The Illusion of Humanity
Main Characters: Starlight, Del, Alba
Major Cameos: Obsidian Glimmer, Redheart, Rei, Lyra
Original Start Date: April 29, 2015
After school at Ponyville Schoolhouse. Students trot out of the main classroom, ready to head home or play with their friends for the rest of the afternoon. Starlight helps Alba set up for her next magic class. Del watches the students and guides her unicorn students in for their lesson. Satsuma and Pound stay behind to chat with Pumpkin and Razzly while Alba sets up. Kain argues with his sister, wanting to stay to play with his friends, but she glares at him sternly. Behind the building, a young unicorn winces after swallowing something before he joins the rest of the class.
‘Are you okay, Obsidian Glimmer?’ Del asks the ill-looking colt.
‘Mm hmm,’ he replies, heading inside.
Starlight finishes his business with Alba as the magic students settle. He calls his brother and his friend and heads from the classroom. Starlight stops outside to talk with Del for a moment. Kain catches up with his friends.
‘Okay. Last week we covered simple transformation spells,’ Alba begins. She sees a student raising a hoof. ‘Yes, Obsidian?’
The colt's horn glows and spits sparks. ‘Miss Alba... I don't feel good...’
Before Alba can reply, a bright flash emanates from Obsidian's horn.
Starlight gallops back into the classroom. ‘What was that? That was really strong.’
‘Something is wrong with...’
Obsidian's magic surges again. A bright light fills the classroom and extends outside. The magic surge quickly spreads over Ponyville and lasts several seconds before dying down.
Starlight uncovers his eyes. ‘Okay. What do I have to fix?’ He sees his class staring at him. He adjusts his glasses. ‘Huh. Well, this is different.’
Expecting to see a room full of unicorns, the classroom is filled with confused human children stares at him. A shocked girl with long silver and magenta hair examines her new body. A boy with dark hair lays on his desk, passed out. A boy with yellow and red hair looks in the doorway as does a shapely woman with long red hair standing over him.
‘Are you okay, Mr Starlight?’ one of the students asks.
‘Uh...’
‘Um, the lesson is over early!’ a woman with messy purple hair states.
The students shrug and mumble as they gather their belongings again. Alba and Starlight check on Obsidian. The red-haired woman enters the classroom.
‘Alba, what do you think happened?’ Starlight asks. He looks back. ‘Del, call Redheart.’
‘Some sort of spell...’ Alba replies. She stares intently at the passed out kid in front of her. ‘Uh... I don't think I have my magic anymore...’
‘Who are you?’ the silver-haired girl demands. ‘What's going on?’
Starlight points to himself. ‘Starlight,’ -- points to the woman beside him -- ‘Alba,’ -- points behind him -- ‘Del and Satsuma. Aaaaaand we have no idea what is going on.’
‘How can I trust you are who say you are?’
‘The glasses are a dead giveaway for the brothers,’ Alba says.
‘Hmm,’ Starlight and Satsuma grunt, adjusting their glasses.
Alba holds up Starlight's hand. ‘And you can tell I'm his sister since we have the same skin color.’ She looks back at Del. ‘And seriously? You can't tell Del?’
‘Razzly? Are you okay?’ Satsuma asks.
‘Redheart is on her way,’ Del reports. ‘Apparently, she is the only nurse who notices something amiss.’
Starlight thinks. ‘And most of the students didn't seem upset either...’
‘This is just too much,’ Razzly groans.
‘Alba, you wait here for Redheart,’ Starlight says.‘Everypo... Everyone else, gather everyone who seems confused or at least aware that something is wrong. Have them meet at mom's castle. We'll try to sort everything out there.’
‘Are you sure there are others?’ Satsuma asks. ‘How do you know we're not the only ones?’
‘Del just said Redheart knew. The hospital is on the other side of town,’ Alba explains. ‘There has to be others.’
Starlight ruffles his brother's already messy hair as he leaves. ‘Come on, little bro. Aren't you curious to see how everyone's changed?’ He stops short before running into someone. ‘Hello.’
A girl with long purple-pink hair and holding a plush rabbit stares up at the teacher.
‘Freya! Come on!’ a young boy calls. ‘You were the one bugging me to hurry up!’
‘Tell your mom what you heard,’ Starlight says. ‘I'm betting she'll understand.’
Freya nods and runs off, grabbing her brother. Satsuma and Razzly exit the class together.
‘Even like this, you're sorta cute,’ Razzly comments.
‘Huh? Wha? Yeah, whatever,’ Satsuma replies. ‘Hey, let's check on my mom first.’
The boy runs off. Razzly rolls her eyes and follows.
‘Do you think you can figure this out?’ Del asks.
‘Of course. I'm the greatest magic user in Equestria,’ Starlight brags, adding under his breath, ‘after mom. Anyway! This should be a snap.’
‘This is impossible!’ Starlight declares in one of the castle's studies. ‘There is no way that is what happened!’ A voice over his mobile says something only he can hear. ‘Yes, mom... Thanks for all your help. I'll tell everyone what you told me.’
Starlight ends the call, takes a breath and exits the study. He goes down a couple corridors and enters a large reception hall. Dozens of people are gathered and talking amongst themselves. At another entrance, Del is taking a tally of everyone who is there. Starlight goes to the head of the room.
‘Thanks for coming,’ the young man states. ‘Is this everyone who is aware that some magical event happened this afternoon?’
‘Eeyup,’ a tall, muscular, tanned man with medium length orange hair says.
A tall, pale woman with flowing pink hair meekly raises a hand. ‘Um, Sunshine is not here,’ Fluttershy informs. ‘Kain doesn't know what is going on, and we didn't want to leave him alone for this meeting.’
‘Mimi, too,’ a nerdy man with short brown hair adds. ‘She volunteered to watch all the shops while we're here.’
A bubbly woman with rainbow-colored hair jumps up and waves. ‘Mom's not here either since she is trying to keep the twins calm!’
Starlight nods. ‘Okay. We don't really have much information yet, so you won't have to relay much.’ He gets out a sonic screwdriver. ‘Thanks to the scans I've taken,’ -- he looks away -- ‘and some outside consulting,’ -- he looks back -- ‘I've been able to determine our physical forms haven't changed. Most likely. This means the spell was likely physio-illusionary, which would explain the changes we see and sensory sensations we're experiencing.’
‘The foal, uh, kid, Obsidian Glimmer, was a fan of human stories,’ Del explains. ‘Which is likely why we are in this specific illusion.’
‘What happened to Obsidian Glimmer?’ Fluttershy asks.
‘Nurse Redheart is watching over him,’ Alba answers. ‘She should have an explanation tomorrow, but he is currently passed out from overexerting himself on the spell.’
‘Was he one of your better magic students?’ a light-skinned woman with short blonde hair asks.
Alba shakes her head. ‘He was about average. This is very surprising.’
A lanky woman with grey hair holds up a petite woman with short blue hair. ‘How far does the illusion extend and what happens when we leave it?’ Rei asks. ‘Inkie and I have an appointment with our doctor in Canterlot coming up.’
‘Goes at least t' mah farm,’ a tall, tanned woman with a long blonde ponytail answers.
‘And we don't know what happens when the edge of the spell is reached,’ Starlight answers, scratching his head. ‘Mom has diverted all trains, airships, and pegasi from the area until it wears off, just in case something happens that could cause a panic. Don't know how that one is going to be covered up...’
The doors beside Del open, and a grey-haired woman in a suit marches in. ‘We have that taken care of, Mr Sparkle,’ Mayor Mare declares. She smirks and adjusts her glasses as all eyes turn to her. ‘The city will be doing maintenance on our rail system for the next week.’ She gives an exasperated sigh. ‘At least the princesses agreed to compensate us for blowing our budget on this pointless expense...’
Starlight nods. ‘So just avoid going out of town for a bit. The spell should wear off soon. Just... pretend you're in one of Lyra's stories?’
The crowd mutters and talks amongst itself as they file out of the castle. Mayor Mare forces her way through the crowd to join a small group forming around Starlight.
‘That's a good point,’ Alba says. ‘I'll ask about it when I see her tomorrow.’
‘Something wrong?’ the mayor asks.
‘I was just wondering about the pegasi that were in the air when the spell hit,’ Starlight explains. ‘I'm worried for their safety if they just fell out of the sky.’
‘Ah!’ the mayor replies. ‘Don't worry about that. The flash was long enough for the pegasi to land. There weren't reports of any injuries after the spell took effect, so we shouldn't have to worry about it.’
‘That's good to hear. I'd hate to have this situation escalate.’ Starlight stretches. ‘Anyway! Its getting late.’
‘Its barely past sundown,’ Rei counters.
‘Time to get home and relax and spend some time getting used to my new body with Apple Bloom,’ he says, putting an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders.
Apple Bloom stares at him incredulously. ‘If yer implyin' what Ah think yer implyin'...’
Starlight whispers in her ears, and her eyes go wide.
‘Gotta go! Bye!’ Apple Bloom shouts, practically dragging Starlight behind her.
‘Oh, to be young again,’ the mayor sighs.
‘An' not single...’ Applejack adds.
The two women groan as they leave.
‘See you all later!’ Rei calls as Inkie carries her out on her back. She looks at her wife and gives her a big hug. ‘See? Isn't this just like when I carry you when I fly?’
‘Maybe a dozen kilos lighter,’ Inkie teases.
Del pulls on Alba's arm. ‘We should go too. Silver already left without us.’
Alba looks around the castle a bit. ‘I'll catch up.’ She looks at a portrait on the wall. ‘I want to look around a little bit. For science.’
Her sister cringes. ‘You're not going to... you know... in mom's castle are you?’
‘What? No! I'm already well acquainted with this form.’
‘Ew.’
‘I just want to look around for a bit. I never really thought of that until now.’
Del sighs. ‘Okay. Just don't be too long.’ She stretches and grumbles about her back as she leaves Alba to look around.
The next morning. Alba stands in the kitchen, looking through the refrigerator. Silver Spoon enters and sees her roommate half in the refrigerator.
‘Do we have any eggs?’ the younger woman asks.
‘What do you need eggs for?’ Silver replies, adjusting her bathrobe.
‘I want to know if we have fully changed or if this is purely illusionary.’
‘And the eggs are for..?’
‘Breakfast!’ Alba cheers.
‘Yes, breakfast,’ Del mumbles, dragging herself into the room, rubbing her eyes under the long hair covering her face.
‘I don't know how you don't fall over when you slouch like that...’ Silver muses.
‘Do we have eggs?’ Alba asks her sister.
‘What do ya need eggs for?’ Del replies, looking for the coffee maker.
The younger sister rolls her eyes. ‘Breakfast. Duh.’
Del stops her coffee hunt and grimaces at Alba. ‘You want to eat them?’
‘I want to know if we have human bodies or pony bodies, and I haven't had fried eggs in months!’
Del fakes a gag and sets up the coffee maker. ‘That is the grossest thing ever.’
‘Says the one of us that is naturally an omnivore.’
‘I'm as vegetarian as anypony else!’
Alba sighs and closes the refrigerator. ‘Maybe I can get some from Fluttershy and her coop...’
‘Just don't tell her what they are for,’ Silver advises, getting out a box of cereal.
Del makes a disgusted face as she goes to the refrigerator. ‘Don't encourage her.’
‘You eat all our combined weight in cakes all the time,’ her sister argues, heading to the door. ‘That has to be hundreds of eggs a month.’
‘I don't see how that is relevant,’ Del retorts, eating a slice of cake.
Alba stops at the door. She looks down her pajama top. ‘I should put on underwear before leaving... Damn human decency!’
Alba grumbles as she goes back to her room.
‘You should probably do the same,’ Silver suggests, playing with the toy from the cereal. ‘At the very least, it would give you an emergency parachute.’
Del growls and sits down with her meal.
Starlight eats lunch with his brother and friends. Satsuma sighs and stares at the bag of apples his mom sent him off with. Razzly happily snacks on her lunch. Shaun munches his sandwich.
‘I don't see what the big deal is,’ the former griffin comments. ‘I like having teeth for once.’
‘But you're used to finger dealies,’ Razzly replies. ‘This is all new to me.’
‘I had talons, and they don't take much skill to use.’
‘It is just like riding a bicycle,’ Starlight adds.
Satsuma pokes an apple. ‘This is just like that dream I had a few months ago. Before me and Freya...’
Razzly pats him on the shoulder.
‘Anyway! I was older in that dream, and I think Del was hitting on me...’
‘Yeah. She does that,’ Starlight comments.
Shaun pulls his bangs over his eyes so he can see them. ‘I really like this spell. I can see why you unicorns use magic.’
‘Yeah. It's amazing that your "psychic powers" didn't see this one coming,’ Razzly snorts.
‘I don't have psychic powers,’ Shaun states.
‘Aha!’ the girl shouts, jumping up and pointing an accusing finger.
‘What? Humans don't have psychic powers, right, Mr Starlight?’
Starlight shrugs. ‘None of the ones I've met did.’
His brother groans. ‘Of course not. None of us have them, and we're the only ones you know.’
‘Sure. Let's go with that.’
Before Satsuma can reply, Alba walks up and towers over the group as best as she can. ‘Shaun, get your lunch. You're coming with me.’ She drags him away before he can argue.
‘What did he do?’ Razzly asks.
The brothers shrug. A hand lands on Satsuma's shoulder while they are on the way down.
‘Bring your lunch and follow me,’ Del demands.
Starlight waves as his sister drags his brother away.
‘Your sisters are weird,’ Razzly comments.
‘And you're just figuring this out?’ Starlight replies, taking one of the apples Satsuma left behind.
Rei leans over the counter of her shop. She has to stand on a box in order to reach that high. Behind her, a tanned woman with purple walks in and out of a back room. Scootaloo gets a drink from a display and stands at the wall behind her boss.
‘Just heard back from Daring,’ the younger woman reports. ‘She's out near Fillydelphia and won't be back for a while.’
‘That's good,’ Rei replies. ‘Who knows what she'd do if she were here?’
‘Probably get her hands on your brother,’ Scootaloo guesses.
Rei giggles and wiggles her fingers. ‘Yeah. Inkie and I tried them out too.’
Scootaloo moans. ‘Lucky. Diamond doesn't really care that we've changed. I tried telling her that we could...’
‘We did lots of hugging, and holding hands, and picking noses...’
‘I'm concerned for you.’
The shop door opens. Rei jumps up when she sees who enters.
‘Sisters!’ Rei darts around the counter and hugs Alba. After a second of snuggling, she backs off and looks at her sister. With their new relative heights, Rei is only chest high to her sister. She pokes Alba in the chest. ‘I thought I was supposed to be the "big" sister!’
‘I'll wait outside,’ Del mumbles, trying to hide behind Alba.
Rei looks around Alba. ‘They're bigger than my head!’ She storms away, grumbling.
‘Sorry 'bout that,’ Scootaloo laughs. ‘How can I help you?’
‘We're going to visit my student,’ Del explains. ‘We want to bring him a "get well" gift.’
‘I'm sure you'll find something.’
The sisters nod as they look around.
‘Told you that's why your class was more attentive today,’ Alba teases.
‘HMPF!’ Rei snorts from the back of the store.
A pale woman with pink hair tied in a bun and wearing a white uniform leads Del and Alba through the hospital. Del scowls as she tries to ignore the leers she is getting.
‘You should be fine,’ Redheart says. ‘The body is a plaything of the mind, after all. Think you're human, act like a human.’
‘Ha! I knew it!’ Alba gloats. ‘Now, where can I find some bacon?’
‘Watch your cholesterol,’ the nurse scolds.
Del laughs quietly at her sister. ‘Anyway, thanks for letting us see Obsidian.’
Redheart nods. ‘It is good that you are concerned about him.’ She opens a door and leads them into a room. Obsidian Glimmer sleeps in a bed, hooked up to monitoring devices. Redheart takes a seat besides the bed. ‘None of the doctors know what is wrong with him, so they just put him under my watch.’
‘What's really wrong with him?’ Alba asks, closing the door behind them.
‘Thankfully, I can see through the illusion.’
The others look at her, confused.
Redheart gets out her scanner. ‘Magic overload. He's been taking supplements.’
‘Magic supplements?’ Del says, confused. ‘I've never heard of them causing this much craziness.’
The nurse taps her scanner. ‘If these readings are correct,’
‘Time Lord tech. Duh,’ Alba interjects.
‘Then he took enough to hit alicorn levels of magical output.’
‘What the frak!’ Alba shouts.
Redheart hushes her.
‘Sorry, but he should be dead, not sleeping.’
‘Why would he do that to himself?’ Del worries.
Alba goes to the bed. ‘He wasn't my best student... Maybe he felt the pressure to do better...’
‘That still wouldn't explain where he got all, or even any, magic enhancing supplements,’ Redheart points out. She sighs. ‘I have tried various treatments to eliminate the supplements from his system. It would go faster if we had other magical materials to work with, but... Well, let's just say AJ is going to be getting a lot of business from me until he's healthy.’
Alba ruffles Obsidian's hair. ‘Poor kid...’
‘This wasn't your fault. Besides, this is Ponyville, or Humanville now. We're used to this sort of thing.’
‘I know, but...’
Del puts her hands on her sister's shoulders. ‘Come on. Let him rest. Let's go home, and I'll make you whatever you want for dinner.’
‘Will there be bacon?’
‘How about I let you pick out what toppings we get on a pizza?’
‘Meat lovers!’
Del groans and facepalms. ‘You're going to be joining your student in here before you know it...’
Starlight jogs around the library. Apple Bloom rides on his back. The pair stop beside a shelf. Starlight leans against the shelf to rest.
‘See. Ain't this jus' as fun as when Ah carry ya 'round?’ Apple Bloom asks.
‘Sure. Fun,’ Starlight pants.
‘Come on. Ya can finally lift me with yer skinny unicorn arms. Where's yer stamina yer always braggin' 'bout?’
Starlight scoffs. ‘That stamina is more for something else.’
Apple Bloom shifts her weight and leans forward, resting her head on Starlight's shoulder. ‘Should Ah switch sides so ya can show me what ya mean?’
‘Th-this might not be the best place for that.’
‘We can clean up after,’ Apple Bloom coos.
‘Well, uh, we're sorta in the young readers section,’ Starlight stammers. ‘That is just a little creepy.’
‘Ah guess...’
‘And we might ruin the books.’
Apple Bloom smiles and grips her boyfriend tighter. ‘Then you better carry us to the bedroom.’
Starlight laughs. ‘My pleasure.’ He starts jogging away.
‘And soon to be mine too.’
Next morning. Lemon and Razzly exit their apartments at the same time. Razzly eats from a carton of ice cream while her aunt locks up.
‘Are you sure humans are supposed to have ice cream for breakfast?’ Lemon asks.
‘Mm hmm.’
‘And are you sure you're supposed to have all of those cupcakes for lunch?’
‘Yep.’
‘And when I ask your dad for confirmation, he'll agree, right?’
Razzly stops eating. She gives her aunt the ice cream. ‘I'll ask Satsuma for some apples when I get the school...’
‘Good girl.’
Silver Spoon joins Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo for lunch. She quietly sips a cup of tea while the others eat. Diamond has her tablet set on the table so she can work while eating.
Scootaloo takes a large bite of a sandwich and a swig of soda. ‘I still say we shoulda gone to the "griffin" store for lunch. I bet they have all sorts of food we should try now that we can stomach them.’
‘And which of us would be left finishing your whole fried chicken when you fill up on griffinscones, hmm?’ Diamond points out, not looking from her work.
‘I only did that once!’ Scootaloo argues. She looks away sheepishly. ‘Once a month... Week...’ She leans back and groans. ‘Fine. Besides, if we didn't get the same table we always do, we probably wouldn't recognize each other right away. ’
‘I don't know about that,’ her girlfriend counters.
‘What do ya mean?’ Scootaloo asks, returning to her meal.
‘We're all dressed similar to our normal coat colors,’ Diamond notes. ‘Silver has a light grey suit. You're in an orange shirt. And I'm perfectly pink.’
Scootaloo examines her girlfriend carefully. Diamond is wearing a teal top over her blue blouse and matching skirt over dark grey spats. ‘Yes. You're very pink.’
‘To be fair, your tiara is the best clue to who you are,’ Silver adds.
Diamond snorts. ‘Trust me. I am plenty pink where it counts.’
Scootaloo gets a slight nosebleed. ‘I'll have to check to make sure.’
‘Maybe if you behave yourself, I'll come over later.’
Scootaloo bolts up. ‘Cheque, please!’
Silver lets out a long sigh as she takes an extra long sip of tea.
Alba walks through the hospital. She goes to Obsidian's room and looks in. The kid is asleep. Alba sighs and sits by his side. Redheart walks past the room, notices the guest, and joins her.
‘I wasn't expecting to see you today,’ the nurse says.
‘I just wanted to see how he was doing,’ Alba replies. ‘I'm worried about him.’
‘You're a good person, Alba.’
Alba stretches and looks out a nearby window. ‘I took most of the day off to investigate the spell.’ She sets a sonic screwdriver on the sill. ‘Put my dad's, uh, "the world is going to end, so take this to remember me" present to good use.’
‘Find out anything interesting?’
‘It's getting smaller.’
‘That's good.’
‘By microns.’
Redheart takes a deep breath. ‘Well...’
‘It should be safe to pass through the illusion too.’ Alba looks at her arm. ‘It was weird holding out a light brown arm and seeing a purple hoof on the end.’
‘That would be weird.’ She watches Alba watching her patient. ‘I'll give you some time alone.’
‘Thanks,’ Alba replies, sitting back in her chair.
Redheart nods and leaves Alba with Obsidian.
The Apple Family sits around the kitchen table, ready for their dinner. Applejack sets a basket of bread on the table and takes a seat across from Satsuma. Big McIntosh starts serving himself as soon as his sister is down.
Satsuma serves himself, takes a couple bites. ‘Why do animals have sexual dimorphism?’
Big McIntosh chokes a bit out of shock, then starts coughing.
Applejack stares at her son, stunned. ‘Uh, Satsuma, Ah don' think that's proper dinner conversation.’
The young boy nods. ‘Oh. Okay.’ He takes another bite of dinner. ‘Why do a number of male mammals have external genitalia?’
Big McIntosh scrambles up and runs off before he has to explain anything.
Applejack facepalms. ‘Go t' yer room. Ah'll have yer father call ya later.’
Satsuma moans and leaves the table.
Applejack continues hanging her head. ‘One day he's gotta learn some common sense...’ She pauses a moment. ‘Its safe!’
Big McIntosh slinks back into the kitchen and continues his meal.
Morning sun causes Twilight's castle to shine. In one of the upper bedrooms, a man with messy black hair groans and pulls a pillow over his eyes. The pillow is removed when a woman with long purple and pink hair rolls on top of him. Discarded clothing is strewn about the room.
‘Think that's our cue to get up,’ Twilight says.
James groans again. ‘Can't you banish the sun for another decade or so?’
‘Wrong princess.’
‘Why not? You proved you're a contender for "Princess of Love" last night.’
Twilight laughs and kisses her husband's cheek. ‘And you're the "Prince of Cuddles".'
James laughs and settles down again, giving Twilight a hug.
Twilight sighs and pokes her husband. ‘Come on. We have to get up before someone shows up.’
‘I'm not a machine, Twilight.’
‘Not that, dolt.’
James yawns and stretches, ending by putting his arm around his wife. ‘We should take this form more often. Maybe join Sunny and Sonata for Taco Tuesday.’
‘Once you get used to not having magic, it isn't too bad,’ Twilight agrees.
‘Says the one who abuses magic every time she visits Sunny.’
‘And you're the one waving your technology everywhere.’
‘Touché.’
Twilight sits up and stretches. ‘Should we give them another clue about this situation?’
‘Nah. They got this. At least Starlight can't time travel to cheat his way out.’ James looks at his wife. ‘You know, I always expect to see stars when I look at you back here.’
Twilight huffs and bonks her husband on the head, covering herself slightly when she gets up.
‘And there they are,’ James says, rubbing a lump.
‘Just get dressed so we can get out of here before someone...’
The bedroom door opens, and Alba walks in, watching the readings on her sonic.
‘I should be able to get better readings from up here,’ the young woman says, before looking up. She turns red, seeing her parents naked in bed together. ‘I'msorry! Ithoughtnoonewasinhere!’
Alba slams the door as she makes her escape.
‘Aaaaand that's all our kids walking in on us,’ James notes.
Twilight just sighs and hits him again.
Shaun sits at his desk to eat lunch. He digs a bag out of his pack, licks his lips, and opens it.
‘Shaun! My desk! Now!’
The young boy moans and gets up. He goes to Alba's desk. Having recovered from her experience earlier, Alba has returned to work.
‘What do you think you're doing with that bag?’ the teacher demands.
‘Uh...’
‘You better give it to me.’
Shaun sighs and holds out his lunch.
‘Alba! What are you doing?’ Starlight walks up to the desk and glares at his sister. ‘Explain yourself.’
‘Well, uh, you see...’
‘I wanted to steal Shaun's lunch today.’ Starlight licks his lips. ‘Tasty, tasty griffin food.’
‘I had fresh griffinscones from Griffinstone today too,’ Shaun laments.
Alba sticks her tongue out at her brother. A buzz comes from her desk. She picks up her mobile. ‘Yes? ... Really? ... I'll be there right away.’ She hangs up and starts collecting her things. ‘Obsidian just woke up. I'm going to go check on him.’
‘Be safe,’ her brother wishes. ‘Hope he's doing fine.’
Alba nods as she heads to the door, a pilfered griffinscone in her mouth.
Shaun reaches for his lunch, but Starlight grabs it first.
‘So, what kind of sandwich do you have today?’ the teacher asks.
‘Roast chicken,’ Shaun sighs.
‘Yum,’ Starlight replies, digging into the bag. ‘Hey, doesn't that cause some existential crisis in you? A bird eating another bird.’
Shaun just sighs again and goes to bum food from his friends.
Alba walks through the hospital. The doctors and nurses ignore the guest as she makes her way to Obsidian's room. Inside, Redheart is tending to her patient. Obsidian is awake and talking to his caretaker. Alba gently knocks on the door.
‘Ah! Alba. Thanks for coming,’ Redheart greets. She turns to Obsidian. ‘I hope you don't mind a guest.’
‘Ms Alba? Sure,’ the boy replies feebly.
Alba smiles as she enters the room. ‘How are you doing?’
‘Tired. And hungry.’
‘I'll get you something good once I'm done,’ Redheart says. She turns to Alba. ‘He knows what is going on, but go gentle on him.’
‘Sorry for the trouble I caused,’ Obsidian moans.
‘Everyone is handling it quite well,’ Alba replies. ‘I just wanted to see how you are doing.’ She fidgets a bit. She goes to a nearby table and picks up a book. ‘Um, do you like the comic Del picked you for you?’
Obsidian nods. ‘It looks fun.’
‘It will be a bit before he'll have the energy to read it,’ Redheart explains. ‘The spell took a lot out of him physically too.’
‘Well,’ Alba replies, sitting, ‘I am his teacher. I wouldn't mind reading it to him.’
‘You will?’ Obsidian says, hopefully. ‘Nobody's ever read to me before...’
‘Once Redheart is done with your check up, we'll dive right in.’
‘Thank you. That will be fun.’
‘And if you're lucky, I'll tell you about the time I battled Discord as a bonus.’
‘Cool!’
Redheart laughs and continues the exam. ‘Thank you for the help, Alba. You're a lot more sensible than your brothers. And Rei. And your father. ... Basically, more like Del than any of your family I am familiar with.’
‘Well, I wasn't the Element of Friendship for nothing,’ the former princess replies.
‘You were?’ Obsidian asks.
‘Yes, I was,’ Alba brags, ‘but that is a different story for another day, and only if you do everything Redheart tells you. Deal?’
‘Yes! Definitely!’
‘Okay. Okay,’ Redheart says, try to calm her patient. ‘Let's not get you too worn out right after you got up.’
‘Sorry...’
Redheart smiles kindly. Obsidian relaxes as she finishes the exam. Alba waits calmly while Redheart works.
Pinkie Pie slouches a bit as she walks upstairs to her living quarters. Her hair droops a bit, a sign of the busy day she just had. She enters the twins' playroom, seeing them drawing and coloring.
‘What do you have there?’ Pinkie asks her daughters, her hair regaining its bounce.
‘Draw,’ Presea answers.
‘What are you drawing?’
Presea holds up the picture. Pinkie instantly blushes when she sees the drawing.
‘Th-that's a very nice, uh...’
‘Hum,’ Presea answers.
‘Y-yes. I can tell it is a human,’ Pinkie stammers. ‘D-did you have to draw her naked?’
Presea nods. ‘For sci!’
‘Want to 'member them,’ Juliet says, working on her drawing. ‘Bow help with form.’
Pinkie peeks at her other daughter's picture. ‘Well, that answers if she is rainbow there or not.’ She shakes her head then gathers the drawings and art supplies. ‘Okay. Enough of this. You're too young to deal with this sort of material.’
The twins moan in disappointment.
‘No more of that,’ Pinkie huffs, picking up the girls. She carries them out of the room ‘Let's get you to bed,’ she says heading into the bedroom. ‘I'll read you anything you want.’
Pinkie sets the twins on the bed, where Rainbow is already sleeping soundly. Presea gets a book from a nearby nightstand.
‘This one,’ Juliet requests.
Pinkie takes the book. ‘Daring Do and Scorpan's Legacy? Are you sure?’
The twins nod in unison.
‘Scoot give it to us last time we walked in on her and Dia,’ Juliet explains.
‘Better this than that...’ Pinkie sighs, opening the book. ‘ "Day Dark slept at his desk in his new office. His fillyfriend had kicked him out of their apartment after he told her of his last mission." ’
The twins settle into bed and listen as their mother reads. Rainbow repositions herself to better hear the story too while remaining asleep.
A woman in a lime green blouse walks around the the outskirts of town. She stops for a moment and holds her hands out in front of her. She wiggles her fingers and starts laughing. The other people on the street avoid the cackling woman as she starts examining her body. A police officer quickly stops her before she can look under her shirt.
Alba visits the hospital before school. She has a bag of treats from Sugarcube Corner. She goes to Obsidian's room. He is sitting in bed, flipping through the comic Alba had brought him the other day.
‘If you're healthy enough to read, how about I bring you some homework later,’ the teacher teases.
The boy panics. ‘What! No! I mean, maybe! ... I guess...’
‘Don't get too excited.’ Alba sets her bag on the table. ‘Don't tell the nurses about this one.’
Obsidian looks in the bag. ‘I... really should get my homework... I don't want to let the others get an advantage.’
‘Very noble for a kid your age. Especially when you're laid up like this.’
‘Our family motto is: "Everypony should be equal, except for those of us who are better." ’
‘That's... fairly upsetting. Is that why you took those magic supplements?’
Obsidian frowns and looks down.
Alba sighs and ruffles his hair. ‘Don't worry about it. You don't have to even think about that sorta thing for a while. I'll be back later with something special for you.’ She heads to the door. ‘Rest up, and eat well.’
The teacher leaves for the day. Redheart passes by the room. Obsidian tries hiding the food Alba dropped off. The nurse shakes her head and raises a finger to her lips. She closes the door a bit and leaves the boy to his meal.
Rei puts a few comics and several boxes of candy into a bag. ‘Here ya go!’
An older teenaged girl with very scraggly hair the color of sunshine takes the bag. ‘Sweet. See ya around.’
The customer heads outside and joins a young man with medium length dark purple hair reading a book. The woman in lime green passes them as she enters Rei's store.
‘Rei!’ the woman declares.
‘Lyra!’ Rei replies.
‘Hands!’ Lyra shouts, holding her hands out.
‘Hands!’
Lyra goes around the counter and grabs Rei's hands.
‘Hands!’ the two women cheer.
After cheering for several seconds, Lyra lets go. ‘I didn't think you'd be as excited as me about this.’
‘Not really,’ Rei replies. ‘I'm just excited because you are.’
‘Aww! You were always my best student, after Stormy.’
Rei glares at her former teacher.
‘Hey. Did you get even shorter?’ Lyra asks.
Rei just glares more intensely.
Satsuma and his friends work on their homework in his clubhouse. He sits at a table with Pumpkin, Pound, and Shaun. Razzly walks around the room taking selfies.
‘Will you stop that?’ Pumpkin snaps. ‘We're trying to work.’
Razzly leans down and takes a picture with her friend. ‘Its just a bit of fun. Keep your panties on.’
Pound blushes when Razzly poses with him. ‘Y-yeah, sis. Don't be so rude.’
Pumpkin snorts and tries focusing on her work. ‘We were supposed to be meeting to get work done. Not screw around.’
‘I'm just taking some pictures,’ Razzly replies after taking a picture of herself and Shaun posing together. ‘We're too young to have fun your way.’
Pumpkin blushes redder than her hair. ‘That's not what I meant!’
‘Pumpkin, keep it down,’ Satsuma sighs. ‘I'm trying to work.’
The girl stews for a moment before angrily returning to her homework.
Razzly sits next to Satsuma and leans on him. She flips through her photos. ‘Hey, Satsuma. Check these out.’
‘Working...’ the young boy replies.
Razzly snorts and holds her mobile out. ‘How about you, Shaun?’
He looks up. ‘Wait. Are we..?’
‘Uh huh,’ Razzly keeps going through her pictures. ‘I noticed it last night. I'm going to show Mr Starlight tomorrow.’
‘Like he'd care about some dumb selfie,’ Pumpkin grumbles.
♪He'll want to see this one,♪ Razzly sings.
‘Whatever. I don't see what is so special about them.’
The other girl laughs and puts away her mobile, but not before setting a newly-snapped picture of herself and Satsuma as ponies as her wallpaper.
At the hospital, Alba reads another comic to Obsidian. The young boy sits up to listen to the story. A half-eaten dinner consisting mostly of apples and apple accessories sits on the bedside table while the patient eats a fancy cupcake his teacher brought.
Alba finishes the story. ‘Okay. That is all for now. You should rest up.’
‘Aww! Please Ms Sparkle,’ her student begs. ‘Just a bit more.’
‘It is getting late, and I have things to do before heading home.’ She smiles and sets the comic beside the dinner. ‘Besides, you don't want your teacher around when any of your other guests arrive.’
‘What other guests?’ Obsidian pouts.
‘Haven't any of your friends from school come by to see you?’
‘I don't have many friends...’
Alba frowns. ‘At least your parents check in on you.’
Obsidian scowls and looks away.
‘They have come, right?’
‘You're the only one who has visited me since I woke up.’
‘That's... not right. Nurse Redheart definitely contacted them.’
‘Probably scared to come,’ the young boy snorts.
‘Why is that?’ Alba thinks for a moment. ‘Did... Did they give you the magic supplements?’ Another thought comes to her. ‘Did they make you take the magic supplements?’
Obsidian does not answer. He just looks away and grips his bedsheet tightly.
Alba gets up. ‘Excuse me. I'll be back as soon as I can.’
The teacher calmly walks out of the room before running away to find Nurse Redheart. She finds her doing some paperwork at the nurse's station.
‘We need to talk,’ the younger woman demands before the nurse can greet her.
‘I was just about to ask how I could help you...’
‘Sorry. It's just... Have Obsidian's parents been to check on him?’
Redheart brings up the visitor records. ‘Not that I've seen. They haven't replied to any of the messages we left them either.’
Alba punches the station, denting it. ‘Bastards!’
‘Calm down,’ Redheart sighs. ‘I'm as concerned as you are, but nobody has seen any sign of them. The authorities are looking for them as we speak. For all we know, they could have been out of town and can't come back.’ She looks at the fist in her desk. ‘Now, want me to get some ice for that.’
Alba makes a sound resembling an enraged cat as she runs off.
Redheart sighs and presses a button on the intercom. ‘Pediatric nurse station to custodial. Please bring something to polish the station. Oh! And to remove a centimeter-deep dent from stainless steel.’
Alba marches up to a house. The name by the mailbox reads "Glimmer". The woman stops to take a few deep breaths, controlling her emotions and dissipating a dark aura surrounding her. She calmly knocks on the door.
There is no answer.
Alba looks in the windows. She thinks she sees movement and knocks again, harder.
Still no answer.
Alba takes another deep breath and prepares to knock one more time.
‘Shh. She'll leave soon.’
Alba growls and pounds the door, causing it to shake in its frame. ‘I know you're in there! Open up or I'm coming in anyway!’
Alba paces in front of the house, looking through the windows intensely. She catches another movement. She grits her teeth. She goes back to the door aims for a weak spot and kicks. The door opens right before her foot connects, almost hitting a woman. Alba lowers her leg, maintaining a fighting stance and eying the quivering woman.
‘M-m-may w-we help you?’ the woman stutters, failing to hide her fear.
‘Are you Obsidian Glimmer's mom?’ Alba hisses, her dark aura creeping out.
‘Y-y-y-’
Alba steps forward, pushing the woman back. ‘We need to talk. And don't even think of swinging at me with that bat.’
A man behind the door drops a bat as Alba and Mrs Glimmer enter. ‘Y-y-you can't j-just barge in here!’ Mr Glimmer stammers.
‘You nearly killed your son,’ Alba growls.
‘O-our son?’ Mrs Glimmer replies. ‘W-we haven't seen him in days!’
‘He caused this whole mess, and you left him to die!’
‘W-what mess?’ Mr Glimmer squeaks. ‘We don't know what you're talking about.’
‘If you really don't, why haven't you seen your son?’
‘We don't know where he is!’
‘The hospital called you several times. The police have been by your house. You were hiding just now. Why were you hiding?’ Alba yells.
Mr Glimmer looks to his wife for support. She breaks down crying. ‘We were scared!’ she blubbers.
‘Scared you would get caught? Scared you would be punished for nearly killing your son?’
‘W-we just wanted him to do better in his magic class. That is all.’
‘So you poisoned him!’
‘No!’ Mr Glimmer interrupts. ‘We just wanted him to be equal... Better than equal...’
Alba grimaces. ‘Yes. I've heard your disgusting motto. What was so wrong with him being average? He was just as good as everypony else in my class.’
‘H-he's a Glimmer. He's better than average...’
Alba takes a deep breath. ‘I'm going to have to report you for what you did to your son.’
‘No! Please don't!’ Mrs Glimmer begs.
‘But, because we are trapped in this illusion for now, nobody will believe me when I start throwing around words like "magic" and "unicorn".’ Alba huffs and glares at the parents. ‘You're safe. For now.’
The Glimmers breathe a sigh of relief.
‘But see your son, dammit! He's all alone in the hospital! If you weren't so scared of covering your bad parenting, you'd know how scared he really is.’ Alba sighs. ‘Just take care of your son. He's a good kid.’ She turns to leave. ‘Oh, and about this mess... I'll try to push for fines and community service instead of jail time. Just as long as you take care of your kid and don't pull this crap again. If you do...’ She picks up the dropped bat and snaps it in her bare hands.
Alba walks away, grumbling to herself. The Glimmers collect themselves before getting ready to head to the hospital.
Twilight Sparkle drinks a cup of coffee as she looks out her castle bedroom window. She watches the city below her wake up and get ready for their day. She waves at Applejack as she enters town, knowing her friend probably doesn't see her. Twilight yawns and goes back to her bed. James has a pillow over his head as he tries to get more sleep.
Twilight nudges her husband. ‘Wake up. We only have a little time left. I want to have some fun before we go.’
‘Again? But we already have a son and two daughters,’ James groans.
‘Ugh. Men,’ Twilight snorts. ‘Always thinking with your... Stop drinking my coffee!’
‘But we needs it.’
Twilight sighs. ‘Fine.’ She leans in close and rubs her husband's leg. ‘But you're going to have to do something special for me.’ She kisses his cheek and whispers, ‘Assume the position.’
James moans and groans as he gets out of bed. He puts on a pair of pants and a shirt. He kneels at Twilight's feet, but facing away from her. She climbs on his back, and he stands, carrying her.
‘To the library!’ Twilight commands.
‘As you wish.’
James walks off, Twilight cuddling his back.
‘We should move back here soon,’ Twilight coos.
James smiles, leans back a bit, and kisses his wife. ‘As you wish.’
Lyra is in Rei's store again. The two of them are chatting calmly, failing to notice a person approaching the shop. The door flies open, and Lyra is tackled.
‘Flying sister attack!’
Lyra screams as Rainbow latches on to her.
‘Have you finally grown up, Rei?’
‘Rainbow!’ Rei snorts.
Rainbow looks up, at her sister standing on the other side of the counter. ‘Yes?’
‘I'm over here.’
‘Then who am I grabbing.
Lyra gasps for air. ‘Can't. Breathe.’
Rainbow lets go. She reaches behind herself and sets Presea and Juliet on the counter. Rei boops Juliet's nose.
‘Rei!’
Rei laughs and boops Presea. Presea stares at the finger on her nose.
Lyra catches her breath. ‘Introductions should be in order. I'm guessing you're Rainbow Pie.’
‘Yep! And you are?
‘Lyra Heartstrings,’ she introduces. ‘I'm helping you become an aunt.’
‘I thought Inkie was doing that.’ Rainbow laughs. She pauses and takes Lyra in. ‘Wait. Lyra? You're not an evil super spy, are you?’
‘I don't think I'm evil.’
‘The last Lyra was a stupid jerk poo poo head that made my big brother hate me.’ Rainbow snorts and looks away. ‘I'm happy she stayed behind.’
Lyra smiles nervously. Juliet squeals with laughter, punctuated with Rei growling. The other women look over. Juliet is hanging on Rei's arm, dangling about half her sister's height.
‘Rei short,’ Presea comments.
Alba stands at the nurse's station, watching Obsidian's room. His parents eat lunch with their son, seemingly having a fun time. The teacher snorts angrily at the display.
‘Get over it,’ Nurse Redheart sighs. ‘They're fine.’
‘You better have the police on speed dial,’ Alba huffs. ‘Just in case we snap back to normal soon.’
‘I'll call them when I need to. Just relax. He's happy. You should be happy too.’
Alba sighs and goes back to watching the room. The lights in the hospital flicker for a moment.
‘And here we go.’
A dome of light shimmers over the town. Within seconds, the dome collapses on itself, sweeping through the town. As the light passes over the residents, they change from human to pony. Most ponies do not seem to notice. A number of pegasi start flying on their way as soon as their wings return.
-------------------
In her office, Mayor Mare is signing papers. The light passes over her. The pen she was using drops from her hoof. She sighs and picks it up with her mouth.
-------------------
Twilight stands on her husband's shoulders as she reaches for a book. James looks up, making sure she is steady and that her skirt is straight. The light passes through the castle. James collapses after the sudden change. Twilight uses her wings to hover and reach the book.
-------------------
Starlight and Apple Bloom snuggle in bed together. The light passes over them.
‘Starlight...’
‘Hmm?’
‘We should wash off befer our fur gets sticky.’
-------------------
The wave passes over Neighponese Imports. Rei quickly catches Juliet by the nape of her neck when she falls from her wing.
Lyra looks down at her hooves. She falls to her knees and raises her forelegs to the air. ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOO!’
-------------------
The light condenses in the schoolhouse, over Obsidian's desk then bursts.
Alba looks at her hooves and grins evilly. A dark aura surrounds her eyes. ‘Time for some parenting.’
Alba steps towards Obsidian's room. Redheart catches her by the tail and drags her away. They pass an open window.
‘-OOOOOOOOOOOooooo...’
Redheart closes the window and continues dragging Alba away from doing something illegal.
With Ponyville back to normal, life continues as usual. The ponies that never noticed the spell fail to notice the change back. Those that did notice the change exchange experiences they had under the illusion. Nurse Redheart finally gets Obsidian the treatment he needs. On the other hoof, Obsidian's parents get arrested for endangering their son by giving him magic supplements. Del bribes Alba not to attack her student's parents with a mountain of tofu bacon, which she eats most of since her younger sister prefers the real thing. While working in the castle library, Apple Bloom starts talking with Twilight, planning the princess' eventual return. Inspired by the recent events, Starlight teaches an entire section on humans. When he notices most of his students are bored of the material, he adds the lesson to the next midterm, which gets even Freya groaning in exasperation. Finally, Applejack arranges for a night where James can give Satsuma a lecture on physiology and the proper time to ask questions dealing with biology.
A few nights after his parents are sentenced to a large number of hours of community service, Obsidian climbs into bed after finishing his homework. His aunt is staying over while his parents are out of town working on their hours. She comes in to tuck him in.
‘Thanks, auntie. It is nice seeing you while my parents are being punished.’
‘Anything for my sister's kid,’ she replies, making sure he is in the middle of the bed. ‘You're my favorite nephew.’
‘I thought I was your only nephew.’
Obsidian's aunt laughs, adjusting the blankets to provide equal coverage. ‘Obsidian, dear. Tell me again about the illusion you experienced.’
‘It was really cool! Everypony was just like in those stories I read online!’
She runs a pale blue hoof over nephew's head, splitting his mane evenly on either side of his horn. ‘And you said everypony was equal in it? Nopony better than any other?’
‘Well, some knew, but most didn't. I guess we were mostly equal.’
‘Interesting,’ his aunt replies, grinning craftily, a glint in her Persian blue eyes. ‘Very interesting indeed...’
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Given the recent feature box item, Who's a good apex predator, yes you are Alba!
I enjoyed this chapter, the noteable portions being the concept and the TWP-isation of starlight glimmer. You did good with the descriptions, with the way you write accurate descriptions are superflous, I didn't have any remotely accurate mental maps until you posted them. That's okay though.
6151897 Alba's adventure with Sunset Shimmer rubbed off on her more than she thought. Her being more omnivore than her sister that is a true omnivore was fun to write.
In all of the humanized up to this chapter, they were all dreams, imagination, or Equestrian Girls, so what the characters actually looked like didn't really matter to me. In this chapter, I wanted to conclusively get in writing what the humanized version of the characters looked like. I know I avoided stuff like skin color (the original draft of the first humanized scene was twice as long thanks to that detail) since that is a hot button issue with many headcanons. I could list (or link to pics) what I think the characters look like, but I like having some ambiguity for the reader to fill in.
Throwing in Starlight Glimmer came from particularly through development of the chapter. As the last Xmas chapter revealed, Alba's son is named Dusk Shine, and I wanted Obsidian to inspire her to choose Dusk's name in the future. I got stuck on the name Glimmer, like I did with Satsuma, and liked the idea of his family being a (slightly) saner version of the series' scariest villain. No matter if she shows up again in canon, I liked the idea of her still being obsessed with "equality" and showing up after learning humans aren't that different from each other as a species.
And season 5 begins giving influences, YAY.