Crystal Reincarnationby Charles FarrowChapters1 - Waking up for the first time, for the second time.2 - Realisations take form and a filly takes action3 - Hallway fright and mental plight, kept in check by a goal in sight1 - Waking up for the first time, for the second time.Everything had been blurry for a while. I tried to make sense of my fragmented memories and mind, while the world seemed to roll by. I remembered going for a trek through the forest on my steed, Brunjahk. I remembered something jumping out of the brush and being thrown off his back. And then I remembered... pain, lots of that, for a short while, and then silence. The silence lasted quite a while, until it was filled with something new. Noises, or perhaps, voices? They sounded alarmed, worried and a bit scared. Time passed and the voices changed. They sounded more relaxed, warm and annoyingly patronizing. The blur had been disappearing slowly overtime, and my mind seemed somewhat less like a pile of shattered glass. But by the singing rivers of Marinduur, those voices were ridiculous! Did they think me a wee child or something? More time passed and the voices changed again, becoming less annoying, which was a relief. It was on a calm evening when I finally got some clarity. The blur faded and for the first time in what seemed an eternity I felt real again, alive again. I also felt stupendously strange. My entire body felt... off, somehow, but at the same time it also felt completely natural. It was an enigma I wouldn’t stand for any longer, so deciding to find out what the hell was going on, I opened my eyes. That was my first mistake. A barrage of colours assaulted my senses as I tried to make sense of my outlandish surroundings. The ceiling was incredibly high and seemed to be made of some kind of glistening stone. The walls seemed to be made of the same stone, though that lost its significance as the act of looking to the side to see them had made me aware of my immediate surroundings. I was in a bed, a bright pink one, if my eyes weren’t fooling me. Had my mind not been trying to grasp the completely preposterous proportions of my peculiar surroundings, I would imagine that I would have been surprised by that, but as it were Emotions were a tick lower on the priority list. Right below trying to keep my mind from shattering back into the abyss. So. I was in a room with a very high ceiling of glittery rocks, and I was in a bed, ok what else? Oh yes, and I was also a horse. … 'Wait, Come again?' I blinked. Bringing my hand up to my face, except it wasn’t my hand, it was a white, slightly pinkish hoof... I repeated the action with my other hand, and low and behold, got the same result. I blinked again. There I sat for a straight 10 minutes trying to wrap the tattered remains of my broken mind around those observations. My mind acknowledging after a while that, that was not gonna happen just yet, decided to probe for further information. I slowly brought a hoof to my face, which wasn’t my face. Soft cheeks, muzzle and the works. While poking my face I managed to catch a curl of hair and tentatively brought it down in front of the eyes, that weren’t my eyes. It was kind of a warm blue, and had a streak of teal in it. 'Ok.' If you could read thoughts, you would probably be getting tinnitus from the loud and slow cranking of gears in my mind. Said mind, still not being able to grasp the reality of the situation, suggested further investigation. Carefully bringing my hand down to the duvet draped over me, I gingerly moved it aside, like one would peel a bandage off a festering wound. Underneath was the body of a very small, and very disfigured horse. Sharing the same colour as the two hooves that occupied the space where my hands should be and tinting into a slightly darker pink some places. 'Alright then.' ‘So’. My brain began as it did the closest thing it could, to considering these pieces of information. ‘Glittery stone room, pink bed, deformed pinkish horse body, Slight headache and definite shock. anything else?’ No? Good. And with that, my mind shut down for maintenance and I promptly collapsed on the bed. It was a beautiful morning in the Crystal empire. The sun was shining brightly on the crystal castle, and the resulting reflection caused a magnificent radiance to illuminate the city. The citizens were going about their business, going to work, going to school and enjoying their days off to the best of their ability. While the citizens were going about their morning, the royals in the castle too began to stir from their restful slumber. Princess Cadence made a guttural grunt as she forced her eyes open. As beautiful a morning it might have been, it didn’t make up for the undeniable fact that she was just in no way a morning pony. Smacking her lips slightly, she looked over to her husband. Shining was laying haphazardly next to her with a comic book over his eyes, whilst making some kind of unholy sound that would be considered impressive for an Ursa Minor. With a small smirk, she wriggled her way over to him and lazily nuzzled into his neck. “Wakey wakey sweetie” she said lovingly, and a bit too loudly, you know, to drown out the demonic phenomenon that was Shinings snoring. With a choked snort and a comic-book sent flying he shot upright. “WHuaa, Wuh, wat?!” he shouted in alarm, before calming down at the sight of Cadence’s raised brow and amused smile. “Oh hehe, sorry about that” he chuckled, scratching his neck. “Good morning”. “Good morning, honey” Cadence giggled lightly and began nuzzling the now much calmer and less noisy stallion. “Sleep well?” he asked, wrapping his arms around his wife and returning her nuzzles. “Well enough, you?” “Like a rock,” he quipped with a smirk. They both just lied there in each other's embrace for a while. Until Cadence who was almost beginning to nod off again, noticed something missing. “Hey, Shiny, where is Flurry?” Cadence asked with a curious and ever so slightly worried expression. “Oh Flurry? She’s sleeping in her own room. She said something about feeling a bit hazy last night and something about how my blow-horn impression really wouldn’t help much in regards to that,” Shining answered, eyes flitting back and forth ever so slightly. Cadence raised her eyebrow a bit and gave Shining a deadpan look. He instantly succumbed. “Okay, okay, she said that she had a headache and that I sounded like an angry fart machine when I slept!” Cadence gave him a serious look, for like 5 seconds, before breaking into snickers. Shining joined in shortly after, and for a moment they just enjoyed each others company. Nothing lasts forever however, so with a stretch and a yawn Shining crawled out of the bed. “Welp, I’m gonna go ask the cooks to get started on breakfast!” Shining beamed and sent a little air kiss to Cadence before heading out. “You two just come down when you’re ready!” He shouted from the hallway. With the room and the warm bed now all to herself, Cadence was on the precipice of succumbing to the unmerciful claws of sleep again. But through sheer determination and will, she managed to slump her way out of bed. Clunking down to the floor with an audible thud, she made her way over to a mirror and set to work making something decent out of the thing that could be mistaken for her mane. Okay, it wasn’t that bad really, her mane looked fine enough. Cadence just had the privilege of being one of the ponies with a bedmane that resembled a porcupine more than anything else. After a short while of making herself somewhat presentable, which by most ponies standards was probably more than they would do for the Grand Galloping Gala, she walked out the door and down towards her daughters room, feeling much more awake after her little morning ritual. She reached the doors of her daughters room and put her ears up against them. It was a bit of a redundant thing to do, as the doors were considerably thick, and her daughter didn’t actually sound like an angry fart machine when she slept, but it was a habit by now. Hearing nothing she opened the doors quietly and tiptoed over to the little filly. Flurry Heart was still sound asleep, though she seemed to have thrown off her covers during the night. Cadence just watched her for a bit. She was ridiculously cute when she was sleeping, no loud snoring, a tiny bit of bedmane, probably got that from her mother, and this serene little smile. ‘Well, as much as I could just keep watching that cute little face, we probably shouldn’t keep Shining waiting too much longer right?’ Cadence thought to herself and carefully picked Flurry Heart up with her magic. Flurry had grown up quite a bit since she was a foal, and was pretty big even for a filly her age. Sadly this meant that Cadence couldn’t cradle her anymore, but it didn’t stop her from cuddling up real close with her. Sitting down near a mirror, she placed Flurry down in front of her and gently began brushing her mane. After a minute or two of this, the sleepy filly slowly began to wake up. “Good morning, Flurry,” Cadence said with a smile. Flurry, still quite drowsy replied with a groggy, “gm-morgningg.” “Did you sleep well?” Cadence asked, still fixing up the filly’s mane. “Mmgn -” Flurry yawned a mighty yawn “- no... not really, no.” Cadence looked a bit surprised at that. Flurry usually slept quite well, took after Shining on that front. “Oh, How come?” - Cadence put away the mane-brush and brought out a smaller brush for her coat, and went to work with it - “Did it have something to do with that headache Shining told me about?” “Mrgn,” Flurry replied intelligently, “Just had a nightmare, I guess.” Now that was definitely strange, Flurry hadn’t had a nightmare in years, at-least not anything to warrant unjust sleep. Cadence stopped brushing and scuttled a bit closer to comfort the filly, practically enclosing her with a hug. “Do you wanna talk about it?” She couldn’t see Flurry’s face, but she felt her tense up ever so slightly against her skin. Flurry muttered something that could have been an answer, if it could have been understood as anything other than unintelligible mutters, that is. “It’s okay if you don’t wanna talk about it, you know, but I’m here if you do” - Cadence resumed her brushing, though she was almost finished by now - “Though it always helps me to talk with somepony when I’ve had a nightmare,” she said in an assuring tone. “I… You’d laugh if I told you,” said Flurry in an admittedly much more comprehensive, if not, quiet voice. Now where did that come from? “What if I promise I won’t laugh?” The Little, big, filly seemed to ponder that for a few seconds before slowly nodding into her mother's chest. “I… It sounds right silly, but I dreamt that I was this wee little pinkish horse thing, in some sorta strange glittering rock cave or something” - Flurry shivered - “And I was laying In this bright pink bed, and I had bluish hair and I...“ Flurry had stopped mid sentence as she had made the mistake of looking up at her mother while trying to explain. Cadence tried to suppress a giggle the best she could, but didn’t quite succeed, “Well ok, you’re right sweetie, that is a bit of a silly ‘nightmare’.” Turning Flurry around so she could see the mirror, she put down her brushes and gave a satisfied nod. “But hey! I’m sure it’s nothing a pair of your favourite strawberry waffles with extra maple syrup wouldn’t fix, right?” Cadence smiled, content that they were both presentable and ready for a good wholesome breakfast to start off the day. Only thing was that, Flurry Heart wasn’t ready. She wasn't even close. A shocked expression spreading across her face as she came to the realisation, that it wasn't a dream. And so with that, Flurry heart let out a panicked Girly scream. though in her defence, she actually did let out a very manly scream. She just happened to have the body of a filly, while doing so. The filly’s scream startled Cadence quite a bit, as she let out a surprised yelp as well. Flurry continued screaming, whilst backing away as quickly as possible from Cadence, as best she could with her fumbling legs and outstretched wings. “Flurry! Sweetie, what’s wrong?” Cadence called out with panic and worry etched in her features. The filly didn’t stop until she felt herself bump into something, which prompted her to look to the side. That’s when she saw her wings, enormous as they were. The doctor had suggested that she might grow into them with age, but as no one really knew anything about naturally born alicorns, it had been a guess at best. She stared at the strange, huge appendages for a moment, and then slowly her voice began to rise into a scream again. This time Cadence was ready however and began carefully walking towards her daughter. She didn’t understand what had the filly in such a panic, but whatever it was, she was going to do her best to help her with it, she just needed to calm her down enough for her to tell what was wrong. She was a few steps away from flurry, gently trying to assure her that everything was ok, when Flurry must have felt that she was getting a little too close for comfort, as a golden light sprung to life in front of her, cutting off the corner with the frantic filly inside. The barrier itself seemed to only have stressed out the already panicking filly even more, as she opened her mouth to scream again, though it was completely muffled by the golden barrier this time. Cadence was at a loss of what to do, but knew that she had to do something fast, this had the starting signs of what could potentially lead to a magical surge and even with her inhibitor gear, those didn’t usually end well. Thinking through what she could do, an idea, that should have seemed rather obvious in hindsight, made its presence known. With a light blue glow from her horn and a flash she was on the other side of the barrier in front of Flurry Heart. She quickly swept her into a hug and tried to calm her down. “Shh, there there sweetie, it’s okay, you’re okay,” she softly cooed, while petting her back gently. “I’m here, you’re ok.” Flurry struggled to get free for a while, but eventually began calming down. Cadence just continued to hold the little filly, saying assuring things as she felt her calm down more and more. After a while Flurry Heart was just sitting still, leaning into her mother for comfort. It felt right, somehow. Even if her mind was still screaming at her about how everything else was completely wrong. Strange sensations, memories, and other things she couldn’t even begin to describe, bombarded her mind from all angles and left her with no reprieve. It was too much, all the emotions that the shock had numbed the previous night, were washing over her like a flood now. And so she did the only thing that felt right at that moment. Hearing a quiet sob Cadence peeked down at the filly in surprise. She could feel her coat moisten a bit as the filly sobbed quietly into it. A worried frown on her face she held the filly a little closer with her wings and began humming a little lullaby. They sat there for long moment, though it seemed longer still to the both of them. The barrier had faded and flurry had stopped crying after about the 9th minute. “Better?” Cadence asked gently with a small smile as she looked down at Flurry Heart. Flurry was just about to look up at Cadence to answer, but stopped abruptly, after realising something strange. She was, kind of better… But… how? why? Cadence’s coat, though a bit moist, was warm and soft, and the little lullaby she had hummed was calming. She didn’t know why, but for some reason it made her feel safe… somehow. The oddly familiar, witchcraft using, hair brushing, pink coated horse who was hugging her. Made her feel safe… Flurry’s breathing steadily became more frantic the more she thought about it. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. She should have no idea where she was, but at the same time the room she was in seemed eerily familiar. She shouldn’t be calmed by the appeasing acts of some strange horned pegasus, but at the same time she couldn’t help but to lean into her for comfort. She shouldn’t even be here. Why was she here, why was she a pegasus? More and more questions flooded her head, as her mind went into a frenzy. Cadence began getting worried when flurry hadn’t answered or said anything for more than a minute. The fact that the filly seemed to be breathing kind of erratically didn’t help either. Just as she was about to ask what was wrong, she felt herself surrounded in some kind of aura. She wasn’t a horse, she wasn’t here, this had to be some kind of hallucination or fever induced nightmare. It just had to be. It couldn’t be real. No. Just no. As her mind reached one single conclusion she let out a bellow letting Cadence and quite possibly everyone in the castle know exactly what she thought. “NO!” Cadence cringed at the sheer volume of the shout before being thrown out of the room and landing with a gentle thud, outside the doors. She heard a slam as the doors were shut closed and a low hum as a golden light encased them. And with that, Cadence was left to wonder and worry, just what the hay was going on. Confused and slightly dazed she tried the door just to make sure, before quickly heading off to find Shining and Sunburst. Author's Note I noticed a severe lack of Human turned flurry heart stories on the site, so I thought I'd try to give it a whirl myself. I can't promise that it'll be good, but it'll be... something. It'll improve over time, most likely. Any feedback or criticism is highly welcome and I hope you garner some sliver of amusement from this story. Tags and rating might change with time, depends where it goes really. 2 - Realisations take form and a filly takes actionThe door closed with a mighty slam of that peculiar golden light. The loud noise and the sight of the light, startled me enough to make me jump a good bit into the air. Said jump, plus my currently abstract motor functions, managed to make me fall flat on the floor. Dazed, I couldn't help but just lie there and stare at the doors. I was angry, stressed, scared and confused as all hell, but that little fright had somehow distracted me from the deafening panic I was in. If just for a moment. The doors had closed seemingly on their own accord, after something unceremoniously threw that ominous horned Pegasus out. I hesitated for a second, but then looked around the room for any signs of something that could have been the cause of what transpired. My eyes locked onto a balcony of sorts. Big, open and blotted to the clear morning sky. 'Could have been the wind... No, no that can't be right. It would have to be storming outside for any chance of moving doors that big.' I looked back to the large double doors 'But what then?' Even as the flood of upheaval in my head was starting to calm, nothing came to me as I stared at the portal. The handles looked somewhat bigger and were placed lower on the door than what seemed sensible. The door itself seemed to be made of some kind of stone, in contrast to whatever the walls and ceiling were made of, though it shared the same obnoxious trait of gleaming. It didn't make sense, but as my mind was acutely aware of at the moment, it was but another thing to add to the growing list of things that refused to do so. Like the fact that I felt the... wings, on my back twitch and move, as if they had a mind of their own. I looked back at myself, spotting the monstrously large limbs on my back. I had wings. I never had wings. I wasn't supposed to have wings... I wasn't supposed to have hooves, or be in this bizarre shiny room, in this place that I'd never seen before, but which somehow felt disturbingly like home. This wasn't right. I jerked my sight away from myself and stumbled onto my feet. The thoughts in my mind began descending into chaos again as I slowly crept backwards away from the doors, and collapsed into myself at the foot of the bed. Without noticing, the wings on my back closed themselves around me, hiding me from the madness of the world that tormented me so. As my thoughts quickly span out of control, a small few managed to stick out from the rest, all of them carrying one question. "What am I?" I lifted my head from the oddly nice warmth of my wings and looked around the room. I needed to see myself, see my face... I... I had to see. My eyes ran across several especially shiny walls that reflected the furniture, but only in a blurry, useless way. And then I spotted the mirror. The same one I had been woken to. A tall glass surface surrounded by a steely frame and plastered with several small pieces of clean looking parchment with depictions of a plenitude of different horses. I couldn't make them out from here though. Slowly and gingerly, I got up to my feet and with my wings still clasped around me, I made my way over to the mirror. And to my credit, I only tripped 4 or 5 times. over a 7 meter stretch. As I neared, I abruptly stopped near the edge of the mirror. A solitary chill ran up my spine and my gut clamped shut. It took a heavy amount of willpower and approximately 20 seconds to shove all of that out of the way and step in front of the blasted thing. What I saw made my brain reboot. It was the same horse body that I'd seen earlier, which in and of it self was befuddling, but it was the face that made the gears in my mind grind to a halt. That was my face. it wasn't my face, but it was my face. I reached a hoof up to poke my cheek and saw the filly in the mirror do the same. My vision blurred a little. What was I doing again? Realisation struck me a moment before my hand did the same and I backed away from the mirror. I had faded there. For just a moment, I had felt that same feeling that had been present for longer than I cared to think about. I glanced at the mirror again with apprehension, taking notice of a strange contraption clamped around the base of my horn. 'Hold up, what?' I faced the mirror completely again, staring in blank awe at the bony protrusion that grew from my forehead. It must have been around 20 centimetres long and had small ridges edged into it with an almost mathematical design, from the bottom to the top, which ended in a somewhat dull tip. Some of it was obscured by my very curly hair, but the strange device that sat mounted to the bottom was still visible. It seemed to be made of some kind of copper and iron like material, as far as I could tell, with small colourful stones filling various sockets in it. I sat down, looking at the entirety of the impossible little filly sitting in the mirror. It was a slow process, but slowly the realisation made itself clear in my mind. I was a horned pegasus. probably a child of the species as well. If that large creature from earlier was anything to go by. I watched the filly in the mirror silently. studying the features and anatomy that now made up my body. My body... A queasy feeling rose from my stomach as I looked at the creature in the mirror. With a start, I jerked my body to the left and heaved all of the nauseous feelings out. A smelly, foul looking ooze slowly pooling on the floor. 'I can't do this. this is wrong. I'm not, I'm not this creature!' I collapsed, disregarding the mushy wetness that stuck to my fur and just curled into myself. Feelings and memories that weren't mine were trying to push into my mind. Only just staying at the edge of whatever sanity I had left. I felt tears stain my face as I lay there whimpering. As I lay there frantically trying to sort out my mind, a tiny part of it cleared, and I became woefully aware of what I was doing. I didn't have time to cry like a little kid, I needed to do something. I needed to escape. I needed a weapon and an escape. I had to get my body back and I had to find a way home. Trembling, I stood up. With a goal in mind and a small, but building ember of determination. I had to get out of here and that was just what I was going to do. With a few carefully calculated steps I reached the door and ran into a small problem. The handle. Looking around to see if I could find something to open it with, I heard a click and brought my eyes back to the now slightly open door. I tensed for a moment as I looked at the now open door. '...Must have been the wind.' I dismissed it, trying my hardest not to think about it. Just as I was about to head out the door, I caught a glimpse of a small snail like doll in the corner of my eye, I hesitated for just a moment, before grabbing it almost out of instinct. With plush under wing I made my way out into the enormous corridors, and tried to find some kind of exit. Author's Note So... Been a while huh? A few good reasons for that, mostly personal. I've been trying to find a middleground between posting whether it's good or not, and my odd form of perfectionism. This is only half of the chapter actually, but I haven't finished editing the second part and I thought, maybe you guys would like an update after 2 years. So here ya go. Have a lil' chapter. I'm gonna try get back on the horse so to say, but no promises, and certainly no scheduled updates.. I'm putting in some effort to write more though, so hope you lads enjoy. 3 - Hallway fright and mental plight, kept in check by a goal in sightAuthor's Note Oh boy... it's been a while huh? Yeah a lot of stuff has been going on with my life since last I published a chapter on the story. You can read more about that on my last block post if you desire, though you are by no circumstances obligated to do so, so simply just a way for me to explain some things without having to put the entire rent in the authors notes. This chapter might be a little bit rough as it has been rewritten, neglected, picked back up again and generally, potentially, has had a change of writing style. So I hope that you'll bear with me if it's not as good as you had hoped. I shaved off a thousand and a half or so more words the would have continued from the point where the chapter ended, as I found myself unsatisfied with the direction that I was going in and that unsatisfaction was compounding with my challenges when it comes to writing to create a deadlock that made me unable to either continue writing or publish the chapter. I thank anyone who has been with me since the start or has found the story along the way if you are still willing to read it. I understand the frustrations that you may have had with the infrequency of chapters being published, I share in that same frustration and hope to eventually overcome the flaws in me that make it so. I have my fair share of faults and flaws, but I hope that you'll forgiven me and that if you have any feedback, criticism or ideas in general that you'd be willing to share them. I've read every comment that I have ever gotten and given each a like whether they were positive or not. But I think I've waffled on for long enough, I wish any and all of you a great day and hope to see you again in the future. 3 - Hallway fright and mental plight, kept in check by a goal in sight For a moment I was blinded as I stepped forward. The radiance of the hallway I had stepped into was far too bright... Pillars of crystal and banners of strange colours I could not identify decked the halls in both directions. The blindness was only temporary, as I quickly adjusted to the light. My own bedroom had been somewhat more dimly lit, what with having just woken up, so the stark brightness of the hallway I now stood in was rather overwhelming. 'My bedroom? No that... that's not right...' I shook my head, trying to clear it of distractions as best as I could. In my determination to escape, I had managed to carve a small island of calm from the storm of emotional turmoil that had overtaken me, but It was fragile, and I knew not how long I could maintain it. Though if what had happened at the mirror told me anything, I couldn't allow myself to think too deeply on what was happening to me, lest I fall to the blur again... Grasping the ember of determination within me, I peered down both sides of the corridor for anymore of those creatures. Ones like that strange witchcraft wielding pegasus I had seen before, the one that had spoken to me much like my mother used to... 'No. I-I mustn't think about it...' I would need to do my best to avoid them, Clearly they had something to do with what had been done to me... I didn't know what they wanted from me, but I had no intention to stick around to find out. I swallowed heavily as I looked around, trying to control my fraying nerves and letting my doubts along with the leftover remnants of bile at the back of my throat, sink to the depths of my stomach. Poking my head out from the edge of the door I peered carefully down both paths. There were none to see to either side of the hall, so I moved out from my vantage point. I looked around for what might be some kind of exit, but couldn't find any at a glance. Though considering that there had been a balcony in... The room I awoke in... I must have been higher than the ground floor at the very least. The huge hallway I stood in was, though grandiose and daunting, rather uniform in it's layout of pillars and banners. There were no other visible doors to be seen, though there were windows... Perhaps I could climb through one to get out? or at the very least get a view of my surroundings. I walked towards one to investigate. It took a few stumbles to get there, but I avoided planting my face into the floor at least. Stupid horse legs... With some trepidation and difficulty, I stood upright on my legs to reach the window, Something which only served to remind me of the unnerving state my body was in... I-I tried to see what lay beyond the window. The sight that greeted my eyes was both incredible, beautiful and indescribably maddening. Through the pane of glass, glazed with a light frost around it's edges, a sprawling city of crystal and stone spread from and around the base of what must have been the building that I was in. high up, so very far above the buildings below, that they almost looked like game pieces on a board... It was dizzying just to look at... The city was enormous, larger than any I had ever seen or imagined before. I had to rub my eyes in disbelief as I peered out over the gleaming crystals spires and buildings, so vast and grand that they made even the greatest lodges and longhalls I'd seen in my life pale in comparison. Roads of shiny stone spread from the city's center out to it's edges like the branches of a perfect snowflake. In the distance beyond the city bounds, verdant, green hills and fields spread across the edges of the city's perimeter, filled with farmland and small patches of forest. Further than that on the horizon was something that sparked familiarity within me. Snow, ice and a landscape that seemed much more reminiscent of my home... It was stopped abruptly in an almost unnatural pattern surrounding the outer fields, as if stopped by some manner of unseeable wall. Perhaps it was how this place had stayed hidden. Some strange, dark witchcraft hiding it from the world outside... Maybe... If I can just get there, get outside the circle, perhaps It will break whatever foul hex has twisted my body to this abominable shape? Yes! I-it must. It has to... I tore my eyes from the sight, lest I get lost in the frightening, vivid beauty of the vista on display. I had no time to dally. The window wasn't an option, it was one large solid pane of glass and the noise from breaking it could attract attention, but more so than that whatever shards of glass that might come lose could rain down on me from doing so... and the apparent drop from the window itself looked... Less than ideal to put it lightly... However I'd found the first part of my objective, a destination to work towards. If I could find a weapon to fend for myself, as well as an actual way out of this place then... A plan, however rudimentary was starting to form in my mind and with it came a determination that kept my thoughts clear enough to ignore the intrusive feelings and encroaching memories that otherwise sought to cloud it. For now at least... I stepped down from the window and flinched as my arms hit the floor. Cool stone came into contact with the harder make of what now sat in place of my hands. Standing with all four limbs on the floor like a wild animal... A reminder that had me look down in disgust and frustration. Everything about this situation was so... wrong. Despite focusing on the determined calm I had built, It was a hard fought battle just to contain my own emotions... Ever since I had woken up, both my feelings and thoughts had been a flurry of chaos and disorder... The calm stoicism that I had cultivated through years of strife, replaced by the turbulent emotional landscape of... a child... Yet I couldn't afford to falter. I remembered almost slipping back into the blur when I had looked at myself in the mirror... I could not allow that to happen again... Thinking about it was only serving to slow me down, I didn't know what would happen to me if I fell asleep again, but it couldn't be good... If this was my only chance, I had to take it, regardless of how my body shook in horror of itself or how my mind seemed to contradict the very truth of it's own thoughts. Yet as I stood there, I couldn't bring myself to move... My legs had locked up and a cold fear had buried itself within my chest. Something is coming... Absentmindedly clutching the plush I had beneath one of the wings on my back, I crouched down silently and listened. I heard footsteps down the hall to the left of me, moments before I watched as a horned horse with orange hair, spectacles and a star spangled cloak rounded the corner of the hallway. What was I going to do?! It was right there, walking towards where I was! It's eyes weren't on me though, but rather a book that... floated in front of it. Another wielder of witchcraft... But it was distracted. I turned around as silently as I could, preparing to sprint down the other end of the hallway to the best of my ability. If I moved now I could still-' "Ah, Princess Flurry Heart! I see that you're up early today!" The hairs along my warped spine stood straight, as fear trickled down it's ridges like a branching river. I looked back to see the smiling visage of the creature approaching me with a spring in it's step. I had no weapons, no way to fend it off, but I could speak. It may have been a long shot, but perhaps I could convince it to leave this Flurry alone. The knot in my stomach tightened further at how familiar that name sounded... "I-I must admit I had been expecting to see you in the dining room with your parents at this time to be honest," it said with a slightly confused smile as it stowed its books into a satchel at its side. "In fact I was on my way there now to discuss the plans of your upcoming transfer to the Crystal Elementary school..." it, or he most likely, said with a weird look on his face. I looked up at it as I turned to face the creature, nodding slightly and keeping my mouth shut until I could figure out what to respond with that could get it to leave me alone. It looked at me with that strange expression again, almost sheepishly... before saying, "I-I know it's a lot... and that you're likely nervous about all the things that are going to change.-" It put Its hoof on my head and ruffled my hair gently, "-But I promise we'll all be right there with you, ready to help you as much as you need!" It finished with what was likely meant to be a reassuring smile. I was not reassured. A long moment passed as we both looked at one another in silence. Shit... it likely expects some manner of response to that... "Aye, I'm a tad frightened, in truth." I croaked in the best approximation of a child's tone that I could muster. It looked like it had swallowed a frog. Damn... I had messed up somehow. Yet before I could about to attempt to strike it and run away the creature spoke up again. Wiping a stray tear from his eye he looked down with... mirth? "S-sorry. I don't mean to laugh at you Flurry, really!, y-you just sound a mite silly right now, I don't think I've heard you sound so... gruff? I guess? Regardless, I-I do mean what I said though." Kneeling down to eye height with me he gave me an honest look and grin. "Don't worry Princess, Just because you won't be home-schooled anymore doesn't mean that I'll stop teaching you." He said earnestly, before adding with a quirked smile and a hushed tone, "I still haven't found a spell that will let you shoot lasers out of your eyes, but I'm sure I'll stumble onto one any day now." He was about to continue talking, but before he managed to do so his nose twitched and wrinkled, as he caught a whiff of something and looked down at my body with worry. "O-oh my, F-flurry you're uhm... S-sorry I've just been prattling on, are you feeling well? You've got some... b-barf on your coat, are you feeling sick?" He seemed to grow a little jittery as he fretted over me, standing up to gather something from his saddlebag. As he stood up, I noticed how much calmer I had become as he spoke... He must have had some kind of relation to the horned pegasus from previously, she had affected me similarly... He had spoken quickly and given me a lot of information all at once, but I would need to stow that away for later as I improvised. As he produced a small cloth from his bag and began to dab my side with it, trying to clean off some of the worst of the vomit that stuck to it, an idea came to me. He had provided the perfect excuse and perhaps with a little bit of probing I might even determine some bit of the layout of the building I was trying to escape. I was not a particularly adept liar and doing so would mean staying near the creature for longer... I didn't have long to contemplate the risks involved however, so I simply went for it. Coughing twice, I took the same tone as before, gruff as he had described it, feigning a sore throat, as I replied, " Aye I-I was a little queasy yesternight, but I'm alright now, just a tad... woozy... I was going to wash up before breakfast, but I can't seem to recall where the washroom is, c-could you lead me there?" I gazed up at him with a tired, helpless look, not too far from how I truly felt, as I waited and hoped that he would buy my story... The creature inspected me with that same nervous, pitying look, as he discarded the stained cloth and pushed his glasses further up his nose, before nodding with a strained smile. "O-of course Princess, though... why didn't you just use the bathroom in your chambers?" He queried, motioning to the doors of the room I had awoken in. 'Drat... another excuse for that then...' "I-I uh, I may have... broken it?" I replied with a nerve wracked attempt at a smile to ease the tension of the incredibly obvious fib. The creature to it's credit only looked surprised or dubious for a second before seemingly accepting the destruction of an entire washroom as a thing that a child was not only capable of, but wouldn't be punished for. As if it was a normal occurrence... "Ah... Well that explains that noise from previously I suppose... N-no worries Princess, I'll make sure to notify a janitor to come have a look at it." He said with a reassuring smile, as his eyes flitted in the direction of the hall he'd been walking towards previously. He'd only taken a few steps down that direction before he stopped himself and turned around with his ears splayed back in what I could only guess was some manner of embarrassment on his face. "T-though I should probably show you to the washroom first, right?" He added with a nervous laugh. As he started to walk towards the end of the hallway he'd come from, he stopped at it's edge and looked back, motioning for me to follow him. I suddenly found myself with the somewhat difficult task of having to keep pace with him without tripping and falling on my face, as we traveled down the glittering halls of this dreadful domain of crystal I sought to be free of... I hadn't succeeded in getting rid of him, but at least I might be able to glean some information from him about how to leave this place. Though I had illness as an excuse, I would still need to tread carefully with how I acted, lest he realize that I wasn't who he thought I was... I tried to keep up as best I could while we passed down a few passageways and rounded a couple of different corners. I kept an active lookout for any paths down, if only somewhat active, as I had to concentrate on the effort of just keeping pace with the larger creature... It was such an odd sensation to walk on all fours. There was a certain rhythm to it, a cadence one had to follow if they didn't want to trip over themselves. As much as I loathed being forced to do so, I was at least slowly getting the hang of it, though not without tripping over myself a half dozen times... I would need to learn quickly if I wanted any chance of running in this body, and considering my circumstances I very well may have to, if the creature I walked with caught on to me. So it was that as we were traversing down another hallway, just as grand and imposing, and just as similar looking as to be almost indistinguishable from the first. I had to stop every few paces to catch myself, as I tried to gage the strange ways this body sought to move. The creature next to me seemed to wait on me patiently for those times that I stumbled, though as I went on tripping, it eventually decided to speak up. "Uhm... Flurry?" I looked up at him with my brows still knit in concentration. "I- I know you said that you felt fine, but y-you know... if you're having trouble walking I could carry you there. I-it's just... it seems like you're struggling a bit..." He offered as he fidgeted with some sort of uneasy expression on his face, before he seemed to recall something of note. As a more genuine smile replaced his otherwise nervous expression, I got a distinct feeling that I was not going to like what came out of his mouth next... "It could be like back when we used to play Princesses and Wizards against evil!" he said with a light chuckle, as he took on on some sort of ridiculous gallant pose. '...What?' "Remember? How you'd use me as your faithful steed, as we rode into imaginary battles!" He continued once more, his eyes lost to a memory. I blinked slowly and unamused at the creature, he was clearly reminiscing foolishly about some past event that I had no way of remembering. Except... As his words filtered into my mind, a memory managed to slip forth from the storm held at bay on the edges of my mind. A memory of a smaller version of myself giggling jovially on the back of the stallion, as we ran up and down the stairs of a library. Both of us saying silly phrases and strange incantations as we played... I shook my head again, more violently as I grit my teeth. That hadn't been one of my memories, neither had that been myself in it... But the fact that it obviously could not have been real, nor myself, helped little to dissuade how real it had felt in that instant... Was I beginning to loose my grip on my mind? Bleeding bones... Perhaps my time was shorter than I had thought... Focusing in on the stallion looking down at me in earnest invitation, I made a choice which I abhorred by nature. "...Fine, but only if you get there fast." I ground out, trying my best not to sound like I'd rather prefer to jump off a moving wagon. The stallion so eager to indulge in lost revelry, seemed not to notice my tone, as he happily used his witchcraft to place me upon his back. I flinched violently both at him using his dark arts to touch me and at being placed onto his back like a mere child. He himself also seemed to have to adjust a small bit too before he could start walking. "Oophm, I-I think I remember why we stopped doing this, hehe..." He said with a strained chuckle. "You've really grown quite a bit since last we did this, Flurry. While I've regrettably not grown much stronger..." He squared his stance and started to walk, though with a bit more effort than previously. "But fear not! Your faithful steed, Sunburst will endure!" He proclaimed as he trotted down the hall. I tried to ignore his ceaseless prattling as I focused on containing my emotions. It was humiliating to be carried around like a mere babe, but right now that was not what bothered me... A swell of anger and fear had surged in me at suddenly having faced a memory not my own, pretending as if it were, but I could not let it consume me. I could not... My breath hitched as I tried to control the burgeoning emotions within my chest... I had to stay calm... Calm and focused on my goal. I was holding steady for now and making progress towards my objective, but it seemed clear to me that my time of lucidity may be limited. I would have to endure this nightmare for but a bit longer to earn my freedom, but I could delay no longer than that. 'Considering that... No, that's ridiculous... Though... It's worth a try at least...' With urgency at the forefront, an idea came to mind. One not born out of fear, perhaps a little from the stress of the situation, but rather mostly one wrought from the truly bizarre nature of the current predicament I found myself in, and a life spent trained as a rider... I decided to indulge the creatures nostalgic reverie a little further, whilst it insisted on acting as my steed... The creature barely had time to react with more than a surprised neigh. Leaning forward with my weight and squeezing it's barrel firmly with my legs, I kicked it not entirely gently in both sides as I gave it one, loud verbal command. "HEYYAAHHH!!" All at once the stallions eyes went wide, as he reared back in confusion and let out a startled whinny, before setting forward in a gallop down the hall. The wind rushed through my hair and a small smirk graced my face as I felt in my element for the first time since I'd woken up. Pillars, doors, windows and more flew by my peripheral vision as we raced down polished stone hallways towards a destination that only the panicked stallion below me knew. Other creatures flew by as well, some clothed like servants and others like warriors, though all held an expression of befuddlement and alarm, as the startled stallion and I charged by them. The line between my own thoughts and emotions, and those that lied in wait at the edge of my mind, began to blur, as I couldn't help but let out a cheer of exhilaration. The clouds within beginning to part, as a bout of excitement pushed forth. The otherwise strange colours of the decorated hallways whizzing past seemed to become less obnoxious or alien and more familiar for every corner we passed. I started to recognize faces and places as they flew by with increasing accuracy. The stallion himself, whose breathing was becoming more ragged by the minute, seemed to catch on to my change of mood. Continuing what had been a strange act of instinct with some scant determination, a labored smile on his lip as he ran. After many confused faces and crystal pillars we finally began to slow down, though whether it was because we had reached our destination or because my loyal steed could run no further I was unsure. His intense, ragged breathing, was however probably a clue towards the latter. The stallion deflated much like a weary set of bagpipes beneath me, with an accompanying groan that couldn't quite match the tone. The smile on my face grew a little more neutral as a smidge of worry entered my chest. Jumping off my loyal steed with surprising ease, I leaned down to eyelevel with him with a slightly embarrassed grin. "You okay there, Sunburst?" Sunburst, the mess of a man he was currently, looked up with the closest he could manage to a smile while gasping for air and to his credit, it only took him about 2 minutes before he actually managed a somewhat legible response. "Ahhh, woohh... Ah-I'm fh-ine. I-I just... need a... F-few minutes here... t-to recover..." He wheezed more than spoke. Sitting down on my behind with my hooves in front of me like a dog, I gave him a warm if slightly pitying smile. "I'd love to wait for you Sunburst, but I still feel like I need to hurry for some reason... Is it ok if I continue on without you?" I asked looking around for something I couldn't quite place... It took a few seconds of panting and trying to speak before he simply chose to light his horn and manifest the magical equivalent of a check mark, followed up with a weary smile. Taking that as confirmation I stood up and started to trot down the hall, though stopping a few paces away as Sunburst tried to wheeze something after me. "T-though, phew... I'd r-recommend... you visit the infirmary after you wash up... j-just to make sure... y-you're n-not still sick..." He pushed out before slumping over on the floor with his face down. Nodding at that I responded with "Will do, Sunburst, see you at breakfast!" before heading back down the hall. If I remembered correctly there should be a public bathroom down to the left of the current hallway. Though I couldn't quite remember where the infirmary was for some reason... 'Hm... I could probably just ask directions from one of the guards or maids though.' I felt kind of odd, as I trotted towards the bathroom. Today had been somewhat confusing and I kept having a feeling that I was forgetting something really important, but I just couldn't remember what it was... Walking into the bathrooms I found an empty one and stepped inside. Hopefully it wasn't all that important If I couldn't remember it, besides, I was getting to be pretty late for breakfast at this point. 'A little tardiness is fine, but mom might start to worry if I take too long...' With that in mind I chose to simply get myself cleaned up and tackle the weird feeling of forgetfulness later at the infirmary. Standing upright on my hindlegs In front of the mirror, I frowned at the spot on my left where my coat was still covered partially in puke. Sunburst had done a decent job at removing it with what he had on hoof, but it was still pretty icky... Nothing I couldn't handle on my own though. Carefully grabbing some soap from the sink with my magic I looked at myself in the mirror and...- ... *Crack* Shattered glass hit the floor as blood started to run down my forehead. I lost balance and fell over on the floor backwards with a thud, pain spread throughout my body as shards of glass jabbed at my skin, though unable to break it. "W-what...What just happened?!" I screamed. Curling in on myself as best I could as I shivered in both shock and fear. "I-I... W-who..?" I muttered anxiously as I tried to recall what had just happened moments prior. A flurry of memories rushed forth invading my mind, but despite my terror I pushed them away with a cry of fury and concentrated power of will. I would not let it take me again! My breathing quickened as I realized that I'd lost control of my body for an amount of time I couldn't truly recall in the moment. I was in a room that I just barely remembered walking into... The walls were tiled and decorated with flowery patterns, the floor much the same, though in different colours and shades. Other than that the room was filled with strange contraptions of stone, metal and wood. I recognized some manner of cabinet but other than that the rest were unfamiliar to me, and yet I knew what they were called... Toilet, sink, showerhead, towel rack. Besides the first, I had barely any understanding of what those words meant. Laying on the ground I grit my teeth and knit my brows in concentration as I focused on carving out that island of calm within my mind once more. It took painstakingly long as I was distracted by the feeling of the blood flowing from the wound on my forehead. though as the minutes passed I managed to slow my breathing and my beating heart... Only when I felt that I was not at risk of immediately blurring once more, did I start to stand up. Breathing an anxious and weary sigh I looked at the fractured mirror briefly, considering whether a large piece could function as an improvised weapon, but upon trying to grasp a piece I realized that I had no way to effectively hold it... I cursed at the fleshy clubs that had taken the place of my hands. Though as I gazed upon the broken reflection of the false body I had been trapped within, a thought came to mind, one that should have been obvious in hindsight. Above the smear of blood on my forehead sat a weapon of bony make, not terribly sharp, but long enough to pierce... If I could simply get close to one of the creatures, even this tiny form should be able to injure an adult of its kind. In theory... It would have to do, for I had neither the time nor patience to consider anything else. I had a destination and a weapon of some sort... Escape was next, and with that thought in mind, I made my way out of the washroom.
1 - Waking up for the first time, for the second time.Everything had been blurry for a while. I tried to make sense of my fragmented memories and mind, while the world seemed to roll by. I remembered going for a trek through the forest on my steed, Brunjahk. I remembered something jumping out of the brush and being thrown off his back. And then I remembered... pain, lots of that, for a short while, and then silence. The silence lasted quite a while, until it was filled with something new. Noises, or perhaps, voices? They sounded alarmed, worried and a bit scared. Time passed and the voices changed. They sounded more relaxed, warm and annoyingly patronizing. The blur had been disappearing slowly overtime, and my mind seemed somewhat less like a pile of shattered glass. But by the singing rivers of Marinduur, those voices were ridiculous! Did they think me a wee child or something? More time passed and the voices changed again, becoming less annoying, which was a relief. It was on a calm evening when I finally got some clarity. The blur faded and for the first time in what seemed an eternity I felt real again, alive again. I also felt stupendously strange. My entire body felt... off, somehow, but at the same time it also felt completely natural. It was an enigma I wouldn’t stand for any longer, so deciding to find out what the hell was going on, I opened my eyes. That was my first mistake. A barrage of colours assaulted my senses as I tried to make sense of my outlandish surroundings. The ceiling was incredibly high and seemed to be made of some kind of glistening stone. The walls seemed to be made of the same stone, though that lost its significance as the act of looking to the side to see them had made me aware of my immediate surroundings. I was in a bed, a bright pink one, if my eyes weren’t fooling me. Had my mind not been trying to grasp the completely preposterous proportions of my peculiar surroundings, I would imagine that I would have been surprised by that, but as it were Emotions were a tick lower on the priority list. Right below trying to keep my mind from shattering back into the abyss. So. I was in a room with a very high ceiling of glittery rocks, and I was in a bed, ok what else? Oh yes, and I was also a horse. … 'Wait, Come again?' I blinked. Bringing my hand up to my face, except it wasn’t my hand, it was a white, slightly pinkish hoof... I repeated the action with my other hand, and low and behold, got the same result. I blinked again. There I sat for a straight 10 minutes trying to wrap the tattered remains of my broken mind around those observations. My mind acknowledging after a while that, that was not gonna happen just yet, decided to probe for further information. I slowly brought a hoof to my face, which wasn’t my face. Soft cheeks, muzzle and the works. While poking my face I managed to catch a curl of hair and tentatively brought it down in front of the eyes, that weren’t my eyes. It was kind of a warm blue, and had a streak of teal in it. 'Ok.' If you could read thoughts, you would probably be getting tinnitus from the loud and slow cranking of gears in my mind. Said mind, still not being able to grasp the reality of the situation, suggested further investigation. Carefully bringing my hand down to the duvet draped over me, I gingerly moved it aside, like one would peel a bandage off a festering wound. Underneath was the body of a very small, and very disfigured horse. Sharing the same colour as the two hooves that occupied the space where my hands should be and tinting into a slightly darker pink some places. 'Alright then.' ‘So’. My brain began as it did the closest thing it could, to considering these pieces of information. ‘Glittery stone room, pink bed, deformed pinkish horse body, Slight headache and definite shock. anything else?’ No? Good. And with that, my mind shut down for maintenance and I promptly collapsed on the bed. It was a beautiful morning in the Crystal empire. The sun was shining brightly on the crystal castle, and the resulting reflection caused a magnificent radiance to illuminate the city. The citizens were going about their business, going to work, going to school and enjoying their days off to the best of their ability. While the citizens were going about their morning, the royals in the castle too began to stir from their restful slumber. Princess Cadence made a guttural grunt as she forced her eyes open. As beautiful a morning it might have been, it didn’t make up for the undeniable fact that she was just in no way a morning pony. Smacking her lips slightly, she looked over to her husband. Shining was laying haphazardly next to her with a comic book over his eyes, whilst making some kind of unholy sound that would be considered impressive for an Ursa Minor. With a small smirk, she wriggled her way over to him and lazily nuzzled into his neck. “Wakey wakey sweetie” she said lovingly, and a bit too loudly, you know, to drown out the demonic phenomenon that was Shinings snoring. With a choked snort and a comic-book sent flying he shot upright. “WHuaa, Wuh, wat?!” he shouted in alarm, before calming down at the sight of Cadence’s raised brow and amused smile. “Oh hehe, sorry about that” he chuckled, scratching his neck. “Good morning”. “Good morning, honey” Cadence giggled lightly and began nuzzling the now much calmer and less noisy stallion. “Sleep well?” he asked, wrapping his arms around his wife and returning her nuzzles. “Well enough, you?” “Like a rock,” he quipped with a smirk. They both just lied there in each other's embrace for a while. Until Cadence who was almost beginning to nod off again, noticed something missing. “Hey, Shiny, where is Flurry?” Cadence asked with a curious and ever so slightly worried expression. “Oh Flurry? She’s sleeping in her own room. She said something about feeling a bit hazy last night and something about how my blow-horn impression really wouldn’t help much in regards to that,” Shining answered, eyes flitting back and forth ever so slightly. Cadence raised her eyebrow a bit and gave Shining a deadpan look. He instantly succumbed. “Okay, okay, she said that she had a headache and that I sounded like an angry fart machine when I slept!” Cadence gave him a serious look, for like 5 seconds, before breaking into snickers. Shining joined in shortly after, and for a moment they just enjoyed each others company. Nothing lasts forever however, so with a stretch and a yawn Shining crawled out of the bed. “Welp, I’m gonna go ask the cooks to get started on breakfast!” Shining beamed and sent a little air kiss to Cadence before heading out. “You two just come down when you’re ready!” He shouted from the hallway. With the room and the warm bed now all to herself, Cadence was on the precipice of succumbing to the unmerciful claws of sleep again. But through sheer determination and will, she managed to slump her way out of bed. Clunking down to the floor with an audible thud, she made her way over to a mirror and set to work making something decent out of the thing that could be mistaken for her mane. Okay, it wasn’t that bad really, her mane looked fine enough. Cadence just had the privilege of being one of the ponies with a bedmane that resembled a porcupine more than anything else. After a short while of making herself somewhat presentable, which by most ponies standards was probably more than they would do for the Grand Galloping Gala, she walked out the door and down towards her daughters room, feeling much more awake after her little morning ritual. She reached the doors of her daughters room and put her ears up against them. It was a bit of a redundant thing to do, as the doors were considerably thick, and her daughter didn’t actually sound like an angry fart machine when she slept, but it was a habit by now. Hearing nothing she opened the doors quietly and tiptoed over to the little filly. Flurry Heart was still sound asleep, though she seemed to have thrown off her covers during the night. Cadence just watched her for a bit. She was ridiculously cute when she was sleeping, no loud snoring, a tiny bit of bedmane, probably got that from her mother, and this serene little smile. ‘Well, as much as I could just keep watching that cute little face, we probably shouldn’t keep Shining waiting too much longer right?’ Cadence thought to herself and carefully picked Flurry Heart up with her magic. Flurry had grown up quite a bit since she was a foal, and was pretty big even for a filly her age. Sadly this meant that Cadence couldn’t cradle her anymore, but it didn’t stop her from cuddling up real close with her. Sitting down near a mirror, she placed Flurry down in front of her and gently began brushing her mane. After a minute or two of this, the sleepy filly slowly began to wake up. “Good morning, Flurry,” Cadence said with a smile. Flurry, still quite drowsy replied with a groggy, “gm-morgningg.” “Did you sleep well?” Cadence asked, still fixing up the filly’s mane. “Mmgn -” Flurry yawned a mighty yawn “- no... not really, no.” Cadence looked a bit surprised at that. Flurry usually slept quite well, took after Shining on that front. “Oh, How come?” - Cadence put away the mane-brush and brought out a smaller brush for her coat, and went to work with it - “Did it have something to do with that headache Shining told me about?” “Mrgn,” Flurry replied intelligently, “Just had a nightmare, I guess.” Now that was definitely strange, Flurry hadn’t had a nightmare in years, at-least not anything to warrant unjust sleep. Cadence stopped brushing and scuttled a bit closer to comfort the filly, practically enclosing her with a hug. “Do you wanna talk about it?” She couldn’t see Flurry’s face, but she felt her tense up ever so slightly against her skin. Flurry muttered something that could have been an answer, if it could have been understood as anything other than unintelligible mutters, that is. “It’s okay if you don’t wanna talk about it, you know, but I’m here if you do” - Cadence resumed her brushing, though she was almost finished by now - “Though it always helps me to talk with somepony when I’ve had a nightmare,” she said in an assuring tone. “I… You’d laugh if I told you,” said Flurry in an admittedly much more comprehensive, if not, quiet voice. Now where did that come from? “What if I promise I won’t laugh?” The Little, big, filly seemed to ponder that for a few seconds before slowly nodding into her mother's chest. “I… It sounds right silly, but I dreamt that I was this wee little pinkish horse thing, in some sorta strange glittering rock cave or something” - Flurry shivered - “And I was laying In this bright pink bed, and I had bluish hair and I...“ Flurry had stopped mid sentence as she had made the mistake of looking up at her mother while trying to explain. Cadence tried to suppress a giggle the best she could, but didn’t quite succeed, “Well ok, you’re right sweetie, that is a bit of a silly ‘nightmare’.” Turning Flurry around so she could see the mirror, she put down her brushes and gave a satisfied nod. “But hey! I’m sure it’s nothing a pair of your favourite strawberry waffles with extra maple syrup wouldn’t fix, right?” Cadence smiled, content that they were both presentable and ready for a good wholesome breakfast to start off the day. Only thing was that, Flurry Heart wasn’t ready. She wasn't even close. A shocked expression spreading across her face as she came to the realisation, that it wasn't a dream. And so with that, Flurry heart let out a panicked Girly scream. though in her defence, she actually did let out a very manly scream. She just happened to have the body of a filly, while doing so. The filly’s scream startled Cadence quite a bit, as she let out a surprised yelp as well. Flurry continued screaming, whilst backing away as quickly as possible from Cadence, as best she could with her fumbling legs and outstretched wings. “Flurry! Sweetie, what’s wrong?” Cadence called out with panic and worry etched in her features. The filly didn’t stop until she felt herself bump into something, which prompted her to look to the side. That’s when she saw her wings, enormous as they were. The doctor had suggested that she might grow into them with age, but as no one really knew anything about naturally born alicorns, it had been a guess at best. She stared at the strange, huge appendages for a moment, and then slowly her voice began to rise into a scream again. This time Cadence was ready however and began carefully walking towards her daughter. She didn’t understand what had the filly in such a panic, but whatever it was, she was going to do her best to help her with it, she just needed to calm her down enough for her to tell what was wrong. She was a few steps away from flurry, gently trying to assure her that everything was ok, when Flurry must have felt that she was getting a little too close for comfort, as a golden light sprung to life in front of her, cutting off the corner with the frantic filly inside. The barrier itself seemed to only have stressed out the already panicking filly even more, as she opened her mouth to scream again, though it was completely muffled by the golden barrier this time. Cadence was at a loss of what to do, but knew that she had to do something fast, this had the starting signs of what could potentially lead to a magical surge and even with her inhibitor gear, those didn’t usually end well. Thinking through what she could do, an idea, that should have seemed rather obvious in hindsight, made its presence known. With a light blue glow from her horn and a flash she was on the other side of the barrier in front of Flurry Heart. She quickly swept her into a hug and tried to calm her down. “Shh, there there sweetie, it’s okay, you’re okay,” she softly cooed, while petting her back gently. “I’m here, you’re ok.” Flurry struggled to get free for a while, but eventually began calming down. Cadence just continued to hold the little filly, saying assuring things as she felt her calm down more and more. After a while Flurry Heart was just sitting still, leaning into her mother for comfort. It felt right, somehow. Even if her mind was still screaming at her about how everything else was completely wrong. Strange sensations, memories, and other things she couldn’t even begin to describe, bombarded her mind from all angles and left her with no reprieve. It was too much, all the emotions that the shock had numbed the previous night, were washing over her like a flood now. And so she did the only thing that felt right at that moment. Hearing a quiet sob Cadence peeked down at the filly in surprise. She could feel her coat moisten a bit as the filly sobbed quietly into it. A worried frown on her face she held the filly a little closer with her wings and began humming a little lullaby. They sat there for long moment, though it seemed longer still to the both of them. The barrier had faded and flurry had stopped crying after about the 9th minute. “Better?” Cadence asked gently with a small smile as she looked down at Flurry Heart. Flurry was just about to look up at Cadence to answer, but stopped abruptly, after realising something strange. She was, kind of better… But… how? why? Cadence’s coat, though a bit moist, was warm and soft, and the little lullaby she had hummed was calming. She didn’t know why, but for some reason it made her feel safe… somehow. The oddly familiar, witchcraft using, hair brushing, pink coated horse who was hugging her. Made her feel safe… Flurry’s breathing steadily became more frantic the more she thought about it. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. She should have no idea where she was, but at the same time the room she was in seemed eerily familiar. She shouldn’t be calmed by the appeasing acts of some strange horned pegasus, but at the same time she couldn’t help but to lean into her for comfort. She shouldn’t even be here. Why was she here, why was she a pegasus? More and more questions flooded her head, as her mind went into a frenzy. Cadence began getting worried when flurry hadn’t answered or said anything for more than a minute. The fact that the filly seemed to be breathing kind of erratically didn’t help either. Just as she was about to ask what was wrong, she felt herself surrounded in some kind of aura. She wasn’t a horse, she wasn’t here, this had to be some kind of hallucination or fever induced nightmare. It just had to be. It couldn’t be real. No. Just no. As her mind reached one single conclusion she let out a bellow letting Cadence and quite possibly everyone in the castle know exactly what she thought. “NO!” Cadence cringed at the sheer volume of the shout before being thrown out of the room and landing with a gentle thud, outside the doors. She heard a slam as the doors were shut closed and a low hum as a golden light encased them. And with that, Cadence was left to wonder and worry, just what the hay was going on. Confused and slightly dazed she tried the door just to make sure, before quickly heading off to find Shining and Sunburst. Author's Note I noticed a severe lack of Human turned flurry heart stories on the site, so I thought I'd try to give it a whirl myself. I can't promise that it'll be good, but it'll be... something. It'll improve over time, most likely. Any feedback or criticism is highly welcome and I hope you garner some sliver of amusement from this story. Tags and rating might change with time, depends where it goes really.
2 - Realisations take form and a filly takes actionThe door closed with a mighty slam of that peculiar golden light. The loud noise and the sight of the light, startled me enough to make me jump a good bit into the air. Said jump, plus my currently abstract motor functions, managed to make me fall flat on the floor. Dazed, I couldn't help but just lie there and stare at the doors. I was angry, stressed, scared and confused as all hell, but that little fright had somehow distracted me from the deafening panic I was in. If just for a moment. The doors had closed seemingly on their own accord, after something unceremoniously threw that ominous horned Pegasus out. I hesitated for a second, but then looked around the room for any signs of something that could have been the cause of what transpired. My eyes locked onto a balcony of sorts. Big, open and blotted to the clear morning sky. 'Could have been the wind... No, no that can't be right. It would have to be storming outside for any chance of moving doors that big.' I looked back to the large double doors 'But what then?' Even as the flood of upheaval in my head was starting to calm, nothing came to me as I stared at the portal. The handles looked somewhat bigger and were placed lower on the door than what seemed sensible. The door itself seemed to be made of some kind of stone, in contrast to whatever the walls and ceiling were made of, though it shared the same obnoxious trait of gleaming. It didn't make sense, but as my mind was acutely aware of at the moment, it was but another thing to add to the growing list of things that refused to do so. Like the fact that I felt the... wings, on my back twitch and move, as if they had a mind of their own. I looked back at myself, spotting the monstrously large limbs on my back. I had wings. I never had wings. I wasn't supposed to have wings... I wasn't supposed to have hooves, or be in this bizarre shiny room, in this place that I'd never seen before, but which somehow felt disturbingly like home. This wasn't right. I jerked my sight away from myself and stumbled onto my feet. The thoughts in my mind began descending into chaos again as I slowly crept backwards away from the doors, and collapsed into myself at the foot of the bed. Without noticing, the wings on my back closed themselves around me, hiding me from the madness of the world that tormented me so. As my thoughts quickly span out of control, a small few managed to stick out from the rest, all of them carrying one question. "What am I?" I lifted my head from the oddly nice warmth of my wings and looked around the room. I needed to see myself, see my face... I... I had to see. My eyes ran across several especially shiny walls that reflected the furniture, but only in a blurry, useless way. And then I spotted the mirror. The same one I had been woken to. A tall glass surface surrounded by a steely frame and plastered with several small pieces of clean looking parchment with depictions of a plenitude of different horses. I couldn't make them out from here though. Slowly and gingerly, I got up to my feet and with my wings still clasped around me, I made my way over to the mirror. And to my credit, I only tripped 4 or 5 times. over a 7 meter stretch. As I neared, I abruptly stopped near the edge of the mirror. A solitary chill ran up my spine and my gut clamped shut. It took a heavy amount of willpower and approximately 20 seconds to shove all of that out of the way and step in front of the blasted thing. What I saw made my brain reboot. It was the same horse body that I'd seen earlier, which in and of it self was befuddling, but it was the face that made the gears in my mind grind to a halt. That was my face. it wasn't my face, but it was my face. I reached a hoof up to poke my cheek and saw the filly in the mirror do the same. My vision blurred a little. What was I doing again? Realisation struck me a moment before my hand did the same and I backed away from the mirror. I had faded there. For just a moment, I had felt that same feeling that had been present for longer than I cared to think about. I glanced at the mirror again with apprehension, taking notice of a strange contraption clamped around the base of my horn. 'Hold up, what?' I faced the mirror completely again, staring in blank awe at the bony protrusion that grew from my forehead. It must have been around 20 centimetres long and had small ridges edged into it with an almost mathematical design, from the bottom to the top, which ended in a somewhat dull tip. Some of it was obscured by my very curly hair, but the strange device that sat mounted to the bottom was still visible. It seemed to be made of some kind of copper and iron like material, as far as I could tell, with small colourful stones filling various sockets in it. I sat down, looking at the entirety of the impossible little filly sitting in the mirror. It was a slow process, but slowly the realisation made itself clear in my mind. I was a horned pegasus. probably a child of the species as well. If that large creature from earlier was anything to go by. I watched the filly in the mirror silently. studying the features and anatomy that now made up my body. My body... A queasy feeling rose from my stomach as I looked at the creature in the mirror. With a start, I jerked my body to the left and heaved all of the nauseous feelings out. A smelly, foul looking ooze slowly pooling on the floor. 'I can't do this. this is wrong. I'm not, I'm not this creature!' I collapsed, disregarding the mushy wetness that stuck to my fur and just curled into myself. Feelings and memories that weren't mine were trying to push into my mind. Only just staying at the edge of whatever sanity I had left. I felt tears stain my face as I lay there whimpering. As I lay there frantically trying to sort out my mind, a tiny part of it cleared, and I became woefully aware of what I was doing. I didn't have time to cry like a little kid, I needed to do something. I needed to escape. I needed a weapon and an escape. I had to get my body back and I had to find a way home. Trembling, I stood up. With a goal in mind and a small, but building ember of determination. I had to get out of here and that was just what I was going to do. With a few carefully calculated steps I reached the door and ran into a small problem. The handle. Looking around to see if I could find something to open it with, I heard a click and brought my eyes back to the now slightly open door. I tensed for a moment as I looked at the now open door. '...Must have been the wind.' I dismissed it, trying my hardest not to think about it. Just as I was about to head out the door, I caught a glimpse of a small snail like doll in the corner of my eye, I hesitated for just a moment, before grabbing it almost out of instinct. With plush under wing I made my way out into the enormous corridors, and tried to find some kind of exit. Author's Note So... Been a while huh? A few good reasons for that, mostly personal. I've been trying to find a middleground between posting whether it's good or not, and my odd form of perfectionism. This is only half of the chapter actually, but I haven't finished editing the second part and I thought, maybe you guys would like an update after 2 years. So here ya go. Have a lil' chapter. I'm gonna try get back on the horse so to say, but no promises, and certainly no scheduled updates.. I'm putting in some effort to write more though, so hope you lads enjoy.
3 - Hallway fright and mental plight, kept in check by a goal in sightAuthor's Note Oh boy... it's been a while huh? Yeah a lot of stuff has been going on with my life since last I published a chapter on the story. You can read more about that on my last block post if you desire, though you are by no circumstances obligated to do so, so simply just a way for me to explain some things without having to put the entire rent in the authors notes. This chapter might be a little bit rough as it has been rewritten, neglected, picked back up again and generally, potentially, has had a change of writing style. So I hope that you'll bear with me if it's not as good as you had hoped. I shaved off a thousand and a half or so more words the would have continued from the point where the chapter ended, as I found myself unsatisfied with the direction that I was going in and that unsatisfaction was compounding with my challenges when it comes to writing to create a deadlock that made me unable to either continue writing or publish the chapter. I thank anyone who has been with me since the start or has found the story along the way if you are still willing to read it. I understand the frustrations that you may have had with the infrequency of chapters being published, I share in that same frustration and hope to eventually overcome the flaws in me that make it so. I have my fair share of faults and flaws, but I hope that you'll forgiven me and that if you have any feedback, criticism or ideas in general that you'd be willing to share them. I've read every comment that I have ever gotten and given each a like whether they were positive or not. But I think I've waffled on for long enough, I wish any and all of you a great day and hope to see you again in the future. 3 - Hallway fright and mental plight, kept in check by a goal in sight For a moment I was blinded as I stepped forward. The radiance of the hallway I had stepped into was far too bright... Pillars of crystal and banners of strange colours I could not identify decked the halls in both directions. The blindness was only temporary, as I quickly adjusted to the light. My own bedroom had been somewhat more dimly lit, what with having just woken up, so the stark brightness of the hallway I now stood in was rather overwhelming. 'My bedroom? No that... that's not right...' I shook my head, trying to clear it of distractions as best as I could. In my determination to escape, I had managed to carve a small island of calm from the storm of emotional turmoil that had overtaken me, but It was fragile, and I knew not how long I could maintain it. Though if what had happened at the mirror told me anything, I couldn't allow myself to think too deeply on what was happening to me, lest I fall to the blur again... Grasping the ember of determination within me, I peered down both sides of the corridor for anymore of those creatures. Ones like that strange witchcraft wielding pegasus I had seen before, the one that had spoken to me much like my mother used to... 'No. I-I mustn't think about it...' I would need to do my best to avoid them, Clearly they had something to do with what had been done to me... I didn't know what they wanted from me, but I had no intention to stick around to find out. I swallowed heavily as I looked around, trying to control my fraying nerves and letting my doubts along with the leftover remnants of bile at the back of my throat, sink to the depths of my stomach. Poking my head out from the edge of the door I peered carefully down both paths. There were none to see to either side of the hall, so I moved out from my vantage point. I looked around for what might be some kind of exit, but couldn't find any at a glance. Though considering that there had been a balcony in... The room I awoke in... I must have been higher than the ground floor at the very least. The huge hallway I stood in was, though grandiose and daunting, rather uniform in it's layout of pillars and banners. There were no other visible doors to be seen, though there were windows... Perhaps I could climb through one to get out? or at the very least get a view of my surroundings. I walked towards one to investigate. It took a few stumbles to get there, but I avoided planting my face into the floor at least. Stupid horse legs... With some trepidation and difficulty, I stood upright on my legs to reach the window, Something which only served to remind me of the unnerving state my body was in... I-I tried to see what lay beyond the window. The sight that greeted my eyes was both incredible, beautiful and indescribably maddening. Through the pane of glass, glazed with a light frost around it's edges, a sprawling city of crystal and stone spread from and around the base of what must have been the building that I was in. high up, so very far above the buildings below, that they almost looked like game pieces on a board... It was dizzying just to look at... The city was enormous, larger than any I had ever seen or imagined before. I had to rub my eyes in disbelief as I peered out over the gleaming crystals spires and buildings, so vast and grand that they made even the greatest lodges and longhalls I'd seen in my life pale in comparison. Roads of shiny stone spread from the city's center out to it's edges like the branches of a perfect snowflake. In the distance beyond the city bounds, verdant, green hills and fields spread across the edges of the city's perimeter, filled with farmland and small patches of forest. Further than that on the horizon was something that sparked familiarity within me. Snow, ice and a landscape that seemed much more reminiscent of my home... It was stopped abruptly in an almost unnatural pattern surrounding the outer fields, as if stopped by some manner of unseeable wall. Perhaps it was how this place had stayed hidden. Some strange, dark witchcraft hiding it from the world outside... Maybe... If I can just get there, get outside the circle, perhaps It will break whatever foul hex has twisted my body to this abominable shape? Yes! I-it must. It has to... I tore my eyes from the sight, lest I get lost in the frightening, vivid beauty of the vista on display. I had no time to dally. The window wasn't an option, it was one large solid pane of glass and the noise from breaking it could attract attention, but more so than that whatever shards of glass that might come lose could rain down on me from doing so... and the apparent drop from the window itself looked... Less than ideal to put it lightly... However I'd found the first part of my objective, a destination to work towards. If I could find a weapon to fend for myself, as well as an actual way out of this place then... A plan, however rudimentary was starting to form in my mind and with it came a determination that kept my thoughts clear enough to ignore the intrusive feelings and encroaching memories that otherwise sought to cloud it. For now at least... I stepped down from the window and flinched as my arms hit the floor. Cool stone came into contact with the harder make of what now sat in place of my hands. Standing with all four limbs on the floor like a wild animal... A reminder that had me look down in disgust and frustration. Everything about this situation was so... wrong. Despite focusing on the determined calm I had built, It was a hard fought battle just to contain my own emotions... Ever since I had woken up, both my feelings and thoughts had been a flurry of chaos and disorder... The calm stoicism that I had cultivated through years of strife, replaced by the turbulent emotional landscape of... a child... Yet I couldn't afford to falter. I remembered almost slipping back into the blur when I had looked at myself in the mirror... I could not allow that to happen again... Thinking about it was only serving to slow me down, I didn't know what would happen to me if I fell asleep again, but it couldn't be good... If this was my only chance, I had to take it, regardless of how my body shook in horror of itself or how my mind seemed to contradict the very truth of it's own thoughts. Yet as I stood there, I couldn't bring myself to move... My legs had locked up and a cold fear had buried itself within my chest. Something is coming... Absentmindedly clutching the plush I had beneath one of the wings on my back, I crouched down silently and listened. I heard footsteps down the hall to the left of me, moments before I watched as a horned horse with orange hair, spectacles and a star spangled cloak rounded the corner of the hallway. What was I going to do?! It was right there, walking towards where I was! It's eyes weren't on me though, but rather a book that... floated in front of it. Another wielder of witchcraft... But it was distracted. I turned around as silently as I could, preparing to sprint down the other end of the hallway to the best of my ability. If I moved now I could still-' "Ah, Princess Flurry Heart! I see that you're up early today!" The hairs along my warped spine stood straight, as fear trickled down it's ridges like a branching river. I looked back to see the smiling visage of the creature approaching me with a spring in it's step. I had no weapons, no way to fend it off, but I could speak. It may have been a long shot, but perhaps I could convince it to leave this Flurry alone. The knot in my stomach tightened further at how familiar that name sounded... "I-I must admit I had been expecting to see you in the dining room with your parents at this time to be honest," it said with a slightly confused smile as it stowed its books into a satchel at its side. "In fact I was on my way there now to discuss the plans of your upcoming transfer to the Crystal Elementary school..." it, or he most likely, said with a weird look on his face. I looked up at it as I turned to face the creature, nodding slightly and keeping my mouth shut until I could figure out what to respond with that could get it to leave me alone. It looked at me with that strange expression again, almost sheepishly... before saying, "I-I know it's a lot... and that you're likely nervous about all the things that are going to change.-" It put Its hoof on my head and ruffled my hair gently, "-But I promise we'll all be right there with you, ready to help you as much as you need!" It finished with what was likely meant to be a reassuring smile. I was not reassured. A long moment passed as we both looked at one another in silence. Shit... it likely expects some manner of response to that... "Aye, I'm a tad frightened, in truth." I croaked in the best approximation of a child's tone that I could muster. It looked like it had swallowed a frog. Damn... I had messed up somehow. Yet before I could about to attempt to strike it and run away the creature spoke up again. Wiping a stray tear from his eye he looked down with... mirth? "S-sorry. I don't mean to laugh at you Flurry, really!, y-you just sound a mite silly right now, I don't think I've heard you sound so... gruff? I guess? Regardless, I-I do mean what I said though." Kneeling down to eye height with me he gave me an honest look and grin. "Don't worry Princess, Just because you won't be home-schooled anymore doesn't mean that I'll stop teaching you." He said earnestly, before adding with a quirked smile and a hushed tone, "I still haven't found a spell that will let you shoot lasers out of your eyes, but I'm sure I'll stumble onto one any day now." He was about to continue talking, but before he managed to do so his nose twitched and wrinkled, as he caught a whiff of something and looked down at my body with worry. "O-oh my, F-flurry you're uhm... S-sorry I've just been prattling on, are you feeling well? You've got some... b-barf on your coat, are you feeling sick?" He seemed to grow a little jittery as he fretted over me, standing up to gather something from his saddlebag. As he stood up, I noticed how much calmer I had become as he spoke... He must have had some kind of relation to the horned pegasus from previously, she had affected me similarly... He had spoken quickly and given me a lot of information all at once, but I would need to stow that away for later as I improvised. As he produced a small cloth from his bag and began to dab my side with it, trying to clean off some of the worst of the vomit that stuck to it, an idea came to me. He had provided the perfect excuse and perhaps with a little bit of probing I might even determine some bit of the layout of the building I was trying to escape. I was not a particularly adept liar and doing so would mean staying near the creature for longer... I didn't have long to contemplate the risks involved however, so I simply went for it. Coughing twice, I took the same tone as before, gruff as he had described it, feigning a sore throat, as I replied, " Aye I-I was a little queasy yesternight, but I'm alright now, just a tad... woozy... I was going to wash up before breakfast, but I can't seem to recall where the washroom is, c-could you lead me there?" I gazed up at him with a tired, helpless look, not too far from how I truly felt, as I waited and hoped that he would buy my story... The creature inspected me with that same nervous, pitying look, as he discarded the stained cloth and pushed his glasses further up his nose, before nodding with a strained smile. "O-of course Princess, though... why didn't you just use the bathroom in your chambers?" He queried, motioning to the doors of the room I had awoken in. 'Drat... another excuse for that then...' "I-I uh, I may have... broken it?" I replied with a nerve wracked attempt at a smile to ease the tension of the incredibly obvious fib. The creature to it's credit only looked surprised or dubious for a second before seemingly accepting the destruction of an entire washroom as a thing that a child was not only capable of, but wouldn't be punished for. As if it was a normal occurrence... "Ah... Well that explains that noise from previously I suppose... N-no worries Princess, I'll make sure to notify a janitor to come have a look at it." He said with a reassuring smile, as his eyes flitted in the direction of the hall he'd been walking towards previously. He'd only taken a few steps down that direction before he stopped himself and turned around with his ears splayed back in what I could only guess was some manner of embarrassment on his face. "T-though I should probably show you to the washroom first, right?" He added with a nervous laugh. As he started to walk towards the end of the hallway he'd come from, he stopped at it's edge and looked back, motioning for me to follow him. I suddenly found myself with the somewhat difficult task of having to keep pace with him without tripping and falling on my face, as we traveled down the glittering halls of this dreadful domain of crystal I sought to be free of... I hadn't succeeded in getting rid of him, but at least I might be able to glean some information from him about how to leave this place. Though I had illness as an excuse, I would still need to tread carefully with how I acted, lest he realize that I wasn't who he thought I was... I tried to keep up as best I could while we passed down a few passageways and rounded a couple of different corners. I kept an active lookout for any paths down, if only somewhat active, as I had to concentrate on the effort of just keeping pace with the larger creature... It was such an odd sensation to walk on all fours. There was a certain rhythm to it, a cadence one had to follow if they didn't want to trip over themselves. As much as I loathed being forced to do so, I was at least slowly getting the hang of it, though not without tripping over myself a half dozen times... I would need to learn quickly if I wanted any chance of running in this body, and considering my circumstances I very well may have to, if the creature I walked with caught on to me. So it was that as we were traversing down another hallway, just as grand and imposing, and just as similar looking as to be almost indistinguishable from the first. I had to stop every few paces to catch myself, as I tried to gage the strange ways this body sought to move. The creature next to me seemed to wait on me patiently for those times that I stumbled, though as I went on tripping, it eventually decided to speak up. "Uhm... Flurry?" I looked up at him with my brows still knit in concentration. "I- I know you said that you felt fine, but y-you know... if you're having trouble walking I could carry you there. I-it's just... it seems like you're struggling a bit..." He offered as he fidgeted with some sort of uneasy expression on his face, before he seemed to recall something of note. As a more genuine smile replaced his otherwise nervous expression, I got a distinct feeling that I was not going to like what came out of his mouth next... "It could be like back when we used to play Princesses and Wizards against evil!" he said with a light chuckle, as he took on on some sort of ridiculous gallant pose. '...What?' "Remember? How you'd use me as your faithful steed, as we rode into imaginary battles!" He continued once more, his eyes lost to a memory. I blinked slowly and unamused at the creature, he was clearly reminiscing foolishly about some past event that I had no way of remembering. Except... As his words filtered into my mind, a memory managed to slip forth from the storm held at bay on the edges of my mind. A memory of a smaller version of myself giggling jovially on the back of the stallion, as we ran up and down the stairs of a library. Both of us saying silly phrases and strange incantations as we played... I shook my head again, more violently as I grit my teeth. That hadn't been one of my memories, neither had that been myself in it... But the fact that it obviously could not have been real, nor myself, helped little to dissuade how real it had felt in that instant... Was I beginning to loose my grip on my mind? Bleeding bones... Perhaps my time was shorter than I had thought... Focusing in on the stallion looking down at me in earnest invitation, I made a choice which I abhorred by nature. "...Fine, but only if you get there fast." I ground out, trying my best not to sound like I'd rather prefer to jump off a moving wagon. The stallion so eager to indulge in lost revelry, seemed not to notice my tone, as he happily used his witchcraft to place me upon his back. I flinched violently both at him using his dark arts to touch me and at being placed onto his back like a mere child. He himself also seemed to have to adjust a small bit too before he could start walking. "Oophm, I-I think I remember why we stopped doing this, hehe..." He said with a strained chuckle. "You've really grown quite a bit since last we did this, Flurry. While I've regrettably not grown much stronger..." He squared his stance and started to walk, though with a bit more effort than previously. "But fear not! Your faithful steed, Sunburst will endure!" He proclaimed as he trotted down the hall. I tried to ignore his ceaseless prattling as I focused on containing my emotions. It was humiliating to be carried around like a mere babe, but right now that was not what bothered me... A swell of anger and fear had surged in me at suddenly having faced a memory not my own, pretending as if it were, but I could not let it consume me. I could not... My breath hitched as I tried to control the burgeoning emotions within my chest... I had to stay calm... Calm and focused on my goal. I was holding steady for now and making progress towards my objective, but it seemed clear to me that my time of lucidity may be limited. I would have to endure this nightmare for but a bit longer to earn my freedom, but I could delay no longer than that. 'Considering that... No, that's ridiculous... Though... It's worth a try at least...' With urgency at the forefront, an idea came to mind. One not born out of fear, perhaps a little from the stress of the situation, but rather mostly one wrought from the truly bizarre nature of the current predicament I found myself in, and a life spent trained as a rider... I decided to indulge the creatures nostalgic reverie a little further, whilst it insisted on acting as my steed... The creature barely had time to react with more than a surprised neigh. Leaning forward with my weight and squeezing it's barrel firmly with my legs, I kicked it not entirely gently in both sides as I gave it one, loud verbal command. "HEYYAAHHH!!" All at once the stallions eyes went wide, as he reared back in confusion and let out a startled whinny, before setting forward in a gallop down the hall. The wind rushed through my hair and a small smirk graced my face as I felt in my element for the first time since I'd woken up. Pillars, doors, windows and more flew by my peripheral vision as we raced down polished stone hallways towards a destination that only the panicked stallion below me knew. Other creatures flew by as well, some clothed like servants and others like warriors, though all held an expression of befuddlement and alarm, as the startled stallion and I charged by them. The line between my own thoughts and emotions, and those that lied in wait at the edge of my mind, began to blur, as I couldn't help but let out a cheer of exhilaration. The clouds within beginning to part, as a bout of excitement pushed forth. The otherwise strange colours of the decorated hallways whizzing past seemed to become less obnoxious or alien and more familiar for every corner we passed. I started to recognize faces and places as they flew by with increasing accuracy. The stallion himself, whose breathing was becoming more ragged by the minute, seemed to catch on to my change of mood. Continuing what had been a strange act of instinct with some scant determination, a labored smile on his lip as he ran. After many confused faces and crystal pillars we finally began to slow down, though whether it was because we had reached our destination or because my loyal steed could run no further I was unsure. His intense, ragged breathing, was however probably a clue towards the latter. The stallion deflated much like a weary set of bagpipes beneath me, with an accompanying groan that couldn't quite match the tone. The smile on my face grew a little more neutral as a smidge of worry entered my chest. Jumping off my loyal steed with surprising ease, I leaned down to eyelevel with him with a slightly embarrassed grin. "You okay there, Sunburst?" Sunburst, the mess of a man he was currently, looked up with the closest he could manage to a smile while gasping for air and to his credit, it only took him about 2 minutes before he actually managed a somewhat legible response. "Ahhh, woohh... Ah-I'm fh-ine. I-I just... need a... F-few minutes here... t-to recover..." He wheezed more than spoke. Sitting down on my behind with my hooves in front of me like a dog, I gave him a warm if slightly pitying smile. "I'd love to wait for you Sunburst, but I still feel like I need to hurry for some reason... Is it ok if I continue on without you?" I asked looking around for something I couldn't quite place... It took a few seconds of panting and trying to speak before he simply chose to light his horn and manifest the magical equivalent of a check mark, followed up with a weary smile. Taking that as confirmation I stood up and started to trot down the hall, though stopping a few paces away as Sunburst tried to wheeze something after me. "T-though, phew... I'd r-recommend... you visit the infirmary after you wash up... j-just to make sure... y-you're n-not still sick..." He pushed out before slumping over on the floor with his face down. Nodding at that I responded with "Will do, Sunburst, see you at breakfast!" before heading back down the hall. If I remembered correctly there should be a public bathroom down to the left of the current hallway. Though I couldn't quite remember where the infirmary was for some reason... 'Hm... I could probably just ask directions from one of the guards or maids though.' I felt kind of odd, as I trotted towards the bathroom. Today had been somewhat confusing and I kept having a feeling that I was forgetting something really important, but I just couldn't remember what it was... Walking into the bathrooms I found an empty one and stepped inside. Hopefully it wasn't all that important If I couldn't remember it, besides, I was getting to be pretty late for breakfast at this point. 'A little tardiness is fine, but mom might start to worry if I take too long...' With that in mind I chose to simply get myself cleaned up and tackle the weird feeling of forgetfulness later at the infirmary. Standing upright on my hindlegs In front of the mirror, I frowned at the spot on my left where my coat was still covered partially in puke. Sunburst had done a decent job at removing it with what he had on hoof, but it was still pretty icky... Nothing I couldn't handle on my own though. Carefully grabbing some soap from the sink with my magic I looked at myself in the mirror and...- ... *Crack* Shattered glass hit the floor as blood started to run down my forehead. I lost balance and fell over on the floor backwards with a thud, pain spread throughout my body as shards of glass jabbed at my skin, though unable to break it. "W-what...What just happened?!" I screamed. Curling in on myself as best I could as I shivered in both shock and fear. "I-I... W-who..?" I muttered anxiously as I tried to recall what had just happened moments prior. A flurry of memories rushed forth invading my mind, but despite my terror I pushed them away with a cry of fury and concentrated power of will. I would not let it take me again! My breathing quickened as I realized that I'd lost control of my body for an amount of time I couldn't truly recall in the moment. I was in a room that I just barely remembered walking into... The walls were tiled and decorated with flowery patterns, the floor much the same, though in different colours and shades. Other than that the room was filled with strange contraptions of stone, metal and wood. I recognized some manner of cabinet but other than that the rest were unfamiliar to me, and yet I knew what they were called... Toilet, sink, showerhead, towel rack. Besides the first, I had barely any understanding of what those words meant. Laying on the ground I grit my teeth and knit my brows in concentration as I focused on carving out that island of calm within my mind once more. It took painstakingly long as I was distracted by the feeling of the blood flowing from the wound on my forehead. though as the minutes passed I managed to slow my breathing and my beating heart... Only when I felt that I was not at risk of immediately blurring once more, did I start to stand up. Breathing an anxious and weary sigh I looked at the fractured mirror briefly, considering whether a large piece could function as an improvised weapon, but upon trying to grasp a piece I realized that I had no way to effectively hold it... I cursed at the fleshy clubs that had taken the place of my hands. Though as I gazed upon the broken reflection of the false body I had been trapped within, a thought came to mind, one that should have been obvious in hindsight. Above the smear of blood on my forehead sat a weapon of bony make, not terribly sharp, but long enough to pierce... If I could simply get close to one of the creatures, even this tiny form should be able to injure an adult of its kind. In theory... It would have to do, for I had neither the time nor patience to consider anything else. I had a destination and a weapon of some sort... Escape was next, and with that thought in mind, I made my way out of the washroom.
