//------------------------------// // Breakfast with hindrance // Story: A curse in disguise // by Dream Quill //------------------------------// Twilight and Eris talked for some time after the apology. It was awkward at first but the more the lavender unicorn came to know her the more she opened up and the more comfortable became the conversation. At some point she drifted off again without even noticing. Her body claimed the rest it needed so badly. It was a dreamless sleep, for her she just closed her eyes and as she opened them again Twilight was gone. She was even so confused that she thought the unicorn just teleported away for a few minutes. But when Redheart entered her room, planting a small tray on a pivoted construction at her bed which served as a table, claiming it was her breakfast, she knew that she must have slept through at least one entire afternoon and night. To be precisely she did not even know what time it was for the lack of a clock in her room. After a short smalltalk with her the Nurse stated that she had to leave because she had other patients which needed their breakfast as well. So she bid farewell for the moment and Eris was alone again. Curious about the contents of her diet she swiveled the construction, her breakfast stood on, over her and paused for a moment. She stared at the ceiling and felt like planting her hand on her face with enough force to elicit a loud smacking sound at least. Yepp, she was still laying on her back and she just forgot to sit up. A blush crept to her face as she swung the construction out of the way and tried to sit up. You may think that this was a simple task but this brought up more than one might think. First of all she had to decide on what part of her body she could sit comfortably and this one demanded for something she had done everything to avoid. She had to actually look at her new body. Not just looking at but she had to try to understand it. And if she was honest with herself this frightened her the most. Sure she caught glimpses of her new form a few times but she could not help it to feel kind of disconnected from it. As if she was just watching some cruel joke, which was nothing but a rubberfigure, and her real body would lay under it, hidden from view. So she had to coming to terms with her new body. For quite a time, how long she was not sure due to the lack of anything which would indicate the duration, she just lay there staring at the ceiling. Her senses were working well as far as she could tell. Small shadows danced over the ceiling caused by the slight movement of the curtains. She noticed it earlier but she actually was able to see everything clearly. This meant that her eyes were not in need of visual aids anymore. The sporadic movement of her ears in the direction of a sound or where she tried to hear something still felt odd but she was getting used to it. This had not only advantages. If she swiveled her ears over to the window she was able to hear some noises of the sometimes busy town out there. Walking and conversing ponies. She could not understand what they were saying but sometimes there were excited shouts of younger voices, probably foals or adolescent ones. At this a smile showed on her face. But when she not focused on the sound in front of her window her ears would just lazily return to what seemed to be their relaxing position. She could also tell that her ears reacted to her feelings directly which gave away more than she would like. From what she called neutral position, for the lack of a better name, her ears perked up and stood straight on her head if she focused on something or if she was excited. They even shivered a bit which tickled quite much. If she was angry, she found out while thinking about Discord, her ears would turn to lay back, not against her skull but lifted just a little bit. And they would practically vibrate with fury which by the way did not tickle in the slightest. With being sad or depressed her ears would just hang down from their neutral position to the point where they touched the sides of her face. But what felt odd the most was when she heard a sound and was not sure where it came from. If she tried to make out the source of the noise her ears swiveled frantically in all directions, not even synchronously. It was this strange of a feeling she had to put her hands on her ears to stop them or she would get dizzy or even air her belly. It felt just like if you turn around and around and abruptly stop your movement but like ten times as bad. After the world in front of her ceased its movement, and she was sure she would not make a mess on either her bed or the floor beside it, she removed her hands from her ears. And for the first time, since she woke up, she actually looked at them. Just like her legs they were not differing. Instead of a talon and a paw she got what looked like a cross between a lion paw and actual hands. She only got four digits but they were too slender to fit with those belonging to a paw but at the same time they were too thick and too short to be fingers. They looked plain weird but at the same time felt right. As if she could use them just like her former fingers. Her arms looked almost fragile although they felt not weak in any way. Both her arms and paw/hands were covered in ocher fur which turned to auburn near her shoulders. Almost if she was wearing a shirt or something. This look carried on over her shoulders as her neck was covered in a somewhat longer white fur with a barely visible shine to it. She could only assume that this white fur covered her whole head. She lifted the blanket to get a better view of the rest of her body. Her chest was entirely auburn just like Redheart had said. All the way down to her haunch. She took some time to stare in wonder at her slender and kind of long body. Although it was not just one tube like Discords. There were undeniably some curves at the right places and all of the sudden she felt kind of exposed. She shook the thought away and instead let her gaze wander to her legs. Their scales shimmered in the most beautiful emerald and albeit as slender as everything on her she could see that they got some muscle. Not much but the outlines were barely visible. She followed their line down to her feet which were nothing short of dragonclaws. Her talons possessed a slight and elegant curve. And last her tail. Just like everything else it was slender and looked fragile. Its scales were not even near anything like those of her legs. They were a surprisingly brilliant shade of sky blue. At the end it got something what looked like it could be a fin. Maybe a sea snakes tail would fit its sight. She wondered if she could use it for swimming. Or, for starters, if she could move it at all. But how to move something that you never had your whole life? She stared at her tail trying to force it to move by sheer willpower. What she got was not even a twitch. After a long staring contest with her tail – at this she blushed a little – she just went back to looking at the ceiling. So much to process for her mind. So much new sensations to cope with. And the last part was bound to become even worse when the painkillers that numbed her body to a small extend were removed from her system. She heaved a heavy sigh just as the door to her room opened to reveal a pale yellow Pegasus. “Erm… excuse me? I knocked but nopony answered so I’m just coming in… if it’s alright, that is.” Were there any knocks? She could not remember hearing some. Nevertheless she turned to the shy mare with a smile on her face. “Yes it is alright. Do come in. It’s nice to see you… again.” For a moment she was about to say ‘Fluttershy’ but then again has she ever been told the name of the mare? Some dragonequus appearing out of nowhere certainly was strange enough. No need for confusing anypony further while trying to explain why she knew their names. Maybe she was told her name but in the rush of events that followed she just could not remember. She decided that the best way was to introduce herself first and see what happened. “By the way. Name’s Eris.” Fluttershy smiled and stepped closer to her bed as she caught sight of the untouched tray. “Oh my. You did not eat your breakfast yet?” The Pegasus was ready to launch herself in a lecture by the looks of it. “You know that it is essential for your recovery to be well nutrified.” It was quite funny but also a bit intimidating that her voice changed from her almost fragile whisper to a firm and reproachful speech. Eris on her part tried to defend herself before this lecture was going in directions of a grown mare teaching a little filly that she should eat her vegetables. “Wait there just a moment. I was just too distracted, ok? I intended eating my meal like a good little filly would.” The last part dripped with sarcasm which went completely unregistered by the pale yellow mare in front of her. She was met with nothing but a genuine smile and then something happened what almost made her snap. The Pegasus leaned over and ruffled her mane. “That’s a good girl.” She just stared dumbstruck for a moment then began cautiously. “You know that I am not some random animal, do you?” Aqua eyes went wide as the hoof on her head came to a halt and finally was removed. Fluttershy shrank back a bit und muttered something under her breath which had a distant resemblance to ‘I’m sorry’. She instantly regretted being harsh to this pony. “It’s alright, really. You just… I don’t know… fell back to your habits or something? I mean since you are caring for so many animals.” “How do you know…?” Crap. She felt beads of sweat forming on her forehead and put on a nervous smile as her mind raced for some excuse. “I… errr… You see it is like this… that… ehhh… Nurse Redheart told me?” Perfect, just perfect. As if anypony would buy such a… “Oh. That would make sense since I was here watching for you when you first woke up.” Serious? She just came up with the lamest excuse ever which also sounded like it was a question in the end and this all too kind pony just believed it? Okay now she felt bad. The door opened and of all ponies Redheart stepped in. “Hello Eris. I just finished my… Oh you are in company. Good morning Fluttershy.” Double crap! The pale yellow Pegasus turned to greet the nurse. “Good morning, Nurse Redheart. Eris here just told me that you have told her of my good work with animals.” Her mind did her best interpretation of Sweetie Belle. ‘OH COME ON!’ There was an awkward silence or a moment in which the white mare glared daggers at her and she felt her head lower in shame but perking straight up at the nodd from the nurses head. “I thought it would be nice for her knowing something about the pony she met after waking up.” She threw a glare at Eris that told her she was not getting away with this so easily. She gulped and flashed an apologetic smile which she replaced with a genuine one as Fluttershy turned back to her bed. Watching her expectantly the Pegasus nodded towards the tray. Okay, she could do this. Just raising the upper part of her body and leaning against the head of her bed to reach a more upright position. How hard could that be? She positioned her paw/hands next to her chest and tried to raise herself but the moment her back lifted off the bed a soaring pain thundered through her body. A groan escaped her lips but just as she wanted to give up trying two surprisingly soft hooves supported her and aided her in reaching the position she aimed for. She never imagined such a feat would be this exhausting but nevertheless she smiled at Fluttershy. “Thank you very much.” To her surprise she was met with concerned looks from both mares. Okay, obviously sitting up was not supposed to cause her this much pain. “You’re welcome. Are you feeling alright? Because you do look kind of pale.” How could she tell she was pale? She got white fur all over her face. But now that the Pegasus mentioned it she actually felt not quite that good. Cold beads of sweat glistened in her fur and her labored breathing just won’t calm down. What was going on? Why she felt so weak all of the sudden? Her vision turned blurry and she felt her body heat up increasingly. Redheart was by her side in the instant and began examining her while she also managed to put her back down to lie on the bed. She heard her blood pulsing in her ears and felt a way too cold hoof touching her forehead. The nurse pushed a button at the wall next to her bed and urged Fluttershy to leave at once. When even more ponies arrived the pale pink maned mare bellowed orders at them but everything she could hear before her world turned black again were some parts of sentences which did nothing to ease her nerves. “…way too high temperature!” “We need to…!” “No time…!” “…cool her down!” “We’re going to lose her!” Then there was nothing… again… how she started to hate this…