---Protean---

“Bookish!” Twilight calls out, “Are you alright?”

I blink rapidly, and the spots of white in my vision start to slowly clear up. This however does little to help the ringing in my ears, or stop the world from spinning around me, but hey, it’s a start.

“Thank fuck…” I mumble under my breath.

I pick myself up from the floor, and turn to the source of the noise to see Twilight. Her mane is slightly singed, and her fur stands on end a little as though she were charged with static, but she looks to be otherwise okay. “Yeah, I think so. Are you?”

Twilight nods, and walks shakily over to me. She doesn’t look okay, but I guess I can take her word for it? I don’t know what the hell she did back there, but I pretty clearly recall her doing… something, and then taking the brunt of the magic I’d accidentally charged up.

She falls to her haunches next to me, and sighs loudly. “I’m sorry about that, I- I’m a bad teacher, aren’t I…?”

I tactfully ignore that comment, and opt to put a foreleg around her in hopes that it’ll at least make her feel better.

“What happened, anyway?” I ask, and I jump in surprise as Twilight perks up, launching straight into Twilight Lecture Mode.

“And what did happen, pray tell?” Luna asks, before taking another sip from her imagined cup of tea.

I’m dreaming right now, but I’ve gotten a little better at keeping my dreams stable, so tonight Luna and I are having a little tea party in a flower field.

“I dunno, I zoned out.” I say with a shrug, which is surprisingly hard to do when laying on my back in this body. Luna raises an eyebrow and gives me a stern look. She can’t hold her serious face for too long however, and we both break into a fit of giggles.

“Okay, okay. I listened to some of it,” I concede. “But she talked way over my head! Maybe my magic knocked the restraint out of her.” I add with a mutter.

Luna rolls her eyes. “And it appears to have knocked the manners out of you,” I snrk at that. “But do continue.”

I nod. “So basically, I drew in a lot more magic than I should’ve. Twilight got my attention, and then quickly cast a powerful shield spell.”

Which, if I understood her right, was quite dangerous, even if I wasn’t channeling as much energy through my horn as an adult pony might have been. If she hadn’t thought as quickly as she had, or wasn’t as talented at spellcasting… I hope I misunderstood her implications, but I think one of us could have stood to lose our horn, or worse.

“Ah, that is perhaps the only thing she did correctly.” Luna smiles. “I’m glad that she at least observed basic magical safety, if nothing else.”

Luna’s tendency to throw little jabs at Twilight is showing through again. I can’t really blame her, but it does make me feel a little sad. I like Twilight. Despite the mistakes she’s made--and okay, they were pretty big mistakes-- she’s good to me, and good to Spike. Or, at least…

Luna fluffs her wings as I trail off in thought. From what I’ve been able to pick up, that's kind of a protective gesture. I raise an eyebrow, and wait for Luna to decide to share with me what exactly she’s reacting to. We aren’t all mind readers, after all.

She huffs. “Well maybe you should be one. It would make conversing with me in your dreams significantly easier.” Luna clears her throat, continuing to her point. “But I was reacting to the memories that you held in your mind’s eye when you thought of Twilight being usually good to you and Spike. She has been acting unusually?”

“Mmm,” I nod. “She’s really irritable in the evenings for some reason. I could swear she’s up half the night, too. I don’t see it too often though, she usually keeps to her study after we have dinner.”

I let out a sad sigh. “Honestly, I feel bad for her. Spike and I think that Princess Celesita needs to stop giving her so much to do…”

“Quite…” Luna says softly, almost inaudibly. Her face betrays no emotion, but she seems to be deep in thought. “But I suppose that can wait. We have something more important to discuss. I had meant to tell you sooner, but through your story and pleasant dreamwork, I was distracted.”

"Ugh..." I resist the urge to wake myself up. This is going to be something super annoying that’ll totally kill my happy mood, isn’t it? But what… the gears of my mind spin round as I try to think of anything this might possibly be.

“Still your mind, little one.” Luna says, giggling into a hoof. “Quite how you think to construct a thought with such chaos in your mind is a mystery indeed- so be calm, and I shall tell you.”

Coming from anypony else, that pet name would be a deathly insult. But from Luna, I can feel it’s a term of endearment, and nothing more. It’s calming, honestly. It always reminds me of the difference in size between us--both literally and figuratively-- and that, no matter what, she’s looking out for me. I take a calming breath, and sit up, relaxing as much as I can in this imagined meadow.

“How much do you know of Canterlot’s society?” She starts.

I hum, thinking back to what few things I might have read, or picked up from Twi and Spike. “There’s ponies from all over in Canterlot, which gives it a rich culture. One book I read claimed that if you couldn’t find something for sale in Canterlot’s markets somewhere, it didn’t exist. That doesn’t sound too relevant though…”

Luna nods along with what I say, and gives me an expectant look, as if to ask ‘anything else?’

“And, um,” I cast my mind back to try and remember anything else. “Twilight complains sometimes about the nobles doing stupid things, so I guess they’re a thing… But I can’t really think of anything else, sorry Luna.”

“Not to worry, you landed close to the topic. Canterlot’s Elites, a class of merchants and nobles, are what I wished to discuss.”

The dreamscape lurches around us, and I struggle to not keel over as we appear in some sort of fancy ballroom. In front of me, and completely out of place, a simple desk and chair stand out to me in the room. Luna gestures from me to it with a wing, so I sit down.

“Though Celestia, and to a lesser extent myself, rule the lands Equestria, it could be said that Canterlot’s Elite direct and control the ponies within those lands.” She sneers. “And indeed, at their dinners and their dances, much is done to decide anything from the price of an apple in Manehattan to the wages of a bricklayer in Baltimare.”

“Standard noble stuff so far,” I shrug. “Rich ponies are asses. Where do I fit into all this?”

She was surely getting to that, but the sooner we can skip the preamble the better. As much as I like hearing about all the little intricacies of Equestria, I’d rather not dwell on this topic for any longer than needed. The dreamscape flickers for a moment at that whim, but the scene remains.

“Very well.” Luna says, her horn lighting with a spell to stop the dream from fraying any further. “I know not how, but word is spreading of your… status, as my Ward. You understand the situation in Canterlot is rather delicate, with the reagent shortages-- the upper class are on edge, simply put. They are looking for something, anything that might save their hides from what is, quite simply, a disaster for them.”

“Wha-? What do I have to do with Canterlot, of all places?!”

Silence.

“Luna, what didn’t you tell me?” I yell, throwing my hooves up in frustration.

Luna doesn’t make eye contact with me, her head dipped in shame. Her voice shows it too, as she replies “Your closeness to me affords you a great deal of political power, so I… I planned to hide you from the sorts who would seek to exploit you for that, until such time as you were ready to face that.”

Slamming a hoof down on the desk does little to calm me down, but doing that instead of yelling something I don’t mean gives me a little time to breathe, and to think of how to best respond to this. Although I suppose it doesn’t matter, since she’s in my head while I’m here anyway, it's still a good habit.

If I’m to understand the subtext of all this, now that this ‘secret’ is out, Luna must either be worried for me in Ponyville, or want me to make some sort of official appearance in Canterlot. Maybe both. Sweet Celestia I hope it’s not both. It’s not long before the worrying starts to occupy most of my thoughts, and my mind goes round in circles worrying about this and that.

Looking up at Luna, I can see she’s hurt by all this as much as I am. I know she meant well, and I know this isn’t her fault either, but I just had to go and overreact… I hop down from the desk, which immediately blinks out of existence, and run over to wrap her in a tight embrace.

Warm as ever. The last of my worries seem to melt away as she nuzzles me, and I will with all my might for that to make it right. Though it wouldn’t take a mindreader to know that I forgave her for what she did.

“We’ll start small,” she whispers, after a time. “For now, I believe they will be more than satisfied with your presence in Canterlot.”

I hum affirmatively into her fur, and she giggles, continuing “It will mean attending a school there, but I hear from Twilight that you have been preparing for that already?”

I have, in small ways. I can read to an acceptable level for my apparent age now, at least. I’ve sporadically skimmed a few textbooks from some of the subjects that I don’t hate, too. Sigh. I knew this was inevitable, but it feels weird to know my simple days relaxing in the Golden Oaks will be over so soon.

“You will still need some time to finish getting caught up with learning, so do not stress too much, little one.” Luna says, ruffling up my hair. “Your days in Golden Oaks won’t be ending so soon.”

I don’t wanna respond anymore. My mental tiredness is catching up to me, and snuggling up to something as large and fluffy as Luna always makes me a little bit sleepy anyway.

I feel like I had to ask her about something else, for some reason, but I can’t remember what. Remembering is an awake thing anyway.

“G’night, Luna…” I murmur.

“Dream well, little one.”

---P-Γ-θ-T-Σ-α-n---

Sharply inhale. Exhale ragged breaths.

There’s trees around me, and it’s dark. That’s okay though, it’s easier to see that way. My eyes dart to and fro, searching for any signs that one of them might have caught up to me yet.

Sigh of relief.

They’re looking for me, I’ve gotta keep running soon, I know. Just a few minutes to catch my breath, and maybe-

Sharp hiss of pain.

I touch a hoof to my side, and upon inspection it’s slick with blood. I shake the green fluid off, and stand back up. If I’ve left a trail, I’ll have to keep moving. On cue, I can hear snapping twigs in the direction I came from. It’s time to go.

---ρ-r-o-π-e-a-η---

“Bookish! It’s time to go!” Twilight calls from the other room.

I’m sat at the breakfast table across from Spike, spoon in hand, and a half-eaten breakfast in front of me. My fur’s still wet from the shower, but I can’t for the life of me remember even escaping from bed this morning...

Had I been sleeping?

I shrug, and get ready to head out of the house. I must’ve been.

Author's Note

I LIVE! THE STORY LIVES!

Seeing so many people put this story in a “dead” folder filled me with sadness, so we’re back in business, baybeee! I hope you’re all as happy to see me as I am to have y’all back for another chapter. Merry christmas, and I hope to regain some of that momentum I had before getting swamped in work.

Remember, of course, to enjoy the festivities- and to stay safe.