//------------------------------// // Chapter Eight: Breeze Sisters' Reunion! // Story: A Gentle Breeze of Change // by kwr2k13 //------------------------------// It was the morning after the encounter with the unicorn known as Red Bolt in the house Spring and Summer shared. Summer awoke to discover her hands had transformed into hooves. Her entire body was covered in light grey fur, and her face had morphed into a distinctive snout of an equine. She went over to where her sister was sleeping to wake her. “Wake up, Spring!” The light grey Pegasus quietly whispered to her sister, watching to see what her reaction would be to their new appearances. Spring groggily woke to her sister’s voice to discover that she had a rose colored mane and tail, along with light green fur covering all of her body. She had four hooves at the end of each leg, and light purple eyes. Her sun and rose Cutie Mark was prominently displayed on her flanks, which blended in nicely with her fur. Her wings had grown in overnight and folded neatly at her sides. Spring yawned and sprawled herself out on the bed to stretch, not quite aware of the rest of the changes that had occurred overnight. “What time is it anyway?” She asked, finally opening her eyes enough to discover just how much Summer and her had changed. “I think it’s morning. Around 7:30 AM?” Summer yawned, stretching beside her sister. “Whoa, we really changed a lot, didn’t we?” The elder sister was covered from head to hoof in light grey fur, complete with her light blue green mane and tail. Spring had zoned out and was just staring blankly, not really worried or freaked out over the changes. She was just having a hard time grasping the reality that it had actually happened. She blinked a few times and snapped back to reality, “Hmm? What was that?” She asked again, mostly paying attention this time albeit a bit distracted still. “Uhm, the time, or the fact we are two Pegasi who happen to be sisters?” Summer asked, hoping to bring some clarity to the new changes in their family dynamic. “Oh, right, sorry about that,” she held out a hoof to examine it, noticing that it looked actually kind of nice. “It sure is odd though, being 100% pony, feels pretty comfy though if you know what I mean.” Summer nodded, checking out her front hooves and her wings, “I think we were always ponies, before we were sent here in bodies not our own. But, how do you feel about having an older sister?” Spring smiled and laid on her back again, “it’s nice, having family to support you in these kind of situations makes all the difference,” she thought for a moment then went on. “I really would be lost without somepony like you, I can’t be grateful enough that you’re here with me.” Summer smiled and hugged her sister warmly, nuzzling her neck, “Of course. And, you’re using ponyisms. It’s okay; probably something remembered from our old lives in Equestria.” She sighs, “You remember anything about where we lived or worked at in Equestria?” Spring scrunched her face in concentration, trying her best to remember, but not coming up with much. “Hard to say, I only remember small things,” she said and took a moment to think again. “I seem to remember a nice little village or town for where we lived, but work was farther away as I don’t recall working locally. That’s about all I can remember though.” Summer nodded and thought about her life with her sisters in Ponyville. “The small town was called ‘Ponyville.’ The workplace was in the clouds. I think they called the place ‘Cloudsdale’. It’s where they had the flight camps and the Wonderbolt Derby races, as well as the Best Young Flier's Competition.” Spring did her best to remember, but just couldn’t, “I can’t remember that much. It’s probably best to rely mostly on yours for what happened in the past for the time being.” She looked out the window, holding a hoof up to block the sun’s rays, “By the way, what’s the plan for today?” Summer’s stomach then chose to growl loudly, eliciting a blush from the elder sister, “First thing we need to do is get breakfast and then we can try to relearn how to use these hooves and our wings.” “Sounds good to me,” she attempted to stand and get off the bed, resulting in her getting tangled up in the sheets and unable to get herself out. “Little help please?” She asked with a small blush. Summer attempted to get off the bed to land near her fallen sister, “Of course. Anything for my awesome little sister. Hang on!” She then pulled some of the sheets off of her sister with her mouth. “Is that better?” She asked, finally freeing Spring from the bed sheets. “Perfect, thank you!” Now that she was free from the sheets, she could try once again to move around with her new appendages, thankfully walking on something solid that would support her better. She stumbled around for a while, trying to get used to where to place what and when, creating a decent method of walking for the time being. Summer watched her sister attempt to trot around the room and began her journey of walking on all fours, copying the method Spring used to complete her walk cycle. “Well, we know we can trot again. Maybe the next lesson will be about using our wings to fly.” Spring chuckles and imagines Summer and herself flying, “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea, but I think I’ll only try a little if any. I’d like to master walking again before I try something as big as flight.” Summer draped a wing across her sister’s back, “If that’s what you want. Whenever you are ready for flying, we will do it together. You do remember flight camp, don’t you?” “Hardly; it will probably come back to me eventually though,” she began to head towards the door, “How about we get that food now? I’m starting to feel more and more hungry myself.” Summer nodded, “Yeah, that sounds great. You know, sis, I’ve been thinking about your Cutie Mark. What exactly is your special talent?” Spring stopped walking to look back at her Cutie Mark, “I’m not really sure, maybe something that has to do with growth?” Summer hmms, “Well, the season of Spring in Equestria occurred after we wrapped up Winter. The season, not our sister. You know, the artist in the family?” “Of course I remember her, she is family after all.” Summer nods as she opened the door with her mouth to allow her sister to exit, and followed her to the kitchen. “We also have an elder sister named Autumn, who like us is going through her own personal changes. The last I saw of her, she had came home from her class and told me her professor mistook her for a girl because of her orange mane.” “Sounds like the others are having just as hard a time as we are,” Spring looks down for a moment, knocking into one of the kitchen counters a few moments later, “OW! Well, since it looks like we made it to the kitchen, how about we grab something and try to get in touch with others after?” Summer nodded, “Sounds like a plan, sis. You holding up okay?” She heads over to the refrigerator and frowned, “How do we open this with hooves?” She pointed her front hoof at the refrigerator, hoping her sister would have a solution. “I’m fine, as for the fridge, I’m not sure,” she took a moment to think of easy ways to open a fridge without hands till she remembered something. “Wait a minute, what about the unicorn that stayed over? He could probably just magic it open.” “Red Bolt must have left while we were asleep. He left a note on the counter over there. He says in the note he thanks us for helping him through his changes and he will return the favor some day.” She showed the note to her sister. “Pity that he left; he seemed like a nice guy, not to mention having a unicorn with us would certainly make things easier, but oh well,” she went back to eyeing the fridge. “Maybe we could slip our wings through the handles?” Summer thought about how the ponies in the show held items without magic. “Worth a shot. Just try not to damage our wings too much; we need them to fly.” She put her left wing through the handle of the fridge and pulled back on it, hoping the door would budge open. “Here, let me help,” Spring moved over and stuck one of her wings through the handle as well, pulling in unison with Summer. It took a bit of effort, but in the end, the door opened and the cold air from the fridge gave them a slight chill. “Nice job, sis!” Summer cheered as she extended a hoof to bump Spring’s. She shivered slightly as her feathers on her wings were ruffled by the cold escaping from the fridge door. Spring returned her sister’s hoof bump, proceeding to look around into the fridge in search of edible goods. “We don’t have much in here, and most of it doesn’t seem to be pony friendly.” Spring rummaged around a bit more, “Well there’s some veggies and such in here, that’ll have to suffice for now,” Spring said and began removing the various foods. Summer licked her lips in anticipation of partaking of a pony friendly breakfast with her sister. “At least there is some food we can eat. Maybe we can try to find more in the produce section at the store. Just hope they allow ponies to shop there.” Spring chuckled as she placed the food on a coffee table in the next room, “I’m not so sure the problem would be that we aren’t allowed as much as it would be that being seen would cause a problem.” Spring stopped and thought about it for a moment, “We may not be able to get into a store ourselves, but we could always try to order food or somehow get someone else to do it for us.” Summer gave her sister a side hug, draping her forearm over her shoulder. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Right now, let’s just enjoy what we have.” Spring let a small smile slip onto her face, “I s’pose you’re right; we can deal with that later. For now let’s just eat what we have and find out what we should do from there.” Spring began eating as neatly as she could using only her mouth, “You wanted to try to learn how to fly right?” Summer began to eat with her muzzle as she attempted to put the food into her mouth. She cleared her throat after swallowing her food, “Yeah, that would help, since we are Pegasi.” She fluttered her wings to emphasize her pony heritage. “Very well, once we finish breakfast, let’s find a place where we can learn how to fly,” Spring focused on eating the rest of the small breakfast, a bit nervous as to how their endeavors to fly would end up. Summer smiled as she finished her meager meal. It was not much, but it filled her stomach and soon, she went to get some drinks. “What do you want to drink, sis? We have apple juice, orange juice, some purple punch stuff…” she continued to look around at the beverage choices in the fridge. “I’ll have some of that purple punch stuff please, sounds pretty interesting for a drink,” Spring giggled and waited patiently near the table. “Purple punch stuff it is.” She attempted to hover with the punch container secured in her fore hooves. “We need some glasses, unless you want to drink straight from this bottle.” “Hmm, I guess we do need some of those, don’t we?” Spring came into the kitchen and looked up at the cupboards above the counter, letting out a sigh, “Kind of makes me regret placing all the cups where we can’t quite reach them.” Summer looks over at Spring’s wings, “You got your wings, right? Use them to hover up and get those glasses, sis!” She continued to hover near the kitchen table, pumping her wings up and down. Spring was still a bit nervous about using her wings, especially in such close space, “Perhaps you could do it; you seem to have the hang of it so it wouldn’t be much of a problem right?” Summer sighs, “Anything for you, Spring. Hopefully, we will get you airborne again.” She sets the punch bottle on the kitchen table before flying up to the cabinet and looking at the available cups. “What type of cups do you want? The plastic cups would be easier to wash.” “Plastic will be great, thanks again,” Spring smiled sheepishly. “It’ll probably just take me a bit longer to get used to wings again, but I’ll get there.” Summer selects two plastic cups, one light green for Spring and for her, the light blue one. “I think these will do nicely, don’t you think?” “I think they’ll do just fine, let’s get to drinking!” Spring took the punch in her mouth, -having much greater skill with that than her wings at the moment- and poured some into both of the cups. “Cheers!” “Cheers!” Summer lifts her cup to meet her sister’s cup, and taps it lightly. She then sips the drink. “Ah, that’s refreshing!” Spring sets her cup down, nodding her head in agreement, “Indeed, how about we decide on a practice area while we finish our drinks?” Summer thinks about some possible practice locations, “I’m not sure where we can practice, but there should be some clouds we can use to lay on or move around like we used to do in the skies above Ponyville.” “I guess that’s as good a place as any, assuming that I can make it up there,” Spring swallowed nervously, not looking forward to getting over the first stepping stones of flying. “No use putting off the inevitable though I guess, shall we head out?” Summer finished her drink and took the empty cups, placing them in the sink. “Yeah, we should practice our flight. Once we get used to these wings, we will be one step closer to getting in touch with our inner pony, so to speak.” As Spring and Summer were working on their flight, Autumn Breeze slowly walked along the street, nearly tripping over her own feet...no, her hooves. She didn’t understand anything that was happening to her since the attack on Cloudsdale and Ponyville by the chaotic being known as Discord. She was trying to figure out a lot as she walked and stumbled over her legs as she was still trying to adjust to this new change within her. She still remembered her family as humans, even though she couldn’t fully recall their names. In her heart, she felt as if she was looking for someone. Someone that was very close to her. This feeling was always had been strange but natural for her. The only way to tell people or ponies how it felt was as if a string was pulled around her heart and would lead her to someone. It was the only feeling she got when she was looking for her sisters. The thought of her family made her shiver and almost wanted to whimper. The time apart from her sisters Summer was enough to kill her even if she was still breathing. She felt incomplete without her sisters with her. After all, Summer and Spring stayed with her through her transition. Autumn Breeze shook her head as it felt odd being a pony and everything that came with it. The stress it put on the body and mind was something that could drive any pony crazy. Autumn Breeze recalled the day Discord attacked. It was her and her twin’s birthday; a pretty day, not a cloud in the sky. The weather patrol in Cloudsdale had prepared the weather specifically for the Breeze siblings on their special day. Autumn and Summer were hanging out for the day they had planned out. Later that afternoon, they were met by Pinkie Pie, who knew about the sisters' birthday. The pink Earth pony then announced a surprise birthday party at Sugar Cube Corner for Spring, Summer, and Autumn Breeze to every pony in her vicinity! Before they left to go to Pinkie Pie’s surprise party, Summer gave Autumn a necklace that had two charms in the shape of what would later both of their cutie marks. It was part of a matching set, so both sisters would have their Cutie Marks etched onto charms from Mr. Karat’s Jewelry Store. Once the Pegasi sisters arrived at Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie Pie offered them cupcakes, and indicated there were games, food, music from the resident DJ, Vinyl Scratch, and other party activities, as well as presents. However, an uninvited guest showed up; Discord, the chaotic draconequus. Pretending to be reformed, he partook in some party games, ate some cake, drank some punch, and then presented his “gift” to the guests of honor; a strange incantation, which he called the Five Score, Divided by Four Spell. This spell separated the Pegasi siblings, sending them to another dimension as humans. Discord made sure their birthday would be a disaster! Autumn never was able to give Summer her gift that day. She hoped that her sister would be forgiving once she was discovered. There was many more memories trapped inside the young pony’s mind. She tried to push past the hazy thoughts as she moved on, trying to find the pony she was looking for; the one that would make her whole again. Meanwhile, Summer decided to take a breather from her new friend Berry’s agoraphobia and fly around. The day she met Berry was an eye-opener that there were humans who would dare harm ponies. And, there were other ponies who cared for their own kind, like Chance, the white Earth pony stallion she met. The light-grey Pegasi soared into the air and found a cloud to perch on. She made herself comfortable, folded her wings to her side, and relaxed, smelling the fresh, clean air. Summer had a large slice of lemon-layered dessert her friend Berry made for her and anypony she wanted to share it with. Summer sensed at that moment the connection she had lost many years before. The strong bond of a close family member seeking to reconnect. She eventually met up with Spring Breeze and they stayed in the clouds, resting from their flight lesson. Summer spotted Autumn trotting around town from her aerial view and nudged her younger sister, pointing a hoof towards the red orange Pegasi on the ground. "Is that Autumn? She looks like she's lost. Maybe we should call down to her and see if she wants some of these lemon squares. They are delicious!" “Autumn?” Summer Breeze said aloud. “Hang on, sister! I’m here!” The light grey pegasi got up off her cloud, and spread her wings, taking flight, attempting to spot the orange maned pegasus. She brought with her the delicious dessert to share with her sister. Hopefully, this reunion would be a joyous one! Summer let out a loud whistle to alert her sister to look up in the sky! Autumn jumped a little bit hearing her name. The string that was around her heart seemed to be pulled again. The brown with hint of red pegasi started to look around not thinking to look up at the sky. It was not until her sister whistled did she look up to seeing the light grey pegasi with the blue-green mane, “Sister?!” She cried out to the other pegasi. She couldn’t mistake that voice anywhere, because as soon as she heard it, it made her heart felt as if it was slowly mending from the times that they were apart from each other. Summer Breeze smiled as she hovered down towards her sister, and gave her a big hug. Summer began to tear up as she whispered into Autumn’s ear. “Hay there! Long time, no see, Autumn! I got you some dessert.” She pulled away to give Autumn some space as she hovered near her sister. “My friend Berry was cooking and I told her about you. She made this for us to share. I thought since we didn’t have a proper birthday, we should celebrate!” Summer offered the lemon-themed dessert to Autumn. Autumn swung her hooves around her sister as to return her hug. As her ears shifted from the breaths from Summer’s words, all she could do was smile. As her sky blue eyes started watering up as she had thought she would never be with her twin ever again after they were split up. “I know, sister.. I have missed you greatly,” As she spoke her words, they came out as husky as she tried not to be fully sobbing. At the mention of dessert, her ears flicked upwards she smiled, “Oh! Sweets, what are they?” She asked as she didn’t let her tears fall as she looked at the dessert that her sister was trying to offer her. Summer smiled and hoofed over the dessert to Autumn, “I believe Berry said it’s some sort of lemon-themed pastry. I heard Berry used to work at SugarCube Corner with Pinkie Pie and the Cake family.” She took a plate and gave one to Autumn. “Say, sis, can you fly? You got your wings; you should be able to hover like me.” She continued to hover, flapping her wings like many of the notable Pegasi of Equestria. Autumn listened to her sister talk about a friend she had met. She took one of the lemon-themed pastries as best as she could in her hooves and brought it up to her mouth. Autumn bit into it as the flavors burst into her mouth. As she started to talk with her mouth full for a moment,”Humm...good...hummguh.. see.” she stop and blushed lightly realizing her sister couldn’t understand her. Heck she couldn’t understand herself. “That was really good! I see why the Cakes hired her on.” She said with a smile as she licked her lips, trying not to waste a single piece of the sweet dessert! As her sister spoke of her wings, she looked down and bit her lips, “I tried once, but ended up falling on my face.. I haven’t tried since..” She said as she slowly flapped her wings open and then closed them, folding them back into her side with a sigh. Summer nodded in understanding of her sister’s situation. “I too, had trouble with my wings at first. I even got blown off course here when I ran into a bad thunderstorm.” She chuckled to herself, “Imagine, a Pegasi, whose job it is to control and manage weather, end up getting startled by a thunderstorm.” Hopefully no one saw that one.” Autumn giggled lightly. As she was lucky that no one had saw her face plant. Summer then turns to the matter at hoof. “As family, it’s my duty to help you learn to use those wings. You need to remember everything from Flight Camp and the Junior Speedsters. We’ll start with the basics!” Summer began to teach her sister the fundamentals of Pegasi flight. As Summer talked about remembering everything from the two flight schools, Autumn nearly groaned. As if it was something about them that made her just wanted to take a nap. Autumn was all for hard work, but it was the lecture part of the school that made her head hurt. She loved getting into shape to run races. Summer hovers near her sister, “Your first lesson is to control your wing beats. Your wings are lightweight and flap up and down, like this.” Summer demonstrated the proper technique to her sister. Autumn Breeze watched her sister a few moments before trying to emulate her wing movements. Summer smiled as Autumn began to flap her wings, “That’s the way to do it, Autumn!” She then focused on the second lesson, remembering the teachings from Flight School. Summer continued to teach her sister about how to fly. “Now, after you have mastered the art of hovering in mid air, you need to use your wings to ride the thermals. That’s the wind that goes under and over your wings when you fly. Once we get you airborne, we can practice walking on clouds. You know a Pegasi controls the weather and can move clouds around? “ Summer waited patiently for Autumn to respond. Autumn looked at her sister and thought about it for a moment trying to remember things, “I recall something of that effect.” She said lightly as she was still flapping her wings trying to get up off the ground more. She loved the feeling just being off the ground it meant that she was not tripping over her hooves as much. Though it does mean meeting the ground with her face a few times until she remembered things. She soon started to look down, but also started to lean forward. As the ground seemed to be closer to a little to her face, she bumped her front hooves to the ground but did not fall over. She lifted her head up and laughed lightly, “Oopsies..” She said as she blushed. Summer face-hoofed and went to pick her sister up off the ground. “I know you can do better, sister. Please try again.“ Summer flapped her wings up and down, demonstrating the hovering technique. “You’ll be able to fly in no time.” She encouraged her sister warmly. She looked down for a moment then looked up at her sister, “Okay.” she said lightly. As she started to flap her wings. As she smiled looking around saw that she was taller but it was just because she was up off the ground. Summer nodded and approved of the technique Autumn started with, “So far, so good. At least you got yourself off the ground.” She teased as the flight lessons continued.