My legs begin to tremble as I unsteadily stumble backwards and away from the armored horse, who continues to observe me with concern.
I'm this Princess Celestia? But... but that would mean...
With my concentration all but shattered, the coordination between the four limbs keeping me upright falters, and I collapse to the ground with an unceremonious cry.
"Princess Celestia!" The armored horse quickly rushes towards me. In a blind panic, I frantically backpedal as much as I can with what little purchase my hooves can grab on the smooth, marble floor.
"Ge—, get back!" I shout shakily with my new and unfamiliar voice. The armored horse's eyes widen and he screeches to a halt, freezing in place. He stares down at my fallen form in surprise before quickly throwing himself down into a low bow.
"I— my apologies, your Highness, I didn't mean to startle you!"
I blink slowly, making sure to keep my eyes trained on him. I tilt my head and notice his gaze locked furiously to the floor, occasionally flickering up to me, then back down. Is he waiting for me to speak? After a few seconds of painfully awkward silence, I carefully reorient my legs underneath me and push myself back to a standing position. My right back leg slips slightly on the smooth surface below, and as if on natural reflex, I feel both of the wings on my sides shoot out slightly to right my balance before quickly folding back up.
Wait a minute, hold on, those are... I close my eyes and imagine that sensation again. I focus on the regions on the far left and right sides of my back and mentally flex slightly, feeling my wings slowly unfurl, inch by inch, until they've reached the furthest they can go. I peek open my eyes and look behind me. My jaw falls open and a gasp of wonder slips out my mouth. These are wings. MY wings. And they're HUGE!
As a kid, I was always fascinated with how wide the wingspans were on eagles and hawks, but these wings easily put those to shame. From a glance, I estimate each wing to be somewhere between five to six feet long, almost as wide as I am tall. Or at least, how tall I'm supposed to be as a human. I experiment a little, lowering them slightly, then raising them up, completely transfixed to how smoothly they respond to my commands.
The sensation of new and usually natural nerves, bones, and muscles, sends a shiver down my spine. It's as if I've always had wings, as if I always had these extra limbs on my back that I could control just the same as I would an arm or leg.
"Pri— Princess?"
I jump slightly, my wings collapsing limply to my sides and draping onto the floor. Shit, I forgot about him! I turn to face him again. "Yes, uh, talking horse?" I wince immediately, still not accustomed to the sound of a woman's voice coming from my throat. He raises his head to look at me, utterly bewildered. Aaaaaand he has a name too, doesn't he?
"What do you—" He shakes his head before quickly resuming his original stoic expression. "As I said earlier, your sister has sent me to inquire as to why the sun is not up yet. The latest time you have usually raised it passed approximately forty minutes ago."
My sister? I stare at him blankly, thoughts running through my mind. And again with that 'raise the sun' thing. What, am I a god here? I cast a sideways glance to my reflection on the wall mirror, once taking in my current body. For that matter, what am I anyway? And who is this Princess Celestia that I apparently look exactly like now?
"Your High—"
"Sorry!" I shout, realizing how long I've been putting this horse's question off. "I, uhm—" I start to speak, then freeze, realizing I have no damn clue how the hell to even begin to answer a question like that. Come on, come on, just think! I need more time to figure out what's going on, but the longer this guy's in the room with me, the more suspicious I'm gonna look! I close my eyes and take a deep breath in. Alright, I'm a princess, right? Just be... regal. I slowly open my eyes and, calling upon skills learned after years of anxiety-inducing school project presentations, muster up the kindest, most gentle smile I can possibly imagine.
"I am so very sorry, hor— sir, it seems I have greatly overslept. Leave me so I may tend to myself, and I will raise the sun once my strength has been fully recovered." I carefully lower my neck in what feels like a bow for a horse. I quickly flicker my gaze to the armored horse, who seems to be eying me a bit funny. Shit, shit, shit, he knows, he totally knows, oh I'm so fucking dead. Maybe if I rush him, I can—
"Understood, your majesty." I blink, not daring to move. Wait, that worked? I raise my head back up to see the armored horse once again wearing a stoic expression. "Especially with everything that had happened yesterday. I shall inform Princess Luna of your current condition. Oh, and good morning." He puts a hoof up in a gesture that I can only imagine is a hoof-salute, then turns around and trots back out the double doors. I notice right outside the doors, another similarly armored horse standing and facing away, as if on guard. As soon as he leaves, both doors begin glowing in some blue, sparkling aura before slowly closing by themselves.
Huh. Freaky. I stand still for what feels like an eternity, my eyes glued to the doors. He seemed... strangely okay with my excuse. What was it he said? 'Especially with everything that had happened yesterday'? Maybe it has something to do with why I'm even here. I shift my eyes back to the room around me and spot the letter from earlier on the writing desk. I trot over to it and read it over again, but this time paying more attention to the details themselves.
It seems to be some sort of repeat of personal congratulations from Princess Celestia to Twilight, her personal student. Apparently something big happened yesterday with a 'Discord, the Lord of Chaos', in which Twilight and her friends defeated him and saved Equestria. Lord of Chaos, what the heck name even is that? And 'defeat'? Is he some sort of supervillain or something? A realization strikes me and I look back to the paper. Equestria? Is that... is that the planet I'm on now? Because this certainly ain't Earth.
With my mind properly awake and my eyes more adjusted to the dark, I do another scan of the room for anything else that might help me. Help me with what exactly is something I don't even want to think about. My eyes land on anything that isn't just the floor, ceiling, or walls, noticing a lot more that I'd missed during my last look over of the room. On one end of the room, there's what looks like a walk-in closet whose door I had missed due to how seamlessly it blended in with the walls.
Upon walking over and carefully pushing the door in with a hoof, nothing but a single body-height mirror and several elegant dresses of varying colors and designs hang from the sides. Some more golden horse shoes sit on the floor, but they look mighty uncomfortable so I give them a pass. I take a final, silent look at my unfamiliar body in the hanging mirror before backing out.
Beside the writing desk is a short, crystalline cabinet with just two drawers. By my own natural curiosity, I trot over and attempt to open them, only to realize in dismay that they lack any sort of handles. Part of the edges poke out just a little though, and I begin to reach for it with a hoof before I remember. No fingers. Right. Who designed these? A thought hits me. Wait, is everyone in this world a talking horse? With hooves? How the hell are you supposed to hold anything properly without opposable thumbs? Or... fingers for that matter.
I resume my careful search across the room before landing on a some curtains covering a massive window to the far left of the bed. My eyes widen and I practically fall on my face scrambling towards it. There's a thick pair of purple blackout curtains that have already been pushed to the sides, leaving just a thin, white, see-through curtain covering the window. Even with it, though, I quickly realize from the darkness beyond that it must be the middle of the night, hence why the room is still so dark.
But that armored horse said good morning to me just earlier, right? There should be at least a little bit of sunlight by now. I approach the window and attempt to gently slide the sheer curtains aside with my hoof. Smoothly sliding a curtain along the top rod had always a bit of a nuisance to me, and that was when I had fingers. I stumble a few times, trying to make sure I don't get my hoof entangled with the sheets while placing it back down, but eventually I succeed.
Upon closer inspection, I realize the windows are actually large double doors leading to a small balcony outside. Although they also have handles, to my relief they are the long sort of handle, extending to the left and right in elegant swirls. After a painful, long minute of fidgeting, I manage to press down on the long end of the handle with a hoof while awkwardly pressing my cheek against the glass to push the door window open. I stumble forward and quickly scan the world in front of me. I gasp, my breath catching in my throat.
What first draws my attention is the landscape itself. Fields and forests and mountains, stretching far beyond what my eyes can see. Judging by how high up I am and much I'm able to see, this place is probably built into a mountain or something. Even in the dark of night, with the faint glow from the stars above, I can tell what lies before me is probably the lushest green I had ever seen. I lower my gaze a little and spot a faint array of lights, seemingly from some distant village. A little closer lies even more lights climbing up the base of the mountain. I squint my eyes and realize it's actually a completely separate city, with far more buildings and roads. Distant shapes move through the streets, lit by the many lampposts that line the sides. Are those people? Or... more talking horses?
I lower my sights further, my eyes running along the tall, rocky cliff directly below this building, which is looking more and more like some sort of castle. My brain catches up my eyes to remind me of my immense fear of heights, and I gasp in shock as I realize just how high up I'm standing. With a shocked gasp, I stumble back from the balcony railing, collapsing to my side and crying out in slight pain. With the view of the city and earth obscured, my eyes are dragged upwards to the sky, and I freeze.
I had always loved to stargaze, and would spend many a night staring into the night sky, seeking out and marveling at the many constellations that were present amongst the stars. For fun one time, I even memorized almost every recognizable constellation there was, so no matter where I was on Earth, I'd be able to pinpoint at least one of them. These aren't my constellations... I scan the sky further, looking for a single familiar pattern, yet coming up short. These aren't my stars. I slowly let my neck and head join the rest of my body as it lay there, motionless, on the cold, marble floor.
I'm not on Earth anymore, am I? My breaths come in shallow, yet slow, bursts. I mean... I already figured from the start, but... this just confirms it. I glance at the stars again. Even if I were on some other planet or moon in the solar system, of which there shouldn't be any we know of that support life this easily anyway, the stars should still be roughly the same. And yet... they're not. I'm probably not even anywhere near our solar system.
Fuck, where the hell am I, really? A different galaxy? Maybe a different universe? Maybe I'm dead and this is apparently what heaven looks like... a world of talking horses. Or maybe I really am just dreaming. I spent a good four years of high school preparing for college, not for... any of this bullshit.
I lay there, completely still and losing all track of time, my thoughts threatening to overrun my mind. The cool, night breeze, of a world I do not know, brushes against my fur, of a body I do not recognize.
In the far distance, I can barely make out the clambering of voices, seemingly in distress. I pay it no attention, but eventually, even my panicked mind can no longer hold them off.
Alright, what the actual heck is going on down there? I slowly climb to my feet, or hooves, and make my way back to the balcony, mustering all the willpower I have to keep my legs from going weak. I look a bit to the left and squint my eyes at what looks like the faraway entrance to the castle, with more of those armored horses standing guard and holding spears in their hooves How are they even holding those?
In front of them, a crowd of more small, talking horses has gathered, though wearing what seem like an assortment of fancy clothes, suits, and dresses. A protest of some kind? I blink tiredly. I don't think staying here is gonna do me any more good. I need information, anything that can tell me... well, anything. This place looks like some huge palace, so maybe it also has a library of sorts.
I turn around and make for the door, but halt right before reaching it, my eyes widening. Wait, there's a guard horse right outside, crap. How am I even supposed to get out of here? I look around the room for any small, loose objects. Maybe I can toss something outside to distract him before making a run for it? I spot the inkwell sitting on the writing desk and I consider using that when a thought occurs to me.
Hold on, I'm the princess. Can't I just... I take a deep breath in, calming my racing heart. Alright, think, focus. You're supposed to be the ruler of this place. That other horse was all intimidated just thinking he startled me and followed my one order without questioning, so I just gotta treat that as normal. I have absolutely no clue where anything is here, but if he's a guard, hopefully he does. But I can't just ask him normally, that's stuff I should probably already know, so that'd raise suspicion. I gotta be subtle.
I walk over to the side of the bed, my eyes resting on the tiara sitting on the bedside table. It looks like solid gold, with a single, flawlessly cut, purple gemstone in the center. Its design is a lot simpler than all the pictures of crowns I've ever seen, lacking all the intricate little holes and curls I remember them having. If anything, that probably makes it worth even more cause there's more gold in it. This thing would probably pay for like a hundred of my full college tuition. A ton of houses, too. And it's just... mine.
I sit down on my haunches beside it and raise my front legs to grip the tiara between my hooves. I fumble to raise it to my head, dropping it several times on the floor with a loud clang, and each time ripping away a piece of my soul. Finally, I manage to rest it gently atop my head, the sides nestling under the bases of my ears. It threatens to slide forward, but the long horn on my forehead keeps it in place.
Keeping my head level, I carefully stand back up on all fours and make my way to the doors, stopping briefly at the hanging mirror to look myself over. I am Princess Celestia. I exhale slowly and lift a hoof to the door, shaking with uncertainty, then tap it against the door three times and wait.
Not a second later, the doors open, surrounded in the same blue glow from earlier. The armored unicorn from right outside pokes his head in, his eyes quickly finding mine. I notice a horn on his forehead not unlike mine, just much smaller, surrounded in a similar blue aura. So he's a unicorn then. Is he... using his horn to open the door? Wait, can I do that too?!
"Did you... need something, Princess?"
I'm shaken out of my thoughts, realizing I'd been just staring down at his horn. I meet his eyes, blinking slowly. "Yes, in fact, I do. There is something I wish to check on in the castle library. Could you accompany me?" I do my best to keep my voice as gentle and collected as possible.
To my relief, he simply nods. "The Canterlot Archives? Of course, your Highness." Oh good, so there is a library. Canterlot must be the name of the castle then. The door opens wider, and he stands aside to make room for me. The hallway in front of my room stretches quite long, lined with various paintings, ornate wall fixtures, and fancy torches that look like some maid might pop out of nowhere to beat me up if I so much as brushed one of them. There's a sort of medieval look to everything, but at the same time, looks much cleaner and more colorful than any picture of medieval castle interiors I'd ever seen. Massive castle with talking horses that have magical powers. I swear, this whole thing reads like some sort of fairy tale.
As soon as I'm through, the door closes behind me, the glow around it fading away. His horn stops glowing at the same time. Yep, that's something unicorns can just do apparently. He looks up at me expectantly. Alright, here goes nothing.
"Thank you. You may lead the way."
He blinks, taken a bit by surprise but quickly regains his composure, returning a quick bow. "Ye—, yes, your Highness." He spins around and begins a slow walk down the hallway.
On the inside, I pump an imaginary fist. Holy shiiiiit, that worked too?! Let's fucking gooo! Trying to keep my excitement contained the best I can, I take off after him, finally ready to see a bit more of this so-called Canterlot Castle, and hopefully get some answers.