royal guard and it will probably be bigger too when you reach adulthood. That is without training and you’ll be trained by none other than myself, so you’ll probably be stronger than most arcane mages. Oh, I can’t wait!” After the last part, she practically exploded from happiness, snatching me from my pillow and holding me in her hooves. Shortly after she realized what she did, she let me fall on the pillow. “Sorry, it feels nice to have a goal again. After centuries of sitting on the throne every night hearing about the nobles complaining over something or somepony, no one coming to your court and other things, you’d be surprised how a little bit excitement can bring so much joy.” Luna ended her sentence with a little melancholy in her voice. It seemed that she is more like an outdoor person or pony than someone who likes to be in an office all day. Someone like me, who, against his will, got thrown into the wild. Further thoughts were interrupted by Luna, who by now seemed to be back in her lecture mode. “Okay, Glacies, we know how strong you are, but the fact remains that you freeze water when you touch it. From the test a few minutes ago, I could see that your magic is constantly coating you and gets stronger when you make contact with an object, freezing it. Luckily, the floor can’t be frozen, and ponies’ cores defend them against outer magic attacks. Unluckily, you need to train yourself to only freeze something on commend. But first, let us see if you can deactivate your passive magic.” Levitating the bowl to the side, Luna proceeded with gathering magic in her horn. Soon, a dark blue sphere of the size of a ping pong ball was forming on the tip of her horn. “This will help locating your core,” Luna clarified, right before the ball was send between my eyes where it evaporates into little sparkles. Shortly after I felt a little burning in my head which was slowly traveling down my neck passing by my heart and hips, before It stopped, and my whole tail was engulfed in prickles. “Find your core?” I nodded. “Good. Before we start working on your passive ability, we will see if you can change the direction of your magic flow. We start with a few meditative exercises to feel where your magic ley lines are.” The exercises were mostly the same bag as on earth, though they were converted so quadruped people could do them without a problem. Funny, that when I first tried to do it like a human, it hurt. After Luna saw that I don’t have a clue how to meditate, she showed me how ponies do it and it was a lot more comfortable. We would have been a little bit more successful with my training if it wasn’t so boring to sit in the same position for an hour or two. Nevertheless, in the end I could feel my ley lines and it felt like a second heartbeat in sync with my heart, which made locating it much harder. Other than that, I felt a gnawing hunger forming in my stomach, ending our training session with a loud sound impossible to ignore. “Okay, Glacies, training is on hold for today. We can go eat after I lower my moon,” Luna said, trottinging over to her balcony and stepping outside. Lowering the moon looked a lot like raising it, only in reverse. It still looked beautiful though. On the other tower parallel to us, Celestia raised her sun, painting the sky in the typical orange announcing a nice summer day. Not long after, Luna and I entered the dining room. What surprised me--or rather, what surprised Luna--was that we were faster than Celestia, entering the room three minutes before her. Though we had cleared some of our differences yesterday, I couldn’t help but to be a little bit intimidated by her presence. Thankfully, Philomena was here too. Walking over to her, I was greeted by a friendly hello, which I returned. Finally, someone I can talk to and get some of my questions answered. <> I asked. <> <> She looked a little bit confused by my question before her confusion vanished and turned to one of understanding. <> <> I asked out loud, meanwhile thinking how childish it sounds. <> <> I asked with a little bit of worry showing in my voice and on my face. For a human, free will is a must and hearing this, it sounds like they aren’t allowed to perform work unrelated to their special talent. <> She finished, making it clear that ponies’ work isn’t chosen by their cutie marks. The food arrived shortly after our conversation about cutie marks ended. Though I was a little bit surprised. Looking up to Luna I voiced my confusion. <> The question wasn’t answered by Luna, but surprisingly by Philomena. <> <> I felt a little bit down, but I still ate my fruits. And then I encountered my worst enemy the last few days: Water. A bowl with water was stationed in front of me and I realized that I didn’t feel thirsty. Which surprised me now that I think about it, though, my mouth felt a bit dry. I slowly lowered my head to drink… Nothing. The water stayed water. I took a few more gulps, before I was satisfied. Later I realized that I drank out of a bowl meant for animals, but at the moment I wondered why I could drink without turning it into ice. ‘Time to test a theory!’ Lifting my paw into the water… it turned to ice. Lowering down to drink… it stayed frozen. ‘There goes my theory of ice turning back to water when I want to drink. Wait a second!’ <> I asked her, wondering how she gets meat, because she looks like a predatory bird to me. And I think that she would be sick if she didn’t eat meat sometimes. <> Came the simple reply, making me feel a little bit dumb and slightly embarrassed that I didn’t think of it myself. <> I asked, thinking that they wouldn’t let them run free. <> <> <> I nodded, satisfied with her answers. <> And with one simple question my thoughts went into overdrive. ‘Can I hunt? How do I hunt? Can I kill a living being for food?‘ My thoughts were interrupted by a wing hitting my back. <> <> I slowly said. <> she commanded, extending her wings to take flight. I followed the second time she called. 3rd POV, Dining room Celestia and Luna looked dumbstruck at the pair leaving the room having seen the display between the fox and the avian. “Sometimes, I think they are as smart as we are,” Celestia commented, turning towards her sister. Luna just nodded. The room was bathed in silence for five minutes until Celestia spoke up again. “So, sister, I heard that you canceled you court this night,” she said a bit surprised but not accusingly. “I just wanted to do something worth doing instead of sitting on a throne without a petitioner. They still can visit, but I will not be waiting for them on the throne,” Luna stated making it clear, that she won’t change her mind. Shortly after, Luna went to bed and Celestia prepared for morning court.
