*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!*
My ears twitched at the sound of steel hitting metal as I stirred and groaned at the noise. My surroundings were different again...
I recalled going to bed in the hotel room, then nothing... Currently I was laying on a bale of hay in a stone room with a wooden door...
*CLANG!*
There was that noise again. It sounded very familiar to me.
Getting up from the hay bale, I noticed my balance was severely thrown off. Looking down told me why... Right, pony legs. Man Equus mammals were strange.
A shattering noise from the next room made me snap out of my daydream.
Pushing the unlocked door aside, I nearly stepped onto pieces of sharp glass as I heard someone swear up ahead. Casting my gaze away from the shards of glass, I saw who had made the mess.
"Sunstripe?" I blinked somewhat surprised, as I saw her leaning over a broken piece of sculpture shaped like a crane, until it was shattered that is, as she grit her teeth. She looked at me briefly, before using her magic to pull out a piece of glass from her hoof and bandaged it up.
"You again..." She snorted, as that appeared to be the extent of our conversation before she went to sweep up the mess she had made.
"Here, let me help." I offered, as I reached to grab the broomstick from her magical grip.
She snarled and moved the broom away from me as it went to sweep another spot. "DON'T!" She snapped, before shock of what she had just said went through her face and she turned away to bite her tongue and continue sweeping.
"I-I'm sorry..." I said startled, as Sunstripe muttered to herself and kept sweeping...
Feeling upset that I possibly did something wrong, I went over to examine the broken figure...
The crane's beak had been snapped clean off, and a part of the leg had as well. It was barely standing as is, and I use the term loosely...
I hummed in thought as I felt the texture... "You rushed this one..." I added absentmindly.
Sunstripe stopped sweeping suddenly as her magic grip let go of the dust pan and broom. She whipped around to look right at me, "You think, I don't know that?" She tittered.
Okay, odd... I stopped touching the crane and let my hand go slack. "Something's wrong. What is it?" I said serious.
Surprised, Sunstripe seemed to hesitate as she deposited the glass she had swept up. "Like you'd care." She snorted, before turning around to bump right into me. "I do care. I'm your creator and if something is bothering you I need to know!" I shouted, as She backed up afraid for a moment.
Then she scowled, "I don't care if a bucking cow made me! It ain't none of your beeswax!" She shot back, as she moved to pick up the broom once more. I put a hand out, effectively stopping her, before I grabbed her horn determined. "You're not leaving until you f***-ing answer me..." I growled, fed up with her trying to ignore me.
She seemed taken back this time, and slouched, given up on her false bravo. She looked away from me as I heard a faint sniff, "You think you're special, but really it's me doing all the work you know?" She whispered, before looking at me serious, "You think I'm just going to live in your sleep forever?! Hah! Wrong!" She laughed, but tears were coming down her eyes, "You always wanted to know why I don't pay you attention? It's because I'm scared! There! I bucking said it ok?!" She was hyperventialating by this point, " When you fully turn I'm dead ok? There will be nothing left because there was nothing to begin with!"
"Sunstripe, what are you talking abo-"
"I WAS GIVEN LIFE WHEN THAT MAGIC THING HAPPENED!!! NOW-" she chocked back a sob, as I let her go and she slumped to the ground defeated, "Now... I find out that with every change I'm loosing more of me to you.." She cried. My heart snapped as I felt compelled to hug her.
"Shhhh... Hush now, it's not happening right now." I said.
Sunstripe nodded sadly, "I-I... Check your flank." She looked away again.
Check my flank? What was she talking about- oh....
I stared directly at a hammer with red stars on both of my thighs. To confirm, Sunstripe lifted one of her mechanical wings to show her cutie mark was gone.
Dang, what a huge blow.
I let out a low whistle... "Well shoot, I feel like I'm suddenly the mother telling a four year old kid that this won't hurt." I laughed painfully as Sunstripe bit back more tears, her ears folded back as she couldn't look at me.
"Before the day is through the transformation will be complete." She sighed, "I tried my best to hold onto what was left of me, but... Whatever caused this has other plans," she looked at me serious.
I nodded sadly, "I'll never forget you." I promised as I hugged her, "You may have not existed for the long, but I did enjoy this time.." I admitted.
Sunstripe laughed bitterly, "Thanks. I wish we could've started over." She smiled defeated.
I shook my head, "It doesn't matter. I'm just glad to have met you, and heck to even know that a peice of something I made is real? Well, that's frosting on the cake." I smirked.
Sunstripe laughed. "Glad to know I'm appreciated by my 'mother'." She joked as I smacked her ear playfully.
"But seriously, I promise to carry your legacy as well as mine." I said, "I won't let your existence, no matter how short, be in vain."
Sunstripe looked at me surprised before it quickly faded back away. "Heh, thanks Em." She rubbed her neck, "Listen, I know it's not much but... I want you to have this." She said as she unblocked her mechanical wings and hoofed them towards me.
My pupils widened, "You're giving me your prized wings?!" I gasped.
Sunstripe nodded, "I won't be needing them. And somepony's got to show that dragons and pegasii aren't the only ones who can fly, right?" She winked.
Gingerly I took the wings and felt them with a hand. "Are you certain?" I asked, still feeling bad.
"Positive." She nodded, before smiling and poking me, "Now go out there and show 'em what you're made of!" She smirked, before the world started to go hazy and white.
I swore I heard Sunstripe say "good luck" before she completely faded, but my mind was already swimming and there was a pounding in my head.
I awoke to my alarm clock.
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"H-how can this be??" I stammered as I held a pair of perfectly smithed yellow and white mechanical wings, that I had found on my nightstand when I woke up. There was no doubt, even by the individual markings and scuffs from time, that these were Sunstripe's magical wings.
"Um... Does anyone know what happened to the bathroom?" Ariana asked confused, as me and mom stopped looking at the wings and walked to where the bathroom was.
A giant hole in the plaster had been torn open as pieces of cheap tile hung on their sticky mesh in vain. But that was just the tip of the metaphorical iceberg here...
Metal piping was bent in strange and bizarre ways, and parts looked like they had been ripped by God's own two hands and dragged forwards out in the bathtub. The shower curtain was a wreck, with it being ripped right off the guide pole and sprawled out on the floor, torn to shreds. The sink was slightly better, with only the faucet and pipes below missing, and the toilet had been untouched oddly.
Mom went over and examined the shower curtain as I reeled in my own shock at the extensive damage. "I think I understand what has happened..." Mom smirks as she holds up the curtain to reveal that the rips and tears were not haphazardly, but actually cut out in a bizarrely familiar pattern... Squinting, I saw an oval shape here and-...
Suddenly it clicked as I slumped to the floor.
"O my goodness, I did it that didn't I?" I asked rhetorically.
Of course it had to have been me, err or Sunstripe specifically... Holding up the mechanical wings in my shaking hands, they were hard to control much more, I noticed that what I thought were stains and dings, was actually rust and bent spots from where the pipe had been ripped violently out of the bathroom.
Looking at the wielding, I noticed how fine it was. Had to have been magic, specifically the type that was fixated in the furno plane, which was- Wait. How did I know that?!
Blinking out of my stupor I noticed everyone was waiting for an explanation as I turned sheepish. "I need to check something..." I held my hand up as I backed out of the bathroom and gently pulled down my pants, which now had cut holes in them for my tail... If I was right, and I was 94% sure, it should be right about- there!
Moving my jeans further down past the hip line to where my yellow and white stripe fur was, were two identical markings depicting a hammer and three red stars around it. I sighed.
So this was it huh? I finally got Sunstripe's cutie mark to create things with magic...
Carefully, I set the mechanical wings back down on the night stand and walked back into the bathroom serious. "It's because of the cutie mark." I stated simply as Ariana went 'ooooh' and Mom looked at me confused.
"Cutie what now?" She questioned.
Feeling bold, I shrugged and figured 'what the heck, I'm going to be naked eventually' and pulled my jeans down far enough to show the mark. "This thing." I said bluntly, waving my hand in a circle to show off the my somewhat nude hips, "Is a cutie mark. It's like your personal symbol for what you're good at." I explained as I pointed to mine. "Sunstripe's was making things. She was very good at blacksmithing, so I guess last night when I got it I must've had the urge to build the very thing that lead to Sunstripe earning her mark." I then pointed back to the damaged bathroom.
Mom sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Well I guess it can't be helped. We did pay them for the room, which includes insurance sorta, so let's just go find Jacob before a maid comes in." She frowned.
I lowered my ears sadly. I hadn't mean't to do it, and I know Mom wasn't upset at me in general but... But if I hadn't been turning into a pony I would've never done this... I frowned as I glanced one more time at the damaged bathroom before walking over to pack my things...
That's when two things happened...
First, my vision went blurry and all cross eyed, like when I get them dilated; and then my legs gave out from underneath me as I heard something pop and move and I fell to the ground and blacked out...
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.....
Something was happening... Cadance had felt the magical surge flow through her once more, but it was better controlled this time around.
She frowned. The surge is growing weaker and we've had no luck finding the source, she sighed as images of the Crystal Empire before it's restoration flooded her brain.
She shook her head, no not this time. They were close, she could feel it.
She just needed something, anything, a crack or an imperfection in the stream to tear at the mystery source.
Even things that appeared flawless, had some imperfection in them. A 'Chaotic spark' as she had been taught by Celestia.
Speaking of which, Cadance felt another presence appear behind her as she was snapped out of her musings.
The aura was that of a familiar one, but the signature... Well, that could only belong to one-
"Did someone think Chaos??" A voice said gleefully.