//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Unexpected Aftermath // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 3 ___________________________________________________________ I groan as conciseness returns to me. Fuck, that was a bad dream. Switching bodies with Cozy Glow right before she was supposed be zapped by the Rainbow Laser? The fuck was my brain doing to come up with that shit. Ugh. I feel sluggish. Am I sick? Slowly, I open my eyes to see a ceiling that is definitely not the one from my new bedroom. I deadpan. It wasn’t a dream, was it? Having to put in a lot more effort than I know I should have to, I turn my head to my left to see a room built within what I think is a tree. It seems relatively new though, as if it was made not too long ago. I blink with confusion as the wall seems to open up, before my lagging brain realizes it’s a door. Pear Butter walks through it, carrying a tray with what looks like a towel and bowl of water on her back. She notices me, but, instead of the warmth I’ve gotten used to in our short time together, she’s wearing an uncertain expression. She walks over and uses her mouth to set the tray down on the bedside table near my head. Reaching forward, she takes a towel I hadn’t noticed was resting on my forehead and places it on the tray, taking the other towel, dipping it in the water, rinsing it out and then placing it on my head. Once she’s done, she sits back and just stares at me. Silence is all there is in the room, as if she’s waiting for me to say something… but what, I haven’t the foggiest, not at all helped by this throbbing headache and grogginess. “So,” she says after what feels like hours, “how’re ya doin’… Tempo?” I blink slowly. “Is… is that a short word for temperature?” I ask, closing my eyes, finding it hard to keep them open. “Cause, my head does feel less hot, but it’s throbbing like mad. Is this some Alicorn thing?” My eyes open. They would’ve shot open if I weren’t so drained. “Crap. Not good. When Twilight got sick as an Alicorn it caused all kinds of crazy things. Hope I’m not gonna need a cure that turns me into a baby as a side effect. Getting used to this body is hard enough.” She doesn’t answer at first, just stares at me, before closing her eyes. “Ah wan’ ya t’ be truly honest with me. Are ya Tempo?” I lazily slump my head to the side so I’m looking at her, my eyes unfocused. “Does that word have some meaning here in Equestria that it doesn’t on Earth? I don’t get what you mean.” Her expression firms a little. “Are you really Tempo and changed yer name t’ Cozy Glow an’ have been lying t’ me an’ mah husband this whole time?” I blink, her words slowly making their way through my head. “Cozy Glow… wasn’t her real name?” I blink again, before giving a small, dark chuckle. “Makes sense even her name wasn’t real. So, I get saddled with this body and didn’t even know its original owner’s real name? Typical.” Pear Butter doesn’t respond, before closing her eyes. “If’n ya were lyin’, in yer current state, ya wouldn’t be able t’ keep it up like this.” She leans forward and nuzzles my head. “This is so unfair on ya.” I want to answer her, to understand just what she’s talking about, but my brain is way too fuzzy right now. “I’m going to see her!” a loud male voice says. “Pa, wait. She’s sick an’… wait!” says another voice, this one sounding much younger. The door to the room opens and a tall, stockily stallion walks in. He has a brown coat and grey mane and tail. He’s wearing some kind of overalls. It takes a second for me to notice the wings at his side. A Pegasus? In the swamp? I am so confused, and being sick is not helping that. The stallion walks up to the bed, Pear Butter standing, looking defensive. “Sorry,” Bright Mac’s voice is followed by him coming in the room too. “He was fast. Ah tried t’ stop him, but…” The Pegasus stallion looks me over, giving me a searching gaze with his… I’m gonna say turquoise eyes. He lifts the covers of the bed I’m lying in, seeming to be looking at my Cutie Mark, before lowering the covers and looking to my face. “Why’d ya leave, Tempo? Was it really that bad, living with us? Ah know we ain’t yer parents, but… we’re family, ain’t we?” I blink, having to process his words slowly. Tempo. There’s that word again. “Pa, they said she doesn’t remember us,” the second voice I’d been unable to recognize says as a filly Pegasus who looks a lot like the stallion flies in, though her mane and tail are turquoise, like her eyes and… in a very familiar style. I blink slowly and try to speak, my voice coming out raspy. “Are you…? Are you Cozy Glow’s sister?” The filly pauses, inches from the bed, before a sad look comes over her face as she lands, closing the gap between her and the bed on hoof. “Ya really don’t remember me, do ya?” I slowly shake my head. “Cozy isn’t in right now. She’s off messing around in my own body, leaving me in hers.” “This is gonna take some explainin’,” Pear Butter sighs, taking a seat on the floor next to me. And so, it’s explained to me. Cozy Glow’s real name was Tempo, a term used in chess that effectively means that the opponent has been forced to waste one or more moves. Thinking over Cozy’s plan back in season 8 and what I saw of her in season 9, that definitely fits her. She’d originally had a family, but her parents had been eaten by a beast in the swamp, nopony is clear on exactly what, but their remains had been found. Cozy had been moved to live in with her Aunt Dressage and Uncle Canter, who had a filly of their own who was older than Tempo by a few years, Spur. After her parents deaths, she’d become reserved around her family and didn’t talk much. Then, one day, she’d just left. Her family had spent weeks searching the bayou for her, before eventually giving up, assuming she’d either gotten lost or fallen prey to something similar to her parents. “T’ think, you’d been hanging in Ponyville all that time,” the stallion says, shaking his head. “She ain’t yer niece,” Pear Butter says defensively, moving to stand between me and the stallion. “Yer niece wen’ an’ switched bodies with the poor soul stuck in her body now. Ya can’t go talkin’ t’ her like she’s that filly. She ain’t.” The stallion blinks, before frowning, opening his mouth, then closing it, seeming to think it over. “Well… if she ain’t Tempo, who is she?” Spur asks, looking genuinely confused. “I’m…” I groan. I am in no condition for an interrogation right now. “I’m someone from another world. Your cousin switched bodies with me to escape justice for her crimes… whatever the most recent ones were, anyway.” “And what evidence do you have of these crimes?” Canter demands, glaring at me. “And why exactly should I believe you aren’t Tempo pretending to be somepony else inside Tempo’s body? You were always good at making up tales, but that one is a bit of a stretch, don’t you think?” “Ah can tell she’s tellin’ the truth!” Bright Mac moves to stand by his wife. “We Apples have a knack fer seeing the truth.” “Cousin. Good t’ have ya back,” a voice I vaguely recognize says from outside the room. Is that… Cattail? Why would he…? My eyes slowly widen. Wait. We’re not in Hayseed Swamp, are we? As in, where Mage Meadowbrook lives after being freed from limbo? I’m pretty sure I spotted her among the ponies and other creatures when I arrived here. If she sees me… Oh, crap, crap, crap. CRAP! I try to get up, but despite the fear racing through my body, it’s still too tired. Why’d I have to get sick? Why? “... hopin’ ya could check on this little filly. Two ponies brought her int’ town last night. The medicine I gave her seems t’ be helpin’, but I think ya’d be better equipped t’ cure her,” Cattail’s voice gets closer and I realize who he must be talking to. Crap! Whelp, guess I won’t be getting to go home after all. No way is Meadowbrook gonna let me go after whatever it is Cozy, Tempo, whatever her name is, did to her and the other Pillars. The door opens and the pudgy orange stallion plods in, followed by the blue mare wearing her Healer’s Mask atop her head. She looks around, takes one look at me and freezes in place. “I’m not… I’m not Cozy Glow—” I try getting up quickly, wanting to clear my name as fast as possible, but this proves a bad idea, one my body does not approve of and I burst into a coughing fit. After about thirty seconds, my coughing fit dies down, by which time, the mare has come closer and is looking me over with a scrutinizing gaze. “Ah’m willin’ t’ vouch fer her,” Pear Butter says, standing closer to me. “She may be in the body o’ that Cozy Glow, but she ain’t her.” “Well, you’ll have to forgive my skepticism,” she says, lifting the covers and indicating to my wings and the Cutie Mark. “But there ain’t too many filly Alicorns, let alone ones with that chess piece for a Cutie Mark.” “Ain’t there any way you can prove it?” Canter asks, looking skeptical now himself. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.” Meadowbrook gives me a firm look, before her frown changes to one of thought, then nods to herself. “We’ll give her time to recover. Meanwhile, I’ll prepare a potion that’ll make her tell that truth for a short while. If she isn’t Cozy Glow, like she says, then we’ll know. And, if she’s telling the truth, she won’t object, right?” I give a slow nod. ___________________________________________________________ “Bleah!” I say loudly, sticking out my tongue and running my hooves over it. “Tha’ tath nathty!” “Well, it isn’t exactly meant to taste good, now is it?” Meadowbrook ask, taking the cup I’d just drank from back and setting it aside. The Apple parents are standing a little away, looking worried. I’m sitting up in the bed I’d been given to rest in while I was sick. It’s been about three days. “Now,” Meadowbrook says, looking firmly at me. “If you want to leave her a free pony, ya’ll answer some questions. Alright?” I nod. She nods back, taking a deep breath and looking right at me. “Is your name Cozy Glow.” “No,” I say firmly. “Is your name Tempo?” “Nope,” I shake my head. “I’m not Cozy Glow and I’m not Tempo.” Spur, who’s watching, gets a slightly sad look. Bloofy, the weird little fluffy animal she has as a pet is sitting on the bed, looks at me eagerly. Meadowbrook narrows her eyes. “How did you become an Alicorn?” “From what I’ve figured out, Cozy, Tempo, whatever her name is, became one after she, Queen Cheese Legs and Tirek absorbed a third of Grogar’s magic each. Glad I never ran into him. After they stole the rest of his magic with the bell, I doubt he’d have gone easy on me, whether I am that brat or not.” Meadowbrook’s expression becomes puzzled for a moment. “You think they stole Grogar’s magic?” I shrug. “Well, yeah. I mean, that’s what Cozy wrote they were going to do in her journal. I shudder to think how much power they had. Well, I guess I have, now that I’m in her body,” I look down at my hooves. Just how much of Grogar’s magic is inside me? And should I be worried about it? Meadowbrook looks me over, before closing her eyes. “Well, it ain’t much, but that does suggest you really aren’t Cozy Glow at all.” I look to her, confused. “How?” She gives me a sly smirk. “The real Grogar’s been dead fer a long time.” I blink, before narrowing my eyes. “Uh, if that’s so, how’d he bring Sombra back from the dead? If he was dead too, he couldn’t exactly do that, could he?” She just gives a light giggle, which only makes me scowl. “Discord was pretendin’ t’ be Grogar the whole time.” I open my mouth to argue, before what she said actually processes and I just stare at her, my mouth open. “I… but he… what?” She nods, before rolling her eyes. “He did it because he wanted to give Princess Twilight the confidence to rule Equesria when Celestia and Luna retire.” I blink, before deadpanning and facehoof. “Of course he would. The way he thinks, of course he’d think that was a good idea.” “What I don’t understand,” Meadowbrook says, looking me over, “is how you’re here. Regardless of whether Cozy Glow switched bodies with you before she and her allies were defeated, you should be a stone statue right now.” There’s silence as what she said actually sinks in. “Come again?!” I whirl around, my eyes wide. She nods. “As punishment for their crimes, the princesses and Discord combined their magic and turned the three of them to stone.” She frowns, rubbing her chin. “Or, at least, we thought that was the case. Cozy was part of the statue, so how you’re here is confusing.” “They turned a filly to stone?!” Pear Butter sounds horrified. “I know what yer thinkin’, trust me,” Meadowbrook turns around to look to her. “But that filly is, or was, pure evil. She attempted to murder Princess Twilight on several occasions during the trio’s invasion of Canterlot and, considering what we now know, was completely remorseless, as she intentionally switched bodies with another being to avoid suffering punishment for her crimes, fully willing to let this…” She looks to me. “What should we call you?” “Autum is fine,” I say, shaking my head. “Yeah, I’m with Meadowbrook on this one. Sorry, Pear Butter. Cozy may have been a filly, but just because someone’s a child, it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be punished if they intentionally do something evil. And it’s clear Cozy did a lot of evil things.” Guessing this invasion of Canterlot would’ve been the finale’s events. “So… what do we do now?” Bright Mac asks the room at large. “Would… would you wanna live with us?” Spur asks. Bloofy seems to agree, hurrying forward and nuzzling my cheek. I can’t help smiling and scratch the little guy’s head with my hoof. He’s too adorable. Pulling him away though, I look to Spur and shake my head. “It wouldn’t feel right. Besides, if I stayed with your family, Spur, I could never go back to mine. We need to find a way to cast Cozy’s spell again, this time making sure we locate my original body… provided Cozy hasn’t ruined it by now already.” Spur looks sad and opens her mouth to say something, when screams erupt from outside. We all look to each other, before rushing outside. Spur saying she’d stay behind so Bloofy doesn’t get too excited. Apparently that’s a bad thing. We get outside and my eyes widen. It’s the chimera from before. It’s running through the swamp village, roaring/bleating/hissing, trying to grab any of the fleeing ponies. “What do we do?” Cattail looks to his cousin. Meadowbrook frowns, seeming to think it over. I blink, looking back at my wings, before looking forward, my eyes narrowed. Before anypony can react, I run forward, spreading my wings, leaping into the air and praying this’ll work. I soar through the sky, over the beast, cupping my hooves over my mouth. “Hey, cat breath!” It stops going after the other ponies and looks up. I blow a raspberry at it and shoot off into the trees. A trio of roars and the sound of crashing tells me it’s following me. Good. Now, if I can just keep airborne and find somewhere like that mucky area I almost dropped in, I can— My thoughts are cut off as I feel a pain in my hind right leg, crying out in pain as I’m pulled to the ground. Turning my neck, I see the tiger head has grabbed my hoof in its jaws and bitten down, hard. It’s fangs have pierced my skin and I can see blood. It lets go, the three heads grinning. Shit! It knows it can’t get away now. I wasn’t so much flying as I was gliding and that only worked because I got a good running start. With one leg out of commission, I can’t do that, so I’m grounded. The beast starts laughing, before lunging towards me, mouths open, fangs beared “Don’t you hurt Som-Mama!” Before I can understand what’s going on, something shoots past me and slams into the chimera. The two roll around for several moments, before the second one, flips backwards, sending the chimera slamming through several trees. After a few seconds, it gets up and scurries off, whimpering. I blink, very confused. Who the heck just saved me? Or have I just escaped one preditor to be put at the mercy of another. “Som-Mama!” the voice from before is no longer angry, it’s cheerful and, before I can understand what’s going on, I’m lifted up and pulled into a bone-crushing hug. “I found you! I found you! I wub you, Som-Mama!” Panic is returning. I can barely breathe. Part of my brain is saying something about this is familiar, but I don’t know what and the lack of oxygen to my brain is not helping me think very well. After what feels like an eternity, just as I’m certain I’m going to die from suffocation, the pressure is lessened and I feel myself before lifted away… followed by a whimpering sound. “Not Mama?” “Not d-mama?” I say, still woozy. I shake my head several times to try and clear it, before looking to the being holding me. Whomever they are, they’re pretty huge. Blinking, I get a good look at whoever it is that saved me… only for my jaw to drop. I recognize this character. She’s a baby, for some reason, but I only know one being in the show who looks like this. It’s the sphinx from the story of Somnambula. What? Why is she here and why in the wide world of Equestria does she look like a baby?! She slowly puts me down and starts sobbing. Part of me is saying to run away, but the other part of me is telling me to comfort her. Sphinx or not, she’s just a baby. You don’t just abandon a sobbing baby. Trotting over, making sure to keep the majority of my weight of my injured leg, I stop next to her and put a hoof on her paw. “Hey, what’s wrong… little one?” Little? She’s bigger than Celestia! I shudder thinking how big she’ll be when she’s fully grown. Yikes! She sniffles, looking to me. “Som-Mama went missing. Went wooking fow hew. Dunno whewe am. Ow whewe Mama is.” I blink, frowning as I notice something about her speech pattern. I remember a comic dub where the sphinx was a baby and the only time she said Som-Mama was when she was referring to… “When you say “Som-Mama” do you mean “Somnambula”?” I ask. She looks to me and nods, sniffling again. “Miss Som-Mama. Whewe is she?” I can’t help smiling. “I think I can help you with that.” ___________________________________________________________ “Are you sure about this?” Meadowbrook asks as we stand on the edge of the village. Bright Mac, Pear Butter and I are laden with several bags, full of provisions and camping equipment. The baby sphinx is standing behind us, looking both eager and confused. My mane is combed smooth and to the side, held in place by a blue hair clip in the shape of a leaf. Just because I’m stuck in this body, doesn’t mean I have to live with its previous owner’s hairstyle. My injured leg is wrapped in bandages. It isn’t too bad, but I am going to have to be careful for a day or two. I nod. “Returning Fwinxie to Somnambula is the right thing to do. Plus, it will give me time to figure out how best to handle this whole… being in Cozy Glow’s body thing, ya know?” I glance to the Apple parents. “You don’t have to come with me, ya know?” The two shake their heads. “We’re not leaving you alone in this, Autum,” Pear Butter shakes her head. “Ah wouldn’t feel right leavin’ ya t’ go at this alone. Besides, Ah’ve had three foals afore. Ah know how t’ handle a young’n. Ah doubt you do.” I give her a frown. “I’ve five siblings back home, thank you and they were all born after me.” Bright Mac laughs. “Okay, okay, ladies. Let’s not fight. We’ve a long journey ahead o’ us. We’d better get started.” I look to Meadowbrook, Cattail and Spur. “Thank you, ya know for… well…” The blue mare nods. “I hope things go well for you. What’re your plans once you’ve gotten the sphinx back home?” I sigh, rubbing the back of my neck. “I’ll have no choice. I can’t have Pear Butter and Bright Mac put off going back to their family just for me. I’ll go back with them and…” I gulp, “face Princess Twilight.” I feel a hoof on my shoulder and look up to see Pear Butter giving me an encouraging smile. I can’t help smiling back. We say our final goodbyes and the four of us head off in the direction of Somnambula to return Fwinxie to her home. I can’t help feeling that is going to be quite interesting, when we get there.