High in the sky, the moon already shone through the cloudless night. I had to fight off a yawn as I struggled up the stairs. Today had been unpleasantly long at work, and I didn’t have time to go pony to relax. Emily wouldn’t have allowed it even if I tried to, She’d demand I let her go pony as well, and I knew she still had those fucking pictures of me she’d taken. The battle to climb the stairs was finally over, and my destination in sight, through the open door into my bedroom, I could see it. Dark blue sheets and pristine white pillows, all freshly washed this morning before my shift at work. The siren song of sleep played in my ears as I unceremoniously stripped off the red and orange work shirt. Tossing my name tag to the side with a flick of my wrist before my legs gave out, and I crumpled into bed. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I almost immediately felt the welcome darkness of sleep overtake me.
Sleep had become rather strange since I turned into the Princess of the night. Like always, I seemed to be in pony form in my dreams. My four hooves stood on the surface of an almost glasslike ocean, stretching as far as my eyes could see. The only light was provided by the stars above me and by what appeared to be coloured dots on the horizon. With a sigh, I settled down and adjusted my wings to get comfortable. It was a lesson I’d learnt the first few nights after I went pony initially. No matter how far I travelled in my dream, I could never reach the lights on the horizon.
There were more than there had been before, the horizon covered in bright colours that blurred together at such a distance. I sighed; on the bright side, I always felt refreshed in the morning. However, these dreams were painfully dull and seemed to match real-time, so I could practically count the minutes until morning. Looking up, I couldn’t help but smile. Even if my nights had become tortuously slow, it wasn’t without its benefits. Above me was an utterly stunning starfield, utterly alien to any that I’d ever seen before. Vast swirling nebulas and galaxies moved in the heavens above me whilst the soft twinkle of the stars gave me light to see. Even with the abundance of light in the distance, there wasn’t any light pollution, granting me an unfettered view of the cosmos. Of all the side effects of taking Pon-E, I couldn’t help but enjoy that part a little. A portion of me wondered if anypony else would experience this, or if it was just because I turned into Luna?
A sudden flash on the horizon snapped me from my thoughts as I squinted to try and make out what had caused the burst of light. In the distance, the usual multicolour blur of lights brightened as I watched a shimmering pink orb burst into life, far closer than the smear of coloured lights in the distance. Steadily it grew in size as it hurtled towards me, a wake forming beneath it as the glassy ocean I stood on was stirred up by the orb. Only for it to slow to a halt a short distance away as I sat in shock. The rough rules I had figured for whatever my dreams had become had been shattered, all the times before they had remained a constant. Now? If my dreams were changing, could that mean this wasn’t just my dream?
“That’s… .that’s not happened before,” I muttered. The only sound amidst the near-total silence was my voice as it echoed out through the vast emptiness around me. The pink orb had stopped moving, allowing the previous stillness to return as the water beneath it returned to its glassy state. Tentatively I stood, my hooves touching the surface of the water, sending tiny ripples outwards from me. I wasn’t sure how much time I spent lost in thought, trying to understand what had just happened. Eventually, I started to move towards the shimmering orb, a soft tugging sensation at my core, as if it was calling out to me.
I wasn’t sure how but I knew this had to be the gateway to a pony’s dream. Which meant that this wasn’t my dream; the fact that I was in the dreamscape didn’t phase me as much as it probably should have. It was something I had suspected almost immediately, but this actually confirmed it. As I drew closer to the orb, I could see a practically black aura wafting from it; the growing blackness threatened to smother the light given off from the sphere. That I could only guess meant that whoever the pony was, they were having a nightmare. Despite my growing concern at the realisation where I was, I wouldn’t let somepony suffer when I was able to help them.
As I leaned forward to touch my horn to the orb, I stopped. Muscle memory and instinct told me this was the right way to enter a dream when I was here. The fact that I had muscle memory in this body raised warnings in my mind. Maybe turning into Luna was leaving more side effects than I’d noticed. I shook my head, now was not the time to get distracted. One of my ponies was suffering, and I would not allow that to continue. My horn touched the glowing orb just as I realised what I’d just thought. Before I could address that, a wave of magic flowed over me as my stomach twisted into a knot, and a surge of pink light forced me to screw my eyes shut.
____________________________________________________________________________
When I finally opened my eyes, the whole space had changed. Gone was my familiar dreamscape. The dark star-filled sky had been replaced by what appeared to be a modest two-story house, dozens of colts and fillies sprinting around as their laughter filled the air. I couldn’t help but shudder, this whole experience felt like I was invading someone’s privacy, yet at the same time, I knew this was the right course of action. I wouldn’t forgive myself because somepony suffered when it was within my power to help them.
Casting my gaze across the room revealed some peculiar details; a large banner hung from the ceiling, proclaiming “Happy 6th Birthday Freddy!” It wasn’t hard to guess that the birthday boy...birthday colt? Whatever the correct term was. I could tell that Freddy was the two-tone brown earth pony colt currently sat surrounded by a mound of gifts with a few other foals gathered around him. It was rather weird, in all honesty. The colts and fillies sprinting around barely came halfway up my leg as I stood in the corner of the room.
My ears flicked when I thought I heard what sounded like a sniffle, but from what I could see, none of the foals were upset. Moments later, I caught another sniffle and what could have been a small sob. The sob pushed me to start trying to weave my way through the veritable ocean of party going youngsters, my height and size allowing me to cut a path through the constantly changing tide. The room itself was more extensive than I’d first thought. A small alcove poked out with a large bay window surrounding it. Lying on a pillow in the nook and staring out through the bay window at a different house was a bright pink mare, her mane a tangled mess that reminded me of cotton candy. However, what caught my attention was her eyes, bloodshot and red around the edges, watery trails leading down her cheeks as she watched the other house.
As I drew closer, I could see that the lights in the other house were on, illuminating a much different scene. Humans, older than me, were having some kind of party. I swore I almost could hear the pulsing bass from their music as I saw men and women dancing, drinking and partying. I looked down at the pink mare to try and see what she was looking at specifically, following her eyes to a brown leather couch by the other house’s window. On it, a man and a woman sat, practically intertwining their bodies together. At a guess, I’d say they were roughly in their mid-30s. Beside me, the pink mare’s ears folded against her head as I heard her mutter something I couldn’t make out. Another look at the human’s revealed what had set her off. The woman had just been thrown a small bag of something.
“Enough of this,” I growled, charging my horn to try and dispel the dream. I’d seen Luna do it in the show, so I knew I should be able to do it. The tug of magic in my horn pulsed as I tried to force the dream into something more positive, or at least to prevent what I suspected was about to happen. My horn flashed as I unleashed the magic, trusting it would reshape the dream. Instead, the pink mare’s ears lifted as her head snapped over to me, shuffling away in panic.
“W-what the buck are you! W-where am I!” She practically screamed, quickly drowning out the happy laughter of the foals. I froze, realising that I’d not dispelled the dream at all. Instead, I was guessing that I’d just “woke” her up in the dream. By the time I’d gathered my thoughts, the pink mare looked like she was on the verge of a heart attack based on the pinprick sized pupils and how hard she fought for breath.
“We beseech thee, be still, thou art dreaming.” I started as I gently reached a hoof out to try and calm the mare. Suddenly regretting my size advantage over her, it probably wasn’t helping me avoid freaking her out. Then again, I suspected the old ponish wasn’t helping either, for that matter. “We art Luna, Guardian of dreams. We sensed thine turmoil and refused to allow thine suffering to continue.”
“L-luna? Like Princess Celestia’s sister?” the mare said, seemingly not believing who I was. Whilst her words left me reeling, Who was this mare? Was it possible she was an actual Equestrian? How would someone be taking Pon-E without knowing what Luna looked like for most of the show? “B-but I saw her after she was cleansed by the elements of harmony. She’s small and has a blue mane, not tall like you.”
“Thou hath seen her after the elements’ power? During the first season premiere, correct?” I asked, internally at war with myself. If she didn’t know what I was talking about, that would mean the mare was a true equestrian. Did that mean that I had stolen a princess’ body? What had actually gone into making the Pon-E? Suppose I hadn’t stolen a Princess’ body and just got lucky being turned into an alicorn. Could I be arrested for impersonating royalty? I didn’t want to consider the potential that Equestria was actually real because that just raised more questions. The rapidly building panic attack was thankfully stopped when the mare nodded.
“Yeah, my son and his friend showed me the first two episodes, I think? It gets a little messy after that.” She said, rubbing a hoof against her temple as she spoke, wincing slightly in pain. I guessed by getting a little messy, she probably had fallen asleep, which would explain why she couldn’t remember. If I remembered correctly, episode three was the ticket master, and I couldn’t really blame her for falling asleep during that one. “Oh! My name’s Limelight; I should have probably said that earlier. It’s a pleasure to meet you, your majesty.”
“Truly, a pleasure to meet thee Limelight. We must admit some trepidation about entering thine dream.” I admitted with a soft shrug of my wings. “This the first time we hath attempted such a feat, thine dream appeared near to us in what we believe to be the dreamscape. When we became aware of a presence to thine dream that was not thine own, we were spurred to act. Pray tell, what might be the source of this discomfort?”
Limelight’s jaw dropped as she listened to me speak, looking around at the still ongoing party with utter confusion. The moment her gaze returned to the window, I saw her ears fold against her head once more. “I-i think I can tell why you felt something was wrong with my dream….”
She paused for a moment, taking a shaky breath as I looked out the window. I elected to let her decide when to speak, merely moving so that I was sat next to her. My sheer size quickly provided her support in my most literal sense. I’d seen ponies do this before in the show, particularly Celestia comforting a distraught twilight. So trusting that it would have the desired effect, I reached a wing out to drape over the mare’s side. A small smile crept onto my muzzle as Limelight leaned against my side, using a hoof to pull the wing tighter as she shuddered.
“Do you see the two humans on that couch?” She started, drawing my attention once more to the man and woman. The woman seemed thoroughly out of it. I guessed she’d taken whatever was in the bag. “That’s me, the guy on the left.” Limelight said her voice barely above a whisper. I hadn’t anticipated that she was a man whilst not on Pon-E. It was nice to know I wasn’t the only one flipping gender when on the drug. Although I was unable to stop, a soft chuckle escaping me.
“We art male as a human as well, tis certainly an...interesting change to say the least,” I commented, hoping she wouldn’t take offence at my chuckle. A glance down revealed the remnants of glare on her face fading as she sighed and shook her head.
“That party was the night of our son’s sixth birthday. So maybe that’s what the mess behind us is supposed to be?” We both turned to look at the party behind us, the foals all having descended on the cake I had spotted before, leaving only a few crumbs on the now empty plate. Limelight definitely had seen children on a sugar rush first hand. I had to suppress a shudder at the memory of my sister’s 8th birthday when I’d been asked to help run it. “See the brown colt over there?”
“He showed me a picture of what he looks like as a pony, and well, it seems that my subconscious decided to make this dream accurate.” I looked over to the one that I’d guessed was Freddy earlier. The same foals were with him before; Two pegasi, a blue coat and a green filly, as well as a green unicorn filly. “Those foals with him are his friends right now; his actual sixth birthday wasn’t with them, we had it with everypon- Everyone from his class. That night, my wife and I were invited to an old friend’s party.”
Limelight turned back to look through the window, prompting me to follow her gaze. The scene across from us had taken a turn for the worst. The man Limelight had identified as herself was shaking the woman on the sofa. I could see the woman’s eyes had glazed over, and aside from the occasional twitch, she wasn’t responding. Despite the unfolding scene, the rest of the human partygoers hadn’t seemed to notice, or if they had, they simply didn’t care.
“We were tired from the party, and I suppose the easiest way to put it is that things got out of hand that night.” The pink mare said, her voice weak and shaking as we watched the man lift his wife over his shoulder and stagger for the door. The sound of muffled yelling barely made it past the window, but I could still hear it. “We both had a past with that kind of thing, you know? I suppose we were both too drunk to really know what Kerry was doing. I-i”
I simply tightened the hold my wing had on her as I felt the mare shudder in my embrace. The sound of sniffling grew louder as I felt a wet muzzle pressed into my side. Out of the window, I noticed motion and watched as a car roared off down the street, driven by the human Limelight. Filling in the blanks from there wasn’t exactly difficult. Hopefully, it would spare Limelight the pain of having to say it out loud at the very least.
The sound of the party behind us continued as the world outside the window faded to black. The house opposite us vanished into the oncoming void, leaving us face to face with our reflections. My mane floated lazily in the air, its gentle motion the only reminder that time was still passing. At my side, Limelight remained motionless, sheltering under my wing with her face hidden in my coat. I was at a loss. From what I could understand, Limelight’s wife had suffered some sort of overdose. Limelight had driven her to the hospital whilst drunk. I did my best to hide my face with my mane as I paled; the uncomfortable possibility was that they had been in an accident on the way to the hospital.
I couldn’t bring myself to speak, concerned that if I interrupted her, she’d not start again. The brightly decorated room all around us was almost mocking Limelight’s suffering with its cheerful appearance. I could only curse my failure at controlling this dream. The mare sobbing at my side made my heart ache with guilt. Adjusting my wing to shield her from our surroundings, hoping to give her some peace and quiet. Moments passed in silence, the sound of childish joy contrasted by the muffled wailing from beneath my wing, the wetness of Limelight’s tears slowly moved down my side.
“S-she was the love of my life, and” She finally muttered, barely loud enough for me to hear. I remained silent to allow Limelight to speak, my wing giving her what I hoped was a reassuring squeeze. “And it’s my fault she’s gone… after I lost her, it was all I could do to hold it all together. I know that Freddy thinks that I don’t care, but I do; it’s a nightmare to try and express it.”
Limelight once more fell into silence, leaving me to reflect on what she said as I looked at the dream around us. Could the party mean more than just the day that she lost her wife? Part of my mind started to try and dissect the dream more. The colours of the pony dominated area seemed brighter and more inviting, whilst once Limelight and her wife had driven off, that entire human section of the dream had collapsed. My eyebrows shot up as the pieces fell into place. The stray thought that perhaps this intuition was also coming from my transformation into Luna. Regardless I had a potential path to assist Limelight, and Princess or not, I wasn’t going to let a pony suffer like she had.
“Pray tell, what does thee see when thou look behind us?” I ventured, lifting my wing from the mare as she turned. Absentmindedly I noted how her mane wobbled slightly with her movement. I watched as her pink eyes traced over the room, only stopping to linger on the colt version of her son.
“I-i don’t know, some sort of weird version of my son’s birthday? The last time we really had a relationship, if I’m honest.”
“We do not intend to impose but, perchance this could thine subconscious trying to present a change of course? A new chance to reform parental bonds with thy child through this new experience?” Limelight nodded along as I spoke, practically clinging to my every word. Admittedly, this wasn’t the most revolutionary idea possible. Still, perhaps an external suggestion was what she needed as a push in the right direction. Before I could continue, the mare burst out laughing. She looked up to me, her previously almost hollow looking eyes now glinting with genuine cheer.
“So, princess, your advice is” She was forced to stop and snort back a bout of laughter that threatened to overwhelm her. “Your advice... is to not look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Silence fell between the two of us as Limelight grinned, the tear stains down her cheeks seemingly forgotten as her mood almost completely flipped. “Thou art certain thou are not Pinkamena?”
With a dismissive wave of her hoof, Limelight giggled before turning her gaze back to the colt surrounded by his friends across the room. The gleam in her eyes shifted. It was honestly fascinating to watch her; she was undoubtedly the most expressive pony I had ever seen. Although, I admitted to myself that she was the only other pony I had met in person. If this could even be considered in person. Regardless, I watched as she thought. The subtle twitches of her ears or muzzle suggested she was debating something.
“You know Luna, I suppose as a parent, our task is to make sure our kid is happy, healthy and safe. After I lost Kerry, I lost sight of that task as well. I shut myself off from Freddy when he needed me and failed to connect with him whenever I tried. If what it takes to get my son back is taking a drug to turn myself into a magic pony, then that’s a price I’m willing to pay.” I was a little taken aback as she spoke. Her tone was more akin to a declaration of war than discussing a self-discovery. Limelight looked up at me, a fire practically burning in her eyes.
“Thou art aware that a declaration of intent in a dream is not enough? Actions must back up these words Limelight.”
“Well, yeah, I’m not just going to blow hot air out my ass.” She retorted with a pointed glare at me before hopping to her hooves and looking back at me. “Come on then, let’s go have a look at this party. I wanna see what my brain thinks a party is.”
I remained silent as I followed her, my size advantage allowing me to easily carve a path through the foals whilst Limelight was barely a few inches taller than them. I wondered if she was that size in real life, it would be awkward if her son as a pony was bigger than her, although if he was an earth pony, that wouldn’t surprise me. Our progress was steady, between my measured steps and Limelight’s bobbing and weaving as she practically swam through the ocean of foals with a surprising level of grace. The unsteady course she led seemed to be avoiding the dream version of her son, instead directing us towards a wall lined with photographs. “That is freaky.”
I cocked my head to the side before noticing what she meant. The photographs showed her, another mare and the colt I recognised as her son. All of the photos clearly had been of humans at one time or another, from what appeared to be a trip to Disneyland to a photograph of this party. The glimpses into her past were, in all honesty, bizarre. “Verily, thine subconscious truly has a twisted sense of humour.”
“Say, Luna, have you ever hung out with other ponies in the real world?” Limelight asked as we both shuffled away from the ponified portraits on the wall. I could only sigh at that question.
“We have desired to. However, circumstances beyond our control prevented such an undertaking. Further compounding our troubles is our little sister has an agreement out of us that we would bring her along the next time we go pony.” As I spoke, I lowered myself down, folding my legs how I’d practised in an attempt to be at eye level with Limelight. My height was getting annoying, although if Emily turned into Celestia, at least I’d have someone my size. Then again, Celestia was larger than me in the show, and I was roughly 6 feet tall, over 6 feet counting my horn. Sweet mother of Faust, I wouldn’t want to try to smuggle Emily out of the house if she wound up my size. At least my coat was dark enough to hide in shadows.
“Princess? Hello?” I was snapped from my thoughts by a pink hoof waving in front of my muzzle and a worried-looking Limelight. “You just sat down and stared off into space. Literally, your mane was all over the place. You alright? Worried about your sister? Although I thought you were meant to be the little sister and Celestia was the older sister?”
“We art the elder sister, primarily because whilst we may look like and use the name, we art not the princess Luna from the show. Our name is Neil as a human. Our little sister Emily caught us the first time we used Pon-E.” I sighed and shook my head. “Twas our fault. We weren’t careful enough. However, Emily desires to come with us the next time we go pony, and we art worried for her safety.”
Limelight gently patted my shoulder with a hoof, giving me a look that instantly suggested I was preaching to the choir. It kind of made sense a parent would be used to worrying about someone under their care. The moment lasted for a second before it was broken by the pink mare practically bouncing on her hooves.
“IDEA! Why not bring her to my son’s pony group? They have a meeting this weekend! It’s Tuesday, right? So you’ve got a few days to figure out how to get there. I’ll tell them I’ve invited a friend and you can bring your sister as your plus one! She gets to go pony, in a group environment, so no matter what she turns into, there’ll be somepony to look after her! I’ve already met a couple of my son’s friends, and they were really nice.”
“...Tis an appealing prospect, art thou sure they would not object to our presence? We hath had a somewhat mixed response online when we posted about ourselves.” The urge to jump around and celebrate was almost overwhelming, I’d seen videos of pony get-togethers, and they looked like an absolute blast. Although if I gatecrashed one, I’d hardly be making the best first impression.
“It’ll be alright, don’t worry! How should I contact you with the location and time? I don’t suppose you’ve got an email? PrincessLuna@Moon.Equs?” Limelight was met with a deadpan glare from me. I could barely hold that glare for more than a second before I chuckled and wanted to slap myself for doing so.
“We have an email that thou can reach us at. We beseech thee, do not laugh, tis an account we made before turning into Luna.” Across from me, the pink mare was slowly leaning forward, a grin plastered across her lips in excitement. “This Moonbutt@gmail.com”
“Oh… I was expecting something more dramatic, to be honest.” Before I could reply, I felt the whole dream shake, my horn lighting as I tried to stabilise the dream around us. The party full of foals behind us flickered and faded one by one, the dense crowd disappearing in an instant as the room gradually started to lose the details. Furniture and wall decorations simply vanished in an instant. My magic was barely able to slow down the collapse. My horn burned as if I was trying to lift a building using it.
“What’s happening?!?” The pink mare yelled as she watched the far wall fade and reveal the black void beyond. The foal versions of her son and his friends were next to go. Their tiny bodies collapsing to dust along with the decorations for the party. Limelight looked at me, and for the first time, I saw first-hoof what sheer terror looked like on a pony. Her eyes were watering, her ears folded against her skull, and her coat seemed to slowly be losing its bright pink colour. “Princess?”
“Our time appears to be at an end”, I surmised, the burning in my horn only growing as the room around us fell apart. The small section of wooden floor beneath the both of us was all that remained now, floating amidst an endless black void. In the distance, I swore I could see stars blinking into life as if in response to my presence. As I felt my grip on the dream slipping further, I turned to look at the mare. “Remember to email us the details for the address and time, and we shall see thee and thy son there. Do not be afraid Limelight, this is merely thy mind waking from the dream. We shall not allow anything to hurt thee whilst in our domain.”
Having said my piece, I released the magic in my horn, sending out a pulse of light and practically blinding myself for a moment. When the spots faded from my eyes, I was back in the dreamscape, the water beneath My hooves rippling as I looked around. The pink orb that had been Limelight’s dream was gone. I guessed that meant she must have woken up.
“Did we really just claim this as our domain?” I asked aloud, looking across the now calm waters and admiring the soft twinkle of the stars above me. The lights in the distance were flickering as, one by one, they disappeared, and new ones started to fade in. It was strange to think of this as mine, but part of me thought it was the right thing. I may not be the Princess from the show, but tonight had proven I could enter the dreams of others. Great power comes with great responsibility, it’s cliche, but I felt it was apt in this situation.
“Very well, we suppose this dreamscape is ours then, hardly likely for anypony else to claim it,” I announced to myself as I charged my horn. Gathering magic from myself and pulling it through the dreamscape as the waters around me started to flow away. The lights in the distance gleamed and shone as their colours reflected on the water around me. I could feel the magic building throughout my body, begging to be released. I took one final look around the dreamscape before unleashing the spell and letting the flash of magic flow over me.
Author's Note
I'm going to make a note of whose perspective the chapter is from in the title, just to avoid future confusion for bouncing between PoVs during the events of the story.
Pillars of Creation (Luna)
“You actually managed to dreamwalk last night!” Emily practically yelled at me, loud enough I reflexively went to check that I’d actually shut the door to my room. Recounting my adventure last night certainly had been a challenge as she kept interrupting me at every opportunity. It wasn’t like I could hold it against her. It was pretty damn exciting, although I had yet to get to the two biggest bombshells of my tale.
“If you’d let me speak, I’d tell you what happened when I did it.” Across from me, Emily’s smile grew ever more prominent. Her giddiness was almost infectious as I smiled in response. With a shaky hand, she gestured for me to get on with it, and so I launched into my tale. I had never considered myself much of a storyteller. However, as I recounted my meeting with the pink mare, I was reminded of when we were younger. Practising my reading skills by reading bedtime stories to my baby sister.
Emily practically hung on my every word as I spoke, doing my best to do the dreamscape justice. Its otherworldly appearance was almost impossible to convey despite my best efforts. Even with my best bardic skill, I knew I couldn’t fully capture the practically manic energy possessed by the pink mare. Regardless, my sister was thoroughly enraptured by the story, only for her eyebrows to furrow in thought as I reached the events in the opposite house. “So, Limelight is a mare, but when she is a human, she’s a man?”
“From what she said and what I saw in her memory, yeah. At least it isn’t just me having to deal with that, I suppose.” my words trailed off in a half-hearted chuckle. Deep down, the idea of repeatedly turning myself into a mare was...unsettling. I didn’t really want to spend much time addressing the thought in my head if I could avoid it. The questions of what that made me, why I didn’t feel comfortable in my human body anymore or just why it felt right to have wings pressed against my sides. The more I thought about it, the more questions were raised, and if I could avoid having to confront those, I would. A snort of laughter pulled me from my thoughts, revealing a shit-eating grin plastered across my little sister’s face.
“Well, it isn’t just you then, Big Sis!” The building storm in my head dissipated as, despite my wishes, I found myself chuckling. Em was good like that. “So, you said it wasn’t just the dreamwalk?”
“Yeah, well, I suppose I noticed the other thing this morning when I got up.” This was probably the most awkward part. It definitely wasn’t there when I woke up, and it was pretty damn hard to miss. “Now, this is gonna look a little weird. Just try not to freak out, okay?”
“Alright, my brother who turns into a magic-wielding, dream walking, alicorn princess. I’ll try not to freak out that much. Just a little freak-out, maybe a four out of ten, if that’s an acceptable level of freak out, Your Highness?” Emily deadpanned across from me. In response, I offered a shrug and stood, reaching for the waistband of my jeans. She’d said she wouldn’t freak out so.
The brief noise of protest from her died as soon as my waistband slid down to reveal the sizeable black splodge on my hip. Sliding my jeans down as far as I dared, only to expose the tip of a large pure white crescent moon, perfectly highlighted against the black splodge on my Caucasian skin.
“Not where I expected this to go...is that?” Her voice trailed off as I felt a finger gently prod the darkened skin. “Jesus, there’s no texture difference.”
“That’s Luna’s...or I suppose it’s also my cutiemark, yes,” I answered before pulling my jeans back up and sitting down once more. Emily’s face looked like she was sucking on a particularly sour lemon as she digested the fact I had a full-on cutiemark, only for her lips to creep upwards as if a lightbulb had appeared above her head. “Do not make that reference. I know what you’re thinking.”
“All I’m going to say is if you start turning into her now. Without taking Pon-E, we at least have a few dozen books we can reference and at least three good ones.” Emily said with a shrug. Before I could respond, there was a yell from downstairs, drawing our attention. After a wholly dignified and orderly scramble for the door, we were greeted by our mother waiting on the upstairs landing.
“If you two would actually listen, we’ve got to take the car in for service. The suspension is apparently shot to shit somehow, and your father suggested we take care of this week’s shopping whilst we’re out. Should we bring something home for dinner? We thought maybe Chinese, but there’s a new Korean place that’s opened up recently.” She said, an eyebrow raised at the fact we’d both just emerged from my room.
“I’m good with whatever,” I answered, supported by a nod from Emily. I could guess she just wanted to be rid of our parents as fast as possible. Our mom just shrugged, turning and disappearing back downstairs as we retreated back to my room. Remaining silent until we heard the soft rumble of our parent’s Cadillac Escalade’s engine as it was roused to life. We waited in silence until I was sure our parents had left. I let out a shaky breath I hadn’t realised I was holding in before heading for the small black container hidden in my desk. As I slid a single one of the red and white capsules from the container, I heard Emily gasp from behind me.
“Is that the stuff? Wait! Does this mean I’m gonna be going pony?!” She practically squealed in excitement from behind me.
“Yup, we should hopefully be getting an invite to a party this weekend, ponies only. So you need to get a set of hooves and figure out how to walk.” I answered before tossing the pill across to my sister, sitting back in my desk chair to give her space. If the maths I’d read in one of the threads a few days ago, she would likely be about a third of my size when we were both transformed, which should allow me to carry her and fly at the same time.
“Will this hurt?” Emily asked as she held the pill between her and the light, examining the fluid inside. I couldn’t really blame her, I’d popped one by accident, and the substance inside was just plain bizarre. It smelt vaguely earthy, but I couldn’t tell what made it fizz or actually do what it did.
“It won’t hurt; you pass out after a few seconds. I’ve never actually seen someone transform, so I’m a bit curious what happens.” Emily looked at me before in one fluid motion. She tossed the pill in the air and swallowed it, only for me to chuckle at her shocked reaction to the drug. “Yeah, it fizzes, weird, right?”
My chuckles grew louder as Emily gave me a half nod, a sort of gurgle coming from her throat. I guessed she was trying to speak, but the Pon-E was already starting to kick in. Her eyes slowly glazed over, and in a moment of impressive reactions, if I do say so myself, I had to lunge forwards and catch her from falling off my bed.
As carefully as I could, I placed her back on the bed and moved back to a safe distance. At a glance, Emily seemed to be fast asleep. Still, the subtle twitches from her nose and eyes suggested that something else was going on.
One of the first things I noticed was her hair. Her meticulously straightened, sandy brown hair was already starting to curl at the tips and grow in volume. I watched it becoming thicker and denser as it travelled up to the root of her ponytail. I was in awe as the elastic of the cheap band stretched. I could already tell it wasn’t going to be able to restrain her growing mane.
My attention was pulled away from her hair by a sudden gasp as she arched her back. A series of cracks filled the room as she moved. I could see that Emily’s spine had just shortened. Her ribcage rounding out and stretching the faded T-Shirt she’d been wearing. I could easily hear the difference. Her breathing was deeper now, revealing just how short and shallow she’d been before. I could only guess that the real reason someone on Pon-E passed out was oxygen deprivation as their organs changed.
I slumped back in my chair, practically hypnotised by the steady rise and fall of my sister’s barrel. The transformation kept time with her breathing. With each intake of air, I watched her nose and mouth push out more, merging together into a muzzle with the faintest hints of a blue coat starting to sprout.
The blue coat began to spread like wildfire. First covering Em’s muzzle as it continued to grow before the coat started to cover her face. I looked at the colour and tried to compare it to what my coat usually looked like.
My thoughts were interrupted by another cacophony of cracks. Emily’s head had just changed. Its entire shape was more ponylike, the roots of her bushy mane starting to take on a bright blue colour. I watched her eyebrows scrunch up as her coat continued to spread down, disappearing underneath her shirt.
The light blue spread further and further up her mane. I thought that the curls were growing larger only to realise that her body was shrinking as it transformed. Before I could even digest that information, my eyes were drawn to her hands.
The middle finger of her left hand was growing. Widening as it absorbed the other fingers, creating a fleshy stump with a large nail at the bottom. A shudder passed through me as I watched the newly formed hoof soon grow its covering of soft blue fur. Her other arm followed suit. The creaking of fabric suggested her legs were changing as well. With a thrust of her hips, I watched as a bright blue tail burst free of Emily’s jeans. Barely five minutes had passed, and now Emily was seemingly fully transformed.
She was seemingly fast asleep. Her tiny blue barrel rising and falling gradually as I heard a soft murmur. The light blue curls of her mane shifted as she moved her head, revealing a spiralling horn proudly adorning her forehead. Without even realising it, I had a smile of pure pride on my face. I was going to be able to teach her magic! All I needed to do was wait for her to wake up. Hadn’t taken me more than ten minutes when I transformed, so how long could it take?
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As it turned out, it took almost twenty minutes. The first noise from Emily was a sleepy yawn from behind me. I spun the desk chair around to look at my younger sister with a flick of my leg. Two bright cyan eyes were lazily opening as she stretched. The whole movement was incredibly catlike, making me wonder if that’s what I looked like when I stretched? “Welcome back to the land of the living, sis.”
She hardly dignified my comment with a response, instead showing off her new pony neck as she looked over her body. Any vestiges of tiredness disappeared and were replaced by a giddy grin when she saw the curled blue tail draped over the bed.
It was hard not to laugh watching her. The blue filly struggled and wiggled to free herself of the now loose and baggy human clothes. Her mane flopped to the side as she finally wiggled free, allowing me to get a clear look at her horn. There had been a short little document in /Pon-E/ general talking about appraising a unicorn’s horn. I could see the spirals, which was a good sign. If they were too large, it would be challenging to contain magic when casting spells, but it was hard to channel magic if they were too small. From what I could see, her horn was perfectly formed, unlike some unfortunate folks in the thread.
Now free from her clothes, Emily was enthralled by her own body. Her head tracked side to side as she wagged her tail experimentally. I cleared my throat and watched as her ears perked up and swivelled to face me. The sudden motion prompted a squeak of surprise from the filly.
“What do you think then? Feels comfy, doesn’t it?” I asked, sitting down next to her as she continued to look herself up and down.
“I’m really blue.” was all she could say in response, and honestly, she wasn’t wrong. A slightly curled light blue mane and tail that had already given me a few ideas for how to style them. Complimented by an indigo coat, even in my room’s flat lighting, her coat had a lustrous sheen to it. I had to wonder if I looked that good as a pony, I’d never really sat down and examined my coat before. I felt a small hoof press against my leg as two bright cyan eyes looked up at me. “What now?”
Emily raised a good question, I realised. I needed to teach her how to walk and ideally how to use her magic, nothing fancy, just telekinesis. Those plans were knocked down the priorities when I heard her blowing at her mane to keep it out of her face. It really was long now that I looked at it, easily dangling around what I think were her shoulders. “Let’s get that mane sorted out, shall we? I’ve got an idea that could look cute.”
“Really? Do you expect me to let my brother style my new mane? You used to have frosted tips!” Emily protested, unable to really stop me from lifting her up. Admittedly she was right. My previous dress sense was pretty bad, Hawaiian shirts, anyone? However, I’d done a good bit of reading on the subject. Who’d have expected turning into a pony brings out your inner Rarity?
Despite the protest from the squirming filly under my arm, we navigated to the bathroom. Gently standing her up on the sink countertop gave me pause for thought. “How do you want to style it? You’ve got a lot of mane to work with. I don’t really have this problem, but I did get some extra strength hair bands.”
“More curls,” Emily said, making use of the mirror to glare at me. I simply nodded, reaching into the draws to fish out the curling iron. Despite her small size, I really didn’t want to piss her off. I’d seen the damage a filly bucking a metal sheet could do. Suffice to say, I wasn’t enthusiastic to see what hooves could do to my ribcage.
As I stood there, adding more curls to my sister’s mane, it gave me plenty of time to think. I was convinced her colour scheme was familiar, at least the eyes and mane, but I couldn’t quite place it. Emily was at least enjoying the attention; in between adding curls, she’d taken a few experimental steps once she was used to standing up. I was rather proud at how she’d taken to the whole idea of walking on four legs like a duck to water. Although the stairs would be her first real test.
Just as I was about to put the curling iron away. The reason why Emily’s appearance was familiar clicked in the back of my head. I knew exactly where I’d seen that shade of blue for a mane before, on the floor before my mane had turned into a starfield. Another look at Emily confirmed what I’d been thinking, sending me on a brief googling spree to try and find a picture of Princess Luna as a filly.
“What are you doing?” She asked only to have her question fall on deaf ears as I showed her my phone. The match wasn’t exact. For one, she lacked wings, and her coat was indigo instead of dark blue. However, aside from that, her eyes were the same as Luna’s...or mine, I supposed, and her mane was the same colour as Princess Luna’s from season one.
“Just confirming a little theory”, I replied before showing her the artwork. Her mouth opened to respond before slowly closing as she just glared at me.
“So, I don’t get to be an Alicorn, and I look like a mini Luna?” The filly raged, stomping her hooves against the counter. I assumed it was meant to be a little intimidating or at least evoke some emotion other than the urge I had to proclaim that it was the cutest thing I’d ever seen. Thankfully, I could resist that urge.
Before I could reply, she tossed her mane to the side and hopped down from the counter. The soft clop of tiny hooves on the floor filled the room as she attempted to storm out. The result was far too adorable to describe, especially once I noticed how her curls bounced with each step.
“How about we start trying to teach you magic?” I called out, trying to regain her attention. As soon as I’d said magic, Emily stopped, snapping her head around to look at me with a giddy grin.
“Oh buck, I forgot I had a horn! Come on then!” She exclaimed and galloped off towards my room. I scratched my head and tried to comprehend the 180 she’d just done, from angry to excited. I knew ponies were more emotional; recalling my almost Rarity level exclamations the first time I went pony confirmed that idea for sure.
As I walked back into my room, I was greeted by the sight of Emily literally bouncing up and down in excitement. Her enthusiasm was admirable. Now all I had to do was explain how magic worked...how hard could it be?
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With a frustrated breath, Emily put her hooves together and exhaled. To be blunt, it was going poorly. As it turned out, I had a much more significant power advantage than I’d expected. Our rough estimate was hundreds of times more powerful. Within minutes of transforming, I was lifting clothing or my phone. Whilst Emily struggled to even lift a marble.
“Are we sure this isn’t because I’m a filly? Maybe I’m just not able to control my magic until I’m bigger?” I reached over as she spoke and started to gently scratch her ear.
“I know this is hard, run me through what you’re doing again, and we can try to tweak your technique.” I offered, continuing to gently scratch her head as Emily leaned into my hand. The relaxed sigh from her suggested that being pet felt about as good people..or I suppose ponies in the thread had said it did.
“I’m focusing my magic on my horn, then putting out a kind of beam of magic to surround the marble. Once it’s surrounded, I move the magic, and the marble should go with it.” She said, igniting her horn again before demonstrating what she meant. A light blue beam flowed from her horn to form an orb around the marble with a few tendrils of magic back to her horn.
I watched silently, observing as best I could. When my magic was in use, it seemed far more straightforward, just surrounding the item, and I’d lift it. Maybe there was more technique involved to control it properly?
Emily seemed to be thinking as well. Her muzzle had scrunched up as she squinted at the marble. The flickering tendrils of magic linking her horn and the orb slowly started to trail off, flowing into the sphere. Silence had fallen over us both, two pairs of eyes fixed on the marble as the only sound in the room was the soft hum of my sister’s magic.
As the tendrils flowed into the orb, the edges started to solidify. Where they’d been rough and blurred before, it was taking shape like you’d see in the show. An outer border formed around the swirling light blue magic as the marble wobbled. Beside me, Emily gasped as the marble lifted from the bed, floating in her magic without a single issue before she released her hold. “I...I did it! I’ve got magic!”
With a proud smile fixed on my lips, I spread my arms to offer a congratulatory hug. Emily responded by slamming into my chest hard enough to knock the air from my lungs, hugging her hooves around my neck. I couldn’t even make out what she was saying as I gasped for air, and she cheered in celebration.
“Could you run that by me a second time?” I panted, rubbing the slightly sore section of my side where Emily had squeezed me. How the hell were ponies that strong? If a unicorn could produce what felt like a nearly lethal hug, what was an earth pony capable of? It was a sobering thought to consider that earth ponies could probably buck a door clean off its hinges without breaking a sweat.
“I said that it must be hard fitting this much awesome in such a small package.” Emily reiterated with a cocky smirk that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a certain cyan pegasus. The smirk almost immediately disappeared as she dissolved into a fit of giggling. Soon enough, the two of us were laughing at her antics, it wasn’t particularly funny, but I couldn’t help but join in.
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“I-is this safe?” The blue filly whimpered as she stared down the stairs, I was already down them, ready to catch her if she fell, so in theory, it should be perfectly safe. If anything, I was in the most danger of having a small horned animal stab me as she fell down the stairs. Emily made a great show as she took a deep breath before making her move. Speaking from experience, putting one hoof in front of each other wasn’t tricky. The difficulty came when you were putting one hoof onto a step about six inches below you. This was made worse when you weren’t a six-foot-tall alicorn with rear-mounted padding, but instead, you were a roughly two-foot-tall unicorn filly.
Emily’s blue hoof stretched out into the abyss ahead of her as she tipped forward, trying to find her footing on the step below. Gradually she leaned forward, her foreleg reunited with the ground as she started to move her hind leg to go down. The entire process was painfully slow. Every movement she made was measured and deliberate as if a single careless action could send her plummeting down the stairs. Which, in all honesty, it probably could.
“You’re doing good, nearly there.” I tried to encourage her as she passed the halfway point of the stairs. Gradually as she descended another step, I edged onto the staircase myself, just so if she fell, I could catch her before she even hit the step below. Was I a tad paranoid? Maybe, but I wasn’t going to let my sister hurt herself if I could help it.
“Catch me!” I heard the yelp as a blue blob flung itself at me, nearly startling me enough that I missed her. Emily cushioned herself as she landed against my chest, her ears folded against her head as she looked back at the stairs. “Sorry, I missed the step and kind of jumped.”
Before I could even open my mouth to reply, our moment of relief was interrupted by the sensation of moving backwards. I felt Emily curl up tightly on herself from her position in my arms as we fell down the stairs. In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have been standing straight with both feet on the same step. As we fell backwards, I shielded Emily as best I could with my arms before I screwed my eyes shut and hoped it wouldn’t hurt too badly when we hit the floor.
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The tape measure clicked in my hands as it retracted; after recovering from our fall, Emily asked me to measure her to figure out exactly how tall she was. So, I picked her up and carried her over to the kitchen counter before finding the tape measure that dad kept under the sink. I quickly noted down the final height onto a notepad before putting down the tape and pencil.
“2 foot tall exactly, just under 2 feet from muzzle to flanks,” I informed the blue filly as she glared at me, one hoof attempting to restore her curls that had been flattened by the tape measure. I have to admit I felt a little guilty about her mane, but now we knew for sure she was small enough to carry her on my back. Although I’d probably need to figure out some sort of harness to hold her safely on my back when we flew...perhaps Mom’s old baby carrier would work?
A blue hoof prodded me in the chest, snapping me out of my musings to see Emily peek over the edge of the kitchen counter. Her ears folded back against her skull as she shuffled back away from that precipice. I swore I could see her shaking slightly as she looked back at me. “C-could you help me down?”
As I lowered her to the floor, Emily sprung from my arms and landed on the wooden floor. To her credit, she only stumbled a little but recovered before she could fall over. The proud smile on her muzzle, and she turned around to grin at me. “What now?”
“Watch the show with some snacks? It is way more fun than it sounds. Being able to sing the songs with damn near perfect pitch is great.”
The raised eyebrow I got in response from Emily was a little hurtful before her confused expression gave way to a burst of giggling. “I forget you’re way more into the show than me, bro.”
I merely rolled my eyes as we both headed towards the lounge. A comfortable silence formed between us, only broken by the soft clip-clop of Emily’s hooves against the floor. I was still waiting for some kind of message from Limelight, which hopefully would arrive soon. For lack of a better term, the possibility of a pony party probably would have Emily bouncing off the walls in excitement. I sure as hell would be, although I guess I undersold the potential invite.
With Emily trotting along behind me, we quickly headed over to the couch as I queued up Season 2 on Netflix. Once that was done, I looked over to my side, confused for a second where Emily was until a decidedly frustrated sounding cough drew my attention to the floor.
“Give a filly a hand?” She asked, gesturing with a hoof at the sofa. The peak of her curls barely coming to the bottom of the couch cushion. I’ll admit, I probably should have realised that and lifted her up, and chuckling before dashing off to get a small step for her wasn’t exactly helpful, but still. A few moments later, Emily had made herself comfortable in my lap, curled up like a cat, ready to watch some pony show.
“Before we start, think it’s worth me picking a new name for myself?” Emily asked, sitting up to put us a little closer to seeing eye to eye. “Just feels a little...disappointing to call me Emily like this.”
“If you want to. Any ideas?” I asked, watching as a confident grin spread across my little sister’s muzzle.
“Call me, Starbright!”
Author's Note
Been sitting on this for a long time, but after getting home late from PonyCon UK I was determined to get this out.
I'm going to have to take a break from writing pony stuff for a week or so to work on my university work, but once that's done I'm going to be getting the next chapter of this done, it's already got 2k words done so far but I'm not happy with it yet