• Published 22nd Sep 2013
  • 11,938 Views, 170 Comments

A Wish the Heart Makes - HermitKlam



Celestia is feeling maternally nostalgic, Twilight accidentally turns her body into that of a filly, and Luna experiences the joy of being an aunt.

  • ...
9
 170
 11,938

Dreams

Twilight smiled in content as she snuggled up to her mentor, the raging snowstorm outside for once not fazing her in the slightest. Basking in the soft warmth of a large wing draped lightly across her back and the gentle melody caressing her ears, she almost didn’t feel the slight tremor that shook the room. The body next to her doing a spectacular job at chasing away any fears, it was with curiosity –not alarm - that her large violet eyes slowly opened. Blinking in confusion as she surveyed the room, she found nothing out of place save a few scrolls littering floor – which, on further inspection, wasn’t too out of the ordinary. Attributing the earlier shake as a figment of her imagination, Twilight was in the process of closing her eyes once more when motion in her peripherals caught her attention.

Eyes shooting open wide, she caught the tail-end of what looked like a large ripple. The entire room, along with everything in it, wavered slightly; it looked almost like a reflection in a pond would when disturbed by a thrown pebble. The phenomenon was over almost as soon as it began, however, and looking up at the princess showed no indication of her having noticed anything strange. Shifting slightly in light confusion, Twilight was willing to brush off the oddness as her tired mind playing tricks on her when a particularly heavy gust of wind splattered the rain loudly against the window.

Leaning forward slightly in order to peer around the large white alicorn, Twilight looked towards the window and stared in confusion. Wiggling out from under Celestia’s wing, she approached the large window and attempted to see outside. The darkness of the night, however, served to obfuscate the objects outside from view to such an extent that all Twilight was able to see in the smooth surface was her own reflection. Staring at the purple filly looking back at her, an odd feeling bubbled up from deep within, bringing with it the feeling that something with the whole situation was not quite… right.

Frowning at the feeling, Twilight tilted her head and studied herself; she had a small purple body, messy streaked mane, a stubby little horn, and a pair of small fluffy wings. Her eyes and mind told her that what she was seeing was perfectly normal; her reflection was one that she’d seen many times before, after all. And yet still that feeling of wrongness persisted. Raising her hoof to touch her reflection, a bright flash of lightning lit up the night sky outside.

Jumping backwards, half in fear and half in shock, she nevertheless continued to direct her intensive gaze at the window. Though the sky had only lit up for a fraction of a second, Twilight prided herself on her observational skills and so had no trouble recalling what she had seen. Outside, the large green trees were being whipped back in forth almost savagely by the strong gusts of wind, their lush leaves taking quite the beating from the heavy rain.

Twilight took a hesitant step backwards, that earlier feeling of wrongness growing stronger.

She knew it was the dead of winter with the same certainty she had when viewing her reflection and finding nothing out of place. She knew this, and yet it was suddenly not a snowstorm raging outside, but a scheduled heavy spring downpour. A dull throbbing started up in her head, a headache forming as her mind tried to sort through the clashing realities she was experiencing.

Groaning as the pain in her head increased the more she clung to and thought about the discrepancies in the world around her, Twilight hunched over slightly and grabbed her head with a hoof. Backing up slowly, she bumped into Celestia’s side. A thought managed to squirm its way into her mind despite the pain she was in, and suddenly it was very clear to her that all she had to do was lie back down next to the princess. The warmth she experienced when nuzzled up to the older alicorn’s side would surely banish both her pain and woes as it had done many times before.

Plan of action firmly in mind, Twilight haltingly made her way back to her spot, yet as she was about to lower herself onto the still warm pillow, the fire blazing in the hearth managed to draw her attention. Fighting back the sharp pain in her head, she squinted at the pink flickering flames, the color oddly familiar. Mesmerized, she almost didn’t notice as the room rippled once more - this time more violently - until the flames seemed closer. Eyes widening in fright as the discolored flames appeared to ride the waves throughout the room, Twilight snapped her eyes closed and stumbled backwards. Tripping over the edge of the pillow and landing hard on the floor, she whimpered as the flickering fire neared her on its merry journey to consume everything in its path.

Eyes squeezed shut and breaths coming out in short gasps, Twilight waited for the searing sensation of the flames licking up her coat. A few seconds passed without change, then a few minutes, prompting the purple pony to frown faintly in confusion. Not wanting to see the devastation the raging fire surely caused yet not being able to tamper down her curiosity at the lack of agonising heat, Twilight cracked one eye open, the other following in confusion a few heartbeats later.

Lying on her back, the first thing she noticed was the dark outline of her deep violet canopy. Blinking in confusion, she turned her head slightly to the side, taking in the outlines of her dresser, mirror, and bookshelves. Glancing down at herself, she made out the twisted form of her blanket wrapped haphazardly around her waist, half of the material still clinging stubbornly to the bed above her.

There was no fire.

It was all just… a dream.

Letting out a relieved sigh, Twilight immediately began to calm her racing heart and attempted to remember exactly what had put her in such a panic only moments before; what exactly had she dreamed that had her so convinced that she was on fire? Twilight tried to grasp at the slippery images but all she was able to do was recall a few disjointed concepts and emotions; she knew Celestia had played a part in her dream - and she vaguely remembered a haunting lullaby - but besides that the only things she could remember were the feelings of love, loss, confusion, and fright. It seemed the harder she tried to remember exactly what her dream was about, the more the images distorted, leaving her with nary a clue as to what had panicked her enough to land her on the floor.

Well, besides a mysterious dream-fire that she could just vaguely recall, that is.

She also had a slight headache, but she attributed that to her tumble from the bed, something she hadn’t done in years. Face practically cracking in half as a huge yawn tore itself from her lips, Twilight mentally shrugged and decided it would either come to her or it wouldn’t. She was just glad, however, that Spike wasn’t currently in the room with her; the baby dragon would no doubt delight in bringing her sleep-induced mishap up at every opportunity. Yawning once more, this time managing to stifle most of it, Twilight began to stretch only for a disturbing thought to occur to her.

She had fallen asleep during her lesson.

Abject horror running through her at the thought of not only missing out on knowledge but also disrespecting the princess in such a way, it didn’t even occur to Twilight to wonder how exactly she had made it to bed in the first place. All she could think of was that not only had she lost out on time with her mentor, but she had surely disappointed the kind alicorn with her inattentiveness. Struggling out of the confines of her tangled sheets with the intention of finding out how many hours she had wasted on sleeping, the purple pony attempted to bolt into a standing position only to stumble as one of her hooves caught on a pleat in the material.

Hitting the floor with a forced exhalation of breath and rolling into the blanket, Twilight struggled to disentangle herself from her material prison once more. Both wings and one hoof pinned down by the twisted blanket, Twilight rolled onto her stomach with a scowl. Grabbing the material with her teeth, she was just about to try to free her hoof when her bedroom door suddenly swung open, startling her into freezing.

-0-0-

Luna marched determinedly down the hallway, her long strides eating up the short distance between her chambers and Twilight’s. Though she had told her sister that she would wait until after she had slept to speak to Twilight Sparkle, her plans had changed abruptly when the haunting memory of her sister’s melancholy foiled each and every one of her attempts to reach unconsciousness. After nearly an hour of unsuccessfully trying to fall asleep, her conscience had finally succeeded in its quest to prod her into action; after quickly using her ability to see if Twilight was awake, she had set out to get some clear answers and banish her sister’s woes once and for all - both so that she could sleep and so that she could prove without a shadow of a doubt that she had been right.

Stopping in front of Twilight’s quarters, Luna looked to one of the guards standing at attention in front of the door. Coming to a split decision, she gave him clear instructions before continuing forward. “We order you to send our sister a missive requesting her appearance at her earliest convenience.”

“At once, Your Majesty.” The unicorn guard responded immediately, his face and voice betraying nothing but perfect professionalism.

Opening the door in front of her, Luna was half-way inside the still-dark room when a conversation she’d had recently with her sister popped into her head. Remembering the long and confusing lecture she’d received about this century’s etiquette, she poked her head back outside of the room and cleared her throat. “We order you to send our sister a missive requesting her appearance at her earliest convenience… please.”

“At once, Your Majesty.” The armored pegasus left swiftly, obediently intent on carrying out his orders.

Luna blinked slightly in confusion; she could have sworn that she’d been ordering around a unicorn just a moment ago. Chalking it up to a lack of sleep, she shrugged her shoulders and continued inside. Flicking on the light switch with a thought and a touch of magic, Luna began to speak loudly as she scanned the room for her purple target. “Twilight Sparkle! We have come to inquire about a topic… most… important…”

Luna’s words trailed off as she finally caught sight of the youngest alicorn. Staring blankly at the visibly embarrassed bundle tangled on the floor beside the bed, her hind legs suddenly gave out on her. Plopping ungracefully into a seated position on the floor, she absentmindedly closed and locked the doors behind her. Opening and closing her mouth a few times in shock, she finally managed to find her voice, unconsciously reverting to a more familiar inflection. “Thou art Twilight Sparkle, correct?”

“Yes…? Who else would I be?” Twilight spoke slowly, her embarrassment at being found in her current position by a Princess swiftly fading into confused curiosity before settling on worry. Peering over at the stunned blue alicorn by her door, she voiced her concern. “Are you alright Princess Luna?”

“We think that it is us who should be asking that of you, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna stated, her voice oddly faint as opposed to its usual intensity as she continued to stare intensely at the confused pony.

“Me? I’m fine, Princess. I-,” Twilight started to reassure her only to stop as she noticed something odd. “Er, Princess Luna? Have you, um, grown since yesterday? You seem a bit… bigger.” Eyes widening as she realized just how her statement could have been construed, Twilight quickly backtracked. “N-not that I think you’ve gotten any bigger; I meant to say taller. You seem taller.”

Luna was silent for such a long moment that Twilight was sure she had offended the older alicorn. It was to her utter surprise, then, that Luna completely ignored her fumbling excuses. Instead of infuriated or insulted, Luna’s voice was a mixture of cautious concern; it was as if she expected Twilight to suddenly freak out.

“Nay, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna started slowly, hesitantly. “We believe ‘tis you who have… shrunk. Physically regressed, to be most specific.”

“W-what? No. That’s ridiculous,” Twilight stammered nervously as she shook her head, denying it. Eyes suddenly flickering around the room in unease, she began to take in her surroundings with a growing sense of panic; now that she looked closer, it did seem like everything was bigger than it was supposed to be, not just Luna. But that was… Twilight giggled anxiously, borderline hysterically. “C-completely ridiculous.”

Luna opened her mouth only to slowly close it once more. Thinking rapidly, she instead plucked the large mirror from atop the dresser and gently set it down in front of the stammering alicorn. Seeing was believing, as the saying went, and she had a feeling that Twilight would stubbornly refuse to take her word without visual proof.

Not that she could blame her; it’s not like such an occurrence was in any way common. It was quite understandably a startling revelation to suddenly have dumped on you. Finding out such a thing would also be infinitely more distressing for those who, like she had observed in Twilight, tended to work themselves into a neurotic frenzy by overanalysing everything and jumping to wild conclusions.

Twilight’s higher brain functions slowed considerably as she unexpectedly began a staring contest with an uncomfortably familiar filly. A blast from the past, the little purple filly gazing back at her from inside the mirror was a dead ringer for herself at about the age she had received her cutie mark. In fact, if the idea weren’t simply ridiculous, she’d swear she was looking at a younger version of herself.

Cocking her head slowly to the side, she suddenly froze; the impossible image before her copied her actions with such a scary accuracy that a cacophony of alarm bells started ringing within her head. Her mouth suddenly dry, Twilight attempted to talk only for a faint squeak to escape her parted lips. Clearing her throat, she tried to speak once more, her sense of dread rising with each passing heartbeat.

“Th-that mirror is enchanted… right? It… it has some sort of illusory spell or something cast on it, right?” Twilight’s voice started as a faint echo of its former self, though her hysterics increased with each word she spoke aloud. She hadn’t noticed it earlier, what with her mind being preoccupied and her head throbbing in pain, but her voice was…wrong. It was too high pitched to be her voice, and yet it was; it seemed to be yet one more achingly familiar reminder of years gone by.

“…I am afraid not, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna’s tone was a careful mixture of apologetic and cautious; she spoke as if she hoped she could minimise the stricken pony’s imminent psychological meltdown by controlling her tone of voice. “’Tis nothing more than an ordinary looking glass.”

Twilight’s normally purple features paled so swiftly and so suddenly at her words that Luna wasn’t sure if the purple pony was going to faint, start hyperventilating, or begin projectile vomiting. At this point Luna was at a loss as to what she could do; fetching the doctor and yanking her sister from her meeting to deal with the situation in her stead were only two of the many possible actions currently running through her mind.

“Art thou well, Twilight Sparkle?” Luna asked hesitantly, only to wince a moment later as her rather redundant words registered; of course the mare-turned-foal before her wasn’t well.

“I’m just…” Twilight’s oddly light and airy words had a slight slur to them as she blinked slowly; she was awfully lightheaded all of a sudden. It slowly registered that the filly before her looked just as out of it as she felt, though the encroaching dark splotches in the corners of her vision made it hard to focus. “I’m just gonna…”

Twilight trailed off woozily before suddenly slumping forward in a dead faint, the morning’s revelations proving too much for her fragile psyche to handle. Still entangled in her blankets, her head fell the slight distance to the floor and impacted the hard surface with a muffled thump. Her messy mane slowly spilled across her head and neck, covering her face from view and causing a few lonely strands of hair to shift slightly with every breath she took.

Luna’s eyes widened in alarm as she watched her sister’s student suddenly stiffen before her large violet eyes rolled back into her head mere moments before she hit the ground. Horn blazing to life, a light blue haze surrounded the downed pony as Luna stumbled to her hooves, her legs slightly numb and uncooperative due to the awkward way she had been sitting. Luna’s hasty scramble slowed considerably in relief, however, as her cursory medical diagnostic of the regressed alicorn soothed her momentary panic; Twilight was peacefully sleeping once more, her fainting spell due to nothing more than an emotional and mental overload.

Coming to a complete stop next to the sleeping pony, Luna suddenly groaned, a hoof rising to rest tiredly on her forehead; this was not what she had been expecting when she left the comfort of her bed to mount an inquisition against the younger mare. All she had wanted to do was confirm her suspicions, get Twilight to admit her feelings to Celestia, and go back to bed; it was a well thought out plan that was supposed to be foolproof and leave all parties happy and satisfied. Instead, she had one unconscious alicorn who had already had a nervous breakdown over her sudden transformation, one currently oblivious alicorn who might just have a nervous breakdown of her own when she became aware of said transformation, and a mounting pressure between her eyes that promised a world of pain if she didn’t sleep soon.

With the way her day was going so far, she half expected Celestia to burst into the room, come to the wrong conclusion, and banish her once more to the moon. Common sense swiftly kicked in, however, and Luna had to admit that she highly doubted that she would ever face a repeat of her lunar exile; her time on the moon had left too many emotional scars on both sisters – scars that time may or may not heal - for Celestia to ever willingly send her back. She would unavoidably, however, have to deal with her sister’s increase in motherly instincts when she found out-

…Wait.

A thoughtful and slightly calculating look slid across Luna’s features as an idea blossomed in her mind. Perhaps the idea was born due to the incessant throb in her head, or her lack of sleep, or the complete absurdity of the current situation. In all actuality, it was probably a fair combination of all three. In any case, a plan half-part logic and half-part genius – a plan much better than her last one, now that she had thought about it – was quickly taking shape.

With her motherly instincts at an all-time high, Celestia would be unable to hold herself back from mothering Twilight Sparkle like she wished. Twilight would – despite the fact that she had apparently retained her adult mind – require the aid due to her current form, and would relish in their newfound closeness just as much as Luna’s sister. Twilight would see just how much Celestia cared about her and vice-versa, their actions speaking louder than any words could. It was completely and utterly foolproof.

Looking down at one of the two unwitting participants in her master plan, Luna’s self-satisfied smile wavered as she winced lightly; on closer inspection, Twilight Sparkle’s current position looked particularly uncomfortable. Not wanting to leave her friend – nay, her niece – in such an uncomfortable position, and not willing to deal with Celestia should her elder sister ever find out that she did such a thing, Luna frowned as she tried to decipher the best way to untangle the filly from her sheets. A few moments of assessment indicated that trying to liberate the alicorn by hoof would be futile, and so Luna gently used her magic to lift the entire bundle up into the air.

Carefully, making sure to provide sufficient support for the small body so as not to injure her, Luna slowly untwisted the blanket until the pony and material were completely separated. Letting the sheet drop to the floor, Luna gently set the sleeping alicorn onto the plush bed. A peculiar gleam entered her eyes as, once her magic retreated, Twilight whined lightly and shifted, curling herself into a small ball.

Taking the time to study her friend – niece – Luna’s earlier grumpiness at her lack of sleep grudgingly dissipated as she reluctantly admitted to herself that the young alicorn was simply too adorable. Everything from her stubby little horn to her chubby little cheeks to her small fluffy wings was making Luna fight the urge to stop and coo at her utter cuteness. If this was anything how Twilight Sparkle looked like when she first came to live and study at the castle, then Luna really couldn’t blame her sister for falling in love with the filly – if anything, she was even surer of the imminent success of her plan than she was mere minutes ago.

Thrown from her thoughts by a slight shiver that wracked the small form, Luna acted without thinking; completely ignoring the discarded blanket on the floor, she hopped up onto the bed. Lying down on her stomach, she reached out with one dark blue wing and gently swept the chilled filly closer, her intention being to share her own body heat. As if sensing the impending warmth, Twilight did not put up a fight at her sudden displacement and in fact burrowed even closer in her sleep.

Unaware of the small yet soft smile adorning her face as she both felt and saw the small alicorn nuzzle into her side, Luna’s muscles unconsciously began to relax. Gently blanketing the slight form with her wing, she made sure all but the filly’s head was covered by her soft plumes. A soft snort escaped Luna’s throat as she smiled wryly; this was not a position that she had ever expected to be in. Even so, she couldn’t help but lean her head down and quickly but lightly nuzzle the top of the now peacefully sleeping Twilight’s head - It wasn’t like anypony was there to witness her actions anyways.

Feeling unexpectedly comfortable in the position she was currently in, Luna let out a long yawn. Lethargy filled her body as her blinks became further apart, her eyes having to fight to reopen every time they closed. Yawning once more, Luna slowly lowered her head until her muzzle was resting lightly on the bed beside Twilight’s head.

Twilight was unconscious and Celestia was currently in a –somewhat- important meeting, with instructions to meet with them when she was finished. Because of those two factors, Luna figured there was really nothing to be done except wait until both matters were resolved before the three of them could tackle the bigger issue. In fact, it was probably best if she stayed by the regressed Twilight Sparkle’s side until her sister arrived – just in case. That being said, nopony could blame her if she allowed herself to…

Luna’s eyes slipped shut as she fell into sleep.

-0-0-

Author's Note:

1. Sorry for the rather, er, long delay.
2. Past-Hermit's plan for this chapter looked like utter gibberish to Present-Hermit, thus forcing Present-Hermit to improvise.
3. I wrote this while sleep-deprived and chalked full of cold medicine and thusly blame any quality issues on these facts.
4. I ended up cutting this chapter short - for reasons I won't go into - and so Trixie's appearance and Luna's misplacement of her niece - as well as Celestia's reaction - have been pushed to chapter 3.

*EDITED 07/24/15*