Chapter 6: The Final Wave
It was evening in the countryside. A number of small farmhouses were spread out in front of her forming a small little village all was calm. It was late and no pony stirred within the houses, and not a single light shown from any window. There was just the light of the stars and moon to illuminate the scene before her, but that was more than enough.
She sat sitting on a hilltop overlooking this little community, just watching. She felt the wet grass underneath her hooves, a slight breeze running along her fur and mane, and the smell of the ponies crops in her muzzle. It was peaceful and serene, and she couldn't help but smile.
A large white mare came up beside her. "It is such a lovely little village don't you think, Matthew?"
"Yes, it is. It's like something out of a storybook," Matthew replied as she drank in the sights and smells.
"The ponies here live simple lives that make them happy. They take care of each other and are generous to all who desire food or shelter. There is harmony here, but harmony is a thing that must be maintained, for there are always dangers. Look there," the white mare commanded as she pointed out in the distance.
Out in the distance crept a pack of wild dogs. There had been so many of them left behind by the humans and they had gone feral and vicious. They were now creeping towards the village looking for a meal.
"The night is not always safe. See there how suddenly a pony can be imperiled. Have you not yourself observed how helpless a pony can be?" The white mare asked as she pointed back towards the house the furthest out from the center of the village.
A little filly who couldn't yet be five years old wandered out of the house, perhaps to go relieve herself. She wasn't aware of the dogs, but the dogs were aware of her, and they were starving. She was small and easy prey.
She couldn't let this play out this way. Without thinking she jumped into the air and snapped her wings open in a single moment, pushing herself through the air towards the dogs. She quickly flew over the head of the little filly, startling the filly out of her sleepy walk with an audible gasp. She didn't concern herself with that, the dogs were still advancing.
She hit the lead dog at a high speed from the air sending it tumbling to the ground. She didn't need to concern herself with the other dogs she knew, this was about showing dominance over their pack leader, if the pack leader fled her the rest would follow.
The dog got back up and growled at her. She held her ground unafraid, night ponies were the conquerors of fear, not slaves to it. It charged her and she jumped up, dancing nimbly through the air and landing a hard buck to the dog's side. This process repeated itself another two times, and finally the alpha lost its nerve, and the rest of the pack with it. They fled.
"It is a brave and kind thing to put yourself in danger for another pony's sake. You are loyal to your fellow ponies, providing them with security. You are generous with your life so they may keep theirs. This is good and right isn't it?" the white mare asked.
"Yes it is," Matthew said as she looked back towards the houses. The filly had fled back inside her house, but she would be okay.
"But is everything okay?" The white mare asked. "You have fought the physical danger off, but the filly now suffers in her sleep, terrified now of the world around her."
Matthew could feel it. The sense of the dreamers in the houses around her, most slept soundly and with pleasant dreams, but the little filly's dreams were now troubled, she was having a nightmare. Matthew's heart went out for the poor filly.
"You can take that fear away, this would be the kind thing to do. Let her keep her innocence, she need not lose it, she has you to protect her from the horrors of the world," the white mare said.
Matthew almost sent her magic out to do just that, then paused. Something wasn't right about this. She turned to the white mare with a questioning expression.
"And what if something were to happen to me? Are they just defenseless then? Wouldn't letting them fear things that they should be legitimately afraid of be the kinder thing? That allows them to keep more alert for danger, and so avoid it. It lets them make plans to keep dangerous situations from happening, because they are aware and care, because fear makes it matter," Matthew questioned.
"But there is more than just you, there are many night ponies, all ready to keep your fellow ponies safe. All ponies have their place in the world, and as a night pony you are best suited for such a task. Why should they have to worry about such things when there are plenty of night ponies to see to their safety and care?" The white mare said in her own questioning tone.
"Because they aren't sheep to be tended, they are my fellow ponies. Yes I want to protect them, but I don't do that by keeping them unaware of the danger around them and suppressing the instinctual things they do in response to fear," Matthew asserted.
"Truly? You are one that knows that individuals and groups can do terrible things because of fear. Do you want to let your fellow ponies fall into the same traps? That can lead to a lot of sorrow, ponies should be given joy and laughter instead. You must help keep them from falling into such things," the white mare said with a tilt of her head.
"There are risks, but I think the alternative is worse..,"Matthew was going to try to answer further, but something happened. The entire world lurched and grew less distinct. The white mare looked around in surprise before looking back at her as the world continued to fade away.
"It seems that we shall not be continuing this conversation, little proponent of nightmares. I am not the one to tell you what you should do, as every pony must find their own purpose. I only show you what the world can be when we maintain harmony and try to guide you towards it. There are many ways to help your fellow ponies while maintaining harmony, but many that may break that harmony. May you find your place in harmony with the world rather than at odds with it," the white mare said as she faded away.
Matthew wake up!
She became aware that she had been asleep and this had all been a dream. Somepony was forcing her awake, shaking her violently. The voice that she had heard was not one that she would have been expecting.
"Okay, okay, I'm awake," she said in a half aware tone as she pushed whoever had been shaking her away with a forehoof.
"Matthew, are you feeling okay? You aren't in pain are you?" Came her mother's voice. Why would her mother think she would be in pain?
"I'm fine," she said as she finally opened her eyes. She blinked as she did, as the world seemed to have far more vivid color than she recalled.
Realization dawned on her as she went cross eyed to stare at her own muzzle. She realized next that she was laying on her back and having her wings crushed between her and the floor was really uncomfortable, so she rolled over.
Now in a more comfortable position she extended out a foreleg and looked at it. It wasn't a particularly remarkable foreleg or hoof, but it was her foreleg and hoof. She smiled as she realized it was over, though it had come sooner than expected.
She used her forelegs to push herself up into a sitting position and then pushed backwards further on her rump into an extremely awkward position so she could get a better look at her personal area; it was a bit of a lewd position, but she needed to inspect this. A quick inspection brought a smile to her face; everything down there was mare parts, not stallion.
"Can you please not go inspecting that and sit in a proper position," came the voice that had woken her. She frowned as she realized the owner and recognized his scent. This was unfair, most ponies got to wake up whole and be happy to start learning about their new bodies. She was waking up and getting thrust back into dealing with her father.
She turned and looked towards him. He was a green unicorn with a blue mane and on his face was a mixture of fear, concern, and revulsion. It made her stomach sink as she realized that things were not suddenly going to be better. Her mother stood beside him with a look of concern and fear as well, but thankfully no revulsion.
"Are you sure you are okay? The changes were happening so fast with you and every other pony that it was scary to watch. The ones who were awake when it started had a very hard time," her mother said with a tone soaked with worry.
"I feel perfectly alright," Matthew said as she adjusted her position to stand and brought herself up on four hooves for the first time. "How do I look?"
"You look great, a perfectly pretty young mare," her mother said with a smile.
"No, you look like a perversion of what should be," her father hissed, making her recoil as if she had been slapped. He softened his expression then and added. "You look unhurt though, and I suppose that is something to be thankful for."
"I told you that you were not going to make her feel ashamed," her mother said as she brought her muzzle up close to her father's face in challenge.
"Matthew might be in the form of a mare, but that doesn't mean he has to accept that this is right," her father said back in a deadly calm.
"And she was supposed to accept that it was right before? I think you should leave. I'll not have you spoiling this for her. I thought you might come to your senses, but I was mistaken. God gave us a miracle and you just continue to trash on it," her mom snarled at her dad.
"None of this is God's will, and what's going on with him just highlights that," her dad snapped back.
"Until you can show some kindness and compassion to your daughter I don't want to see you or have you near her. I'm not sure I want to see you even if you can bring yourself to be civil. You have contempt of her, you have contempt of me, you have contempt for yourself, you have contempt for God's will, and I want nothing more to do with all that vileness. We are starting new lives and should be happy, but you seem determined to make us all feel ashamed of wanting to have that joy. Just go, get out of here," her mother said in a dangerous tone towards her father. Her mother's horn was lit brightly even though there seemed to be nothing happening; Matthew sensed that her mother was ready to unleash that power violently if need be.
"You're all under some sort of mind control, you aren't acting like yourselves. Why can't you see it? You'd never have accepted this before," her father insisted as he backed up a few steps.
"Tom, just go," her mother said in a low voice as she stared down at her hooves.
"Fine, but I'm not going to give up on trying to bring you all back to sanity. We may have these bodies, but we can still retain our minds with some work. I can't be the only sane pony around still," her father said as he turned and stormed out of the sanctuary, earning dirty looks from all the ponies he passed.
Her mother rushed over to her and threw her forelegs around Matthew's neck, then buried her face into Matthew's shoulder, and cried. Matthew wrapped one of her wings around her mother protectively as her mother just let it all out. She let some tears of her own fall, but tried not to break down completely while her mother was in need. This seemed like an end of their marriage, it had come on suddenly in the last few days, and it was enough to make Matthew's head spin. She had no hate for her father, just hurt, but she wasn't the one who had been arguing with him. How much had been going on without her hearing?
"We don't need him; he had the gall to call you an abomination when I said that you might be becoming a mare, he called me brainwashed for saying that I wanted you to feel comfortable as a mare if it was so, and he called me possessed for saying that this was God's will. We've been married almost twenty-five years and after all this time he goes and says such cruel things about the two of us. Why is it he is going through the same things as we are but having so much hatred?" her mother said she continued to cry.
"He is just scared, Mom. Everything he ever knew is changing. What he understood to be true doesn't completely fit into this new world. I can kind of see where he is coming from as I look around and see everypony just accepting everything without question. I might not be lashing out like him, nor do I agree with him about a lot of things clearly, but there is a lot going on that makes me uneasy too," Matthew said as she tried to sooth her mother.
"So do you agree with him that I'm just brainwashed?" Her mother asked in a far too calm tone.
"I think that you might need more time and perspective to get a better idea of what is going on," Matthew said, considering her phrasing carefully.
"I suppose that is a fair statement," her mother said as she pulled away and sat down. She looked over at Matthew and gave off a little laugh. "I'm taller than you now by a small amount. I'm used to having to look up to see your face. You really need a new name, it's odd calling my daughter Matthew."
"I haven't had time to really think about that. I'll change it sooner or later, once I feel I have something that fits me," Matthew said with a smile, glad they were moving on to less tense topics, but also aware her mother was trying to distract herself from what had just happened.
"What do you suppose pony names should be? Do we just keep using human names?" her mother said.
"You could just call me Pretty Pony," Matthew said with a smile, hoping to get a laugh.
"Be serious," her mother said with a scrunched up muzzle.
"Oh all right, how about Night Mare?" Matthew said with a roll of her eyes, pushing still to try to lighten the mood.
"That sounds like you're trying to scare foals in a very cheesy way. You better be messing with me," her mother said as she covered her muzzle with one hoof to hide a small blooming smile. Mission accomplished in trying to cheer her up a bit.
"You never know, it is descriptive," Matthew said with a smirk that said she wasn't actually serious. Actually, it might be something that could be incorporated in the future, something felt like it fit. She wasn't going to just call herself Night Mare as that was like calling herself Blonde Woman, but her saying that the filly in the dream should keep her nightmares did seem to resonate with her.
"Mom, are you going to be okay?" Matthew asked. It was no secret her mother was avoiding trying to think about the fact her marriage could well be over. Matthew didn't know how to feel herself; that was her dad who just got sent off. He did seem to care, in his own messed up way, about them.
"I don't know. I really am starting a new life it seems, and it hurts that he will not be a part of it or even want to be a part of it. Sure, we would fight sometimes, but every couple does. This is just too far though. Part of me wants to just be what he wants me to be, and to try to make you what he wants you to be, and have it all go back to the way it was. It isn't right though, and I need to accept that my old life is completely over. I still have you at least Matthew," she said.
Her mother scrunched up her nose and looked at Matthew. "And until you figure out a name for yourself I'm just going to start calling you Mattie. Maybe I need a new name too for a new life, so we both have names to think about."
"Mattie it is for right now, until I think of something better," Mattie said in agreement. "He may still come around. I hope he does. He is going to need to take time to figure himself out though and we will be taking out time figuring ourselves out too. It is going to be a while before the world settles down into something we can consider normal."
"Yeah, a lot still to figure out about ourselves," her mother said as she looked up at the large crucifixion hanging on the wall above the altar area, as if looking for answers. "So let's see you use those wings God has given you. Every other pony with wings would have already started trying to fly, but you've had your first moments derailed. You'll feel better flying and I will feel better watching you do it. It will be a pleasant distraction from all this and I am determined to see you take joy in what God has given you."
Mattie flexed her wings. She knew she could fly because every other pony with wings seemed able to do it almost right away. She felt an ache she wasn't aware of up to this moment to get into the air and enjoy that freedom. Looking around she saw some freshly transformed pegasi shouting with joy as they enjoyed their own first day being able to fly.
She wasn't sure what the right way to do it was, so she just started beating her wings as she closed her eyes. A moment later she felt her hooves leave the ground and her mother give a whoop of encouragement. Mattie opened her eyes and looked down at her mother's smiling face and saw a few other ponies nearby give her smiles as well, a smile spread across her own muzzle. She was hovering in the air and it was awesome!
Looking around she let instinct take hold and she moved through the air around the sanctuary as if she were a fish swimming through a pool. There were lots of pegasi in the air as well throughout the sanctuary, but they all easily avoided colliding with one another in the air. She now started to see why Haley and John did more flying to place to place, even indoors, than walking. There was a sense of freedom, a sense of fulfillment, in flying. She could never give this up if somepony came up with a way of reversing transformations, it would be like taking part of her soul.
"It's a wonderful feeling isn't it?" Came a familiar voice as she brought herself in a hover near the highest part of the sanctuary. She turned and saw Tonya flying near her with a knowing smile.
"I can't believe I've lived my whole life without this," Mattie said with unabashed enthusiasm.
"I know what you mean. I know I'd rather die than have this taken from me. You look good by the way. I'm a little jealous to tell the truth, you've had more than a few admirers watching you. Night pony mares tap into that desire for something exotic. How can a pegasus mare compete," Tonya said with a giggle.
Mattie looked around her and at various ponies on the ground. There actually were a lot of stallions sneaking glances at her, and more than a few mares trying to hide glances at her too. It made her blush; this was not attention she was used to, and wasn't something she knew how she felt about yet.
"Aww, you're cute when you blush. So, are you happy to be a proper mare at last? No shame about being what you are?" Tonya asked.
"I feel more at peace with what I am than I ever have in my life," Mattie said with a contented sigh.
"I'm glad. I saw and heard what went on with your father; I like to spend time in here watching the newly transformed, so I was here watching when you were first waking up. Don't worry, he'll come to understand in time. He can't deny what he is or who you are forever. I know you and your mom are hurting from that right now. I'm here for either of you if you need some pony to talk to, let your mom know," Tonya said sympathetically.
"I will tell her, if she didn't hear you already due to how much we can hear. So you spend your days just watching ponies in here?" Mattie asked. She wasn't so sure she could agree with Tonya that somepony couldn't deny who and what they are indefinitely, hadn't she been doing that herself most of her life?
"Well, not all my time, but I set aside a lot of time every day to do it. Though we seem to be running out of ponies still in the process of transformation around here so I might end up losing that hobby. I spent my whole life trying to be what I knew I was, and just watching ponies coming to realize for the first time that they are now something wonderful makes me feel happy," she said as she smiled down at the room full of ponies.
"What do you mean we are running out of ponies in the process? There are lots of them here," Mattie said with confusion.
"Um, look around you. There are none that aren't fully transformed in this room now. I don't know how it happened, but today everypony's transformation process went like it was on fast forward. Changes that should have taken hours are done in minutes, changes that should have taken days in a few hours. It caught everypony off guard. Things had been speeding up, but this was way more than that. There are barely any that are in the transformation process anymore in the entire area. There are some, but they had been very early in it or not showing symptoms yet. Didn't you think it strange you finished up now rather than say tomorrow? Because that's what I was expecting it to take," Tonya explained.
Mattie did look around, closer this time. It was true, there wasn't a single individual with human features, every single last pony in the sanctuary was complete. The sanctuary was where most of those who had been still undergoing transformation had been at so it was unlikely there were any untransformed on the church grounds at all. There had been well over a thousand at the church alone. If she started considering all the other shelters and those that had stayed at home the numbers became massive. There were now possibly hundreds of thousands of fully transformed in just this state if that pattern held true elsewhere, there had to be millions around the world.
"I don't know why things suddenly sped up so quickly, but the ponies outnumber the humans in this area now. We aren't going to be at the humans' mercy any more," Tonya said with unquestionable glee.
Mattie didn't say anything in response. There had to be a reason things had escalated so much today. It was good that the ponies now had the numbers to not be so much at the mercy of humans, but this would terrify the humans even more for sure; that was a dangerous thing. She had no desire to try to control the thoughts of her fellow ponies by invading their dreams, but she had a feeling she may soon need to try to help defend them.
Stats
Page generated in 0.035 seconds
Total duration
835 users online
531,676 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
8899988
The lack of any sympathetic human character, or that the only pony clinging to his past humanity is a fundamentalist jerk, dont help.
Why the accent?
8900752
Very strange typo..not even sure how I typed that.
awesome story so far. I'm not usually a fan of human to pony stories in the human world but I really like this story due to the Male to female transgender parts. I am male to female transgender myself and had to hide it till I was 13 because I feared what my stepdad would do to me. so I understand all too well how Matthew feels. however, unlike him, I always knew I was a filly at heart. keep up the good work
Hm. Well, I suspect names will be easier once she gets her cutie mark in- teaching ponies to have reasonable caution?
I dunno. Reasonable Caution? Warning Sign? Midnight Warning? Dark Omen? Midnight Omen?Survival Instinct? Midnight Vision? En Garde?
Most if not all of those are terrible names, although some of them sound like MtG cards. Hnn. Well, you probably already have a plan, but that doesn't stop me from coming up with terrible guesses.
This story is a bit one sided in its treatment of pony perspectve versus human perspective. So far all humans have been jerks or outright criminals, with none of the comradery in a time of trial to help balance it out. Could use a few of those to show that not all humans are assholes.
When can we expect the next chapter
8901999
Well..lol
She definitely needs a different name, Mattie just doesn't set well with me.
''...terrify the humans even more...'' has to be in reference to the dream discussion about fear right?
8901332
We did see humans briefly in a supporting role in the previous chapter where they were helping to protect the church, but it's a good point. While I understand the point the author is making here considering where in the country this takes place, having some more sympathetic humans would be nice.
Still a good chapter overall. Tom's resistance to the vision was interesting, if a bit stronger than I would have thought. It would be interesting to learn more of his backround to know what went into that. We had Fred in the original story, but he had specific reasons to resist the vision, as he was more in-the-know about what was behind it.
Ironically, the father's right all along, it is brainwashing! Silly ponies, humanity isn't a state of physicality, it's a state of mind. Besides, rushing to reverse-xenophobia is a very human thing to do, not a ponish thing to do.
Why didn't Mattie's father feel the same comfort in being a pony as the others have does this mean we will eventually have a villan in the making?