Charlotte Gilmore felt overwhelmed as everything she had ever known was being rapidly turned on its head.
For the moment, the most obvious signs were the purple and yellow clippings of hair lying at her feet. She had cut her hair to the point of being nearly bald last night, but she now had a full head of purple and yellow hair replacing the old reddish-brown locks lying in a pile of clippings on the floor. She had tried to cut away her shame, but the sign of shame would not allow itself to be taken away.
She sat crying as she stared at the clippings, wondering why God had chosen to punish her. She was a good Christian; she went to church every Sunday, spoke out against the downward spiral of ungodliness that the country was caught in, donated to worthy charities, kept up with her tithes, prayed daily, helped feed the homeless, and never did anything to earn the wrath of God. But the fact remained that there were purple and yellow clippings on the floor, and her head was full the matching hair. She had been marked as one of those who would become a beast. She was sure God was punishing them, but she was apparently being counted among those, and she couldn't understand why. People like her were not the ones who deserved to be punished.
It looked like Tom never came to bed last night, most likely falling asleep while watching the news again. He'd done that frequently for the last few years, much to her displeasure, but lately, it felt like it was every night. It made her wonder why they even had a bed for two people in the bedroom; it was a small point of bitterness, but maybe that was why she was being punished; not having the proper respect for her husband. She'd take a shower and then see to making sure he did things like remembering to eat breakfast.
Charlotte considered cleaning up the clippings and putting on a hat to hide her hair. If she had any hair dye, she would try that, but she hadn't done that kind of thing in years. Besides, the last time she was at the store, the hair dye section had been all but pillaged; she doubted that she would be able to find any. She didn't feel like dealing with cleaning up right now, the base of her tailbone was hurting, and she didn't feel like bending down. Once the soreness went away, she would vacuum them up.
Charlotte looked mournfully towards the master bathroom. She needed to take a shower, but she dreaded seeing her reflection. Worse was wondering what else might have changed. She could just choose not to take a shower, so she didn't have to spend too much time examining her body, and could pretend nothing was happening, but her bladder told her she couldn’t avoid the bathroom altogether.
With a resigned sigh, she got up and kicked the hair clippings up against the nightstand. She did a small stretch to see if it would take any the stiffness out of her back, but it didn't help at all, in fact the movement made it feel worse. Her ears weren't ringing anymore, but things almost sounded like she had water in them. Another thing she would have to take care of in the bathroom. She was pretty sure she still had an ear cleaning kit in the medicine cabinet. Worst came to worst, there were Q-tips to use, even though they always said not to. She told herself that there would be no more changes, that God was teaching her a lesson for her indiscretions, that he was testing her, that he wouldn't do any more to her than the hair.
She walked into the bathroom and deliberately stared at the linoleum floor so she wouldn't catch her reflection in the mirror. It wasn't completely successful, as she could just make out the purple out from the corner of her eyes. She forced herself not to turn to the mirror and look at it fully yet. The longer she didn't look the longer she didn't have to think about the implications of it.
She walked to the toilet and stripped down her pajama bottoms before turning to sit on the seat. She jumped up in pain briefly as she felt a sharp pain from her tailbone. She then lowered herself back down carefully. She let off a sigh and ran her hands over her face before staring forward. It’s just a sore tailbone, I must have slept wrong and I pulled something. Doesn’t mean anything else. I am not going to have a tail like an animal.
After a few minutes sitting on the toilet long after she had finished, she wiped herself off, being careful of her tender tailbone before standing up and flushing the toilet. Pulling back up her pajama pants, she kept her gaze fixed down towards the swirling water of the toilet bowl so she wouldn't be looking at the mirror. She looked at the toilet, examining it rather than anything else. It looked like it needed a cleaning. Tom usually dealt with that, but when was the last time he was even up in the bedroom?
She looked to her right to see the shower and tub. She could do that instead right now. She hadn't noticed anything wrong when she had her bottoms down, not that there would be anything to see, she was just dealing with nerves. Just a quick shower would calm her down. Maybe she would realize then that the discoloring of her hair was just some cruel prank with dye.
Starting the water going, she stripped waiting for it to get to the correct temperature. As she waited, she took a brief moment to look herself over. There was nothing more physically off, nothing that wasn't supposed to be there. Her panties had felt a little loose, but losing weight was hardly something to worry about while food was becoming scarce. She just had a sore spot near her rear and clogged ears, nothing was wrong.
A stray purple hair dangled down in front of her eyes reminding her there was at least one thing wrong. She sighed before stepping into the shower and opening up the cap to the bottle of shampoo. She poured it on her hair liberally, using far more than she actually should have needed. It was wasteful, but she was determined to scrub this purple away.
Charlotte went through three cycles of shampooing and conditioning, one after another. Using so much so fast might cause some damage to her hair, but she didn't care. She just wanted the purple dye washed out and this bad joke to be revealed for what it was.
After letting the water run for so long that it was now ice cold, she finally pulled a lock of hair back in front of her eyes. It was still purple; sparkling clean, but purple, with a few stray yellow hairs running through it. She shut the water off and knelt down in the tub. Burying her face into her arms, she took a moment to breathe and collect herself.
After a few minutes she stood back up, pulled back the shower curtain, and then grabbed the towel hanging on the wall. After drying herself off, she wrapped the offending hair up tightly in the towel so she wouldn't have to look at it. She stepped out of the tub and finally gave the mirror a timid glance.
Of course the mirror was completely fogged over from the shower so there was no seeing her reflection in it for the moment. Even if she could have seen her reflection, her hair was beneath the towel and she wouldn't have seen it. She was being silly and acting like a scared child over nothing! There was no reason to be so terrified of her own reflection.
She walked over to the sink and looked briefly at the gray haze of condensation on the mirror in front of her. She then started the sink going and pulled out her toothbrush and toothpaste. After a brisk scrubbing, followed by a gargle of mouthwash, she wiped her face clean and washed her hands. She gazed up at the mirror again.
With forced determination she grabbed up a washcloth that was sitting nearby and wiped a spot in the mirror clear of the fog. She looked at her toweled head and took a deep breath. She pulled the towel off, then gasped at what she saw.
It was her regular hair. Had she just been imagining things? Had God finished his test, and found her worthy after all? She looked back at the base of the tub to see if there was any evidence of dye being washed away, but she saw nothing. Maybe she was just having hallucinations or something.
She turned back to the mirror, then jumped back in fear of what she now saw.
There was a pony reflected back at her. A beast with red fur and a purple mane , flecked with yellow streaks, and a horn protruding from her head The pony in the mirror copied her actions perfectly as she brought a hand up to touch her face, staring at the image. They then shook their heads in unison at the horror and started moving towards the door. Both of them muttering that this wasn't happening, that this wasn't real, only it formed an odd chorus of the same voice repeated.
Charlotte opened the bathroom door and bolted out of it, away from the pony in her mirror. She retreated back to sitting on her bed, facing the open bathroom door as she sat and shook.
Nothing came from the bathroom as she kept staring towards it. It must have been a hallucination of some sort. They had been eating some older canned food lately, and it must have had some mold or something in it that was messing with her mind. She was seeing things that weren't real.
She looked down at the floor and saw the clippings again, in the middle of the floor, right where they were when she woke up, instead of the nightstand she’d pushed them to. Had she misremembered doing that? She should probably see a doctor if she was having hallucinations and not remembering things correctly.
She looked back up. The red unicorn was back, staring her right in the eye.
She and the pony jerked back from one another. She crawled backwards across the bed, putting it between her and the pony. The pony retreated behind a rocking chair in the corner. The two of them stared at one another for a long moment before the pony got a cross look on her face, marched purposely out from behind the rocking chair and stood directly opposite Charlotte across the bed.
"You filthy trespassing human, what're you doing squatting in my house?!" the red pony demanded with a stomp of her hooves.
"YOUR HOUSE?!" Charlotte shouted in response, fear forgotten in her outrage at the red intruder. She stood up and braced herself against the bed, bending over to stare down the insane little beast.
"At least this was my home, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't been sold yet. It's been months, or years...I think..." the pony started mumbling as she looked around in confusion. This little monster was deranged or something; being transformed into a beast had clearly unhinged her mind. What was a fully transformed pony doing all the way over in South Carolina anyway? There were only some of those out in Colorado and Florida; there shouldn't be any around here, it hadn't yet progressed that far here.
Something about the pony seemed familiar though. Charlotte looked at the pony's mane and tail, then she reached a hand around to her own hair and pulled it in front of her eyes. Her hair was reddish brown, why did she think it was purple and yellow? She felt confused, like she should be remembering something, but she couldn't put a finger on it.
"Regardless, I know you don't belong here," the red pony finally said with a growl. "I try to be nice to humans, but I'm not going to tolerate trespassers."
"You're the one that doesn't belong here. You should be out in the fields, eating grass, like the beast you are. God has punished you and turned you into the animal you deserve to be. What kind of perverse thing are you guilty of? What did you do that God felt the need to condemn you to such a wretched existence? Aren't you feeling remorse now?" Charlotte demanded, having perverse pleasure in knowing she was better than this creature still.
"My my, aren’t you a charmer? You're a true human through and through, one of those ones that would be an embarrassment to ponydom if they became a pony. I've met a few of those," She then gave Charlotte a smirk. "I'm not condemned by God, I'm blessed! You're the one living in shame.” The smirk grew wider. “Well, maybe you are, you don't seem very ashamed of being naked."
Charlotte went a bright red that almost matched the pony's fur as she ducked back down behind the bed again. The pervert was probably glad she was getting a peep show out of her. She couldn't believe she had forgotten that. She was forgetting so many things.
"How in the hell did you even get in here, you little red furred demon?" Charlotte demanded as she pulled a loose sheet around herself.
The pony looked confused again as she looked around again briefly and then stared at the ground as if deep in thought. She then shook her head in frustration before looking back at Charlotte.
"I don't actually remember. It's all kind of fuzzy. I can't think of any reason I should be here, or how I got here," the pony answered.
"Well then you should leave before I call the police. The only reason I haven’t already is my phone is downstairs and I don't trust walking down there and leaving you alone," Charlotte said with a sneer.
"I'd be more than happy to go get it for you. That way when the police get here they can haul you away and put you in a cell, like you belong," the red pony sneered back.
"For the last time, I live here! My name is Charlotte Gilmore! I live here with my husband and my son! You're the damn intruder!" Charlotte hollered.
The pony stared at her for a moment in shock, before blinking a few times. She then looked around again and then smacked a hoof into own face.
"I'm dreaming. That's how I don't know how I got here and why I can't seem to remember anything straight. You're some bottled up piece of my subconscious," the red pony declared in what seemed realization. “Phobia, are you there? Or any Dreamwarden?”
"Screw that, if anyone is having strange hallucinations, it's me. You aren't me, I'll never be you. You're just some figment of my imagination. I'm not turning into a pony!" Charlotte screamed.
"Already a done deal, and for the better. I'd forgotten how much of a total ass I was. I feel sorry for what I must have put others through," the pony said with a roll of her eyes. "Now that I know this is a dream all I need to do is wake up."
"You're not me!" Charlotte denied again angrily.
"No, I'm not," the pony said in a dangerous tone. "I'm Sunset Blessing, and I would never try to make the mare I share a bed with feel like she is an abomination. I would never make my daughter feel like she had to hide what she was from me. You're a ghost of something that I moved past being. Something I'm a thousand times better than. I'm not an abomination, you are, Charlotte."
"See there! You pretty much confirmed that you aren't me. I don't have a daughter, I would never give myself some hippy name like that, I'm already married, and even if I wasn't I sure as hell am not some homo," Charlotte said, feeling victorious.
The pony, Sunset Blessing, gave a sad shake of her head.
"You know the worst thing?” Sunset Blessing said in a low voice. “The fact that there's some ghost of you lingering like a tumor in my subconscious. That means in some way that you’re still part of me deep down, and it makes me feel ashamed. I hate everything you are." .
"I hate you too, so the feeling is mutual. Except I'm not so delusional that I think you're me," Charlotte said.
"Okay, well, it seems like no Dreamwarden is going to come and wake me from this dream. So let's just play this out. I'm leaving," Sunset Blessing said as she turned towards the door.
"Good," Charlotte snapped.
Sunset Blessing's horn glowed and the bedroom door opened. Charlotte gasped as she saw what was beyond it and Sunset just smirked with satisfaction.
There was nothing beyond the door, just nothing. It was a pitch black void. Nothing existed beyond the room.
"That's not possible...not unless I'm dreaming," Charlotte said as she stared at the void.
"You're dreaming, or at least I am. Surprised this is still going on though. Normally when I realize something is a dream it quickly just unravels and I wake up. I can't even remember going to bed," Sunset said as she looked at the void.
"That's because you're the one who's a figment of my imagination and this is my dream," Charlotte said crossly.
"Um...no, but if you really want to go with that fine. How about you just wake up then? Get us out of this dream," Sunset Blessing replied.
"I don't know how. You're right about one thing. I should just wake up if I realized it was a dream. This has to be some weird, sickness-based hallucination," Charlotte said as she sat down in the bed in frustration.
"Well, let's see what happens when I go through the door. It has to lead to something, and anything is better than dealing with you," Sunset said as she walked up to the edge of the door.
"Go on then, whether the dream ends or not, at least you'll be gone," Charlotte said as she flicked her hands toward the door on a prodding motion.
Sunset Blessing didn't hesitate. She jumped straight through the door and the world warped around them with a stomach churning lurch.
Then they found themselves back where they started, with Charlotte and Sunset Blessing staring one another in the eyes next to the bed, with the purple and yellow hair clippings on the ground between them.
"What the hell!" Charlotte said as she jerked back from the pony.
Sunset Blessing glanced back towards the door she had just gone through, it was closed once again.
"Want to take your own shot at it? See if you can get out?" Sunset Blessing suggested.
"You just want me to disappear," Charlotte accused.
"Yeah, I do, but I want to get out of this dream and I'm looking for options. Maybe, at least if you jump through the door, this time you'll cease to exist since you're the one out of sight and out of mind. I never considered myself a chicken," Sunset said with a smile.
"I'm not a chicken. You're right. It's a way to possibly wake myself up or get away from you," Charlotte said as she walked over to the door.
Charlotte opened the door and again the void was there to greet them. She got nervous as she stared out into it. There was nothing at all there. It wasn't just darkness, it was nothingness. She gulped as she stared.
"Getting cold feet, human?" Sunset asked snidely from behind her.
"No, I just need a moment," Charlotte said defensively.
Charlotte didn't get her moment. The next thing she knew she was covered in red light and found her feet lifting off the ground. She tried to struggle, but was helpless. She screamed as she was hurled through the door into the abyss.
Then she was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring eye to eye with Sunset Blessing, with the purple and yellow hair clippings on the floor between them.
She stared for a moment before her face contorted in rage and she punched the pony in the muzzle, making the red furred beast stagger backwards in pain.
"You could have killed me!" Charlotte screamed.
She screamed again as she was engulfed in the red light, feeling crushed from all sides before she was hurled straight through the wall.
The pain vanished and she once again found herself sitting on the bed, staring at the pony in the eyes once again.
Sunset Blessing shrugged and walked away from her.
"Well, so much for that," Sunset said in defeat.
"You sick psycho! You tried to murder me twice!" Charlotte screamed again.
"That's an idea...," the pony said in a tone that made Chalotte's blood run cold.
She flinched and then started running for cover as she saw the pony's horn light up again. She screamed in pain as she flames started to burn her. The pain was excruciating.
Then she was back on the edge of the bed yet again, staring into the orange eyes of her demonic nemesis.
She didn't even hesitate this time. She reached for the scissors on the end table and quickly grabbed them and plunged them straight into the red pony's eye with all her strength. It made a sound like a zit popping as the eye burst and she drove them deep into the brain beyond.
Then she was staring Sunset Blessing again in the eyes, no sign of what had just happened ever having occurred. The scissors were still sitting on the end table, the clippings of hair still on the ground. Shame welled up in her as she realized she has just attempted murder.
"It seems we can't murder one another," Sunset said with a sigh as she sat down and hung her head.
"You sick twisted little monster. You did that with no remorse. You don't even care about whether you inflict pain or kill," Charlotte growled.
"You were pretty effective with those scissors, so don't play high and mighty with me," Sunset said as she glanced at the end table.
"I was defending myself. You just attacked me over and over. What was I supposed to do?" Charlotte asked defensively.
"Well, on the weird off chance this is your dream and not mine, the answer would be wake up," Sunset said nonchalantly. "Typically I'd expect a Dreamwarden to come when called to bring this to an end, but they are ignoring me for some reason." She looked upwards then. "And it's not funny if they're having a laugh at my expense."
"You're a murderer. I would never do something like that in cold blood," Charlotte said as glared at the pony.
Sunset stared back at her for a long moment and the pony's ears lowered.
"Maybe you're right on that. You wouldn't do that, but I would," Sunset said sadly. "Maybe I'm dead, and this is some personal hell for my sins."
"Pfft, as much as you deserve hell, this is my dream. I have no reason to fear being in hell so I can tell you this isn't that," Charlotte scoffed.
"Oh really? You think yourself so blameless? I remember who was shouting that God was judging people as ETS was just starting. I remember harassing and making life miserable for innocent people whose only crime was being scared. I know what you did to Matthew for all those years," Sunset said in a condescending tone.
"How dare you! I’ve done nothing to my son. As for the rest; God is judging them, turning them into the beasts of the field they want to behave like. They're not innocent," Charlotte asserted.
"And you're not going through the same process? Whose mane clippings are those on the floor?" Sunset said as she glanced down at the hair on the ground.
Charlotte looked down at the purple and yellow hairs on the ground. She looked up briefly at Sunset to declare that it was obviously Sunset's clippings as they were a perfect match, but then memory stirred. She reached a trembling hand up to her head and grabbed a lock of hair, then grabbed the scissors again and with a quick snip cut off the small lock. She brought it around to look at.
It was purple and yellow. A perfect match for the hair on the floor. A perfect match for the mane on the pony across from her. It was purple and yellow, and it was hers.
She tossed the hair down on the ground with the rest as she put the scissors away. She just stared at it for a long minute, trying to find some way to deny the hair on her head. She just couldn't do it. She had to admit the truth. She was turning into a pony. God's judgement had come for her as well.
Sunset walked over and hopped up on the bed. Charlotte didn't even consider complaining. In a dream or some strange hell, who cared if an animal got up on the bed? Who cared what the pony did at all?
"I'm going to suggest a really crazy possibility to what's happening right now," Sunset said from her seat beside Charlotte. "Maybe this is some weird limbo between two points of time, and we both are really here. I don't really buy that myself, but at this point am willing to entertain any possibility to get us out of this."
"I don't buy that either, and I don't see the point in even suggesting such ridiculus nonsense," Charlotte said in a dry tone.
"Because if we do, we accomplish two things. First, we behave like we’re both really here and not figments of our imaginations. We do that and we can be more civil with one another. Second, if this is some limbo, I'd like to think we're supposed to learn something in order to escape. So, rather than try to kill one another, let's just talk," Sunset answered.
"Fine, talk away, pony. I don't care," Charlotte said, still staring at the traitorous hair on the ground.
"Alright," Sunset said before taking a deep breath. "What is going on in your head right now as you stare at those mane clippings?"
"They're hair clippings, not mane clippings," Charlotte corrected.
"They're mane clippings and you need to accept that. But back to the question, what are you thinking about?" Sunset pressed.
"I'm wondering what I did to be punished," Charlotte said as tears filled her eyes.
"Why do you think you're being punished?" Sunset asked.
"I just said I don't know! If you want me to talk, at least make a basic attempt to listen," Charlotte snapped.
"I meant... why do you think this is even a punishment to begin with? Why is becoming a pony a punishment?" Sunset replied through gritted teeth.
"What else could it be? I'm being turned into an animal. That sure sounds like a punishment to me," Charlotte said, never moving her eyes from the sign of her damnation on the floor.
"I believe it is a new chance. This is God saying he wants to provide us with a new and better life. This world is so full of misery; starvation, drought, and a thousand other things that play havoc on our lives that we were helpless against. This is giving us the chance to be given the Garden of Eden again, instead of being at the mercy of our environments. This is God undoing the curse he put on Adam and Eve," Sunset said as she too stared at the clippings.
"A return to innocence. Forgive me, but bull-crap; you're not without sin. You said it yourself, you've sinned. Sinned enough that you wonder if being trapped here's God's punishment for you," Charlotte said flatly.
The red pony's ears lowered again; she didn't seem to have any response to that, and that was damning. Charlotte wondered what the pony felt guilt over. The thought played at her mind. If somehow in some crazy way this pony really was her, then what did that mean for her?
"Did it hurt?" Charlotte asked, finally breaking the silence after a long minute, as she turned and looked at the pony.
"Did what hurt?" Sunset asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Turning into a pony. Did it hurt?" Charlotte asked again.
"It had its uncomfortable points, really uncomfortable, but I wouldn't say it really hurt. I had a massive throbbing headache right before my horn came in. Once the horn did come in that went away though. Overall it wasn't too bad, not something I'd want to go through again, but mainly just a hassle and being scary early on," Sunset explained.
"But it wasn't scary towards the end?" Charlotte asked.
"Towards the end I just wanted it done. I was ready to be a pony and to be able to move around on my own again, to use my horn, and to live my life. I didn't even see myself as being human anymore. I still don’t. Being turned back into a human would be far more terrifying. I'm a pony, specifically a unicorn, and I've no desire at all to be human," Sunset said with a contented smile.
"How can you want to be an animal? I just don't understand," Charlotte said with a shake of her head.
"I'm not an animal, I'm a pony. Ponies are at the top, then humans, then animals in the world. It’s the Great Chain of being. It would be better to ask why you want to be a creature that is basically just a really smart, hairless ape. Ponies are strictly superior; we have the power to shape the world with magic, we can accomplish feats humanity never could, and we are closer to God's true nature," Sunset asserted.
"You seem to have no problem with just hurting or killing, seems to me that you're more beastlike than me," Charlotte said with a sneer.
Sunset stared glumly at the clippings. Charlotte didn't know whether to feel happy about proving Sunset a sinner, or upset because everything true of Sunset may have been true of herself as well. .
"I don't know why I'm like that. Most ponies aren't. I only know of a very few ponies who get violent at all. Yet, I tend to lose my temper and lash out at the drop of a feather. There was a pony that hurt Phob...that hurt Matthew, and I almost killed that pony on the spot. I ended up having another pony do it for me, out of sight and out of mind. I didn't do it, but I figure that counts as doing it. I was so angry, but it shouldn't have gone that far," Sunset said mournfully.
"How did they hurt Matthew?" Charlotte demanded to know in a tight voice.
"Are you sure you really want to know?" Sunset asked as she stared down at her hooves.
"That's my son. I need to know what to protect him from," Charlotte insisted. "If you really are some future version of me, wouldn't you want me to know all this?"
"We really haven't established that one or the other of us isn't a figment of the other's imagination. But it would take a lot of explaining to say what happened," Sunset said with a sigh.
"We don't seem to be going anywhere. All exits seem to lead to us staring each other in the face again," Charlotte pointed out.
"Fine then...that pony raped her, and before you yell about Matthew isn't a mare, let me just assure you that she is. Just call it weird changes with ETS if that helps you accept that right now, there's more to it, but bottom line she is a mare. She took the name Phobia Remedy," Sunset said with a glare.
Charlotte wanted to protest that was ridiculous, but having a conversation with a red unicorn who was supposed to be herself from the future kind of made all concepts of ridiculous fly out the window. She just nodded stiffly instead.
"That stallion ambushed and raped my -our- foal. Phobia got pregnant and had that bastard's foal eventually as a result. I love that colt, and don't I blame him for his parentage, but Phobia should never have gotten pregnant with him to begin with. I came in to find Tom holding that monster against a wall and I nearly killed him on the spot. I was going to burn him to a crisp, but I stopped," Sunset said as her voice grew progressively harsher.
"But you wanted to," Charlotte prompted.
"Oh yeah, I was going to do it right then and there if Tonya hadn't stopped me. She convinced me that Phobia shouldn't be seeing that happen," Sunset said with a twist of her muzzle.
Charlotte still had no idea how to respond to the idea that her son would become her daughter. The idea of Matthew ever being raped enraged her like almost nothing else ever had. If she had the ability to just set fire to the person who hurt her child like that, she wouldn’t hesitate for a single second.
"I wonder if it's a good idea for you to be telling me this," Charlotte finally said.
"What pony doesn't want an opportunity to tell their younger self all the things they need to be on the lookout for and what screw ups to avoid?" Sunset asked with a shrug. "If this is all a dream I doubt it matters. Either you're a figment of my imagination and I'm not telling my past, or I'm a figment of yours and all this might never happen."
"And if we're both real?" Charlotte's asked the diminutive unicorn.
Sunset shrugged. "Well, I don't see the universe imploding from us meeting or trying to kill one another. If we're both real then any time paradox rule we ever heard in stories is false."
"So anything else you want to tell me?" Charlotte asked hesitantly.
"As a matter of fact I do, since I have the chance. You're a closeted bisexual and you need to just accept that there is nothing wrong with that. You're so caught up in what you've been told is wrong you refuse to admit it. Things with Tom didn't go well and I was lucky that a very special mare was there to help me move through things. I love her and I'm ashamed that I ever condemned her or others like her," Sunset said with a glare that evaporated into a sad gaze towards the end.
"You're lying. There is no way I would ever get involved in such a disgusting relationship. This is just another sign you aren't me," Charlotte snarled back.
"If I'm just some figment of your imagination I still came from somewhere. Somewhere inside you that knows the truth. I'm no figment. I'm still convinced you are some old relic in my mind," Sunset snarled back.
"And you're still a monster that tried to kill me multiple times without hesitation. I might not be perfect, but I'm not a murderer," Charlotte shot back.
"Touche," Sunset said with a grimace. "I guess there's at least that my past self can throw in my face as being better than me. Though if I'm your imagination why am I so out to get you? What self hate are you harboring? Perhaps I underestimated my awareness I had when I was human of how despicable I really was."
"I can turn that around on you and say how could your subconscious hate you so much if I'm the figment," Charlotte said as she gripped her arms tighter around herself.
Sunset looked down at the floor again. "That is a sad thing to consider. I worked hard to be a better pony than I was a human, but maybe I haven't succeeded as much as I thought."
"Yeah, so don't play high and mighty with me," Charlotte said as she continued to glare.
"You're right, I'm just a different type of monster than you. We're both monsters in our own right. We're just a distorted image of one another in the mirror," Sunset said with a sigh. Then her brow lowered as if in thought. "The mirror...this started with looking in the mirror. Do you think that's the way out?"
"Why in the world would the mirror be the way out?" Charlotte asked in confusion.
"I don't know, why in the world would we be reset over and over to the same position every time one of us tries to leave this room? You're asking for a logical answer, I don't have that. I know this started with the mirror, and we haven't gone back to it since," Sunset said with a huff.
"Aren't you the one who knows all the magical mumbo-jumbo?" Charlotte responded doubtingly. "Shouldn't you know this stuff if that's so?"
"I don't know crap about whatever this is," the unicorn said with a wave of her hooves at the impossible room. "I'm literally just spit-balling for answers. You'd be surprised how often I have had to do that with magic over the last few years."
"Sure, why not? Worst that happens if we go back staring one another in the eyes yet again. I'm getting used to staring you in your orange eyes." Charlotte said with a roll of her own brown eyes.
"I like my orange eyes. I think they're pretty," Sunset said with a huff as she jumped down from the bed.
"I didn't say they weren't. I could do without the red fur though," Charlotte said with distaste as she stood up.
"It kind of grows on you," Sunset replied. Charlotte actually chuckled a little at the joke.
They walked into the bathroom and turned and faced the mirror. Looking back at them were their counterparts. Charlotte found herself staring at the image of Sunset in the mirror, and Sunset found herself staring at the image of Charlotte in the mirror.
"Well, guess there is supposed to be something symbolic in this. About how we're the same person or something. Personally, I don't see the resemblance," Charlotte said as she stared at the reflection.
"Things definitely have changed. It isn't all different though," Sunset said as she looked at the human reflection.
"Seems pretty different to me," Charlotte replied as she glared at her pony reflection.
"We both still have tempers. I also saw the fire in your eyes when I mentioned what happened to Phobia. Also don't forget, I lived your life," Sunset said as she looked to her side at the actual human.
"And are you happy with your life now?" Charlotte asked.
"I wouldn't trade it for any other," Sunset said with a smile.
There was nothing else to say at this point. Charlotte just turned back towards the mirror and the pony that was supposedly her future reflected in it. Maybe she would do better with what she had learned here, maybe not. It seemed a little less intimidating now somehow though.
Charlotte and Sunset reached out in unison towards the mirror and touched their reflections.
Charlotte woke with a start, breathing hard. Matthew and Tom were standing next to the bed with worried expressions.
"Are you okay, Mom? You weren't making a lot of noise in your sleep and we couldn't wake you up. We were really worried," Matthew said as he gazed down with her in concern. Charlotte couldn't help but notice that his hair had gone from having a green streak from the day before to full green now.
"I'm okay, just a nightmare," Charlotte said.
"What kind of nightmare? We tried shaking you and everything else to try to wake you, and nothing was working. I was about to try dumping water on you," Tom asked with concern.
Charlotte tried to remember, but she couldn't remember anything. She was certain that she was supposed to remember something important, but it just wasn't coming.
"I can't remember," Charlotte admitted with a shake of her head.
"I'm going to go call the doctor, that wasn't normal," Tom said as he headed back towards the door.
"They’re busy enough. I'm fine, Tom, really," Charlotte said as she sat up and put herself into a sitting position. She gave a small yelp as something pulled against her tailbone as she moved. Looked down at the floor and saw the purple and yellow hair clippings. Something played at her memory for a second, but she lost it again before she could get it.
Tom was already out the bedroom door and heading downstairs, so there was no stopping him. Charlotte sighed and looked over to her son and his new waves of green hair. He ran a hand through it and looked a little embarrassed.
"Yeah, woke up with it like this," Matthew said.
"It's okay, we knew it would come after the streak appeared yesterday. I'm pretty sure I have the beginnings of a tail That's what that felt like, at least," Charlotte said as she rubbed the base of her tailbone through her pajamas. She could feel the hair through the thin cloth. Knowing it was there made her want to cry.
"Maybe they will find a cure soon," Matthew offered to try to soothe her.
"I don't think there will be," Charlotte said with a shake of her head. She then got a strange nagging feeling and looked at her son. "Matthew, is everything okay? Other than all the stuff going on with people turning into ponies and all that."
"Um, yeah, I guess so. Why are you asking?" Matthew asked with a confused look.
"I don't know, it just felt like I was missing something. You know you can talk to me if you have anything you need to talk about, right?" Charlotte asked as she looked over to him.
"Yeah, Mom, I know. I'm fine though, don't worry," Matthew said as he gave her a considering look.
Charlotte just nodded. She didn't know why it felt like something might be wrong with Matthew that she should know about, but the feeling was still there. She looked down at the floor and looked at the clippings of hair. She bent down and picked up a few of them in her fingers and brought them up in front of her face to stare at.
Sunset Blessing woke with a start. She was confused and disoriented about where she was at first and had to take a moment to let her surroundings set in, before realizing that she was in her office in the Bastion, and that she had been in the testing facility below. Standing near her were Tonya and Tom, looking worried.
"How did I get here?" Sunset asked with confusion.
"You were downstairs in the basement checking on a project. Something went wrong with one of the unicorn's spells and you were knocked out. You've been out for about two hours, we couldn't wake you," Tonya said worriedly.
"Are you okay, Charlotte? We can get you a doctor if you need," Tom said with equal concern.
"I'm fine, and don't call me Charlotte. My name's Sunset Blessing," she said, shaking her head to try to clear it. She had been having a dream, something vivid. It seemed like she should remember it, but it just wasn't coming to her.
"I'm going to go see about getting a doctor," Tom said as he started making his way towards the door.
Sunset put a quick stop to that. She lit her horn and grabbed him up in her magic and pulled him back towards her.
"Tom, no doctor. I appreciate your concern, but what goes on below is off the record and we won't do anything that will have any questions raised about it," Sunset said firmly.
"Are you at least feeling okay,” Tonya said as she came over and cuddled close to her. “You had me worried." , Tonya had become even more affectionate in the last four years, and it made Sunset love her all the more.
"I am, I just really want to know what the hell hit me down there," Sunset said as she gave her wife a kiss.
"That one really screwy unicorn you have down there, Poly Glot or whatever his name is, accidentally caught you up in what he was working on. Crazy unicorn was trying to invent a time travel spell. He was muttering stuff about anti-time and a lot of other hooey that I couldn't make sense of," Tonya scoffed.
"Well, he definitely didn't accomplish time travel. Though it looks like it might have been an effective stun spell," Tom said with a smirk.
"Yeah, it definitely seems like it was," Sunset said with a shake of her head again. She felt like she was forgetting something. "Why was he even thinking he could do time travel? We are still trying to figure out basic things and he’s trying to do crazy science fiction experiments. Please tell him to focus on something practical and possible."
"I'll pass that on. It could have been worse, I suppose. He could have used the Chorus's magic," Tonya said, still plastered to Sunset’s side.
"God help us if we start trying to do insane things with that. Poly Glot is never to get anywhere near that, just to be clear. We've been accident-free for years, I won't have somepony unleashing a biblical disaster with that kind of stupidity," Sunset said with a shiver.
"I'll make sure of it. Don't worry, nopony messes with the magic of my Chorus without my say-so," Tonya said firmly.
Sunset looked down at the ground and frowned as she saw mane clippings that matched her own.
"Did either of you cut my mane for some reason?" she asked in confusion. Two heads shook no in answer. She floated some of the strands of mane up close to her eyes and considered them and the odd magic she could sense lingering on them, unable to put away the feeling that she had forgotten something important.
Author's Note
The ending scene is roughly four years after Pandemic
