//-------------------------------------------------------// Never Alone -by lolnerd- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Vicariously, I. //-------------------------------------------------------// Author's Note Note: Like the other futa horse words I have written the ponies in this have human facial features. (no muzzle etc) they have pointed elfin ears and have a thin covering of fur over their whole body. Lower legs are digitigrade with hooves like a satyr I suppose. Hands have three fingers and one thumb. In this one the unicorns don't have horns and magic is cast from the hands. This particular story isn't going to be updated as quickly as the ones in the past I'm afraid, I just don't have the same free time, but I know where its going so shouldn't be too bad. Vicariously, I. Luna rose from her throne, I could see from my position beside her that she was tense, her neck and shoulders were bunching under her silken fur and there was subtle tremors flicking across her wings. “Night court is adjourned, please seek out my equerry if you wish to bring your matters before me in tomorrows court” she said in an, if you knew her well, terse voice. She disguised it well enough though and most of the ponies left waiting quickly turned to Heath, Lunas batpony assistant, to book their hearing. I was bewildered for a moment, wondering at her sudden change in mood before I heard the side door to the east wing of the castle open and Luna passed through it. I dashed over and ducked through the doorway as it was closing and kept a fast pace to keep up with her. Luna you see is quite a tall specimen of the pretty pony populace, and with her long legs her strides far outmatch my own. She is a good foot taller than me. Now I am not tiny by any stretch, I am pretty much average height I think, for a human anyway, somewhere between five and six feet tall, closer to six than five, although my slight frame makes me look smaller than I am. Luna by contrast must be about six and a half feet, probably taller! With an immaculate athletic build. When I first saw her I was honestly pretty intimidated, her long steps force me to almost skip to keep up when she is walking with a purpose. Which is pretty much all the time, truth be told. We walked through the cavernous halls, me trailing just behind. Night was slowly beginning to give way to dawn, through the windows I could see a pink glow on the sparse cloud cover in the distance, it was probably about another hour before she would push the moon over the horizon. It looked like it was going to be a nice day, not that I would see much of it. Since I met My Princess I had adjusted my sleeping pattern to more closely match hers so I would be asleep for most of it. She ducked in to her 'cooling off' room as I liked to call it. I followed her in and closed the door. She turned her head at the noise of the door closing, flicked an ear and let out a breath. The cooling off room was a plainly decorated little chamber which had foregone furniture in favour of a smattering of cushions spread on the floor and some old looking tapestries on the wall. Luna's stride did not let up until she stood before the largest of the cushions in the middle of the room, dropped to her knees, and proceeded to punch the living daylights out of it. Thankfully it was a sturdy sitting cushion so there was going to be no flying feathers. Her punching also probably explained the lack of expensive furniture. As I said before, she was a specimen, i'm sure her punches could penetrate castle walls. “Oh Luna,” I said. “whats gotten inte' tha head uh yours” I said in my geordie lilt with a little smile. It was, I had found, best to let her work out her frustrations for a moment or two before I helped her relax a little. She grit her teeth as her punches became softer. “Damn and hellfire to those rapacious kowtowers and their jannisaries” she hissed out “do they think me a troglodyte? The obsequious fools!” “Ah” I said, “s'one a 'those' is it chick” I said to myself with a little giggle, she had a habit of reverting to an archaic speech pattern that was honestly really cute when she was fed up. Not that I understood what she was really talking about, but a look at her pouting face, now that her public royal frown had dropped, told me that the patronizing tone of the pony bureaucrats were the cause of her mood. It wouldn't have been the first time and likely wouldn't be the last. Her face was a book that I felt I could read like no other by now. She had finally punched out her frustration though, and turned and plopped her rump down on the now lumpy cushion and pressed her face firmly to her hands. She was like this sometimes, not that I didn't understand. She wasn't having an angry moment, more a frustrated moment where she needed to vent. The ponies, as lovely as most of them were, saw the princesses as not ponies but as rulers. There, I suppose, is nothing more isolating than that. Court this evening was nothing out of the ordinary, I expect the boredom and the repetition of the evening had finally ground her down. I knew she wanted to feel included, a part of something, not separate and above her little ponies. I think she was just as lonely as me, to be honest. “Let us chill yah oot babes” I said and moved behind her and kneeled at her back. I brought my hands to her tense shoulders and began to knead gently her knotted muscles and massage out her tension, whilst simultaneously delighting at the feel of her soft fur on my fingers. She let out a soft sigh as the pressure was rubbed from her and her shoulders slumped. I leaned over and kissed her softly on the cheek. “Yer gonna send yasel ta an early grave if yeh divvnt chill oot y'kna” I said with a pensive smile. “get yasel some pals hun” I moved my hands to her temples and circled with my fingertips, hoping to alleviate the probable headache she was likely brewing up. We both stayed like that for a few minutes as her breathing slowed and she began to relax a bit more. It was getting close to her bedtime and she would be tossing and turning all day if she tried to sleep stressed out. With her finally fully relaxed she rolled her shoulders and brought herself back to her hooves. I rose with her and followed her to the door. She let out one final huffing sigh and stepped back out to the hall and set off in the direction of her chambers. I trailed her from further behind this time and admired her gait. She was beautiful and graceful. There was an almost feline quality to her movements, precise and calculated, maybe like a ballerina?. Her long navy blue dress hugged her curves at her hips, chest and torso and billowed around her legs and drifted like the wind. Her exposed back allowed her wings to flutter behind her and allowed me the sight of her athletic musculature at the base of her back above her tail which rolled and curled as she stepped from hoof to hoof along the hallway. The deep periwinkle of her mane and tail trailed like the milky way with stars blinking into and out of existence and fading at the borders in an intangible mist. She was without a doubt the most beautiful person I had ever seen in two worlds. Maybe that was why she intimidated me so when I first saw her?. I had never believed in love at first sight. It seemed so banal. I don't think I ever really believed in love at all to be honest, in my mind love was more of an abstract thing that happened to other people. Or maybe what other people told themselves they felt when they found a partner who they actually liked a bit more than you would a friend. I was ashamed of myself when I finally realised the depth of my love for her. What could I possibly have to offer someone who is so wise and beautiful? Not much is the answer. Still I stood by her and spent my days being her guardian angel, ready to lend a helping hand wherever needed. I would give pretty much anything for her to feel the same for me, but that clearly was never going to happen. I had come to realize though, that I could live with that. I was happy to be her pillar, the one who always stood in her corner and preened her frustrations and massaged her tensions. It was at the time when I realised this, that I also realised that I was in love. Who would do as I have without loving so completely and devotedly? Nobody would ever know. She pushed through the door to her chambers and turned to close it. I drifted through so as to not slow her over much. She moved over to her writing desk as I moved to the expansive bathroom adjoining the expensively furnished study. It was a bathroom fit for a princess, of course. A large white marble bath was the centerpiece, recessed in to the floor in the middle of the room. I walked around it to the sink and vanity and gave my teeth a quick brush. A glance at the mirror showed me my chestnut coloured hair was in need of a good brushing, I hadn't paid a visit to a stylist for quite some time now so it was long, at least half way down my back. I ignored that for the moment. I finished cleaning my teeth and slipped the brush back in to the cup in the unit under the sink then filled the sink with some warm water and gave my face a rinse then patted down with a fluffy blue towel. I grabbed a facecloth from the shelf and dampened it in the warm water, then moved back to the study and grabbed another fluffy towel on the way. I moved towards My Princess as she sat on her stool and wrote in that crazy pony writing that made absolutely no sense to me. I brought another stool and sat behind her and started to massage the base of her spine to persuade the oily gland there to produce so I could preen her. I wanted My Princess to look her finest, and I found that preening in the evening while she works is best, it was impossible to get her to sit still for long enough when she woke in the morning. After finally coaxing enough of the oily stuff to rub between my hands I began to move my fingers through her right wing, paying attention to any loose feathers and coaxing anything out of place back to where it should be. It didn't take long if you did it daily, and it was worth it. Her wings were beautifully glossy and had a bright reflective sheen to them. I had heard the compliments whispered about them as she passed by ponies so I must have been doing something right. I moved on to the other wing after moving back to her spine and applying more oils to my hands and repeated what I had done with the other wing. Luna gave a little sigh as I removed a loose feather. I popped it behind my ear with a smile. I stood and inspected my handiwork, giving a little touch here and there to make sure that every feather was tended and seated as they were meant to. Then finally to finish the job I picked up the damp facecloth and wiped the oils from the fur on her back, giving her a soft pat with the towel to dry her off. Just perfect. She looked like she still had some work to do so I busied myself with brushing out her mane and tail. I didn't want to style it at all but it would be more comfortable for her to sleep if it was freshly brushed out. Her mane grew to the base of her neck. If I had copious quantities of hairspray I could have amused myself by styling it like those punk rockers in the eighties, but it was long!. There was a good two feet of length all the way from the front to the back. To the sides of her mane was slightly longer fluffier fur coat that I liked to run my fingers through, it felt like stroking a fluffy puppy. I straightened that out with the brush too. Finally done with the evenings pruning and brushing I walked in to her bedroom adjoining the study. I stepped to her wardrobe and pulled out a silk nightie and placed it on the bed for her. I grabbed a smaller washed out cotton nightie for myself and undressed. My jeans were looking pretty worse for wear, I would have to find something to replace them with soon. I discarded them in the corner of the room and pulled off my strap top. It held up surprisingly well, there was a couple of scuffs here and there and it was feeling a little loose but it would be fine for a while longer. I pulled down my panties and bra and let them fall to the floor. I cast a glance at the full length mirror and cringed a bit at the lines of shadow cast by my ribs and breasts in the low light. I was looking a little thin, I should have been eating a little more but keeping up with My Princess was a full time job. My face was looking a little thin and drawn too. Ugh. I pulled the nightie over my head and tied my hair up in a pony tail. I would give it a brush in the morning after the bath. I grabbed my undies' and bra from the floor and walked through the study to the bathroom and plopped them in the sink to soak them then started scrubbing with a lavender scented soap bar. It smelled of her. Once done I unplugged the sink and rung them out as firmly as I could, then gave them a little shake to straighten them out and hung them over a towel rail. Early morning duties done!. Now the main event!. Luna was just finishing up whatever crazy pony hieroglyph writing she was working on and put her quill away and stoppered the ink bottle. The parchment was placed on the side of the desk. She stopped for a moment with a queer look on her face before unstopping the ink again and picking up the quill once more, she took a blank sheet and quickly scribbled some more crazy writing. Not much though. Once she was happy with that she ripped the part with the writing away from the sheet and placed it beside the chess set in the corner of the room which was in the middle of a game we had been playing. I gave the set a thought and decided to make my move in the morning. I wasn't very good but I liked to play anyway. I looked back to the piece of paper wondering what it said. I didn't bother asking. Weird. Finally done with her evenings work she moved to the balcony and looked over to the balcony her sister would be stepping on to. 'Tia emerged a few moments later and smiled in our direction. Luna replied with a small smile and nod of her own. They both cast their eyes to opposite horizons. Luna lifted her hands and a pale glow thrummed from the palms of her hands. A light ringing in my ears and a wave of power washed over me from her direction. My knees shook as I fought to keep standing and watching. Being so close to My Princess while she played cosmic conkers with celestial bodies was a visceral reminder of who I was standing next to. The glow in her hands intensified and the ringing in my ears increased with the power she was displaying. After a few moments her hands raised and the light in her hands shot out in the direction of the moon and it visibly responded to her. I could actually see the moon moving now, dipping over the horizon. I let out a breath I had not realised I had been holding. My hand reached out and grasped Luna's. Once done Luna and I turned and watched the same display of awesome power from her sister, and only moments later the dawn had come. I wiped a single tear from my cheek. I would not have traded this moment for the world. Both sisters faced eachother with a smile and a tiny dip of the head. I released Luna's hand and moved back in to her chambers and waited in the study while she went in to her bedroom and changed in to her night wear. I gave her a couple of minutes to change then I followed her in. She was crawling under the sheets as I entered wearing the nightie I had placed out for her. I moved to the other side of the bed and pulled the sheets back to get in myself. Luna lay with her back to me with her wings tight against her back so I moved against her, rose up on my elbows and kissed her on her shoulder. “Love ya” I fell quickly asleep pressed in to her wings with a hand on her hip. //-------------------------------------------------------// My Search //-------------------------------------------------------// My Search It started as an itching thought at the back of my mind. The feeling that something was different, something that I couldn't quite place. There was a sense that I was being spied upon. No, not quite spied upon, that would imply some nefarious intention, but certainly watched in some manner nevertheless. The feeling intensified over the weeks. I could not place a time exactly when it started, it could have been months before the changes added up to the moment of realization. One day my sister had commented on the state of my wings. “I see you have finally decided to civilize yourself sister” she had said with a wry smile. “your wings are looking wonderfully well kept” For the life of me I could not remember preening in weeks, normally I gave them a reluctant once-over perhaps once every three or four days, nothing more. I looked over my shoulder and spread my wings. They were utterly immaculate. I had done that, had I not? Other things happened too. Little differences here and there. My mane being done in different styles that I would not normally wear it, not the simple brushing to one side or the other, but styles I had no knowledge of or no previous interest in. A plait using the whole of my mane from the front all the way down to the back and held with a bow. Ringlets that curled to my jaw. Waves that fell down my back. I felt certain that I had done it myself. At the same time I was certain that I had not. Usually I simply tie up my mane to keep it out of the way, and nothing more. I had decided my paranoia was well placed so I started to write myself notes here and there. I kept a calendar for when I preened my wings. That calendar, to date, has no crosses. I kept a diary, but that gave me no further clues, so I wrote notes about the little things. The dress I intended to wear the next day for example. I left notes in my room of where I had placed things, innocuous things like teacups and books. Some things moved, some things did not. I was certain now that somepony was doing these things, for otherwise it could only be explained by madness on my part. That did not bear a thought. I decided to experiment further in a more overt manner, to try and tempt my watcher to reveal themselves in some way. I had a chess board placed on the side table in the corner of my room and made the first move. The next day I saw that a counter move had been made. Further experimentation was necessary, for this could simply be the result of a particularly bold castle porter. The next day I waited until the evening before I made my move and locked the door to the outside, casting a privacy charm at the same time which would alert me of intruders. I wrote myself a note as a reminder. The next morning after my bath and before the door was unlocked and my charm dispelled again I noticed that my watcher had made another move. I resisted the temptation to rail at the violation of my privacy. I realised that my watcher was close and had the ability to either negate my powerful magic, not likely unless it was one of three other ponies, or they were in my chambers before the charm was cast and the doors locked. This was a concerning thought. Still I needed to confirm my hypothesis. The easiest way was to talk to the only pony who would have had both the magical power to negate my charm, and was close enough to do so without a stately visit. My sister being prone to bouts of 'pranking' denied making any such moves on my chess board. I reeled at this, but kept my outward appearances calm and dismissed it as a maids mistake whilst dusting. Nothing more was mentioned on the matter. And still the game progressed, my watcher was no competition to one such as I who had played the game for many years. But the games continued, it was a way to confirm that my watcher was still present. Each day the pieces moved so each day I could experiment further. Sadly, for a while the results of my experiments plateaued. No matter what I tried after this I had no results, the only thing I knew for certain was I was still being watched. This was troublesome. I moved on to experimenting with magic, dispelling magic to see if there was an invisibility spell. No such luck. Neither was there any luck with any spying spells, nothing triggered them. Nor was there any result to scrying. Blank after blank. I was reaching the end of my tether and the temptation to consult my sister or Twilight Sparkle became nagging, though I did not wish to scare the watcher away. It had slowly become a game, one I was determined that I should win. One day as I lay in my bed ready to sleep I instead decided to look where no other can look, in the dreamscape It is difficult to explain to those unable to experience the dreamscape exactly what it is. How would you explain to a pony who was blind what it was to see? Or the deaf what it is to hear?. When I sleep I dream like any other, it is one of the reasons I sleep when all my little ponies are awake, so that I can guard their dreams in my trance when I am awake. This day though I resisted sleep and slowly moved myself to a trance. The dreamscape was clear, except for a wrongness. The feeling that there was something there that should not be. Or perhaps something that was not there that should have been. So I searched. And I found something. My first direct contact with my watcher was a confusing melange of sounds and colours as I passed beyond the veil of their dreams. There was no substance and no cohesion so I attempted to reach out and guide it to something akin to a lucid dream. The blackness I got in response was infinite and harrowing, no dream had ever responded in such a manner. I retreated, afraid, and chose instead to sleep. I am ashamed to admit that the unending void had made me weary of visiting that dream again, if it was a dream at all. It took me several weeks to rally and make another attempt. The moment I imposed my will upon the dream the void returned and I reeled once more. I awoke panting and sweating. Again and again I tried, steeling myself and hoping I could pierce the darkness that greeted me, every time I recoiled and shrunk back in to myself. But I was the Dream Weaver. The Mare of the Night. The realm of dreams is my domain, and I am its mistress. I felt I was so very close to something. Concerned at my lack of progress, this night I was to reveal myself to my watcher. The fear that I would scare them away without getting my answers was weighed against my wish to find out the truth. I entered the dream-scape and oriented myself to the chaotic mass and entered. I spread out my magic and attempted to crystallise the dream in to a platform that could be built upon instead of forcing lucidity. If my watcher could bring the dream I would be the plinth it was placed upon. The dream shuddered and washed away bringing darkness. I forced myself to show my mettle and hold firm. Then I allowed myself to manifest. The dream flickered and shook but I held it in place, the dreamer would not awaken unless I permitted it to be so. After a moment or two the dream began to take shape and I was stood in my throne room, alone. I looked for clues of my watcher but there was a frustrating lack of sound or presence. “I am Princess Luna,” I said haughtily “reveal yourself!” A few seconds passed as I looked around, then in the corner of my eye something began to appear. It was only for a moment before the dream almost shattered completely, but my willpower of iron kept it in place. Darkness greeted me again. Once more the throne room appeared and once more it shattered as a shape began to resolve itself. Most infuriating. Was my watcher experimenting with the dream? Was there a block of some kind in place stopping them from showing themselves to me? It was a hypothesis I wished to test. Once more I was in the throne room. “Stop!” I called to before they would have a chance to shatter the facade they had built upon the darkness again. Were they prevented from speaking directly? How can you speak to somebody so?. Had they a magic that could prevent all from seeing them? Hmm. “Are you literate?” I called to the dreamer. Suddenly the floor before me became filled with lines and curves and dots. Utterly illegible to me, and unlike any script I have seen before. “Wait” I called out again. I took some time to inspect the supposed writing, but it was as indecipherable as a foals scribbles. How vexing. Although I felt that seeing the text before me was a further clue in some small way. Perhaps the dreamer was blocked from communicating directly? Was it the fact that the text was foreign that had allowed it to pass the block?, after all the writing meant nothing to me. Could this somehow be worked around in some way?. I commited a small part of the text to memory and resolved to investigate futher. Perhaps indirect communication was possible? The gnawing realization that my watcher was inflicted with a malady of sorts was pushing me to find a cure, but how? The victim of a charm gone wrong perhaps? Or a curse? No, nopony could be so callous. “Can you...” I stopped and thought again, how was I to communicate with somepony who could not communicate. “show me the first time you came to me” I said after a moment. The throne room blinked away and was replaced by a balcony, not my own but my sisters. I stood and watched as Tia looked over to the dream me, my own face looked back with a smile and a nod. The scene continued and my doppelgänger stood and drew in her magic, then pushed it over to the horizon and guiding the moon to its rest. The sun rose in response. Little details sprung out at me and I took in as much as I could. The leaves on the trees were ready to fall, there was a chill in the air, there was no flowers in the gardens. It was clearly autumn. I let out a gasp for it was currently the height of summer outside. But my watcher had first come to my sister? Why not I? I held back on barking a jealous retort. “You first sought my sister, for how long were you with her?” I chastised myself at the direct question, “wait” I thought a little longer “show the passing of the sun for the days you spent with her” The sun crossed over the horizon once. A day? “For how long have you been following me” I said with a frown. Like a flash the sun began flicking across the horizon in a haze causing a dizzying strobe in the sky “Stop!” I called. Much longer seemed to be the answer. I thought again of the scene my watcher had shown me. “Show me the passing of the seasons since you first came to me” I called out. The gardens dashed from autumn to winter in a blink, snow covering the barren trees and the coniferous hedge maze and dusting the ground. Just as quickly the gardens cleared and the growth of spring let itself known with early flowers blooming and the sky brightening. Then the balmy summer heat beat down on me, trees were full and the garden looked alive, just as outside at the moment. I had expected this to be the end but I gasped once more as the transition to autumn again was felt and the trees darkened. Winter again and spring again and finally summer once more. Nearly two years? Madness! I became as silent as the stars. Had the dreamer been at my side the whole time?. “Who did this to you!” I said in a firm voice with the promise of retribution. Then suddenly the dream shattered, in a panic I failed to hold it and awoke in a cold sweat. “Stupid!” I chastised myself. I rose from the bed fully awake and began pacing. “Stupid, stupid, stupid!” I tapped my forehead with my knuckles each time I said the word. I left my bedroom and went to my writing desk. I pulled a blank parchment from the drawer and began writing down my findings to give structure to what was to be done and questions to be asked. I felt I knew now that there was a magical problem to be resolved. I huffed out a breath as I began to relax and the tension started to leave my shoulders and neck. Perhaps now was not the time to be chasing ghosts. I awoke later that day both frustrated and mightily aroused. The dreamscape was absent of my watcher so I had resigned myself to instead sleep and resolved to attempt communicating the following morn. Perhaps my morning arousal would be a fine way to shift the weight that had settled on to my shoulders?. I let out a sigh whilst stretching out my legs and curling my hips. I am the Princess of the Night and all that it entails after all, and finally some progress! A reward was definitely justified. I rolled myself on to my back and brought my hands under my nightshirt, it was tangled and creased, but with a shimmy of my rear I lifted it to above my breasts and allowed my hands to wander my torso and to the cleft of my breasts. I rolled my hips again and felt my hard length brush against my abdomen. I kept my eyes closed and allowed my hands to wander further, the eventual release was only the destination of course, the real fun was in the journey. My hands moved to my breasts fully and I gently circled with my fingertips in a spiral to my nipples, once there I allowed myself a moment to build the tension before closing my fingers around the sensitive, and now fully erect, little buds of flesh. I let out a delighted sighing moan as a tingling warmth spread from my chest to my genitals, I could feel waves of heat rolling down my torso to my penis and then further to my clitoris and the damp mouth of my vulva. I pressed my hands fully, grasping firmly my breasts and kneading as a baker would. The warmth exploded and roiled through me, pulsing in time with the beat of my heart. I took my left hand away from my breast and left the right grasping and flicking firmly in place. My left hand wandered and pressed down by my stomach and circled the base of my penis. There was a delightful tickling on my nethers. I enjoyed holding myself from touching and stroking to allow the pressure to build in my core. My hand travelled further to the inside of my thighs, which I spread in reaction. My hand circled and pinched at my inner thighs moving closer and closer to its goal. I did not hold off for as long as I would normally, the burning heat spreading through my body demanded attention and relief. I moved to my lips in a quaking leap and pressed the palm of my hand to my mons. My hips rolled and my stomach shuddered as I ground my palm to my nether-lips, my hand was getting slick and hot with my feminine waters spreading along the valley of my sex, I then curled my hand upwards to gently cup my testicles for a moment. I took that time to take a few deep breaths and feel their weight in my hand. I moved back down and traced my index finger from the bottom of the valley to the top in a languorous slow motion. My breath hitched as I reached the top and circled my clitoris. My penis throbbed mightily, stood tall and held off my stomach rigidly. I circled more and pinched with my index and middle finger. My spine coiled like a snake as electric fire washed through my body. I gave it another pinch then pressed in to the little nub, circling and grinding. I was not long for this morning, every touch was electric, every stroke and pinch was burning. I let out a cry as the pressure built and released. At my peak I pressed two fingers in to my molten middle and palmed at my clitoris so that I could feel the pulsing of the muscles in my core, my penis throbbed and released silmutaneously. Shot after shot left me and lay upon my breasts as my core sent fire through my body. I slumped and lay to luxuriate in the bliss of my release. Today was sure to be a busy day after all. I got up and went to the bathroom. The bath I had been running was almost full. Excellent timing. After my bath I dried my fur with a spell and picked a brush from a side table. I left my mane and tail a little damp to make brushing easier. I went to my study wearing a light gown and sat on the stool. I needed to write a letter so I plopped the brush down upon the desk, I would not reveal too much, perhaps dismiss it as a 'what would we do if?' scenario. If you give Twilight Sparkle something to research she can be most enthusiastic and I hoped she would have further insight that may expediate the resolution of my watchers ailment. It took me several attempts to write something that I felt would not reveal too much or warrant questions from my sister. I still did not wish to have my watcher fear their questions. Once the letter was finished I sent it away with a flick of my hand. I stood and went to my bedroom to dress. I glanced in the mirror to ensure the reverse plait I had done was held correctly. I turned to the side and inspected. Unlike a normal plait which would hide the ridge of my mane, the reverse plait helped to pleasingly accentuate. I had tied it at the back of my head with a dark ribbon, the rest of it fell and was tied with two more ribbons to allow it to bunch slightly in between them, one was half way down and one more near the bottom. I had tied up my tail in a similar manner. One dark ribbon at the top near my dock. One half way down and a final one mere inches from the base. I picked up the pale blue dress I had picked out and got dressed. Finally I shod my hooves with my silver shoes. Not my usual look, but it would suffice. I left my room and went about my day, satisfied that I finally felt I was making real progress. Author's Note Plinthess Luna