Luna crept around her large bed, her teal orbs searching the room with a trained eye as one of her hooves carefully lifted the comforter draped over her bed. She sighed with relief, finding nopony beneath it, and continued her search.
"Ooohhh Tiiiaaaa~" she called "where are you~?"
The dark blue filly's counterpart suddenly shimmered into existence- she caught sight of her, before darting out of the room, and into the hall in a white blur, her pinkish mane waving in a non-existent wind behind her.
"TIA!" Luna shouted, giving chase to her sister "That's not fair and you know it!"
"Is too!" Celestia's voice giggled from ahead, her hooves clip-clopping on the stone floors.
"Is not! Just because you can dissemininimate before I can-"
The lunar filly was cut off by more of her sister's giggles, the two giggling as the ran through the high, arching corridors of the castle.
"I'm gonna get you, Tia!" Luna laughed, her small hooves thumping against the stone flooring.
Luna swerved, darting into an adjoining hallway.
Her small head soon collided with something hard, her flank falling backward onto the stone floor as she rubbed her sore head, near the base of her horn. Tears welled in her eyes as she stared up at the thing before her- a thick, scaled yellow column, at least two ponies wide. She followed it, her head craning upward, and found the column connected to a great shell, the ridged under-belly and red coloring above separated by what seemed to be a thick, white bone-like substance. She took note of the great wings attached to the red part of the shell, their whiteness comparable to that of her sister's. The head of the thing craned downward to look her in the eye, its oval eyes and beak-like face staring down at her in confusion. Its hind legs were covered with what appeared to be a pair of misshapen horseshoes.
Luna's eyes went wide, as her sister shimmered into existence, her pupils as large as they both stared up at the strange being, their small mouths agape.
So naturally, they did the only logical thing they could do- they ran, screaming as they turned tail and ran, screaming at the top of their lungs as they ran from the monster.
The creature, its expression one of confusion at what it'd just witnessed, just stared at the two fillies as they ran away from it.
"What the actual hell?" it shouted in surprise.
A platoon of guards, each armed with silver and copper armor and a spear surrounded the humongous, shelled-creature. The thing was cooperating so far, but Captain Strong Hoof kept his horn at the ready, just in case.
"So...any of you horses want to tell me just what the hell I'm doing here?" it asked.
The good captain didn't respond, only keeping a tight circle around the creature, along with his team. He had half a mind to shove his spear into the thing's skull for using such a slur.
"C'mon, I know you can talk-"
"Silence, we will be arriving at the chambers of the ones who sired the chosen ones shortly." Strong Hoof called.
"The...chosen?" it asked.
He remained silent.
"Buncha damned racists..." it grumbled lowly.
The hall fell silent, save for the clattering of the platoon's armor, and the creature's heavy hoofsteps.
"We've arrived," he announced, stopping the group at a pair of large, ornate, double-doors, gilded decorations etched into the blemish-free wood "we will be waiting right here- try anything, and-"
Strong made a slashing motion across his throat, grinning.
"Yeah, right." the thing responded, its tone flat.
'What in the blue hell is happening to my life?' I wondered, stepping through the doors- and surprise surprise, more guards, as well as a small crowd of three other horses, not wearing the semi-uniform armor. The first possessed a brown mane, and lighter shade of brown for the coat. I took the time to notice this one didn't have any special features, like a pair of wings or a horn, or hell, even both. The off-white horse with a rainbow-like mane had a horn, and the other possessed a pair of wings, going rather well with its navy coat and brilliant white mane.
"It worked..." the navy pony stated, the voice indicating it was in fact, a female.
'You know what? I'm not even going to question it anymore- I'm done, screw my sanity.'
"You're really here, I can't believe it actually...worked..." the same pony said.
"And you're really starting to freak me out." I quipped.
'Not that you weren't before, but still...'
This time, one of the others spoke up, this time in the form of a gasp.
"It talks too! Oh Crescentia, we are indeed lucky to have him here."
"Hold it- back the damn truck up, just who in the hell are you two, and what do you have to do with...with this?!" I roared, motioning to my...*gag* my body.
"Solstice, he displays such insolence, are you sure this is who we want?"
The two looked to each other, confused, before turning to the other horse of the group.
"Blueblood, do you know anything of this?" the stallion asked.
The brown-maned horse inspected a scroll of parchment in his grasp, his lip tucking in as his impossibly huge eyes jumped up and down the page.
"I...I don't know...Starswirl was certain that this spell was to-"
"Hello? Am I flipping mute here?! Fucking answer me!" I raged.
The brown-coated horse looked up, as if he'd just noticed me standing there.
"No need for vulgarity, young colt," the horse said "be patient, we'll have this straightened out in two shakes of a buck's tail."
"Oh dear god...the puns..." I groaned, my new heavy body thumping to the ground of its own accord "Wha? What's...what's going on?"
I felt scared, something that didn't happen very...at least during my old life...now? Who knows, I might take up a frickin' hobby. Sure, crocheting, why the hell not?
"Oh dear," the lunar-themed mare stated "it seems the self-adjustment spell is wearing off, no wonder he was so cranky."
"I'm not some stupid kid!" I shouted.
The horned horse's horn lit up, becoming encased in a magenta glow. A faint fuzzy feeling made itself known on the underside of my...my shell...
"What- wha're you doin' toooo me?" I slurred, suddenly feeling very tired, and very sluggish.
"Just doing some minor tweaking to the spell- you'll need to be asleep in order for the changes to take place, however."
"Wh-why?"
"Just the way the spell works." it responded.
'Smartass...' I thought, blacking out.
A small part of my brain begged to be put out of its misery, wishing to be deactivated and letting the soul it housed to be let free.
"Solstice, Starswirl's spell can't be correct." Crescentia stated, leaping gracefully into the air. Her wings flapped, almost silently, as she inspected the sleeping beast before them.
"Why do you say that, dearest?" the stallion asked, entering the room with several scrolls in his magic.
"We need something...quicker... to protect our foals after we've gone, and well...frankly, I find a giant turtle to be detrimental to our endeavor."
"Would you prefer one of our other 'options'?"
His wife shuddered, dropping to the ground as she continued to look the creature up and down.
"We're still trying to wipe out the last of those wretched feline hybrids...but I digress," she replied "It's mutated, it's got wings."
"Well, at least it has something to make it a bit faster." Solstice stated cheerfully.
"What if it isn't gentle? What if one day, it should step on them? Faust forbid."
"You and I both know that Celestia and Luna are far more resilient than they appear." Solstice said, embracing his lover.
"I remember full well what Starswirl said," Crescetia replied, leaning into the embrace "but that doesn't keep me from worrying, Sol."
"It's difficult, I know..."
"How are we supposed to keep them safe, if we aren't there to protect them?"
"They won't need protection forever-"
"-just until they're old enough, I know," she interrupted "but just how old is 'old enough'? Will we live long enough to see them have a first crush? I want to be a grandmother."
Solstice sighed, taking even breaths as he mulled over his wife's points.
"It makes me depressed sometimes, knowing they're destined for greatness, that we can't be there for them..." he said.
"Perhaps this...great turtle will be able to assist them after all," Crescentia said, mostly to herself "this one is enormous, and we have solid proof it can indeed communicate, perhaps it may pass its wisdom onto our fillies- perhaps that is the way they will become great. The great turtle shielding them with its mighty shell."
Solstice planted a kiss on her muzzle, surprising the pegasus.
"I love it when you become poetic."
Luna curiously prodded the beak of the enormous tortoise, inspecting it closely. She could feel heat escaping its nostrils as it repeatedly exhaled as it slept.
"Tia!" she stage-whispered, turning away from the face of the thing "You must come and see! It is truly interesting!"
"I shall not, thank you," Luna's counterpart replied, hiding safely behind a sturdy pillar "I've no interest to find out what it eats."
"'Tis asleep, dear sister." Luna deadpanned, a miniscule hoof rapping quickly against the armored-belly, to which her sister replied with a terrified squeak.
"Thou should not tempt fate!" Celestia whispered as loud as she could.
Luna poked and prodded at the curious thing's face once more, before she hopped down, her wings cushioning her fall as she landed on the smooth stone of the expansive dining hall. The small filly moved onto the creature's wings, poking and inspecting the voluminous feathers of the creature.
"Lulu, wh-what are you doing?" Celestia asked her sister, watching with no small hint of fascination as Luna disappeared fully beneath the creature's wing.
"Checking if it preens," Luna replied, a bit muffled "though based on the condition, I'd say not."
"Luna...you really should be touching its wings like that..." Celestia stated, concerned "what if it wakes up?"
"Tia...thou really must learn to forget thy troubles for at least a moment." Luna replied, her small, blue head popping out from under the enormous wing of the creature.
"But...but Luna-!" she protested.
"None of that!" Luna interrupted "Now, thou art going to march over here and snuggle this creature!"
"I just...I can't, Luna!"
"Then thou art going to suffer my wrath!" Luna chuckled darkly, dashing towards her sister.
Celestia squealed as she darted from her sister, circumnavigating the humongous, winged-turtle.
My brain pounded against my skull as I groggily cracked an eye open, a high-pitched whine piercing my brain like a knife as I tried to orient myself. I stared up at a high-vaulted, stone ceiling as two childish voices screamed and whooped, forcing him to groan and wince as he tried to sit up, his wings clumsily fanning in and out behind him.
"It's awake, Tia! Look!" one of the voices stated loudly, as if it had just noticed that he was in the room.
"Just who in the-" I began, then realized that these two must be only children, based on the pitch of their voices, and refrained from swearing "who are you two?"
"I'm Luna," the blue one said cheerfully, as I clumsily tried to grasp an ornate window in order to roll myself over "and this is my sister, Celestia."
"Glad to meet you both." I said emptily, glancing around at the room the two horses and I were in.
"Er, where exactly am I?" I asked, glancing down at the two ponies.
"Castle Equus," Luna responded happily "this is our home."
"Oh, that's nice." I stated, trying to ignore the fact that the blue filly had over-explained.
"What is thy name?" Luna asked, staring at his arms curiously.
"I..."
My mind drew a blank, not remembering just what the hell I was supposed to call myself.
"I uh...hell, I can't remember..." I admitted.
"Thou may come along with us, Mother and Father might know."
"I...I suppose that makes a bit of sense..." I stated.
I trailed after the two winged-pony things, both of them were having a quiet conversation below me, occasionally glancing back.
"So...you two must be important..." I stated, like a moron, naturally.
"What makes thou say that?" Celestia replied, temporarily stopping her conversation with Luna.
"You've both got a set of wings and a horn, which I have yet to see on any other pony I've come into contact with- so you're either genetically-engineered super-ponies, or you just got the luck of the draw when you were born."
"Geneti- what?" Luna asked curiously.
I held a scaled paw to my face, pinching the bridge of my wide nose.
"Sorry...I just...sometimes I spout nonsense when I get anxious..." I replied, then quickly back-tracked "I'm sure you're perfectly normal...talking ponies..."
Luna and Celestia shared a look, then said nothing more on the subject.
"So...do you have any idea of what you are?"
Both the small ponies glanced at each other, prompting me to think that they must be psychic; but what the hell did I know? I didn't have a horn, who was to say they possessed some unique quality and I didn't?
"Starswirl once called us 'All-corns'," Luna giggled "it was quite funny."
Celestia joined her sister, laughing about the nickname.
"Oh? Why...would that be funny?" I asked, not getting it; I guess basic knowledge was something you had to have in this world.
"Because there are three tribes- sorry, types of ponies; Earth, Pegasi, and Unicorns." Celestia explained.
'Okay...that makes a bit of sense...'
"So...because you two are all three...oh."
"Precisely- hark! We art approaching Mother and Father's room!" Luna declared.
I gulped, unsure if I was ready to meet more ponies.