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By the Light of the Silvery Moon2,099 words
Gloria Noctis2,118 words
Light in the Darkness2,091 words
The Truth Revealed2,004 words
Lullaby for a Princess2,152 words

Lullaby for a Princess

Luna found herself in a featureless, empty, dangerous black void. She was also falling at great speed into the blackness. She fell faster and faster, down and down and onwards it went for what seemed like all eternity. She was falling face first, so there was no chance of slowing her fall. Due to having no sense of what was up or down, and being in the thralls of gravity, she couldn't easily rotate and use her dress as a parachute. So onwards she continued to fall, plummeting through the endless, lightless black. Brief flickers of something appeared all around the further she went, the light suddenly starting to increase around her.

There was a sudden shock, and Luna quickly glanced at herself to assess the damage. The chamber suddenly became full of light, and she could clearly see that the bottom was nowhere near close. The chamber seemed to stretch on for all eternity, and she continued to fall down. It was then she felt an odd sensation in her feet. As this happened, her heels started to get tighter on her feet.

She then had a horrified realisation.

"Am I being changed back?"

The pressure on her feet continued to build before stopping altogether, followed by a loud bang. The ruined remains of a pair of high heeled shoes fell past her into the abyss, before suddenly what must have been socks could be felt on her feet, followed by a pair of shoes appearing on them which had the feel and consistency of trainers.

Her legs increased in width and gained hair as her hips began to narrow, followed soon after by her butt shrinking in size to much smaller proportions. Luna knew what was coming next, and grimaced as something else appeared around that area. His waist began to widen as the corset vanished, and his breasts shrank back into her chest, leaving him flat as a board and the bodice awkwardly sagging down, clearly far too big. His shoulders broadened quite suddenly as his arms and hands increased in size, starting to strain the sleeves of the dress, and a lump grew on his neck which caused his voice to drop back into its usual register before all this had happened many moons ago. His hair turned back to its usual brown shade, and curled back to behind his head rather than sweeping down the sides of it. It then began to grow longer. Luna (or should we just call them Jimmy now?) grabbed at his head in pain as root hair cells continued to force more and more hair out of his scalp, flowing down his back for a considerable distance until it was a fair way past his shoulders. His jawline shifted to that of a mans, followed by his eyes shifting to a darker shade of blue and a neckbeard forming on his, well, neck.

This left Jimmy in the state he had been in in Manteo, stuck halfway through. As he glanced about, his glasses returned to him and a black hair tie fell into oblivion. He looked down again, and saw below him that the bodice was starting to stitch itself back up, the button that had held it in place vanishing into nothingness and a normal set of upper shirt buttons appearing in their place. The sleeves shrank back from orbs to usual sleeves you'd see on a polo shirt, and the collar reverted to its usual shape on this garment. The entire thing then turned red, and a loud tearing noise could be heard as the shirt and skirt separated from one another.

Another woman's garment that had been needed previously vanished, and as Jimmy looked on the skirt began to contract. It looked like it was a wormhole collapsing in on itself, the frame decreasing in size at an increasingly rapid rate as it was reduced to simply being a floor length skirt. The inner layers of petticoats vanished, and it fell onto the metal frame, which could now be clearly seen as the skirt had a lumpy texture to it. This soon vanished, as did the skirt under that (there to provide a level of modesty), and it stopped for a few seconds.

Jimmy knew it was almost over, but he wasn't sure how to feel. There was another loud tearing noise, and the skirt began to split in two, forming two legs that joined together where pants would have. A gap opened up in two places, adding space for a button and a zip, both of which did themselves in place, as otherwise the pants would have fallen off.

The blue shade seemed to melt out of them entirely, the colour fading from top to bottom like water pouring from a tap. The colour that was left over was a beige shade, and sure enough, the legs began to shrink back up his legs, the sensation of fabric sliding up and down his legs being so familiar to him it had become quite ordinary. They had changed back into his shorts which he had worn so often through these experiences (and had on an equal number of occasions had been destroyed in the process), and as he went onwards, he continued to fall downwards, any changes that needed to be done apparently over.

The end of this strange tunnel seemed to be brighter now, and Jimmy seemed to be slowing down as he reached the bottom of the tunnel. The light grew brighter and brighter still, and Jimmy covered his eyes with his hand, with now seemed absolutely massive, as the intensity increased. Light washed over him, and at long last he seemed to stop falling onwards. He stopped, seemed to turn in midair, and was then suddenly thrown forward into the light again, being spat out somewhere else. He flew out of the portal and crashed into a bookshelf.

Jimmy groaned as he pulled himself back from the bookshelf, rubbing his head as he did so. "Ow, my head," he groaned. "Talk about a rough landing." As he recovered from his accident, he sat up and then stood up. His room. He was back in his room in Manteo. His usual collection of boxes, display items, My Little Pony merchandise, which included toys, DVDs, and plushies, as well as a growing collection of chapter books, and a framed portait that his friend Fude Chan Art had drawn. Not of himself, but of Sunset Shimmer.

"So, this is it?" he asked, as he glanced about again. "The end of my time in Equestria?"

"Maybe it was not such a good decision," said a voice in the darkness. Jimmy, suddenly startled, switched on his room light, the moonlight continuing to shine strong through his window. Standing in the corner was a person he had come to know very well.

"P- Princess Luna!" Jimmy exclaimed. "What're you doing here?"

"I detected a disturbance in the world, and your distress, not to mention being suddenly changed back to my true form."

Jimmy looked confused. "You've spent the last few days as me?"

"You should know how this works by now," Luna replied, with a gentle smile, trying to shuffle closer. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a tight squeeze. "What did you do to the dress? I am certain it is a lot poofier than before!"

Jimmy, instead, walked over to her.

Luna continued. "When you, or indeed anybody else, becomes a person or creature from the other realm, that individual becomes you, or them, to restore the balance. But the truth is, I should have asked you beforehand. Whilst I did need a rest, it was wrong of me to change you against your will, and for that I am sorry."

Jimmy spoke up. "Luna, if you had asked, I wouldn't have thought twice about saying yes. And I had quite the adventure. I ended up bringing some astronauts from the past to Canterlot by accident, and my efforts to send them back caused me to return here."

Luna nodded, a smile still on her face. "I had an interesting encounter with a... you call them dough nuts, right? The serving lady at a place where they are put into cups of liquid mentioned something about a Hook who ate a cup cake whole."

"Oh!" Jimmy replied. "Dunkin' Donuts! That was a wild one!"

"I can imagine that it was," Luna answered. "I also found the Faculty Lot. Sadly, it was not the place of power that I had imagined, simply being filled with self propelled carriages and some very rowdy people. I chose to leave as soon as I could do so. Fitting in as you was difficult, I will admit."

"You think you had a hard time?" Jimmy said. "You weren't hauling a ballgown around all the time!"

"True." Luna looked closer, and saw the sadness on Jimmy's face. "Pray tell me, what upsets you? What troubles your heart?"

"This may sound crazy, but the time I was you, I was having the time of my life," Jimmy told her. "And now it's over. I wanted it to last forever."

The Princess of the Moon sighed. "Jimmy, we cannot swap places permanently. I do not belong in this world, neither do you belong in mine. Eventually, you would want to switch back, just as I want to return to my royal duties in my world."

"Then let me come with you!" Jimmy countered, starting to tear up. "I can be by your side for the rest of my life, protect you, comfort you. You can change others, right? Then change me into my counterpart there!"

Luna's eyes were heavy, but yet full of understanding. "We cannot have two of Captain Hook running about in Canterlot," she sighed. "As much as I care about all of my subjects and those who adore me in this realm, the second option is not viable. You may want to spend the rest of your life with me, but I cannot spend the rest of my life with you. I may look young, but I am thousands of years old. I would outlive you."

This was too much for Jimmy to take, and he began to sob quietly. Sensing the pain in his heart, Luna went forward to hug him. She held the young man in her arms for what felt like hours. "There, easy. Just let your emotions flow. It is best to let it out than to bottle it up- a lesson I learned the hard way."

When Jimmy was done, he broke from her embrace. "I'll miss you," he said. "You will always be my favourite princess."

Once more, Luna smiled. "You remind me of Pipsqueak. You may not be able to come to Equestria permanently, but I can arrange a compromise."

She extended her hand, and the moon glowed brightly. A mannequin appeared at the side of Jimmy's wardrone, and fabric and cloth began to thread themselves upon it. Slowly but surely, a replica of Luna's dress appeared on the mannequin, and the process was completed when the skirt suddenly ballooned outwards, taking up a fair bit of space.

"This dress is linked directly to the dream world. If you ever want to swap places with me for a brief while, just put the dress on. That will alert me that you want to switch, and I will initiate the transformation. However, I will stay in contact to ensure you do not simply stay there permanently. And if you ever want to make a flying visit to Equestria, or if I want to visit Earth for a short while, you know where to find me. The magic journal on the desk will allow us to converse with one another."

Jimmy smiled. "Thank you, Luna. I don't know why I feel such a connection with you, but I do."

Luna smiled in return. "It is never a problem, Jimmy," she replied. "You are a fair, noble, and charming young man. I wish you the best of luck in life, but I must go. The night is almost over, and Celestia must be wondering where I am."

As the sun rose over the Outer Banks, Luna faded, and gradually vanished, leaving Jimmy alone. He sat down in his chair, picking up his Luna plushie and hugging it.

Seconds later, the landlord came in. "Hello Jimmy!" he said.

"Morning, Mr Fogg," Jimmy replied.

"Is everything OK?" Mr Fogg asked. "I heard a woman's voice in here, and came to check you were OK."

"I'm fine," Jimmy replied.

Mr Fogg left, doing a double take when he saw the dress. "Jimmy, you have weird tastes."

Jimmy cared not for his words. He opened the journal and began to write.

Dear Princess Luna...

This story is dedicated in memory of Neil Armstrong, 1930-2012.

One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind.

Author's Note:

Well, here we are. The end of another story. I hope you have enjoyed this curveball from my usual material in all its wackiness, and I hope to revisit this world someday. I would like to thank Jimmy for suggesting this idea and the prequel. It's been a fun journey.

In homage to Jimmy, I'll leave some of my favourite art of Luna here.