I woke up in the same bed as last time. I was feeling better, all in all. My head was still sore, but I wasn’t in the detrimental pain that hindered me before. The sun was softly shining through the drapes covering the windows. The rays casting a soft glow to everything. I decided to take in, what is now, my room.
The whole place had a Victorian look to it. The room itself was white with a deep royal blue carpet. Mirrors adorned most of it, all angled so I could see myself in all of them. There was even one on the ceiling.
Dear God, Blueblood was vain!
It looked like there were no less than three vanities, each with its own mirror. All had a variety of care products and tools. The bed I was in was the biggest I had ever seen. It could easily fit twelve ponies. Though, I hoped Blueblood didn’t have the chance to test it out.
There were two doors on either side of the bed, and one slightly next to it. The larger of them was where Celestia had entered. The other two were smaller. I assumed them to be a closet and bathroom.
Okay. Some amazing shit has happened to me in the past couple of days.
1. I have switched bodies with Blueblood. I guess I’ll call this a good thing as I am now in the same dimension as Twilight.
2. I can now use magic. Awesome! The info that Luna shot into me must have settled. I know a lot about magic now. Though, I have a feeling that this is just a fraction of what’s out there. Luna must not have taught me everything.
Magic is a sense, just like sight, sound or touch. Something you can feel, but can shape to your will. Once the energies around your horn are aligned in a certain way, the caster releases them and they do what they were, essentially, programmed to do. The spell only works if the spell has enough power behind it, otherwise the spell fizzles and dies. Of course, this is a very loose description. The more advanced explanation would be a book in and of itself to explain.
3. Oh yeah. I almost forgot. I’m fucking immortal now! I’m going to have to watch all my, eventual, friends and loved ones grow old and die.
I take in a breath and let it out as a loud sigh. That last one had left a bad taste in my mouth.
Perhaps, I could talk to Celestia to make me mortal. I don’t think I could watch Twilight die, or any of the others die like that.
The call of nature soon came upon me, interrupting my train of thought.
Oh no. I have to pee! I hope I can move well enough to make it there. I’d hate to have to call out to somepony to help me. “Hey! I have to pee, and I can’t get up!” Yeah. That’ll go over well.
I rolled to the edge of the bed. I had to roll a couple of times to make it there because Blueblood’s bed was just that big, but I made it. Once there, I had to pause for a moment.
Okay. I can do this. My body should be well rested by now. I shouldn’t fall on my face, because my limbs can’t support me, like last time.
I prepared, then rolled the rest of the way off of my bed. Guess what happened… I fell flat on my face. “Ow.”
Evil bed! You give me nothing but grief.
I picked myself off of the soft carpet. It was a slow process, but not as slow as my first attempt. My legs shook as I walked to the door that was next to my bed. Hoping desperately, that it was the bathroom. Using my magic for the first time, I opened it.
The door swung open slowly, as it was encased in a dull blue aura. What was inside… was a huge walk in closet filled with clothes.
Rarity would love this, but it’s not what I’m looking for. One option left.
I hobbled my way to the last door opposite the entrance as quickly as I could. My body was sore from the effort it took to get there. Opening it the same way as the first, and...
Fuck! It’s another closet! Why would a pony need two huge walk in closets in their room. Need to pee! Need to pee! Sorry, but your toilet is in another castle. Stupid Mario!
I panicked. I did what anyone would do in that situation. I stumbled over to the nearest window, and threw open the curtains. My magic opened the window. I stood on the sill, and let loose the large torrent that was built up over the time I was unconscious.
“Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” I didn’t think I would make it. Thank God, the sill is low enough for this.
I opened my eyes to look down at myself.
Well that explains why Blueblood had such an ego. It doesn’t excuse his actions, but it does explain the ego.
I gazed up and out the window for the first time. I was on the ground floor of the castle. The window looked out to a hedge maze and…there are ponies staring at me with wide eyes. There were a couple of gasps, and I’m pretty sure I heard a pony shout, “The horror! The horror!”
Aaaawwwwww shit. Um, think fast.
“Um… Morning!” I greeted with an uncertain smile, and nod of my head.
Smoooooth. Come ooooonn. Come oooonn. Hurry up. Damn, I have a huge bladder. Finally!!
I ducked into my room, and closed the window and curtains as fast as possible. I could feel the blush radiating off of my face. The muscles in my legs gave out from under me, and I collapsed onto the carpet. The simple act of trying to find the bathroom, took most of my energies to (sort of) accomplish.
Heh Heh. At least the plants outside my window are now watered.
I laid there for a bit, looking at a mirror on the other side of the room. After a while, I noticed something…
I have a cutie mark? Sweet! What is it!? What is it!?
I turned my head over to get a better look at my backside. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to think of it. It was an image of an opened book, and a heart with Twilight’s mark inside it.
So… What? My special talent is my love for reading about Twilight? Is that right? That’s really weird, if that’s right. How am I supposed to interpret this? I’m surprised that it’s not something to do with video games.
I laid there for a bit, thinking about all the possible meanings for my cutie mark, until the door to my room opened. Luna stepped in with a rather happy smirk on her face.
“Good afternoon, ‘Honor Bound’.
She has to emphasize my name like that, doesn’t she?
“Indeed we do, however that is not what has brought us here...”
“I thought we got you to stop reading other ponies minds?”
She ignored my question, and continued with her own statement. “We assume the information on magic, which we bestowed upon thee, has settled to the point where thow has use of it?”
I nodded in the affirmative. “Yes?” Where is she going with this? “Why?”
“Tis not important. We simply wished to see how you were doing.”
She’s clearly hiding something.
“We are not!”
“Stop reading my mind! ‘Sigh.’ Could you at least help me back into my bed? I used all my energies to… never mind. Just… help me out, please.”
Luna smirked. “And what is in it for us?”
“The self fulfillment of helping your, however many, greats grandson to his bed?”
‘Sigh’ “You are not related to either our sister or us. We shall tell thee what our sister wanted to explain to you the other night.” Then under her breath. “As much as we don’t want to.”
“What was that?”
Ignoring my question, Luna began her explanation. “When a unicorn masses enough magical energy into their bodies, they may become immortal. To explain said immortality, our sister and I state that the pony is related to us by blood to keep non-unicorn ponies from becoming envious, or violent. Blueblood came into existence sometime during our… absence. There have been very few ponies, which we know of, who attained immortality. Such as Star Swirl the Bearded.”
“Really? Wait… Star Swirl is immortal. If that’s true, then… where is he now? I'd love to meet him.”
“From what our sister has told us, he… died… in a failed spell attempt.” Luna looked to the ground in morning.
“But… If he was immortal then, how did he die?”
‘Sigh’ “A unicorn who is immortal cannot die of old age. Though, they can die from disease or injury. Only an Alicorn is immune to death entirely. Which is the next stage in thy development.”
…
…
“WHAT!?!?!?!?!”
My mind was all a jumble. I had a chance to become an Alicorn. I was dumbfounded by the entire notion of it. Luna saw that the gears in my head stopped moving, so she attempted to kick start my brain by telling me why she came here in the first place.
“That is why we are here. To help thee in your development to ascend.”
She’s telling me that she wants to turn me into a God. How the Hell am I supposed to take this. I’ve only been in this dimension for a couple of days, only two of which I’ve been awake for, and now she’s telling me that I’ll one day be a God. What the Hell!?
“B..But, What about Twilight? Will she be able to become immortal too?” That was what mattered to me. Not that I was immortal. I was about to throw that away. No, what mattered to me was that I might be able to spend an eternity with Twilight Sparkle.
“You mean Cele’s student? Considering the power that radiates from her. If she is not immortal already, then she soon will be. That is why Cele adopted her as her personal protege. Though, our sister has yet to inform the young mare of this fact.”
I suppose that makes sense. If Celestia were to find a unicorn who had the potential to become immortal, she would take time out of her busy day to train that pony. That’s good. I won’t have to see Twilight die after all.
“That is why we are here to continue with thy magic training.” This brought me right out of my thoughts. My eyes widened in fear.
No. Not again.
I summoned strength I didn’t know I had, and scrambled behind the closest standing mirror. “Keep away from me! You’re not going to hit me with that spell again!”
“Oh, it wasn’t that bad.” She chuckled. “Thy learned more in those seconds, than thee could have learned in a month of study and practice.”
“You give a whole new meaning to ‘Ignorance is Bliss’.” I was holding the sides of the mirror in an attempt to keep it between me and her. What I neglected to notice was that Luna could see me from the mirror sitting on the vanity behind me.
She lowered her horn, taking careful aim. “This will only hurt for a second.” I could actually hear the smile on her face. She was enjoying this.
Lucky for me, there was a knock on the door. “The presence of Princess Luna and Prince Honor Bound has been requested, by Princess Celestia in the royal throne room.” There was no doubt in my mind that the gruff voice belonged to a royal guard.
Yes! Saved by the guard! I don’t know who he is, but I want him to get a promotion for this.
“You are not getting away from this.” She told me in a cold voice. Luna directed her attention towards the door. “Very well. We shall escort ourselves there. Thank you.”
I peeked my head out, from around the mirror, to see what she was doing. She charged her horn and I got that same nauseous feeling I got the last time we teleported. The next thing I knew, we were in the middle of the throne room. Both Luna and I were sitting side by side in front of Celestia.
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that. Even if it’s the best power ever.
“Ah, good. I am glad that you have come so promptly.” the ruler of the Sun greeted us.
“Why hast thou summoned us, sister? We were just about to teach young ‘Honor Bound’ more about magic.”
“Keep her away from me!” I waved an accusing hoof at Luna. “She wants to use that learning beam… thing on me!”
“It would be good for thou to learn more about magic. The sooner thou learn what is needed, the sooner thou can increase thy magic, and become an Alicorn.”
“But, I don’t wanna. It’s too painful. I can learn about magic on my own. It doesn’t matter how long it’ll take me. From what I understand, I have all the time in the world now.”
“Thou are not immune to death!”
“I’M NOT PLANNING ON DYING!”
“NEITHER WAS STAR SWIRL!”
I was struck silent. Not just from the Royal Cantorlot Voice, but from the emotion behind it. There were tears in Luna’s eyes now. She turned away from me, and galloped out of the throne room. A small trail of tears following her exit. I could hear her sobs grow faint as she got further away.
What just happened?
Celestia was silent. She looked upset but didn’t try to stop her sister. She glanced away from the doors that Luna had fled through, and down to me.
“My apologies. It would seem Luna has not gotten over the news about Star Swirl yet.”
“What happened? Were they close?”
“In a way. He was the only pony, back then, to appreciate her nights.”
“Did she… love him?”
“As a friend, yes. It took a couple of centuries for myself to get over his passing. I believe she blames herself for him moving beyond the Vail. You see, Star Swirl was researching ways to save her from the Nightmare when a miscalculation caused him to lose his life. Luna learned of it just over a year ago. It took most of that year to convince her to leave the castle in fact. Shame it ended up being on Nightmare night. Though, it all worked out in the end, I suppose.”
I finally tore my attention away from the door to look at Celestia. “I can understand the despair of losing a loved one, but you two are thousands of years old. Doesn’t death get easier as time goes on?”
“Oh heavens, no. It is true; we have come to understand that normal ponies will die someday, but that does not diminish the pain we feel from their passing. Have you ever lost a loved one?”
I solemnly nodded my head. “A few.”
“And have you gotten over their deaths then? I imagine your mourning period was different each time.”
I nodded again.
“That would be because you had a different connection to each, based on how much time you spent with them. In other words, the more time you had together, the more it hurt when they were gone. Luna spent over three millennia with Star Swirl as her only friend.”
I hung my head “I…I think I understand.”
I hope Luna will be alright. She didn’t want to cause me pain; she just didn’t want me to die.
I looked back to the door. “Should we go after her?”
“She needs time to calm down. I will check on her, once my business with you is complete.”
I felt bad for Luna, but was thankful for the change of subject, as well as genuinely curious to what the princess of the Sun would want from me.
“What can I do for you?”
“I am aware that you are still weak from your transfer.” Celestia’s horn lit up. A quill and scroll came floating out from behind her. They settled in front of her and she began to write something down. “That is why I was going to have Luna help you with your physical and, perhaps magical training. However, I do not think she will be up to the task.” She finished writing and rolled the scroll up. The scroll burst into flame in front of her face.
Is she doing, what I think she’s doing?
“It would help me greatly if you were at full strength. We do not need a recurrence of your window display from earlier."
I blushed at the memory.
She heard of that? Of course she did. She would hear about everything that goes on in the castle.
"And, your magical education, in all likelihood, is that of a yearling. I am sorry to say that I am simply too busy to help you myself…” A wisp of smoke floated into the room from an open window. It materialized into a scroll in front of Celestia. She smiled as she read its contents.
I was having trouble containing my excitement.
Is she saying that Twilight is going to be my physical therapist, and magic trainer?
“That is why I am enlisting the help of somepony very dear to me.” Her horn glowed very brightly.
I was grinning like an idiot.
This is it! This is it! I’m about to meet Twilight Sparkle.
I was shaking from anticipation. Practically bouncing with enthusiasm.
There was a flash as Celestia released the built up magic in her horn. The flash of light left me blinded for a moment.
“Honor Bound, I would like you to meet…”
Yes! Yes! Yes!
“…Spike.”
“Spike!?” My vision cleared to confirm that it was, indeed, the baby dragon standing in front of me. My face fell. Celestia had a big grin on her face.
She did that on purpose!