"Ah, those were the days." She fondly smiled, most likely reminiscing. "Back when I was but a little nymph, nobody really expected or demanded anything out of me, and all I had to worry about was to keep those around me happy so that I could remain fed; something that was really easy to accomplish at the time..."
-Excerpt of Queen Artemis' response when asked about her foalhood during an interview.
Cadance smiled. "(Alright then, let's go. We shouldn't be away for too long, Miss Yearling.)"
"(Don't worry about us! Take your time,)" Lara sweetly replied, enthusiastically waving at both of them as they trotted out of the room, leaving the happy pegasus and I alone.
Lara immediately fluttered as quietly as she could towards the door once it closed, apparently trying to listen for Cadance and Sparkle's footsteps. I guessed she wanted to make sure we really had our privacy? Not sure why, though.
She nodded after a few seconds, satisfied that they were apparently far enough. I would've told her that they weren't anywhere near us since I could sense them, if only I knew how to convey the message.
'Maybe I could get her to teach me a few words?' I pondered, turning around to look at the numerous books on the shelves at the other end of the room, scrunching my muzzle in thought. 'Is there a way for me to let her know that I want to learn her language? How would I even go about doing that?'
"Hey, Artemis!" Lara called.
I turned to face her with perked ears.
"My name is A.K. Yearling," she stated, pointing to herself.
...I tilted my head, wondering why she was telling me her name since I already knew it, save for the extra sounds she made right before it. Maybe she just wanted me to repeat it?
Before I could parrot her, Lara had suddenly begun taking off most of her clothes, causing me to look away in reflex with a blush that I wasn't entirely sure showed through my dark chitin.
But...
Should I even be feeling embarrassed that she was undressing herself right in front of me? I mean, sure, they had fur coats and nudity was something that was generally considered taboo for humans, but I wasn't one anymore, was I? Was this considered 'okay' by ponies? How many things from my past life would still apply to this one?
She... actually reminded me unintentionally that I've been naked ever since my hatching. Heck, I've even hugged her like this! I, well... now that I thought about it, she didn't seem to mind at all; even acted as if it was completely normal...
Then again, Cadance and Sparkles were also in the nude and didn't seem to find anything wrong with that, so I was probably just overthinking things. Didn't stop me from reflexively bringing my hind legs closer and getting my tail to cover me more thoroughly when I thought about it, though.
As Lara removed certain articles of clothing from her person, she revealed the familiar pith helmet hidden underneath her previous hat while the jacket that I've seen her wear for practically the entire time I've been traveling with her was also now on display.
She then straightened up, chest puffed out in pride while she stood there, looking like the adventurous, heroic mare I've been with ever since I hatched, even as she stared at me with a hint of nervousness.
"My (real) name, is Daring Do."
...Huh? She had two names?
Upon seeing my confusion, she put the other hat back over the pith helmet and haphazardly covered herself with the purple blanket... that I then realized was actually a dress, though it looked a bit awkward since it also covered the tail. Wouldn't it look better if the tail stuck out through a hole in the piece of clothing?
...Wait, never mind, I had a feeling that it'd be pretty uncomfortable once I actually thought about it.
She gestured to herself once more, stating: "A.K. Yearling," before returning to her more adventurous-looking set of clothes. "Daring Do."
And after looking to the side for a moment in consideration, she also ended up removing the helmet and jacket. "Daring Do." She pointed to her naked self.
...Why would she have multiple names? Was she some sort of secret agent? Or, maybe ponies had a special hidden name that they only shared with those they trusted? Those they loved? Because Lara was certainly showering me with the latter. With how protective she's been acting around me, it was almost as if she had somehow taken to becoming my big sister, or maybe even my 'adoptive mother'.
Hah, as if! Mom still gave me way more love than this. Unbridled love. Pure, unlike the somewhat 'restrained' one that Lara was constantly feeding me. Though, if this kept up for a few weeks at the same rate that the bond was growing, Lara would maybe end up reaching that level, more or less...
In any case, I nodded to her with a smile to show that I understood, afterwards making my way towards the bookshelf while Lara was in the process of dressing up.
I scanned the rows of books at the very bottom since they were the only ones I could reach, unless I climbed up the bookshelf. I was looking for... well, in the end I guessed it wouldn't really matter what I picked, seeing as they all seemed to be using the same swirly, alien letters that I couldn't read.
I pulled out the largest book that I could reach, the 'letters' on the front cover having this sort of exotic style to them, opening it to a random page to see if I could advance my understanding of their written language.
There was quite a bit of text, as well as a few pictures here and there, showcasing ponies in different positions.
...Different odd positions.
Why was that pegasus laying down sideways with his wings semi-outstretched while the other—
Shocked *GASP*
The book was immediately snatched away from my confused gaze by a furiously blushing Lara.
"(Y-you can't read that, Artemis! This book isn't for young fillies!)" she stammered, placing the piece of literature on a much higher shelf that was temporarily out of my reach.
"But I wanna see what happened next!" I chittered, pouting.
Her eyes widened upon seeing my expression, quickly glancing at the bookshelf before randomly grabbing a book with a bright pink cover and handing it to me with a smile. The kind of forced smile you gave to someone when you were trying to avoid upsetting them.
I stared back and forth between the new book and Lara, eventually shrugging and opening it to a random page, internally cringing at the cover's pretty color while Lara sighed in relief, as if a disaster had been averted.
Oh hey, more pictures. So that's what griffons looked like, huh? Cool.
...
...But why was that one upside down with all of his/her feathers puffed out while the other Griffon—
"Eek!" Lara panicked, also confiscating the very same book that she had given me.
"Oh come on!"
"(Sorry, sorry! I thought— it's just, t-that book, adults, is for, I'll just... I'll find a good story for you!)" Lara eventually proclaimed, mumbling to herself afterwards as she grabbed a random book, read the title, scrunched her muzzle and unceremoniously threw it behind her before repeatedly repeating the process. "(Need one that's actually a story, is foal-friendly and NOT a guide about mating practices...)"
I sat on my haunches, my frustration at being denied the two earlier books quickly ebbing away while I watched her methodically clear out shelf after shelf, the pile of discarded literature behind us growing in size as she searched for something seemingly specific.
"(No, no, no...)" She blankly stared at the next one for a moment. "(Definitely not this one...)"
She flew up and put it at the very top of the bookshelf instead of adding it to the mountain of books.
Speaking of which, I couldn't help but wince when I turned around to look at the mess she made in the lobby. Cleaning THAT up would surely take a good while at this point. However, if I helped Lara with reorganizing the bookshelf, I'm sure she'd appreciate it, which in turn would mean more food for me.
...Though, somehow, I got the impression that my body was consuming my 'stored love' at a faster rate than before, which made no sense because, compared to all that time I had spent straining my little body out in that jungle in search of Lara, I was barely doing anything in this place!
Maybe it was being used for something other than mere sustenance? I mean I was still a newborn, therefore I had a lot of maturing to do...
Actually, come to think of it, I think I had grown a teensy tiny bit already. Kind of hard to tell, though.
*Thunk*
The newly-arrived addition to the pile of books informed me that Lara had resumed her search.
"(History... documentary... more history...)"
I could probably build another fort with all those books, if I wanted to. It would take a while for me to make it as big as the one I had made at Lara's house, though. If only there was a way for me to move and place them around faster—wait.
Waiiiit-wait-wait.
Wait.
The unicorn at the fortress could do floaty magical stuff, because she had a horn.
Cadance could do magical stuff too, because she had a horn.
I had a horn, so did that mean that I... that I could do magic?!
'...I'm a wizard!?'
"(Cooking guide... creature encyclopedia...)" Confused "(...Crafting guide?)"
Okay, if I wanted to try and levitate something (assuming that I could), how would I go about doing that? It obviously had something to do with the horn adorning my forehead, but was there something else?
"(A wooden pickaxe? To mine stone? What kind of nonsense is this!?)" Lara exclaimed, the book she had been skimming through promptly sailing across the lobby to join its brethren.
Oh yeah! Every time Cadance did anything 'magical', I could feel that energy in the air, originating from her horn! I just had to figure out how to get mine out! If I had that energy too, that is. But... what was I even looking for? Something within me? Or was the energy stored in my horn?
I lightly tapped the protrusion on my forehead, which made me shudder slightly as the odd sensation that I was slowly getting familiar with coursed through my entire body. It allowed me to feel... some kind of flow around my insides.
While most of that weird 'flow' reverberated around my chitin and wings, there seemed to be this one spot within me where it just... coalesced into a whole bunch of something, like a sort of orb that felt very similar to the 'energy' I had been feeling every now and then...
I assumed that I essentially had to somehow bring it out and let it flow through my horn so that I could... channel it, or maybe even mold it, much like I had seen or felt whenever magical stuff happened.
I tried to 'pull' at the orb of energy, which made me flex a muscle that I hadn't even known existed. Though, it might not have even been a muscle to begin with, for all I knew. What I did know was that the 'energy' reacted to it and actually seemed to have partially flowed in random swirls across my entire body, though I stopped it almost immediately since I was trying to process the weirdness that was going on inside of me.
"(...Oh. Well of course they'd have at least one book from my series here,)" Lara eventually said, pondering something afterwards.
'Okay, let's try this again,' I decided, flexing that one 'muscle' again.
The energy began moving once more within me while I tried my best to 'redirect' it towards my horn. Most of it seemed to want to stick to my chitin as it moved by, giving me a tingling feeling whenever enough of it accumulated at any point. I was slowly getting the hang of controlling the flow over the next few seconds, until I eventually managed to have it reach the base of my horn.
And then it just... stopped there. I couldn't get it to go through my horn, no matter how many times I attempted to. It... it felt as if I was trying to push something through a blocked pipe.
"(Alright, Artemis! I found a... story?)"
I closed my eyes, frowning in concentration as I tried to 'force' the energy through, though with a little bit more strength this time.
Some of it actually flowed through, and I could've sworn I heard the sound of sparking while my sensitive horn seemed to have warmed up just the tiniest amount.
Concern "Oh no."
This felt... invigorating, in some way. Like some part of me was finally being released, freed from its limitations.
And all I had so far was a meager trickle!
I... I wanted to—no, no, I needed to unleash it fully. I just... I had to. I wanted to 'unblock the pipe'. I wanted to feel complete.
Nervous "A-Artemis? (Calm down, please stay calm, don't, just, please don't try to do magic right now,)" Lara said with a calm tone in a sharp contrast to her increasing panic.
I tuned her out. It wasn't like I could understand most of what she was saying anyway.
I relaxed my magic muscle, letting the energy return to its default position... which seemed to mean that it spread all over my body, both inside and around my chitin, though mainly on the inside. Lara breathed out an audible sigh of relief once I felt my horn lose its barely noticeable heat and stopped hearing the sound of static.
But then I exhaled softly.
Dipped my head slightly.
Quickly breathed in loudly...
And forced all of the energy I could muster through my horn as hard as I could.
A lot of things happened in that moment.
At first, I felt... relieved, as if something I had unknowingly been holding back suddenly didn't need to be restrained when the previous resistance literally melted away. If I had any doubts that I possessed magic, they were immediately quashed under the fact that, not only was my crooked horn glowing with the same color as my eyes, but my entire body and a few objects around me seemed to be encased with the red magic as well.
Heck, everything in my immediate vicinity was slowly starting to float upwards, including me!
And I wasn't even using my wings!
The sheer power I could feel around me! It was... addicting, intoxicating, delicious, beautiful, entrancing...
It was expanding, affecting an increasing amount of things and causing them to seemingly ignore gravity as well, and I let it do so, because it was simply exhilarating to know that I was the one doing that! That I was the one using magic! I didn't care that I had no idea what I was doing, I was too happy to know that I even could do something like this!
I was beyond excited. Elated was too weak of a word to describe what I felt.
But then something happened with my horn, a sort of hiccup in the flow that I couldn't contain and, for a brief second, my body was hit with a spasm as I unwillingly released what could only be described as a magical wave that pushed everything back—
"Gah—!" *THUNK*
...Which included Lara.
It was then that I finally looked past my awe, that I looked past all of the pretty colors dancing in my vision, past my 'accomplishment', my feat of power, my first usage of magic...
It was then that I looked at what was REALLY going on.
The room was steadily devolving into chaos. The area that my magic was affecting was continuously gaining ground, constantly adding various books to the maelstrom, as well as furniture and pretty much anything that wasn't pinned, each of the glowing objects dancing around the lobby in a sort of haphazard tornado with me at its center, creating a veritable cacophony as an invisible wind picked up strength. My horn wasn't merely glowing anymore, instead emitting a bright light that still seemed to be gaining in power. In fact, my horn was painfully starting to overheat, releasing tiny arcs of lightning in random patterns around me while the twinkling sound it emitted continuously increased in intensity.
But what actually caught my attention in the middle of all that, was Lara.
She was gritting her teeth as she slowly picked herself up from having been smacked against a wall, something that had happened because of me.
I... I had hurt Lara!
And yet, despite everything that was going on, her sole focus was on me. She was staring at me with fear and worry in equal parts, completely ignoring the fact that her headwear was missing and that a piece of furniture almost flew by close enough to hit her.
She was afraid of me. Or afraid for me, I couldn't tell for sure, but one thing was for certain.
I didn't want her to be afraid.
I... I had to stop this.
And that was when I came to the horrifying realization that I couldn't.
I had lost control. Rather, I never had it to begin with.
"Artemis! You—" she ducked as a chair flew by where her head had been a second ago. "(You have to calm down!)"
"L-Lara! How do I stop this!?" I screeched, panicking as another spasm coursed through my body.
Her eyes widened before she braced herself against the wave, holding her ground and expertly dodging the pack of books propelled her way with a fluidity that I hadn't known was possible.
She then turned to face me with calculating eyes, promptly gaining a determined expression as the magical tornado of objects slowly began forming anew, pawing at the ground with a forehoof in preparation for—
"N-no! Don't come any closer!" I uselessly tried to plead through the increasing pain I was experiencing due to the overexertion of my horn.
And despite the blinding light from my horn, despite the reforming wall of objects, despite the fact that the aforementioned objects were orbiting around me at dangerous speeds...
She ran towards me anyway.
As I floated halfway up to the high ceiling against my will, all I could do was watch in my panicked state as she dodged and weaved through the loud maelstrom on her way towards me. However, there were just too many things flying around and a book managed to smash itself on the side of her face with a resounding *Thwack*, staggering her.
But even then, despite looking slightly dazed, Lara did her best to shrug it off and soldiered on. She ended up taking a couple more similar hits before she got in range and immediately executed a tackle, jumping high enough to encompass me in her embrace as she brought me back down to ground level.
My magic was still out of control, though, no matter how much I tried to reign it in.
And what did Lara do as she held me closely in the middle of everything that was going on?
She closed her eyes and started humming a soft tune while gently rocking my trembling body. As if nothing was wrong, even as she visibly grit her teeth against the pain that my burning-hot, sparking horn caused while being in contact with her own furry coat.
I was on the verge of tears.
Ba-dump
Nothing made sense.
Ba-dump
Everything was hurting...
Ba-dump
Red lights everywhere...
Ba-dump
...A... a heartbeat...
Ba-dump
Why was she nuzzling me!? I was hurting her!
Ba-dump
Lara's heartbeat...
Ba-dump
That... that tune she was humming...
Ba-dump
...It was one of the ones that Mom used to sing...
Ba-dump
...The same one Lara had sung the very first time we 'met'.
Ba-dump
Headache receding...
Ba-dump
Lara was gently petting me, making my chitin tingle wherever she touched...
Ba-dump
Chitin tingled wherever she touched...
Ba-dump
Chitin tingled wherever she touched, energ— magic was flowing through my shell, ready to—
I was suddenly hit with a moment of clarity, my eyes snapping wide open as I felt another spasm nearing.
Lara.
Tan-colored fur. Magenta eyes. Dark mane with patterned streaks of grey. Tattoo of a compass on the flanks. Mare. Well-toned, athletic build. Agile. Multiple tiny scars hidden by fur along the barrel, thighs and neck. Voice bordering on tomboyish side.
Pegasus.
A final burst of pain across my entire body as my heavily-strained magic answered to my instinctual request, the energy dancing around all of my chitin—
*Fwoomph*
—and, save for my frantic breathing, my whimpering and Lara's humming, the lobby suddenly became eerily quiet after a large series of *Thuds* when everything that had been held by my magic fell to the floor, free of my influence.
It had taken a few moments, but Lara finally finished the song, sighing in apparent relief with her eyes still closed while I snuggled myself as deep as I could into her chest, my shaking decreasing over time.
I just... I felt so tired by then... everything still hurt, though less than before, yet something else about me didn't feel right. I didn't remember my 'skin' being this sensitive and... fuzzy-feeling, but then again, after what had just occurred with my first 'magic' experiment, it was probably the overexertion resulting from it that was causing hypersensitivity, or something of the sort.
In any case, it made Lara's coat feel softer... to the point that I just wanted to melt myself under her protective winged hug and remain there forever.
I wasn't sure I wanted to play with magic again after what had honestly been a terrifying first experience.
...For the next hour or two, at least.
Obviously, all of that happened because I pushed too much energy through, and it wouldn't have been scary at all if I was in control of it to begin with. I'll just have to be a little bit more careful next time!
...Just a little bit.
But... crap! I really must've overheated my horn too much or something, because I couldn't even feel it anymore! Almost as if it was completely gone! I could only hope that I hadn't actually crippled myself with any permanent damage...
'Mmph, I'll... check later... too busy cuddling...'
Unfortunately, the headache had decided to stick around, pounding away at my head without relent.
Maybe I could take a nap? Sleeping felt like a really good idea right then. Yeah, just a quick little bit of rest under Lara's waaarm fur—
"(It's okay, it's over now,)" Lara whispered, tenderly running a hoof along my... not-so-silky-feeling hair? "(Just please don't try to do magic again without somepony to teach you how to control it, alright...?)" Shocked "...Artemis!?"
I groaned. Sleeping would have to wait, it seemed.
I finally detached my face from her chest to look at what had surprised her, only to realize that she was staring at me with widened eyes.
"...What? Do I have something on my face?" I tiredly chittered, going cross-eyed to stare at... my... furry... tan-colored muzzle...
...What the heck!?
"Artemis?"
"I..."
"You... y-you..."
"I... I-I..."
"You're me!" Lara cheered.
"I'm you!?" I squeaked, craning my head around to stare at my 'new' little body in disbelief.
"(I'm the first pony you turned into!)" she loudly exclaimed, happily lifting me up with her forelegs.
"The first pony I turn into, and I'm still a girl..."
"WOOOO!"
"OOOOW!" I hissed in pain as she spun me around herself in her joy, my aching body still... well, aching.
Her large smile disappeared and she stared at me with wide eyes before quickly stopping her merry-go-round, burying me in her fur once more. "(Sorry! Sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!)"
I quietly groaned at her bear hug.
Lara eventually stopped squeezing the life out of me, setting me down in front of herself so that she could examine me more thoroughly. Something that I should be doing as well, now that I thought about it.
Starting with my wings, obviously.
They weren't bug-like anymore, sporting feathers instead. Not only that, but I could feel... extra muscles in them. It kind of made sense since they were more flexible, even if my previous wings could safely bend to a very large extent.
Slowly unfurling the one on my left, I was trying to get a feel for the new sensations that it would be bringing. However, I suddenly tilted it by reflex when I felt some wind flow under it, the new angle catching as much of it as possible— wait, wind?
I turned to look at Lara, whom was crouched and blowing air with her mouth at my wing from where she was. She stopped and smiled at me then, straightening up. "(I could teach you how to use those, you know?)" She gestured at my feathery appendages while readjusting her own under her dress.
Returning my attention to my modified limbs, I extended both of them this time, giving them a few test flaps with muscles that felt both familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time. I almost felt like I could lift off with that alone, at the same time realizing how I seemed to weigh significantly less than my base form.
How the heck did that work? I couldn't 'lose mass' just like that, could I? I mean, something else had to be at work here. Feeling for my magic, it seemed to be evenly spread out across all of my skin with a certain... pattern ingrained along it, though the main 'orb' was still sitting there, inside of me, and my new wings appeared to be holding a larger amount of energy than before.
...Yeah, it must've been my magic at work. The physics that I knew of simply couldn't explain how I suddenly weighed less. Or how my chitin turned into a furry coat. Or how levitation worked. Or how my horn was— Oh shit, where's my horn!?
Worried "Artemis?... (What's wrong!?)" Lara asked as I panicked and ran my forelegs all over my head.
'WhereIsItWhereIsIt!? Don't tell me I won't be able to do magic ever again!! What have I don— no, no, it's okay. Calm down. Breathe in, breathe out. Again. And again. Okay, how did I even transform? I'm sure I can still do that, since Edge did it when he told me about how he turned into that one pegasus...'
I sat down under Lara's concerned gaze, trying to remember how I had shape-shifted. It began when Lara was running a hoof along my body to comfort me while my magic was going haywire, and there was that distinct feeling of the energy sticking to my chitin right before... I gave it, or molded it into a pattern?
Was that what that was?
I tried to pull in all of the energy from my softer skin, promptly experiencing a kind of ripping sensation since my magic was still somewhat sore—
*Fwoomph*
Ack! That felt odd... but also kind of great! I didn't feel like I was wearing an extra skin anymore and the tiny 'pressure' that I hadn't noticed until now was gone.
And my horn was back!
I happily stretched my familiar body and contentedly buzzed my real wings, enjoying the fact that I was back to being my true self.
At least, I was enjoying it until I noticed that Lara was slightly disappointed.
'...Oh, fine. Just for you, Lara.'
I concentrated once more, remembered all those previous details about the pegasus, evenly applied the energy to all of my chitin with that in mind, felt my entire body tingle...
*Fwoomph*
...and I was back to being Lara Jr., shaking my head to clear away the dizziness before I got up to cuddle some more with the larger version of myself—
*Thud*
—only to fall flat on my face.
It was only then that I realized that these hooves (which unsettled me with their lack of holes) didn't have the same grip than the ones I was used to. I hadn't thought about how much I had been relying on that just for walking around!
It seemed that I was going to have to learn how to walk. Again.
...But apparently not right now since Lara scooped me up, which allowed me to notice that her fur seemed to be singed around her chest where she had held me during my magic overload. I frowned a bit, worriedly staring into her eyes as I tentatively pointed towards one of the blackened spots.
She glanced at where I was gesturing, cringing for a split second before giving me a slightly forced smile. "(Oh, this little thing? You don't have to worry about that, it'll be gone by itself in a few days. You'll see!)"
After seeing that I still kept my concerned expression, she did her best to cover it with the jacket and decided to just embrace me, simultaneously looking around at the complete mess surrounding us as if she was searching for something. "(Now, where did—)"
*THUNK*
I was startled when a book literally fell from the sky right next to us.
...Actually, gazing at the ceiling, I could see a clearly-defined indent of a book up there. Just how resilient were these things!? That one had apparently been embedded into the marble ceiling sometime during my episode, at least until now!
"(Ooh! There it is!)" Lara beamed, reaching for the completely intact book while positioning me on her lap comfortably, clearing her throat as she placed the storybook in front of us.
I also absently noticed that whatever emotions were sent my way kind of tasted... a lot less strongly while I was wearing this form. Disappointing, really.
"Daring Do (and the Cult of Himalak,)" she read, pointing at the title on the front cover, which showcased a picture of me carefully spying on a group of cloaked beings—Whoa, hold on, no, I wasn't on the cover, that was Lara.
I... actually believed for a second that I really was her!
Weird.
"Da-ring Do," Lara slowly read again, pointing at the first few words with a hoof and looking at me expectantly with a smile.
...
...
...Oh!
"Daring Do!" I repeated with no lack of enthusiasm whatsoever.
With Lara's voice. Though, it was higher-pitched due to my 'age'.
She stared at me in surprise for a moment before shaking her head and slowly pronouncing the rest of the book's title, letting me repeat after her. The fact that she was pictured on the cover didn't go completely unnoticed by me, however.
I had seen... well, okay, I hadn't seen everything that she could do since I missed the big fight at the fortress, but I sort-of knew what she was capable of when it came to fighting and/or defending herself. It made me wonder what her line of work consisted of.
If this book could give me a clue on that since it seemed to feature her...
I perked up and gave her all of my attention as she finally opened it to start the story. Hopefully there would be pictures which would allow me to follow what was going on.
"(...Heh, I'm reading a book about me to myself,)" Lara chuckled before clearing her throat, beginning her storytelling with a theatrical tone. "(A long time ago, in a land far, far away...)" she trailed off as I whipped my head around to face the lobby's entrance.
Lara followed my gaze. "(Oh come on! Already!?)" she exclaimed in disappointment. "(We were just getting started!)"
I got up and started tripping cantering my way towards the door, sensing two beings approaching...
"(...Horseapples! What are they going to think when they see all of this!?)" Lara suddenly panicked, searching for something among the disaster present in the entire room.
I was beginning to notice that different ponies brought with them a sort of... extra flavor along with their emotions, kind of like how a spice or a dressing complimented a meal. As such, I was almost certain that one of the two was Cadance, and the other one was... someone that I hadn't met yet.
"(Whew, okay, there's the hat... but where's my helmet!?)"
But, that 'someone' walking alongside Cadance...
I could almost form a link with... him! Something was wrong with it though, like it was... broken, or incomplete...
Maybe all I had to do was force it to connect? It had been a while since I linked with anyone from my family, after all.
Uh... actually, I probably shouldn't force it after what happened when I tried to do the same with my magic. I'll just... Okay, start by trying to feel the link... Connection error... What if I... No... Nngh! Trying to 'straighten' it...
"ARGH!"
I stopped advancing and clutched my head, feeling a pain that wasn't mine as well as getting a sudden bout of dizziness. I... wasn't sure if I had done it right, but once the discomfort ended up dissipating, the...
The link was there! It was still a little weird-feeling, but it was there!
One of my brothers was coming!
He was just as happy as I was!
I was going to meet a member of my family!
It was only a matter of time before I would be able to see Mom!
And the first thing I'd request from her with Lara at my side would be without a doubt, 'This mare followed me home. Can I keep her?' To which Mom would reply: 'Yus.'
And then everything would be alright with the world.
...
...But I had to greet my bro first, which was something that would end up being difficult to properly do if my ability to glomp people at will kept being impeded by the lack of grip on my hooves.
What if... what if I changed the pattern of the flow around my legs? Keep appearance, but regain magnet effect of my changeling hooves...
"(Okay, just... Smile and wave, Daring. Smile and wave,)" Lara muttered to herself, sitting on her haunches at the middle of the room and arming herself with a fake grin aimed at the door that was about to be opened.
After I felt a slight tingle on each of my feet, a quick test confirmed that my gripping powers had returned.
Now I had to make sure that I would pounce on him with just enough strength to show my affection, but not too much in order to avoid hurting him or making him uncomfortable from the impact. It was really tough to calculate, but I was pretty certain that I had figured out the perfect amount of power I needed for my tackle.
The door opened—
I shot towards my brother with as much strength as I could and easily bowled him over.
Alright! Now to say hello in a completely calm and collected manner—
"HI! What's your name? Or number? Are there more changelings around here? How old are you? How do you know Cadance?" I rapidly chittered.
He finally picked his head up from the ground and looked at me as I continued my barrage of questions from my position on his chest. Cadance, in the meantime, peeked into the room after staring at me in surprise for a few seconds.
"When can I see Mom? Where is she, actually? Did the invasion go well? Did we win? Are you here to bring me back home?"
Bewildered "(...What in Equestria happened here!?)" Cadance asked, trailing her wide-eyed gaze across the disaster in the lobby.
"Can I bring her along too?" I asked, pointing at Lara whom was chuckling nervously. "She's really nice! And strong! And she fed me for days! And she protected me... from..." I trailed off. "...She's really nice!" I grinned.
"(Magic surge,)" Lara simply replied to answer Cadance's question, the alicorn letting out an understanding "ah" before redirecting her attention to me.
My brother blinked in uncertainty at my sudden silence. "Uhhhh..."
I sensed his panic beginning to emerge. "Oh! Don't worry, she already knows about changelings!" I assured him. "I mean, she did kind of kidnap me from the hive while everyone was gone, but she's not a bad person! I swear! Though, she was kind of lonely..."
I was levitated off of him by a light-blue aura and gently set on the nearby floor, at which point he quickly managed to get back on his feet.
He just stood there and blankly stared at me with an odd smile that he seemed to be fighting against.
...
...
He continued staring at me.
...
...
...And then he stared some more.
"...Are you alright?" Cadance and I both asked at the same time in our respective languages, simultaneously taking steps towards him.
He backpedaled until he hit a wall, his worry increasing alongside mine as his eyes widened. He clutched his head and shook it, quietly mumbling to himself. "(No, no, no, no, stop!)"
The pink alicorn approached further with a concerned expression. "(Shiny?)"
Okay, something was definitely wrong with him. I checked the link, and... Oh, that was probably why.
"(These... not my feelings, n-not mine...)"
The link had broken down a bit, oddly enough, so I worked on straightening it once more; only this time I did it more carefully and thoroughly.
His body reacted to the repair with a split-second spasm... and then he stopped clutching his head, getting back on his hooves, blinking repeatedly while glancing around, slowly returning to being happy after a short moment. Coincidentally, his happiness began surfacing just as mine did. Or...
Meh, I was putting too much thought into it, I supposed.
"(It's... don't worry, Cadance, I'm as fine as ever!)" he cheerfully said, turning to face me with a wide grin. "(And you must be Artemis!)" His head twitched. "(Unless Daring Do somehow birthed a filly that ended up being an exact copy of herself, which is a ridiculous notion in itself because she doesn't strike me as the kind of mare that would ever want a foal, as if she would even be able to take care of one considering her line of work and attitude—)"
Lara's eye twitched.
"(—but it's not like she's a real pony to begin with. And besides, everypony knows that she works alone!)" he finished, still full of joy as I perceived Lara's muted anger shift into uncertainty, and then back to anger.
...Did he just say something insulting to her!?
"Hey!" I hissed at the white-coated unicorn that was my disguised brother. "Be nice! She saved my life!"
He started frowning the moment my anger showed up...
Cadance cautiously set a hoof on one of his withers. "(Shiny? Are you sure you're fine? You're... acting a little weir—)"
"(Of course I'm fine!)" he snapped, smacking away Cadance's hoof while his nostrils flared with his sudden heavy breathing.
Whoa, what the heck happened!? He was brimming with joy a few seconds ago!
Cadance's surprised expression became a determined one. "(Alright, we're going back to Dr. Lab Coat. Something's definitely wrong with you.)"
Well, his anger was gone, but he was just as worried as I was about him.
"(Please not the doctor!)" he pleaded with widened eyes, throwing himself at her feet. "(I'll do anything! Just please don't take me back to him!)"
Cadance blinked, then quickly gained a smirk. "(Anything?)"
"(Anything!)" he repeated, vigorously bobbing his head up and down.
The alicorn went into deep thought as I happily leapt on his back. She had opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to reconsider what she was going to say on noticing my presence. She still brightened up after a moment afterwards, though.
"(If you promise to do my sunshine dance whenever Twilight or I happen to ask for it, I will maybe not bring you to the Doc—)"
"(I promise!)" he proclaimed with another twitch of his head as I comfortably set myself on top of it. "(I always secretly wanted to do it, but I kept thinking up until now that it would ruin my public image because it was totally 'un-cool', even though I found it to be really cute. What a silly thought, right?)"
Huh. Could've sworn I felt shock from my brother as he said that, but if there was any to begin with, then it was immediately drowned by our combined joy.
"(G-great!)" Cadance beamed, gently levitating me off of his head and back into the room despite my protests—wait, beyond the lobby entrance was a huge hallway? How big was this place!?
"(I keep my collection of comic books inside a locked box hidden behind the decorative shield hanging on the wall next to our bed!)"
Okay, now I knew for sure that he felt some shock as he said that, even if it still disappeared pretty quickly.
Cadance looked at him weirdly as Lara grabbed me so that I couldn't get to him—
"(The other books are right next to them, behind your dresser!)" His eyes widened in fear for a split second.
Cadance's lips pursed.
"(And, sometimes, when I'm certain that I'm completely alone,)" PAnicJOY "(I put on your regalia and pretend I'm a Princess while—mmphmnghmmmnnghh!)" He happily jammed both of his fore hooves into his mouth.
He was being so silly that I couldn't stop myself from snickering.
"(We're going. Now,)" Cadance firmly stated when my weird brother suddenly decided to laugh hysterically for no apparent reason.
"(Hahah! HahAHaHahAhAHah!... HehEheh... huh... heh, um, Cadie?)" he asked when he suddenly found himself floating in a bubble that had the same color as Cadance's glowing horn. "(What are you doing? I, I thought you said—?)"
"(I said I would maybe not bring you to Lab Coat. We're still going.)"
Wait, they were leaving already? But... b-but I never even got his name! Or even had an actual conversation with him! Or cuddled properly! Or even got a nuzzle!
"(Why are you doing this to me~e!)" my brother bawled, feeling as sad as I was about our forced separation. "(I made you a promise! And you... I thought you loved me!)"
"(Of course I love you! It's just that right now you—)"
"(WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!)" he openly cried, tears streaming down his face.
Cadance seemed to let her incredulous stare speak for itself, pausing to look at Lara as the pegasus constantly stopped me from crossing the threshold of the lobby's entrance. "(Sorry for that, I'll be back soon. And, um... I'll try not to forget the typewriter this time.)" Cadance sheepishly grinned, engulfing the door with her magic before closing it.
Aww! I didn't even get to spend time with him!
I slumped, finally allowing Lara to relax once she didn't feel the need to stop me from running off after my brother.
...But, in the end... I guessed it wasn't actually that big of a deal since now I knew that there was at least one other changeling nearby! All I had to do now was to find the perfect moment to sneak away!
In the meantime, Lara snorted in anger as she began muttering to herself.
"('Couldn't take care of a foal, even if she wanted to',)" she mockingly mimed before loudly stomping a hoof on the ground in frustration. "(Who does he think he is? Who does he think I am!? I've traveled to places nopony's been to in centuries! I've discovered relics from ages past! Triumphed over ancient puzzles! Secured powerful artifacts away from the wrong hooves, paws, hands, claws and tentacles! I've even occasionally saved the world! And he thinks I can't take care of a foal!?)"
Her rage slowly gave way to doubt as her breathing slowed down, until she eventually froze as if considering something.
Sensing her deteriorating emotional state, I turned to face her.
Our eyes met.
She fidgeted with her forehooves while she sat on her haunches, averting eye contact as she stared at the ground between us, glancing at me after a moment.
"Artemis?" she asked with a softer voice than I had ever heard from her. "(Do you, think, that... that I... am I a... would I be a g-good...?)" she stammered, her voice laced with a certain amount of hope, though at the same time she was feeling increasingly anxious.
I glomped her before she could finish.
To my surprise, however, she remained troubled and adopted that one expression she had whenever she thought I wasn't looking, even as she returned the hug and petted my back at that perfect spot in-between the base of my wings, making them flutter lightly in contentment. It made me almost literally melt in her hooves, feeling like pudding as she continued stroking that delightful area and it just felt so goooooooo—no, no! Stay awake! Focus!
She had this kind of... thoughtful look, as if contemplating something big, something that would perhaps be life-changing and if I had to guess, it had to do with me considering she stole glances in my direction every now and then with that look.
Ugh! If only I was able to actually converse with her! I was certain that I could've helped with whatever was on her mind.
...
...
Oh hey! Right there! It's that one book that she was previously going to read to me!
I flailed a foreleg in its general direction while Lara was holding me, letting out a nondescript chirp to catch her attention.
She shook her head out of her musings, noticing the book.
"(Oh. Sure,)" she said in a distracted manner, grabbing the book as I settled myself comfortably on her lap. I still gave her a worried look though, since her thoughts seemed to remain occupied with something else.
Lara saw my concerned gaze, weakly smiling down at me. "(I'm, it's... complicated, Artemis. But, everything's fine! You've got absolutely nothing to worry about,)" she warmly finished with a nuzzle.
Finally opening the book once more, she did what she could to bring my attention to it; clearing her throat in preparation to begin her storytelling...
...Until I turned to face the lobby's entrance and she once more followed my gaze.
"(OH COME ON!)"
The door opened, allowing entry to Sparkles and... a whole load of stuff that she was levitating behind her.
No, seriously. There were a lot of things. Objects of all kinds; books, little toys, books, little contraptions, books, a few metal orbs of varying sizes, books...
I had this really vague suspicion that she loved books.
"(I'm back!)" Sparkles happily greeted. "(What did... I... miss...!?)"
Aaaaand everything crashed down the moment she noticed the state of the room, the purple glow surrounding the assorted objects disappearing.
...Yeaaaah, we should probably clean up this mess sometime.
Probably.
Lara sighed in exasperation, roughly closing the book with an audible *Thunk*. "(Magic surge.)"
Sparkles trailed her wide-eyed gaze over the lobby one more time, doing this weird motion afterwards where she closed her eyes, breathed in as she brought a foreleg to her chest, and then breathed out, extending the leg ahead of herself. "(It's alright, I've had to clean up my own library from similar disasters pretty frequently. Let me just...)"
The unicorn rearranged everything that she had brought with her magic, separating the objects into neatly organized piles depending on what the items consisted of. After doing that, all of the books that were already in the room before she arrived were levitated next to the bookshelf, forming towers that would no doubt be sorted out later. Next, all of the overturned furniture was set upright and placed right back to where it all used to be, in the same exact formation as before.
I paid close attention to her horn, trying to determine how she was using her magic like so. If I could learn how to replicate that feat... Well, she seemed to have this pattern going through her horn, from what I could sense. It didn't appear to be too complicated, so maybe I could try that soon...
In the span of under half a minute, the room was practically back to how it used to be before my accident, sans the pieces of literature that still needed to be re-shelved—
"(What's this doing here?)" asked Sparkles as she levitated Lara's familiar helmet over to herself.
...Didn't Lara hide that helmet from view with the other hat? Was it supposed to be a secret?
Lara's slightly panicked expression confirmed my thoughts.
"(It looks just like in the books!)" Sparkles exclaimed, excitedly examining it from various angles while she spun it in her magic. "(Practically authentic—)"
Running up to the unicorn, I pounced on the flying helmet, making Sparkles yelp as she immediately let go of her magical grasp on it.
I ended up landing in a way that the helmet completely engulfed my miniature body.
"(It's mine, actually!)" Lara proclaimed as I scampered around while in the cloth prison. "(I always keep one with me. It's... an author kind of thing! To have something from my series. On me. At all times. No matter what. Yes.)"
I forgot how fun it was to run in an enclosed space that could be moved! Heck, just running in general! I felt like I could go on forever with all of this unspent energy that I had—
*Thunk*
"Ow!" I squeaked. Must've hit a table or something— ah, yes, I did.
I retracted my hoof back under the helmet and resumed running around in the opposite direction, using a zigzag pattern towards where I thought Lara was.
This was like playing minesweeper!
Or, at least, it was like before I learned how to actually play that game.
Danger lurking in almost every direction, blindly rushing into lands unknown, never knowing if the next step would be the last—
*Thunk*
...ow.
Sparkles laughed for the first time since I've known her. "(Alright, Artemis, that's enough of that. I've got books for you!)" she cheered.
The helmet was encased in the purple glow and hefted up into the air—
"(Wha— where'd she go!?)" Sparkles panicked when nothing was revealed on the floor under it, quickly peering into the helmet itself—
I jumped out of it with a war cry and successfully hugged her face lovingly.
She froze and tensed as I clung to the top of her muzzle, but hey! At least she wasn't feeling disgust towards me anymore! Still supremely curious, though.
"(W-well, aren't you a sneaky little changeling?)" Sparkles nervously remarked with a not-too-fake smile.
I was levitated to the ground, the unicorn then trotting towards the pile near the entrance.
...
Hey, now that I thought about it, looking at my practically perfect physical imitation of Lara... I pretty much figured out the basics of shape-shifting! I could change... change into...
...into...
...
Change into what?
I couldn't just transform into a human; how would the ponies even react to that? Humans might've never even existed on this planet to begin with! Was I even able to turn into one? My current shape had barely changed my physiology, so it made sense that it was quick, easy and painless, but how would it feel like if I went from being a quadruped to a biped?
I guessed that I was going to find out if a human transformation was possible once I'd finally get some privacy, though it was safe to assume that it wouldn't occur anytime soon. Not that my current form didn't feel great and natural, especially since I felt even more comfortable as my normal insect-like self.
"(Aha! This should be a good one to start,)" said Sparkles, levitating a few wooden blocks in her magical aura while Lara approached to sit next to me.
What about my gender?
...I mean, I wasn't entirely satisfied that I was a changeling girl at birth, but, as much as I loathed to admit it, it seemed that I was stuck with it as my default form no matter what since I felt like I was 'wearing' something whenever I wasn't 'myself'. It wasn't that I inherently disliked being a girl; rather, after spending a few decades as a guy, it was something that I pretty much defined as 'normal' whenever I thought about myself as a person.
I wondered if that would change over time; if I should be trying to cling to my past self, or embrace my new one with open arms hooves.
What about Lara and Cadance? They already knew of my true form and they loved me for it. Would that change if I took on an unfamiliar, male appearance?
Alternatively, I had to admit that it felt pretty great to be treated like a little sis—sibling. I didn't think I ever was this touchy feely before, but it's just that... these ponies! They were just so cuddly and fluffy, and it felt so good to hug them, even more so when they returned it and held me while they showered me with their succulent love! Especially when it came to that love! Mmmmm...
...
...
I wiped off the drool that was starting to form, having caught Lara's befuddled stare.
Seriously though, these ponies were like life-sized plushies!
...Well, more like Godzilla-sized.
I put all of my thoughts about my body and gender on hold when Sparkles came over with various little items, which consisted of blocks that took on various shapes along with a much larger hollowed-out cube that had a hole on each of its sides, every one of them corresponding to a different shape that matched with the blocks.
She set the hollow cube in front of me and, after staring at it for a couple seconds, gave me the star-shaped block, attentively watching my reaction.
"(Is there a point to this? Or are you merely entertaining her?)" Lara curiously asked.
I walked around the box while observing each of its sides, but none of the holes that I could see corresponded with a form that would fit for the block that she had given me...
"(This is just a quick test to see her problem-solving skills,)" Sparkles eagerly replied. "(Where's Cadance and my BBBFF, by the way? I thought they'd be here already.)"
...So I turned the box upside down and inserted the star in the one side that I couldn't previously look at.
The unicorn blinked. "(Huh. She caught on pretty quickly.)"
"(...Assuming BBBFF somehow means Captain Shining Armor, they came by not too long ago. The Captain didn't appear to be in his right mind though, thus they had to leave shortly afterwards. You missed them by a few minutes, in fact.)"
"(Oh. I hope he's okay...)" Sparkles trailed off.
She then gave me all of the blocks at once, at which point I just absentmindedly inserted them into their proper slots in a timely fashion.
"(Seems to have memorized the location of every shape after her first examination, too...)" Sparkles muttered as—when did she get that scroll and quill!?
Lara gave the purple pony an odd look. "(You haven't commented about the fact that Artemis learned to transform yet. I would've thought that you would jump at the prospect of learning how that worked.)"
"(Of course I would love to learn about that!)" Sparkles replied, pausing in her scribbling for a second. "(Doctor Lab Coat is working on that part at the moment; said he thought he was close to a breakthrough of some kind. I'm more interested in Artemis and what she's capable of, though.)" Her eyes glanced at me before they suddenly narrowed in suspicion, traveling between Lara and I. "(Come to think of it, you look very much like Daring Do...)"
I made my way to the pile of books near the bookshelf since they were taking their sweet time with their conversation...
"(B-but of course! It was only natural for me to make the heroine of the series look similar to the pony who created her!)" Lara nervously grinned, shifting in her dress to discreetly cover herself some more.
Sparkles nodded in understanding. "(Ah. Though, speaking of your series...)" Her eyes glinted with excitement. "(Is there going to be a return of the lizard creatures from beyond the dark swamp—)"
"(By the stars, I hope not!)" Lara blurted, rearing her head back.
Sparkles tilted her head in confusion while I paused to see if my friend was alright.
"(...Uhh, *Ahem*, that is to say,)" Lara smoothly recovered, renewing her 'accent'. "(I have not yet given sufficient thought to that particular premise for a sequel. That book was especially difficult to... write, and only time will tell whether or not inspiration will once more... strike me so that I may continue the series on that venue.)"
'Alright, now, let's see here...'
Sad "(I see... It's just that their culture was so interesting! Their different way of life, their language composed of miscellaneous sounds and gestures, how their society was structured similarly to the ancient griffin tribes of old... How did you even come up with half of what you had described!?)"
Lara nervously chuckled. "(Well—)"
"(In fact, why did you have to make it so that one of the lizard tribesmales—the very same one that had been following Daring around while being generally friendly and helpful—ended up causing a village-wide hunt for her across the entire island, forcing her to fight her way through the mob of warriors that used to be friendly villagers moments before, until she was finally able to escape the settlement with the artifact in her possession?)"
"(I... you see—)"
"(I mean, sure, Daring Do might've refused what appeared to be some sort of marriage proposal from him, but I am fairly certain that you could've written that part of the story at least three hundred fifty-seven different ways! Some of them would've even allowed Daring Do to safely acquire the Ancient Archmage's Scepter of Divinity from their temple without any repercussions whatsoever, while—)"
"(It wasn't that simple!)" Lara angrily interjected, stopping Sparkles' rant right in its tracks. "(There was a lot more going on than you think! I had to take into account the fact that Ti-Nyuk-Nyuk and his tribe zealously guarded the thing at all times, worshipping it as if it were some sort of deity in physical form; and while I wa— Daring had been studying their patrol routes and schedules during the initial week she had been there, their leader suddenly decided she was to be his mate the moment she discovered a window of opportunity!)"
"(Yes, that's exactly what happened in the book—)"
"(Daring had to accept or be mauled on the spot since she was surrounded on all sides with no escape route available, never mind the fact that she was unable to fly properly at the time due to close quarters.)"
Sparkles blinked. "(That's... not how it went—)"
"(Then she had to fight the village's champions, all at once, to prove that she was 'worthy' to be the leader's mate, which was made even more difficult because she had to do it unarmed while they had weapons, and their natural scales protected them more than nearly all of the armors that Daring has had to fight against during her entire career.)"
"Uhhhh—"
"(Then she had to complete a death course. And then another death course that featured lava while her wings were bound. And only then was she allowed to 'roam free' once more as long as she stayed within the village's boundaries and was escorted by no less than four warriors who kept her wings tied, until the very next day where she would be going through the ceremony that would bond her to the chief.)"
"..."
"(Thankfully, the whole ritual was going to occur within their temple itself, so all I had to— Daring had to do was grab the staff during one of the most crucial parts of their whole 'marriage' process and flee as quickly as possible while using their shock to her advantage so that she could buy herself some time to escape a little easier.)"
...Okay, I was going to get up to comfort Lara, but it seemed that her speech was something that she simply had to let out since she felt better afterwards. As it stood, I returned to my 'reading', leaving them to their 'girl talk' or whatever it was they were conversing about.
"...Wow," was all Sparkles could say for a few moments while Lara calmed down. "(I know I tend to immerse myself in my books whenever I read them, but you make it sound as if you've actually lived through everything that you just described! Why wasn't any of that in the book, anyway?)"
Lara shuddered. "(The series is known for being accessible to ponies of all ages. I do not believe that the book would've been published if I wrote about how Daring had been on the brink of death, injured as she was from all the cuts and bruises that resulted from the first test. Or how she was stripped of all her possessions for the duration of the following trials. Or how she was barely fed in the dark dungeon that they kept her in for the week that it took them to prepare the rest of the 'events', which took Daring three additional days to complete.)"
Sparkles looked horrified. "(Why... why would you even think about making Daring Do go through that—)"
"(Where's Artemis!?)" Lara suddenly interjected, frantically searching around herself for something.
Meanwhile, I flipped to the next page using my muzzle, having learned that it was much easier to do so than trying to control my hooves' grip in order to avoid grabbing all of the remaining pages at once.
From what I could tell, this book gave some very detailed information on various positions that could be used for hugging and cuddling in general, even if the way these griffins did it was kind of odd, at times.
'Ooh, I'll have to try that one with Lara someday.'
I was about to flip the page once more—
"ARTEMIS!" Lara screeched, hurriedly snatching the familiar bright pink book from my grasp.
Again.
==============================================
Right after I was denied my privilege of learning more about griffin cuddling customs, Lara had taken me back to Sparkles, whom gave me a few more toys to play with; all of which were puzzle-based, I noticed. She kept writing notes as I completed the relatively easy 'challenges', the unicorn getting more excited by the moment.
Cadance had arrived shortly thereafter without my brother—to my disappointment—though she did bring stacks of blank papers, a bunch of ink and one of those weird typewriters, like the one I had seen at Lara's secluded house. The pegasus in question seemed to have thanked the alicorn with a smile, though she lingered by my side for a few seconds before finally setting everything up at the nearest table. She sat on a seat that still allowed her to see us in her peripheral vision as she began typing away, continuously pausing to glance in our direction for the first few minutes.
I was starting to get this itch on my left foreleg's shoulder, right where I remembered landing on that one boulder in the jungle. Turning back to my true—and comfortable—form helped in mitigating it, but the 'itch' just wouldn't go away; at least for a good while.
Sparkles soon ran out of puzzles to throw my way and decided to begin teaching me new words with the help of Cadance, using the various books that she had brought; most of which were obviously meant for babies and/or kids. Or perhaps I should say foals? Either way, I was eager to expand my vocabulary and I think it showed, to Sparkles' delight.
But then, right as they taught me the meaning of the word "Sun" by showing me a picture of it, something truly horrifying happened.
Sparkles and Cadance appeared to have gotten an idea at the same time, slowly turning to look at each other before nodding in silent agreement.
Then they moved into position, told me to "look", and—
"(Sunshine, sunshine...)" They tip-toed on the spot.
'...Wha—'
"(...Ladybugs awake!)" They crouched, covered their eyes and uncovered them at the final syllable.
'The heck—'
"Clap your hooves..." They sat on their rumps and did exactly as they said.
'I don't even—'
"(...And do a little shake!)" They joyfully finished by whipping around and allegedly shaking their butts to each other, giggling right afterwards.
'...................'
But that wasn't the horrifying part. No sir!
The horrifying part was when Sparkles turned to face me—and I swear that I saw all of this in slow-motion—before she uttered to me the one word that I was absolutely dreading to hear.
"Repeat!" she gleefully said.
It was only through pure strength of will that I managed to remain seated where I was with the most poker-faced poker-face I could manage. My multi-tasking abilities were working at maximum capacity to prevent me from showing any signs of fear and panic. I couldn't let these two monsters see any weakness on my part, lest they—
Lara snickered in amusement.
...
...
...
I very slowly turned to face the pegasus, a predatory grin plastering itself upon my face.
Her smile faded as I stared into her eyes, her expression turning to fear within seconds.
"You repeat wit me!" I proclaimed, imperiously pointing at Lara.
"You repeat with me," Sparkles quickly corrected in the background.
Lara blanched in the meantime. "Uh, n-no. No thanks! I—"
"Please?"
She bit her lip in uncertainty.
I gave her a sad, pleading look.
She stared at me with beads of sweat rolling down her face.
I intensified my pleading look—
"Hnnngh! Okay, okay!" she conceded, defeated by my clearly superior tactics as she covered her eyes in an attempt to shield herself from my secret weapon. "(Just)... stop (pouting!)"
I beamed and ran up to Lara, getting in position as I eagerly waited for her to join... me... with...
...Oh. Shit.
Just what did I get myself into!?
"(Isn't this great!?)" Sparkles cheered, clapping her forehooves together in excitement as she talked to Cadance. "(Artemis is even learning about our dance!)"
"Yeah!" Cadance happily giggled before glancing between Lara and I, her smile faltering somewhat. "Yeah..."
Welp, I couldn't just back out now; might as well get this over with.
'The things I do for love...' I mentally sighed in resignation.
"(The things I do for you,)" Lara whispered with a bored expression, yet I could sense that she was feeling a little happier than a few seconds ago.
The 'dance' ended up being kind of awkward due to our size difference, plus we had to get Cadance and Sparkles to repeat it a couple more times for us so that we could get it right, but...
Seeing that faint smile on the corner of Lara's lips after we finished it?
Worth it.
That, and Sparkles seemed to be looking at me under a different light with a kind of thoughtful look. I couldn't feel any disgust from her anymore while being in my base form, and I even felt a bit of love flowing through our bond...
==============================================
Lunch was an... interesting affair.
"(What do you mean she hasn't eaten anything at all in her entire life!?)"
"(Exactly what I just said,)" Lara calmly replied while I clung to Cadance.
We were waiting around the table in the kitchen for Lara to finish cooking... whatever it was she was making on the other side of the room.
Sparkles looked at me with a frown. "(That's impossible. Without any form of nourishment, she wouldn't even be alive right now. She's about four days old, right?)" the unicorn asked, receiving an affirmative nod from Lara. "(By now, she should at least be showing signs of hunger, maybe even of malnutrition if she hasn't eaten anything yet.)"
...Well, they were waiting for their food. I was already getting mine from the alicorn that was enjoying every bit of our contact. Her love wasn't as delicious as Lara's, though. Cadance kept having these rare occurrences where, one moment she was happily embracing me, next her gaze went from loving to pained, the bond overflowing with sadguiltremorse— and back to happy after a few seconds.
What's up with that?
Speaking of which...
Guilt "(...Now that I think about it, I did feel a lot weaker every time C-Chrysalis visited me in the caverns. It only started happening when I thought about Shining Armor, though. Didn't s-she say something about feeding on love... for... power...)"
Things got pretty quiet all of a sudden. Everyone was staring at me with looks of realization, too.
"...What?" was all I could ask.
A strand of hair detached itself from Sparkles' mane. "(That's... you... No. Just... No! Love isn't 'something' you can eat! It's impossible!)"
"Twilight."
"(That makes no sense! Emotions are a concept, not something physical that you digest and convert into matter—)"
"Twilight!" Cadance abruptly interrupted.
The unicorn calmed down somewhat on noticing my confused expression, brightening up as she seemed to have gotten an idea—
*Flash*
I gave a start when stuff appeared next to Sparkles. I don't think I'd ever get used to random teleporting objects...
"Sorry," the purple pony sheepishly apologized before writing... no, she was drawing something this time.
She showed me a simplistic picture of, well, 'me' appearing to be in the process of eating various small pink hearts—not the organ kind—with a symbol next to the drawing... which I was guessing was their written version of a question mark?
Either way, she... actually figured out that I ate love?
Huh.
I nodded to let her know that, yes, I ate love. Unless she meant to ask if I ate actual hearts.
...At which point I'd gingerly nod to say that yes, I also ate hearts.
T'was my favorite part of the rabbit I nom'd on, in fact.
"(Does this mean that I've been feeding her all this time?)" Cadance asked, perking up while another strand of Sparkles' mane stuck out.
"(You actually believe this? Just like that!?)" Sparkles asked, frowning with eyes narrowed in disbelief.
"Artemis isn't looking (hungry), is she?"
I brought my muzzle out of Cadance's fur to look up at her with a tilted head. "What 'hungry' mean?"
The alicorn pondered how to answer me, gaining a smile. "'Hungry' means when your (cute) little (tummy) is asking for food!" she cooed while poking my barrel, miming eating something.
Oh. Okay.
"Are you hungry?" Sparkles asked, staring at me intently as if only one answer existed for that simple question.
Was I hungry? I still felt nowhere near full, though I wasn't too close to being empty at the same time...
"...Little," I ended up answering, bringing both of my forehooves together with a small space between them.
Cadance brightened up to a whole new level.
"That's okay, I have all the (love) you need!" she proclaimed, tightening her hold on me with a happy nuzzle—
*Crash* "(Buck!)" Lara loudly exclaimed, broken glass littering the ground around her right after Cadance finished speaking.
"Miss Yearling! (Mind your language, there are foals here!)" Cadance admonished.
"...What 'buck' mean?" I asked with a tilted head.
...
Awkward silence.
...
"Erm... don't repeat," Cadance nervously grinned.
I blinked 'innocently'. "No repeat what?"
"Buck."
"Buck?"
"Yes, buck."
...
...
...
"Oh, buck."
"Buck!" I cheerfully proclaimed.
"No! Bad word! Don't repeat!"
"No repeat what?"
"Buc—"
"Cut it out already!" Sparkles interrupted. Rudely.
Hmph!
--------------------------------------------
A few cuddles, a couple more nuzzles, a quick transition to Lara and a minute or two later, the food was served and everyone was enjoying their meals.
Cadance's food looked a little burnt...
She didn't seem to mind though; her expression one of pure bliss as she moaned and chewed on her seasoned veggies. Made me wish I could taste...
Oh! Hold on a second~
*Fwoomph*— "BUCK!"
In her surprise, Lara had thrown me and I did not yelp like a little girl as I flew across the room... or at least I would've, if a purple aura hadn't caught me almost immediately.
Cadance finally stopped choking on her food from being startled, both the alicorn and unicorn sending disappointed looks to the pegasus, whom ignored them and instead gazed at me worriedly, breathing out a sigh of relief once she realized that all I did was change into Lara Jr.
In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have shape-shifted while clinging to Lara. I mean, I'd be freaked out too if I was holding a kid who spontaneously combusted in my arms while I enjoyed a quiet lunch. At the very least, the red flames that enveloped me whenever I changed form were mostly harmless; I'd hate to actually burn the hand that fed me.
Or the 'hoof' that fed me. Whatever.
"(I was going to ask you to be more careful, but I'm not sure that I would've reacted any better to that,)" Sparkles said as she levitated me back down, gently placing me next to herself on the table.
I sheepishly smiled to all the present ponies. "Sorry."
But anyway, onwards to more pressing matters!
Namely, Sparkles' salad.
I pointed at a random flower. "I can has?"
"Can I have a 'sunflower', please," she corrected. "And... sure?" She levitated the requested item onto my waiting hooves.
I shoved the large piece into my mouth with the manners they had taught me (read: none) and started chewing.
...
'...Whoa, this is weird.'
The herb actually had a taste, but... at the same time, it had no taste? Like, I could tell it was 'good' and 'edible', plus I could probably come up with a way to describe the 'flavor', but... I felt like I was chewing ash.
"(Did you even try to get her to eat anything other than... love?)" Sparkles asked as I swallowed.
Oof, I probably shouldn't have eaten that, actually. I felt full... rather, whatever held anything I physically ate felt full.
"Yes, (I offered some flowers of my own, but she didn't want any,)" Lara replied.
Mmphgh, shit, too full! I think I'm...
"(There were also the amazing pancakes from this morning that Artemis refused,)" Cadance added, gaining a dopey expression as she absently stared into nothing, practically drooling.
'...I'm going to...'
"(Well, you see? We're not entirely certain yet that Artemis actually eats emotions, but she is clearly capable of eating—)"
*Bleurgh!* *Splat*
"(...normal foods?)"
Cadance, brought out of her reverie, stared at what I had just expelled from my mouth onto the table.
"(...That doesn't really look like normal food to me,)" she stated, grimacing.
I poked the little blob of gel with a hoof. It wiggled a bit, yet remained stuck on the spot.
It didn't even feel like I puked that! Bringing it out was just... as normal and pleasant as breathing! I even felt like I could do more than just spit 'sticky goop'. I'd have to experiment some more...
Lara looked at the little green blob for a moment, checked to see if I was fine, shrugged, and went back to eating as if nothing happened.
Sparkles was slightly disgusted but immensely curious (as always), and attempted to grab a piece of it with her magic, to no avail.
Cadance continued her meal, though at a much slower rate, doing everything she could to not look anywhere near the gel.
And I just sat there, poking it repeatedly.
'Squishy. Squishy squishy squishy.'
After multiple failed attempts to magically detach the gel from the furniture, Sparkles suddenly slammed her forehooves on the table and, with what appeared to be a tremendous amount of effort, finally managed to detach the blob from the table...
...At which point it shot up to the ceiling and stuck itself there with another *splat*.
"Twilight, could you please eat first and (leave that for later?)" Cadance pleaded.
Sparkles sat back down, dejected. "Fiiine."
--------------------------------------------
As we all ate from our own sources, Sparkles and Cadance had been animatedly chatting away with each other about... stuff, speaking too fast for me to follow while simultaneously using words I hadn't learnt yet. Everything was fine and dandy for the most part, until I noticed that Lara was just calmly finishing her food on her side of the table.
Awkwardly.
Quietly.
Alone.
Of course, I rectified that immediately by simply walking towards her until I was close enough to perform the 'hug-me-plis™' pose. She perked up considerably, scooping me up into another hug as she happily resumed eating in a more normal pace.
I kind of felt bad for what I was planning to do when the right opportunity would arise, though. I could only hope that Lara, Cadance and Sparkles wouldn't be too upset by my absence...
...For now, however, I would enjoy the time I had with them as much as I could in case these moments ended up being the last ones we'd have together for an undetermined amount of time.
I couldn't help myself but stare at Lara's salad with distaste from my position on her chest, though. If only I could show her how much better her love tasted than those pathetic greens... that they all seemed to be enjoying immensely, somehow.
'Blech, so much for enjoying regular food. I might as well just switch back to my regular form—'
*Fwoomph*— "BUCK!"
==============================================
"This is the 'moon' that (Princess Luna controls.) Repeat, 'moon'," Sparkles explained, pointing at a picture of the moon on the book we had been going through before lunch.
"This is the moon that (Preencess Loona controwls.) Repeat, moon," I answered.
Sparkles tilted her head. "You only needed to repeat the one word, but that's okay, I (guess)."
"You only needed to repeat the one word, but that's okay, I (guess)." I parroted once more, grinning inwardly.
Lara paused in her typing, having caught on to what I was doing as she sat back to watch the show along with a smirking Cadance.
Sparkles suspiciously squinted her eyes at me. "(...Alright, moving on.)" She flipped to the next page with her magic—
"(Ahlright, mooving on,)" I agreed.
"Oh. I see what you're doing."
"Oh, I see what you're doing."
Sparkles cleared her throat.
Whew, okay, I survived long enough for her to gain that mischievous smirk. Now all I had to do was let her embarrass herself by saying something self-degradi—
"(Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia is the aptly-named term used to describe an intense fear of long words.)"
...
...
...
She smugly smiled at me.
...
...
...
...
*Fwoomph*
"I'm (stoopid.)"
...Oookay, maybe it wasn't such a great idea to turn into a copy of Sparkles and proclaim with her voice what was probably an insult, considering the frown the unicorn was sending my way.
"Who (taught) you that word!?" she sternly demanded after getting over her minor shock.
*Fwoomph*
I quickly turned into a perfect imitation of a miniaturized Cadance in the hopes that it would dissipate her anger. After all, they seemed to be best friends, at the very least. My stratagem appeared to have worked, for Sparkles' eyes widened in disbelief.
She then slowly turned around to look at the real Cadance, whom was trying to sneak away as inconspicuously as possible, for some reason. The alicorn froze under Sparkles' gaze, giggling nervously at the unicorn's slack-jawed expression.
'Whew! Crisis averted.'
==============================================
After a short argument/discussion, they seemed to have cleared up whatever their problem was, resulting in Sparkles laughing at Cadance's expense since the latter felt pretty embarrassed. Lara's snickering probably didn't help much in that regard as well.
So we went back to finishing the book.
This time, the page showed the various types of ponies. Sparkles wasted no time to cheerfully name each of them, but...
It made me wonder.
I pointed at Lara, stating: "Pegasus."
Cadance and Sparkles eagerly nodded with bright smiles.
I pointed at Sparkles. "Unicorn."
They continued bobbing their heads up and down with no lack of enthusiasm whatsoever.
I pointed at Cadance. "Alicorn."
Cadance clapped her forehooves together, happy that I seemed to have gotten everything right so far, though Sparkles' grin began to dissipate, as if she realized where I was going with this.
And then I slowly moved my hoof to point at myself, tilting my head in a silent question.
A silent question that made their cheery expressions morph into neutral ones, until they forced themselves to chuckle, glancing between each other nervously.
"You're a 'changeling'," Lara answered from her position at the nearby table before Cadance and Sparkles could say anything.
Huh. So they came up with a name for my kind that fast? Or did they have one ready because they already knew about us? I never heard about anyone having knowledge of our existence...
...Something didn't feel right here.
"This... isn't good," Sparkles muttered to herself in concern.
Cadance looked perplexed. "What is?"
Sparkles briefly glanced at my innocent expression before facing Cadance. "(The nymph has gained knowledge of the fact that she is unlike the equines displayed within the tome that our group has been perusing through.)"
Oh. Great. Now she's purposely using words that I don't understand to probably talk about me.
Cadance tilted her head in befuddlement. "...So?"
Actually, I think that there IS a way for me to maybe ascertain whether or not I'm the first changeling they've ever known. Unfortunately, they hadn't taught me the words I'd need to clearly ask the question...
...Unless...
"(Ponder about how us grown equines would have to respond when the nymph eventually realizes that—)"
"Only one 'changling'?" I interjected, pointing at myself once more.
Holy shit. The panic I felt from Sparkles skyrocketed, and Cadance's emotions were all over the place. Again. Heck, even Lara went wide-eyed and stopped typing as she froze completely, staring at me in concern.
"Uh, erm, I... Oh look!" Sparkles quickly exclaimed much louder than necessary, levitating something from the pile she had brought.
'Yeah, something's definitely fishy here—Oooh!'
Right there.
In Sparkles' magical aura.
Was a plushy of Lara!
It was as big as I was, dressed with the 'Daring Do' outfit, but what was undeniably the most important feature out of everything else:
It was extra fluffy.
...It was also sent rocketing towards my face hard enough to knock me flat on my back. Not that I minded, though; I pretty much squeezed the heck out of it right afterwards.
I was so enamored with my first toy that I almost missed the sigh of relief that everyone—wait, this was mine now, right? How could I formulate the question with what little I knew...? Hmm...
"This... with me?"
Close enough.
"Is this for me," Sparkles corrected, immediately taking the opportunity to return to her familiar 'teacher mode'. "And yes! That is a (gift) for you. Heheh." She widely grinned.
Fuck yeah!
Lara gave a sideways look at Sparkles. "(You do realize that you cannot keep her from eventually finding out the truth, don't you?)" she asked as I ecstatically barrel-rolled around the floor while clinging to the plushy.
'IT'S SO FLUFFEH!'
Sparkles sighed. "(I know, but... just look at her!)"
"I'll name you Lola! And I will hug you and squeeze you and pet you and pat you and rub you and caress you..." I chirped as I happily rocked the stuffed toy to and fro within my embrace.
"(Do you want to be the one to take away that innocence? Take away what time she has left to just enjoy a normal life while she can still have one?)" Sparkles rhetorically asked.
"...and we will rule the world together forever and ever and— Blech!" What was up with the disgustingly gloomy atmosphere around here all of a sudden?
Cadance somewhat got a hold of her emotions, standing slightly straighter. "(What happened during my wedding might've been my fault to begin with, but... at the very least, I'll make sure that she knows that she has somepony that loves and cares for her. Let her know that... that she isn't truly alone.)"
While Lara seemed to have gone into deep thought with that look once more, I ran up to Sparkles and tackled her lightly.
And by lightly, I mean I almost bowled her over.
"Thanks you!" I cheerfully exclaimed.
"Thank you," she automatically corrected... leaning down after a moment to give me a nuzzle with an uncertain yet genuine smile adorning her face as the flow of love that came from her increased.
I then leapt down from Sparkles and started dragging Lola to Lara, taking extra care to not damage my new companion in any way, shape or form. I was almost there when I caught Lara mumbling to herself as she absently stared towards a window.
"(...ot truly alone...?)"
Stopping in front of the pegasus, I held the toy up to her and chirped to get her attentio—wait a second, I knew words!
"Look!" I excitedly shouted said.
--------------------------------------------
Cadance's words rang in Daring's mind.
'...Let her know that somepony cares for her? That she's not truly alone...?'
Being alone was something that Daring had gotten very familiar with ever since the departure of her father. She had taken his teachings to heart afterwards; the most important of which included having a complete distrust for anypony else. In a way, he was right in that you couldn't trust and rely on anypony more than yourself to watch your own back, but...
What was she supposed to do when somepony looked up to her for guidance? When somepony trusted her with their life...?
"*Chirp?*"
Daring made sure to never have to rely on anypony for anything, but... now she had someling that seemingly relied on her—
"LOOK!"
"Gah!" Dar— Yearling jumped, startled from the joyful cry from the little one that managed to sneak up to her.
The pegasus was about to berate the nymph for interrupting her train of thought... However the words died in her throat from merely glancing at the foal.
Artemis had one of the happiest expressions she had seen yet, the changeling's slitted eyes practically sparkling with joy while her muzzle sported a grin so wide that Daring could see the entirety of her miniature teeth and fangs.
And the nymph was sitting on her haunches, beaming as she held up the stuffed toy that Twilight Sparkle had brought as a gift / impromptu distraction.
Something clicked in the pegasus' mind on seeing the tiny foal happy like so.
Daring may not have known the first thing when it came to being a proper guardian for a newborn foal, nor was she experienced when it came to familial matters—having lost her own so early in her life—but... simply being there for Artemis? Making sure that the little one felt loved?
...yes. Yes, she could do that.
==============================================
We had gotten tired of going through books for words.
"Please?" Sparkles pleaded.
"No."
"Pretty please?" she begged.
"No."
"Just one more!"
"No!"
...And by that, I meant that I was the one getting tired of it. There was only so much I could take of hearing strings of alien syllables, 'repeat', and trying to figure out the equivalent word in English to help me remember it easier. Sparkles really wanted to keep going; the fact that we stopped made her pretty upset.
It was alright though. She brought out something else instead, renewing her excited 'teacher mode'.
While I snuggled against Lola and resisted the urge to start running around just for the sake of running, Sparkles placed a series of metal orbs in a row on the floor in front of me, organizing them from smallest to largest. The tiniest of them was as large as one of my hooves, while the biggest one's size was slightly greater than my entire body... which wasn't actually that big in the grand scheme of things considering how tall I was compared to everyone else due to my 'young age'.
Sparkles then lit up her horn, surrounded every single orb with her magical aura and made them all float about a foot or so away from the ground.
"Levitation!" she cheerfully exclaimed, gesturing towards the hovering balls and her glowing horn.
...And then I think she proceeded to enthusiastically explain how to do that in excruciating detail, except she was using various words that I didn't know yet and spoke a little too fast for me to properly catch up to what she was actually saying.
She still kept her demonstration going with the orbs suspended in mid-air, though. I could sort-of feel the pattern that was currently flowing through her horn, so... maybe if I tried to copy that? It didn't seem too complicated, after all.
Alright... channel the energy... make two 'lines' go through the horn in a parallel formation, but avoid crossing the streams... uh, wait, I needed something to grab.
"Plis stop talk," I told Sparkles.
"Please stop talking," she automatically corrected before she registered that my horn was beginning to glow.
I was making extra sure to not put too much 'magic' into it, this time. Didn't want a repeat of earlier...
She set the orbs back on the floor and sat back to curiously watch me, at which point I chose to start with the largest, no doubt heavier one. 'Go big or go home', as some would say.
The moment I... 'unleashed' the pattern, for lack of a better term, I was suddenly made aware of a new 'invisible limb' that I seemed to be able to control. It kind of reminded me of my old hands, except... no, it was actually more akin to a flailing tentacle.
I stuck my tongue out in concentration as I did my best to try and redirect the flow so that the new appendage would connect with the orb. The moment I finally managed to make 'contact', it was as if the invisible limb became a taut piece of string instead of a flimsy tentacle, and... I could feel the energy holding the then-glowing metal ball as if I was grasping it with a nonexistent hand. Or, at least, that was the closest way I could think of to explain the feeling.
"Um, Artemis? Try with a smaller one first?" Cadance suggested.
Was... was levitation really that simple? Well, I still had yet to actually move the thing, so I tried 'pulling it' upwards—
It shot straight up, smashed through the ceiling, and I lost my hold on it by then as it kept flying upwards towards the sky while small pieces of debris rained down around us.
...
...
...
I swear I thought it was much heavier than that!
"Cadance? Could you go (retrieve the training sphere) before it ends up falling on somepony?" Sparkles nervously asked as I tried to shake off the sudden dizziness that I was experiencing.
The alicorn shook herself out of her surprise and wordlessly nodded... and... whoa, that... that pattern she was charging up in her horn was WAY more complex—
*Flash*
—and Cadance was gone from the room, reappearing at a higher elevation if my senses were right.
...So, depending on how the energy flowed through the horn, different things would happen? It really made me wonder just what the limits of magic were, considering the 'teleport' pattern that I briefly managed to glimpse at because of Cadance featured multiple streaks of energy intertwining repeatedly into elaborate diagrams and symbols within other elaborate diagrams and symbols... and that was before even releasing the 'spell'! For a split second, I sensed the magic leaving her horn, except that instead of a flailing 'tentacle' like mine, it was a perfectly straight and focused beam that went in the direction she had seemingly teleported to.
Cadance reappeared shortly afterwards with the orb in her magical possession, dropping it on the floor with a *Thunk* that shook the ground enough for me to feel the minor tremor it caused.
...
Okay, so it apparently was as heavy as I thought it was.
"Maybe we should teach her (control) first," Cadance carefully suggested, Sparkles rapidly bobbing her head up and down in agreement.
What I just did with that orb was... pretty scary, truth be told. I don't think I've ever seen a human capable of throwing something like that with as much 'force' as I apparently did, or even anywhere remotely as effortlessly as I managed to. Did anyone with a horn have this much power? Was magic itself simply that strong?
...No, Sparkles and Cadance looked genuinely surprised when I did it, so I must've been the one that was different from the norm; besides the fact that I wasn't an unicorn or an alicorn to begin with, that is.
Well... I was starting to feel as if I had drunk a cup or two of coffee. The combined love from these three ponies had been steadily adding up this entire time, and...
...This seemed kind of odd; but, ever since I showed Lara this amazing plushy that I was squeezing, she... well, something changed with the love she was giving off. It didn't feel 'restrained' anymore, and she looked like she had come to some grand realization right then. I wish I knew what she was trying to tell me when she whispered something after having pulled me into a bear hug right then. It sounded kind of important, so I memorized the sounds she had made in case I learned what they meant. I probably should've let Sparkles and Cadance continue teaching me words...
In any case, with the addition of the large boost of love that Lara had suddenly started giving off, it was getting to the point where I was finding it increasingly difficult to stay put and remain calm.
Maybe that was why I got tired of the books to begin with...
Welp, Sparkles and Cadance were busy clearing the miscellaneous debris and repairing the hole in the ceiling with a bunch of complicated 'spells', so I might as well do something in the meantime.
Maybe a lap or two around the room would be enough to burn all this extra energy.
==============================================
It wasn't enough.
==============================================
'I-I'm sorry Lola! I... I couldn't bring you with me!'
Hiding under a couch, I did my best to remain as quiet as possible. Even now, I could feel the tremors caused by the distant footsteps of that beast, my rapid heartbeats throbbing loudly in my ears.
*Clip-Clop*
*Clip-Clop*
*Clip-Clop*
Oh shit, that... monster was getting closer!
*Clip-Clop*
*Clip-Clop*
It had already taken Lola from me! What more did it want!?
*Clip-Clop*
*Clip-Clop*
It... it stopped next to the couch that I was hidden under. I could do nothing more than hold my breath and keep hoping that it would continue on its way and not notice... my... tail that was sticking out...
...
...
I very, very slowly tucked it under the furniture with me.
The monster laughed with its evil, overly-cheerful giggles.
Shit! It didn't see my tail, did it—!?
The couch was levitated up in the air with the familiar turquoise aura of the pink monstrosity that had been chasing me around for the past few minutes with a gleeful, sadistic grin.
"YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE!" I screeched, taking off in the opposite direction as Cadance and I laughed away, resuming our improvised game of cat and mouse.
It actually was pretty scary to be chased around by someone who was literally around six times my own size and whose footsteps sent tremors that I could feel along the ground, but it was the 'fun' kind of scary because, well... it was just a giant friendly pink alicorn.
Besides, even if I was reluctant to use my magic because of how strong it apparently was, it still made me feel safer in knowing that if I ever desired it, I was probably capable of sending anything or anyone that dared threaten me all the way into the upper stratosphere; maybe even beyond.
...Not that I'd ever want to send Cadance into space! She was really nice.
...
Huh. Never thought I'd think about these kind of things so casually— 'Ack!'
"Gotcha!" Cadance beamed as she hugged me similarly to how I did with Lola.
==============================================
By the time the sun had declined enough for it to be considered early afternoon, Cadance and I ended up being alone in the 'house'.
Sparkles had been thoroughly reorganizing the bookshelf and ended up getting caught on a few books, spending her time reading while the alicorn played around with me. The unicorn eventually left, saying something along the lines of "Going to see (Dokter Leb Coat)".
While Lara had been taking breaks from her typing every now and then to join in on our fun, she too had left after a quick trip to what I assumed was her room, though she apparently subsequently left to go "Get more food for the (kitchen.)"
For a split second, I thought I glimpsed the camera film under one of her wings...
In any case, I think Cadance had a small problem.
She had to go.
Like, really had to go.
...To the bathroom.
Thankfully, while taking showers with others was apparently fine, relieving oneself seemed to remain as a private kind of thing, so I was saved from having to accompany her while she let nature take its course.
And therein lied the problem for Cadance:
Going to the bathroom meant leaving me alone. Or, I guess 'unsupervised' was the appropriate term.
After a few moments of urgently tip-toeing on the spot and rapidly moving her gaze between the bathroom and I, Cadance finally came upon a decision.
"Stay there!" she commanded, pointing a hoof at me and waiting no more than a couple seconds before making a mad dash to the room on the other side of the lobby, slamming the door behind her.
Huh. How long had she been holding back her need to use the restroom—?
The door reopened and Cadance quickly peeked out of it, her gaze landing on me.
I blinked at her in confusion.
She kept looking at me for a few seconds until she finally closed the door to 'supposedly' empty her bladder.
...
Panic—
Cadance reappeared at the entrance of the bathroom, once more staring at me intently.
I eagerly waved at her with a forehoof while holding Lola against me with the other.
'Sheesh, she's acting like I would suddenly decide to run away the moment I get the opportunity.'
...She very slowly closed the door, though this time it was for good since I could sense the relief flowing out of her a couple seconds later—
I suddenly decided to run away the moment I saw the opportunity.
Quickly making my way to the lobby's entrance with Lola held between my wings, I focused on getting my magic to connect with the large ornate doors, taking extra care to regulate the amount of power I'd use to 'pull' them open. The task complete a moment later, I made sure to close the entryway so that Cadance wouldn't immediately suspect anything. She'd probably end up searching the entire 'house' thoroughly to try and find me for some time.
...Except that, as I stared at the huge hallway that I had already had a glimpse of during my brother's visit, I had to wonder if this place was even a manor or a mansion. Everything looked expensive; from the miscellaneous armored pony statues, to the golden chandeliers and candles that littered the place, to the rich-looking carpet under my hooves...
Just by glancing around at this section of whatever kind of building I was in... well, this place looked fit for a President.
Which reinforced my belief that something didn't feel right.
Lara had taken us here, but I woke up in the arms forelegs of Cadance instead. Was my pegasus friend meant to just deliver me to the alicorn? If so, how did she even know about my existence, not counting the fact that our hive was supposedly a closely-guarded family secret?
And what was Sparkles' role in all of this?
The entire time she had been teaching me and giving me those fun little puzzle games to play around with and solve, she had been... taking... notes...
...
...Oh.
Shit.
Now I knew exactly why the unicorn was so curious; I was an unknown species to them! Lara must've brought me here so that they could study me!
Why else would Sparkles give me the odd request to spit in a little container while putting the blob of gel I had coughed earlier in another one!? Why else would they all be fascinated whenever I changed form as long as I wasn't scaring them to death by bursting into red flames in their arms?
Was... did Lara really just, sell me out to some sort of rich pony so that I could be studied?
...
...no. No, Lara had stayed around, and the love that she continuously fed me couldn't be faked. She cared about me way too much to just turn me in like that.
But Sparkles still did take notes about me. Notes that could potentially endanger my entire family if these ponies ended up finding out too much about my secretive species and, even worse, published all of the information they compiled on us for the world to see...
...Fuck. I had to try and fix this, somehow!
...
Alright, first, I had to find Sparkles. If I found her, I was likely to find the mountain of notes she had written on me. Then I'd have to find a way to dispose of it all...
Maybe my brother could help me! Ever since I sort-of linked with him, I had this feeling that he was... over there, in that one direction. I just had to find him and hope that he wouldn't be too upset that I had already compromised our secrecy so much...
Okay, enough lollygagging! Time is of the essence! Who knew what Sparkles could have done with those notes already?
In any case, with Lola at my side, I was absolutely certain that nothing could possibly go wr— no, no! Almost jinxed myself right there. Whew.
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A few more minutes, and day court would be over.
If anypony were to look very closely, they would've noticed that Princess Celestia's smile wasn't forced at all during those particular moments. Of course, nopony could've known that she was merely holding back her excitement for the impending visit to a certain niece that remained a secret to the general public for the time being.
Just a few more minutes.
The memory of the little changeling's happy expression as she hugged the Sun Princess' muzzle for warmth kept replaying in Celestia's mind. Her duties as a Diarch of Equestria were the only things that were keeping her from rushing off to spend time with the nymph right then and there.
Just a few more minutes.
Fortunately, things were starting to calm down significantly and the number of ponies that required assistance had greatly diminished, so it seemed that she would even be able to end court earlier than usual!
Truly, today was turning out to be a great day.
And there was absolutely. Nothing. That. Could. Possibly. Go. Wro—