Pete Powell's Life as a Pony, and Beyond

One Week Later

Pete watched Celestia, her mane not flowing with magic, crown and shoes removed, as she read a story to a young alicorn in the library. As the tale drew to a close the small alicorn, Pete judged to be around twelve, clapped her hooves quietly with a smile on her face. She then noticed Pete and slowly stopped. After a moment of staring she put her hooves on her head, causing Celestia to turn around. Upon seeing the human and identifying him as the source of the filly's irritation, she shot him a scowl to warn him away. She was too late, however.

“D-do I know you?” The tiny alicorn asked, her voice shaking. Celestia's expression turned to one of horror.

“No,” Pete replied softly, stepping forward slowly. “Why would a nice filly like you know a big, scary guard like me?” The alicorn shrugged. “Exactly. I'll tell you what, why don't you go find another book for Celestia to read to you while I talk to her about some boring castle stuff?”

For a moment she looked wary, but then nodded and trotted off, leaving Pete alone with the Princess of the Sun.

“I thought there was something intrinsic about souls that prevented us from becoming something we aren't,” Pete said pulling up a chair next to the vacationing princess.

“There is.”

“Then why was I, a former unicorn, was a pegasus, and Twilight now an alicorn?”

Celestia didn't look at the human, but she didn't need to. He felt her tense up from two solid feet away.

“...how?” she breathed after several moments.

“Little things, I'm noticing that it all boils down to little things. That filly is Twilight Sparkle, I know it.” He looked at the large alicorn beside him, “And I know you know it too.”

“...there are ways to slightly alter the soul, but only during the reincarnation process. Normally I don't do it, but there are times when exceptions are made. I try to make everypony happy with themselves. So if somepony isn't happy with being a unicorn, I make them a pegasus, or if somepony does something incredible in their life-”

“You make them an alicorn,” Pete finished, new understanding dawning on him, “So there wasn't a way to make Twilight an alicorn at the time of completing Star Swirl's spell, but there was ultimately a way.”

“I might not have even done it if you hadn't mentioned it.”

Pete looked over at the mighty ruler of Equestria. At this moment she seemed far from mighty, her mane flat and unstyled, with bags underneath eyes that had clearly been full of tears recently. Celestia hadn't neglected basic hygiene, but she had forgone the more elaborate parts of ones looks.

“Was that all?” Her voice was distant, as though Celestia wasn't even part of the conversation any more.

“Yeah,” Pete responded, “that and I just want to tell you... I'm not going to wake her up.”

Celestia shot him a look of surprise, “What?”

“It took a lot of thinking to decide this, but I think it's for the best. Twilight would be much more inquisitive about this than me, and probably wouldn't stop until she had completely unraveled everything about reincarnation. Contrary to your belief, I don't want to destroy the institution, just exploit it for a moment.”

Celestia drew breath for a retort, but bit her tongue as the light pink alicorn came back with a book held in her magical grip. Pete gave a short bow and excused himself, leaving the small filly with many questions that her 'Auntie' refused to answer.

With that trip out of the Pete made his way to the ballroom to oversee the decorations for the party next week. He had found out that the old Grand Galloping Gala had been replaced with a much more serious party wherein all the princesses of Equestria would gather and schmooze. They had only been preparing for two days and already Pete had to get several low hanging banners moved from doors, tables pulled away from entrances, and reposition the band. Obviously no pony had ever heard of a fire escape, or perhaps even that fire itself existed. At least their party decorations seemed to push that idea quite heavily. It was times like this that he missed Pinkie Pie, she knew how to throw a party that was at least moderately safe.

Wrapping up that little adventure Pete departed the castle and went to the same bar that Night Breeze had once frequented. The young stallion was still on bed rest, but was recovering well. Sitting at a table far from the door Pete flagged down the bar tender for a cup and sighed. Moments later his drink was brought over by a familiar face.

“Excuse me,” he called to the waiter that had just set down his drink and, essentially, tried to flee, “What's your name?” The stallion stood stark still, as though frozen. The bar was mostly empty, however, and with no rush for the waiter to get back to work, the owner kept out of it.

“L-low T-tide,” the light blue pony spluttered. He turned around and slowly walked back over to the human, terror in his large, golden eyes. “Please don't talk to me,” he whispered, on the verge of tears.

Pete leaned closer, “Why?” Low Tide didn't respond. Pete waited a full minute before speaking again. “Why not, … Fluttershy?”

The pony tensed up, his eyes shrinking to pinpoints. He whimpered for a moment, then squeaked. It was obvious to Pete that the guy was having a nice mental war between himself and the mare he once was, only briefly wondering if the same happened to Night Breeze. Eventually he slammed his face onto the top of Pete's table and sobbed once. Shocked at the sudden outburst, Pete reached across the table to try and console him.

“DON'T TOUCH ME!” The Egyptian blue stallion shouted, pulling back from the human's touch. “I already have enough issues with who I am without having a-a girl inside my head!”

Pete cocked an eyebrow, “Issues?”

“... You have no idea,” he whispered, “what it's like to be me. To feel so out of place in your own skin-”

“Wondering, 'is this even me? Who am I really? Are these my thoughts any more?'” Pete interjected with his own experiences, surprising the stallion. It was true that he hadn't gone through the EXACT same things but after arriving in Equestria, in pony form, a part of him wondered how much of what he did for a time was him, and how much may have been his new body.

“You still don't-”

“No,” Pete said, leaning closer to the blue pony, “But I might be able to help.”

“...how?” Low Tide's eyes were large with both fear and desperation.

“This girl voice, she's not supposed to be in there. I know for a fact that Luna can get her out.” Pete's voice was low and serious, his gaze steady, taking in every single detail of the stallion's reaction.

Low Tide thought about it. He had always felt slightly awkward, but had been able to cope with it right up until this sad mare's voice appeared in his head one day. He knew it had something to do with the human he now sat across from, so it made sense to trust him with the erasure of this voice. Even now the mare calling herself Fluttershy was silently begging for Low Tide to listen and follow the human. This gave him rise for concern however. In the last week he had discovered how passive aggressive Fluttershy was, often pretending to be incredibly weak about a situation in order to cause her host to act another way. It frustrated Tide further that he couldn't even trust this voice, but both the voice and the human were saying he could be freed.

“I-I can't just leave work though,” he countered lamely. He was frightened, not just by the alien creature across from him but also at the thought of meeting a princess. Not to mention what he might have to go through to get Fluttershy out of his mind. Still...

Giving his infamous smirk, Pete downed his cup in a single move, stood up and approached the barkeep. Low Tide stood back, afraid of what his boss might say and how he would act. The owner of the bar tried to give Pete gruff but the human was used to, and ready, for that. A lingering showing of his medallion and a very indiscreet name drop of Luna had the pony practically shaking, and more than willing to let his employee go for however long he was required. With pay of course. Having settled that Pete gave a small wave of his hand to the shy stallion and made his way out of the bar.

The trip to the castle was made in silence with Pete only cocking his head every few minutes to make sure his new friend hadn't ran off. It was Low Tide's first time entering the castle, despite having lived in Canterlot his whole life. While most may have thought that the high ceilings and large columns were impressive, he felt oppressed. Something about it all made him feel even smaller than he already felt, a difficult task since he was almost a half a foot shorter than the average earth pony. Worse was that at the end of the crimson carpet, that suddenly reminded him of blood, was Princess Luna. While he didn't hold any grudge against her for actions taken almost 5000 years ago she still seemed like the more terrifying of the two rulers. As the pair entered the audience chamber his fear peaked, and all the stallion could do was shake in terror several feet behind Pete.

“Captain,” Luna nodded, “Who is that behind you?”

“This is Low Tide,” Pete said, stepping aside and directing the Princess' full attention to the cowering pony. “He seems to be suffering from a similar affliction as Night Breeze.” Luna caught onto the tone in her captain's voice instantly.

“I see,” she mumbled. “Escort him to the infirmary and I'll be along shortly to remedy the problem.”

Pete gave a short, almost theatrical, bow and then motioned for the blue pony to follow him again. The trip to the infirmary was short, but unlike the longer trip to the castle Low Tide was much more talkative. With his emotions running rampant he required information, especially with this talk of 'afflictions.'

“It's not actually an affliction, per se,” Pete assured him. “Truthfully, what you have stuck inside you're head is the soul of one of my old friends.” The disbelief was palpable. “You don't believe me, and maybe it's better that way. Just believe that you're in perfectly capable hooves. You'll need a couple days of rest when we're done, but afterward you won't hear her voice inside your head any more.”

“...so I'm not crazy?”

“No, not by half. Though that seems to be the popular thought about this situation.”

He led the blue stallion into the Canterlot castle infirmary, which smelled very little like a typical hospital, and set him up with a bed one might find more suitable for a hotel. The nervousness about Low Tide was apparent in his every move, however years of magical training had given Pete many useful techniques. Among them right now was a slow acting sleep spell, concealed from even the most powerful unicorns, Celestia and Luna possibly excluded. He wasn't on the bed, still asking questions, for more than five minutes when sleep overtook him. Shortly after Luna arrived, and after giving Low Tide a short once over, dismissed her captain.

Two Days Later

Pete scowled as he sat in the low to the ground, made for ponies throne. Luna had holed up in the infirmary for two days now, and it had taken a full hour before the gentry realized that with both princesses indisposed somepony needed to make decisions. It took less than ten minutes of clerical work for who should have taken the throne, a long descendant of Prince Blueblood, to discover a file signed by Luna herself declaring that her captain was to make any important decisions during any absence she may have. Many of the ambassadors and supporters of the other, nonalicorn, princesses argued against it for a full half an hour until another document arose, bearing similar wording, and a different signature. Celestia had, though Pete had a suspicion that it was a very recent document, also made up a document that if she were absent he was to temporarily take the throne. Going so far as to name him specifically, as opposed to making it general like Luna's 'the Captain of my guard' phrase.

Since then he had been forced to attend court like the princesses had. On the throne listening to every single complaint that filed through the door. His biggest surprise by far had been that complaints were almost at an all time high, despite the one sitting on the throne being considered by most to be a monster of the highest caliber. Getting his morning scowl out of the way, Pete nodded to the guard on his left, who signaled the guards by the door to let in the first complaint of the day, while the unwilling regent slipped on his bored expression.

Calling a break for lunch nearly six hours later, Pete stood up and shuffled out of the audience chamber via side door. It was a shock to many of the ponies that he still held is incredible charisma, doing as he had previously and often getting the minor incidents swept under the rug, or turned into sane proposals that could benefit the government. His biggest, and most obvious, pain however was still the reformed gala that was fast approaching. Trying to balance listening to the complaints of the economically ignorant upper classes and making sure that the decorator of the ball didn't shove another ice sculpture in front of one of the emergency exits was more difficult that he originally thought. First he tried simply squeezing it into the schedule, that failed miserably though as he ended having to sit up past midnight to get in all the planned complaints. Today he decided to eat a simple sandwich while walking around the ballroom and inspecting things. The crew had started to learn how to work around the large ape in their midst, and many had stopped arguing when he shouted at them to change something.

That particularly obnoxious 'royal' duty dealt with, Pete made his way back to the audience chamber. Upon entering he was met with a foundation shaking surprise. On the throne was Luna, listening to a complaint. Moving silently on the inward side of the columns that were in the room, keeping out of sight, Pete made his way to the front of the room and waited. Once the noble had finished his complaint, that his neighbor's roofing was hurting his eyes in the noon sunlight, Pete emerged from the pillar and raised a brow at Luna.

“There you are,” she said, smiling, “I was wondering where you'd gone.”

“Lunch.” Pete replied, jerking his thumb towards the door.

“Yes, that's what they told me. Then you weren't in the dining hall.”

“Someone has to keep an eye on those party planers in the ball room.” He shrugged, and stepped forward. “So how did everything go,” his voice was low, wary of the nearby guards.

“That's something I wanted to talk to you about,” Luna's voice followed suit, “The reason it took so long is that, well... I've went ahead and prepared the other vessels.” Pete blinked and recoiled. “Fluttershy is currently working her way into hers, it'll take a couple more days, and when you find the others all I have to do is set them inside and let them awaken.”

Pete thought about it. “...we won't need one for Twilight,” he said softly. Luna looked unsure for a moment, but then nodded.

“I'll take care of that then. Any reason why?”

“I found her, she's that alicorn filly that's been hanging around Celestia for the past week. I decided that it wouldn't be fair to Celestia to take her away like that... And also that she might be a little bit more curious about this whole thing than I am, and end up aggravating the situation more than I want to.”

The princess considered this for a moment, her eyes looking skyward in contemplation. “I suppose you're right,” she said, looking back down, “Her curiosity towards phenomena like this was one of her best known traits, and I'm sure she wouldn't stop until she found out all she could. ...Likely that would include provoking my sister with some kind of interrogation.”

Pete nodded, the lunar princess agreeing with his unvoiced assessment. “That's more than I want to put Celestia through at the moment. Possibly even at any moment.” The captain shifted his weight, “By the way, how are we going to keep folks out of the sick room? I mean, where else are they supposed to go if they're injured?”

“Why would we keep them out?”

“Are the bodies somewhere else?”

Luna rolled her eyes, “Of course. I wouldn't just leave them laying around, and Fluttershy isn't in the infirmary either.”

Pete approached the fourth door on the left side of the Noctis wing of the castle. Luna had set the other's up in similar rooms in the same wing, the only wing of the castle that was frequently disused. So his surprise was palpable when he opened the door and found more than one pony in the room. Fluttershy lay on the bed, asleep for all intents and purposes. She appeared to be a couple years older than when they had first met in his apartment, but otherwise just as he remembered. Sitting next to the bed, however, was Celestia. Her eyes staring intently at the prone pony. Pete slowly closed the door behind him, making just enough noise to announce his presence.

“Celestia,” he said quietly, after several moments of silence passed.

“I was curious,” she replied, just as quiet. “I didn't think you would find one so quickly, and yet it seems you'd found two.”

“I think it's time we settled this.” Pete stepped close to the alicorn princess and gently turned her face to his with his hand, locking her eyes with his. “I need to know, who's side you're on here. I can't keep stepping on eggshells around you, and watching my back thinking you might try and kill me again. I have to know, are you really so intent on stopping me, or will you at least stay out of this.”

Celestia studied the human's eyes. Even in the thousands of years he'd been absent she still remembered how much change their had been in those. She remembered the first day, even the first hour, she'd known him. Even having a basic knowledge of them from a television show, even knowing that the odds they would harm him were slim, he was afraid. He was terrified, to an extent, for their entire first week of living with him, and even beyond that he was always afraid of her. Even when he was joking around, even when she was teaching him there was a glimmer in his eye, a spark of fear. A spark that Celestia had seen in a million eyes before.

Now his eyes were hard and unafraid. He had gone so far as to physically turn her head. No creature but Discord and her own sister had so much as touched her in over 2,000 years. Even when he was a pony Pete held that level of fear, but now that he had stood toe to hoof with the princess he was confident, cocky even. Celestia thought on just when this change had truly occurred, when had he gone from a fearful coward to confidant man he was now? She suddenly realized exactly when, though she had not been there. He had made the change when Rainbow Dash had become dependent on him for survival, when the life of someone he cared about weighed fully upon his actions. Such a hard reality was required for him to learn that.

“I won't get in the way.” Celestia practically whispered the words. She had known for a while now that she would stay out of it, after her outburst in the throne room it was the least she could allow. She felt foolish for her actions, for letting her emotions get the better of her. She was an immortal being, loss had always been part of her life. Having one that was lost return however changed everything. Now that one had brought back another, and would soon find more.

As the pair stood, their eyes still locked but expressions softening, the door was thrown open violently. Celestia's eyes widened as Pete turned around to face Discord, the draconequus god of chaos.

“I came back because I heard rumors,” he said, floating into the room, his eyes locked on Pete. “I'd heard that the infamous captain Powell had returned from the grave. I was skeptical at first, but now...”

It seemed as though his trailing would lead to something, until he laid eyes on the pink maned pegasus. For a moment he stopped, completely. Drew not a breath, did not blink, nor twitch. Finally he breathed, deep, and looked back at the pair.

“If this is a prank,” he growled darkly.

“No,” Pete said, raising a hand to cut the god off, “This is not a prank. She's back.”

Discord looked back to the sleeping mare. This time he floated close to her and seemed to listen to to one part in particular, but rather her entire being. Slowly his face softened, turning into a faint smile. Being a god himself he was well aware of when a soul inhabited a body, and Fluttershy indeed had one. Her death had been the one to shake him, she had been, whether he wanted to admit it or not, a very close friend.

“She's back,” Discord whispered in awe, “but how?”

“To make a long story short,” Pete said, “I found myself awake in the body of a pegasus, from there Luna put me back into a body, and now I'm looking for most of the other Elements of Harmony.”

“For Rainbow Dash,” the draconequus corrected, almost absently.

“Of course, but the others were my friends too.”

“I debated for a long time over her,” Discord said his attitude in a rare form of seriousness. “It wasn't until after she died that it fully hit me, and I realized what I should have done. I won't make the same mistake twice.”

Celestia raised a brow, “What mistake?”

“Letting her die, of course.”

Pete let out a short laugh, “Can discordian magic over come the natural order of life? If so, I wish you had told me when I was looking for immortality. It might have saved time.”

Discord smiled, a dark smile, “Oh you know all about the Orb of Paradoxis.”

“The orb that allegedly holds the power of the original god of chaos?” He had certainly read the legend a few times. That once there was a god of chaos even more powerful than Discord, and that Discord was in fact his son. The legend said that Paradoxis fell for a mortal, one that refused immortality as Pete had, and that the god sealed his immortality away. The orb, according to legend, could grant anyone that found it eternal life. Whether or not the story was true could only be confirmed by either the princesses, or Discord. Even then, its location was long lost by millions of year of continental drifting.

“I know where it is.”

An unspoken shock washed over the room. Celestia had spent several life times trying to locate the orb, to keep it out of the hands of such creatures as Discord, or worse. To know that it had essentially sat in his paw the entire time was absolutely appalling to the princess.

Pete's shock on the other hand was one of a historian. To have confirmation that the legends of old were true from the source of a legend itself was incredible. His mind swirled with questions, it took all of his composure to not stand mouth agape.

“Would you be willing to wait on that?” Discord gave the human a questioning look. “I want to see it for myself. You can use it however you want, but from a historical stand point I want to view it. The unearthing as it were. Fluttershy will need a few more days to connect to her new body, and a few more days of rest after that. In the mean time, I'm still looking for the other Elements.”

The draconequus stroked his face with a talon. “You're suggesting that I wait for you, and out of it I get...?”

Pete smirked, “I'm the one that brought Fluttershy back.” It was infallible logic. If it hadn't been for him the god of chaos would never have seen her again. In a very roundabout way, Discord did owe him. Of course he thought very hard on ignoring that and doing as he pleased. However with his old reformer next to him, and thousands more years of being good under his belt, the multiparted beast sighed with defeat.

“Fine, I'll take you with me when you're done. But it will be dangerous, and I can't guarantee you'll come back alive.” It wasn't a bluff, but still slightly exaggerated.

Pete smiled, undaunted. “I've come back from the grip of death itself once, surviving won't be too hard.”

“Assuming you survive the soiree on Friday,” Celestia said with a smile.

The captain groaned loudly. His momentary success had distracted him from the much larger challenge, the gala. Without further word he exited the room, Celestia and Discord giggling about the event. Upon reaching the end of the hallway he flared his magic and teleported to the western castle wall. He sat there for the rest of the day, at least 4 hours, staring out at the horizon as the sun made its trek behind him. The city below filled with sounds and color could not reach him atop that wall. It was a place of solitude, almost sacred in what it represented to him. He waited until the sun set in the sky, changing the colors from blue, to orange, red, and finally the dusk settled in and the stars began to appear.

Even knowing the mechanics of it now, and knowing the mare behind it all, Pete still felt wonder at the night sky. The many flickering lights and vastness it brought. He thought about how everything had turned out, and what it all could mean. His existential introversion was broken by a member of the lunar guard. She said that Luna requested his presence, strangely enough, in her room. Well, it wasn't that strange in the sense, but usually it would be early morning, as she was preparing for bed. Not as she should be getting ready for night court.

After knocking on the door Pete opened the door after waiting for the princess to respond. He entered to find her absent from the main room, but the bathroom door closed. Trying desperately to distract himself from what might be going on less than ten feet away, he looked at his reflection in the mirror next to the bed. The last few days had worn on him, heavily, and his face shown it. There were bags under his eyes, and his shirt had a few spots where he had sweat rather profusely. Letting out a deep sigh and rubbing his eyes Pete thought “I just want this day to be over.”

His eyes closed and covered, mouth open in a yawn, he felt something reach around his neck from behind and slip its hands down the collar of his shirt. There was a moment where his body tensed up, then suddenly relaxed as he questioned what else in all of Equestria had hands but him? Pulling his hands away from his eyes and blinking a few times he saw, reflected in the mirror, a woman. Some what younger than himself, a full head shorter, with long blue/black hair and a slender build. She snaked her arms down his chest and laid her head on his back.

“Good evening, Captain,” the voice of Luna sang from her lips.

“Luna what are you doing?”

“I'm going to be rather forward with you. When you … left, you also took a very large part of my heart with you. I sat and watched you for years, watched you go so far as to kill yourself, accepting your decision. Letting you slip away from me like that was more pain than I've felt in centuries. Seeing you come back... Let me just say that I know how much you love Rainbow Dash, I know that right now everything is screaming for you to reject me, but I want you to hear me out.”

She squeezed herself closer to him. “I want one night,” she whispered, “One night of you all to myself. One night to know what it feels like to be with you.” It was all she had to say any more, all she could say. So she waited.

It was not a decision he made lightly. He thought it over for what felt like an hour, though it was closer to two minutes. Luna was right, most of him demanded he reject her. Rainbow Dash was his, the one he loved. Another part of him, however, said that didn't need to be an absolute. Herding was common, the princesses were known to have many lovers at any point in time. And Luna herself had always held a special place in his heart. The outcast, the one he thought might understand him the most. That part of him, that sliver, called out. How much more had she lost now that he knew? That she was the goddess of humans, what had that cost her when they were banished? What would it really cost him to show her the love she deserved for one night?

“Just one night?”

“Yes,” she replied.