//------------------------------// // A Short Between (Interlude) // Story: The End, And Then... // by PunIntended Consequences //------------------------------// “Hello everypony! Twilight here. Sky Voice isn’t feeling well, so I’ll be taking over the commentary for a little while.” Not so loud, please… “Sorry Sky, but the audience won’t hear me if I whisper. I’ll just deafen you for now. If you need anything, just call my name.” Okay… “I cast a quick spell, preventing Sky Voice from hearing my voice until further notice. Wow, that’s really strange. I’ll need a way to differentiate when I’m narrating and when I’m talking. Sector Z-2’s style wasn’t really that great either. Sorry everyone, I’m a bit new to this whole thing. Let’s see…” How about this? Hmm… Twilight referred to herself in third-person to test out a new form of communication. “Not bad,” I said aloud. “Oh, but I have to remember to refer to myself in the third person,” I—she mused. Hmm, ‘mused’, what a nice word. Wait, I didn’t say that out loud! Can it read my thoughts? she thought. Oh no, it can! Quick, change it back! “Oookay, not doing that one then. So what can I do? I could use a key word, like saying ‘narrate’ before I do so. That would get annoying after a while though, not to mention immersion-breaking. Maybe I could… but then Sky wouldn’t… but he’d understand, I’m sure… I’ll ask him first. “Oh darn, I haven’t been telling you guys anything! C’mon Twilight, stay focused! Uh, Twilight cleared her throat. She was walking down the road towards her destination, which was six and a half feet wide, constructed of a slightly cold substance similar in composition to rubber, but not as sticky and much firmer. The road was, that is. The destination was of course the Fountains of Everfall, which you already know since I said that back at Sector Z-2 ARGH! No, no, no! This isn’t right! I need another way to do this! “I cast another spell to unlock Sky Voice’s hearing. Sky, can you hear me? Are you feeling better?” I can hear you Twilight, and yeah, a bit. Or at least, I don’t feel like you’re trying to pound a dubstep song into my cranium any more. “Oh good! This narration stuff is hard!” I noticed you were having… one or two issues. “Just admit it Sky, I suck at telling stories.” What? No you don’t, Twilight! You just have to practice is all! You could magic up a solution too, but I’m guessing you want to do this the proper way? She nodded. “I do, and I actually did have an idea. What would you say to me conjuring up an actual narration system? Like, you don’t have to do it at all; something else could do it for you! Then you and I could just… hang out together, I guess. I could even give you a body! What do you say to that?” She cast a confident grin skyward. I stayed silent for a few moments, thinking about what she had suggested. Well… I have always wanted a body of my own, but at the same time, I’ve only ever done narration. It’s literally who I am! I’m the narrator! What else could I be? Like, what would I do with my time? Judge the new narrator and criticize everything she or he says? “Well, I wasn’t planning on having the narrator speak out loud, but if you want to hear it, I could arrange that.” I still don’t know… Twilight’s nose scrunched up as she thought about the problem, a smile coming to her lips as she arrived at a conclusion. “How about a test run?” she suggested. “I’ll give you a body and presence, create a narrator, and we’ll see how you like it, okay?” Twilight, I really don’t know about this. “Pleeeaaase?” Oh no, not the puppy eyes. Anything but those! No, stop it! I can’t take it much longer! Stop! I’ll… I… I sighed. Alright Twilight, just please be gentle! I don’t want a repeat of ten minutes ago. “Okay, first we need a narrator,” Twilight muttered, her horn flowing with threads once more. A new voice sudden jumping from the netherland, robotic, gravelly, and unfinished, but defiantly starting fluent in Language. The new voice suddenly spoke fluidly alongside a newfound fluency, mimicking Sky Voice’s smooth narration very closely. Sky Voice was granted italic text to differentiate the two voices more easily. Really? Oh, I guess I do, he exclaimed. Exclaimed? He exclaimed. I think it still needs work, he began. “Give it a break, Sky,” Twilight reprimanded, “it only just came into existence a minute ago!” She continued to gently tug and weave the threads as the narrator gained more and more knowledge about the intricacies of Language— Which is a universal language, by the way, Sky Voice quite rudely interrupted. Uh-oh Twilight, I think you went too far! Quickly, before it begins to have original thoughts! “Sorry, sorry!” the alicorn god exclaimed, quickly cutting some of the strings before they could fully form. Both of them breathed a sigh of relief, not wanting to have to deal with a second fully-fledged consciousness. “Okay, I think that’s enough for now.” Yeah, I think so too. “So…” Twilight hesitantly ventured, “Want that new body now?” Sure, go ahead. Sky Voice braced himself as he felt Twilight begin to gently wrap her aura around his consciousness, pulling it down from its metaphorical placement in the air. “Just relax, Sky. I won’t hurt you this time, I promise,” she said, her voice slightly strained from concentration. A few moments later, a shifting cloud surrounded by her purple-tinged magic hovered in front of her. The impression of a relieved smile washed over her from the floating mass. “What do you want your body to look like?” she asked him. Well, I’d like to be male, at least in a general way. No genitalia, please. Twilight blushed slightly at that. Um… a pony’s body would be nice to start with. Maybe a Pegasus? My name has ‘Sky’ in it, after all. So… blue? A light blue though. No wait, I could be a sunset! Or… a sunrise! Yeah! Yeah, like a purplish-pink mane and a… and an orangey coat! Like a burnt orange, you know? Like a sunrise! And, um, blue eyes! Light, really light, like shallow water, heheh, heh, ah, aheh… uh… The cloud coughed. Yeah, you know, whatever. Were the cloud to have a physical body, it would have blushed and looked to the side. Twilight merely giggled, and with a simple wave of her horn, a maelstrom of matter coalesced into a rough pony form. The pony slowly formed from the collected matter, building everything it would need to live. Then with a final charged shot, Twilight speared it through the heart, spreading just enough life force to jump-start its basic functions. “There you go, Sky. Welcome to your new body!” she exclaimed in triumph. Sky Voice, however, was confused. What do you mean? he asked. Don’t you have to, like, put me in it? “Actually, the hard part is over. All you have to do is possess it now.” Oh. Well, here goes! The cloud was released from the magical containment, slowly winding its way around the body. It poked and prodded for a moment, then, steeling itself, plunged into its nostrils. The body came alive with an animated gasp, stumbling about as it tried to recover its footing. Finally doing so, it turned its head to look at the purple alicorn. “Welcome to the real world, Sky Voice,” the mare said, a slight quiver giving away her excitement.