//------------------------------// // A Further Progression, A Series of Questions // Story: Fire and Earth, Bats and Hearth // by lionaxel //------------------------------// I lay on my bed, Sun caws in her cage which she had demanded be brought into my room. No doubt to keep me up all night. I had been shocked when I had found that my hair had been even greener than before. It was almost bluish and pretty bright compared to my usual black hair. Now, though, I am too exhausted to fully comprehend what it all meant. Now, sleep is overtaking me, and I comply, drifting off. Your time is coming. I wake up with a start. It’s still dark out, so what woke me up? Even Sun is still asleep in her cage, so why? How come I’m awake. I hear a small noise from across the hall, and I lift up my head. Something felt really weird when I heard the noise. Something on top of my head. Last I checked, there was nothing up there though. There’s the noise again! It felt like... twitching? I feel the top of my head where it feels off and I’m greeted by something hairy. Something tufted. Ears. Horse ears. They are fluffy and I might even like them... if they aren’t attached to my body, which they are. Pulling on them hurts and my normal ears are non-existent. Great. I have horse ears. What next, a tail? I suppress a laugh. This is impossible. Humans don’t just grow horse ears. I must be dreaming. I pinch myself hard. “YEEEOOOWWCCHHH!!” There is a rustling of feathers and wings as beside me, Sun wakes up. God, dammit. I was trying NOT to wake her up, but so much for this being a dream. I have horse ears. I repeat the sentence in my head. I have... HORSE EARS. Fuck. Oh, fuck. I can’t believe that this is happening. I bury my face in my hands. Sun squawks and I lift up my head. Next to me is a bundle of dark blue-green hair. Hang on, my hair isn’t THAT long. In fact, I think my hair on the back of my head got shorter during the night. My bangs are long as fuck, but the back of my head is full with short sticky-upy hairs that traveled down my neck. So what the fuck is this hair down here? I follow the hair as it goes behind me and I realize what it is. A tail. “No! I was joking! I didn’t actually want a tail!” I moan and Sun is silent for once. Maybe I finally broke her brain. However, now is not the time to be joking. I have a tail and this is clearly not a dream. This just goes to show, If life deems you to be believing something is impossible, it will surely smack you on the face with something even more impossible. There is no way I can sleep after learning that I grew horse ears and a tail. That’s just... no. No. I’m just not sleeping. I get up and Sun rattles her cage. “Go back to sleep. I’ll come back later.” I can tell she’s not happy, but I don’t stick around to see what will happen. For all I know, Sun can melt the bars of her cage, or pick the lock with her beak. I guess we will just find out. I make my way to the bathroom. My ears turn out to be a lightish gray color and are actually tufted. Interesting, I don’t know many horses with tufted ears, although I don’t know any horses. How long did I end up sleeping, an hour? Two? Too bad, I probably need the sleep considering that I just grew some horse anatomy. Suddenly, something hits me from behind and I crumple... to... the... ground..... ........ I blink open my eyes to see sunlight streaming in the bathroom. I rub the back of my head where a small lump has formed. I turn, hoping to see what hit me, but there is nothing. Something feels off though... something down.. there. I take off my pants and to my horror, something is missing. “Oh shit! What the shit! FUCK!” I sit on the ground, utterly defeated. This process has stripped my masculinity. I am a girl and I have no idea how to handle it. I look in the mirror and realize that I look a lot like a girl. Well, technically I am one now.. but- ugh! This is so confusing! I lay down on the bathroom floor, hitting my feet on the ground. CLUNK What the- that noise doesn’t come from shoes... I look at my feet. “Hooves.” I mutter to myself. Then louder I shout, “HOOVES! I HAVE GOD DAMN HOOVES!!” I bite my lip. I hate this. I hate this so much and there is nothing I can do about it. Sun was right. Sun was right the whole time. I’m going all the way. I’ve become a damn mare for fuck’s sake! I mean, woman. Stupid. Slips. Of. Tongue. Speaking of the cursed bird, Sun flies in the room. Her feathers are probably only 20% black now and she doesn’t seem fazed by it. In fact, it almost seems like she’s laughing at me. Then I notice her beak has spots of blood on it. Sun was the one who pecked me unconscious. “Damn it, Sun. What the fuck were you thinking?” She simply stares. I guess I shouldn’t have expected an answer. If there is one thing Sun can’t do, it’s apparently talk. ----- I look at Mira. This is one of the few reasons I asked her to watch this movie. To hear this line. Mira knows that I’m not just innocently asking her what was wrong, even though she answered. “Iris. You knew. You knew that I had repeated it. That’s why you’re making me watch this movie. Of course that’s on top of learning more about who this Sunset character is.” Mira announces, “And I understand why. But, Iris, you’re helping me figure out who I am, but who are you?” I look down, “I-I don’t know. It will come with time, though. I hope.” “Syn- Iris.” Mira says in a somewhat scolding tone, apparently correcting herself from calling me the wrong name. Funny, she blew up at me earlier for calling her Sunset by accident. “It’s 9:34. What are we going to do next? Finish watching or go to bed.” “I literally just slept” I remind her, “Twice. You can sleep in my bed if you’re tired, though.” “Maybe in a bit. I want to finish the movie.” Mira decides. So we settle down again and continue watching. Somewhat through the movie, Mira grabs some of her hair and began. “It’s funny, Iris. Do you remember when I had a strange hatred towards red-heads? Never did I think at that time that someday I would be a red-head.” “True. I guess you stole my red hair.” I smile, subtly reminding Mira how I now have dark brown hair. I ponder for a moment how I would be reacting to all of this if I were alone, without Mira. I would probably take this a lot worse. I guess having someone by my side helps. If something happens, I’ll be with Mira. Six years ago, I would have hated the thought of spending the rest of my life with her. Now though, things have changed. We are closer than ever. Years ago, Mira tried to ruin me, but then she made amends. I wasn’t too popular, but I wasn’t treated like dirt either. The movie was nearing its end. The final battle. The music battle between the Dazzlings and the Rainbooms. It was funny because the person who sings next wasn’t in the Rainbooms. It was Sunset Shimmer and Mira was shocked. I thought it was pretty obvious that Sunset would end up singing, but I guess for Mira, who relates a little too much with Sunset, it was on a whole different level. “I sing.” She states, still staring at her animation counterpart. “That you do.” I reply. Mira’s jaw hangs open. As Sunset Shimmer activates her anthro form, Mira nods. “That’s me right now. Just without orange skin.” “Yes, It does look a lot like you.” I agree. To be honest, I don’t know who I am supposed to be, so I can’t help with this, but Mira. Oh Mira. She’s almost a 100% match to this Anthro Sunset Shimmer now. Mira is glued to the screen until the credits where a certain spoiler is revealed. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil it for you if you haven’t watched it yet. “That’s it. I’m going to bed. Good night, Sy- ugh, I mean, Iris.” Mira huffs and disappears down the hall. I can hear her mutter “Weirdo Hasbro” and I probably wouldn’t be able to hear that without pony ears. ----- Okay, look. It’s quite obvious that I don’t sound like Sunset Shimmer. At least not to my understanding and at least not yet, I don’t think. The thing about having your voice change is it is so gradual that you often don’t notice the change at all. There is one way you can tell however and that is through recordings. My plan is simple. I record my voice every day until a change is evident. I need to know everything that happens to me and this is just one thing, but an important one. So I take out my laptop, which I don’t think Iris is aware I have with me yet, and record my voice. “This is Mira checking in. Day 1 of the changes. Apparent Cutie mark. Cutie mark resembles that of a red and yellow sun. Hair has changed color and length and resembles a mane. Previous hair color, blonde. New hair color, red and yellow. Eye color change. Previous eye color, gray. New eye color, aqua, I guess. Walking on balls of feet. Ears have changed to become pony ears. Color of ears, pale orange. Tail growth. Tail color, red and yellow. Random slips of tongue. Based on this evidence, it can be deducted that I am becoming Sunset Shimmer from My Little Pony. Will check back in tomorrow.” I shut my Laptop and change into pajamas. Again, I doubt that Iris knows that I had brought everything I needed to stay for a while. I make sure my tail isn’t caught up in the fabric and lay down on the bed. These changes are gonna cause pretty much nothing but trouble until I figure out how to cope with them. Regardless, it doesn’t take long to fall asleep. ----- I look around. Something strange is definitely going on. I feel a very strange disturbance that seems to be coming from the portal in front of the school. I need to go see it, but I don’t know how to. If I get caught by Celestia or Luna, it will be hard to explain that I need to go back to Equestria for reasons that even I didn’t know. I look around and slowly make my way through darkened hallways until the bell rings. This is my chance! With all of the students out and about, no one will ever suspect me of leaving the school! I make my way to the front doors and I’m about to exit before I am stopped by a voice. “Sunset Shimmer?” I turn, wide-eyed to see Fluttershy. “Where are you going?” “Oh, uh...” I take a deep breath. “I need to go back to Equestria.” “Right now!? But are you sure?” Fluttershy’s eyes reflect the worry in my heart. Leaving Canterlot High is almost a death sentence. Without me, the rest of my friends can’t unleash the true power of their elements. They will be missing my element. Whatever that is. Actually, I’m not even sure I have one. “Trust me, Fluttershy. Something strange is going on in Equestria and I need to check it out. Should anything go on here, use the notebook.” I wink and make my way through the doors. As I walk, I call behind me, “Don’t forget to tell the others!” I see Fluttershy nod and that destroys the last bit of my worry that anything would happen. The statue is just within reach now. I squeeze my eyes shut and jump through. When I open my eyes next, I am in an unfamiliar castle. It’s not Canterlot castle, so where am I? I’ve come out of the mirror, but it seems to be powered by a strange device and connected to that device is... Celestia’s notebook!? It must be powering the machine so that the mirror portal is always open. I don’t want anyone following me, so I take the notebook. This way, I can keep tabs with Fluttershy to know if anything is up. Then I cast a tracking spell so I can make my way back when needed. Now to find my way out of this castle... “Hello!? Anyone home!?” No answer. I make my way through the castle until I reach a room with six thrones and a smaller one. They are emblazoned with cutie marks which I realize belong to Twilight and her friends from this world. This must be Twilight’s castle that Spike was talking about. I’m gonna bet that the small throne is for Spike. There is a main hallway just outside which has to lead me out of the castle, so I follow it. Sure enough, I am finally greeted with the cool moist air of the outside. It feels great to be in an atmosphere not tainted with gas and fossil fuels. Something’s wrong though. It’s deathly silent. No other ponies are around. I’m all alone. That’s what I thought, until a voice nearly frightened me out of my fur. “So, how did I miss you?” A swivel around to see a draconequus. But the only living draconequus left is Discord who’s petrified in stone! “You can’t be... Discord.” “Bingo! Congrats!” A bunch of confetti randomly appears, sticking in my mane and tail. Discord claps his mismatched hands and the confetti disappears. “But really, how did you manage to escape me?” I realize that telling Discord about the portal would put certain friends in danger, so I do the only logical thing. “I won’t reveal that information.” Discord shrugs. “No matter. Everypony is already gone. I disposed of them all. It doesn’t matter that you were a bit late to the party. I make sure that all of my guests are satisfied.” “What?” I mutter. “What are you talking about?” “For five score, divided by four!” My vision fades to whiteness. ----- I wake up cold and sweaty. I had that dream again. The same one as always. Sunlight filters in through the window. I sit up and just stare ahead for a bit. I now have a better understanding of what happens in the dream. To my understanding, Sunset left Canterlot High to go check on Twilight, but stupid dragon thing got to her first. That just posed the question, where was Twilight? Ugh, my head hurts really bad for some reason. It’s pounding hard. I try to ignore it for now. Maybe I’ll ask Iris for some medicine later. I leave the room. Iris is in the kitchen, cooking something that smells good and holding a spatula. Pancakes. She looks up and her expression scares me. “Uh, Mira? Have you looked in a mirror today?” What is she looking at? My hair, which is probably messy? My forehead? Oh... Oh. That explains the headaches. I close my eyes and mutter “Good lord.” before feeling the horn on my head. “Congrats.” I say in a sarcastic tone, “Today, the world learned that unicorns are real.” Iris frowns and flips the pancake with the spatula. “You looked pained when you walked in. Was it hurting you?” “Correction. Is. It’s not as bad as when I woke up though. Just a bit sore.” I answer. My stomach growls and I realize I have a really odd feeling. “Iris. I’m craving hay.” Iris grimaces. “You want hay!?” I nod sheepishly. What? Hay just sounds so good! Wait, why would I want hay, unless... I feel the teeth on the roof of my mouth with my thumb. They are flat, like a pony. “There’s no meat for breakfast today, is there?” “No. Wait, we are herbi- oh my god, We are!” Iris says, licking her teeth. “That sucks. We can’t eat some good meat, now.” “Frankly, meat sounds awful right now.” I curl my lip. “You better not think about making meat for dinner.” Iris grins. “Your turn to cook. So you better not think about making meat.” I smirk and let out a chuckle, “Wouldn’t dream of it.”