A curse in disguise

by Dream Quill

Rude awakening

The first and most prominent thing she felt was an omnipotent hum which droned through not only the room around but herself alike. Right down to her core. And as if this was not bad enough something inside her resonated to this hum and shocked her violently.
The hairs of her fur stood on end and her body twitched painfully every now and then as if it was electrified by this hum. Not a single one of her five senses was working as it was supposed to. Her ears were filled with this hum deafening every other noise around her. When she tried to open her eyes she was greeted by violently swirling colors that only made her bellyache worse. The only thing she felt were millions of millions of tiny lightning strikes, and not the tickly ones, torturing the entity of her body. She would not be surprised if she could smell singed fur if she would have been capable of smelling anything at all. And last her sense of taste. Oh how she wished it would be numbed like anything else but instead she tasted the unmistakable, metallic flavor of blood.
Was she going to die?

‘How ironic…’, she thought. ‘Coming to Equestria, awaking to be a dragonequus, and now I’ll just vanish…’

How long she drifted through this hell of pain she could not tell. It certainly felt like a minimum of two lifespans. Somewhere on the way she started to wish for it to end, for dying only to escape this everlasting nightmare. The few moments her consciousness drifted to the surface she found herself emptying her already long empty belly but although she tasted blood she could not see any of it through the chaotic haze of colors.
This should have been some kind of reassurance to her if she had been even capable of thinking, that is. It took her not long to fall into nothingness again. This repeated over and over again.
A never ending cycle of pain, fever and spasms of her body which was obviously trying to fend off some kind of contaminant.
But eventually her body surrendered, deprived of its last bits of strength. And finally, just as she could not take it anymore, the droning hum toned down. The lightning faded and the twitching along with it. Her whole body and with it all of her senses went numb.
And for the first time after what seemed to be an eon long agony she was embraced by the comforting arms of sleep.

She could swear that she heard an almost motherly whisper of singing.

‘Hush now, quiet now…’

---

When her senses finally returned to her she could not help it but to groan uncomfortably. She felt sore all over and wondered how it was even possible that even her sense of taste seemed to have a dull ache to it.
Cautiously she opened one of her eyes and felt a wave of relieve wash over her for there were no more swirling hazes of colors obscuring her vision. Immediately she began coughing due to her desert dry throat. It certainly hurt but it was nothing compared to the former experienced agony. A glass with what looked like water in it floated in front of her and she eagerly accepted it, downing its contents in one single gulp. The clear, chilly liquid felt like heaven as it traveled down her throat and elicited a small, contend sigh from her. She was about to face her savior to thank him or her properly but froze in mid movement as her eyes laid on a single figure standing by her window, admiring the view.
Slowly her surroundings dawned on her. She was still in the hospital and she still lay in her bed. It was nighttime, which hour exactly she still could not tell for the still present lack of a proper chronometer. The lights were out so that her room was solely lit by the moons divine glow. The constant beeping of her heart monitor became a thing of reassurance to her, telling her she indeed was alive.
Her mouth opened and closed a few times refusing to say what she wanted to. There was no need for thinking about who this figure was as she knew it in the instant her eyes fell upon it.
It stood patiently, not moving a bit but for her eyes scanning and admiring the night sky.
The view was… breathtaking at least. Somewhere deep down out of her subconsciousness she felt the word enticing surface into her mind. She was actually not into females and definitely not into ponies but… the undeniable beauty of the figure in front of her left her awestruck.
All she could do was staring. Not at a single part of it but at the entity of the stunning sight.
The color of the mares coat could not be described anything short of the same color of the night sky on a summer day. It was otherworldly and natural at the same time and had the air of the unknown to it. Of secrets undiscovered and calmness together.
Her brilliant turquoise eyes wandered about the stars with the same warmness in them like when a mother would look on her children. Which was, if Eris thought about it, probably the case by the way. And last, but definitely not the least, was her mane which was like a piece of the sky had torn itself apart from its place only to become the ever floating sight attached to this pony. Interspersed with uncounted stars it complimented her in a way which could only be described as divine.
Eris did not found it in her to break the moment, to draw the attention of the princess away from the sky. And she could not stop staring as her mind struggled to comprehend such beauty and failed. Even if she wanted to say anything her mouth, again, would refuse to do so.
She was caught in this moment and she was able to understand now why the mare in front of her was called a goddess. The portrayal in the series of ‘My little Pony’ suddenly felt like an insult to this deity.
But there was even more. She could not grasp it but she was sure that she saw something more or to be precise she felt it. There was something inside her, something new, that sent information to her brain but she was not able to understand any of it. Like if she developed a whole new sense but was not capable of processing it. Everything her mind could understand was that the one in her line of view was dangerous and in the instant her body reacted to the possible threat for her wellbeing by shivering in fear.
This however did not go unnoticed and a frown showed itself on the face of the princess as she slowly, gracefully turned around.

“There is no need to be afraid of us.”

The voice of the mare calmed her nerves a bit but again this new sense alarmed her of something in it. As if some unknown part of the voice was way stronger as it should be, almost as if this particular part was like she was shouted at through a megaphone. It overwhelmed her, took her breath and caused her to shy away with horrified eyes.
Whatever it was the princess seemed to take notice and smiled reassuringly.

“I see… Farewell for now. We will meet again.”

And just like that the mare was gone. No light, no sound. Just… gone. And only then her new sense calmed down followed by the rest of her body. A pressure she did not notice until it was not there anymore lifted from her and left her feeling a little dizzy. What in the name of Tartarus just happened?
She went back to what seemed to be her favorite activity, namely, staring at the ceiling.
Luna, the princess of the night, just stood at the window of her room, admiring the view of her own night sky. And what did she do? She cowered in fear just like the little fillies and colts did in the nightmare night episode. Hopefully the deity did not felt insulted in any way by her actions.
Placing a paw/hand over her heart she could not help but feel that there was something new just beneath it. For what it was she could not tell but it felt like it belonged to her like her arm would. As if it had been there her entire life but at the same time she knew exactly she never felt it before. It pulsed, following her heartbeat. If she concentrated hard enough she could tell that something was spreading from it throughout her body to the very tips of the hair her fur consisted of.
To say it felt strange did no justice to the sheer weirdness of it.
But, to make her confusion complete, it felt all natural at the same time. As if it was supposed to be like this and it was something she missed her entire life up to now.
She needed some answers and she knew just the unicorn to ask for. Everything she had to do was waiting for the day to begin and then ask Redheart to call Twilight.
Sleeping was out of the question right now. So she did the only thing she could think of being useful right now.

She faced a massive task which probably would take all she had in her and would leave her exhausted beyond all degrees. Just by thinking of it let her muscles scream in fear of the sheer impossibility of her intention.

She began the epic quest of sitting herself up.