Chapter 28: What we make of things

Luna just stared out the window, a look of shock etched on her face. Those who saw it were more than concerned about the strange event happening just outside the window, because the Princess of the night wore a mask of stone when it came to emotions. Clearly, this was more than she ever expected, or it seemed, wanted to happen.

Cadence began to back away from the window, with Shining wrapping a foreleg around her to help calm her nerves. Cadence turned to Luna with a scared expression. "Auntie? What is that? What the hay is going on?!" She yelled, backing up further when the light only got brighter.

Luna fell to her haunches, her body trembling. How could Celestia make the choice, so soon at that? They had agreed to give it time, and here she was, going through with a plan that could, and very well already did, kill Luna's love. Did Celestia not think of the consequences? Did she forget that Nathaniel was still fragile in this world? Did she let her emotions get in the way?

"Princess Woona!" I tiny voice called out. Luna turned to see Lilly Blossom galloping forward, still wearing her backpack which was busting with books and papers. "What's going on? What's with that weird light?" She asked quickly.

"Oh, and little Lilly... What would she do if she lost the Prince?" Luna thought sadly. Lilly was always by his side when she wasn't at school, and she enjoyed every minute of her adopted fathers company. Even though there was no official signing of documents to make Lilly officially 'their' daughter, she knew how her husband viewed the filly. He loved her, unconditionally, like his own flesh and blood. If Lilly were to loose him...

"Hey! Wait! Don't go out there!" Cadence shouted, but it was too late. While Luna was lost in thought, Lilly booked it out the door, rushing into the gardens. Cadence soon gave chase after the little filly, followed by a concerned Shining Armor. This left only Luna, who quickly collected her thoughts and chased after the trio.

Upon entering the gardens, Luna noticed that all the guards who were supposed to be stationed on the inside were now out at the perimeter, a bit frightened by this magical storm. Luna didn't blame them in the least, as this kind of magical energy hadn't been seen in over four thousand years. Cadence may have gone through her change, but she was brought far away, to where the Crystal Empire once stood, to have her alterations take place.

Luna followed the frantic shouts of Cadence into the center of the garden, right by the waters edge. There she saw Celestia, holding back Lilly in her magic, and Cadence and Shining staring on in wonder at the shape floating in the center of the light tornado. Luna could just barely make out the shape of her husband floating perfectly still in the middle of the chaos.

Luna ran to Celestia, grabbing her by the withers and shaking her violently. "Tia! What have you done?! Why did you do it?!" She asked hastily, with so much fear for Nathan's safety in her voice. Celestia's mouth tried to work, but it only opened and closed sporadically, as if words were trying to come out. Luna didn't have time for that. "Well?! Answer us!"

Celestia shut her eyes tightly, trying to get her mouth working. "I...I-I had no choice, Luna... H-He knew... He knew everything that happened. The deception, his change... I don't know how he knew, but he did and wouldn't tell me! He said he had to change, to protect Equestria. I don't know what he saw while he was in his deep sleep, but whatever it was, scared him enough to go through with this... I'm sorry, Lulu... I didn't have a choice."

Luna's eyes were wet with tears once more. How could he have known?! What was he thinking in doing this?! If he knew of the change, did he know its risks?! Did he know he could die?! Luna wrapped her desperate sister in a hug, knowing yelling at her now wouldn't be the best thing she needed.

"It's alright, sister... You... did your best to stop him. I am sorry I got angry." Luna soothed, rubbing her sister's back as she cried into her shoulder. Celestia wasn't one to break down like this, and Luna sensed it was something more than just letting Nathaniel become an Alicorn.

"Look! It's winding down!" Shining Armor shouted, making Luna and Celestia look up quickly. Luna's heart was beating at a thousand miles a minute and Celestia stopped breathing. This is where they would find out if Nathan lived or died. What would he look like, now that his body had gone through this alteration. Luna was highly curious, if not a bit anxious to see what had befell their human friend.

The roar of the wind finally subsided, leaving Nathan slowly falling towards the ground, still shrouded in a bright light. Luna ran forward, holding out her forelegs. Nathan slowly floated down into them, the light slowly lifting from his body. The results of the transformation were... incredible. Everypony was murmuring amongst themselves at his new form, only quieting down when they saw him stirring.

"Son of a bitch. Did I get his by a truck?" I thought groggily, bringing a hand to my head and through my hair. Something felt... off. It had this silky smooth feel to it, like it actually was to silk. Running it through further revealed that it was longer, and moving through a wind of its own. How... How much did I change?

Opening my eyes revealed Luna holding me, her eyes a waterfall of happy tears. Once she saw I was okay, she dove her face down, pressing her velvety soft lips to mine. God, I was craving her right now; just absolutely missing her touch. After a while, Luna pulled away from me, grinning.

"We thought thou hath died!" She sighed, pulling me up to her in a hug. "Do not scare us like that! Never again!" She was pleading with me, begging me. I don't think I would ever go through something this dangerous again, so she didn't have to worry.

"Hey, I'm okay..." I whispered, sitting up to hug her more tightly. "I'm always alright, remember?" Luna smiled and nodded, letting out a struggled laugh. She pulled back, eyeing my body up and down with curious eyes.

"Yes, you are. But, right now, I'm not so sure you'll think so. Wouldst thou like to take a look at yourself? The changes are... extreme." She warned, making me gulp audibly. What the hell did I look like now? And why was everyone staring at me like I had a second head?

Wait... did I?

Celestia stepped forward, bringing fourth a large mirror from thin air. "You may want to see for yourself before you get too frightened." She smiled and helped me up, planting a light peck on my cheek. "And don't worry. You look... intense."

Celestia's words alleviated some of my fears, but it was still extremely hard for me to look at myself in the mirror. When I couldn't bring myself to do it, Cadence took matters into her own hooves, turning my head to the side so that I was now face to face with the new me. All I could muster was a breathless,

"Wow..."

I was really grateful that I didn't turn into a pony, but I really did take on some shocking alterations. My hair was flowing just as Celestia's and Luna's, billowing in a breeze that wasn't there. The coloring of it was quite intense as well. from the roots to about six inches out was brown, which made way to green, then blue, then a soft yellow. I was thinking that, since Luna's mane is stars, and Celestia's is the color of the day, their two elements, what did mine signify? What was I a Prince of? I would ask that later, but right now, two assets were standing out right behind me that drew my immediate attention.

They were two light caramel colored wings, still covered in blood and were dripping with what seemed like amniotic fluid, as if I had just been reborn. They had torn through my t-shirt, ripping it to shreds so that it was hanging loosely off my body. I tore the shirt away, revealing yet another shock. My body was twice as toned than when I first got here. It held the strength of someone who would work out three times a day, and the shape of a chiseled statue. I wasn't trying to toot my own horn there, but I looked good, and the mares of the group thought so to, if their red cheeks were anything to go by.

But, my ultimate attention was on the angel wings on my back. I clenched my muscles, and the new appendages sluggishly responded by folding back to my body. I let out a huff as I tried to get them to go a bit faster, but for now, I was still highly unused to using them.

"So..." Luna began, trotting up to my side. "You are the first true hybridization of Alicorn and human. How does it feel?" Her question seemed pretty easy to answer, but I just couldn't think of a response. It didn't feel different at all, but at the same time, it felt like a million things were wrong. My stance, my center of balance, not to mention the fact I was now the proud owner of two light caramel colored wings!

"It's... odd." I said, settling all those feelings into one word. "So what does this mean for me? I mean, is... this me forever?" The thought unnerved me to the core, being stuck this way forever. But, having wings wouldn't be so bad. Hell, I might even like it, given time.

Luna nodded slightly, guiding me from the mirror over to the bench. Lilly followed closely as well, hoping up when I sat down and took a seat on my lap, staring up at me in wonder. "It depends. You know Tia and I can change our outwardly appearance at will." With this, she demonstrated by shortening her mane in a flash of white, bringing it back to it's short blue bob. I still haven't told her how cute it looked. "And we can also decide to change our forms from either Pegasai or Unicorn, in case we want to go out like normal ponies. But, these spells take a vast amount of time to learn."

I sighed explosively at that, batting my flowing hair... or is it a mane now... out of my face. "How about the hair? How long does it take to learn that?"

Luna smiled and kissed my cheek. "That is easily taken care of for the time being." She giggled, materializing a hair tie in front of me. I rolled my eyes as Luna kept giggling, watching me tie my very long hair into a ponytail.

"Well," I smiled, patting Lilly's head, which got her to giggle happily. "I guess I got plenty of time to learn how to hide some of this stuff."

Before we could all celebrate my successful transformation, a loud shouting came from back towards the castle, sending a chill up my spine and draining the color from my face.

"Where is he!? Where's our son!"

I turned to Luna and Celestia quickly, who each looked a bit nervous now. "Um... How quickly can you teach me how to hide this?!"

Author's Note

Heyo! Sorry it took so long to get this up, but I've been busy. As you know, when you work for a living, you don't get a lot of free time. So, things are going slowly. But, you all understand.... I hope. So, things'll get more intense later on, so enjoy this. Allons-Y!