• Published 4th Aug 2020
  • 2,779 Views, 153 Comments

Ocean Blues - TalkingToMyself



Shortly after the Battle of the Bands, a new student arrives at Canterlot High School. Nobody knows her and she's not in a mood to make any friends. On any other school, she'd end up as a loner, but maybe at CHS, there's hope for a change.

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Chapter 13

Blue only hovered a few inches above the ground, but it felt great. She couldn’t get over how natural it felt to have wings on her back and how easy it was to use them.

It was way easier than walking on four legs. She looked at Spring Meadow who was still struggling with a slow walk through the mirror room. Her sister had no wings like Blue and no horn like Sunset Shimmer either. Princess Twilight had told her she was an earth pony, while Blue was a pegasus pony. Sunset Shimmer was a unicorn and ponies with both wings and horns like Princess Twilight were called alicorns.

Right now, Sunset and Twilight had left them in the room with the magic mirror that was the way to the human world. Where they had gone, Blue didn’t know, but they had told them to stay and get used to hooves. Blue didn’t really see the use in that, since she could fly, but a glare from her sister had her hover next to Spring Meadow and land. Only for her legs to collapse under her own weight and hit the floor.

Spring Meadow laughed and tried to help Blue on her legs again without falling over. Even as ponies, Blue could tell the other pony was her sister and she could read her expression on the pony face just as well as on the human face. The colours of their skin had turned into the colours of their coats and their hair colours now matched their manes and tails. Their manes were even made up similarly, Blue’s mane was shorter and a little stubby, Spring’s mane hung down long and the shades of green that made her colours blended a little into each other when she moved, just like on the other side of the mirror. Their clothes had vanished somehow, but being covered all over with coat served the same purpose it seemed.

They walked silently for a while and Spring Meadow got a good hang of it rather quickly
“You just don’t have to think about it. It’s like your legs know what to do if you just let them.”
Blue nodded, it was the same for her wings
“This is so unreal.”
“Only, it isn’t. We’re really here.”

They both focused to dodge a few piles of books on the floor and Blue spread her wings to hold her balance
“Blue, is this really what we should do? It feels like running away.”
“Sis, what’s left for us? How much more of all this shit can you take before you break down? Or me?”
Spring Meadow closed her eyes with a heavy sigh.

She had had big hopes on Canterlot City. The work in the hospital was exhausting and stressful, but she loved being a nurse. Once she had finished her training period, her pay would raise up as well. Or so she thought.

About a week before she could finish her nurse training, the head of human resources had called her in. She had told her that Canterlot Hospital would not hire her after she finished training. She had shown her a list of minor mistakes and mishaps that had happened around her. She wasn’t even responsible for some of them, she was just around when they had happened. Still, the woman in a business suit had told her the hospital couldn’t afford hiring a potential risk like her. Especially since she would only barely pass nurse training. The woman had shown Spring Meadow her final statements from the doctors and they were less than flattering.

Spring couldn’t understand why or how this had happened, until she saw the name sign on the woman’s desk. Her name was Bitter Pill, and next to the sign, Spring saw a picture of her with her brother, Bitter Leaves. Bitter Leaves had lost his job shortly after Vice-Principal Luna had impeached him for neglecting Blue and his other charges. Bitter Leaves had blamed everything on Blue, but with no success. Until now. Spring would lose her job as a nurse because of petty revenge.

It hadn’t stopped then. Spring Meadow had asked at every hospital or clinic even remotely close to Canterlot City, but none of them would hire her. Bitter Pill had contacted them before, and her word weighed more than Spring Meadow’s. Blue had attempted to find a job as well, but nobody would hire her because of her ‘criminal’ past. Two weeks later, Spring Meadow was unemployed and couldn’t pay the rent any more. She looked for other jobs, but couldn’t find one, thanks again to petty revenge.

Miss Luna had offered them rooms in her home, until Spring found a new job, but Spring declined. She hated accepting charity and offerings from anyone, but Bitter Leaves had one last mean trick to pull. Because Spring Meadow couldn’t pay the rent, CPS threatened to take Blue away from her. Since she was still a minor, they intended to take her to an orphanage and because of her background she would have to stay there until she was 21 and could be ‘reintegrated into society’. They also claimed that Spring Meadow turned to be a worrying influence on Blue, so they recommended an orphanage a few states over.

When Blue had come home that day, she had found her sister in tears and unable to speak. After she had read the letter, Blue had blown up into a raging fit and smashed a chair against the wall.

Blue would lose all her friends at CHS, again. She would have to start over in a new city. Spring Meadow couldn’t even afford to move after her, not without a safe job. Miss Luna couldn’t help either, all her contacts to CPS stayed silent.

Once again, as soon as things had looked up for them, life came back to throw them into into its shitty hell again.

In her desperation, Blue had asked for help from the girls. None of them could do anything, of course. Except Sunset Shimmer. She had contacted Princess Twilight with her magic journal and the princess had responded. She still remembered the promise she had given Blue after Anon-A-Miss. And since Princess Twilight had promised to help Blue with anything she might need, Twilight lost no time to open the portal. Blue and Spring Meadow were invited to her castle in Ponyville, at the other side of the mirror, and the princess had asked them to stay.

“Sis?”
Spring Meadow sighed deeply and emerged from her reminiscence before she would start crying again. They would have an audience with the princess soon and she had to convince her to let Blue and her stay. She had to.

Spring Meadow and Blue looked at each other. They both felt the same way about it. They would make this work. They had gone through a lot of bad situations together, they could make this one work too, as long as they had each other.

The door opened and another unicorn walked in. She was a mare as well and looked strangely familiar. Blue took a closer look and blinked surprised
“Starlight Glimmer?”

The unicorn smiled brightly and nodded
“I wasn’t sure if you would recognize me, Ocean Shore.”
“I almost didn’t. You look different without the beanie.”

They chuckled and Starlight ran her hoof through her mane
“I know, I liked it too, but it’s hard to make a hat like that work with one of those.”

She playfully tapped her horn with her hoof and Spring Meadow involuntarily shuddered at the horn-on-hoof sound. Blue felt her wings twitch at her sides.

“I’m sure we’ll have a chance to catch up later. Right now, the Princesses would like to see you.”
Spring’s ears perked up
“Wait, ‘Princesses’? Plural? I thought there was only Twilight Sparkle.”

Starlight Glimmer laughed and shook her head
“Nope, there’s more. Twilight is the only princess who lives in Ponyville, but she’s the Princess of Friendship so she gets to travel around a whole lot. Then there’s Princess Cadance, the Princess of Love, she rules over the Crystal Empire far up north. And of course, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna who control the sun and the moon. They rule over all of Equestria from Canterlot.”

Spring Meadow and Blue froze in their tracks
“Celestia and Luna? You mean, as in, my principals?”
“Principals? Oh, right, counterparts. Um, yes and no. They might be similar, but they are not the same. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna ruled over Equestria for many centuries now, and Twilight told me your Celestia and Luna only lived for a couple of decades.”

Blue blinked rapidly and felt the urge to pinch herself, but she didn’t know if she could even do that with hooves
“So let me get this straight: The princesses here rule practically forever, control stuff like the sun and they all have wings and horns which makes them like superhero-level of powerful?”

Starlight tilted her head, unimpressed, and simply nodded
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“And they are all here to see us?”
“Uh-huh. You’re the first humans to cross over to Equestria since the portal has been reopened, it’s a big deal so they all agreed to come.”

Blue felt her wings shrink down and press tightly to her sides. Next to her, Spring Meadow sank back on her haunches and started breathing quicker than normal.

Starlight noticed that they weren’t following her anymore and turned around. Her eyes grew wider when she saw their terrified expressions
“What’s wrong?”
Blue stomped her hoof on the floor and flinched at the sudden pain (Note to self: Hooves are sensitive) but it didn’t make her any less angry
“What’s wrong? Seriously? We thought we were supposed to talk with Sunset and Twilight, and now you tell us that all of the most powerful and important people in the whole world want to interrogate us instead. No, can’t see anything wrong with that at all!”

She glared at Starlight and her wings flared up a little as she got herself more and more angry
“I mean we can’t even walk right with these things and I don’t know anything about how to talk with a princess or four of them. It’s like you just set us up to fail! Sunset said we’d get a fair chance, but how is this even fair?”

Before Starlight could say anything, another voice called out to her
“Calm yourself, young one. Your situation is not as hopeless as you might fear.”

Spring Meadow was already staring towards the voice with wide open eyes, and Blue felt a shiver run down her spine. She knew that voice, but at the same time she was sure she had never heard it before.

She turned around and saw another mare with wings and horn standing in a door. The alicorn mare was taller than Twilight and she wore a black chest piece and a matching black crown-tiara-thingy. Her coat was a dark midnight blue, almost like the skin of her human counterpart. Unlike Miss Luna, the pony version had a mane that looked like it was made of night sky with glittering stars and it waved on its own even inside here where there wasn’t even the slightest breeze.

Blue stared in awe at what had to be Princess Luna. The tall alicorn watched her attentively and Blue for the first time in her life had an idea of what people meant when they called someone ‘regal’ and ‘majestic’. The Princess radiated a form of authority and power, but not with grand gestures, loud words, or flashy clothes, she did so just by standing there. Blue shivered when Princess Luna’s cerulean eyes fixed on hers and her wings folded back to her sides. Those eyes seemed to look right into her, but at the same time she felt her anger fade away. Whatever the Princess saw, Blue noticed the indication of a smile from the tall mare.

Blue was frozen by that gaze, but next to her Spring Meadow tried to bow down like Starlight Glimmer. However, she lost her balance and flopped over forward instead.

Princess Luna laughed gently and without any malice
“There is no reason for that, dear guests from afar. We are well aware that the transition between worlds is challenging and downright irritating. As for such, we can ignore unnecessary formalities today. We simply ask for your honesty with us.”
She looked at Blue again, and winked
“Although when talking with my sister, a certain amount of politeness will be beneficial.”

Starlight was there to help Spring Meadow back on her hooves as Princess Luna walked away in long, regal strides, expecting them to follow. Blue fell back to her sister’s side. It was disturbing to see how much this Luna was the Miss Luna she knew, and how much she wasn’t Miss Luna at all.

They reached a large set of doors that opened with a visible glowing from Princess Luna’s horn. Blue stored that information away for later, as now she walked into a large hall. She kept her pace slow, like Spring Meadow. It would look like they were just trying not to fall over and embarrass themselves, but it also gave Blue the chance to let her eyes roam around.

The four princesses sat around a large table made of crystal and on throne-like chairs made of crystal. Princess Twilight sat at the head of the table and on her throne was the same symbol she had on her flanks as well. The other princesses didn’t have their own marks on the chairs, so Blue guessed that there were other ponies who usually sat there.

To the left of Princess Twilight was Celestia, but definitely not her Celestia. The white alicorn was the tallest of all four, with the biggest horn and huge wings. She had the same shimmering mane as Princess Luna and that same aura of authority and majesty. While Luna’s power seemed calm and cool, Celestia’s shined brightly and warm. Blue glanced at the giant sun tattoo from Celestia and the moon tattoo from Luna. I guess that’s what Starlight meant when she said they control the sun and the moon.
Princess Celestia watched them attentively, with a benevolent smile and much curiosity. She had only looked away to exchange a quick glance with her sister as Princess Luna took the seat next to her.

The fourth alicorn was older than Twilight, but she didn’t have that aura the other two possessed, not yet. She was pink with a tri-coloured mane and that same smile, but something about the way she looked at her made Blue feel like she was already being tested. She didn’t know the human Cadance, only that she was the sister-in-law of Human Twilight, but that was about it.

Blue and Spring Meadow walked to the front of the table while Starlight Glimmer joined Sunset Shimmer next to Princess Cadance. Sunset looked the least weird as a pony somehow. Maybe because Blue knew her best out of them, or maybe because the Sunset she knew had never been a human but always the pony version.

Eventually, even their deliberately slow walk was over, and they stood before the princesses. Not just any princesses, Blue thought, they are the princesses of magic pony land who live forever and could probably squash us all with their superpowers if they wanted and now we’re here begging for them to let us stay in their magic kingdom we know next to nothing about and…

Blue wasn’t the best dealing with new situations. She was the first to admit that she usually needed a little longer than most to adapt. Ever since she’d gotten closer to Sunset Shimmer and the others, she had faced a lot of strange and new things.

Like the Friendship Games, when there was suddenly a completely different Twilight Sparkle who had transformed into a dark angel in front of her. It had taken her a while to separate that Twilight from the pony girl she’d met before.
When she had thought things were almost back to normal again (or at least to the normal kind of weird with random pony-ups and stuff), Camp Everfree had thrown everything she knew over again. Suddenly, they all had superpowers. Or magic talents, whatever you’d like to call them.

A few more mishaps took place. Blue had been locked into a magic mirror dimension. Someone had erased part of her memories. There had been some shenanigans when the girl’s powers acted weird or unexpected. At more than one point, Blue had some magic surge through her when she was around the girls as they would pony-up. Blue had seen a lot of weird ever since she came to CHS. She had tried to keep an open mind for magic and stuff.

But this, right now, in a new body and with some of the most powerful beings of this world, including a dragon named Spike, watching and judging her, this was just too much. Her thoughts kept running away and rambling on, so much she even lost sight of the princesses in front of her.

Until a chuckling laughter pulled her back into the room.

Princess Celestia tried to stifle it behind her hoof, but in the silent room, Blue could hear it anyway. It wasn’t too long before Princess Cadance joined in, along with Princess Twilight and Sunset Shimmer. Starlight threw a smirk at Blue that probably meant something like ‘Told you so’, and while Princess Luna did not laugh, she smiled, and her eyes sparkled with mirth.

The eldest princess calmed down and addressed Spring Meadow and Blue with a friendly, open smile
“This is quite a situation now, isn’t it? For so long, we knew your world existed but barely anything else, and today we greet our first visitors from there here in Equestria. I think it’s in the interest of us all that we make this event a happy one, wouldn’t you agree?”

Blue nodded silently, even though the princess in front of her was centuries old, the way she talked immediately reminded her of Principal Celestia and how she had greeted Blue on her first day at CHS. Back then, Blue had been bitter and too angry to believe any of the smiles and friendly words of Celestia, but maybe today that could be different.

Just like back then, Luna quickly followed up on Celestia
“As much as we wish for this, sister, we should not forget that not all reasons that brought us here today are good ones. We’ve been informed by Twilight Sparkle that you, Spring Meadow and Ocean Shore, come to us in times of need. Sunset Shimmer has given us more details, but we think it’s only fair you get to describe what has happened on the other side of the mirror, before we conclude for ourselves.”

The other princesses nodded, and Twilight spread her wings formally, as she declared
“One thing I want to say before you start. No matter how our final decision will fall, I will stay true to the promise I made, Ocean Shore. You came to me in need and now I will do whatever I can to help. And until we’ve figured out what is best, you and your sister are welcome as guests in this castle. The least I can do is offering you a safe place to stay.”

Twilight looked at the other three princesses for confirmation. Blue guessed that since this was her castle, Twilight could decide on her own who would be allowed to stay or not. But thankfully the other three nodded in agreement, even if Twilight had acted without consulting them first.

Blue and Spring Meadow took turns summing up their situation. Sunset Shimmer helped out whenever there was some inter-cultural confusion about to happen, as did Twilight Sparkle a few times. The purple princess also took notes of everything, a trait she shared with her human counterpart.

Out of the other three princesses, Cadance was the most vocal. She kept asking questions, not all about Blue and Spring but also about humans and the human world in general. Blue tried to answer those as best she could, but even with Sunset’s help they could not completely satisfy the pony princess all the time. Cadance didn’t seem too bothered by that, more curious and genuinely intrigued instead.

Princess Luna stayed silent throughout all of it. Her eyes always locked with Blue or Spring when they talked, and more than once Blue felt like she was staring right into her soul and she assumed that Princess Luna could maybe sense some of the hidden implications behind what Blue said.

Princess Celestia barely said anything either. She listened attentively but at times, she looked away from the two humans-turned-pony, deep in thought. Her expression stayed neutral but friendly, Blue couldn’t tell what she really felt about this. She noticed however, that Twilight and Cadance looked at her whenever Blue or Spring talked about something that surprised them. Probably because she was the eldest princess and had at some point been a teacher for them.

Blue and Spring didn’t go into many details unless asked for. They didn’t talk about why money was so short for them. They didn’t say why Bitter Leaves had started a personal vendetta against them. They didn’t lie or make anything up either. Blue was tempted a few times to make things sound more dramatic and appeal to Twilight’s and Cadance’ strong sense of compassion in her favour. If this had been a human council, she might have. But this was not normal, not anything she knew of, this was all just new. And for a new start, for a real, true, genuine new chance, she needed to be honest, to them and to herself.

Because, of course, once Blue and Spring were finished, the princesses asked for details. Some of them were expected, like why Blue was treated so differently from other teenagers and how she had come that way. If she could have avoided talking about this, she would have. But with her sister at her side and at least two good friends on the other side of the table, Blue took the risk
“Because in the human world, I broke the law several times. I committed crimes and I received the consequences for it, but nobody looks at you the same once they learn you’ve been sentenced before. Nobody was willing to give me another chance, not when it really counted.”

This was the point when Celestia and Luna got more involved and took over from Princess Twilight
“What crimes came to your name, Ocean Shore?”
Blue sighed deeply and closed her eyes for a moment, but looked back at Luna as she answered
“Theft, breaking and entering, battery. I’ve never gone and vandalized anything, but I’ve caused some damage to propriety along the way.”

Luna kept her eyes locked with Blue and her expression neutral, and Blue didn’t look away, so she couldn’t see how the other princesses reacted
“Why did you steal from others?”
“Because… at first I was jealous. I saw so many people who had everything they wanted and more. I thought I deserved some of that too, so I took it. Later I thought I was doing it as an act of rebellion or something. Fuck the broken system, break some rules and stuff. And sometimes, I was just desperate.”

Sunset Shimmer cringed when Blue started swearing again, another sign of how nervous she was, but the two elder princesses didn’t comment on it. Instead, the focused on the matter at hand
“You were so desperate that you had considered hurting others for your own benefit?”

At this point, Spring Meadow who had been visibly on edge for a while, couldn’t hold back any longer
“No! She had to defend herself, that’s all. Blue would never intentionally hurt anyone!”
Princess Luna and Princess Celestia shared a weird side-ways glance before Celestia replied
“There are other ways than violence in matters of defence.”

Blue let her head drop down and her pony ears flopped over, instinctively showing her shame to the other ponies in the room
“I didn’t know that back then. I only learned that after I met Sunset Shimmer.”
Spring leaned closer to Blue and looked at the princesses in front of her, telling them with her eyes that she would defend her sister if necessary, even against them. Blue didn’t see that, but the fact that she couldn’t even look back at Princess Twilight spoke volumes to the princess of friendship.

Princess Cadance who had been silent for a while, now asked in a calm voice
“When was the last time you hurt someone like this?”

Blue gulped, but she wouldn’t back down from this. She looked up again, but not at the princesses. She turned her head to look at Sunset and mouthed ‘I’m sorry’. Sunset Shimmer grew a little pale, but she nodded.

Blue turned back to Princess Cadance
“Last winter, the day after we had to take Sunset to the hospital, because… because…”
Princess Celestia clicked her hoof on the table and pain flashed through her eyes
“We know what happened in winter. Princess Twilight and later Sunset Shimmer told us about how far this scheme…”
“Anon-A-Miss” Twilight interrupted with a growl and Celestia nodded
“Yes, how dire the consequences had become. Please continue.”

Blue sighed and looked back at Sunset
“The day after, when Sunset didn’t come to school, people started making up all kinds of rumours. One guy said that he hoped Sunset had finally done the world a favour and killed herself. When he said that, I saw Sunset lying on her bed and all the blood and the knife and… I broke his nose.”

Blue closed her eyes and her ears flopped down in shame. Shame of what she had done, but to be completely honest, also shame that she knew she would do it again without hesitation. Just talking about it made her angry again.
Blue felt something touch her leg and when she looked down, Spring Meadow had wrapped her hoof around it. She didn’t know how she did it, but her hoof moved accordingly. Like always, it helped just being around her sister.

Sunset Shimmer stared at Blue, obviously she had not heard of that before, but the princesses could see that Sunset was not angry at all. Instead, she sounded guilty as she whispered
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m not.”

Princess Cadance slammed her hoof on the table and the loud sound seemed to snap everyone out of their thoughts
“I’m sure I would have done something similar. Maybe not break a nose, but…”
Her wings twitched and Blue knew that this meant angry. She didn’t know how she knew it, but it seemed clear as day.

Princess Luna and Celestia shared another of their glances before they focused back on Blue
“Anger is something we can relate with. However, we need to know what would happen if you got angry again. Would you hurt one of our little ponies? If you saw somepony better off than you, would you steal from them again?”

Blue sighed and shook her head
“I don’t want to. I try not to get that angry anymore. Miss Luna taught me a few tricks how to deal with it, but I can’t promise I’ll never get angry again. All I can promise is that I really don’t want to hurt anyone.”

Princess Celestia seemed appeased by this and had an encouraging smile for her
“That already marks a big difference to the girl you once were. We can’t expect you to never get angry, as anger is an emotion everypony feels from time to time. However, your ambition to control your anger is a noble goal that we appreciate.”

The other three princesses nodded, and Luna spoke up again
“That said, the hardships you describe, poverty, prejudice, and bad reputations, those exist in Equestria as well. How do you intend to deal with them, should you be allowed to stay here?”
Blue looked up at Princess Luna again and her hoof gripped a little tighter on Spring Meadow
“I’ll work hard and push through. And I won’t stop anymore even if it gets hard. I’ll keep going. I’ve learned that from my sister.”

Cadance and Twilight immediately smiled when they heard this, just like Starlight, Spike and Sunset. Celestia and Luna looked at each other, longer this time than before, and it was Celestia who nodded in approval this time.
“A good answer. I think it’s fair to say that you’ve given us a lot to think about, Ocean Shore. Spring Meadow, would it be alright if we asked you a few questions now as well?”

Blue felt her sister tense up next to her, so she kept her hoof wrapped around hers. Her wings fluttered at her sides, but she forced them back down.

Spring looked between the four tall ponies with wings and horns, and she couldn’t help but feel small when all their attention was suddenly on her. She had heard of magic and pony worlds from Blue and her friends of course, but she had not given it much thought. The life she had, the real life, had more urgent matters than chasing fantasy worlds or magic artefacts. Not that she ever stopped Blue from doing so, but before today, in her head it had been nothing but stories.

So when she passed through a whirlwind of lights and suddenly had four legs to deal with, part of her world just fell into pieces. It didn’t help that every other creature she met either could fly or move things with their minds, while she lacked both. In the whole castle, she was the only one without wings or a horn, except for the dragon but that was a different matter entirely.

Compared to those tall and commanding presences of the princesses, she felt small and defective. If this world had castles and princesses, then maybe it also had other mediaeval traits like commoners and bondservants. Maybe the fact that she didn’t have any extras already made her less just by proxy.

Then again, the Luna and Celestia with wings and horns didn’t treat her any differently so far. The human versions Spring knew had never looked down on her just because she wasn’t as well off financially or didn’t have a fancy diploma to her name. They had still talked to her like with anyone else and respected what she did of what little she had.

With Blue at her side, she had all the motivation she needed to push away her doubts for now and focus on the questions instead
“Sunset Shimmer told us that she had first met you in a hospital.”
Spring nodded and confirmed
“I was a nurse-in-training when Sunset was admitted. I suppose, I still am, since…”

Princess Twilight noticed easily how hard it was for Spring to talk about this still, so she went for another question
“Did you like your job as a nurse?”
Spring nodded immediately
“I do. I get a chance to help people when they need it most. I know I’m not a doctor who saves lives, but I can do my part at least.”

Princess Luna had a smile for her, and Spring recognized it as the knowing smile the woman Luna had for her at times. It didn’t even look weird to see that smile she knew on a pony face this time, especially when both of Luna’s voices matched up just as much
“A noble ambition, indeed. I can tell how much passion you feel for your profession. But tell us, why did you not reach further? Surely there are ways to become a doctor in your world.”
Spring looked away and mumbled
“There are ways, but they require a lot of money. Education is expensive and even if I’d manage to earn enough, there’s no guarantee I’ll ever get a doctor’s license.”

“Why not?”
Spring sighed heavily
“Because, with all that happened, no ethics committee would speak up for me. Being a doctor is a prestigious job and I'm just a high school dropout who got involved with the police far too many times already.”
Next to her, Blue dropped her head in shame, but Spring immediately turned to her sister
“It’s not your fault! Never has been, okay Blue?”

She leaned in and instinctively nuzzled her little sister. It felt right and natural to do so and she didn’t question it. Blue didn’t either and they shifted so they could lean against each other, with Blue’s head coming to rest on Spring’s shoulder.

“I have one more question, if that’s okay.”
Spring’s focus returned to the room and the ponies who were watching her. She stayed close to Blue, but looked at Princess Twilight when the youngest princess turned to her

“If we decide that you can stay, there might be complications. Sunset’s stay in the human world is one thing, but here we have far more magic everywhere, so there’s no telling what might happen. We might have to keep you under close watch. Even if nothing happens, you could end up stuck here forever. Do you know what that means?”

Blue and Spring did that sideways-glance thing they’d seen from the princesses and nodded. Twilight still insisted
“That world is your home. Are you really sure you want to risk losing it?”
Blue nodded again, without any hesitation. Spring looked directly into Princess Twilight’s eyes
“I’d rather give up being a human then let anyone take me away from my sister.”

The princesses looked at Spring Meadow, but soon they realized that she meant what she said. For the first time since they started talking, the four rulers turned away from the two human sisters and looked at each other. Princess Cadance nodded to Twilight and the other two followed a minute later.

Princess Celestia as the eldest addressed them again
“I believe we have interrogated you long enough for today. I think I speak for all of us when I say you have given us many things to think about. We need to talk this through on our side now and weigh our decisions against the consequences. We might call on you again, but not today. You came to us in troubled times and you endured all our questions, now you deserve some rest.”

Princess Twilight stood up from her throne and walked around the table to meet them from eye to eye
“This castle is a safe place and you can put your minds at ease here. No pony and no human will come here without my permission. You’ll have all the time you need to get used to everything.”

Spring Meadow sighed relieved and Blue grinned
“Thanks Princess Twilight. We’ll try not to break anything.”
They both giggled, joined by Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer, the only others who could relate on how difficult a new body could be.

“We’ll stay here and talk a little longer, but how about you go help yourself to a little snack? Spike, do you think you could prepare some ‘human-friendly’ meals?”
The smallish dragon jumped to his feet and gave a thumps-up
“Sure, no problem. Come on, I’ll show you around the castle. See you all later at dinner?”

The remaining ponies nodded, and Sunset flashed a smile towards her friends from the other side of the mirror
“Have fun you guys! Leave some of the treats for me, it’s been years since I had some real pony food!”
They chuckled and followed Spike out of the room and down another hallway.

Spring noticed something right away
“You can walk. You don’t even wobble anymore.”
“Same for you, Sis.”

They laughed and Spike smiled along
“When I turned into a dog, it was easy once I stopped worrying about it.”
“Yeah. I guess there’s something to that.”
Spike turned around to walk backwards so he could look at them
“So, does that mean you’re not worried anymore?”
Spring and Blue looked at each other
“Maybe, less worried? The princesses seem nice, but I don’t know if they’ll let us stay.”

“Well, why not? Sure, you did some bad stuff, but so did Starlight or Discord and they’re great friends of mine.”
They followed Spike as the young dragon explained of some that had happened ever since he had come to Ponyville with Twilight.

As soon as they arrived at the kitchen, he served them a hot cup of brew. It looked like tea, it smelled like it, but there was also something else. Spring took a sip of probably the best cup of tea she ever had and stared at it in wonder
“It tastes different right? That’s because you’re ponies now.”
They looked back at Spike who now wore an apron and stirred some dough in a mixing bowl
“I was a dog on the other side, and things tasted different to me as well. Like, dog biscuits were really tasty. But when I tried one here, oh boy.”

He made a funny face and poked out his tongue, which made Blue and Spring chuckle
“So, we get like to taste everything for the first time again?”
“More or less. Is that okay?”
Blue smirked and nodded along
“Sure. Could be fun, right Sis?”

Spring looked at her tea, unsure at first. She thought of how the ponies had welcomed her and how this had been a first time again, too. If they all worked like with this tea…
“It sounds amazing.”


Dinner was… interesting. At some point, Blue thought she wouldn’t even make it through her first night in Equestria without dying from embarrassment.

All the food looked great, even the more pony food like haycakes and daisy-daffodil-salad, and the scent made her mouth water. There was just one problem to it all. Spring and Blue were the only ponies without horns and none of them had enough control in their hooves to pick up the cutlery, so as much as she wanted, she couldn’t figure out how to get anything into her mouth.

Some of the bigger treats like muffins she could scoop up awkwardly with two hooves for a quick bite, but when Spike placed a large bowl of what had to be fruit salad in front of her, she felt like she had to scream in frustration.

After the princesses had noticed her predicament, they laughed at her, or so she thought. They didn’t want to patronize her though, they just laughed because for all their plans and contingency plans, none of them had even thought about something this mundane.

In the end, Starlight brought two smaller bowls for them and they ended up eating with their muzzles in their meal. Blue felt humiliated, but Princess Luna was quick to explain that this was not unusual for everyday meals. Fancy silverware was something for special occasions, only spoons for things like soup or cereal were more common.

In the end though, the food was delicious and once the ponies talked about other things, Blue could at least enjoy some of the dishes. The texture and flavour were different, but similar enough and the way Spring Meadow dug into the flower salad, Blue guessed that her sister enjoyed it as well.

Although she only had little portions so she could try almost everything, Blue was stuffed when she finally pushed her bowl aside. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had a meal this filling.

She had been so focused on her meal (and not making even more of a fool of herself), that she didn’t notice how the princesses watched her closely all throughout dinner. They hadn’t told her of their final judgment yet, which was fair since this was kind of a big deal. Blue had realized this the more time she spent as a pony, it was a much bigger change than she could have imagined, even after everything Sunset and Twilight had told her.

But it’s worth it. If it means we’ll stay together, I can make this work.

After dinner and with a cup of tea in front of each mare, Princess Celestia addressed them somewhat formally once again
“We have come to some conclusions, but nothing final yet. I don’t want to rush this to either yes or no, so we will take some more time to think. This is mostly for your sake, Ocean Shore and Spring Meadow, but please understand that we also have to consider what’s best for Equestria and its ponies.”

Blue’s ears dropped down on instinct when she heard that. It didn’t sound too promising to her, but Princess Celestia added quickly
“Please don’t be discouraged, Ocean Shore. So far, we have no reason to believe that your presence here would be harmful, even in a long term. That was our biggest concern. I can see this working out, but this is a new situation for all of us. If we’re doing this, I want to do this right.”

Princess Cadance joined in, with a friendly smile and a far gentler tone
“For my part, I would like to get to know each of you a little better first. So tomorrow, if that’s okay with you, we all would like to talk with you individually. Not tonight obviously, since it’s late and you already had quite a day.”

Princess Twilight nodded and continued
“Starlight and I have rooms set up for you and you’re free to move around the castle. I’ll have to ask you to stay indoors for now, at least until we figured a few things out.”

Blue frowned at that, it sounded weird to her
“Like what?”
“For example, if you have pony counterparts and if so, where they are. I’m sure they are not in Ponyville at least, but don’t you think it would be weird running into yourself?”

Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer started to giggle at that, like they shared a private joke. Blue looked at them and probably frowned, because Starlight smiled to apologize
“There’s a chance you don’t even have counterparts in Equestria. Sunset and I didn’t have one in the human world, so that problem could just vanish on its own.”

“Indeed so.”
Princess Luna fixed the human sisters with another of those gazes that seemed to go under their skin
“As for now, I wish to repeat what Twilight Sparkle already told you. You are safe in this castle and in this world. Even if our decision would turn against a permanent stay, we won’t let any harm come to you. We know many thoughts trouble you and weigh down on you right now. But for tonight, we ask you to try and let go off them. May your first night in our world be calm and peaceful, young ones.”

On cue, both Blue and Spring let out a long yawn. They both had filled their tummies with tasty treats and had wound down after being so nervous before. With this last reassurance from the princesses, Blue felt her eyelids sink down like lead. She put most of it to the fact that she wasn’t hungry for a change, but she really felt safe. Starlight and Twilight stood up to take them to their rooms and Blue just trotted after them, literally, without really taking notice of the route they were taking. All she thought of was the bed she’d been promised.

She just noticed enough to see that her sister had the room right next to hers and she listened as Starlight Glimmer mentioned a bathroom that was through the other door, but then she just climbed on the comfy mattress and let her head sink on the soft pillow. Somebody, probably Starlight, pulled the covers over her and she rolled over a little to get into a comfortable position with her four hooves and her wings. Luckily, her bed was pony-sized, so she had all the space she needed and more to stretch out her legs. She closed her eyes and was asleep before Starlight had even left the room.


Blue had had lucid dreams before, but not like this. Usually, when it happened, she would slowly become aware that she had some control, but when she realized she was dreaming, she would usually wake up soon after.

This time was completely different.

She knew it was a dream right from the first moment. She could still think and process everything like she would normally, and the dream didn’t fade. She also felt safe, like she had before, but warmer now. Maybe because her body was in a cosy bed and covered with thick blankets.

Speaking of which, she was a pony even in her dreams. She even had her wings, but she still couldn’t move them entirely like she wanted. This was unexpected to say the least. She knew dreams were made out of thoughts, impressions and memories, but she had only spent less than a day as a pony, she would have thought her mind was still ‘more’ human and not all pony already.

But then again, she had never had a dream like this before, so maybe this was a pony thing and not a sleep thing. She stood in a landscape like she had never seen it before, with huge unfamiliar plants that looked like flowers of some sort but were taller than trees. Blue heard some water swishing nearby, maybe from a stream or a little waterfall. The air was filled with a pleasant scent and warm. She had never smelled something in her dreams before.

“Hello again, Ocean Shore. I welcome you to my realms.”
Out of nowhere, Princess Luna suddenly stood in front of her, smiling and looking into her eyes. Somehow, in this place they were even more impressive, and Blue had a hard time looking away.

The pony princess spoke gently, and the warmth of her voice matched the calm atmosphere
“I am not sure how much Sunset Shimmer has explained to you of sister’s duties and mine, so I wish to introduce myself once more. I am Princess Luna, Princess of the Moon and Mistress of the Night. I command the rise and fall of the moon and the stars on the nightly sky and in my duty as a protector of Equestria, I am also the guardian of the realm of dreams.”

Blue stared in awe as her mind caught up on what the princess had told her
“Is this what you’re doing? You walk into dreams of everyone?”
Princess Luna laughed gently and shook her head
“Not every dream needs my presence. But if a pony finds themselves facing a vicious nightmare or overwhelmed with dark emotions, it is my duty as guardian to help those ponies before harm is done.”

Blue looked around the peaceful landscape
“If this is a nightmare, it’s the strangest one I’ve ever had.”
The princess only chuckled
“This is not your dream, Ocean Shore. It is mine and I have invited you.”
“Oh.”

Blue looked around again and now that she was aware of it, the whole place really screamed ‘Princess Luna’ all over
“Is there any reason you invited me into your dream?”
“Indeed there is. Ocean Shore, you have been very honest and open with us today, and for this I wish to thank you. I think it’s only fair that now, I am honest with you alike.”
Blue watched the princess closely and her wings twitched, showing that she was a little anxious again.

Princess Luna smiled kindly
“There is no need for fear. I only wish to tell you that I will be watching you and your sister, and your dreams. I will not enter unless you either invite me or are in need of my assistance, but I believe it is my right to keep an eye on you. Should there be any complications from your transition, I wish to be here to help quickly.”

Blue frowned a little and her ears stood up
“So you’re like mind-probing us in our sleep?”
Luna only had a smirk for her
“Who says that this is limited to your sleep only?”

Blue flared out her wings as this sounded like a threat, but Luna’s eyes sparkled with mirth and Blue realized the princess was only teasing her, so she giggled
“Okay, thanks for the warning, I guess. This is all really confusing still, so I expect my dreams to show that as well. Good luck trying to make sense of any of that.”

Princess Luna laughed again
“Let me worry about this, Ocean Shore.”
Blue chuckled along, but felt a little nervous when she dared to ask something
“So, I know you said you still needed time to think about everything, but maybe, could you maybe tell me what you think so far?”

Luna fixed her with her eyes again, and Blue stared back when they almost started to glow in the feint lights of the dream-landscape
“As I already said, your honesty is a big factor in your favour so far. I can understand most of your reasons, even if I don’t agree with every one of them. And you have my sympathy for finding yourself in such a dire situation when you and your sister are still so young.”

Blue smiled hopefully, even as Luna continued
“But, I can also see that you’re not telling us everything. This is a fair thing to do, we don’t expect you to share every of your private thoughts with us. However, for all I know and all I can see, one question keeps nagging on me.”
Blue stood straight and her wings spread out a bit as she braced herself for what was coming
“For all the hardships and troubles you faced, this step still seems very extreme to me. Why leave behind the only world you’ve ever known and put so much hope into this world you barely know?”

Blue took a deep breath and her head hung down
“Because, the old world hasn’t anything to offer for me any more. Even with all the help I’ve gotten since I met Sunset and Miss Luna, nobody will ever look past what I’ve done. It’s my own fault, I know. I tried to deal with it. But whenever something seems to work out, it’s like the world comes up with something new to throw at me.”

Luna had listened attentively, but when Blue looked up again, the princess was deeply surprised by the look of shame and guilt the former human directed at her
“But it’s not about me. It’s for my sister. Spring had to fight through so much stuff already because of my fuck-ups. Everybody thinks I’m a lost cause, but now Spring suffers from my bad name as well. I can’t take it. And I can’t take getting separated from my sister. My sister deserves so much more, so much better than all the shit she gets because of me.”

Blue instinctively flared her wings all the way and she kept her eyes on the princess
“If it means a better chance for Spring Meadow, I’d give up everything. I don’t need fingers or cars or computers. I want to be with my sister and I want to see her happy again. So I promise I won’t make the same mistakes I did before. And I’ll do my best to be the perfect role-model-citizen all the time if it means we can stay, together.”

Princess Luna held Blue’s gaze as she went through different emotions in short succession. After a minute or two of thinking, the smile returned
“Well said, Ocean Shore. I will remember this when the time comes to make my decision. But for now, I’ve held you from your well-deserved rest far too long already.”

She stomped her hoof on the ground and a simple wooden door appeared next to Blue
“This is the way into your own dreams, Ocean Shore. I’ve made precautions so that your sleep will be untroubled tonight, but should you need my further assistance, all you need to do is call my name and I shall be there.”

Blue nodded and bowed her head down in respect, like she had seen from Sunset and Starlight
“Thank you, Princess Luna.”

Luna just smiled and motioned towards the door
“You are welcome. Sleep now, young one. Sleep deeply and peacefully.”
With that, the wooden door opened and Blue saw a bright white light. The landscape around her faded out and so did the feeling of lucidity. Her thoughts grew hazy and blurry and within seconds, she was dreaming.