A throbbing, pulsing headache was the first thing to greet Twilight as she returned to consciousness. One side of her body was cold and a little numb from the hard stone she was laying on. She tried to groan, and the strained croak that emerged belied her sore throat. Slowly, things began to register with her other senses; she could pick out the vague shapes of rocks and ash in the half-light, and some big, purple blur dancing around in the middle of her field of view. It seemed to muffle some indiscernible noises. She raised an eyebrow.
"... huh?" She blinked, trying to clear her vision some more.
"...ght! Twilight!" As soon as she could pick out the words, everything snapped into focus. Spike was jumping up and down in front of her face, trying to get her attention. They were still in the underground hall. The only light came from a burning torch mounted on the wall.
"Ah! Spike!" She clumsily pushed herself up from the ground to sit.
"Twilight! You're okay!"
"What... what happened? The last I remember was the lights... and the sword..."
"As soon as the ritual started, you guys all blacked out! I was so worried!"
"Hm. That's odd... everyone except you?" She asked. Spike nodded. "Hmm... that's real weird..."
"Y'know what else is real weird? I... think you should get a look at yourself." He blushed a little, grabbing his tail and twisting it in his claws.
"Huh? Uhm... okay." Twilight closed her eyes, and tried her best to dispel the headache. Let's see, mirror spell, mirror spell... With just a soft twinkling, she summoned a small, ethereal window, through which she could see an exact mirror image of herself. Huh. Everything seems normal. Horn's the same size, I'm still the same colour, mane hasn't changed, there's my face... hah, I could really use a wash... arms are still there... She blinked again, and performed a double take at the image. Wait a second. Arms? She lifted the appendages that used to be her front legs, to find them rotating in a way completely alien to her. Her proprioception went wild, and she fell over backwards with a squeak. The mirror dissipated, and she awkwardly pulled herself back up to a sitting position. "When... when did this happen?" She gibbered, examining her new body intently.
"While you were out, this weird light appeared, so I couldn't see what was going on, and then when the light went away, well..."
"Then... it worked..." She started to pant a little. "It... actually worked..."
"Uh... what worked?" Spike tilted his head.
"It worked!" Shouting joyously, Twilight leapt into the air, jumping to her hooves and pumping a fist up high.
"And I thought I was short before..." Spike muttered. Only then did Twilight notice that she was in fact, standing up straight, on two hooves. Spike stood up to about her knees. She wobbled a little, but it didn't take her long to adjust.
"This must be what the ancient ponies looked like!" She grinned and examined the form of her body more closely. Her pelvic structure was radically different, with a much wider range of movement at the hip. Her torso was much flatter than before; her ribcage was shallow enough that she could see the tips of her hind hooves without craning her neck forward. Two squishy mounds on her chest framed the view, each one about the size of a large apple; she had no idea what those were for. The appendages that replaced her front legs were longer, slenderer, and tapered into these unusual structures - looking something like Spike's claws, but chunkier, fleshier... like bony spiders. She rolled the fingers in her palm, flexing each one individually. "And these must be the 'hands' the story was talking about!" She chuckled, experimentally touching her opposed thumb to the tips of each finger.
"You still haven't told me what 'worked', Twilight!"
"Oh! The ritual, of course! The book said that if it was powerful enough, it should remove the magic of the target! The curse is lifted! Equestria is free!" She couldn't help but bounce excitedly. However, now that she was awake and standing, she was now fully aware of another fact. "... I'm cold." She clamped her arms to her chest and shivered.
"Agh, Twilight, you big wuss..." A voice muttered from the floor. Twilight looked around the hall for the first time. Everypony else was still unconscious, and more importantly, appeared to show the same bodily changes that she did. One of the figures was stirring and pushing herself up from the floor.
"Rainbow Dash? Are you okay?"
"A little woozy, but nothUAH!" As soon as Dash opened her eyes and caught a glimpse of Twilight, she jumped in fright, scrambling upright. In the flurry of movement, she noticed the new configuration of her own body, and squeaked again. "Ah! What... what happened?"
"Aha. That would be an effect of the ritual." Twilight smiled. Dash looked at her, slack-jawed. "It wiped away all traces of Celestia's magic, so, everything's back to the way it was before." Dash continued to stare, her wings rising a little. They were slightly larger than before; though Twilight couldn't see the full wingspan, the carpal joint peaked at Dash's neck, and the tip extended to her thigh. "Rainbow, are you..."
"Oh! I, uh, uhm... no!" The pegasus blushed, and shimmied away, forcibly tucking her wings back down. She flailed her arms a little, and then pressed them to her body in an odd fashion; one across her chest, along the 'squishy mounds' Twilight had observed earlier, and the other between her legs. She was blushing fiercely.
"Why are you..."
"Nothing!" Dash yelped. Twilight raised an eyebrow. Perplexed, she examined her own body again to see just what Rainbow Dash was hidi-
"... oh." Twilight gulped, and began to blush also. "Well, Rarity should do pretty well out of this..."
Over the next few minutes, everypony started to wake up, each one swiftly adjusting to their bipedal habit. Each, except one.
Derpy Hooves took it well mentally; she wasn't startled when she saw the alien forms everypony had taken, and she was more than eager to try her hand at it. However, when she struggled on to her hooves, she took a few wobbly steps forward, and promptly fell. She would have fallen flat on her face if Applejack hadn't caught her. Physically, she was in the same boat as everyone else: front legs replaced with arms and hands, bone structures shifted around so that her body could stably stand upright. But something was missing.
"Eah!" She yelped as she tumbled to the ground for the third time, scuffing her shoulder.
"Hmm... something's not right here." Twilight rubbed her chin.
"You're telling me..." Derpy grunted.
"You're probably having trouble getting to grips with your new legs. Can you still fly?"
"Let me check..." The mailmare winced as she flapped her wings out, preparing to hit the ground again. To her relief, she hovered in mid-air, wings beating away. "... yes!"
"Makes sense, the wings didn't change that much..." She started to pace, deep in thought. Some kind of muscle memory issue... Her train of thought was interrupted by a rapid whoosh. Rainbow Dash was idly twirling her spear around in her hand. Twilight shook her head and tried to concentrate. Hmm... could something have gone wrong? Maybe the glass eye threw something off... Whoosh. "Rainbow Dash will you quit it? I'm trying to thi-" In the middle of her sentence, watching Dash dexterously rotate the spear shaft on her fingers, an idea struck. "... where did you learn to do that?"
"I dunno." Dash shrugged. "I just..." She clamped the shaft in her hand, stopping it. "... know."
"That's... really strange..." I wonder... "Rose!" She called out, not facing any direction in particular. Applejack perked an ear up and looked over to Twilight. When she realised that the random word had caught her attention, she blinked.
"... now why did ah just do that..." She scratched her head. Aha! Twilight smiled.
"I think I've got it!"
"So, should we be taking notes, or..." Rarity said. Twilight just waved it off.
"Part of the curse had to do with memory. When Celestia cursed everypony to live on four legs, she also removed their memory of their lives before. So now that she and the curse are gone, so is the memory loss. But, we're the only ponies alive today who have any memories from before the curse!"
"Which is why I can do this?" Dash tossed the spear into the air, letting it twirl and spin chaotically, before catching it on a finger.
"Right. And why on a subconscious level we're answering to our old names. Isn't that right, Bree?" Twilight made a point to look at the floor while saying the last part.
"Huh?" Trixie, shivering by the wall out of cold and fear, looked up as if called. "... dammit."
"So what I think is happening is that while we all remember how to walk, Derpy here..." She motioned to the hovering pegasus. "... doesn't." Derpy frowned. "Don't worry, I'm sure it'll come pretty quickly to you, you just need... a little practice."
"Okay then. What now?" Rarity folded her arms.
"Well... I suppose we might as well take a look at Luna." Twilight sighed. Applejack, being nearest to the torch, picked it up and handed it over so Twilight could inspect the lifeless body.
Judging by how clotted and congealed the blood was, they had been out for a couple of hours, at least. Luna's form hadn't changed with theirs; she was still quadrupedal, her front legs terminating in flat hooves. Guess it doesn't apply to the dead, then. She noticed that all her jewellery was gone, but it didn't take her long to find it; the navy blue crown sparkled in the torchlight.
"Her... her last words..." Trixie sniffed. "They were, 'cry not for me... this is the least I could do'."
Twilight wiped some of the blood from Luna's face. She was ice-cold to the touch. Applejack removed her hat. Nopony cried - there was only the reverent silence.
A minute or so later, the cold became a little too much. Twilight shivered, breaking the silence. She took the crown, the neck ornament and the horseshoes, retrieved her saddlebags, and placed them carefully inside. When she was tucking away the last horseshoe, she noticed the book, set neatly aside with the other treasures. It was the same one Luna was reading when they arrived, and quite probably the one she was reading yesterday. The cover was unmarked. She looked it over for another moment, before sliding it into the bag too.
She picked up the saddlebag, and it hung awkwardly over her shoulder. We might need to invent a new kind of bag.
"Let's go."
Ughhh... mah head... A young earth pony stirred awake. Ah wonder if the other crusaders are up yet.
"Gphh?" She went to speak, only to find her jaw immobile, and she could taste a rough, bitter piece of cloth in her mouth. She panicked. She tried to open her eyes, but there was another piece of cloth tied around her face. Coarse ropes dug at her front fetlocks (which felt oddly different, though she couldn't put a hoof on why), and any kind of struggling she attempted merely resulted in a half inch shift along the cold dirt.
"Kobal!" A grainy, female voice called. She could hear something next to them scuffle on the ground, and an equally gravelly male voice respond attentively;
"Yes, captain?"
"Have they changed in the night?"
"About three hours ago."
"Awesome. Prepare the horde to attack at dawn."
"Yes, captain!"
In a hotel room, a pegasus brooded over an old diary, flipping pages between her fingers.
Thump, thump, thump.
"It's unlocked." She responded to the banging on her door.
Crash.
The door flew clean off its hinges, and skidded across the floor. Another pegasus stood in the doorway, leaning on the doorframe, holding a pillow over his crotch.
"Spitfire!"
"That might have been a little unnecessary, Soarin."
"What's going on? I've had hangovers, but not like this."
"It's simple." Spitfire chuckled, pushing herself up from the bed. Her step was still a little unstable, but she used her wings to help keep balance. She was wearing the bottom half of her flight suit, the sleeves of the top half tied around her waist, and a short-sleeved white shirt. Originally it was close-fitting, but now it was quite baggy, and only reached her navel. She snapped the book closed. "I was right."
"What? About that old mare's tale?" Soarin raised an eyebrow.
"Have you got a better explanation?" Spitfire smirked. Soarin snorted and paused.
"Alright. Let's go with that. What do we do?"
"Are any of the others up?"
"Nope."
"Don't bother waking them. We don't have time."
"Uhm..."
"Suit up and head out. Somepony out there needs all the help she can get."
"The flight suits? Seriously?"
"Unless you plan to fly with that pillow between your legs, I suggest you at least try to squeeze into it. I doubt the citizens of Canterlot want to wake up to see, well, that." Spitfire chuckled, and pulled her goggles onto her forehead. Soarin glared, and stumbled away down the hall. It has to be her. It's got to be something to do with her. She pulled her spare goggles from the floor, where they'd been discarded the previous night, and stuffed them in the side of her flight suit, where the spandex held them securely to her hip. I just hope she's ready.
Most of the ponies they passed on the way up were unconscious; either servants sleeping in their beds, or royal guards, collapsed on duty. And with good reason, too - the first window they saw told them it was still dark outside.
"So Twilight, what was your plan for explaining all this to the general public again?" Rarity quipped.
"I'm... kinda making this up as I go along." Twilight chuckled nervously.
"Speaking of making things up as we go along, think we can get some clothes?" Rainbow Dash chimed in.
"What's wrong? Ya cold?" Applejack thumped her shoulder in jest.
"Now, now, children, if you'll hush up for a moment..." Rarity tittered, and entered an empty bedroom, walking up to the curtain. In mere seconds, she'd levitated it from its railings, cut it up, folded the pieces around each other, magically stitched some of the fragments together, and changed the colour of some parts of it. The process was obscured by the flurry of cloth waving around in the air, but the result soon made itself clear; an elegant - if hastily made - white dress, sleeveless and ankle-length, with an indigo band around the bottom of the skirt. To top it off, she did a little flourish, smiling with satisfaction at her work. It wasn't the best-made dress, and the stitching probably wouldn't last too long, but it would certainly suffice.
"Uhm... you couldn't think of anythin' more, uh... practical?" Applejack raised a brow.
"What's wrong, Applejack? Afraid of being made to wear nice clothes?" Rarity chuckled.
"Actually, she has a point." Twilight interrupted. "We're probably going to have to walk home in these. Think more hiking wear than Gala dresses."
"Fine..." Rarity sighed. With another wild flurry of fabric whipping around, she transformed her improvised evening dress into a thicker, thigh-length winter coat, and used the remains to craft some knee-length shorts. "Better?"
"Much better."
Boom. "What was..." Boom. "...that?" The low, thundering sound continued at regular intervals. Rarity opened the window to get a look outside. The first light of the coming dawn was just about visible around the mountainside to the right, but the source of the sound was still obscured by the darkness. It was definitely coming from outside; as soon as the window was open, the sound became crystal clear. Boom. Drums. Boom. Many, large drums, all pounding in unison. Boom. War drums.
Rainbow Dash lunged towards the window, and as she went, she yanked the sheet off the bed and pulled a cord from the remaining curtain.
"I don't know, but it sounds like a problem!" She yelled, and she leaped out of the open window with her loot.