bing...
bing...
bing...
bing...
bing... bing... bing...
Raising from the fog of unconsciousness, she tried to open her eyes. Attempt 1: too hard. Attempt 2: too blurry. On the third attempt she managed to keep them open long enough to discern some shapes.
Medical equipment.... that would explain the beeping. And a bed. Oh... what happened...
One of the shapes started to rise. With a few blinks, it resolved itself into a nurse; a happy expression appeared on the pony’s face, though it seemed strained somehow. She struggled to hear the words that the nurse was emitting.
“...glad you’re finally... ...out for three... ...get the prin...”
With a smile and a friendly pat, the nurse walked out... door, yes, that was the word. The world of sound once again became the constant sounds of medical equipment. She glanced down, trying to see what was wrong... but, no, her vision was still hazy. Instead she turned to a screen, noting how it matched with the pings. Her ears began to flicker as her hearing returned; experimentally she tried stretching, finding all her legs and wings reacting as expected. So she hadn’t been critically injured...
Something was off. She didn’t know why, but the stretches felt weird.
The door opened once again, the nurse leading in two... alicorns, yes, she remembered the word much easier this time. Her gaze flicked over them, dark and light; they had an expression halfway between relief and sadness on their faces.
“It’s good to see you are awake.” The light one. Celestia? Yes, that fit.
She smiled at them, more memories falling back. “Well, not entirely. I still feel... fuzzy.” She brought a hoof to her throat. “And my voice is weird...?”
Celestia and Luna shared a glance. She didn’t even need to think that time, the name just came.
“...That might be because of your condition,” Luna hazarded.
Speaking of names, what was her name? She tried to search her cascading memory. “Well, that makes sense, I’m still remembering everything. Um. This might seem like an odd question, but... who am I again?”
The nurse flinched, backing away. Celestia and Luna were no less apprehensive, but they managed to retain some dignity.
“...You don’t know, do you?” For some reason that hurt her.
“No, we do know, it’s just...” Celestia paused. Then with sudden revelation she began again. “Well, you know how... Twilight Sparkle was planning to teleport herself and her friends to Canterlot for the first Winter Solstice celebration in a thousand years?”
“Yes, I--” She did remember, except the memory was extremely off. Like she’d been an outside observer, but not exactly...
“Well, Twilight... Twlight made a mistake.” Luna sighed, rubbing her forehead as she took up where her sister had left off. “She...” the moon princess fished for the right word. “...she overexerted herself, as it were.”
“Okay...” she could tell that they were building up to something. “And... what happened?”
Luna shuffled her hooves nervously. Celestia glanced up at the ceiling and coughed.
“...What happened?”
Celestia sighed, then locked eyes with her. “Tell me, what’s the last thing you remember?”
The last thing... she remembered Twilight casting the spell and standing in anticipation--except she also remembered casting the spell--and being afraid it wouldn’t work--worrying about her mane--glancing at Dash, rolling her eyes--earflop necktwitch pinchyknee stomachlurch--
Her eyes widened. “Wait. I remember it all!” She shot up with a flap-- “How can I--?!”
Luna stepped forward-- “--do not panic, stay calm--”
“What’s going on who am I--?”
trawfrapilpipulnlitaibtenogekhirerwt dipjisapsatasherhckylkey
--she clutched at her head, the names competing for her attention--her hooves brushed her aching horn--
A warm hoof.
She looked up at Celestia’s comforting face.
“I... I...” A deep breath. “Okay...”
Very slowly, she descended to the ground.
Celestia smiled gently. “This must be very confusing for you.” She sighed. “All of you.”
All of...
She looked down at her forehooves. She could... She could see the orange fading into white past the elbows.
“...I need... I need a mirror.”
“Um, in your condition--” the nurse began hesitantly.
“I NEED A MIRROR.”
The nurse backed off, flinching at the sudden hostility. She glanced at Luna, who nodded once, before sighing and walking out the door.
She turned back to Celestia. “I... We hope this can be fixed. It can be fixed, right?”
Celestia breathed in deeply. “...I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this. Unless you count Discord, but I don’t think this is like that.”
“I believe I could help,” Luna offered. “Transformative magics come easily to me, and this mishap might not be pure teleportation.”
She smiled. “Thanks, I--We’ll need all the help we can get.” She shook her head, trying to separate the voices and organize her thoughts into... something. “We think we’re... becoming us again, now that we’re waking up. In the mind, I mean--we, I meant we!”
This was just too confusing. Just so confusing...
The nurse returned with a mirror. “You’re able to stand, you know, aside from... what happened you were just exhausted.” She edged away, trying to avoid any more outbursts.
Celestia backed off as she shook her head, testing the ground with her hooves. She breathed in, walking toward the mirror, and looked at herself.
Orange forelegs, pink rear legs. Her wings that started out blue but tapered into a soft yellow. Her face violet, with a single horn, her body pearly white. A wild, curly tail of rainbow, opposing a long mane that seemed both neat and glamorous, dark purple with pink streaks resting under a brown stetson. She examined her cutie mark: a diamond, an apple, and a butterfly, all with balloon strings floating over a triple lightning strike causing a magical explosion. Then, with trepidation, she looked at her reflection’s eyes.
The left one was deep sapphire, fading through moss to green. The right, purple, fading through rose to blue.
“...Fluttershy’s very hidden,” she managed. “But she’s in there...” The smile she wore wasn’t quite real, was laughter hiding pain.
“Do you need some time alone?”
She nodded at Luna’s question. “Yeah. I... We... The mind needs, needs sorting.”
The princesses glanced at each other as they left the room. After a moment, the nurse walked out as well. “If you need anything, I’ll be right outside.”
“Sure.”
Was she an alicorn now...? That would be super extra duper fun fun fun! And being royal would be quite glamorous... No. she wasn’t really, she was still just a normal pony with normal habits.
Besides, she... might not be able to handle the attention.
She twisted around, looking at herself from all angles and flashed a cocky grin at the mirror as she flicked her wings. Out of curiosity she picked up a clipboard with her magic; the glow was white.
Okay.
She sat down and stared at the mirror.
“Okay. Just... calm. We need to separate all our minds. That’s... that’s step one. Let’s meditate...”
After a few seconds, reality delivered all the worries and fears it had been holding back in one massive blow. She briefly glanced up, the sheer weight of it all making her think a grey pegasus was at fault, before her knees collapsed.
“Oh for the love of cumulus,” she muttered as she passed out.