[Mirrors]
Cadence's head pounded. Of all the unpleasant feelings in the world, a rapid pulsating migraine was by far her least favorite. With each shot of pain throbbing within her head, her closed eyelids involuntarily twitched to the beat of the headache. With every wince, she was forced through the barrier of darkness where the light blended with the bubble of black.
Strangely enough, the place she was in was no dream world, that much she could tell. What she couldn't figure out was why everything was nothing or how she was able to exist in nothing in the first place. She couldn't remember anything as brief pulses distorted the space around her, drowning out any cohesive thought that zapped into existence and then vanishing into oblivion. The longer she was bound within the space between reality and the dream world, the faster the pulses became.
It wasn't long until the pulses drummed so fast that her mind couldn't take it anymore, quickly shattering subspace to pieces.
Cadence finally slipped back into consciousness with the sensation of a soft pillow pressed against the side of her face. She let out a gurgle that escaped her lips and infected the pillow with heat. She tried to pull her eyelids open, but they were locked together. Half of the senses in her body received instantaneous signals sent by her overworked brain and she gained the ability to lift her forelegs. Sweat had accumulated from the stuffy and damp cocoon of fabric she was wrapped in.
After a few seconds of exposing her forelegs to the cold air around her, goosebumps crawled along her limbs as she stretched them outward. Oddly enough, it was as if somepony had shaved off her fur coat down to her bare skin. The feeling was unfamiliar and uncomfortable. After shifting her other foreleg, she squirmed beneath the sheets to ease the discomfort of shivers.
As she sat up, the fog over her memory began to clear up and she remembered the last few minutes before falling in a dead heap. It was cold and wet. She remembered a strong downpour that showered on top of her, keeping her awake until it all stopped. The very last thing she saw was a faint yellow light that provided no warmth when her body shut down. The rain was all too vivid in her mind as if she could taste the moisture and salt in her mouth just by thinking about it.
Cadence's eyes remained glued together, but the intense amount of ambient light penetrated the thin membrane of skin that separated her from the outside world, producing a red glow behind her eyelids. The room was silent. Even with the groans she made when she shifted her weight, she could hear sounds close by. They sounded similar of hoofsteps.
When her ears failed to swivel towards the sounds around her, she quickly shot her upper body up. A sharp pain tore along her spine and she quickly dropped back down to the soft pillows. She wanted to yell, but all she could do was open her mouth as if she had. She sighed and placed a hoof to her forehead.
When a soft tingle coasted through the length of her arm as it came in contact with the skin around her eyes, she instantly pulled her hoof away from her face. She didn't remember her hoof being so sensitive... and flexible. She could feel her hoof shifting as she moved her fingers that had grown from the end of it.
Wait what?
It was then that she ripped her eyes wide open, exposing her vision to the luminescence of the room. She was too afraid to close them again, let alone blink. That unusual sensation kept her mind spinning in circles. As the flash flood of light drained into her pupils, the first thing she saw made her gasp.
Upon sighting the alien appendages on the end of her arm, Cadence tried shaking it off like a giant spider crawling on her hoof. When it wouldn't go away, she flailed her hand even more in desperate attempt to remove it. All the while, a figure loomed over her, casting a fuzzy shadow on her arms.
“Whoa there,” said a deep voice. “Calm down, you're gonna hurt yourself.”
Cadence soon felt another pair of hands grab onto her own to stop her from waving her arms like a crazy mare. She snapped her head to the being that spoke to her. Her crooked gaze landed upon a silhouette of a monstrous creature that only existed in ancient tomes.
She couldn't say a word. She didn't have to. Her face said it all as the emotions of curiosity and wonder emitted from her expression. She pulled her hands from the creature's grip and rolled off the sofa, dragging the blanket and pillows with her. She tried shuffling to her legs, but they were completely out of proportion. The feeling at the end of each her limbs tickled her now sensitive skin. Her back hooves were covered in some sort of thick sheath that wrapped up past her ankles. Not only that, but her entire body was covered in cloth, from her feet to as far as her neck. She could feel every velvet fiber tugging at the grooves of her skin.
As she craned her head back like any normal pony would, her extremely short neck restricted her from bending back any further. She cease her movements and sat down on her rump and looked up at the figure as it crouched next to her.
“Don't freak out,” it said. “Just stay still and relax.”
As soon as it spoke again, Cadence's mind started spinning and flipping in perplexity as her mouth hung open.
“What- w-who-...” Cadence faltered. She couldn't form a single question. She had so many.
“I'm not gonna hurt you,” he cooed, holding out a hand. “Here, I'll help you up.”
Her human eyes fell onto the hand of the creature that offered to help her. She stared at it for a second, then back at the silhouette. She hesitantly lifted her right foreleg—now right arm—and placed her palm on top of his. The creature's fingers wrapped around her hand and used its strength to pull her to her feet. As soon as she stood on her hind legs, she lost her balance and stumbled forward. Fortunately, the tall being caught her from falling and held onto her shoulders.
“Easy there,” he said. “I take it you're not used to standing up like this.”
For a few seconds in his arms, an enigmatic expression constricted as her face displayed a mix of conflicting emotions. She was able to recompose herself shortly after pressing against the creature's soft clothing, feeling the soothing rhythm of the delicate heartbeat within his chest.
“Thank you,” she finally responded.
Cadence could feel his head lean closer to her ear.
“Now just hold on to me and stand up normally, or like a human would.”
She lifted her head from his shoulders and with her vision returning to normal, she saw his face for the first time. The man noticed her look turn to one of awe.
“How are you doing?” he asked.
“What are you?” she whispered.
The man cleared his throat. For a moment, he thought of calling her out on her identity after giving his, but thought against it. As cheeky as it sounded, he wanted this situation to get even more confusing for his own amusement. He knew it was wrong, but he enjoyed the look on not-Kate's face as she stared at him with those brown eyes.
“I'm your captain, remember?”
“You're not my Shining Armor,” she hollered.
“Your what?”
“Cadence?” said a familiar young voice from somewhere in the room. Not-Kate's head perked up. Her ears would have done the same if she still had pony ears.
“Twilight!?” she cried, swiveling her head side to side, trying to find the owner of that gracious voice. Not-Kate tried pushing away from the being that she used as support for standing on two legs.
“Behind you,” Twilight called.
The creature that continued to hold her up in an upright posture firmly grabbed her shoulders and turned her body around to face the unicorn that called her name. As soon as their eyes met, Cadence was released from the creature's grasp and she attempted to launch herself into the hooves of the lavender filly, but was unsuccessful. Upon being released, she fell to the floor after her legs wobbled from her first few steps. Twilight ran to her aid.
“Oh Cadence!” Twilight whimpered. “I'm so sorry! I don't know how this happened.”
“It's okay, Twilight. I'm here.” Cadence did not recognize the voice that left her mouth as she tried to comfort the unicorn with her words. “Why does my voice sound different?”
“Am I going crazy, or did I just hear myself talk?” said a familiar female voice.
Cadence looked around as if she heard her own voice speak to her from a distance. Directly behind Twilight was none other than herself. Her jaw nearly fell off her face. It was like she was looking mirror, only without the mirror.
Kate returned the same shocked stare.
“That's impossible,” they both said in unison. “You're me!”
Stanley couldn't help but chuckle.
“Don't act so surprised, Kate,” he smirked. “You still think this is all a joke.”
“But how?” both Cadence and Kate sang simultaneously. Neither one of them could take their eyes off of each other. They stared at the exact image of 'themselves' like someone had copy and pasted an exact replica of their physical bodies down to the last detail.
Cadence and Kate began to crawl towards each other with the help of Twilight and Stanley. When they were no more than a few feet apart, they eyes grew even more. Kate thought of it like looking at an extremely realistic 3D model of herself and Cadence was disgusted at the condition of her own mane. At exactly the same instant, they each lifted an arm and reached out to make sure they weren't hallucinating.
As hoof and hand made contact, they quickly pulled away by reflex.
“Wow,” pony Kate said. “I look so real.”
“Me as well,” Cadence said with Kate's voice.
“Wait wait wait,” Rainbow Dash spoke up, looking at the human form of Katherine who to claimed to be their princess. “How do we know you are who you say you are?”
Fake Kate looked at the pegasus and grimaced.
“That's a fair question, Rainbow Dash,” she said. “Is this one of your new spells, Twilight?”
The purple mare next to her sheepishly smiled and rubbed the back her neck with a hoof.
“That might explain what's going on.”
“What did you do?” Cadence asked with more force in her human host's voice than she would have liked.
“I- I don't know.” The unicorn was on the verge of bursting into tears. “I'm sorry.”
“No no, Twilight, don't cry,” Cadence said. Despite the voice differential, it helped comfort her. “I believe you. Whatever you did, I know you didn't mean it. I'm not angry for what you did even though I'm still confused about all this. Shhhh.” Cadence ran her fingers through Twilight's mane with Kate's hands and pulled her closer into a warm embrace. She ignored how strange the touch felt on her bare skin.
Kate and Stanley watched the scene unfold in front of them as the small lavender unicorn was sobbing in the arms of her human self.
“Aww, isn't that nice.” Kate joked as she raised an eyebrow. “Why am I hugging pony?”
“Because you're not,” Stanley replied, adding to her confusion. “That isn't really you. You're in the body of a pony.”
Kate still wouldn't believe it. She forced out a sarcastic laugh.
“Ha Ha, very funny, guys. I want out of this costume now.”
She found it more challenging to move her legs without the ability to feel the floor beneath her hooves. As her rose off the floor, she stood no more than five feet off the ground. Her long violet, pink, and gold mane swung from her head and hovered mere inches from the ground. The blanket that hung from her back slid to the floor, exposing the rest of her body to the warm air. The bright pink and violet wings dangled from her back with the feathers in disarray.
Lucas walked over as she struggled to find her balance. Her attempts to stand up on her back legs by pushing herself off the ground resulted in failure. Instead of helping her with support, he hesitantly stuck out a hand and tapped the tip of her horn with his index finger.
Kate broke from her silent internal frustration from failing to stand normally and looked up to see the captain grinning at her.
“What are you smiling at?”
“You just don't get it, do you?”
“What?”
With a intrepid look on his face, Lucas snorted.
“I'm just gonna say this loud and clear. You're not dreaming, we aren't pranking you, and you are definitely not in a costume.” His voice exhibited a mixture of certainty and sincerity.
Kate rarely saw him as serious as he was just then. She squinted her large eyes and gave him the most skeptical face she could muster to cover up her fear of it being true.
“Alright, prove to me that it's all real.”
Lucas raised his arm and tapped on her horn again.
“Can you feel that?”
“Yes. Why?”
“You shouldn't. Humans don't have horns.”
“A horn?” Kate angled her head back to look up, but saw nothing but the ceiling. However, when she did catch a glimpse of a pink blur above her forehead, it seemed to move everywhere her head did. “I don't see anything,” she lied.
Lucas grunted and shook his head. It was as if he was talking to a six-year-old. Could Kate get any more clueless? He tried to come up with more ways of showing her than she was in the body of a magical pink pony, but Kate was a hard nut to crack.
He lowered his hand to her foreleg and grazed his fingers over pink hairs of her fuzzy fur coat that grew on her forelegs. Her eyes widened as his touch sent a strange sensation shoot up the length of her pink limb.
“Tell me you feel that,” he said.
His voice broke her muse on how that was even close to possible. Kate definitely felt his delicate touch, which frightened her more than it should have. Up until that time, she had ignored how vivid her new form appeared to be and the sore wings on her back that had ached since waking up. She took a deep breath and forcefully expelled the gasses from her elongated muzzle.
“That doesn't prove anything.”
Lucas smiled, knowing Kate would hold on to her disbelief and lie to herself. He looked up at Stanley and gave him a sinister smug, darting his eyes between him and Kate. The navigator silently mouthed a response and nodded, having understood his cousin's intentions and backed away slowly.
“How about this?”
Less than a second later, he promptly slung his right hand at her face.
*THWACK*
From behind, Twilight and Cadence gasped at the slap upon the alicorn's face. Rainbow Dash was about to tackle him to the ground when all of a sudden, Lucas went flying across the room with a light blue glow surrounding his entire body, slamming into a book shelf at the opposite end of the room.
*CRASH*
He fell to the carpet like a rag doll as all the books rained down from above.
“Oh no.”
Stanley quickly rushed over to Lucas' limp body, removing the hardcover books that landed on top of him, and flipped the man over. Lucas fluttered his eyes open and coughed up a lump of blood. Either a loud bang had erupted across the house or his ears screamed in agony.
“Gaahaha!” he cried while laughing away the pain. He stretched his eyes open as wide as he could. “That woke me up.”
Stanley helped his injured cousin by holding his head up and shot Kate a dreadful look.
“What the hell did you do that for!?” he nearly shouted.
Kate panicked as she stumbled backwards, running into the wall behind her. She was shocked at what she had done. She knew it was her fault because she felt a strong release of concentrated energy lock on to Lucas and pick him up off the ground. She didn't mean to throw him so hard.
“I- I don't know,” she stammered, clearly filling up with regret. “H-how did I do that?”
The Twilight and Cadence exchanged looks with their mouths open while Rainbow Dash walked up next to Kate. The terrified human in alicorn form didn't seem to notice and shut her eyes tight. She pressed into the wall as close as possible. The pegasus cleared her throat to make her presence known.
“I've seen a lot of things in my day and even I know that was harsh. Are you humans always like this?”
Being an expert in pranks and mischief—as well as her skills in distinguishing between the two—Rainbow was spot on on her assessment. Despite the initial confusion between who was who in Cadence's body, it mattered little. Throwing somepony across the room out of spite was a line that nopony crossed—including Rainbow. Regardless of who's fault it was, Rainbow actually felt sorry for the man who took a nasty hit. She planned on apologizing for her actions from their first encounter. She sat next to Kate, hoping she wouldn't have to be the one to control the human who took over her princess' body.
Kate's head dropped and buried her head in her hooves. She no longer cared about whether or not she was really a pony. What scared her the most was the what she just did to Lucas. Surely there must be an explanation for how she managed to hurl him in the air without touching him.
Stanley finally took his eyes off of pony Kate and looked down at his cousin squirming on the floor.
“Can we both agree that was a bad idea?”
Lucas looked up as Stanley as he stretched his facial muscles, wiping away the wry and somnolent look that followed after the impact.
“It wasn't that bad,” he croaked. “But yeah, let's not do that again.”
He painfully rolled over on his stomach and pushed himself up, leaning against the empty book shelf. Stanley sat down next to him in the same manner and brushed up his cousin's shoulder. Lucas didn't mind the awkward intimacy and picked up a random book to distract himself of his surroundings and started reading.
Throughout that unfortunate and brutal scene, human Cadence simply sat silently in the same place she had been since collapsing to her knees. Twilight stood by her side with as much surprise and tension bubbling within. They were uncertain of which end to side with. Pony Kate was trying to hide from everyone in the room by cowering in a tight ball and the other two humans fared no better. They have been through enough as it is.
For Twilight, she was trapped somewhere in between. It was a deadlock, to say the least. She couldn't bear to see this struggle go on any longer. It was time she did something about it.
She took a long breath and whispered something in Cadence's human ears. They both nodded in agreement. Twilight then turned and slowly paddled over to the distressed form of the pink alicorn, her loud hoofsteps echoing through the silence that had infected the lounge of the station. As she reached Kate, she gestured to Rainbow Dash to give them some space.
Twilight was now standing directly in front of the royal alicorn, wearing a deep sympathetic expression as Kate sniffled behind those pink hooves and golden slippers.
“Katherine?” she purred quietly.
I took a few more sobs and some silence for the frightened human to look up. As their eyes met, Kate cowered again.
“It's okay,” Twilight cooed once more. “We can help you get through this. Please don't cry.”
The angelic voice of the young bookworm mare was enough to bring Kate out of hiding. Still carrying a feeling of sorrow that sank into her every corner of her mind upon the realization of fault for her fierce act, Kate rose her head.
“It's not your fault. I can explain what happened.”
“I'm a freak,” whispered Kate, shuddering at the fact that her voice was completely foreign to her. She tried to ignore as much as possible.
Twilight was going to pretend she didn't hear that rather offensive remark. The Princess' physical body was neither ugly nor disfigured. It was as perfect as a pony could get to perfection.
“What you experienced was a magical provocation, one that any unicorn is able to control at will. Unfortunately, since the owner of the body you now inhabit is no longer in control, that magic is now flowing loosely. I am deeply sorry for my mistake.”
Kate looked at herself one more time, then back at Twilight. She was able to compose herself as Twilight apologized.
“What are you talking about?”
“What I mean is,” Twilight paused to gulp, unwilling to articulate the thought. “You switched bodies with our friend, Princess Cadence.”
The alicorn continued to stare at Twilight. The purple unicorn couldn't tell if she was scared, surprised, or amused. Either way, she was hoping for a response or some clue on how Kate was feeling at that particular moment. Switching bodies was not unheard of in Equestria, Twilight had experienced it herself during an accident with Pinkie Pie. She was uncertain whether humans shared similar mishaps and anomalies.
Kate opened her mouth again to speak.
“H-how?”
“I'm not sure, but I may be the one at fault.”
“You did this to me?” Kate asked with more coherence and structure in her voice. Twilight immediately caught on to the change in tone and building agitation.
“Please, you must understand. I didn't know this would happen. I can fix this.”
“You did this?” Kate repeated, her cheeks twitching sporadically.
Kate's sadness had been replaced by frustration rather quickly. From the other side of the room, Stanley and Lucas immediately noticed the tone. Stanley quickly stood up and walked over to Kate, who never took her eyes of Twilight.
“Come on, Kate, chill out. She said she can fix it. No big deal.”
Even when he tried to intervene, she refused to let loose.
“Well, it's a bit more complicated than that,” Twilight noted, wincing at delivering the bad news. Playing with consciousnesses of sentient beings—regardless of species—was by far the least studied and least understood subject of magic. The level of magic required to return the human back to normal would be enough to teleport a few hundred miles. There were no conventional means, fail safes, or shortcuts in order to ensure a successful transfer of consciousness back to their original bodies. The spell would take some time to learn, let alone preform.
Stanley glanced at Twilight with just as much concern as Kate, only without the fervent glare that beamed from the eyes.
“Shouldn't be a problem, right?”
“Um,” Twilight sat down where she stood and scratched the back of her neck. While searching for a positive answer that wouldn't anger the humans, she looked over her shoulder to Cadence, who sat on her human knees, returning an equally sad expression. “It's going to take some time.”
Kate's disheartened features nearly fell off her face. Whatever hope she had left to hang on to was too brittle to stay intact. She could no longer form any thoughts that would save her from the animosity that began to take over.
“It is a difficult spell to construct,” Twilight continued. “But it shouldn't take any more than a day or two to learn every aspect and variable. I need to conserve as much magic as I can to maximize probability of a successful transfer.”
Kate ignored all details of that meaningless explanation. She could care less about what the unicorn meant by spells and magic, she was more focused on her own well-being.
Stanley recognized the state Kate was enduring internally and noticed the twitching on the corner of her mouth. That was not a good sign that she was in control of her rapidly deteriorating sanity. He wasn't going to let her snap.
Once Twilight completed her conjecture with another apology, the room went silent. This gave Stanley the chance to prevent what he was sure was about to happen. He positioned himself between Kate and Twilight.
“I know what you're thinking, Kate,” he accused, snapping his fingers close to her face. “Snap out of it. This isn't like you.”
Kate ignored him and stood up on her hooves. She began advancing without faltering over her steps. Once she reached Stanley, she pushed him out of the way, knocking him to the floor. The source of her troubles was now in her line of sight. Twilight backed away slowly.
Stanley immediately got to his feet and jumped on top of Kate before she could carry out her confrontation. She let out a muffled grunt as the brute force of the man's body pinned her to the floor.
“I said stop it!” he yelled.
“Get off me!” she growled.
“Not until you get a hold of yourself. I'm not gonna let you do this.”
Kate struggled between his grip and her focus on Twilight. The more she moved, the tighter Stanley crushed her. Twilight backpedaled to Cadence as the both of them looked at the alicorn who attempted to break free of the human.
“Let me go!” Kate cried.
With every kick and jab, Kate seemed to lose energy through her useless efforts. Stanley used his upper body strength and every muscle in his arms to hold her down. He remained calm as she relentlessly protested and grunted at her apparent disadvantage.
“Don't hurt her,” Cadence suddenly pleaded with Kate's human voice. “Let her go.”
Stanley looked up. “She's not herself.”
“Of course she is not herself, she is in my body. Please let her go. You are harming me as well.”
Stanley realized he was chocking Kate. The mare ceased her squirming and as Stanley let loose, she laid limp on the floor, out of breath, almost paralyzed. The navigator scurried away like he had committed some horrible crime. The pink alicorn coughed a few times as dust settled inside her mouth.
After having seen enough, Cadence crawled on her hand and knees to Kate's aid, deeply worried for both the human and her own body. It was the first time she had ever seen herself from the outside. She slumped down next to Kate and carefully hovered a hand over her mane. The pink and gold dreadlocks slipped through her fingers like the bristles of a hairbrush.
“Please relax,” Cadence chimed. “You must control your emotions. My- our magic is extremely sensitive, which draws its power from emotion.” Cadence could feel the shivers vibrate throughout the pony's body and unusually warm to the touch with sweat accumulating on the side of her forehead.
Kate finally showed signs of life when she lifted her head off the ground to look at her human self in the eyes.
“You stole my body.”
“It was an accident. I'd be more than happy to give it back to you at this very moment,” Cadence replied. “We need to work things out together as a group to return us back to normal. We require your help and cooperation to in order to do that. Do you think you do that for us?”
Kate let her head drop to the floor again. Cadence took that as a yes.
“Allow me to formally introduce myself,” she continued. “My name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadence for short. As a representative of Equestria and the Crystal Empire, I apologize for our intrusion upon your land and sincerely apologize for this unforeseen and unfortunate mishap. I assure you, Twilight Sparkle will do everything in her power to return you to your original body. I would very much like to have my body back as well. When all is well, we will leave by your terms and compensate you for the trouble we have caused.”
“Twilight Sparkle?” Kate's ears perked up. She filled her lungs with air and sat up.
“Correct.”
“Why does that name sound familiar?”
“Hm. I could only speculate that you have retained some residual memories of mine as do I of your memory. I believe it is only a side effect of the spell. If I may prove it to you that I have some of your thoughts, may I ask why you no longer needed your captain's services.”
Kate winced. Within the pile of books, Lucas immediately looked up from his fantasy novel that kept him occupied for the past few minutes. Even Stanley looked shocked.
“What!?” Lucas shouted.
Kate began to panic. The manner in which Cadence disclosed personal information out loud and without knowledge of the significance of said information had ignited the fuse that was her captain.
Lucas quickly shuffled to his feet, limping his way over to her. No longer did he show signs of pain or amusement, but grief.
“What is she talking about?” he asked after kneeling down next to them. His voice was nearly shaking with horror.
Kate opened her mouth to deny what Cadence said, but she knew she couldn't. Cadence soon realized her mistake and put a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. Lucas' dismal frown could be read from a mile away.
“You were going to fire me? How long ago were you planning on doing that?”
“I-it was just a thought!” Kate defended. “I was never really going to let you go.”
Lucas continued to display a foul disbelief through his voice.
“Why would you do such a thing? Am I really that bad for you to get rid of me just like that?”
“I didn't-”
Lucas interrupted her by standing up and walking away. Rainbow Dash backed up out of his way to let him leave the room through the lobby door. He stomped through the entrance hall and outside the building, slamming the front door as violently as his derelict strength would allow. Everyone in the lounge shuddered at the booming noise that rippled through the walls and roared in their respective ears.
After a several seconds of silence, Stanley glared at Kate.
“Is that true?”
There was nothing Kate could say to make the withering situation any easier or make her feel any better. She looked down at the floor, absolutely drained of humility and dripping with torrid guilt.
Stanley lifted himself off the carpet he sat on and went to follow his cousin's footsteps. Before leaving to the lobby, he turned to address the Kate and the three ponies.
He open his mouth to say something, but closed it upon having nothing intelligible to say. He sighed and gently closed the door behind him.