Pete Powell's Life as a Pony, and Beyond

Pete looked himself over in the mirror. Three days ago he, in the body of Night Breeze, had passed out on Luna's bed asking the princess for a new body. Now he had one, though he was rather surprised at her choice. He had expected a pony, or his old form, but he had gotten his OLD form. His human one. He gauged his appearance of being in his late 20's, fairly close to when he had came to Equestria, though a bit younger. The rest of him, however, matched his old description rather well. He was a healthy white perhaps borderline tan, not pasty like when he lived alone in his apartment, lean and slightly conditioned, with his long, dark brown hair down to the back of his neck. He also noticed that his body was lacking in the issues that he had as a human, no tinnitus, or ringing of the ears, and had perfect 20/20 vision.

Of course he'd had to send the first set of clothes that Luna had brought him away. He didn't like to be picky like that, but he had moved past the black clothes stage a long time ago. Black was alright, but not a whole outfit made of it any more. He'd kept the pants, an Equestrian rendition of cargo pants, and the boxers, but had asked for a different color for the shirt. He had brought up the possibility of it being the color of his coat from when he was a unicorn. Pete had grown slightly attached to that color, and to his surprise Luna had brought it. It was a simple, unadorned, deep blue t-shirt, and that was all it needed to be. He had even insisted on going barefoot, another thing that he had picked up while living with Dash in the human world. Though he told Luna that he would need the shoes later when Winter rolled around.

“And take this,” she said, levitating a medal to the newly reborn human.

“My captain's medal?”

“Yes, the same one in fact. With any luck it should help grease the gears as they say.”

Pete looked at Luna. The princess had changed in the last 2000 years. She was taller for one, probably as tall as Celestia now, and she seemed more reserved. But Pete saw through that. Inside she was just as fiery and passionate as before, she had just gotten better at hiding that fact. Though like Celestia, her decorating sense hadn't changed.

“Alright then,” he said, taking the medal with an easy going smile on his face, “I'm gonna head off into town for a bit. 2000 years is a long time, and it might do me some good to work this new body out. ...speaking of bodies, how's the kid?”

“Tired,” Luna replied, “It was a very taxing affair, pulling you and him apart, for him at least. He'll sleep for a while yet as his spirit recovers.”

“That's good. I didn't want him to get hurt or anything, just needed out of there.”

Luna nodded, “And now you are, so go. Take your stroll and leave the medical stuff to me.”

“Even though I'm the one that spent a hundred years studying it?”

“Yes, especially because of that.”

Pete turned around and threw the door open, laughing. Luna shut the door behind him, muffling the subsiding giggles of the human and turned inward once more. She was, as expected, incredibly happy to have him around again. The Princess of Night was very sensitive to certain emotions, as was her sister. At the top of her list was love, Luna loved love. She had enjoyed being around Cadence much in the same way she did Pete, the bonds that they shared with their respective mates was incredible. She had no comparison for it, no way to explain it to an outsider that could not feel emotions the way she could. Luna would give anything just to be near that kind of emotion, and she had made that offer before.

The Captain on duty didn't know how to react at first. Initially he had thought the book carrying creature to be some kind of teenaged dragon, with its bipedal locomotion and use of arms. But the hair on its head dismissed that. The lack of bulk and hooves said it wasn't a minotaur either. Which left him with one idea, Discord. The god of chaos was always traipsing around in some form or another to bother anypony he could. It wasn't bad, and could often be downright hilarious. There were times when his choices were a little vague and highly disruptive though, and not even Celestia could figure out when those would pop up.

Then the captain saw it, up close. It wasn't Discord, it was acting far too tame, and there were certain forms the draconequus was forbidden from taking. The biggest notable being Changelings, but this was on the list too. As he watched it head for the door, almost oblivious to everything around it, he noted the creature. It was fit, lean, but loose, and unprepared. There was only one option.

“ATTACK!”

Celestia ran through the halls, voices shouting all around her as they darted past by air or by land. She had heard that an unidentified creature was in the throne room and that it had defeated her strongest troops. This idea was laughable, mostly because it was one thing to call yourself the strongest, but another to actually be it. Perhaps this creature had overcame some of the better, but she hardly believed it had bested the best. Still, now was not the time for a crisis within Canterlot. They still had not located Night Breeze, as Celestia had found he was called, and subsequently, Pete.

The guard had searched almost nonstop for the past three days and had yet to find anything inside the castle. There hadn't been any reports of anypony flying away in the night, the only possible time to escape Canterlot by air without being caught, but it had recently occurred to the Princess that if Pete were in control then they wouldn't have flown. He was too smart for that and would know of Canterlot air control policy. He would have slipped away on hoof, but the exits to the city were guarded and none of them had reported Night Breeze leaving. A small part of her feared he had escaped. That was, until she entered the audience chamber.

Shock ripped through the Princess of the Sun at the sight of Pete Powell, once more human, standing in the middle of the large, pillared room. To the sides were groaning guards, but not just any guards. Her own personal honor guard, THE best of the best. The shouts had been true, and then some. The remaining guards only hope laid with numbers, of which they had. The human, carrying a book in his left hand, was surrounded on all sides by guards of every race, each prepared to strike at a moments notice. Still, something worried her, a nagging feeling. How had he managed to best all of these guards? Sure, he had proven to be tough a few times, but enough to take down her court's most powerful magicians?

Celestia's captain gave the order, and by then it was too late for the princess to intervene. The moment the guards moved, so did Pete. His right hand glowed dark gray as spells seemed to simply occur around him. Pegasi were tossed backwards by gusts of wind, unicorn spells blocked by opaque black barriers, and earth ponies were launched aside with telekinesis. Overall the display was highly nonviolent on his part, but it did leave many of those flung unconscious, and the drained unicorns would spend days recovering. What was terrifying, truly mortifying, was that he did all this without hesitation and with skills that put even Celestia to shame. The Princess doubted his sheer power, but his ability to manipulate multiple spells at once, many without even LOOKING at his target, left her cold all over. And then, he smiled right at her.

“Well it's about time, finally someone can tell these guys that I can leave,” he said, with a roll of his eyes.

Celestia was more than irritated, she was seething with a cold fury. As her horn began to glow, a shine visible only to Pete whose human eyes allowed him to view magical phenomenon like that, the man's face fell and his hand glowed in response. Celestia let fly a bolt of energy, visible to all, and Pete caught it in stasis midair, then dissipated it with a clench of his fist. The Princess was taken aback. Only three knew that spell's true power, it seemed to be a mere sign of irritation, but it had held the power to kill. Had Pete been a lesser magician, he would have allowed the bolt to hit him and Celestia knew that, she had banked on him being a lesser magician, expected it. The princess had just attempted murder.

There was suddenly a burst of darkness and the third to know of that spells real intent was left standing next Pete. Luna, unlike her stoic sister, was visibly fuming. Her eyes were large, and her ever flowing mane of night was flaring behind her like a battle flag. Already her horn was encased in its own glow, and her flat expression said it all. She was far from amused.

“Just what do you think you're doing, sister!” Luna shouted, though without the ye olde canterlock. She had definitely made improvements in that regard.

“He should be dead,” Celestia replied, her voice calm, and flat.

“And you're the one to do it?”

“If I must.”

“Over my own dead body,” Luna growled through her teeth.

“What has gotten into you, Luna?” Celestia asked, genuine concern on her face.

“What has gotten into YOU? Plotting and attempting to commit MURDER right here in the audience chamber? Are we to be barbarians now?”

“This is nothing like that, and you know it.”

“Isn't it? Regardless of what Pete SHOULD be, right now he's alive. He is thinking, breathing, conscious.”

“And he should not be so,” Celestia said, her anger beginning to show, “I don't know HOW he's done it, or WHY, but he has circumvented an institution that has stood since the dawn of time itself!”

Pete snorted, “Yeah, I did it on purpose. I just could not stand the idea of being peaceful in death with the ones I love, so I had to come back to life, despite being the one to end my own last time, and reawaken them through means I don't fully understand myself.”

“Regardless of your initial intention, the fact remains that you not only are here, but you ARE planning on finding the others. Even if you weren't, your mere existence is enough to bring back lost memories that should STAY LOST. You threaten to unravel everything that has been done.”

“Then fix it,” said Pete, “Obviously your system isn't foolproof if one guy coming back sets the whole thing ablaze. So take this as a learning experience and make sure not to goof next time.”

Celestia fired another bolt, this one larger than the first, and Pete deflected it into the wall with a negligent wave of his hand. The next shot, however, came from Luna. Who hit her sister with a powerful, though nonlethal, blast of her own energy. Sending Celestia flying backwards several feet. The Princess of the Sun's expression as she stood was priceless. Mouth agape, horn no longer glowing, a look of pure shock. Luna, on the other hoof, was holding firm, her face still clearly enraged, and horn still alight with energy.

“I will NOT tolerate another assault on my subject,” she said quietly. Not softly, like Fluttershy, but cold, with an icy indifference that her target was her own kin.

“Luna, what HAS gotten into you?” If her concern hadn't been genuine before, it was now. In fact, Celestia almost looked scared.

“What has 'gotten into' me is the way I've been disrespected since this kingdom began. I've never fit in, never truly belonged, but I stuck it out for YOU sister. I helped you rule over the ponies, even when the humans were born, even after they shown that they were truly MY subjects. You had the ponies, the All-Maker the griffons, the draconequus' Discord, and the dragons refused to believe they were beneath any, but the humans! Oh, how they loved the night! They flourished in it where all others withered, they found poetic beauty and wonderment in the vast, dark unknown.” Luna's expression turned to sadness, “And then came that day. That cursed day when they discovered what laid within their own darkness.”

“The day they discovered just how evil they could be. It led them down a very bad path, and I could do naught but sit idly by and WATCH as I was known as the 'other' pony goddess. Slowly they fell, and in time the day came that we had to intervene,” Luna looked up, her face contorted with sorrow, and disgust, “I pleaded, begged, that we do something, ANYTHING, but send them away. But you didn't listen. You and their cowardly leader browbeat me into submission, and I had no choice but to help you banish them, banish the one race that understood me. My race, my PEOPLE.”

“It's hardly a wonder Nightmare Moon took hold of me so easily, and even then, after all that, you and the rest of ponykind couldn't accept me. I'm always the second princess, the other one. It's always 'Celestia and Luna' never the other way around. Nopony comes to see me, writes to me. I've tried for millennia to bridge this gap, but they're fine with just one princess. One goddess.”

“So I'm taking my stand, right here, right now,” her face reverting to one of anger, “I will defend Pete with everything I have, every last breath in my body. As you would if there were only one pony left alive. I will see to it that anything, ANYTHING, that seeks to do him harm meets with the most tragic of fates possible. I don't care if he intends to dismantle this world atom by atom, I will stop all that dare to hurt him. He is the last of my precious humans, and I WILL NOT let him slip by me AGAIN.”

Celestia sighed, almost as if ignoring her sister's words, “We can find more humans,” she stated matter-of-factly, “Just not this one.”

Luna's face became one of disgust again, “Are you even listening to yourself? Would just anypony do, or would you rather have Twilight back?”

Celestia's own eyes flared, “This has nothing to do with her!”

“Perhaps not, but they are not simply 'things' to be replaced. You can not offer me the lives of SENTIENT beings!”

“Pete is only one, you'll need more than that to...”

“More, more, as if he's some kind of pet?! A goldfish, perhaps? That you just jaunt on down to the local pet store and buy?! Is that how you view your own subjects? Is that why you call them your 'little ponies?' They're replaceable to you?”

“Luna this has gone on long enough-”

“No,” Luna interjected again, taking a step closer this time, “The only thing there has been 'enough' of is your attitude. Lately you have been more stuck up than any of the usual fops in court. It's great to see you finally embracing this 'princess' title, but you're letting it get to your head.”

“Perhaps you could use another thousand years on the moon?!”

“ENOUGH!” Pete roared, stepping between the two, “I've heard enough of this foolishness.” He turned and faced Celestia, “You need to stop acting like a child.”

“What?” she growled.

“I accidentally broke your system, and now you're throwing a temper tantrum because things aren't going the way you planned. Welcome to EVERYONE ELSE'S FUCKING LIFE. Shit happens Princess, live with it.”

Filled with anger, Celestia prepared another spell, but this time Pete stopped it before it began. He teleported right next to her and grabbed her horn with all of his might, causing the princess to buckle under the pain and trapping the magic inside the horn, keeping the neurons inside active.

“Try it,” he dared, his voice calm as Celestia groaned in pain, “I'll break the damn thing. I've sat here and heard both sides now, and you've got NOTHING to back you up. I don't care if you're a god, a demon, human, pony, griffon, dragon, draconequus, you don't have the RIGHT to kill ANYONE. That idea is the first step to madness.” Pete released her horn and slowly walked backwards, his eyes never moving from her horn, to Luna's side.

“I am sorry for that, but you need to stop doing that. I don't know what's happened to you in the last 2,000 years, but god dammit Celestia, pull yourself together. Don't you see what you've done, what you're doing?!”

She looked up, “Don't you see what YOU'RE doing? Remember when you burned your research because of the ramifications? Do that now, look at what you coming back can do! There is a balance that MUST be maintained, and you're doing more than threatening it, you're outright trying to destroy it.”

“He awakened through a flaw in your system,” Luna said, her horn finally losing its glow, “This is your fault, but you have seriously misjudged the consequences and the actions that must be taken to correct it. You have to find out what happened and prevent it from happening again, and killing Pete does not aid in that endeavor.”

“Just listen to what you're saying,” Pete added, “All this talk and your actions, think Celestia! Tell me that this isn't how a child acts, tell me that what you're doing right now isn't the same. ...You could try to, but I've raised two fillies, and this is EXACTLY what they do. They scream, shout, get angry, get sad, break things, pout, and then get over it. You're supposed to be an adult though, worse than that you're several thousand years old! Is this how an adult acts? How the ruler of a kingdom acts, killing something they don't like because it upset them that one time?”

“...”

Luna relaxed completely, then walked up beside Pete. Giving the human a small nod, she approached her sister.

“This isn't about Pete, is it?”

Celestia remained silent.

“Go, Pete,” Luna said, this time Celestia raised no objections, “By the time you return I'll have sorted this out. I think that I've found the cause of my sister's ailment.”

He was worried, for just a moment, but then he decided to trust her words. Calmly, Pete turned around and headed for the doors on the opposite side of the room. Carefully stepping over the immobile forms on the floor. Celestia's captain stood, frozen with fear at what he had seen, and the implications of what he had heard. Luna waited till Pete had left to speak, her words were personal, and came from a place that resonated with Celestia's own wounds.

“You wonder why he didn't come back,” she half whispered to her sister.

“If he could,” Celestia said, her outer shell finally breaking, her stoicism twisting into sadness, “Why didn't he?”

Luna bent down and nuzzled her sister, “I do not know, and neither does Pete. The only one that can find out why is you, dear sister. From there it will be you who decides what to do with the knowledge.”

Celestia breathed shakily, “How did you do it? Deal with this day after day?”

“Harshly. I let it consume me, and run its course. It's a hard thing to do, and I know you've put it off for far too long.”

“I-I can't fall apart, the kingdom needs me...”

“No, sister, again you forget this is supposed to be co-rulership. Take your time, leave things to me, trust me.”

“...that's all you ever wanted wasn't it?”

Luna smiled, “Perhaps a bit more, but it's certainly a start.”

“...I'll leave it to you then. I think it's time I finally... let go of him.”

After Celestia had left, and Luna had aided the medics in removing the injured from the audience chamber, the captain of her sister's guard approached. He was concerned about his princess, and naturally of what he had heard. It was his job to be. Luna looked the stallion over and spoke carefully.

“It was a very long time ago, long before even you.”

“All I need to know is, who caused this?” he asked plainly, “Who had such an effect on Her Majesty?”

“There comes a time, Captain, when even a Goddess can fall in love. Watching them pass from our sight is the hardest thing we'll ever do. The name of the one you ask of is Star Swirl the Bearded, my sister's first, and possibly only, love. I had never seen her so happy, and I haven't seen that since his passing. She wonders now why it was my student that returned from the beyond, and not her love.”

And indeed it was an interesting question. Why had Pete Powell returned to the world of the living? It plagued the minds of both him and Celestia, but not Luna. The Princess of Night was simply happy to have him back, to bask once more in the love that almost perpetually created, even if he was unaware. It was a simple thing to tweak out of him, simple word, or phrase and it almost poured from inside him. Luna knew, as did her sister, that he would be successful in his endeavor. He would find the Elements of old and reawaken them. The question was simply, would they stay? Two thousand years is a long time, and their families had long since past, were they to awaken they would do so to be alone, but for each other. Luna worried about this, and she feared seeing his face when the inevitable occurred. That one of them would choose to slip back into nothingness.