A Rolling Ball of Stars

She will go...

Time will be the key...

Our pawn, our puppet...

Awaken and rise at our command....

"Mfrg...stupid dream....stupid Monday.....oh well..."

Check clock. Late? Check.

Check calendar. Monday? Check.

Realize you woke up for nothing on the only day in the whole month that school is off and worked yourself into a panic? Check.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!" Never finishing it. What? I don't curse!

My name is Kat, short for Kathryn, but never used like that. My days consist of school, working in my garden, drawing My Little Pony, and trying to stay alive...or sane for that matter. My grades were average, although I read almost constantly.  Being a bookworm has it's ups and downs. There are good things like being invisible, and there are bad things like being bullied constantly. Since my equestrian interests did not generally conform to what was considered normal at my school, I'd become quite adept at the former, and also learned a few tricks like discerning facial expressions and performing illusions.

Being woken up to an adrenaline rush takes a whole lot out of you. Example, I stepped on my cat while bumping into the hard corner of the stained wood desk to trip into a few books and groggily slam into the wall. I stood up, now very much awake, and crossed off the previous day on the calendar. After a quick once-over look at my room, I decided that to start off my day, I would clean up a bit.

Charcoal and colored pencils were strewn about the canvas pads. An Ipad was charging on the corner of my desk. Various books littered the floor. I hummed "Winter Wrap-Up" as I picked up an old school assignment and threw it away.

After the room looked a bit presentable, I quickly grabbed a few clothing items and changed into a white shirt and hardy jeans, put my light brown hair into a sloppy ponytail, and went down the hall and to the left to go outside to see what the garden held. My victory garden had many plants like bok choy and cabbage. It was fun and relaxing and quickly cleared my mind.

"Tomatoes doing well...potatoes need water....oh yeah, the trees! Gotta check them before I go in..."

Smells of mint and rosemary wafted over to me from the treeline. I skirted around the oak tree and the pine over to the newest additions to my garden. Two birch saplings were planted close together to naturally intertwine their roots. I imagined them as good friends...if they were real of course....I did this often, trying to make something from what wasn't. I picked up the watering can and used the path between the rows as not to step on the fruits and vegetables of my labor.

I was watering the juvenile trees when I heard the gate open and close...noisily...and listened to the approaching footsteps

'I'm not expecting anyone. Wonder who that could be?' I thought. Then it occured to me. 'Noone uses the gate....everyone uses the door from the house...'

"Oh look, its the pegasister! Whatcha doing? Burying the last of your dignity! Hah!"

Savannah.

What a surprise.

The school bully found out where I live. And brought a knife.

"Savannah. And just why would I listen to you?" As I said this, she made her way across the backyard over to me, trampling helpless carrots and peppers in her wake.

Curly blond hair bobbed in the slight breeze. A pink mini skirt was matching her pink sweater with her lighter pink top. A pink headba...ok, you get the idea. Total Barbie. Her somewhat calculating hazel eyes peered into my icy blue ones.

While she seemed to have an I'm-better-than-you demeanor, her hands shook with fear.

"Well I guess you know why I'm here?" She dismissed what I said while trying to casually twirl the knife. She almost dropped it, twice.

The truth is I had no idea why.

"Sooooo....anyway.....you kno-"

I stopped in the middle of my sentence and ran toward her, fist ready to connect with flesh. It caught her off guard and I thought it would be a direct punch to her chest.

As my fist rocketed towards her,the sky darkened and a VERY strong breeze proved that critical hits sometimes miss. It flew just to the side of her.

Savannah reacted slowly and with the knife forward in her hand, which is no way to fight with a knife like that, she threw a few slow and inexperienced stabs at me.

I stepped backwards and hooked with my left foot the back of her right knee, tripping her. As she fell, Savanna held out her knife and got me on my right side, shoulder to hip. The sudden jarring pain from the knife made me fall on the grassy earth alongside her. Savanna recovered while I shuddered from the pain and blood loss on the ground and she pressed the knife to my throat.

"You were always living in my shadow. I was better by far! You never had a chance. The voices were right! You are, or should I say WERE, weak!"

As she prepared to give the final life-killing blow, the whole world seemed to freeze up. Savannah froze in her malicious grin. The birds stopped overhead. Not a sound graced this now frozen land. I took this chance to wriggle out of my deathtrap and survey my surroundings. Everything took on a grayish tint that was frozen. Not me though. I wondered what to do next. Then a voice struck up from seemingly nowhere.

"Tut, tut. Death is iminent for this one, brother. Unless of course, she accepts..."

"Accepts what?" I impudently reply while trying to figure out the source of the talking. It seems to be all around me, not shouting, nor whispering.

"We got a fiesty one here, sister. Promising to say the least. Maybe she will survive...

"Wait, hold on, survive what?" The masculine voice joined the feminine first voice in jeering at my predicament. I also noticed that my wound had closed up and the pain was gone. My t-shirt was still ripped though.

"If you prove to be worthy, we might include another chess piece in the game." The feminine voice crooned.

"Chess piece? What? Game? What would happen?...I mean if I accept..." I stalled as my mind flew in a frenzied mess as an attempt to figure out this abnormality that has somehow happened to me of all people.

"We would pull you out only if the situation is too dire. So? What do you say? Will you enter the game? Or will you remain with her and your tortured life? Mr. Detached Voice again. His voice was sort of like Richard Armitage's. Strong, calm, and cool.

"I will, but I have a few conditions."

".....We are listening....."

"Do not worry. They are rational and can be easily granted by gods as you two are. Since the only world that I would think about even wanting to go to is Equestria, you are sending me there right? Right. So one, whatever you change me into has to be something that has not been in the show due to lack of approval with the ones already shown. Becoming a changeling is cheating. Two, it has to use magic and fly in it's life and can be used when called apon after a point in time. Three, it must have a tail. Any kind is fine. May I have your names so I may have a slight grasp on who you are?"

Both voices were silent.

"What! I have a lot of time to think..."

"...I am Yinara, and he is Yangonru. We are the deities of Yin and Yang. We keep the balance as best we can. You have no bounds in your mind, but your mortal body cannot do as your mind. We both have no influence on your actions or words. Usually, when a child is born, we determine it's gender and basic personality. The rest of our family takes care of the rest. If we forget a child, then they either have no sense of humor, irony, or distinguishing abilities, or they become immune to our urgings. Magic is strong in them. Since you are the latter, and the first in centuries, we will abide by  your...conditions....and we have your approval to go to Equestria and win the Game. We think that this world needs a slight blurring. Now sleep..." Mrs. Detached-Voice-who-is-apparently-Yinara farewelled.

Leaves crawled up my body and cocooned me. I slept.