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// 12. I Am Luna 
// Story: Lunar Phases 
// by Dusk Writer 
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	I am Luna.

It's been decided by the Lunar Republic of Me, Myself, and I, that that may not be the best way to start off my morning. I lie there for a second, sifting through the dozens of thoughts in my mind, all going about a hundred miles per hour.

I shift my body so I roll of onto the floor, one of the best ways to get yourself out of bed in the mornings. I lie there for another few seconds, trying to keep myself from hyperventilating. Is it possible that everything I've done these past twenty-five years has been a lie? No, that's not right. They're just an extension of my life. I am John, just as much as I am…Luna.

I mentally wince again as I register the thought. M-maybe I'll think a little clearer over some breakfast.  I stand up…and fall down. Great, now what? The changes are so far progressed that I can't even stand up now?

Growling and mumbling a bit under my breath, I look down, and all of my curses and vexes stop in my throat. Let's just say the first thing I see is blue fur. But, I've been seeing the blue fur for a few days now, so that isn't a problem, right? The problem is the shape the blue fur is in.

I look downwards towards my arms, now realizing that they are no longer arms. They appear to now be forelegs, seeing as how the bone structure is no longer anything like that of an arm. In fact, I find that none of my bone structure is like that of a human anymore. And for the second time this morning, I come to a realization.

I am Luna.

This time, stopping the hyperventilating isn't so easy. I feel my breath start to speed up as I stand up uneasily onto all four of my new limbs. I tentatively take my first step as a full blown pony. Okay, so far, so good. Let's get to the bathroom now. There, I can see the entirety of my new body.

It takes me about five minutes of stumbling and close tripping, but by the time I reach the bathroom, I'm a little more used to walking on all fours. I sort of slide onto the slick tiles and almost fall again. I slide my hooves out into a more wide spread position for better traction on the bathroom floor.

And finally, I make it to the vanity mirror within the room. A younger version of Luna stared back, unblinking, just like me. Her-My mane and tail now had a faint outline of a darker layer, and was also a bit more wavy than before. I turn to the side a bit so I can see my entire body.

Unlike my human form, which had enough fat to be warm in the winter but not noticeable at all the clothes, there is not a single scrap of fat on this body. I guess sh- I was a fitness nut or something when I was cursed. This whole me being Luna thing is gonna take some getting used to.

I walk back out of the bathroom after several more minutes of just looking at myself in the mirror. I get back to the couch and lie down, all the freak out moments I had suppressed releasing back into my mind.

I roll over onto my side, too freaked out to even hyperventilate. My eyes begin to move rapidly, like dreaming, but without closed eye lids. Everything now seems to have a lens flare generator and is brighter than it needs to be. I slam my eyes shut, and feel my heart beat rising, along with the hyperventilation finally arriving. A type of sound that can only be described as ringing begins to reverberate throughout my mind.

I draw my entire conscious back into my mind, trying to calm down. After what feels like several hours, I can feel it actually working. My heartbeat is back to normal as is my breathing.

I slowly open my eyes to a shocking sight. All of the small items within the room were being held in the air by my magic. Slowly, I used the power of my mind to gently set it all down onto the floor and other respective places.

Once that's all sorted out, I close my eyes again and take deep, calming breaths. I can feel the regular semblance of peace come over my mind again as the meditation technique kicks in. I wonder, has my sister discovered yet that she actually is Celestia? With what happened last night, I didn't get a chance to ask her about anything that may have happened.

Using magic, I grab my phone and float it over to me. I realize that I never even thought to check my phone yesterday. I turn the device on, seeing as I was lucky enough to have got the old type of phone with big enough buttons for hooves.

Oh what a big surprise, one missed message! Navigating with the controls, I manage to play the voicemail. Thankfully, it's not from my parents or 'friends', but from my new and old sibling. I hit the play button and use magic to press it against my ear.

"Hello Lun-John? It's Ti-Alex." Oh my. She sounds really shaken. I'm really beginning to regret running of yesterday without her. "I only wanted to know how you were doing. On my side, watching the first two episodes of My Little Pony proved to be a rather disturbing experience... Well... I hope that you are safe."

I lean my head back until it rests against the arm of the couch. Damn it. I really messed up this time. I'm finally reunited with my sister after twenty-five years, even if I don't remember 99.5 percent of the years before this, and then I show complete and utter distrust towards her. I feel the familiar pit of emptiness as depression eats away at me. I need to make amends with her, immediately.

I get up off of the couch again and stand up onto my hooves. I walk towards my room, noting how odd, yet familiar all these sensations are. The feeling of the carpet through my hooves was especially weird.

Arg, these clothes are getting in the way! Too tight in this form! I grab my clothes with my magic, and do something I've always wanted to. I use my magic to rip my clothes off and stand heroically. Of course, the nude art makes it a bit more awkward, but I'll just have to get used to it.

I reach my door in record time as a pony, which really isn't saying much. Thank goodness I had one of those lever door knobs instead of the rounded ones. I dry the fur below my eyes, so as to not look like I was just crying from fright, put on a calm face, and shakily open the door, finding my balance to be a bit unstable suddenly.

Fortunately, I manage to stay standing as I push aside the wooden barrier. as I do, I see such an adorable sight, my previous almost-insanity and depression almost washed away just from seeing it. There lies my sister, fully pony by the way, with a pillow between her hind legs, her head lying on top of another one of my pillows. And she's drooling on it. Well, more fuel for a future bonfire since I don't happen to have any disinfectant on me. And she was also still wearing her clothes from the previous night; and they were ripped. Oh the advantages, or disadvantages of changing form completely.

I walk over to the white-furred, cake-loving, prankster, or whatever she is from my small amount of previous memories, and gently shake her. "Tia, it's time to raise the sun." What can I say? I am a bit of an asshole sometimes.

I hear her grumble something at me that sounds something like, "Hmm, just five more minutes. The sun isn't going anywhere." While I did get a response, it doesn't seem to do anything to break the barrier of sleep around her mind. So, I opt for a more…direct approach.

Put simply; I shove her off my bed and onto the cold, hard floor. This is kind of fun! I hear a muffled ouch from underneath the pillows and blankets. Walking over, giggling as I do so, I use my mouth to try and pull away the covers. She's just not looking at me for the moment, but instead deciding to look at the wall. She either hasn't seen me or herself yet, or she's just taking it very well.

"Eh, sorry for taking up your bed. I didn't mean to fall asleep," She tells me sheepishly. I wonder if she thinks I'm mad at her. Nah, there's no way I could be, not when her anger last night was totally justified. Although, it did leave me a little depressed this morning. But, that was just a bout of chemical depression, so nothing serious.

"Hey, don't worry about it. So do you want to look at whatever changes happened overnight? Or tell me about any odd dreams you may or may not have had?" It was a gamble, but I believe she may have regained her memories last night as well.

She rolls her eyes at me. "The changes can't be that bad; I haven't heard you screaming while fleeing the bathroom. This would have been a wake-up call as good as any." She goes cross-eyes for a moment, looking at her new muzzle, which is quite the funny sight, I might add.

She's silent for a few more seconds as she mentally examines her body. How can I tell? Well, that's probably the look I had on my face this morning. When she finishes, evident by the look of defeat on her face from the side, she looks up at the wall. "We are full ponies, aren't we?"

Well, it sure took her long enough to ask the question! "Well, if you'd just look at me, then you'd have your answer!"

She gives out a sigh, not turning towards me. "I don't know, that wall seems strangely interesting at the moment." Then, with a groan, she turns on her back the best she can, struggling a bit as she does so, to face me. Her face is blank as she examines me. "You are rather…blue and… nude."

I look down at the ground, a little embarrassed as I feel myself blush at her comment of me being nude. Couldn't she have noticed something else? Just anything? Oh well, guess not. Any further thought process was interrupted by her next statement. "As for the dream, it's rather weird that you ask me that question. You could say that I had a talk…with myself."

Well, that's new. I guess I learned of my past differently. "It was most likely only a coping mechanism. Those last days weren't the most calm I had in my life." Oh wow, she remembers the last days before being banished? Not even I remember that. I barely hear her mutter, "Talk about a birthday present…"

"Yeah, no kidding." Well, for me this is a great birthday present. I mean, me, unimportant John Sappington, gets turned into THE Princess Luna. While this may be a bit bad at the same time, finally something special happens in my life! This is pretty much any brony's dream. However, seeing as how Alex wasn't ever a brony, this may well be a nightmare for him. "So, how are you holding up?"

I see several emotions flash across her face as she processes my query to her mental state. Finally, her emotions eventually settle on one; decision. "I'm feeling better than yesterday." There's a brief flash of regret before she continues. "Thank you for asking. I just hope that we'll quickly find a way to change back..."

She looks down at the state of her clothes from last night. Put simply; they are absolutely shredded. Of course, she probably blames it on the shifting of the bones, and she is absolutely right! "As fun as being turned into ponies might be, my clothes don’t seem to appreciate it." It was incredibly amusing to watch her try to take her clothes off using only her hooves. I had to place a hoof over my mouth to keep from bursting into laughter.

"Y'know, why don't you just use your magic to take off the clothes?" It was the obvious answer to me, at least. Hmm, I wonder if I should mention that to her. You know what? I think I will. "Of course, then you'll be nude like me."

"I had forgotten about my magic. It is only the second day that I can use real magic." She starts using her magic quickly, trying to hide her blush that forming fast of her porcelain cheeks. However, the clothes come off a bit too quickly (BOW CHICKA BOW WOW [Oh, I was wondering where you went.]) and what's left of her shirt flies into my face. She looks a bit abashed and begins mumbling under her breath. “Sorry! I didn't mean to shoot it at you. It's your comment about being nude that caught me surprise. This is my excuse and I stand by it.”

In fact, I'd go as far as to say she was actually scared of something, but I have no idea what of. Me? No, it couldn't be. Well, maybe. She composes herself and continues in a more normal fashion. “As for the actual problem, well I guess I'll pretend that my coat of fur are actually clothes.” She opens her wings and stretches them to their full eight foot span. Wow, they look so big, but when you think about it, they really aren't.

Well, she accepted that problem rather easily. Now, let's see how she reacts to this next bomb shell. "So, how were you cursed and brought to Earth? I mean, it is shown in the show, but there's nothing like hearing it from the one who experienced it." Her wings snap back to her sides at my query.

"What?!" Her surprised shout forces my ears back against skull instinctively. Alright, I wasn't expecting this. Why does she seem to be surprised? Unless…she doesn't know yet. She then stops her frantic surprise, relaxes her posture, and takes several deep breaths before speaking again. "John, you do know it makes no sense that either of us would come from a world described in a cartoon?"

Yep, she definitely doesn't believe the memories shown to her. This is going to be hard, I can just see it. "Yeah, and you realize that it makes no sense for us to be turning into ponies either right? And besides, we not only came from that world, but this world as well."

She rolls her eyes. “Heard of the Occam's razor? Which is more probable; we were humans that were cursed by some kind of magic and we are turning into a specific pony and gaining forged memories or we were ponies that somehow got sent away by a powerful being to be reborn as human and for some reason we are reverting to our true form? The end result might be very similar, but it does not make us them.” She sighs and gets this look on her face that says she thinks that she won the argument.

Oh, she does not realize how wrong she is; this argument is far from over. "Well, seeing as how you think those memories are based off of the show, let me tell you something; most of those memories we gained were never shown! The only explanation is that we experienced those times ourselves!" She still doesn't look totally convinced though. "I even have someone on my side who backs my theory, and I'm willing to bet you have someone who backs my theory as well."

She looks a little confused at first before answering. "Then, you won't have any problems to present them to me."

I'll admit; this left me a little baffled. How could she not know who I'm talking about? "Well, didn't you talk to someone in your dreams last night?" If I had talked to Selena, then I guess the only logical choice for her could have been either Helios or Apollo.

However, the look of impatience on her face grows, as does the emptiness of her stomach, a fact I realize when it growls.  “Like I told you earlier, I 'spoke' to myself last night.” Heh, her wings even did a 'quote and quote' motion without her realizing it. "I don't think that either of us will be able to convince the other at moment. It would be better to drop the subject for now."

I sigh, and simply reply, "I know I'm right, because I talked to Selena last night through my dreams. She told me the truth of what happened to us originally."

She gets a look of exasperation on her face. "What do the Greeks have to do with this now?" Well, I guess if I was in her hooves, I would be confused about that too.

"Well, not the Greeks, but Selena. From what I can tell, she sort of adopted the Greeks as her personal fan club." This is getting nowhere! I need her to admit that she has voices in her head. Of course, I have to make it so she doesn't think I'm crazy, but how else am  supposed to do that? "Look, ever since these changes started, there's been some mysterious voice speaking to me and giving me advice. I think, the same has been happening to you."

Her face pales considerably, which is saying something since her fur is already white. Bingo. She withdraws and carefully hides her emotions from as she looks away and towards the ground. After a few silent seconds, she lets out a defeated sigh before simply stating, "You are wrong."

I guess this is what made me snap. Her unwillingness to just accept the facts. Whatever the reason though, I would regret what came next later as a rage over me once again. "You know I am right, Celestia! You need to just wake up and accept the cold hard facts of reality." I start moving closer to her until I am up in her face. "Yeah, guess what?! You really did banish me to the moon for a thousand years! Accept it! I don't care if I hurt your feelings right now, because you just need to grow up, and shoulder your responsibilities!" She begins backing away from me, surprise at my outburst evident upon her face. "This is our life now! All we can do, is help out others with the same problem, which I have been doing, while you just sit around and eat my food. So I am ordering you, to remember who you once were, and help me like you're supposed to!"

She just stands there for a few more moments, before bursting out in laughter. I'm shocked; is this how she treats it when I attempt to get her to see reality. I must say, I feel rather insulted. "Calm down, you misunderstood me little sister. I have been hearing Helios since I was a little filly. There was no need for such a passionate display." Oh, passionate display? Did she feel I was worried for her health? She puts one of her hooves to the side of her head. "Say, do you think that aspirins are safe for ponies?"

I let my demeanor go cold. "No, I don't. I'll let you figure it out, as well as find them on your own. I have something I need to do." And so, I turn my back to her and walk to my computer, planning to attempt to drown my bad mood in a torrent of internet articles and such.

She just sighs and heads to my bathroom to look for an aspirin. "Fine, but I need to speak with you over breakfast if possible."

I wave to her with hoof as if to say whatever, and return to my computer to look at one of my favorite conspiracy sites. At the top of the page, I read a small paragraph article that says, "Haven't you guys ever wanted ponies to be real? Well guess what; I heard rumors from one of my friends down in Texas that a couple of ponies just outdrove the police and are now heading North!"

I get the strange feeling that I know exactly who it is.