Princess Twilight Sparkle walked down yet another hallway in Canterlot Castle.
It was strange, not long ago, meeting up with Princess Celestia, Alicorn of the Sun and supreme ruler of all of Equestria, had been an almost casual thing. Then Twilight had moved to Ponyville, became a champion and savior of Equestria and bearer of one of the most, possibly the most powerful magical artefacts in the world (as well as a librarian). Meeting with her friend and mentor after that often turned into some official affair with varying amounts of rituals, depending on whether or not her visit was announced and which valet, officer or other had her presence brought to their attention.
Now, she was a princess herself, a leader, a role model, a paragon, an embodiment of virtue, strength and wisdom. At least, according to old books and scriptures found in the castle's libraries that concerned alicorns, probably written by ponies with a flair for drama and definitely with varying degrees of pretentiousness. Despite all this, the fuss concerning her visits hadn't increased. In fact, it seemed to have decreased somewhat. It was still there, definitely, but it seemed more consistent now. Twilight suspected that the proper proceedings concerning princesses were a lot more common knowledge among the castle staff than proper proceedings concerning personal friends of the diarchs who also happened to be world saving librarians, and the staff had stopped overdoing it in fear of underdoing it.
Twilight neared the door leading to her former mentor's study when it was wrapped in a golden aura and opened to reveal a somewhat unfocused looking Princess Celestia about to make her way out into the hallway.
Celestia caught sight of Twilight and smiled in that pleasant way that few can match. "Good evening, Twilight. How are you?"
Many, many ponies would want to become princesses or princes for many different reasons. Twilight had to admit that princesshood came with a lot of perks, but one that she appreciated, perhaps a bit disproportionately, was that she finally had a proper reason to spend time with her mentor and role model in a more relaxed way. Celestia and Twilight were no longer restricted by expectations and roles of the mentor-and-student relationship, these days, they had a relationship that Twilight had learned to truly cherish, now, more than anything, they were friends. "I'm fine, better than I might've been, at least. How about yourself?"
And thanks to the nature of their relationship feeling less stringent, Twilight no longer felt as if burdened by secrets when she witnessed Celestia occasionally slip out of her role as a pinnacle of wisdom and composure. Celestia got a strange and somewhat silly look on her face as she craned her neck and loudly popped it, letting out a sigh of relief. "Better, now that I'm done with all the paperwork for the week." Celestia studied Twilight for a moment and then said, "I assume by your remark that the situation concerning our involuntary visitor has proceeded in satisfactory fashion."
Twilight felt small pangs of mixed emotions from that comment. She still held Celestia in very high regards, and hearing Celestia directly addressing her mistake, the gravity of which was still uncertain, stung somewhat. But going by her tone, her friend and fellow princess was not judging her. "Yes, I think so at least. She woke up for a while when we were wheeling her through the hospital and she was accidentally pushed out of her wheelchair."
Celestia covered her mouth with a hoof. "Goodness! Is she unharmed?"
"Yes, she's fine," Twilight said and thought for a second. "You looked as if you were heading somewhere."
"Yes," Celestia said. "Luna's chambers, it's almost time to raise the moon." Celestia gestured towards the high windows and the relaxing, orange light that flowed through them.
They set off in a relaxed pace down towards Princess Luna's chambers, the occasional pair of guards saluting when they passed. Saluting both of us, Twilight reminded herself.
"So, the victim of this unfortunate event is now safe from direct harm?" Celestia asked, taking some effort to not imply much in a location where some gossip-hungering noble might walk out around a corner.
"Yes, she's showing no signs of complications. Just the usual- oh!" Twilight stopped herself as Princess Luna walked out of her chambers, sporting a bathrobe, bed hair and wearing a slightly queasy look on her face.
Luna turned to face them and noticed her sister. "Evenin', Tia-" stopped herself when she noticed another pony beside Celestia. "Uh, we mean, we bid you a good evening, sister, dear." She then seemed to notice that the other pony was Twilight Sparkle, her fellow princess and friend with such quaint, casual disregard to high society's proper decorum and finally settled for "I mean, uh, Oh! Just, hello, you two."
The tallest and shortest of the collection of princesses looked confoundedly at Luna before Celestia spoke up. "Lulu, are you alright? You seem a bit... out of it."
Luna did something between hanging her head and shaking it. "I am fine. I was just doing an everynight inspection of the astral plane when I came across the remains of a dream from yesterday morning. It was... disorienting."
"How so?" Twilight asked, curious.
The trio started walking towards a tower for a good vantage point for the raising and lowering of their respective celestial bodies. "Oh, I'm not sure I can do a dream that strange justice with mere words. It was like a hundred voices singing, whispering, laughing, shouting and riding fairground rides all at once. And what is a Lucy?."
"I don't think you need to worry, Lulu," Celestia said. "We have a fairly good idea of whose dream you encountered."
Luna looked surprised. "You do?"
Celestia nodded. "You remember I told you about my latest correspondence with Twilight here?" Luna looked from her sister to Twilight while nodding. "Well, I'll let Twilight take it from here."
Twilight looked at Luna. "Well, I'm not sure how much you know," Twilight said.
"Only that you've had a magical mishap with one of Starswirl's old relics and brought some being here from another world," Luna said, not unkindly.
"Oh, ok," Twilight continued. "Well, we found her in the Everfree woods, it's a unicorn filly who was suffering Wisp-Shimmer syndrome. We brought her to the hospital in Ponyville and helped with the initial treatment. After that I accompanied her when she was brought here to Canterlot."
Luna considered this for a moment. "A magical fever dream of a mind from another world. Yes, that would explain quite a bit." Luna seemed to come to a realization. "Now, hold for a moment, you said that it was a unicorn filly? Is it from another world of ponies?" Luna asked, sounding slightly alarmed.
"Uh..." Twilight was mystified at this reaction before realizing what Luna meant. "Oh, no. It doesn't seem connected to our world in any way. I highly doubt that there are any risks of magical cataclysms just by her being here," Twilight ensured Luna, who had clearly remembered the last time a device of Starswirl, that brilliant but profoundly loopy magician, had been used to travel between worlds.
This was enough to calm down Luna. "Good. But still, you said it was a filly?"
Celestia spoke up at this. "Yes, Twilight asked me about that in our correspondence. Our visitor's world seemed bereft of magic and so I would hazard that her form is a result of primal magic."
Luna nodded as this. It seemed likely. Primal magic was very difficult to control or even understand to any meaningful extent. And since it was so difficult to control or influence, and mostly observable in distant and wild places of the world, it rarely affected the lives of ponykind. When it did, however, the results tended to be puzzling. And should some being from another world find its way to Equestria, it would make sense that this magical void would be affected by primal magic, perhaps giving it what it felt was an appropriate form.
"By the way," Twilight said. "When she was awake she introduced herself as Gabrielle."
"Sounds more like a gryphon's name," Luna observed.
"Appealing, though," said Celestia.
As the trio ascended the stairs towards the top of one of Canterlot Castle's highest towers, Twilight let out a sigh of relief and said, "I'm relieved by how you've reacted to this situation."
Luna looked at Twilight with a surprised expression. "How we've reacted?"
Twilight looked a bit sheepish. "Well, I was afraid that you'd be more disappointed in me. This is quite a mistake for a princess to make, after all."
Luna almost managed to hold back a snort and Celestia gave her sister an amused look before turning to Twilight. "Luna feels that it's not her place to say too much about Starswirl. But no doubt she feels that this is far from the worst possible result of experimenting with all of his kooky creations," Celestia said, as she turned back to Luna with a small smirk.
"Quite," Luna said stiffly.
"And I must say," Celestia continued as they reached the top of the tower. "While this does seem like an unfortunate situation, I am pleased with how you assumed responsibility for your actions, accidental though they might have been."
"Agreed," said Luna as she looked up into the sky.
"Well," said Twilight. "I'm responsible for her situation, of course I ought to do my best to help her."
The conversation was paused as the sun was lowered beyond the horizon and the moon peeked out from beyond a distant mountain.
"An admirable sentiment, and an appropriate one for royalty such as yourself, we feel." Luna said and paused as she considered something. "Pray tell, where is this filly now?"
-
I heard birdsong and felt sunlight softly caress my cheek.
‘This is nice but the last time this happened you were abducted by big dogs and put in a sack.’
The smell of antiseptic was in the air, but it was distant in the fresh air. Warm, soothing sunlight and air so fresh that you'd think you have to climb a mountain to find was an interesting combination, and one I certainly didn't mind.
I opened my eye to take in the world around me and was pleasantly surprised at the ease of the task. I was situated in the same room that I fell asleep in, but it seemed to be morning this time. I hadn't taken note of the time of day the last time I had a look at the room, but I seem to recall daylight outside, which probably meant that I had been asleep for a full night and probably a good part of an afternoon. For a change I didn't feel as though it would be a good idea to just lie down and fall asleep again, I was actually feeling pretty spry right now.
I took a look at myself. Same small equine body, this time covered by a bland bed cover. I found myself oddly at peace with the idea, it was a very strange experience of course, but not shocking and panic-inducing as one might suspect it would be to find oneself in another physical form. Then again, I had woken up in a body that was vastly different than the one I was used to once before, and this time I wasn't covered in bandages with intravenous needles piercing me and a heart monitor making sure that I didn't kick it without a bunch of doctors and nurses knowing about it. I would never have guessed that an experience of that nature would help me cope with an experience of this nature, but there you have it, life is strange sometimes.
I closed my eye again and did something that I had needed to do for ages but had been unable to. I stretched. Another strange experience, I extended my arm and leg as far as I could and wiggled what I realized felt like two strangely dextrous lumps, partially covered in something big, hard and solid. I'm supposed to be an expert on organic tissue but the term escaped me, I would've felt sheepish about that but I felt that I had a pretty good excuse as I opened my eye and inspected my hoof. Now I had time to take it in properly as I wasn't trying to hatch a hasty plan to get away from a pack of wolves, or feeling so exhausted that I could collapse at a moment's notice.
I lifted my hoof up to my face and started turning it around, fascinated by the range of motion in my limb, when a clash of colors in the background caught my eye. I looked over towards the attention-grabbing object and realized that it was the unicorn from yesterday, or at least I assumed that it was yesterday that when she introduced herself. She, Twilight Sparkle, I recalled, was sitting/lying down on a bench in that way that horses do when they fold their legs beneath them. I'm no equestrian, but in movies, horses never seemed very pleased with this position, judging by the shaky way they assumed it. However, Twilight over there was sitting in a much more relaxed and pleased manner, in that way more like a cat. In front of her was a book and she had clearly finished reading a page, as she turned it by casually nuzzling it with some impressive precision.
Two things struck me about that, the second was that I now had a form much like hers and I had some reservations about my own ability to manipulate the world around with hooves and a muzzle.
‘Ah! That's the word!’
The second was that it looked absolutely adorable.
I also noticed that she seemed to have wings folded by her sides. I looked around but there was no Ray Harryhausen in sight. ‘Someone, the doctor, I think, said that the one that knocked me to the floor yesterday did so with her wings. Was it her? No, wait, it couldn't have been, there was a fourth voice that was apologizing and it wasn't hers.’
I stretched again and let out a yawn, which made Twilight look up. "Oh! You're awake," she said.
"Yes, very much so, in fact."
She nuzzled the book closed and stepped down on the floor. "I'm gonna go get doctor Staff or Nurse Redheart. They'll probably want to know how you feel," she said and started making her way out of the room.
"Uh, okay," I said, feeling like that was a very lackluster response for some reason.
Twilight walked out the door and left me alone I looked around the room I was in, and I couldn't help but notice the clopping sounds as she did, which was also adorable. It looked like a fairly modern hospital room. Not an intensive care unit, but a normal room, except it was more decorated than I was used to seeing them, like someone had expected a long term stay. There were a few potted plants and paintings of landscapes, which made me curious about where I was, since what little view out the window that wasn't blocked by a thin, white curtain was just blue sky.
I had apparently had a very good rest for even though I realized that I was really hungry I was still in a pretty good mood.
I lifted up my hoof to my face again and inspected it. My whole arm, or foreleg as it's probably called now, was shaped somewhat differently than a normal horse. I had always thought that horses' legs, and the extremities of quite a few animals, looked awfully fragile compared to humans'. Of course I knew that's because humans store nutrition in our legs and that it wasn't animal legs that were thin so much as our legs that were tubby.
'Our legs' I thought and suddenly felt very somber. ‘Can I still think like that? Why did this happen?’
I stopped my train of thought to inspect it. ‘Wow, now I'm feeling really blue,’ I thought, looked down on myself and actually laughed out loud when the pun dawned on me.
‘So, mood swings, eh? Hopefully they're thanks to my treatment, I have to remember to ask about that.’
Suddenly the joy of discovery took over again and I once again started inspecting myself. ‘If a normal horse would have legs this thick they would probably be either freakishly strong or immobile.’
I remembered how I had observed something that looked like magical fingers on my hoof when discovering magic. I put my hoof down on my cover and tried to grab it with seemingly nonexistent fingers, it didn't work. It would probably have felt more strange to someone else, but I had a lot of experience of trying to grab things with limbs that I had forgotten were nonexistent.
Suddenly, the door was opened and in walked Redheart and Twilight Sparkle. ‘Clippedy cloppedy. That's kinda funny for some reason.’
Twilight gave me a nervous smile while Redheart's was warm and calming.
"Good morning, Gabrielle," Nurse Redheart said. "How are you feeling?"
"Good," I said with a smile. "Though I'm hungry and seem to be suffering from mood swings."
"That's to be expected, dear. But don't worry, it'll pass," Redheart said reassuringly. "Speaking of which, it's time for another dose of medicine."
She took the familiar paper bag in her teeth from the nightstand beside the bed and pulled out a cupcake with her hoof and held it in her wrist thingy. ‘There's that thing with holding things with your hoof again. And eating cupcakes is supposed to make me feel better, because I used too much magic, which I could do because I'm a unicorn. Why, why and why? So. Many. Questions.’
I felt some creepy undertones with the whole cupcake thing though and decided to give civility a miss. "Are cupcakes really supposed to be medicine?" I asked.
"Ah, but these aren't normal cupcakes, they have magical charges fine enough for you to absorb when you eat them," Redheart said, still holding the paper bag in her teeth, and held it out for me.
‘Okay, she sounded very convincing. And really, why would she lie?’
"Magical charges, eh?" I said and looked at the cupcake in her hoof and reached out with my own hoof, but I stopped myself from trying to grab it. "How are you even doing that?" I asked with an incredulous look on my face.
"Do what?" she asked, looking surprised.
"That!" I said and gestured towards her hoof with my own. "Shouldn't it just slip out of your grip?"
Redheart looked at me with a confused look on her face before turning to the pegasus/unicorn thing beside her. "Twilight, perhaps you can take it from here," she said and put the cupcake and bag back on the nightstand.
"Uh, okay," Twilight said and walked over to the bench where she had sat before, opened a bag that was lying on it and took out a parchment. "Well, I would like to ask you some questions first."
E.T came to mind and suddenly I was a bit skeptical to the idea of talking about how I was from another world. But, so far, these horsies had been nothing but helpful. Saving me from tree wolves, taking me to a hospital and making sure I was alright. At no point had there been any hints of men in black suits coming to take me away. Additionally, Twilight here had already said- ‘Oh, yeah! She said that she brought me here! Shouldn't I be the one asking questions? Maybe this place's equivalent of the 'Men In Black' is called the 'Pegasi In Saddlebags'?... Take that acronym out of someone!’
I inspected my trail of thought, drew the conclusion that it should be closed for the public, and looked at Redheart and Twilight, who in turn were giving me slightly worried looks. "Actually, I would like to ask you some questions," I said, realizing that I had been alarmingly passive since this whole thing began.
Twilight looked a bit worried and said, "Oh, uh, alright."
I might've been a bit forceful but I needed answers. "First of all, where am I and how did I get here?"
Twilight's expression shifted to uncomfortable and her ears drooped. "Because I brought you here," she said cautiously.
"How and why!?" I asked loudly, sounding a bit snappish but I couldn't help it. These were questions one could only hold back for so long.
‘Why a talking unicorn would want me around, I have no idea.’
Twilight now looked outright distraught. "I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!" she said, on the verge of tears. "I was just observing other worlds through a scrying orb and accidentally summoned you! I didn't mean to, please believe me."
I stopped myself and took in the situation. No one had done anything out of malice and I wasn't actually hurt, I think, just very confused. And now I was making the one who was trying to help me with my confusion feel guilty to the verge of a breakdown. Twilight hung her head and let out a small sob and Redheart looked at her with sad eyes. I couldn't recall making anyone cry before but I decided that I didn't like it. ‘Ugh, of course. Mood swings. I'd better watch what I say right now.’
"Okay, uh, I'm sorry for snapping at you," I said, which made her look up at me with wet eyes. "it's just that, I don't know where I am or what's happened to me. I was just getting a little desperate for answers," I said, trying to sound soothing.
I had never been very good at comforting people like this, which made it doubly surprising when Twilight took a step forward and wrapped her forelegs around me. "Oh, thank you! I was so worried that you'd hate me."
This seemed consistent with the sugar sweet behavior of the horsies around me so far, except maybe the kung fu zebra, but it still seemed a little much for someone she'd spent less than five minutes with. Besides, I found it hard to hate such an adorable creature.
I looked over at Redheart who smiled just as Twilight broke the hug. "Okay, I'm here by accident and you didn't mean to, that answers that, but why am I like... this?" I said and gestured at myself with my hoof.
‘I stopped myself from saying “horse”, since I'm not sure that's what I actually am and I don't want to sound like an idiot.’
Twilight and Redheart, but especially Twilight, had strange mix of curiosity and worry on their faces when Twilight answered. "Well, I could only study your world fleetingly but I couldn't find anything like the magic found here. It's my guess that the magical void that was, well, you, was filled by primal magic, which could very well have given you your current form," Twilight said in a lecturing tone and seemed to brighten up as she did so, she then looked at me with an interested expression. "You had another form where you're from, I assume"
I didn't understand much of that answer but she said it in a mollifying and convincing way. "Yes. I'm a human." They looked puzzled. "Human," I repeated. "Homo Sapiens? Anthropos?" They didn't show any signs of comprehension. "Bipedal omnivores. Doesn't sound familiar at all?" They both shook their heads with the same expression, at least until something dawned on Redheart.
"Omnivores?" she said and took a step forward and put a hoof up to my mouth. "I thought I saw something when you ate that last cupcake. Could you open your mouth, please?"
I played along and heard Twilight take a small breath and lean forward to have a look herself. "Oh, my," she said in a low voice. "Are those fangs?"
By this point, Redheart had inserted her hoof into my mouth and was inspecting my teeth. I told myself that someone who works at a hospital makes sure to keep their hands clean, and horses who works in hospitals probably does the same for their hooves. "Cangingesch," I said. There were some things that made others uneasy but which never bothered me in the slightest, among them were reptiles and going to the dentist. Maybe it was a learned behavior, but someone groping around inside my mouth tended to make me bored.
"Those look pretty sharp, too," Twilight, who was looking on curiously, observed.
"Ingschischosch," I said, looking around and trying to find something interesting to study.
Redheart took her hoof out of my mouth and looked a bit embarrassed. "I'm sorry, that was rude. What were you trying to say?"
‘Well, she is probably responsible for my health, let's not hold it against her when she inspects anomalies.’
"That's okay. And, no, not fangs. Those are canines."
Redheart's ears drooped down and she looked apologetic. ‘Do these horsies ever stop looking adorable?’
"I'm sorry. it's just, I've never seen them that large, and sharp in a pony before. Everything else seems normal, though."
‘Is that what I am?’
"Is that what I am?"
‘Don't echo your thoughts verbally, you could end up in jail.’
Twilight took over. "Yes. A unicorn to be specific. You might've noticed your horn that's sticking out of your forehead."
"Noticed it? It caused some sort of explosion back when that zebra, Zecora, rescued me from a pack of wolves made out of wood, If you can believe that." I said, thinking back in awe at the zebra's display.
"That was you?" Twilight said and widened her eyes a bit. "That explains the pieces of timber wolves that were all around you when we found you."
Redheart had been looking at Twilight and then turned to me when she had finished speaking. "Speaking of which. Gabrielle, you must not use any magic while you're recovering. Your magic is very unstable now and it could be dangerous to use it."
That reminded me of how many questions I still had. "Right, and that was what was causing the mood swings, too, right?"
Redheart nodded. "Yes, and what we call stamina fluctuations."
I raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?"
"Well," Redheart said. "You're not nearly as tired as the last time you were awake, but you might be again. You could shift between very energetic and exhausted at a moment's notice."
My belly rumbled loudly. "Which brings us back to the term 'omnivore'. What do you, uhm, anthropos eat?" Redheart asked, which grabbed Twilight's attention as well.
"Human is fine. And we eat- ah, I was gonna say just about anything but I'm not sure how a pony would interpret that. What do you guys eat?" I said.
"Well, hay and flowers and bread and fruits and vegetables and dairy products to name a few," Redheart said. She had lifted a hoof and made little motions as if counting the products of with her fingers, but with fingers completely absent, of course.
I was a bit thrown off by the entrancingly mysterious gesture. ‘What is she doing? Does sh- Oh, right! I saw fingers on myself when I inspected myself magically. Maybe the rest of the hors- ponies have them as well and they do work.’
Another rumble from beneath the blanket made Redheart chuckle. "I guess something on that list caught your attention, how about some apples and a glass of milk?"
I shook my head to clear it of the bizarre sight. "Uh, yeah, humans can eat that," I said and stopped to think for a moment. "Where does the milk come from?"
"From cows, of course," Twilight said.
‘Do they talk too? Actually, let's skip that question, I'm having enough trouble remembering the important ones.’
"Okay, good. Apples and milk, no problem."
Nurse Redheart looked cheerful for some reason. "Alright, but first you're gonna have to take your medicine," she said as she lifted out a cupcake from the paper bag with her hoof again and held it out for me, resting on the top of her hoof which she had turned upwards.
I looked skeptically on the cupcake and slowly reached out my arm, or foreleg, towards it. I gently touched the cupcake with my hoof and tried to grasp with invisible fingers. There was no sensation. Despite this I tried to scoop it up from Redheart's hoof, whereupon it unceremoniously fell down on the bed. ‘Can't say I'm surprised.’
All five eyes in the room turned to the pastry lying on its side before Redheart's face recolored to match her hair, or mane. "Oh! Oh, Celestia! Have you hurt your other leg as well? How's your hoof dear? You've already lost so much I didn't even consider that it would be even worse!" Redheart looked at me with an unnerving mix of shock, horror, sorrow, and guilt.
‘Is she mooching on my medicine? That was quite a sudden change in mood. I'd better try and head this off fast.’
"Whoa! Hey, look! What are you talking about? I feel fine, I'm not hurt as far as I can tell." I said, a bit uncertain.
‘After all, I can't be entirely certain what rates as unharmed around here. But I'm not sure what would cause a reaction like this.’
Redheart looked at me with sad eyes while Twilight looked thoughtful. After a moment, Twilight said, "don't worry, Redheart, I don't think she's hurt. I just think that she just need some practice with her hooves, or uh, hoof."
Redheart looked at Twilight. "You think so?"
Twilight nodded in conformation. "Yes, I've read quite a bit about transformations, and have some experience first hoof. Using the hooves' manipulation field might not come naturally if you didn't already have one." Twilight turned to me. "Because if I'm not mistaken, you didn't have any hooves in your previous form."
‘This one seems sharp. At least when it comes to certain subjects.’
"That's right," I said and gave a nod with my head. "Humans have hands and feet. Soft things compared to hooves, but with five digits for gripping and manipulation."
Twilight turned back to Redheart and said, with a reassuring voice, "so don't worry about her hoof. A little practice and she'll be fine."
‘Is it assumed that I'm gonna stay for long? Ugh, I should write all these questions down somewhere.’
Redheart let out a sigh of relief and turned back to me. "Okay, but you still need to take your medicine. Would you like some help?"
"I guess so," I said, glancing back and forth between my hoof and the cupcake.
Redheart had perked up fast between her previous reaction and now. "Alright, go ahead," she said with a smile and held up the cupcake to my mouth.
I opened my mouth and took a bite. They were really good.
"There's a good filly," Redheart said encouragingly.
‘There's the subject of my size again,’ I thought, but before I could ask any questions, Twilight Sparkle spoke up instead.
"Gabrielle, could you tell me what happened to you, from your perspective?"
I swallowed down a piece of cupcake and said, "sure, where do you want me to start?"
"Well, perhaps from when you came here."
I shrugged. "Okay, I was closing up shop for the day down at the MRI section where I work, then there was some strange sensation that I can't quite remember, followed by lying outdoors in the grass like this," I said, gesturing down at my form.
Twilight and Redheart cocked their heads. "MRI?" Twilight asked.
I looked around the clean hospital room. "Yeah, you guys don't have that here?"
They shook their heads. "No, never heard of it," Twilight said.
"It's an anatomy scanner. I would've thought you guys knew about that, considering how modern this hospital looks," I said, taking the last of the cupcake and feeling my brain becoming much more agreeable as it always does when I'm eating. "Of course, you probably use magic or some- Aha!" I exclaimed, spraying some pieces of cupcake across the sheets and startling the horsies, ponies, standing next to me. "Sorry," I said with a sheepish grin on my face. "But I just realized something."
"What?" they both asked at the same time.
"Well, back in the woods I managed to sense magic around me. Or at least I think that's what I did. And it looked so familiar, like I've seen it a thousand times before. I just realized that it looked a lot like MRI imaging."
"You can sense magic energy around you?" Twilight said. "Wow, that's pretty advanced."
Redheart turned to Twilight. "It's not above your level though, is it?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, I learned it while I was just a filly myself. Still, that's magic for mages, which most unicorns never study."
Redheart looked at me and my fascinated expression. "Twilight here is one of the most skilled users of magic in Equestria."
Twilight blushed slightly but looked surprised as I tried to hold back a snort. "Sorry," I said. "But, 'Equestria'?"
Twilight and Redheart looked confused. "Yes, that's where we are," the apparently very powerful unicorn said.
I tried to hold back a smile, but gave up when that made it feel more like a sneer. "Sorry, it's just that, where I come from, an 'equestrian' is someone who takes care of horses."
Twilight and Redheart looked at each other and then at me. "Like an animal? At zoos?" Redheart asked.
I gave this some thought. "I don't think so, I'm not one myself but I think they need more room to run around than zoos would give them." I shook my head. "Anyway! That's not important. I would like some more answers."
Redheart nodded and said, "Well, I'm sure Twilight can answer some questions. I am gonna go get doctor Staff," she said as she started walking towards the door.
‘Clippedy cloppedy.’
"-and get you a meal," she concluded and gave me a nod as she walked out the door, apparently one that only needs a push and no turning of door handles.
I turned back to Twilight. "I have so many questions that I don't even know where to start," I said with a small sigh.
Twilight gave me a sympathetic look. "Don't worry, I told you I would answer your questions and I will. Maybe you can continue telling me what happened to you, that might help us figure out where to start."
‘Well, if she's not going anywhere I suppose that's okay.’
"Well, after I found myself out in some green meadows, some big dog came up and put me in a sack and I passed out. I think I was like this when that happened but I can't say for sure, I was pretty out of it."
Twilight let out a small gasp. "Big dog? Was it a diamond dog?"
That non sequitur threw me a bit. "What?"
"They're big dogs that walk on their hind paws. We had a pack of them out by Ponyville once that tried to foalnap a friend of mine for work in their mines," Twilight said. I looked at her questioningly.
‘Is there anything normal about this place?’
She noticed my confusion. "They're obsessed with gems," she added helpfully.
"Oh, yeah. Now that you mention it I think they talked about that. Anyway, I wasn't all there at the moment, but I think I came to in their mine, some big chieftain type got angry with whoever had brought me there, then I passed out again, and then I came to inside a sack that some more dogs were carrying me around in before leaving me there in those woods when they heard wolf howls."
Twilight looked horrified. "They left you to be killed by timber wolves?"
I shrugged. "I guess so. Anyway, I wasn't sure what to do but by then I had noticed that I was a unicorn and I figured that learning to do some magic real quick would probably be the best I could do at that moment."
"Normally I would say that that wouldn't really help without a lot of studying and training, but I saw some of the results."
I felt a strange sort of pride at that comment. "Well, anyway, I thought I was making some progress–" the door opened and Redheart and Curl Staff walked in.
‘Clippedy cloppedy’
"–when suddenly a pack of some sort of wolves made out of wood crept up on me."
Redheart now had a tray with food resting on her back and Curl Staff was in a lab coat just like the last time I had seen her. They both stopped and gasped when they heard what I was saying.
"Good morning, doc!" I said In a jovial tone and waved at the arrivals before continuing my story. "Anyway, things looked bad at that point, but get this! Just as the wolves are about to pounce me, a zebra shows up out of nowhere and starts beating them up, just like that!" I said in an excited tone.
Redheart and Curl Staff looked horrified and I hope that it was because the wolves had nearly killed me and not because Zecora knew martial arts, if that was a secret it would be a poor repayment to spill it.
Twilight looked surprised and thoughtful. "Wow, I figured that Zecora knew how to take care of herself, but I didn't realize that she was such a badflank."
‘Interesting choice of words.’
Curl Staff seemed to remember what she came in for. "Yes, uhm, good morning, Gabrielle. It's time for breakfast and a checkup, but I suppose you can finish your story if there's not too much left."
Twilight once again focused on me. "Yes, what happened after that?"
"Just so we're clear, Zecora is alright, right?" I asked.
"Oh yes, don't worry," Curl Staff said. "She was suffering from magical exhaustion, same as you, but unlike you she wasn't suffering from Wisp-Shimmer syndrome. She should have fully recovered by now."
"Wisp-Shimmer?" I started before dismissing it with a shake of my head, figuring that I had enough questions already. "Anyway, Zecora started pummeling those wolf things, but they kept reassembling themselves."
"Yes, they do that," Twilight said.
"So, she managed to keep them off from me for a while, but eventually one of them came after me." The other let out small gasps as I reached this part of the story. "Zecora saved me again but this time she left herself open, with some five or six of those things coming down on her." Another round of gasps.
"How did you ever get out of that alive?" Twilight asked.
"Well," I said, searching for words on how to describe what happened next. "I had tried doing some magic earlier. I could somehow visualize it, for lack of a better word, and I somehow knew how to make some sense of it. So I did that visualization thing, and just," I gave another pause. What had I done? "I don't know, gave the shapes I saw a push. Yes, I think that's it. I saw the shapes in the wolves and sort of gave them a shove."
‘That's when that explosion thing happened.’
"Maybe I gave it a bit much," I said, grinning sheepishly.
Redheart and Curl Staff looked at me with their heads tilted and Twilight seemed to have some sort of epiphany. "Oh! I think I know what happened!" she said.
"You do?" Curl Staff asked. "By the way, good morning, Twilight."
"Hm? Oh! Good morning, doctor. Yes, I think I've figured it out now. I thought I felt a powerful spell in what would be around that time, but maybe it was just raw magical energy," Twilight said and looked at the two other ponies in the room except me. "No wonder you're suffering some Wisp-Shimmer syndrome," she said as she turned back to me. "You used your entire magical reserve to push the magic out of every creature around you." Twilight was quiet for a moment, then continued. "Wow, that was quite a time for a magical surge," She said in a small voice.
"And that's how you found them?" Redheart asked.
"Most likely," Twilight said with a nod.
"Wait," I said. "You were the one who found me?" I was going to give my thanks but a loud rumble from my belly interrupted me.
"Breakfast time!" Curl Staff said and Redheart walked up to me with the tray with food on. "We may be in Canterlot-"
‘Canterlot?’
"-but I'm fine with skipping table manners and having a conversation during a meal," she continued as Redheart set down the tray beside me. "Redheart told me about your hoof situation, would you like some help?"
"With eating, I assume?" She nodded. "Alright, out of necessity, nothing else," I said with emphasis.
Redheart gave me a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, we're happy to help. Apple or milk first?" She asked as she grabbed another pillow from beneath the bed and put it beneath the one I was already resting on, propping me up in something approaching a sitting position.
I let out a sigh. ‘Are we really doing this? I didn't even need help feeding myself after the accident.’
"Apple, please."
Redheart picked up an apple in her hoof and held it out to my mouth. "Don't worry, you'll be doing this yourself in no time."
I took a bite. "I hope so," I mumbled as I chewed. "Anyway, where were we?" I asked and turned to Twilight. "You said you found me."
Twilight nodded. "Well, me and my friends. Like I said, I brought you here. With magic by the way. And I couldn't tell exactly where you ended up, so me and my friends went looking for you. No wonder we couldn't find you if you had been abducted my diamond dogs." She let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, that couldn't have been a very pleasant welcome to Equestria."
I shrugged. "It seems to have worked out. This would be quite a story to tell at home if anyone could believe me"
Twilight gave me a small smile before gasping. "Oh, I almost forgot!" Suddenly she looked very nervous. "Now, please don't hate me, but I reviewed my notes from my scrying on your world and... I'm not sure if I can send you back."
I stopped chewing. "... What?"
Twilight's ears had drooped and she nervously elaborated. "I- it. it's just... I'm afraid that I can't send you back."
I raised both my eyelids at her, and she winced as I gave her a look. "Am I never gonna get home?"
"I, well, uhm. The thing is, I could try and send you back. But considering what happened when I was only inspecting your world, I can't say for sure what would happen if I tried to send you back. It could be very bad."
I felt parts of my brain abandoning ship, but like the vicious taskmaster I am I reeled them back in. "So what are you saying?"
"That... I don't know how to send you back, yet."
I'm not sure how long I considered this, but I noticed that all three ponies in the room were giving me worried looks. I realized that both my eyelids were still open and closed one of them. "Alright," I said and let out a sigh. "Alright."
Twilight looked miserable. "I'm so sorry!"
I gave a small smile. "Well, you didn't mean to and you're helping me. I can't hold it against you."
Redheart looked at me with a concerned face. "Are you sure you're okay? Don't you have any family to get home to?"
I tried to give her a smile as well, but I couldn't really put any effort into it. "Don't worry about that."
A silence came over the room and I couldn't really blame the ponies for not knowing how to break it in a tasteful manner. Luckily, I had some experience with that. "By the way," I said. "That apple was really good."
This seemed to break the trio out of their slump and Redheart once again held out the half eaten apple for me to continue undoing. "So you and your friends got me out of that forest? Please tell them I say thanks."
Twilight looked lost in thought for a moment before getting a determined look on her face and perking up. "Actually, you could thank them yourself. I was thinking about asking them to come here."
"Why?" I asked and felt confused as Curl Staff put her hoof on my forehead.
"To see you, of course!" Twilight said happily. "If your doctor thinks it's okay."
Curl Staff was gazing up in the ceiling and looking concentrated and I realized that she was checking my temperature. "Well, you seem to be recovering just fine, Gabrielle. You certainly don't seem too bad for visitors."
I looked at Twilight. "Well, as long as it's not a bother."
She waved a hoof and said, "Oh, don't worry about that."
By now I had finished with the apple part of the meal and Redheart held out a glass of milk for me. As she helped me slowly empty the glass I realized something.
"Oh, by the way," I said. "Does anyone have a mirror?"
"Oh," Twilight said. " That's right, you probably haven't seen what you look like." She trotted up to a sink with a cabinet at one end of the room. There, her horn lit up and the cabinet's handle was covered in a soft, purple glow. The cabinet door opened and a small mirror was levitated out of and floated beside her as she made her way back to the bed.
When she came up to me she recoiled a bit. ‘What? Am I so hideous that it's a bad idea to show me a mirror?’ I looked around at the other two ponies and noticed that they looked uncomfortable as well. I was confused and a bit worried before I realized that the little magic show had made me open both my eyes wide. "Sorry," I said and brought down me eyelid again. "Was that magic?" I asked Twilight.
"Yes it was. A basic levitation spell that pretty much every unicorn learns. And so can you thanks to your horn," she said and the mirror floated up and showed me my face.
A little unicorn filly with the same royal blue coat as the rest of me looked back with one big, expressive, purple eye attached to an equally expressive face. On top of the head was a blue horn with spiral grooves in it, together with large, pointy ears which kept an enormous, blasted back shock of orange mane with blue highlights from falling down to the side of my face. The hairdo looked like it was from an eighties rock video but with an extra dab of flamboyant. I had always felt that what beauty one had was better served by an interesting personality rather than vanity. That being said, the creature I saw in the mirror was so adorable, it almost hurt a little.
I couldn't help but give a small smile as I inspected the creature some more. I opened my mouth and took a look inside. True enough, my teeth looked more human-like than horse-like, but then again, so did my range of facial expressions, maybe that was why it didn't look very strange to me, human teeth on a creature with human expressions.
The cuteness was strangely coupled with slight horror as I opened my empty socket. It didn't occur to me before now that having huge eyes meant having huge places to store them in. I had gotten used to seeing my own socket a long time ago, but one of this size was still a bit disturbing.
The horn caught my attention again and I slowly lifted up my hoof to poke it. A few inches from my forehead, something of mine touched something else of mine and a small bolt shot through my mind as I realized on some additional level of my consciousness that the thing I was looking at was in fact me. I thought poking at your shoulder where your arm was supposed to be was strange, but the experience of losing body parts was outdone by the experience of gaining them.
"This is interesting," I said slowly.
"Your horn?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah... or rather, feeling a part of your body that you didn't have before. Hooves was strange enough but the horn is even more so." I looked at Twilight's horn, which was still encased in a soft, purple glow. "Am I gonna be able to use the horn for that?"
Twilight looked at me like she was inspecting me. I leaned back into the pillows and asked, "is that a no?"
Twilight shook her head and said, "No, no, you can definitely learn to. It's just that..." She trailed of.
I raised an eyebrow. "It's just what?"
"Well, it's just that-" I blinked and suddenly Twilight and the mirror were gone, so were Curl Staff and Redheart.
‘Oh no! Did it happen again!?’
I inspected myself and noticed that it was the same unicorn body that I had earlier.
I took a look around the room and was very relieved when I noticed that it was the same one and that Redheart was situated by the sink, pouring water into a glass. The light in the room had slightly changed tinge to a somewhat softer shade of yellow.
"What happened!?" I asked her, not quite managing to keep my cool.
Redheart let out a startled gasp and turned around to face me. "Oh! you're awake?"
That non sequitur gave me a dumb look on my face. "Uuh... yeah?"
"Have you been that for long?" she asked, sounding genuine.
My face probably wasn't looking any smarter. "You-" I started but I figured that something strange must be going on here. "Twilight Sparkle went and got you just after I woke up," I said slowly.
She looked at me for a moment before letting out a laugh. "Oh, I'm sorry about that, dear. It's just that you've been asleep for hours."
I felt that I wasn't getting the full picture. "Yeah, I figured, considering how tired I was when you wheeled me in here."
Redheart giggled at that. "No, dearie, you fell asleep again after that. Right in the middle of a conversation." I looked at her incredulously. "Remember how I told you about how your medicine might make shift between energetic and tired very quickly?"
I nodded my head.
"Well, there you go," she said with a smile.
Making sense of what she told me was time-consuming work. "I didn't notice that," I said uncertainly.
She walked up to me (‘Clippedy cloppedy’) with a motherly expression on her face. "Don't worry, dear, it'll pass. In a few days you'll be right as rain."
‘I wish I could have seen your training montage, Nap-Time, that was impressive.’
"So, how long was I out for?"
"Hmm, about six hours," she said and I stared at her in disbelief. "I was actually wondering if you're hungry again."
She was right, I could go for another meal. I nodded my head absentmindedly, my thoughts mostly on the bizarre thing that just occurred.
I must have looked concerned because Redheart said, "Don't worry, dear. It's not dangerous, at this point you're mostly taking your medicine just to be certain. Speaking of which."
I looked to my side where Redheart stood next to the bedside table, with the bag of cupcakes and a platter with more apples on it.
"Time for a another round, and then maybe some more apples? I just brought these in here in case you wanted a snack, but I think they'll make a decent meal," Redheart said as she picked out a cupcake from the bag. "Alright, same as usual, big lips, dearie."
Once again I was getting help feeding myself from a pink-maned pony in a nurse's cap because I couldn't grasp things with my hoof. "You know," I said through a mouthful of cupcakes. "It's kinda pointless to bring me snacks if I can't use this hoof to grab them. Then again, you ponies have really long necks. if you put the platter close enough I can just eat right off of it."
Redheart let out a small giggle. "Or you could just call one of us, dear. We're here to help."
The genuineness of that put me at ease. "It's just a bit awkward to need help feeding myself. To say that waking up in another body is strange would be underselling it."
Redheart gave me a sympathetic look before getting a more business like expression on her. "I actually want to talk to you about that."
"About waking up in another body?" I asked.
"In a way," she said. "Twilight brought something to our attention after you had fallen asleep."
"Brought what to your attention?" I asked, not being able to guess where she was going with this.
Redheart had a look of both seriousness and care. "To put this bluntly, you're showing worrying signs."
I raised an eyebrow at this. "What do you mean?"
"'You ponies', you said earlier."
"When?" I asked.
"Just now. And earlier you referred to your horn as 'the horn', as if it belonged to somepony else;" she said.
‘I did that, didn't I?’ I thought as I finished off the last of the cupcake.
"So?" I asked with a shrug. "What's that got to do with anything?"
"I'm not a unicorn myself, but no healthy unicorn would ever refer to their horn as 'the horn'," she said. "It's a very important part of a unicorn. A very important part of you."
I considered her words for a moment. She was right. On some level I had almost seen all this as if it was happening to someone else. I looked at her and she looked back at me with a serious look on her face.
"Not 'the horn', or 'you ponies'. Twilight said that you may be here for a long time, and that you’re permanently transformed,” she said and looked at me with sympathetic eyes. “I realize that this is a lot to take in, but you’re not a human anymore, and Equestria’s greatest living scholar doesn’t know how to turn you back.”
I looked down at the sheets, trying to figure out what to make of all this. After a few moments where solid thoughts refused to form in my head, Redheart put her hoof on my chin and gently turned me to face her.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think it would be good to be in denial about all this."
“Yeah,” I said and nodded slowly. “It’s just hard to just let go of everything.”
Redheart pulled me into a soft hug with her foreleg over my neck. “Not everything. You are still Gabrielle. I don’t know how it was, being ‘Gabrielle the human’, but maybe being ‘Gabrielle the unicorn’ won’t be so bad?” she kindly suggested.
I didn’t say anything. simply nodding slowly as I considered her words. ‘Well, she may be right. If I’m stuck here in Equestria, it might be just as well be as a pony. Living in a society where everything is designed for people with two more limbs was exhausting enough. If I was a human here, everything would be too small on top of that. Besides, it’s not like they’re lobster people or something, everyone looks adorable, and magic seems like a pretty great fringe benefit just for joining the club.’
I was getting lost in thought when the sounds of my bowels, hard at work, shook me back to the now.
I looked at Redheart who smiled at me. "Do you need to use the little fillies' room?"
"I don't know what that is but from the context I can make a guess. Yes, I think so."
"Alright," she said. She wheeled the wheelchair over to the side of the bed, walked to the other side of the bed, reached over me with her long pony neck, grabbed the end of the cover with her mouth and pulled it back, exposing me for all the room to see.
I looked down on myself. Back in the woods, I had my stomach to the ground and all times after that I had been covered by some sort of blanket. I realized that I hadn't worn clothes for a while now and parts of my brain was telling me that I was naked, while another was telling me that I didn't feel naked. I looked over at Redheart who gave my body a sad look. "Uh. Humans aren't really covered by a coat of hair like ponies, so I'm just wondering, am I not decent right now?"
Redheart looked up at me and blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, I've noticed that you guys have been walking around without clothes and I wondered if I should take steps to stay modest," I said.
Redheart shook her head. "No, don't worry. If you should lose your coat, that might be a different matter."
I looked down on myself again. Anything that would give the view an R-rating was thoroughly covered in fur.
"Now, I'm gonna help you into your chair, alright?" She asked.
I nodded. "Okay, what's the plan?"
She stretched out her neck over me. "Just put your leg over my neck and I'll lift you into the chair."
I was a bit confused about how this was supposed to work before I realized that my arm was now also called leg.
Redheart must've taken it as hesitation. "Don't worry," she said. "You'll do fine."
I put my foreleg over her neck and tried weighing it down but it was like a girder. "Just keep in mind that I can't grab anything with this hoof thingy."
Redheart lifted up her neck and plopped me down in the wheelchair like it was nobody's business. "You're doing it again," she said without missing a beat.
‘She's sharp.’
I let out a sigh and said, "I guess so."
As she wheeled me across the room and into a door that I hadn't seen anyone open yet, but had already figured contained a bathroom, she continued. "I want you to repeat after me; 'I am a unicorn, I have hooves, and I am going to learn how to do magic with my horn'."
I decided to give it a try. "I am a unicorn, I have hooves, and I am going to learn how to do magic with my horn."
My thoughts after that could only be summed up with an ellipsis.
This seemed to go on for a while.
I vaguely came to realize that Redheart was standing in front of me, trying to get my attention.
"Gabrielle? How do you feel?" She asked.
I shook my head. "I'm not sure," I said, truthfully.
"Well, if nothing else, we should take care of the business we came in here for."
‘Yes, let's focus on that.’
"So, how does this work?" I asked, looking at the porcelain construction in front of me.
"Do you have toilets where you came from?" She asked.
"Yes, of course." I said.
"Does this look familiar?"
I inspected the thing. It was like a low toilet throne in the same white porcelain you usually see toilets in, with low level on the water and somewhat wider opening. "Sort of," I said. "They're shaped a bit differently."
Redheart positioned herself as before. "Same as before, but this time I'm going to hang onto you to help you keep your balance while you're sitting."
I hooked my foreleg around her neck again and as I was hoisted onto the low throne I asked "what do you mean?"
It was rather self explanatory what she meant after I landed. My leg, the one that consisted of a few inches of thigh, couldn't support me, and I would have fallen halfway down the porcelain abyss if it hadn't been for Redheart hooking her foreleg around me and holding me up with a hug of sorts at the spot where my arm used to be, conveniently also pinning up my tail.
I took in the situation and its unbelievable levels of awkwardness. "Look, I've never done this with an audience before," I said and looked up at Redheart.
"Don't worry, I can stand her for quite a while before getting tired," she said and smiled.
"That's really great, but I'm also worried about how long I can keep my leg up." I had angled my leg upwards as to not dip it in the watery depths below.
"Look, just relax. I'm a relaxing personality, aren't I? Besides, this isn't even near the most embarrassing thing I've helped a patient with," she said.
It took some work, but after a while I was back in the bed and let me tell you; these ponies are a lot more hygienic than I was afraid they'd be.
As Redheart grabbed the end of the blanket and was covering me with it I looked down on myself and noticed a mark on my rump. "Hey, wait a minute."
Redheart stopped. "What?" she asked, blanket still in her mouth.
My eye was transfixed on the mark. "What's that?" I asked. It was a ultramarine, rhombus-shaped gem with a stylized swirl around the top
"Oh, that's your cutie mark, dearie," Redheart said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's nice."
I looked at her and felt all manners of stupid as I noticed a red cross on her rump. A red cross with little hearts around it, matching the one on her hat. "And what's that?"
Redheart put her hoof to her mouth. "Oh! Twilight said that your world didn't have any magic in it. Sorry, dear, I should've realized." She cleared her throat. "A cutie mark is what young ponies get when they find their special talent, something that really represents them. Mine is a medical sign," she said and gave her rump a little shake, I might've sniggered but the humor and my confusion cancelled each other out to a more normal state. "I love taking care of ponies and I'm really good at it," she concluded with some pride.
I looked down on my own cutie mark and asked "so what does mine mean?"
She looked at it. "I don't know. Looks like it could have something to do with gem cutting, but it could mean many things. I like it though, it's a bit mysterious."
I looked at the sign on my rump again and realized that my head was slowly dropping in the vertical direction and my eyelid was feeling heavy.
Redheart picked up on this. "Tired again, dear?"
I nodded.
"Don't worry, just lie back and take a rest. Twilight's friends are coming to see you. Won't that be nice?" she said pleasantly.
"I don't want to be a bother," I said groggily.
"Don't worry about that. I'm not sure you know, but it's Friday afternoon, you're not dragging anypony away from anything," she reassured me.
I couldn't help but feel happy about that and gave Redheart a smile. "Thanks."
‘Has Nap-Time poisoned my food?. If I pass out every time I learn something, this could take a very long time.’
Redheart gave me a smile. "You're welcome, dear."