Improperly Wiped Hard Drive

Chapters

Chapter 1: What has Fur, Feathers, and a Confused Look on its Face?
Chapter 2: Continuing Confusion. Meet the Family
Chapter 3: Getting to Know Yourself. Well That was Unexpected.
Chapter 4: Mother Daughter Bonding Time, Round 2
Chapter 5: Moving Day

Chapter 1: What has Fur, Feathers, and a Confused Look on its Face?

...

"...t's wrong with her? What's wrong with our baby?" someone said nearby. The voice was soft and melodic, female, and by context, I assumed they had been talking for a little while, since she sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

"It's okay hon, whatever it is, I'm sure the good doc knows how to fix it," another voice assured the first, strong and deep, male. The sound of two soft objects rubbing against each other made my left ear flick.

"There is nothing wrong with her, physically," a third voice said, higher than the second, but still definitely male. The sound of chimes and rustling paper brought my ears to attention again, but only for a moment. "She is fully developed, she is breathing normally, but..." The third voice trailed of, it's tone deepening in uncertainty.

The first voice's breath hitched, and the second voice whispered something to the first. "What is it?" the second voice asked.

"It would appear... that... she..." the third voice sighed, and tiny wet plops could be heard in time with the first voice’s growing sobs. "W-We ran some tests, and we didn't pick up any activity in certain areas, and her magic is stagnant-"

'... ma-gic?'

"-it would seem, that your daughter... won't ever..." The third voice never finished that sentence, and the first had completely broken down by this point.

"I-is there a chance? Even the tiniest chance, that she could ever-?" the second voice asked, his own voice welling up with sorrow.

"I'm sorry," the third voice said.

'Something's... off... I feel weird, like I've been up for hours, but I know I just woke up... hmmm.'

"...but she won't ever open her eyes." The third voice, the 'doc' the other two were speaking to, said.

'Huh? Wait, what’s going on? Oh, well that's sad, those other two must be the parents? Losing a child is something no one should ever have to go through.'

I mentally sighed in sympathy for them.

'I wonder if I should say something to them? No, nothing I could say would be able to help... The dad would probably punch me in the face if I tried... wait, why am I here? This seems like a very private thing, I should not be intruding on this family's grieving.'

"Is-is there nothing we could do?" The second voice, the husband pleaded. "Surely someone here... th-the Princess-?"

"I'm sorry sir, but even the most powerful mage can't fix this problem." The doctor sounded crushed, and young, now that I think of it, this was probably the first time he has had to give bad news like this.

'Dang, sorry dude, a comatose kid is your first... I'm sorry did he say mage? As in magic?'

"There has to be something!" The father screamed, renewing his wife's crying, I winced at the desperation, and volume, in his voice.

More shuffling paper, and a sigh from the doctor. "Its... there is nothing we could do..."

“N-no..." The grieving parents said at the same time.

'I should get outta here... leave these two to console each other...' I decided, but when I started thinking about it, the situation didn't make any sense, they kept saying something about magic and princesses. 'Strange, am I in a foreign country? The magic thing us probably just their beliefs, and I'm not stupid enough to ask a dumb question to someone in mourning.'

Another inconsistency was that I had been listening to this happen, so the hospital must not have enough rooms and I was in recovery for... something. 'Huh, can't remember what happened to me, but my hands feel numb, so something must have happened.'

Yet another glaring issue, I could feel... an odd weight on my back and... 'Hold on... what the? how am I laying like this?'

My stomach was on the bed, and my arms were curled underneath my collarbone, my legs were folded underneath my body as well, to top it all off, my head was held aloft, which does not compute with the way I know my bones are supposed to work. 'I'm not supposed to be able to sit like a freaking cat, I'm a-! ... oh that's not good, what am I again? I can't be a cat, or a dog, that doesn't make sense, it just feels wrong.'

'What's-it? What's-it? What's-it... hu-man? I- hrmm... I know what a human is, but I can't remember what I am... but I was probably one of those? Given what I'm seeing in my memories...'

The things on the sides of my head, which are more commonly known as ears, twitched at an approaching noise, it sounded similar to high heels on tile, but something was missing.

"B-b-but she, she responds!" the mother pleaded, now much closer to me, for some reason. "H-her ears, and her tail, and, and and-" she sobbed.

'Think later, avoid distressed woman now!'

I swallowed and reached my arm forward. It was met with soft bed, hospital bed most likely.

'Okay, got absolutely no idea what's going on, or who I am, or what I am, but I can move, so I gotta go.' I dragged myself over further, probing for the sudden drop off that would signify the edge of the bed. 'Now I've just gotta swing my legs underneath myself and...' The things on my back twitched partway through my attempt to get to my feet, the weird part about that is that I felt it, as if these extra somethings were a part of me. This resulted in calm and rational questions.

'Wha-the-fu-?!'

I panicked and slipped off the strangely large surface of the bed. My hands and feet clacked against the tiled floor, and gave out from underneath me, I hit the ground with a thud and a moan, rubbing my head.

'Owowowow...' I hissed in pain.

"What was that?" The father asked, my oddly mobile ears telling me he was facing my direction.

'Shit... exactly what I didn't want, why didn't I see this coming? Oh...'

More approaching clicky-clacky steps, and I just then realized that my eyes were closed. My eyes had been closed the entire time. 'How the fuck did I not realize that my eyes were closed? it takes a special kind a stupid to forget you have eyes.' I mentally chided myself for my ineptitude, and decided to fix this mistake.

I opened my eyes, and immediately shut them with a wince. My vision was swimming and I was staring directly into the overhead light.

'Ugh, I musta hit my head pretty hard, before I wound up in the hospital, I can't remember being this dumb.'

"G-Glitter?" the woman's voice asked hopeful, by the sounds of it, the question was either directed at me, or someone in close proximity to me.

I opened my eyes again, my vision slightly blurry, but more stable. What I saw was odd beyond compare. Three horses, with cartoonishly large eyes, were staring at me. The one nearest to me had cream colored fur and a green mane, it's facial expression was filled with recent sorrow, and a heaping spoonful of hope, enough to match the voice from before, and it was staring, at me.

The second one was a dark blue, with a blue mane, it was looking at me in a mixture of surprise and slowly rising hope.

The third one was a beige coated guy, sporting a red mane and lab coat, oh and a horn that was glowing like an indigo LED. A clipboard hovering next to him was covered in a matching aura.

Further examination showed me that the two others in the room were sporting wings. Feathery wings. I looked between these three mythical creatures, and then let my face fall into the most natural position possible, anyone in my situation would make this face when confronted by such a scene; complete and utter incomprehension.

"H-how is this..." The Unicorn stallion doctor asked. My brow furrowed further.

"Glitter?" the Pegasus mare asked in the mother's voice again, tears streaming down her face as she stared intently into my eyes. My eye twitched and I squinted at her.

"Is she..." the other equine occupant of the room asked, his tone hopeful, but sounding as if he didn't want some sad truth to come and tear him down again.

I scowled. I scowled at the occupants of the room in utter confusion.

'What. The. Fuck... Why is every... Why are these three... individuals, looking at me? Why are they so big? No, why am I so damn small?!'

The cream colored face of the mare came within inches of my own, her pinkish orange eyes locked onto mine. I reared my head back in surprise, and rolled onto my side in the process. The things on my back sprang out in an attempt to steady myself. I looked at the one sticking straight up into the air in confusion, pink feathers. My lips pulled into a continually deepening frown of confusion, the feathers remained.

'I Have Several Questions.'

I reached out to poke the offending appendage, another one came into view. A pink hoof halted all movement once it came into my field of vision.

'There's another few to add to the list.'

I poked the pink hoof to the pink feathers, felt the funny inner hoof bit rub against the downy feathers. I could also feel the roots of the feathers as I moved them. I looked down, another pink hoof was resting uncomfortably, so I shifted it until it was bearable. I looked behind me, my neck allowed for such an action, a small pink furry body lay partly under the bed, another pink wing stretched from the back of the pink fur into the shade.

"Glitter, can you hear me?" the woman's voice asked again, I whipped around to face them, I was rewarded when a long blue curtain fell in front of me. I brushed it to the side with a- My pink hoof, and looked back at the mare.

'Who are they talking about? Are they talking to me? why would they be calling me "Glitter?" that’s such a stupid name, my name is... Shit, why can't I remember...? This... does not... compute...'

I felt the last of my rational mind dying in the corner.

"This shouldn't be... hold on l-let me..." The doctor came into my field of view, balancing his clipboard on one hoof as his horn flashed brighter. A bubble of identical color shimmered around my skull. My face attempted to curl into a deeper look of befuddlement, but had already found the limit. With nothing else possible, I tilted my head to the right, ever so slightly. "She's... she's all there." the doctor said, thoroughly surprised.

The world blurred around me as I was dragged into the air by the forelimbs of the mare, she spun in circles with me resting on her barrel, she was crying and nuzzling my face, flying upside down, treading the air in a backstroke. I tilted my head more.

"O-our little filly," the husband said, nearly inaudibly. Whenever the mother spun around and I could actually see him, he looked so happy, like he had just been told his wife beat cancer or something.

"She's here! She's right here!" the mother cheered between sobs, tackling her husband to the ground and cradling me with him. The vertebrae in my neck were protesting I wrench my head around any farther.

"It’s a miracle," The husband said, gingerly reaching out and poking my arm, as if to make sure I was real.

"I, I gotta go get Doctor Syringe," the doctor mumbled, opening the door with telekinesis and running down the hall. The pair of pegasi that I was currently sprawled out on were cooing and nuzzling each other, and me, whispering thanks to some higher power. I felt my eye twitch get worse.

'I'm sorry, god or whoever, but I'm gonna need an explanation. Would you kindly explain what the fuck is going on?'

Author's Note

Hellp there, its beem about a week since i last posted, and Friendship Bomb's latest chapter is still being worked on, so...

Wwwwwelcome! To a brand new story! Alot of world building has gone into this one, and it's gonna run just as long as my first story. That is to say, as long as possible.

If I still haven't updated "That Time I Became A Friendship Bomb" when your reading this, dont worry, a new chapter is on its way!

Chapter 2: Continuing Confusion. Meet the Family

'I do believe that these two pegasi are too oddly happy to notice my expression, otherwise they might be worried.'

I was having trouble easing the scowl I was wearing, and every time I saw something that didn't mesh with what my memories told me was 'normal', it came back full force. I closed my eyes and drew in deep calming breaths.

'Alright, focus... me, crap I still don’t recall my name... I woke up in a hospital, and I'm now a mythical creature... that's not helping. Brain! How 'bout a little bit earlier than that, what was I doing before I woke up here?'

Processing request.
…

'Brain, there is nothing here.'

affirmative.

'Smart ass! Why is there nothing here? I know I was doing something, somewhere!'

Searching memories.

'Hurry up.'

Memory found, initiate playback?

'What else?'

Playing memory.

"-Water is then heated by the sun, and turned into vapors, the water vapors will then rise over the ocean, to turn into clouds and travel inland-"

'Why are you playing the water cycle? I want something useful, personal.'

Playback stopped.

'Why do you function like some crappy computer from the seventies...'

Searching for answer...

'Dammit...'

"-nd we can finally take her home! Oh, we will need to get that room all cleaned up, you can't have a newborn foal getting rained on by an ill taken care of ceiling." The wo-mare's voice broke through my concentration, and renewed my confusion.

'They didn't keep the babies room clean, hold on, "rained on?" it's not even finished? The fuck? How do they expect their kid to survive the friggen night in a room that has a busted ceiling!?

...

... Fuck, their talking about me aren't they.'

"I've got some guys coming over. They’re going to drain all the clouds on the new addition-"

'The Fuck?

"-and panel the ceiling, she'll be as cozy as she can be," the stallion said.

'Ugh... I need to get in on this conversation before I go insane...'

Answer found.

'Oh thank God!'

Cause = unknown.

'Ffffack!'

"Aww, look at her flare her wittle wings~" the mare said, bringing me back to reality once more, my internal frustration was shown by my grumpy frown, which was coincidentally pointed at the stallion. "I think she likes me better~" she giggled

'Bite me!'

"Ouch, already rejecting your father, that hurts Glitter," the stallion said in mock pain, holding a hoof over his chest dramatically.

'Fuck off!'

"Aww, such big growls from such a tiny filly~!" The mare gushed, rolling me around in her hooves so that she was holding me like one holds a puppy. Suffice it to say this irked me. "So cute~" she cooed, rubbing her cheek against the top of my head.

'I will murder your god damn family!!'

I tried to twist around in her grip. She must have gotten the message, 'cause she spun me around to face her. With the first part of my vengeance done for me, I reared back my arm and punched her in the muzzle.

"Okay, I gotta admit, that's adorable, the way she just booped you on the nose." the husband chuckled at the confused look in his wife's face, she was staring cross eyes at the hoof that just lightly papped her on the muzzle, with absolutely no force behind it. She soon joined her husband in laughter.

Curse these tiny ass adorable pink hooves! Brain! Plan B!'

Unable to locate the file labeled ‘Plan B,’ generating ‘Plan C.’

'God dammit! someone, something make sense already!'

The door to the room opened, admitting the doc who had been here before, along with another stallion, this one was purple as a plum and had a white mane, he also was sans any wings or horns. He looked older than either of the other males in the room, but was nowhere near old age, yet his eyes spoke of boundless experience. Said eyes did a double take when they landed on me. "Well ah'll be..." he drawled in a thick southern accent. "so the Drops' kid really did..."

"You must be Doctor Syringe?" The stallion asked.

'The hell kinda name is that!?'

"Indeed Mister Rain," Doc Syringe said, accent completely absent, he sounded more like a "hot" tv doctor, like those on House MD or Grey's Anatomy now.

'Why do I know more about stupid TV shows than myself!?'

"I'm the one who gave the final diagnosis of your daughter, Glitter Drops. I oversaw all of her tests, would you mind?" he tilted his head in my direction.

"By all means, doctor," the mare holding me said, holding me away from herself, if a bit reluctantly.

The wings attached to my spine flared out automatically to keep myself from falling.

'The crap? how do I work these things?'

Searching for native functions...

'Eh?'

Once more I was engulfed in glowing ghastly gel, this time from head to... tail. my wings started panickedly flapping as I was brought closer to the medical staff. "Hmm, standard reaction..." Syringe noted softly, his accent returning. "Soft Touch, if you would?"

"Yes sir." A pen light floated out of the now named stallion’s coat pocket, flicked on and floated up to my eyes. I clamped them shut and hissed, rubbing my eyes with my wrist, and swatted away the pen with my free appendage.

"Exaggerated reaction to stimulus." Syringe scribbled something down, surprise in his voice, I began glaring daggers at him once the spots left my eyes.

"Alright, now we will test her reflexes, Doctor Touch." A little rubber marble was floated around and knocked against the joints of my body. Each limb tested extended upon the mild impact, apparently satisfying the doctors.

"Air manipulation," the sadistic stallion commanded, Soft Touch obeyed, a little reluctantly once he saw my non-verbal promise for bodily harm to the guy giving orders.

My wing was gingerly pulled straight, intent on ending this foolishness I contracted every muscle I could, snapping the appendages to my sides. Syringe quirked an eyebrow at me, and reached forward a hoof to touch my left wing, I hissed at him as his hoof moved closer, then snapped my jaws at him with a click when he didn't seem to get the message. "Hmm, something tells me you don't like me." he said with a hint of amusement, I gave him the 'You just now noticing this?' look.

"Uhh, doctors, is this really necessary? It- I don't think she likes this," the mare said, drawing mine and the doctors' attention. The couple were looking between me and the medical professionals uncertainty.

"We're just being thorough," Soft Touch assured. "when we ran the tests earlier, we didn't pick up any activity in her brain, we just want to make sure she is healthy," he winced, I was taking the lull in tests to thrash about in the bubble holding me aloft, and whatever I was doing, he could feel.

My thrashing was apparently doing more to me than to him though, as I could feel the burning of my muscles steadily increase. I was forced to take a breather, during which I noticed how heavy my eyelids were, I gave a few more futile attempts to escape, but it was no use, my tiny form was no match for the whatever-the-hell the full grown stallion was doing to keep me suspended, and I passed out.

It was a dreamless sleep, but it did give me the time I needed to calm down. When I next woke up, I had been given enough time to properly absorb all of this new information, even if it was information that spat in the face, flipped the bird at, and ran over the shins of everything I knew, with a ridiculously expensive car.

When I opened my eyes, I was comfortably resting on the back of the mare, while the stallion was fumbling with some keys, and we were in front of some wooden door, I assume the door to their house. The door was unlocked, and our group moved inside. It was ugly looking. Everything from the walls, floor, and ceiling, to the furniture, was covered-in/made-out-of this fluffy white material. Here and there was the odd wooden chair, but for the most part, it was all uniformly fluffy carpet stuff. I took a moment to look around, and was not pleased, even the kitchen counter was made of this stuff!

'The heck is all this? Did somebody go overkill with the baby proofing or something?'

"Welcome home little one," the mare softly cheered, settling down on the fluffy white couch. She sighed contentedly and then looked over her shoulder at me. "Oh! you're up already?" She giggled, nuzzling my forehead. The stallion soon joined her, and nuzzles were handed out to everyone like it was going out of style.

'Ugh, all this touchy feely crap is gonna get old... What the heck are these guys names anyway? All I remember is "Mr. Rain" and "Glitter Drops," I'm fairly certain that second one is supposed to be me.

A knock at the front door drew their attention. "I'll get it," Mr. Rain said with a smile.

The door was opened, and an orange pegasus came in, or something like one. His slitted yellow eyes matched his broad smile, his leathery bat wings were also worth noting. "Afternoon Cobalt! how's the missus?" he greeted jovially.

"Swift Nails," Cobalt nodded, "She's fine, better now even, you wanna say hello to a certain little filly?"

"You mean she's... yes, very much so!" Swift practically bounced over to the couch we were on. "Hey there Glitter, it's good to meet you, I'm your uncle, Swift Nails." he held out a hoof to me.

'Hold up, Uncle?' I looked from him to Cobalt, pointing my... foreleg, sporting my usual look of confusion. 'But you two don't...' I pointed from him to the mare I was lying on, my frown deepening. 'and she doesn't... wha?' I tilted my head to the left, trying to puzzle out this new conundrum.

Everyone else in the room found my reaction hilarious. "Yes Glitter, he does look a bit different huh? he takes after you grandma, Swift Wings." Cobalt explained.

’But, but, but, bat horse? how, why, How?'

My pointing became more frantic, which earned another round of chuckles from Cobalt and the mare. "Jeez, you'd think she's never seen a thestral before," Swift joked.

'That’s it, I give up...'

File "instincts" found. Initialize?

'What the... oh, wait, what, oh right, you went to find something or whatever. Sure go ahead.'[i/]

I laid my head down on the yet-to-be-named mare's barrel. The next second, I was suddenly much more aware of myself, all the muscles I was just yanking on to move suddenly made perfect sense, and I noticed that I not only had wings, mobile ears, and absolutely zero fingers, but I also possessed a tail.

'Woah, what the hell? Brain, what did you do?'

"Instincts" has been installed successfully, and has been activated. Brain.OS running update...

'Brain? What does that mean? Brain? oh, you're updating, I guess I'm on my own for now, at least I don't have to spend days learning how to work everything. Let's see'

I lifted my head back up and looked down at my hooves, testing every muscle in them.

'Forelimbs, check. Hind legs, check.'

I looked over my shoulder and stretched out my new feathery appendages, giving them each two test flaps.

'Wings, check.'

I folded my third pair of limbs to my sides, now resting in a comfortable position instead of just holding them still. I leaned back a bit farther, and flicked another new muscle group. A wave of blue hairs responded.

'Tail, check. I guess everything works-' A certain muscle group in the same general area made itself known. I'm a girl? I... don't have an opinion about that one way or the other... odd.' I shook my head clear. 'Now then mental inventory.'

I curled my legs underneath myself once more, returning to the position I first woke up in at the hospital in, and laid my head back down on the mare’s chest. I heard a few ‘aww’s at my actions, but paid them no mind as they went back to their conversation.

'Okay, now then, earliest memories... agriculture, no... videos, no... movies... political information, well that's useless... books, dolphin biology, video games... nothing is... why don't I have anything earlier than the hospital... I know I learned all of these things before I was there... and I had to have been something other than a winged horse... but why don't I have any memories? even the videos and stuff, it's got no... opinion, it's just information... what the heck happened to me?'

I shifted uneasily, a light frown pulling at my muzzle. I picked out some random memories, looking for anything that might tell me who I was before this. eventually I noticed something, a certain string of memories, I hit play and reviewed the information.

'Dunno what happened to all the memories of me, or why I have all this information if I really am supposed to be this "Glitter Drops" but at least I have lots of entertainment.'

I sighed.

Author's Note

Hi, heres a chapter!

Fyi, this story does not take place only in the past, we have some present chapters aswell!

Those will be up later, naturally, meanwhile, feel free to check out my other stories while I try and not make any more!

Chapter 3: Getting to Know Yourself. Well That was Unexpected.

I woke up in the middle of the night, to find that I had once again been moved. I sighed.

'I really am a fricken infant, aren't I?' I internally grumbled. I looked around the room through the bars of my crib. 'Great, great, great-y great. Great. At least this room is less ugly.' The walls were still the stupid fluffy whatever material, but the floor was hardwood, there was a bookshelf on the far side, near the door, and a mobile was strung up overhead. I stared at that last object with disinterest.

'Don't they know that the only reason a mobile calms down babies is because it simulates birds of prey, and activities the baby's survival instincts, causing it to quiet down? Wait, that's for humans, I'm a horse now, a winged one at that, who knows why this stupid thing is here?'

I rolled my eyes, and caught sight of the window, with nothing better to do – I wasn't about to cry and get my so-called-parents attention – I stood up on my hind legs and pulled myself over the edge of the baby cage, with a flap or two to make up for my lack of upper – forward? – body strength. I thumped against the solid wood floor, stood up shakily, and walked over to the window with an oddly sure stride.

'Yup, whatever my brain did earlier really showed me how to work my new shape. Cool.'

I looked up at the night sky, my eyes darting over the strange constellations, and familiar ones. Then I noticed the most obvious detail, the moon.

'Woah, that thing is huge! I don't have to worry about that thing dropping out of orbit, do I? It has to be really close. Hang on...'

I squinted at the moon's surface, like the moon back on earth, it had craters, and while the craters were rumored to look like "The man in the moon" – I couldn’t make it out, but my memories aren't the most reliable – these dark impressions made out a far more recognizable shape. The silhouette of a unicorn was stamped onto the moon's surface, and it looked strangely familiar…

'Hold the phone… is that the Mare in the Moon? Like from that cartoon, MLP? Am I in a cartoon?! Crap, that means I can't swear anymore… Nah, I can still swear, what are the chances that this is actually a cartoon, and there are a bunch of humans sitting around, watching my life? Psh, ridiculous.' I chuckled, although my chuckle was extremely high pitched, and sounded suspiciously like giggling.

'Besides, it's not like I've seen anyone with a cutie mark, yeah, this is something else.'

Reassured that my life was not made for the entertainment of equine enthusiasts, I went back over to the crib.

'Aw, I don't wanna sleep in some stupid toddler trap! I'm a grown… mare mentally, and I can sleep in something more respectable! Hmm, but I don't know this house, I don't really want to sleep in the same bed as Cobalt and his wife… there was a couch in the living room.'

I nodded and started walking over to the door, when I noticed a huge obstacle in the way; the door.

"Ah..." 'I forgot, I'm small… shit.'

I tapped my left forehoof to my right as I thought, then looked over my shoulder and gave my wings a test flap.

'These things… are not made to catch air at the moment. I'm as fluffy as a baby owl. What are the chances I'll molt flightworthy feathers before dawn?'

I decided that my chances weren't all that good, and just leapt at the handle, I was only a foot or so to low to hit it, and three more attempts told me that was as high as I could jump.

'Fack… now what?'

I slowly turned my head, looking back at the crib.

'But it's a baby cage!' I groaned, but my eyelids were once again gaining weight. A yawn forced it's way out of my mouth. 'No!' I snapped back to full wakefulness, for two seconds. I'll sleep on the floor before I sleep in there!'[i/] I plopped down onto the hardwood floor, but no matter what position I contorted my weirdly flexible body into, I couldn't get comfortable, and even with my growing drowsiness, sleep eluded me. The crib was getting worryingly better by the second.

'Ugh... fuck it. Fine, I'll sleep in your stupid crib! But only this once!'

I grumpily tromped over to the edge of the crib, and hunkered down, my wings automatically tensing in preparation for the jump. I shot up like a rocket, my wings expanding to their limits to attempt to carry me higher, but I already knew that wasn't going to work. As I flapped my wings for the precious centimeters they would give me, I reached my forelegs for the bars of the crib, and latched onto them like a leech would a blood bag. I then carefully shimmied my way up and over the edge, and fell into the plushness of the foal sized mattress, the late hour hit me like a freight train, and I fell over from the sudden, complete lack of energy.

'Curse you, tiny horse body and your infantile energy reserves!' I shouted to myself, but was already slipping off to unconsciousness before the final syllable.

Gum Drops couldn't sleep a wink. After her brother in law fixed up the new baby room and left, they put her to bed, and she left to check on her shop. She would have to be coming back to work now, her husband's job as a royal guard couldn't support a family of three forever, and as much as she wanted to spend every waking moment with her foal, she had to bring home bits to keep her bundle of joy happy.

She restocked the shelves and ordered ingredients for a fresh batch of chocolates for next week.

But now she was home, lying in bed next to her sleeping husband, waiting for something to happen. Her mother always went on and on about how much of a hoof-ful foals were, and how she and her sisters were nothing but trouble when they were too small to remember, but so far, Glitter had hardly made a peep! She growled at her father back at Saint Good Heart's, and it was adorable, but beyond that she had been an angel!

It was worrying. Her little filly had already nearly given her a heart attack when the doctors said she would never wake up, but she was better now. So why was she so calm? Why does she sleep so much? Why didn't she react to any attention she or Cobalt gave her! Was this normal?

Gum Drops refused to believe anything could be wrong with her foal, so she would wait. Her mother always talked about how parents with a young foal can never get a good night's rest, because the little feather balls would wake up at the oddest hours of the night, usually for food.

The worrying mother rolled over onto her back, and looked down, since her daughter had "woken up", she still hadn't shown any interest in nursing, and it was starting to get uncomfortable.

"The doctors said, she’s fine now,” she whispered to herself. “So maybe she’ll start crying any minute now… any minute…"

"Calm down hun," her husband said, stretching a wing over her barrel for comfort. "She's fine. She's just asleep. When she wakes up in the morning she'll be running around, jumping on everything, and giving you a headache, just like your mum said she would, but for now, get some sleep.” He chuckled and kissed her cheek, and settled back into the covers.”We're gonna need it."

'He's right, of course he is.' She sighed, smiling. 'But staying up for just one more minute can't hurt.

I woke up groggily, something was nagging at me, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to ignore it. Breathing a heavy sigh, I stretched like a cat, and then opened my wings. Letting my instincts take over, I looked over row after row of feathers in my left wing, all fuzzy and acceptable. Next I checked my right wing.

'M'kay, looks like I don't have to learn preening today, so that's nice. My ears stood straight up and directed my attention to the door, and the cream coloured face watching me go through my new morning routine.

'She's not moving… is she expecting me to do something? I am supposed to be her kid after all. Hmm, what would a kid who's excited to see their mother do? Do I want to even do that?'

I looked between the crib I was in, and the mare not so stealthily watching me from the doorway.

'Ehh, I reserve the right of final judgment for later. For now though, I want out of this Damned Baby Cage!'

I put on a broad smile and lept at the bars of my prison, jumping excitedly while making eye contact with the mare. She let out a sigh of relief, why I'm not certain, and made her way into the room. "Notice me did ya?"

I nodded enthusiastically, jumping a few more times with my forelegs raised into the air as if to praise the sun.

'Did I even play that game? I have almost no info on it.'

"Well, good morning Glitter~" the mare cooed, nuzzling me. To sell the bit, I nuzzled her back, just a little bit. "Who's hungry?"

My stomach growled at the mention of food, answering her question and telling me what woke me up.

'I could go for a bowl of cereal, maybe a bagel.'

I jumped three more times, and she finally picked me up out of the crib, then set me on her back. I nestled down into her fur, amazed by how friggin comfy it was, I idly ran a forhoof through her silky mane. 'Dang, she takes good care of this. So soft!'

"You like how that feels?" I nodded, still busy with the strands my limb was engulfed in. "Well, after breakfast, how about we take a bath?" I pushed my face into her hair, and took a few quick sniffs.

'Smells like, fruit and candy… wait, what am I doing?'

She giggled in response and started walking out the door. "I'll take that as a yes." I thought about pulling my head out of her sweet smelling hair, but it was soooo comforting, and it just felt right for some reason. I opted to take a few more minutes in the green mass, and come out when whatever she made for food was ready.

"Well, I'm off for my shift, you two enjoy some mother daughter bonding time," I heard Cobalt say. He must not have seen us just yet, because a loud snirk was heard the following moment. "Nevermind, looks like you already are."

"Have a safe shift honey!" The mare said, followed my a loud smack, presumably a kiss.

'I really need to figure out her name, just calling her "The mare" is not going to work for long.'

"See you when I get back, Gummy~" Cobalt said affectionately.

'...How convenient? I'ma Stick with the mare for now, Gummy Rain just sounds odd.

"Now then, let's get something in that tummy of yours," she said, surprising me by nosing my midsection. I let out a dignified squeak, which made her laugh.

She set me down on a throw pillow, and then left for the kitchen, coming back moments later with a plated bagel, blueberry, with strawberry cream cheese.

'Damn that looks good! Gimme!'[/]

I poked her repeatedly until she looked at me, then pointed at the bagel. "Silly filly, you’re a bit young for this," she giggled. "don't worry, my little Glitter, mommie’s got you breakfast right here."

'I don't get the bagel? Come on! But it looks soo… wait, she does? but she only brought out one plate, where is miiiiiiiii-crap, how young am I?'

My answer came in the form of her laying down in front of me, and pulling my pillow closer with her wings.

'Too young, frick, ah frick, ah frick, ah frick, ah frick, ah frick, ah frick, ah frick, ah-!' ran over and over again through my mind as I looked at the offered "meal." she shifted backwards and offered some encouraging words, I'm not sure what happened after that, but when my mind started working again, I had a far preferable bottle in my mouth.

'Oh thank god! She gave me bottled milk! for a second there I was worried, but if I have to drink this stuff for a while, till I can handle more solid stuff, I can deal with this, no offense, but I just don't think I could bring myself to drink the milk from another person… intelligent being, Gummy.

'What did I do wrong? I did exactly as mother told me to, and it all felt natural and right, but she just wouldn't nurse! Did I do it wrong? Why does she nurse a bottle just fine, but freezes up when I offered? Do we need to go see someone?'

Gum Drops was panicking internally as she watched her daughter drain the milk bottle, it was some older milk they had in the fridge from when she was unresponsive and had to... relieve the pressure.

'It's the same stuff! Why did she refuse to drink? I-'

Further thoughts were cut short when the doorbell went off, startling Gum Drops and her daughter. Glitter's downy feathers puffed up and she looked at the door angrily, before returning to her drink.

'Who could that be?'

'God damn instincts, turns out you're not all good for me, are ya?' I grumbled finishing off my bottle as the mare went over to the door. There, meal consumed, I should be good for a few hours. Now I should actually have some time to think.'

I circled on my pillow for a more comfortable position and set to planning.

'For whatever reason, I can't remember my old life, anything that had any emotional value was scrubbed out of my consciousness before I even woke up, yet I still have memories, tons of information that could make growing up again easy, so there is a plus. It's not like I can miss my old life, whatever it was, coulda been a wanted criminal, coulda been the richest person on the planet, who knows? It doesn't matter. So what's the plan, brain?'

...

'Still on my own then, okay, step one, grow up. I'm gonna get sick of it after a few seconds, but at least I wasn't dumped here in my thirties without half of my memories, this way I at least get a full life.'

'Step two, research. Find out everything I can about the world, and myself. I have no idea what my personality is, or how it will change over the years, I don't know if I will grow up to be a thrill seeker, but it's still better to have all the knowledge I can so I can avoid dumb mistakes.'

Step three... hmm, I guess this should actually be step one. okay, step one, come to terms with my new existence, shouldn't take too long.'

'The second step would be to accept my new family, and since I can't really remember the old one, this hopefully won't be too hard. Since we're horses, or something like them, I believe I will develop the herd mentality, and that means family is important, I can probably fight the dumber parts of it, but if I push against it to hard I'll just wind up depressed.'

'Okay, so step one, come to terms with my new life, step two, accept family, step three grow up, step four, research... wait, I should switch those around...'

'Step one, accept being a pegasus baby, or just a pegasus in general. Step two accept my new family. Step three become a bookworm. Step four grow up... I should get a piece of paper and write this down...'

I nodded to myself, and got up to do just that. The mare, or my mother, I guess, was talking to another mare. The new arrival was cherry red, had an orange mane, and green eyes. She had wings twice the size of those on the other pegasi I'd seen thus far, but stood shorter than the mare next to her by a couple inches. The two of them were finishing up their talk at the doorway, and the red mare had been invited in, apparently, so as they made their way back into the living room, I stretched my tiny body, and got into position. When a set of cream hooves rounded the couch, I pounced.

"I dunno Bubble Gum, she seems plenty playful to me." The new mare chuckled.

'Bubble Gum' had reared back in surprise, bringing me with her since I had latched onto her right foreleg, it took her two seconds of still shock to realize what had happened, and when she did, her face turned to a big smile. She shifted me around in her forelimbs and held me to her barrel, giving me a nuzzle. "Oh, now you miss me~?"

"Looks like it. I remember when you did the same thing to your father, except he actually jumped so hard we had to pull him out of the ceiling." She laughed at the memory, while the mare I was being smothered by blushed at the reminder. Evidence pointed to this red mare being her mother.

It helped affirm this assumption when my mother screamed "Mom!" pitifully, holding her hooves over my ears, as if to keep me from hearing her embarrassing past.

'What's the standard age of comprehension here? I would like to start actually contributing to conversations.'

"Oh please, it's a grandmother's privilege to embarrass her child in front of her own children," she laughed. "Now come here and introduce me to my new grand-foal." She patted the cushion of the couch beside her. My mother… it still feels weird… flapped her wings, bringing us to sit on the couch as indicated, I was then snagged out of her hooves and brought to the face of the older mare. "Hello there young one, I'm your new grandma, but you can call me Granny Red Strings."

'Will do.'

I nodded, Granny Red Strings smiled, and tousled my hair. "Smart little foal ain'tcha? Good color too, the pink ones are always a happy, rambunctious bunch." I got a mirthfull nuzzle, and then she went back to conversing with her daughter.

"So, mom, what do you think?" She asked, waving a hoof at me, which I placed poth of my forehooves on, spur of the moment.

"I think she is a perfectly normal little foal." Red Strings giggled, pushing me back into her daughter's arms. "From what I've seen, she's playful, smart, inquisitive, and happy."

"But what about-"

"Not all foals like drinking from their mothers, it's perfectly normal for her to prefer bottles."

"But she's so-"

"If you're complaining about her being better behaved than the average filly her age, I might just have to take her for myself." Red Strings giggled at her daughter's immediate response. Crushing the life out of me. "I'm kidding, she's still pretty young, give her a few months, she'll give you a few headaches to love her for."

'She wants her child to be a terror? That's ridiculous. Oh well, if she wants me to be a little shit... I'm not going to do this all the time, just enough to... assuage her fears.'

I snagged the flowing silky mane of the ma-My mother, in my forehooves and jaws. 'Peh! Don't bite hair, it's nasty. I then climbed up her locks onto her shoulders. She was releasing tiny "ow"s during the climb, while red Strings was laughing her ass off.

"Hah! Well, there ya go! Feel the love yet?" She snickered. I crawled up her neck, using her hair as hoof holds, all the way up onto her head, where I unfurled my wings and took on a proud stance, staring with determination at a nondescript location in the distance. "Oh my! Gum Drops, dear, where do you keep your camera, your hubby will want to see this!"

The mare I was standing on looked up at me with slightly teary eyes, and an unsure look on her face.

'And that's enough of that.'

I settled into a much more comfortable position for the both of us, still atop her head, leaned forward, and nuzzled her right between the eyes. I was rewarded for my efforts when her smile widened and she looked at me with no small amount of joy in her eyes. I wrapped my wings around her skull in a semi awkward hug. Red Strings took this moment to glide back into the room, a camera supported on metal arms strapped to her. "Aww~, this one's good too, but I want her to strike that pose from before after this." There was a flash, a click, and momentary Blindness, but the moment was immortalized, and my new family would likely cherish this new photograph, as it was the first one ever taken of me.

The second one came in short order, as I did just as Red Strings requested.

"Now then, let us three pegasi make our way to the kitchen yeah? Grammy here could use a snack." My stomach rumbled once more.

'But I just ate! Stupid metabolism!'

Thus we made our way to the kitchen, with me still atop my mother's head. It was nothing fancy, cabinets, a stove, a fridge, countertop, dumb fluff carpeting - seriously who carpets a kitchen? - and a wooden table, I jumped to that when we were near enough.

"So mom, what would you like?" My mother asked, opening the fridge, pouring another bottle of milk for me.

"Just some tea, and some meat if you have it."

the colour of her face turned a sickly colour of green. "Ugh. Mom, you know we don't keep that stuff here, we barely even ever have fish, just when Rainy's brother drops by."

"Fine, but you should probably start at least keeping fish in the house, you've got an Imperial living with you now."

"What?!" She whipped around, her wings puffed up slightly in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Glitter Drops." Red Strings said, nodding to me.

'I'm a what now?'

"H-h-how, why do you think she's an Imperial?" My mother asked nervously, looking between me and her mother with worry.

"You mean you haven't noticed?" Granny opened one of her wings, letting it extend to full length, it was longer than the table. I looked at her, then at my own wings, and held one out for comparison. Red Strings smiled at me before turning back to her daughter. "Don't her wings seem just a little bit big for her size?"

"W-we thought she just had bigger wings," the cream mare stated uneasily, setting down our respective drinks, I was too busy listening to the conversation to worry about mine for the moment.

"Trust me, I know what a baby pegasus' wings look like, and your daughter's are nearly three times bigger than yours were when you were her age." She took a sip from her tea and smile before continuing. "Only an imperial has wings that big."

'So I'm some kind of special winged horse? Neat. Wait, if she's also an imperial, and she likes meat dishes, does that mean I'm an omnivore? That's Awesome! I was worried that I was gonna have to go vegetarian, and only know what meat tasted like through my memories, but now I get to experience it? Great!'

"B-b-but, she can't be an imperial! Her father and I are normal pegasi!"

"If you need more confirmation, then check her teeth dear, you'll find she has a slightly different set than your own, that's actually something the good doctors are supposed to check, so that they have her proper tribe down on her medical record, but I suppose it's something that could go overlooked here in a city made almost entirely of you magic flappers." Red Strings took another sip of her drink, then pushed me to her daughter with her wing. "Go on then."

"b-but-!"

I rolled my eyes at her apprehension, and slid my tongue over my teeth, satisfied with what I found, I pulled my lips back and gave the now pale mare a toothy grin. "See, those four teeth there? they're for ripping apart meat, that's the mouth of an omnivore there." To prove her point red strings bared her teeth as well, and I was doubly pleased to know I would get to have eggs and bacon for the first time, the second time around.

I hopped into the air, fluttering my wings, I didn't get any lift out of the action, but seeing the other two's reactions was worth the gesture.

"I had no idea..."

"It's fine dear, it doesn't mean anything, especially, it just means she can try a few more foods than you. She won't grow up to be some meat craving monster."

"I don't know how to take care of an imperial! What if she gets sick with an imperial-only disease and nopony in Cloudsdale knows how to treat it?!"

"One, there is no such thing, anything you can catch, I can catch, and vice versa, two if you run into any imperial problems with her, well, you've always got me to call on, don't you? Besides, Cobalt grew up in a house with three meat loving Thestrals, I'm sure he knows how to fix your daughter a proper predatory plate." Red Strings wrapped a wing around her daughter and held her in a hug, I lept off the table and joined in the embrace, wrapping my forelegs around their necks, along with my wings since my legs couldn't quite reach far enough to actually hold me in place.

The distressed mare sighed. "I suppose you're right, she'll be fine." She wrapped a foreleg around me, and I was able to relax a bit, wings are not made to hold you like that, or maybe it was because I was a baby?

"Of course I am. Now then, let's get back to the table, I know someone here hasn't touched their milk," Red Strings said as she glared at me non-threateningly.

I rolled my eyes and disengaged from the embrace. I hopped off my mother's outstretched hoof back to the table. The two mares began discussing the difference between an Imperial Pegasus, and a regular Pegasus. I, unfortunately, missed these details as I began draining the bottle I was given. Apparently, kids go into a kind of trance when they do this, or maybe that's just me. After all, I highly doubted I was supposed to be fully conscious at this age anyway.

I started thinking again when we were on the couch, the two mares were laying on it directly, while I was curled up in my mother's wing, she was on her back at the time. I got up and stretched.

'I've been doing that a lot lately.'

The two halted their conversation to look at me. "Ah, welcome back sleepyhead, you wanna get down and play?" my mother asked. I didn't have any particular reason to get down on the ground, but I nodded anyway, just to keep the two of them happy. I was picked up in the younger mare's forelegs as she sat up, and she put me down.

' Maybe while these two are talking I can find a newspaper or something, if I'm lucky, everything will be in english... or Chinese? why would I know Chinese?'

Why do you know how to skin an elk? Or how to make a cat sit anywhere you want by making a spot a slightly different colour than everywhere else? You just do.

'Brain? You're back now huh? why do you sound like that? What happened to the whole computer bit?'

Things change, young padawan.

'Why am I a padawan? Better yet how is it relev-' My question would have to wait, because my hooves just touched the carpet, and when I was released from my mother's grip onto the floor, I didn't stop moving. There was about forty five seconds of white, and a whooshing noise one would associate with falling. Then there was open air, and a forest down below me. I looked around in a panic, above me there was nothing, except for the massive cloud I just fell through, I could even see the hole.

'What the FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU-'

My wings shot out, and started flapping wildly, my descent didn't slow even a modicum. I looked around, spying a river, I angled my wings to glide over, just like the feeling in my gut told me, and my trajectory changed, by inches. Problem was that the ground was coming up too quickly, and my wings didn't catch enough air to change my landing point.

'Fuck Oh Fuck Oh Fuck Oh Fuck Oh Fuck Oh Fuck Oh Fuck Oh Fuck O-'

Hey, I see you’re trying to fly. Want me to help?

'Fuck you! Hurry up before I'm a meaty squish mark on the forest floor!'

Here, watch this twenty minute video on how a bird flaps its wings, followed by a thirty minute video on how this one YouTuber think a pegasus would be able to fly.

'Double Fuck You!! Triple Screw You with A Goddamn Handful of Cherries and Buckshot!'

Fortunately I did not find out what it feels like to be a pancake, as something grabbed me long before I was even eye level with the canopy.

"Igotcha,Igotcha,Igotcha!!" my mother screamed over the whipping winds. The descent leveled out and shot back up into the sky. In short order, we climbed right back up through the hole in the floor, it sealing behind as we went, somehow. Next thing I knew, we were back in the living room, Red Strings was still on the couch, staring at the spot I fell through, apparently too stunned to move.

Mom did not stop flying, even as she moved over the wooden coffee table she did not stop flying. She also hadn't stopped chanting "I gotcha," but she had slowed down to the point you could tell it was two words. Barely. I had joined Red Strings in stunned silence.

Said mare soon came to her senses and began trying to console her daughter. "Gum." the mare didn't respond. "Gummy." Red Strings attempted again, no response. "Bubble Gum." She said, slightly sterner, still no change in her daughter.

"Bubble Gum Drops!" she shouted. Mom froze, dropping out of the air and onto the coffee table, three loud clacks responded through the room, her fourth leg was Still gluing me to her barrel, not that it was necessary, as I'm fairly certain all six of my limbs would never detach from her chest, ever again.

"M-mom?" She began. "Mom! What just happened?! I set her down to play and she just sank through the floor! Why didn't she stop?! She just kept falling until she left the city!? How is that possible!? It Shouldn-" Her rant was cut short by Red String inserting a hoof in her daughter's gob.

"Bubble Gums, listen to me," she commanded. "What just happened was very dangerous, yes, but I need you to hear what I have to say. She just fell through the clouds, that's all. It's highly likely that she just doesn't know how to walk on them, so she passed right through."

Red Strings hoof was ejected from her daughter's mouth by sheer air pressure. "But She is a Pegasus! Every Single Known Variety of Pegasus can Walk on Clouds! It's ingrained into us! It's part of What We Are! How can she Not Know How to-Mff mm fmrphif mmfifph!" The slobbery hoof was reinstated in the mouth of the younger mare.

"Its possible she just doesn't have that instinct." Red String Shrugged with her wings.

Mom pushed her away. "We live in a Cloud House! in Cloudsdale! She could literally fall through the ground anywhere! She can just walk right on through the walls of her room and fall!"

'Oh shit! I coulda died last night!'

I had already been shivering since my impromptu trial by fire, and now it just got worse.

'Why the Fucking Fuck Would Anyone, Ever Build Shit out of CLOUDS!? Even if it's Possible, shit like what I just went through can't have been the first time it's happened! The hell were these idiots thinking?!'

Probably because it hasn't happened yet, it wouldn't ever happen.

'That's insane! And so ridiculously Stupid!'

"It's a simple fix dear, just teach her how to walk on clouds."

"How do you teach somepony how to do something every single other pegasus knows how to do from birth?!"

"You figure it out! There is twelve, Twelve unicorns up here that did it!" Red Strings Countered. "If you can't do it, then you take her to somepony who can." She pulled her daughter into a hug, gently stroking her mane to calm her down. "You're a big mare, Bubble Gums, you can figure this out, now hug your foal and calm her down."

Instantly, mom's other foreleg wrapped around me, and she mimicked what her mother had just done for her, to me. It was at this moment I noticed the lines of tears streaming down my face, which I immediately tried to suppress. "I'm going to make a special trip to Canterlot,” Red Strings stated quietly. “Somepony needs to inform the princess about the potential dangers this brings up. I'll also pay to have the whole house renovated, we can't have her falling through any room." She kissed her daughter on the forehead, and hugged her tightly. "I'll be back tomorrow morning, well figure all this out then, okay?"

Mom nodded and whimpered pitifully, still hugging me tight, I had yet to stop crying, and I was starting to worry about dehydration at this point.

Red Strings left, but neither of the other two moved from their spot on the table. Eventually Glitter reeled in the waterworks, but they still stayed there for hours. Cobalt Rain came back home to find his wife sitting on her haunches, her wings held out protectively around them, with his daughter pressed desperately into his wife's chest, who would look at the house around them every once in a while and shiver.

He was then told the story, and joined them in the comforting embrace. It wasn't until midnight that the three of them would leave, Glitter slept with them that night, snuggled in on the layered wings of her parents, who didn't fall asleep for another three hours.

Author's Note

And that's chapter three!

Special thanks to gerandakis, for being awesome and ironing out the story!

Chapter 4: Mother Daughter Bonding Time, Round 2

I was falling. The trees were bare of any leaves, with the branches reaching out like daggers, ready to pierce my flesh. The river was as dry as a bone. The skeletons of countless crushed pegasi were cackling with glee.

Join Us! they chanted, their voices hollow and cold, over and over.

It was terrifying.

It was Oh so Fake!

I never actually got any closer to the ground, or the stabby trees, my vision just kinda swam around, making it look like it. And if I looked too far in any direction, there were actual holes in the landscape, where stars were peaking through the void like evil eyes. The biggest hole was actually well hidden, as it was already overlaid on the night sky, but even though I know for a fact that I would have had the moon of earth as a throw away detail, the one from my new reality was proudly sneering down at me, with only the faintest traces of the more familiar satellite behind it.

Armed with the information that this was likely a dream, and I could, therefore, not actually get hurt, I swallowed my fear and closed my frantically flapping wings. I dropped like a stone, and bounced.

The trees fell over at the lightest touch, and bent like they were made of rubber. And the river? Well, that was actually a dried up river, so I guess that detail was okay.

The real kicker was that all of those skeletons? They were two dimensional, once I was below the trees, they looked more like high definition sprites from Space Invaders than the undead.

I couldn't help it.

I laughed.

The amused stare I was getting from the moon shifted to a hateful glare. I ignored that. "So then! what's the deal here? Am I having a nightmare? Because I've seen a songbird more horrifying than this," I stated, and I had, or at least, I had the information on one. The shrike, I can't remember if it was a songbird or descended from one, but this little bugger was a carnivore, and would stab rodents onto twigs around it's nest.

The moon did not seem to take my insult lightly, but again I ignored it, I wasn't talking to the moon anyway.

"Could you refine your query?" Said the emotionally stilted voice I'd been talking to since the day prior.

"Sure thing," I turned around, to find a slightly muted version of myself. grey-pink coat and feathers, muted blue mane and tail, and grey colorless eyes. It was at this moment that I realized I have no idea what my face looks like, since the one my double was using was actually that of my mother's. "How's this sound? Am I having a natural nightmare, as a reaction to the prior days events, or is something causing this particular occurance?"

"No, you are not having a natural nightmare, it would be much worse if it was your subconscious trying to orchestrate this," my double laughed, emotionless chuckles are weird. "I believe that the unusual celestial body is to blame."

"Makes sense." I shrugged. "What would you recommend? I mean, it's kinda annoying, but it's not like it can do anything." I pointed up with a hoof, ignoring the glare that could melt steel, beaming down at me.

"It can likely be banished like any other common bad dream, just focus on something else, might I recommend good memories?"

"You might, but I don't have any, lost most of my mind remember?"

"You've been around for a day. You're telling me you don't have a single pleasant experience yet?" They quirked an eyebrow at me.

"Eh, good point." I thought back to this morning, and how nice it was to be removed from the crib by my mom, it was an act at the time, funny how present experiences can colour past memories.

I blinked and the dead forest was gone. I was atop my mother's back, wandering a nondescript meadow, the sun was shining, and the moon was just barely visible in the daylight, earth's moon that is. This world's moon was peaking through a large crack in the sky, right between the Celestial bodies, glaring at me.

"Stubborn thing, ain't it?" my double noted.

"Indeed, oh well, let it watch, what's it gonna see? The blurred out face of my mom? Or ours, which has now shifted to pixel art?" I'm not stupid, if this was some dream invading horror, then I'm not giving it more targets to seek out, at night or in the waking world.

"You do know that this adds thirteen percent credibility to the 'This is Equestria' theory, right?"

"I do," I sighed. "But even if it is, it's not gonna be like the cartoon, what are the odds that thousand year old corrupt princesses exist, compared to that of six mares? Last time I checked my memories, Imperial Pegasi were not a thing in that world, neither were Thestrals. It's just not that likely that I'm in some friggin cartoon." The dream version of my mom laid down in a random clearing, I hopped off and crawled under her wing. "And if I am? then I know how this particular tale ends, and those files are safely locked away where mind demons wouldn't dare look." I giggled.

"Fair enough, so what now?"

"I enjoy the rest of the dream, you want under here? The wing is pretty spacious for kids our size, and she has two of them."

"...I would." they said with a small pixelated smile, diving beneath the wing with me, eliciting a chuckle from the dream mare.

1 day since the reboot.

I was woken up by my bedding moving out from underneath me. I grumbled, snagged the retreating blanket, and pulled it back over me. Deep chuckling got me to open an eye. Cobalt Rain was attempting to get up, but I was latched onto his wing, preventing advancement.

"Well good morning to you, miss Glitter Drops." he greeted, I pulled his wing closer, up and over my muzzle. The owner of the appendage chuckled, and pet me lightly. "That comfy huh? Sorry, but I gotta get up, you don't want me being late for work do you?" I shook my head and released my grip on him. He stretched out the kinks in his neck and spine. "You want a bottle before I head out?" My stomach growled it's agreement.

'Geez, at this rate I'm not going to have to talk, ever. Something convenient always speaks for me.'

Cobalt understood what my body said and laughed quietly. "Alrighty then, I'll get one all ready for ya. How bout you hon? Want anything?"

"Cinnamon roll and blueberry juice," mom mumbled "Thangz Rainy yur th' greatest." She let out a loud snore, and flipped her head to the other side. We both Laughed at that, then he left to go get a quick breakfast before heading off to work.

'What is his job again? Also, I should probably start thinking of him as 'Dad' or 'Father' at the very least.'

Now fully awake, I decided to mess with my mother, since she was expecting it and all. I crawled up onto her barrel and poked her, nothing. I scooted up to her face and poked her chin, a slight frown, but she remained unconscious. Deciding to try something odd, and also sate a bit of curiosity, I manually opened her mouth.

'Hmm, she has two mildly sharp teeth, but she ain't really equipped to chew tougher meat, interesting.'

I closed her mouth back up and tapped it respectfully, like one would a packed luggage case. I could tell she was up now, and could practically feel the confusion radiating off her, yet she still pretended to sleep. I shimmied back onto her chest and made an exaggerated "Hmm" noise. I looked to either side of her, her wings were wide open.

'I wonder if …

I opened my own wings and gave them a flap, straightening my feathers, then lowered them down over her sides, gently running my longest feathers along the insides of her wings, waiting for a reaction. as I made my way closer to the shoulder base, she tensed, and held back a burst of air. I made quick back and forth motions over this spot, I was rewarded with a muffled "Snrk!" I increased my efforts ten fold.

Cobalt Rain came back upstairs to find his wife howling with laughter, and his daughter smiling smugly to herself. "Found out she's ticklish?" he asked. Glitter nodded. Cobalt put down the light breakfast he brought up for them and calmly walked over. "Yeah, she's especially weak in this spot here." he pointed, earning a betrayed glare from his wife, before their daughter adjusted to the new position and reduced her to tears and unrestrained laughter.

"See?" he laughed darkly, letting the moment stretch on for a moment before continuing his plan. "Now I have a question for you," Glitter paused in her torturing of his wife to look at him, tilting her head. He took a dramatic pause and then asked her, "Are you ticklish?" The color drained from her face at the question, but it was too late, Gum Drops had just enough time to recover and rolled the little filly onto the bed, where she then returned her daughter's act in kind.

The little filly exploded with laughter, she desperately tried to push away her mother's expertly controlled wings, but it was no use, her mother was a far more experienced tickler, and would show no mercy to the foal. Three minutes passed, and Gum Drops finally let the filly breathe.

"I'll get you back for that, you know?" she said with a smirk, punching the stallion lightly in the shoulder.

"Yeah, but it was worth it." He chuckled. "Anyway, your meal, as requested, make sure you give Glitter her bottle when she gets her breathing back under control."

Gum Drops bumped her flank against him. "I will, now get going, don't need to make your partner wait too long."

"What about my goodbye kiss?"

"No, I'm withholding it as punishment for your treachery." She giggled, then took a bite of her breakfast.

Cobalt deflated a little, then got an idea. "I suppose that's fair, just, hold on, you've got something on your face."

She turned to face him, pointing at various locations with a wingtip. "Here?"

"No, no, no, how about I just get it?" before she could react, he leaned in and planted a kiss on her lips, licking off some crumbs from her roll. "There. Bye hon~!"

Realizing she had been tricked, she dropped the cinnamon treat and gave chase. "Get back here!" she shouted, following him down the stairs, his tail just out of reach, and to the front door.

He laughed as he took off. "I'll give it back when I get home!" he called back to her.

"You better!"

Gum Drops sighed as she watched her stallion shrink into the distance. She made plans on how to get her revenge later tonight, after they put Glitter to bed.

With that thought she went back inside, chuckling softly. When she went back upstairs to finish her treat, she didn't see her foal on the bed where they had left her. Her eyes widening in panic, she started to look around the room for holes, until something lept from the door and landed on her back. The startled mare jumped and nearly fell over, she snagged whatever had attacked her, only to find the smiling face of her daughter. She looked between the laughing foal, and the top of the door, then at the floor, a single question crossed her mind. "How did you get up there!?"

[two minutes earlier]

I looked at the solid wood door that my parents had just run through. It was left open, and I had an idea.

'Okay no big deal, this is just like a high stakes game of the floor is lava!'

I looked at the expanse of cloud floor between me and my goal.

'No problem, I don't pass through anything that isn't clouds, so I just have to do, this!' I threw a pillow over the foot of the bed, it landed halfway between the bed and the dresser. I tossed another pillow, and then jumped. To my relief, the pillow didn't sink through the floor, and I was able to hop to the next one, then up onto the dresser. I then scaled up the adjacent wardrobe, and leapt the short distance to the top of the door. I giggled maniacally.

'And now, I wait~'

I finished off my morning drink, longing for it to have been served in a bowl, with cereal floating in it, lucky charms to be specific. Sadly, it was not to be. Next on the agenda was … the bathroom. I rapidly tapped my mother on the shoulder, then crossed my back legs. After a moment of squinting at my dramatics, her eyes lit up with recognition, and I was swept away to yet another room. Fortunately the toilet, although a little odd looking, was porcelain, and therefore safe to stand on, now if only mom hadn't been watching me the whole time …

It is to be expected, you are a foal, I'm actually a little surprised they haven't put you in a diaper, given your age.

'As nice as that little sliver lining is, I could have done without her watching me flush out the biological pipes.'

Noted.

I was then cleaned off, much to my chagrin. But we did not leave the bathroom. Instead, Mom placed me on a nearby stool and kicked a cloud over a shallow white dibit in the floor, it was two thirds full before I realized it was a bathtub.

Mom tested the water with a hoof before retrieving me, where I was then lowered into the soothing warm waters, up to my stomach. I shuddered at the feeling, my legs practically collapsed out from underneath me. Mom lowered herself into the deeper part of the tub, having a similar, but better controlled reaction, she kept her wings high and dry, so I mimicked her.

After a minute of enjoying the soak, my mother spoke up. "Alright Glitter, watch me, okay?" I nodded, and after a few moments of staring, she pushed her head underneath the surface, bending forward as she did so, then lifted back out of the water a second later, her body following in a wave like motion, the tiniest splash of water going over her wings, washing out loose dirt and hairs, she repeated this action three more times before shaking out her wings, leaving the feathers damp, but fluffy. "Do you think you can do that, just like mommy showed you?"

I nodded, and dove underneath the surface, and shot up a second later, in a much less smooth action, coughing up water, my wings were sticking straight up into the air, basically untouched.

"Silly filly, alright, I'll take care of your wings~" She scooted closer, scooping a small amount of cloud matter out of the overhead mass, it began trickling water gently.

'Cool, magic shower head.'

She ran the water over my wings, while nosing through my feathers as she did so. I became a wad of foal shaped putty that she rinsed off and scrubbed clean. She wetted down my mane and tail, then treated them using various bottles of goo, I assume at least one of them was shampoo. After she was done with me she went to preening her wings at the tub's edge, I watched intently, because as handy as my 'instincts' had been, I couldn't help but feel it would be beneficial to actually see this particular bit done, rather then just trust my gut.

After the tub was drained, I was brought to the bathroom mirror, Mom toweled us off, and I learned what a frizzy foal looks like, much to her entertainment. Then she brushed out my mane and tail, which she played with for far to long.

"Maybe a braid? No, no, what about curling it? No, something simpler than that, we need an accessory for you." She tied back my mane and put a headband just behind my ears, it was uncomfortable, and too big. She must have agreed, because she tossed it back onto the counter. A new piece of plastic was drawn from the open drawer by a wingtip, this one was a simple black clip for keeping hair out of one's face. Mom brushed the majority of my mane to the left side of my face, and attached the clip to hold the blue curtain out of my eye. I pawed at my locks, turning my head side to side, getting a feel for the slightly different weight distribution, then to the mirror. Orange eyes looked back at me, appraising my new look.

'Huh, cool colours. Compliments my mane, I think.

Mom took in the style from a few angles, then shook her head. After my mane was brushed straight once more, we left the bathroom and made our way to the couch. Mom laid a blanket over it's cloud made surface, and cautiously placed me down, the surface of the couch flexed downward, but I didn't fall through.

She breathed a sigh of relief, then went over to a nearby bookshelf and returned with a thin hardback in tow. "How does a story sound?" I nodded. She curled up around me on the couch, and cracked open the book with her hooves. "Once upon a time, in a land far, far away..."

I came to, surrounded by darkness, warmth, a steady, calming rhythm, and a conversation I couldn't quite make out. On my right, I could feel the warmth of fur, and the steady beat, on the left, the softness of feathers, and the barest hints of light creeping through them. I flicked my tail muscles, causing it to curl around my body and lightly pap my muzzle, covering my eyes. I pulled my legs fully underneath myself and closed my eyes, I had no interest in being awake at the moment.

'Fell asleep about halfway through the story. Brain, did you pick up anything after the knight went out and invited the dragon to a tea party?'

The dragon, shown the kindness of others, left his cave, and got to know the ponies of the small town, they all became friends and lived happily ever after.

'That’s cheesy.'

Yeah, nice sentiment though.

I shrugged my wings, causing the wing I was under to be pulled up, letting in the evening sun into my once comfy, shadowed lair. I lifted up a wing to shield my eyes from the offending rays of the sun, and hissed.

"Oops, sorry." Mom laughed nervously.

"Ah, you awake yet, little Glitter?" the voice of Red Strings asked.

I lowered my wing and glared grumpily at them, the sun was still too bright for my liking, but I definitely wasn't going to be getting back to sleep any time soon.

'Wha'd'ya want?' I mentally griped.

You know they can't hear that, right?

'Shaddup.'

What happened? You were in a decent mood not ten seconds ago.

'The infernal rays of the sun burned it away. You're left with a grumpy, winged horse.'

"Hey honey, I'm home," Cobalt called over the sound of the front door clicking shut. I leapt up onto the back of the covered couch to look at him, what I was greeted by, was the sight of a white pegasus, dressed up in golden armor.

'Who the fuck is that?'

The armored stranger looked straight at me and smiled, like we had met before. "Oh, hey Glitter! You excited to see your pop home?" he said in the voice of my father, causing me to tilt my head in confusion. He laughed my Father's laugh. "Don't tell me, you don't recognize your own father!" he said, laying on the dramatics thick. The mares behind me joined him in laughter, then he removed his helmet and set it on an end table. His coat pulsed as something failed, and then darkened, trailing up from his hooves, his colors shifted to a far more recognizable shade of blue. "Surprise!"

'The fuck? What was that? Was that freaking magic?!'

Why do you sound surprised? The hospital was staffed with a few unicorns, or did you think Soft Touch's medical chart was suspended on strings?

"Try not to scare her too bad dear, she's not used to your sense of humor," Mom sighed, a serene smile on her face as she shook her head.

My father walked closer, and pulled mom into a kiss, whispering ‘told you I'd give it back~’ into her ear, causing the mare to blush.

"Hah, I've always thought those illusion enchantments were silly, why is it so important that the entirety of the royal guard look the same?" Red Strings mused.

'Royal guard huh? is Cob- my father, some kinda big shot?'

How would I know?

"It's a show of unity, I think I remember the sarge also saying something about a massive force of identical troops being unnerving for enemies." The sole stallion in the room explained. "Good to see you, Red."

"I told you to call me mom, didn't I?"

"Yeah, yeah. So, how did the meeting with the Princess go?"

"Well enough. She was in the middle of Day Court. One of those stick-up-the-plot nobles was complaining that the common ponies had no respect for those of 'higher blood'. So, naturally, I threw the doors open and screamed at her, 'Your Highness! It's a national emergency!' and the throne room was clear in seconds, ah, the way she laughs whenever I do that is well worth all the threats I get for barging in unannounced."

"Mom, you said you were going to stop angering the nobles … They may act like stuck up foals, but they have enough money and influence to make life more difficult for you."

"Hah! I'd like to see them try! I'm just a sweet little granny, why would anypony bother?" She chuckled. "Ah, if only they knew … Anyway, I brought up the issue of young foals falling through clouds, and she went wide eyed! Promised to have a word with the medical know-it-all's about why future generations might be losing that particular ability, and how she was going to be speaking with the mayor of Cloudsdale in a month or so, and have the whole city undergo inspection." She waved a hoof in the air, waving away further questions. "Enough politics talk. Tell me, how fares your mother Swift Wings? I haven't seen her since she made the announcement."

My father shaped a portion of the floor into a temporary addition to the couch, then settled in with the rest of us. "She's fine, Dad's been run ragged trying to keep up with all her cravings, but they expect a healthy delivery."

"Oh that's wonderful, we should have her over for dinner some time, I would love for Glitter to get to know her other grandma!" Mom cheered, snuggling me into her barrel. "And just think! Her new aunt or uncle will grow up right alongside her, oh the stories it could make~"

'Eh?'

The sun suddenly zipped beneath the horizon, and the moon was brought up in its place, coulda sworn it shot me a dirty look as it ascended into the heavens.

'Woah! Holy crap, did you see that!?'

Of course I did, we share a set of eyes.

'What the heck is with this planet's orbit? The sun should not disappear that quickly!'

Just accept it as magic and move on, it's more likely that the sun's orbiting the planet anyway.

'That feels wrong on so many levels.'

"Oh dear, looks like we lost track of time, I guess I should get on home." Red Strings Stretched and made for the door.

"Mom, you know you could stay with us tonight, we don't mind, do we hon?" The stallion shook his head, undoing the straps holding on his Peytral.

"Oh you~ You've got a brand new foal in the house to worry about, I'm not going to impose on new parents," Red Strings said with a cheery smile.

"It's really no trouble," my father added in.

"As nice as your offer is, I'm still gonna get going, I've got a quilt waiting for me to finish it back home." She opened the door and prepared to take off, when she stopped and turned around. "Almost forgot, paid a visit to my old school flame, had him whip up something for Glitter's selective surface suspension problem, here, but be sure to teach her proper when she's old enough to learn." She retrieved three bands from under her left wing. They looked ordinary enough, but something about them felt energized. She tied up my mane and tail with them, and then proceeded to gently set me down on the floor.

I panicked, and started the futile practice of flapping my wings, then noticed how I was simply standing upon the ground, as if it was the carpeted floor I had assumed it to be before I learned the truth.

My parents stared at me in shock, Red Strings had moved too quickly for them to realize what she was doing till I was beginning to cautiously walk around the front of the couch.

"Cloud Walking enchantment, charges off of ambient magic in the air, so you don't have to worry about it draining her, and now you can sleep easy knowing she won't stumble through any walls." She chuckled as I began to run around in earnest, finally getting to properly vent my childish energy, meager as it may be.

"Mom, that couldn't have been very cheap, how much-"

"Don't you finish that sentence Bubbles," Red Strings threatened with a mischievous smile. "It's my duty as a grandmother to spoil my grandfoals." She swept up her daughter, son in law, and me, after a moment, in a hug before departing.

Well that solves one problem we were going to have.

'We still need to figure out how to do this without training wheels, you know?'

I'll get started on filtering through your instincts, see if I can't find the one we need.

'Thank you, now, let's go to bed, running around for a mere two minutes has left me desiring to hit the hay.'

You don't hit the hay, you eat it! You are a pony now.

'Don't even start with the dietary jokes!'

Author's Note

Well here's my chapter for the week, hope you enjoyed. The next one in this story will be a bit different, so look forward to that!

Chapter 5: Moving Day

[18 years, 4 months, 3 days since the reboot]

I was pawing at the train seating underneath me in anticipation, any moment now we would pull into the station, and I would wander around town till I found my new house. This was going to be my first attempt at living on my own, that I could remember, and it made me a bit nervous. Of course, I knew the town I was moving to, in theory, as I had yet to visit, but knowing where you're moving to is potentially the most dangerous location in Equestria, doesn't help even a little.

The train stopped, and the conductor made his announcement. "All those bound for Ponyville, This is your stop!"

I sucked in a breath and made my way to the door, but I couldn't make my wings stop twitching for the life of me.

I hopped down onto the platform, the only things I had on me were my bit purse, new camera, and the keys to my new place. The rest of my belongings were being shipped over in a day or two, but the pad came with some sparse furniture, and I could always nab a cloud to make a proper bed. But none of that mattered as something zipped through the crowd towards me.

It was on me in an instant. I didn't even have time to react to its unmistakable sounds of approach. I stopped. sighed, and turned around to face this new challenge.

She was about two hooves taller than I was, which roughly translated to eight inches, but I was kinda short at just three feet seven inches, so it's kinda normal for those I meet to be taller than I am. Her curly pink mane was just a few shades darker than my coat, while her own fur was a shade or two lighter than mine. Her blue eyes were already shrinking into pin pricks at the sight of me, and her cutie mark was of a yellow balloon, flanked on either side by blue ones. She had a small bit of fat on her, but it was in all the right places to accentuate her figure, so it was actually a boon to her appearance, rather than a hindrance.

No matter what I did, this was going to happen whether I liked it or not, so I might as well get a little fun out of it.

The pink blur sprang into the air, but I interrupted her mid gasp. "Hello Pinkie Pie."

She froze, mid motion, three feet off the ground, and got three seconds of air as she adjusted to the information. "You know who I am?"

"Yes, I have seen this coming for a long time..." I said in a somber tone, the pink mare took on an air of confusion. "I knew one day, that you and I would meet, and life would never be the same, because..."

"Because what?" She leaned closer, caught off guard and worried as to why I sounded sad about our meeting.

"Because I'm moving here, and if your reputation is to be believed, you throw the best parties in Equestria hooves-down!"

She stopped, took half a second to think, and then immediately brightened up to casual Pinkie Pie levels of happiness. "Yesiree! No party is like a Pinkie Party!" she proclaimed.

"So I've heard! I'm looking forward to it, my name is Glitter Drops by the way." I introduced myself, holding out a hoof.

Pinkie bumped her hoof into mine. "I'm Pinkie Pie! But you already knew that! I gotta go, even I can only set up a party so fast! And yours is already two minutes behind schedule! I'll come by your place to pick you up in exactly fifty seven minutes, so be ready!" With that, she disappeared, not ran off at impossible speeds, just disappeared, and I expected no less.

'Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.'

Don't jinx yourself yet, you've only got most of an hour to find your house and get set up before you're zipped off to party land.

'Yeah yeah, which way from the train station was it?'

You go straight for two blocks, then turn left, head past town hall and you'll find the new residential district. It's the fifth building on the right at the back row.

'Thank you~'

I opened up my wings and gave them a quick stretch as warm up before taking off, letting the warm rising air carry me higher into the air. I lazily glided past town hall and banked toward the newly constructed houses, Ponyville's first expansion in a generation. Yet, looking at it from above, nothing seemed any bigger than it was on the show, so I supposed that things hadn't changed too much. I counted out rooftops till I found the house that I undoubtedly owned, as it was the only one that didn't have a garden or any decoration of any kind.

I alighted down to get a good look at the face of the two story structure. White stained, stone walls, held together by wooden beams, and a brown shingle roof. Unlike my neighbors houses, it didn't have a touch of personality. Where the wood beams on theirs had designs carved into them, or been painted, mine had nothing but the absolute basics, the walls were bare of any paint, and I personally found the shingles ugly.

It was the most basic house you can imagine, that still had a spark of small town rustic charm.

I loved it.

A brand new, perfect canvas for me to etch endless details upon, till it was scarcely recognizable from the original structure.

But that would have to wait till tomorrow, as I had a party to attend. I skipped up to the front door and manipulated the keys with my wing, then swung the door open. A single faux-leather chair was all that could be found inside for furniture, aside from the fireplace.

I sqeed.

Geez, I know you're excited and all but-

'It's like a dream come true for a decorator! I specifically asked that they give me the most basic house they could build, and look at it! there's so much potential I might faint!'

One, you're not a decorator.

'Bull! I like making things pretty! That includes exterior, and interior design!'

And two, since we don't have a fainting couch on hand, nor have we met the mare who does, I suggest you take a few deep breaths, who knows what Pinkie would do if she found you passed out on the floor of an empty house.

I did as I was instructed, and looked around my shell of a future home a bit more. There was an unfinished basement, and I nearly keeled over, again. A few more warnings from my brain got me to keep moving.

The bathroom was devoid of all color, and the mirror was a simple rectangle, the shower was one built for earth ponies and the like, so a long repositionable handle with several hoofholds on it so one can rinse off even the hardest to reach places. The kitchen had a stove, a sink, counters, and a simple boxy table to eat meals on. Next up on the tour was the bedroom, and that’s all it was, a twin bed, unpainted wood walls, and an empty room.

I couldn't help but fantasize about all the different looks I could give my room. Pink walls with a few low couches and throw pillows sounded good, but I also wanted to add in rich hardwood flooring, perhaps also paint the ceiling white, just so it would have that homey feel.

On the other hoof, I could paint a mural of the night sky, get some nice green leaf patterned wallpaper, and tile the floor. A recliner and loveseat set out around a circular coffee table for reading and chatting with others in a more private location.

There was also the option to carpet the floors, go with a deep fecha that fades to light blue on the walls, and a stained wood ceiling. And I hadn't even thought about what to do to the bed, or what posters to put up yet!

My wings fluttered as I thought about the multitude of options I had, and I was giggling absentmindedly. I flopped onto the box spring bed and stared at the ceiling.

'Definitely a mural, but what kind? I could do a nice landscape, or a picture of my family! Oh! maybe I should do something weird like countless balloons, so when I wake up every morning, it's just an explosion of colour that puts me in a bright mood for the rest of the day! what do you think?'

I liked the idea of the night sky, but it's ultimately up to you, since it's your house.

'Pah! I know! and it's sooooo exciting! but I need help, and who better to ask than yourself?'

That kinda makes my opinion mute doesn't it? since it's just what you thought anyway?

'Nah! It's always good to get a second opinion, and I know I couldn't have passed high school without you, so you get a lot of influence here!'

...I'll think about it, but just so you know, Pinkie will be here in three minutes.

'Huh? Where did all the time go?'

It went into staring at blank walls and thinking of so many colours I'm surprised they didn't start glowing like a rainbow rave.

'Hah! I could totally do that! it'd just be temporary.'

I got up and headed back downstairs, resting in the sole chair of the house as I went over my wings, making sure I didn't have any feathers out of place.

You're supposed to do that in the bathroom! now dispose of those before someone sees!

I rolled my eyes and carried a mouth full of old feathers to the bathroom, spitting them out in the waste bin and then started fixing my hair in the mirror, adjusting the hairbands that held my mane in place over my shoulders. Then I checked my tail, and brushed out a few knots, before replacing it's band.

You are such a mare.

'You act like I've been anything else my whole life.' I giggled, swapping brushes and smoothing out my coat.

You coulda been! You might have been a dude before the reboot.

'I also could have been a girl, or a non-binary, or a random hunk of the internet that Discord grabbed and shoved into the head of a filly, that last one would actually explain some of the more random things I know.'

And the amount of 'personal videos' you've got up here.

'Hey! It's not my fault I can't remove any of that stuff! You think I want some of that crap swimming around in my head, waiting for me to drop my guard, so it can flash to the front of my mind and make my wings go stiff?'

Sometimes, I can never tell what you're into, and the wings don't go rigid or stiff, good old instincts just make you display them to a potential mate when you think naughty things.

'I am not into that kind of thing! and I know that, it's just faster to say wingies, wing boners, and the like.'

The doorbell rang, which is odd since I don't have one. Moving back into the living room, I could see Pinkie bouncing up and down outside the window. I smiled at her as I went and opened the front door, which she was already standing at as if I hadn't seen her halfway across the house.

"Hey Glitter! We're ready to go! Normally I'd throw you a surprise party, but since you already knew about it, it wouldn't be much of a surprise, so this is just going to be a Welcome-To-Ponyville Party! but the next party I throw you is going to be a surprise party! Or is it? You won't know until you get there! Anyway, there is just one more thing I need to grab for the party"

I laughed and stepped out onto the porch with her, locking the door quickly and then following her out. "And what would that be? Extra balloons?"

"Nope!" She bounced down the road, making sproinging noses as she went.

"Cake?"

"Nu-uh!"

"The guest of honor?" I guessed, and Pinkie shot me a smile, then again she had been smiling the entire time, so she might have just turned to look at me.

"No, but that's important too! I just have to head back to Sugarcube Corner and grab one last tray of cupcakes, then we're off to par~tay!"

I rolled my eyes and smiled at her. "Y'know, I think this is the start of something great."

"Well of course it is! Why else would we be here, instead of back there? I just couldn't wait any longer, I had to get this done right away, or I felt like it would never happen!"

"What do you mean?" I felt like I was missing something, but it probably wasn't important.

"Okay! I got the cupcakes, now we can head on over and I can introduce you to all the ponies I know!" She shoved a full tray of chocolate dipped vanilla cupcakes into her mane and started bouncing away from the pastry and sweets themed shop.

'Odd, I don't remember when we got here, I thought it would take a few minutes longer than that.'

Don't question it, it's Pinkie, down that road leads to headaches and more voices in your head.

"That's not right, it's this road over here, silly filly," she giggled.

Before I could question whether or not she could hear me discuss things with my brain, the much more logical option appeared, I had gotten lost in thought and she had turned a corner I hadn't seen her take.

'That makes more sense, and I refuse to believe other options at this current time.'

I caught back up with Pinkie as she pronked down another street. "So, where is this party at?"

"You'll see!"

I frowned at her. "I thought you said this wasn't a surprise party."

"It's not! You know about the party, so it can't be a surprise, but it can be a surprise where it is!"

"I can't really argue with that, fair enough. So, are we almost there?"

"Yuppers!" She turned left and bounced down one final street before coming to a stop, turned around and waved to the building on my right. I looked at it with confusion, as it was my house, only now it had balloons, streamers, games, and ponies all over!

"Okay, how did you do that? we were only gone for three minutes, there's no way you could get this set up that fast."

"Surprise! It's also a house-warming party!" Pinkie cheered, jumping into the air, a burst of confetti shot out of each of her hooves.

Don't question it, just have fun.

I followed her into my front yard, where a game of twister was being set up. "Thanks Pinkie, it really means a lot."

"No problem, I'm always happy to throw a party for one of my friends, speaking of, I'd like to introduce you to a few!" She bounced to the side, revealing three mares.

The one on the left was an orange earth pony with a blonde mane, she had green eyes and wore a stetson. Her cutie mark was of three apples. She was easily three inches taller than Pinkie, and the well toned curves of her figure spoke of how she could split a boulder in half with one hoof, not to mention she looked plain amazing in that "farmer’s gorgeous daughter" kinda way.

In the middle was a Snow white Noctis - a variant of unicorn with a downswept horn, kinda like a reverse Sombra, and superior magic control - She had a perfectly curled purple mane and gorgeous blue eyes. Her cutie mark was of three blue diamonds. she was a bit on the taller side for unicorns, which is a highly sought after trait, as it makes them appear more regal or important, all I really knew was that taller unicorns looked really good. Did I mention that there wasn't an ounce of fat on her? there wasn't much muscle either but she simply glowed with elegance and beauty.

The last mare was one that I had actually had the pleasure of meeting before. As usual, she was two inches taller than I was, her butter yellow fur was complimented perfectly by her long sweeping pink mane, and one of her gentle cyan eyes was hidden behind it. Her wings were large, as an Imperial's usually are, and her cutie mark was of three butterflies. She was the kind of lucky mare who didn't even have to try to look like the epitome of equine beauty, I was still a little jealous of that fact, but I'd never tell anypony.

"Howdy, th' name’s Applejack." The orange mare tipped her hat to me, I nodded back to her with a smile.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, darling, my name is Rarity." she held out a hoof, but it wasn't held straight out, it was left to hang ever so slightly from the wrist. most non unicorns, and even quite a few of them as well, likely wouldn't have noticed that it was a different gesture than normal, and I was suddenly thankful Granny Red Strings had taken me over to Canterlot so many times, as I was able to recognize the slight change and gave her the traditional unicorn greeting.

It's a simple move really, you take the offered hoof with your own overturned, then you both bow over, for a mare their right, stallion the left shoulder, out of respect for the other individual. Going by her reaction, I assume she wasn't expecting to actually receive the proper greeting, and likely held her hoof like that more out of practiced habit than expectancy, but she hid her surprise at receiving it rather well.

"Oh, hi Glitter, it's been a while." the yellow mare greeted softly.

I held out a wing and she timidly placed her own over it, and I nodded. "Indeed it has, Flutters, I trust you've been well since we last saw each other? You look good."

She smiled warmly at the compliment and the friendly face, although her cheeks gained the slightest hint of embarrassment, which she hid well by tilting her head, causing her mane to cover a bit more of her face. "It's going to be nice having you around town, it'll be like old times, I'm glad you decided to move here." She retracted her wing, and I did the same.

"It's nice to know I'll have someone I was friends with back home at my new home, will make settling in easier."

"You two were already friends? That's great! Come on, there are a lot more ponies for you to meet!" Pinkie bounced over to a mint green mare and waved at me excitedly.

I chuckled and turned back to Fluttershy, Rarity, And Applejack. "Well, I guess I gotta go, I'll meet you over by the punch bowl after I'm done burning the names of all the towns ponies into my mind."

Fluttershy nodded in agreement, with a whispered "Okay."

"I would be delighted to speak with you further." Rarity said, looking at the drab exterior of my house. "To be honest, and I mean no offence darling, I was hoping we could talk decorating."

"Sounds like a plan t' me." Applejack held out her hoof to me, and I gave it a good knock, the sound got drowned out by the party, but still reached my ears.

'I fricken love that sound.'

I still don't know why.

'Neither do I, just do.'

Ah, well that explains it.

I then turned and trotted off towards Pinkie. "Alright, this is Lyra..."

"-and now you know everypony in town!"

'Brain, did we get all of that? I think she went a bit too fast for me to properly memorize all those names.'

We got most of it, I'm trying to keep a few names from slipping away, but it's kinda hard to focus on all of them at the same time.

I nodded and smiled at the pink mare."It was really nice of you to introduce me to everyone, a party like this seems like a good place for first impressions, since everyone is all smiles."

"I know, right? Anyway, I gotta go drop off the extra goodies before the snack table runs out." she pulled me into a brief hug, then bounced away. I shook my head slightly, which alerted me to an odd weight that had found its way up there.

it was one of the chocolate dipped vanilla cupcakes from earlier, biting into the center revealed strawberry filling. "My favorite, of course." I tossed the rest of the confection into my mouth and enjoyed the perfect blending of flavours. I then leapt up into a hover, scanning the yard for my target, and then glided over. "Hello again."

"Howdy."
"Welcome back darling."
"How did it go? Uhm, if you don't mind me asking. "

"It went fine, I'm not sure I properly filed away all the names in my noggin, but everypony was really nice."

"Oh that's wonderful to hear!" The yellow mare's smile brightened, before she ducked back behind her mane to hide it. I laughed good naturedly.

I then set my wing her her back and pulled her into a side hug. "So, since I already know this wonderful mare, how about the two of you tell me about yourselves?"

"Well, like ah said before, mah' name's Applejack, and me an' mah' family take care of Sweet Apple Acres, biggest apple farm around." The farm mare stated proudly, looking to her left at the massive sprawling fruit trees that lined an entire side of Ponyville, they could even be seen from here. The orchards also created a buffer between most of the town and the Everfree Forest.

"That sounds amazing, Sweet Apple Acres is known Equestria wide for having the best apples there are, not to mention the only farm in Equestria to grow zap apples." I complimented her, and she took the praise without it inflating her ego.

"Always good ta hear ponies are enjoying what me and my family provide."

Rarity cleared her throat politely to get our attention. "I'm positive you've heard of Ponyville's most fabulous designer."

I mentally rolled my eyes. "Indeed, Miss Rarity Belle, proud owner of Carousel Boutique. Your designs are considered the next up and coming thing in several circles, I just wanted to hear you say it."

The Nocits was practically glowing with the praise. "Well, I'm sure one such as yourself knows that a lady mustn't boast."

"Fair enough, but your designs are really quite good, three years ago, my grandmother stumbled upon some of your designs from your fall lineup, and was inspired, she made one of her better lines the following spring. She's not as well known as most designers, but Red Strings says you've got more potential than a lot of other aspiring fashionistas out of Manehattan." While I was just trying to get into her good graces, I wasn't lying. Granny really did like Rarity's designs, they were bold, elegant, and original, and most if not all of them were tastefully accented by gemstones.

"Why, thank you darling, compliments are always appreciated."

"Rumor is you're trying to make a new fabric, any truth in that?" I already knew it was, but there was no reason to bring that up.

"Why I... Oh I suppose there is no harm in telling you, so long as you don't share this with anyone."

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." I recited the motions.

"Hey! You already knew my super special Pinkie Promise? Who showed you it?" Pinkie popped up upon my completion of the ritual, surprising no one.

"Sorry, Pinkie Promised not to tell on them." 'Right brain?'

Yup, it was amusing to watch as well.

"Okay, that makes sense!" She bounced away to make sure everyone was still enjoying themselves.

"Well?" I prompted, Rarity gave me a funny look over the rim of her glass, then her eyes widened in recognition.

She levitated her glass back to the table. "Oh yes, I am indeed trying to make a new type of fabric. It's going to be stretchy, but not clingy, shimmery, but not showy."

"Sounds like something designers have been wanting since forever." I thought aloud as I tried to convert the dresses from the show into what they would look like in real life.

"Oh indeed! I'm still in the testing phases, but I'm getting closer, I can feel it. When I make my first few dresses out of this cloth, it's going to be a major milestone."

"It certainly would!"

Does she even know that she's trying to make Miracle Cloth?

'They never do, it's always something a designer will come up with on their own, and then discover it's something ponies have been trying to make forever.'

Miracle Cloth was first discovered entirely by accident, pre-Discordian era. During his reign, nearly all written information was lost, this included the creation process for Miracle Cloth. After his imprisonment, only seven bolts of the substance remained, and most of it was used to make a pair of dresses for the alicorn sisters, the rest was unfortunately destroyed in attempts to learn it's composition. The dresses themselves were lost with the destruction of the castle of the two sisters. Of course, after NMM's banishment, Celestia had all evidence of her sister removed from the history books in an attempt to hide Luna from ridicule upon her return, and of course, some of the books were hidden away behind secret panels in certain older libraries.

Honestly, it's almost as good as the internet, searching for a particular piece of information? tap the back on thicker or wall mounted bookshelves, the mcguffin panel will have what you need.

'It does not always have what we were looking for, but it was always interesting. You have to admit that it's useful when it does work, plus, most ponies aren't nosey enough to do such a thing.'

Fluttershy shifted underneath my wing, so I looked to her. "Something the matter?"

"Oh, it's nothing, it's just, uhm, there are alot of ponies out here."

"That's alright Flutters, you don't have to be afraid to speak your mind you me, we can pick this up inside, I locked the door, so the only pony that could possibly have gotten in there is Pinkie."

I tilted my head towards the front door. "Shall we?"

"Certainly darling."

"Ah got nothing needing doin at the moment."

With everyone in agreement, I lead the three of them through the crowd of ponies and to the front door, unlocked it, and took them upstairs. Passing by the kitchen revealed a cake set on the table, which couldn't have possibly gotten inside here, telling me it was Pinkie.

Rarity seemed displeased to learn that the inside was just as bland as the outside, Applejack didn't seem to mind, and Fluttershy was too shy to make her opinion well known. I opened the door to the bedroom and opened the window. "Alright, I’ma go grab some clouds for some temporary furniture, you three make yourselves comfortable in the meantime." The three of them nodded and I took off.