Have you ever felt like you knew something was wrong, even though nothing presented itself as such? That no matter how hard you try to ignore it, it keeps creeping up on you? Like it wants you to acknowledge it?
That it is what I'm feeling at this moment, the hairs on the back of my neck rise and tickle, I can feel goosebumps all over my body. The place that I once laid at not even 8 hours ago was now something unalike anything I felt before. The soft, silk blankets that cover me from head to toe, the fleece comforter that laid over me, warm and snugly. The bed itself sank me in comfort, it was bliss. But that's just it, I don't have these types of bedding items. I have cheap linen, a shitty wool blanket, and thin sheets. The feeling something being amiss went from its original creeping to an overwhelming feeling of distress.
I woke up, my brain trying to follow suit as I sat up swiftly. My eyes rapidly scanned the darkness of my room. No, wait. This wasn't my room, I was somewhere completely and utterly different. The room was larger, the bed I rested in was twice the size of my actual bed. My eyes adjusted to the slight darkness, trickles of light seeping through the rich curtains provided me sight into my new occupancy. Where am I...?
My thoughts scrambled to remember the last thing that happened to me. It was like trying to remember what happened before an unsuspecting nap, trying to remember what time it was, what day it was. Nothing showed itself to me, my memory of yesterday was but a blur to my mind.
What in the hell happened? Where am I? My thoughts were foggy, my mind groggy. Was I drugged? Kidnapped?. The room, from what I can see, had many expensive looking furniture, as well as giant paintings. A chandelier hung from the tall ceiling. Hm. Maybe not...
I closed my eyes and put my fingers on the temples of my head, rubbing them as a slight headache found its way into my skull. But instead of feeling fingers touch my head, I felt a flat surface of something hard. I opened my eyes in surprise, not expecting anything but my digits. I quickly brought my hands in front of my face. I wish I didn't.
I could only stare, white furry appendages in full view. The grey keratin hooves moved as I moved. These were my hooves. My eyes followed the appendages to my body, looking down at myself, I saw more of the white fur on my chest. Nonononononononononononono, I tore off the blankets, freeing the rest of my body, my mind shocked at the sight before me. No longer did I have legs of a human, but of something else. My feet were replaced by thick grey hooves just like my arms. I moved my legs over to the side of the bed, slightly jumping back as I moved them. For the first time since waking up I spoke.
"What in the actual fu-", my voice died in my throat as I heard it. My once rugged and rough voice was now... Well, it sounded deep, royal.
"Test", It sounds completely different from my actual voice. "La la la, lalala, lo la lo", I sang to myself, interested now more than afraid of this new voice. "I don't sound too bad..."
My fear and shock from before was slowly cascading, I've seen some crazy shit before, but this blows everything out of the water. I got up from the bed, almost falling down as I tried to stand on my back legs.
You're no longer human...
The thought was pretty frightening, but I did my best to keep my fear in check, using my past experiences to ground myself. I put my forelegs down on the soft carpet on the floor, trying to keep my balance.
I need a mirror, I think to myself.
Looking around, I spotted a giant mirror on the other side of the enormous bedroom. I looked down toward my fee- hooves, and took a step forward. Moving my left hoof first, I began my new walking experience. It was a bit difficult, not going to lie, but I figured it would be like how a dog walks. I stumbled, but made it to the mirror on the wall.
I took a long, deep look at myself. What I saw was a large muscled white horse with a golden blond mane. Not only that though, on the top of my head was a large white horn protruding out of my skull. I also had a golden tail to follow. My eyes widened.
This is what I am now? Holy sh-, my thoughts got interrupted by a loud knocking on the large door at the front of the room. Huh, how'd I miss that?
The individual knocking made itself known when it opened the door slightly. A colorful, bright pink horse peeked its head in before fully opening the big door. "Prince Blueblood, sir, I'm so incredibly sorry for waking you, but you must get ready for toda-", the voice of the new comer halted in its tracks. Not an it, sounds like a woman. Not only was she female, but she wore the 'classic maid' outfit. "Oh! You are already awake my Prince, please forgive me for intruding!", the woman pink horse sounded a bit flustered.
Prince? I'm a prince? That explains all the expensive shit. I turned my body fully towards her, taking a better look at her. She had a bright baby blue mane, bright pink fur, and the maid outfit I mentioned. Her blue eyes were wide and her body was rigid at the sight of me turning to her. She looked scared. Is she scared of me?
"Uh, It's okay... Maid. What was it that you were, uh, saying?"
Her face went from scared to surprised, like she wasn't expecting that as a response. "...What I was saying...OH! My apologies, sir! Yes, the new princess' Coronation is today! I was coming to wake you so you can get ready, sir."
New princess? Coronation?, I voiced my question, "Coronation?"
"Yes, sir. Princess Twilight Sparkle's Coronation. Princess Celestia asked for the nobility to view the ceremony." She fidgeted her hooves as she spoke to me. "Ah, well, thank you for reminding me... Maid. When is the ceremony?" I asked, putting more confidence in my voice. Again she looked surprised at what I said. What did I say?
"Um, its at noon, so in three hours, sir." She seemed to also gain some confidence in her voice. Not as frightened as she was before, just cautious. It seems this 'Prince Blueblood' is someone people fear. Shit, who was this guy?
"Hm, alright thank you. You, uh... You can take your leave now miss." She smiled, relieved about something and left the room.
Her expressions are almost human. I need to find out where I am.
Taking a look around, I spotted a bathroom. I made my way over, albeit very wobbly, and opened the door to enter inside. Upon doing so, I let out a silent gasp at how large the bathroom was. There was a bathtub, shower, a Jacuzzi of some sort, and a bunch of different soaps and shampoos on the shelves of the wall. The sink was also very pretty and traced at what looked like gold. I spotted a cabinet and opened it to see if I can find some toothpaste and a toothbrush. Spotting both, I used my snout to pick them up and placed them on the sink counter.
So. How do I do this? You'd think they would have made it in a way to pick it up.
I reached hoof over to the toothpaste to see if I could pick it it up. Surprisingly, for a brief second, I had a grasp on the tube. I tried again, the tube of toothpaste hung on my hoof as I grasped it. "Freaky...", I voiced. I used my teeth to open up the tube of toothpaste and gripped the toothbrush, and I carefully squeezed the tube. By carefully, I mean, I crushed it, causing a lot more than what I wanted to plop onto the toothbrush and the sink counter. "Shit", I cursed. Although I made a mess, I still accomplished getting toothpaste on the toothbrush. I then proceeded to brush my teeth.
I looked up to the mirror, getting a closer look at my new face. Light blue orbs stared back at me, my long blond mane covering a part of my face.
Ugh, I hate having long hair, gets in the way and its annoying. I'm definitely getting a haircut.
I glanced at my horn. I stopped brushing and placed the toothbrush down and rinsed my mouth with sink water. Looking back into the mirror to look at the horn again. "You're not human anymore, bud. Why aren't you freaking out? Screaming 'no' over again?" I asked the reflection. "How did this happen? Did you take over this body somehow? Is the real prince in my body? Am I really a little horse? Does this mean I'm a unicorn...?"
I let out a deep sigh. I had so many questions and had no answers. Sure, maybe I wasn't as scared as I should be, in my line of work, that could get someone killed. But it was a struggle to keep myself grounded, to keep my sanity under control.
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again. "I can't let anyone know. They think I'm still their prince. They'd think I was loony if I said something or maybe a malevolent imposter. So for now, you're going to go along with this."
Was it the right thing to do? Who knows, but its what I'm sticking with.
For the next hour, I cleaned myself up using the shower, after fifteen minutes of figuring out how to turn the damn thing on, and made myself smell presentable. I did my hair as well, making it look nice and professional. I made my way out of the bathroom and came to see the same maid from earlier standing by a cart of food. She looked lost in thought. "Ahem", I gave a throaty cough to get her attention. She snapped her head over and let out a 'meep'. "I'm sorry, sir! I was lost in thought..." she said, embarrassed. She took a look at me and made a face of realization. "Oh my stars! You just got out of the shower!" She turned her head away from me covering her face with her hoof, her cheeks red.
"I'msosorrysirIwasjustbringingupyourfoodbecauseyouweregettingreadyI'msosorryfornotrealizingyouwerecomingoutoftheshowerpleasedon'tfireme!"
Her voice was quick, I almost didn't catch what she said. Realization hit me, I was technically naked. I mean, I'm a horse now so I didn't really think about it, and she also didn't say anything this morning. I don't know, but it does makes sense, she's wearing clothes right now, so obviously, I need to as well. "...Its fine, thank you for bringing my food up to me, now if you will please." I gestured to the door. She took the hint and bailed out of the room quickly.
I can't say I was too embarrassed about being naked in front of someone, as I have done so plenty of times before coming here. But I can say it was a little weird for not making that realization earlier. Oh well. Deciding that I needed clothes, I went over to what I assumed was a walk in closet to find something to wear. When I walked in, the room was FULL of clothes. So many different styles, so many different colors, and they all looked ugly as hell. "Geez, got anything simple and not 'burn-my-eyes-colorful'?" I grunted to myself. I spent the next few minutes sorting through the rows upon rows of clothes. There were even these pieces of clothing that only seemed to have a collar. It was kinda weird. I looked until I found something that looked decent. It was a normal suit, charcoal grey in color with a nice looking blue bow-tie. But there weren't any pants no where to be seen. Not at all in this entire closet. So I set in to see if I could find some in the drawers out in the bedroom, but I failed to find any. Maybe they don't wear pants around here? I guess I'll just have to find out the hard way. Its kinda weird though, no clothes means you're naked, but put a shirt on and now your decent... Doesn't make much sense to me after all.
With that I decided to finally sit down and eat the food the maid brought me earlier. Looking over the food, I saw something I didn't expect to see. Flowers. I may be a horse but I refuse to eat flowers. Shaking my head, I spotted the pancakes with a syrup cup and some fruit. "Can't go wrong with some pancakes," I laughed a bit to myself.
After eating the pancakes, I decided to leave the bedroom. Why? Well, the Coronation isn't for like another hour and a half and I want to explore this place. Taking my time, I roamed around the humongous house... Mansion. Most of it was just wasted space though, rooms that had nothing in them and empty hallways. The only people I've seen so far were the maid from earlier, two servants walking around doing their thing (they gave a bow as I passed them), and a cook and his assistant when I visited the kitchens. Yeah, kitchens. There's two of them.
As I wandered around the first floor, I found the maid cleaning up some random stuff in the living room, she seemed very stressed about something. She was scrubbing the grandfather clock and picture frames on the shelves like her life depended on it. Curious, I came up behind her. "Do you need any help miss?" My sudden appearance caught her off guard, her hoof slipped from the shelf sending one of the picture frames down to the ground. She looked between me and the now broken piece on the ground, her face in a silent terror.
"... Well that's unfortunate, sorry for scaring you. My fault it broke." I said sheepishly.
She made a funny face, almost as if she couldn't decide that she was relieved or terrified. That or she had to take a dump in the john.
"Um, are you alright?" I asked, amused by her expression.
"U-uh, yes sir, I'm okay... Y-you aren't mad at me?" Mad at her? It's just a picture frame. No doubt it could be replaced easily.
"Mad at you? Of course not, it was just an accident. Why would you think I was mad at you?" She didn't know how to reply, probably thinking of a way to answer.
"W-well, the last time somepony messed up, s-she was fired... I'm her replacement." Oh. That was good to know.
"Well, be rest assured that you aren't getting fired. Anyway, need any help with cleaning? Seem to be very stressed out." I asked with real concern. Bewildered, she stuttered to get an answer out. "N-no! I-its my j-job to clean today, sir. I was trying to finish before the ceremony, b-but there's still a lot to do. Not that I'm complaining! You don't need to bring anypony else t-today, its their off day." Doesn't want me to call in anyone else? What does she... Oh, I wasn't going to do that. Also that does explains why its empty in here, most of everyone is off today.
"I meant if I could help at all. I wasn't going to bring anyone else in." I gave her a soft smile.
"NO!" She instantly covered her mouth, gulping. "I m-mean, no t-thank you, sir. I can handle it." She gave a false smile. This made me curious.
Why is she acting like this? After a moment, I gave her shrug, "Alright, I'll let you attend your duties miss." I was about to walk away, but I then thought of something. "Wait, before I go, for the ceremony, do you know how I get there?" My question left her confused.
"Its at the Castle, sir, in the Ceremonial Room. Two Royal Guards will be arriving soon to escort you, sir."
"Hm, alright, thank you." With that, I left her to do what she need to get done. Though I was still curious to why she didn't want me to help. Did she think I was testing her? Is this something the real Prince Blueblood does? Maybe she didn't want to be around me.
With nothing to do, I found my way outside the front door of the massive mansion. "Guess I'll wait for the escort to arrive", I sat down on the steps that were out the front door. Finally taking a nice, long look at the environment around me. The estate was large, beautiful gardens and statues littered the front lawn. White gates surrounded the place, the front gate itself was gold in color.
Speaking of the gate, it opened up, letting in two horses covered in gold armor. Most noticeable thing I spotted were the wings on their sides.
Winged horses too? This place keeps getting weirder and weirder... Behind them, they pulled a white and gold chariot. "They must be my escorts." I confirmed to myself.
As they pulled up, I walked down towards them. "Hello, you too must be my escorts for the Coronation Ceremony. It is a pleasure to meet you." They looked at one another in confusion. One of the guards nodded his head, "Er, yes sir, we are your escort, we apologize for arriving late." Late? They aren't late... I simply nodded, not wanting to argue back. I got into the chariot and sat down in the pillow provided.
Welp, looks like this will be a bit of a ride. Boy, I had no idea. The two escorts pulled the chariot and began running at a pace that seemed to escalate periodically. It was when we exited the gate that I realize what was happening. They spread their wings wide and began flapping.
The chariot left the ground.
"Oh Fuck!"
Author's Note
First chapter of something that I had on my mind. Hope it meets up to standards. Constructive criticism is appreciated. :)
The ride to the castle for the Coronation Ceremony was not at all what I was expecting. Not in the slightest. Although it was sudden, not to mention impossible, the ride wasn't too bad. After taking initial flight, it was smooth sailing all the way to the entrance of the castle. I wasn't too unfamiliar being in flying vehicles, but the way that the chariot was being flown was interesting to say the least. I was surprised that the two stallions were able to hold up the whole chariot and myself without much struggle. Impressive if you ask me. When we reached the castle, I saw many, many little horses gathering around. The streets were filled up with cheers and excitement. Seems this 'Twilight Sparkle' is adored by everyone, they're going crazy here. I exited the chariot, waiting for my escorts to unhinge themselves so that we may head to the Ceremonial Room for the Coronation. Entering the castle, I let the two guards guide me to the room, we wondered through the many confusing hallways. Though, the presence of the many guests going in a certain direction suggested that the ceremony was up ahead. Still, I let the guards take lead.
Finally reaching the Ceremonial Room, I saw rows and rows of bright and colorful horses wearing fancy clothes, though I saw that many weren't wearing anything at all. Huh? I thought these horses wore clothes? At least SOME clothes anyway... Strange. "Ahem, my Prince?" One of the escorts caught my attention, "Yes?", I asked.
"We have arrived. We still have duties to partake in. We will take our leave now, sir."
I nodded, "Yes, thank you both for the escort, please, attend to whatever you need to do". With that, they left to do their duties. I took a look around, it was very much crowded in here, all wanting to see the new princess. As I walked around, some horses in very fancy-like clothing came up to me. "Ah, Prince Blueblood! The pony I just wanted to see. It is great to see you here! I was beginning to think you weren't coming to this wonderful occasion", A dark gray unicorn stallion with a white collar and red bow-tie greeted me with a slight bow. His voice dripped in illustriousness. His two companions behind him, a light grey unicorn stallion with a black top hat and black suit, and a pink unicorn mare with a lovely red dress, bowed along with. Pony? Makes sense I guess. Who are these ponies I wonder?
"I wouldn't miss an important progression such as this for the world, my good sir", I gave a bow back, hoping I was doing this 'prince' thing right.
"Well of course, my Prince", he gave a smirk. He fully lifted himself and coughed into his hoof. "Ah yes, although we are both on the Council, I don't think we personally met yet. I am still new after all", he let out a chuckle, "My name is Avid Chamber, it is an honor to finally speak to you." He held out his hoof for what I can guess was a 'hoofshake'. I decided to go along with it, to not let any suspicion arise. "Ah, yes, Avid Chamber. I remember you. The greeting is likewise", I gave a fake smile and completed the 'hoofshake'. We just 'wrapped' our hooves and shook.
Taking back his hoof, he remembered his two companions. "Yes, Let me introduce you to my wife, Admit Clarity, she is apart of the Judicial Council. At the moment, she is the acting Head Judge of the High Court." Head Judge? High Court? Sounds interesting, I'll have to look into it later. Also, I'm apart of a Council? Definitely need to look into that too.
She reached out her hoof, "Oh my, as my husband said, it is an honor to meet you, Prince Blueblood." Reaching my hoof to hers, I brought my head down for a bow. "It is very nice to meet you too... My, my, can I say that you look absolutely lovely?" I say, trying to give a good first impression.
She giggles into her hoof, "Hmm, yes. Yes you may". I released her hoof and looked to the third individual, "Now, whose this?"
The pony in question came forward, giving another bow, "Hello, sir. I am Councilpony Chamber's office attendant, Look Over. A pleasure to meet your acquaintance." I gave a simple nod, "Nice to meet you too".
Avid Chamber spoke up again "I'm looking forward to working with you, Honorable." Honorable? What is that? I was shaken out of my thoughts when a trumpet gave a loud tune. The room went quiet as three ponies entered in. The larger pony was a white mare, wearing both a loving pink dress and a rich crown. The other was dark blue mare, wearing an exotic purple dress. The last was a pink mare, wearing a light baby blue dress. That's not what caught my eye though. All three regal-like mares possessed large unicorn horns on their heads, and beautiful wings on their sides. "Who are they...?" I whispered to myself in awe. They just screamed royal.
"Fillies and gentlecolts, thank you for attending such a momentous occasion today, please, the ceremony will be taking place in a few minutes." The celestial-like mare was loud enough for everyone to hear, but still had a soft lovingly voice. Is this that 'Princess Celestia' I heard that maid talk about?
Everyone started to find the places they wanted to stand. I noticed that Avid Chamber and his party were making their way to the front, so I followed in suit. I gave a nod to the Councilpony as I walked up, but didn't go further into conversation. In the front of the room, stood the three regal ponies and five other individuals that were not known to me. I turned to Avid Chamber, "Who are those lovely lad- mares up there?" Although he was still smiling, he gave me a slight confused face. "You mean the Elements of Harmony? They are the saviors of Equestria, my dear Prince. I'm surprised to hear that you don't know them." Fuck fuck fuck fuck. "Oh, of course I know who the Elements of... Harmony are, I must not have recognize them in those gorgeous dresses. Silly me." He appeared to have accepted my answer, but I needed to start being careful about what I ask that could be general knowledge.
A trumpet once again sounded off, signalling that the Coronation is starting. The pony I assume to be Princess Celestia steps up to begin her speech.
"We are gathered here today in celebration of a momentous occasion. My most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, has done many extraordinary things since she's lived in Ponyville..." Ponyville? What a cheesy name. She began again after a short pause, "...She even helped reunite me with my sister, Princess Luna." She glanced over to the dark blue pony, they both smiled with one another. "But today, Twilight Sparkle did something extraordinary. She created new magic, proving without a doubt, she is ready to be crowned Equestria's newest princess. Fillies and gentlecolts, may I present, for the very first time, Princess Twilight Sparkle!"
With that, the large doors that lead into the room burst open. And the pony herself is seen walking through the aisle with a parade behind her. The parade began to sing, four identical mares walk down with matching banners, and four guards marched behind them as well. Princess Twilight Sparkle continued to where Princess Celestia stood, a crown was presented to her by a small purple lizard. A lizard? They have lizard people here too? This place keeps getting stranger and stranger. Surprised I'm still functioning...
Then, to my disbelief, the crown began floating from off the pillow it laid on. A golden aura surrounded it, guiding it to the top of the newly decorated princess. She presented herself to the crowd before turning around with the others up front to the what I assume is the balcony. The hell did I just see? The crown literally floated to her... Wait, is this what they mean by 'new magic'? Holy shit...
From the balcony, Princess Twilight Sparkle began giving a speech to the hundreds of ponies below. As everyone started to move forward to hear what the princess was going to say, I stayed in my spot still in disbelief of what I just saw. The ponies moved around me, not paying attention to me whatsoever, too focused on what their new leader was saying. I got lost in my thoughts.
Wait, so this Princess Twilight Sparkle created magic? That's impossible, magic doesn't exist... No, that's not right. Me being here is impossible. Me flying on a goddamn chariot is impossible. Being a fucking pony is impossible. This is nothing, nothing compared to everything that has happened to me in the last 24 or so hours. Floating crown? Bitch, I became a pretty pony prince over-fucking-night. I'm a prince... I'm on a council... I don't even know who I am. How the fuck am I going to keep this charade up? How long am I going to be able to keep it up? I can't let any of these ponies know, I'm literally impersonating their prince. If they found out I'm not actually Blueblood, I'll be fucking executed on the spot. Oh God, what did I get myself into!? Why does this shit have to happen to me? Why does everything go to shit..., I felt myself trembling from anxiety. It was hard to breathe, my heart began to race, and I started to sweat profusely. I needed to get out of here right now.
Turning around in panic, I started to run out of the room and into the confusing hallways of the large castle. Time went on by as I flew through the hallways aimlessly, I tried to run away from the walls closing in, my breathing from sprinting and panic was raucous and harsh. The world began to spin and the floor was closing in. Images started to swell into my head. The hallway became a sandy desert, buildings began budding from the ground, cracking noises could be heard off in the distance. I fell on my ass and looked at my hooves. Fingers started to take shape and sprout from my hooves, my white fur became skin. There was blood, blood everywhere. It was all over me. I started to hyperventilate, my breathing getting worse as images continued to change.
I heard voices, concern and confusion was heard through their tones. I looked around for the foreign voices, finally spotting silhouette blurs running toward me. My eyes went wide, I lifted my arms up, holding the rifle up and took aim at the incoming targets. As I pulled the trigger, I heard the sound that will always follow my nightmares, the sound that caused so much pain, so much guilt. The rifle made a *click* sound. The gun was jammed. My targets were already on me. I attacked.
Rushing forward, I tackled the closest one, wrestling them to the ground. I had no chance, I was outnumbered, no amount of combat training would permit survival. I had to give everything I had to live. The second silhouette pulled me off of the first one, putting me in a hold. I tried everything within myself to get out of it, otherwise it was death. I couldn't think, everything was happening too fast, my vision began to blur. Both silhouettes now held me down, shouting something I couldn't understand. I exerted too much energy, my body relaxed, the adrenaline left my body. I couldn't see, but my hearing was clearing from its muffled state from before. Two male voices could be heard, telling me to calm down, asking if I am okay. I didn't respond, I was tired and defeated.
I closed my eyes, trying to clear the blurriness, the desert from before began shifting back to the hallways of someplace familiar. It was the castle, the pony castle. I relaxed, I wasn't out there anymore, I was okay. I concentrated on calming my breathing. The voices were clear now.
"Sir! Sir, please you need to calm down. Just breathe... yes, that's right, just keep breathing like that okay, sir? Corporal, help me lift him up." The strangers lifted me up, I held on tight to them, still shaking.
"Lets take him to the medical wing, I've never seen him like this before."
"Wha... What happened? Who are y-you?" I asked, feeling like I knew exactly what just transpired.
"Sergeant Glide, sir. Now, please settle down, we're taking you to the medical wing to find out." I didn't respond as they both carried me with luster to the 'medical wing'.
I just had an anxiety attack... or panic attack, whatever the fuck its called. Fuck me, I hadn't had one of those since I was a child. I need to have better control, why the hell did I freak out like that? I paused and looked down to my lifted, shaking body.
I know why, and its probably reasonable to be in such a state. But now I may be in a whole lot of trouble. Fuck.
Author's Note
Huh? whats this?
Sorry y'all, I had this chapter typed up for who knows how long, but I kinda forgot about it. Hope its to y'alls liking :D
