“Thock.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
“...Thock.”
Star Shade glanced towards his fellow bat-pony, as she once again clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. It certainly wasn't the most aggravating thing Sea Breeze had ever done, but it was starting to raise the stallion's curiosity. It wasn't as if she was doing it constantly, just only every few minutes or so and it wasn't particularly noisome. Granted each time she loosed the sound into the quiet hallway, it set his ears twitching...
“Thock.”
And hers as well, apparently. The stallion found his brow furrowing as he watched Sea Breeze's own ears start twitching and turning to catch the sound, as if the mare was trying to catch every last echo.
“What are you doing?” The stallion finally asked.
“Hm?” Sea Breeze quickly turned towards Star Shade, a bit startled by the sudden question.
Noting the lack of comprehension on the mare's face, Star Shade closed his eyes for a moment, before setting the tip of his own tongue against the roof of his mouth “Thock...”
“...Oh. Oh! That. Right. Well, you know, it's just...” Sea Breeze suddenly nodded in comprehension. A moment later she gestured a hoof towards her own head, as she gave her usual easy grin “...Ears.”
“...That is what they are.” Star Shade slowly agreed with a glance towards the mare's tufted ears.
“Hah! Good one. But, yeah, I was just...listening, I guess.” Sea Breeze elaborated.
“Are the changes still bothering you? Perhaps we should speak with Princess-” Star Shade began.
“What? No, no, no! It's fine.” Sea Breeze held up her hooves as she forestalled that idea. Quickly setting one back down, she explained “It's all fine. Totally used to the eyes and ears and whatever.”
“Then what are you doing?” Star Shade asked.
“Uhm, I-...Well, playing with them, I guess.” Sea Breeze replied, rubbing her mane with a hoof as she did so.
“...With your ears?” Star Shade asked with audible skepticism.
“Yeah. I mean, it's still kind of amazing how different everything is now.” Sea Breeze explained.
“Still? It's been several months now, hasn't it?” Star Shade pointed out.
Sea Breeze seemed to consider that for a moment before nodding “I guess it has been. Still cool though. I mean, you can't tell me this stuff isn't amazing.”
“I think, I might have outgrown any amazement I had with being able to see and hear things when I was a young foal.” Star Shade replied.
Though, he supposed this was really to be expected. While pegasi and bat-ponies weren't terribly different to begin with, it was only fair to expect that Sea Breeze would need to take some time to fully acclimate to the changes, physical and otherwise. Thinking about it now, Star Shade found himself realizing that the more extreme changes were in all likelihood hiding below the surface.
Flying would probably feel quite different, as there was quite a contrast between pegasus and bat-pony wing structures. Sea Breeze seemed to have gotten over that quite quickly, adapting without much trouble. According to the mare, the lack of feathers saved her a lot of time on wing maintenance.
Some minor differences in dietary needs hadn't visibly bothered the mare.
Really, beyond the cosmetic changes, he supposed the changes in how her magic worked would have been the most drastic. The transformation had conferred some fundamental changes in how her magic worked, reworking it to the bat-pony norm.
In short, her ability to manipulate and create weather had disappeared. And he distinctly recalled the mare mentioning that her father was a weather-pony...
'I wonder if that bothers her?'
“Ah...well, that's kinda sad. I can't imagine ever getting tired of this. It's like...well, being a foal again. Like you said, I guess.” Sea Breeze said, snapping the stallion from his thoughts.
“Hm...Well, I suppose that's to be expected for somepony like you, Breeze.” Star Shade replied, after focusing back upon the topic at hoof.
Sea Breeze tilted her head at that remark, before grinning “What?...Oh, I gotcha. Cause I'm immature and childish and playful and awesome-”
“Looks like you figured it-” Star Shade tried to interrupt.
“-and irresponsible and I sometimes talk with food in my mouth and could probably stand to use more soap-”
“Yes! Alright. Enough.”
Star Shade shook his head, in an attempt to clear away his lingering aggravation, before beginning to pan his gaze back across the lonely hallway. He quite calmly refused to acknowledge the mare's quiet snickers.
He was rather relieved when even Sea Breeze's amused chuckles faded into silence.
Being open-minded and calm always seemed easy on paper, but then Sea Breeze would start talking and...
Comfortable silence and a peaceful night he could handle.
He might even enjoy it...
“So, you mind if I ask you something?” Sea Breeze chimed.
Star Shade sighed, before glancing towards the mare across from him “Sure.”
“Well, you don't have to answer if you don't want to.” Sea Breeze pointed out.
“It's fine, go ahead.” He replied.
“Cool. So, tell me if any of this sounds rude or anything, but I was wondering if you could tell me more about how actual bat-ponies live?” She asked.
He furrowed his brow at this “You are an actual bat-pony now. I honestly don't know what questions I could answer for you, that you couldn't answer for yourself now.”
“Well, yeah, I guess you're right. I do know how bat-ponies live and all that. But I was more wondering about how bat-ponies live. You get what I'm saying?” Sea Breeze clarified.
“You wish to know more about the culture then?” Star Shade asked.
“Yeah, that's what I'm getting at.” She quickly agreed.
“I suppose you should know more about our folk. Ask.” Star Shade agreed after a moment of thought.
He honestly had believed that Sea Breeze would have found out the answers to any questions she might have had by now. There were plenty of natural bat-ponies amongst the Night Guard, and Sea Breeze didn't seem the sort to be shy about getting answers. Perhaps she simply wished to get the answers from himself? She seemed to get along reasonably well with most of her comrades, but he hadn't heard anything suggesting that she had really...opened up with anypony, in particular.
That thought gave him some pause.
'Am I turning into some sort of mentor for her?'
It was hard to imagine Sea Breeze being any more “open” than she already was, but it felt right in his head.
“Alright, let's see...” Sea Breeze said to herself, as she pulled loose a piece of paper that had been tucked into her armor and began to peruse it.
“You made a list?” Star Shade asked.
“Huh? Yep. Keeps my thoughts in order.” She replied, before tapping a hoof to the side of her helmet. Glancing back at the piece of paper “Anyway, here's a good one...Where are all the bat-ponies hiding?”
“Hiding? We're not hiding.” Star Shade pointed out.
“Living then...in seclusion and away from the sight or knowledge of others.” The mare cheekily corrected.
Star Shade rolled his eyes, before clearing his throat “Alright...most of us live in a place called Hollow Shades, in the forests west of Fillydelphia.”
Glancing to the side, he noted that Sea Breeze seemed to be waiting on him to provide more details “It's not...especially large, I suppose. It's a bit hard to gauge, as we tend to build more upwards than outwards, but I suppose it's comparable in size to a very large town.”
“Huh. Haven't heard much about this Hollow Shades. If you guys are just living there and not hiding, what's up with that?” Sea Breeze asked.
Star Shade tilted his head at this “We...keep to ourselves.”
“Uh-huh. But why is that?” Sea Breeze pressed.
“It's just...easier that way.” Star Shade tried to explain.
“...Seems like it's not working out so great, seeing how few of you there are around these days.” Sea Breeze pointed out, to which Star Shade could only nod. It had not been made a secret to the mare that bat-pony numbers weren't exactly plentiful. He wouldn't say they were in any danger of outright disappearing from the world, but they were the least numerous of any modern day pony tribes.
“I don't know the exact details, but after Princess Luna's...exile, we retreated from the rest of the world, as well. Some out of resentment for the loss of what they considered their Princess. Others simply wished to mourn her loss. And others feared that our close ties with Princess Luna would have turned other ponies against us.” Star Shade explained.
“...You really think ponies would have just turned on you guys?” Sea Breeze asked.
“I wasn't there, so I can't really say. But most ponies have always found us...peculiar, at best.” Star Shade replied.
“Huh...alright, new topic. Let's see...ah, holidays. Do we have any holidays of our own?” Sea Breeze asked, quickly tossing off the somber mood that had settled over the conversation.
Star Shade found himself eying the mare for a few moments, before accepting the sudden change in topic. Giving an internal shrug, he considered the question “Hm...not exactly. It's more we emphasize certain holidays differently. And celebrate them differently, as well.”
“Can you give me a 'for example' maybe?” Sea Breeze prodded.
“The Winter Solstice is a rather major holiday, for us. A bit of a contrast to the Summer Sun Celebration. And we also have rather different ideas of how we go about celebrating...Nightmare Night.” Star Shade's mouth curled slightly in distaste at the name for the spooky holiday. Letting go of those feelings he focused back upon Sea Breeze “Hearts and Hooves day is also quite popular, in Hollow Shades.”
“What, really?” Sea breeze asked.
“Well, yes. Many bat-ponies do take their romances rather seriously and the holiday is an opportunity to follow through on that.” Star Shade casually explained.
“Can't say I really expected that...” Sea Breeze admitted.
“In fact, it's a rather popular tradition to hold weddings on Hearts and Hooves day. Very near half of everypony living in Hollow Shades ends up being invited to one wedding or another, on that day. It helps that most families know one another in one way or another.” Star Shade elaborated. Noticing the look of bafflement he was receiving from Sea Breeze, he cleared his throat for a moment “Well, anyway, it is a bit of a cliché among bat-ponies...Personally, I'm pushing for my wedding to take place in the Autumn. Preferably under a harvest moon.”
Sea Breeze's jaw dropped a bit at this news “Wait...You're getting married?”
“Well, probably not this year. It's an arranged marriage, and I'd like more time to get to know the mare, but I am hoping she proves amenable to the idea. She seemed quite nice during our first couple of meetings.” Star Shade continued on, not understanding why this news seemed so surprising to Sea Breeze.
For the mare's part, she found her mouth opening and closing several times as she processed this. A moment later, she shook her head, before pointing a hoof towards the bemused Star Shade “Alright, alright. New question.”
Star Shade simply shrugged, before panning his gaze back down the hallway “As you wish.”
Sea Breeze shook her head before going over her list once more. After spending a few moments letting her eyes slide across the list, she shook her head once more before turning towards the stallion again “So...I mean, are arranged marriages, like, normal with bat-ponies or something?
Star Shade once more shrugged “They're not uncommon. Most of the families in Hollow Shades know one another through one relation or another.”
“It's just such a weird thing to think about. You don't really look at bat-ponies and think about settling down.” Sea Breeze admitted.
“And what do you think about when you see a bat-pony?” Star Shade asked.
Sea Breeze opened her mouth to respond, before stopping herself. Raising a hoof to her chin, as she considered the question, the mare turned towards Star Shade to openly appraise him.
“...Kinky?” Sea Breeze supplied.
Star Shade face-hoofed.
“You asked.” Sea Breeze pointed out.
“I did, didn't I?” Star Shade conceded. After taking a moment to rub the bridge between his eyes, he looked back towards Sea Breeze “Right. Well, that aside, are there anymore questions you need to have answered right now? Or can we get back to our duties?”
“Eh, the rest can probably wait, I guess. I mean, I got all the time in the world to learn about being a bat-pony, right?” Sea Breeze pointed out.
“I suppose, though Princess Luna did say that it was possible to reverse it...” Star Shade reminded.
“Well, yeah...But, I'm not gonna be backing out of this.” Sea Breeze replied.
“Really?” Star Shade asked.
“That's right, this decision is set in stone. Besides...I'm pretty sure you guys kinda need more ponies like me around.” Sea Breeze finished with her usual grin.
“Maybe...” Star Shade admitted after a few moments.
Sea Breeze had been the one to make the choice. Volunteering with barely a second thought to how big a change she was putting herself through. Star Shade suspected there were some personal issues that were motivating Sea Breeze's recent life choices, but even when pressed on it, she would only say that the world could use more bat-ponies.
Which was true.
They weren't exactly on the edge of extinction, but the bat-ponies numbers had been steadily drooping over the last thousand or so years. To say nothing of their level of exposure with other ponies; some of the more rural ponies didn't even know that bat-ponies were something that existed. And a goodly portion of the blame for that could certainly be left at the doorstep of the bat-ponies themselves. Perhaps keeping to themselves had been a good idea in the days shortly following Princess Luna's exile, but after a thousand years it might be the case that their secrecy and isolation was doing far more harm than good.
It was always unsettling when ponies seemed frightened or uncertain at the mere sight of a bat-pony.
Sea Breeze was a friendly, outgoing sort of pony, that could get ponies to relax and be less wary of those ponies that just happened to be more partial to the night.
Star Shade had originally been worried about how Sea Breeze might affect the image of the Night Guard, and by extension Princess Luna. But, he had increasingly found himself seeing past her flaws, and could even admit at times that maybe they did need more bat-ponies like Sea Breeze.
Sea Breeze had just been utterly fascinated with them, seeming to go out of her way to spend time around the bat-ponies amongst the Night Guard. On more than one occasion, she had dragged members of the Night Guard out into the town just to have a good time and mingle with the locals, while making a point to include bat-pony members. It had actually been Sea Breeze that really had started drawing attention to their increasingly small population, even bringing up the issue with Princess Luna.
Maybe the mare was just over-compensating for a lifetime bereft of commitment or responsibility, but he found himself hoping that it was rather more a matter of her just being a good pony.
On the other hoof, Sea Breeze might have just had a weird fetish for the exotic. He couldn't honestly rule that out entirely.
Maybe it was a bit of both...
Regardless, her transformation seemed to be doing some good. The remaining pegasi members of the Night Guard, as a whole, weren't nearly as enthusiastic about the prospect of shedding their feathers and weather magic. But Sea Breeze had gotten some of them talking about it. It was strictly voluntary, and Princess Luna had made a point of letting them know that their prospects within the Night Guard would not be affected by the decision. It would not be counted for or against any member of her guard.
It was an odd prospect.
But one that could do a lot of good for a lot of different ponies, bat and non-bat alike...
Now Star Shade was sure he was giving the mare too much credit.
Glancing towards his comrade-in-arms once more, he had to resist the urge to voice surprise at the sight of Sea Breeze vigilantly casting her gaze across the empty hall.
Turning back to his own section of the hall, a few thoughts ran through the stallion's mind, before he nodded to himself. A moment later he cleared his throat to gather the mare's attention “Rousettes...”
Sea Breeze glanced over towards her superior officer, curious “Uh, what?”
“If you're a bat-pony now, you may want to know that term.” Star Shade elaborated. He quickly noted that Sea Breeze seemed just as confused as before “You might call it a more...proper term for our kind...”
“Proper?” Sea Breeze asked.
“Yes, there's a good deal of consensus in Hollow Shades that we are more akin to rousettes than your more typical bats.” Star Shade explained.
“Uhm, okay...what's a rousette? Sounds Prench.” Sea Breeze asked.
Star Shade hesitated briefly, fairly certain as to how the mare would react to his next words “...It's a kind of megabat.”
“...Uh-huh.” Sea Breeze remarked in a forcibly neutral tone.
“...Your hearing and sight are much sharper now, yes?” Star Shade suddenly asked.
“...Yeah?” Sea Breeze replied.
“That's more in-line with megabats, than with your smaller bats. As sharp as your hearing has become you'll note that you don't possess true echolocation.” The stallion continued.
“I guess. I mean, I wouldn't try jogging through the kitchen with my eyes closed or anything.” Sea Breeze admitted.
“Exactly, while megabats possess excellent hearing and night-sight, they lack the ability to navigate by sound alone. Your typical microbat's eyesight, by comparison, is quite poor. You'll note that no more bat-ponies wear corrective lens than other kind of pony. Also, megabats have diets that more closely match our own.” Star Shade continued, seeming to enter a sort of lecturing mode.
Sea Breeze was just staring at the stallion now, bewildered by this unexpected infodump.
Star Shade cleared his throat once more “...since you were curious about bat-ponies.”
“...Okay.” Sea Breeze slowly replied. After a few more moments of silence, a thought visibly occurred to the mare “Uh, wait, so why not just megabat-ponies then, instead of 'rusies'?”
“Rousettes. And...I'm not exactly sure, but I assume some felt that 'megabat-pony' seemed...awkward or weird. But they still wanted something a bit more precise than just the 'bat-pony' moniker.” Star Shade replied.
“Huh...so, it's not, like...offensive or anything, if I just stick with bat-pony, right? I mean, I haven't been insulting you guys by saying 'bat-pony' all the time, right?” Sea Breeze asked.
“Hm? Oh, no. It's not really an issue for most. I would say it isn't anymore insulting than...it would be to refer to a pegasus as a bird-pony.” The stallion quickly assured.
“...Bird-pony?” Sea Breeze asked with a raised eyebrow.
“...On account of the feathers.” Star Shade clarified uncomfortably, as he noted Sea Breeze's stare.
Any discomfort he may have felt evaporated when the mare loosed an unrefined snort of laughter “Hah! Bird-pony...”
Watching as his fellow bat-pony gave into a fit of chuckles and giggling, Star Shade rolled his eyes before giving a shake of his head “I just thought you might like to know.”
“No, no. It's cool. I like it. It's a cool name. Rousette. Way better than bat-pony. I can see why you guys went with that name.” Sea Breeze reassured as she tried to suppress her amusement with the term 'bird-pony'.
“Hm.” The stallion dryly responded, before glancing down the halls once more, only to note that they were as bereft of anything worthy of note as before. Turning back towards the mare “Speaking of names, I understood that you were planning on having your name changed. After your transformation.”
“Huh?...Oh, that. Yeah, I kinda changed my mind on that.” Sea Breeze, her laughter settled, answered after taking a couple of seconds to recall what Star Shade had been referring to.
Star Shade rose an eyebrow at this, prompting the mare to elaborate.
“Hm...Well, you know that Summer camp gig I volunteered for?” Sea Breeze asked. She continued after having received a nod from the stallion “Well, I had a lot of time to think about things and names, and so on. And it kind of occurred to me that I don't really need to change everything about myself to, you know, change. I mean, I want to be a better me. So, I thought that maybe I should try to be a better Sea Breeze than some completely new pony...or whatever.”
Star Shade considered the mare for a few moments, letting the silence hang over their post as he did so. He finally nodded to himself, as if coming to a realization “You couldn't think up any good names, could you?”
“It's harder than it sounds.” Sea Breeze agreed.
“Really?” Star Shade asked.
“Oh, yeah. I mean, coming up with a cool sounding name that manages to encompass all of this-” Sea Breeze gestured to herself “-is a pretty heavy task, you know?”
“You couldn't come up with one?” He pressed.
“Well, it felt like it should be kind of night-themed or something, but still me. That really narrows it down, I think. And it needed to have like some sort of...watery-component, I thought. But the best I could come up with was 'Tidestar' and, I don't know, that kind of sounded like a stallion's name. So I gave up.” Sea Breeze admitted with a shrug.
Star Shade nodded at this answer, before raising a hoof to his chin in thought. After only a few moments of consideration he turned back towards Sea Breeze “...Moon Stream.”
“...Okay, that's not cool, tossing out names just like that. I mean, I spent weeks trying to figure out a cool name to go with!” Sea Breeze said, a bit chagrined by how easily the stallion had come up with the name.
Star Shade shrugged “We all have our talents...Incidentally, I do already know a stallion named Tidestar.”
“Eh, whatever. The thing where I'm gonna become a better Sea Breeze still counts. And it's based on, like, philosophical grounds, so it's classier this way anyway.” Sea Breeze replied with a wave of her hoof.
“Oh, yes. Very classy.” The stallion agreed.
“...Speaking of me being a better pony, and all that...I've been thinking about some things...” Sea Breeze hesitantly began.
“You've been thinking? How terrible.” Star Shade deadpanned.
“Heh, yeah. But seriously though, I've been thinking a lot about all the oaths and whatnot I took when I joined up officially.” Sea Breeze pressed on.
Noting that the mare seemed to be speaking seriously, Star Shade gave her his attention “...And?”
“Well...you've gotta promise you won't...freakout or anything, alright?” Sea Breeze requested.
“...You have been thinking a lot, haven't you?” The stallion asked, a bit surprised.
“You could say that these thoughts have been keeping me up at night...” Sea Breeze admitted, avoiding the Star Shade's gaze as she did so.
“...Alright, then. I promise not to 'freakout' or become upset with you...or try not to, I suppose. Let's keep things realistic.” Star Shade agreed.
“Great!” Sea Breeze replied with a big grin. Taking a moment to take off her helmet, before setting it on the floor, she shook her mane out a bit before continuing “So, it's like this. We've all promised to serve and protect Princess Luna in whatever ways we can right? To, uh, serve out her will and make ponies everywhere realize just how great she is, or something like that.”
“...More or less.” Star Shade agreed.
“Okay. So, if we're keeping things realistic, we kinda have to admit that, you know, there's gonna be times when Princess Luna spends more time protecting us, than the other way around. I mean, if it came down to it, I'd definitely give my all and do whatever I could to help Princess Luna. But we're not always gonna be able to protect her from physical threats, you with me?” Sea Breeze explained.
“I suppose so...” Star Shade hesitantly replied, unsure where the mare was going with her line of reasoning.
“So...we can't always be a big help when it's a dragon or some sort of huge bear, or whatever. But, we can totally support Princess Luna in other ways. Ways that might be just as important as fighting off mobs or armies. And I mean, if there are other ways we can serve Princess Luna, we should totally follow through on them. I mean...oaths, right?” Sea Breeze pressed on.
“That...sounds correct...May I ask just what you had in mind?” Star Shade asked.
“Yeah, totally...I mean...you did promise you wouldn't flip-out or anything...” Sea Breeze reminded.
Star Shade found himself growing a bit suspicious now “I believe, I said I would try not to freakout...So, tell me. What is this idea of yours?”
“Oh, well...I mean, don't get all judgmental or anything...”Sea Breeze said, tapping a hoof anxiously as she did so.
“Sea Breeze. What are you planning?” Star Shade demanded.
“Planning? I'm not planning anything...I mean, could you imagine me planning anything?” Sea Breeze continued to hedge, keeping her gaze off to the side.
Star Shade continued to stare stonily at her.
Sea Breeze swallowed, before showing a nervous grin “You know, when you think about it...I'm really honor-bound to flirt with Princess Luna just a little.”
A few months back...
“Okay, so we're really doing this?”
“Are you having second thoughts? You don't need to go through with this, if you are having doubts.” Princess Luna reminded Sea Breeze, as she noted the anxious expression on the pegasus' face.
“Huh? Oh, well, I'm having lots of thoughts...” Sea Breeze admitted after a moment, before glancing again towards the door that would lead from this antechamber to where the ritual would take place. Swallowing down her anxiety again once more, before turning towards Princess Luna “But, I'm good, Your Highness.”
“This will be quite a large change for you.” Luna calmly pointed out, giving the mare another chance to change her mind.
“I'm sure about this, Your Highness. Really.” Sea Breeze reassured once more, before taking in a deep breath and letting it out.
Luna tilted her head at this, acknowledging the pegasus' decision, even as she quietly considered what this recent recruit was volunteering for. True to her word, Sea Breeze had wholeheartedly thrown herself into Luna's service, and by all accounts was coming along reasonably well as a guardpony. And while she didn't seem to fit into the traditional ideals for a guardpony, Sea Breeze was at least capable of presenting herself appropriately when it mattered.
Luna did however find herself pondering Sea Breeze's motives for volunteering so readily to undergo this transformation. As with most things, the pegasus didn't seem to approach it in any sort of serious manner; one might have assumed it was a mere whim, at first. The young mare did seem rather certain about the decision however, and had till now only claimed that the bat-ponies could use more folks like herself.
The Princess of the Night had been willing to concede that point to Sea Breeze, as Luna had been rather concerned with the state of the bat-ponies in this modern era. Even so she found herself doubting that this was the sole reason behind the mare's choice...
Noting that Sea Breeze seemed to be eying her royal self now, Luna took a moment to clear her thoughts and her throat, before focusing back upon the matter at hoof.
“Before we proceed, you did follow through on my instructions, correct?” Princess Luna asked of the younger mare.
“Uh, the stuff about not eating any food for the last couple of days?...Just how important was that, exactly?” Sea Breeze asked while glancing off to the side guiltily.
Sighing in mild exasperation for the mare's unsurprising response, Luna shook her head before turning back towards Sea Breeze “Not terribly, though you'll probably become terribly nauseous after the transformation...Just how much have you eaten today?”
“Not...a lot. Moony saw I wasn't eating at lunch and offered me half of her daisy sandwich. I mean, she was being so nice about it, it would have been rude not to take a bite or two...” Sea Breeze admitted, rubbing a hoof through her mane as she did so.
“I see. Well, I suppose if that's all, it shouldn't bother you too much.” Luna replied.
“...Might have had a few of her hay-fries too.” Sea Breeze added after a few moments.
Princess Luna rose an eyebrow questioningly at this.
“But, really, that's all. Not a bite more than that.” Sea Breeze said, crossing her hoof across her chest, as she did so.
Sighing once more, Luna nodded, accepting Sea Breeze's word “Very well, then. You do understand that you will probably be feeling rather sick to your stomach after the ritual? Are you sure you don't want to wait?”
“Yeah. I mean, yes, Your Highness. My fault anyway, so I'll just have to deal with the consequences.” The mare reaffirmed with a nod.
“Then let us proceed.” Princess Luna nodded in turn, before approaching the doors that would lead from the antechamber.
“Huh...kind of a creepy vibe we got going on here.” Sea Breeze noted, taking in the sight of the large, dimly-lit chamber. The room was some ways into the mountain that Canterlot Castle rested upon, and thus lacked any sort of windows to provide any natural light. Rather, the room had a number of dimly glowing crystals set along the circumference of the circular chamber. The plain, drab stone-work of the chamber combined with the odd lighting made the room seem like the perfect place for some sort of weird cult to hang out, or something.
“I believe you'll find yourself more appreciative of the décor in a few moments. Or more particularly, the lighting.” Princess Luna remarked, before cantering towards the center of the chamber, where another easily recognizable figure was waiting.
Princess Celestia sent an easy smile their way as they approached.
“Uhm, what's Princess Celestia doing here?...Uh, not that you can't go wherever you want...Your Highness.” Sea Breeze fumbled a few moments, after blurting out the first question to pop into her mind.
“My sister requested that she be allowed to be present for this. There is no need for concern.” Princess Luna replied a bit tersely.
“Oh...” Sea Breeze said in turn, deciding not to pry into that too much. She had to suppose it wasn't too odd for an older sister to hover a bit, to the annoyance of the younger sibling.
'Maybe more ponies should know that kind of thing about them...'
If Princess Celestia picked up on her younger sister's mild annoyance she didn't show it, instead maintaining her usual poise, as she nodded in greeting “Luna. I take it this is the young mare in question. Sea Breeze, I believe?”
Luna simply nodded in turn.
Celestia soon focused upon Sea Breeze “I see. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sea Breeze. I've heard a fair bit about you, about the castle.”
“Uhm, it's a pleasure to meet you too, Princess Celestia...haven't actually heard that much about you, now that I think about it.” Sea Breeze admitted after a moment of thought.
“Oh?” Celestia replied, a bit thrown by that, and curious now.
Sea Breeze avoided her gaze for a moment, again running a hoof through her mane, as she often did “Well, I mean, I've heard the big stuff. Princess of the Sun, saving the world a bunch, really old and tall...not really much about you though, Your Highness.”
Princess Celestia hummed in response to this, as she seemed to consider the pegasus' reply.
Sea Breeze had no idea as to whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
“Sister. Now that you've had your introductions, I should like to begin things.” Princess Luna suddenly interjected, shaking her sister from her thoughts.
“Oh, of course. By all means.” Princess Celestia quickly agreed, before ushering Sea Breeze off to the side with a hoof “Let us get out of your way, then.”
A few moments later, Sea Breeze found herself standing off to the side of the center of the round chamber alongside the Princess of the Sun, watching as Princess Luna began her own work. Sea Breeze found herself tilting her head in confusion as she noted the bucket floating towards Princess Luna, wrapped in Princess Luna's magic and visibly filled to the top with odds and ends. It took her only a moment to realize that the bucket was merely serving to carry the components for the ritual, as Princess Luna retrieved several pieces of chalk from it with her magic.
She supposed there probably weren't many rituals that called for buckets in their execution.
'...I wonder if she might let me keep the bucket as a sort of souvenir?'
“Nervous?” Princess Celestia quietly asked, breaking Sea Breeze from her thoughts.
“Huh? Oh, I was just thinking is all, Your Highness.” Sea Breeze replied.
“I understand. I imagine you have quite a bit to think about right now.” Princess Celestia said.
“Uhm...yeah, let's go with that.” Sea Breeze agreed after thinking about it for a second. It'd probably just weird-out the Princess if she told her that was busy thinking about buckets, rather than the life-changing event she was about to go through.
Princess Celestia nodded at Sea Breeze's response “My Sister tells me you came to this decision quite quickly, and without any real prompting. May I ask why you are so eager for this?”
“Uh...well, you know, life-experiences and all that. Trying new things.” Sea Breeze awkwardly replied, rather unsure as to where this was going.
“I suppose that's a fair answer...Have you spoken with anypony else about this, though? Friends or family?” Princess Celestia prodded.
“...Just how much have you heard about me around the castle, Your Highness?” Sea Breeze asked, tensing up as she started to pick-up on where the Princess was going with this line of questioning.
Princess Celestia's gave no answer, though that was answer enough.
For the first time in a long while, Sea Breeze had to force down a bit of aggravation, as she realized what Princess Celestia really wanted to ask her. But even she realized she couldn't just tell off the freakin' Princess of the Sun for prying into her personal life. Sure, Princess Celestia pretty much had every right to do so, as well as good reason to, considering that Sea Breeze was serving her own younger sister.
Still, this was a sore spot for Sea Breeze.
“Well, I sent a letter to my little brother, a few days ago...” Sea Breeze slowly answered. Shuffling about on her hooves for a few moments, she decided to keep her eyes on Princess Luna's own work with the ritual “Not really much more to say beyond that...”
Not much that she really wanted to say about her dad, anway...
“...Please, forgive my prying, my little pony. I didn't realize how uncomfortable this subject would be for you.” Princess Celestia said contritely.
“It's alright...Your Highness.” Sea Breeze replied.
“No, I should have realized that there was more to this issue than could be addressed with a few words.” Princess Celestia quietly added.
“...Well, yeah, kinda.” Sea Breeze agreed after a moment. Sea Breeze glanced up towards Princess Celestia for a moment, before focusing back on her own hooves “It's really alright...I'm working on fixing things...”
Princess Celestia nodded, with a compassionate smile “Well, if ever any of my subjects should need my help...”
“There. We should be ready to begin...” Princess Luna called out, cutting off any further conversation, before trotting over to the two. Looking between her sister and her guardpony, she quickly noted the uncharacteristically uncomfortable expression on Sea Breeze's face “Is something wrong?”
Sea Breeze found herself glancing towards Princess Celestia, only to note that the pale alicorn seemed as calm as ever. And what's more she didn't seem to be sending the young pegasus any signs to keep her mouth shut, or anything like that. It seemed as if the Princess was leaving it to her to decide how to answer the question...
“Uhm...no. Everything is fine here, Your Highness.” Sea Breeze finally answered, only to note how Princess Luna furrowed her brow before openly scrutinizing her sister.
Luna was met only with Princess Celestia's usual serene expression.
“Very well...if you will come with me Sea Breeze?” Princess Luna gestured, sparing only one last look towards her sister before she began to lead the pegasus to the center of the chamber.
Luna's handiwork stretched out over a fair portion of the floor, and was made up of seemingly arcane symbols, criss-crossing patterns and expanding circles, all in simple chalk. Spread out at seemingly random points, for those not familiar with such magic, were a number of gemstones of seemingly random quality. It was actually rather amazing that Princess Luna had managed to put it all together so quickly.
“Wow...all this just for me?” Sea Breeze asked in mild awe, forgetting her earlier conversation with Princess Celestia.
Princess Luna gave a quick nod, before explaining “This is no simple spell. To make this transformation both permanent and...natural, for lack of a better word, we need certain aids.”
“Oh...well, that's cool, I guess.” Sea Breeze replied.
“Indeed. Now...are you ready?” Princess Luna asked.
“Ready as I'll ever be.” Sea Breeze chimed.
“Very well. If you would stand in the centermost circle, we can begin. Try to avoid moving any of the stones, as well.” Princess Luna directed, as Princess Celestia looked on from the side.
Sea Breeze nodded, before quickly acquiescing. With a quick flap of her wings, she set down into the center of the array, settling her hooves down as she turned towards Princess Luna expectantly.
Princess Luna seemed to consider Sea Breeze for a few moments, before she seemed to shake whatever she was thinking away.
“The transformation may be a bit easier if you close your eyes.” And with that last bit of advice, Luna approached the outer edge of the spell, her horn beginning to glow.
Sea Breeze nodded in turn, before following that advice, ducking her head down a bit as she closed her eyes.
With her eyes closed, she couldn't really tell if anything magical was actually taking place, and could only assume that Princess Luna had begun her work. Sea Breeze had been reassured that while the process would likely feel very...odd, it shouldn't be painful by any measure.
She wasn't sure if mild boredom and anticipation counted as an odd feeling, but she was fairly sure that was still a pegasus at the moment.
It felt like a couple of minutes had passed, when she found that her hooves were starting to feel warm, and that this warmth seemed to be steadily moving it's way up her legs. It wasn't long before her whole body had a pleasant heat to it, reminding her of days she had spent sunbathing along the beach. It was rather soothing, and seemed to lull her mind into a quieter state, even as she felt herself sway a bit from one side to the other.
But then it moved.
Or that was the best way she could describe the sensation she was feeling now, as the warmth seemed to concentrate itself in her wings, legs, and head. Whatever this feeling was, it seemed to almost flow through her to these parts of her body, causing the accompanying heat to reach discomforting levels. Her eyes in particular felt aggravated, as if she had gone without blinking for far too long, even though her eyelids were screwed shut.
Even as she struggled to acclimate to these sensations, she found her muscles twitching and tensing up, seemingly of their own accord. It distantly reminded her of the feeling one got after being suddenly woken from a nap, only more drawn out.
That's when she felt things actually start moving around.
It seemed to mostly be along her back, and especially in her wings, but soon every part of her felt like it was trying to stretch or shift into another shape. True to Princess Luna's word, it wasn't painful, but merely a profoundly strange and uncomfortable feeling. Kind of like moving your leg around in ways that a pony's leg was not meant to move, but without all the broken bones. And you weren't the one moving the leg, but it seemed to be deciding where it wanted to go all on it's own.
Sea Breeze decided to keep her eyes shut.
She wasn't really sure how long the ritual had been going on, by this point, but she was starting to wish it was done already. The sensation of her body rearranging itself did not mix well with the unpleasant heat of the magic, and waves of nausea were soon rolling through her body. Even as she tried to steady her breathing, in the hopes of keeping her stomach calm, Sea Breeze found herself becoming more and more tense as the magic continued to flow through her body.
And not emotionally tense, but physically.
Like the rest of the transformation, it began slow at first, but quickly built in intensity. She didn't even notice it at first, but soon it felt as if every muscle in her body was starting to strain against every other muscle in her body. She wanted to shift about, to move around, and possibly alleviate the sensation, but found that her body didn't seem to feel like listening at the moment.
The sensation only compounded her discomfort, as she felt her muscles become increasingly knotted and stressed. Her innards were dancing around like eels, her head, wings and legs felt feverish, and the rest of her body seemed to be on the verge of cramping up forever.
Then, without warning, it all stopped.
The heat faded.
Her body seemed to re-solidify.
And every one of her tensed muscles seemed to release themselves at once.
Sea Breeze vomited.
Which was rather unfortunate, as she promptly fell face forward a moment later.
She didn't even bother trying to contain her moans of exhaustion and disgust, as she struggled to pick herself up out of her partially-digested lunch. She was almost back on her hooves, when she flinched back as a thunderous noise seemed to beat itself into her head. She cracked open one of her eyes to see where the terrible beating noise came from, only to see two sets of hooves drawing closer, one dark and one light.
“IS SHE ALRIGHT, LUNA?” If the hoofsteps were thunderous, then this was the sound of a lightning bolt right beside her head.
Even as she ducked her head down and tried to cover her ears against the onslaught with her hooves, she could still clearly hear Luna's whispered response “Sister, keep it down!”
A moment later, Sea Breeze felt Princess Luna's hooves supporting her, paying no mind to the mess running down her frontside “How do you feel, Sea Breeze?”
It took her several seconds to compose herself well enough to respond, but even then could only gesture to her head “...Ears?”
That seemed to be enough for Luna though, as she whispered another reply “Your innate magic is still...rearranging itself. Your hearing and sight should be more under your control within a couple of days.”
“Sight...?” Sea Breeze muttered before trying to open her eyes more fully. Her vision was rather blurry, but she was still able to make out that it was Princess Luna that she was looking at now.
“Wow...my eyes think you're all pretty.” Sea Breeze muttered. Princess Luna was a pretty pleasing sight under most circumstances. But with Sea Breeze's eyes as screwed up as they were right now, the Princess of the Night seemed otherworldly now. Luna's eyes really did seem like bright moons now, and the sight of Luna's ethereal mane had Sea Breeze completely enthralled.
“Let us get you somewhere you can rest.” Princess Luna said, not paying mind to Sea Breeze's ramblings, as she began to assist the former pegasus with standing upright.
Sea Breeze vomited again.
“Oh, my...” Princess Celestia remarked.
Princess Luna could only heave out a heavy sigh, as she looked down upon the mess that was covering herself now.
“Moony might have shared some of her dessert with me too...” Sea Breeze guiltily admitted.