//------------------------------// // Waking Up A Little Different // Story: Shadows of Darkness, Flames of Courage // by SuperPinkBrony12 //------------------------------// Twilight was relieved when she heard the sound of deep breaths coming from the mystery stallion. For a moment there she had been very worried. But the stallion remained in his current state. He was breathing, but apparently he would be out cold for some time. "Is he gonna be alright?" Spike asked anxiously. "I think so Spike." Twilight replied "But something must have taken a lot out of him, he's out like a light." "Well what are we suppose to do now?" Spike asked. "All we can do is keep a close eye on this guy until he wakes up. If anything happens to him we'll need to be ready." Twilight said. "Shouldn't we take him to the hospital?" Spike asked "I'm sure they're better equipped to deal with this type of situation." "It's nothing serious Spike." Twilight said "He can breath on his own, he's just in a really deep sleep. If he doesn't wake up tomorrow though we may have to take him in after all." "What about our friends? Shouldn't they know about this?" Spike asked. "It's the middle of the night Spike, everypony is asleep. We shouldn't wake them up unless things go south." Twilight said "What we'll do now is we'll take turns keeping watch over this stranger. And if anything changes we notify the one who's sleeping." "I guess that make sense." Spike said "But you have to promise me that if he doesn't wake up by tomorrow morning you have to get help." "I promise Spike." Twilight sad "Now try to get some rest. I'll take up the first watch." "Okay. Guess I'll try to catch some shuteye." Spike said "Maybe I'll have that ice cream dream again." All throughout the night Twilight and Spike took turns keeping a close vigil on the mysterious stallion. Luckly the stallion seemed to sleep comfortably, and no complications arose. The next morning however the orange pegasus had still not woken up. Twilight instructed Spike to stay behind while she went to get help. Spike was more then a little worried about Twilight, but she reassured him that she would be fine. She was just about to leave when Spike shouted out "Twilight come quick! He's waking up!" Twilight bolted back upstairs as fast as her hooves could carry her. Sure enough the mystery stallion began t moan, and slowly but surely he began to open his eyes. Twilight was surprised to see they were a familiar brown, as if though she'd seen them before. Tai had no idea what had happened to him. The last thing he could remember was him shutting his eyes as he was sucked into what was seemingly a digiport. He yawned as he slowly opened his eyes, he felt very groggy. "Oh man, I am so out of it." he said to himself. "Good morning sleepyhead, sleep well?" a female voice asked. "Yeah I'm fine." Tai said. Then he realized something, he'd heard that voice before. "Twilight? Is that you?" he asked. "What are you talking about? And how do you know my name?" Twilight asked. "Don't you remember me? I was that human you fell in love with last time I came here." Tai said. "But that can't be, you're not human." Twilight said. "I'm not human? What do you mean I'm not human? Of course I'm human. Look at me!" Tai said. He gasped as he opened his eyes all the way and saw what was right in front of him. An orange hoof, where there should've been a hand. "Do you see now?" Twilight asked. "I see it, but I don't believe it!" Tai said "This can only mean one thing! I'm a pony now!" "Indeed you are!" Twilight said "Just take a look!" Using her magic she held up a small mirror. Tai blinked and rolled his eyes as he saw an orange pegasus stallion with brown eyes, and a spikey brown mane and tail starring back at him. There was no denying it now, he was no longer human. Tai wanted so badly to scream to the heavens at the top of his lungs at that moment. Twilight recognized the signs of trouble at once. "Calm down!" Twilight said "Here, let me show you a little trick that Cadence thought me." Twilight proceeded to take a deep breath, and slowly let it out. "Now you try it. Trust me, it will make you feel a lot better." Twilight said. "Well, okay. Here goes." Tai said and proceeded to repeat the steps that Twilight had shown him. Just like Twilight said he felt a lot better now. Then he noticed something else. Was it his imagination or was Twilight suddenly taller? For that matter why did her horn suddenly seem bigger, and why did it look like she had two wings on her back? "What happened to you Twilight?" he asked "You look, different." "So you finally noticed huh? Man you must have really slow reflexes or something." Spike teased. "Spike!" Twilight scolded. "No, no, it's okay." Tai said "But seriously you weren't like this the last time I saw you." "Well you're not going to believe this, but you are looking at Equestria's newest princess." Twilight said "I'm an alicorn now." "Oh an alicorn, is that all. Well that's just fine and dandy...wait what? Are you joshing me or something?" Tai asked. "I'm not." Twilight said "What you see is what you get." "But when did that happen? The last time I heard from you you were about to work on Star Swirl's incompleted master spell. You were still a unicorn. When did that change?" Tai asked "Explain!" "Well it's a long story so I'll just give you the shortened version." Twilight said "I cast the spell and accidentally switched the Elements of Harmony, and my friends cutie marks. They all thought they had different talents, ones that they weren't good at. I managed to remind them of what our friendship means and undone the damage. And then something inside of me got one of those 'Eureka!' moments. I finished the spell and the Elements of Harmony somehow reacted to them. I was blasted with them, and I think I might have died." "Well obviously you didn't, or else you wouldn't be here telling me all this." Tai said "Anyway continue." "The next thing I knew I was in some sort of place that according to Cadence only Princess Celestia had ever been to. Princess Celestia told me that I was ready for a new change, and then poof. I was teleported back to Ponyville with a new pair of wings to boot. And thus I became the princess of magic." Twilight continued. "That's quite a story." Tai said "But there's one thing that bothers me." "And that is?" Twilight asked. "If you're a princess then why don't you have some sort of castle or palace? I mean don't all princesses have to have one?" Tai asked. "Yes." Twilight said "The only thing is there aren't exactly a lot of suitable loctations for a castle. I don't live in Canterlot so I can't use the royal palace there. The Crystal Empire is too far away, not to mention it's already in good hooves. And the Castle of the Two Sisters still lies in ruins. I visited there just recently and the whole place was still falling apart. Rarity and I have been doing our best to try and restore it, and so have our friends, but I think we're fighting a losing battle. As luck would have it though Rarity has been taking the time to try and spruce this place up a little. Make it feel like more of a palace." "I see." Tai said. "There's a lot you missed out on. But I'll gladly fill you in on the details at breakfast." Twilight said. Upon hearing the word "breakfast" Tai's stomach began to rumble. Breakfast sounded good. "Come on downstairs and I'll get breakfast going." Twilight said. "Okay then." Tai said. slipping off the bed. It took some effort to get use to standing on four legs instead of two, but he eventually got the hang of it. Slowly but surely he went down the steps to the main floor of the library.