“WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!”
With a start, I wake up to see a (clearly excited) Sunny grinning from ear to ear (seriously, how do her lips do that?) standing next to my bed. I quickly glance up at my alarm clock (one of the many things Sunny got me yesterday) and see that it’s about 3:30 AM. “Sunny, how are you awake before a thestral? I’m supposed to be the early riser.” I mumble groggily.
“BECAUSE I’M EXCITED CAUSE TODAY’S THE CRYSTAL FAIR!!!!!!!” Sunny shouts in my ear. Ow.
“First, calm down, we don’t want to wake everypony up. Second, the fair doesn’t start until 10. Third, I’m gonna hafta limit your coffee.” I list in a sleepy voice.
“I don’t drink coffee!” She says in a much quieter voice, though I can still hear the exclamation point.
Wait, she doesn’t drink coffee? How does a pony wake up this early without co-wait, this is Sunshine Drops, the mare that defies reason and is five steps ahead. Don’t question it. I might have to make that my mantra for these next three months.
“And I want to see if this glamour charm works. Gotta make sure before we test it in public.” Sunny continues.
Groaning, I try to get up, and remember that my team is sleeping on me. Crud. “Hey, Sunny? Could you wake them up? I’m kinda stuck.”
She looks over at the sleeping Pokemon, grins, and promptly boops them on the nose.
Jolteon jumps up about 6 feet in the air after the boop. Espeon calmly wakes up and climbs off after being booped. Umbreon goes cross-eyed trying to see the hoof on his nose, while Glaceon just rolls over to get away, and rolls right off of the bed. Leafeon simply screeches (not Screech, just yelled), and Vaporeon doesn’t move. At all. Understandable, considering yesterday, but I need to get up.
“Espeon, please move Vaporeon. She’s not getting up.”
Ugh, fine, just lemme wake up a little bit. Fifteen minutes later, she lifts Vaporeon (Who is still sleeping like a Snorlax) and sets her back on the bed after I climb out. As soon as I climb out, Sunny drags me over to a bag from a store that we went to yesterday (don’t expect me to tell you the name, they all blended together after about ten minutes) and pulls out a pair of pink bracelets. Matching.
“So, this one” she gestures to the one that has a black ring in the middle “is the one with the glamour. The other one is mine, so ponies don’t question the pink bracelet.” She explains. She then gives me mine and puts hers on. With a gulp, I slide mine onto my left forehoof.
Immediately, I get an upset stomach and a headache. Bad. I almost fall over before it goes away after about ten seconds. I open up my eyes, and proceed to see nothing but darkness for a solid minute. After my eyes adjust (which is weird when you haven’t had that happen before), I look at Sunny and say “Turn on the lights.”
“Okie Dokie Loki!” And bright light. Somewhat. Not quite full force. I walk into the bathroom and look in the mirror. A Pegasus with a storm-cloud gray coat and a messy teal mane looks back at me. My wings are pitch black and feathery, and my turquoise eyes are no longer slitted. It seems eerie, looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing somepony different. But, this seems different. I can’t place my hoof on it, but it does.
Sunny walks in, takes one look at me, and proceeds to hug me to death, claiming “YOU LOOK SOOOOOOO FLUFFY!! AND YOU FEEL FLUFFY TOO!!” Okay, so I am now “fluffy,” whatever that means. Walking out of the bathroom (with Sunny still attached to me), I see my team panicking and wailing and other overly dramatic actions. Except for Vaporeon, who is still sleeping.
“Calm down, guys! What’s the matter?” I say to them.
When you put on the bracelet, you flashed with a green light, and afterwards, you became a Pegasus. We didn’t know what happened, but it didn’t seem like a normal glamour, so we proceeded to panic. Umbreon explains.
Green flash? That seems familiar. I read it in a book once. Something about transforming and disguising. “Sunny, where did you get this?”
“It was a store called ‘Changeling Cosmetics: Your only choice for glamour and transformation products. 100% guaranteed satisfaction.” Sunny answers.
CHANGELINGS?! Son of a “Sunny, did you get a receipt?”
“Of course, that bracelet was expensive.”
“Can I see it?”
A small slip of paper appears in my hoof. I scan it up and down until I see the products bought.
Bracelet x2. 10 bits. Okay, the bracelets are in there. But where is the glamour?
Transformation Spell x1. 125 bits. Ooooohhhh dear. “Sunny. It doesn’t say glamour. It says Transformation Spell.”
A small slip of paper disappears from my hoof. Sunny scans it. Sunny looks at me. She looks at the receipt. Then me. Then the receipt. Then she falls over laughing hysterically. I (and to that point, the rest of the Pokemon) glare at Sunny, threatening a slow and painful death if she doesn’t explain this laughing fit.
“I guess that’s why it was so expensive. And why it took about an hour to do.” Sunny says after she calms down.
“Sunny, I believe we need to go back to this store and talk to the manager. I want to know if this is permanent.”
“Just take it off, silly. That should work.”
“Oh, right.” Boy, do I feel stupid. I try to slip it off. It sure is on tight. After about five minutes, it pops off. I await the upset stomach coming, but it never does. “Sunny, have I changed back?”
“No.”
“Well (expletive) me. We definitely need to visit this store.”
“It’s closed today for the fair. We’ll have to go tomorrow.”
My heart sinks. Hopefully, I can get some answers tomorrow. But today, I get to walk around in a new body, with new wings. Oh, new wings. Experimentally, I flap a few times and easily get off of the ground. It doesn’t seem all too different to fly. Fortunately.
Landing on the ground, I look at my team, and see them gaping back, with a bit of a stunned expression. “Well, I guess we have a manager to threaten tomorrow. At least I was planning on looking like a Pegasus, or I would really be doomed.”
Uuhhhhh, sure. Anyways, boss, we’ve got to get to the station soon. Sky will be leaving in about an hour. Jolteon reminds me.
Oh dear. Mom is going to be the first to see me like this. This should be interesting.
Sky Song sat at the station, looking around for her son and his new friend. That Pegasus sure seemed nice. She also seemed a bit like Flurry’s aunt Pinkie Pie. Hopefully Cloud could handle her.
She noticed the Pegasus, Sunshine Drops, walking towards her. Beside her, there was a Pegasus that seemed awfully familiar. And then she saw Umbreon riding on the new Pegasus’s back.
“Hello, Sky!!” Sunny shouted.
Well, this promised to be interesting. Mom was sitting on a bench at the station. She was the only one on the train leaving the Empire this morning. Apparently, the fair is a big deal.
Mom turns to see me and Sunny walking towards her, with Umbreon riding on my back, mostly for recognition’s sake. She smiles, and does what anypony would do when you see a friend. “Hello, Sunshine. Who’s this colt with you? And why does he have an Umbreon on his back that looks like Cloud’s?”
“One, call me Sunny. I hate hearing my whole name. Two, this is Cloud Song, your son, after a disguise went wrong. Three, that’s because it is his Umbreon.” Sunny lists.
“In my defense, the original idea was a glamour to make me look like a Pegasus. Unfortunately, due to a mix up by Sunny while we were shopping yesterday, she got a transformation spell instead of a glamour. How she managed to mix the two up, I will never know.” I add helpfully to the conversation.
Mom looks at me, then at Sunny, then back at me, then at Sunny, then proceeds to fall over, laughing hysterically. I get a strange feeling of déjà vu. After about five minutes of laughter, I tell mom, quite seriously, “This isn’t funny, Mom. I really don’t want this to be permanent.”
“For you, it isn’t. For me, it is HILARIOUS!” Sky says back. “You went to Thorax’s place, didn’t you?”
“You mean Changeling Cosmetics?” Sunny asks.
“YUP! He is a changeling who immigrated into the Crystal Empire just after Flurry Heart was born. He specializes in transformation spells and glamour, and he apparently confused the two. He was always a silly fellow.”
Okay, now I really wanted to talk to him. “Do you know where he lives, mom? I don’t want to be forced to be a Pegasus for the rest of my life if I can help it.”
“Don’t worry, Cloud. I can write out his address. For now, go enjoy the fair. It really is a great time.”
With a deadpan look at mom, I sigh and say, “Okay. Could you at least give me a note with his address? I promise not to kill him up front if he can help.”
“C’mon, Cloud. Lighten up! Stop being so serious!”
“I’m just upset and I’m frazzled and I’m a Pegasus. I don’t think this is a time to be light.”
“At least go enjoy the fair. The opening ceremony is about to start. If you hurry, you can make it.”
“FIIIINE, bye mom. See you in 3 months.”
“Bye, kiddo. You’ll see me before then. I’m coming up for Flurry Heart’s birthday. In two months.” She hops on the train, and then the train starts speeding away.
“Well, best not to disobey mom. Let’s go to the fair.”
“OKAY! LET’S FLYYYYYYY!!!” Sunny shouts (which doesn’t hurt my Pegasus ears), then takes off. I put Umbreon back into it’s Pokeball, and fly after her, surprisingly well, considering thestral wings and Pegasus wings are completely different. Oh well.
Sitting at a picnic table with Sunny and the Pokemon (including Togepi) eating lunch, I look back at the past few hours.
We had done everything. Sunny was even more hyper than before. During the carnival games, we had won three giant stuffed animals, two of them pink, and countless other smaller ones. Eventually, we stopped after the 50th stall, mostly due to me saying that Espeon couldn’t carry anymore. I will have to admit, it’s nice to not have ponies running away on sight. I might hang onto this bracelet, provided I can turn back into a thestral.
I look over at Sunny, who’s looking at the Fair schedule. Her golden mane is loosely braided, and it shines in the sunlight. Her sky-blue coat is gleaming in the sunlight, and her expression is one of (what is probably standard for her) extreme happiness. Though, who can blame her? She won all those stuffed animals by herself. I’m still questioning how she did it.
“Attention, everypony! Please converge in the central plaza for our main attraction.” A voice announces on the PA system. I look at Sunny with a look that asks what this is. She gives me a look that says banana cream pies are evil. Also, she doesn’t know.
Well, mom said to enjoy the fair, so we go towards the central plaza. Upon arrival, I see that everypony is here. I mean EVERYPONY. The plaza (which is about the size of a hoofball stadium) is crammed with ponies of all colors and species. Except thestrals. I don’t count since I’m technically a Pegasus.
At the sound of several flugelhorns, Princess Cadence, Prince Shining Armor, and Princess Flurry Heart stand on a balcony high up in on the side of the Crystal Palace. “Welcome, everypony, to the 20th Crystal Fair since our return from King Sombra’s curse. I am glad to see all of you having fun at the fair, both locals and tourists alike. Now, let the light shine in the Empire!” Cadence announces.
All of a sudden, all the crystal ponies and a few tourists kneel down, and where they touch the ground, it lights up a brilliant blue. The glowing spreads across the streets, filling up (to my best guess) the whole Empire with this energy. Then, it all starts to get sucked in toward the Crystal Heart (I know where it is. We went and saw it earlier. What kind of tourists would we be in we didn’t see the biggest attraction in the Empire), and I can hear it spinning. Without my thestral ears. That’s fast.
Then, a sphere of energy explodes from the Heart, and I see white for about a second. After that, well, I’m glad I’m not a thestral. Everypony is now sparkling much like the Crystal ponies are. The bright sunlight makes everypony’s skin reflect sunlight. I almost consider putting on sunglasses. Then, I look over at Sunny.
First, she is shining (more so than usual). Second, her loose braid has been pinned up behind her head (1). Third, her green eyes now have a bit of a crystalline effect, making her eyes look like she has crystals for eyes. All in all, not a bad look. I probably look similar, but for all the reflectiveness around me, I don’t have a mirror.
Then I see her smile. Far and away the biggest I’ve seen since I’ve known her (which, in all honesty, is still less than 24 hours). This can’t be good.
“THIS IS SO AWESOME I DON’T WANT THIS TO END THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER YIPPIE WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” She proceeds to yell. If she noticed the alarmed looks, she didn’t care. Then she grabs me and drags me back to the carnival, to make the prize game workers regret everything.
That night, Sunny and I arrive at the dorms, with an absolutely massive pile of prizes floating behind us thanks to Espeon. I collapse into my bed after letting out the team. “Wow. That was quite a day.”
“Quite a fun day, but exhausting.” Sunny says back. Wait, she’s exhausted? How?
“Very exhausting.”
Speak for yourselves, I had to carry everything. Espeon pipes up.
“Yeah, but you didn’t physically carry it.” I retort.
It’s just as hard.
“Sure it is.”
“I hate it when you are having a conversation and I can only hear half of it.” Sunny points out.
“They make charms for it. Even more expensive than the bracelet you got me, but they exist.”
“Oh, well, dang it.” Sunny complains.
For the next half hour, we just lay there, taking it all in. “Cloud?”
“Yeah?”
“What are you going to do after school? I mean once we graduate?”
“Compete. That’s the one thing I’ve always wanted to do.”
“Are you going to travel around Equestria?”
“On hoof.”
“Could I come with you?”
Wat? “You sure?”
“I literally have nothing better. It’s either go back home to my family that can’t stop fighting, or run away and journey by myself, which is the more tempting of the two.” Sunny explains.
Her family must be worse than I originally thought. “Sure, if you think that you can handle being with me for the next few years.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, I can’t think of anything I would rather do.”
“Is your family really that bad?”
She glances at me, and sighs. “Mom is a member of military, Dad is a part of the weather factory, and they both work long hours and get very little out of it. They get so angry that when they come home, they almost immediately argue. Who is going to make dinner, who washes the dishes, who picks the radio station, all trivial stuff. For a while, I was used to it. However, after meeting Pinkie Pie, I knew that they weren’t really a model family. I could count on one hoof the times they’ve said ‘I love you’ in the past year. I’ve always wanted to get away from them. They don’t love me. And if they do, they did a terrible job getting the message across.”
“Yeesh. I’m glad I just have a mother in the guard, and her subordinates who treat me like family. I’ve never doubted that Sky loves me. She has always been supportive of whatever I do. Still, for what it’s worth, your family are a bunch of (expletive)s.”
“I’ve used stronger language than that. Where did you learn to curse?”
“The guards, when they are messing with each other.”
“I could teach them a word or two. Would your mom approve?”
“No.”
“Dang it.”
I don’t know what I was thinking, but I walk over to her bed and climb in with her. “Need a hug?”
“Always.”
I scoop her into my hooves, and say reassuringly, “Don’t worry. You can stay with me as long as you want.”
“Thanks, Cloud.”
“Your welcome, Sunny.”