//------------------------------// // Chapter I: Life // Story: Nocturnal Mayhem // by Silvak //------------------------------// Death. Some folk normally fear it, while others embraced it after living a worthy life. Me? I didn't get a chance to figure it out, since you can't choose to embrace death when you have someone punch a hole in your chest where your heart was. But that's what you get when you decide to take on a cosmic evil in order to save untold lives, at least I was able to watch my foe disintegrate into dust after I shoved a sword into their face. Yet, one would think that taking out a cosmic evil would mark my name in the history books. One would think that, except for the fact that the only witnesses of said feat were my fellow guardians of the cosmos, who were a bunch of pricks. We only worked together cause we have a duty to preserve the natural balance of the dimensions, but otherwise, we can't stand each others' guts. So odds are they're taking all the credit for my 'heroics', while I end up being forgotten. Still, I got the job done and save at least a few lives from a horrible death, so I guess my death was worth it in the end... Except the afterlife was just darkness. Pure, absolute, darkness. At least I have my thou—and something is poking me in the nose. Great, I'm going to that afterlife. Just pea— "I don't think you should be doing that," said a feminine voice breaking me out of my mental rant since I wasn't expecting company. "I was just checking to make sure she's alive," replied a male voice. Wait, she? "Idiot, you can tell by just seeing her wither's rising up and down," said the first voice. Huh, guess I might not be dead after all. One doesn't normally expect their gender to change when they die... unless it's a great fear or desire for them, which isn't either case for me. "Oh... then I wonder how long it will take Dusk to get back with the princess, cause I have no idea what to do with a napping alicorn filly," said the second voice as I decided to finally try moving my body about, only to find it has changed. Thankfully this change is only the third one to happen to me, and odds are this isn't worse than my first one. "Well, not poking her in the nose with the blunt end of your spear would be a good start," the first voice said, as I decided to crack open my eyes, only to spot two rather small horses that were looming over me, both bearing gray coats and some kind of purple armor and... bat wings. "Um... I think she's waking up," said the horse from the right, who had a bit more of a bulkier build, which along with the voice meant he was a male. "Great, you had to wake her up!" the other one, who I assume to be the female, shot back while giving the stallion a glare. Ignoring their squabbling for a bit, I darted my eyes about, taking in the scenery, which seemed to be some kind of garden in some mansion or palace, judging by the rather decorated walls surrounding us, with a night sky overhead. After getting enough of my surroundings, I looked down at myself, or specifically my forelimbs, which appeared to be two dark blue stumps before me. Twisting them around, and then glancing at the bickering horses in front of me, I note that I was the same species as them, or possibly a subspecies as I turned my head about to see that I had a pair of feathered wings twitching at my sides, along with a dark purple tail coming out of my rump. "Great... I'm a small... or tiny blue horse," I muttered out loud, noting the feminine tone of my voice as I let out a sigh. Still, better than the first transformation, I thought to myself as I got onto my fe—hooves. Glancing at the two horses that were apparently lost in their argument, I shrugged as I started to walk to the nearest door, albeit slow at first. Upon reaching the door, I could only frown as I saw that the knob was a doorknob that was high above my head. While I was certain that I could jump up to its level, I doubt that I could hang off it and open the door at the same time. My wings fluttered at my frustration, causing me to glance at them. At first, I thought that I could try flying with them, before disregarding the idea since I never flew before, besides the various bizarre shenanigans I been though. One would think that after being sent to several worlds to take on eldritch horrors, one would find some kind of means to achieve flight, yet that never happened to me. Even my colleagues teased that to me, especially the ones that could fly. "Hey! What are you doing?" said the feminine horse, drawing my attention back towards them as the trotted over to me. "Umm... Grace? Aren't we supposed to be respectful to royalty?" asked the male one, causing 'Grace' to give him a deadpanned look. "Shade, until the princesses declare this filly to be royalty, I'm going to treat her as an intruder," Grace countered, as I raised an eyebrow at Shade's statement. Grace then returned her attention to me as she ordered, "You, stay here and don't move." "Okay, but what is this business about me being royalty?" I asked, my curiosity perked at what Shade stated. Raising an eyebrow, Shade leaned his head close to Grace as he whispered, "Oh great, she's going to be like the last one." Rolling her eyes, Grace muttered back, "What next, we're going to have a pink baby alicorn?" "You two do realize that I can still hear you, right?" I stated, giving both of them a flat stare as they blushed at my statement till Grace shook her head clear of it. "Look, you lit—" Grace started to say until the door slammed open, the one that I so happened to be in front of, which lead to the obvious result of me being sent flying. "This is not a good sign," I said to myself as I saw the world fly past me, until I landed in a bush. "Where is this foal that I was told of!" shouted a new voice, one that was also feminine. "Princess Luna!" shouted the two guards in unison, as I blew a leaf out of my face. "Guards, weren't you suppose to watch over the filly?" Luna asked. "Well... we were... but she then woke up and went over to the door..." Shade answered, causing Luna to let out a gasp as realization stuck her. "By Faust! Where has the filly go—there she is!" Luna screamed, making me wonder if she's naturally loud, until I felt some kind of energy engulfing around me before pulling me out of the bush. Before I could move my head to see who this Luna was, my face immediately impacted someone's furry chest as I felt who I now assumed to be Luna giving me a hug as she shook me about while squealing like a little girl. Wiggling my head free from her embrace, I looked up to see that Luna was also a horse, but of a larger size compared to the other two, covered in blue fur with black silver regalia, with the exception of the black tiara right behind her horn, on top of her mane which was... moving about like the wind was blowing and seemed to have stars in it. "Hey, didn't Celestia's colt had a similar reaction to her?" Shade muttered to Grace. Before Grace could even say a response, I stated, "Still can hear you two," as I turned my head to look at them, embrassment clear on Shade's face. It's a good thing that for most species, facial expressions tend to be similar, with the exceptions belonging to those of radically different body design. Clearing her throat, Grace stepped forward as she said, "Princess? I know that you've been desiring a foal of your own, espically since your sister now has one, but aren't you forgetting something?" This caused Luna to freeze, her blue pupils shrinking a bit before she jerked her head down to look at me. "Young one, are you lost? Are your parents looking for you?" Frowning at the choice of questions, I simply said, "I would be surprised if they were, considering that they're six feet under." This resulted in everyone giving me a confused look, causing me to sigh at my failed attempt of dark humor as I answered, "No, cause I don't have parents." Pupils widening as sorrow filled everyone's eyes, Luna asked, "Do... you have any kin looking for you? Or friends?" My frown deepening, I replied, "No? I'm all alone? Why are you asking me these questions?" Personally, I find this to be an unexpected turn of events. I was thinking that I would simply get an earful and then tossed out of the place, not to be suddenly hugged by a princess. At my answer, everyone's eyes started to water from sadness, which only caused me to just give them a confused stare. Sure, I have no one, but I don't expect absolute strangers to pity me, given the fact that I'm currently an intruder. However, my train of thought was cut off when Luna tightened her embraced around me, even moving onto nuzzling my cheek as she said, "Do not worry, little one. You won't be alone anymore, I will take care of you now." "Princess? I think you're still ski—" Shade started to say before Grace stuck a hoof into his mouth. "Just let her have this moment," Grace hissed at him, as Luna continued to nuzzle me, much to my annoyance. Putting a hoof on her cheek, I stopped her nuzzling for a moment as I said, "Now wait a minute, what is going on here? And who are you people?" The two horses that I assumed to be some sort of guards look at each other before letting out a sigh, as Luna looked at me with a look of apprehension, answering, "I am Princess Luna, and these two are Graceful Wind and Shadow Wing, two of my personal guard. Young one, do you know where you are?" Receiving a shake of my head, she then pressed on, "Filly, could you give us your name?" Eyeing the whole lot of them, I bit on the inside of my lip as I remembered the policies of my little group, the Dimensional Lords: Keep your yap shut when around primitive cultures. Unless you're planning to take over, then go have fun. Based on naming conventions, my real name would only raise undesired questions, so I quickly thought to myself before noticing the stars in Luna's mane again, causing an idea to spark. "My name is Nebula." Humming to herself, Luna stated, "A fitting name for an alicorn," which caused me to quirk an eyebrow in confusion before I spotted the two outstretched wings on her back. This prompted me to look at my forehead, where I saw that I too had a horn jutting out of it. This caused me to put two and two together, explaining why the two guards were assuming royalty. However, before I could get another word out, Luna then continued, "Young Nebula, under the current circumstances presented before us, and the highly unlikely event that you simply escaped from an orphanage, I, Princess Luna, will be taking guardianship of you for the time being." That only caused me to pale a bit at the implications of that statement. Oh fuck me, now not only I'm suddenly royalty, but I now have a princess as my guardian! my mind shrieked to myself. Normally, people would find this odd when someone finds themselves placed in a position of power and privilege have a thought like that, except for one simple fact: I hate politics, with a passion.