//------------------------------// // Harmony // Story: A Place to Call Home // by starshine_dash //------------------------------// The next thing I remember, I was flying through the air uncontrollably and heading straight for a balcony on the side of the side of the castle. Unfortunately, I quickly realized my flight was uncontrolled as I was still stuck as a pegasus filly. I sighed and facehooved as I careened straight towards the opening. With any luck, I'd fly through and land on a sitting pillow or something. As usual, my luck continued to be terrible, and I slammed directly into the wall next to the opening, sliding down with a cartoon squeak. At least the stars over my head had the decency to vanish as soon as somepony came to investigate. Standing above me, on the ceiling, was the princess of the sun herself, "Hello there, little filly. What happened?" "Princess Celestia!" I said, an embarrassing crack hitting on the "tia" portion of her name, "It's me, Tara! Discord turned me into a filly and then sent me through the forest of illusion and now I need to find your sister and the room where we first met and figure out what 'it' is that he said I should find there and why are you on the ceiling?" She blinked a few times as she processed my breathless explanation, "How do I know you're really her?" "You've seen the vault in my head!" "I guess that will have to do, as for the ceiling situation, Discord thought it would be amusing to turn gravity on in reverse for me. My sister has sequestered herself in her room and refuses to come out. I do not know why. Captain Armor?" A mare of slight stature that seemed to be weighed down by her armor approached, "Yes, Princess?" "Could you escort this filly to Luna's rooms? You should probably check on how Cadence is handling being a stallion as well." "Oh my... he switched your genders, didn't he?" "Unfortunately. In the middle of her heat cycle too," the former stallion muttered as he lead me down the halls. I had no idea what he was on about, but I'm sure I'd find out eventually. I guess younger ponies' noses can't pick up on those particular hormones. Thankfully. Moving along, the captain of the royal guard quickly led me to the lunar diarch's quarters. I noticed the lack of visible guards as I knocked lightly. "AWAY WITH THEE!" came reverberating through the door. "Princess Luna! Please, it's me, Tara! I need to speak with you!" There was a moment of silence before she replied, "Thou mayest enter." I carefully opened the door and entered, looking around for the princess. All I saw was a small blue earth pony filly sitting on the bed, surrounded by ice cream tubs, "Hello there, have you seen Princess Luna?" "I am Pwincess Woona!" the filly spoke before slamming her face into the comforter with a muffled groan, "That fowew beast tuwned us into a fiwwy and gave us a speech impediment!" My face was a mask of impassivity with the occasional twitch or grimace as I tried to suppress simultaneous laughter and d'aww, "Do you remember the room where we had tea? I need to get there." "Why?" "Discord said I would find something important there." "It is my pwivate dining haww. Wight thwough thewe," she said, pointing over to a door on the left. I trotted over and shoved it open. Inside was a small table with cushions around and floating above was the small pendant I had been given in my dreams. I dove forward as I spotted a rapidly expanding ball of white in the distance from the general direction of Ponyville. Just as my hoof touched the jewelry, the light engulfed me and I felt my body being torn apart. I think I screamed, but I'm not sure. Having every single atom of your being torn from one another and switched around is an experience I wouldn't wish on anypony. I blacked out at some point because the next time I woke up I was laying on a soft black comforter that smelled of ancient tomes, lavender soaps, and mint chocolate chip ice cream. I groaned as I felt the ache in my body. Every small movement hurt and even opening my eyes was a struggle. The world around me gradually came back into focus and I saw the restored Lunar princess sitting next to me on the bed with a small smile, a cup of water held in her magical aura and being offered to me. I tried to sit up, assuming I had been restored to human form but was shocked to find that my spine didn't really bend that way any longer, so I settled for rolling over and nestling my legs underneath me as I sipped at the proffered cup, "Glad to see you're not a filly anymore, Princess." "Indeed. We are wondering if thou art glad thine maturity has been restored as well." "I'm still a pony, though." "A pegasus, in fact. Thine wings appear strong and whole from our inspection while thou slept." "I'll miss my fingers, but at least I can blend in better now..." I muttered as I stretched my wings and tried to work out the kinks in my legs, "Something must have interfered with the elements when they struck me." "Or perhaps they functioned as they are meant to, my little pony. Restoring harmony and balance in all things, perhaps thine new form is a result of that. Now, if thou mindest not, we must join our sister for court. It appears today will be rather busy." "I can imagine," I said simply as she rose and left the room, leaving me on her bed. After she had left, I stood and stepped down from the comfortable object and stretched, almost cat-like, before awkwardly flapping my wings about trying to fly. It seems that although the forest, and the elements, saw fit to keep me a pony, they did not see fit to grace me with the instincts or knowledge necessary to actually fly. I made a few laps of the bedroom until I felt sufficiently used to my new gait and stature before exiting the room and heading down toward the main throne room. I sat to the side as the panicked multitudes petitioned the princesses for everything from a new home to the immediate destruction of the statue of discord to the complete relocation of Equestria to an alternate plane of existence where Discord could never go. That one made me giggle. As the day passed and the petitioners left, I was finally left alone with my thoughts long enough to realize some particularly uncomfortable truths. I was now a fully grown pegasus mare with no cutie mark that couldn't fly and could, honestly, barely walk and eat on her own. Once the last petitioner had left and it was only myself, the princesses, and a few dozen royal guards, I approached the twin thrones and bowed, "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, I have a request." They looked at each other, then at me and Celestia spoke, "Of course, Tara. What is it you need?" "I find myself at a loss. I have a new form, granted by the combination of a very old magical forest, an ancient being of chaos, and the elements of harmony. Despite this, I can barely walk on my own, eating is a chore unless it is in a bowl and I don't care about manners..." I blushed, "I have no idea how bathrooms work. I can't fly, and I don't even have a cutie mark. The cutie mark will come in time I'm sure, but... I wish to join the royal guard to be trained in the use of this body. After my training is complete, I would like to request being posted to Ponyville to guard the Elements of Harmony... though they don't really need it..." Celestia smirked and winked at me, "Perhaps the Element of Laughter could at least use somepony close to her." My blush deepened. "I don't see why not, do you have any objections, Captain Armor?" He eyed me closely, before setting his horn aglow and scanning myself and my necklace. He raised a single brow and smiled, "No objections. I see lots of potential in this recruit. I'll have the Skyguard division leader set her up for training." He then walked close to me and whispered in my ear, "Watch your flank out there, though. He can be a bit hard to live with." "I've always been good at watching flanks, just never my own," I said with a wink to hide the mass of butterflies and parasprites that my stomach had turned into. I had no idea how long the training would be, but it would hopefully be well worth it.