//------------------------------// // Chapter 8 - Family Ties Over the Dimensional Divide // Story: Fluttershy Flutterguy // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 8 Family Ties Over the Dimensional Divide _________________________________________________________ I sigh as I walk along the outskirts of Ponyville at a slow pace, since I’m eight months pregnant now and my hooves had swollen a bit, wearing a green scarf around my neck. August has come, bringing with it the first bits of cold weather and signs of Autumn. I trot along as best as my swollen hooves allow, just admiring nature around me. I pause and smile at a squirrel who seems to be making some prepares for winter. It does puzzle me how Equestria works, sometimes. Most of the time, the animals need ponies like me to help that out with things, especially preparing for hibernation. Then, there were times like now, when they did it all on their own. It filled me with odd mixtures of pride and uncertainly to see any animals caring for themselves. It was very confusing. As I turn to continue walking into Ponyville, I see another squirrel, a female, come up to the one I’d been watching. The two smiled, before nuzzling each other. “Aww,” I can’t help but coo at the display of affection. But, after I speak, I feel a ping of sadness. I push it down and keep smiling, nodding my head to the two squirrels and heading into town. As I pass into the town, I bump into Derpy, who apologizes, saying something about Cangkrilots and flies on until she’s out of sight. I blink, frowning. The word rings a bell, but from another show. Code Lyoko had monsters called Cangkrilots. They kinda looked like cockroaches... sorta. I shake my head. Couldn’t be the same monsters. Those were digital and Equestria was far from the digital age and knew I wouldn’t live to see them reach it. I continue on, moving to the park, finding an empty bench and sitting down and letting out a deep breath, letting my mind wander. Clear Skies and I still keep in regular contact. We usually have tea together once a week. Sometimes it’s awkward to think of conversations that don’t eventually lead to talking about her now ex-husband, but we do enjoy out chats about how our foals with play together when they’re born. However, there was one topic that I always went quiet about during our chats. Naturally, I’d told her about how I used to be a human before somehow becoming fused with Fluttershy and my mind becoming the dominant one, not to mention that the original’s soul had been put into a new body that was no growing alongside Scootaloo. However, this had led Skies to ask about my human family. At first, I’d been fine with talking about them, how could I not be happy when talking about the ones who originally brought me into existence before I ended up as Fluttershy? With each recounting of my time on Earth, however, I found I wanted to talk less and less about the world my human-self had lived in, until Skies finally stopped asking altogether. Shaking these thoughts away, I look around the park at the passing ponies to distract myself... and my smile slides a bit. I see fillies and colts with their parents, having picnics, chatting, feeding the ducks or just playing. Not long ago, I would have smiled at these kinds of sights... but right now... “Fluttershy? Hey, Fluttershy?” I turn to see Apple Bloom running up to me, a big smile on her face. “Hello, Apple Bloom,” I smile back. “What can I do for you?” The little filly stops in front of me, before curiosity and slight worry enter her eyes. “Are ya’ll alright?” “O-of course,” I say quickly, trying to give a reassuring smile. “I’m fine. Just...” as I look away from her, I spot Dinky Doo running up and hugging her mother, “... fine.” Apple Bloom follows my gaze, looks back frowns up at me, clearly not convinced. “What’s wrong, Fluttershy? Ya’ll can tell me. Ah Pinkie Promise Ah won’t tell nopony if’n ya wanna keep it t’ yerself,” she finishes by going through the motions of the promise. I look down at those pleading amber eyes, before closing my own as a few tears slide down my cheeks. “I miss my parents,” I whisper. Apple Bloom cocks an eyebrow. “Well... why don’cha jus’ go visit ’em? Ah’m sure they’d be happy fer ya to visit.” I barely manage to hold back a sob. “N-not my pony parents, Apple Bloom. My human parents.” There’s silence between us for a few moments. “Ya... ya really wanna see ’em... even like ya are now?” I nod, not holding back the sobs this time. “I-I’ve tried to be strong all this time. I-I know Twilight loves me and I do her and everypony cares about me, b-but I—” “They’re still yer family. Ya’ll wan’ ’em ta know yer safe, right?” I nod as the tears continue to flow. “I miss them, Apple Bloom. I miss them so much it hurts! And... and knowing I’m having children, ones they could in a way still see as their grandchildren, but them never knowing about it, or that I’m even still alive? It... I...” I can’t finish as my sobs turn every word I say into a blubbering confusion that even I can’t understand what I’m saying. “Then I think I need to have a word with somepony.” I do my best to calm my sobs and look around, trying to find the source of the voice, but notice I can’t see him anywhere. “Oh, for Celestia’s sake. Down here, Fluttershy.” I look down to Apple Bloom, and nearly shriek in friend. The young filly looking up at me no longer has her beautiful amber eyes. Instead, they’re bright red, with yellow where the whites should be. Hanging from her upper lip is a single pointed tooth. The filly’s shape seems to stretch upwards, morphing into the mishmash of creatures that form Discord’s body. He looks at me sadly. “I can’t bear to see you this upset, Fluttershy. I’m going to fix this.” “Discord, wait—” I began, but he was gone before the second word even left my lips. I slump back on the bench, now wondering just what Discord meant. As far as Twilight or the other princesses had been able to tell, whatever connection that had occurred which linked Earth and Equestria for the brief time it did when I was pulled into Fluttershy, had closed long before I’d first gained consciousness as the Pegasus. From what I’d been saying about missing my family and wishing I could at least talk to them, I’m pretty sure that’s what he planned to ‘fix’. But, how could he possibly ‘fix’ that without causing a huge problem. Making a decision, I got up and hurried towards the library. I care about Discord like any friend should care for another, but if he indeed was going to do something to let me see my family, which could very well end the universe, I was going to spend what could be my last hours with my marefriend. _________________________________________________________ I blink, looking around me. I’m in darkness. A part of me says that should scare me alone, but... there’s something about this darkness. Something... comforting? “Um... he-hello?” I call out, my voice echoing around the emptiness around me. The echoes go on for several seconds, cuasing a small bit of unease to enter me. Where the heck am I? After I decided to spend the day with Twilight, we’d hung around the library (Spike had made himself scarce and gone to see if Rarity wanted his help with anything, so we could have some alone time), gone out to lunch at one of the outdoor cafes, then later settled by the fire and just rested against each other. I’d fallen asleep laying against her and... found myself here... wherever here is. “Oh no,” I whisper, a thought occurring to me. Had Discord tried to do whatever it was he’d planned to make me feel better, and this had been the end result? A world of blackness? “Considering your friendship with him, I’d have thought you’d have a little more faith in Discord than that.” The strong voice causes me to jump, before looking behind me to see Princess Luna walking from out of the darkness. I blink, before it registers in my brain. “This is a dream?” She nods, then frowns, shaking her head. “It is a dream... but it is also not. After Discord spoke with us, we found his suggestion... unusual, but not impossible.” “Um... what?” I ask, blinking dumbly. That hadn’t answer my question. Or rather, it had, but then had given me several others needed to be asked, but with no idea how to word them. The alicorn scratches her chin for a moment, before she smiles. “Think of this as an inbetween. It is neither the realm of sleep, nor is it awake.” “What? Where are we?” I go rigid, my eyes widening. That voice... it... it can’t be. There’s no logical way it could ever be possible... “You do remember just who I am, don’t you?” Discord asks, appearing in front of me. "Logic isn't something I have the habit of following." I want to answer, but my brain has come to a halt as two bipedal creatures walk from out of the darkness, looking around uncertainly. As soon as they catch sight of me, Princess Luna and Discord, they freeze, their eyes widening. The female has short brown hair cut to her neck, her eyes the same colour as her hair. She’s wearing a pair of silk pink pajamas. The male was a rather large fellow, with very short red hair, blue eyes, a small beard and a goateeish moustache. My legs quiver as I look at the both of them, my eyes moving from one to the other. With Princess Luna here, my brain logical tells me this is just a dream, but... she herself said it was quite a dream. And, Discord is here. Around him logic could just go fuck itself because it had no say in the matter. I gulp, telling my legs to move, but they don’t. My mouth, however, still responds to my demands. “M-mum? D-dad?” Both humans eyes widen, before they frown in confusion, though with fear still evident. “Um, honey?” the woman I’ve known for so long as my mother asks, staring at me. “Did... did that yellow Pegasus just call us... Mum and Dad?” The man who has always been my father slowly nods his head, confusion evident in his eyes. “The question is... why?” Discord groans, folding his arms. “For goodness’ sake. How has the human race survived as long as they have?” He shakes his head. “Three clearly magical creatures appear before them in a strange world, one of them calls them its parents and they don’t think to speak to any of the three?” He looks to me. “Seriously, Fluttershy. Please explain it to me? I normally like things not making sense, but this is ridiculous.” Mum blinks, recognition entering her eyes. “Wait. Fluttershy? Wasn’t that one of the names... names our son often talk about from that My Little Pony show?” As she finished her sentence she seemed to deflate, a rain cloud appearing over her head. At once I frown and turn to the dragonequus. “Discord. Stop making fun of my mum’s sadness!” He held up his claw and paw in the surrender gesture. “Hey, I’m not doing anything. This is a somewhat dream world, remember?” Still frowning, I shake my head and fly over to the human and buck the cloud, dissipating it. I settle back down and look to Mum, my eyes pleading, but she isn’t even looking up. You would think a bright pastel coloured Pegasus bucking a cloud above your head would get some kind of reaction, a glance at the very least. The alicorn among us sighs. “I feel we will not get anywhere unless all is known to your human family, Fluttershy. The only way I can think of this happening and them believing us, is if they see your memories.” I look over my shoulder at her. “That’s the only way?” Luna nods, then gives me a reassuring smile. “Do not fear, Fluttershy. I will only show them what they need to see to know you are indeed their child. Any memories you would rather them not see shall not be displayed to them.” I think for a few moments, before turning to look again at my mother and her... calling it a depression felt a little too small. I take a deep breath and nod. “Okay, Luna. Show them.” “Very well.” The sounds of a magical aura makes me look back at both my parents, whose eyes have become covered in Luna’s aura. After several moments, Dad takes a step back and Mum slowly raises her head. She and I just stare at each other for several moments, myself bitting my lower lip as I wait for her reaction. Suddenly she lunges forward and pulls me into a hug. “My baby! My precious, wonderful baby!” she sobs, holding me tightly. “We... we thought we lost you!” I almost loss my ability to breath as a second person joins the huge and sobs. But, despite the lack of air (my brain doesn’t bother to tell me that, since this is sort of a dream, air is irrelevant at the moment), I couldn’t be happier and just hold my parents as tightly as I can. We all stay that way for what feels like hours, before they both pull back enough to look me over. “You’ve been alive all this time... living as a pony from that show?” Dad asks, giving a watery chuckle. I blush a little, but nod. “I... I even have a marefriend.” His face blanks. “Huh?” “Girlfriend, Dad,” I shake my head. He frowns in thought. “But... you live in a world where everyone’s a pony. Doesn’t that mean your girlfriend would be...?” “I did say marefriend, didn’t I?” I ask, cocking my head, grinning. “Kinda says it there, doesn’t it?” Before he can answer though, it’s at this moment Mum notices something about my physic. “From what little I’ve seen of the ponies from the show after you told me about them and I started noticing them around the place, isn’t the pony you’ve become more... slim?” Dad blinks, before he seems to notice something he obviously somehow missed when he and Mum were crushing me with their hug. “Jeez, you must have really taken being away from home hard. You’ve really let yourself go, son, er, daughter, um... My head hurts.” My eyes snap wide open and I scowl. “I have not! I am eight months pregnant, thank you very much!” He falters. “Oh! I-I’m so sorry! I—” He stopped, his eyes widening. “You’re pregnant? Yikes! Dude, you used to be a guy. You slept with a... what do they call male horses, or I guess ponies in this case? oh, yeah, stallion, even with that in mind? I mean, if you swing that way, I've no problem with it, but, from what we saw you went for girls not—” My face turns bright red, both out of anger and embarrassment. “I did not sleep with any stallion! For Celestia’s sake, how many times am I gonna hear that?” He cocks his head. “Huh?” I snort, looking away as I calm myself down. “Never mind.” I breathed in and out, then looked at him and Mum, before hiding behind my mane a bit. “Okay. Um... well...” I can’t think of what to say. How the hell are you meant to tell your parents, who are now a completely deferent species from yourself, that you got pregnant without sex due to your no-marefriend messing up a spell and putting a filly right inside you? Mum and Dad glance at each other, before Mum asks gently, “Um, okay. So, if you’re pregnant, but you didn’t sleep with any... stallions... how did it happen? Did you get a donation? Does ponyland—” “Equestria,” Discord frowns, pouting. “For goodness sake, your child pretty much disappears, you learn a little about their interest in the show based around our world and you don’t even bother to learn the name of the land the show focuses on, like, 99% of the time?” “—even have that kind of thing?” Mum finishes, glaring at Discord for interrupting her. I giggle, smile and shake my head, before blushing again. “No. I became pregnant because... well...” _________________________________________________________ “...and that’s pretty much everything that’s happened since I came to Equestria and became Fluttershy,” I finish after what feels like hours later. I’d hesitated a lot during my explanations, not to mention having to stop to explain things neither human understood, before continuing. “Um...wow,” Dad says, scratching his head, him and Mum having been sitting cross-legged in front of me throughout my telling, with Discord and Luna filling in here and there. “Just... wow. And... you’re really okay with two living creatures being inside you?” I blush. “While you could have worded that better, Dad... yes. It took a while after I first found out, but I got use to the idea and now, I can’t wait to be a mother.” Mum smiles, pulling me into a hug. “Trust me. It’s worth everything.” Dad frowns, looking like he’s in thought. “So... have you thought up a name? I mean, names?” He shakes his head. “Talking about this when it involves a being that used to be my son and is now my pony daughter is really confusing.” I giggled sheepishly. “Well, we don’t plan on changing Scootaloo’s name, and Twilight and I are still working on that with the other foal. I mean, if you found out you were having a foal that is a reincarnation of the pony you now inhabit the body of, what’re you meant to call them?” Dad’s expression goes blank. “Well, when you put it like that...” He shakes his head. “I honestly don’t know what I’d think. Mum chuckles, then looks to me with a warm smile. “So... you’re going to marry this Twilight Sparkle, then?” I nod, wondering briefly if Discord or Luna or both have done something to this pocket dimension that purposely causes me to keep blushing. “The weddings in a few months. We’re trying to have it before the girls are born.” Dad just shakes his head. “The fact that you can just say that so casually...” I roll my eyes and give him a deadpan look. “Dad, I’ve had eight months to get used to this.” He sighs, shrugging. “Yeah, but... it doesn’t stop this feeling any less weird than it already is.” “So... can we see a photo of them?” Mum asks, cuasing me to look at her. “The babies, I mean.” Dad sighs. “Honey. She lives in pony world—” “Equestria!” Discord, Luna and I all correct him firmly. Dad just rolls his eyes. “Fine, Equestria then. I doubt Equestria have ultrasounds yet.” Luna and Discord both scoff. The dragonequus snorts. “Just because we don’t have the level of technology your world does,” that’s an understatement, “doesn’t mean we don’t have ultrasounds. What part of our world runs on magic did you forget?” As if to prove his point, a small flash appeared before me, a copy of the picture from the ultrasound. Dad just stares with his mouth open, but Mum reaches up and takes the picture, looking at my foals with a warm smile. “You can keep it, if you want,” Discord says, now sounding much nicer. I’d say Dad’s in the doghouse when it comes to Discord... but he’d probably turn Dad into an actual dog, so better not to jinx that. Mum frowns in confusion. “But... isn’t this just a type of dream? How can we take something from it? And, if we can, why not our child?!” that last bit came out as an angry demand. Luna holds up a hoof to gently quiet Mum. “I understand your desire to have your child back in your own world. But, think about her for a moment. She has gained a new life in Equestria. She has friends, a wife-to-be and two foals on the way. Would you really want to take her from all that?” “Not to mention, do you think your world would react well to her existence?” Discord folded his arms. “Or that we would even let you.” “What Discord means is that your daughter is one of the six Elements of Harmony that keep our world in balance,” Luna says hurriedly before Mum says something that will make Discord do something I’d regret. “If she were to leave our world, not only would that put herself and her unborn children at risk, but our own world would fall into disaster. Kindness is a fundamental part of our world. Without it, chaos would rein.” “And not the type of chaos I enjoy, either,” the chaos master says, folding his arms. Mum looks angrily at them for several moments, before she deflates, leans down and holds me tightly. “Will we still be able to meet her again?” she pleads. Luna gives a warm smile and nods. “Discord and I have created this space strictly for communication between yourselves, your relatives and your daughter. Any you wish to join just think of as you enter here. You will know when you can do so.” Mum smiles and thanks the alicorn by hugging her, before moving over and hugging Discord. I can’t help giggling at the uncertain expression he has as she holds him, thanking him for letting her see me. Apparently, while my mind got sent to Equestria, my body just vanished into the ether, so no one on Earth knew where I’d gone. After several more hugs and goodbyes, Mum and Dad fade into the darkness, leaving Discord, the alicorn and myself. I look over to them and smile through tear-filled eyes. “Thank you.” They both nod, fading away into the darkness, before I feel as if I’m falling asleep and the darkness fades away too.