“Good morning Cadance,” Celestia’s voice said as I began to stir from my sleep, rubbing my forehead and finding the horn. My eyes snapped open and I looked myself over. Yup, still pink pony princess.
“Slept well?” Celestia asked as I looked over at her, finding her ethereal mane to look like a cotton candy machine exploded on her head and prompting a few chuckles from me.
“I guess... I also—” I began, laughing again.
“I'm sorry. I suppose you just found out one of Equestria most guarded secret,” the other alicorn said.
“And that would be?” I asked.
“That I'm not a morning pony,” she replied with a smirk. “…And the mane too,” she added when I started laughing again from the ridiculous multi-color monstrosity on her head. “I wonder how an ethereal mane can look that way every morning...”
“No idea but it looks pretty bad,” I replied with a smirk.
“Could you... not tell Alice?” Celestia asked nervously as her pastel afro bounced about, causing me to laugh a little.
“I won't,” I replied, glancing downward. “Also... when I was asleep... I met Luna.”
The mention of her sister immediately caused the princess’ ears to perk up. “Oh. How did it go?” she asked.
“It went...” I paused, and a frown formed on my face as I began to remember what Luna told me about Shining, and how he had forgotten about me. “...she... told me to tell you to contact her after.”
“Oh right,” Celestia answered, thankfully having not noticed my distress over what I’d learned. “I did melt my phone,” she admitted in embarrassment.
“Yeah... we talked for awhile, I got a memory of the crystal empire before Discord,” I explained. “The show does it no justice whatsoever.” I remembered its splendor, especially under the night sky, a prismatic aurora borealis hovering over it only added to that beauty.
“One more thing to check,” Celestia muttered with a light sigh.
“Pardon?” I asked, unsure of what she meant by that.
“The Crystal Empire,” she explained. “I'm afraid it's the first time I hear about it.”
“Does Luna have all the episodes?” I asked.
“I bought the special edition they released for my sisters' birthday,” Peachy said as she began to wake up.
“Well, that's good to know,” I replied. “Should have seen it... it was so beautiful...”
“It came with a lot of figurines. Like me and my sisters,” the filly explained.
“I think she was talking about the Empire,” Celestia answered, correcting her.
“Oh.” Peachy replied, her ears drooping in embarrassment. “I must have been...”
“Yeah... back when me and...” I began, but just thinking about it made me feel the weight of depression on my shoulders, causing me to look downcast again as I sat there. A second later, I heard movement and both Celestia and Pinkie Peach came over and hugged me quietly. Just like that, the moments I’d seen in the show, read in the comic, things that felt like they were my own memories when I thought about them now… the dreams I had… I closed my eyes a moment, the images from the comic of when they’d first fallen for eachother played in my mind, and suddenly it all seemed to come to life.
And then came that realization that I’d been told that all of that had been erased by Discord with ease.
“She... she told me... he forgot all about me...” My tone was soft, barely above a whisper as I spoke. The more I thought about it, the more that having these feelings for him restored to me felt like it was a curse of sorts.
“I'm sorry...” Celestia said gently nuzzling like a concerned parent. I trembled slightly, my thoughts still haunted by the thought of what could happen when he and I met again. Still, I appreciated Celestia’s motherly compassion enough to return the favor.
“Is he... The only one she found?” she asked.
I shook my head. “She said there's been a lot of ponies, that's why it took her as long as it did to find me...”
“Oh,” Celestia replied, looking down at her hooves. “Actually, Discord’s influence made it easy to find you.”
I wasn’t sure how, but it was a relief to know they found me sooner rather then later. “Still, it means there's a lot of others in the world,” I said. “She told me about Peachy's foalsitter, too, and about the human mercenaries. She thinks Discord may be influencing them.”
Immediately the young filly looked downcast at the mention of her foalsitter. I couldn’t imagine what had been done to her, but I could only hope she’d be okay eventually.
“I'm afraid that she might be right. But they don't seem to be able to blindly find ponies,” Celestia answered.
Memory loss… foalnapping mercenaries…if Shining was out there, who knew if they’d gotten to him already. “I know he may not remember me, but if they got to Shining... or Twilight... or...”
Celestia interrupted my rambling with another hug. “I wouldn't worry... Shining was the captain of the guards and Twilight can handle herself,” she said, though her tone suggested she may not have entirely believed it herself.
“...I hope so,” I said softly, putting my hoof to my barrel as I took a moment to calm down.
“I suppose that Princess Luna had no news about my parents?” Peachy asked as she moved in front of me.
“I've not heard anything,” I answered. “But as I was telling Celestia, Luna asked her to contact her, so maybe you can ask her then.”
“Ok,” the filly answered, leaving me with a little guilt that I could not give her better news.
“I'll ask Alice later. How does breakfast sound?” Celestia asked.
“Sounds good, I guess,” I replied, needing some sort of comfort food. Standing up and hopping down from the bed, I turned towards the mirror and shrieked when saw the monstrosity on my head that was once my mane. Sleep had done wonders in undoing Alice’s previous work.
Immediately I heard footsteps and Alice rushed into the room. “I heard a scream, is everything al-WHOA...” she froze in her tracks and stared at my mane, and presumably Celestia’s as well. The other alicorn looked a little embarrassed, but seemed to make an attempt at acting natural.
“Good morning Alice.” Celestia replied.
“Good... morning...” Alice answered, taking a deep breath as she stared at the bedmanes.
It’s not THAT bad, is it? I wondered, taking another look at my reflection and grimacing. Yeah. It is.
“Welcome to one of the curses of long hair, Cadance,” Alice joked, laughing at the astonished look on my face. “So how is everyone?”
“Thankful that my mane isn't too long yet,” Peachy remarked.
“I'll bet you'll look very pretty with one when you grow up, though,” Alice replied, causing the pink filly to blush
“M-maybe.”
“I'm happy that mine gets better on its own,” Celestia announced, hopping off the bed and I could already see it was looking a little less messy.
“Maybe... just focus a little and it'll fix itself out with that flowy ability it has?” I offered.
“I found that coffee helps, too,” the other alicorn answered.
“I'll be glad to make you some. Anything else you need?” Alice asked.
“A brush,” I replied, running my hoof through my mane.
“Bacon?” Peachy asked, hopefully.
Alice raised an eyebrow at the filly’s request. “Uh, bacon? You sure you can handle that?” she asked, prompting a downcast look from the young pegasus.
“Probably not... I do hope ponies have the equivalent,” Peachy muttered.
“I have plenty of fruit, and I'm pretty sure you can eat waffles or pancakes,” Alice explained. “Oh! I remember the show suggesting you can eat eggs. Hopefully that part's true.”
“We could try,” Peachy replied, apparently pleased by the notion.
“Eggs would be good,” Celestia said. “…It would be weird to be unable to eat those. I mean, we can eat cake.”
“I just need a little time with a brush and I should be good for breakfast,” I said, the lightened mood around me helping improve my own a little.
“There should be one on that dresser,” Alice said, then giving a smirk to Peachy. “Hey, Pinkie Peach, wanna come with me for a moment while these two freshen up a little?” she asked.
“Eh... Sure,” the young filly replied, hopping off the bed and trotting towards Alice, who led her out and closed the door.
~
A night of sleep had done little to alleviate my shock of all that had happened, and all that I’d learned. Pinkie Peach in particular had gotten a short straw, 25 years worth of memories, and now the personality of a young child was in there as well… the mere idea Discord would do this to a group of little fillies was already shocking in and of itself to me. I could only imagine how scared she must have felt, and I wanted to help in any way I could. I already had an idea of a way that might help her bond with her sisters a little more. “So... what's it been like, I mean, being a young filly?” I asked.
“Really weird at first, but I'm getting used to it,” she answered with a sigh. “I guess I truly was a filly before being a human.”
“Well,” I said, crouching down so I was eye-level with her. “I was a little girl once, and I don't mean to brag but I was a pretty damn cute one, too. And I can say it had its advantages.”
“You don't say...” the filly replied sarcastically.
“Oh? Like what?”
“I had two younger sisters. I know how hard it is to keep the cookies from them,” she answered.
I hummed to myself and smirked at the filly, deciding to try another approach. “How'd they get them so easily?” I asked.
“Abuse the love of their big brother,” she answered with a blush.
“And how'd they do that?” I asked, seeing if she’d figure it out herself.
“Eh... I never truly understood actually…” she replied, unsure.
“Well, having, as I said, once been a child myself, little girls have a particular ability to sway adults by appealing to and manipulating their nurturing instinct by being as affectionate as possible, with the most eager look in their eyes they can manage,” I explained.
A beat.
“In essance, be so cute and adorably sweet it affects the adult's judgement completely,” I said. “I believe it's often called the puppy-dog eyes. I assume your sisters did this to get their way sometimes?”
With a blink of her eyes, the filly got it. “Oh…” she nodded. “Definitely… Poor Tia, I can't imagine how good it must be now that they are much cuter.”
“Not just them, sweetie. Have you given yourself a REAL good look lately?” I asked.
“Y-yes?” Peachy wondered.
“Here...” I said, picking her up and taking her into the bathroom, putting her on the counter in front of the vanity mirror. “Get a good look at yourself.”
The young filly stared in awe at her reflection for a moment. “So cute...” she muttered.
“Yup. Try a few things you've seen your sisters do to get your attention and see how they look,” I suggested.
“I- I don't know. It's not like I need to be able to...” Peachy replied nervously.
“Imagine how easily you can affect Celestia or, if her claim about her having a weakness for foals is true... especially Luna.” I said. “Heck, sometimes it's not because we wanted anything, we just did it because we could.”
‘B-but it sounds so foalish,” she said, pony dialect slipping through.
“Then just humor me. I wanna see what you're capable of. Who knows, you might even be able to turn the tables on your sisters,” I offered.
The little filly sighed. “Fine... But I suppose that ponies have some distinct advantages?”
“Quite possibly,” I replied. I knew once she caught on to this she’d have found something to help her make the most out of this.
“Let see...” Peachy said, staring at herself in the mirror, then looking a little absent-minded for a moment before she managed to attempt the puppy-dog eyes. “Oh, my…” she said softly, likely taken by how adorable she’d just looked. Admittedly, a look like that probably would have made me cave in to any demand she had.
“Good so far. Now try and ask me for something,” I said to give her an opportunity to test it on me.
“Remind me not to eat too much ice cream,” she ordered.
After taking a moment to get ‘in-character’ so to speak so I could follow her request, I spoke up acting like a scolding parent. “Peachy, that's enough, you'll get a stomach-ache from all that ice cream!”
“I know...” she answered sadly, looking sick for a moment.
“I think it's time I put it away, then,” I replied, continuing the act.
But instead of looking up at me with the technique I’d told her to use, she just looked sadly downward. “My parents used to make their own ice cream,” she said softly.
Oh shit… had this awakened some memory? What had happened to her parents? Her pony parents? Had Discord gotten to them as well? Did he…? I didn’t want to think about it. What he’d done to this filly and her sisters was horrible enough as it was. “Oh... I'm so sorry...” I said, inviting her to a hug, which Peachy immediately returned.
“My sisters and me used our charms on our foalsittiers more then once for more ice cream,” she said, making me a smile a little as I imagined three adorable fillies teaming up on the puppy-dog eyes to make a sitter cave in. No doubt it worked every time.
“Sounds like a lot of fun. I bet you got a lot of brain freezes and tummy-aches, though,” I said, giving her barrel a poke and causing her to go into a fit of cute, girlish giggles.
“Yep. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Spike and Twilght were regular clients,” she answered.
“You have such an adorable giggle, too. I bet it'll make Luna... and probably Cadance just MELT.” I said.
“Most likely,” Peachy replied, slowly snuggling into my embrace and closing her eyes.
A few moments went by, and suddenly I felt her tremble a little. “I-I miss my family...” she whimpered.
This poor filly… she may have remembered twenty-five years, but now she really was practically a little girl at heart again. Like a young child, she was homesick, and missing her parents whom it was anyone’s guess if they were even alive anymore. Brushing my hand through her mane to calm her down a little, I picked her up off the vanity and sat down on the floor, letting her lay in my lap. “Shhh…”
“Thanks...” she replied, resting her head.
“You have your sisters, you have Celestia and Luna, and I'm sure in time your foalsitter will be okay. And you know, when I checked in on you three last night while you all were asleep, just to make sure everything was okay, Cadance was curled around you. Like she wanted to make sure you'd be okay while you slept.” I explained, hoping it would make her feel a little more at ease.
Peachy blushed a little. “It's weird to be so close to Princesses. Even more to know that I've been the best friend of Celestia.”
“Well, if it makes you feel better, I doubt either of them had any idea what they were till just recently,” I replied.
Peachy giggled a bit, and a genuine smile returned. “I can confirm that. Tia wasn't interested in the slightest about politics. Now, she is politics.”
“Neither was Cale. Sure he was good at helping people get into relationships and was an excellent sitter in the neighborhood he grew up in, but there was nothing that suggested nobility or politics,” I answered. Admittedly, he’d have been one of the last people I’d have expected to wind up thrust into some royal destiny… then again, Twilight had been rather unexpected as well but I’d chalked that up to hasty plotlines.
“I guess it can be considered as long vacations” Peachy remarked pensively.
“Not the fun kind, unfortunately. But you know, like you, Cadance definitely has a lot on her plate, and there's those she misses a lot that she barely knows or remembers,” I explained. “She may be a princess, but it doesn't mean you two don't have something in common that came out of this.”
“Oh, you are right,” she replied, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. “Sorry, my mind was elsewhere.”
“It's all fine,” I said. “Heck, look at me I'm sounding like some kinda sage from a cheesy fantasy flick. And I know they're kids, but I'm betting your sisters also like you this way because they feel like they can understand you more now, and that you can understand them more now and bond with you more with the age gap... well... noticeably smaller.”
I tried to think of how to make my point. “Just... what I'm saying I guess, is that there are some things to all this that can be looked at in a positive way if you try.”
“They also can't wait to dress me up,” Peachy replied, sighing a little. “Actually, I was thinking about my cutie mark.”
“Oh?” I asked. “You're curious of what it'll be?”
“I'm more curious about why I still don't have it...” she said.
“Did you watch any of the episodes with the crusaders?” I asked.
“My sisters didn't leave me any choices in the matters,” the filly replied with a laugh. “I most likely knew them.”
Made sense, I suppose. It seemed in the show that everyone seemed to know one-another. “Well, for one, you're essentially an eight-year-old girl. A lot of kids that age don't really have a clear perspective on themselves just yet. The Pinkie Peach of the past was probably the same way,” I explained.
“But I was twenty-five years old!” she protested.
“But she wasn't,” I explained. “Two drastically different ages there, two different mentalities as a result. You probably feel confused about yourself and your feelings about things a lot, don't you? And I'm not just talking about being a pony.”
Peachy looked down a moment, I guess to let what I said process. “Yes... You are right,” she said with a small sigh. “Well... do you think you could brush me?” she asked, smiling up at me and giving me the puppy-dog eyes.
So not fair… I thought as I involuntarily fawned at the adorable filly and laughed. “For those eyes, anything.” I said.
“Yay!” the little filly cheered, giggling adorably as I set her back on the vanity counter and got a brush out of the drawer.
“I think once you're able to find a little more peace of mind, and be able to be happy with yourself, I'm sure yours will come,” I said as I began to brush out her mane.
Peachy gave me a genuine smile. “Thanks a lot,” she said. “I can see why you and Cadance are such good friends.”
“Yeah...” I replied, smiling from the compliment. “Now why don't we see what we can do with that mane of yours, young lady?”
“Okie dokie lokie!” the filly answered with a smile as I continued brushing. I could only imagine what her sisters were like. If they were as sweet and adorable as this filly was, I’m sure I’d have loved to meet them, too. For now, I did the best I could to help anyone I could with all that had gone on these past couple days.
~
It took me some time but I’d eventually managed to get the hang of working a brush with my magic. I wasn’t exactly used to having such long hair, either, so getting the style Cadance was normally seen with. I have to admit, even as I did it, getting my mane brushed felt absolutely wonderful.
“I've been wondering; how do you use your magic?” Celestia asked from behind me.
“What do you mean?” I asked, my brush floating next to me.
“To a human, what we can do with it would sound impossible. I mean, moving the Sun?” the other asked, prompting a laugh from me.
“I think that's the thing about magic. It can't be explained, it just is,” I explained as I turned my head, trying to get that curling effect at the end of my mane with the brush but to no avail.
“You mean that it can't be taught to a little lavender unicorn filly?” Celestia joked.
“Well, from what I understand in the show, there's certain forms of magic that all unicorns can learn, then there's unique abilities based on a unicorn's special talent,” I explained. I guess she hadn’t seen enough episodes to get her memory back on that.
“It still obeys a set of rules. And technically, special talents just make using the associated spells easier.” Celestia answered. Maybe she did have a better understanding of it then I’d thought.
“I guess that makes sense. Twilight's talent was magic. Likely Starswirl the Bearded's as well given he invented many of the spells unicorns used... unicorns with magic as a talent become a sort of jack-of-all-trades with it,” I explained. “Equestria's different from Earth, maybe it runs on a different set of rules, magical ether, twisting nether, or arcane winds or whatever you want to call it are a more profound form of energy that governs it.”
“You might be right,” Celestia mused, levitating a pillow and easily maneuvering it in the air like a plane. “But I can tell that you aren't fully at ease with your levitation spell. I'm wondering what are your thoughts when you levitate objects?” she asked.
I pondered that for a moment, then looked back at my surrogate aunt, noticing her bedmane had noticeably cleared up more. Taking a breath, I decided on my answer. “...I guess... uncertainty. I'm still not completely used to all of this and having to relearn things, and the surprise of stuff that was impossible when I was human seeming to come kind of naturally instead of taking a long time to figure out how to do,” I explained, looking back at my reflection and staring in dissatisfaction at my efforts at getting my mane properly styled. “Here I am, brushing my mane like it's part of some daily routine when I've never actually done it before...”
Celestia approached and gave me a gentle nuzzle. “Changes are a normal part of life,” she said.
“I guess... you know, you may not remember anything of your life in the past, but you have a lot of her personality. That caring, motherly side that's helped me feel a little more eased about this for one thing,” I said.
“I haven't done anything special...” she answered.
“You helped me... if you hadn't I'd still be in that padded cell,” I explained. “You helped your friend, too. You've even helped me cope with all of this...” I managed a small smile, sighing a little as I looked at my finished attempts on my mane. “Do I look even halfway okay?”
“It looks fine to me, but I'm afraid that I'm no expert in that domain,” Celestia replied, causing me to blush a little as I looked myself over.
“Thanks, I don't have Alice's styling skills unfortunately,” I said.
“That must be why we have servants,” Celestia replied with a wink.
“Hm, I'll have to get used to that, too, won't I?” I asked, rubbing my chin with my hoof. “Hopefully not too used to it. I want to do my part in helping rebuild the Crystal Empire, too.”
“If it's anything like overseeing a programming project, I wouldn't worry too much.” Celestia said.
“I helped do a lot of set work in plays, so I guess I know a thing or two about it.” I explained. “But still... this throne that's waiting for me... I know it's my responsibility, but... I guess I just don't know how I'll need to react, knowing there's gonna be a lot of ponies looking at me to lead them again.” Just the thought of it… the idea of when Discord was gone… if he could be beaten… the crystal ponies would all be looking at me to lead them again. “Me coming back is gonna be a huge deal to any crystal pony that's still there, I know it is,” I muttered.
“I know the feeling...” Celestia said with a sigh.
“Like a part of you is flattered that you can mean so much to so many but a part of you is scared because they'll look to you for answers?” I asked.
Celestia nodded. “Then I remember that Luna has it worse.”
“I guess so...” I said. “But she has you, now. That's gotta be worth something, right?”
“I know...” she replied, looking at the nearby window. “She is already helping our ponies while I still don't know what to do.”
“I don't either... not till we've found a way back, anyway,” I replied.
“What about the those who are confused about why they suddenly have a permanent winter coat?” Celestia asked.
“I just hope all of them can be found...” I replied, and seconds later I heard a knock at the door.
“I got breakfast in the works! We wanna watch the movie while we eat?” Alice asked from the other side of the door.
“We are done. Which movie was it again?” Celestia asked.
“The one we planned to watch, remember?” I answered, smirking.
“I'm afraid I don't recall it's name. We had a rather... eventful night,” Celestia replied.
“The movie that came out after Season 3,” I explained as I used my magic to open the door and began to walk out of the room. “Caused a bit of controversy but personally Alice and I rather enjoyed it.”
“Too much fan services?” the other alicorn asked, confused.
“More like, the humanized versions were different then what they rather selfishly assumed by their headcanon and some other stupid reasons that really made little sense.” Alice replied with a laugh.
“Also… there's something in it that may be worth learning about. You'll see…” I explained.