Four friends are seperated after getting into a car accident. They have to find their way back together before their previous owners come knocking for their bodies back.
Four friends get separated in a car accident. Meanwhile, purist Unicorns are attempting a fatal spell that results in their soul being overtaken by those pesky humans!
Three of the friends end up in Canterlot, while the last one ends up in Ponyville. Can they find their way back to each other? Do they even know who they're looking for? Do they even know if he's still alive?
It was one of those days where the sun didn’t seem to shine right. It was like something was slightly off with the way it hung in the sky, even if Andrew couldn’t really figure out why. It was always out of the corner of his eye as he was driving through the city streets. Every few moments, it would be blotted out by a tall building, but it always came back. He knew better than anybody else that the sun was really white, tinted against the sky to turn yellow, but against his better judgment, he kept thinking that it was actually yellow. After all, there was no way anything could be that yellow. Especially in the middle of the day.
“Eyes on the road!”
Quickly, he jerked the wheel, and found himself back into the center lane of the street. He blinked, the silhouette of the sun still burned onto his retinas like a Polaroid. The city streets were thin, making him wish silent ‘sorry’s to the people in the cars next to his own.
“Wha- huh?” Leo asked from the back. “What’s goin’ on? Did I miss something?”
“Nothing.” Abigail responded, looking in the back seat. “Just Andrew trying to kill us.”
“I just-” Andrew’s eyes once again flickered up to the sun. But, with the knowledge that he was one twitch of the wheel away from careening into the oncoming lanes, his eyes went back to the road. “The sun looks weird.”
“The sun looks-” Leo tilted his head closer to his backseat window, looking up at the bright ball of gas. “The sun looks… normal, actually.”
“Drugs?” Charles asked, sitting next to Leo.
“Are you offering, or…?”
“No- I mean, are you on drugs?” Charles snorted, pushing his circular shades closer to the bridge of his nose. “You shouldn’t be driving, but if you are, then I wanna know what the hell’re smoking.”
“No, I’m not high.” Andrew cleared his throat, rubbing his eye with the palm of his hand. “I just… I just think the sun looks weird. Does nobody else see the sun as looking weird?” There was a moment of silence in the car as Abigail looked back in concern at the two teens in the back seat. Both Leo and Charles looked back and forth.
“You’re high.” Charles heartily laughed from the bottom of his belly. “You’re soo high.”
“I’m not high! I’m just-” Andrew quickly reached out to the radio, a relic worthy of being housed in a museum somewhere on the east coast, and began fiddling with the knobs. “Here. Music. Ya’ll like music?” He asked over the static.
“I like music.” Leo chirped, sitting straighter up in his seat.
“High man likes the mu-sic!”
“If you’re done tripping balls,” Abigail started. “let me tune the radio.” She slapped Andrew’s hand away from the knob, and took over the radio duty, flipping through several channels. “Keep your eyes on the road, numb nuts. I wanna get to school without dying in a car crash, kay?”
“Kay.” He nodded.
He sat, foot on the pedal of his old and creaky car, feeling his knuckles slowly turn more and more white as his focus became less on the road, and more on the scarily yellow sun hanging in the sky. It was out of the corner of his vision, and it seemed to be pestering him.
“No way, man, get this out of here!” Leo said from the back seat.
“What? You don’t like MCR?” Abigail mocked indifference and shock at the exact same time. “Are you kidding me?”
“Who’s MCR?” Leo asked.
“And you don’t know who MCR is?!” Abigail turned, her indifferent face falling to one of genuine shock. “You two are kidding with me, right? Both of you? Because there is no way you two don’t know these-” Abigail turned up the radio. “Are you telling me you don’t know this song? It’s brand new!”
Over the radio, the singer began singing a slow melody. Andrew wasn’t really paying attention. Instead, his foot became more and more heavy as all of his mental capacity went into ignoring the sun. The speedometer rose from fifty-five to sixty, then sixty-five, seventy.
“Just- change it!” Charles quipped, leaning further into his seat so his knees were practically touching the back of Abigail's seat.
“Alright, alright.” Abigail screwed with the knob again. “Here. How’s this?”
“Oh, hell yeah!” Charles shot up. “Oh my god, I love this song!”
Finally, Andrew’s eyes flickered back up to the sun. It was so yellow. The sun didn’t have tendrils. Of course it didn’t. Any tendrils that occupied the sky were simply the way the light refracted, and of course, the way the iris reacted when staring directly at the brightest light in the sky. But Andrew, as he stared up at the sun, sworn that the thing was breathing. It was stretching, cascading down and covering the sky.
“I would walk five hundred miles, and I would walk five hundred more!”
He couldn’t take his eyes off of the sun. It just kept growing, larger and larger, until the sky was nothing more than one, huge sun. It didn’t make sense, and he certainly didn’t feel like he was hallucinating. Hallucinations always had an uncertain edge to them. They were blurry and incomplete. If you moved your eye too quickly, they would vanish in a millisecond. But this hallucination- no matter how hard he darted his eyes, it stayed in place. It was scary. Hell, it was horrifying.
“Just to be the man that walked a thousand miles to show up at your door!”
There was laughter in the car as Leo tripped over his line, having never sung the song before. Abigail reached over and playfully pushed Andrew’s shoulder. Very slowly, he turned to look at her. It took Abigail a moment, but a second later she recognized the look on his face. And the fact that he was no longer looking at the road.
Abigail’s lips moved. She said something. But Andrew was too preoccupied to listen. After all, how could she not see this? The sky, lighting up like a candle in a gas leak. Something was terribly, terribly wrong. And it struck fear through his heart like never before seen.
Then, Abigail slapped him.
“Wh- huh?” The wheel jerked once more as his eyes quickly darted down to the speedometer. His old hunk of junk was pushing a hundred and twenty. He went to put his foot on the brake, when he looked up.
The last thing he saw was a blue sedan.
There was a terrible ringing sound. That, for at least a couple of seconds as he laid on the ground, was all he could hear. Although he tried as hard as he could, his vision refused to merge into focus, instead opting to view the world through a distorted blur-like effect. The ground was cold and hard, and there was a faint smell of sulfur in the air.
He felt as if somebody had bashed an anvil into the back of his head, resulting in what felt like a dvd logo bouncing around the corners of his brain. With a groan, he forced to look up. Instead of laying in the middle of an intersection, the room he found himself in was dark and damp. He could make out a few figures on the other side of the cavernous room. One was white and tall, being flanked by two darker figures with what appeared to be wearing golden clothing. Perhaps firefighters, coming to rescue him from his headache? He couldn’t figure it out, so he opted to lay his head back onto the ground.
“Is every pony okay?” A concerned feminine voice asked. He felt a little smile spread across his face at the warm tone, grumbling something that sounded like a no. There was shuffling of feet, scraping of what sounded like heavy metal toed boots, and the gentle approach of a white figure into his vision.
“Stay still, Blazer.” She commanded. He grunted, squeezing his eyes shut. “That spell did some damage, Blazer. You’re lucky it didn’t do any physical damage. Although…” She chuckled. “It seems as if you’ll be reliving some of your former years.” He grunted once more, opening his eye once more. There was a lot of colors, faint blues and pinks, that took up his vision.
“Wh- What?” He managed to squeak out. His voice sounded harsh from the crash. “B-But I wasn’t-” He coughed, feeling his body twitch. “I-I wasn’t driving…” The white figure cocked it’s head to the side, taking a step back.
“Driving, Blazer?” She asked, looking around. It was then he noticed a few other figures, two to be precise, twitching on the ground as well. Now that he was slowly recovering, he noticed the spear-like objects being pointed at the two other blobs of color. “Driving what, exactly? The spell?”
“Driving… The ford.” He blinked. “It was Andrew. Not me.”
The white figure paused her talking for a moment. Then, she took a few quick and concurrent steps backwards, approaching the gray blobs with golden shirts and spears. The blob’s heads- if you could even call them that- looked up as she approached.
“Stand down.” She whispered. The two gray blobs looked at one another fearfully, but with restraining, lowered their spears. “I fearsomething has went astray with the spell Blazer and his family preformed. After all, there is no way of knowing what could happen when a spell of that magnitude backfires.”
Then, there was a scream.
Charles quickly pulled himself up from laying on the ground, sitting up blearily and blinking back the blur.
“H-Hooves! What the fuck?! Holy- where the hell am I?” Another feminine, this time much more shrill, voice said. The white figure began prancing forwards, and for the first time, Charles clocked the fact that she had… four legs?
Then, another scream.
“Oh my god!” A masculine, slightly whiny voice yelped. “Oh my god! Oh my- I’m not high, am I? Charles, what the fuck did you do to me?!”
“What? I didn’t do-” Charles coughed, realizing his voice had seemingly regressed several years, now sounding young and squeaky, similar to the voice more than likely belonging to Leo. “What the fuck is wrong with my-” He coughed again, his vision finally coming into view.
Standing near the only entrance into the dark cave was the prettiest horse he had ever seen. It looked less like a horse and more like a cat with an unusually long snout and without any whiskers. It’s- or her eyes were the size of dinner plates without her even trying. Her eyelashes were long and luscious, her mane flowing with the colors of a muted rainbow. On her head, a horn, and on her back, wings.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to call Lyra’s life… simple. That word- simple- was adequate. It was enough to describe her present situation, the cyan Unicorn living in Ponyville.
She enjoyed her Marefriend’s company, and enjoyed the walks they shared together. She liked the fact that, as of right now, everything had settled. Right now, the calm before the storm, even if she knew that things were bound to change in the coming months, right now, everything stood still.
The past few months, nay, year, had been chaotic and unplanned. Wrenches were thrown into plans, and the couple had to skate precariously around the twists and turns of the legal system, and in the end, they had gotten what they had wanted. It would pan out, as it always does.
The sun had begun to settle, getting shallower in the sky until the bright burning yellow ball began to bathe the lands in a golden glow. All in all, a simple night sky for a simple pony. Just the way that the universe intended it to be.
As she trotted down the desolate path, her thoughts began drifting. Although her Marefriend wasn’t here right now, she still had the indescribable urge to share them with her. She would’ve probably ended up just nodding along, letting the Unicorn vent, but her absence made the walk that little bit more lonely. She watched the spot where she would’ve stood, the red bricks of the road moving past her vision.
Her thoughts drifted towards something more important.
What will I have for dinner?
Probably something in-home. Saving money had become a priority recently, as unexpected turns they had long since learned how to deal with. Usually by just chucking money at the thing until it went away. Eating out had proved to be a major drain on the finances, and particularly unhealthy for ponies with certain expectencies. She didn’t have a problem making food herself, of course, but when her Marefriend made food…
When she made food…
It was… really good.
Really, really good. As she trotted, she could practically feel her mouth begin to water as she thought intensely. Her pace picked up slightly as she began to trot quicker towards her home, where she could begin dinner with her loved one.
A few important questions still lingered in her mind, however. What if the things that she was eating was unhealthy for her… condition.The doctor had to go over this at some point. That, and the fact that when they went to the local librarian for a licensed mage to perform the complex spell, then she started droning on and on about just about every little thing. It was enough to put a pony in an insane asylum, if they dared to listen for longer than thirty seconds. Which, somehow, Bon-bon had managed to avoid while simultaneously still listening.
Suddenly, there was a sound. A mix between an incredibly fast moving objects, tree branches snapping, and eventually, a heavy thump on the ground.
Lyra ducked down preemptively, almost expecting to get hit with whatever had caused that loud noise, knowing this town. Fortunately, after huddling on the brick path for a moment or two, she realized that the sound had come from the small batch of trees to her right.
Slowly, and with shaky legs, she stood up, her ears twitching side to side. She took a cursory glance upwards, noticing that the darkening sky seemed to be completely empty, devoid of any Pegasi that could potentially drop something that large.Something had dropped, and now whatever that something was, it was staying completely still.
She gulped, curiosity gripping her tighter than her will to stay away from whatever danger lurked. She crept forwards, carefully weaving her way through the surprisingly tight forest trees. She pushed her way through the branches until she saw a split in the canopy of leaves.
What she saw on the ground made her heart stop.
Blood, feathers, and a filly.
It was the night of Christmas. Andrew sat stiffly on the sofa, the warm glow emitting from the fireplace. In his hands, clutched tightly until his fingernails turned white, was a letter. A simple letter with no fancy designations, postage stamps, or markings. There was no flair to what laid inside. Just a simple, plain letter.
To his side was the only person he felt comfortable sharing this knowledge with. His little sister. She sat cross-legged on the sofa, most of her body facing him as she stared up with that blank stare little kids who didn’t understand had. It was late at night. Much later than any of them had a right to be up. But she didn’t seem phased, rather quite curious.
His breathing was shallow with anticipation, his jaw working as he came to the realization that the only thing between him and the rest of his future was his own fingers.
"Well? Are you gonna open it, or just stare at it?” His little sister asked. Andrew glanced at her, nodding unsurely at her. His lip twitched, and he began fumbling with it.
When she got older, she might remember this as his brother’s biggest failure, or the night that took him away from her. Whichever one it was, he wasn’t exactly sure which one he wanted the outcome to be. Everything was so uncertain… Whichever one it was, though, at least he was going to be getting closure.
Slowly, he peeled it open.
In an instant, the little filly was on Lyra’s back. From a distance, an observer might watch as a black silhouette galloped on a beautiful background of purple and white stars. She was making an impression on the galaxy, and in turn the galaxy lit the ground for her as she went. The ground was uneven and rocky, at first, but when she connected with level roads, she broke into a full sprint.
For a while, all she heard was the galloping of her hooves onto the road, her own panting breath, and the feeling of her hooves burning.
But soon, that wasn’t the only thing she felt. She felt a warm, sticky liquid dripping down her back as the filly’s wounds bled profusely. The feeling of warm blood made her skin crawl. It made every instinct she had yell out in panic to go faster, to get to the hospital quicker. If she was as talented as other Unicorns, there wouldn’t even be any wait. She would teleport to the hospital, and it would’ve been over. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the magical ability to do so. So, the blood pooling down her sides made her gallop quicker.
She wasn’t exactly sure when she burst through the doors of the hospital. She might’ve yelled out a ‘help!’ somewhere along the line. But she did recognize when the nurse behind the front desk spit out her coffee, and hit something that looked suspiciously like a panic button. A doctor, a stretcher, yelling…
And silence.
They were gone. And that left Lyra standing in the waiting room, looking quite confused.
Lyra still felt as if she was running. Her hooves were still burning, and her breaths were still quite ragged. She felt like collapsing, giving up right here right now. She turned around to look at herself. Her coat was completely covered in warm, sticky blood that made her stomach turn squeamish.
And then, somewhat unceremoniously, she trotted towards the bathroom with a grim look on her face.
"Where are you going?” A womanly voice asked. Andrew stopped, one hand on the doorknob. He looked back, towards the warm glow of the kitchen. Sitting at the dinner table, barely visible through the archway leading into the kitchen, was a woman. Surrounding her was an unhealthy amount of alchohol. Bottles, cans, wine glasses… But the back of her head was facing him. So she couldn’t see what he was about to do.
"Uh. Out.” He said, adjusting the suitcase held within his grasp. Inside, it held every valuable possesion he had. Clothes. Money. Some snacks...
"Okay. Be back before midnight.” She said, somewhat dismissively as she rubbed her forehead. Andrew nodded, and pushed the door open. The brisk night was the first thing he noticed pushing against his face. It was frigid and terribly cold, but that didn’t seem to stop him. He heaped the suitcase out of the door, and went to close it.
But he paused. There, at the end of the hallway, was his sister. Once again, like last night, she was up much later than she should’ve been. She stared with a somewhat understanding expression on her face.
Andrew knew he was leaving her. Andrew knew he was abandoning her. But if he didn’t take this opportunity now, then there was a chance he would never be able to do this again.
She knew. Somehow, she knew. She simply raised her hand and gave a small little wave. The best Andrew could do was shoot back a smile, and wave in the exact same way as the door closed. And that was the last time Andrew ever saw her.
Lyra pushed open the door to the bathroom. It was a simple room, with several open stalls lining one wall, with the other wall being entirely devoted towards a full-length mirror and several large sinks. She trotted forwards, coming to the mirror and stopping.
She had read horror books, of course. Pop-culture, and things like that. Blood, in her mind, was supposed to be like water. Which, to be fair, it was. What she wasn’t expecting was how sticky it was. And warm. It was incredibly warm. Almost hot, to be honest. The blood stuck to her fur and stained it like a dye would’ve. Once it dried, it creaked and cracked under her fur and on her skin, like a paint.
This isn’t my blood.
It was a weird and strange thought, which was totally true. She hadn’t, in her entire life, seen this much blood. Usually it was just whenever she had a scrape or a scratch, she would wipe it away and put a bandaid on. But this… this was something else. There was so much of it. It turned her mid section into that of a different pony, with how red her coat had become.
She took a paper towel from the dispenser in her magic, noting that her magic was vibrating as if she was nervous. She dampened it under the flow of a sink and began tapping at her coat. A frown became evident as she pulled the towel away, seeing it picking up exactly zero of the blood.
Then, the door to the bathroom swung open. Lyra pulled the towel further away, cancelling her aura over the trashcan and looked to the pony.
“Uhm- I’m sorry,” It was a nurse, slightly younger than Lyra. She was an Earth-pony, gray coat with a black mane. “but are you the pony who…” The nurse’s eyes expanded when she laid them onto Lyra’s backside. “O-Oh. That’s- um- that’s a lot of blood…”
Lyra glanced back.
“So it is.”
“Uhm-” The nurse cleared her throat. “I-If you’d follow me, I could help you, uh, clean up? In a patient’s room? N-Not one with a patient, or anything, but-”
“I would like that.” Lyra nodded soullessly. The nurse somewhat smiled, turning around and leading her out of the bathroom.
Andrew surfaced. The moment his head bobbed above the water, he took a huge breath of air. He coughed, sputtered, and began splashing wildly. The place he was in was pitch black, to a degree. Although the sky was just a variation of a dark gray. It was enough for him to realize he was surrounded, on all sides, by this infinite ocean.
"Help!” He shouted. “Help! Hey!” It took a moment of hesitation, but he chose a direction, and began swimming. “Where the fuck?!” He shouted between strokes. The water didn’t feel like water. For starters, it was completely black, although that may have been due to the absence of any and all light. It was warm- hot, even, and he got the distinct impression that it was sticky.
The shower ran hot. The hot water helped break up the blood, and in a few seconds, the water draining down turned into an ugly dark red.
“Uh- I know it isn’t a lot, but, uh, we have… soap? Some soap?” The nurse offered, adjusting the shower head back and forth across Lyra’s back. “It’s hospital stuff, so not, um, really good.”
“That’s fine.” Lyra said. Her head was held low, just letting the nurse to her job. There was silence as the nurse worked, letting Lyra sit and stew by herself. Her heart was constantly fluttering, and the look on her voice was completely devoid of emotion. She had to wonder whether this was what being traumatized feels like. After a moment, the nurse cleared her throat.
“I- um, I get it if you don’t want to talk about it. Er- everypony’s first time with… blood is a little… bad.” She said with an awkward laugh. “But, um, how do you know her?”
“I don’t.” Lyra said. The nurse hummed in a high tone, letting her voice break in recognition. “I just… found her. She fell from the sky, I think. There was a noise, like, if somepony dropped something. Like a bag of sand, or…”
*crack*
Lyra flinched aggressively, making the nurse take a step back.
“Sorry. I, uh…” Lyra tried to clear her throat, but found it surprisingly difficult as it began to close up. “It’s just… the noise she made when she…”
“Oh, uh, it’s alright!” The nurse said, carefully wrapping a hoof around Lyra’s shoulder uncomfortably. “Um… I-I’m not good with, uh, being comforting, but- you can tell me about it.”
“You’re really cold.” Lyra commented, reaching her hoof up and feeling the mare’s gray coat.
“Oh, hah, I get told that a lot, actually.” She let out another painfully awkward laugh. “I mean, you were just under a shower, so, uh, you’re just warm? Maybe?” She took her hoof away. “Do you care about that filly? I mean- like, I know you said you didn’t know her, but if you did? Like…”
“I do.” Lyra swallowed. “I… I’m scared. I don’t know her, but I…” The sound flashed between her ears once again. The sickening crunch. It was less than ten minutes ago, and all at once, the weight suddenly fell on her. Lyra’s knees gave out, and she suddenly laid down on the shower floor.
“Oh my- dear- uhm-” The nurse stuttered.
“Oh gosh, what are her parents going to think?” Lyra asked, covering her mouth with her hoof. “I-I didn’t even look to check, and- I just-”
“It’s fine!” The nurse raised her voice, beginning to help her shower once more. “I don’t think you have to worry… worry about that. You’ve done more than enough for her, and, um, I think she would appreciate that.” She watched as Lyra took a deep breath. “So, um, tell me about your living situation! That’s what normal ponies do, yeah?”
“Oh, uh…” Lyra took another deep breath, watching the water twirl down the drain. “I- er- live with my wife. Or- fiance, I guess. Soon to be wife. We both own a little shop, down by the town hall. She usually cooks, and I help the customers. We live in the shop, too. A big loft.” She sniffled. “Yeah…”
“And you two are… stable?” The nurse asked.
“Oh, yeah. We’ve been saving bits up for a long time, to deal with…” Lyra shuffled awkwardly on the floor. “...the new arrival.”
“The new arrival?” That peaked the nurse’s attention, accidentally letting the shower hose slip from her hooves and hit the ground. She quickly recovered, after splashing herself, holding it back up. “Are you two… you know… expecting?”
“I am.” Lyra rubbed a hoof against her cheek. “We’ve been thinking about it for a long, long time. Saving bits, too.” She sighed out. “There was… a lot of paperwork involved. Thank Celestia, literally, for sending Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville. Without her, it would’ve been even more of a headache. She’s already a licensed mage. She’s legally allowed to cast almost anything.”
“Huh.” The nurse nodded in what looked like content, still spraying Lyra with the shower head. “In these following days, uh, I’m going to have to make a few- no, a lot of hard decisions. For A- the filly. The filly. And, uh, I think you would do just fine! Raising a filly, that is.” She let out an uncomfortable laugh.
“Oh. Thank you.” Lyra said, not entirely sure if she wasn’t listening correctly, or if the nurse had lost it.
Suddenly, Andrew was shot out of the liquid. It was like it had completely rejected him, the watery surface turning into something that resembled concrete. At least, it felt like concrete to him, when he landed onto it with a heavy thud.
"Oufhg-” He grumbled, pushing himself up and onto his knees, looking around the void. “Holy shit… Hello? Is anybody-” He pushed himself fully up, standing tall. “Anybody there?”
Then, he turned around.
“Gah! Holy-” There, standing no less than ten feet away from him, was a shadowy figure. She was short, barely coming up to Andrew’s shoulders, but the fact that she was there at all scared Andrew. “H-Hello? Who…?”
"Are you here for me?” She asked. Being pitch black, Andrew couldn’t make out a single one of her features. But the voice was obviously coming from her. She sounded young, maybe even younger than his sister.
“I… I don’t know? I don’t even know where I am, to be honest.” Andrew cleared his throat. “Am I dreaming?”
"I don’t think so.” The little girl said. “I need you to help me.”
"Oh. Okay.” Andrew nodded. “That’s- yeah, that’s pretty ominous.”
"I need somepony more developed.” She said cryptically. “Somepony that can withstand recovery. And… maybe a little bit more.” She cocked her head to the side. “Are you the pony for that?”
"Pony?” Andrew frowned. “Well… I ain’t no pony, but, uh…” He looked around, once more at the void. “I can help, I think.”
"You’re not a pony?” She asked. Andrew shook his head. “You certainly look like one.”
"Do I?” Andrew patted his chest, moving down to his legs. “Well, I’ve got all my limbs, still. And you look like a human, so…” He shrugged.
There was an incredibly tense moment of silence as both figures stared at each other.
"Do you hear them?” The girl asked.
“Uh…” Andrew strained his ears. “No, I can’t. Am I supposed to be hearing something?”
"It sounds beautiful. Thousands of voices. An entire chorus. For me.” Andrew sighed out, looking around once more for the source of the mute voices that he couldn’t hear. “I never got your name.”
"Err- It’s Andrew.” He said. “Andrew Smith.”
The girl looked up at him, and extended her hand.
"Breeze.” She said, grabbing Andrew’s hand. “Snow Breeze.”
Suddenly, the ground returned to a liquid, and both of their heads went below the surface.
Princess Celestia had lived a very long life. If her lifespan was cut in half from where she currently was, she still would’ve had more than enough stories to fill up an entire library. That is, of course, if she could’ve remembered each and every little thing that happened to her.
But in her two-thousand-ish years of life, (she couldn’t remember exactly how old she was, although it was around there, somewhere,) she had never, not once, seen something as ludicrous as this. For years, she had hunted down the Flame family, to the ends of Equestria, and even beyond into the Griffon Empire. Not once had she ever considered pity on any of the members of the family. Yet, as she briskly walked to the hospital ward of the castle, she was… concerned, to say the least.
Sunfire, the father and ‘leader’ of the small family, used to be one of her students. Not directly learning under the Alicorn of the Sun, but attending her School for Gifted Unicorns. She had seen him many times through the hallways, and hadn’t even really known his name until he started causing… let’s say, problems for the school.
“Is Mister Sunfire ready, Doctor?” Princess Celestia asked as she came to the front of the clinic. The doctor, an old an aging stallion with a white coat and faded gray mane, cleared his throat and straightened his back, upon seeing the Alicorn.
“Of course, your highness.” He said respectfully, stepping out from behind the counter. “Although- we did decide to move them all together into the same room. It’s not protocol, but since they are all family, we thought it be best for them.”
“Not a problem, Doctor.” Celestia said. The castle’s Hospital was less of a hospital, and more of an infirmary. It wasn’t the Canterlot hospital, and it was mostly used for injured trainees. And, whenever Celestia was befallen with a sickness, she would use the wing, as well. Although she hadn’t gotten sick in the past…
Celestia paused in the hallway.
Past… four-hundred years? Four-hundred and fifty?
She continued.
Yes. That sounds about right.
“They are in here, your highness.” The doctor nodded towards a closed door, and with a bow, he backed away.
“Thank you, Doctor.” She nodded back. With a deep breath, she quickly ran a scan on the room for any potential traps. None there. Then, she scanned the rooms next to the room. Nothing. The window outside of the room? Not a thing either. After about four or five minutes of running every single scan she could possibly imagine, and suspiciously finding nothing, she took a step back, away from the door, and began working her own spell.
On the floor infront of her, the hospital tiles giving way and moving, a picture-perfect copy of Celestia rose from the ground. This one was a little blurry around the edges. With a few more minutes of tinkering, the illusion solidified into something passable. With a satisfied nod, closed her own eyes. A moment later, the doppelganger’s eyes opened. The doppelganger eyed the real Celestia.
“Is that really what I look like?” She asked nopony but herself. With a shrug, she opened the door.
The first thing she noticed was chaos.
All across the floor was just… items. Pens, plates, pillows and even an empty IV stand. All of the bed linins had found themselves tangled, spread about like an angry foal that didn’t want to go to bed.
“God isn’t real, and this is proof!” A young voice said. Without warning, a colt sped across the room, his hooves unmoving as if he had been flung. Which, by all accounts, he had, by a young mare.
Celestia blinked, watching the chaos unfold with a morbid curiosity.
It was obvious that Sunfire’s plan- whatever it was- had backfired tremendously. Sunfire, now laying against the wall upside-down, had a dark gray, nearly black coat. His mane was usually laid flat against his head. This time, however, it seemed to dawn something similar to an Afro. But, instead of the cranky old stallion, this Sunfire was merely a colt, a byproduct of the spell going terribly, terribly wrong.
The mare that had thrown him was Fire Bird. Celestia hadn’t known her very well, outside of a few scuffles before they ditched Equestria for the Griffon Empire late in their lives. She had a white coat and a pink mane, and looked similar to Celestia before her ascension, if a Unicorn and not an Earth-pony. During their scuffles, she was no taller than the average mare. But now? She was still no taller than the average mare, but it was glaringly obvious that she was young. Perhaps just old enough to be considered an adult. She had the build of a lanky, awkward Pegasus, despite being a Unicorn.
Finally, Celestia’s eyes landed on Flame. He was a little colt, obviously the youngest out of anypony, and was supposed to be Sunfire and Fire Bird’s child. He had a gray coat, a mix between both parents, and an unusually bright yellow mane. And he was cowering beneath the bed.
“I’ll show you god, you little twerp!” Fire Bird yelled. She tried galloping towards Sunfire, who was now trying to push himself off of the wall. Unfortunately, it seemed as if Fire Bird wasn’t accommodated to her lanky features, and instead fell flat onto her face.
“Ha! Take that, you shit!” Sunfire tried standing up, and once more, fell down, his chin smashing onto a metal tray that, at one point, held medical instruments. Where those sharp and dangerous medical instruments went? Celestia wasn’t exactly sure.
“Um… Pardon me?” Celestia asked, taking a step through the door. The effect was instantaneous, the two bickering ponies freezing as if they were caught in a spell, and Flameslinked backwards, deeper under the bed.
“Uh…” Fire Bird sat up. “You look… familiar…”
“I sure hope I do.” Celestia looked around with a forced smile. “I see you three have… redecorated the room.”
“Not our intention!” Sunfire groaned, rubbing a hoof against the back of his mane. “These… stupid bodies suck.” Sunfire sniffled, pulling out what looked like half a sandwich from his mane. “So. What are you, some kind of diety? A god?”
“W-What?” That caught Celestia off-guard a little bit, letting her tilt her head in confusion.
“I mean, the… ponies kinda worship the ground you walk on.” Sunfire shrugged. “You should hear how the nurses talk about you. You’d think the moment their ruler turns their backs, it’s all gossip. That’s how our presidents work, anyways. But you? You’re all sunshine and rainbows.”
“Well…” Celestia looked around at the other two ponies, who seemed to still be mildly shocked at her presence. “I do try my best to keep my ponies happy.”
“Err- pardon me, Princess?” Fire Bird asked, raising her hoof as if she was a student in a class. “But… where- I mean, I don’t mean to- err- where the hell are we?”
“You are in Canterlot.” She explained. “You three, in particular, are widly regarded as war criminals.” This made the three of them, even the one under the bed, gulp nervously. “But… seeing as there is… an underlying issue here, we will postpone any sorts of punishments.”
“Oh, good.” Fire Bird nodded. She warily, like a newborn deer, tried to stand up, her legs shaking violently. “I don’t mean to be the one to tell you this, Princess, but we are not who you think we are.” She raised a hoof off of the ground incredibly slowly, and planted it onto her furry chest. “I am not the pony you call…” Her eyes quickly glanced down at the clipboard at the end of her bed. “...Fire Bird.”
“Well, I think that’s quite obvious.” Celestia regarded, taking a step further towards Sunfire, who was sitting up and glaring around the room. “You see, every pony has something called a ‘signature.’ And not the thing you write down on documents. Rather, a pony has a specific magical signature for each and every being. These signatures are completely unique and, as far as we know, impossible to change.” She leaned down and tapped her horn to Sunfire’s horn. He shivered, feeling as some sort of… feeling from his inner core was unexpectedly surfaced.
Like a hologram straight out of Star Wars, an image appeared above Sunfire and the Princess. It was an incomplete and scrambled rainbow, with colors all out of order, and even a few that repeated. Then, Celestia lit her horn again, and this time another scrambled rainbow showed up just below the first one. It was obvious that the two were completely different, and the one that came from Sunfire seemed almost less complete, with more black spots and gaps.
“As you can see,” Celestia turned to the other two ponies in the room, even if one was hiding under the bed and she wasn’t exactly sure if he could see her. “these two projections do not match. The bottom was recovered from a crime scene naught a decade ago, and the top one I scanned from this Sunfire just now.”
“Why does mine look like that?” Sunfire asked, gesturing at the top one broadly. “It looks… unfinished, almost.”
“Many reasons.” She turned to face him once more. “It may be because of the spell that backfired. It may be because you are now in a younger body, and therefore have a less developed signature. Or, it could even be because of your species before hoof.” She took a glance at Fire Bird. “Therefore, I do not believe that the ponies I am talking to are the same ones I met all those years ago.” She smiled. “May I know your names, little ones?”
“It’s Abigail.” Abigail said, giving a small wave.
“Charles.” Charles said in a grody voice, although his now undeveloped vocal cords betrayed him. “And under the bed is Leo. He’s a little… skiddish. Especially after all of this.”
“That is quite understandable.” Celestia nodded, approaching the bed. She crouched down until she was laying on the ground, a convenient spot not covered in litter. “Are you alright, my little pony?”
“He isn’t a kid, Princess.” Charles rolled his eyes. “We’re all adults. Even if we don’t exactly look like it right now. Trust me, the last thing I wanted was some nurse baby-talking to me like I was four.”
“Yes, that may be true, that he isn’t a kid,” Celestia started. “But that doesn’t mean his emotions were unaffected by the change.” This seemed to garner the attention of Abigail, who flinched back, sitting down quickly.
“What does that mean?” She asked quickly. “Our emotions? Like- these pony bodies are screwing with our emotions?”
“In a sense, yes.” She nodded. “Your minds are used to being flooded with a specific types of hormones. A specific mixture, like a potion. All three of you were yanked from your bodies, where your mind was adapted for your specific prescription, and placed in these new bodies, where things may not be the same.” She turned back to the colt under the bed. “Are you alright?”
The colt’s orange eyes shone back through the dark shadows under the bed. They flickered as he blinked, unsure of trusting the larger mare.
“C’mon, Leo!” Charles said. said with a sigh. “She isn’t going to hurt us. She’s like, god, or something.”
Leo let out an audible sigh- the first sound Celestia had heard the colt make- and he slowly crawled to the outside of the bed. He sat up, his cheeks matted from the obvious tears he had been making. Celestia hid the grim expression behind a carefully placed smile.
“Are you quite alright?” She asked for perhaps the third time. Leo gave her a little nod, wiping the drying tears. Although he was now out in the open, she didn’t dare try and physically comfort him. “What’s wrong, my little pony?” Leo gulped, looking between his two friends.
“I-I can’t walk.” He mumbled. Charles responded by letting out a snort.
“None of us can! We’re all-” He was interrupted by a silver plate being flung at him by Abigail.
“That’s fine.” Princess Celestia said. “Do not worry.” She carefully reached out a golden-clad hoof, and let Leo’s head rest against it comfortingly. “The castle can provide a physical therapist to help you.” She looked at the other two ponies present, Abigail having stumbled her way next to Charles to thwack him on the head. “That goes for you two, as well. Physical therapy can start as soon as tomorrow, if you two would like.”
“That’s great and all, but how are we supposed to get home?” Charles asked.
“I would quite like to see my family again.” Abigail cocked her head. “If that isn’t too much trouble, Princess.”
“Ah, yes. Of course.” The princess stood up, giving Leo a soft and comforting smile. “I will have my best scientists on it immediately. They will be happy for a new challenge, of course. Those ponies twiddle their hooves everyday anyways.”
“Great!”
“But…” Leo looked around the room, his eyes counting the three other ponies. “I’m sorry, Princess, but where is Andrew?”
Silence permeated the room as realization dawned on all of them, except for Celestia, who simply looked around with worry.
“Andrew?” She asked. “I’m sorry, but who exactly is Andrew?”
Andrew’s eyes shot open. An overwhelming sensation of bile and rot developed almost instantaneously in the bottom of his stomach, and within a few seconds, his throat battled the urge. Despite the situation he found himself in, his mind was perfectly sober. He remembered the sun- the bright yellow sun, he remembered his lead foot on the gas pedal, and he remembered the car crash. It was a logical line of thinking to conclude that he was in a hospital. And, most importantly, he knew what was clawing up his throat.
He leaned over the hospital bed’s railing and let it go. The vomit was a sickeningly red hue as it splattered across the tiled floor. Wires dangled off of him and rolled over the edges of the hospital bed as blurry figures suddenly came into his vision.
They pushed him down onto the bed, as he heard a click. He blinked, focusing his eyes as he tried to make out the faces in front of him.
They were monsters.
He didn’t care that he was in a hospital anymore, as a creature resembling some kind of mutated cat-owl hybrid pushed his shoulders down. He let out a scream, grappling with it’s messed up hard nubs. It tried talking, but all Andrew heard were incomprehensible gibberish as the corners of his visions darkened.
Andrew tried fighting for as long as possible. He saw visions of the girl standing atop the black lake. He saw himself, leaving his sister behind as he abandoned his family. And, most importantly, he saw his own regret. It was a pulsating, angry red mass somewhere deep within his heart, like a tumor. Before he could study his own mistakes for too long, however, he finally felt his muscles relax. And, for the second time, he went limp, and everything went black.
Lyra let out a grunt that sounded similar to that of a wild bullfrog. The bed she was in, her and Bon-bon’s bed- was simply too comfy to step out of. Her eyes flittered open for half a second, before fluttering closed once more. The blanket was like stepping hoof-first into a hot spring, and the mare besides her was the most comfortable thing she could imagine. Lyra pulled her hoof forwards, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her closer to her chest. Then, she let out a sigh.
“Lyra…” The grunting Bon-bon said into her chest. “Sm-pony’s at the door.”
“I know.” Lyra sighed out. “Let them knock.”
“Sm-pony, Lyra. Sm-pony’s at-”
“I know, I know.” She repeated, automatically and methodically rubbing Bon-bon’s blue and pink mane. “Probably just Muffin the post-mare, or… I don’t know…” She breathed in and out, as if she was meditating, letting the warmth of the two envelop. “It’s the weekend. I’m not getting up unless Discord splits Equus in half…”
Knock Knock…
“Miss Heartstrings?” A muffled voice said through the door, as if the mare on the other side quite literally pushed her mouth against the keyhole. “Miss Heartstrings, it’s me!”
“Neighbors are so noisy…” Lyra used her magic to tug on the blanket, covering the two ponies more. Now, Bon-bon was beginning to stir, much to Lyra’sannoyance. She tightened her grip.
“Heartstrings, our… patient is awake!” The mystery mare said. “And I think you would be the-”
The door shot open. The nurse, the same one that had washed Lyra of a filly’s blood the other day, was standing there, still dressed in her garbs. She took a large step back as she caught sight of the turquoise Unicorn, her hair sticking up at uneven and messy angles.
“Y-Yes, ma’am. She’s awake, and… well, she’s a fighter, that’s for sure!”
“Ohmy- Okay!” Lyra turned around to watch as Bon-bon pushed the door back open, her mane in a similar state of dissaray. Lyra lit up her horn and flew a manebrush directly over Bon-bon’s head, and began working at her mane. “Okay! Bonny, we’ve been prepping for this! We gotta go!”
“Prepping for… what, exactly?” Bon-bon asked, yawning. “The only thing we’ve prepped for is you going into labor, and I hope that’s not happening right now-”
“No, silly!” Lyra galloped towards her mare and slid to a stop, grabbing Bon-bon’s cheeks and squishing them until her mouth poked out awkwardly. “She’s awake! The filly!”
“Oh.” Bon-bon pulled away from Lyra, gasping loudly. “OH! Oh, my Celestia! It’s happening!”
“Come on! We have to go to the hospital!” Lyra turned back to the nurse. “How long has she been awake for?! Is she-” But, as she talked, she quickly noticed that the gray nurse was suddenly absent. Probably galloped back to the hospital, if she had to guess.
“Does my mane look okay?!” Bon-bon shouted from the bathroom. Lyra took a deep breath, and galloped inside.
When Lyra and Bon-bon showed up at the hospital, more specifically the door in which the mysterious filly resided, she could only describe the area as a complete and utter warzone. Although no tell tale marks of a common warzone, there was a group gathering, huddling around the door. Nurses and doctors alike, looking at one another.
“What’s going on?” Bon-bon inquired. A few of the staff turned to look at her, but it was a doctor towards the front that gave her his full attention.
“Lyra? Bon-bon? What on earth are you two doing here?” He asked.
“One of your nurses. She told us what was happening.” Bon-bon explained. At this, the brown-coated doctor cocked his head.
“I didn’t send out a nurse…” He hummed. “Never mind that. What’s important is that you are here. And we need your help.” Lyra leaned her head to the side, watching as a brave soul opened the door to the room. She was immediately met with an entire IV stand being thrown through the tiny gap, making her stumble back and a horn-privileged user closing the door for her. “She’s gone AWOL. Which is normal for a recovering patient, but we’re scared to try and force her to do anything, out of fear she’ll aggravate her stitches. You, Lyra, saved her from death. I believe you should be the one to make contact with her.”
Lyra frowned. “Will she even remember me?”
“A-ha…” The doctor coughed. “Probably not… But, if you explain to her-”
“How can she explain to her anything if she can’t even get her head through the door?” Bon-bon asked angrily. “I can’t let her get injured! She has our foal!”
“Your-” The doctor took a step back and leaned to the side, trying to get a better look at her underside. He was immediately met by Bon-bon smacking him across the head. He grumbled, looking back up and rubbing the now developing sore spot. “You don’t look pregnant.”
“Early months.” Bon-bon said quickly. “Point is- you are not sending her in. What if she gets injured?”
“And what, we try and forcibly hold the poor filly down? She’ll split her stomach open by her struggling! Those stitches are only a few hours or so old.”
“Alright!” Lyra shouted, getting the attention of everypony in the hallway. “I’ll go in!” Bon-bon opened her mouth to argue, but was quickly cut off by Lyra talking louder. “I’m sorry, hun, but the doctor is right. All she needs is a friendly face, okay?”
Bon-bon flexed her jaw for a second or two, but after hesitating, she let out a sigh.
“Just… be careful, okay? The last thing I want to see is you or the foal getting hurt.” Lyra simply offered a reassuring smile and a quick peck on the lips that caused a few of the nurses to d’aww. She trotted towards the door, the staff moving graciously out of her way. “I’ll be fine, guys. Just… give me a second, alright?” She said generally. There was a murmur that sounded like encouragement, and without a second thought, she creaked open the door.
“Hello?” She asked into the room. “Is anypony here?”
She was answered by a glass jar being shattered on the wall next to her, thrown by some unseen entity. Lyra didn’t flinch, however, and bravely pushed herself deeper into the room.
The filly was perched on the headboard of the hospital bed like a parrot. Her wings were spread wide out, and she was crouching down. The first thing that Lyra noticed was just how white she was. Her coat was white, her wings were white, her eyes were red, and her mane was white. If Lyra didn’t know any better, she would’ve assumed she was an Albino pony- a pony without any color pigmentation. The filly gasped, quickly reaching down and grabbing another glass jar from a bedside table, holding it up dangerously.
“Don’t come any closer!” She yelled. “I’ll do it!” Lyra took a deep, shaky breath in, and lowered herself to the floor in an attempt to look less threatening. Whether it worked or not, she wasn’t exactly sure, as the filly didn’t react at all.
“Hello.” Lyra greeted again as softly as she could. “My name is Lyra. What’s your name?”
“My name is-” The filly frowned, flexing her jaw as her eyes darted left and right, her brows furrowing. “-isn’t important right now!” She stood taller on the headboard, staring through Lyra. “Why am I here?”
“I’m here because-” Lyra blanked for a second. “No, sorry. I mean- you are here because you got hurt.” She cringed as certain memories began to surface. “You were hurt really, really badly.”
“Yeah?” She asked, adjusting her hooves. “What am I?”
“Pardon?” Lyra asked, looking into her eyes. Her question wasn’t a joke, evident by her stern expression and unmoving lip. “Uhm… you are a Pegasus.”
“Bullshit.” She growled. If Lyra wasn’t currently scared of having glass chucked at her, she might’ve reprimanded her for her language. “Pegasus. Right. Now you’re gonna tell me Unicorns exist.”
Lyra blinked.
Then, slowly, she tapped the horn on the top of her head. The filly frowned, squinting her eyes. As if she couldn’t…
Lyra gasped.
As if she couldn’t see.
“Can you not… see me?” Lyra asked. The filly frowned, adjusting her jar threateningly.
“Maybe, maybe not!” She yelled. “Maybe I’m just fooling you, so you won’t hurt me!”
“Why would I hurt you?” Lyra questioned, cocking her head to the side. The filly’s frown deepened. “Why didn’t I just hurt you when I saved your life?” The filly’s eyes narrowed dangerously, almost beckoning Lyra to continue. “I-I saw you fall. From the sky. You landed in some bushes, and I-I found you. You were… hurt. Really badly. And I-I’ve barely slept wondering if you’ll be okay.”
“Seriously?” The filly asked, her frown diminishing. “Over… me?”
“Seriously.” Lyra confirmed. “And if you’ll let me, I want to make sure you’re still okay.” Lyra took a deep breath out. “And I need to start with your name.” At this, the filly finally looked away. She bit her bottom lip, chewing as she took a deep breath, closing her eyelids.
“I… I don’t know.” She admitted. She slowly reached down to the bedside table, setting down the jar. “I know I wasn’t a pony! That’s obvious!” She sighed. “But I-I don’t know.” Lyra was shocked with what she was hearing.
“That’s… okay…” She ventured. She, carefully and so the filly could see her, stood up. She slowly inched her way towards the bed, to which the filly guarded her with her eyes, watching as she got closer. “Can you lay down?”
“Can I lay down-” She mocked in a higher pitch. “Of course I can.” Lyra smiled at this, if a bit put off by her attitude. The filly carefully climbed down from the headboard and laid down. “There. Is that better?”
“Yes it is.” She smiled. The filly looked up at her, and for a moment, they both made eye contact. The filly responded by cringing and looking away.
“Gah! You look like an owl! Why do all of you look like owls?”
“W-What?” She asked, confused.
“Your eyes!” The filly exclaimed. She nervously adjusted the blanket she was laying ontop of. “They’re the sizes of plates. Like, unnaturally big.” Lyra wasn’t exactly sure what to say, other than to blink and rub her cheek bone, feeling the socket of her eye and wondering if she had unusually large eyes.
“Your eyes are pretty big, too-”
“I know!” The filly yelled, making Lyra flinch. “I know.” She lowered her voice slightly, now using her hoof to paw at her own eye. “I… hate this.” She said cryptically. “I hate being this. I’m a tiny little…” She looked at Lyra again, observing her by squinting. “...pony. I’m a tiny pony, and I have tiny little wings, and I’m just…” She let out a sigh. “I’m just not feeling very good, right now.”
“Why?” Lyra asked. “I mean- You said you were a pony, which I guess isn’t normal for you, but I mean- Are you phsyscially okay? You took a nasty fall…”
“Well… I’m kinda…” The filly grunted, and rolled over onto her wing, exposing her belly for Lyra to see. Lyra almost screamed, instead letting out a stifled gasp as she pushed herself away from the bed. Across her abdomen were stitches. Stitches that looked as if they were giving out, letting blood seep through the shaved area and stain the blankets below. “Yeah, it hurts a little.”
“Oh-kay!” Lyra stood up, briskly trotting towards the door. “We need a doctor right now-!”
“Wait!” She yelled across the room. Lyra, against her will and logic, stopped, turning to look. “I don’t like being surrounded by those…” She sighed. “I’m hesitant to call them freaks, but… I’d rather have, like, one?”
“Okay-okay.” Lyra quickly rushed, very aware of the fact the filly was still bleeding out, even as they talked. “Is it alright if my wife joins us?”
“Your… wife?” The filly cocked her head. “I… guess?”
“Okay. Uh. Don’t… bleed out.” Lyra clicked open the door and stuck her head out. Some of the nurses and doctors had left, probably to tend to a few other patients. But there was still a considerable crowd, and by the way they were positioned around the door, she was quite confident that nopony had been listening in. The doctor- the one assigned to the mystery filly- stepped forwards, the same one that she had talked to earlier.
“How is she?” He asked. “Not throwing anything anymore?”
“No, but her stitches,” Lyra gestured downwards. “They’re open and bleeding a little.”
“Oh- okay!” The doctor quickly pushed past Lyra and into the room.
“And, uh,” Lyra pointed her hoof at Bon-bon, who hadn’t talked to anypony and was instead anxiously shifting weight on her hooves back and forth. “Bon-bon, you can come, too.” Bon-bon offered a thankful smile as she slid by her and into the room. “Everypony else! Go back to work. There isn’t anything to see here.”
There was a general murmur of disagreement as everypony- purposefully slowly- moved away from the door. A second later, Lyra pulled her head back in, and sighed.
“So.” Bon-bon was standing at the base of the bed, staring down at the filly, who was now being worked on by the doctor. “You’re the filly who gave my fiancee quite a scare the other day.” She lowered her head down until she was making direct eye contact with the poor foal. “I only have one question to ask you…” She got even closer than she already was, making the filly gulp nervously. “Are you okay?”
“Wh-huh?” The filly blinked, pulling her head back. Bon-bon did the same, smiling slightly. “I mean- I’m hurting pretty good.” She watched as the doctor worked on her stomach, (Pulling? Redoing? Fixing?) her stitches. “But besides that, I think I’m alright?”
“That’s good.” Bon-bon sat down. “I wouldn’t want such a cute little filly to get hurt, now would I?” Lyra took a step back at the unexpected mushy side of Bon-bon that suddenly reared it’s head. Bon-bon reached forwards, pinching her cheeks as she made a cooing sound.
“Augh-” The filly pulled back. “Geez- you remind me of my mother!”
“Speaking of which!” The doctor said, pulling a stitch closed tightly. “We need to find your parents, little one.” The doctor stood up and stretched like a cat, whisking away a clip board that was attached to a wall.“ First things first: I need a name. We can’t exactly keep calling you little one, now, can we?”
“Well… you might have to.” She gave a nervous laugh, which made the doctor raise his eyebrow. “You see, uh, the thing is, I can’t really, uh, remember my name.” She offered a goofy smile. “But that’s it! I can remember loads of other things!”
The doctor was silent for a minute, and although he wasn’t looking at the filly directly and instead staring at the board, the expression on his face was evidence enough of the internal concern he was now developing.
“Oh… kay…” He warily said, marking something off with his hoof and pen. “How about your parents? Do you remember your parents names?”
“Cindy Smith and David Collins.” She responded automatically. The three adult ponies in the room looked at one another with varying levels of confusion.
“Those… don’t sound like pony names.” Bon-bon said, adjusting herself so she sat closer to the end of the bed. “Are you sure those are your folks names?”
“Pretty sure.” She nodded, again. “Cindy’s my mom, and David’s my dad. They used to get into arguments a lot, so they split up. Mom took custody of us, so that’s why my last name is…” The filly’s jaw flexed as her thoughts deepened behind her eyes. “...Smith. That’s right, isn’t it? My last name…”
The doctor let out a cough as he scribbled a few more notes.
“I think that’s all we’re going to do for today.” He quickly said. “I will have a nurse in for you in a moment, uh…” The doctor fumbled with his words, looking down at the filly. “Erm… S-Snow?”
“Snow.” The filly grumbled. “I guess it will have to work for now.”
“Alright, Snow. I’ll have a nurse in for you in a moment. She’ll replace your bed linins, and help you with anything else you need.” He put the clip board on his back and trotted out the hall. “Lyra, Bon-bon, a quick word?” He asked.
“See you later, buddy.” Bon-bon offered a smile as she rose, trotting away.
“We’ll be back in a minute, okay?” Lyra waved as she exited. “And no more throwing things, please?” The filly- now dubbed as Snow- let out a little laugh as she shook her head, which Lyra took as a good sign. She exited the room, and let the door swing shut.
Once closed, and the group had trotted a good few steps down the hallway so Snow wouldn’t hear them, the doctor took in a deep breath.
“I think I’m gonna schedule her for a brain scan for today.” He said, fetching the clipboard from his back and beginning to write things down.
“Doc, she doesn’t know her own name.” Bon-bon said concernidly. The doctor took in another deep breath, stopping his writing for a moment to rub his eyes. “That’s not normal.”
“I know it isn’t.” He pressed his hooves back onto the floor in concentration. “Look… This may just be a symptom of a concussion. It’s not out of the question that a few… memories can slip after a long fall like that. It could… but it also couldn’t. I don’t want to take any unneeded risks with my patients, so were gonna figure her out before she leaves here.”
“She was also having a hard time seeing.” Lyra said. The doctor raised his eyebrows, but didn’t seem too concerned. “She kept saying she wasn’t a pony, and that I had really big eyes.”
“Do you?” Bon-bon asked, squinting her own eyes at her. “I don’t think you do?”
“That could also be hoof-waved away as a concussion…” The doctor sighed. “I’m very concerned there is an underlying issue that we don’t know of. Without a medical record… we just simply have no idea.”
“You don’t have a medical record?” Lyra asked.
“That’s why I made up a name for her. Snow. I have nothing to go off of, and although it is still very early in the investigation, no parents, guardians, or homes have come forwards for her, and no missing foal reports have hit Ponyville for a white Pegasus filly matching her description.” He sighed, flipping to the back of the clipboard. “I see you two have already signed the release forms. Once she is done here, then she can be taken home in your custody. I’ll still have you two go over-”
“Woah-woah-woah-woah!” Bon-bon almost shouted, waving her hooves erratically. The doctor paused, peeking his eyes over the top of the clipboard as Lyra stared, dumbfounded. “We didn’t sign any release forms!”
“You… didn’t?” He asked, looking back down at the clipboard. He turned it around to face the other two ponies, and both of them began reading. “This isn’t your signatures?” He asked. Lyra and Bon-bon paled as they read, realizing that yes, it was their signatures. “You two have already been cleared by Princess Celestia herself, apparently. And your house was examined just yesterday and also cleared for guardianship.”
Lyra and Bon-bon simply just stared.
Then, they looked at eachother.
They looked back at the doctor.
“I don’t think we’re ready for-”
“We’re in!” Lyra shouted. Bon-bon let out an involentary cough as her head whipped to Lyra.
“Lyra! We’re not in!” She whispered back, although very certain that the doctor could quite clearly hear them. “We have a foal on the way, and the house isn’t ready, and we’ve been saving up for so long and we’re not ready to spend-”
“OH, and also!” The doctor flipped down the clipboard, more towards the back. “You will be getting a stipend of one-thousand bits per month from the crown to help pay for Snow and anything she may need or want. The hospital bill has also been waived.”
Bon-bon just guffawed, shaking her head as if she was dreaming to wave herself back up.
“I’m sorry, but who is doing all of this?” She asked. “Who in their right mind would give us custody of a foal? We’re just not ready for this!”
“And I’m saying we are!” Lyra rested her hoof against Bon-bon’s withers. “Bonny, when are we ever going to get another chance like this? Somepony took all of the guessing out of this process. With a foal on the way…” Lyra leaned closer. “Wouldn’t our foal like to have an older sister?”
“Gosh, Lyra.” Bon-bon sighed. “Really pulling at my heartstrings, aren’t you?”
“My name isn’t Heartstrings for nothing~!” She giggled. But Bon-bon still didn’t look so sure.
“This is a lot of responsibility.” Bon-bon argued. “This isn’t just a decision that we can make in thirty seconds. This takes a lot of planning! I mean- what will my parents think? What will your parents think?”
“Bonny, this filly was dropped from the sky into my hooves. Literally. It would be like disrespecting Celestia to not take care of this foal. She’s obviously special, and she needs us.”
“I-” Bon-bon bit her lip and looked away. “Can we- Can we just sleep on it for today?” She asked. “I don’t want to make this decision lightly…” Lyra frowned deeply, tapping her hooves up and down in rapid succession.
“Fine.” She sighed out, coming to a stop. “But that’s it. One day, and we’ll talk tomorrow, okay?” Lyra gave a wry smile as she began trotting back to the room. “I wanna get back to her.”
“And one more question.” The doctor said. “I’m just curious. You said that a nurse came and told you that the filly- Snow, was awake. Could you maybe provide a description?”
“Oh. Of course.” Lyra nodded. “She was an Earth-pony with a gray coat and a pitch black mane. Does that help?”
Lyra and Bon-bon both felt the uncomfortable eyes of the doctor as he started blankly for a few moments.
“That description doesn’t match anypony on our workforce.”
It was early in the morning of the next day. The royal chefs from the royal kitchen had dispersed both breakfast and dinner for the two royal sisters. They both sat at the end of a long table in an impressively decorated hallway with banners and stain glass windows wherever one looked.
“It just doesn’t make sense.” Princess Celestia, at one end of the table, said. Princess Luna, sitting at the other end, was in the middle of scooping up a bowl of soup for her dinner meal. She was in the middle of blowing on the spoon held in her magic to cool it down when she directed her attention at her sister. Celestia was enjoying a pile of waffles, doused in luxurious syrup that was worth more than the average pony’s annual salary. Unfortunately, the waffles hadn’t seen much action since she had sat down. Instead, Celestia stewed, her thoughts drifting through hundreds of fictitious scenarios that only added to her already growing anxiety.
“Pray tell us?” Luna asked, pushing the spoon into her mouth and eating between words. She swallowed, letting the spoon clink to the bottom of the bowl as she looked up. “Art thou speaking of the fabled humans once more?”
“Indeed, sister.” Celestia levitated her fork upwards in her golden magic, only to idly poke at the waffles instead of eating them. “I worry for them.”
“What for?” Luna asked.
“There were four humans.” Celestia responded, letting her fork relax in the sludgy underside of the damp waffles, having absorbed most of it’s syrup. “The spell that the Flame Family used was meant to use the energy from a fourth source. A forth pony. Instead, it targeted four humans from across the barrier separating our dimensions. It targeted four. Not three. On an entire planet with seven billion humans, it targeted a carriage with four.” She sighed. “Why didn’t the spell pluck three humans at complete random? Why not-” Celestia stared at her waffles and let out a reflexive snort. It was not loud enough to be picked up by most ponies. Unfortunately for her, Luna was not most ponies.
“One doth phrase these questions like one knows said answer.”
“...maybe.” Celestia looked up at her sister, who was still patiently waiting. Celestia sighed, and looked up at the colossal stained glass window to her left, looking at the raising sun, which was struggling without the aid of it’s owner. “I have… a theory. A mere theory, but a theory none the less.” Celestia’s gaze hardened as she looked back at her sister. “You know of soul-magic, correct?”
“Magic in which is highly illegal, regulated, and banished?” Luna straightened up in her chair, her eyes quickly flashing a worried look. “Magic in which must never, ever be used in any circumstance? The magic that bounds the dimensions we reside in and the very ponies inhabiting said dimension? Thee mean that magic?”
“Yes, sister.” Celestia frowned gravely.
“You don’t mean…”
“I do mean.” Celestia once more cast her gazze out the windows. “I do believe the spell used soul-magic. Which could explain why only a mere three Unicorns were able to cast it and break the barriers of our world. That sort of magic feeds off of death. That could also explain why the spell targeted the four humans. Four is more than three, and if they were already going to die that day…” She bit her lip. “When I forced the spell to backfire, the human souls, which were already going to be used for the spell, instead found themselves inside of the now lifeless vessels of Mr. Blazer and his family.”
“The fourth human.” Luna said, looking down at the floor in contemplation. “He could’ve merged with all three of the ponies!”
“Exactly.” Celestia let a small smile grace her lips for a quarter second, before her expression fell back to being grave. “Although, in a thousand years of studying, no pony could ever predict exactly what could happen to a simple levitation spell when it backfires, much less a complex spell utilizing soul magic.” She flickered her eyelids as she looked up. “Nonetheless, later in the day, I will want to speak with these three humans. Do some… soul-searching.”
“Are you-” Luna huffed. “Did you just make a pun?!”
“No.”
“Sister…?”
“Yes.” She nodded sheepishly. Luna thought for a moment, before shrugging and going back to scooping up her soup, leaving Celestia to dwell on the matter for a moment longer. Celestia still felt a strange hole bubbling in her stomach, and it wasn’t from not eating. Instead, it was more a feeling as if she was missing something. Something incredibly obvious and in her face.
“Then so be it.” Celestia whispered to herself, pushing the plate away. “I have decided to talk to the humans now.” She announced. Luna barely even acknowledged her sister as she trotted away, destined to go talk to the new inhabitants of Equestria.
“You’re not my DAD!”
“In this body, I am!”
“You’re like, four years old in that body!”
“I’m eight in this body, you weirdo!”
Abigail was sitting at the dinner table, head on hoof as she picked at a salad in front of her. Surprisingly, it tasted almost nothing like a salad she would expect from Earth. She wasn’t exactly sure whether or not it was because the salad was prepared by some of the most royal chefs on the entire planet, or if her taste buds had been changed. After all, with a new body, nothing was no longer a given.
Abigail’s friends sat in the living room, bickering back and forth. Honestly, it was kind of cute to see two ponies, the height of a car tire, argue back and forth with each other over completely menial things that meant nothing at the end of the day.
The princesses didn’t seem to know what to do with the three ponies after they were discharged from the hospital. So, for the moment, they generously let the trio live in one of their pent-house suites. It was basically a large and luxurious apartment, but instead of boring beige walls, they were made from marble and glass. Oh, and the ceiling was three stories high. Surprisingly, it didn’t seem to echo.
The three had rather quickly picked up walking. It was almost like second nature to them, and after getting advice from the castle’s physical therapist last night, progress was quick. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean they didn’t share their fair share of face-planting moments in which one hoof would get tripped up and send a pony flying to the ground. At the very least, they were all together, and they could all suffer equally.
“Hey.” Abigail said, plopping her fork into her salad and turning around to face the two small ponies. (she still really didn’t understand how hooves worked,) “You guys don’t have it so bad.”
“Oh, it’s a competition now?” Charles shouted. “Look at me! I can barely reach the tip of my horn with this stubby little body!” To demonstrate, Charles, the gray Unicorn, reached his hoof up and tried to tap the appendage. True to his word, the tip of his hoof barely reached. However, Abigail wasn’t exactly staring at his hoof. Rather, she was staring at his shoulder, and the strange, un-earthly like way it disconnected from the rest of his body. She blinked as he set his hoof down. “See? It’s so annoying-”
“Do that again.” Abigail commanded.
“What?” Charles asked, slightly offended at the mere thought of listening to a pony like her. “Excuse me?”
“Do it again.” Abigail stood up and trotted towards him, dodging a couch on the way over. Charles leaned away as she sat down next to him. “I wanna feel…” She lightly laid her hooves on Charles’s withers, pushing the frog of her hooves into his back muscles. “Do it again.”
“Fine.” Charles, fighting against Abigail, reached his hoof up and tapped the top of his horn.
“Woah. That’s… really weird, actually.”
“What’s going on?” Leo asked. He had been relatively quiet for the commotion, but now his interest was peaked, trotting towards them.
“Put your hoof here.” Abigail commanded. Leo did as he was told, resting his own slightly less stubby hoof onto Charles’s back. “Do it again, Charles.” And lo, like he was told, he tapped his horn.
“Aw, what the hell?” Leo pulled his hoof away. “Aw, do I do that, too? E-e-ew!” Leo shivered violently as he stood up quickly, trotting away.
“Can someone please explain to me what the hell’s going on?” Charles demanded, thrashing his black hoof onto the carpet below.
“It’s like your bone moves out of it’s socket!” Abigail tried to explain. Charles responded by staring at her like she had grown a second head. Which, in this universe, might honestly happen. “A normal pony- from our Earth- could never touch it’s own head. Pony’s skeleton isn’t built like that. Neither should they here. But we can…” Abigail experimented by doing the same thing she commanded Charles to do seconds prior, tapping her own horn. “It’s like our muscles move out of the way, and the bone like, moves!”
“Well…” Leo shuffled on the carpet. “We are aliens, guys. Things are gonna be weird.”
“You don’t understand- it’s like the bone socket is moving. Or, like, the shoulder itself. The connecting tissue. It’s like…”
“What you ponies are describing is what we call hyper extending.” A new voice said. All three ponies jumped at once, quickly whipping their heads towards the entrance. Standing in all of her regal glory was the Princess of the Sun. “It’s a movement most species have, in which the muscle deforms and the bone stretches, so creatures that look like they can’t, can.”
“Make yourself comfortable.” Charles rolled his eyes.
“What do you mean, the bone stretches?” Leo asked. “Bones don’t stretch.”
“Yes, they do…” Celestia paused, taking in a breath as she became aware of exactly what Leo had just asked. “I’m… sorry, come again? Bones don’t stretch?”
“No. They don’t.” This time, Abigail responded, hopping onto the crystal white sofa and crossing her hooves. “Bones are meant to be hard and rigid, for the skeletal structure. Bone’s don’t stretch.”
“Carne is for the skeletal structure.” Celestia explained, suddenly finding herself intensely curious at the former humans. “Carne is what holds the structure of a creature together. Bones are for support, yes, but also for extending. It’s programmed into our movements.” To demonstrate, Celestia reached backwards and grabbed her tail, a motion which, even for the extremely tall Alicorn, would’ve been impossible. “I can’t command my leg to stretch, but I can do movements which demonstrate it.” She cocked her head to the side. “How do humans reach hard to reach spots without stretching?”
“We don’t-” Leo tried to explain.
“Bones don’t stretch!” Charles yelled.
“I literally have no idea what a carne is.” Abigail gawked, reassessing her entire life. “We just- we’re built to reach everywhere! We don’t have a need for stretchy bones, because humans already can reach everywhere!”
“Fascinating…” Celestia smiled. “Tell me more!”
“Well-” Leo almost started.
“First of all, why are you here?” Abigail interrupted, making Leo shoot Abigail a dirty look. “I don’t mean to be rude, but you are a busy princess. I doubt you’d want to waste your time talking to humans about stretchy bones and whatever the hell carne is.”
“Right.” Celestia felt herself slightly deflate at the humans blatantly wanting to get to the point. But, a moment later, she forced herself to straighten her spine, and go into full Princess-mode. “About your friend, Andrew.” She started. This garnered the attention of the three human-ponies, making them sit up straighter and unintentionally perk their ears. “I have a leading theory on why he is not present with you ponies now.”
Celestia walked around the sofa, circling the group as if they were prey. Which was strange, as none of the human-ponies felt as if she was intentionally trying to be intimidating.
“As you know, the carriage in which you were traveling by had four people in it. When it crashed, I believe the spell the Flame family was casting latched onto you four, and dragged you back. Unfortunately, when I forced the spell to backfire, it caused the first three souls to latch onto the available three ponies.” She stopped her circling, a hard stare as she observed the ponies in front of her. “I have a theory that Andrew is still with us. Either split between you three, or inhabiting a single body.”
“Really?!” Abigail almost shouted, standing up from her chair as quickly as her uncertain and new hooves could carry her. “Scan me!”
“Of course.” Celestia nodded, lowering her head to the tip of Abigail’s new horn. Abigail was stunned, and momentarily shocked, thinking that ice cubes had spawned and ran down the length of her neck. The sensation was weird, something right out of a dream. However, as quickly as it came, it vanished, and Celestia took a step back. Unfortunately, she didn’t look very happy.
“Unfortunately, he does not reside in Abigail.” She said solemnly. Abigail saddened, evident by her falling features.
“My turn!” Charles quickly stepped up, pushing Abigail out of the way. Abigail wasn’t pushed out of the way, however, and simply relented her position. The tiny foal would never be able to put up enough force to move her out of the way, with his tiny body.
Once again, Celestia lowered her horn. And just like last time, Abigail was able to directly observe the effect. It was like something straight out of halo, his body illuminating like it suddenly had a strange force field activate around him. And, just the same as her, it vanished. Once more, Celestia looked down with a frown that told Charles everything he had to know. With a reserved, sad nod, he backed away, letting the last pony approach Celestia.
Celestia tapped her horn to Leo. He shivered as the feeling dripped down his neck, torso, and finally legs. And, just like the other two, Celestia pulled away with a sad look.
“I’m… sorry.” She said slowly and genuinely. “I… was very confident in my theory. Perhaps too confident. For the time being, I believe Andrew to be… gone.”
All three ponies looked at one another with pained expressions. They had, for the first time, realized exactly what she meant. Andrew was gone gone. As in, not coming back. And if their memory served them correctly, the accident in which brought all of them to Equestria was an aggressive accident which they had all agreed upon was more that enough to kill a person.
“So… what now?” Abigail asked. “I mean… we’re here, for now, but… what comes next?”
“Next?” Celestia asked. “Well, finding a way back home for you three is going to be a long process. One that I’m sure we can figure out. But, none the less, it is going to take some time. Until then, I believe you should all get settled into Equestria.”
“Settled? Like… settled settled?” Abigail asked with concern. “Because- no offense, Princess, but I’d really rather not get used to using hooves unless I have to.”
“There’s always a chance this doesn’t work out, right?” Leo asked. “I mean, there’s always a chance the scientists don’t find us a way home, right?”
“Let’s…not think like that for now.” Celestia gave a nervous laugh. “Never say never. Never is forever, and I’ve had bad experiences with forever.” Her smile quickly fell, however, with a saddened expression. “And… before I go, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for Andrew. If there was more that I could do, I would. If it doesn’t hurt, could you maybe tell me more about him?”
“Yeah. Of course.” Abigail let out a slow sigh. “Andrew was…”
“A bad day away from bat-shit insane?” Charles suggested.
“Hey!” Leo yelled with an angry glare. “Andrew wasn’t a psychopath, or anything! He was just… troubled.”
“Troubled, you say?” Celestia asked.
“Well- We’ve never asked him directly, but we’ve always had a group understanding that Andrew went through… some things.” Abigail said warily, as if Andrew himself was listening just around the corner. “He was always kinda ornery, I guess. Like every day was a bad day for him. We think it had something to do with his family. I mean, he never talked about them. Even when we asked.”
“Hm.” Celestia frown deepened. “Have you ever considered that Andrew may have… crashed on purpose?”
“What?!” Leo shouted.
“No! No, no, no! He would never do something like that!” Abigail yelled. “Never! I mean- he was always down, right? B-But he wouldn’t go as far as to take his own life, let alone ours!”
“It’s important to consider all possibilities.” Celestia said calmly. “At this point in time, it is impossible to tell whether or not the crash was an accident or not, whether it be by Andrew’s hooves, or the Flame Family’s.”
Abigail frowned. As did Leo. Charles was listening deeply, resting his head against a nearby pillow and watching.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but your son, Andrew, was involved in a high-speed car accident.”
The previously bright and sunny sky suddenly seemed to darken as she listened to his words. She didn’t say anything, nor let a single feature of her face shift in any meaningful way as she blankly stared past the officer.
This was supposed to be a relaxing afternoon, and she was planning on spending it relaxing on the front porch of her home, watching the cars drive by the neighborhood. Instead, the officer took in a deep sigh, taking his hat off and holding it to his chest.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but your son, along with the three other passengers in the vehicle…” He bit down on his tongue. “...didn’t make it.”
This time, the woman’s jaw clenched as she kept staring straight ahead, barely a perceivable flicker of her eyelid.
“It was instantaneous. They didn’t feel a single thing, and it was over quick. Andrew, along with the three other passengers, were the only fatalities in the crash.” The officer put his hat back on. “His remains will be brought to the local funeral home, and you can decide what to do from that point.” The officer took one step backwards down the path. “I am very sorry for your loss.” He added weakly, before turning around and walking back down the path.
The silence was immense. No longer were there cars driving by. No longer were their bird chirping in the trees.
Not a soul said a thing.
Except for, of course, a small human indoors. With tears streaming down her face, silently sobbing, she turned tail and ran for her bedroom. The moment she crossed the door, she flopped into her bed, and cried into her pillow. Her sobs were racking, yet quiet in fear of the man sleeping just a few rooms over. She peeked an eye out, looking at a portrait propped up on her night stand.
The portrait depicted her with Andrew. She was holding up a LEGO rocket she had helped him build, and Andrew was giving the camera a thumbs up, as his other hand was politely placed on her shoulder in a reassuring gesture.
Now? He was gone. He had already fled, with a promise to return one day with a stable life to whisk her away from this family. But now, the unbelievable had happened. He wasn’t just far away, he was forever gone.
Megan’s cries rejuvenated as she buried her face into her pillow once more.
“So…” Lyra coughed nervously, sitting up on her bed. “What do you… think?”
“Hm?” Bon-bon asked. It was still incredibly early in the morning, and there was much to do around the bakery, leading both ponies to start their day before even the earliest of stock-brokers would wake up. “Hm.” Bon-bon sighed again, nuzzling deeper into her pillow.
“I mean, I know it’s a lot of work…” Lyra gauged her fiancee’s reaction carefully. She didn’t move from her spot on the bed. “But… when will we ever get another opportunity to do this again? All of the paper work’s been straightened out already! I don’t even know how that happens, but-”
“Lyra, hun…” Bon-bon grumbled. “What are you-” She let out a yawn, still not opening her eyes. “What are you even talking about?”
“Snow!” She whisper-shouted, throwing her legs out to the side of the bed. “She was dropped from the sky onto us!” Bon-bon groaned, and with a head made of lead, sat up on the bed. Lyra dropped her forehooves onto the ground, and began pacing back and forth nervously. “Celestia herself is telling us to take care of this filly, Bonny!”
“Hm.” Bon-bon reached over and flicked on a lamp, illuminating the messy and cluttered room. All through the entire room, there was barely an inch of unoccupied space. While Bon-bon was great at cooking and baking, Lyra had taken up a hobby of researching fanatical, mythological creatures. She had even went as far as to publish a good hoofful of study guides relating to a few. Her most recent one, the creatures known as Changelings, had proven to be a little more than profitable. Especially when those mythological creatures had turned out to be a little bit less than mythological and a little bit more real.
“I mean- we’d have to get things ready, of course. A-And it wouldn’t be permanent. If her parents are ever discovered, then we’d have to give her over.” Lyra developed a steeled face as she frowned, scuffing the floorboards with her hoof in anger. “And they better have a real good reason why Snow was out in the middle of the night like that…”
“She’s a Pegasus.” Bon-bon commented, pushing a hoof into her eye and rubbing. “How are we going to take care of a Pegasus? Neither of us are Pegasi.”
“Well-” Lyra sighed, copying her fiancee and rubbing her eye tiredly. “I mean- Muffins is a Pegasus and a mom. We could ask her.”
“And her kid is a Unicorn.” Bon-bon sat her hoof down and turned her body to face the pacing Lyra.
“But she still would know how to-” Lyra grunted. “We have to do this. It’s just not right for a little filly like that to go on in the world alone. I mean- I don’t mean to be that pony, but the foster care system isn’t known for being fair.”
“With a newborn, we could slowly acclimate with having a little filly around.” Bon-bon noted. They both made eye contact, and she kept going. “But Snow is eight years old. She’s already her own pony. It would be a big change, Lyra. Plus, we don’t even have a room ready.”
“That is such a non-issue.” Lyra sighed. “We just renovate the nursery. We have eight months to figure out where the foal’ll be going, so it’s not like we’re gonna run out of time.”
“Lyra…” Bon-bon sighed. “I just want you to think this through. I mean, really think this through. This isn’t a pet- this is a pony. And what if they can’t locate her parents? What if we’re stuck with her? Then what?”
“Then we take care of her as if she’s our own.” Lyra shrugged, like it was obvious. “You can’t give up on Snow. I carried her to the hospital, bloodied and broken on my back. If we don’t want to take care of her, then how would she feel? Like a burden to us?”
“She would feel like a burden if we took her in, either way.” Bon-bon grunted. “I just want you to really think this through, Lyra. I want you to really, really understand what you’re suggesting.”
“I want to do it.” Lyra said, with new fire and steel in her eyes. “She needs us. I don’t want to do this for me, I want to do it for her.”
Bon-bon was silent for a moment, staring blankly ahead. Then, with a reserved sigh, she laid back down.
“I guess Snow would be pretty fun to be around.” She murmured.
“Are you saying…?”
“I’m not…” Bon-bon groaned. “Fine. Maybe. I mean- I’m just… I’m concerned we’re not going to be able to provide adequate care for her!”
“And why wouldn’t we?” Lyra asked, slowly sinking into her side of the bed. “With this royal stipend we’ll be getting to help take care of her, what possibly could stop us from taking- uh, what was the word you used? Ad-uh-quite? What could stop us from taking ad-uh-quite care of her?”
“Us.” Bon-bon whispered. “What if we’re not ready? What if we think we know what we’re doing, but we really don’t?”
“But that’s the thing, isn’t it? You’ll never know unless you try.” Lyra smiled softly. “And right now, I’m not hearing a lot of trying. Just a lot of giving up.”
“I-” Bon-bon sighed out. “We can… try to take care of her.”
Lyra gave a large, goofy smile, and joined her back into the bed.
“Thank you.” She said, planting a kiss against the back of Bon-bon’s mane. “Thank you.”
