Luna stepped through the mist again. The child that TD once was and the human she knew today were completely different people. Whatever caused him to undergo this change must have been an important event in his life. Unfortunately, whatever made TD the human he is today (as elevator TD pointed out) was too vague for the memory floor to give a direct answer, as there were several aspects that make people the individuals they are in the present. Therefore, Luna had to sort through a cluster of memories before getting to the ones she wanted.
This was, however, the perfect excuse for the little filly inside Luna to explore the human world to her heart’s content even though her mature mind kept insisting it was for interrogatory purposes.
Luna was again looking through a child TD’s eyes, same room, same chair, different person tied up. Margaret stared at TD with her ‘eyes’.
“So kiddo,” she said, not looking overly-concerned about her situation, “your father put you up to this?”
TD nodded.
“Did he bribe you?”
TD nodded once more. Margaret sighed and leaned back resting her head on the back, breaking eye contact, much to Luna’s relief, “This means war.”
The door to the front lawn opened and Elise holding a bucket of popcorn, Kristy and Tobi- ‘woah’, Luna thought as a certain mint colour unicorn mare’s dreams felt a whole lot more rational.
“Tobias,” Margaret greeted with a stone cold look on her face which made Luna thankful she wasn’t looking at her.
“Margaret,” Tobias answered, unfazed at the silent invisible daggers Margaret chucked at her husband through her eyes.
“So,” Margaret began in a nonchalant tone, “you here to give me my just comeuppance for last week’s facial hair incident?” She turned her head at Elise making her cringe, “with that traitor?”
“Whatever,” Elise said looking away, “Let’s just get this over with so I can watch the new episode of ‘Friends’ on your TV; mine is broken.”
“Well, I’ll be honest,” Tobias began scratching the back of his, “my facial hair was a problem. I’m not gonna deny it. When you took it away from me, it freaked me out, a lot,” the gentle giant stroked his face where his bush used to be, “like, a lot.”
“Tobias?” Elise asked in a futile attempt to bring the man out of his self-induced trance.
“My face still feels kinda light,”
“Tobias,” Elise repeated
“Kinda cold too,”
“Tobias!” Elise yelled
“Oh right,” Tobias was broken out of his reverie, “the point is you were right and I was wrong, and I think it’s time I returned the favour.”
Margaret raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”
Tobias picked up a hand mirror from a nearby table, “What do you see?”
“Not facial hair, obviously”
“Your eyes!” Elise unexpectedly interjected, “God what is up with your eyes? It’s like you stare through souls for a living!”
Margaret rolled her ‘eyes’, “I told you already, it runs in the family.”
Tobias answered, “Which is exactly why everyone in your family wears glasses."
Margaret narrowed her eyebrows, causing the room temperature to go down a few notches, “I ain’t wearing any dinner plates on my face.”
“And you don’t have to!” Tobias continued reaching into his pocket and taking out a small box, “Just wear this smaller pair and-”
“Those come within an inch of my face, I bite your fingers off.” Margaret’s stare would have cut through any other being like a hot knife through butter, but Tobias remained an exception.
“Hey, careful with your tone, TD is here,”
“It won’t phase’m,” she smiled triumphantly, “he’s a Powell. He’s got nerves of steel.”
“Kristy’s here too, you know.”
She tilted her head and looked at the child not much older than TD who shrank slightly at her stare, “Fair enough, but I’m still not wearing those glasses.”
“Why not?” Tobias crossed his arms
Margaret looked at her husband, and narrowed her eyes, “Just because.”
“Not good enough, Margaret”
“I don’t have to give you a reason, Tobias!” she pouted.
Elise stuffed a handful of popcorn in her mouth, “You know, I read in psychology this one time that people who oppose any kind of change generally hide some kind of insecurity."
“Really? Like what?,” Tobias asked curiously
“Well, she’s short isn’t she?”
Margaret’s face reddened, “Hey, not funny!”
Tobias agreed, “She is pretty short isn’t she.”
“I am not short,” Margaret argued, “I’m petite!.”
Elise snickered, “yeah but juxtaposing you with a guy as tall as Tobias, you look like the tiniest person on the planet.”
“I’m taller than the kids!”
Tobias chuckled, “are you seriously comparing your height to a bunch of kids to make yourself look taller?”
“That’s so adorable,” Elise laughed
“N-not funny!” Margaret protested
“So what does being short have to do with your vendetta against glasses?” Tobias joked, “Do you think they’ll make you shorter? They won’t make you look shorter you know.”
“Assuming she can look any shorter,” Elise added causing both adults to snicker.
The kids remained quiet during this exchange of words. Kristy who stood next to TD whispered, “We make fun of other kids, they throw a tantrum. They make fun of each other it’s the funniest thing in the world.” TD quietly chuckled
“It’s not about my height!” Margaret cried angrily. “Okay?”
“Then what is about, Margaret?” Tobias grew a bit serious, “I’m trying to help you, and you know that.”
“By tying me up to a chair?” Margaret deadpanned
“Worked on me.”
“Well that’s because you’re aichmophobic."
Tobias groaned frustrated and rubbed his temples. “Elise, help me out here,”
Elise sighed and looked at Margaret square in the face. “Margaret, how many books have you written as of this moment?”
“Five,” Margaret answered curiously. “why?”
“And how many of them have been published thus far?”
Margaret lowered her gaze. “None,”
“And why is that?”
“Because I can’t get a publisher."
“And why can’t you get the publishers?”
Margaret hesitated. “Because they can’t look me in the eye without throwing up."
“And you can’t ever get a publisher because every time you meet somebody new, they’re not used to your eyes.” Elise pointed a thumb at herself. “Remember when we first met? I almost called a friggin exorcist because I thought you were possessed!”
“Elise,” Tobias stopped her before she could go on. “take it easy, you don’t want to hurt her feelings.”
“It’s called tough love, Tobias,” Margaret countered. “She’s too stubborn to listen to gentle talk. Do you have any idea what unnecessary crap she’s gone through because she’s too stubborn to wear a stupid pair of glasses? Do you have any idea how-”
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” everyone (except Tobias) recoiled at Margaret’s sudden raging outburst.
TD was especially taken aback, “Mom?”
“I’m fine kiddo,” she turned to his son with a compassionate look, “Why don’t you and Kristy go outside and play? I and your father need to talk, ‘kay?”
TD looked at Kristy who nodded at him. With that, both children exited the room. Elise closed the door behind them.
Kristy turned to the door and pressed her ear against it; she gestured TD to do the same.
“Should we be doing this?” TD asked timidly.
“I’m curious” Kristy responded. “Now hurry up or you’ll miss it”
Luna felt TD shrug and he followed the older girl’s instruction. The voices were muffled but still clear enough to understand.
“So what IS this about then?” Margaret demanded
“I’m not… It’s not” Margaret struggled “It’s complicated, okay?”
“Then explain,” Tobias implored
There was a moment of silence, “Fine,” another moment of silence, “but she has to leave too”
“Why?” Elise asked
“This is between Tobias and me.”
There was a moment of silence, “C’mon Elise,” Tobias asked gently, “This is for Margaret.”
Silence, then there was a groan from Elise, “She better be wearing those damn glasses by the time you get out, clear?”
Apparently, Elise was very close to the door as it suddenly opened causing both children to fall over in front of the adults. They were civilized enough to untie Margaret who was still sitting on the chair.
Tobias rubbed his temples annoyed, “Deal with them”
Elise nodded and exited the room, closing the door behind her. She stared at the door anxiously, then at kids sitting in front of the door, who stared back at her expectantly.
“Make room.” she whispered; Kristy smiled and complied. The two kids plus adult pressed their ear on the door; they didn’t miss much.
“So what’s this about, Margaret?” Tobias asked beginning to grow concerned
“Promise me you won’t be angry” Margaret responded
“What? Why would I-”
“PROMISE you won’t be angry!"
“This is-” Tobias sighed defeated, “Fine, but this better be good.”
There was a short silence, “Remember when we first met all those years ago?”
“Yeah, at the library, of course”
“Remember, when you tried to catch my attention with those stupid book questions?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“Well, it wasn’t about you trying to catch my attention so much as it was me holding back my excitement.”
“What?”
“I had my eyes on you before that, okay?”
“What?”
“Stop saying what!”
“Stop being confusing!”
Margaret groaned. “Remember the person who used to sit there before me?”
“Yeah, she always kept looking my way, never talked to me though. Why, do you know her?”
“Oh for the love of-” There was a brief silence before Margaret continued, “Tobias, put those things on me.”
“Really you’re just gonna-”
“Put. Them. On. Me.”
“Well alright, but I don’t…” The giant’s voice trailed off for a while. “Oh my god.”
“Congratulations, it only took you a decade after our marriage to realize that.”
Elise munched on her popcorn, “This is so much better than Friends.”
Tobias still comprehended what he just learned, “Bu-wha?”
“Let it sink in.” Margaret answered, knowing her husband to well. It was at least half a minute before he spoke again.
“I don- I don’t even- Wha?”
“Yes Tobias. Glasses on, you see ‘girl from library’. Glasses off, you see your wife. I’m like friggin Superman.”
“How?”
“I can make people fall over by just looking at them. By now a suspension of disbelief is warranted, don’t ya think?”
Tobias took a moment to work the logic behind those words. “Okay, so why didn’t you tell me about… that?”
“You didn’t even notice me until I took my glasses off!”
“Okay, granted.”
“And, how would any sane person react if they found out that their wife is two different people?”
“Well I couldn’t-”
“And don’t even get me started on how much this might traumatize TD and-”
“Okay, that’s enough.” Tobias interrupted, “First off, TD can handle it.”
“How do you know?”
“He’s your son! What happened to he’s a Powell, and ‘nerves of steel’.”
“He’s still a kid.”
“And he’s a tough kid. He can handle it. If he can handle your eyes better than most people, he can handle it.”
There was a short silence before Tobias continued, “Second, I don’t care how many people you are; you’re my wife! It doesn’t change that fact. Nothing will.”
There was a brief silence before Margaret spoke. One didn’t have to see Margaret to know she was smitten hard. “You’re an idiot.”
“And I love you, too”
Another moment of silence before Margaret spoke, “So how are you going to get used to seeing ’library girl’ all the time?”
“Well, I could always fall in love again.”
“You know, if this was any other context I would’ve ripped your head off for saying that. But I’ll make an exception this time.”
“So should we go outside? They’re probably getting worried over us”
“Yeah, we should.”
Elise looked at TD and Kristy urgently, “Scatter!” she whispered hurriedly.
The trio ran to the living room and hopped on the couch, Elise pretending to fiddle with the remote. TD and Kristy sat next to her. When Tobias walked into the room, he was accompanied by a woman wearing glasses. Luna could tell her facial proportion and body type were identical to that of Margaret. But for some reason she just couldn’t make the connection.
“What did we miss?” she asked in a familiar sounding voice. She was answered with silence as everyone couldn’t comprehend the uncannyness of what was standing in front of them.
Luna felt TD stand up from the couch and approach this woman, who could tell he was confused. Smiling understandably, she squated down to meet him eye level. The boy held the glasses by the frame and raised them to her forehead. Suddenly, Luna internally recoiled as she saw Margaret’s ‘eyes’. He adjusted the glasses back to her eyes and he saw the woman.
Mother.
Woman.
Mother.
Woman.
Mother.
Woman.
“How does this even work?” Elise said, trying to comprehend what she was looking at.
Luna wanted to see more but everything turned to a foggy white as she was ripped out of the dream, as Celestia shook her awake. Her eyes were half opened as she was still half asleep.
“Luna,” she said flustered. “It’s almost time to raise the sun! Why are you not awake yet?”
“Wha-” Luna’s eyes snapped open and she looked at her wall clock. It was only two minutes before her daily ritual was supposed to take place. She had been so caught up with the dreams that she had overslept.
Getting off the bed, she fell on her hoof and trotted towards her balcony with her sister. TD Harrison Powell’s three memories fresh in her mind.