//------------------------------// // The Second Chapter // Story: Shell of His Former Self // by The Infinity Doctor //------------------------------// Luna curiously prodded the beak of the enormous tortoise, inspecting it closely. She could feel heat escaping its nostrils as it repeatedly exhaled as it slept. "Tia!" she stage-whispered, turning away from the face of the thing "You must come and see! It is truly interesting!" "I shall not, thank you," Luna's counterpart replied, hiding safely behind a sturdy pillar "I've no interest to find out what it eats." "'Tis asleep, dear sister." Luna deadpanned, a miniscule hoof rapping quickly against the armored-belly, to which her sister replied with a terrified squeak. "Thou should not tempt fate!" Celestia whispered as loud as she could. Luna poked and prodded at the curious thing's face once more, before she hopped down, her wings cushioning her fall as she landed on the smooth stone of the expansive dining hall. The small filly moved onto the creature's wings, poking and inspecting the voluminous feathers of the creature. "Lulu, wh-what are you doing?" Celestia asked her sister, watching with no small hint of fascination as Luna disappeared fully beneath the creature's wing. "Checking if it preens," Luna replied, a bit muffled "though based on the condition, I'd say not." "Luna...you really should be touching its wings like that..." Celestia stated, concerned "what if it wakes up?" "Tia...thou really must learn to forget thy troubles for at least a moment." Luna replied, her small, blue head popping out from under the enormous wing of the creature. "But...but Luna-!" she protested. "None of that!" Luna interrupted "Now, thou art going to march over here and snuggle this creature!" "I just...I can't, Luna!" "Then thou art going to suffer my wrath!" Luna chuckled darkly, dashing towards her sister. Celestia squealed as she darted from her sister, circumnavigating the humongous, winged-turtle. My brain pounded against my skull as I groggily cracked an eye open, a high-pitched whine piercing my brain like a knife as I tried to orient myself. I stared up at a high-vaulted, stone ceiling as two childish voices screamed and whooped, forcing him to groan and wince as he tried to sit up, his wings clumsily fanning in and out behind him. "It's awake, Tia! Look!" one of the voices stated loudly, as if it had just noticed that he was in the room. "Just who in the-" I began, then realized that these two must be only children, based on the pitch of their voices, and refrained from swearing "who are you two?" "I'm Luna," the blue one said cheerfully, as I clumsily tried to grasp an ornate window in order to roll myself over "and this is my sister, Celestia." "Glad to meet you both." I said emptily, glancing around at the room the two horses and I were in. "Er, where exactly am I?" I asked, glancing down at the two ponies. "Castle Equus," Luna responded happily "this is our home." "Oh, that's nice." I stated, trying to ignore the fact that the blue filly had over-explained. "What is thy name?" Luna asked, staring at his arms curiously. "I..." My mind drew a blank, not remembering just what the hell I was supposed to call myself. "I uh...hell, I can't remember..." I admitted. "Thou may come along with us, Mother and Father might know." "I...I suppose that makes a bit of sense..." I stated. I trailed after the two winged-pony things, both of them were having a quiet conversation below me, occasionally glancing back. "So...you two must be important..." I stated, like a moron, naturally. "What makes thou say that?" Celestia replied, temporarily stopping her conversation with Luna. "You've both got a set of wings and a horn, which I have yet to see on any other pony I've come into contact with- so you're either genetically-engineered super-ponies, or you just got the luck of the draw when you were born." "Geneti- what?" Luna asked curiously. I held a scaled paw to my face, pinching the bridge of my wide nose. "Sorry...I just...sometimes I spout nonsense when I get anxious..." I replied, then quickly back-tracked "I'm sure you're perfectly normal...talking ponies..." Luna and Celestia shared a look, then said nothing more on the subject. "So...do you have any idea of what you are?" Both the small ponies glanced at each other, prompting me to think that they must be psychic; but what the hell did I know? I didn't have a horn, who was to say they possessed some unique quality and I didn't? "Starswirl once called us 'All-corns'," Luna giggled "it was quite funny." Celestia joined her sister, laughing about the nickname. "Oh? Why...would that be funny?" I asked, not getting it; I guess basic knowledge was something you had to have in this world. "Because there are three tribes- sorry, types of ponies; Earth, Pegasi, and Unicorns." Celestia explained. 'Okay...that makes a bit of sense...' "So...because you two are all three...oh." "Precisely- hark! We art approaching Mother and Father's room!" Luna declared. I gulped, unsure if I was ready to meet more ponies.