Spritelight

by Makitk


Josey 1, Chapter 10

With new clothes courtesy of the court tailor Uniquity, a flamboyant unicorn who looked as much like a stereotypical gay fashion designer as any pony could, Rhonda and I left the baths in search of the main dining hall, where Celestia would be waiting for us.
Followed by two of the princess' guards we walked arm-in-arm to allow Rhonda to use me as a crutch. She had some trouble keeping balance, but with every step I felt her lean into me for support less and less.
By the time we made it to the great hall, she was walking beside me as if she'd always walked on hooves instead of feet, and I gave her a warm smile before turning my attention to our hostess.
"Thank you for not letting me drown just now, princess Celestia," I offered, bowing down lightly and feeling my wings spread behind me almost automatically.
Rhonda giggled and played her fingers through my feathers as my wing stopped her from moving forward, and I felt a shiver run down my spine at the nice feeling it evoked. I was going to miss her fingers most once our transformations completed.
"Of course, princess Josey," Celestia smiled, bowing her head a bit to me as well. "Would you both join me for lunch?"
I straightened my back again, my wings folding in the same motion, and smiled up. "We would be honored to."
Celestia took a few steps aside to show the long table filled with platters of varying sizes on which a large assortment of food was laid out for the taking. There were cupcakes, truffles, layered cakes, and ice cream for those with a sweet tooth. Carrots, celery, lettuce, and a variety of flowers and leaves I didn't recognize for those seeking a healthier diet. And then there were at least six pails of liquid of various colorations standing around a glass punchbowl in the center of the table.
I looked around myself in wonder and did a quick head count. Besides Celestia, Rhonda, and myself, there were eight guards standing along the long sides of the room, two off in the distance near the doors leading further through the palace, two behind us at the doors through which we made our entry, and the two which had been following us.
"Do the guards eat with us, princess?" I wondered, and she let out a curious chuckle.
"Now that would be an idea," she giggled, but shook her head immediately after. "No, it's just us three."
I stared at the food on the table again and then scratched the back of my neck. "That's a lot of food for just three ponies, princess."
Celestia raised an eyebrow, nudging her head toward Rhonda. "I would not be too worried about that, dear Josey. But please, call me Celestia. We're both princesses."
I turned my head to look at Rhonda and immediately saw the hunger on her face, her ears tilted forward a little even if they still looked far too human, and her tail flicking behind her as if she was waiting to be told she could dig in.
"Rho?" I tried, but Celestia chuckled.
"Why don't you two sit down and we can talk some more while we're having lunch?"
There was a pink blur before Celestia was good and well done with her question, and I followed it to see Rhonda seated on one of the cushions set out around the table, eagerly scanning all the food in front of her.
I followed at a slightly slower pace, taking my seat beside Rhonda and watched as Celestia set herself down opposite us rather than at the head of the table.

The princess' horn glowed as she reached for a pail of milk and poured herself a glass of it, then offered it to us.
"I didn't know ponies drank milk?" I wondered, holding my glass up with my hand for her to fill.
Celestia smiled enigmatically and filled my glass halfway, then moved the pail back to its original position. "Have a sip, Josey. And please feel free to take what you want to eat. The palace staff can make more when necessary."
The latter sentence was aimed more at Rhonda than at me, and my girlfriend moved along the table like a whirlwind, scooping up food from several different platters before sitting down beside me again and stuffing her mouth.
I shook my head in amusement as I lifted the glass of milk to my face, and sniffed it. It smelled like normal milk which we got from cows back home, but there was a light tinge of acidity to it which cow's milk only had when it started to go bad.
Celestia noticed the pull of my facial muscles and leaned in over the table. "It is mother's milk, donated by pregnant mares who started to lactate before they deliver their foals. It is a delicacy in our world."
I stared down at the milk and raised an eyebrow. "Donated?"
"There's a rare condition in our world where pregnant mares start to lactate several months before their foals are ready to be born," Celestia further clarified. "Their breasts fill to the point where they start to leak, but there's no foal to drink from them yet."
I nodded slowly, taking a soft sip from the milk. It tasted different from cow's milk back home, but it didn't taste bad at all. The mild acidity actually helped its unique taste to come out better.
"In the past, such mares would turn to their stallions," Celestia continued, "which had the unintended side-effect of their stallions getting drunk."
I peered out over my glass and raised an eyebrow, but still took another sip of the milk. It was strange to think someone could get drunk over a glass of milk, but there was still something about the taste I couldn't quite place.
"You see," Celestia chuckled, taking a sip from her own glass before continuing, "there's a relatively high amount of salt in mother's milk. This won't affect a newborn foal, but an adult pony is more susceptible to an overabundance of salt and will get drunk from it. Especially when the milk is consumed in large quantities."
Salt. That was it. It was slightly salty. I took a bit of a bigger gulp of milk and let it rest in my mouth for a moment before swallowing. "You're right. It is somewhat salty," I nodded, putting my glass back down near my plate and promptly watching a chunk of cake fall in it.
"Rhonda, love, do watch where your food is flying?" I sighed, plucking the cake out of my glass and dispensing it on my girlfriend's half-empty plate.
Rhonda, her face and hands smeared with chocolate and bits of cake and other confectionery, nodded to my words and jumped up to get a refill.
I looked down at my own empty plate and smirked. "Perhaps I should get some food for myself before Rhonda finishes everything that's on the table?"
Celestia smiled in my direction and her horn glowed as she levitated some plant leaves over, and topped it off with a few flowers.

"Can I," I started, hesitantly, then looked up at where my horn was. "How would I... er..."
Celestia tilted her head at me. "How would you use your magic, you mean?"
I nodded and reached up to touch my horn, playing my fingers along the grooves.
"I'm not sure if you're able to yet, considering your half-finished transformation," Celestia spoke her concern, "but if you feel you are ready to try, it is fairly simple to explain but difficult to master."
I looked her right in the eyes and nodded. "I want to know."
"I assume you want to learn how to levitate things first, considering the question came up as I filled my plate?" Celestia chuckled, and I blushed as I nodded.
"It looked a whole lot more effective than running around grabbing everything separately. A lot more hygienic as well."
The princess looked down at her plate and levitated a small flower over from it to mine. It was a daisy, looking to be freshly cut from its stem as its petals were still brimming with life. "Let's start small. Focus on the daisy and imagine it floating upward from its plate. When you have that image in your head, try to push that image into your horn and, from there, to the daisy."
I stared at the flower on my plate and narrowed my eyes at it. "Ok, little thing, you're going to go up a few inches until you're hovering above the plate. I'm going to imagine you there now," I mumbled to myself.
In my head, I tried to place the image of the flower as an overlay over where it was as I looked at it, then tried to push that image through my forehead into my horn. I needed a few tries before I got my thoughts under control, but then had enough focus to make the image drift off until it hovered where my horn was.
"Now from my horn to the flower," I whispered in utter concentration, moving the mental image down to the plate until it was a perfect overlay again.
Nothing happened.
Nothing continued to happen.
I blinked and looked up at Celestia, who was staring very hard onto her own plate, her face scrunched up as if she was holding back her laughter.
I sighed and folded my arms in front of my chest. "That's not fair, Celestia," I pouted. "You've had a thousand years and then some to perfect your magic. I've only started to turn into a pony yesterday."
Celestia tried to regain her composure, but I saw the twinkle in her eyes as she turned them up to look at me.
"You knew it wasn't going to work, did you?" I asked, and she immediately turned serious.
"No, Josey, I didn't," she assured me. "Trust me when I say that, over the years, a lot of different ponies have amazed me with what they could do against all odds. I did warn you that it may be too soon, but I was rooting for you."

I sighed and looked down at my plate, noticing the daisy had gone missing from it, but a pair of chocolate smears had been left in its place.
"Rhonda," I sighed, looking beside me and seeing Pinkie Pie look back at me. "Rhonda?"
"Yes Josey?" 'Pinkie' said, pausing a moment from stuffing her fully formed and furred muzzle with food.
I tentatively reached out to touch her cake-stained face, shaking my head in bewilderment. "Wow.. I didn't.. How did that?" I stammered, and Rhonda nuzzled softly into my hand.
"Hmm," Celestia hummed, calling one of her guards over and sending him on his way to fetch Magic Ink.
I was still captivated by my lover's fully formed pony face and did not notice the other changes, until a pink hoof moved up to touch my hand.
Shocked by the touch, I fell over backward and shook my head at the fully formed pony sitting where Rhonda had not a moment ago.
She was pink. Everything about her was pink. Pink mane, pink coat, pink eyes. Different shades of pink, to be sure, but she was pink all over!
Rhonda looked confused at my reaction, but followed my gaze downward until she spotted her forehooves and quickly held them up in front of her face. "My hands!"
"Hooves," Celestia corrected.
"When did this happen? I didn't even notice!" Rhonda exclaimed, looking around herself from where she was sitting. "I was just eating until Josey called my name, and then she went all confused and now I have hooves?"
"I wonder if it's the food," Celestia mused, leaning down to take a bite out of her own while studying Rhonda's responses from the corner of her eyes.
"I had some of that milk, Celestia," I reminded her, "Shouldn't I be showing signs of changes as well if that was the case?"
Celestia narrowed her eyes at the thought, then swallowed and looked back at Rhonda again. "Can you please stand up, dear?"
Rhonda blinked up and turned her eyes toward the princess. "Stand up?"
"Yes, my little pony," Celestia offered with a smile. "Just stand up from your cushion, please."
Rhonda shrugged and put her forehooves down on the ground, then pushed her rump up so she was standing on all fours, her clothes dropping on the floor beside her. "Like this?"
"Does that feel natural to you?" Celestia asked, and Rhonda shrugged lightly.
"I guess?"
I got up and walked over to my girlfriend, looking down at how small she was in comparison. Her flank barely reached up to my hips, with the top of her head still below where my breasts... had been.
I stared down at myself and patted down my chest area. "Where'd my boobs go?"
Celestia's laughter filled the room again and I looked up to watch her move a hoof in a downward motion.

I pulled my shirt up to look at my belly, and there they were; two floppy-looking teats.
"That's..." I started.
"Pretty normal for a pony, dear Josey," Celestia finished my sentence for me. "You will find Rhonda's in the same location."
"I didn't even notice the change!" I exclaimed, then pointed back at my wings as I spread them open. "I FELT THOSE!"
"It may have something to do with the nature of the mother's milk, dear," Celestia smiled, lifting her own glass to her lips and taking a sip of it.
I stared at her in confusion, my wings still spread but slowly sinking down a little as my arms fell down to my sides again. "I'm not a foal."
"But you are a pony," Celestia returned. "A pony who may be slightly intoxicated already. Are you, by chance, feeling dizzy?"
I shrugged and reached a hand up again to feel at the side of my head. "A little. I wasn't going to bring it up."
Celestia just nodded with a knowing smile. "You may not want to finish your drink then, Josey."
I sighed and folded my wings again, looking down at the pink pony called Rhonda beside me. "You were eating way too fast."
"And you've not eaten anything yet, silly," she chuckled up at me, licking her muzzle clean.
"You look too cute like that," I sighed, sinking through my legs and wrapping my arms around her neck, leaning my head in against her mane. "Not as puffy a mane as Pinkie's, but it suits you."
I felt her lean in against me as well and she nuzzled back up at me. "Probably because I'm not Pinkie Pie. I'm my own pony."
"Without a cutiemark," I chuckled, poking her blank flank with a finger.
Her head turned to look back at herself and her ears flopped down against her head. "Aww.. I was actually curious at what it would be."
The doors opened and Magic Ink trotted in, moving to Celestia's side and pulling his notepad out of a saddlebag. I could hear Celestia's whispers as my ears turned in their direction. She was filling him in on what had happened so far.
"Josey?" Rhonda wondered, and I pulled away from her a bit so she could turn to look at me.
"Yes Rho?"
"You should eat something," she offered with a concerned look on her face. "And take another sip of that milk too."
I looked up at the table, then winced a bit from a twinge of pain shooting through my leg. "I'm not feeling that hungry, Rho."
"Trust me. You want to go eat something," Rhonda insisted. "And don't try to stand up."
I raised an eyebrow at that last part, then looked down at my legs as I felt another flash of pain.
"Oh. Oh, right," I stammered, looking away from what looked like boiling bubbling flesh surrounding my lower limbs and crawling over to the table to grab a hold of the glass of milk. "Damn the consequences, I really don't want to feel this!" I cried out, downing the remainder of the milk down my throat.