A Twist in the Tail

by Midnightshadow

Twist and Turn About

A Twist in the Tail
Part 4

Twist and Turn About

An MLP:FiM fanfic set in the Conversion Bureau Alternate Universe

by Midnight Shadow

***

Pointe Vertigo bounced along from cloud to cloud with the small package in his mouth. It was tied up in silvery paper with a golden bow. Inside the wrapping paper was a small felt box with a hinged lid. Inside the box... was a hoof-band. It was made of silver and inlaid with three pearlsl; one for him, one for his beloved and one... one for the future.

He hummed tunelessly to himself as he bounced, wings barely flapping as he flitted between each puffy promontory. Finally he stopped, he was standing on a cloud several feet from the roof of Carousel Boutique, Rarity’s fashion shop. He smiled, a devious grin on his face. He gripped the cloud tightly with all four hooves and fluttered it downwards and maneuvered it until it was outside a specific window. He peeked in, a form was asleep in the bed. It was snoring softly. As he watched, it snorted and rolled over.

Vertigo giggled, Glenn was cute when she slept.

He carefully stood up and positioned himself. He lifted one hind leg and stomped.

Midnight Glenn was snoozing soundly, ensconced firmly in the folds of the soft, silky covers of her soft bed, comforter wrapped around her all the way up to her muzzle. The day had begun several hours before, but she didn’t feel like getting up just yet...

There was a sudden bright flash and an explosion outside her window, rattling the panes. Glenn shrieked and leaped out of bed, falling heavily to the plush carpeted floor in a tangle of hooves, mane, tail and bedsheets. It was the laughing that brought her to her senses first, light-hearted but hearty guffaws from a few feet outside. She grumbled, flipping her burgundy mane out of her eyes as she got to her hooves and stomped to the window. She threw it open and was all set to yell when a muzzle dropped down from above and kissed her on her head.

“Pointe Vertigo! I was sleeping, you... you...”

Pointe Vertigo, the light green pegasus with the aqua mane and tail, was giggling to himself as he fluttered upside-down, “I’m sorry, honey, I couldn’t resist.”

Glenn narrowed her eyes, “That day when we met... that was you, wasn’t it?”

“I...” Vertigo blushed, eyes looking left and right as if for backup. Finally he grinned, nodding, “it kinda was.”

“Kinda?”

“I didn’t mean to actually scare you! I flew down immediately to help...”

“You did so mean to scare me, specifically so you could play the big hero.”

Vertigo blushed, “I...” he righted himself and fluttered back up to his cloud, which he brought down until his head was level with Glenn’s, “alright, I did, but how could I not? You were gorgeous!”

“And new, and easy.” Glenn snorted.

Vertigo looked hurt, he frowned, “No, no. Never easy. A filly as pretty as you, I just... had to find a way... to meet you.” the stallion seemed to shrink in on himself, “I’m not very good with talking to the ladies.” he whispered, “My buddies had to dare me.”

Glenn leaned forwards, and kissed him, “You did it very well with me. How long have we been going out now? I’m still not bored with you.”

She laughed at Vertigo’s hurt look, “I could never get bored with you, you great lug. You complete me, you make me feel...” Glenn wriggled, shaking out her mane, “you make me feel good.”

“I do?” squeaked Vertigo. He harrumphed, clearing his throat, then continued, “I mean, of course I do... that’s kinda why I’m here. I, uh, I’ve been thinking recently. I mean I think a lot, but, recently about something... someone, special. I, um...”

Glenn tilted her head, “What’re you going on about?”

“I, um, Miss Midnight Glenn, would you do the honour of being Pointe Ver- I mean, my, life-mate?” Vertigo squeezed his eyes shut, the last few words coming out in a rush. He breathed heavily for a few seconds, waiting for a answer. When none were forthcoming he opened them, worried, searching Glenn’s face for clues.

“What’s... you don’t? What did I do wrong? I... you don’t...?”

Glenn’s face fell, her eyes went distant. Presently, she started to cry.

“Hey! No, no, wait, I’m sorry... I mean I’m not sorry, I want to, but... I never wanted you to cry! Please, baby! Please stop, what’s wrong? You can tell me, you can tell me anything!” Vertigo jumped off his cloud and swept in through the open window, pulling his love to the bed with a wing. He pulled a tissue out from a box of them and dabbed her eyes anxiously.

“Oh, Vertigo, I’m so, so sorry...” sniffed Glenn, “I...”

“What? Don’t you love me? Don’t you want to marry me?”

Glenn’s lip trembled, but she forced out in a harsh whisper, “You pr-promise I can tell you anything? Anything at all?”

“Anything! Please tell me!”

“I wasn’t always a mare.”

“Oh I know all about that, honey,” laughed Vertigo, stroking Glenn with a wing softly, “you’re a mare now, that’s all that matters.”

“I mean I was a man!”

“Human shmoo-man, newfoals are every bit as Equestrian as the rest of us. Some of them can even outfly me... not for very long, I mean I’m one of the best...”

“No, you don’t understand! I was a male! A man! A male human! I wasn’t supposed to be a mare, I was supposed to be a stallion!”

“A stallion?” whispered Vertigo, shocked into silence.

“Yes! I took the wrong potion, some... beta-version or something, I don’t know. It was flawed, simpler or something. It makes mares, any race I assume, but always mares! I was...” Glenn hung her head, “I was supposed to be changed back months ago, but...”

“But?”

“But I met you.” Glenn sobbed, “An-and you were so wonderful, and kind, and gentle, and you taught me and showed me so much. I-I kept putting it off, saying you’d get bored of me, that you we-were just playing li-like any male, just for fun.”

Vertigo’s expression grew hard, “Playing? You think this was... ugh! I would never! Who the hell are you, Glenn? I thought I knew you!”

“I don’t know!” wailed Glenn, “I’m sorry! I should never have let things get this far!”

“Damned right you shouldn’t have, not without...”

“I’ll... I’m going to end it.”

“No! I won’t let you hurt yourself!”

“This won’t hurt, I won’t feel a thing. Twilight made it.” Glenn jumped off the bed and pulled open the bedside drawer with her teeth, it fell noisily to the floor and it’s contents spilled across the bedroom. Glenn’s eyes fastened on a small vial, she gripped it in her teeth and flicked the top off with her tongue. “I should have done this a long time ago. I’m sorry, Vertigo.” Glenn said around the bottle. She threw back her head, and downed the potion in one.

“Don’t!” Vertigo was too slow. He stopped, forehoof outstretched, as the form before him changed. In moments, running like wax, weight redistributed across Glenn’s frame. Her eyes were closed as she teased out every last drop from the vial. Her face bulked up, changed shape. Hooves thickened, tail shortened, her stance changed as her centre of gravity shifted.

Glenn opened his eyes, and let the empty vial fall to the floor. It sunk into the carpet, barely even bouncing. His gaze followed it, then lifted to the still shocked form of the pegasus. “I’m sorry.”

“Glenn?”

“Goodbye, Vertigo.” Glenn choked off, and bolted from the room.

Vertigo fell to the floor of the bedroom, landing on his rump. There was a commotion at the door and a white unicorn with a thick, luxurious purple mane and tail rushed in.

“Glenn? Glenn dear?” Rarity glanced about, sizing up the situation. Her eyes met the empty gaze of a light-green pegasus, “Vertigo? What’s going on?”

“She... was a stallion?”

Rarity gasped, blinking, as she spied the empty vial, “Oh my, Oh Glenn... Vertigo, I’m so, so sorry!”

***

Glenn didn’t stop running. He bolted from the room, down the stairs, sped out of the front door. Tears flowed from his eyes as he ran. He ignored calls and greetings, didn’t look at anypony as he passed. Only when Ponyville was a collection of half-seen buildings in the distance did he pause. He turned, breathing hard, sobbing, “Why did you have to be... I’m sorry Vertigo, I loved you. Goodbye.”

Glenn turned his back on the town, shook himself once, and started running. He settled into an easy gait that ate up the miles and ran until noon. He stopped, thinking nothing, drinking a little water, eating a little grass, before starting again. When it was dark, he stopped. He locked his legs into position and dozed off, fitfully dreaming of what he’d had, and what he’d lost. His stomach felt heavy, the grass that had previously seemed so sweet tasted like ash. The water was stale, even the sunlight failed to warm him. He started running before dawn, and didn’t stop. He outran all the lands he knew, all the ponies he’d befriended, all the memories he’d accumulated, but he couldn’t outrun himself.

***

Anchor Watch whistled as he busied himself above deck. He was a simple unicorn, an Equestrian who was a bit of an odd duck when all was said and done. He’d only got his cutie-mark a few years back when the Equestrian Navy had expanded to provide ferrying platforms for all the newfoals, the converted from this ‘Earth’ place beyond the weird bubble out to sea. He didn’t understand how it worked, but there were many such gateways on the Equestrian side. On the other, he’d heard it appeared as just one great shield-wall, impenetrable. The princesses would know how it all worked, they’d pronounced it safe, and he trusted the princesses. He knew a few surly old sea-hounds who were distrustful of the outsiders, but when they brought such wonderful stories and a cutie-mark to boot, how could he dislike them?

His white coat and light blue mane and tail were smudged and dirty with oil and tar, but the deck was clean. He squeezed out the water from the mop with his magic and placed it in a holding bucket. The bucket of dirty water would have to be dealt with ashore, he wasn’t very good with the cleansing magic which would render the muck out, resulting in a bucket of fresh water and a gloop of stuff which would need to be carefully buried. The acceptable alternative, when it was just natural muck and grime, was to pour it carefully into marked sand pits where the water would be naturally purified and the impurities could be collected later and put to good use.

This trip was how he managed to find a huddled, shivering lump of stallion, all but dead from exertion, lying prone in the pit. He tutted to himself, maybe the poor thing had been outrunning a dragon or a rogue griffon. He decided to take the stranger onboard to get him seen to. He whistled again as he exerted his magic on the stallion and he trotted back to the good ship ‘Seapony’s Fancy’. Whoever the stranger was, he was a blank flank. At his apparent age, that probably meant a newfoal. Anchor decided he’d apologize for taking the newfoal back to Earth when the poor thing woke up. They were due to set sail shortly and there was only the one destination, the beach on the coast of what used to be America, although the bubble had expanded, and shrank, and split, and... he didn’t understand how it worked, but that was their gateway.

***

Glenn woke up with a start. It was dark, but his inner clock told him he expected it to be midday. Come to think of it, he thought to himself, since when did sandpits spontaneously grow covers and turn into a bed?

He sat up, rolling awkwardly out of bed. He scratched himself with a hoof, wincing at sore muscles, as his roving hooves met what felt like bandages. He’d cut himself, he remembered, running. His mind started to wander to just what he’d been running from, but he grit his teeth. He didn’t need to remember that. He would never need to remember that. Instead, he looked around. A room, a small room, with lots of cupboards and storage places. As his head cleared, he realized that the swaying of the room wasn’t due to fatigue or illness, it was actually swaying.

“A ship?” he said to himself. He looked around again, gaze falling on a door with a grippable handle. He turned it and pulled. The door swung open to reveal steps and a corridor of sorts.

“I guess... I go up.”

Anchor Watch was cleaning the deck again. The weather was calm, the sun was shining and there was a stiff breeze - the princesses themselves had ordered extra pegasi to make sure that each trip the newfoals took was as comfortable as possible. Storms had been ordered, but scheduled carefully. He tilted his head and decided to take the slack out some more on the spinnaker. It ballooned handsomly and the boat lurched slightly. His boat was a small one, really, but he was happy. He decided he liked the sea, and sailing, and vowed to continue even once the tide of newfoals subsided. Maybe he could take them sight-seeing, he pondered. Anchor turned at the sound of uncertain hoofsteps behind him. “Ah, you’re awake, stranger.”

“Go-good morning, what happened?”

“You’re on a boat, the ‘Seapony’s Fancy’ to be precise. I’m not sure what you were running from, but I thought it best to take you onboard.”

“Thank you,” Glenn turned his head, looking out to sea.

“I hope you don’t mind, I found you half dead in the sand this morning. Ship’s nurse bandaged you up.”

“I did wonder.”

“We’re just,” Anchor waved a hoof out to sea in the direction of travel, where a strange soap-like bubble could be seen, “we’re just heading back to Earth to pick up what stragglers won’t fit on the bigger cruisers. Hope you don’t mind. We’ll have you back in Equestria by nightfall.”

Glenn shook his head, “I don’t mind, I-I think I might stay.”

“On Earth? Whatever for? Whatever you’re running from will be long gone.”

Glenn laughed, hollowly, “No, it won’t.”

Anchor smiled wryly, “Ah, so, the sort of beast that’ll follow you anywhere, huh? Think you’ll escape it on Earth?”

Glenn sighed as he clip-clopped to the railing, looking down at the waves, “No.” he whispered.

“Well, if you’re sure, I’m not going to stop you. If you ever need to come back, you just let me and my mate know.”

“Who is your first mate?”

Anchor laughed, “He’s not the first mate, he’s the captain. He’s my mate.”

“Oh? Oh!” Glenn blushed.

“I hear some of you newfoals are kinda... antsy about that sort of thing, huh?”

Glenn nodded, then shook his head, “I, er, well yes. Some are. I’m... I’m not, I guess.”

“You don’t sound very sure.”

“Big changes, recently. How’d you know I was a newfoal?”

“Stallion your size? No cutie-mark? This day and age, chances are you’ve not found your true purpose yet, your true calling, which usually means newfoal. Then again, I didn’t for the longest time. Wandered from place to place, alone. I was a vagabond, it’d been so long I’d almost forgotten my name. Then I got a job on this boat, met the captain, my captain. Bam, purpose, in more ways than one. I’d never even suspected I was a colt-cuddler, truth be told.”

“That long without wome- mares?” joked Glenn.

Anchor stared at him for a moment, then burst into laughing tears, “Maybe!” he choked out, beating himself with his forehoof before wiping the tears away, “it was a long few hauls, though we’re never that far from port. I just... we just grew closer.”

“Do you...” Glenn’s voice dropped to a whisper, “would you... this is going to sound strange, but would you become a mare, i-if you could? For him?”

Anchor chewed his lip for a while before answering, “No, can’t say I would.”

Glenn’s face must have shown some flicker of strange emotion, for the sea-stallion continued, “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been all over and seen many things, but I’m comfortable in my own hide. I’ve seen humans changed to ponies for their loves, and that’s got to be a bigger thing than which parts you were born with. I couldn’t imagine not being a pony, but I won’t deny some wouldn’t bat an eyelid, were such a thing possible. I love my mate for who he is, and he me. I wouldn’t change that, so no, but I could see as some would. Strange questions indeed, stranger. Why do you ask? You’ve... no, I won’t speculate. A stallion’s past is his to keep, ‘less you want to share.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Glenn glared out to sea.

“Then tell me about Earth, stranger.”

“Well, uh, what do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

***

The doors to the Hackensack Conversion Bureau opened silently, letting the loud sounds of the city in. As they slid closed again, the cacophany ceased. The unicorn receptionist looked up and blinked. She’d expected a human, not a pony. She sized up the stallion before her; chestnut coat, burgundy mane, no cutie mark... a newfoal? she wondered. “Er, hi, can I help you?” she asked.

“Yeah, hi, I’m... uh...”

“Mostly newfoals head out to Equestria, or at least out our doors. What’s wrong, family didn’t take it right? I’m Elegance, dear, Elegance Flare. Ella for short.”

“G-glenn, Mi-...” he paused, “Summer Glenn. Summer for short.”

“Okay then Summer, how can I help you?”

“Do you have any... open positions?”

Elegance carefully turned back to the computer and, exercising fine control over her magic, started typing into the keyboard. “Hmm, not much...” she looked up as tears filled the eyes of the stallion. She sighed, she’d always been a sucker for the waterworks. “Okay, Summer, you might be in luck. Maintenance Technician, first class. Take this chit, report to Gumby down in section four-cee and tell him Ella sent you.”

“Thank you.” whispered Summer Glenn, as he turned and trotted out of sight.

Elegance sighed and shook her head, it wasn’t every day they got returnees.

Comments

[Zephyr]

Owww, yeah!

...
When will you upload the next chapter?

[DiStort]

Holy monkeys, it updated!
Looks like things just took a turn for the .
Well, hopefully things will work out for Glenn. I know at least a few ponies won't take this one laying down.

[Chatoyance]

NOOOOooooOOOoooOOOooooOOooooo!!!!!

Confound you, Midnight Shadow, you're BREAKING MY HEART!

[Meta Knight]

♫♥I look forward to reading what happens next in your story♥♪

[Lord Arcturus]

Holy balls a new chapter!

Kinda surprised by this plot twist. And I don't know about others but I really hope this doesn't turn into a, erm, colt-cuddler fic. I liked how it was already going so hopefully it goes back femGlenn at some point.

[Magical Trevor]

WHAAAAAAA?! BUT! BUT! BUT!

...
...
...

What now? YOU CAN'T LEAVE IT HANGING LIKE THIS! YOU CAN'T!!!!

[BraxAttacks]

43730 YOU ARE TEARING ME ALART, LISA!

[BraxAttacks]

44354 *apart*

Must... hug... Glenn!

Also, I like Anchor a LOT! Seems like fun!

Poor Pointe...