Child of a Spell

by Arctikfox

Rating: teen
Tags: Princess Celestia, Zecora, Human, Princess Luna, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 30925

Missing: Purple filly with blue eyes and midnight blue mane, 8 years of age, daughter of luna. If found please leave me the fuck alone.

So far i have found ponies to be over protective, annoying, pushy, and all around creepy things to be around. There are two ponies in charge, Celestia, a tall white pony with a fondness for the sun, and a Luna, a shorter, yet still tall blue pony with a fondness for controlling my life. Obviously pony mating rituals are much different than humans because her way of coming on to me seems to involve mothering me down to the last detail.

That's not weird, right?

Published 2015-02-18 05:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-08-25 19:07:37 UTC

Chapter 1

So I’ve been living in this castle for weeks, virtually imprisoned by these ponies. I’m not allowed outside, I’m not allowed to walk around without an escort, and I’m pretty sure one of the ponies hides under my bed at night. All this shit I’ve had to put up with and what have I gotten for it? Nothing, I’ve received nothing but unfulfilled promises. My life is miserable here. I really just want to go home. Even if I were given all the pleasures of home, here, it wouldn’t be the same. I’ve hinted, I’ve reminded, and I’ve pestered them that it’s taken them almost three fucking months to come up with results on returning me home and yet nothing has been found. I’m stuck here, in this medieval backwater shithole until they take their hooves out of their asses.

So, today finds me sitting on this lush, four poster bed moping about it. Yes, conscience, I’m kicking myself for that, thank you. I couldn't care less about the riches those ponies shower me with. Why can’t I just go home? I know they can do it too! Maybe if I stole that book from Celestia’s desk, the one with the pretty pictures of portals and ponies going through them, I could shove it in a random unicorn’s, face and get them to do a spell to send me home. It’s too bad I can’t read it or I might be able to do it myself. However, that could pose a few issues as I’m not exactly allowed out of my room per orders of Princess moon butt.

I bury my head in my hands, trying to exhale the stress I’m causing for myself. I’ve seriously contemplated killing myself, but suicide isn't an option either. I tested that already by jumping out of the window in my room, just out of curiosity, because my room isn’t that high up. I was caught by two pegasi guards on the way down. It didn’t get me anything but a harsh lecture on how dangerous windows can be, and, of course, the removal of windows from my room. That makes it nice and dark when I turn the crystal light things off, which is fine by me.

I try so hard not to see or speak to these ponies anymore. When I'm brought to dinner I bow my head and keep deathly silent as I shovel food in my mouth before attempting to leave. Much to my displeasure, Luna has relegated me to two options if I want to leave dinners early. Either she gets to spoon-feed me at dinner, or, I can’t leave until everybody else is done. I’m never letting her spoon-feed me again, just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.  You know, for being without parents for about seven years you’d think that I’d finally be rid of them, right? Nope, Luna acts like my mother with Celestia acting as her backup whenever the blue bitch isn’t around.

The door acknowledges the presence of a pony behind it by thumping loudly. I don’t even bother opening it. By this time I’ve barricaded it with most of the furniture in my room, even the bed. Luna has taken to visiting me frequently. That pile should be enough to keep her out. So I hope that they go away before I have to match it with my own thumping of my head against the wall. With any luck I'll give myself a concussion.

More thumping resounds and once again, I couldn’t care less. A lamp situated at the top of the pile falls from the vibration of the door. Oh, too bad, Celestia told me that it was a gift from a respected foreign dignitary. It shatters with a resounding crash that rings throughout the room and probably outside. Well, either some dignitary is going to be pissed off or, once again, the pretty white horse has lied to me, just like she lied about the portal book. The thumping halts for a second. The thumpers are probably go- and there it goes again.

Why are they even keeping me here, for fuck’s sake? I’m of absolutely no use to them, except maybe as a science experiment for the laboratory. Other than that, though, I eat only one or two meals a day and take up a whole room and the power that goes behind it. I’m starting to wonder if maybe my arrival wasn’t as much of an accident as they claim it to be after all. That, or ponies are just overly fond of newcomers… it's probably the former.

Thump, thump, thump. I rise to yell at them to leave me the fuck alone. That’s actually not a good idea, if they think I'm not here they might go away to look elsewhere. Well, time to rage in my head. God dammit! Go away, you asshole! I don’t want to see another pony ever again! Especially if it’s a princess!

“Sir, the princess wishes an audience with you immediately.” That’s nice; you can leave now that you've said your piece. “She instructed us to enter your room and take you by force if you prove unwilling, and that if you are not found in the room that she wants to be notified immediately.” Dammit Luna, the summons might have been from Celestia for some godforsaken reason, but the notification was all Luna. Now I’ve got an annual checkup to look forward to, yay!

Yep, look at me being all enthusiastic. Like I really want to be scanned again for any ‘magical diseases’ bunch of bullshit. I’m pretty sure that she has some ulterior motive to it that I don’t know, and eventually she’s going to act on it and I’m going to get caught with my pants down. That’s why I’m not going today. I’m going to be a man about it too, by hiding under the bed, hey wait… how do they, and by line of command, Luna, know where I... oh.

She’s bugged her fucking gift. I must give her credit for creativity and being smart about it though. I never caught it until now, and I have a tendency for high perceptiveness. Near the end of the first week of my ‘visit’ she’d gotten me this nice black undershirt that was the most comfortable thing I'd worn. She must've bugged it knowing that I would never take it off. Well, you know what, screw you Luna, I'm going to take your wonderful shirt gift, and throw it out the window. No wait, I don’t have any windows, that’s right.

My brain is working in overdrive right now, I need to figure out a way to evade this check up. Hmm… I wonder, is it really that easy to remove windows? Surely they'd have to do a bit more than just making them disappear, right?

I push my hand where the window used to be and feel glass. Ha, an invisibility spell! You thought you could trick me? Well nice try, moon butt! I laugh at my success against the oppressor.

Working by touch I open the window and toss the offending piece of clothing out of the invisible portal. That’ll teach her! THUMP, THUMP. “Last warning, we’re coming in!” Gotta hide, like, now!

The bed's too cliché, can’t hide there, well, there is the massive pile of junk I put under there as well. Um… oh wait, duh. There’s a large trunk piled on the door. Pushing some stuff off of it I pry open the lid and crawl inside. Okay, leave the lid open a crack, perfect. I now have a front row seat to the chaos that is about to unfold.

The two night guards enter with a pop and immediately notice a lack of a certain alien biped, namely, me. Cue the freak out in 3-2-1… what? All the unicorn guard does is sigh before popping out to presumably get the princess of interrogations. I would have thought my disappearance would have elicited a more frantic response than a casual dismissive sigh.

The other guard, an earth pony, go figure, searches around the room. First thing he does is search under the bed, leaving me to exit my chest and kick him in the flank. This causes him to instictively yank his head upwards causing him to knock himself out on the bed frame. Okay that's enough, I should try and leave. A loud pop deafens me for a few seconds. There is the overbearing torturer herself, Princess fucking Luna. And of course she sprints towards me and hugs me tightly for God knows what reason.

"Oh ba- honey," okay, that's an interesting thing to note, she almost called me baby… unless she meant 'babe" -worried that you had tried jumping out of the window again." So there WAS a tracker on my shirt, nice to know that I can trust my judgement more than hers. "-the guards said they didn't see you in your room I came at once and… why is your room empty?" Should I let her find out or should I tell her? I push her away and point behind her at the massive pile of furniture. "Oh my." It would be so adorable when she said that… if I didn't know she was a manipulative warden of my plush home of a cell. "We should fix this so nothing could fall and hurt you." Okay, normally she's protective but not this... well, fuck.

I watched as Luna literally picked up every piece of furniture, down to the little pieces of lamp that had fallen off, and put it all back. Everything was back to its normal position, and I hated it. Nearly everything was branded with Princess Luna's butt tat, or Celestia's. It sickened me to think that they expected me to actually LIKE them eventually.

Much to Luna’s chagrin I shiver involuntarily at the memory. "Come now, your room looks much better this way."

"Sure it does…" I muttered.

Her ears swiveled, noting that much to MY chagrin, she had heard me. "What was that?"

"I said, 'it sure does’.” Please believe the lie, please.

She smiled, thank God. For a second there I thought she saw through my lie. "Okay, honey." What the hell is with the pet names? "Also, we have important business, could you please join me in my room in about half an hour?" There's no way I can say no, so I guess yes? "And I would like you to wear something nice. Since you've thrown out all your other nice clothes, and… we've let you wear your casual clothes around so far," I don't like where this is going. Her magic poofs something into existence behind her back. "I made you this!" She presents an actually good-looking set of clothes. It wasn't a suit and tie mind you, I wouldn't be caught dead in those. Just a plain T-shirt and pants. She’d made it all by herself? Since when did she know how to sew? (placehold for rewritten addition or something cause the other was crap.) Bullshit. "What? I thought you'd like the casual wear."

"Oh, trust me, I love the fact that you're being lenient with the dress outfit. I'm wondering what your angle is, though. You never do this kind of thing for me." Aha! She tensed for a second. She probably wants me to sit in on some stupid meeting and look pretty. Well I'm not going to, princess.

"There's no angle. My sister and I have simply decided to be more lenient in order to elicit a more positive response out of you." Fat chance at that, 'Princess'.

I'm going to lie anyway. I can’t wait to finally disappoint her again. Honestly these kinds of moments are the things I live for nowadays. "Okay, fine, I'll wear the clothes."

She gave me an unusually proud smile. "Oh, thank you! You don't know how happy that makes me!" Yeah, yeah, I'm the best human, no, wait, make that only human. Actually, that makes me wonder if I am the only human. Maybe they keep a bunch of us in the basement as sex dolls because ponies are actually sex addicts that get a kick out of bondage! Nah, sounds like a bad plot line.

Luna and her guards walk out, including the now conscious earth pony who gave a frightened look to the bed before he exited the room. I took a few small steps towards the door. They're probably waiting behind the door for something. Sure enough, putting my ear on the door yielded results. "This has got to be the most boring job we have." It’s only boring when I'm not trying to escape through spiritual or physical means.

"Hey, you don't have to tell me twice. At least we're getting paid to essentially do nothing." I actually like this guy, despite him being my 'babysitter'.

"Hmm, I suppose so." I listened longer, yielding nothing but shuffles and some scratches.

Moving away from the door I looked at the clothes Luna had left for me. They were actually really good-looking for my tastes. Hell, I’d wear them under different circumstances, but that hesitation about this being a harmless gift is enough to deter anyone.The dark black base color plus the silver design going through it looks really awesome.

Flopping back onto my bed I twiddle my fingers and when the guards knock again I’m still dressed in my usual sweatshirt and blue jeans. The guards took one look at me and shook their heads. I'm pretty sure I heard a 'your funeral' tossed at me once or twice. The guards then escorted me to Princess Luna's room where they bowed and left me. I'm actually thinking about just up and leaving. Maybe since Luna's here it's night time and Celestia is sleeping, I’m left with an open escape for the main castle doors. "Are you coming in or not?" Damn it! How did she know I was here? "Don't make me come out there and get you!" Oh god, that is a childish threat, but coming from her it could mean anything.

"Fine, I'm coming, jeez, hold your horses." She giggled; good, I haven't lost that touch.

I open the door to Luna sitting across the room, no formal attire, grinning like a madman, or mare, I should say. I take a step forward and her expression changes to fear and shock. "No, wait!" Wait for what?

I attempt to reverse my momentum but i can’t push past and invisible barrier. "LUNA! WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU'RE DOING I’M GOING TO FUCKING KI-" oh shit! My voice! What the hell?! It got so high in the middle of that sentence. I hear a buzzing sound and turn my head towards it to see the armbands aglow with arcane energy. I must swallow my pride and ask what the hell this is. Take a deep breath, and, I have breasts. The two additional weights on my chest are unmistakable. I just don't know anymore, nor do I think I want to know. Wait, oh no! Nononono! "Fuck!" I feel my pants where my manhood used to be, it's gone. I don't even want to know what's replaced it. My brain continues to tell my body to collapse but my body isn't responding. Luna keeps saying 'Nonononono' over and over again so hopefully this is a side effect to whatever went wrong. Deep breath, don't look down; actually, close your eyes. There you go, good, they're closed. Now, deep breath, anger gets nobody anywhere, actually anger has won wars, fuck her. "LUNA! WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?" Wow, I sound a lot like my Ex, oh lord Jesus, please tell me I'm not her! I don't want to look down though.

Finally, Luna shoots me a look and goes back to her book. "I don't know! Why didn't you wear the clothes I made for you? This wouldn't have happened otherwise!" Princess: 1, Paranoia: 0, well played.

"Can you fix it?" Please say yes, I'm not sexist I'm just biased on the subject.

"I think so, hold on." Luna, if you can fix this I'm going to kiss you.

Her horn alights and I see some magic runes beneath the carpet alight in a silvery blue glow. Much to my relief the breasts recede back into my chest. I'm patiently waiting for my dick though, it was stolen and I want it back.  To my horror, though, I watch the floor grow larger as I grow smaller. My back itches and so does my forehead. What the, my entire body is starting to itch, what did she do, the 'Give the target a thousand mosquito bites' spell?

I let out a feminine scream as the itch on my forehead turns into a splitting headache, and the one on my back feels like a surgical procedure without the anesthetic. The back of my shirt explodes and I feel warm air on my back. My vision grows hazy for a second before the picture expands and becomes clearer than it has ever been. Luna is smiling widely from across the room. After a few moments the pain ceases and the itching starts to lessen around my body. Princess Luna takes a few steps in my direction and my attention focuses solely on her. Luna is a big pony compared to the others, not quite as big as her sister, but she’s almost as tall as I am. Now, she seems like a giant. I still don’t know what’s happened but I’m tiny, in pain, and tired. She comes in close and rubs her head against mine shushing quietly. I can barely make out what she’s saying as my eyes start to close. “Shh, shh, go to sleep now, my little filly. Mommy will take care of you.”

Chapter 2

My mind lazily drifts off to the tune of humming. Who's humming I have no idea, maybe I'm home and it's my mother. Maybe it was all a bad dream and I'm finally awake! No… that statement rings false and for some reason, I knew my instincts were to be trusted.

The first statement, however, rang true, and no matter how many times I said both statements to myself the same outcome occurs. So I'm not home, but I'm next to my mother. How does that work?

My left leg twitches slightly. What happened between me and Luna? I remember… breasts… eugh, and shrinking, why was I shrinking? I gotta open my eyes now. Why do I feel so comfortable though? My body is practically screaming at me to go back to sleep and enjoy the moment. My eyes reseal themselves against my will and my body starts to shut down. No! Must stay awake! Must, open eyes. Success, I see blue fur. What the buck? Why do I see blue fur, why did I just say buck?

"Good evening sweetie." Luna, you bitch, what have you done! Oh my, I've been kissed on a VERY sensitive spot on my forehead. Why is she kissing me? I manage to pull my head away. "What's wrong? Don't worry honey, mommy is here for you." Okay, hold up here.

"Mummy?" Oh god my voice, it's squeaky.

"Yes darling? What is it?" My eyes are still filled with blue fur, but I know that voice for certain now.

"WOONA! WAT YOU DO ME!" I screamed so loud I'm sure that Celestia on the other side of the bucking castle.

"Honey, shh, be quiet." Luna, wherever she was, chided. She chided me? Since when does she have any right to CHIDE me? I try to stand up but for some reason my legs quiver and fall out from under me. I feel something wrap around me in a comforting gesture. My body immediately relaxes and I sigh contentedly. "There there, mommy is here, mommy's got you." So sleepy…

WAIT, MOMMY? "WOONA WAT DID YOU DWO?" I struggled to say my words correctly but they still came out oddly said.

"Aw, my baby's first words!" I could tell she was hesitant and uneasy though so I tried my best to frown and cross my arms. My arms, they aren't arms!

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH," my arms, my legs my entire being, I'm a pony! Buck, what did that crazy mother do! How dare she do this to me! I felt two hooves wrap around me, bullshit, like that's going to-oh a nuzzle… that feels good. Maybe I should stop screaming… yeah there we go… that feels-like a child being comforted by his mother. "Mommy?" Oh please be confused.

"Yes darling?" Luna, I'm going to kill you.

"Wat did you do."'

"Whatever do you mean little one?"

"I oviously swall and woung."

"Yes sweetie, you're a adorable young filly, and you're all mine." Oh god now she's blowing on my belly. I can't help but burst out laughing.

Suddenly I’m forced into the back of my mind. I can see out of my eyes but it's like watching a TV screen. My new purple hooves reach outwards uncommanded and the blue demon picks me up smiling. My body, I say my body because I have no control, starts giggling insanely and the picture starts to fade from my sight. I don't know if 'I'm' falling asleep, but from my other senses still registering, you know what my body is an it now, IT is still wide awake.

I launch my mental attack, trying to reassert control over what is, was, will be, MINE!

Quite suddenly the picture refocuses and my hooves fall limp in Luna's arms as I’m suddenly given back control. I hear a quiet curse from my 'mother', wow she seems bad at this, as she realizes what happened, I think.

Before I can say anything about her cursing my tiny ears pick up a little sound. “And I was so close... oh my baby girl...” Hot damn she's bat shit insane! That's why they never let me do anything! It's all starting to come together now! Those two horses, no brain that's an insult, STOLE me from my home and, nonexistent, loving family so I could be the princesses pet filly, excuse me, daughter.

“Sweetie...” The cautious tone spells it out plainly. 'I won, you lost, get over it and let the filly out.' Of course I’ve inferred a lot of this, but I’ll be damned to hell if she thinks she's going to win just like that!

“Wuck you. Peace of swit I no wan be ur daugher!” My voice was cute, adorable even, I will admit that. Oh yeah I guess that kind of kills the threat and insults as well.

My ears instinctively fall to their sides, apparently giving off the impression I was sorry. “Honey, you know that you shouldn't be using that kind of language. You are my foal and I will not have my foal raised in such an uncouth manner.” There's that creepy smile, it's come back to haunt my nightmares. “Now, is my little sweetie pie hungry?”

Nope, nu uh, get away from me with your teats you crazy mare! That's insane, stupid, and surprisingly delicious. Uh oh, fuck...

Why do I even rant, I already know my body goes on autopilot when I talk to myself in my head, and now I’m sucking off Luna. I stop and look up at her face. She's enjoying this that little bitch! I'll get you for this! Well, maybe after breakfast...

I give the teat a few more sucks before I suddenly realize what the fuck I’m doing. So how do I get away from the all powerful demon alicorn who is convinced I’m her new kid.

You know what sounds like a brilliant plan? Let's give her exactly what she wants, a brat for a kid, yeah that should be good. I replace my mouth on the milk covered teat, getting her questioning head to smile and lay back down again in bliss. Ha ha, this'll teach her, that bitch. Opening my mouth really wide I get ready for just about the stupidest thing I’ve ever done, piss off a pony princess that could kill with looks. I slam my teeth together hard on the milk covered teat.

What's that I taste, blood oh my god I went too deep! I hurt mommy, oh she's going to be so mad and then I’m going to get... going to get my ass whooped by a 2 year old mommy's filly. Seriously, what's wrong with me? I’m being forced out of my body by a fucking filly! No, I will not be beat by this, I will not shrink back from the challenge at hand. I will- oh my that's a very angry face.

Mo-Luna is right up in my business, and I’m scared to death. My bladder is threatening to burst, but I cannot allow that to happen. I have a dignity to preserve and- it's gone.

Thankfully mom-the destroyer's face instantly brightened at the idea of handling waste. “Looks like little Midnight made an uh on.” I made an uh oh alright, my uh oh was trusting you!

Thankfully she sets me down on the bed, uses a little magic to heal her bloody teat, and gets off the bed to go get something, probably a new diaper. Holy hay! I’m wearing a diaper! When did she put that on? Oh yeah, I was unconscious when she was modifying my body to suit her personal needs. Focus, I need to get off this bed right now, then Luna is going to explain some shit or else I’m going to be the worst behaving filly Equestria has ever seen.

Using my legs I manage to scoot off the edge of the bed mostly silent. What's that movement I feel though, it feels like it's attached to my spine... well the middle of my spine or torso or barrel or- now I’m tearing up because the filly can't find mommy. No don't cry, please don't cry, Jesus I was horrid with kids.

Calming the emotion within I search for that foreign movement I found while falling off the bed. Forelegs, no, back-legs, no, tai- no going there brain. Buck this I’m just going to turn my head. There, apparently I have wings attached to myself, good that means I can fly, right?

I try, and fail to find these accursed appendages! Buck ponies they are all so bucking crazy. “Honey, where are you?” Oh shit, the destroyer is back! Quick, door, curtain, under the bed! That always works, right? “There you are!” No stupid fi-child brain, it doesn’t. “Don’t hide from mommy, we can play after your diaper has been changed.” Dammit woman, gtfo, give a girl some privacy!

Wait… girl… My whole body is frozen as I’m pulled face first from under the bed and placed on it so lu-mom can change me. It’s not all bad, it feels nice to be cleaned and all. You know, maybe I would like being a little filly. I never did really have a good life, I can’t remember any parents whatsoever, and my siblings, I was an only child. I don’t know how I survived so long without mommy though, I don’t remember going to an orphanage. Why would I go to an orphanage, I’m only a year old. Wait where’d Luna go?

I was myself, well I think I was myself. This is my old bedroom, well except that weird dark half on the other side. Holy hell it looks like Luna’s room. Hell half my bed is a different set of sheets, color, size, and set of pillows. There, that filly, it’s got horns wings and… and… it’s staring right at me.

“HI!” It is in a diaper right now, so I assume it’s not old enough to talk. It waves a hoof and starts to crawl closer. It must want a hug or something. Now that I got control of my thoughts lets analyze this creature. It’s got a coat a dark purple shade that looks a bit bright for a stealthy night time stroll, but dark enough that hiding in a shadow could conceal it. The horn and wings I noticed before are the same color, I would say that’s odd if it weren’t for seeing Luna and Celestia.

At the thought of these two ponies the other filly lit up with excitement and started to crawl towards me once again. Looking down at it I noticed something very alarming. Holy shit the room is changing! With every step that filly takes the room turns more and more into a copy of Luna’s bedroom. I’ve seen people do this with like photographs and shit but this is downright creepy!

The little filly draws closer, continuing to smile at me for some unknown reason. Maybe it knows that it is winning and is happy. Either way I’m not going to sit here and take it.

I pick up the accursed filly and prepare to toss it to the other side of the room. Before I can however my hands suddenly lose control of the fingers as they go limp, releasing the filly who in turn crawls towards me. My hands, they’re turning purple and my fingers are shrinking back into my skin! What’s happening?

I feel pressure on my torso, the little filly is hugging me. Stop it! I groan and almost double over as my chest heaves and seems to change. I can almost feel the organ’s rearranging and changing at her touch. My body is shrinking! Why am I shrinking? I try to pull the little filly off me but instead of hands I see cute little purple hooves, the same color as the fillies. I look down and instead of a human torso with a shirt on, I see a little pony barrel with wings on the sides. My legs send pain signals shooting to my overloaded brain. I don’t want to look but I see that they have changed positions and are no longer facing downwards, but to the front, like a pony. I’m now almost as tall as her and I watch as my muzzle elongates and the world around me becomes more visual. I have to get this thing off me!

Spinning around I look at the room, it’s almost a mirror image of mommy’s bedroom, the window is the only thing left. Instead of the city below I see and open field. Even that though is fading away.

Returning my vision to the forward I realize I’m just as tall as the filly now… I am that filly. “Stay with me forever.” That is a nice proposition, I didn’t really have much to go back to.

But I’m not a filly! My eyesight fades as I try to scream out the words I now realize to be true. Desperately I throw out a punch and knock the other filly clear to the other side of the bed. She crying, good. I can’t let her get near me again. But is the room…

Looking around I see that the walls are starting to revert back to the original color, the color of MY room. I turn back and shoot that stupid filly a cheeky grin. “You no take me!” The other filly started crying at this, and I almost felt sorry for her. All I have to do is think about how she almost killed me and my sympathy disappears.

I can't let up though, if I give quarter she'll just come back. Walking, er trotting forward I guess, will have the same effect on her side I presume. One step, then another, each step brought back more of my room and backed the filly off the bed. "Not fun when you on other end is it?" To this she starts shaking her head, as if that will get me to stop advancing. Not a chance In hell you brain parasite!

I'm guessing that she's desperate, no wonder, she's losing horribly. "Please be friends. So lonely." Well that's a big pile of Minotaur crap. Oh no what did I just say? Crap! Dang it! Buck!

"You censor me you bucking twerp! I kill you!"

"I sowy… pwease." The captain has spoken, we give no quarter!

"You touch me, I kill you, fair trade."

"No… no no! MOMMY!"

Ha that little brat is calling fo- agh! My head! Ow ow ow ow! I stumble to my knees and cringe. I have a headache the size of Montana. I don't know why either.

I take a step back which is followed by more until I'm back in the middle of my bed. I don't know why I retreated from my big position. I had her.

Hey, what's that? The filly is being lifted back up onto the bed by a blue aura. There's no way she's doing that! Her horn isn't glowing, well I guess it is, but that's not the point. I gulp nervously as her sad features return. Who knows what she's going to do now? Is she going to hug me again so I turn into a full filly, probably. My gaze turns to fully look into the deep blue eyes the filly has. They look like oceans and I'm suddenly adrift in a sailboat, lost in the gigantic sea. My ears flicked as I registered noise, but I was too lost in the eyes to care. They grew closer and larger each passing moment until me and the filly were muzzle to muzzle.

"Good, good, almost there honey." I felt an affectionate nuzzle on my shoulder. My eyes leave the other filly to look at the mare sitting beside me with a bittersweet smile. Yes, mommy looks so pretty this evening. Her mane didn't have the the wavy look to it. I think I like it better that way. I want to be just like mo- wait, what? I turn back to the filly with new realization. Those eyes don't seem so deep now. In fact… SHES ALMOST GONE! Buck! The filly is fading quickly, melting slowly into particles which are being sucked into my hoof at a slow but alarming rate.

"AHHH!" Yanking my hoof away I scream like hell itself is trying to take me away from my mother. "AHHHHHH!" Using my last bit of sanity I smack the apparition of the filly. I've never wanted to be rid of something so much. My very being screamed for its existence to be wiped from the face of Equestria forever. I have to be rid of her she's not me! I must stay me! Deep breaths, very deep breaths, what's my name? Midnight Selene, good, no bad! Bad bad bad! Name name name, what is my name!

"Sweetie, is it over? I know you're scared, come here and give your mommy and hug and I promise you'll feel much better." Hug, mommy? So scared, mommy is safety.

Scooting over I wrap my hooves around my mommy's barrel and sniff. Why did this have to happen to me? What did I do to be turned into a filly? I swear I paid my taxes, tithed every week. No wait I didn't do it that last week! God have mercy on my soul it was only thirty bucks! Why ruin my life for thirty dollars! My body is in shivers, I have to calm down, but I can't! I'm too scared and I can't control myself. Where's mommy? Mommy is safety! There! I feel her fur, mommy is safety. Her silky fur rubbing against mine, makes me feel safe. Nothing can get past mommy. Her teats rub against my muzzle; food, that's food, milk is delicious. My mouth wraps around it and drinks some of the delicious drink. It's runs past my tongue and down my throat in a warm satisfying torrent. My belly doesn't seem full but mommy is stroking me softly so I'm not in trouble. My ears flick upwards as mommy gives a satisfied sigh. I disengage from my source of food to look at my mother. She looks down and smiles, but for some reason it seems like a sad smile. "I'm sorry Michael, but this was the only way. If it's any consolation," Luna gives me an affectionate nuzzle. "You make an adorable little filly."

Yes I'm such an adorable filly, I'm so cute and cuddly and soft. Is my name Michael, but I thought it was Midnight, if I'm not Michael then…oh no! I have to get away! I'm Michael! Where's the filly! She's gone? Then… I… she is inside me? I lost… I'll be a filly forever and forget my name and- wait, I know my name and I can remember what mommy did to me. Why did I just call mommy mommy though? If it failed then I should be calling her Luna. Think, think!

"Sweetie," I feel a stroke upon my mane that interrupts my thoughts. "What's wrong?"

"Mommy…"

"I'm here for you. Don't worry mommy will never leave."

"Mommy, why did you try to kill me?"

There's an awkward pause and mommy looks uneasy. "I didn't try to kill you, I was trying to save you."

I shake my head. "Nu uh, you tryin kill me!" I unwrap my hooves and try to scoot away but the plentiful wingspan Luna has is more than enough to capture me again.

"Midnight, honey, what's wrong? Mommy will always be here for you, you can tell mommy anything." Her warm smile… it's making me… tipsy.

I can, tell mommy anything… anything? Yes! "I WANNA GO HOME!"

A hoof immediately quiets me with it's soothing rub and my voice starts to lose some of it's loudness. Not of my own free will of course! "Shh… I'm so proud of you, you already sense that you're not in reality. You even created a dream for yourself." Her horn glows and the room starts waving and shimmering Luna kisses me on the forehead and my eyes popped open.

Giving a short sigh, I curl up in a ball. I'm just about to give up. I can't take this anymore! She's pushing me to the limit! I don't want to be a little princess filly, but it seems as if I'm on a one way street. I feel a wing curl around me and my body shivers. Whether with delight or with fear… I don't know. My fur feels so soft against my muzzle. I haven't really explored my body since I was forcefully evicted from my old one. This doesn't exactly seem like the best time, but anything to get my mind off mommy.

Well beside… the obvious new addition and subtraction that happened when I… changed, my muzzle is not as long as mommy's. The hair on my muzzle is shorter than my fur and the fur on my wings seems to be actually longer, probably to account for wind when I… I start flying. A sigh once again manages to escape my lips as my eyes inadvertently travel to my… plot? I can't believe I'm female now. My little female parts are in full view, and all I want to do is look away. My eyes are glued to the strange sight though. I can't seem to comprehend what Luna has done to me, she's taken my life, then my age and gender, now she's taken my identity. When will it stop? I've already defeated that horrible little parasite she calls a daughter. Is she going to play dress up with me, put little lipstick on me and pretend I’m her perfect little princess filly? I can feel the fear rise and my will start to crumble.

As her muzzle rubs against my curled form, something snaps. I WILL not take this lying down, I WILL not be her daughter, and I WILL not be resigned to this fate! My language might be censored, I might not be able to call her Luna anymore, and my… name… might be different, but I will not stay! She's a princess right? That makes me royalty by default, and royalty goes wherever the fuck they want to!

With new hardened determination I rise from my curled up state and squeeze out from under the oppressor's wing. As soon as I leave I see her curl up instinctively around the spot where I used to be. Her face took on a look of fear and desperation. I had to find a replacement or my escape was going to get cut short.

Looking around I spot a small chest at the foot of the bed. I sprang upon it, trying to stay as quiet as possible as mommy suddenly groaned. I used my tiny muzzle to pry open the drawer. What it contains scares me. My brain tries to comprehend all the dolls of… me, well, new me, stuffed into this chest. Some of them had different manes, while others showed differing muzzles. Even the styles of the mane and tails was different. Forgetting my plight I look at the one that looks almost exactly like myself. The mane and tail are straight, giving an almost formal look. It looks way too nice. The mane and tail are perfectly even, and have a wave in it. Looking backwards I notice mine and almost groan as I catch sight of the same. I look like I'm ready to be dressed up. My purple fur looks brushed and I almost want to destroy that doll, but then again, part of me wants to hug it with all my might.

I manage to squash the rebellion and drag that accursed thing out of the box of horrors. I left it open, figuring it wouldn't matter if she saw it. She would know after she found the decoy.  My puny strength was barely enough to drag the doll over to my original spot. Mommy is whimpering right now, her wing is starting to twitch, I'm pretty sure she's about to wake up. My puny stupid hooves fumble with the doll before shoving it into her embrace. I watch her face relax and her limbs go still. Watching her chest intently I see her breathing return to normal and her entire body seems to relax, good.

Now… let's learn how to walk, and more importantly, run, or I guess gallop in this case. I have to put as much distance between her as possible.

I wonder if they take freeloading royalty on the train…

Chapter 3

I slowly made my way out down the hallway. Every step I took made me grimace as my brain reminded me that I am leaving behind mom, my comfort and safety. I chided myself, reminding myself that I am running away, not from that, but from a lie. I am running away from a life of slavery to a mother that isn't mine, chained to a existence that is almost the polar opposite of my being.

As I continue down the hallway I try to practice words. It's not easy but I managed to stop at least from sounding like a fricken baby. I also find myself unnaturally tired, even though it is only the afternoon. Maybe Luna changed my sleep cycles, stupid bitch. Hey look, cursing! I'm so excited, at least I can somewhat curse now.

A few guards came and went, none noticed me. When they did they simply bowed and kept going or stayed at their post, some of the servants asked me if I needed anything, but I told them to bugger off.

Okay so I didn't literally tell them to bugger off, I told them that I was fine and didn't need any help because 'I am a big filly', which gained some d'aws and them ignoring me. That of course is the desired action, so I continued on my way. I manage to make it down the corridor, down the stairs, past the foyer and past the throne room and almost to the exit before I get caught.

“Midnight Selene, there you are you little filly!” I saw a female pony trot towards me, a smile adorned on her face. “Princess Celestia has been looking forward to seeing you, now that you're up and about she simply begged to see you!” She held out her hooves. “Come here little Midnight, I'm not going to hurt you.”

Oh yes you are! You're going to take me back to THEM, and they will hurt me, so you'll be hurting me indirectly, buck that!

I take a step forward as if I’m falling for her bullshit, then bolt for the door. I don't know how but I am putting on the speed like I just drank a buck ton of liquid sugar. Man there are positives to being younger. I barely even hear her as she shouts something as I am out the door in seconds. My body instinctively spreads it's wings, but I force them back in. I'm not about to get accustomed to this, no way!

I am booking it through the garden towards the main gate. Two guards noticed me fleeing and turned around to capture my 'attackers'. I heard shouts, but didn't look back to see what had happened to the poor mare that is trying to take me to aunty- shut up filly brain! I have to get to that bucking train station... but my legs are starting to give out, and I’m pretty sure I hear shouts behind me. That means they've recovered from the initial stupidity. Not good.

Making it out of the front gate I check for any hiding places that a wanna be not princess filly can hide in. There's an alleyway! Aww... I don't see anything I can hide behind! Crap gotta think of something! Ponies are watching me, noticing the fact that I have both appendages! There, I can hide in that alleyway, it has a dumpster in it. It'll be exceptionally nasty, but it will also get stuff all in my fur.

Diverting down it, I check back to make sure nopony saw me come in or came to check on me, and dove into the dumpster with gusto. I can't believe I’m doing this, but I NEED to get away from mom, I mean Luna. She will baby me and make sure I never escape, or maybe I wont want to! Jesus, I can't even think of the ramifications now! She'll capture me, then she'll brainwash me...

It wouldn't be so bad though right? I'd be royalty and be able to get whatever I wanted. Oh wait, I'D BE A FUCKING GIRL! That is NOT on my list of things I want to die with. So, I guess I’m stuck in this dumpster then. You know, after killing my filly side, I’m wondering why I still think that this is absolutely disgusting. I mean, it's getting all in my mane and in my coat, it'll take mom hours to get it out. I bet it's in my tail to-. I let out a groan and cover my face with grimy hooves. Stop it stop it stop it!

“The magical trail leads this way!” Oh balls, a magical trail? That's cheating!

I try and bury myself under the disgust and filth of the trash, maybe this'll hide my scent, I bet I smell absolutely horrible right now. My mind screams about how disgusting I look, but I choke it down. If this is what gets me away from that... pony... I have to endure it.

“It leads... to this dumpster? That can't be right. Midnight would never jump into the dumpster, why would any filly ever want to get so dirty?”

“Just open it, maybe she fell in accidentally and can't get out.” I wince every-time they refer to me as female. I know it's politically correct now, but I still hate it.

I see a bit of sunlight and refrain from trying to bury myself further. Closing my eyes I pray that they don't see me. I catch a few coughs and somepony sifts through some of the trash. “She isn't here, she must have done something. Maybe she jumped to the roof or something.”

“Maybe we should be asking the question of why she ran away.” There's a pause and some scuffling. “Hey, get your hoof off me and wash that thing, I know where its been!”

There's a groan, “Yeah, yeah, whatever, but I call not it on waking up princess Luna and telling her that her daughter is missing.”

“I got a better idea, you wash your hoof, and play interference while I go corner another probee to do it.”

I hear some snickers, “deal!” Wow these ponies are somewhat human. That's actually very surprising.

It is an agonizing few minutes, I’m sure it's been hours, before I feel confident to escape from my nasty prison. How I am going to go about this however, is beyond me. The stallion guard is right when he speculated that I couldn't get out if I had fallen in. I had no clue how I’d get out of here since I could barely reach the edge and even then, my tiny body is unable to lift itself.

My wings fluttered again and I looked at them with hatred. To call them my own, even in my mind is torturous. I have to accept that all I have become is what I’m going to be for the rest of my life...

I slam a hoof into the side of the dumpster. “No!” Just because I am like this doesn't mean I had to stay like this! Mom did something to me, and where there's a way, there's always a way BACK! Spells have counter spells and counter spells even have counter spells! Okay maybe not that, Dungeons and Dragons is probably not the best reference point. Well now that we've figured out that I am not going to stay as this cute adorable little filly for the rest of my life. Time to get out of here, and quick! I only had a matter of time before Luna is awakened and sent on a rampage. Last time I saw that, I had taken the last of the moon pies. I shiver. Never again.

Hoisting myself out is a tedious process that I nearly failed several times. When I finally am able to extract myself from the dumpster I checked myself. This is the worst decision I’ve made so far. My filly side of my brain is going absolutely stir crazy with disgust. Look at my tail, is that a banana peel stuck in it? My beautiful blue coat is absolutely ruined too! I don't even want to see what my mane looks like, but it probably isn't much better. Sighing sadly I sniffed a little at my misfortune, both as a filly and a human, and proceeded to make my way back into the street.

By some random act of luck I am able to exit the castle grounds into the richer part of the town. Well I think it is since all the ponies are being absolute snobs about my condition. Several actually apparently caught wind of me and had parted around me. Of course actions on my part didn't help at all, instead of holding my head higher and smiling like the princess I am, my head is lowered partly to the ground. I used some of the dirt and grime to cover my wings so nopony would think I’m not where I’m supposed to be.

Suddenly my ears perk up as I hear a sound I’ve been longing to hear. There it is again, the high shrill train whistle! It's close too! I'm almost home free, all I have to do is make it to the train station and then I never have to see mom... or aunty Tia...

At the thought of leaving I sniff a little and start to cry. Is this what I truly want? To break their hearts and leave them alone again. If I remember correctly, they've been alone with only each other for over a thousand years. Is it right for me to take away their only hope for company?

The tears flow freely as I combat myself. Taking a step backwards I consider going back to the castle. Mommy would welcome me and hug me, of course, after she gave me a bath and brushed me and then I would be so adorable again!

My happy smile twitches and my real thoughts cave in on those that were placed by the offending princess. They deserve to be alone! Capturing an alien being and then turning it, unwillingly, into the native species, of the opposite sex I might add, just so they can have some company! They are criminals! I don't know where you come from princess but kidnapping and then holding somepony against their will is against the law where I come from, so I have every right to run away and try to escape!

My body slowly moves forward again, just as my stomach started to rumble with hunger. Oh great, now I need food, more specifically, milk... unless I can suck it up and eat something else. Hay, baby horses eat grass, all I got to do is find some grass and bam, instant food! My mind doesn't mind that I have think about eating grass so apparently foals of this world can too! Score one for the filly-human.

I try to ignore the rumblings in my stomach and proceed once again towards the shrill of the whistles. Many mares seem to give me a pitying look, but I try to at least bare my teeth to show that I want nothing to do with them. Most immediately swerved out of my way, but it looks like one or two of them are coming towards me, shoot! Quick, escape plan alpha: Bolt!

Why aren't my hooves touching the ground! Aunty damn stupid magic! “Aww... the poor thing. Where's your mother little one?”

I sucked up my courage and swallowed every ounce of the child within me so I could answer her in the most untruthful manner. “LEMME GO! I DON HAVE MOMMY!” oh... that hurt... so much to say. It's not true on both levels. I had a mother before this, and technically Luna is my mommy now whether I like it or not.

No, no, not the tears, anything but the tears, come on, suck it up Micheal we might be a stubborn little filly, but it doesn't mean you have to act like one! Mommy darn it. Now I’m crying. Great, now they'll know I’m lying, and now I’m being squeezed closely by a mare and nuzzled by another. “Aww... she's been-” I couldn't catch the next part because they started whispering to each other, but I’m pretty sure I heard the words 'bad home' and 'poor filly'. Well they weren't so far off the track.

I tried to drum up any courage I had and swallowed the tears. “Can you pwease lemme go? I has get to train.” Sighing again I realize that I hadn't yet perfected my speech and therefore, still sounded adorably cute and innocent.

Another round of awwws coursed through the group of mares surrounding me. One mare, well, I guess snatches is the more appropriate word, me away from the current mare and looked at me. “Who could ever not want such and adorable foal.” Giggling she smoothed my mane back a little. I felt a weight drop off it, apparently something had lodged itself in my mane. “And why do you want to get on the train little one?”

Well I guess I can tell the truth, they might let me if I do, or I could simply punch the mare that's holding me and run away. Let's see, what has more positives attached to it and less dangers.

Satisfied with my option I smiled at her adorably and all the mares D'awwed again. Once the mare in front of me smiled, closed her eyes and came in for the nuzzle, I smacked her right across the muzzle. This of course garnered the action that all females do when they are hit on the face. She put a hoof up to her nose instinctively and had to let go of me to do so. All the other mares are apparently so distracted by my actions that as soon as I hit the ground, I have no pursuit.

I am BOOKING it down the road. Whatever exhaustion I had before disappeared as I tried in vain to escape the fate that had been shoved upon me by my... mother. I don't know what love I could have for her that isn't forced. My name is Michael, and I am filly, but I am NOT her filly!

I managed to make it to the station where the train looks like it is in it's final departure checks or whatever they do here in pony land. There is a nice big 6 painted on the train, on all the cars actually. So I checked the destinations and looked under '6'. Turns out I got lucky. The Number six train is the last to leave Canterlot today and it went to ponyville. Jesus do the puns ever end?

I heaved out a disappointed sigh when I saw that ponyville happened to be the closest destination on the entire list, which is not good for me, but at least it is something. Once I got to this 'ponyville' I had to find a more permanent covering for my wings, since my horn doesn't seem like I’m able to cover it. After that I had to make sure I could stay as incognito as possible. I wonder if ponies usually dye their fur. Maybe I’ll make mine pink! That would be so cute! All the other fillies would-

Grasping my head I try desperately to unhinge the image of me as an adorable pink filly from my mind. Failing miserably I simply trot solemnly towards whatever car happened to be closest. Of course this also happens to be the one with a conductor on it so he immediately confronts me with a happy smile and a wave. “Why hello ther- oh my gosh what happened to you? You look absolutely fil-”

I decide to cut him off. The only way I’m getting past this hulk of a pony stallion is by surprise. “Dumpster, wun away from home. Need get on twain.” Darn those R's, why must you torment me!

Well at least it has the desired effect, he's effectively stunned, letting me dash by him. “Hey! Come back here!” His tone isn't hostile like you'd find in most conductors on earth. He thinks I’m just a harmless little filly, sucks for him.

By the time I’ve made it past that car and into the next, I have lost sight of the conductor. I've successfully made it on the train. I make my way to an empty seat and look up at the window. There's a slight jolt as the train pulls away. I feel like waving to the city, so I do. I feel a tiny bit of remorse for leaving, but that's easily squashed by the feeling of betrayal.

I look at mom's tower sadly though. All she really wants is a daughter, and now I’ve taken that from her. She's just a kindhearted soul trying to-

Suddenly an atomic bomb went off in Luna’s tower, creating a shock-wave and a wave of midnight blue, almost the same shade as my coat, to arc from it. The train rocked a little and slowed as the engineer tried to keep the train on the tracks. I saw mom, or well, I saw a black dot, zoom from the tower into the town, presumably to check for my 'magical trail'. Good, that means I have plenty of time. Those mares I ran into should prove useful in tripping her up. That is, until she finds them and they tell her I was heading for the train station, then I’m really bucked.

Sighing I jump down from the window. Some ponies are already giving me weird looks, but most are looking around and getting up, trying to assess the damage to the train and figure out if the ride will be delayed probably.

Oh goody, there's a bathroom right there. Maybe I can get the filly in me to shut up about the stupid dirty coat and tail. That might actually get ponies to stop looking at me as well. Though I will need something to cover my wings again, I’m pretty sure if I come out in the open with wings and a horn I'll be reported immediately. What I really need to do is find a pony that doesn't care what I am.

So far things seem to be looking up for me, hopefully I can figure out how to stay away from that crazy mare or better yet, get out of this tiny annoying body.

Chapter 4

Eventually I had to come out of that Luna danged bathroom, it was hard enough tearing myself away from the mirror, the sad blue eyes that reflected back at me seemed to conjure up fresh tears and a sense of alienation.

I knew that I had to leave the bathroom, or else it would get suspiciously obvious I was trying to hide something. The main problem I have is that I'm in a newly birthed body, well somewhat new, apparently I can run and hide like a coward still.

Managing to open the door I proceed out into the train car, looking for any possible assailants or casual passerby that would notice the dual appendages and come to question my existence. I can feel the train car moving so obviously I haven't been caught, yet. I know that this train can only go so far without being stopped, but all my chips on those idiot mares ironically enough. Hopefully they can distract mo-Lu-no she deserves to be called a monster.

My mind starts to wander as I metal gear solid my way down the hallway, listening to the train bump over rail impurities. I wonder if I'll get punished for running away like this. Considering my position on the matter punishing me would be counter productive to what Luna is trying to accomplish. Of course there's always forcing me to do every whim she demands and eventually forcing love out of me. Then again she could pull the same shit with me again and try the inception trick again.

There, in the corner of my giant eyeball, a potential threat. Male, three feet in height, hat and... is that a mustache? Are you bucking kidding me! Ponies have mustaches? What's next I see a mare with a teat job? “Hello little one, are you lost?”

I freeze on the spot at these words. The come from behind me and above. Looking up I scream bloody murder as mom's face and body seemed to loom over me. She was dressed in a orderlies outfit and was smiling sadistically with sharp teeth and crazy eyes.  Adrenaline started pumping and I could feel my legs, all four of them, turn to jelly. Her mouth moved again, the smile never wavering. “Are... Are you okay?” No... no... you were back there, you're distracted.

I have to run, I have to move, I have to get out of here, where can I go?! I look back at the stallion that I saw before, except he's not there anymore. My teeth begin to chattering as yet another Luna in a hat and a mustache is facing me smiling the big pointy toothed smile. No escape... no escape. “I think she's scared to death.” I feel furry hooves rubbing against my barrel. That's the last straw! I can't go back! Not now, not ever, I've gotten this far I'm not going back!

As I spun around I realized I had said that part out loud, I have to go before she catches me, have to go. Spotting a spread between my conductor mom's legs I bolt through it before she can close the gap. Forgetting anything I tried to remember from this morning, my mind is solely set on removing myself from this train car. I could hear her shout in surprise as I raced under her legs, heading for the door on the other side of the car.

Just like that, my body ceases forward movement. I look around myself and see a magical aura, not unlike mothers. I can feel my tiny heart pumping with so much fear that I'm sure I'm only a jump scare away from a heart attack.

Wait, I have a horn too. Maybe if I try to do the magic do-hicky like other ponies... In fear, my mind reaches out to the depths of my subconsciousness and suddenly I'm not longer in the train, I'm back in the same bedroom, except this time its more of a combination than separate parts. My own bed dominates the room with fragments of Luna's room splayed everywhere. It doesn't make any sense however as all the arrangements have been made into a mess and the room is in general disarray. Much to my disappoint my body is still that of a female foal's but my heart rate has begun to decrease at the realization that danger and death is no longer imminent. My eyes wander from corner to corner of the room, trying to slow my heart rate by thinking about random things. My eyes suddenly fix themselves on a photograph that dominates the eastern wall. It's of three figures, one small, one large and one skinny. I try and focus on it more and realize it's a picture of Luna standing next to human me with tiny pony me perched on her back. The large picture, frame and all is tilted sideways and looks to be hanging onto the wall just barely.

“Looking for something?”

I nearly jump out of skin as a familiar but now sophisticated little voice magically appeared behind me. Quickly spinning around I jumped back, my heart beat once again picking up the pace as I readied myself for the brain parasite.

“That's no way to greet your host.” Host, is this some cheesy realm of hers inside my head that I've suddenly stepped into? “I'm sure you have many questions, and I have many too.” She punctuated this by a glare in my direction. “But I know what you came for, I can tell what's happening outside of this cage you've put me in.” Oh, so we're going with her being innocent, I see how it's going to be bitch.

“Tell me, why should I let you run away from mommy?” Question, why are you still sane after that question? “It's in my best interest that you are removed and that I am allowed to be with my mommy again.”

“Your mommy is a psychopath that would rival most people on my...” My train of thought suddenly derailed as the statement held false for my next words and I couldn't bring myself to say them.

“My mommy is trying to save me from you!” Steeling up my courage I met her glare with mine and we began the deadly game of eye chicken. First one to look away was going to be submissive.

A minute went by before she finally looked away with tears in her eyes. “Please... I don't want to be stuck here. I'm just a little filly and now I'm stuck in this filthy place because of you.” Wait, how in Tartarus is this my fault? I did nothing! Jesus this filly is starting to dig a hole of accusations I'm not sure she can dig herself out of. “When mommy's spell to get rid of you failed and you smacked me I... couldn't hold on. My vision went black and for a minute I thought you'd killed me.” Dammit. I let my face show signs of disgust, which earned me a tearful, resentful glare. “Then I opened my eyes to this place having the mind of a foal, not a baby. This is your fault! Our personalities are so mixed up we'll never be the same unless you go!”

“Now hold on there for a second! Whoever said I was the problem! You're the one who tried to take over my body! Now you're stuck here, being a bitch to me for no reason!” I crossed my arms and stuck out my tongue. It was all very childish, but she deserved it!

“Fine.” Fine, what's fine who's fine TELL ME!

I watched her hang her head in defeat. “We will have to sort out this problem later, but for now I guess it is in my best interest as well to avoid conflict with other ponies.” She turned her head and gave me a hard promising look. “Me and mommy will get back together, that, you cannot stop.”

I blinked and quite instantly I was back on the train as if no time had passed at all. The only thing different was that I was now on the floor, covered in a soft purple glow. I guess that stupid little filly actually meant- ouch! I held my head as a searing pain streamed through it. As quickly as it came it was gone, but it was an agonizing pain like no other. I will have to be careful with what I think I guess.

After I collect my wits I realized that, given my resistance to magical approach the orderly was aiming to try a physical approach to try and trap me. I can't have that, if he gets me it's all over.

I take a step away and my leg developed a small prick of pain. No, you cannot stop me!

I let my legs do the talking as I showed the stallion my butt and hauled it out of the train car. Despite our completely opposite goals we both knew that sometimes ponies can be misleading. I could end up in some random shack somewhere. Hell I could be used as a bargaining chip. Either way Luna was going to have to find me herself.

It's odd, the relationship that I now share with the filly. I don't hear her commenting in my head like I thought. Nor do I feel like any kind of outside force is acting upon me. Hell I could just be sick as a dog and be experiencing delusions. However... given the circumstances of the previous 12 hours I will have to take everything at face value right now.

The bigger issue I have right now is wondering how I'm going to stay away from Lu-OW... from Mommy...

Sighing I turn around to find that, during my thoughts I had managed to make it to the second to last train car and lose the orderly in the process. It looks like this happens to be a sleeping car, which makes sense, it being the back of the train. It's too bad I don't...

Yawning I silently curse whatever caused me to do such an action. Whether it was the invisible silent filly, or that it was getting to the point where Mommy would put me to bed, I do not know. Maybe I did need a nap. However I can't exactly just jump into a bed and hope for the best. Hell some of these are actually occupied.

I feel a weird pull and decide to let my body follow it to an empty bed with double the necessary blankets and pillows. It also looks like some towels were placed on the bed and some extra luggage. Apparently this bed wasn't rented out to anyone in particular. Maybe I could just jump in for a small amount of shut eye.

Jumping onto the bed I tried to dig my way under the covers and behind the other things scattered upon the bed so it would be harder for me to be noticed. Stretching out as flat as possible my breathing slowed and my eyes began to close. Besides the foreign body and the brain parasite, it was nice to finally go to bed without worrying about what I'd see when I woke up.

My internal alarm went off. I had developed the skill to wake up on subconscious command whenever I sensed Luna nearby. Looking outside I notice that the sky has not changed from night to day. Either I've slept for over 24 hours or I've just taken a quick power nap... like a little kid... Mommy darn it, these mental changes are starting to piss me off.

I check my surroundings to make sure that I had not been disturbed. A bump in the carriage signaled that we are still in motion, but I can no longer see Canterlot from my window. Maybe the train went to other places besides this 'Ponyville' and I had managed to get even further away from that dreaded pony that I must call mother now.

A sudden braking fills me full of dread. Of course not. Given how fast this train can go I estimate that either I took a really long nap, doubtful, or we aren't even that far away from Canterlot, which sucks, a ton.

Once again I felt the urge to do things I did not wish to do, but given my current state I did not argue.

Using my muzzle I poke my wings a bit, for what reason I'm not sure, but they do feel better. I wish I had a mirror so I could check my appearance, I bet I look dreadful. I bet I need a good brushing, a bath- oh god it's setting in again. I don't know how long I can bear his constant need of self grooming! I need to get out of here before I start digging through somepony else's belongings. Ah buck... not the wording too!

Sighing I stand up shakily, gain footing, and poke my tiny head through the privacy curtain. The train's deceleration seemed to have awoken many of the occupants of the sleeping car. Most of them seem to have already grabbed what few belongings they had and were preparing to depart.

I jump slightly as the bed above mine creaked. Ah crap don't tell me this is that pony's shit, then he or she will find me, holy crap this is going to go to crap really quick if I don't think of something.

Despite the urge to simply pop out and go my merry way, thanks stupid midnight, I grab a small cloth and drape it over my back. This and my small stature should help me escape notice, if only for a little bit. I ignore myself and the small glow that faintly envelopes the ends of the cloth, tying itself around my neck. Once I'm away from pony civilization I can be independent of magic and flight and the like, but for now I will just have to suffer through my crutch.

I get a small cramp in my back leg, causing me to almost trip off the bed, as an answer to my brooding. Cursing my fate I once again stealth sneak my way to the front most part of the train where passengers were already disembarking.

Slipping through the legs of the other ponies was easy. I was a foal, and a young one, hardly worth noticing. Oh crap someone is starting to look concerned, smile, SMILE!

I smile real big and the pony in question smiles back before getting off. Woo... well that's a disaster to be avoided. Let's see what's waiting for us outside the safety of the train.

I let my smile fade and my head droop as I see several guard ponies scanning the crowd, well, the ground around the crowd, possibly for me. My body took a step forward before I caught myself. No, I can't get caught, not yet. One special lavender unicorn stood out among the rest. For some reason I could not place her name, but I knew that I'd rather have five guards on my tail than her. She seemed to be scanning the crowd more meticulously than the rest. I guess I'd have to treat this like a video game and try to stay out of the pretty white vision indicator wont I?

Another pony, a light blue one that looked more like a symbol for gay pride than a pony, flew up to the lavender one and conversed before flying off again. I wonder if I can go through a window on the opposite side of the train. That would certainly make things much easier, or...

Looking down the train I see that there is yet another line of ponies getting off. Maybe if I distract the purple one and then run down, I can get away while everyone is distracted. Yes yes yes, that sounds awesome! Luna dammit...

Ignoring another prick on my legs I scan the ever dwindling line of ponies getting off before picking out a mare and a stallion talking to one another. I made my way over to the edge of the door way before sticking out a hoof and tripping the stallion. I could have tripped the mare, but the stallion would have just held her up, in this case the mare held on to the stallion, but she couldn't hold him. All in all its a funny spectacle to watch and I see the lavender mare stop searching to stare in shock at the couple.

I bolted for the other line, dodging and weaving, causes a few ponies to cry out. Screw them though I have to escape I have to get out of here! I waited until I saw another young couple before jumping in right behind them, keeping as out of sight as I could. CRAP, there's another random pony scanning the crowd!

Okay what scenarios are there? I could just give up, not an option. I could trip the couple in front of me, no that wouldn't do anything but draw attention. However, I can just hop off the steps and go under the train.

Finding no other choice I do exactly that. I quickly hid behind one of the giant wheels before surveying my target area. The forest in the distance seemed the optimal place to hide, plus there were a scant few houses in between here and there.

Midnight... wheerrrre arrrre youuuu?

I grasped my head, choking down a cry of pain as the familiar sensation of my privacy being violated returned. It didn't happen often that Luna did this to me, but apparently she hadn't forgotten now. I have to try and control my thoughts. Lets see... darkness... think quickly! I have to pick something or else she'll dig up my true intentions. Lake, I'm going swimming.

You cannot lie to me. I'm your mother, come back to me.

I let the picture of the lake take dominance. It was the only way to fool her. I try to make it more realistic. Slowly the picture became more surreal and the pressure on my head decreased, allowing me more room to think. She wasn't gone though, I have to keep focused.

Like the bell tolling death I heard the train whistle echo and the entire ordeal of the last 3 minutes played through my head like a movie on fast forward.

There you are...

With her last words I felt the pressure vanish and my thoughts became clear. I have to get to that forest or I'm toast! Taking a quick look in the direction of Canterlot my eyes widened and I almost peed myself as a minuscule, yet very threatening, dot steadily grew larger. I could tell I had no more than a couple minutes before I was toast.

It was time to start the deadliest, most important game of hide seek I've ever played, and unfortunately, there was no base.

Bolting out from under the train car I managed to catch slight raising of a voice as hooves began to move. Everything was lost to the wind as I employed every muscle I could to run faster.

It's dangerous in there.

I don't care! I'd rather fight a friggin manticore than take my chances with mommy! Only 100 yards to go, I can make it!

You'll be happier with her.

My pace slowed as I realized the voice I was hearing was not of foreign origins, but my own baser instinct. I can't let up though. If I'm to continue living as myself I must press on. Trying to double my pace I look back and see the black dot has grown to a two inch diameter circle or pure nothingness. I can even feel the rage emanating off it.

But that's not the only thing.

I tried to shake it off, but I sensed a deep sadness emanating from the ball as well. A picture of Mommy flashed through my head. Her face was contorted with rage filled intentions, but on closer look I could tell that a stream of tears also fell. I could not tell if I'd seen that far or if my mind was simply playing tricks.

Shaking my head I realized my pace had slowed and the dot had grown steadily bigger. Looking ahead I realize I have not but 25 yards to go before I am home free, but my legs no longer respond.

You love her.

I do not!

You wish to see her sadness removed.

Not at my expense

Just sit still and accept the love and care. Just sit still, just. Sit. Stillll....

The last words seemed to have an effect. My body vibrated and my pace slowed to a trot. There were only 15 yards between me and the forest. I realize that I have justified myself before. Was I right to take away from her? At first I was fighting for my individuality. With that threat no longer on the horizon was I really in any place to take away the possibility of me playing the role of a filly? Surely the both of us would make sacrifices for the other. It wasn't home but it could be, right?

Looking ahead I noticed I had gone another few yards forward. I could see the thorns on the trees now, and even more trees behind the trees. There seemed to be no end to the blackness. The filly inside me cowered.

A cool sensation flooded my body. Thou art mine little midnight...

The voice, evil and possessive, snapped me out of my trance and kick started my muscles. Sprinting the last 10 yards I jumped over a thorn bush and ducked under a low branch before slowing a bit.

I heard a massive explosion as I noticed dirt and sediment fly into the air as Mommy emerged from a crater she had caused. Her eyes seemed to hypnotize me, having the opposite effect than intended because it scared the shit out of me.

Her eyes glowed white and she pulled a long black sword from somewhere, it was probably ethereal in origin.

With a yelp I bolted deeper into the forest, ignoring the cries of anguish and yells as the guards attempted to stop Luna from entering the forest. My animal instinct of being prey kicked in and my vision narrowed. I saw nothing else but the path that I was creating. A branch struck me on the cheek, I felt hot blood flood down my cheek, but this only strength my instinct, causing me to gallop farther into the abyss.

I could barely see where I was going. Thorns and branches whacked me from all directions. My tiny body could only take so much, but I could not bring myself to slow down. All around shapes formed her face. Sometimes the face was menacing, others were soft and welcoming. Both were equally frightening to me, so I continued to run.

Jumping through a tight hole in the thorns I felt my cloak become caught on more thorns. The tiny fabricated is ripped from around my neck, pulling my forelegs up as my backlegs continued forward. The world spun as I did a flip before landing face down in the dirt.

I attempt to raise myself, but I can feel the strength ebbing from me. Lifting my head I see that I am in a clearing, one of the only spots with a hint of light. My eyes close and my brain shuts down. I let myself have a little laugh at my own expense. Maybe it was better to have gone with Luna instead of simply dying out her in the woods.

I heard a roar, not unlike a lions and the rustling of bushes. My eyes refused to open and my body refused to respond. Resigning myself to my fate I prayed to whatever God governed this world that my soul, whatever was left of it, might go to human heaven or whatever.

More rustling sounded and what sounded like hoof-steps caught my ear. “Begone you foul beast, this foal is not for you feast!”

Letting out a cough I let my mind and consciousness shut down as the blood-loss consumed me.

Chapter 5.1

I open my eyes again to the dreaded room that the filly named Midnight inhabited. I was laying atop the bed that had changed a little since my last visit. The bed was not as messy, and sported a more masculine blue instead of deep pink. Looking around I noticed some of the pictures had righted themselves a little, still lopsided, but noticeably more vertical. The picture of me, real me, Luna and Midnight was nowhere to be found.

Walking towards where it was last time I look over the bed to find the filly glaring at me, sitting atop a face down picture frame, supposedly the picture I was looking for. I know what is coming and have to take the advantage. “Evening miss.” During this I tip an invisible hat in her direction.

To this she recoils, caught off guard by the odd action. I have to take advantage while I have a leg up so to speak. “Why are you sitting on the only picture frame that sports human me? Why are you denying me a visual of myself, the only one I have left by the way.”

Time to prepare for the counter attack. “HOW DARE YOU!” Oh god that hurt a little. “I help you and you repay me by running away from mom, jumping into a forest and completely disfiguring my adorable body!” Disfiguring, all I did was get cut up a little and face-plant.

It took me a moment before I realized I had said that last part out loud. “How could you! I didn't even do anything! You wanted to go back, you wanted to be with her! I was so happy that you had secret feelings. How could you deny yourself!” I could tell she's grasping at straws here, trying to pin everything on me, but I dare say I'm the one who's surprised now. I thought she'd been trying to manipulate me into stopping. She obviously senses her advantage and grins a little. “So I've decided that we need to talk. We shall trade, if you ever want to see 'yourself' again you'll have to go straight back to mommy.”

Wow isn't someone tooting their own horn? “How about no? Since that would ultimately end in my demise I find that dealing with not being able to see myself is definitely a more pleasing alternative.”

I see her tear up again, oh great, guilt trip, girl... that wont work. “There you go again. You're using words that I shouldn't know! I shouldn't be having a conversation or making deals or speaking more than 2 syllables. I shouldn't know what a syllable is! You've done this to me, I'm no longer an innocent filly, because of you!” Well now, yeah I guess that is kinda my fault, but the reason it is my fault is because of Luna.

Sighing I realize that this is getting me nowhere. “Okay, I'm sorry, would you like that we speak like little foals, or preferably just didn't use big words?” She nods and lowers her head. “Okay!” I hope I sound perky enough, but I doubt it. “So... um... can I see myself?”

“No.”

“You still want me to go see mommy?” Shit! Did I really just say 'mommy'?

She raises her head and throws a weak smile. “Yes I would like that... maybe I can ask mommy to help you?”

Sighing I shake my head, this is also not getting us anywhere. “How about I tone down my rec-” stopping, I try to search for an equivalent word. “stop doing non-filly things?”

This peaks her interest, and rightly so. “What do you mean?”

Sighing I realize I'm about to pay out the ass for righting the status quot. “Like... brushing my-your mane.” She smiles, but obviously wants me to go on. “and tail... and I will stop doing things that a filly shouldn't do and stop cursing.”

Sniffling she wipes her eyes. “I would like it very much if you would try.”

Without thinking I jump off the bed and hug her. Trying to recover the situation I think of a way to diffuse our dispute. “Well, right now we are both in a sticky place. Maybe we should stop fighting for now until we figure things out.”

At the end of the sentence she decides to reciprocate the hug. It was weird, I was kinda sorta hugging myself in a way. No, shut up shut up, this isn't me, its a visual of a filly imprinted on my brain to try and push me out.

That doesn't mean you can't co-exist

The thought flashed through my mind like a bullet. That was the solution! If I could get us both to co-exist I might survive, while the filly might forget about m-Luna and let me live a life that we both want, and this was the first step.

“Thanks... I ne-needed that.” Pulling back she wiped her nose. “It feels weird, hugging someone that I hate, but now... I don't think you're a evil being possessing me.” I almost jumped and fist pumped. I can't believe it was that easy! “But I also don't think that mommy created me inside of you. I think you were put in me by accident.” Shit... well we got this far.

She wiped her nose again and I made sure to back away to avoid being snot on. “Well... if you keep your promise, I guess I should give you back yourself.” She steps off the picture and I soon follow, making sure to be on the opposite side. I don't feel comfortable standing next to her longer than necessary.

I watch in mild fascination as her horn gets a soft glow around it and the picture is lifted back onto the wall. It seems to fit nice and square now. I move from face to face, first Luna's, I cannot seem to find absolute hatred anymore. Having spoke with Midnight cooled me down I think. While I can see why she wished for simple companionship, I wasn't ready to jump head long into her hooves. Then Midnight's adorable face, smiling. It's funny that half my brain looks at that and immediately registers it as me.

As I move my eyes to myself I hear Midnight gasp. As my eyes drifted to myself I myself let out a gasp and backpedaled. Falling over backwards I smack my head on the tiles, jolting my brain. I feel myself slowly losing grip upon the small room inside my head.

The me in the picture now sported a longer, midnight blue head of hair.

A/N: You might be wondering, "Wow that filly flipped around really quick... why did she suddenly change viewpoints?"

Remember, she isn't an 'adult' she's a little foal with a partial knowledge of an adult, they sorta merged. So while she isn't illiterate or blubbering, she is very impressionable, highly emotional and volatile.

Chapter 5.2-10

I open my eyes slowly and cautiously. The first thing that surprises me is that I'm in a sort of tree structure. For sure I thought I would either be laying back at that clearing, either that or dead so this was definitely an improvement, I think.

A low sizzling sound reaches up to tickle my ear. Cautiously I attempt to get up only to be forced back down by pain. Resigning myself to be bedridden for the moment I set my mind to attempting to remember what exactly happened during the past few hours, or the past few hours I was awake before... I think, I'm confused and I've been awake for only 5 minutes, what is wrong with me?

Closing my eyes I try to visualize the events that occurred before the forest and my blackout. Surprising enough the picture was in high definition that would rival any 1080 picture TV. There was no breakouts as I'm reinserted into my previous self and raise from the train car bed. The events flashed before my eyes like a movie. I laughed to myself at my pitiful attempts to mimic Solid Snake. I bit my lip at the tense moment where I felt myself slowing down.

My mind clear from having had a good nights rest I realized now that my thoughts had been my own. I still do not understand myself and what exactly went on, but as my body slowed to a trot I mentally flipped through the images in my mind, horrified by memories that were not my own and futures that I imagined for myself. My fear was short lived as I relived the moment where her voice penetrated my mind. I was unaware of it then, but now, looking back I realize just how powerful and how encompassing her love, misguided as it is, that Luna possessed for me.

I wilted inside as I felt both rage, despair, sadness, and longing emanated from her in waves. Though the most powerful of all of them was her loneliness. Whatever had caused it has caused her to seek after me with such fervor. It was not my doing that created such a desire, but I am still the center of it.

Feeling the soft touch of darkness, encroach upon me I realize that I am being sucked in again, sucked into her warm mental embrace. For a moment our consciousness brushed and I shrunk away before she could latch on, though she reached out for my touch. She has done something to me, I am not just changed to fit her liking.

Shaking my head feverishly I shrug off the thoughts that crowded upon my brain. I can think about mental changes and death by personality murder later. First, get up, second, get food, third... what was the third again.

“I do not believe my eyes, I did not think you would rise.” Panicking I spin towards the voice that had riddled me only to be puzzled by what I see. It looks like the pony form of an tribesman from Africa. Her, well unless he has a very feminine voice, has gold or brass, I cannot tell, rings lining the neck with a large hoop earring hanging off each ear, each as big as her eyeballs, which were of the same large proportion as a ponies'. It looks like she sports a Mohawk, but I digress, I cannot judge for in my many years I've had some weird hairstyles, present form not withstanding.

Though I do not want to offend her she looks like a dang zebra. “Puzzled you are by my presence I see, though you have nothing to fear from me. Zecora is what I am called.” What is with these rhymes? Though with a name like that she is DEFINITELY a zebra. She, yeah I'm calling her a she now, get over it brain. “With my name said I can see you are less appalled.”

Startled I could tell my face showed confusion. Though I am curious as to why she is speaking in rhymes it is weird she knew that I was guessing she was a zebra. Then again I wasn't at all a hard person to read, well I guess a hard pony to read now. “Um...”

“By what name are you called little filly?” She smiled, either oblivious she interrupted my train of thought or knowing I have no train to begin with. Either way I was obligated to answer.

Sighing I began moving my mouth “Mid-” immediately I clamp my mouth shut and cover it with both hooves. That is not my name! My name is midnight! Celestia dammit! Frantically I closed off my mind, envisioning a new person to give me name to before repeating it over and over in my head. Michael... Michael.. Michael. Michael! I removed the new person in my head and focused only on that single word. It is all I have left and I will be damned before I give it up.

Somewhere in my brain though, in the far off reaches, in the far off corners echoed a voice. Midnight... Miiiiidniiiight...

Panic and adrenaline filled my body again and it only worsens when I felt liquid dribbling down my throat. It has to be some sort of poison! The zebra works for her! I tried coughing but strong hooves held my muzzle shut until I could no longer hold back the urge to swallow.

The hooves let go and I coughed violently, putting a hoof against my throat try and force myself to puke the horrible concoction up. “Be still and know peace, with me you are safe from the beast!”

I shudder as the adrenaline and panicked flees from my body. I force my eyes open as wide as they can go, preparing to fight whatever drug she used to put me to sleep, but the urge never came. Instead I felt peace. My breathing slows and my mind clears. Debating myself in my mind I decide to at least trust this zebra a little more than I have.

“I see that discussing your name brings trouble. That is a mistake I will not double. Get up you should be able to do, come down stairs and we'll eat some hot stew.” Beckoning she slowly backed away from the bed and smiled gently.

Seeing no other option, my stomach growls in approval of my choice, I attempt again to get up, this time prevailing over my body and rising to a full stand. Walking seemed to be troubling though so I crawled to the end of the bed. I cast a glance back at Zecora, who seems to be making no move to exploit my troubles, I look over the edge of the bed and plan my hop.

Ah screw planning. My hooves slide over the edge and I land on all fours gracefully, only to fall flat on my face after taking the first step. Fighting the urge to ball like a little filly 'which I am I guess' I get up slowly before attempting the stairs again.

It took balance but eventually I get the hang of it and make it down the stairs to find the zebra, Zecora, stirring a large pot that looks more suited for a witches house than a zebras, maybe she was a witch. Deciding it was worth the risk I continued on the path towards her, sniffing the air. Though I knew whatever I smelled would be, by new pony brain's understanding, absolutely delicious, while I, on the other hoof, utterly despised it. This would be my first full meal to be honest... besides... no don't think about that torture.

Too many smells assaulted my nose, drowning me in a wave of pleasure. Apparently whatever the zebra was cooking was like ice cream, or prime steak.

A shiver ran up my spine as the familiar picture of meat not only didn't inspire longing, but it also brought a disgust to my mind. Did I no longer have the ability to eat meat, yes, but I'll be damned if I don't want to!

“Please take a seat, that is, if you wish to eat.” Okay, this is actually starting to impress me. Does she have to rhyme or is like something she does because she wants to?

Trotting over to a small table I scramble up on top of a chair only to be met with the surprise that my chin barely reaches over the top. Annoyed I put my hooves on the tables edge and proceed sit that way. “No no that will no do, here is something that might help you.” I look at her and see she has a rather large book in her hoof, somehow...

Taking she meant to place that under me I hop down, almost tripping on the landing, and wait as she places the book on top of my seat and nods to me. Scrambling back up I notice that I was now at a comfortable height. “Thanks...” Nodding again she trots towards the soup, somehow magically holds two bowls and fills them before returning them to the table and sitting across from me.

Given the lack of conversation that she seems to inspire I'm guessing that she doesn't exactly like to rhyme a lot, but that could also just be that she doesn't usually have company here so she's not used to to small talk.

“So um... what do you plan on doing with me?” Straight to the point, I might as well.

“That depends on you, for it is you who will do.” Odd wording, but okay.

“I would very much not like to leave this forest, preferably by staying here, if that is alright with yourself.”

I can tell she is surprised by the way her already large eyes grew a tad larger. “Your looks betray you little foal, I did not think that sounding eloquent would be your goal.” Eating a little food she relaxes however, so crisis averted, hopefully. “It is fine with me that you would stay in my tree. I am a busy as a mare can be, if you wish to stay with me, that you will be too. That much is true.” Damn, not happy I skipped out on mom's grammar lessons.

Shitshootshitshoot! My mom didn't teach me my grammar lessons! A nice older woman named Mrs. Arron did! Jesus mother of A this is becoming almost too much.

Trying to hide my inner struggle I sigh in mild defeat. While I had figured I would have to succumb to some type of payment for services rendered, I did not expect this mare to be a busy body. This is my only option however, so I guess I'll take it. Until such time that I can strike off on my own for the north or east, I will need some type of care, this is my best bet.

“Agreed, I didn't think I'd be getting free room and board, so I'm not surprised, though I must let you know, while my wording is fancy I still have the tendencies of a-” Tensing, I swallowed whatever vestige of pride I have left. “foal, and will most likely get bored of constant work.”

“Do not worry little one.” Taking another gulp she smiles. “I think you will find that my work is not boring when you are done.” Okay that doesn't sound like rhyming... hmm... wait crap it's consonance, wow is that even used anymore? Well apparently she uses it.

“Very well, though I must ask, will I develop your... habit of rhyming on every single sentence?” Did not look forward to that health 'benefit'.

“Again you must not worry, you will not gain my ailment in a hurry. It is a curse that I took, in order to gain which I would have to look. At first it was something I did hate, but as I grew older it's annoyance did abate.” Ah well, I hope I'm never in need of looking for some hard to reach thing, I'd hate to have to rhyme all the time.

It took me a good hour to finish the stew. I can't believe I was that hungry. After finishing my final bowl I felt a warmness of satisfaction inside my stomach, such which I did not feel with Mom, for which I am glad.

Zecora got up, took my bowl and rinsed hers and mine before putting them out to dry. I almost commented on putting them in the dishwasher but then I realized that ponies don't have them. Yeah this world officially sucks in my opinion. Unless they have electricity my life is about to get 10 times more difficult.

After she finishes I watch as she goes back to the smaller pot, for I see there are two, and slides it onto her back. Curious, I follow her towards her door as she opens it and exits her house of safety. I remember full well that this mad house forest probably has a few things that can kill me in an instant, so I'm perfectly fine with staying inside.

This peculiar zebra seems to confound me even more as about a dozen eyes suddenly appear in the foliage. As she sets down the pot on the ground a couple dozen creatures, some I recognize, some I don't, all small in stature, come around and swarm the pot. I'm astonished that she feeds the woodland creatures, but not as much as I'm astonished they are not killing each other in the process. There's this weird wolf creature baby next to some rabbit looking thing, and a sort of squirrel next to a very dangerous looking beast that I cannot name.

I'm still stuck staring when Zecora passes by me on her way inside. “Why are you so curious? Are you surprised the creatures are not furious? My tree is not safe by itself, but by my attention to their health.” She nods her head at the creatures that seem to be scampering off. I notice some larger shapes in the trees as they collect their young. It seems as long as she cared for the animals they realized that she is a potential food source and not simply a meal. Very clever little zebra, very clever.

“Would you like to see what I do? I have a potion I am about to brew.” Potions, are you kidding me? She really is a witch? God if I end up a pie I hope mom finds me if only to have her eat me.

Without meaning to I giggle at the thought of Luna's horror over finding out she ate me. This is soon dashed away as feelings of regret and sadness took their place. I shouldn't be thinking about that, Mom is just misguided. “Sure, it sounds like fun.” It took me a moment to notice Zecora's concern. I caught a small glimpse of it before she smiled and walk across the room to an array of bottle and ingredients.

I gaped at the sheer amount of items on innumerable shelves. The way they were built it looked like they had grown straight out of the tree. With much more enthusiasm I turned to watch her work.

Turns out not all witches are grouchy and evil and stuff, curse you internet, how could you lie to me! Zecora is actually a potion healer of sorts. The one she happened to have been working on today was to help me sleep tonight. Apparently the medication she gave me this morning was also a pain duller, which is why I haven't felt anything all day. However if I take this new one it should last me through the night which I thoroughly agree is necessary.

I actually got to help as well. While mine is working its way into bottle form she is preparing another one for a mare in town.

Ha ha, so she's like the pharmacist! That's crazy, I managed to find the pill person, the doctor behind the doctor. Well I can guarantee I wont die anytime soon that's for sure.

“You have been a great help little one, at last of my work to do there is none.” Looking around happily she takes a long breath in. “However I am running low on supplies.” Looking behind her I make sure the giant wall of items is still present and not vanished into thin air. “I have much that is not needed which may come as a surprise, however what I need is in town most near, we will not have to go into the forest you fear.”

Ahahahaha, that is where you have it wrong dear zebra, tis not the forest I fear the most, but civilization and traitorous ponies! Of course I'm not going to say any of this cause I didn't want to get turned out on my flank, or worse, get asked prying questions. “Um... is there any way I could get a cloak? I'm not a fan of being around too many ponies...” Turning on full cuteness I made sure to bulge my eyes out a little. Hey, if I'm going to act like a little foal I might as well get the benefits as well.

Zecora smiled before walking to a small door that I saw her open before. I think it is a pantry, since she grabbed food out of it for breakfast, but instead I saw her pull out a small dark cloak, looking as new as it was when it was first stitched. Walking over to me she once again demonstrated how much I hate the fact that I can't use my hooves by tying the tiny string in a knot around my neck and settling the cape part over my wings. “Perfectly it does fit, I cannot see your wings one bit. You will not have to fear, ponies will not swarm you my dear.”

I watch her as she proceeds to then clean up her work area, putting all the bottles in their correct places and flawlessly balancing multiple items on her hooves. Eventually I think I'm going to have to know what everything is and where in Tartarus it goes, but for now I'm content on being absolutely clueless on the matter. My first goal is to figure out how to use my hooves as effortlessly as she does, I can barely pick things up, and only when I concentrate really hard.

“Do take care however, for that is my first cloak ever.” Astonished I look back at the sheet of cloth upon my back, noticing that, while from a short distance it looks new, it actually was skillfully patched in certain places and parts of it have slightly fading colors.

The filly in me rears its ugly head again, insisting I thank her for her generosity, which I happily agree to do. “Thank you Zecora, I'll make sure to take good care of it always.” I flash my biggest smile as my mind replayed all the different events I would avoid while wearing her treasure.

“That I do believe, now I believe the sun has taken its leave. Again it is time for you to go to bed, so that you might rest your head. Drink your potion that you helped make, and let it serve you well until you wake.” Smiling she handed over the blue substance. While I learned from her today that a potions color means nothing about the potion itself, it still looked like it might kill me rather than cure my pain. I've trusted her this long however, why shouldn't I go the extra mile?

With her help I grabbed a glass and transferred a portion of the liquid into the glass before swallowing it. Thankfully, unlike human medicines it actually doesn't taste all that bad. It tasted more like a fruit smoothie than a blend of plants crushed together. Unfortunately though, it is fast acting and I'm already feeling tired.

I can feel myself letting off a cute yawn before forcing my legs up the stairs in the tree. Thankfully Zecora is there to help me in bed. I can barely see her, but I know it's her.

At first my body hung on the edge of sleep, unwilling to doze off without something. It took my drugged brain a moment to identify the problem. Mommy wasn't here to tuck me in bed. I kick at my sheets a little, feeling uncomfortable. This will never do. I can't be like this every night or I'll never get any sleep.

I close my eyes and try to remember my own mother, before Luna. All I caught were flashes of a human, blonde and happy, before reverting back to the midnight pony. Soon the visions blurred together and I opened my eyes to a woman dressed in black and blue lying beside me. Reaching out a hoof I poke at her. My hoof goes through her but I feel at peace.

Maybe this whole melding thing is getting out of hand, but for now I'll take the human apparition, the other stuff is for future Michael to figure out.

With that I closed my eyes, listening to a familiar tune sung by the lady in blue beside me. “Hush little baby don't say a word, mamma's gonna buy you a mocking bird.”

Chapter 6

One moment I was awake the next moment I am standing field of flowers. The entire landscape seemed to shift like the rolling waves of the ocean, but not enough to cause a major disturbance. It's entrancing to watch and for a moment I simply sit and stare at the landscape by my resident filly.

“It's calming isn't it?” Jumping slightly I look over at her. She seems older than last time we met and her face no longer seems as soft and innocent. She too is sitting watching the landscape roll and tumble, the flowers creating a doubling effect that confused the mind.

“I agree,” I say finally. “Though one wonders why we are no longer in that stuffy room.

I feel her eyes turn upon me and I rotate my head to face her. Her face screams 'no duh' and I try to put on an innocent face to counter it. “Because it's exactly that, a stuffy room, besides, we haven't really left it. The room is like your mind, I can't leave but I can at least change my surroundings to my desire. Don't worry I don't think anything I do in here could possibly affect you.” I highly doubt it, but okay. “So....”

“So...”

An awkward silence prevailed between us. I became entrapped by her form, not in desire, but by curiosity because I am essentially looking at myself. I assume it is the same for her so I should break the ice. “I met this nice pony zebra person.”

“Yeah? What is she like?”

“She's a bit on the eccentric side, but she's an expert at potion making or brewing, whatever you prefer. She gave me something to help me sleep better.” I thought I caught a muttered 'us', but wisely decide not to question it. “I helped her make another potion as well but she doesn't have all the ingredients.” It seems I've peaked her interest though at that statement, but I really don't wish to talk about it at the moment. “I've also found that pony food is surprisingly delicious, though I would rather have a steak any day of the week.”

“First of all, through you I know what steak is, and I think it is absolutely horrifying to kill and eat an animal.”

I let out a small giggle, damn you filly! “Then how do you explain eggs?” I had been given eggs at the castle and had actually shared some with Aunt Tia and Mom.

Her face turned red as she blushed, attempting to stutter out a half assed excuse. I shush her by pushing my hoof onto her mouth. “Hey, it's a joke, what else you got?”

Flustered, she started sucking on my hoof. Not one to back down from a challenge I leave it in her mouth and proceed to grab her hoof and, before she can react, shove it in my mouth where I suck on it as well.

From now on it is a challenge to see who can survive the longest. The filly inside me kept begging for me to be the first one to give up, while I assume the human inside her kept egging her on. We locked eyes with one another and edged in closer.

A full minute passed with no movement. My cheeks were starting to get tired of sucking on her hoof while my challenger showed no signs of stopping. A full two minutes passes before the real Midnight finally spits out my hoof, yanks hers out and begins to try and clean her tongue. I do the same, just not as desperately, I cannot show weakness, despite the fact that I've won the war!

Finally she decided her tongue is as clean as her hoof can get it and simply starts spitting. “I can't believe I did that! Mom would frown upon such behavior!” She's smiling so I guess that she's happy and not pissed. “Wanna play tag?” I shake my head no, but as I begin I see a blur rushing towards me.

In a split second decision I dodge and high tail it through the flowers to safety. I'm never saf6e though as she soon found me again and the chase started up. Neither of us could-+ get the upper hoof. Neither of us seemed to run out of breath either, but finally I decided I have had enough and simply stop, pretending to pant.

“You filly!”

“Well, I am a filly aren't I?” This earns me a pout.

“You were supposed to keep running until I caught you not stop and let me catch you, that ruins the whole point of the game!”

“Yes well I got bored of having you chase me.”

“No fair, I started the game, so that means I get to finish it!”

“Well technically I'm you so yeah you did call it quits.”

Again the blur attacked me but this time I'm too slow on the draw and get tackled.

Then we began to roll, locking embraces and simply enjoying each others company. Our apparent feud forgotten we simply breathe a sigh of relief, glad to have a break, no matter how small of one.

Suddenly she perked up fear laced in her eyes. I too sensed something,but apparently the real daughter of the crazed moon princess is better at it than I am because it's more like a needle prick than a foreboding sense of danger. “You have to leave!”

What? Why? My mind raced as I waited for an answer, only to remember that I need to actually say it. “Why?”

“Because, mommy has found us. If she catches you she'll find out where you are and I don't know what will happen.” This is a new development.

“Why warn me though? I thought you wanted your body back, I thought you wanted her to catch me.” Not that I'm complaining but I do believe in a fair fight. In this instance I have indeed lost. Now why is she helping me?

“Because...” I watch her blush. “Because I believe you for some stupid reason. You can't possibly be a monster that stole my body. As much as I'm scared to admit it... I think you're right, mommy put me here to try and get you out.”

Well then, this makes things so much easier! I open my mouth to respond when the rollings hills suddenly become massive waves, arching up and down. “You have to go, mommy deals with dreams and this is a dream, once you leave it will not be a dream anymore.” That kinda sorta really doesn't not make sense, savvi?

“Well... how do I leave? Do I just think about leaving? Do I have to pinc-” Her hoof connects with my chest, blowing the wind out of me. Immediately the dreamscape started to melt. With a final wave she leans down and kisses the spot where her hoof hit me. “Sorry, but I've wanted to do that for a while.” Oh you sadistic little bit-

Chapter 7

The next morning I woke up with a decent sized headache, probably compliments of the filly inside my head. Throughout the morning though I was tense. I had no idea if Luna would show up at poor Zecora's front door or not. Zecora made note of this but I brushed it off hoping she wouldn't press. Thankfully she didn't, but still commented that I shouldn't be so worried about going into town.

WHICH only made my fear worse because on top of the fact that you are waiting for a 6 foot tall angel of darkness to break down your door you're also going straight into the lair itself, as if begging to be caught. True I have a cloak of sorts that should hide my wings unless they spring open for no reason at all, or for some reason, the latter scares me the most.

All in all I should be shaking like mad right now as Zecora is wrapping up preparations to leave. However, four legs apparently have their uses and I'm able to stand stock still, slowly counting down the minutes to my imminent demise.

As Zecora opens the door and exits, I get my first view of the forest outside of her house. While the place I entered was wild, tight, and among other things foreboding, the little clearing outside the living tree house, however, seems to have been cleaned, worked and tamed by the lone zebra. How she managed this I will have no idea of until I ask her. However, as I have no intention of asking I fear I will never know.

The area around her tree actually contains grass, with scattered flowers here and there. As I exit the tree I look around more and notice little beds of flowers every few feet. Looking closer I notice that a lot of them are ingredients that she keeps in the house, though I'm sure the other ones are there for he same reason, though maybe they need to be kept fresh for some reason.

“Come along now please hurry, the forest is dangerous do not tarry.” Jerking my head back to the zebra I peddle forward, eager to seek refuge beside the mysterious Zebra. While I'm sure everything in this forest that can eat me can also eat her, I figure she's got more tricks up her sleeves than I can guess. You don't just live in a forest for your whole life and get away with it by being stupid ya know.

Again, I notice the difference between my entrance and the one we are using now. Instead of having to maneuver between vines branches and thorns, a small dirt path has been paved, with hooves, through the forest. On either side of the path, about every 5 or 6 hooves is a small round stone with a glyph I don't recognize. “Hey Zecora, what are those?” I ask, pointing to the strange stones.

“Ah, there is a glyph on each stone. Each stone doe what I must do alone. Before I became friends with the town, this path was a chore to get down. Then twilight sparkle,” I shivered at the name. She's princess Celestia's pet unicorn. “heard of my plight. She gave me these rocks to do me right. With them in place I can walk my path, and easily get there and back.*” I looked over and saw that the plants, while growing seemingly everywhere else even crawling over the stones, did not pass said stones, but stayed off the path where the stones lay.

Well I guess twilight sparkle isn't such a flank hole, she helped Zecora at least. I wonder if she'll help me...

We continue to walk, though I feel like this might take a little longer than a quiet Stroll through the forest. Looking around yields me more ominous glares from unseen creatures. I feel myself gravitate towards the zebra's calm aura. She's obviously made this trip a hundred times and lived, I will too.

I hope.

Overall it actually didn't seem like such a long walk. I mostly stayed next to zecora though, my eyes glued forward.

Now comes the hard part, actually entering the town. God I hope these ponies are dead blind or maybe stupid enough to just not care, though it'll be just my luck that they won't. Oh well, either way I'm fucked, you know, being female and all… that isn't funny brain.

We exit the forest sooner than I hope and immediately the entire day got brighter. I guess those trees are a bit thicker on the top than expected.

Stop getting distracted! Focus on keeping the cloak on and being next to Zecora. She is my safety, she is my protection… and hopefully will lie for me or avoid answering questions.

Wait what is that! I thought I saw something, a blur. I have to be seeing things though, it moved too fast and it was… pink? Yeah I'm going crazy, don't be paranoid!

"What is wrong little one, I am sure you will have some fun."

To be honest, no I won't. "I'm just a bit nervous Zecora… that's all."

The kind Zebra nods and continues, the model of calm and collected. I wish I could be as sure of my fate as she is. A warm feeling spreads through my body, I feel reassured that either way I'll be fine, now that the real midnight has at least accepted my story I have no fear of mind rape from mommy… again…

The road into town slowly became more and more paved as we went along, turning from a tiny dirt path into a large, 3 pony, highly used street. Well by pony standards it was a street.

As we got closer the sounds of the town became louder. Though they are not actually becoming deafening I still feel like they are. Pressing myself next to Zecora I try to stay out of sight as much as possible. All the ponies seem to know Zecora but still kept their distance for some reason. I don't mind since it just makes things safer for me. A few came up to say hi, asking her how she was, but most simply ignored me or took one look and decided against it. I hope I look more scary than scared, but I doubt it. The others attempted conversation but I simply lowered my head and huddled next to Zecora like I've seen children do.

It must have worked whatever I did, because by the time we entered town I had managed to avoid talking to anypony.

Though I haven't been identified I still feel surrounded for some reason. I turn my head around absentmindedly. There's this earth pony selling apples and apple byproducts, she looks like a pony redneck complete with freckles. There's a yellow Pegasus, who looks even more scared than me, worming her way through town to a prissy looking white pony. A couple ponies are selling flowers. Holy shit is that a Minotaur with a headset? He's even got a goat posse, what the buck is this place smoking? I swear if I see a bucking griffin…

Nevermind, just don't pay attention, you're fine… you're fine.

Zecora seemed headed for this weird tree. It looked alive but a sign outside it told me it was a library, ironically enough. Seriously do these ponies really not understand that they cut down a tree, made a hundred books from its flesh, then forced another tree, the bookshelves, to hold the books, then they put the whole establishment IN A TREE!

I began to giggle at the hilarity of it all. Out if the corner of my eye I saw Zecora take an inquisitive look down before smiling and continuing on. I'm glad she didn't ask, I don't think she'd get the stupidity of it. Almost too soon my laughter is cut off by our arrival. I've never seen a door look so ominous before. The simple candle design on the door didn't seem to brighten my day at all. I decide quickly that the safest place is behind Zecora and take it, trembling with fear.

Zecora knocked on the door with a hoof before waiting patiently. To my utmost surprise a little green and purple lizard, scratch that, it's Barney's bastard child. "Hi there Zecora, Twilight's not here actually, in fact she's due back any minute. You know she likes to keep to her schedule." Oh god and that voice…

"Of course young spike, I know of her preference of schedules and the like." Spike, oh Tia, you have to be kidding me! With the current trend I bet there's a pony named blurt or red, or something similar.

A pink blue passed in the corner of my eye, leaving nothing but a whisper in my ear. "Soon…"

My eyes bulged and I nearly lost it. Whatever that thing was, it moved too fast to see and left a chill in the air. It also left the smell of cupcakes in the air. The only thing that kept me from bolting is the fact that I have latched onto Zecora's leg and am leeching the warmth and security off her body.

Zecora looked down at me and smiled warmly, provoking the lizard to follow her gaze. "Hey, who's-" crap, I was really hoping he wouldn't see me. Dang it Barney lizard, you're going to get me caught and then Luna will… mommy will… "oh look, Twilight is back!" My heartbeat escalated as I turned around, fearing the worst. Then low and behold, the worst arrived. My eyes were shocked by the appearance of the same purple unicorn that was looking for me during the train incident. We lock eyes for only a breif moment but it's she needs to ID me. I see the gears in her head turning, straining to recognize me. I can't give her the chance, so I turned and bolted past the purple lizard and into the house, as my animal fight or flight instincts take over.

I hear her shout as she finally recognizes me and begins to give chase, along with Zecora trying to reason with her. There is no reasoning with a mad mare though. I have to keep running. The only thing going through my mind at the moment is a desire for safety. The filly in my head immediately pointed my legs towards the bed, which I almost dove under in my race to get away. As I sit under the bed, contemplating my fate, my ears track the hoof steps of my two pursuers.

No matter what ponies think, they are not stealthy. I hear Twilight before I see her hooves. It seems like she is taking a look around, if the movement of her hooves suggests anything. "Do you think she jumped out the window?" I cringe at both the word 'she' and that lizard's voice.  I digress though, please believe the stupid lizard, please believe the stupid lizard!

"Don't be silly, Spike, look, here's the cloak she was wearing." My eyes decide to mimic saucers as realize my wings were now exposed to the open readily available for all to see.

Crap crap crap! I can't go back, mom will kill me when she finds out that her little filly agrees with me now. That or she'll attempt to brainwash me again.

Quite suddenly the overhanging sheets are lifted up, showing a smiling purple unicorn. "There you are Midnight!"

That's not my name!

It is now.

I try to back away but the same sort of glow from the train appeared around me, ensnaring my body and gently tugging me out from under the bed. Calling upon the strange thing the filly did on the train, I'm expecting to be dropped. The only thing that happens though is minor discomfort with the purple unicorn giving off a surprised look before smiling.

Her smile quickly faded however when she extricated me from under the bed. Gasping, she let go of me, allowing to hit the floor and be dazed. I see the exit and attempt to get up but my legs wouldn't respond to my commands.

"You're an… alicorn?" I see her panic, which calms me down, if but a little. If she's panicked about me being a quite noticeably abnormal pony then that means mom lied to her too. "Princess Celestia said nothing…" or auntie Tia could have lied to her, same difference really. Her voice trails off as I see the gears in her head turning once more.

"Is that… bad?" Shut up purple lizard, your betters are talking.

"No! Well… yes. Maybe! GAH!" She looks down at me like a math problem she, knows the answer to but just can't seem to solve. Don't judge me, college sucks. Wait, did I even go to college? Ponies don't have colleges, besides, I'm not even in elementary school!

Oh god, our personalities are starting to mix again! Oh god, oh celestia, oh mommy… I begin to panic again. If this keeps up much more I'll be crawling to the castle myself! I don't feel safe at all and made dang sure the other ponies in the room knew it.

Then I feel the warm embrace of my caretaker. Looking up I see Zecora, in all her stripeiness, yes that's now a word, smiling down at me. "Do not fret, Twilight sparkle is a friend, not a threat." For some reason her rhyming calms me down and I'm able to think clearly again. I watch as she turns to face the purple unicorn. "Twilight, if you could, keep this between us in your house is wood?

I see Twilight shake her head in confusion before attempting to reply. "I have so many questions!" Shrinking back I though about how I could possibly survive an impromptu interrogation session with a bookworm who seems obsessed with knowledge. She lives in a bucking library!

Obviously noticing my discomfort she smiles brightly at me hoping to sway me the opposite direction. "If you let me, I have some snacks you can munch on during, if you're hungry." FOOD! Something the filly and j can agree on! Wait! Stop! The food means we gave to stay and answer questions!

Who cares? Foooood!

Good point.

Nodding my head furiously I accept my fate and resign myself to lunch, or maybe it's brunch. I dunno. Either way, I know Zecora will protect me at least.

Chapter 8

All the while I'm walking towards her kitchen, conflicting images assault my brain. I would see myself talking to Twilight, then Luna shows up, tortures me mercilessly, and blames me for not being a good filly. The next image is me and mommy having a good time together as she has accepted my mindset.

Both scare me the same because in both scenarios I have given up my plea for my original life. Am I really destined to be stuck like this forever? I guess time will tell… that or I die first.

"Okay you can sit down right there." I rouse myself to look at the seat Twilight has indicated and make my way to it. "And spike, can you make something for us to munch on?" So Barney is her slave? That really doesn't fit in with the happy go lucky pony population. Then again, capturing a rogue human and then changing him into a mini daughter doesn't fit either.

Oh, Twilight is expecting me to situate myself. I climb onto the chair with a little help from zecora, and look at Twilight patiently.

Immediately, to my surprise, I see a pen and paper appear from seemingly nowhere, held in her aura thingy. "Let's start simple, what is your name?"

"Her name we do not speak, not any day of the week. Her name I do not know, for talking of it causes woe." Thank you Zecora… I really don't want to talk about it.

"How could a pony not want to talk about their name? What do you call her if not her name?" Twilight is not earning any brownie points with me so far.

"I call her simply "little one", now, if you please, call this topic done and put us all at ease."

I could tell Twilight wasn't too happy how her first and probably most important question went. Things can only go downhill from here. Wait, I have an idea. "Well then, I guess my next question is where did you come from?"

This question triggered a variety of memories, both mine and the fillies. I saw skyscrapers, planes, cars, and other humans. Then, just as quick as it came, it changed to a hospital. I caught a glimpse of myself in diapers, happily playing with Tia and mommy. She sounded more archaic then. Auntie Tia wasn't as tall either.

I catch a fleeting glimpse of Canterlot and then I come out of my stupor, faced with a quite distraught purple unicorn. "I think we can agree that my past is also a touchy subject." I see the purple lizard making in with what seemed to like a flower shoved between two pieces of bread. "However, I will answer all your questions, if we take turns asking." I see her frown in distaste. Obviously she did not expect me to ask questions myself or for me to deny her first two questions. I've unsettled her and possibly made her angry. Stupid midnight stupid! This is not how you make friends!

"Sorry… I've not had too enjoyable of an experience and I'm beginning to get stressed." I watch as her face morphs from a frown to a look of pity, which isn't much better but at least it isn't threatening.

"No I apologize for being hasty. I just got too excited about the fact there is another alicorn." She takes a sip from a cup that spike had brought for her. "Please, ask any question you like."

Any question eh? Well this is actually a deep question and its really nagging me. "Is the lizard your slave, servant, or is he a temp?"

I watch in confusion as she spits out her drink, almost getting me wet, and coughs while the purple lizard seems quite offended. "What did I say?"

I look over at Zecora but the poor zebra is laughing so hard that she can't manage a single rhyme. I turn back to Twilight who has managed to compose herself, mostly, and is trying to wipe off the table. "I'm sorry, but spike is not a lizard, well I guess in a vague classification and subspecies. Then again dragons are most likely the ancestors of lizards so it's likely that lizards are a sub-specie of dragon. " she begins to jot everything down furiously, leaving the rest of us to wonder what in Tartarus just happened.

"Wait, dragon? You guys have dragons?" I'm interrupted by a raised pen as the purple unicorn jots down her last thoughts. "I believe it is my turn to ask a question, how old are you?" Caught off guard, I notice that her tone has changed. She's also very quick witted. At least this is a question I can answer, I think…

No sooner did I think of an answer did the memories begin flooding my mind. Apparently mommy didn't feel like dealing with a foal for very long. Given the memories that are appearing I'm at least a year or two older than when I first... suckled, I gave an involuntary shiver, Luna. After compiling my thoughts into a calendar I got an estimate for the nerdy unicorn. “I think... 4 years?” Damn... I accelerated a lot over the last week. I'll have to bring it up with the filly tonight.

Twilight jots something down, presumably what I just said, before nodding, letting me know I can ask my question. Well... shit she's guessed me already. I can tell by the way her body has gone rigid and her eyes have lost a bit of glee. So how do I go about telling her? I don't want to jump the gun and blurt it but I want to get it out of my system... wait, what will Zecora think of me? Will she hate me for lying? Will she think me an oddity or freak? I guess only time will tell. “Are you open to very far-fetched stories that I swear are true?” Cat's out of the bag now.

She raises an eyebrow and put on a skeptical look. "I hold an open mind for anything that has facts to back it up." She said, setting her pen and pad on the table and crossing her hooves. "My question now is this. What are you? You dont want to talk about your name or your past. You talk more sophisticated than foals a year or two older than yourself. Something is up and i wish to know what you're hiding and why."

Shoot! Where is that stupid filly personality when you need her? Well crap, i guess the cat has escaped the bag and torn me a new one. "I'm…" for some reason, i hesitate.

"Yes?" Twilight looks at me with interest while spike stared, obviously a little shocked that he didn't pick up on the verbal clues. I turn around to see Zecora, a bit disappointed, but reassuring.

"I'm… or i was, a two legged creature called 'human'." Pausing, mostly for dramatic effect, i look at their faces before continuing. "Mo-Luna did something to make me like this."

The effect is immediate. The lizard- er, dragon, outright fell over, possibly fainted. Zecora's eyes widened and Twilight, once again, lose her tea. "Surprise?" I hope to break the awkward silence, but  both Zecora, who has moved to face me, and Twilight are still gaping like fish out of water.

Finally Twilight shakes her head and closes her mouth. "Don't tell me you're The Human?"

I have no idea about the classification 'the human', but I'm guessing it's me. "I think so. I didn't know anypony knew anything about me, what with being confined to the castle at all times."

"Well it's not like anypony really knew anything. There were plenty of rumors, and I was told given my status," I'll have to ask about that later. "but the official statement from Princess Celestia is that they found a way to send you home and did so." Great, Celestia is in on this too. I might have survived Luna, but Tia is a whole different story. Mostly because going to her for help was plans A-Y, with plan z being suicide. Obviously I'm too attached to life at the moment so I'm fu-screwed, did I really just censor myself?

Shaking my head I sigh. "Well, I wasn't. Luna called me to her room and did some funky magic on me. Then she attempted to erase my mental existence with some other filly in my head."

"Wait you have another pony in your head?"

"I think it's my turn actually." Smiling I watch as Twilight's face turns shock and then crimson with rebuke. She begins to pout like a little foal causing me to feel a little bit of bubbly happiness. "How was she able to do this?" I don't think just anypony can pull it off or alicorns would be running around all over the place.

"Well, turning another pony into a different species is hard on its own, but most unicorns can do it, though only temporarily. Not much is known about alicorns, so I don't really know what she did. Maybe if you allowed me to examine you for a-"

"HELL no." I don't care that I interrupted her. She seems like the kind of pony that would allow something to go wrong to see what happens.

"Very well… then, my turn. Where are you going to live?" I see a glint in her eye and a hint of a smile. "See, if you maybe lived with me, we could practice magic together. I know a wonderful Pegasus as well, she would love to teach you to fly." Like lightning, the trap closed around me. The young foal inside me is vying for her offer while the more rational mindset is fighting a losing battle.

"While I quite enjoyed the company, it t'would be safer in Twilight's tree. The forest is no place for a foal. I'm sure getting killed is not your goal." Crap, not you too Zecora! Though she isn't very far off with my plans. A thump barely registers in my brain and I see the lizard had once again fainted, wuss.

"I mean…" sighing I try to control myself. I can tell Twilight is just waiting to pounce. "I guess… but is there anypony you know that lives near the forest so I can visit Zecora without being seen?" The fear of getting caught is starting to rear its ugly head again.

"I do have a friend who lives near the forest, but I think it would be best if you stayed with me and learned magic." I have to end this quick or my inner filly is going to go ballistic. "Why do you insist on living on the edge of town?" Her tone carried a hint of impatience. Would you quit already?

"Well, Zecora has been nice to me, and I would really like to be able to visit her again."

I see Zecora smile with pride and Twilight frown in distaste. "That doesn't count."

Sighing I lower my head. I'm definitely not getting away with anything with this mare around. "I don't want to be seen. I don't want mommy to find me again." I watch as she opens her mouth to question this but I really don't want to talk about it. "My turn, can we not discuss that topic?"

Seeing her pout like a school filly again helps cheer me up, if only a little. "Very well." I sigh in relief. "However, I'm going to have a few set requirements." I make to protest, but a kind zebra lays a hoof on my shoulder. "I might be able to hide your wings with magic, but until then you'll have to wear some sort of cloak." Well that's fine I guess. "Also, you will have to choose one of two things." Shit… "Either I can give you private lessons in magic and other fields, at your level of study, or you can go to school with the other foals your age."

Groaning I thought about both choices. Neither seemed desirable… however, at least in public school I wouldn't end up on an examination table. "Why do I have only those choices? Why can't I just hide myself?"

I watch as her mouth contorts into a grin. Wow… hook, line, and sinker. I fell for that… hard. "Everyone in town is probably thinking about you. Obviously not about what you are, but they are going to question your education. No offense Zecora." The zebra nods and I sigh in defeat. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one.

Let's see, from first impressions, this unicorn is a sociopath and will take every opportunity to dissect me or something just as mentally taxing. Looking at her I can tell immediately which one she THINKS I'm going to choose.

"Well… you don't really give me much of a choice…" Twilight's smile somehow gets bigger.

"There is always a choice, you only have to give voice." Thanks Zecora, but that kinda was sarcasm.

"So when does school start?" I smirk as Twilight begins to answer. Pausing, she looks at me, frowns and then glares.

"URG!" She gets up and paces around. "This close… could have had…" her voice continually slips in and out of my hearing ability. Finally she stops pacing and turns to me, angry disappointment etched on her face. "Well, let's go meet your new caretaker."

I could tell she is still not happy with my choice, but screw her. I'm more worried about who I'm going to be stuck with. If Twilight is anything to judge it'll be this mad scientist who tests things on animals or some sh- stuff. CRAP I JUST CENSORED MYSELF DAMNGIT!

Chapter 9

Luna sat across from her sister in Celestia's private chambers. Celestia herself was digging a furrow into the floor from her pacing. Something preyed on her mind, but her sister was not being forthcoming. “What ever am I to do with you Luna? While I don't want to punish you, this was inexcusable.”

Luna knew that she had done wrong so she simply hung her head and accepted her older sister's rebuke. “We're both lucky I was able to cover this up.” sighing Celestia ceases her pacing and faces her sister. “When you told me you were going to adopt the human I did not realize you were planning this.”

This time Luna was able to muster up enough courage to answer her sister. “But he was so lonely and sad!” She began to rub her hooves together awkwardly. “We thought that... we thought that have a little filly around would make us feel better.” It was the half truth, but it was enough to get her sister to cease digging... hopefully.

“And why couldn't you simply adopt one from the local orphange? There are plenty of young fillies and colts waiting for parents.” Celestia was hounding in on Luna's secret and Luna knew that she would have to tell her about the book eventually, but not until she had to.

“We would have outlived them, you know this Celestia.”

“Well then Luna, did you ever think to ask him about this? He might have even said yes. Surely you knew that he would run after you changed him.” Celestia frowned. She didn't want to outright accuse her sister, but she that Luna was hiding something very important.

“We... I...” She was close, not much got Luna to switch back to singular pronouns. When she did switch, however, it usually meant that she was lying, which was a useful quality. Celestia felt bad for having to exploit this, but sometimes it is necessary. “I had a good explanation to give her. I'm sure she would have seen the benefits. She just got a little scared, that's all.”

Luna looked down at her hooves,her blue slippers having been removed for comfort. She never got used to the new slippers Celestia insisted she wear. She liked the metal shoes they wore before her banishment. She knew as soon as she finished her explanation that her sister could tell she was lying. She also knew that their mother would be disappointed with her on two accounts now.

“Are you sure? Luna, what are you not telling me?” She couldn't dance around it anymore.

“Nothing...”

“Luna...” Celestia put on her sternest voice. She hated having to do this, but in such cases it was necessary.

“We... we found a book...” Now she was getting somewhere!

“What book?” She calmed her voice down. The goal was not to force Luna to tell her by fear.

“We... we found it in the...” Celestia had to strain hear what she said. “in the right wing of the library.” Celestia's face twisted in confusion. The right wing of the library is mostly history with a few books on art and other past items, where in there would Luna find...

“You didn't!”

“We're sorry sister... we was searching for books about what we missed while we were... gone. The wall... it just slid away...” Luna broke into tears and Celestia embraced her sister.

“You don't have to go on, I know. What was behind the wall. Do you know where the book is now?”

Nodding, Luna returned the hug. “It's...” Celestia winced a little as Luna wiped her myself in her fur. Nothing a bath won't fix, your sister is more important. “It's under our bed, in our safekeeping box you gave us.” Luna then lit up her horn and teleported them both into her room.

The feeling was an odd one. Celestia was usually the one teleporting so being teleported was a weird sensation. Immediately Luna detached herself from Celestia and shakily walked over to her bed. She used magic and pulled out her safekeeping box. After opening it she pulled out a large worn book.

Celestia noted that, after grabbing the book, Luna's eyes seemed to turn a shade of green. Celestia wrapped her magic around Luna's and the book and softly pulled it towards her.

Luna didn't release her magic however and stubbornly held onto the book. “Luna, let go of the book.” Celestia pulled harder on the offending object before Luna finally couldn't hold on anymore and let go. Luna's eyes seemed to tear up right after her magic broke.

Celestia didn't see, however, as soon as Luna let go of the book her vision narrowed. Celestia felt weird. Her body felt smaller and the air itself seemed to radiate with a peacefulness she hadn't felt since before discord. The chaos that the crazy god radiated, even while sealed away, was gone. It was like a breath of fresh air. Blinking a few times she realized she was still in Canterlot castle.

“Dear, is everything okay? You aren't nervous are you?” Celestia looked to her right and saw her father's worried expression. “We can reschedule if you're not feeling up to it.” Confused she looked around and stared in awe at the variety of alicorns present in what is the throne room now. Taking a step forward she noticed she was wearing something.

Looking down she realized she was wearing her mother's wedding gown. weddings were very important in the alicorn community, I was the ultimate sign of commitment. She looked upwards and forward and saw her long time colt friend on the platform, looking at her nervously. She began walking towards him slowly and he relaxed, smiling happily. Looking over she also spotted Luna making faces. She sighed, on Luna... She was only 35, hardly more than a foal, but she still smiled at the sight.

This was going to be the happiest moment of her life. Something didn't seem right though. Some part of her continued to focus on Luna. Luna seemed to grow older, then go back to normal. The more she focused on Luna the more the rest of the cathedral seemed fake. This can't be fake! Shaking her head the entire scene around her flickered. “Honey, are you alright? What's wrong?”

The revelation came to her like a lightning bolt. How could all this be real? All of the alicorns including her parents died during the first years of discord's reign. The only reason why she and Luna were still alive was because they happened to be visiting an old unicorn friend of their parents who kept them hidden. “You're not real... all of you died though.” Shaking she looked around and watched as all the alicorns seemed to flicker. Their forms taking a skeletal appearance. Frantically she pushed away from her father who quickly dissolved into a skeleton himself. Everypony her began dissolving as well, retaining their skeletal forms, staring at her through big empty eye sockets. All but her sister though. Her sister Luna was now the proper age and acting as if nothing was wrong and the ceremony was going as planned. She spun around, finally facing her colfriend who didn't seem affected at all. His face was cold and cruel.

“Tia! You can fix this, but you choose not to!” His features softened and he walked over to caress my face with his soft hoof. “We could be together if but for one simply barrier.” Then, like we paint in the rain, the scene melted around her and she found herself looking at the old mysterious book in front of her. Unbidden her body moved and opened the book, the pages fluttering in an unseen wind. With a thump the pages ceased flapping, stopping on one page in particular.

Quite suddenly she was thrust back into the real world, the book in front of her and Luna staring at her worriedly. “Sister, what-”

Celestia pushed past her sister, flipping the pages, frantically searching for the one spell in particular she sought. She could fix this, she could make it all right. They could be together again and then their race would be saved. Luna would be happy, she would be happy, everything would be right again. “Sister! Get ahold of thyself!” Luna attempted to put a hoof to her sister's shoulder, but Celestia slapped it away. “Sister, whatever thou has seen, it isn't real! You can't make it so!” Celestia spun around, glaring and barring her teeth.

“I can bring them all back,” she hissed.

Teary eyed, Luna realized too late how much the book had consumed her before. Not until after she changed micheal did she ever stop reading the book, even after she did she didn't become free of the desire until Celestia took hold of the book. A flood of memories came back to her at once. Everything that had happened in the past two weeks, her fury, her sorrow, it sped by like the noon day train. She wanted to find her midnight, to comfort and carress her shaking body. At the same time though, she knew she could not, and it hurt her to say that to herself. Now because of her folly her sister was consumed with her own desires.

Luna jerked her head up. She had seen something though, a flash of gold against those evil green eyes. There was hope. As she had found out all too late, the book did indeed grant the user their greatest desire, but at a great cost. One would have to be a heartless pony to not find sorrow in their greatest desire brought to light. She did not know her sister's desire, but she did not want her to have to suffer the pain that granting it might bring.

“Sister...”

“WHAT?” Celestia spun around, snapping her teeth at her younger sister. This was so unlike her, is this what happened to her when she first sought after the spell she wished?

“Well... I'm... um... I'm going to the carnival, it's in town this week.” Luna put on her best smile. Celestia loved the carnival. Not many noble ponies went and there were always games to play.

Celestia's face softened. It had registered that Luna was no longer a threat. “Well then, have fun.”

“Cadence and her colt-friend are coming too.” She also liked spending time with her niece, how could this not bring her to stop?

Celestia turned back to the book, waving a hoof in disinterest. “That's nice.”

Sighing in defeat, Luna let her sister be. She could never beat her sister in a contest of magical prowess, and she'd just tried what she thought to be Celestia's favorite activity. Surely that would have snapped her out if it was possible. There has to be a way! It can't end like this. Something had to break her concentration before she solidified the desire.

“Princess Celestia.” Luna jerked her head to the door, surprised. She hadn't even heard the door open. Looking over she noticed Celestia hadn't even responded physically. Hesitating, the pony continued. “The head chef would like to inform you,” Celestia had stopped turning the pages. Luna's heart sank, if she had found the correct spell the her fate was sealed. Sighing she almost gave up hope, then she looked and saw that both of her sister's ears were upright and turned towards the door, even though her head was not. “Um... He would like to inform you that the cake you ordered-” A small explosion went off in the room as Celestia disappeared from view.

Moments later a gust of wind nearly blew the poor pony over and blew out Luna's mane. With a thud the spellbook dropped to the floor, forgotten in the rush for whatever it was the chef had for her sister.

Chapter 10

To say Luna was surprised by the sudden disappearance of her sister would be an understatement. Yet still, something drew her to the book. Shaking her head she resisted the temptation to pick it up, instead turning to the disheveled pony looking wide eyed and frightened. “Do not fret subject, we are sure that our sister is fine. Please return to your duties.” She watched in fascination as the pony shakily bowed and left the doorway without blinking. Surely present day ponies had more spine than this.

Alas though, she knew not what the book had shown her sister and she did not want to know for fear it would entice her to once again look upon its cursed pages. Carefully, she grabbed a box and scooped up the book without touching it, stuffing it back under her bed in the farthest corner. In time she would indeed forget about it, but then the world would be better off.

Now she had to find her sister, which seemed the hardest of the two struggles. While she knew her sister did fancy a sweet or two as foals, the power of the book was strong and Luna didn't know how far corrupted her sister was. Did it somehow lose hold on her? Was it simply waiting for the right moment, when Celestia was alone?

Bah, hogwash, there was no possible explanation for a book to have sentience. It was simply cursed. That was beside the point however, she still had to find her sister no matter the outcome. Thankfully she knew where to start looking, Tia's favorite hiding places when she got a treat. That is to say, the hiding places she used as a foal. Luna didn't know if she had any secret spots presently, but it couldn't hurt to look. Personally she did blame their mother for Tia's habits. It was their mother that insisted on treating the two, especially Celestia, who had a sweet tooth like their mom, to treats for doing things. Sighing, she left the room to start the search.

It took her he better part of an hour to find her sister. She mentally chastised herself for not remembering the spell they invented to find one another. Though it did have it's uses, it made hide and seek pointless, much to the reigning champions dismay.

As she followed the magical trail she contemplated what Celestia's greatest desire was. While she would certainly not ask her sister, the idea was starting to grow on her. They had both reconciled with their parents during the reign of discord, their parents forbidding them from ever attempting to resurrect them. Tia never had any relationship with another pony, not that Luna could remember, then again she spent more time with their father than with her sister. Wait, there was this one Alicorn colt, nope, it didn't work out.

There has always been peace between races, ignoring the few squabbles. It didn't seem like a personal goal for her sister either, more like a goal for 'Princess Celestia' for the good of her ponies. She found out after the first surprise pillow fight that the two had vastly different personalities. Maybe she wanted endless cake? Surely not. Maybe Luna would ask her sister, it certainly wouldn't hurt, right?

Oddly enough the trail led to a janitorial closet. Maybe that wasn't so odd though. Who'd look for an all powerful goddess in the janitors closet? Luna did have a bit of admiration for her sister's choice, it wouldn't have been the first place she would have looked.

Reaching for the knob, she opened the door. “Sister, we-” Luna was cut short by the sight of her lethargic, moaning, big sister. The plate that the cake, or at least she hope it was only one cake, was scrapped clean. Her sister looked like she did before she had given birth...

Shaking her head she cleared her thoughts. “Tia!” Her sister groaned before mumbling incoherent words.

“Tia, we command thee to rise and look at thyself!” Enough shouting had gotten through the lethargic princess that she managed to prop herself up.

“Yes... Luna?” To punctuate the entire look, Celestia let off a large burp. “Oop... s'cuse me.”

“Tia, what hath happened to thee?” Seriously, no one pony simply gets up and walks around after putting on that much weight!

“Dear sister... I'm afraid I must... call in sick.” Call in sick, could they even do that?

Luna cast a small spell that soothed her sister's aching stomach, something that helped little foals. She doubted it would have much effect though. The effect was instantaneous, however, and her sister felt good enough to get up onto all fours.

Rubbing her belly, she then sat down again and faced Luna. “Hi Luna...” Celestia knew she was in trouble by the glare she was being given, now she just needed to figure out why.

“Tia! What hath happened to thee? Why hath you gained so much weight! Why art thou in a janitors closet!”

Celestia was still a bit addled by the consumption of her prize that she had to think a minute. “Well... I was in your room... then we found that evil book. Then I heard my special cake was done and the rest is kind of a blur really. Also, it was a 3 layer cake. I must give my compliments to our head baker.” She groans as her stomach growls in protest. “I'm here... because... actually I have no idea how I got here. It's pretty isolated though, I doubt ponies would take well to see their princess fat and lethargic.” From Luna's gaze she could tell that she hadn't quite dug herself out of the hole yet. “What else did you want to ask?”

Luna was taken aback, but she didn't show it. She knew her sister had the uncanny ability to sometimes read a pony, but she had hoped Celestia's stupor had helped repress that. She was wrong apparently, Sighing she decided that she might as well ask, she was going to anyways, she'd made up her mind about it. “What... what did the book show thee?”

Celestia took on a look of confusion, shortly followed by her sister. “What do you mean? I didn't even get to open it before my cake was finished.” So it must have wiped her memory! Quickly recalling the night she found the book, Luna skimmed through her vision the book had given her. It sent a pain through her heart to remember it, but she resisted the urge to run after Midnight. If she remembered her vision though, why did Celestia not?

Unless it was controlling her still! Maybe it was making her lie. No, her sister wouldn't fall prey to that sort of magic.

Didn't she just though? Certianly there was no way to prove either or with her sister. “Helloooo.” Luna blinked as a white golden shod hoof entered her vision then promptly left it. “Moon to Luna, moon to Luna, come in Luna.”

“What art thou doing?”

“I'm trying to bond with you. Plus I'm on a sugar high.” If this as her sugar high then did not want to be there for her sugar crash.

Well, onto the next problem, Luna though. “Sister... since we hath taken care of the book for right now... is there any change that we might could look for our little Midnight?”

The change was immediate, and for Luna, not for the better. Shrinking back, Luna watched as Celestia seemed to get taller. “And what have I told you about this already Luna?” It was a little harder to take her seriously with the pudgy belly, but her eyes always gravitated to her sister's face, which was all kinds of scary.

“Um... you... um... told me later?” Luna managed barely a whisper, but the lie was still obvious.

“No I...” Celestia grabbed her grumbling belly before sitting again. “Look, whatever that book did to you is not healthy and should not be followed up on.”

“But she is our foal!” Luna stomped her foot, regaining lost ground in the argument. She would fight for the right to be a mother again, even if it meant to do so with her sister.

“No Luna, I don't quite know what you did, but that most certainly is NOT your foal.”

Luna's eyes welled up with tears, unwilling to accept her sister's words. “No! Thou art mistaken! All that is to be done is for us to find her. Then thou shalt see, our foal knows her mother!” Luna's sadness began to morph into anger and dangerous fear.

It was Celestia's turn to take a step back, she had to be careful. One wrong hoofstep could destroy their relationship. “Luna... listen to me. Michael is not your little filly. Midnight died a thousand fifty years ago during the wars.” Celestia tried to prance around the subject of Luna's unhealthy obsession.

Luna's hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to say. Finally she stiffened and narrowed her eyes at her sister. “Michael is our filly now. What will it take to make her realize this, we doth not know. Thou shalt not stand in our way, again.”

Celestia bit her tongue. She had hoped that wouldn't come up again. Last time it did, it didn't stop coming up for 50 years, this is how IT started before as well... “Luna...”

“Yes?” Luna's tone was sharper than the finest of blades.

“We will compromise-”

“We think not.”

“Hear me out. I admit what I did before was wrong, you had every right to be mad, however, even now all I have is a story and little facts.” Biting her tongue again she concealed the lie with a sigh.

Luna, however, latched onto the Idea that she might gain her sister's aid. “Continue.”

Celestia let out another sigh before continuing. “Given what I know I can not have you go around the country turning every town upside down.” Luna frowned, but Celestia held up a hoof to stave her off. “Hold on sister.” Her stomach rumbled again, rebelling against her for the punishment she had unleashed upon it. Groaning she clutched her stomach before casting a spell to ease the pain. She could soak in the bath later. “Now... I can't have you running around the countryside, however, you are the keeper of dreams and the bane of nightmares.” She hoped that Luna's old title might spur on the idea even more. From the prideful look on her face, Celestia felt more sure of herself. Lately it seemed that Luna had naught much to do, Celestia would have to change that, they were equal partners in this. “If you can find her dreams and in that dream you find her receptive of you, I will personally go with you to retrieve her wherever she may be.”

Luna beamed. “Very intuitive dear sister!” She backed away, letting Celestia breathe easier. “Now we do not have to search the kingdom! Such a wonderful idea, thank you.” Luna then advanced and hugged her sister tightly.

Celestia, on the other hoof, was not so excited. She would have to warn her student about the possible dream snooping. Groaning from the pain of the hug and the thought of the preparations she only barely managed to return her sister's embrace. “Our apologies sister, we forgot about thy sore tummy. We will take thy shift for the rest of the day.” With a happy smile, Luna then skipped off, supposedly to torment some poor petitioner with stories about how ponies ate only potatoes for a month.

At least something god had come from this debacle, Celestia thought as she watched her sister turn a corner. Now she could at least rest in peace. On thing was sure, she promised herself as she got up to head to her room, she would never order personal cakes again.

It only took her a few steps before she hung her head in defeat. What was the point in attempting to lie to herself? She knew it wouldn't be long before she got cravings again.

Chapter 11

As we exit the house I can almost feel the indignation bleeding off Twilight. Deciding my best course of action is to avoid her if at all possible, I maneuver to the other side of Zecora. I really hate that I can't just hang out with her anymore though. She certainly made a better mommy than crazy mom.

Dammit, I did it again! Stop messing with my head you stupid filly! Letting out a mental sigh I trudge on. The filly, whether or not she could hear me or know what I'm thinking, couldn't respond anyways.

I blinked as my face rushed to meet the pavement, or rocks in this case I guess. My whole body suddenly froze an inch from the ground, a glow surrounding my vision. It is similar to when Twilight grabbed my tail so I guess it's the same type of magic hand thing. “Hey, are you okay? You spaced out there for a second before just falling forwards.”

I look at Twilight, a genuine look of worry on her face. Well that's a change I like. “No, I mean yes I'm okay. I- I must have just tripped.” Twilight's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing. Great, I'm pretty sure she's pissed I didn't want to be her experiment for the next foreseeable future.

I look around, trying to occupy myself during our walk. It is that or have to stare awkwardly at Twilight or sadly at Zecora. The latter strangely silent during the walk, which is ironic because she talked constantly back when I lived with her for a day or two.

Unfortunately for me again, it seems to be trending lately, there wasn't much of anything interesting to talk about unless you specialized in grass research, and not the fun kind. It does seem that we are walking out of the town though so I guess Twilight really did mean that her friend lived out of town and not just on the outskirts. Hey wait, there's a farm, or is it just a grove of trees? There's a barn but I can't be sure. “Oh, that's the Apple family farm.” Dilemma solved.

“What do they farm?”

“Apples.” Of course they do.

“How Ironic.”

“Pardon?”

“It's ironic how the Apple family farms apples.”

“I've never thought it to be ironic, Apple bucking has been the Apple family specialty for hundreds of years.” Wait what, did she just tell me that there is a family of horses that fucks apples? No wait, bucking is when a horse rears up and kicks. How is that farming though? Seems more like destruction of property to me.

I sigh. “Of cour-owach!” I put a hoof to my mouth and stuck out y tongue. Sure enough, I had bitten it somehow whilst talking. Slowly, the past conversation replayed in my mind. Damn filly. “Sorry, I was being a tad rude.”

I felt my muscles ease up after m apology. Great, gotta watch what I say now cause big brother filly in my head has finally figured out how to do shit to me. Lord knows what'll happen if she finds out how to control my tongue and mouth. I could end up like a guy who left his Facebook open. “It's okay Midnight, no harm done. I'm glad you apologized though.” Har har. “Besides, once you meet them I'm sure you'll like them a lot. They even have a filly too.” Wow I do NOT want to go over there now. I would say something too, but I'd rather not end up accidentally cutting my own tongue off, cough cough filly.

How old was I before though, horses certainly don't live that long so I wonder if their age is calculated differently? I don't even remember... What was my family like? It's doubtful I'll ever see them again, my real family I mean. The question of family only brings pictures of me and Luna to mind as my brain continues to slowly rewrite my personality to fit her 'perfect little filly' more. What I found odd though was that not only did pictures of Luna and me pop up, but sometimes pictures of me and Celestia as well. Me as a filly I mean. I know she's my aunt, technically, but... stupid brain! Stop it! No wonder she wants me back too. Oh well, I guess I'll have to leave it be until I see the snot runt in my brain again.

“Hey Zecora, you haven't spoken that much.” I figure turning the conversation on somepony else for once would be more productive for me.

“Something will happen during the day, only then will I have something to say.”

“Cri- cri...” Are you bucking kidding me? My vocabulary is starting to get nerfed too! What the hay! “Dang it! I can't remember that word!”

“Cryptic? Yes I guess you could say that Zecora is a bit cryptic. It's no wonder you got confused though. It is a pretty tough word. I understood what Zecora said though, if you want to me to tell you.” Thanks you purple pony smartflank.

Biting my tongue, pretending that the words 'but I'm younger than you.' didn't come to mind, I decide to swallow my pride and just ask the pony annoyance. “Okay...”

“If conversation is what you seek, then I guess I could speak.” I shrug, that's not exactly what I wanted, but okay. “Are you looking forward to your school, do you think that it might be 'cool'?”

Easy question to answer, if the librarian from Tarturus wasn't peering over my shoulder, waiting for me to slip up and say no. “Of course not, school isn't fun, plus I've already learn-” I caught myself as I stumbled again, probably bitchy in my head thinking I'm being rude again. “Nevermind.”

“You do seem to be tripping a lot, but you are a young foal I thought.”

“Yes Midnight, what did you mean by 'I've already learned'?” Shiz, backed myself into a corner there I did.

Wait is that the house ahead? “Hey, is that the house we are going to?”

“Yes, that is my friend Fluttershy's cottage, but you aren't changing the subject young filly!” Too late nerd, I'm gone!

I manage to wiggle away from both of the older ponies and gallop as fast as my little legs can carry me. As I got close to the door I realized something very important. I have no idea how to stop when I'm going this fast. Obviously stop moving my legs yes, but I'm going so fast I'll probably trip if I try that.

In desperation I flare my wings and dig in my hooves. This does two things I do not wish to do. Since I have no Idea how to work my wings I end up only extending them so as I dig in my hooves I fall forward. With my wings extended, I went airborne, continuing an unwanted flight path for the door. To further the point that the universe hates me, I see the top half open and a yellow mare stick her head out. Bugger all...

Of course I can't do a thing about it and she just gawks in fear as I plow right into her face. Thankfully I had slowed down and don't weigh all that much, so I don't exactly cause that much of an impact, but she still shifts her weight and makes an adorable eep. I hear hooves coming closer and assume Zecora and Twilight are coming to check on us, but I'm more concentrated on holing onto this poor mare's head so I don't fall off.

“Fluttershy! Are you okay?” Great, one denial of privacy invasion and it's of to the 'don't care' bin for me.

“Um, Twilight... who is this?”

I hear a short awkward laugh as I'm lifted off Fluttershy's head and onto the safe ground again. “This... this is Midnight.” I swear, even though I'm behind her, That sh can feel my glare. “She's a lost filly that just needs a temporary home.” Or a permanent source of escape, a safehouse sounds nice.

Is it because she's an alicorn?” I nearly lost it laughing as the butter yellow pegasus completely uncovered the very thing that me and Twilight are trying to cover up with a straight face. Twilight, on the other hand... hoof, these isms are going to kill me, is twitching nervously.

“Whatever do you mean Fluttershy?”

“Oh... was I not supposed to see that? I can cover my eyes.” To my infinite surprise that is exactly what she does. Fluttershy sits back on her haunches and covers both eyes with her front hooves.

I see Twilight open the door frantically and move over to uncover her friend's eyes. “No no Fluttershy, I'm sorry, Midnight is an alicorn, though I still have no idea why or how.” You horse! I told you all that crap! Princess Luna is three peanuts short of a pack! “I gave her a choice of staying with me or somepony else. Since you live on the outskirts of town away from the hustle and bustle, I thought you might be the perfect pony for the job until I can do some more research. You don't have to if you don't want to though.” Holy smokes! You horse! You're taking advantage of your friend! Nothing I wouldn't do, but still, you're not me! I don't want to live with you! You're 2 fries short a happy meal as well!

I slip past Zecora and enter the house. Going up to Fluttershy. Two can play that game Twilight. I put on my best puppy face and look up at Fluttershy. Since it's been nearly 20 years since I've had to do such a thing I'm sure I botched it, but meh. “Oh... that's okay Twilight. I love foals. I can take care of her.” Yay! In your face Twilight! Wait, buck... she's going to mother me.

Much to my pleasure, however, I see Twilight's face twitch and a frown begin to form. Obviously she's not too happy it didn't take all that long for her friend to submit to my charm. Noticing my smile she turns her face onto mine, her scowl to my smiling, innocent, well looking anyways, form.

“That news is great, but the hour grows old and I cannot be late.” I look back at Zecora with sadness. While living with in that forest may have been the end of me sometime in the near future. I had hoped that I would be able to stay with her forever. I much preferred the solitude and quietness of the forest compared to the town. She had also treated me like an adult instead of a child, despite my form, a leisure I'm sure I won't be afforded here.

I really don't know what's come over me. I'm not this emotional usually. Even when... dang it I got more holes in my memory. Slowly, I walk over to Zecora and hug her leg, much to the 'd'awws' of the other two mares. Pressing my muzzle against her foreleg I contemplate how long I have until miss Hitler finds me. Honestly, I thought I could just stay with Zecora forever and never be found. I kinda owed her a flank ton for saving my life, taking me in no questions asked, but here? I'm not sure how long it'll be until Luna decides to just invade the towns in search of me with an armed posse of guards.

Who knows, maybe with this crazy magic she'll turn herself into a bloodhound and sniff me out. I'll just have to wait and see I guess. Twilight obviously wants to dig in my noggin and school is going to be a bitch. At least this Fluttershy seems nice. I should be able to get away with a lot more stuff, stuff that a filly normally wouldn't do, to help keep my sanity.