//------------------------------//
// 10. The Shoutings of a Pink-Haired Dovahkiin 
// Story: Lunar Phases 
// by Dusk Writer 
//------------------------------//

	Now, most would think that I could go into dream time in any way, be  it through falling asleep naturally, being knocked out, or being drugged. As it would turn out, that is not true, seeing as how two of those three instances I wake up seemingly instantly and with an incredible head ache.

I stir from my slumber and grim my head in my hands. "Ow," I quietly mumble to myself as I wait for the side effects of the anesthetic to wear off. As it does, the memories of what just happened come back to me.

Those figures in black, who could they have been? More than likely they were from some sort of government project. They were too well armed to be just a local gang, or really even a militia.

I stand back up onto my boots, hooves almost slipping inside of them. I reach down and pull of the articles, only to find that the transformation has progresses much further than when I was last awake.

I look around, and upon finding no one within sight, I do a quick strip to look for any new changes. The fur has spread up my legs and has reached my upper thighs. My heel is now about where the middle of my shin was and my knees even higher. As I walk in a small circle, I find that I cannot keep my hips from swaying; a sign of, ugh, child-bearing hips. I find a slight ache in my lower back and almost fall trying to get rid of it. I grab onto a nearby branch, finding that my fingers are slow and seemingly unresponsive.

I lean my back against a tree to think, only to have a bit a pain emanate from my back. Reaching behind, I find a pair of bumps that I can only assume to be the starting of wings. I look down at my chest, only to see my nipples have disappeared altogether and the only mark on the front of my entire torso is my belly button. Having finished my inspection of myself, I place my pile of clothes back on.

As I do so, I realize something strange; it's almost like I can feel everything around me. Through my hooves, I feel the flow of the earth as the energy feeds the trees and plants. That must be more Earth pony magic. Then there's the second feeling. I can sense a type of "aura" around everything surrounding me. With a little experimentation, I find that the aura I feel around myself can be manipulated to attach to another object's aura, therefore, allowing me to physically manipulate the object.

Before I can continue my experimentation, the aura detaches on its own as I feel a bit of dizziness cause me to nearly fall over. I guess the magic use has its limits. Feeling another but different twinge, I look towards the north. Immediately, information flies into my brain; in about two hours, there will be a storm that hits Muscatine. There's plenty of other information, but I don't bother processing it.

Upon finishing cataloguing all the changes, physical and mental, I cautiously push through the thick forest and back to the road. Peeking out from the bushes, I check the gas station and all nearby areas for the figures in black.

Seeing that no one was there, I creep out of the forest, cringing at the sound my hooves make, but not feeling like putting my boots back on. After quite a while of cautious walking, I finally make it back to my beloved car, thankful to see that it was untouched in my absence.

I fumble while opening the door, coordination with my fingers seemingly decreasing rapidly. After a small but quiet bit of cursing, I finally manage to unlock the damn door. It takes another few tries, but I manage to seat myself in the rover.

I lean back before I start the car, and am quickly reminded as to why I didn't do that before. I quickly jerk back forward as I crush my new tail and growing pair of wings. Realizing just how uncomfortable it is becoming to sit like this, I decide to drive home as quickly as possible.

However, just as I reach the intersection a mere two blocks away from my apartment, I see two idiots that are doing something illegal, specifically one steering and working the shift of their manual car and the other working the pedals. Psh, they even have pony ears and oddly colored hair. What a pair of…freaks.

I quickly twist around to get another look at the two girls I just saw, just missing my chance. I look back in front of me just in time to see a ditch. I bring my arms up in front of my face and squeeze my large eyes shut, and not a moment too soon as the wind shield hits the broadside of a large tree branch and shatters the window, raining glass down upon me.

I wait for my world to quit shaking before I pull my arms out from in front of me. Purely on instinct, my horn lights up as it uses my aura to check my body for any injuries of any sort. Huh, that's a neat trick; I'll have to remember it.

I open my eyes and look down at my body. Thankfully, there's only a couple deep cuts and bruises, but a couple of the new slits on the front abdomen section and shoulder area of my shirt shows just how far along the changes have come. I can now see the navy blue fur reaching about halfway up my stomach and finer fur on my shoulder.

Oh no, I can't be found like this! That would be very, very bad. Alright, I don't care if leaving the scene of an accident if you were involved is illegal! I have to get away, right now! After trying the handle only to find it jammed and unable to open, I shift my body so my head is facing the passenger side and my hooves are pointed towards the driver side door.

Putting that new Earth Pony magic to use, I kick as hard as I can against the door. Oh, uh, that's not good. I may have just maybe kicked the door a little too hard, seeing as how it went flying a good hundred meters into the air before dropping down into the city and out of sight. Oh well, I don't have much time to worry about it right now, seeing as how the police are probably on their way right now.

Ignoring a jab of pain in my left leg for now, I climb out of the crashed vehicle, and limp alongside the road, trying to get to a nice, hidden area under the stormy sky. I finally find a small spot about thirty feet away from the car; a small grove surrounded by pine trees. I quickly pull my pants off for the second time that day (Wow, I'm really starting to sound like a slut) and check my furry legs.

Ah, there. There's a medium-sized shard of glass sticking out of my thigh, which, I note, is really starting to look more equine and- "Agh!" The rest of my thoughts are cut off as a sharp pain decides to invade my lower back. Leaning over a bit, I find that the pain seems to secede, for now. I guess that's another one of the physical changes; hips changing so as to be more like a pony.

Crawling a bit like golem does most of the time, I manage to get in sight of my apartment from inside of the tree line. I pull my pants back on even though they're now really uncomfortable, but, I don't want people to see something they shouldn't.

I make it across the street without incident fortunately enough. Sending the bird to the dark alleyway where I know the gangsters are sulking, I cross the parking lot as though I own it. I get to the door and press through them, my pony ears catching the sound of the moving elevator and the beginning of the pattering rain outside. I can feel my tail twitch beneath my pants in irritation, but I just move to a place that's out of sight.

The familiar ding rings through the hallway, and I wait for the receding foot steps to fade completely as they walk down a hallway on my current floor. Swiveling my ears this way and that, I'm glad to hear no one else within my immediate vicinity.

I walk up to the silver doors and press the up button, glad to see the doors open immediately and show nobody in the compartment. I press the numeral three on the control board and wait patiently for it to complete its ascent. Looking into the reflective panels of the elevator, I see just how much of a girl I look like. Well, it's kind of fitting, seeing as how I have some, uh, new 'equipment'. Also, there's cuts covering a lot of my body and face.

The elevator doors opening on my floor bring me out of my thoughts, which are a bit unpleasant. I check around the corner to make sure no one is watching and begin to do a kind of trot/walk/jog/whatever-it-is back down to my apartment door.

I reach into my tattered pocket to pull out they keys, and after fumbling a bit, I successfully hold them in my steadily-getting-clumsier hands. After another twenty seconds of maneuvering, I manage to get them into the key hole and twist. For some odd reason, I think I hear a voice singing behind my door, but I'm not sure. I pull the keys back out and push the lever handle down and pull the door open.

There, I see Tia (Brain, we are going to have a talk later, maybe), but she's facing away from me in the living room, looking at the stormy clouds, and singing incredibly well. Her arms are out away from her body with the palms facing up, kind of like a Virgin Mary statue I once saw. Now, I've never been much of a singer (Band geek forever!), but the way she was singing, just, wow. It almost made me get up there and start singing with her.

However, I just quietly close my door, lock it, and tip-hoof as silently as possible to my comfy couch, right behind her. I sit silently and listen to the lines of the song, rather touched when I realize that the name is more than likely "Fear Not This Night", seeing as how she continually repeats it. I'm glad somebody enjoys my nights enough to actually make a song about then. Er, uh, not my nights, but uh, well, you know what I mean!

As Alexia's (No, I am not going to call her by either name, because she is right in between) song came to an end with 'Home is just a sunrise away' she dropped her hands as though she just realized they were up. I begin clapping, slowly at first before picking up speed.

"Well done, well done. I was actually really touched by that piece of art." 

She whips around to look at me, obviously startled, but then embarrassed. Is it possible that she's embarrassed about singing? "Wha- When did you come back?" Suddenly, one of my old favorites that I first heard in an amazing Dreamworks movie scene starts playing on the youtube playlist. She uses golden magic to move the mouse and pause the music. Huh, guess I'm not the only one learning how to use magic today.

As she turns back to look at me, her face goes into poker mode. Looking down at myself, I realize that, well, I guess I do look pretty bad. Almost like I got into a fight with the whomping willow. Rubbing the back of my head with a bit of a sheepish look on my face, I answer to her incredibly good poker face. "Uh, yeah, about that."

Suddenly, I'm tightly encompassed and compressed into a hug. At first, I'm a bit surprised by the hug. But after a few seconds I begin to lightly pat her on the back, trying to keep it from getting awkward, at which I fail. "Shhh, it's okay Tia." I guess everyone, or pony, needs some comfort now and then, but why, in the name of all that is holy, did it have to be me?! Somehow, I get the feeling this won't be the only time I have to do this. I gently grab her shoulders and pull her to in front of me, realizing that we're eye level now. "Do you want to tell me what's wrong?"

Then, the awkward moment passes, or increases, when she realizes what she is doing. "I-I-" Oh my, the poor thing is stammering now.

I feel my face contort into a sympathetic pose, or at least as much of a pose that a face can do. "Tia, it's alright, you can tell me what's wrong." However, before she can answer back, there's a quick flash in my vision, and then it's like I'm looking at a different time period, which I probably am.

I find myself not able to control where I look. In front me, and quite a bit taller as well, is a very young Celestia. Right now, she looks to be about the same age as Twilight, but also seems to have been crying if her red eyes are anything to go by. I feel my mouth move and a young girl's voice comes out. "It's alright Tia! That stallion was a butt anyways!" It takes all of my mental ability to not die of a heart attack when I see the little filly Luna in the mirror saying that.

And then just as quickly as it came, it's gone, and it almost looks as though nothing has changed here. Looking back at uh, um, oh screw it. Looking back at Tia, I see that she has been doing her best attempt at regaining her composure. "So-sorry, I haven't felt well lately." As I make to say it's alright, I'm stopped by the slight look of irritation that comes onto her face. "What happened to you?"

Uh oh. I'm getting figurative flashbacks of yesterday of our fight. I take a step back, trying to seem as unaggressive as possible, in which my newfound shortness is probably helping. Or…not. Oh well, I might as well at least try to explain myself. "Well, earlier I received a message from someone, telling me that they were in the same boat as us. So, I went to go investigate and it ended up being an ambush by these soldiers in black." Thinking about it, I came to a realization. How did I know they were soldiers? Well, that was perhaps the only obvious or logical answer. Their armor and gear was much too advanced for random bounty hunters, and they were too obvious for assassins, except for the possible sniper. I absentmindedly rub the spot where the tranquilizer dart hit me in the arm.

I continue with my story. "After I was able to fight them off, I realized that I had been drugged. I barely managed to hide myself in the nearby forest before I fell asleep. Once I awoke quite awhile later, I catalogued the new changes, got back to my car, and started to drive back. However, I accidentally drove into the ditch, hence the cuts all over my body." Once I finally finish, I take in a deep breath to make sure I don't pass out from asphyxiation.

While I had been giving my explanation, I had hoped for her to understand and calm down. However, it looks like this isn't to be the case. After I had stated my reason for leaving, she went from mildly irritated to pissed. But it didn't stop there; as soon as I spoke of the soldiers and accident, the look on her face became bat-shit crazy.

"So, you receive news from somePONY else, who are also possibly in the same situation as us, and you don't TRUST me enough to tell me?!" Uh-oh. Sound the submarine alarm! We are about to dive into some shit where we do not want to go! "Why did I even bother to stay here after you tried to kill me? Do you have any idea what I did for you because I wanted to trust you based on a feeling that isn't even mine to begin with? I kept my best friend in the dark because I thought it would be better to talk about the situation with you! But now, I've had about enough of you! I'm leaving once the night has fallen!" She then proceeds to pretty much run from me, into my room, and slam the door. Damn it.

Although, she did make many valid points. Why did I not tell her about the message? I put myself in harm's way when she could have been there to help. The problem is that for most of my life, I have always had to do things alone, so I kind of got used to it. The rumbling thunder and pounding rain outside shows just the right mood right now.

Hm, Celestia may not actually want to leave in this type of weather. But if she does, then that's her choice. However, I need to apologize for my brash actions, seeing as how she was right in all of her points. I stand up and walk over to my bedroom door and raise my hand to knock, when I stop myself. Wait, did it affect her that badly? I lean in and press my ear against the wooden barrier. Sure enough, I can hear her sobbing, although it seems to be muffled a bit, so she may be crying into my pillows.

I reach towards the handle, ready to go in and begin comforting my new sister, when I stop myself again. I realize that I am certainly in no mood to comfort someone else when I have so much turmoil myself. "That is correct, young one. While you should comfort those less unfortunate than you, it'll only make matters worse if you are in a bad mood." Pretty much used to this new voice by now, I just turn from the door and walk back to the couch, shutting the lights off on my way even though it's still only eight. I think we both just need to sleep on this issue, even if Celestia claims she's gonna leave soon. If she's still here tomorrow, that's one thing I'll have to discuss with her tomorrow; names.

Leaving the light on in the Kitchen, I quickly fix something to appease the tyrant known as King Stomach II. I check around in my fridge for something simple, deciding to just get another apple. Huh, that's strange. There's a few missing. I guess Tia may have grabbed a few. I grab it and chow down on it like there's no tomorrow. I even ignore washing the shiny thing. Once finished, I toss the apples towards the waste and… miss. After my failure, I just go over and pick it up myself and put it in.

I stop by the bathroom for one last look before tomorrow, hunched over as I walk in. I flip on the lights and get a good look at myself. My blue mane and tail seem to be more obviously moved by an unfelt wind. My eyes are huge and my jaw seems to be pushed out a bit. Going hand in hand with these changes, the blue fur is now covering my entire body, although it is pretty fine and light on my upper torso. Rubbing my hand down the fur in the direction it's growing actually feels kind of good. I look at my back in the mirror to find the wings more developed now, even with some pin feathers growing in.

I take one last, long look at myself in the mirror before turning the light off and feeling my way back to the couch. As I lay down onto my stomach, I realize just how truly troubled I have been since the whole ordeal started. I just hadn't noticed, because on reflex I pushed the feelings down so they wouldn't get in the way. How will my parents react to this? I know I haven't talked to them in a while, but surely they'd still be glad to see me, right? Oh well, I'll burn that bridge when I get there, but now? I just want to sleep. Oooh this is so…comfy. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz