//------------------------------// // Chapter I: Blue Among Skies, Sky Among Blues // Story: Cutie Mark Confusion // by Sky Blue CMC //------------------------------// It's been centuries since I've been in Cloudsdale, and I have finally been adopted! The family in question, the Blues, said that they didn't care that I wasn't really a pony, and that they loved me for the real me. It took longer than I expected, and you wouldn't believe the excuses I had to come up with for other prospective parents as for why a centuries-old pony who looked like a filly was in an orphanage in Cloudsdale. Once I said that Starswirl cast an agelessness spell... and another time I said that I was a host for Antasma... which was more of a half-truth than a lie: I, as Chrysalis's sister, and former Princess of the Changeling Hive, was visited by Nightmare Moon every night for centuries... and the spirit that turned Luna into Nightmare Moon was Antasma. Still, being a visitee and being a host are not exactly the same thing. And yet another time, I said that I made a deal with Discord to become immortal... while that was one result of the deal I had made with him, the purpose of it was to become well-loved... and it took a few centuries for Discord's end to pay me back for what I gave him: The heart of Chrysalis... metaphorically and literally speaking, seeing as how she's literally heartless now. Only a couple of ponies who knew what I really was actually loved me for who I was, meaning that the ring was a slow acting artifact, and I had to be patient. Among those ponies were two very close friends of mine: Hazel Bell and Big Red. Hazel was adopted by Sapphire Swirl, and so Big Red and I were for the most part alone together... he was cute, but we were totally just friends. He told me he was gay, but I think he was lying just to see if I liked him... if I would "go for" him, I'd be upset at him being uninterested in me, but I'm just a friend to him, as is he to me. Even though I was adopted and he wasn't, I'm sure he and I can still be friends. I'm glad the Blues take me for what I am, but I'm afraid I might have to erase their memories... or at least Midnight's. She's not exactly a fan of the Changelings, since they were responsible for the invention of Cyberponies, which killed her mother by order of their leader, Hate Seed. Vivian might be allowed to remember who I am, since she didn't witness her mother's death and harbours no resentment against my kind. Also, Vivian and I bond very well, almost as if we were actual sisters by blood. I'm so happy I'm able to be their adopted sister... and that they know how it feels to be an orphan like me. I feel sorry for Big Red... nopony will adopt him because he's an earth pony with spider-like webs coming out of his hooves... almost as if he were the real-life version of Spidermane. I hope he will find somepony who loves and accepts him... either before or after he gets kicked out of the orphanage. I hope he finds somepony who cares about him like I do. And if he really is gay, I hope he finds the perfect guy for him. If he's straight, and I think I told him this before, he probably is, I'm not the one for him... I'm too young and nothing to obsess over. What could he possibly see in me? That's not important... I'm going to my new home tomorrow, and I want to get some rest... maybe my sisters can help me sort out my feelings about this new concept of love. I hope they can, anyways. I think I should probably close this diary before any of my friends see this page... goodnight, my book-friend! That night I had my first dream since I made my deal with Discord. In it, he was there, in his draconequus form, floating above a patch of daisies made out of vanilla frosting. He was sitting on a cloud made of cotton candy, and drinking a glass of chocolate milk while leaving the milk part intact. He slurped up the glass and said "Thank you so much, Princess!" sarcastically to me and I knew what was wrong: Chrysalis left him and told him to never come back. "I'm sorry, Discord..." Was all I could say to him... but then I said something else anyway. "...but I'm not apologizing!" He deserved a lack of apology from me... all I did was give him what he wanted... it was my ex-sister who dumped him... but kept her crown anyway. I knew that this was no ordinary dream... it was a vision of the past, present, or future... what I didn't know was which of the three it was... and I'm not so sure I wanted to know. As soon as I realised my "dream" was real, it ended... kinda like a lucid dream: to novice lucid dreamers, it ends when you realise that it's a dream... but to advanced lucid dreamers, it becomes more real when you realise it's a dream. I suppose my dream would have continued if I had more experience with lucid dreaming... but I don't know. When I woke up the following day, I realised that I was carried to my new home in my sleep. I had my journal in hoof, still open to the page I was writing in the night before, but closed flat on my belly so it was illegible to my sisters. "Haylo." I said groggily to them, the ponies who had taken me in. "What time is it?" "Seven..." Midnight answered. "...In the evening." she added just to clarify, as if I couldn't tell due to the absence of a sun on the eastern horizon. "You slept through your whole first day with us. I carried you over here, to your new home. Vivian would have helped, but she's too young. She really wanted to... she said she really connected with you at the orphanage." "The whole day?" I asked. "That can't be right... I had a very short dream, and I thought I woke up right afterward." "Dreams happen at different rates than they're observed at, Sister Sky." Vivian said... for a foal-aged filly, she was quite intuitive. "My imaginary friend Lulu told me that." "Imaginary, huh?" I asked. "Did this Lulu have big wings and a sparkly dark crown?" Vivian nodded. "She had big beautiful white wings, a shimmering sunset-golden mane, and an ebony crown that glimmers in the starlight." "Not the pony I was thinking of." I told Vivian. "I thought you meant Luna, Princess of the Night. I call her Lulu too sometimes... but she calls herself Nightmare Moon... and probably will continue calling herself that until the Elements of Harmony are retrieved and used on her to remove her dark powers. Who's this other Lulu you mentioned? Your imaginary friend? Is she an alicorn?" Vivian shook her head no. "She's a pegasus... but her sister is a unicorn. Her name is Lucilia, but I call her Lulu for short." Vivian paused a moment before telling me the next thing. "She said she wanted to speak with you alone in the Dreamscape... maybe you should stay up tonight so you'll be tired for tomorrow night. OK?" With that I agreed to go to my bed and get some time to myself.