Shameful

"I wondered why he had been so reluctant to tell me his name. The fact that he had though pleased me since it meant we were probably on friendly terms even after all I'd done to hurt him physically. He was so kind with his encouraging speech I felt that anything could be done now with just my sheer will.

I was also happy with his description of how to handle paperwork, maybe if I assigned some scribes to handle certain areas of paperwork traffic into the castle then Tia wouldn't be so busy and could free up some of her time to spend with her dear sister who had nothing better to do.

Of course she was always busy and would probably find something else to do instead to pass the time but I still quite liked the idea of getting back into the game of ruling and who knows, maybe someday somepony would begin to admire me again. But until then I supposed I had some work to do with everything else, firstly Dark Horizon then later I could help myself.

I'd read up on the laws and new politics in the new Equestria and although complex they were only made so by the amount of red tape that I could have apparently bypassed easily enough and my sister could have as well centuries ago. I felt it amazing we hadn't worked this out sooner but supposed we'd both been busy with our own things to care about implementing a new system, especially since this system though stressful worked for my sister and also it being hard to do that as a dark entity stuck on the moon on my part.

I would have gone to tell my sister the marvellous news since the sun was about to come up in a minute but I wanted it to be a surprise. So I got to the tower and lowered my moon, waiting for the sun to rise and my sister to arrive.

The sun did indeed rise and my sister, walking up the steps of the observation tower with her magic glowing treated it as nothing at all. The made me jealous once more, her being more powerful as Dark Horizon said "I can smell the raw power from her" and you really could, it was electrifying and jealousy inducing.

"It doesn't matter though, she has a bigger celestial body to move so it's cool" I told myself as she smiled and arrived to the tower with a refreshed and well slept face that she always had.

"It is nice to see that my sister is socialising" she grinned, embracing me as the sun set into the top of the sky and bathed the land in a warm and breath-taking glow. I smiled and nodded "Yes the Supreme Commander and I have been talking for most of the night about various matters relative to his land and ours. I believe that some of his methods could even be applied to out world."

Celestia looked passively at me and asked "You seem to be developing into a friendship with a pony that if you remember killed the monarchs of his Equestria." At first I took it for a bad joke but it was quite obviously not one when she didn't smile, choosing to remain with that annoyingly calm look.

"Are you worried he will chop my head off dear sister?" I asked sarcastically and she shook her head, replying "I am not sure what to think. Talking with him I can see that he has very strong views towards the way we rule our land. For now he is complying but now he is alone. We all know this gateway exists now so why would it be an unimaginable thought if he wished to return here with an army when he goes back?"

I barred my teeth and shook my head furiously "He would do no such thing. His world has suffered greatly, and he greater than you could possibly imagine. Of course he has strong views but he would never think about returning with an army to annex Equestria, I mean we are a completely different universe, what interest would he have in us?"

My sister frowned and explained "We are rich sister. We have bits, resources and workers so why would it be such a radical thought to think that he wouldn't return with an army to take them, to enslave them. He knows he could do it easily enough and look what he gains, we may not be powerful enough to stop him if he did this and think of what he would do if he gained the throne."

I went very red and got really angry and yelled "Damn it Tia he wouldn't do that and they aren't his ponies they simply follow him because he is a great leader! He wasn't born with a crown or made ponies follow him he gained their trust by winning a war on their behalf!"

Celestia looked sceptical and grunted "He would have you think that dear sister, but nopony could have the amount of medals on his chest despite how long he's lived. He is ruthless, his people have suffered greatly I believe yes but how much of the suffering has he actually caused?"

I turned, shocked and demanded "How did you know that he was immortal?" To which Celestia replied "Isn't it obvious? He has something, something I don't understand within him that has twisted him to follow the path of an immortal. The fact he must have done this willingly sickens me but you can see it in his eyes this... thing it is something we have never seen before, I beg of you Lulu to keep your distance and not get too friendly with him."

I snarled and spat "Is that an order Celestia?" It was her turn to look angry now and she followed up with "Maybe it is Luna, maybe you should listen to the counsel of your big sister for once." If I bared my teeth any harder I feared I might break them so I yelled "You are a selfish and fat headed ruler of a sister and so hyped up on your success that you are afraid of a breeze knocking you off your perch!"

My sister stepped back, visibly shocked and hurt but I was too angry to care so I said dismissively "I'm going to bed now and will probably not see you when you're damned sun sets!" I began to storm off when the ringing sound of my sister declaring "That anger doesn't suit you sister you should control it, you might hit somepony someday!" following me to the steps.

I turned back but my sister was already looking away with furious features that showed her disappointment in me but all my features showed was anger with a mix of guilt that felt wrong.

I didn't agree with her but none the less that didn't mean I should've shouted at her and now I was on bad terms with my sister once more after a year of little to no squabbles. Still that didn't mean I was any less mad at her attitude towards the Supreme Commander.

I stormed into my room but was surprised to find it occupied by two sciencey looking ponies who declared that they were preparing for Twilight's arrival and setting up all manner of contraptions and cameras to study the simple pillar with the chip in it.

I sighed in frustration and resigned myself to the bed chambers a few hallways down. If anything was good about living in a castle it was the endless amount of space that was available in it.

I yawned and prepared to get to bed just as everypony else was waking up and mentally preparing themselves for a long day of work and fun and activities that they did everyday but never got tired of.

I for one was tired and the argument with my sister hadn't helped. I took off my crown and other decorations and nestled down to sleep. I briefly wondered what I would look like in one of those dashing yet silly Uniforms the Supreme Commander wore before I fell asleep and entered the land of dreams.

This was not like my usual dreams however as I felt myself stuck in one position as a dark grey and blurry Image materialised. It showed a grey picture of the castle, all colour sucked out of it apart from the red banners that aligned the windows of the palace with the Supreme COmmander's cutie mark up in the corner of the banners.

Many parts were boarded up with bolted metal almost like it had been turned into a fortress with what looked like strange metallic things along the battlements that reminded me of enlarged versions of the firearm the commander had shown me and resembled in a way the cannon.

"I must be dreaming for real about what the commanders world would look like" I thought but then the scene changed and I was standing in a muddy and dark training yard that was covered in mud where the gardens would have been in my Equestria. It was raining and to my confusion the rain was making the ground turn red. In fact the entire castle was turning red and soon it was nothing but red that clouded my vision.

The scene changed again and swirled into a new area that looked like the Royal Throne Room only the throne had been replaced by a huge oak desk and red banners lined the walls. "Well at least he likes decoration, even is it's only the color red" I thought as I looked around until I saw the doorway to the balcony where it seemed the Supreme Commander was standing, his hooves placed firmly on the marble bannister of the balcony as he overlooked his people or well the people that followed him.

I tried to move and was able to move up to just behind him. Something was set up in the centre of the crowds but before I could see the scene changed again and a door flashed before my eyes before it was gone and I awoke, my eyes flickering open.

"What in the name of my sister was that!?" I asked myself as I shook my head. It was still quite light but I must have slept a good few hours. "How strange that was, and also very red" I thought as I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes.

Now that I was up though it wouldn't hurt to pay the supreme commander a visit in his dreams since he was probably sleeping like I had been. It also wouldn't hurt to see Twilight Sparkle and get her verdict on when I could get my bedroom back if ever.

So I got ready and sat down, going deep into the realm of dreams and imagination, a place my sister had never been able to go to. However when I did it I was totally oblivious to the outside world and my sister once pointed out I looked a little like a vegetable when I did it.

Not many ponies were dreaming at this time in the day of course except little colts fallen asleep in class at school, workers fallen asleep on the job and even a guard or two about to finish their shifts dozing off and thinking of home.

The Supreme Commanders dreams seemed to be fairly elusive since I couldn't find them at all. It could be hard some nights to find a specific dream thanks to the volume of ponies dreaming but right now his dream simply wasn't there. "Perhaps he is not dreaming?" I thought but then he didn't seem to be asleep either since I could feel roughly if the pony I was looking for was asleep or not.

"It would do no harm to go and check on him then" I thought and so after reviving myself from the dream world and setting off into the real one.

I strolled off down the hallways until I made my way past my room. Twilight was indeed inside it and I expected Dark Horizon as well but it seemed he wasn't there and must be up in his room, perhaps pondering his current situation some more.

Princess Twilight was there though and she bowed saying "Hello Princess Luna, it is wonderful to see you" to which I replied "Thank you Twilight please though, don't bow in the future. You are a Princess as well you know.

Twilight ignored the command and probably knew she could actually ignore orders like that whenever she could now as she explained "This is fascinating. I've been here a few hours and I've almost finished the first study of the site of the portal where this strange pony came from."

I smiled; Twilight was a fascinating but very nerdy and studious pony. My sister had certainly taught her well in her time as her teacher and she was showing some traits from my sister already.

"What news do you have Twilight?" I asked, wondering how long it would take to return him to the realm he came from and for me to get my room back.

Twilight bobbed her head left and right. "The good news is that we can return this, supreme commander to his home world for sure." I thought this was very good news but then there must be bad news so I asked "What's the bad news?"

Twilight paced back and forth and explained "Like with the magical mirror I went through the portal had a time window of how long it was open and how long it was closed. I used electrical, field pulses coupled with quantum entanglement magical energy spells to send a ping to the other end of the gateway and then using this machine here" she pointed to some great bloody machine I had no idea about or ever would and carried on "Which decoded the signals and then by applying some equations" she pointed to a few chalk boards set behind the machine, propped up by my bed "I was able to determine that the portal will not be able to open again for another six months and that's at best, I am not sure with this portal as it is giving some fairly violent reactions to the tests I'm doing."

I smiled and pretended to understand what she'd just said when I'd really only understood her saying "six months." "Well at least he can get back. He won't like this at all though" I thought and asked "Have you seen him?" but Twilight shook her head.

"Princess Celestia gave me a few details about him but no, I would like to study him actually but the Princess said it best I leave him be for now, I do not know why?" She asked puzzled and I rolled my eyes at the pony's curiosity and nodded in agreement.

"Well anyway I must return to work Princess, finding the right activation formula could take forever so I am going to try to supplement it with a spell, I need to test how it reacts with magic though so if any alarm bells ring I may have started a fire in your room."

I really wished Twilight was joking but it was her insane friend Pinkie Pie's job to do that. "Just be careful" I said and then bid her farewell and she the same to me.

I pondered on what had just transpired. Not only did I not know anything about science but it seemed language had gotten more complex and silly whilst I was away. Then I thought about how long it would take him to get back to his world and how upset he'd be.

"Maybe I should just tell him" I thought sourly, I'd told him he'd likely be back by the end of the week and now he had to wait half a year. I sighed and trotted on until I came to his room.

I knocked and asked if I could come in and I heard a bang and a curse and a rattle and he opened the door hurriedly. "Yes?" He said but when seeing it was me nearly fell over.

I got suspicious and pushed the door open to see the carpet had been turned upside down. I flipped it up with my magic and saw a huge red stain I thought a first to be blood but upon further inspection was really wine.

I looked at him and he looked down in somewhat shame as he levitated the bottle of expensive wine he'd gotten from probably the kitchen's cellar and set it down on a dresser nearby. "I am sorry Princess" he said shamefully.

I didn't know what he had to be sorry for and replied "So you took some wine, it is no big deal really, also we have about two hundred of those rugs so don't worry about that either. I shrugged as it wasn't really a big deal.

He shook his head and sat back on his haunches, eyes low and face practically touching the floor. "No Princess it is not right the fact I took wine from your cellars or drank it, it is disrespectful. I just don't sleep very well you see and it helps" he explained like a colt confessing to his crimes.

I didn't really understand how wine would help him get to bed but then he was just so confusing. "There is no reason to apologise but really, why drink so early in the day if you couldn't sleep?" I asked. "He sighed sadly and replied "I just like to drink a little in order to stop the stress and let me sleep" he replied, trying but failing to hide his shame some more behind his crumbling stature.

"There are remedies that can aid you in falling asleep you know" I told him but he shook his head and explained "None of them work like alcohol does for me; this helps me get to sleep I swear."

I pondered this and asked "Do you have trouble sleeping?" He didn't answer immediately, as if he were considering a lie would be better than the truth before he swallowed and explained "I am... quite stressed in my work, although I don't have to sign papers as much I need to do other things in terms of military campaign and this helps me get I all out of my head. It is a nasty habit and it will not happen again."

I didn't find that answer particularly satisfying and felt it the easy way out but decided not to question him since he seemed genuinely embarrassed about it all. "It is ok, just try and not lose your common sense, my sister seems to view you with suspicion so don't prove her right."

He looked up suddenly interested and asked "What does she think I am a danger to you both or to castle staff?" I shook my head and explained "She believes that you would take an army through the portal and conquer Equestria for our resources.

He burst into laughter and shook his head violently, saying through a choked voice "That is a good one but when I get home I am going to honour this world with a huge statue of you and your sister."

I almost smiled but then my face dropped as I remembered why I was here and sat back on my haunches with a sigh. "There is a reason why I have come to see you" I told him and he attentively nodded and asked "Was it my good looks?"

I couldn't smile when I told him "Regretfully Supreme Commander you will have to wait here longer than a week to go home."

He looked ahead, staring into the floor for a while before he asked "How long?" In a flat tone that was devoid of all emotion, which was not surprising as that accent was fairly deep and suited to this tone.

I cringed and answered "Six months" and instantly it was as if everypony in the castle was holding their breaths, even the birds were silent and the sun seemed to dim behind a cloud, bathing the room in grey.

He picked up the half full bottle of red wine with his magic and tilted it too and fro before he took a long gulp and breathed out in frustration. "I uh... would like to be alone right now Princess. There are some things I would like to think about."

He seemed sad, not at all like he was a few minutes ago despite being ashamed about being a bit of an alcoholic so now he was ashamed and sad and it was all because of me. Of course it wasn't my fault but I had told him that he was basically stuck here for a while and what was he supposed to react like he was glad?

"Please, the castle is your own, order anything you want and the staff will bring it to you, if you need anything else then ask me or my sister. If you have questions regarding your way home talk to Twilight, although I expect she will want to meet you in the next few days" I said, trying to cheer him up but visibly failing as he looked away dis-interested.

He took another swig and literally nestled down on the floor where he was. "Yeah sure" he said before he lay back and began to stare up at the ceiling in an uninterested way with anything, not even his drink.

I backed out of the room and closed the door with a sad expression. "It'd not been my fault" I told myself but I couldn't help but feel guilty for his current predicament in some way.

So I began my sad walk back to bed, not feeling any better than when I woke up and having made somepony else's life miserable besides having the fun argument with my sister that would probably get worse the longer the Supreme Commander stayed.

"If only it were easy" I thought with a long sigh.