Familiar

by Cookies

Aftermath

Have you ever felt at peace? You know, the kind of peace that would make you feel like you just won at the game of Life.

That you actually did everything you'd want to do, and know that if whatever happened to you right there, you wouldn't mind it, because you know that you wouldn't regret anything?

The kind of peace that would actually free you of any nagging thoughts and all negative emotions?

...

For a moment, my half-conscious mind was so deep in Peace and Tranquility that I didn't realize that I was floating around.

I opened my eyes to check my surroundings, only to be met by nothingness. Another black void.

It was good to know my mind was consistent when imagining a blank place to put me in.

Wait... Why am I here? I asked myself, returning fully to my senses.

I recalled everything that happened from the moment we set foot in Canterlot, up to the last moments of the fight between the mares and Discord, and me embarrassing myself at the end.

I would have groaned at this moment, but something else got my attention.

Six tiny different colored nodes of light appeared around me, and started moving around. The small blue and yellow one were orbiting with each other just above the rest, while an orange and white one were surrounding a purple one. The last one, a pink colored node, was seemingly bouncing around them all.

Funny, they kind of feel like...

Then others started to show up. First, a tiny speck of green appeared next to the purple one. Then another green appeared much more far-off from the others. There also was a small colorless ball that vibrated wildly around me.

And finally, two others joined. One was much bigger than the rest (as big as my fist), it was white and stayed above them all. The second one was an enormous midnight blue, easily as big as a beach ball, and it stayed near the big white one.

What is this all about..?

I heard a soft windy noise behind me. I turned around to see if there was another node that appeared there and I was not disappointed.

A giant rainbow ball of light, the size of a freaking bus, was shining upon me.

I slowly put on some sunglasses to admire it.

Huh. Cool show and all but what the heck are those things?

The giant ball pulsed a few times and released waves of energy with each of them. I could feel the waves stick on me like some sort of second skin that I couldn't remove. Not that I would try to anyway. It felt like something I never knew I needed.

The warmth of a deep bonded friendship.

The satisfaction of mutual understanding.

The embrace of a lov--

Okay now this was getting a bit too much.

I watched the ball shrink after each waves, until it became as big as an average car.

Then I felt water run past my feet, making me look down.

I wasn't floating anymore. I was standing on a plane of water. When I looked up to check back on the ball, it disappeared. Instead there was a tiny island with a lonely cristal tree on it and... Wait a second.

Oh come on, I'm not going to fight a dark version of myself, am I? I thought to myself.

I forgot that one should never tempt fate like that.

I saw something rise from the water. A fairly inconvenient soon-to-be problem that looked relatively like me. It walked towards me.

"OH COME ON!" I shouted to what or whoever would listen. "Alright dude. Let's do some real fighting." I had my hand at the ready. "Let's play some Rock, Papers, Scissors."

The entity stopped walking, and stared at me with its bright red eyes.

I stared back, and boy was it both disconcerting and nerve-wracking.

We stayed like that for a while. It was not moving at all, not showing any emotions, while I was at the end of my rope, barely restraining myself to not blink.

This was possibly the fiercest staring contest in history, and I was obviously winning.

I'm sure that with enough time, my eyes would have been perfect replica of the thing in front of me, but I wouldn't be able to confirm it, what with it relaxing its stance and shrugging.

"Wait what." came the only logical reply I could muster.

It placed its hand behind its back, ready to play.

Oh. My God. Even evil-me is lazy enough to not have a real smackdown.

I facepalmed and counted to three, putting out my hand and choosing Paper.

I watched the entity between my fingers. It chose Rock.

Paper beats Rock.

The entity shaked its head and disappeared in a dark puff of smoke.

All of this was an underwhelming mess.

I groaned and went to sit against the crystal tree, on dry land. It was a strange one, it felt almost mystical, and had familiar marking on its trunk and branches.

"Uh, they almost look like..."

And then it disappeared, letting me fall softly on my back. I sighed. "Really?"

"ANON!" came a shout from nearby. I lifted my head to look at the Moon Princess flying toward me.

"Luna?" I managed to say before she landed down hard enough to make a small crater.

"I COULDN'T ACCESS YOUR DREAM. ARE YOU OKAY?" She shouted for no apparent reason while glancing left and right, watching for something.

"Okay okay, calm down. I'm the one who should be asking that to you. Are you okay?" I said as I sat up.

"WE--" she said before clearing her throat. "I mean, I am fine. My sister found me in that... embarrassing state. And while I have no doubt that it gave her new prank ideas, she was still able to get me out of that awful mindset I found myself in." She said while averting her gaze.

...

I got up and walked to her. "But it is still heavy on your mind, am I wrong?"

She sat down, still looking away. "What should I do? I hurt my sister, my subjects, and even you, a being from another world. How can I forgive myself?"

Okay, this was heavy. But holy heck the drama was killing me.

I grabbed Luna by the chin and forced her to look at me. "Listen here you cute pony. I'm not a psychologist. I don't have an overcomplicated solution to give you, but hear me on this one."

I stared in her eyes as I was about to deliver my thoughts on her case. "Look, I may not be anything special, but I can still see signs and deduct something from them. You, are a big ball of regret and self-doubting mess."

She tried to avert her gaze, but I still held her chin. "Hey there, keep looking at me, and listen. I do not have a miracle solution, but it seems like your world runs on friendship and niceness, so let's try something. You will go out there, and make some friends." I said as I thought of what Celestia said to Twilight the night I was summoned.

"Heck, I might even be one of them, but only if you start looking past your mistakes and try to rebuild your life after learning from them." I paused for a second. "And that you ask for my opinion before taking an important decision involving me."

She blushed lightly during my little speech. That's when I realized that I held her head with my hand, and that I was unusually close to her. I quickly stepped back.

"My friend..?" She mumbled to herself, shocked. Then she blinked. "...Did you call me a 'cute pony'?"

GOSHDARNIT IT'S A REPEAT OF FLUTTERSHY'S. ABORT MISSION. ABORT.

"What?Ithinkyoumustbemistaken." I hastily replied as I wished with all my heart for a 'power' button to apper nearby so I could escape.

"But you clearly said.." She started, and thankfully my prayer was answered when a big red button poof'd between us.

I punched it with strength that could only be compared to All Might's full power.

~ ~ A couple minutes earlier ~ ~

"Princess Celestia?"

"Yes, Twilight?"

"Umm... I have wondered since the celebration two days ago..." She took her time to ask her question, not being sure if she should ask at all. "Why wasn't there Anon on the stained-glass window?"

Celestia carefully grabbed her teacup with her hoof, her horn being monopolised to create a golden bubble around Anon's hospital bed.

She took a small sip as she pondered her faithful student's question. "The reason is quite simple. He would not have liked it." She replied solemnly with her eyes closed.

Twilight remembered when Anon got his honorific title. His nerves were cracking back then. She nodded silently at her mentor and watched Anon twitch in his bed.

He had exactly seventeen surges since he was blasted with the Elements, and his rainbow hue disappeared more and more after each of them, and now there was only a small patch left in the center of his chest.

But Twilight still felt guilty. What is he became another Discord because she couldn't aim properly?

As if the Princess sensed Twilight's fear, she spoke again. "You should not worry Twilight. Discord became the spirit of Chaos because he was exposed to too many different sources. Anon here mainly absorbed pony, and Harmonic magic. if anything, I would be quite curious to know what changes would befell Anon after being near-exclusively subjected to one of the strongest positive magic of our world."

Twilight stared at the Princess with her mouth open. Mainly because she didn't think the Princess would know exactly what was bothering her, and that she'd actually turn it around so that it would tickle her scientific bone.

Princess Celestia opened her eyes as she felt a change in the bubble. Anon was about to have another surge.

She readied her horn and braced herself. She had to prepare for any unpleasant surprise that could come from a sleeping human. She still didn't get over some of the things that she saw in that dreaded dream a month ago. She was thankful that every surge up until now were peaceful.

This time, it wasn't.

~ ~ Back to the Present ~ ~

I woke up suddenly, sitting upright in a panic --I always thought it was a movie thing honestly-- and swinging my arm to punch, like a residue movement of the dream.

To my great surprise, my punch released a focused purple shockwave against the golden orb that was around me.

Even more surprising was the fact that my punch cracked a big part of that orb and went through, only to destroy a small part of the wall in the opposite side of the room and giving us a glimpse of the little park behind the hospital.

Someone peeked from the other side. I think it was the same nurse from last time.

She fainted.

The golden orb disappeared, and without that yellow wall tinting my vision, I finally spotted Twilight and Celestia staring at me with wide eyes. Turns out that I actually punched right between them.

I glanced between my fist and the two ponies, being as shocked as them. "Uhhh... Sorry?" I said weakly.

Celestia's horn was fuming, but she calmly got herself back together and put down the cup she was still holding with her hoof. She glanced at my chest, then back in my eyes. I looked down to check on me, but there was nothing out of the ordinary, apart from me being in an hospital gown made by Rarity.

"I see that you are feeling okay." said Celestia.

"Slept like a log. But why am I in the hospital?" I asked Celestia, because it seemed like Twilight.exe has stopped working.

"For both your own, and my subjects' safety. Do you remember what happened?" She asked, while rising to her hooves and going over to Twilight to give a light bap on her horn, seemingly rebooting her.

I internally groaned. "Yes. I do."

Twilight blinked and ran to the foot of the bed. "Anon! Are you okay? Do you feel strange? Can you confirm that everything in your body feels normal? Is there--"

Suddenly, a guard bursted in the room, visibly panicked. "Princess! It seems like the hospital is under atta..." He slowly stopped talking after seeing the hole in the wall and the Princess' almost tired gaze.

"Everything is under control Swift Shield. You can return to your position." Celestia said with calm and serenity. The guard immediatly saluted and left.

This little interuption gave me some time to check every bit of my body. To no surprise, everything was good. Well, except for a faint, strange lingering warmth in my chest.

I looked back at Twilight, finding her practically crawling toward me from the edge of the bed, with a notepad and a quill floating nearby, all while she stared at me with wide eyes. She kind of looked like a cat that had its target locked in.

I lifted the cover and threw it over her. "Hey!" she yelled.

I sat on the edge of the bed and glanced at Celestia. "I feel heat in my kokoro."

She blinked and tilted her head. "Excuse me?" She said.

I rolled my eyes. Of course she wouldn't understand. "I feel something warm in my chest." Meanwhile, Twilight finally escaped from that oh-so terrible trap I set her in. She briefly glared at me, then wrote down what I said.

"Princess, do you think this is one of those "nature changing" sign?" She asked her mentor with a worried frown while tapping the tip of her quill on her chin.

"Wait, what?" I looked at them with a raised brow.

Celestia sighed. "Anon, you absorbed quite the amount of magic."

"An impossible amount for any creature to withstand." continued Twilight. "But it seems like your body adapted fairly quickly to it. It's fascinating!" She said with newfound excitement.

Celestia lifted her teacup with magic to take a sip, but the sweet brew had seemingly turned cold because she put it back down slowly. "Fascinating... in a way, yes. But we need to confirm if something really changed in Anon, and not just be a temporary effect of the surges."

"Uh-huh. How are we going to do this?" came my skeptical reply.

"We will have to run some tests on you!" Twilight replied with a wide grin. She was quickly approaching Pinkie's level of terror-inducing weirdness.

"You're being too excited about this." I said with a deadpan expression.

"Do not worry, Anon. Twilight usually takes care of her test subjects." Celestia said casually.

What? "She isn't going to run the tests, is she?"

Twilight seemed to remember something at that moment. "Oh no!" she said a bit too loudly before remembering that she was still in an hospital. "No. I mean, I would be so thrilled to run the tests, plus a few others, but I still haven't... Well I still have to do my list and prepare for the picnic later today."

"Are you even a doctor?" I asked her, confused about all of this.

"I think that we are beyond mere medical knowledge at this point." replied Celestia and I agreed with her, but Twilight seemed a bit too passionate about this. Was it simply because it was a Magic related problem?

I sighed. At least if that'd made me avoid that horrible MRI machine, I'd give it a go. Just thinking about it is giving me the shivers.

"Alright, what should we... Wait, where's Twilight?" I looked around the room, finding only Celestia staring at me.

"She went to take care of the tasks she just mentionned. Do you wish to proceed as soon as possible?" asked the royal princess.

"Yeah. The sooner it's done, the sooner I'll go home." I said with an enthusiasm that could be compared to a snail's on a dry day. This was being a repeat of last time wasn't it?

"Cheer up, Anon. You'll meet with an old acquaintance." Celestia said while walking to the door and opening it with her magic.

"Acquaintance?" I got up slowly, my muscles were still a bit numb. "You don't mean Doc Wraps, do you?"

"I do." She turned and went in the hallway. I had to walk quickly while limping to get back to her.

"Wait! What about the wall?" I asked from right behind her.

"This could have been avoided if I had been more careful. I will handle the costs." She replied, walking toward a set of double doors.

"Mighty kind of you. Thanks." I said as we reached the reception. There were two guards waiting next to the entrance. They stood straight, ready for orders. On the other side of the room, behind the desk, was the doc, visibly scribbling something on some paper.

It seemed like he was really focused on it, because he didn't hear us approach.

We peeked at what he was writing.

{{"I didn't know you were such a courageous stallion!" said Bun Bun after being picked up by Heart Healer's strong hooves.
{{"I would do anything for you, my Bunnie hunny." he replied. The timberwolves were approaching quickly and he--

"Timberwolves?" I whispered to Celestia, but his ears picked it up.

He glanced at us and yelled in fright, falling to the floor and clutching his chest.

I yelled back, surprised by his reaction. The guards briefly glanced at each other, then started charging toward us while yelling too.

"STOP!" yelled Celestia, a hoof against her forehead. It stopped everyone. "Guards, at ease." She said, frustrated. The two saluted and went back to the entrance.

I looked at the doc. "Dude! You scared us!" I said, offering my hand to help him up. "You alright?"

"You nearly scared my soul out of my body!" He said with a bit of angst, and his face sported a blush. He eventually took my hand and got up again though. "I didn't expect you to be up so soon. How do you feel?"

And that was a great question, because I didn't realize that at one point while coming here, the slight warmth in my chest calmed down. I didn't feel it anymore. "Aside from the recent heart rate spike, I actually feel pretty normal." I glanced at Celestia and shrugged with a confused raised brow. "Nothing unusual anymore."

He searched his desk for some file while sneakily hiding the paper he was writing on. He soon pulled out my medical file. "What do you mean, 'anymore'?"

"Well, I felt something in my chest, but it's gone now. Twilight and Celestia both thought it was something magical." I replied.

He hummed, thinking about it. "We may need to verify this."

It's really a repeat of what happened a month ago huh. "With the little device you used last time, right?" I said.

"No, we're going straight for the Magic Resonance Imaging." He replied, heading toward the hallway we came from.

Magic resonance... Wait... MRI. Oh my fu--

"Are you coming?" The doc asked me. Both the princess and him were waiting at the doors.

"Sure." I said, following them with a brave face, but I was internally screaming.

...

It only took a few seconds before Celestia asked about Doc's paper.

"Doctor Wraps, are you a writer?" She asked with curiosity.

He quickly began stuttering. "N-not really, it was nothing. Please forget about it, Princess."

"But the names sounded familiar..." She mumbled, and the doc was looking away, visibly struggling with something. "Oh! Could it be..." continued Celestia.

"Fine! I admit it. I wrote the Heart And Love books. Please do not tell anypony, it's only a hobby." Doc Wraps blurted out, interupting the princess.

"Wonderful!" She said happily. "These books are some of my student's favorites, and I must admit that I did enjoy some of them too. Could you sign my copy of your latest novel later? It would be the perfect gift for Twilight."

Doc's mind was completely blown given he was staring blankly at his princess, with his mouth open.

"You read sappy romance novels?" I asked Celestia with a raised brow.

"Why yes, they make for quite the distracting read." She replied with a smile.

"That's uhhh... Nice. To each their own, I guess." I replied with a shrug.

"What about you?" She asked while poking Doc's cheek.

"I just lurk on the Internet nowadays. Well, I did before all of this happened. I've been busy handling Rarity's gift ever since."

Doc slowly looked at me. "I never would have thought that Princess Celestia would enjoy my work. Or even touch me." He whispered.

"This is borderline God worshipping level." I commented.

Celestia sighed for some reason. "Some of my ponies DO think of me as a goddess." She stared sideways at me. "But it seems that you do not." She said, smiling genuinely.

"I mean, you have quite the amount of grand achievements, but you also look like one big plushie, like all of the other ponies." I replied without thinking.

Does she not like them thinking so high of her..?

She looked surprised at my comment.

Uh oh. I dunno about that one Chief.

Realizing I was talking to a princess and ruler of the land, I tried to save face and blurted out, "Even though you can kick my butt to the Sun and back. Twice. Easy."

...

There was a small silence hanging, but then she blinked, and laughed heartily.

It seemed to fully get the Doc back to his senses as he glanced between Celestia and me, and laughed awkwardly. "What are we laughing about?" He whispered very quietly at me.

"I don't know, keep laughing." I replied, to which his laugh became even more off. Ugh.

Thinking about it, I only rarely refered to Celestia as a princess. She had some real regal moments sometimes, but... BAH! Who am I kidding? I started calling her only by her name because I was angry back then, and it stuck to me. Same for Luna. I had no real excuses.

Celestia's laugh eventually winded down, and she wiped a tear from her eyes. "Thank you for this, Anon. I needed it."

Well, this wasn't really expected. "Uh yeah, no problem." I replied hesitantly. "Should we move on?" I said with a tilt of my head.

"...Right." replied the Doc, then leading us back to the MRI room.

...

I was not looking forward to this, but I still got in the machine. The two ponies settled at the other part where they would read the results.

"Ready?" Doc asked me.

"Not in the slightest."

"That won't be a problem." He said, starting the machine.

And there went another 5 long minutes of itchy agony. I'm pretty sure my eyes were bloodshot after trying to not scratch myself for so long, but trying to listen to Celestia's and Doc's murmurs was a nice distraction.

They stared at me weird when I got out. "What is it?" I asked with a slight hint of irritation while trying to scratch myself all over at the same time.

"You should come see this." Doc answered.

'I think you need to see this' cliché. Ding!

I approached as he handed --hoofed?-- me a paper with a red line shooting up and down. "What about it? Seems like a normal heart rate for someone who's trying to resist to move an inch."

"Anon... That's not your heart rate. That's your magic readings." Celestia said.

"Please don't joke like that. We already established that I absorb magic, and nearly nothing gets out." I replied, then remembered what Luna said in the dream. Something about Celestia and pranks.

I squinted at them. "... It's a prank isn't it? That's the reading of the previous pony going in there."

Celestia went wide-eyed. "N-no! I wouldn't..." She cleared her throat. "I would not joke about something so serious. This is real."

"Wh-- But... Eh? How?!" I grabbed the Doc and shaked him lightly. "Tell me everything!"

"P-please put me down A-A-Anon!" he said before Celestia levitated him out of my grasp. His eyes were spinning in a cartoonish manner. Oh.

"S-sorry about that. Give me the news, Doc." I said, rubbing the back of my head.

He shaked his head and blinked to get his eyes back to normal, then he handed me another paper, with overly complicated words that I didn't understand. "This is a detailed analysis of your magic. With what the Princess told me, we both came to the conclusion that over-exposure to the Elements of Harmony may have actually attuned your body to magic. Harmonious magic to be precise."

"What does that mean? Am I not human anymore? Am I becoming Discord?" I asked to both, frankly afraid of the answer.

"No! No no no, Anon. Discord was attuned to Chaos, and you are now attuned to Harmony. You're the complete opposite of him." Celestia said, putting a hoof against my arm in an attempt to cheer me up.

Another mindblowing revelation coming from a visit at the hospital. Who would've thought?

I put both of my hands against my forehead as I tried to understand the situation. "Okay, but I still look like me, right? Why?"

Both took a moment to ponder.

"Maybe it's because this is the form you're most in harmony with?" suggested Doc after the short silence.

"Can't say I have multiple forms anyway, but that makes sense? In a weird twisted way..?" I replied hesitantly.

Wait. So I can finally do magic? And what about my bothering magic-absorbing thing?

"Oi Celestia? Shoot me with some magic please." I asked her.

Both of them were taken aback by my request, but Celestia nodded and charged her horn.

It grew brighter and brighter.

Like, really bright. I was having doubt about this one when we started hearing the spell charge up.

"P-Princess Celestia! You can't possibly shoot Anon!" cried Doc as the sound grew louder.

I stepped back. "That's a bit too much there, Celestia!" I yelled so she could hear, but she continued charging the spell up, until I couldn't look at her because of how bright her horn was.

"I am just doing as you asked, Anon. Now prepare for the impact!" She yelled back and shot... a tiny ball of golden light toward me. It looked like a slow and tiny Sun.

What.

I stepped aside to dodge it, but still curiously extended my arm to poke it. It disappeared quickly when I did, leaving an itchy feeling and a warm sensation in my fingers.

"Satisfied?" Celestia said while discreetly shooting her tongue at me.

Darnit. I've been got.

"Ha. Ha. Real funny." I said sarcastically. "Why can I still do this if I'm changed?"

"You still have the same body, Anon. You're still human." She tried to say in a reassuring tone.

...I sighed in relief. "Okay. Nice." I said while wiping my forehead. "What about magic? Can I cast spells like Discord?"

"What's with him? He seems a little obsessed about Discord." I heard Doc whisper at Celestia.

"I heard you! And I'm not obsessed. You two just told me how close I was to become another magic-twisted creature. I'm just trying to get everything as clear as possible so I don't lose my sleep for the next 10 years or so." I said grumpily.

Celestia gave me a bright smile. "If Discord drew his power from Chaos, then maybe you can draw power from Harmony?"

...Oh no. Please don't...

"And what's more harmonious than true friendship?" She chirped happily.

There we go.

I shaked my head. "Are you telling me that, in my case, friendship is litterally power?"

She blinked in realization. "Please do not start thinking this way." She nearly pleaded.

"Don't worry about it. If I tried to make friends for more power, it wouldn't be very harmonious right? It wouldn't work." I replied. "Plus this is all hypothetical. For all we know, maybe I can only draw power from harmony itself. The Elements, I mean."

"We will have to wait and see then." Celestia said, closing her eyes solemnly.

"If it's the friendship thing, then we'll wait for a looooooong time." I mumbled to myself, but Celestia picked it up with her shifty pony ears.

"Why is that?" She asked with a head tilt. Hecking cute. But also I didn't expect her to hear that, and that made me jump a little.

"Oh uh... Well... I guess I'm somewhat friend with Twilight and company, but yeah. Forging new friendships, or maintaining them is... tiring. I've lost contact with former friends more than once."

"Oh. My apologies..." She said, looking heartbroken, then looking at me with determination. "I don't know how human friendship work, but I can tell you, with complete confidence, that if you give my ponies a chance, you will see that friendship is not as bothersome as you make it look like."

I shaked my head again, but now with a little smile. "You went full politician there, 'Celly'."

Doc gasped, outraged. "You can't call Princess Celestia like this!" but Celestia just let out a little giggle.

"Only my sister can call me Celly, Anon. You will have to find your own nickname." She replied with a smirk.

I huffed, still smiling. "Sure thing Tia. I'll think about it."

Now she was the one gasping, while Doc was staring at us, baffled. "That was quick." She said. "Maybe you won't be as bad at making friends as I thought."

I raised a brow. "What?" Gosh I feel like I repeated this word a bit too much lately.

"Look at how fast you made me your friend, Anon. It was pretty simple." Celestia said with a kind smile.

But I wasn't having it. I squinted at her. "...Is this another prank?"

She sighed. "No. It is not."

Author's Note:

Aaaaaaa thanks for reading!

Comments

[lllWarHawklll]

Aaaaaaa thanks for reading!

Aaaaaaa thanks for writing!

[Gizmo Gear]

Soooooo, he is a harmonious human. The complete opposite of a discordant draconeques. This is fine. Everything is fine.

[Agend z]

Trollestia

[Ephedianroyalty]

9341860
fuck no. You fucking did it.