//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 // Story: Absolution // by ed2481 //------------------------------// I made it back to Fluttershy’s cottage without much trouble, my mind feeling heavy. It was odd, I had spent much of the day resting or generally doing nothing... yet I was bone weary. A sigh left my lips and I shook my head. Perhaps it was simply the fact that I had been witness to a conversation between Arceus and his... son. Surely, something of that nature takes a lot out of a pokemon. Once I’d arrived at the cabin, night was falling... strange, I only just remember waking up. I suppose I’d been lost in the past longer than I’d thought. Regardless, it explained a bit more of my tiredness away, so I suppose that was a plus. Thankfully, a rather stupid ‘bird’ had landed in my path on the way home so my stomach was content and I wouldn’t have to worry about troubling Fluttershy for anything other than perhaps a quick hello as I made my way to my bed. I walked through the door, closing it behind me with my rear leg. As I made my way over to the bed that the pegasus had set up for me I distantly heard the sound of her voice jumbling together with Discord’s. I suppressed a shudder at the thought of the Legendary as I began to get comfortable. It didn’t take long and soon I was drifting off to sleep. I awoke with a yawn as the first rays of dawn flickered across my eyelids. For some reason it sounded... off. A bit too feminine of all things. I shook my head and blinked a few more times as I attempted to rub sleep out of my eyes with my crimson furred forepaw. I yawned again but abruptly paused as I blinked blankly. I looked down at my forepaw with a quick snap of my head. It was not pink, and it was most certainly not white. No, it was a familiar crimson color, like that of Belle’s fur. “What?” I asked, so befuddled by this development that it took me a moment to realize that I’d heard Belle’s voice. “Belle?! Are you here?!” The only response I received was an echo of my question. “What trick is this?!” I shouted, and she shouted right back at me. By this point I had jumped out of the bed, my head swishing from left to right when I suddenly noticed something... peculiar and very disturbing. I felt... much lighter... as if I was missing a few... things. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” The scream was high pitched and girly, the sheer volume of it making me wince despite myself, and I fell backwards in confusion to land in a disorganized heap atop the bed. A scurry of hooves rushed down on the other side of the door before it slammed open and Fluttershy burst in. “What happened!?” she asked as she hastily looked around the room before her eyes fell upon me. Her eyes opened wide and her ears perked up. “Oh my.... Cres? Is that you?” she inquired slowly as she walked towards me. “Y-y-yes?” I replied, Belle’s voice answering the question as I tried to curl up upon myself, which of course only brought me closer to my new... anatomy. “I-I-I-I think so.” Fluttershy stood over me and peered down on me with concerned eyes as she examined me. Before she could say anything else, Discord’s voice spoke up. “My my, what was that loud squeal? I think I nearly blew an eardrum,” the draconequus asked as his head peered through, one of his talon fingers digging into one ear while the tip poked out the other. His eyes fell upon me and an amused smirk grew on his face as he chuckled lightly and withdrew his finger from his ear. “Why, I like the new look, Cres. Your fur makes your eyes stand out quite well if do say so myself.” “You-did-did you do this to me?” I stutteringly demanded, lifting my head away from my rear for a moment to glare at him. He lifted his Pyroar paw to his chest. “Moi? Why Cres, while this is in my field of play, I promised Fluttershy I wouldn’t use my powers on you like that anymore. And I never break my promises,” he replied, sounding hurt by my accusation. “But-but-but if isn’t you- then-then why am I Belle?” I demanded, still stuttering as I buried my head in my fur again. “Hmm... good question,” Discord said as he stroked his chin. He glided over to Fluttershy and put his talon hand near her head. “Why don’t Fluttershy and I think on that as you get accustomed to your new body? Who knows how long you’ll be like that?” he said as he urged the pony to exit the room with him. “Ta-ta~!” Fluttershy seemed resistant to be pulled away from me, but eventually she and Discord left the room with the draconequus closing the door with his tail. I was alone. Alone as Belle. I stared into my crimson fur, unsure of what to do. I was... Belle. I smelled like Belle, I sounded like Belle, I even looked like Belle... at least I think I did. I shut my eyes for a moment and did my best to think like Belle. Sadly, it appeared that the one thing that had stayed the same was my brain. Time slipped by slowly as I lay huddled there, her smell in my nose, her fur against my eyes, her voice in my head, before I eventually let out a long breath and began to pull myself together, just a bit. When I finally forced my head up I let out a long breath and got to my, Belle’s paws and began to take a few experimental strides around the room. It felt... strange to do. My every step was quickened, especially those of my rear legs, I no longer had to be cautious with how close my thighs were together, though I will not say that I enjoyed it. No, instead it felt unnatural and I found myself missing the familiar feeling of my body with every passing step. What was worse was that I felt oddly exposed despite the fact that my thick crimson fur hid anything ‘desirable’ from view. All in all, I did not like being a female. “Discord, I need to know... did you really not do anything to him?” Fluttershy asked Discord quietly, doing her best to keep her tone level and non-accusing. “Fluttershy my dear, you wound me with such an accusation! Of course I didn’t lay a single paw or talon on him. He clearly walked through a patch of poison joke; their scent is still strong on him,” the draconequus replied before rubbing his paw over his nose. “Oh... that makes sense,” Fluttershy said before shuddering slightly as she remembered the awful blue flower. “I guess we should get him to Zecora’s soon then so that he can...become himself again,” she said as she made her way back to the house. “Now hold on there, my little pony,” Discord interjected as he moved in front of her. “I think we should allow him to stay in that form of his a bit longer, after all, he might learn something from all of this.” “What could he learn?” Fluttershy asked with a frown. “Who knows?” he replied with a slight shrug. “But poison joke does what it does for a reason, and after you and your other friends learned something when you were under its effects. So it’s fair to say Cres will learn something equally important. After all, it takes being at a lowest point in life to discover something that’s right under your nose.” Fluttershy frowned as she thought it over. “I don’t know, Discord... he seems terrified right now,” she shook her head. “I’m not sure if it’s right of us to pretend that we don’t know what’s wrong with him.” “Well, we won’t have to fully lie to him, just tell him it will take a while to gather the ingredients for the cure,” Discord said with a small smile. “At least a day or so.” “I don’t know... it still seems wrong,” Fluttershy replied demurely. “Fluttershy, trust me on this,” Discord said placing a paw over his chest. “I have a feeling this will be more beneficial to him than you think.” “I... okay, Discord, but you’re going to tell him, okay?” Fluttershy asked uncertainly. “And you have to do it nicely.” “Of course, my dear Fluttershy, I’ll be as nicely and gentle as a bumble bee landing on a flower,” Discord assured her as he seeminglessly glide back to the house. “Why don’t you just take care of the other animals, I’m sure many of them are missing their breakfast by this point.” “Oh, oh, you’re right!” Fluttershy said with a small nod. “I wouldn’t want any of them to get too hungry.” She turned around and lightly galloped off to the back of the house. “Exactly,” Discord said with a small smile as he opened the door and went back inside the house. When Discord entered the room again, I flinched despite myself. I was not afraid of him, not in the least, but I had seen what he was capable of and I really did not want to explain to Belle why I not only looked exactly like her, but was also lacking a blade. “Well Cres, I have some good news and some relatively bad news as well,” Discord said, clapping his paw and talon hands together. “The good news is, we know what caused this. You must have walked through a patch of poison joke before coming here. They’re little blue flowers in case you’re wondering.” “Poison... so there’s an antidote?” I asked cautiously as I looked up at him. “Wait... what’s the bad news?” “That getting said antidote is going to take a while,” Discord replied. “You see, ponies around here are smart enough to avoid the patches of poison joke, so we don’t really stock up on the antidote. Though don’t lose your tiny head about that, it will only take them a day or so to gather the ingredients to make it.” “An-an entire day?” I squeaked out, Belle’s voice reaching a level of strain it never did when she was the one projecting it. “Can’t you-can’t you just snap your fingers or something and make me me again?” It was then I realized that I was begging. “Alas, I don’t know how your normal body functioned or what all made up it. So unless you want to risk missing something or gaining something extra, I don’t that will be a very good idea,” Discord replied with a small shake of his head. A soft wail left my throat and tears sprang to my eyes but I managed to hold myself together long enough to simply nod at him before I fled back to the bed and curled up in a small ball before my eyes truly began to leak. “Now, now, I don’t think that’s a reason to cry over,” Discord said as I felt a soft tissue brushing across my teary cheeks. “Most males dream of becoming female, you should count yourself lucky,” he said with a small chuckle. “Why on earth would anyone want to become female?” I asked, unconsciously leaning against the tissue. “I like my manhood where it was... and-and- I don’t know why I’m crying. I just-I just am.” “Then you probably should stop and question that yourself,” Discord said. “I mean you make a good point there, it would be a shame to just leave it hanging all alone by itself with no other thoughts to accompany it.” I blinked up at him as my eyes began to stop leaking. “What?” I still lacked Belle’s brain. Discord rolled his eyes a bit. “To make a point and not expand on it... I knew you could be thick-headed, but I think you’re giving it a new definition.” “Shut-shut up,” I tried to snarl but it sounded rather more pathetic than I’d intended. “I’m-I’m not smart. I know I’m not. You don’t have to rub it in my face.” “Then maybe it’s time to think a bit smartly for once, little Cres; else you’ll be crying till tomorrow morning and maybe even longer,” Discord told me. I scowled up at him. “Fine, but I still have no idea what you’re talking about,” I told him with an annoyed pout as I glanced to the side. “I’m simply talking about you questioning yourself why’re you are crying,” Discord said as he got up and left the tissue behind. “I mean, there’s no reason to right?” he asked before he headed to the door. “I... right,” I agreed with a small nod of my head as I let out a sigh. “There’s not... no reason to be crying. I’ll be back to normal tomorrow.” “Then question why did you started crying in the first place,” Discord said before opening the door and leaving me alone once more. I frowned at that. Why had I started crying? It... it must have been my new body. But... Belle did not cry often. She was not over emotional, and the only time she ever really did was when something was truly, truly wrong. It didn’t make much sense did it? After all, there was nothing greatly wrong with me was there? No, no, Discord said that it was fixable, provided that he wasn’t lying... so why was I so sad? My light posterior hit the floor with a *thump* and I stared up at the ceiling. It felt like... it felt like I was missing a piece of myself. Why? Why would I feel like that? I closed my eyes and tried to understand it, but all I got for my efforts were mental pictures of myself. What on earth could that mean? Apple Bloom sat at the breakfast table eating a stack of pancakes that Applejack had made her, sweet maple syrup dripping down their sides. Big Mac was already out working the fields and Granny Smith was asleep in her rocker on the porch, leaving the two sisters alone in the kitchen. “So Sis, why dontcha like Cres?” the filly asked once she’d finished her current mouthful of pancakes. Applejack paused in mid-flip of a pancake and turned her head towards the young filly. “Where did you hear that?” she asked with an inquiring eyebrow as the pancake fell back down, landing a bit off center on the pan. “He told me that ya yelled at him,” the filly replied, frowning a bit at her sister’s sudden hostility. “You met him!” Applejack nearly yelled. “When did that happen?” Apple Bloom’s ears flinched a bit at both the volume and the venom in Applejack’s voice. “Yesterday, sis. He was sleeping underneath our club house because it was raining and he didn’t want to get wet.” Applejack let out a fuming sigh through her nostrils, as her mind completely forgot about the overcook pancake in the pan. “Apple Bloom, if you ever see that rascal varmint again, don’t approach him, don’t even talk to him, just run away from him and come to me if he’s ever on our farm. Understood?” “Why?” Apple Bloom asked puzzledly. “He seemed nice enough.” “Then what you saw was an act, Apple Bloom. He’s dangerous, and I don’t want ya ever ta be near him again,” Applejack stated before walking up to her and giving the little filly a firm look. “Understood?” “But he didn’t mind us poking him with sticks,” Apple Bloom protested. “And all he did was ask us to stop - oh, and he breathed fire in the air, but Spike does that all the time so I don’t think he was trying to hurt us.” “HE BREATHED FIRE AT YA!” This time Applejack couldn’t help but yell as her eyes widen before narrowing angrily. “That’s it! Apple Bloom, stay right here, don’t leave the house,” she ordered the young filly before galloping out of the kitchen through the back door. “No... in the air, Sis,” Apple Bloom muttered to herself. “I hope she doesn’t yell at Cres any more.”