A Student Turned Princess

Chapters

1. The Not So Pleasant Awakening
2. Some Self Reflection
3. Stroll Through The Castle
4. The Other Princess
5. The First Friendly Face
6. Not Your Average Kind Of Pony
7. Funny Running Into You Again
8. What a Pleasant, Little Town
9. All Aboard, To Canterlot!
10. Why Didn't You Say Anything? // I'll Find You
11. Penny In The Air

1. The Not So Pleasant Awakening

Ughhh...

I feel the last colors and shapes of my dream slip from my mind, leaving me in a semi-aware state enclosed in the darkness of my own closed eyes.

That was... one of the best sleeps I've ever had...I could've sworn it took me a whole hour last night just to get comfy on this bed.

I move to stretch my hands and back, but—

Mmmm... agh why is my back so itchy? And... wait, these covers are a lot heavier than I remember them. Did the college come in and replace the dorms' crappy blankets? That'd be awesome, but, uh, a bit weird to do it while I'm sleeping. But, if a minute's invasion of privacy is the cost for a whole year's worth of comfy sleep, I'm all for it.

Slowly, I creep open my eyes. The ceiling above me also seems much further away from me than I remember when I laid down to sleep, but it's probably just a trick caused by the lack of light.

Wait, why is it so dark? Aw man, did I wake up too early? Again?! Great, just great, yep, perfect start to the year. What time is it anyway?

I close my eyes and groan to myself, rolling over in bed to reach for my phone where it should be on the bedside table. Strangely, it seems to take an awfully long amount of rolling for my arm to brush against the edge of the mattress, but once it does, I flail around a bit, searching for the hard, wooden surface of the table. Again, it seems a bit further than it should be.

Ugh, did my roommate move my table? It should be right up against the bed! I swear if he took my phone too, I'm gonna— ah!

Finally, my hand smacks against the top of the table, only the sensation is... wrong. It's like all my fingers are completely numb. I try to open and close my fist, but I don't feel anything change.

Annnnd I slept on my hand too, didn't I? Yeah, of course I did. Ughhhh.

I roll one more time to swing my legs over to the side of the bed to stand and—

"Ow!"

—instantly lurch forward and fall flat on my face. Groaning in pain, I reach up to massage my forehead, but wince further as my hand collides with my head much harder than I expected. "Wha— what the heck? Wait."

My eyes shoot open as my own spoken words reach my ears and register in my brain.

"This isn't my voice. Why... why do I sound like a woman??" An older one too. Gah, I really need water.

I turn to face my bedside table, but quickly realize I've never seen it before in my life. What I had initially felt was wood actually appears to be some polished white marble, trailing with thin, gold veins and engraved with ornate curves and markings that scream of everything I know damn well I could never afford. I try to scramble to my feet, but I keep failing to find my balance. My legs feel way longer than they should be... and so do my arms for that matter.

After a long struggle, I succeed in orienting myself and planting my hand on the surface of the marble table, quickly pulling my head up just enough to scan my eyes across its surface.

"Come on, stupid phone, where are you? Why do you always disappear when I need it?"

I glance all around the floor in search of the device and quickly notice the floor too is unfamiliar. I hadn't really noticed before out of my own grogginess, but where there should have been soft, messy carpet, now laid a similar polished marble as the table all across the floor. This... this isn't my floor. This isn't my room. Am... did someone kidnap me? Noooo no no no, this is not how my college year was supposed to start!

Just for confirmation, I turn my gaze back to the bedside table in hopes that I may have missed my phone out of lack of sleep. Eventually, my eyes settle on my hand. Or... where my hand should be.

"WHERE ARE MY HANDS?!"

My fingers weren't just numb, they were completely gone. In fact, my entire arm is gone! Replaced with a long, white and furry limb ending in a hard stump. Hoof. My mind goes into overdrive as I try to rapidly process this influx of information. This is a hoof. This is my hoof. Where my hand should be.

I shift around until I can place my left arm onto the table, but doing so sends my face tumbling to the floor once again. With a shriek that is definitely not my voice, I shield my face with my newly discovered hooves as I crash down once more. This time, with adrenaline now pumping through my veins, I quickly pull my head up and glance between my arms on the floor, both replaced with the same, long white hooves.

No... not just hooves, uh, these are my front legs, aren't they? Which would mean...

I glance down my body lying on the ground, seeing every inch covered in soft, white fur. Where my legs once were are now a pair of long, white, horse legs. Just to be sure, I kick them out a bit, and watch as they move in tandem with my mental commands. Yep, those are mine too.

My eyes widen even further as I realize I'm not wearing any clothes, causing my gaze to shift straight towards a very delicate and importany region. "Wha—, uh, where my dick at? I, uh..." I pat myself with my forelimbs all over every square inch of my body, registering a very vivid sense of physical contact and feeling every single time. "This has gotta be a dream." I mutter to myself. "This has got to be a dream."

My breathing begins to quicken and I feel my heart threatening to burst through my chest. The edges of my vision go dark as I rapidly glance back and forth around the room, realizing there isn't a single thing about it that I recognize.

After about ten seconds, I realize what's going on and I close my eyes, taking a deep breath and holding it.

Come on, Sam, let's not do that, alright? One...

Two...

Three...

Four...

...and five.

I slowly open my eyes again, my breathing calmed but my heart still pounding in my ears. To my dismay, the room and my physical... situation remain the same. I try to get to my feet, or hooves now, slowly steadying myself as I raise my body on my hind legs. Once I find my balance, I shakily push off the ground with my front legs, but instead of standing upright, I once again face plant on the hard. marble floor. Damn it. Wait, horses walk with all four legs, don't they?

Something clicks in my mind as I try again to stand up. This time, there's a feeling both at the back of my mind and my legs that guide my hind legs up to plant firmly on the ground once more, telling me a more... intended way to stand, as if an old muscle memory was awakened. I firmly anchor my front legs in front of me and very carefully raise my neck up while keeping all four legs on the ground. Surprisingly, this new position feels more sturdy and natural, as if this was always how my body was supposed to stand.

Alright, Sam, you got four legs now. This means walking is going to be a bit different. I scan the room, finding all sorts of unfamiliar furniture, instruments, bookshelves, some large double doors, and eventually settle on an ornate mirror held up by some sort of crystal frame as my destination. I will my left hind leg to take a step like normal, and as soon as it does, I feel my center of balance shift forward worryingly. On instinct, I take a step forward with my right front leg and pause, realizing I'm balanced once again.

Hmm, that doesn't feel right, though. As slowly as I can, I fidget and shift my other two limbs until I'm back to a normal standing position. This time, I take a cautious step with my left front leg first. As it moves, I feel a natural reflex to follow it with my opposite hind leg. After steadying myself once more, I repeat this, but now with my right front leg, followed with my left hind leg. This time, the feeling is... normal. Part of my brain is screaming that I shouldn't be walking with my arms on the ground, but the rest feels content. Again, I shift my other limbs until I'm back with my hooves beside each other.

So it's, uh, front leg, followed by opposite hind leg, then the other front leg, then the, uhm, other back leg? And then just repeat? I look down, focusing on my foreign limbs. Front leg first, I guess... I take a step with my right front leg, and quickly begin stepping with my left hind leg as soon as my balance shifts. As I'm about place that leg down, I step forward with my left front leg, but this time overstepping a little, followed by my right hind leg. I slowly repeat the motion across all four limbs, my eyes darting back and forth between each one as they move.

After a few more cycles, the movement is beginning to feel a lot more natural, so I close my eyes and just will myself to continue forward. To my surprise, I continue walking along with no apparent issue, the motion of my legs having been relegated to automatic behavior, as if it were breathing. Yes! I pump an imaginary fist in my mind, then promptly smash my head against the wall mirror.

"Ow!" I shake my head, stumbling a bit on my hooves. Ugh, okay, maybe walking with my eyes closed isn't the best idea. I look up and, for the first time, see my whole body properly.

In place of my dark, brown eyes, a comically large pair of magenta eyes stare back at me, above a muzzle that looks a bit similar to a horse's, and yet the face overall seems... vaguely human in a way. I tilt my head, noticing the pair of fluffy ears atop my head, flicking every so often. My hair, or mane now I guess, seems to float through some invisible fluid, constantly flowing with its hues of green, blue, and pink. Faint twinkles of light burst occasionally throughout it. Hope that isn't radioactive.

I open my mouth, and the white horse in the mirror copies my movement. I carefully lift up a hoof, the white horse copies it. I shake my head, bob it up and down, stick my tongue out. Each motion, perfectly mimicked by the white horse in the mirror. I again lift a hoof up, but this time, I reach up and gently trail it down my cheek. The white horse in the mirror does the same, and I shiver from the feeling of contact along my own cheek.

This... is me. This is my body. I'm a horse. A... female one apparently. That can talk.

My eyes shift to the long, white horn on the top of my forehead.

Or, wait, no. I'm a unicorn?

I fidget around a bit until I've rotated myself enough to view more of my body. To my surprise, there's a large, fluffy pair of white wings on my sides.

Wings too? What's a winged horse called again? A pegasus, right? Wait, but I also have a horn, so what does that make me?

My thoughts let my eyes drift around the room absentmindedly before settling at a desk in the far corner. Making sure to keep my mind off the intricacies of my legs, I slowly walk over and peer upon the surface. A pot of ink sits with a quill resting within, its tip barely piercing the shallow black pool. Next to it rests a sheet of paper that appears to be a finished letter. I skim it quickly for any useful information and find it's addressed to a "faithful student, Twilight Sparkle". What kind of name is that? My eyes drift to the bottom of the page.

Yours truly,
Princess Celestia

"Princess Celestia?" I gently whisper the name as I read it. "Who are you? Are you the one who brought me here? Is this your room?" I look around the room again, spotting an identical marble table on the other side of the bed with a golden tiara resting upon it. On the foot of the bed on that side rests four golden cups. I glance down to my hooves and realize they're meant to be shoes.

"Princess?!"

My eyes widen and I quickly turn around, almost tumbling over myself, just as the double doors slam open and a slightly shorter horse barges in. He dons a full set of golden armor with a crystalline blue star on the front. His helmet looks almost like one of those Roman helmets I've seen in museums or pictures, with the little fuzz on the top. His eyes widen as we lock eyes, freezing in place for what seemed like an eternity before he broke into a low bow. "Sorry for the intrusion, your Highness, but your sister sent me to check on you as to why you haven't raised the sun yet."

"Raise the sun?" I scoff just thinking about that. "And what do you... mean..."

My words trail away as I realize he'd been addressing me, and what it implied.

He called me 'your highness'... and this seems to be the room of a Princess Celestia... and there's a crown here too... no...

"Princess? Are you alright?"

I start to back away slowly, feeling myself begin to hyperventilate. My eyes dart to the paper on the desk, to the crown on the table, to my reflection in the mirror.

I'm Princess Celestia.

Author's Note

Appreciate all comments!!!

Will be updated fairly regularly

2. Some Self Reflection

My legs begin to tremble as I unsteadily stumble backwards and away from the armored horse, who continues to observe me with concern.

I'm this Princess Celestia? But... but that would mean...

With my concentration all but shattered, the coordination between the four limbs keeping me upright falters, and I collapse to the ground with an unceremonious cry.

"Princess Celestia!" The armored horse quickly rushes towards me. In a blind panic, I frantically backpedal as much as I can with what little purchase my hooves can grab on the smooth, marble floor.

"Ge—, get back!" I shout shakily with my new and unfamiliar voice. The armored horse's eyes widen and he screeches to a halt, freezing in place. He stares down at my fallen form in surprise before quickly throwing himself down into a low bow.

"I— my apologies, your Highness, I didn't mean to startle you!"

I blink slowly, making sure to keep my eyes trained on him. I tilt my head and notice his gaze locked furiously to the floor, occasionally flickering up to me, then back down. Is he waiting for me to speak? After a few seconds of painfully awkward silence, I carefully reorient my legs underneath me and push myself back to a standing position. My right back leg slips slightly on the smooth surface below, and as if on natural reflex, I feel both of the wings on my sides shoot out slightly to right my balance before quickly folding back up.

Wait a minute, hold on, those are... I close my eyes and imagine that sensation again. I focus on the regions on the far left and right sides of my back and mentally flex slightly, feeling my wings slowly unfurl, inch by inch, until they've reached the furthest they can go. I peek open my eyes and look behind me. My jaw falls open and a gasp of wonder slips out my mouth. These are wings. MY wings. And they're HUGE!

As a kid, I was always fascinated with how wide the wingspans were on eagles and hawks, but these wings easily put those to shame. From a glance, I estimate each wing to be somewhere between five to six feet long, almost as wide as I am tall. Or at least, how tall I'm supposed to be as a human. I experiment a little, lowering them slightly, then raising them up, completely transfixed to how smoothly they respond to my commands.

The sensation of new and usually natural nerves, bones, and muscles, sends a shiver down my spine. It's as if I've always had wings, as if I always had these extra limbs on my back that I could control just the same as I would an arm or leg.

"Pri— Princess?"

I jump slightly, my wings collapsing limply to my sides and draping onto the floor. Shit, I forgot about him! I turn to face him again. "Yes, uh, talking horse?" I wince immediately, still not accustomed to the sound of a woman's voice coming from my throat. He raises his head to look at me, utterly bewildered. Aaaaaand he has a name too, doesn't he?

"What do you—" He shakes his head before quickly resuming his original stoic expression. "As I said earlier, your sister has sent me to inquire as to why the sun is not up yet. The latest time you have usually raised it passed approximately forty minutes ago."

My sister? I stare at him blankly, thoughts running through my mind. And again with that 'raise the sun' thing. What, am I a god here? I cast a sideways glance to my reflection on the wall mirror, once taking in my current body. For that matter, what am I anyway? And who is this Princess Celestia that I apparently look exactly like now?

"Your High—"

"Sorry!" I shout, realizing how long I've been putting this horse's question off. "I, uhm—" I start to speak, then freeze, realizing I have no damn clue how the hell to even begin to answer a question like that. Come on, come on, just think! I need more time to figure out what's going on, but the longer this guy's in the room with me, the more suspicious I'm gonna look! I close my eyes and take a deep breath in. Alright, I'm a princess, right? Just be... regal. I slowly open my eyes and, calling upon skills learned after years of anxiety-inducing school project presentations, muster up the kindest, most gentle smile I can possibly imagine.

"I am so very sorry, hor— sir, it seems I have greatly overslept. Leave me so I may tend to myself, and I will raise the sun once my strength has been fully recovered." I carefully lower my neck in what feels like a bow for a horse. I quickly flicker my gaze to the armored horse, who seems to be eying me a bit funny. Shit, shit, shit, he knows, he totally knows, oh I'm so fucking dead. Maybe if I rush him, I can—

"Understood, your majesty." I blink, not daring to move. Wait, that worked? I raise my head back up to see the armored horse once again wearing a stoic expression. "Especially with everything that had happened yesterday. I shall inform Princess Luna of your current condition. Oh, and good morning." He puts a hoof up in a gesture that I can only imagine is a hoof-salute, then turns around and trots back out the double doors. I notice right outside the doors, another similarly armored horse standing and facing away, as if on guard. As soon as he leaves, both doors begin glowing in some blue, sparkling aura before slowly closing by themselves.

Huh. Freaky. I stand still for what feels like an eternity, my eyes glued to the doors. He seemed... strangely okay with my excuse. What was it he said? 'Especially with everything that had happened yesterday'? Maybe it has something to do with why I'm even here. I shift my eyes back to the room around me and spot the letter from earlier on the writing desk. I trot over to it and read it over again, but this time paying more attention to the details themselves.

It seems to be some sort of repeat of personal congratulations from Princess Celestia to Twilight, her personal student. Apparently something big happened yesterday with a 'Discord, the Lord of Chaos', in which Twilight and her friends defeated him and saved Equestria. Lord of Chaos, what the heck name even is that? And 'defeat'? Is he some sort of supervillain or something? A realization strikes me and I look back to the paper. Equestria? Is that... is that the planet I'm on now? Because this certainly ain't Earth.

With my mind properly awake and my eyes more adjusted to the dark, I do another scan of the room for anything else that might help me. Help me with what exactly is something I don't even want to think about. My eyes land on anything that isn't just the floor, ceiling, or walls, noticing a lot more that I'd missed during my last look over of the room. On one end of the room, there's what looks like a walk-in closet whose door I had missed due to how seamlessly it blended in with the walls.

Upon walking over and carefully pushing the door in with a hoof, nothing but a single body-height mirror and several elegant dresses of varying colors and designs hang from the sides. Some more golden horse shoes sit on the floor, but they look mighty uncomfortable so I give them a pass. I take a final, silent look at my unfamiliar body in the hanging mirror before backing out.

Beside the writing desk is a short, crystalline cabinet with just two drawers. By my own natural curiosity, I trot over and attempt to open them, only to realize in dismay that they lack any sort of handles. Part of the edges poke out just a little though, and I begin to reach for it with a hoof before I remember. No fingers. Right. Who designed these? A thought hits me. Wait, is everyone in this world a talking horse? With hooves? How the hell are you supposed to hold anything properly without opposable thumbs? Or... fingers for that matter.

I resume my careful search across the room before landing on a some curtains covering a massive window to the far left of the bed. My eyes widen and I practically fall on my face scrambling towards it. There's a thick pair of purple blackout curtains that have already been pushed to the sides, leaving just a thin, white, see-through curtain covering the window. Even with it, though, I quickly realize from the darkness beyond that it must be the middle of the night, hence why the room is still so dark.

But that armored horse said good morning to me just earlier, right? There should be at least a little bit of sunlight by now. I approach the window and attempt to gently slide the sheer curtains aside with my hoof. Smoothly sliding a curtain along the top rod had always a bit of a nuisance to me, and that was when I had fingers. I stumble a few times, trying to make sure I don't get my hoof entangled with the sheets while placing it back down, but eventually I succeed.

Upon closer inspection, I realize the windows are actually large double doors leading to a small balcony outside. Although they also have handles, to my relief they are the long sort of handle, extending to the left and right in elegant swirls. After a painful, long minute of fidgeting, I manage to press down on the long end of the handle with a hoof while awkwardly pressing my cheek against the glass to push the door window open. I stumble forward and quickly scan the world in front of me. I gasp, my breath catching in my throat.

What first draws my attention is the landscape itself. Fields and forests and mountains, stretching far beyond what my eyes can see. Judging by how high up I am and much I'm able to see, this place is probably built into a mountain or something. Even in the dark of night, with the faint glow from the stars above, I can tell what lies before me is probably the lushest green I had ever seen. I lower my gaze a little and spot a faint array of lights, seemingly from some distant village. A little closer lies even more lights climbing up the base of the mountain. I squint my eyes and realize it's actually a completely separate city, with far more buildings and roads. Distant shapes move through the streets, lit by the many lampposts that line the sides. Are those people? Or... more talking horses?

I lower my sights further, my eyes running along the tall, rocky cliff directly below this building, which is looking more and more like some sort of castle. My brain catches up my eyes to remind me of my immense fear of heights, and I gasp in shock as I realize just how high up I'm standing. With a shocked gasp, I stumble back from the balcony railing, collapsing to my side and crying out in slight pain. With the view of the city and earth obscured, my eyes are dragged upwards to the sky, and I freeze.

I had always loved to stargaze, and would spend many a night staring into the night sky, seeking out and marveling at the many constellations that were present amongst the stars. For fun one time, I even memorized almost every recognizable constellation there was, so no matter where I was on Earth, I'd be able to pinpoint at least one of them. These aren't my constellations... I scan the sky further, looking for a single familiar pattern, yet coming up short. These aren't my stars. I slowly let my neck and head join the rest of my body as it lay there, motionless, on the cold, marble floor.

I'm not on Earth anymore, am I? My breaths come in shallow, yet slow, bursts. I mean... I already figured from the start, but... this just confirms it. I glance at the stars again. Even if I were on some other planet or moon in the solar system, of which there shouldn't be any we know of that support life this easily anyway, the stars should still be roughly the same. And yet... they're not. I'm probably not even anywhere near our solar system.

Fuck, where the hell am I, really? A different galaxy? Maybe a different universe? Maybe I'm dead and this is apparently what heaven looks like... a world of talking horses. Or maybe I really am just dreaming. I spent a good four years of high school preparing for college, not for... any of this bullshit.

I lay there, completely still and losing all track of time, my thoughts threatening to overrun my mind. The cool, night breeze, of a world I do not know, brushes against my fur, of a body I do not recognize.

In the far distance, I can barely make out the clambering of voices, seemingly in distress. I pay it no attention, but eventually, even my panicked mind can no longer hold them off.

Alright, what the actual heck is going on down there? I slowly climb to my feet, or hooves, and make my way back to the balcony, mustering all the willpower I have to keep my legs from going weak. I look a bit to the left and squint my eyes at what looks like the faraway entrance to the castle, with more of those armored horses standing guard and holding spears in their hooves How are they even holding those?

In front of them, a crowd of more small, talking horses has gathered, though wearing what seem like an assortment of fancy clothes, suits, and dresses. A protest of some kind? I blink tiredly. I don't think staying here is gonna do me any more good. I need information, anything that can tell me... well, anything. This place looks like some huge palace, so maybe it also has a library of sorts.

I turn around and make for the door, but halt right before reaching it, my eyes widening. Wait, there's a guard horse right outside, crap. How am I even supposed to get out of here? I look around the room for any small, loose objects. Maybe I can toss something outside to distract him before making a run for it? I spot the inkwell sitting on the writing desk and I consider using that when a thought occurs to me.

Hold on, I'm the princess. Can't I just... I take a deep breath in, calming my racing heart. Alright, think, focus. You're supposed to be the ruler of this place. That other horse was all intimidated just thinking he startled me and followed my one order without questioning, so I just gotta treat that as normal. I have absolutely no clue where anything is here, but if he's a guard, hopefully he does. But I can't just ask him normally, that's stuff I should probably already know, so that'd raise suspicion. I gotta be subtle.

I walk over to the side of the bed, my eyes resting on the tiara sitting on the bedside table. It looks like solid gold, with a single, flawlessly cut, purple gemstone in the center. Its design is a lot simpler than all the pictures of crowns I've ever seen, lacking all the intricate little holes and curls I remember them having. If anything, that probably makes it worth even more cause there's more gold in it. This thing would probably pay for like a hundred of my full college tuition. A ton of houses, too. And it's just... mine.

I sit down on my haunches beside it and raise my front legs to grip the tiara between my hooves. I fumble to raise it to my head, dropping it several times on the floor with a loud clang, and each time ripping away a piece of my soul. Finally, I manage to rest it gently atop my head, the sides nestling under the bases of my ears. It threatens to slide forward, but the long horn on my forehead keeps it in place.

Keeping my head level, I carefully stand back up on all fours and make my way to the doors, stopping briefly at the hanging mirror to look myself over. I am Princess Celestia. I exhale slowly and lift a hoof to the door, shaking with uncertainty, then tap it against the door three times and wait.

Not a second later, the doors open, surrounded in the same blue glow from earlier. The armored unicorn from right outside pokes his head in, his eyes quickly finding mine. I notice a horn on his forehead not unlike mine, just much smaller, surrounded in a similar blue aura. So he's a unicorn then. Is he... using his horn to open the door? Wait, can I do that too?!

"Did you... need something, Princess?"

I'm shaken out of my thoughts, realizing I'd been just staring down at his horn. I meet his eyes, blinking slowly. "Yes, in fact, I do. There is something I wish to check on in the castle library. Could you accompany me?" I do my best to keep my voice as gentle and collected as possible.

To my relief, he simply nods. "The Canterlot Archives? Of course, your Highness." Oh good, so there is a library. Canterlot must be the name of the castle then. The door opens wider, and he stands aside to make room for me. The hallway in front of my room stretches quite long, lined with various paintings, ornate wall fixtures, and fancy torches that look like some maid might pop out of nowhere to beat me up if I so much as brushed one of them. There's a sort of medieval look to everything, but at the same time, looks much cleaner and more colorful than any picture of medieval castle interiors I'd ever seen. Massive castle with talking horses that have magical powers. I swear, this whole thing reads like some sort of fairy tale.

As soon as I'm through, the door closes behind me, the glow around it fading away. His horn stops glowing at the same time. Yep, that's something unicorns can just do apparently. He looks up at me expectantly. Alright, here goes nothing.

"Thank you. You may lead the way."

He blinks, taken a bit by surprise but quickly regains his composure, returning a quick bow. "Ye—, yes, your Highness." He spins around and begins a slow walk down the hallway.

On the inside, I pump an imaginary fist. Holy shiiiiit, that worked too?! Let's fucking gooo! Trying to keep my excitement contained the best I can, I take off after him, finally ready to see a bit more of this so-called Canterlot Castle, and hopefully get some answers.

Author's Note

After doing some exploration of other HiE fics, there seems to be a major consensus that these longer sort of stories that take place somewhere along the show time are marked as AU for obvious reasons, so it seemed appropriate to follow suit with that, hence the addition of the AU tag.

I've also decided that, for now, updates will be weekly, give or take a day or two. Hope you enjoy and feel free to comment your thoughts or predictions!

3. Stroll Through The Castle

Damn, another hallway? How big is this castle supposed to be?

I follow silently behind the unicorn guard as we take a left at probably the third intersection so far, my eyes darting everywhere to try to take in as much of my new and constantly changing surroundings as they can. At least, 'changing' as in from hallway A to hallway B, because so far, most of them have been pretty identical to each other, minus the paintings on the walls changing.

Being the most useful source of information in the hallways, I pay attention to every single painting I pass, hoping I could figure a little more about this place. Most of them depict wide, realistic views with an emphasis on nature, filled with trees and rivers and fields. However, once or twice, I spot what's clearly a portrait of Princess Celestia herself, staring down at me with the same gentle, purple eyes that looked back at me in the mirror earlier. Each time though, a shiver runs up my spine and I have to resist the urge to immediately look away. Princess Celestia... who really are you? Did you have something to do with why I'm here, in this 'Equestria', in your body or some clone of it?

Even though they're nothing but paint on a canvas, I can feel a strange sense of warmth and comfort radiating from behind those eyes, like something I can't recall feeling since I was a kid. Is this what everyone else is feeling when they look at me? Or at least, this body I'm in?

I shake my head and look away from the third royal portrait I've come across. The guard in front of me doesn't seem to take notice of my constant distractions, though if he has, he makes no sign of it and continues forward. We reach yet another T intersection, though it seems we're entering from the right side. He takes a swift left, and I follow close behind. This new hallway appears a little more... cozy. A fuzzy, yellow carpet rests along the length of the hallway, and several pink and purple tapestries with intricate, silver curves adorn the walls. Several wooden doors line the sides, each with their own pair of gold, ornate handles. What's the point of these handles when no one here apparently has hands?

My attention is caught by yet more armored horses, a pair of them to be exact, on either side of the hallway, both facing down the length of it. The one to my left has light gray fur, while the other has white fur, but unlike the one walking ahead of me, both don a pair of wings folded neatly to their sides. Alright, so, uh, pegasuses then? Or wait, would that be 'pegasi'? I look one of them up and down curiously. He looks... bulky. I guess you gotta be if you're supposed to be a guard here. I don't know if this part of the castle is available to the public, but I'm guessing they're here to stop anyone from going up the hallways where my room was just at.

After a while, he notices my gaze and starts awkwardly redirecting his gaze all over the place. I just barely resist the urge to let out a laugh, turning back to my 'guide'. To my surprise, he's already stopped in front of one of the doors, one consisting of heavy metal bars and a thick padlock built in. This is the castle's library? Eeesh, tight security much? Why does this look like the door to some medieval prison? Though... this is pretty deep into the castle for what I thought was just some public library. Maybe this is a bit more than that. The same blue energy surrounds the unicorn's horn, and an identical aura surrounds the padlock. Mmmm okay so that's probably how they use doors without hands. But then... what about the ones with just the wings? And I think I saw a few outside that don't even have either wings or horn, what are they supposed to do?

After a few seconds, it clicks quietly. The unicorn guard's 'horn aura' surrounds the door, which slowly swings open outwards with a painful metallic groan. He stands off to the side

A gentle, cool breeze flows from within the room, wafting over me, sending a chill throughout my body, eliciting a shudder from me. Gah, I really felt that. I freeze. Wait, I felt that breeze everywhere. Like, all over me, way more than I should be able to. Do I not... have...

My eyes slowly trail downwards towards the soft white fur covering my entire body, fully exposed to the open air. My breath catches in my throat and my eyes widen.

Ohhhh shit, am I naked?! Have I been walking around naked the whole time? How am I just noticing this??

I glance towards the guards in the hallway, both of which are wearing some very visible armor over their body. My gaze darts back and forth between them, looking for any sign of disturbance in their eyes, but they don't seem to be making any sort of fuss about it. None of the guards are naked, and those other horses I saw outside earlier also seemed to be wearing clothes. Is it... just the royalty that can walk around naked? Or... maybe this isn't normal at all, and the guards just aren't allowed to point it out or something.

"Is something wrong, Princess Celestia?"

"Huh?!" My thoughts are broken and I look down at the unicorn guard staring at me in confusion, having moved in front of me. I shake my head to regain my thoughts, shakily breaking out a calming smile. "Uhm, no sorry. Everything's all fine." Nothing is fucking fine right now, I need to find a way to fix this!

The unicorn guard stares at me for a few seconds, and it takes all the willpower I have to just hold his gaze with a smile. Does he know? Ugh, I don't think I'm doing a really good job as this 'Princess Celestia'. Eventually, he steps aside. "Alright then, your Highness. I'll be waiting outside if you need anything."

Yes, I'm in the clear! "Uh, thank you. I will keep that in mind." I return a brief nod and briskly trot inside. I hear the hard, metallic clang as the guard closes the door behind me.

Towering around me are lines upon lines of bookshelves, filled with various rolled up scrolls and thick tomes, and positioned like spikes on a wheel around a clearing in the center. A massive hourglass sits in the middle, under a domed skylight, emitting a mysterious silver glow as if it were enhancing the light from the stars themselves. Thin filaments of cobweb stretch every which way between the shelves. A flickering, orange light pulses across the walls,

Briefly sparing a glance behind me to my accompanying unicorn guard, who seemed to be striking up a conversation with one of the other guards, I slowly trot towards the clearing, and then through it towards the opposite side. I make a turn around one of the many bookshelves, making sure I'm completely out of sight from the entrance. The last remnants of my strength finally give out as I collapse onto the cold, stone floor, my heart threatening to pound its way through my chest, though I sharply suck in my breath so to not alert any of the guards outside. I scramble backwards until my back presses up against the nearest bookshelf, wincing in discomfort as I feel a few protruding scrolls poke into my sides.

Ugh, I'm not supposed to be here. Why am I even here. How am I a fucking horse, let alone one that's the ruler of a whole damn country of OTHER talking horses on some planet who knows how far from Earth?! And some of them have magic POWERS?! Is any of this is even happening? This has to be a dream, there's literally no other explanation that even makes sense.

I squeeze my eyes shut and pull my limbs close to me. I still my movements, feeling the burst of blood throughout my body with every beat of this foreign heart, in the end of my hooves, the back of my ears, at the bases of my wings. But everything is so... vivid and... real. I was just barely able to hold a conversation with someone during orientation, I'm practically at my limit already acting like I'm some sort of 'princess', I don't know how much longer I can keep this ruse up, I don't even know the first thing about this place.

I slowly release the air I didn't realize I was holding in and let my eyes wander once more around this 'library', back to the wealth of books and papers lining the bookshelves to my left and right. Come on, Sam, just pull yourself together. Freaking out like this isn't going to help anyone, especially you. You made it to the castle library, woohoo. And you made it away from any more of those... horse guards. I just gotta avoid talking to anyone as much as possible or else I'm probably gonna slip up somehow and have my cover blown even quicker.

I look down at my body and once more note my fully exposed body, covered in pretty much everywhere in a soft, white fur. No clothes. Right. Um. How did I take this long to realize I'm not wearing anything? I feel like it should be way more obvious to me when I'm completely naked and walking about. Like... I should be feeling that a whole lot more.

I reach one of my hooves up awkwardly and press it against my chest. Despite the lack of clothes, the contact feels a little muted. Is it... Is it the fur? Is this what it's supposed to feel like fur? It's almost like I got a shirt on, but I can feel through it way easier." I pat various parts of my body with both my hooves, tracing all over my stomach, sides, thighs. No matter where I touch, the sensation is the same. I can feel my muted touch under the short layer of fur, and yet it feels oddly natural, the same way it feels when I'm fully clothed. Huh. Whatever, it's fine. I've got more pressing things to worry about anyways.

Taking one final moment to breathe, I shakily climb back up on all four legs. I narrow my eyes at the shelf in front of me, scanning the titles of some of the books. Wow, I hadn't thought about it before, but thank fucking god wherever this planet is or whatever, they all speak and write in English. This whole disaster would've been a whole lot worse if I couldn't read or write or speak the same language. I pause for a moment. Or maybe everything really is in some alien language, and this body's brain is just... automatically translating it for me? I cough and clear my throat.

"Raspberry, strawberry, banana, table tennis, sandwich, antidisestablishmentarianism." I blink. Well it sure as hell sounds like English. And damn, Sam, really letting your stomach speak its mind there.

I turn back to the books, looking for any titles that might be useful and muttering them as I go. If this is going to be my voice for a while, I might as well get more used to it. "Principia Magica, First Edition, by Starswirl the Bearded. Compilation of Research Notes on the Fire of Friendship, by Clover the Clever. Anatomy of a Pony, by Heart Script. Study on Pony Leylines, by Aurora Star."

Wait a minute, are those actual names? I skim a few more titles and their authors' names, quickly confirming my suspicion. A lot of these names have like... words in them. Is that just how names are here? And... hold on. My backpedal through the titles for a word in particular that stands out to me. "Study on Pony Leylines?" There's a good few of these books here that use the word 'pony'... and not 'horse'...

I briefly recall how all those guards appeared. They had a muzzle, long ears, and hooves that were signature for a horse, and yet were a lot shorter, I surmise even a bit shorter than if I were standing there as a human.

Ponies. They're ponies, not horses. Talking ponies to be exact, that have wings and horns. I process the thought, and promptly spit out in laughter before quickly stuffing a hoof over my mouth to silence myself..

I'M IN A LAND OF MAGICAL, TALKING PONIES! What, did I land in some little kids' cartoon show? Even the architecture is like all bright and pastel-colored!

I shake my head to reorient my thought. Alright, well, at least I now what everyone is supposed to be called now. Magical. Talking. God damn. Ponies. Cool. Very cool. Yes.

Why.

I roll my eyes. Ugh, at least I'm not gonna be misidentifying these ponies as horses anymore. No wonder that one guard looked all weirded out when I called him a talking horse. I snicker briefly. Alright actually, that's pretty funny now in hind sight.

I trot back a bit to where I started reading and reach up with a hoof, grabbing and pulling out the book on pony anatomy. Okay, I'll probably need to look into this one so I know a bit more about this body, in case there's some random, super important detail like 'don't pour water on this part of your wing or your whole body will explode. I attempt to bend my hoof around the book to grip it better, but end up dropping it on the floor several times. Eventually I settle with holding it against my chest with my hoof.

I continue walking along the shelf, looking for any book titles that catch my eye. There's a lot of magic-related books here. I did see some unicorns back there doing some sort of magic thing with their horn. And I guess I have a horn too. Are we wizards or something? Can we cast spells and shit? That sounds so damn useful.

I'm about to reach up with my other front leg to grab a Advanced Combative Spells, Volume Two by that same 'Starswirl the Bearded' pony, but quickly freeze, realizing that would send me painfully crashing to the floor.

I then realize I had been walking around on just three of my legs. Woah, that's pretty cool. I guess this body has a sort of muscle memory when it comes to walking with—

I then realize what I had just done earlier with my fourth leg. Wait, did I just... I crane my neck down and stare at the book currently pressed against my chest. How was I picking this up? How did I even pull it off the shelf? I release my hoof from it, letting it tumble to the stone floor, where it kicked up a small cloud of dust. I reach down and lightly poke my hoof against its cover from different angles, confirming a lack of any sort of large grooves that I could have pulled on or latched my hoof on to. I blink, then reach down again, this time trailing my eyes to one of the shelves and just 'grabbing' at the book with my hoof like I normally would with a hand and fingers.

To my surprise, I feel the book stick against my hoof as I lift it up, though as soon as I turn my conscious thoughts towards the sensation, trying to focus on what's holding the book up without my fingers, it collapses back to the ground.

So ponies can actually grab things with their hooves? But... without fingers? I guess that answers my earlier confusion about the door handles, if all the ponies can do this with their hoof. Still seems a bit unnecessary though. Ugh, none of this makes any sense. I look back to the book lying on the floor, its cover aptly reading 'Pony Anatomy'. Hmmm, perfect. Maybe this book can answer that.

I try to pick up the book once more with my hoof, but my thoughts are unable to shift away from the sensation. It's like trying to sleep while constantly thinking about sleep, which is that it never happens. Eventually, I scoff in annoyance and reach my hoof to the side of it, ready to flick it upwards to turn the cover. Oh well, if I really need to, I can just blow on the pages.

My heart stops as a loud, metallic clang resounds from the entrance on the opposite side of the room, followed by a metallic groan as the door swings open on its hinges. Shit! Is the guard checking in on me? It hasn't even been a few minutes! Did he suspect me all along?

Instinctively, I scramble towards the wall, abandoning my book on the floor in favor of my own safety. I hold my breath and stay as still as possible as the gentle clopping of hooves on stone echoes throughout the room, steadily approaching the center. My eyes remain wide open, gaze locked on as the glowing hourglass casts a blurry, slow moving shadow of my surprise company across the walls.

After what feels like hours, it stops, and a gentler, more feminine voice calls out.

"Tia?"

Author's Note

Woops, a day late, but had quite a stressful day yesterday. After seeing a number of comments regarding my intended update schedule, I will likely move it to be once every two weeks once the story moves to some more intensive sections.

Jury's still out on whether I'll shift to using chapter titles. I know those can be a pain to brainstorm, especially to try to prevent them from being too spoilery, but I still feel those could helpful as I've also gotten frustrated in the past trying to navigate fics where the chapter titles are just roman numerals. (You try remembering if that super cool fight scene is on Chapter XXXIV or Chapter XXVI)

With that said, enjoy the update!

4. The Other Princess

"Tia?"

I blink, taken aback by the gentler nature of this new voice. Whoever this is doesn't exactly sound like one of those guards from outside. While the few of them before had spoken to me with a sort of stiff and obedient tone, this one comes off much more... informal, and relaxed, though there is still a trace of apprehension lining it.

"Tia?" The voice repeats, a little more shakily this time. "This... this is no time for games, my sister!"

I gasp quietly. Sister? That guard from my room earlier said something about 'my sister' sending him to check on me. Another princess too. Princess, uh, uhm, Luna? Lunaria? Gah, I know it starts with an 'L' at least. How am I even supposed to remember that, it was brought up once and I was completely out of it at the time! That's two princesses so far in this castle. What is this, a Disney convention? And where the hell are the king and queen? Ugh, well, unless there's any more princesses hanging around here, then it should be safe to assume this is Princess Luna, which is even assuming I got the name right anyway. Fifty-fifty.

The hoof steps resume, tracing a circle around the clearing in the middle of the room. "It has been over an hour since you normally raise the sun, and rumors have are already begun to spread all across Canterlot and even between our own castle staff. Some of the royal guard are afraid Discord might have returned once more." The voice scoffs and takes on a slightly more defensive edge. "We even overheard a few of them thinking that I had something to do with it! As if I would even dare to do that ever again!"

Do what again? My curiosity finally getting the better of me, I slowly edge myself closer to the side of the bookcase I've been pressing my back to this whole time, which is a hard thing to do when staying careful to keep my hooves from smacking the ground. These things aren't exactly as stealthy as hands and feet unfortunately.

After struggling for a moment to keep my balance even this close to the ground, I decide to take inspiration from the many times I've seen dogs and cats sitting and position myself on my haunches so I can use my front legs freely without falling flat on my face. I can imagine this position would be a pain to maintain normally, but with this body, it's surprisingly comfortable.

Finally, I give a cautious peek around the bookcase towards the middle of the library, where this 'Princess Luna' appears to be anxiously trotting in a circle, almost as if she were pacing. My first thought is that she looks exactly like me, but it's immediately dispelled once my mind registers colors.

Indeed though, if it weren't for the colors, I'd say she's the closest thing resembling the body I first saw in the mirror after waking up. She stands considerably taller than the guards, with a hint of regality in her stance. She dons a long horn on her forehead, as well as a fluffy pair of wings folded tightly to her side that bristle occasionally, much like my own wings and horn. Her muzzle also protrudes forward a little more than those of the guards too. Atop her head rests a shimmering black crown, one that follows a similar shape as the one on my own head, but noticeably smaller. Her mane and tail also seem to flow behind her by some unknown means.

However, wherever on my body there is white, on her body there is dark blue, from her fur to her feathers to her horn. Some black, metallic breast plate of sorts rests on her front, with a white, crescent moon plastered in the middle. While her mane and tail flow much like my body's, instead of trails of pink, green, and blue, there is some dark blue mass filled with glittering specks of white. It is as if her mane and tail are literally made of the night sky itself. If the situation of our encounter was much less tense, I'd probably easily get caught just staring at it for a whole minute.

I note her piercing, cyan eyes flickering across the room, and I subconsciously edge backwards to keep myself in the shadow, away from the enchanted glow of the hourglass. I hear what sounds like sigh, followed by a low, frustrated growl, and then—

"Celestia!"

I jump, startled as Princess Luna's voice suddenly booms with unexpectedly, immense power, sending a shock wave across the room and reverberating between the circular walls of the library. I swear I could even see the top layer of dust on all the books and shelves lift into the air. I slink backwards a little further into the shadows, trembling in fear and silently praying my reaction went unnoticed. My mysterious flowing mane shifts in front of me, and I make a desperate grab at it with my front legs to keep it from alerting

"I know you're in here! The hallway guards outside, and the one who is supposed to be stationed outside your room, have all attested to your presence in the archives! I don't know if this is some kind of prank you're trying to pull, but please, you know this is the wrong time for it! Our subjects have barely made it through a whole day of Discord's utter tomfoolery with their sanity intact, the last thing they need right now is to start the following day with the morning sun missing without explanation!"

She huffs and stomps a hoof to the ground hard, shaking the whole room and sending a chill up my spine.

"Now please, for the love of Harmony itself, quit your hiding, get back out here, and fix this!"

The final two words come with yet another powerful blast of energy, and a few of the looser books and scrolls across the library tumble from the shelves to the floor. I feel my ears reflexively twitch, and I shake my head from the weird, unfamiliar sensation. I tense up at the ultimatum, slowly realizing the dilemma I'm in.

Shit, shit, shit! What am I supposed to do? What the hell can I even do?! Is raising the sun a real thing that this Princess Celestia does? And on a daily basis? That doesn't even make any damn sense, stars and planets don't work that way! Maybe it's just a phrase and I'm actually supposed to just rotate the planet so the sun looks like it's rising, when actually it's just— wait, what the heck am I thinking, that doesn't make it any better!

"Or I swear I'll... I'll...!" Her voice returns, then freezes for a moment, followed by a tired sigh. "I'll throw out the castle's entire cake supply!"

I... I... huh?

My eyes dart around my side of the library, desperately seeking out some alternative means of escape. There's a single window several bookshelves away, but there doesn't seem to be a way for me to get there without crossing into Princess Luna's rapidly moving line of sight. The only other exit that I can recall is the door that I came in through, but that's on the other side of the library, on the other side of the princess.

Maybe if I make a run for it, I could catch her by surprise, but that would just make me look way more suspicious, if not completely expose me right then and there! That's assuming I can even outrun her at all, which seems totally impossible with how recent I just got used to walking with these new legs.

Part of me actually considers just walking out into view and try to help fix whatever is going on, however I can. But how the hell could I even hope to understand where to begin? This 'Princess Celestia' I look like has gotta be some experienced leader at this point. I'm just some eighteen-year-old dude who was supposed to be starting his first day in college. Well, eighteen and a half... but that doesn't help jack shit in my situation, I couldn't lead to save my life in all those group projects in high school!

I feel my heart starting to race in my chest again, thoughts swirling in my head like a whirlpool threatening to pull me under. I don't know what to do. I just want to wake up already, please. Just let me just open my eyes, back in my dorm room, all sweaty and half an hour late for class. Actually no, I'd rather just be back home in my own bed. I can't do this. I can't. The library around me begins to fade as the edges of my vision darken.

"Celestia! Quit your playing around and— huh?"

The sudden shift from anger to confusion in Princess Luna's tone snaps me out of my thoughts, dragging my mind back up from the depths and into the light. I shake my head to fix my eyesight and slowly peek back from behind the bookshelf. Princess Luna has stopped trotting around, frozen in place as she stares upwards at skylight.

At first, I think she's just noticing something in the night sky, but upon squinting my eyes, I notice a small trail of what appears to be sparkling smoke phasing down through the skylight. Small wisps of green fire burst from within as it floats fully into the room, coalescing into a small cloud of glistening and glowing smoke that Princess Luna slowly approaches with a curious look. She cautiously reaches one of her hooves up to touch it when, suddenly, it makes a beeline straight for my head.

"Gah!" I yelp in shock and reflexively raise my hooves to shield my face, squeezing my eyes shut. I brace myself for the inevitable impact, but when the inevitable doesn't come, I lower my hooves and peek my eyes open. The trail of sparkly smoke has coalesced into a small ball hovering right in front of my face. I stare at it for a second, mesmerized by its mystical appearance, and then it quickly begins spinning and compressing. Not a moment later, it lets out a pop and a bright flash of yellow light before disappearing.

In its place, a small paper scroll floats in the air briefly before falling to the ground. I blink, confused by what I just witnessed, and turn my gaze down at the scroll. It's wrapped in a thick, red ribbon, held together by some sort of gold medallion with an imprint of a horseshoe embedded in the center. I give it a careful poke with a hoof, but nothing out of the ordinary happens further.

Huh. Did this... come from someone? Is this how mail is sent in this world or something?

I glance back up towards the center of the library and spot Princess Luna, wide-eyed, staring straight at me. Relief briefly washes over her face, before swiftly being replaced with anger.

Oh fuck.

"Celestia! There you are!" She begins to stomp agressively towards me, wearing one of the most intimidating, pissed-off expressions I had ever seen in my life. I'm not ready for this yet! I scramble backwards in fear until my back slams against the library's circular walls, again raising my hooves protectively. "What is the matter with you?! You and your magic were perfectly fine when you went to rest last night! So you better explain to me what is going on or you... you... wha— what are you—?"

Her voice quickly trails off, losing virtually all of its strength like a mighty castle wall crumbling to dust before me. I carefully creep my eyes open. Princess Luna stands right in front and above me, looking down at my quivering form. Her jaw hangs open and her ears are splayed back against the sides of her face. I look into her eyes and am immediately hit with a wave of déjà vu with the guard in my room from earlier. But while his expression had just been one of shock and confusion, Princess Luna's holds a trace of... hurt. But not just any hurt. the deep, stinging hurt that usually sits atop a mountain of personal history.

Realizing I'd been staring for a bit, I clumsily scramble back up on all four legs, realizing I actually stand just a tad taller than her. She backs up a little to give me space, her eyes still frozen onto mine with that same expression. As scared as I am myself, that look in her eyes triggers my own natural worry. Plus, this might be a good way to confirm her name. If I'm wrong, I'll just brush it off as messing it up due to still being sleepy... people do that too, right?

"Uhm... I'm really sorry about that, Princess Luna... uh... are you alright?" I mentally smack my forehead. Wow, real smooth there, Sam. Great job.

Princess Luna's eyes widen. "Huh?" She quickly averts her own gaze to the floor. "I am sorry, I just... have not seen you that frightened in a... very long time."

Alright, so it's Princess Luna, got it the first time! Damn, there must be some sort of history between these two. I mean, they're sisters, so that goes without saying. "Ah, I just had a... really awful nightmare last night, so I'm a little jumpier than usual."

"What?" She pauses and turns back to me, her face screwed in confusion. "Bu— but your dreams were pleasant last night! I would have felt if you were having a nightmare!"

How the fuck would you have—? I clear my throat just in time to stop my thoughts from blurting themselves out. "I... guess you just missed them this time?"

Luna blinks and opens her mouth to speak, then freezes for a moment. She shifts her eyes to the ground, her expression becoming suddenly downtrodden. "Oh... I see."

What's that supposed to be about?

We stand there awkwardly, avoiding eye contact, for what feels like forever. Soon though, her ears perk up and she turns her gaze back to me, head tilted. "Wait a minute, did you just use my title?"

Oh crap, right, they're sisters, they might not use their titles with each other, that'd probably get a bit weird. I don't think I heard her using 'Princess Celestia' the whole time, it might be the same the other way around, at least when it's just the two of us, I'd imagine. "Oh, did I? I, uh, guess I'm a lot more tired than I thought." I close my eyes and feign a long yawn.

Luna raises an eyebrow and looks me up and down. "You seem much more than just tired, Tia." Okay, so 'Tia' is apparently a nickname for Celestia. Hmm. I guess I can see that. "Where are your shoes? Have you been walking around the castle bare-hooved this whole time?"

I take a glance down at my front hooves, bare indeed. My eyes flicker over to her hooves and notice them covered in some silvery blue glass. Are those... glass slippers for horses? Looks painfully uncomfortable, I honestly think I'll pass. The ones in my room seemed like they were made of gold anyway, isn't that, like, super malleable?

"And why are you not wearing your regalia?"

I blink. "My what?"

"What do you mean, your 'what'?" Luna raises a hoof and pokes it against my chest. "You know, your—" She pauses for a moment. She growls and shakes her head before turning back to me, her eyes locked onto mine with the same steely glare from earlier. "Ugh, why am I even talking about this? This is supposed to be about you, not me." She pokes my chest with her hoof again, this time more forcibly. Her voice takes on a harsher, more commanding tone.

"Barely twenty minutes ago, Lieutenant Steel Spear reported to me that the delayed sunrise was a result of a lapse in your strength after yesterday, but you and I both know it can't be as simple as that. You already had the mental and physical energy to spend over an hour yesterday evening discussing to a standstill with me what we are to do with Discord. And right after that, your lowered the sun for the day as easily as you do every day, so your magic had to have mostly recovered from shielding much of Canterlot from Discord's influence. And I would know, I helped you with that, and my magic was already fully restored a mere hour after his defeat!"

Her eyes widen, and she lowers her voice to a whisper. "Did... did the Elements fail? Has Discord already broken free of his statue, so soon too?" She looks away nervously. "After almost losing dear Twilight and her friends to him yesterday, when I noticed the sun remaining below the horizon long past its due, I... I truly feared the worst for just a moment." She turns back to me, a sort of pleading look in her eyes. "Tia, what is it? Is something wrong? Please, you haven't been acting like... yourself..."

Her voice slowly trails off, her eyes narrowing as her expression shifts from one of worry to one of deep suspicion. Shit. I try my best to feign confusion. "Wha— Luna, what do you mean?"

"No!" She jumps back a distance from me and crouches down in a predatory stance. "You've been acting off ever since I walked in here— nay, since the moment you woke up! Now answer me, what is the matter with you?!"

My eyes widen as I realize the rising danger of the situation. "I— I don't know what you're talking about!" I barely manage to sputter out. I quickly flicker my eyes around to gauge my surroundings, or more specifically, gauge an escape route.

I'm boxed in to my left and right by bookshelves, so sideways movements are off the table. Way in front of me is the clearing in the middle of the room, followed by the exit on the far opposite end, but Luna blocks my path. There's easily room to dash around her, but with her focus so harshly locked onto me, I doubt she'd let me make it even an inch past her. There is that ring of space along the walls, like a circular hallway surrounding the entire room. Still, I don't think I'd be able to sprint, or gallop now, along the edge without either tripping on myself or Luna catching up to me. "I told you, I'm just... still a bit tired to think clearly and—"

"Cease your lies!" Luna interrupts with a powerful burst of force, her voice shaking everything in sight. Her glare hardens, and a light blue aura of energy surrounds the horn on her forehead, only this time it's a whole lot brighter than the one the earlier guard had. While his had been about as faint as a glow-in-the-dark necklace at full brightness, Luna's shone with a steady, brilliant glow that temporarily blinds my darkness-adjusted eyes. "My frustration and worry blinded me earlier, but it's clear as day to me now. Your manner of articulation and inflection is all wrong, and I've known my sister's speech far longer than anypony who has ever walked this planet."

Shit, she can recognize Celestia's way of talking?? I stumble back a few steps, but put on a sheepish smile, trying desperately to turn this situation around. "Ple— please, just calm down, I'm sure this is just, uhm, some big misunderstanding."

Luna raises an eyebrow, narrowing her eyes further. "A misunderstanding, you say? Then, pray tell, where did you decide on the temporary placement of Discord's statue last night?"

Shit, what? "Uh— uhm..." I stutter out nervously. A statue dedicated to someone who's apparently caused a ton of what I assume to be national security problems? That's a... first. Ugh, I thought I saw some statues just below the castle when I glanced outside my window, but it was really dark. I'm not sure if those were really statues or just ponies walking around. Still, seems like the sort of place a statue would be on display. "The... castle gardens, right?" I grin innocently.

Not innocently enough, apparently.

"Hah!" Luna lets out a dry laugh and takes a threatening step closer, forcing me to take one backwards. "Discord's statue being in the Canterlot Sculpture Gardens has been public information for centuries!" Centuries?! The fu— "But only Celestia and I know she relocated him to the castle vault after his second defeat. You're a pretender!" Her mouth twists into a furious snarl. Small, white sparks begin to burst from the tip of her horn and fall towards the ground, and a somewhat high-pitched hum fills the air, getting louder by the second.

Crap, crap, crap!I rapidly shake my head, feeling beads of sweat drip from by brow. I glance around nervously for something, anything I can use. There's some loose books on the shelf beside me that I could probably use for a distraction, but with where I'm standing and how she's pointing that sparking horn at me, it feels like I'm being held at gunpoint. I'd probably set her off with any sudden movements. Cat's completely out of the bag now then, huh? "Look, I— I don't even know how I got here, I'm just trying to get home and—"

"Silence, deceiver!" Luna stamps a hoof to the ground. "Now, remove your disguise!"

She lowers her head, then suddenly whips it up, pointing her horn upwards. A dome of blinding, cyan light expands rapidly from her horn, reaching me within seconds. I shout in surprise and stumble backwards, lifting a foreleg to shield my face from whatever energy is washing over me. A tingling sensation spreads throughout my body as the light passes over me, and I squeeze my eyes shut.

Eventually, the feeling vanishes, and I cautiously peek my eyes open. The dome has completely disappeared, leaving behind small, cyan specks of light in its wake that gradually dissipate into nothing. I quickly scan over myself in anticipation but find, much to my surprising disappointment, that nothing has changed. I look back up to Luna and see her standing there, staring at me completely dumbfounded, her face contorted in utter confusion.

"Bu— but, no illusion could possibly survive that spell! How..."

She's distracted. Now's my chance! Keeping my eyes locked on Luna, I swiftly raise a hoof to the shelf beside me and feel the edges of a few loose books. With all the strength I can muster, I swipe hard towards her, sending a flurry of leather and paper flying into her face.

"Wha— ow!"

Registering an successful impact, I desperately barrel past her, not daring to make the mistake of looking back to my would-be pursuer. I hear her grunt in pain as she stumbles into a bookshelf while avoiding a collision. I reach the middle of the room, sparing a second to scan around the ring of bookshelves surrounding the clearing for the entrance. Finally I spot a corridor with a hint of golden light, likely pouring in from the outside hallway, and make a mad dash down it. There's the entrance! And the door is open too! I could've sworn that guard closed it behind me, but I guess Luna left it open for some reason.

I'm just about my body's length away from the exit when a cyan light surrounds the metal door, which suddenly slams shut in my face.

Shit!

I crash head first into it with a cry and collapse to the ground, a blinding pain emanating from my forehead. The room spins around me as my head throbs painfully, and I reach up to rub to massage the point of impact, finding it to be the base of the horn on my forehead. A few golden sparks flitter down my line of sight. I weakly turn my gaze back around, vision blurry, and spot Luna in the middle of the room, hovering high in the air as her wings flap slowly. The light around her horn grows brighter and brighter. Wait... is she flying? But those wings are way too small! There's no way those can— oh shit!

Not even bothering to try standing, I instinctively throw myself to the side just before a bright beam of cyan energy lances from the tip of Luna's horn and splashes against the ground where I had just been laying. I glance behind myself and see a small crater at the spot of impact, a weak trail of smoke rising from the center.What— I whip my head back towards Luna, my eyes wide in shock. "—the fuck was that?!"

"I'm not going to pretend to know what you just said." Luna's voice rumbles deep. I feel a wind begin to pick up around me. "Nor will I pretend to know how you managed to acquire a body physically identical to Celestia's. But I will give you one final chance to speak!" Her eyes shine with an angry, white light as her words carry a powerful rage.

"What have you done with my sister?!"

For what seems like the millionth time this last hour, I scramble backwards to get as far away as possible and wince as my back hits the wall not even a second later. I put my front hooves up and wave them madly to try to get Luna's attention. "I— I have no idea!" I try to shout over the now full on gale wind whipping around the room. "I'm not even supposed to be here, I just—"

"If you wish to keep this information to yourself, then so be it!" Luna floats even higher, the glow in her horn tripling in intensity. I'm so fucking dead. "I'll just pry it out of your mind myself!"

Another powerful beam of cyan light streaks directly towards me, and I narrowly duck out of the way with a yelp. I scramble behind the nearest bookshelf for cover, failing miserably to catch my breath. I feel my heart pounding in my chest. Am I... actually going to die here?

"You think you can hide?" The bookshelf suddenly glows with the same cyan light now illuminating the entire room, before being easily tossed aside as if it were mere cardboard. It slams into some nearby bookshelves, sending them all toppling to the ground. Luna slowly descends closer to me, fixating me with a glare that could freeze oceans. "Where is she?! Where is Celestia?!"

I desperately scoop up a nearby book in my front hooves and chuck it at her face, hoping to catch her off guard again.

It doesn't even manage to scrape the bottom of her hooves, and a part of me dies despite the severity of the situation.

"I don't know what scheme you hoped to accomplish by taking my sister's place." Luna lowers her horn towards me, the glow surrounding it once again growing. "But I won't let you continue any further!"

My eyes quickly dart around my immediate surroundings. All the bookshelves around me lie flat on the ground, with their contents scattered across the room. I don't have any cover. I'm completely in the open now. I grab a nearby book and hug it close to my chest. Anywhere but here. Anywhere but here! Let me wake up anywhere but here, please!

A giant blast of cyan light rockets towards me, but I'm too frozen by fear to move out of the way, my eyes and mouth wide open in terror. I raise a hoof in front of me in a desperate, but futile attempt to shield my face.

I'm not ready to go!

Someone, anyone, get me out of here!

Something clicks within me, like a spark, and my world is filled a blinding, golden light, before all goes black.

Author's Note

For those who thought Sam might be able to keep up the act for a while with Luna hanging around, I'm sorry haha. She knows her sister too well.

There was originally a different word in place of "pretender", but you can imagine why I decided to replace it.

Also, chapter titles! I may or may not occasionally change them early on depending on how I feel, but I'd rather do this sooner than later as I have future plans for chapters that are in a Part 1, Part 2 fashion. As advised, I'll try to make sure they don't majorly spoil events. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on the current titles I've settled with!

As you also may have already noticed, the last two chapters haven't been right on 7-day schedule. As the chapters inevitably get longer on average, so will the update schedule, but it's still too early to finalize that. For now, just assume between 1-2 weeks, though I'd like to hang closer to the "1". Enjoy the new chapter!

5. The First Friendly Face

Ugh, I— what... what happened?

My mind floats through the sea of darkness around me, slowly rising to the surface of consciousness.

Gah, why does my head hurt so much? I— I've never had a headache this awful before.

The pervading silence gradually gives away to the distant sound of birds chirping, mixed in with the faint rustling of leaves in the wind. I become vaguely aware of my body lying on some sort of soft surface.

What is this? This doesn't feel like that cold stone floor of the library.

I carefully peek my eyes open, a small corner of my mind silently wishing to be greeted by the sight of my dorm room. Unfortunately, it seemed the morning wasn't finished with disappointing me just yet. Neither was it done surprising me apparently.

Huh? Where am I? This doesn't look anything like the castle's walls. This looks... well, actually normal for once, not all 'regal-y' or whatever.

No stone walls or lavish tapestries or massive paintings adorn the surroundings this time, though darkness still obscures much. Instead, the rather small room around me features a pretty modern-looking interior, like something I'd expect to see when visiting a friend's house back at home.

Back home... wait, am I—

I quickly look down across my body and am greeted by the unfortunately sight of an abundance of short, white fur.

Damn it... well, worth a shot.

I shake my head pretty hard to try and wake myself up properly, wincing though as a sharp bolt of blinding pain shoots down from my forehead. I shudder, sucking in a breath through my teeth and squeezing my eyes shut as I sense the throbbing pain make its way throughout my entire body. My forehead feels like it's on fire, like nothing I've ever felt before, even with my many years of reckless injuries playing soccer in high school.

I reach up to rub my head, but quickly halt myself before making the same mistake from earlier and smacking myself with the end of my hoof. I slowly bring my hoof closer to the center of the pain, but flinch when it hits solid material connected to my forehead.

My horn... is that what's hurting so much? I mean, I did run straight into that door when trying to escape Luna, but this pain feels different than that. Or, maybe this is how I was supposed to feel earlier and my adrenaline was blocking it out? Ugh, in either case, I probably should avoid moving my head around too much.

I slowly start to move to a seated position and wince as even more pain floods down my body. "Ugh..." I groan tiredly. "Can I get a fucking break yet? Wai—"

I pause as my ears once again register the voice of someone who is totally not me, and of the opposite sex. I roll my eyes. "I'm never getting used to this, am I? Maybe I should just pretend I'm using a voice changer?"

I take a look down and realize I'm sitting on a relatively small bed. Compared to the bed I woke up on earlier, this one is also much more standard-looking: just a bland, white mattress pad. I lean forward and look down, spotting a large, soft blue blanket laying crumpled on the floor beside the bed. Hmm, I must have kicked that off in my sleep.

My eyes widen. But I don't remember putting that on myself to begin with, someone else must have. Actually for that matter, how'd I even end up on this bed? Did... did someone really carry me here and tuck me in? I tense up briefly before relaxing. That's... really nice of them, whoever they are. Wait, what am I even doing here? How did I get here, this place looks nothing like the castle!

Feeling a little more confident in my mind's waking state, I turn my eyes around me to the room to properly inspect it. The room itself is rather dark, illuminated by a sliver of yellow light streaming through a crack in the door. With my eyes having adjusted to it, though, the room's details are much clearer now.

The bed is propped against the corner of the room, granting me a full view of the interior. Modest planks of dark wood make up the floor, with light green drywall wrapping all around the room. A small bedside table of lighter wood rests nearby with an old lamp sitting atop, and beside it, my golden crown. I blink and slowly shift my gaze to look behind the lamp. To my surprise, there doesn't seem to be any sort of power cable. Is this a... battery-powered lamp? Or, maybe it's just for decoration and doesn't work? I reach forward with a hoof towards the chain hanging from it, then pause as I remember my lack of fingers.

Okay, what's up with these designs, why is everything designed for hands when no one seems to have them?

Turning back to the room, I notice a large bookshelf much like the one back in Celestia's room, though a bit less ornate and also made of wood. The contents held within are a little messy too, with some shelves not fully filled, allowing books and loose papers to fall over each other in the empty space. To the right of the bookshelf, there's a short writing desk with another old lamp and a stand holding what looks like a small harp. More loose sheets of paper rest atop the desk.

As slow as I can muster, I force myself off the bed and onto all four legs. I wobble a little bit, feeling the blood rush to my brain and back, and my headache briefly intensifies before things settle down.

I take a step forward, and the wood below gives off an obnoxiously loud creak. I cringe and freeze up, half expecting someone to come barging in through the door. After many seconds though, no other sounds but the rustling of leaves outside pervade the air. I sigh in relief and walk over to the desk, giving the pages a look.

This is... sheet music. Very familiar clefs and notes dotted the papers. I recognize sharps and flats, crescendos, time signature, key signature. Four sharps, is that E major? Ew. And in 6/8 too, whoever is writing this is a complete menace. I examine it a little closer. Still... for an alien planet, this place has an awful lot of similarities to back home. I glance at the small harp. I know it has a different name, but I just can't place it. One of its strings appears to have snapped.

A chill breeze brushes against my left side, and I turn to see a half-open window. The curtains are drawn back, so I approach it cautiously in case of anyone spotting me. It looks like I'm on the second floor of this house, window facing a long field with sparse trees, blanketed in the dark of night.

After a few seconds, it registers to me that I've been subconsciously crouching. Oh, wow, this room is short. I turn to glance at the door behind me. Everything's a bit shorter than it was in the castle. Though... all those other ponies were much shorter than me too. Is the castle specifically built with my height in mind or something?

I face the window again and crouch lower, turning my gaze up to the sky. As before, the same unfamiliar starry sky greets my eyes, and I sigh tiredly. Can't I just wake up in my room already...

I stare up the stars some more, marveling at their beauty. Normally, such a sight would require a trip far out from any residential area because of the air and light pollution. To be able to see them from a house window... I feel my mouth curl into a faint smile.

I blink. Ugh, what am I doing, the other princess already knows I'm a fake. There's probably whole ass military force hunting me down right now! I whisk around and make for the door. Its round door knob elicits a scoff of annoyance from me, so I carefully slip the tip of my hoof into the crack of the door and gently pull it open. The room is bathed in yellow light, the source of which happening to be right where my dark-adjusted eyes had been staring at.

Ack! Damn it. I shake my head and stare at the wood floorboards for a few seconds, letting my eyes adjust to the light, then glance around. A wall sits on my left, donning a standard wall lamp and a large, framed photograph of two smiling ponies. One is a mint-colored unicorn with a light green mane, and the other is a yellow mare with a purple and blue mane. I glance at her forehead and side, failing to spot the usual wings or horn. So some ponies can't either fly or use magic? Damn. Or maybe there's another way that I just can't see. Anyways, I guess this house must belong to these two? Where are they?

On my right is a hallway leading to two doors. My instincts tell me it's probably another bedroom and a bathroom. Besides, the doors are closed. I glare at their obnoxious, rounded door knobs in frustration before facing forward. A balcony and stairs leading downstairs lie before me. I approach the edge and peer down, my sights narrowing in on what has to be the front door. It's shut as well, but thankfully the handle looks a bit like those elegant, longer ones from the castle that I can push on to rotate.

I make for the stairs immediately, but I freeze right on the edge as a realization strikes me. What... what is running going to do for me now? What am I supposed to do? If I manage to escape Luna and the guards, what then? Do I keep running and hiding, living on the streets?

I— I can't even do that either... This is... this is the body of this nation's princess. Or at least, one of them. Everyone knows who I'm supposed to be, and pretty soon, everyone will know who I really am once Luna emergency broadcasts this news on national TV or something. I can't hide from everyone, and I certainly can't hide out in a forest, not with these... hooves. Our opposable thumbs are the second best thing going for us, and now I don't even have those!

I turn around and gaze back into the bedroom, my eyes shifting to the bedside table where my golden crown rests. I let loose a breath I didn't realize I was holding in.

And besides, I just... I just can't do that. I shouldn't. I'm supposed to be one of this country's rulers. I don't know where the real Princess Celestia is, but she's certainly not here right now. I already know my home would descend into madness if our president just suddenly disappeared, and we don't even rely on him to apparently raise the fucking sun, if I were to interpret that literally.

I have to go back somehow. Maybe I was brought here by some secret government program of theirs, which would mean they'd be my only way of getting home. And maybe they could figure out where Celestia herself really is. But Luna looked like she was ready to end me on the spot.

I feel my ears droop to the side of my head as my gaze blankly falls to the floor. I don't know what to do...

I turn back around and look down the stairs, covered in the same varnished wood as the floor. There's a wooden railing along the edge, but what use they are for creatures that walk on all fours is completely beyond me. The more I look down, the higher it seems to get. I just barely got used to walking with hooves normally today, and now I gotta deal with stairs too??

I take a deep breath and tentatively lift my right foreleg, inching it at a snail's pace over the first step. My back legs are, well, further back, so I'm inevitably going to be leaning forward a whole lot once both my front legs hit the stairs. I think one of my forelegs will have to be two steps down for me to even bring my hind legs forward, ugh.

I keep my foreleg hovering there for probably a whole minute, trying to calculate all the possible ways to not break my neck on the way down. Maybe if I try going down sideways? That'll still risk me tipping over and falling on my side. I glance downwards to my left side. And I don't know how fragile these wings are. Oh! Maybe if I go down backwards, so my center of gravity isn't leaning forward. I'm pretty sure that's how I went down stairs as a baby, right? I turn around and—

A door clicks open.

My eyes widen and I instinctively stumble backwards, only for my back legs to hit nothing but air. "Shit!" I yelp as my balance goes straight out the window. The world spins around me as I'm sent tumbling painfully down the stairs, hitting every step along the way. Even as my head and legs and sides bang against the floor, wall, and railing, I can't help but let a single silly thought slip through my brain.

Thank god these stairs aren't marble like the castle's floors.

Finally, I crash down at the base of the stairs with all four legs completely flailed out, my sight blurry and spinning, but thankfully not filled with any golden, pearly gates in the clouds. "Ugh... at least it was quick..." I shake my head and lift it slightly.

In the entrance of the front door stands the same mint-colored unicorn from the earlier photo, her wide, golden eyes transfixed on my own. Her horn glows with a faint, golden light. and what looks like a filled, paper bag hovers beside her, wrapped in the same colored aura. She stares at me, unmoving, her mouth frozen open mid-gasp.

I stare back at her.

She stares back at me.

I stare back at her.

She stares back at me.

I stare back at her.

She stares back at me.

I blink.

"Princess!" She cries out, snapping out of her trance. The door behind her briefly glows as well before slamming shut behind her. The paper bag floats onto a nearby table as she rushes over to me. She reaches out to me, but pauses hesitantly. "I— uh—" She drops into a hasty bow like the guard from before did, then comes closer and offers a hoof, much like someone offering a hand. I stare at it for a second before reaching for it with my own. Her hoof curls tightly around mine in a manner not like how any hoof should curl, but it gives me the anchor to pull myself to a seated position on my haunches. She looks at me in concern."Are— are you alright?"

I scoff. "No." My eyes widen as I notice her flinch slightly, realizing I might have put too much into that. "Sorry, it's been a rough morning for me already."

She tilts her head in confusion. "But... the morning hasn't started. You... haven't raised the sun yet, Princess."

Again with the sun, so casually too. It makes absolutely no sense, but maybe Princess Celestia really can raise the sun. At this point, I don't know what to believe anymore, I just got attacked by my apparent sister who can fly and throw giant beams of energy around like out of a comic book. With my head no longer spinning, I look down at the unicorn before me and realize that I am, in fact, looking down at her. She's small. Everyone's small. Even sitting down, she's shorter than me. She'd probably come up to my stomach normally. And look how big her eyes are. Can I pe—

"Princess? What's going on? And... why are you looking at me like that?"

I blink. "Oh, shoot, sorry. Got a bit lost in my thoughts. Um..." I glance around again at the cozy little home I've found myself in. "So... how did I get here?"

Her eyes widen and her body tenses up. "Princess, I promise you, I had nothing to do with it!" She begins to sputter out. "I have no idea wha—"

"Woah woah woah!" I interrupt, raising my forelegs up comfortingly. "Calm down, you're not in trouble or... whatever. I just want to know how I got here. In your house."

"Oh... okay." She sighs in relief and visibly relaxes. "That's what I was saying, though, I don't know. An hour ago, I was practicing my lyre downstairs when you teleported straight into my living room. And it wasn't even a normal teleport like when Twilight does it. It was so bright and loud, and it sort of... pushed everything away. Including me. Hard." She rubs one of her forelegs.

I wince. "Uh, sorry," I mutter guiltily. Ah, so it's called a lyre. Wait, why am I focusing on that, did she just say I teleported?! And that someone else can do it too? This place just keeps getting crazier and crazier.

Seeming to not hear me, she continues. "I thought it was some monster attack, but when I saw it was you, I freaked out even more! I mean, the sun still wasn't up for almost an hour past the normal time, again, and then you of all ponies suddenly just appear in my house?! And you looked all beat up too, I was so worried! So I cleaned you up a little bit, then moved you upstairs to my bedroom. I waited a while for you to wake up, but eventually I started to get hungry and... I had forgotten to restock the pantry, so I left the hallway light on for you and went to get groceries. Thankfully a few ponies decided to open their stands early anyway. Or... not early, but just at the usual time, even with it still dark out. Then I... came home to you at the bottom of the stairs."

"I—" I begin, but pause, not sure where to start. "Thanks. For helping me." I smile at her, and that seems to warm her up a little. "Uhm... what might your name be?"

"Hmm?" She tilts her head. "Lyra. Lyra Heartstrings? I— I was one of your students at your school. I was one of Twilight's earlier friends before she moved here?"

Twilight. Twilight. Twilight Sparkle? My, uh, 'faithful student' from that letter, right? "Ah, yes, sorry, it must have slipped my mind?" Lyra blinks. I'm doing my best here, give me a break, eesh. A thought occurs to me, though. "Why didn't you tell anybody about me? You know, about the missing princess in your house?"

She shrinks a little. "I, uh, probably should have, right?" She smiles sheepishly, then looks down with a sigh. "Sorry, I just, I dunno. I guess I was scared somepony would think I had something to do with it, like I kidnapped you. I mean, the sun staying down for way longer than normal, and then you magically turn up unconscious in my living room?! I don't think anypony would buy that, and I... didn't want to risk it. I'm sorry, Princess."

"No no, you're fine." I wave off with a hoof. "I don't think I would've risked it either, to be honest." After several seconds of silence, I turn back to her. She stares at me with a perplexed look, her head tilted. "Uh... what?"

"You sound... different."

My eyes widen. Immediately, I feel my heart race again. Is my real voice coming out somehow? That can't be, I don't sound anything like myself."Um... in what way?"

"Your voice is different." Lyra continues, standing up. She takes a step back, looking a little more worried than before. "Well, no, your voice is fine. But... the way you're talking right now. It's too... casual. I've never heard you talk like this before, even when it was just you and Twilight."

Really? Same thing with Luna, again? How am I supposed to mimic the speech of someone who I have no idea how they normally talk to begin with?!

"Sorry, I'm just tir—" I begin, but freeze. What the heck am I doing? Am I really going to try to keep the charade up with this random pony when the other half of this country's ruling body is well aware of the truth already? And is probably sending guards after me as we speak? What would the point be in the long run, I'm already caught. And I hate having to constantly lie. Ugh.

I can't do this anymore.

"Fuck it."

She blinks. "Wha— huh?"

I sigh. "I'm not her."

"What do you mea—"

"I'm not Princess Celestia."

Author's Note

Sorry for the heavily delayed chapter! I was getting heavily blocked by work combined with many other things stressing me out.

With many of them handled, we are back!! I'll be returning to my original 1-2 week schedule! I also might release/start another fic that's been hanging in my mind, but that's still up in the air haha. Woooo!

6. Not Your Average Kind Of Pony

"You're... what?"

I sigh tiredly. "You heard what I said. I'm not Princess Celestia. I'm not the one ruling this place. And I am certainly not someone who knows how to raise a damn star in the sky."

Lyra's eyes widen, and she takes a tentative step back. "Wha— bu— but you are her! You look and sound exactly like her!"

Not like I had a choice. I roll my eyes and throw my forelegs up in frustration. "Oh really? I haven't noticed!"

Her ears splay back as she winces. "Sorry... are you not supposed to look like..." She gestures up and down my body with her eyes. "...this?"

"No!" I glare at her with slight annoyance. "And why do you sound surprised all of a sudden? You were acting like you already figured it all out earlier!"

"I— what, no!" Lyra backs up a little more. "I mean, I guessed something was wrong, but I just thought Nightmare Moon was back for some reason and messed with your mind to make you less... regal."

I let out a loud groan of exasperation. "What kind of name is that?! Who the hell is Nightmare Moon?!"

Lyra freezes and stares at me for a while, her expression gradually softening. "You ... really aren't Princess Celestia?"

Slowly, I climb to my hooves and glance around. There's a small mirror hanging in the hallway beside the front door, like the kind people use to check themselves before heading out. I trot over to it and stare into Celestia's eyes.

"No." I tilt my head around, watching the pony in the mirror match my every movement. "This isn't my face. This isn't my body. And this definitely isn't my voice!"

My legs tremble weakly, and I collapse to the floor on my rump. My breathing begins to quicken, my heart hammering against my chest all over again. "I'm supposed to be in Calculus right now, my first class in my first year of college. Or... probably English. I don't know what time it's supposed to be back home." My vision begins to darken around the edges. "How am I supposed to get back? Can I even get back at all? I don't know what I'm doing here, I don't want to be here, I thought this was a dream, but I haven't woken up yet. Am I even alive anymore? Maybe I somehow died in my sleep and got reincarnated here like one of those weird iseka—"

"Hey!"

I gasp and whip my head to the left, where Lyra is standing close to me with her hoof reaching for me. She flinches slightly from my movement, but closes the distance and rests her hoof gently against my back. The edges of her hoof are hard, but I feel a bit of warmth in the center, where a palm might be.

"Just, uh, slow down, deep breaths..." Her voice lowers to just above a whisper, her hoof swirling in soothing circles against my back. "You'll be alright..."

I close my eyes and let my head hang. "Thanks..." I feel tears starting to well in my eyes, but I squeeze them shut in a desperate attempt to keep them from falling. I lift a hoof and very carefully wipe what little moisture now sticks to the fur on my face. "Sorry, I just— I really have no idea what's going on, what is this place? And why are there..." I stare at her briefly. "...talking ponies everywhere?"

Lyra tilted her head. "That's what confuses you? I'd be more worried if I was surrounded by ponies that couldn't talk at all."

What. I stare blankly through her before my mind registers reality. "Ah yeah, right, I guess ponies are the, uh, dominant species around here..."

"What do you—" Lyra backs off and sits opposite from me, staring at me with intrigue. "I don't get it, you're saying that like we're not supposed to be? And wait, hold up." She pauses. "Did you say earlier you're supposed to be in college? Your first year of it??"

My eyes shoot wide open. Oohhh, I did say that, didn't I. I didn't mean to say all that yet, oh great, how am I supposed to explain this? I sigh. "Yep. College freshman. Actually, I'm barely even a freshman yet. I was supposed to have my first class in college this morning, but instead, nope. I randomly wake up here as this white princess horse who apparently everyone looks up to as the ruler of the country. Or pony, whatever, I don't even know anymore." My head slumps forward. "I just want to go home already..."

Lyra tilts her head in confusion. "You're supposed to be in college right now?"

I look up at her and nod tiredly.

"College, as in, the one usually right after high school?"

I nod again.

Her brow furrows in thought. "But, I graduated from your— I mean, Celestia's school a few years ago. At least, just the general education bits, I was never good enough with magic to go after a formal degree in it, unlike Twilight."

You can get a degree... in magic here? Wow.

"Anyways, uh, if I went through with my degree, I'd probably already be done by now, or at least almost done." She looks at me a little closer. "And you're supposed to be... in your first year?"

I feel a small bead of sweat slide comically down the side of my face as I nod once again.

"How old are you supposed to be?"

"Um... eighteen?"

"WHAT?!"

I recoil at the outburst, my ears instinctively splaying back to protect my precious hearing. "Ow..." Wowie, these big ass ears really pick up way more sound than I'm used to.

"Sorry!" Lyra winces at my reaction. "Sorry, I, uh, just wasn't expecting... well, I don't know what I was even expecting, but... eighteen?!"

"Yeaaaaaah. I'm eighteen. And a half! I'm supposed to turn nineteen in a few months." I pause, then mentally slap myself. Wow, VERY useful fun fact, Sam, that extra half absolutely clears everything up.

"Wow, so you're... younger than me?"

I blink and glance down at my still unfamiliar form. "How old am I supposed to be?"

"I... don't know exactly, actually." Lyra's brow furrows in thought. "I do know you're supposed to be at least a thousand years old."

What. "The fuck?"

"Huh?"

I shake my head. "Oh um, nothing, sorry, you said a thousand years?"

Lyra nodded.

I gulp nervously. "Are you... sure that's not like, some sort of exaggeration or just a saying or—"

"Nope." Lyra shakes her head. "It's in our history books, we even learn about your age as a filly." She freezes. "I mean, Celestia's age. Ugh, this is confusing me, who are you if you're not Princess Celestia?"

Whatever is going on here, this would be groundbreaking news back on Earth. I don't know how much I should really be saying to this... random civilian pony. I look into Lyra's wide, curious eyes. She's nice though. Honestly this is the first time I've been able to talk to someone normally since showing up here. And what if... what if Luna sends guards to capture me, and they lock me away and I die or something? Nobody would know I was ever even here. I sigh. It can't hurt, right?

"My name is Sam, and I'm a human. Or, I'm supposed to be one, not a pony."

Lyra blinks. "You're a what?"

I deadpan. "A... human?"

"Yeah, that." She tilts her head. "What's a... 'you-min'?"

"'Human'." I correct her pronunciation. "Uh..." Shit, different planet or whatever, they've probably never even heard of the word. "Humans, yes. Different species, we stand on two legs. Our, uh, upper arms have hands instead of hooves. Oh, and feet on our... back legs. And no horns or wings either."

Her eyes widen a little. "Woah... that sounds a bit like a Minotaur, but without the hooves on the back legs. Are you from outside of Equestria?"

"Equestria." I repeat. That's the only location name I've heard all day. "Yeah, uh, is that... the name of this planet?"

"Oh no, Equestria is the name of our nation. Equus is the planet."

"Oh. Yes, right." I nod slowly. Oooh boy, here comes the sucker punch. I hold in my breath for a while before slowly releasing it. "I guess that means I'm... from outside Equus then."

Lyra freezes. She stares at me in silence, not even blinking for what feels like a whole minute. "...outside of Equus?"

"Yep."

"...the planet."

"Uhuh."

Lyra's mouth opened, held still, then closed again. "So... you're from another planet."

Aaaaand there it is. "Yep. At least, I think. No, I'm pretty sure. I used to stare at the sky all the time when I was little, I'd even borrow books from the library nearby so I could memorize different constellations." I swallow nervously, already sensing my breathing and heart rate quickening, the words coming out faster and faster. "I can't recognize a single pattern up there, that's a completely different sky from the one I know. So yes, that, plus the fact that everyone around me is a talking pony, I am very sure I'm on the wrong planet!"

I inhale deeply, realizing I had been starting to gasp for breath the entire time. I lift a foreleg and carefully press it firmly against my forehead, making sure to avoid the base of my horn. I slow my breathing and focus on the wood planks beneath me, trailing my eyes across the many lines that patterned the floor as I feel my racing heart gradually calm. Eventually, I feel my body relax enough that I can lower my limbs back down to the floor.

After several moments of silence, I slowly bring my eyes back up to Lyra, who has been staring at me silently throughout my entire rant. I clear my throat and cough awkwardly. "So, yes, uh, long story short, I'm from a different planet. I'm... sorry?" I internally smack myself in the head, squeezing my eyes shut in anticipation. 'I'm sorry'? What the hell are you apologizing for, god this is going to make things so awkward, ugh.

However, after several seconds go by without any sort of panicked shouts, scurrying away, or anything like that, I slowly creep my eyes open.

Lyra remains seated away from me, continuing to stare at me in silence, but at some point during my speech, she had begun to lean forward in earnest. She slowly climbs to her hooves and begins to creep closer, eyes staring deep into mine, all caution in her previous expression completely vanished and replaced with a burning curiosity.

What the heck is she doing? My eyes flicker nervously between hers and anything else around her I can find as she creeps closer and closer, gradually invading my personal space. I scooch backwards as much as I can until I feel my wings brush against the wall behind me.

She gets close enough to me that I can make out all the little details in her iris. Wow, ponies really do have massive eyes. She lifts a hoof, to which I flinch instinctively, and pokes the fluff of my chest with it.

I deadpan. "What."

She looks into my eyes, her head tilting. "You're not messing with me? You're really from..." She glances upwards. "...out there?"

I nod slowly. "Yeah, like I said, I'm veryyy sure. That or I'm dead and I'm in heaven."

Lyra stomps her hoof hard against the ground beside me. I wince, anticipating another assault like from Luna, but freeze when I spot her expression: full of glee and excitement and wonder.

"I knew it!"

I shake my head and back up a little more to regain my personal space. "You knew... what?"

"That there are other beings out there! That we aren't alone!" She claps her hooves together quite ecstatically. "This is so cool! I've been telling Bon Bon all the time, but she'd just call me crazy and silly, and that I—"

"Wait wait wait." I quickly throw my hooves up, feeling the possibility of a life story dump coming. "Slow down there. Um, and who's Bon Bon?" She opens her mouth to respond, but a memory swiftly passes through my head. "Oh wait! Is thaaaat, uh, the other pony with you in that picture in the hallway?"

Lyra tilts her head to glance up the stairwell and into the upstairs hallway. "Oh, right! Bon Bon! Yeah, she lives with me here. I mentioned earlier that I moved here? She was the one that showed me around town and let me live with her until a place opened up, then we became even closer friends and decided to just stay roommates!"

Aw, that's actually really ni—

"So where are you from? Um... is your planet nearby?"

"I... don't think so?" I look up thoughtfully. "There's no way this planet's in my solar system, the constellations wouldn't really be any different. And we're pretty knowledgeable about all the nearby planets, I think we'd know if one has entire fields and oceans and a living population. Oh, and if there's a friggin' SUN orbiting it! We only have one sun and it certainly doesn't orbit any of the planets."

Lyra gasps. "Your system has more than one planet?"

"Yep, nine of them." I pause. "Though one of them issss not one anymore."

"What does that mean?"

Should still be nine, but whatever. "Something about it being too small to still be called a planet, don't worry about it."

Lyra chuckles. "Well, what's the... name of the planet you're from?"

"Earth."

"...Earth?"

I nod slowly. "Yes, that's the name."

She rolls her eyes. "What kind of name is that? Isn't that like calling the planet 'Dirt'."

"I— I mean—" I stutter. "I guess? I wasn't the one who named it! There was probably a different name a long time ago, I just know what we call it now." I point a hoof at her accusingly. "What about your planet? 'Equus'? Isn't that like calling it 'Horse'?"

"Hey, that's not even the same thing!"

"That is totally the same thi—" I blink. What the hell. "Woaahhh do you see that?"

Lyra peers at me in confusion. "What?"

I stab my hoof towards the door behind her. "Look outside!"

She follows my gaze to the window beside the door, where a small stream of sunlight flowed and shifted visibly onto the floor. "Oh! The sun's up finally."

My eyes widen. "What are you— what do you mean, it's up?! Look how fast it's going!"

She glanced at me, then back towards the streaks of sunlight on the floor. "That looks normal to me."

"It's so fast!" I scramble away from the light as if I were a vampire. "At that rate, the day has to be like an hour long or... or..."My mouth hangs open, my last word trailing off the tip of my tongue. "It just stopped."

Lyra looks back to the beams of sunlight, where they indeed have ceased their rapid movement across the floor. "Um... yes?"

"The sun rose that fast, then just suddenly slowed down by itself, and you're telling me that's normal?!"

Lyra tilts her head at me in confusion. "That's... normal, yeah. What, is it different on your planet?"

"'Is it different on your planet?' YES! YES, IT VERY MUCH IS!" I shout, still backing away from the light. I wince as I continuously stomp my hooves on my own mane. Ugh, for the love of— how does anyone manage this much hair, let alone a pony walking on four legs?! "Forget the fact that the speed is supposed to be consistent. The sun isn't even supposed to move! I mean, yes, it does move! Sort of! But Earth is supposed to orbit around the star, not the other way around. How can that even work with gravity?! Man, flat earthers would have a field day with this."

"What's a flat earther?"

"You don't even want to kno— WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!" I cry out in shock as a trail of glistening smoke streams directly through the window and approaches me.

Oh wait, this happened earlier, right? I calm down and still myself as the smoke coalesces into a ball of spinning smoke and green sparkles. Like before, the ball slowly compresses before bursting in a flash of yellow light, leaving a small, sealed scroll in its wake that tumbles to the floor.

I stare at it silently, poking it with a hoof. "This again?"

Lyra approaches, her eyes also trained on the scroll. "Are you... gonna read that?"

"Oh, right, yes." I sit down on my haunches and awkwardly roll the scroll towards me with my front legs. I then try to push the seal and ribbon off the scroll with one hoof while holding the paper down with my other hoof.

"Um... Pri— I mean, uh... what are you doing?"

"I'm trying to open it, what do you think?"

She raises an eyebrow at me.

I stare back at her. "What?"

She gestures upwards with her eyes.

I follow her gaze to the ceiling, where I spot nothing out of the ordinary. "Huh?"

She rolls her eyes. "Your magic?"

"My—" I recall numerous instances of unicorns floating things around, presumably with their horn. "Oh, yes. My magic. Of course." I reach up and prod at my horn, wincing from the still unfamiliar contact. "I, uh..." I bite my lip and look away. "I don't know how."

"Huh?" Lyra trots closer, peering at my horn. "Is something wrong with your horn? Or are your reserves drained and—"

"No, and no." I sigh in embarrassment. "Alien human from another planet, remember?"

"Ohhh, right, no horns. Do you use magic in a different way or—"

"No!" I shout in annoyance, but calm down when I see Lyra wince slightly. "Sorry. No, uh... I've never used magic before."

Her eyes widen. "There's no magic on your world?"

"Not that I know of, though that'd be super convenient if there was." I laugh and roll my eyes. "Anyway, uh..." I look at her and sigh. "Could you... help please?"

"Oh, yeah, sure!" Lyra trots forward, her horn glowing with a golden light. A similar, gold aura surrounds the scroll as it lifts off the ground and floats in front of her. The seal and ribbon slide off and float to the ground as the scroll fully unrolls before her. Her eyes furrow in confusion as she reads off its contents.

"
Dear Princess Celestia,

On our way!

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
"

"'On our way'?" I repeat, slowly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Lyra blinks, staring at the letter. "That they're on their way? That's pretty self-expla—"

A loud banging erupts from behind the door. Lyra jumps and shrieks in surprise, the light around her horn flickering out as the scroll crumples to the floor.

"This is the Royal Guard! Open up immediately!" My eyes shoot wide open as the voice booms throughout the house. More aggressive banging follows the command, reverberating through the walls and causing some of the hanging decor the rattle.

Shit! No no no no, how did they find me this quickly?! Was... was it that magic smoke letter? What do I do, what do I do? My eyes meet Lyra's.

"Is there another way out?" I whisper to her.

"No, just this door." She whispers back. "I don't think you'll fit through any of the windows either."

I blink. Did she just call me fat? I look down at myself. Oh who am I kidding, these houses are probably built for ponies of her size, and I'm obnoxiously taller than all of them.

"This is your last warning! Open the door, or we will open it ourselves!"

"Get behind the couch in the other room! And don't make any noise!" She whispers urgently.

I nod and scramble as best as I can on my four legs down the entryway for what looks like the living room. I quickly identify a couch and dive behind it right before I hear Lyra open the door.

Author's Note

Sorry for the longer than usual wait on the update! Took a while to get over a writers block, but starting now, I anticipate a 1-2 week schedule once again (and I mean it this time!)

7. Funny Running Into You Again

"Uh, hello! Good morning, um, can I help you with something?"

Lyra's voice rings out from far behind the couch I hide behind, my limbs frozen in a cluttered, tangled mess as I desperately squeezed myself behind the little cover it provided before Lyra had opened the door. I curl around myself a little tighter, my ears instinctively flickering towards the voices in the entryway.

"Good morning, ma'am." The guard's gruff voice echoes into the house. "We have reason to believe a pony of interest may be hiding at or around your residence. Please move aside so we may search the premises."

"What?" Lyra's voice shakes slightly, but still holds firm. "I— I have no idea what you're talking about, maybe you have the wrong house or something. Nopony else is supposed to be around until my roommate comes back from her trip."

Wow, she's not selling me out, even with how... huge this whole thing is? She really is a real one. I shift my body around to get my legs out of the awkward position I had crammed myself into and move them to a more comfortable one.

"We understand, ma'am, but we assure you, we have the right place."

"How do you know? Did you see anypony else go in? Because I know I definitely didn't."

There's a brief pause. "The source of our information is regarded to be highly accurate in her reasoning."

"Her? I— I don't understand wha—"

"Sorry, but we don't have time for this. Now please step out of the way."

"Wha— hold on a minute, you can't just— hey!" There is some scuffling at the doorway before heavy hoofsteps make their way into the hallway. Oh shit, this is getting bad real quick. I suck in my breath and creep further backwards against the wood floor, internally cursing my hooves for their lack of stealth on hard surfaces. "You can't just force your way in like that! Don't you need a warrant? You... you..."

Lyra's voice trails off in what sounds like fear. Something's not right. I look around the living room, scanning for the windows she had mentioned earlier, and begin to debating whether sprinting dead on into one of them horn-first would either shatter the glass or triple my already annoying headache when—

"I believe my authority may suffice, Lyra Heartstrings." My eyes shoot wide open as a powerful and very familiar voice fills the air. Luna's here too? Already?! I've barely been here for, like, actually I have no idea, but it clearly wasn't for long! I feel my heart already pounding in my chest as the sensation of blinding flashes, deafening explosions, and sizzling heat of energy beams flying around rushes to the forefront of my mind. Damn it, not her already. Not again... I take a deep breath in, letting my eyes once more trail across the lines of wood throughout the floor planks as I try to calm myself.

"Ni— Ni— Nightmare moon..." Lyra trembles out, her voice barely audible anymore from my hiding spot.

"What?!" Every ounce of regality drains right out of Luna's voice, replaced with a hint of... offense? "What nonsense do you speak of? Is it not clear that we are no longer that pony?!"

"I— but you—"

"Lyra, it's okay, calm down" I'm snapped out of my panic-inducing thoughts as an unfamiliar voice joins the fray. This one sounds young and feminine, maybe closer to Lyra's age.

"Twilight? What do you doing here, I—"

"This is Princess Luna, not Nightmare Moon. You remember Princess Luna, right? From the Summer Sun Celebration a couple months ago?"

Summer Sun Celebration? Is that like the summer solstice?

"Yeah, but this isn't—"

"This is her! Same pony. She just looked different when you saw her back then since she was in a, uh, weakened state after we hit her with the Elements of Harmony. She didn't have the starry mane and the... height yet."

I resist the urge to peek out from my hiding spot. So this is that Twilight I've been constantly hearing about? And what the heck are Elements of Harmony? She hit Luna with them and that weakened her? Maybe they're some kind of secret weapon or something.

"Oh... I see. Um, I'm really sorry, your Highness."

Luna lets out an exasperated sigh. "It is of no worry, little one, we understand where this confusion may lie."

"I— what's with the cloak?"

"For discretion. Now then, we are looking for our sister, and Twilight here believes she is somewhere in your house."

Five seconds of deafening silence pass by. "Y— you mean Princess Celestia? Why would she be here?"

"I used Spike's dragon fire to send a letter straight to Princess Celestia, like I do for my weekly friendship lesson." Twilight responds.

I scrunch in confusion. That sparkly smoke from earlier was... sending a letter using dragon fire? That is... ridiculously cool. I dunno about that 'weekly friendship lesson' though, sounds cheesy as hell.

Twilight continues. "I just followed its trail all the way to your house and... through your window apparently."

"So we know she is here, Lyra." Luna follows up tiredly.

"I... think I would remember seeing a letter fly through my window."

There is a moment of silence before Luna speaks up, her tone growing impatient. "Such as the one sitting on the floor behind you?"

More silence.

"Oh, uh, how'd this get he—"

"Enough." Luna's voice reverberates throughout the house, not nearly as loud as a shout, and yet carrying more energy behind it than any shout I have ever heard... at least from anyone else. I feel the shockwave travel through the air and over my fur, eliciting a shudder from me. "We had believed you to be ignorant of the situation at first, but it is clear now that you are feigning it. You obviously know of more than you let on, so we will ask only one more time. Where. Is. My. Sister?"

"I— I—" Lyra's voice trembles in fear. I let out a sigh. Lyra, I really, really, really appreciate you sticking up for me, especially for this long. But this is not worth dying over. Or being tortured over, or whatever.

"I'm here!" I shout, slowly climbing to my hooves. I wince from the ache of them having been stuck in such a cramped space for so long, and shuffle my way out from behind the couch and into view of the main entryway. "I'm here, just... don't hurt her."

Something seems to flash briefly in Luna's eyes, and her expression weakens for the quickest of moments before hardening again. "I never intended to."

With the tension mostly drained from the atmosphere, I quickly scan everyone in front of me. Two royal guard ponies, both unicorns, stand in the middle of the entryway, donning the same armor I saw back in the castle and staring up at me in a mixture of surprise and shock. Behind them is Lyra, still trembling, her gaze locked onto Luna. One of her ears flicks towards me and she turns around, her eyes widening at the sight of me. She mouths something at me, but unfortunately I was never any good at reading lips.

Finally, I gulp and turn my eyes to Luna in full, still one of the only ponies I've seen to nearly meet my height. Just like Lyra had said earlier, she now dons a black, hooded cloak that obscures her normally flowing mane and most of her body, save for her face. On the center rests a small, silver centerpiece in the shape of a crescent moon.

Yeah, that definitely helps with discretion. Why does she need that though? She levels a glare at me that seems to retain some animosity from earlier, but there is also a trace of... relief? I quickly avert my gaze to the side. Yep, she's probably still pissed off, though she looks a bit less than before. Hopefully she's calmed down or something.

After staring at me for a while, Luna trots all the way through the doorway, and is followed immediately by a short, purple unicorn with dark blue bangs for a mane with a pink and purple stripe, who had apparently been standing beside her the entire time. Her violet eyes bore into my own with wide curiosity. The moment she notices my gaze fall upon her though, a bright grin splashes across her muzzle as she rushes towards me.

"Princess Celestia! You're okay!"

"Wai— woah, woah, woah!" I back up instinctively once she makes it past the guards. "What are you doing?"

She freezes in her tracks, her ears falling flat to the sides of her face. "I was just... going to hug you..." She gazes harder into my eyes, bravely but unsuccessfully trying to hide the hurt in her own. "Princess Celestia? Why— why are you looking at me like that?"

I furrow my eyes in confusion. "Like what?"

"Like you... don't recognize me." Her voice drops to a whisper. "Princess, it's me, Twilight! Your student!"

'Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle', from the letter. Nice to put a face to such a... weird name. I blink. Celestia's a teacher too? While being a ruler of an entire nation? How the hell does she have the time? I realize Twilight's been staring at me expectantly. "Um..." My brain grinds to a halt as I'm stuck between lying to make her feel better, but knowing damn well Luna would probably curb stomp my ass the moment I try to pull that again. "Uh... yes."

I wince as I watch the hope in Twilight's face shatter in real time, her gaze falling to the floor. I growl in frustration, my ability to handle these absurd circumstances reaching its breaking point.

"Well, what the heck am I supposed to say?!" I snap blindly at everyone, stomping a hoof hard on the floor. I feel the floor give way under it, but I give it no attention. The two guard ponies back up slightly. "I didn't ask to be here!"

Twilight's expression gradually morphs from shock to confusion. "Princess? You... what?" She turns to Luna. "What's really going on here?"

"I—"

"I believe it best that we address this matter in a more private setting, away from civilians." Luna cuts me off. She casts a side glance towards Lyra, who had silently moved to the base of the stairs. "Speaking of which..." Her horn begins to glow a faint blue as she makes her way to her. "Don't you worry, little one, you won't remember a thing from this."

"Pri— Princess?" Twilight speaks up nervously.

Lyra's eyes widen in alarm and she takes several cautionary steps backwards, tripping on the bottom of the stairs.

Oh shit. "Woah wai— now hold on!" I stumble forward past the guards who barely manage to scramble out of my way. Luna turns to me with a raised eyebrow and a very impatient look.

"What."

Her icy tone freezes me in my tracks. "I— I—" I glance over to Lyra, meeting her frightened and confused gaze. She's been so nice to me, the first one to actually talk to me like a normal person even while I look like this. I... I don't know if I'll run into anyone else like this if we go back to that castle. "I told her everything already. She knows."

Luna blinks, staring deadpan at me. "What do you mean, 'everything'? As in..."

"Everything." I respond with a gulp, but maintaining a brave face. "Well, everything that I had time to talk about before you and your friends bust down the door."

"We did nothing of the sort." Luna scoffs, looking more annoyed. "You mean to tell me you played that whole lying game with me, but then spill it all out to a random civilian?"

"I— she was nice to me! Like, not to just who I look like, but to me."

"Look like?" Twilight questions, her head tilted as she tries to peer at me harder.

Luna rolls her eyes, but her expression softens a little. "And would I be correct to assume you would come more willingly if I were to allow her to retain such information?"

"I— yes."

Luna stares at me for a moment before the light around her horn vanishes. Whew, I don't want her getting neuralized or something. I sigh in relief and glance back to Lyra, who meets my eyes gratefully.

"Prepare a bag with your essentials." Luna turns around, motioning for her guards to return to her side. "We leave for the train station in five minutes, and then the castle."

"Huh?" I look at her in confusion. "I don't... have anything to pack."

"I wasn't talking to you." She responds, gesturing with her head behind me.

"Wait, what?" Lyra, Twilight, and I exclaim simultaneously.

"Princess?" Twilight questions with concern, her eyes flicking back and forth between Luna and Lyra. "You— why does she need to come too? She's not—"

"Whether you like it or not, Twilight Sparkle, this situation is currently an urgent matter of national security. Anything she knows about this must remain confidential, and must never reach the ears of anypony outside of those currently in this room. We cannot guarantee that if we were to leave her here unsupervised, where supervision would just be a continuous detriment."

"National security?!" Twilight gasps. "Why won't you tell me what's—"

"We will discuss this in full when we return to the castle, Twilight."

Twilight opens her mouth, but pauses for a moment as if processing everything. "I— I understand, Princess." She nods, then looks over to Lyra and mouths what looks like a 'sorry'.

Luna stands tall and addresses the two guards behind me. "That goes for you two as well, understand?"

"Yes, your Highness." The guard ponies drop to a quick bow, then trot ahead towards the front door.

"But Princess Luna, I—" Lyra stutters out. "I can't just leave! I— I have work, and my roommate—"

"Leave a note that you are taking care of something important. Family matters, perhaps. I do not know how long you will need to stay with us. As for your job, we will make sure they are informed of the critical nature of your absence, and that you are more than compensated for any missing time."

Lyra thinks it over for a second. "A— alright, I'll go..." She turns around, galloping up the stairs and out of sight.

Luna turns to face me, then reaches into the folds of her cloak, pulling out what looks like an identical folded cloak. On the top rests a small, golden engraving resembling the outline of the sun. "You will need this as well."

I cock my head sarcastically. "Let me guess, for discretion."

"Indeed." Luna replies, her horn lighting up as the cloak floats over to me. I reach a hoof forward as she deposits it on the end of it.

She's kidding, right? "You realize I'm like, way taller than everyone else here, right? I don't think just some big, heavy cloak is gonna hide that at all."

Luna raises an eyebrow. She reaches up with a hoof and taps the silver moon on the center of the cloak. It begins to glow the same hue as Luna's horn as several lines of blue energy arc out from it, traversing every curve and contour of the cloak. They quickly travel around and around the cloak until the whole thing is covered in a faint, blue grid of light. Then, the lines gradually dissipate, taking both the cloak and Luna with them as they all seem to vanish into thin air before my very eyes.

No way... "I— Luna?"

"Five minutes." Luna's disembodied voice calls out from somewhere in front of me. "And don't even think about trying to make any sort of escape. I'll know." Her hoofsteps retreat towards the front door, which is seemingly pushed open by itself. The two guards exit swiftly as well. Twilight makes for the door too, pausing to spare a final, concerned glance at me before following the guards out the door, shutting it behind her with a flick of her horn.

I sigh in relief, letting myself slowly collapse to the floor, my eyes still trained on the closed door. Whew. Wow. Well, at least I didn't die, right? Hmm... they tracked me down by sending me something and following its path? Not too far fetched from how that sort of thing works back home, haha. I'm snapped out of my thoughts as something clutters upstairs. Oh right, Lyra!

I toss the cloak onto a nearby table and clumsily make my way up the stairs, trying not to have a repeat of my earlier incident. Reaching the top, I spot Lyra in her room hastily packing some books and papers into a sort of double-backpack connected by a strap. I awkwardly duck down under the door frame as I make my way in. "H— hey." I call out hesitantly.

"Hey." Lyra pauses and turns around to look at me. "How are you holding up?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Well, fine as in not dead, so there's that. I just..." I look away, shuffling a bit on my hooves. "Thanks for trying to stick up for me. Even against the, uh, other princess of this place." I shudder as bits and pieces of my previous encounter flood my mind again. "You really didn't need to do that."

Lyra laughs gently. "Oh, don't worry about it. What kind of pony would I be to just give you up on the spot?"

"Someone who wants to live?" I offer.

She giggles, floating a framed picture from her wall and staring at it for a moment before stuffing it into her bag. "Besides, in almost every science fiction book I've read where aliens are involved, one way or another, an alien ends up dissected and studied by some shadowy government agency."

I let loose a chuckle. "Huh, guess the science fiction of both our worlds have that in common."

"I have absolutely no clue what's really going on here, but you don't seem like you're here to take over the world or replace us with clones." She freezes and raises an eyebrow at me. "You're not, right?"

My eyes widen and I back up a bit, flinching as I feel the tips of my ears brush against the door frame. "Noo no no. I couldn't take over a leadership role in a school group project if I tried, let alone a country. I... still don't know what happened to the real Celestia."

She rolls her eyes with a smile. "Relax, I'm just messing with you. But still, even if it is science fiction, I don't really want to take that chance. Besides, you seem nice."

"I do?" I blink. "Thanks... I guess? Also, uh, sorry about this whole thing of dragging you along. I just didn't want you getting neuralized or whatever."

"Hah, I've been wanting a reason to visit Canterlot Castle, it works out. Hopefully Bon Bon doesn't miss me too much." She pats a written note on her desk with her hoof. She paused, then looks back at me and tilts her head in confusion. "'Neuralized'?"

"Oh, you know, from Men In..." I internally smack myself in the head. You idiot, wrong planet. "Uh, it's like a science-fiction word for erasing someone's memory back home."

She looks up in thought. "That's... a fitting word." She floats her lyre from its stand and carefully places it into one of her bag. She then floats both backpacks up and behind her before resting it on her back. Both backpacks rest neatly on her sides, held up by the strap like a saddle.

Ohhh, a saddlebag.

"Alright, we better go before Princess Luna gets mad again." She hops a bit to adjust it, spares a final look at her room, then makes her way out and down the stairs. A thought suddenly hits me.

"Wait!" I cry out from the top of the stairs. Lyra pauses just before reaching the door. She looks back at me questioningly.

I look away in embarrassment as I motion towards the cloak sitting on the table near her.

"Could you, uh, help me put that on please?"

Author's Note

For anyone confused about Lyra's reaction to Luna, this is set shortly after the Season 2 premiere, meaning "Luna Eclipse" hasn't happened yet in this 'timeline'. Ponies are still used to Luna's season 1 appearance, so Lyra would reach the same conclusion most of Ponyville had on first-glance in that episode, upon seeing her in her full form.

Ahh I mean to have this done by a couple of days ago, but work started kicking my ass and I absolutely needed to focus. Thankfully, a huge thing has been completed so a lot of weight is off my shoulders :D

8. What a Pleasant, Little Town

A chaotic mess of hoofsteps on stone fills the air as I trot through the street, the heat from the morning sun behind me permeating through the thin fabric of the cloak over my body. I cringe as my mane bristles across my back and neck, where Lyra had haphazardly stuffed the bundled hair in order to get the cloak over my body.

She and Twilight follow loosely behind, flanked by both of the guards. While she didn't have one earlier, Twilight now dons a saddlebag on her back quite similar to Lyra's, though colored a similar shade of purple as her fur. It's also filled to the brim, the straps on both bags barely able to contain the contents within.

The two of them chat with each other, as if catching up with the other for the first time in a while. They've been keeping their voices pretty low though, and they're a ways behind me and Luna. Not to mention the hood covering my ears, so I can barely hear what they're saying. Or tell if they're saying anything about me. I do manage to catch a few words, like 'library', 'spike'.

I'm tempted to turn around to see what they're up to, just out of curiosity, but I'm still barely used to walking with these four legs. It seems like some form of muscle memory is starting to kick in, saving me from that cumbersome struggle after waking here for the first time. I'm not really confident enough though to trust it to hold up if I were to look behind me. The last thing I want is to fall flat on my face on hard rock and, even worse, potentially losing the cloak and exposing the nation's ruler walking about. Or whatever the reason is for the discretion. Luna didn't seem too eager to explain pretty much anything until we were back at the castle.

So, this is Ponyville? It's very... cute.

Many of the buildings surrounding me are of old, possibly medieval architecture. I had spotted the same style all over even the exterior of Lyra's house as soon as I walked outside, despite the interior looking more modern. The word 'village' immediately comes to mind.

As pastel colorful as all the structures appear, everything around me appears... desaturated. A faint, gray haze coats virtually everything in sight, making it seem like the color of the world around me look dull and drained. It worried me at first, but Luna assured me it was an expected side effect of the 'invisibility enchantment' on the cloak.

But the buildings aren't what catches my attention the most, not at all, no no no.

It's the ponies. All of them.

Everywhere.

Ponies trot along the streets to my left and right, entering and exiting buildings, chatting with each other, laughing, eating at tables. I quickly recognize a distinct height difference between the ones that look female and those that are male. That would be mare and stallion, right? Like on Earth? Or maybe they've got different words too. Anyway, the two guard ponies are clearly male, and they're both visibly taller than Twilight and Lyra, and I can tell most the ponies seem to be either on the taller or shorter side. Plus there's something about the shape of their faces too. At least that'll make it easier to know who's what.

A few ponies look up from their activities to stare curiously in our direction, but their eyes only catch onto Twilight, Lyra, or the guards behind me.

Woah... this cloak is so cool. So none of them can see me at all?

Once again, I glance downwards to my forelegs, obscured by the cloak's fabric. The cloak, normally black, appears like a dark gray, translucent haze. While I can't see any of me behind it, a faint, golden outline covers every limb and curve of my body. I turn my eyes beside me, where a similar, light blue outline in the shape of Luna walks briskly, silently. According to her, these cloaks were made as a pair, so whoever was wearing one could always see the outline of the wearer of the other. I tried asking Luna how that works as soon as I got the 'enchantment' to work earlier, but she just shushed me and told me to wait until we reached the train.

My eyes shift to the ground, but I quickly regret it and turn my gaze back to the town around me. Looking down can get rather disorienting walking in the bright of day when you don't cast a shadow.

Wow... minus the fact that everyone is a damn talking pony, all of this looks pretty... normal. Upon closer inspection, however, a lot of oddities begin to pop out to me.

Back in the castle, most of the ponies I came across were the guards, and all of them had identical white fur. Luna was the first to have a different color, but dark blue and white seemed pretty realistic fur colors among what few horses I remember seeing back home. Now with a lot more ponies in sight, it's like a damn rainbow vomited on everyone's fur. Orange, yellow, purple, green all of the most unnatural, pastel colors.

And that was just the fur.

The manes often have swirls and stripes of all sorts of colors too, along with matching tails. Most the time, though, they seem to be something that fit nicely with whatever color the pony's fur was.

Wow, everything looks like a whole children's play set. Maybe there's a castle that comes with it. Oh wait.

Just like I'd seen back in the castle, several ponies are unicorns, donning the familiar short and stubby horn on the forehead. A few of them appear to be using their horn to float things like grocery bags or books alongside them, with a matching, glistening aura around the horn and items. No one seems to take any notice of this, save for an occasional pony ducking around one of these floating objects in annoyance.

There are also quite a few pegasus ponies trotting around as well. Most of them have their wings folded tightly to their sides. After peering around though, I spot a grey pegasus mare with a short, golden mane, donning a semblance of a mailman's outfit. Her wings are spread wide to her sides, two stacks of envelopes somehow balancing on the tips of her feathers. She trots from mailbox to mailbox in front of each house, each time grabbing an envelope in her mouth and slipping it into the open container. Occasionally a letter slips from her wing to the ground, left unnoticed by her.

I shake my head in disbelief. So all this is just normal? I mean, I guess if I evolved with all four of my legs are confined to the ground, using those wings or horn would be the only way to more or carry any—

A shadow whisks over me, followed by a gust of wind. I duck my head instinctively. What the heck?! I glance upwards to the sky, partially in annoyance, but my jaw falls open in shock.

Several dozen pegasus ponies soar throughout the air above. Some lazily float along the stone street close to the height of the surrounding buildings, their wings maintaining a steady beat. Others soar wayyyyy higher up in the sky where the clouds sit, their wings spread far to their sides and hooves stretched in front of them in a Superman pose. I spot a pair of light bluish-purple pegasus ponies, one with a pink bow on her head, hovering what has to be a hundred feet above the ground, just casually chatting as if there wasn't a lethal fall directly below them. Closer, another creme-colored pegasus with a green and pink striped mane similar to Twilight's floats between several potted plants hanging from the windows of what looks like a storefront.

I quickly narrow in on the pegasus that swooped above earlier, a cyan-colored pegasus with the most obnoxiously bright, rainbow mane I have ever seen, even with the colors dulled by the cloak. Okay, is that a wig or what? She's got all six colors on her head, there's no way that's natural.

I watch as she zips higher and higher, approaching a group hovering near a small cluster of clouds, to the point I have to really squint my eyes to spot them.

Somehow, it had slipped my mind entirely that having wings would imply the capability of flight. I mean, sure, I'd already seen Luna fly when she was trying to fry my ass, but that was in a pretty enclosed space. Plus, she's a princess and was the only one close to my height, it would kinda make sense if she were the only one with the ability to fly.

But to see sooo many flying around like it's completely normal, and all across the domain of the sky itself? It takes me back to that sense of awe I remember feeling the first time I looked out the window of an airplane, seeing the world for how big it truly was. My wings twitch against my sides. Can I... do that too? I should be able to, right?

After a second or two, the cyan pegasus appears to take notice of the pair behind me, and quickly dives straight at us at an worryingly quick pace. I freeze up in alarm. Wait, shit, um, should I move? I should move, right? She's headed right for me, is something wrong with the cloak? Can she see m—

"Oof!" Twilight cries out from behind me, shoving me forward slightly as she bumps into my back leg. I stumble a bit, but thankfully the cloak doesn't slip off. "Sorry, Princess!"

I cringe in embarrassment. "Oh, uh, no that was my fault, sorry."

"What are you doing?!" Luna hisses impatiently from in front of me. "I told you, just keep pace beside me an— oh." Her voice drops to a whisper. "Keep quiet!"

Annoyed, I match her volume. "Hey, that was the first thing I said since we—"

"Hey, Twilight!"

A somewhat raspy voice calls out from behind me. My eyes widen and I quickly scooch away from Twilight and closer to Luna as quietly as I can. I turn around and spot the same cyan pegasus mare right beside Twilight, who sits on her haunches on the ground. How did she get all the way here so fast?! She was just at the cloud level!

"Oh! Uh, hey Rainbow!" She briefly glances in my direction nervously before climbing to her hooves. "Are you doing alright?"

Her name is Rainbow? Why am I not surprised?

Rainbow raises an eyebrow. "Really, you're asking me that? You're the one who just tripped on literally nothing. Actually, it looked more like you walked into something." She lands smoothly on the ground, her wings folding against her sides, and starts waving her hoof around where I had just been standing. I don't dare make a sound.

Twilight visibly panics and waves her hooves. "No!"

Rainbow spins to look at her, tilting her head in confusion.

"I mean... nope! I just, uh, got lost in my thoughts and tripped on my own hooves." She laughs nervously, then trots forward and puts a hoof on Rainbow's back. "I'm fine, there's nothing to worry about, really." She offers her a wide grin. Rainbow scoots back a bit, clearly not buying it.

"Uh, Twi, you're really weirding me out here. First, the sun comes up over a whole hour late, messing up our schedule for preparing this afternoon's cloudy sky. Then, Princess Luna summons you to Canterlot by yourself. And now I see you back here, with Lyra of all ponies, being escorted to Celestia knows where by the Royal Guard?"

Lyra rolls her eyes. "Hello to you too, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow... Dash? Wha— these names, I swear. Is it reserved for only royalty to have actual names and not be named after something else?

Rainbow sticks her tongue out playfully at Lyra before turning back to Twilight. "Come on, I know something's happening." Her eyes widen. "Is Discord back? Do I need to get the girls together again or what?"

'Get the girls together'? What are they, the Avengers?

"I, uh..." Twilight hesitates, as if genuinely considering it. She glances again momentarily in our direction. "Not yet. I don't really know what's going on either, but..." She lets out a sigh. "No, Discord's still trapped in stone, I saw his statue myself when I was at the castle. And no, we don't need the Elements. Not yet, at least. I'll tell you more when I get back, but right now, everything is kind of need-to-know."

"Need to know?"

"You... don't need to know it right now."

"Then why is it called 'need to know'?"

I barely stifle a chuckle. Well, she's certainly fun. I hear Luna grumble impatiently beside me.

Twilight deadpans. "I— just— just don't worry about it. Princess Luna only wants me and Lyra involved in this for now. I can't say why yet."

"Well, what about Spike?!" Rainbow questions with a hint of annoyance. "You took him with you when you went to Canterlot. I was just at the library earlier, and I didn't see him there, so he's still over there, right? Why does he get to know?"

Spike? Finally, something that sounds like a somewhat plausible name.

"He doesn't! I just, uh, he wanted to visit Pony Joe's again, so I dropped him off there while I came back here to pick up some things from the library." She shuffles around, emphasizing the nearly bursting saddlebag resting on her back.

"Oh..." Rainbow replies, looking a little disappointed. "So there really isn't some big thing happening?"

"I didn't say that." Twilight responds quickly. "But whatever it is, it... it's just best that nopony else knows about this for now, and that includes you too, Rainbow, sorry."

Rainbow pauses, then waves a hoof dismissively, cracking a wide grin. "Ah, don't worry about it, Twi. You better tell us all about it when you get back!"

That was a... really sudden change of mind.

"Wait, what?" Apparently Twilight has the same thought as me. She blinks, then raises an eyebrow. "Are you... sure?"

Rainbow nods rapidly, like a bobble head. "Yep!"

Twilight narrows her eyes in suspicion. "And you're not gonna try following me and Lyra to Canterlot, right?"

"Wha— I would never!" Rainbow smiles even wider, her wings twitching on her sides. Yeah, that's some bullshit.

Twilight stares at her a little longer before rolling her eyes. "Well... alright then."

What, come on, there's no way you bought that, Twilight!

"Just tell the girls that I'll be back in a few days. Or a week. And tell them I'll write as well!"

"Will do!" Rainbow lifts a hoof to her forehead in what looks like a salute. She bends down again, but before she can take off, a crash from her left grabs her attention. I turn and see that grey pegasus mare from earlier sitting on her haunches next to a splintered mailbox, rubbing her head and groaning in pain. "Ugh, Derpy! Not again, come on!" Rainbow rushes over to her to help her up.

"Come on, let's make haste." Luna's voice whispers tiredly from beside my ear. It takes all of my willpower not to shriek in terror.

"Um, yeah, sure." I respond, still eying the pair of pegasi curiously. Luna lightly taps a hoof against the ground twice. Both guard ponies seem to perk up and begin trotting forward. Twilight and Lyra quickly regain their bearings and keep up pace, resuming their chatter. I trot a little faster to catch up to Luna to avoid getting ran into again, sparing a final glance behind me.

So they can fly, shoot laser beams, use telekinesis, wear literal invisibility cloaks. Everything that I'd expect to see in some futuristic sci-fi movie. And yet their buildings look old, at least on the outside. Mail is still manually delivered. They light up hallways with torches like some Minecraft base. And, wait a minute... is that pony fetching water out of a well?? I always thought an alien civilization would be a lot more advanced than us, but this isn't at all what I would've imagined. Without the crazy powers of the wings and horns, these ponies seem just about... or actually a little less as advanced than us.

I scan my eyes around what little of the town I can see. There don't seem to be any vehicles other than the occasional wagon, towed by ponies that look way smaller than they should given the weight they're pulling. No power lines or street lights line the sides of the street. In fact, there doesn't seem to be anything electrical in sight.

Now that I think about it, all the light sources I've seen so far seemed to use an actual flame. Not just in the castle, but even in Lyra's house, except where she had that one lamp that looked like it totally should be electrical, just without any cables or visible power source of any kind. Gah, this is making my head hurt, I need to think about something else.

I look around some more for anything interesting. Passing by the side is an abnormally large, red stallion with an orange mane, missing a horn and wings. He pulls a large wagon filled with barrels of apples behind him. He spares a glance at Twilight, raises an eyebrow, then continues along. Some of these ponies aren't unicorns or pegasi. Are they just... ponies? But aren't all of them ponies?

I glance to my side at Luna's outline, and something she told me earlier strikes my mind once again. "Hey, uh... Luna?" I whisper awkwardly.

Luna exhales rather audibly. "What is it now?"

I wince at the impatience in her tone. "Can I ask you something?"

"If it regards either the nature of these cloaks, or what occurred back at the castle, or who you really are, I already told you to wait until we are—"

"Until we're somewhere private. Yeah, I know, this is about something else, I promise."

Luna remains silent for a moment. "...fine. What is it?"

"You said we're wearing these for... discretion?"

"...yes."

"But aren't we both the rulers of this country? Why are—"

"We?"

Ugh. "Fine, yes, you're one of the rulers of the country. I only look like the other one, but nobody else knows that. Why do we need to stay hidden? It's not like we have any paparazzi to worry about, right?"

Luna huffs in annoyance. "There rarely seems to be paparazzi in Ponyville, but that is not the reason anyway. You are right, you are not Celestia, and yet you bear her appearance. Anypony who sees you will fall under the impression that you are her. If that impression were to shatter, and rumors were to spread that Princess Celestia was not of right mind, the consequences could be dire. Especially if such rumors reached beyond Equestria to our enemies."

"E— enemies, Princess?" Twilight coughs from behind us. "But... I thought the other nations are our allies! We haven't had an international incident since over a thousand years ago, and I read that—"

"What you have read, dear Twilight, is merely what was written." Luna interrupts, pausing to turn around. She taps her hoof against the ground twice, causing the guards ponies to halt. Twilight and Lyra take notice and freeze as well to avoid walking into us. "My sister and I worked day and night for years to ensure the ponies of Equestria need not ever worry of an attack from our neighbors, and to assure our neighbors that in return, there would never be one from us.

"It was to my great relief to learn that, upon my return, that era of peace thrived and was not jeopardized by my... mistake." Luna's voice shakes faintly, but she regains her composure immediately. "But that is all it was, an era of peace. While some of them may truly be our allies, others have simply never made a move to avoid retaliation, others who might see the... weakened state of the Princess of the Sun to be an opportunity."

I gulp nervously. Oh shit, no wonder she described this as being a national security thing earlier. "So does that mea—"

"No." Luna interrupts me, raising her glowing outline of a hoof to my face. "No more questions. Not until we're on the train." She taps it on the ground twice again and turns back around. Our four companions follow suit, and I hurry on forward to keep pace with Luna.

"Alright, alright." I mutter under my breath. "Looks like someone didn't have her coffee this morning."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Nothing."

Author's Note

So, uh, once again, this was meant to be earlier this week instead of actually hitting 2 weeks. Um. Oops. But hey! I still am 1-2 weeks, I didn't lie! :D
Hoping to bring this down lmao.
In fact, Chapter 9 may be next week
4:35 for my own reference

9. All Aboard, To Canterlot!

"This is the train? Do the ponies in it come with it or are they sold separately?"

"I do not understand."

"I... nothing, it was a dumb joke."

Ahead of me sits the goofiest looking train I have ever seen, and it's not even close. This train is for real? Why is it shaped all funky, so many weird curves and shapes jutting out, there's no way this thing is aerodynamic at all. Why is the engine pink? And the train cars too! There's blue here, and pink there, some purple wayyy over there. Why is this one shaped like a cupcake?! There's even— wait, you've got to be kidding me. Are some of those windows shaped like hearts?

I shake my head and turn my gaze away before my eyes start to bleed from this abominable excuse for public transportation. Fortunately, the train station itself is relatively normal, matching the rest of the town's archaic architecture. I step towards the small line of ponies gathering in front of what looks like the ticket window, but Luna's form, still hidden and outlined in light blue, steps in my way and nudges me towards the front of the train.

"Hey! Wha—"

"Shh. Keep it down." Luna shushes me, still nudging away from the line of waiting ponies.

I roll my eyes, but lower my voice. "What are we doing? Don't we need a ticket?"

Luna scoffs. "Have you forgotten who we are?"

I blink. "I mean, okay, yes. But shouldn't they know the, uh, nation's supposed rulers are boarding their train?"

"No. Like I said already, we require discretion, hence the enchanted cloaks. There are still civilians around us. To reveal our presence now would make our efforts for nought."

"Fine, okay." My eyes dart around the short lines waiting at the entrance of most the train cars. I narrow my gaze at the windows of the nearest car, making note of the plethora of ponies piled within. "But being invisible isn't gonna do anything for discretion if we start bumping into all those ponies, they're gonna feel it!"

"We are not boarding those compartments. We are boarding this one." Luna proceeds forward to the front most train car, the one shaped most like a cupcake, but also visibly devoid of any passengers or waiting ponies.

I tilt my head in confusion. "What's so special about that one? And why is it, uh, empty? Is it a private car or what?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes. The front compartment of every train is reserved for active duty guards and anypony they may be escorting." She gestures behind me, where I turn and spot our two guard ponies exchanging a brief word with the stallion at the ticket booth. He gives a curt nod, and they trot in our direction, followed closely by Twilight and Lyra.

They're looking pretty nervous now. Especially Lyra, eeesh. A pang of guilt strikes through me as I remember that she's only being dragged along with us because I decided to open my big mouth to her and tell her a bit of who I really am. Twilight seems a bit more confident, resting a hoof on Lyra's back as speaks what I can only assume to be reassuring words. Ahh, sorry for all this, Lyra. Still, I don't know, I feel a little more... comfortable knowing she's coming along. Heh, hopefully her roommate doesn't worry too much.

Luna stands to the side of the train car's door and taps her hoof on the ground once. One of the guards continues forward towards the door, forcing me to stumble to the side to avoid an awkward collision. His horn flares with a sparkly, golden glow, and the blue, crystalline star on the center of his armor floats up and presses against the door, just below the handle. Shortly after, a soft click rings out. The guard floats the star back onto his breastplate where it reattaches like it were magnetic.

So those stars on their armor act like security badges? How is that supposed to work? Is there a chip in there or something? Gah, technology here is so confusing. I watch as the guard somehow loops his hoof around the handle in an atrocious violation of my knowledge of horse anatomy and pulls the door open. He steps up and into the compartment, where I see him trot a full loop along its length through the window. Not long after, he hops back down and steps to the side, giving some sort of hoof salute in our general direction.

"The train car is secure, your Highness. No other ponies present."

Luna nods. "Thank you, Lieutenant Stone Shield."

I glance at the guard briefly. 'Stone Shield'? Another interesting name. Seems fitting for a guard too. Wait, did he have that name before he even knew he'd become guard? I—

Luna clears her throat from the entrance of the train car, snapping me out of my thoughts. She gestures with her head inwards and continues forward.

"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses." I stick my tongue out, suppressing a snicker at my incredibly lazy pun and climb after her, up the few short stairs and through the main door. I take no more than a second to scan the interior and immediately deadpan. Oh, so the outside of the train looks like a freaking row of cupcakes with wheels, but the inside looks actually normal? Well... at least relatively.

The compartment interior features a well balanced blend of cool colors that, for once, made it seem like the designer finally found their brain cells. Double rows of soft, beige cushions lined the left sides of the car, spaced graciously apart, divided by an ornate cloud-shaped pane of glass. The walls are covered in gently flickering torches similar to the ones from the castle, and the windows are half covered by some standard pull-down shades.

No hearts or bright colors? What a surprise.

As I trot further in, Luna taps her hoof against the floor, and I hear Twilight, Lyra, and the guards make their way into the compartment behind me. The guards position themselves on either side of the door, standing tall and alert.

Twilight looks around the train car, her eyes darting between the guards and the presumably empty space where Luna and I stand, hidden by our cloaks. "Uh... Princess Luna? What do you want us to—"

"Just have a seat and relax, dear Twilight. It will be some time before we depart, and even more time before we reach the station for Canterlot Castle."

Twilight opens her mouth to respond, but pauses. She exchanges a brief glance with Lyra before returning a nod to Luna. The two unicorns float their saddlebags onto the nearest cushion and make for the opposite seat.

"And Twilight?"

She perks up and spins back around blindly towards Luna's voice. "Uh, yes, Princess Luna?"

"I would be most grateful if you refrained from posing any questions to Lyra pertaining to what she knows of the current situation."

Twilight visibly pouts. "But I—"

"Not until we are at the castle. Understood?"

"... yes, Princess." Her expression wilts slightly. Lyra reaches up and pats her on the head, much to her annoyance, before nudging her to their seat.

"Guards, curtains." Luna calls out. Both guards' horns light up with yellow light simultaneously. All the pull-down shades glow the same hue before being yanked down over the windows, darkening the room slightly. The flames of all the wall torches intensify in response.

Woah...

Luna exhales rather loudly in relief and reaches up to pull back her hood. Immediately, the glowing outline around her body vanishes, replaced by Luna's now fully visible cloaked form. In one, fluid motion, she whisks off the entire enchanted cloak with a hoof and deposits it on a nearby seat's glass divider. I follow suit, but struggle immensely with untangling my body from my cloak, almost falling on my face multiple times.

After a brief tussle, I finally wrestle it off my back. I try copying Luna's motion to toss it to the side, but it just pathetically falls to the floor at my hooves. I glance around the compartment, taking in the once-again vibrant colors with the cloak no longer screwing with my vision.

Ahh, feels good to see my... uh... well, not MY body, but at least A body.

Luna rolls her eyes, her horn lighting up as the cloak floats from the floor to the glass beside her own. As the light blue glow vanishes from around the cloak, Luna lets out a quiet hiss, wincing slightly.

What was that? "Uh... Luna? Are you... okay?"

Luna waves me off tiredly. "Yes, I am fine." I focus my gaze on her. She trots over to the other side of the train and climbs onto one of the seat cushions, sitting on her haunches.

I focus my attention on her for a bit. Something about her is... off. Different somehow. I can't place it, but I'm so certain there's something... I follow after her and sit opposite from her, taking a bit of time to pull my limbs into a seated position on an elevated surface. Luna raises an eyebrow.

"Gimme a break, I'm still getting used to this, okay?" I finally match her position and let my body relax. "I didn't, uh, hurt you earlier right?"

Luna tilts her head in confusion. "Earlier when?"

"Um... back at the castle library? I, uh, threw some stuff at your face."

"...you're kidding, right?" She deadpans.

I put my hooves up defensively, though quickly place them back down to avoid falling off the cushion. "Hey, I'm just saying. You looked a bit hurt just now, and a book to the face can definitely hurt. Uh, sorry for that, by the way."

She rolls her eyes. "With such a weak throw as yours, a book could not pose any such significant damage to me."

Wow. Really? That's just unnecessary.

She lets out an exhausted sigh. "No, I am simply... weakened right now." She levels an annoyed glare at me, from which I cower slightly. "After you disappeared and left the sun down, I had no choice but to raise it on my own. Raising the sun takes quite a lot more power than raising my moon, power that I am not lacking of. But even then, there is a... technique to how my sister does it, one that has yet to teach me. Without it, I resorted to raising it by brute force, leaving me... significantly drained. Currently, I can barely even lift things with it. If I had gone through with cleansing Lyra's memories, I would not be able to do even that right now, not until my energy replenishes."

Oh, huh. So good thing I stopped her from doing that, right? A thought hits me. Now they can raise the moon, not just the sun?! Next thing you know, someone's gonna tell me they can move the planets too! My curiosity eventually gets the better of me. "Um... so... what did you use to raise the moon?"

Luna stares at me blankly. "Magic."

What. "Magic." I repeat, deadpanning. "Ha. Ha. Real funny, but actually what are you using?"

She tilts her head at me, slightly irritated. "My magic, as I already said."

"Your magic?" I cry out incredulously. "Like, the same thing that all these unicorns use to float stuff around?"

Luna raises an eyebrow. "Yes, that is magic. What are yo—" She blinks and her mouth hangs opens slightly. "You really do not understand what I speak of?"

"No, I get now that magic is the word you use for how you ponies with horns can do telekinesis or whatever, but I don't get how that same thing can move something as big as the moon! Or the sun, for that matter!"

"...Celestia, where are you..."

I hear her mutter something under her breath. "What?"

She looks back at me. "...nothing. Yes, it is the same magic, but... I am not in the physical or mental state to provide a lesson on magic." She turns and gazes out the window, behind the shades. "Celestia was always better at teaching anyway," she mutters once more.

With Luna sitting still and no longer obscured by the cloak, my eyes finally register what has been bugging me about her. "So your... 'magic' is drained right now? Is that why your mane isn't all... flowy right now?"

Unlike back at the castle, where Luna's starry mane and tail flowed majestically like it were submerged in water, now they both rest almost still, save for the barest hint of movement. I hadn't noticed when we were in Ponyville because she was already wearing the cloak over her body.

She glances at her mane, then at mine, billowing mysteriously and annoyingly to my side, then back to her mane. "Hmm. It would seem so." She idly pokes her hoof through it, appearing like a curious house cat for a moment.

Wow... I've been there. She's definitely gotta be running on fumes right now. I think back to our run-in at the house. That's probably why she seemed a bit calmer earlier. And why she kept dodging my questions. Hmm... A thought passes through my mind.

"Um... Luna?"

She glares at me wordlessly in annoyance.

I scooch back a bit. "Whaaaat?"

She stares at me for a little longer, then her expression softens as she looks away. "Nothing. I know you are not my sister, and thus I would usually ask that you use my title, but... whoever you are, you have her body and voice, among other things. It would not seem right to me."

Hmm... someone has sibling issues. I blink. "Ooooookay then. Uh, how did you find me so quickly? Like, you knew exactly which house I was in, and you were very certain of it too. I mean, I didn't even know which house I was in."

Luna straightens up a bit. "You can thank your— I mean, you can thank Twilight Sparkle for that."

I turn around to glance at where Twilight sits, chatting quietly with Lyra on the other side of the train car. "Her?"

"Yes." Luna nods. "Right after you teleported away, I attempted to trace the teleportation matrix to its destination, which usually would pose no issue. However, with the sheer volume of magic artifacts clustered in that part of the library, I could not discern the signature of your teleportation spell from that of the passive signatures of all the other artifacts mixing in the air."

Huh? "I didn't understand a word you just said."

Luna grumbles. "Normally, I can sense and follow where you teleported to, as I should be able to with any teleportation spell. But that part of the library has a lot of magic and spells filling the air. It would be like following the smoke trail from a candle in a hurricane."

My mouth falls open. "So I... teleported? Like disappeared and reappeared somewhere else?"

Luna smacks herself in the face with a hoof. "Ugh. Yes."

I look myself over in a panic. "That doesn't, uh, involve killing myself and transporting an identical clone of me to the destination, right?"

Luna recoils in horror. "What? No! Where in Equestria would you get that idea?"

I shift around awkwardly. "Um... I dunno, just read about it somewhere, I guess."

"Uh huh." Luna rolls her eyes. "After trying desperately to trace your teleport and failing every single time, I sought out dear Twilight, you— my sister's student, hoping she would know some way of tracking you down that I would not. Thankfully, Celestia had integrated an enchantment in her dragon whelp, Spike, that lets him send letters to her regardless of where she is on the planet.

A dragon... with the ability to send letters to someone no matter how far? It just never ends, does it?

"After a... painful wait for the two of them to reach Canterlot, she had Spike send a letter to Celestia, and I used most of my remaining magic to teleport her, me, and two guards to the house that it went to. I don't have nearly enough magic right now to teleport us all back, hence why we are taking the train instead. Besides, the travel time will help my magic rejuvenate."

"Oh... so that's what those weird sparkly smoke letters are? Like the one from the library that, uh, outed me to you?"

"That is correct." Luna responds tiredly.

So you CAN send letters through smoke here. Hmm, not as fast as just texting, but it definitely beats waiting for the mail. I pause and look at her for a while, trying to gauge her expression. She looks tired and completely out of it, but most importantly... not nearly as angry anymore "Why are you... like this now?"

She tilts her head. "Like what?"

"No trying to kill me, for starters. And answering my questions."

She lets out a dry laugh. "I will elaborate on that first one when we reach the castle. I would like to include Twilight in that conversation due to her expertise in magic. However on your second, I... no longer fully believe you have any hostile intents."

Oh, now you do?! "Well, of course I don't!" I cry out. "I was trying to tell you back at the library, but you kept trying to kill me!"

She scoffs. "My efforts were not to kill you, but to merely to incapacitate you."

"Um, those blasts looked like they were meant to be kill shots."

"If you were dead, I would not have been able to interrogate you on the whereabouts of my sister. And naturally, I would not be inclined to believe you given that you had been lying to me about your identity since I found you."

I pause and look away. "I... okay, fine, I guess I'd be pretty pissed off, too."

Luna's muzzle scrunches in disgust. "I do not understand how that would make one urinate."

Bruh, are you kidding me. "Really? I—" I pause. No, I'm not doing this right now. "Sorry, I meant I'd be pretty mad, too."

"Yes, indeed." She replies sarcastically. "However, I saw how you acted at Lyra's house. As if you were trying to protect her. That, and all your reactions and incessant questions, I refuse to believe any infiltrator would take on such an... ambitious task with little to no knowledge of just about anything, or have any care for our ponies."

"But, uh... why aren't you interrogating me right now? About where the real Princess Celestia is? Because I know damn well I'm not her, so she's gotta be somewhere, right?"

"Indeed." Luna replies promptly. "Like your question before, I would like to wait until we have gathered privately at the castle. It is an... intriguing case and I wish to be in a more stable setting before briefing all of you on this."

"Isn't this train car stable enough of a setting? Why not just get it over with now?"

"Because I'm tired."

I blink. That's probably the most realistic answer I could've gotten. "Alright, fine— woah!"

I'm cut off as I feel the entire compartment lurch forward, then gradually begin to accelerate. My back presses against the glass divider, and my wings twitch upon the cool contact.

"We are departing." Luna states, relaxing slightly on her cushion. "It will be a while until we arrive. By the time we do, my magic should be strong enough to teleport the four of us across the much shorter distance between the Canterlot Castle's station and my quarters."

Ah, what do I do now then? I sigh and lean back against the glass divider of the seat. I turn around and spot Twilight and Lyra talking about something in earnest. Twilight's horn is glowing a bright purple, and several shapes of violet light float in front of her, as if accompanying a story. I try to squint my eyes, but I can't make anything out other than one of them looking like a star.

I spare a glance back at Luna, but her eyes are already shut, her forelegs folded to her chest oddly similar to how a human would cross their arms. Okay, seriously, what even is the anatomy of these ponies? I open my mouth to ask another question, but freeze. I... I don't want her snapping at me again. But, regardless of that... from what she describes, and how she looks, I'd imagine she's suuuuper exhausted. I wouldn't wanna be bothered right now either if I were in her shoes.

Eventually, I take notice of the pattern of blues and greens flying past behind the thin shades of the window. Careful as to not make much noise, I scoot closer to the window and lift a hoof to the shade, drawing it past just enough to give myself a view of the outside.

I feel my jaw hang open, my eyes widening, my ears perking up.

Wow...

Fields.

Vibrant, green fields, rolling to the end of the horizon.

And forests.

And mountains.

And rivers.

There are no tall skyscrapers blocking the land, no planes or jet trails clogging the skies, no huge cargo ships filling the waters.

Just pure, untainted nature as far as my eyes can see. And my eyes can see far.

This place really is... beautiful.

Author's Note

New chapter! :D Think I'm gonna settle with the 2-week schedule.

Lynser, you mad genius

10. Why Didn't You Say Anything? // I'll Find You

Twilight gazes tiredly out the window, watching as trees and bushes zoom through her sight. Her eyes lazily follow the outline of Ponyville, slowly shrinking into the distance as the train begins its ascent up the slope of Canterlot Mountain. It really wasn't that long ago that she first moved there, and now she has to move away again. At least, just for a little while.

It's always a strange feeling, watching one's home vanish in the distance. She's left her home many times already, first when she moved into Celestia's school, then when she moved to the observatory, and then to Ponyville. Even after that, she's gone back to Canterlot a few times for various reasons. But every time, her thoughts would be held by a dilemma that she could research with her head in a book, or by her friends keeping her mood up with their silly antics.

This time, her friends aren't around to keep her thoughts off the oncoming problem.

And this time, she knows next to nothing of this problem. Barely any hints or clues, no prior knowledge on things going wrong with Princess Celestia, and with much of the Princess's past kept vague or outright missing from the archives, all she can really do is let her mind wander as the scenery shifts and morphs before her. Though, even that she finds difficult with this looming 'threat to national security', as Princess Luna called it.

She sighs tiredly and, without shifting her view, begins sifting through her saddlebag with her magic for one of her books, maybe a fictional one to let her mind immerse more. A. K. Yearling just recently published her newest entry to the Daring Do saga, Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone, and it's the only one she hasn't read yet. She feels her aura brush against it and wraps her magic around it to—

"Why didn't you sa—?"

"Gah!" Twilight shouts, gasping as her magic jerks upwards before abruptly cutting off. Her precious book flies through the air, which she catches before it could smack Lyra's face, followed soon by the entire saddlebag tumbling to the floor in a painful clang.

Both of their ears reflexively splay against the sides of their heads from the noise, and they peek behind their seat to the other side of the train car. If they had heard it, their two royal passengers don't make any show of noticing.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about that, Twilight! I—"

"No no." Twilight chuckles quietly. "That was my fault. I got so distracted when we started moving, I completely forgot you were here." Her horn flares with its signature violet glow as her saddlebag and spilled books float back to their place on the opposite seat. "Did you... still want to talk about those newer spells I've learned?" She returns her Daring Do book to the bag, and floats out a somewhat larger tome in front of her, flipping through pages rapidly. "If you did, I have plenty of—"

Lyra places a hoof on the book and gently pushes it down to look into Twilight's eyes. Twilight catches her gaze, seeing the same curious look from their conversation on the way to the train station, but accompanied with a trace of... sadness. "I—, no, but thanks."

Twilight tilts her head, confused by the sudden change in expression. "Are... you alright? What's wrong?"

"Why didn't you say anything?" Lyra blurts out suddenly.

Twilight blinks. "...saaaayyy anything about what?"

Lyra returns the blink. "Oh, uh, sorry. I'd been saying it in my head for a while." She turns away briefly to clear her throat. "When you moved here. I... well, I kinda figured you had moved here during the Summer Sun Celebration when I saw you at town hall, then later on when we were celebrating Princess Luna's return."

"Oh?" Twilight looks up in thought. "I hadn't officially moved to Ponyville yet at first, I was just there since Princess Celestia wanted me to oversee the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration since it'd been years since it was last hosted there. She wanted to make sure it went smoothly and, well, I guess she also wanted me to make friends."

Lyra's gaze falls to the floor. "Friends, huh?"

"Yep!" Twilight beams. "You know, the other Elements? Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pi—"

"I remember, I know them all too."

"Oh." Twilight pauses, her train of thought screeching to a halt from being cut off. She takes note of Lyra no longer watching her. "Is... something wro—"

"So, Princess Celestia wanted you to make friends, right?"

Twilight's brows furrow in thought, trying to make sense of where the conversation was heading. "Y— yeah?"

Lyra returns her gaze to Twilight's, her eyes. "So what were we then?"

"Huh?" Twilight recoils from the directness of the question. "What do you mea—"

"Us. You know, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, Minuette, Moondancer? Me? Weren't we your friends?"

"Of course you were! Are!" Twilight shakes her head, her brain tripping over her own words. "Of course you're all still my friends!"

"So why didn't you say anything when you left?"

"I—" Twilight hesitates, her mind racing to recall the events of that one faithful day. She remembers sitting on that hill, idly reading through the copy Predictions and Prophecies Princess Celestia sent her earlier that day. She remembers scrambling up the stairs desperately to get a letter out to her warning of Nightmare Moon. She remembers herself and Spike waving goodbye to Shining Armor as their chariot took off for Ponyville. And... and... "I— I could've swore I told one of you before I—"

"You didn't." Lyra affirms. "And don't you remember? You couldn't have told me when you left anyway cause I moved to Ponyville a couple of months before you did. I was so excited to see you again, but you... never came to visit me. I even went by the library once to talk to you a few weeks after, but there just happened to be a storm that afternoon and you quickly sent us all home."

"I..." Twilight looks away. "I remember that day, that was when I had Applejack and Rarity stay over to make it through that storm. And... when a tree fell through the window."

"Did you know the others back in Canterlot only learned of you moving because I told them on my last visit? They still thought you were on some extended assignment from Princess Celestia." Lyra's ears droop. "Moondancer was devastated."

"Moondancer..." Twilight's eyes widen, the name smacking her mind like a brick to the face. "I— how is she doing?" She pauses, her ears falling. "How is everyone else doing? How... how are you doing?"

Lyra laughs quietly. "Oh, don't worry about me, there's nothing else interesting with me other than what I told you on our way here. That was the first time I've really got to catch up with you since you came to Ponyville. Actually, I caught up with Spike pretty early on when I ran into him at the library while you and the girls were out fighting a dragon or something." She turns her gaze forward, letting her sights fall lazily on Twilight's saddlebag. "Minuette and Twinkleshine are still studying magic. Lemon Hearts shifted her focus to management, she wants to work at Canterlot Palace one day."

"Oh?" Twilight puts on as much a smile as she can. "That's... great to hear! I didn't know Lemon Hearts was interested in that sort of thing. Uh, what about Moondancer?"

Lyra sighs. "I... don't really know."

Twilight tilts her head. "What do you mea—"

"Ever since you left, the others said she joins them less and less for hanging out." Lyra looks down to the floor. "I know she studies magic still, but way more aggressively now. She's always filling her schedule with classes she doesn't need for graduation and won't tell any of us why. She also... doesn't smile as much as she used to."

"Oh." Twilight closes her eyes, bringing to light all the times she would rant on and on about a new theorem or equation she'd learned about in magic. And every time, while everypony else quickly occupy themselves with something else out of boredom, Moondancer would always give her full attention, eyes wide and eager, a cheerful grin on her face once she finished. "That bad?"

Lyra nods silently.

Twilight hangs her head, a pang of guilt coursing through her. "I'm sorry... I— I don't know. I was all caught up in warning the Princess about Nightmare Moon. And I— I didn't even know I was going to live there permanently until... until I didn't want to leave anymore."

Lyra chuckles. "If it makes you feel any better, none of us blamed you for moving. I mean, you're one of the Elements of Harmony now. It's pretty much for the sake of protecting us all from more evil monsters that you'd need to stay near the other Elements. And it's not like we weren't used to you kinda bailing on our plans because you got sucked into some research project almost all the time. I just... wish you did say something."

"I know, I..." Twilight pauses, her eyes darting between the seat in front of her, to the ceiling, to a grate on the wall, to the ceiling again, back to the floor as her mind races to find the right words. "I should've sent a letter when I— no, I should've at least told you all. It just didn't... cross my mind at the time, and I'm sorry."

Her eyes fall back to her saddlebag, resting upon the corner of a framed picture that she knows holds the image of her and five now very dear ponies. Her ears perk back up.

"Princess Celestia didn't just send me to Ponyville to make friends. She sent me there to learn about friendship. And... I'm still learning about it, what it means to be a good friend. So hopefully now, I can be a better one to the rest of you too?" Twilight offers a weak smile to Lyra. Much to her relief, she returns a much warmer one.

"Spike tells me you've been sending a letter to the Princess every Tuesday about some friendship lesson you've learned. I guess now you can, like you used to say all the time during class, 'apply your findings', right?"

Twilight pauses, the expression triggering an avalanche of memories, and snickers. "Yeah, yeah. Maybe when we have time, we can have another get-together. I'm a lot better now at actually talking during one of those instead of burying my head in a book."

Lyra feigns a shocked gasp, to which Twilight rolls her eyes. "Twilight actually talking to us face to face instead of through a book?! It's gotta be the end of days!" She chuckles. "Good luck finding time for that now, while Princess Luna has us all sworn to secrecy over Fake Celestia over there."

"What."

Twilight's jaw hangs open. Lyra's eyes widen in panic, quickly shoving a hoof into Twilight's mouth before she could say anything else. "Ahhh, I guess Princess Luna hadn't told you what we're dealing with yet." She cautiously glances behind her, confirming that the midnight alicorn was still staring lazily out the window. "She did say to not discuss it until we were at the palace, and I reaaallly don't want to get on her bad side after that scare she gave me at my house."

Twilight slowly pulls Lyra's hoof off of her with a playful eye roll. "Alright, fine. I Pinkie Promise to not bother you about it until Luna lets us."

Lyra just laughs and turns to face forward again. Twilight's eyes shift back to her saddlebag, ready to seek out a book to read, when she's stopped by a hoof-poke to her side.

"Actually... could you tell me some more about those newer spells?"

Tearing her gaze from the window, Luna lets out a long breath and looks down to where her mane sits lazily beside her. Already it moves slightly more than it had when they departed Ponyville, a good and expected sign of her magic's restoration. She sweeps her gaze tiredly across the train car.

Her guards remain idle at the far end of the compartment, their eyes following the outside scenery through the windows. Lyra and Twilight are locked in some deep conversation that she hasn't the energy to try eavesdropping on. Not that she was really planning to. Celestia used to advise her against eavesdropping when they were fillies, something she always found ironic given how often she herself would eavesdrop on Starswirl and their guards for any little interesting tidbits between their studying.

And then there was... not-Celestia.

The impossible imposter.

She narrows her eyes at the figure wearing her sister's form flawlessly. If not for what she felt when the imposter teleported away from the library, she would not have hesitated to blast the fake from the face of Equus the moment she laid eyes on it at Lyra's place. That, and collateral damage in combat was something her sister deeply frowned upon and accosted her many a time in the past.

She would probably not be too happy with what she'd done to Star Swirl the Bearded's wing of the Archives.

Still, a very small bubble of anger threatens to burst from within just from looking at her sister's form, but she shoves it back deep within. She will need to tread carefully from now on, lest she risk losing the real Celestia.

Careful not to rouse the sleeping figure of her sister, Luna slides herself off the seat and trots over to the middle of the car, where her and Celestia's enchanted cloaks hang loosely from one of the glass dividers. Reaching out a hoof, she grasps her own cloak, feeling the invisible threads of magic weaved within the fabric. She places her hoof on the centerpiece of her cutie mark, where the magic is the most focused. She closes her eyes and widens her senses, brushing lightly against the familiar feel of her sister's magic intertwined with her own, tracing out the intricate matrix for a complex invisibility and tracking spell. She remembers when the two of them worked on the enchantment, the first time they'd constructed a spell together.

Even as young as they were, the magic of two alicorns is nothing to laugh at, remaining strong enough to keep an enchantment fully functioning after over a millennia.

She moves the cloak around until she finds the hood and peers into the back of it, finding a message that would take the heat deep within an active volcano to burn away.

So we may never lose each other.
- Tia

Luna breathes in deep, soothing her emotions as she focuses her thoughts far back before any of them had to worry about anything but themselves and each other. She feels a tear begin to form, but she quickly wipes it away before it can form a trail.

"You lost me once, sister. And then you found me," she whispered. "Now I will find you."

"No matter what it takes."

Author's Note

Yup, that's right! Thanks to our human friend's entrance, some things from the show no longer occur in their original order, so keep a look out for things! And because this starts just after the season 2 premiere, Twilight's memories of her old friends are still fresher

This was supposed to come last week, but I was a bit low on energy. Next chapter will be next week, so you won't have to wait for long!

11. Penny In The Air

"Hey, we are almost there. Wake up."

Wha— no, I don't want to...

"What are you doing? Get up already."

Ugh... go away...I moan sleepily, blindly flailing an arm towards the voice to push whoever it is away. I feel my arm brush against something soft.

"Oh, for the love of—."

WHACK!

"Ow! What the heck?!" I stumble blindly away from my attacker, my eyes shooting open. Not a moment later, I hiss and squeeze them shut instinctively as sunlight streaks through the now-open train window and directly into my retinas. "Damn." I shake my head to clear my mind and lift my hand— no, foreleg, to rub my eyes, careful not to whack myself with the hard part. I miss my hands already...

"Hah. I never thought I'd see the day the morning sun was too much for you to bear."

I furrow my brows in confusion. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" After a few seconds, I slowly blink open my eyes just barely catch Luna folding her wing closest to me to her side. "Uh... did you just... whack me with that? What was that for?!"

Luna tilts her head with a bit of a mocking jeer. "And if I did?"

Really? I stare at her bemused. "Geez, what's got you in such a snappy mood?"

Luna rolls her eyes and brushes her way past me, making her way towards the other end of the car where I spot Twilight and Lyra completely out of it, their heads resting on one another's. Aww, sleeping ponies look way more adorable than they ever should. My eyes shift back to Luna, or more specifically, her now-flowing mane and tail. "Your hair is all, uh, wavy again. Does that mean your... magic is back to normal?"

"It would seem so", Luna responds curtly. Her horn flares with a light blue glow that wraps around the pile of our enchanted cloaks sitting to the side. She stares at it silently for a moment before folding both into neat little squares and holding them to her chest with a foreleg. "Twilight. Lyra. On your hooves, we are departing Canterlot and are on the approach to the palace."

As the two unicorns on the other side of the compartment begin to stir, I trot over to one of the train windows and take a proper peek outside at Canterlot.

My jaw drops.

Earlier, I had caught a brief glimpse of the city around the castle when I was up on the balcony of Celestia's room, but only from a distance. The dark of night also enshrouded much of the finer details. Up close and in broad daylight, however, it is... something else, like a fairy tale made real.

Dozens of pristine, marble towers capped with long, pointed spires of gold and purple litter about the city, the blinding light of the low hanging sun glistens across their surfaces. Their height is dwarfed by the many skyscrapers I've seen during trips to Between them lay a network of cobblestone roads spanning the entire region, forming rings radiating from several center points. It's certainly more... urban than Ponyville, but also seems to come from a period of architecture a couple centuries ago. A huge, white stone ramp curls around the edge of the city, elevated slightly above the infrastructure, which seems to be what our train traveling up and along.

I squint my eyes, shielding the upper half of my sight from the glare of the sun, and focus on the little colored dots moving all around. Just like back in Ponyville, a few pegasi occupy the skies. Much like the exits on a highway, some occasionally soar back to the city while others fly up to join the flock. Unlike Ponyville's skies, however, there's much less, and there's a hint of organization based around the city centers, where more seem to come and go from. The roads themselves are a bit more crowded than Ponyville's, occupied by unicorns and... uh, normal ponies. I try to discern more details from the edge of the city closest to the train, but the streets and buildings seem to get smaller and smaller the more I look at them, among them being what looks like a train station.

Wait a minute.

I press my cheek against the cool glass as I watch the towers of Canterlot fade in the distance. "Uh, weren't we supposed to get off there?"

"I believe I just said we are departing the city and are approaching the palace."

I blink. "I... wasn't paying attention." I do my best to ignore the coldness of Luna's glare. "Wasn't that station we just passed?"

"No, that was the Canterlot station. We will wait until we reach the station at the palace itself before departing."

"Oh. We can't just... make our way through the city?" I say hopefully. "Like we did back in Ponyville?"

"No, it would be too cumbersome for the six of us to navigate the city to the palace, even when obscured." Luna leans over and takes a peak behind the window curtains. "The sun has risen, and the day has begun. There are too many ponies wandering about streets now for all four of us to make it through without bumping into somepony and causing a scene. I would rather neither of us be seen walking around just after a significantly delayed sunrise, at least not until the matter addressed to the public. "

Dang... I kind of wanted to explore this... Canterlot. Looks super cool and fancy. I watch longingly as Canterlot's train station shrinks into the distance. "All four of us? What about your guards?" I question, gesturing to the two obnoxiously stoic guard ponies still standing at the other side of the compartment.

Luna rolls her eyes. "They are not necessary company for what we are to discuss, and they have been sworn to secrecy to whatever little information they heard while accompanying us."

I squint my eyes at the two guards. They glance at me, then quickly turn their eyes elsewhere nervously. Eesh, what's their problem? "Whatever you say, I guess. How much of a walk is it from the station to the castle?"

"We will not be walking there." Luna flares her horn, illuminating the compartment with its silvery blue glow. She closes her eyes, as if trying to feel something, then the wavy aura around her horn drops away. "By the time we arrive, my magic should be replenished enough to handle teleporting the four of us. And with the distance considerably shorter, it will be much less of a burden on my mana."

Mana? Isn't that... the word for how much magic you have left in video games and stuff? That concept is a real thing here?

Luna turns to Twilight and Lyra, who had been silently peeking at us from behind the top of their seat. "You two, by my side, please. It will be much less strenuous to teleport us when we are all close together."

The two of them comply, floating their saddlebags on their backs with their own colored auras before trotting beside us. Luna stares at me expectedly, and I stare back in confusion for a bit until my mind properly registers her last sentence. "Oh, alright, alright." I mutter quietly as I stumble out of my seat. I half-expected the rocking motions of the train car to knock me on my ass like it always did when I used to take the train, but surprisingly having four legs does wonders for balance when I'm not consciously thinking about it.

Twilight catches my gaze and quickly shifts hers away nervously. A twinge of guilt seeps in when I recognize her expression, one I'm all too familiar with feeling. It is a look of utter helplessness, when one is trapped in a situation where they know so little, can do so little to help. I hate it, it's something I'd never wish onto anyone, yet here I am being the cause of it. Years of old, back and forth angry shouts begin to bubble from the depths of my memory, paired with the quickening of my heart's pounding, and I shake my head to snap myself back to reality.

Shush you, none of that crap right now, please.

Lyra seems to notice and casts a curious look to me. I hold her gaze, I'm not sure in what ways my feelings are leaking through my facial features, but she seems to pick up on it. Her eyes seem to warm a little, a faint, reassuring smile creeps onto her muzzle. And... reassure me, it does. I feel my breathing and heart rate calm down the more I focus on her gentle, golden eyes, using them as an anchor and letting them pull me back to the present. Once I feel more like myself again, I return a brief, gracious smile. As if it was her plan all along, she gives a subtle nod before turning to Twilight, as if to ask her something.

Just then, the train car slows down around me, and I brace myself a bit to avoid toppling over from the sudden deceleration.

"Your Highness", one of the guard ponies calls out, "we have arrived at the palace station."

The train comes to a complete stop, and my bracing unfortunately sends me careening forward. My vision takes on a light blue tinge as I feel a cool sensation wrap around my upper body, halting my momentum before I can crash into a rather pissed off Luna, gradually pushing me back on all four hooves before dissipating. Did she just catch me with her magic?

"Guards, upon our departure, please report back to the palace barracks and resume your regular duties. If questioned by your fellow guards or any of your superiors, speak nothing of this and report as reinforcing security over the railways. I... altered some reports prior to summoning you two, so everything should check out."

"Yes, your Highness."

Luna turns back to the three of us. "Now then, please keep your movements to a minimal to make this easier on me." The glow around Luna's horn returns full force, and I narrow my eyes to avoid getting blinded. I fight every instinct in my body screaming at me to run away, recalling all the dangers I've come to associate with her horn the brighter it gets. I cast a look to Lyra and notice her and Twilight have their eyes shut. I shrug internally and squeeze mine shut in kind. I feel the fur across my body begin to stand on end as I the sounds of Luna's grows louder.

I'm about to get teleported. I'm actually about to travel across the fabric of space and time, just like that! Oh my gosh oh my gosh! Is it gonna be like in the movies, where you're just here one moment and there the next? Or will there be some sort of delay, like in Stargate where everything was super trippy and took a bit of time? Mmm well that was a stupid far teleport, this isn't really that far. Wait, I'm not going to end up half inside a wall or something, right? I mean, Lyra said I already did it when I... blew up her living room a little, but I don't even remember any of that. Maybe it'll—

The ground drops. At the same time, the sky falls up. There is no up, no down, no left or right. I simply am. The world collapses around and into me, turning inside out in every direction. It feels like I'm hurtling somewhere, yet I am still. I want to see it, I want to know what's happening arou—

Not even a second later, before I have the chance to peek my eyes open, my muzzle smacks hard against cold, polished marble, a quite familiar sensation to this morning's... experience. I cry out in pain and bring a foreleg up to massage it, careful to not punch myself in the face with my own hooves like I did the first time.

"Princess Celestia! Are you okay?"

I feel a pair of hooves wrap gently around my shoulders and help raise my head off the ground. I scramble around a bit to sit properly on my haunches and peek my eyes open. Twilight's wide, violet eyes, filled with worry, meet my own in the dim light, from about a foot away. I shake my head to clear away the stars and focus on her, the way she looks at me. No, not at me, at... this, this body.

She doesn't know yet. She doesn't know it's me. Or, she doesn't know that I'm... not... me?

I sigh and turn my gaze down, unable to meet hers for too long. "Sorry..."

"What?! Princess, there's nothing to be sorry about, you're just still a bit weak after everything with Discord and—"

"No", I interrupt her. "No, that's... not what I mean."

"Twilight..." Lyra whispers pleadingly from somewhere behind Twilight, hidden behind her concerned face. "I really think you should wait unti—"

"No!" Twilight cries out, seemingly in desperation. "I want to know what's going on! Princess, I'm your student, your friend, you can talk to me!"

"Twi—" I try to stutter out, my mind racing faster than I ever want it to. "Twili—"

"Maybe I can help somehow. Why'd you take so much longer to raise the sun and how'd you end up all the way in Ponyville? In... Lyra's house of all places! And why are you acting so weird?! Nopony's telling me anything, and I couldn't find a single book in my library that talks about something like this happening!"

"Twilight, I—"

"Did the Elements of Harmony fail? Did Discord break free again? Or are the Elements not working like they should? Or is there some sickness that you—"

"Twilight!"

Twilight gasps, stumbling awkwardly away from me. I blink in surprise, slowly closing my muzzle.

Did I... do that? That was way louder than I was trying to be, I just wanted to stop her rambling so I could get a word in!

With Twilight more out of my face finally, I let my eyes dart around my surroundings and take in whatever I can in the dim lighting. The marble that was previously invading my muzzle's personal space is, unlike the near pure white of Celestia's room, is a dark grey littered with faint sparkles, as if the floor were a sea of glittering stars. The distant walls also appear to be similarly composed, but the whole rooms appears so unnaturally blanketed in darkness, I can barely make out any other details. It reminds me of a couple video games I played as a child, where it is intentionally programmed so you can only see up to a certain distance away. Everything beyond is enshrouded in fog or shadows, usually to reduce the load on the GPU and make the game run better.

This looks so surreal to witness in person though... it's so wrong on how light should work, but hey, this place has flying, talking ponies that can make things float, what do I know at this point, huh?

My eyes shift back to Twilight, still staring at me in shock and almost... hurt. Her eyes flicker between each of my own, as if trying to get some sort of read on me. Behind her stands Lyra and Luna. The latter shares Twilight's expression, but more out of surprise, like I'd just tossed a pie at her unexpectedly.

Luna though, glares at me with a mix of expectation and impatience, as if to say "You know what you have to say, so say it. I don't have all day." She catches my gaze and raises an eyebrow.

Welp. I did it once, I can do it again... I guess.

I breathe out slowly, trying to plan my words ahead for the shit storm that's about to come.

"I'm... not your princess." I let out after what feels like forever.

Twilight's entire expression collapses into confusion. "Wait, what? What are you talking about, you—" Her eyes widen and a bright violet aura flares around her horn. "I might have read something about something like this. You're a changeling, aren't you?!"

HUH?!

The sudden light in my almost-darkness-adjusted eyes blinds me and I scoot backwards on the marble floor. "A what?! No! I—"

"What did you do to my— what did you do to the princess?!" Twilight hisses, her face contorts into a scowl, but as she takes step towards me, Luna stops her with a hoof on her shoulder. She whips her head back, her expression softening when she sees who it is. "Princess Luna?! What are you—"

"I'm afraid the situation is far more... complicated than that, dear Twilight. But I assure you, there is no changeling before us. Perhaps we should let her explain first?"

How the fuck do you even know how complicated this is, I never got to tell you anything!

Twilight stares into Luna's eyes for a moment before closing her own and letting out a defeated sigh. "I... alright, Princess Luna." The glow around her horn dissipates and she turns back to me, now almost perfectly mirroring Luna's expression. "Well?"

I wince slightly at the now cold tone in her voice, but I suppose it's probably deserved. "Well... first off, I'm not a 'her'. I'm a guy."

"What." All three of them freeze.

"Uh, you never mentioned that to me earlier, Sam." Lyra states rather questioningly.

"I, uh, forgot?"

"'Sam'? Who the hay is 'Sam'?" Twilight questions impatiently, turning her attention to Lyra. "And how do you know that?"

Uh oh.

Lyra backs up slightly. "She's the— I mean, he's the one who crashed into my house this morning! I didn't want anything to do with this at first, really! I was just trying to take care of what seemed to be Princess Celestia. She looked all banged up, I had no idea what was going on, but I figured she was in some sort of trouble. Later on, I kinda figured out something was wrong and he told me who he was."

"You knew about all this?!" Twilight gapes. "So that's why she said she 'told you everything' back at your house! Why didn't you tell me anything, this feels like something really important to ment—"

Without shifting her look, Lyra whips a hoof to point to the side right at Luna. "She told me not to say anything!"

Twilight turns to Luna, but one look at her expression silences whatever she wanted to say. "Fine." She turns back to me, at first angrily, but slowly morphing into curiosity. "So... your name is... Sam?"

I nod. "Yep, that's me. And again, I'm a dude, by the way. Just wanna get that out there, the name's a bit androgynous."

Twilight's ears fold against the sides of her head. "Uh, right, sorry. I've never heard than name anywhere in Equestria before..." She turns back towards Luna, lowering her voice to a whisper, though not quiet enough for me to not overhear. "Are you sure this isn't just a changeling? With... memory problems?"

Luna shakes her head. "During my encounter with it— him, in the Canterlot archives, I cast a spell to dispel any enchantments or illusions around me. While none of the changeling hives have been notably active recently, a few of them caused rather large amounts of geopolitical tension centuries ago when it was just my sister ruling over Equestria. A rogue changeling certainly would not be unexpected in this scenario.

"However, that spell is among the more powerful counter-enchantments in existence; it would take somepony stronger than me to best it. None of the hives possess a queen powerful enough to resist it, let alone any of their drones. And even then, it would still reveal the presence of such an illusion should it not dispel it. There were no illusions cast around my sister."

"Oh..." Twilight blinks, returning her gaze to me. "So, you're not a changeling?"

"I— she just told you I'm not! I don't even know what that is!" Though based on that name, I could get it on the first guess...

"There is a little more to that, Twilight", Luna continues. "In my... blinded rage, I attacked him. Several times. All I saw was a deceiver in my sister's place, and I had no idea if she was okay or not. Before I could properly restrain him, he teleported away, probably out of panic or instinct." Luna closes her eyes, taking a deep breath in and holding it for quite a while before releasing it. A gentle, blue glow illuminates around her horn.

"I have known my sister my entire life, for several centuries. I know her magic signature as much as my own. And as I am certain you have learned from your many years under my sister's tutelage, it is impossible to duplicate another creature's magic signature, no matter what. It is tied to who they are, a culmination of the life, their experiences, their hopes and dreams, their fears and worries, and is imbued all throughout their body as far as we have ever understood it. Even if you were to somehow make a perfect mirror duplicate of a creature, the new clone would have its own magic signature, similar but a far cry from the original. The only exception are identical twins, whose signature will begin to deviate mere moments after birth.

"When he teleported, there was no mistake. That was my sister's magic signature I felt." She turns to look at me. "It's more than just her magic that you have. You have her signature. By all logic of our understanding of magic signatures, you are either truly my sister, or this is her body."

...So I guess that settles that then. This isn't just some clone of Celestia's body, this is the real deal. I'm in the real Celestia's body...

"He has her magic signature?" Twilight gapes at me in awe. "You have Celestia's magic signature, but... you're not her? That- that doesn't make any sense, how is that possible?" She peers closer, leaning uncomfortably close. "Maybe you really are her... with memory problems?"

"I... literally have no idea. I didn't know magic was real until just this morning. I don't even know how I got in this mess! If you could find some way to fix this, please, I'm begging you to. And no, I know I'm not actually Celestia with memory loss cause I've got a whole eighteen years worth of memories still in my head from all the way back home."

Luna steps forward, interrupting Twilight before she could get another question out. "Back home, you say? Pray tell, where might that be? Is it within the borders of Equestria, or beyond them?"

I blink as my mind registers what they're asking. They want to know where I'm from, huh? I spare a glance at Lyra. To my surprise, she bears the most shit-eating grin imaginable on her muzzle. Oh right, I told you most of that already, didn't I? You just want to see their reaction now, huh? I narrow my eyes at her. She picks up immediately and, as if reading my mind, grins even wider. Dammit, Lyra.

I close my eyes and breathe in as much as I can. "I think I'm from a bit further than your borders... I'm a human, from Earth. I'm from a different world, maybe a different galaxy, I don't know! I don't remember how I ended up here, I was supposed to have class when I woke up, not appear in... some princess pony's body all the way God knows where! All I want is to go home, I don't want to be here, I didn't ask to be here, just... ah..."

I pant a bit from the little rant, my eyes flickering between all of theirs, looking for some sort of reaction.

Eventually, Luna cocks her head curiously. "...God?"

Author's Note

I'm so tired :c
Sorry for the hilariously long delay, my energy dropped hard for unrelated reasons after posting the last chapter. But I know what I'm doing a little better now.