The sun's morning rays cruelly streamed through the window of the bedroom, slowly rousing me from my slumber. I took in my surroundings in small doses, my eyes occasionally drooping shut from exhaustion. This was definitely not my room, or my bed.
As the cobwebs of sleep were cleared from my mind, I recalled what had transpired last night. A quick glance to my right assured me that it hadn't just been a very vivid dream.
Cloudchaser's sleeping form was snuggled close to me, the rhythmic rise and fall of her chest beneath the covers was a sure sign she was still asleep. Her right foreleg was draped across me, it was kind of adorable, except for the fact that her head was on my leg, putting it to sleep.
What now though? This morning had only brought new problems and questions. Cloudchaser had feelings for a pony without a past. For some reason I was still trapped in the body of the aforementioned pony. Then there was Twilight, what would she think?
The most pressing question at the moment though, was how to get Cloudchaser off of me without waking her up. Nature was calling, and I was now faced with the age old dilemma of not waking a sleeping lover in order to take care of business.
Okay, just move slowly...slo-oh come on! I bit back a growl as Cloudchaser snuggled closer to me, making my task much harder.
A strange feeling swept over me as she subconsciously pressed herself against me. I was unable to remain frustrated, even in my current situation as I studied her. Her smell, her aura, everything was amplified when I was a pegasus. These ponies felt, and experienced things on a completely different field, one that could only be comprehended if it was experienced firsthand, or hoof.
Cloudchaser's eyes slowly opened, her eyelids stopping halfway as a smile stretched across her face. Her mane was a bit messy and its styled form had fallen flat during the night.
"Hey..." she whispered groggily.
"Hey..." I whispered back.
"You stayed...I must have done something right." Cloudchaser nuzzled her head into my neck, sighing.
"Quite a few things," I said, making her giggle. "I did say I'd be here when you woke up though."
Cloudchaser lifted her head, planting a kiss on my lips. I wanted this to last forever; there was a reason for me to stay here in this moment, but it would be a lie.
"What's on your mind?" the mare asked, picking up on my distress.
"This and that, nothing really pressing." I lied.
"You can tell me, what's going on in that head of yours?" Cloudchaser pressed playfully.
"I have to pee..." I replied, spouting out the first thing that came to my mind.
"Don't fall in." Cloudchaser bit her bottom lip, trying to stifle her laughter at the randomness of my answer. She shifted slightly to allow me to get up.
I rolled out of bed, landing on all four hooves with shaky legs. Last night had been something I wasn't quite used to, for obvious reasons. A quick stretch, which was similar to a cat's more so than an equine's, severed to relieve some of the tension before I headed towards the bathroom.
If there was one thing I didn't envy ponies for, it was how they...took care of business. Mares got off easy; stallions had to put forth the extra effort when using the toilet that made me thankful I was actually a human. Which brought up the question, why was I still a pegasus.
I had expected the spell to wear off some time during the night, and have a great deal of explaining to do, but so far I was still walking around on four legs. A shiver crept up my spine as the possibility of some sort of draw back to the spell might have taken affect prodded its way into my thoughts.
"No, he wouldn't cast something like that....right?" I asked aloud, looking into a mirror through which a blue pegasus stared back at me.
As I left the bathroom, I saw Flitter ascending the stairs. Her eyes had bags under them and were a bit red. I could barely make out what looked like small boils beneath her coat, which I assumed was the illness Ditzy had mentioned.
The mare narrowed her tired eyes at me as she walked towards me. I wanted to flee, but my legs refused to move, even when she was only inches from me.
"Hey Flitter...uh....sleep well?" I asked nervously. Mentally kicking myself when I realized what I had just said.
"Funny....look, I can't tell my sister who she can and can't bring home," Flitter said, her voice was unsettlingly sharp. "But if you hurt her like that prick Thunderlane, I'll cut you."
"Thanks for the warning..." I mumbled as the mare walked past me towards her bedroom.
I shook off my encounter with Flitter before returning to Cloudchaser's bedroom. I had to think of some way to tell her goodbye. It was a shame this couldn't last forever, or be permanent. Oddly enough, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted it to be, even though I knew it wouldn't work.
Oh my... I thought as I walked in to see Cloudchaser preening herself.
Birds did this sort of thing every day, almost every time they landed. When I was a human not once had I ever found this mildly interesting, or attractive, but now what actions were defined as attractive had been thrown out the window.
No! Get a grip man! Ignore the hot mar-no! Damn it! my brain was officially a mess.
"So are you going to stare at me all day, or come lend a hoof with the hard to reach places?" Cloudchaser asked.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know I was uh...never mind." I said approaching her, despite an internal protest to do so.
Cloudchaser turned her back to me, spreading her wings out for me. At a glance, mine were longer in comparison to hers. It was a bit odd doing this for another pegasus, but not unpleasant. The occasional sigh as I worked was assurance from her that I wasn't messing up. It was almost like giving a human a massage.
"You're good at this...how many maresfriends have you had?" Cloudchaser asked.
"None, believe it or not." I replied, pausing to answer her question.
As I moved to her other wing I noticed a picture of Cloudchaser and her sister in what looked like Wonderbolt suits. They seemed odd in design at first glance, but the similarities were more than enough to stir up my curiosity.
“So, what’s a member of the Wonderbolts doing in Ponyville?” I asked before starting on her other wing.
“I wish, I’m just a cadet. I go back for another round of training soon, and I hate leaving Ponyville again. Still, not everypony gets an invitation to even be a cadet.” Cloudchaser replied.
“Interesting.” I said before pulling out a broken feather.
Cloudchaser flinched in response, but didn’t protest when she saw the feather in my mouth. Content with my progress she allowed me to continue gently sliding the ruffled feathers back into place.
“You know, if you wanted something to remember me by, all you had to do was ask.” the mare teased.
I started to ask what she meant, until I remembered where I had mentioned Comet Guard was from. I had gotten tangled up in a lie now, and there were only two ways-no, one way out. I couldn’t tell her the truth, but the thought of breaking her heart drove a nail through my own. It had never been in me to do that to someone back on Earth, even if it had been done to me countless times, I didn’t want to start here in Equestria.
“You okay?” Cloudchaser asked, looking back at me.
“Yeah…peachy.” I replied.
“Look if this is about us, don’t worry. I’ve done long distance before, just don’t keep me waiting for months,” Cloudchaser said, examining her wings. “You did a good job.”
“Thanks…” I said, still sulking as reality crashed down around me, ruthlessly.
“Turn around.” Cloudchaser sat up, spinning her hoof in a circle.
I did as she asked, facing away from her. My guilt burdened mind was still trying to sort out what to do next, when I felt her slide up against me as I had her only moments ago.
“Wings out buster.” she said, poking my right wing with her hoof.
“Buster? Where did that come from?” I asked, spreading my wings as she requested.
“Before I was a cadet, and when I was still dating Thunderlane, I used to foal sit his little brother, Rumble. It’s just something I called him….he’s a good colt, I hope he doesn’t end up like his brother.” Cloudchaser replied before starting to move and shift feathers.
It had been oddly fulfilling preening another pegasus, especially one you l-no, a friend. It was just as enjoyable, if not more, to be the one receiving such treatment. The soothing action slowly drove away my worries and fears, for the moment.
“Has nopony ever done this for you before?” Cloudchaser asked.
“No, not really.” I replied, slipping deeper into the blissful trance.
"When me or my sister had a crappy day, our mom or dad would always do this for us. It made everything better." Cloudchaser explained, before taking another feather in her mouth and maneuvering it back into place.
What does this make us...here we are preening each other of all things...and I want to be happy, but if she knew the truth she'd hate me. She's bonding with Comet Guard right now, not me. This thought sent a multitude of different emotions racing through me at once; it wasn't fair.
I felt her start on my other wing; so far she hadn't come across any broken feathers. Not surprising, I assumed I grew a new set every time Discord worked his magic on me.
Time passed on slowly with silence between us. Words weren't needed right now though, which made the conflicting feelings that much stronger. I was fighting against something that would make me happy, staying. It was a fight I wasn't completely willing to win, but one I knew I had to none the less, like one of those stupid choices a Telltale Game would force you to make, where one character would always end up hating you, but you couldn't neglect the decision.
"Perfect." Cloudchaser said, running her hooves across my now smoothed out wings.
"Thanks, that felt...nice." I said.
"So were you serious when you said that I'm your first? That you've never had a marefriend before?" Cloudchaser asked, leaning into my chest.
The contact wasn't unwelcome or forward since her ears were still erect. Rarity and Applejack had done the same before when I was human, just against my leg instead of against my entire being. It was a sign of trust, being able to lean on one another; Twilight had been quick to correct my first assumption when I asked her about it before I made an ass of myself.
“Yeah I’ve never had one before, why?” I asked in return.
“Just curious, it makes this special, since I’m-“ Cloudchaser paused, for a moment before continuing. “Do you want to be together? I know last night was kind of sudden, but I kind of like you.”
“Yeah, last night was kind of crazy, in a good way,” I said, picking my words carefully. “The way I was raised we were usually supposed to go out for a while before becoming more intimate.”
“I guess you’re right. You’re a nice stallion; I’d hate to lose you to some other mare’s sweet words.” Cloudchaser said breaking the contact between us.
Okay, now’s your chance, just drop a smooth line and act cool about leaving. the voice in the back of my mind advised.
“The way to my heart isn’t through words, so don’t worry about that.” No sooner had I spoken, my stomach started to growl. Couldn't have been better timing.
"Guess I'm lucky I know more than one way to a stallion's heart." Cloudchaser said poking my stomach.
Okay, it's getting really hard not to marry th-damn it!
---
Ponies were already enjoying the morning sunshine and fresh air. Unfortunately I was still among their number, wings and all. There was no explanation for this, Discord's magic should have lasted for forty eight hours at most, except the first time he used it on me, but that was part of a deal.
There had been no agreement this time, so why was I stuck looking like a pony. This was a question only the lord of chaos could answer...if he was home. Talking to his door provided little insight to his whereabouts, leaving only one pony that could help me, one I really, really didn't want to talk to right now.
"This is going to suck...please kill me now." I said, looking skyward to no avail.
“What’s going to suck?” a young voice asked.
“Oh, hey Spike.” I said solemnly as the dragon matched my pace.
"We missed you yesterday after all the snow was cleared. Is every thing okay?" Spike asked innocently.
“Well, I’m kind of stuck like this right now. Discord’s not home and I’ve only got Twilight to turn to at the moment for some sort of solution.” I said.
“I’m sure she won’t be that upset, it’s not like you had anything to do with it.” Spike said cheerfully.
“I hope not.” I mumbled.
The guards at Twilight’s door started to stop me in my tracks until Spike informed them I was with him. Nodding they stepped aside, allowing us to enter the castle. The guards’ eyes remained locked on me until I was out of sight, they were familiar with the human Daniel, not the run of the mill pegasus I was currently.
You know what this might cause right? How it will affect everypony? asked the voice of reason in my mind.
It was a question asked too late. Before I could even contemplate escape, I was at Twilight’s door. I had been here before, in a similar predicament. The last time things had ended on a pleasant note, but I could only see one end to the path set before me now, one I had to confront.
“Daniel? Why do you still look like… .” Twilight fumbled for the name.
“Comet Guard,” I said, finishing her thought. “And I honestly don’t know, Discord wasn’t at his house for me to ask him.”
Twilight’s puzzled face matched my thoughts on the matter. So far things were going smoothly; I seriously doubted that things would remain that way.
“That’s strange; then again this is the lord of chaos we’re talking about. I can’t say I’m…thrilled with the…circumstances. Your sister didn’t mention anything about you being stuck like this.” Twilight began eyeing me suspiciously the closer she got, putting me on edge.
I wanted to back away, but that would only make me seem more suspicious. I once thought alicorns could read minds, but Twilight told me that was just a myth, they could only pick up on emotions, which I was having a hard time keeping under control with my brain as scrambled as it was.
“You’ve met my sister today?” I asked as casually as I could.
“Yes, I think I might have been wrong about humans lacking magic before. I have a theory behind it being passive, like an earth pony’s magic is transferred into the ground without them even realizing it most of the time.” Twilight explained.
I felt bad about missing out on the rest of the day. Isabella had probably impressed them somehow, and I wasn’t there. Instead, I was on a couch healing no thanks to Thunderlane…and then there was Cloudchaser.
“Hey Daniel…you didn’t mess with the spell did you?” Twilight asked, derailing my train of thought. “I doubt Discord added any outs and ins to it, but you didn’t do anything…rash did you?”
My heart slid into my throat, Twilight was my friend. She trusted me not to do this kind of thing, she said so herself. I had taken that trust and tarnished it. Something Rainbow Dash said echoed through my mind, marking, that’s why Cloudchaser had been so…snuggly. Twilight already knew, there was no escape now.
“I slept with Cloudchaser…” I said quietly.
Twilight stepped backwards as if she had just been pushed. Her eyes were wide and attentive, while her mouth moved up and down slowly trying to find the right words to say, but failing miserably.
“I’m sorry…I could have sworn you just said you-“
“Slept with Cloudchaser.” I repeated staring down at the floor.
It felt as if somepony had found the nob for the gravity in the room and cranked it up to one hundred. I couldn’t lift my head up to look at her, even as she stood there, staring at me, waiting for me to say something else. To tell her that this was all a bad joke, and then receive the usual playful swat from her wing in scolding.
“How...why even?” Twilight asked, her voice growing shaky.
“She took me home to patch me up and…it just sort of happened…I’ve felt weird ever since.” I replied.
“Did you even once think about how this would affect her, you, or others even?” Twilight asked as her eyes started to develop tears in their corners.
“I wasn’t thinking at the time, she thinks I’m somep-“
“No, you’re someONE, not somepony,” Twilight snapped, her voice growing firm even as the tears started to fall. “Why would you play with a mare’s heart like that? Could you not wait for one to love you for who you are?”
“Twilight, not a single pony loves me that way. They all love a mask, but when it’s off, I’m just a friend.” I said.
“G-get out…now...don't let me see you again.” Twilight said through gritted teeth before turning away from me.
I was about to say more until Spike stepped in front of me, shaking his head. At least he wasn’t being mean about it, but I could tell I had upset him as well. I had really screwed up this time.
---
I drug my hooves slowly towards the door of my house, sighing before opening it. I was in a bind now with so many things happening at once. I had to try to get ready for a new job, Twilight hated me, and I was trapped in the body of a small horse with no sign of Discord.
The one pony that could have helped me was too mad to reason with, lord knows I screwed that up. I was never a fan of lemonade, but I wasn't exactly in a position to ask life for some apples.
"This is all your fault boner!" I shouted, once I was sure the door was closed.
What was I supposed to do now? I couldn't go back; I couldn't stay in Ponyville, for today at least. I had told Cerulean Skies and Cloudchaser where Comet Guard was from, Fillydelphia. If I lingered for too long the others might grow suspicious of Comet Guard, leading to more trouble.
Discord's spell was showing no signs of wearing off any time soon, even as I paced and contemplated what to do next. Oddly enough Isabella wasn't home, I wanted her to be here right now, just to have someone on my side. I was probably going to be enemy number one soon for having upset Twilight.
Scootaloo, I had screwed that up too. I needed Twilight's help, and now I didn't have that. I now understood why the alicorn disliked this spell, the chaos it caused from a single night had devastating results.
Come on Daniel, you're smart, what's the next step? the little voice within me asked.
"If I don't go, Rainbow Dash will be the next victim of this train wreck. I don't need more bad blood in Ponyville...and I can't really do anything as long as I'm locked in this spell. I have to leave, for a little while anyways." I reasonsed with myself.
As I started plotting out what to do next I retrieved a note pad and pencil, before realizing that I couldn't write with my mouth. I tried to write down the name of the city I was about to travel to, only to fail miserably and make a few jumbled lines and curves.
Finally, after three failed attempts to leave a note, I settled on writing a a very sloppy Fillydelphia. This was the best I could do with such a small amount of space to write and not being truly skilled in the art of mouth writing.
"This will have to do. Time to get ready I suppose." I sighed.
---
Fillydelphia was exactly as I remembered it, busy with carts moving up and down the streets at a faster pace than Canterlot’s usual traffic. I dreaded the thought of these ponies having access to cars and trucks; that was a tragedy waiting to happen.
My mind was still at war with the thought of having feelings for Cloudchaser. One night stands couldn’t produce such feelings, it took more than that. Still, she had said that she wanted to keep in touch, under the impression I really was a pony from Fillydelphia.
I nearly bumped into another pony, walking towards the hotel I had stayed at with Discord once before. I had to get off the street, I was still a pony for the time being, and I didn’t want to test my luck being in a public place when the spell wore off…hopefully wore off anyways.
I shook my head as thought after thought of what I should do next, or what I couldn’t do entered my mind only to be replaced by a thought that was completely the opposite. This was starting to drive me crazy, and it had only gotten worse ever since I left Ponyville.
I noticed a bench nearby and decided to take a quick break. My thoughts only seized the opportunity to increase the frequency of their relentless assault.
“Stop thinking about her…everything is going to be fine, just breathe.” I mumbled to myself.
Deep breathing worked for a while, but the second anything related to Clo-that mare came into my mind the noisy, warring thoughts returned. It was beginning to become unbearable, but there was no where I could go, nothing I could do to silence the noise.
I opened my eyes to try and focus on something else again before jumping off the bench. I tried observing my surroundings as I walked. I mulled over small details about other ponies, which seemed to help more than my previous methods.
One mare had on a dress that didn’t really fit well in this setting, perhaps she was from Canterlot or some other big city. A stallion was taking a few pictures with a cap, something I didn’t expect to see in this world when I first arrived. Then there was a colt chasing a ball that rolled into the street right into traf-wait what?!
“Nimble!” I heard a mare cry out over the noisy street.
I didn’t really think about what I was doing at the time. Something else entirely kicked in, something I had no control over. My wings unfurled, in unison with a shake from my rear to dislodge the saddle bags at my side. I was next to the colt in the blink of an eye, my wings powering me towards him.
I felt something rough bump against the bottom of my hoof, I assumed it was the cart that I was trying to outpace. When I finally regained a bit of control I noticed I was keeping level above the carts speeding below me. A shocked looking colt was cradled in my forelegs.
“You’re fast…” he said.
“Sort of, sorry about your ball kid.” I said as I dropped altitude over the walkway.
“Nimble,” the mare wrapped her colt in a hug once I had landed and set him down. “Don’t ever do that again.”
Despite my circumstances it felt good being able to help somepony out. I smiled at the thought of how what I considered a problem had turned out to be rather advantageous to a potentially deadly situation. I backed away into the crowd, not wanting to draw attention to myself, besides I needed to find my saddle bags that I had ditched flying towards the kid.
A wave of panic washed over me as I looked in the general direction I thought I had discarded the bags, unable to find them. Today couldn't seem to make up its mind if it wanted to suck or be bright and sunny.
"Great...on top of everything else I get robbed..." I moaned.
"Looking for these?" a firm voice asked.
I turned towards the voice to see a unicorn stallion wearing a pretty snazzy sweater. Draped over his left foreleg were my saddle bags. Outwardly he seemed to be okay, not the type to try and mug you, but looks could be deceiving, and I wasn't too familiar with Fillydelphia's inhabitants.
"Thanks..." I said, cautiously taking the bags.
"You flew pretty fast back there, pretty good reactions." the stallion complemented.
"I guess so; I just didn't want the little guy to get ran over...thanks for making sure nothing happened to my stuff though mister..." I said, hoping to at least get his name.
"Track Pace, my young friend, or just Mr. Pace." Track Pace puffed out his chest proudly.
Wow, I thought I had a terrible name...wait, that's just my pseudo name, what am I thinking? I thought to myself, shaking my head again.
"You okay son? I'm afraid I didn't get your name." Track had a look of concern on his face.
"Uh, Daniel, I've got to go. Sorry, thanks again though!" I exclaimed taking off. I cursed under my breath after realizing I had told him my actual name, not that it would matter, how would he find me anyways?
I heard him shout something at me that I couldn't quite make out, but that wasn't important right now. The only thing that mattered was getting some place I could rest; my mind appeared to be coming undone at the seams. I just needed to sleep whatever this was off, and then everything would be okay.
I kept repeating that over and over to myself until I arrived at the hotel and paid for my room. I quickly turned off the lights and flew the short distance towards the bed.
---
It was becoming increasingly hard to focus and concentrate as the hours passed. Eventually the sun started to set and the sickly sensation that had been building within me had only grown worse, accompanied now by an occasional pinging noise in my ears.
Soon it would be the third day I since I had last been a human, walked upright, eaten meat, or did anything a normal human would do. I was scared, this shouldn't be happening, not to me anyways. This sort of thing happened in bad fairytales, this spell was slowly starting to seem more and more like a curse.
I could feel my sanity slowly dissolving, the last time I had spent a similar amount of time as a pony a residual affect had lingered in my body. I could only imagine what Discord's chaos magic might do if I was left this way.
I had told myself I needed to do this for Rainbow Dash, to make it seem like my story-no, Comet's story, was true. What I tried to forget was how I was eventually going to cause a pegasus' heart to shatter when she realized Comet wasn't coming back.
How I screwed up my relationship with one of the first, and best, friends I had in this world over something stupid. I could have said no that night, but I didn't, I was too dumb.
Worst of all, I blew everything I had planned out for Scootaloo. I wasn't father material, I was a joke. I was just some failure human parading around as a good, upstanding guy. Today didn't change anything for the better, it only made it worse.
I felt a few bitter tears escape my eyes. I never wanted to have anything to do with chaos again, I had been all for it and joked about it back home, but here it was real and had torn a pretty big hole in my life.
"I just want to go home." I felt dizzy as I mumbled those words.
I started to drift off to sleep, the spell showing no signs of dissipating. There was the small glimmer of hope that it would wear off in the morning, but lingering doubt over shadowed the thought. Just as I thought I had been given a reprieve from the chaos of the day, the door to my room flew open.
I was too exhausted, more so mentally than physically, to put up a struggle if I was being robbed. Fortunately for me, my intruders included a familiar baby dragon, an alicorn, two unicorns and an earth pony with a familiar stetson.
“Mphr…what are you guys doing here?” I asked groggily, my vision unstable.
“Daniel! I’m so glad you’re okay!” the coral colored unicorn exclaimed, tackling me in a hug. This only made my condition worse.
“Who are you supposed to be?” I asked as the loud pinging noise slowly built in my ears.
I could see her mouth moving, but all I could hear was the steadily growing, drawn out pinging noise. I felt my stomach clench as my vision faded. I briefly considered the possibility that this is what dying felt like, fortunately for me, I wasn't met with a long tunnel with a light at the end.
---
Something warm was resting against my forehead. It was oddly comforting, and brought a smile to my face. I slowly opened my eyes, slowly observing my surroundings, which were much more familiar to me now.
“You’re awake, thank God.” Isabella said, moving her hand from my forehead, hugging my neck.
“You say that like I was out for a day or something.” I said with a weak laugh.
“Three days actually,” I heard another voice say. “We had to put you to sleep so you could recover. Perhaps begin to recover is a more accurate statement.”
I knew that voice anywhere, but never expected to hear it in my own house again. As my sister relinquished my neck, Twilight came into view. I turned away, unable to look her in the eyes, I still remembered what had started this entire ordeal.
“What do you mean by recover?” I asked, keeping my gaze averted.
“When you…spent time with Cloudchaser as a pony, it released chemicals in your brain that would ordinarily aid in the marking process, deepening the bond. Discord’s spell never filled in all of the gaps, so you could still keep your personality which only caused conflict...your mind was literally tearing itself apart as the spell tried to overwrite who you were.” Twilight explained.
It wasn’t hard to accept the fact that chaos magic had taken a heavy toll on my body, and mind. Chaos is unpredictable, it comes with the territory. It would be a cold day in hell before I would trust it again though.
“So why am I still like this?” I asked holding up a hoof.
“When Discord’s magic was cut off from him, it reversed the spell…instead of being a human turned into a pony, you’re…a pony that could turn into a human.” Twilight replied.
“So just have him change me back, it can’t be that hard right? I mean, there has to be a way to undo this…Twilight?” I asked, failing to mask the panic in my voice.
“Daniel, that chaos magic nearly killed you. I was able to correct the immediate problem, but if Discord uses that spell on you again, it’ll be much worse. Maybe in a few months or a year once the residual effects are gone we can try, but not right now…I’m sorry.” Twilight approached my bedside.
It felt like a part of me had just been torn away. Not being able to do the things I could as a human was a depressing thought made reality.
“Daniel, I’m sorry if I made you run away, I was just mad.” Twilight said, pulling me back to reality.
“Twilight, I left because I told the others Comet was from Fillydelphia. I didn’t want to make Rainbow Dash look like a liar, so I left for a bit, I never planned on staying. I did screw up though, now there’s going to be a lot of ponies that hate me. I’m sorry.” I sighed, facing her.
“No pony hates you. Friends fight, but we get over it.” Twilight smiled.
“Not sure how work is going to take this though…and I just applied for that new job.” I mused, picking up on the other two occupants’ suddenly nervous glances at each other.
“Yeah, about that…legally, Crafty Crate had to fire you…since you’re not you anymore.” Isabella said.
I groaned, covering my eyes. This was a complete disaster; my life was practically being turned upside down, all because of one stupid spell. I wanted to crawl under a rock and hide for the rest of my life at that moment.
“Anything else I need to know about? Maybe the world is scheduled to be blown to bits?” I asked cynically.
“You’ve had a visitor for the past two days. I think you know who I’m talking about too.” Twilight said.
My blood ran cold, apparently things were about to get much worse. How could I possibly face her again?
“Does she know?” I asked.
“She does, she’s been stopping by at three while I kept you asleep. I suspect she’ll be back again today,” Twilight said, it seemed like she wanted to say more before turning to my sister who nodded to her. “Just don’t do anything dumb…I’ve got to go now.”
Twilight left the room rather quickly with my sister. Leaving me alone to my thoughts, thankfully I wasn’t being driven mad by them like before. I was without a job, which didn’t sit so well when taxes were due. I would have to come up with a plan, now that the powers that be had decided to press the reset button on my life.
I continued to drift in my thoughts for quite some time, occasionally getting up to walk around a bit. I could only hope that in a year I would be able to return to normal, that I wouldn’t be stuck looking at a pony in the mirror until my dying day.
The sound of the door slowly opening broke my train of thought. There in the doorway was Cloudchaser. That odd feeling from before started to return, but it wasn’t as strong this time.
“So, you’re awake now.” Cloudchaser said, closing the door behind her as she walked in.
“Yeah.” I said sitting down on the hardwood floor.
“I need to know why,” Cloudchaser said firmly. “Why did you think it was okay to lie to everypony?”
“I was only trying to help. The story starts way before the two of us; I had to keep things consistent. I didn’t think I would get involved with a pony, or have feelings for one, but then I did…and now everything’s crashed down around me.” I replied.
“I want to hear it, from the beginning.” Cloudchaser said, sitting down in front of me.
I began the process of recounting my first encounter with Discord, all the way to last night’s events. It was hard to tell how she felt about all of this, how she had really wanted to be with a human, correction, former human.
“I had a feeling you were different, but not like this…I don’t know what to think about all of this…about you.” Cloudchaser sighed.
“I’m not perfect; I’m a flawed, frail creature with more mistakes than successes tied to my name.” I said quietly.
Cloudchaser sat in silence, looking me over. She was trying to come to a decision about something; I could only hope it wasn’t whether or not to kick me in the face.
“I don’t want a perfect coltfriend, but I do want an honest one.” Cloudchaser said, standing up.
“I have to go back to the academy for training. It’ll give me time to think about some things, and maybe we can start over, maybe.” with that the mare saw herself out of my room.
I didn’t try to stop her as she closed the door. That sort of thing only worked in movies and crummy love novels. I wasn’t about to try and act desperate or make her mad; I had done enough damage already. Everything around me was in pieces, now that the fall was over though it was time to start rebuilding, with or without help.