Alignment 3: Acclimation

>There are some definite perks of living in a castle with a princess
>No rent to pay, the food is free, and there's usually some pretty decent entertainment in the afternoons
>But you know what you could totally do without?
>The casual racism
>You are Anon
>Princess Luna's pet hairless ape
>Upon your release from the prison (and after explaining to Luna what a handshake was), you were informed of the terms of your release
>You were a pet, property of the princess, and she was to be held responsible for any disruption you caused
>In the front of your mind, you were okay with that
>You didn't have any major plans to stir up trouble for no reason
>And then dinnertime rolled around
>You didn't really want to impose on a royal meal, but Luna insisted
>You were introduced to her father, and her sister Celestia
>The king seemed pleasant, Celestia significantly less so
>Food began to be brought in, and you began to look for your seat
>It seemed there were only three spots
>You asked Luna where you'd be sitting
>Cheerfully, she pointed over against a wall
>'Over there!'
>Your eye follows her hoof, and against the wall you see two bowls
>One full of water
>The other full of what looks like kibble
>You laughed;  You assumed it was a joke
>You asked where you were really sitting
>Luna and the king looked confused
>Celestia, without looking up from her meal, said:
>'Over there.  We don't allow animals at the table.'
>It took a few seconds for your brain to process this information
>Humans=/= Animals
>Horses=Animals
>Except....
>Horses=/=Animals?
>Humans=Animals?
>This doesn't make sense
>But, the time you've spent thinking has started to worry Luna
>'Uhhh, Anon?'
>You snap out of your stupor
Uhhh... yeah.  Yeah!  Sorry, zoned out for a second, foodbowl in the corner, gotcha.
>You turn to your bowl and sit down against the wall
>As you sit, the king turns to his meal and chuckles
>'He thought he was allowed at the table.  That's almost cute.'
>Meanwhile, Luna looks a bit concerned
>You'll pull her aside later
>Just for a quick 'Hey, I'd totally appreciate not being treated like an animal' talk
>You smile and give her a thumbs up
>Concerns thusly allayed, she begins tearing into her meal
>Yeah, that seems like a good idea....
>It dawns on you that you haven't eaten in a while
>But all you have is kibble
>But you're hungry as FUCK
>But it's KIBBLE
>As much as you resent it, you pick up a piece and pop it into your mouth
>It's salty, but sweet....
>It tastes like.... muddy buddies?
>Oh hell yeah
>You tear into that bowl like....
>Well, like you'd tromped through a forest, were arrested, and hadn't eaten in a day and a half
>After the meal, you had a talk with Luna
>After explaining your feelings, she apologised profusely, saying she didn't even realize what she was doing
>Mentally, you called bullshit
>Meanwhile, Celestia was being a bitch
>But she acted that way all the time
>Not completely surprising, seeing as she's a princess
>The real thing you noticed is the fact that whenever Celestia acted like a bitch, ponies around her seemed surprised or shocked
>You didn't know any better;  She had always been a bitch to you
>At first, you chalked it up to the racial superiority most alicorns seemed to have
>But after a while of living with her, you saw that she treated most everyone with equal disdain
>After a few days you asked her about it, and things started to click into place
>It was about four days after your arrival, and Celestia was studying.....

--------------------------------------------
So, Celestia
>She looks up from her book with slight disdain
>'What do you want?'
>She seems bitchy
>But less bitchy than normal, so you go for it
I was wondering why you insist on treating me like an animal
>She looks annoyed
>'Beee-cause you ARE an animal?'
>Her tone suggests that you're missing something obvious, but you don't know what
But I can think.  I'm sentient
>'Yeah, well a lot of things are sentient.  That doesn't mean they're worth anything.'
Come again?
>She looks at you with slight amusement
>'You mean to tell me you thought ponies were the only sentient species on Equestria?'
Uh, kinda, yeah.  They're the only ones I've seen
>She shrugs dismissively
>'Well, we're not.  In fact, most things are sentient here.  And it's kind of hard to be concerned about feelings when EVERYTHING has feelings.'
>You kind of want to know what she means by that, and so you ask
>'What's there to explain?  The minotaurs know what the minotaurs need, the zebras know what the zebras need, the buffalo know what the buffalo need....'
>'It's not our goddamn job to look out for them, they can look out for themselves.'
>You see her point, it's a decent one
>'And, if they have something we need, we take it.  Because we can.'
>Aaaand she lost you
That seems like a pretty shitty international policy
>'It's not just international policy, ape.  It works like that in Equestria as well.'
>Didn't see that coming
How so?
>She explains:
>'The pegasus are stronger than the earth ponies, the unicorns are stronger than the pegasus, and the aliorns are stronger than the unicorns.'
>'So, naturally, the hierarchy goes Alicorn>Unicorn>Pegasus>Earth pony.'
>'If the lesser races don't like it, tough.  What are THEY going to do about it?'
>Suddenly your place in this world is a lot clearer
>If other PONIES are second class citizens here, you're completely out of luck
Don't you think you should help each other?  Your society would probably be a lot better for it
>She sneers
>'You sound like my fucking dad.  Getting the heads of the tribes together to spend time together and jacking each other off.'
>'Just you wait, if they all join forces guess where they'll come first?'
Tentatively, you ask:
Where?
>She slams her hoof on the ground
>'HERE!  To take over the kingdom!  And then there goes the neighborhood!'
>And with that your paranoid delusion alarm starts shrieking and you hastily excuse yourself from the room to find Luna
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*Meanwhile, in the present day....*
>Being considered a pet meant it was assumed that you weren't intelligent enough to be tasked with anything around the castle
>You tried insisting on being given something to do, to help alleviate your guilt and 'pull your own weight'
>But, the help around the castle refused to trust you with anything
>Luna's best guess was that if they trusted you with any job, they'd have to think of you less as a pet and more as a person
>So, in this case, racism seems to have given you an easy life
>You tried to let it not bother you
>But it bothered you a lot
>In your downtime, which was pretty much all the time, you tagged along with Luna as she studied magic
>A lot of the stuff she was studying went right over your head, but she pulled a few simpler textbooks out and let you read through those
>You briefly skimmed the books on creating and controlling magic;  Not being a Unicorn or Alicorn meant they were slightly better than useless
>The books you were interested, and over time immersed yourself, in were books on Equestria itself
>History, Flora, Fauna, Geography, Politics....
>The basic things about this world that made it tick
>You also found the myths, legends and beliefs of the ancient ponies to be fascinating as well
>You and Luna would often laugh and share stories of your planets religions
>You would tell her about the invisible man that lived in the sky and judged you for your wrongdoings
>She would tell you about a giant seapony that would eventually rise and flood the world
>You would tell her about a man with one eye who's two ravens told him all the happenings of the world
>She would tell you about two Alicorns, one gold and one silver, that dragged the sun and the moon across the sky each day and night
>You were kind of taken aback when she told you how day and night actually happened
>It seems Equestria is also in a heliocentric solar system
>However, instead of gravity being responsible for its orbit and rotation, it's propelled by magic
>Which doesn't surprise you;  EVERYTHING is powered by magic here
>You did feel kind of silly, but since magic was involved you had to ask if Alicorns really raised the sun and moon
>Luna stared at you for a second, then started laughing
>She explained that the sun and moon rose and fell on their own
>I mean, that's silly, right?
>Alicorns raising the sun and moon...
>It just sounds ridiculous
>In exchange for getting to learn about Equestria, you offered to teach Luna about Earth
>You tried to skim over areas in history that made humans as a species look really bad
>Like the Dark Ages, or the British Invasion
>But that was fine with Luna;  She was most interested in your Mp3 player
>It seems music as it exists on Earth doesn't exist on Equestria
>As such, you two talk a lot about how certain music makes you feel
>It's actually kind of adorable; Everytime Luna finds a song that she really likes she listens to it until she memorizes the lyrics, then stops what she's doing and runs over to tell you about it
>And since you know all the lyrics too, she usually expects you to sing with her
>At first you refused, due to to your terrible singing voice, but then she got all pouty and you couldn't tell her no
>Speaking of which....
>you are currently engrossed in a book on the role of agriculture in Equestria's economy when Luna bursts into the room
>'Anon!  I found another one!'
>You set your book down, and she's levitating your Mp3 player in front of her
>And it looks like she's blushing a little
>Not that that's really off;  She tends to start blushing when you sing together
>You pull the player out of her magical grasp and check the song
>And you smile
I really like this song, Luna
>She squees happily
>'So... Can we sing this one as a duet?  I'd like to try that.'
>It would be easy enough, and you know if you refuse she's going to pout
Yeah, why not
>You smile
>Luna hops excitedly, and casts a simple spell
>It picks up and broadcasts sounds the user is thinking, effectively turning Luna into a living karaoke machine
>You take it this is why she memorizes the songs she likes;  It's like she's storing them to her hard drive
>The music starts playing, and you and Luna start rocking out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wH5e5tOHNY&feature=endscreen&NR=1
>You're still kind of embarrassed about this whole 'singing in front of other people' thing
>But you have to admit it's really fun
>Especially since you started getting really into it and playing air instruments
>Luna, not knowing what instruments made what sounds, would usually just dance
>Which was fine with you;  You got all the sweet air-guitar solos
>Strangely enough, it's actually kind of made you more confident around the castle
>Once you're caught singing and dancing with a pony princess, it's kind of hard to give any fucks about what other ponies think of you
>You grab an invisible microphone off of an invisible stand
Burning here, in my room, feeling that the walls are moving closer....
>As you sing, you try and, for lack of a less cheesy term, channel the song through you
>By doing so, you can focus on the music and lyrics, and try and grab the emotions that someone who's never heard the song before would get
>Listening to music with Luna is exhilarating;  It's like listening to it for the first time again
Silent scene, the dark takes me.....
Leads me to, the ending of another day...
I'm haunted....
>You make a sweeping gesture to Luna, giving her the spotlight
>Luna, being Luna, cranks her volume to 11 and starts belting out the lyrics
>'Tell me who you are, I am spellbound'
>'You cannot have this control on me'
>As she sings, you pin down the emotion the song is making you feel
>It's love
>But not true love;  More like a love that cannot be
>Or should not be
>'Everywhere I go, I am spellbound'
>You realize, in your thoughts, that zoned out slightly, so you refocus your eyes back on Luna
>She's staring right back at you
>Not intensely, but in a soft, loving way
>'I will break this spell you've put on me...'
>Wait, in a loving way?
>She finishes her verse, and averts her gaze slightly, blushing
>Not knowing what to do, you play dumb and continue to sing
Velvet drapes, glowing candles...
Silent whispers of words inside of my head...
>Luna starts sidling up next to you
>Okay, so THIS IS HAPPENNING
>It seems that a talking horse has developed a crush on you
>And, being the same oblivious fucktard you were back on Earth, you're only noticing NOW
The night that comes, it waits for me...
>No, not just a talking horse
>This is Luna
>Your best friend on this world
>And, to be honest, a better friend to you than many of your friends on Earth
Lifts me to, the ending of another day...
I'm haunted....
>Luna picks up her singing, allowing you to focus on your thoughts
>You don't want to break her heart
>But you probably wouldn't end up working out anyway
>You start compiling a mental list of reasons why you two being together would be a bad thing
>You list quite a few good reasons before you have to focus on singing again
>And even then you're still mostly absorbed in your thoughts
>You tell yourself, your mind is made up
>You're going to politely reject her, and try to stay friends
>You tense up, mentally preparing to do something you really don't want to
>But why don't you want to?
>To spare Luna's feelings?
>Or something else?
>The song ends, and Luna shuffles up to you
>'So, Anon.... There's a reason I wanted to sing that with you...'
>You decide to continue to play dumb, just in case
Oh?
>She's blushing so hard
>'Yeah... I wanted to tell you something....'
>Oh boy here it comes
>You don't know if you're prepared for this
>'Well, I... kind of really like you....  And I wanted to know if you felt the same way....'
>She averts her gaze, and the tinge of marinara fills the air
Well, yeah....
>She perks up, and you think your heart is going to tear from the adorableness
...but....
>And, just as quickly, her ears flatten and her eyes go wide as she braces for bad news
>And, you should tell her that it wouldn't work out, you're too different, she should move on....
>But you've got nothing
>If you're going to stop this, you can to do it right now
>But do you want to?
>She looks tentatively at you
>Could you be in a relationship with a horse?
>Do you think you could LOVE a horse?
>But, she's not just a horse
>It's Luna we're talking about here
>If she was human, you wouldn't even be debating this;  You wouldn't be able to say yes fast enough
>And, in a world where YOU'RE the animal, this is probably really awkward for her too
>Especially given how bigoted her family is
>Deep down, you know what you want
>....
Fuck it
>You grab Luna and pull her in for a kiss
>She's shocked at first, but then relaxes and starts kissing you back
>She tastes like grape soda
>In the back of your mind, your thoughts are still racing
>Do you think you could be in a relationship with a horse?
>Truthfully, you don't know
>But as you share the kiss, which isn't as weird as you imagined, you decide that you're at least willing to try
>For her



>Unbeknownst to the two of you, a pair of dispassionate magenta eyes was unobtrusively watching this whole exchange
>By the time either of you would have noticed her presence, she was long gone