• Published 4th Jul 2021
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Sisters of Willowbrook - Starscribe



After decades of preparation, an ancient cult finally manages to summon two of their dark gods into Equestria. Instead of almighty Alicorns, they arrive as a pair of helpless fillies. To get home, they'll have to play the part...

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Chapter 6: Imprisoned

Derek could barely think through the aching in her head long enough to focus on the world around her. If she relaxed for even a second, the incongruous feelings of her body would return to assault her, with legs that were too long, hands that weren't there when she expected them, ears that somehow moved her hair around when her emotions grew a little too strong.

Even worse, she had Charlie right beside her, putting constant pressure on her to solve this. She was the one who had got them into this mess, she was the only one who could get them out again. She knew magic, her friend hadn't even believed it existed.

Charlie was right. She should have all the answers. Trouble was, she didn't have a single one. Of the little spells she had memorized enough to try, none would help change her back, none could identify this strange place they'd somehow found their way into.

It was as though she had led the two of them together with a delicate handheld GPS, then dropped it down a ravine right as a terrible storm arrived to rip their tents right out of the ground.

What did you do when you'd failed so badly you didn't even know how to start fixing things? In Derek's case, she buried her head in the blankets and waited to wake up from this nightmare.

She didn't, of course. Charlie kept moving around beside her, an even stranger alien than herself. What would it feel like to have two more limbs that didn't belong? Something like her tail and ears, maybe.

"Let's take stock of what we know..." Charlie said, voice only slightly muffled by the pillow. That was another problem with hiding like this—her body's senses were so good that she couldn't actually block out the world just by covering her face.

"We're horses. Do you know why? Is there any magic that can do that?"

"I... think so..." She shook herself free of the pillow, though she didn't actually stand up. Instead, she lay on her side, with blankets and pillows wrapping around her like a constant hug. That felt a little better, though she couldn't have said why.

"Transfiguration is... really intense. You need incredible power for that. The book basically says never to do it to anything smarter than a plant. It's way easier to give something cancer than change it correctly."

"And you had power," Charlie prompted. "That was the whole point. Could you have done this by mistake?" She kept her voice low with every word, as though she were afraid of someone overhearing them. But Derek could see no others in the room. There wasn't really space for anyone else. Past the bed was a standing mirror, a trunk for clothes or belongings, then a single massive door. Nothing else.

"Not a chance. You need to know the result perfectly, the way a geneticist might." She sat up, scratching her head with one hoof. It felt strange, more sensitive than she expected. Or... there was some skin between the edges of her hoof. Maybe with a little practice, she could use it to grab something? There was probably a name for that.

"Maybe, maybe I know enough about how minds work to stop it from making us insane. Mapping our brains onto another body... but probably not. This was never the plan."

The little horse beside her opened her wings as she walked a slow circle around the edge of the bed, apparently using them for balance. Maybe she could control them already.

"What was the plan?" she asked casually. "If nothing went wrong... what woulda happened?"

"Uh..." She tried to remember. Focusing on anything about magic was hard, like saying words that didn't work. But she pressed, until her head felt like it would split open from the headache and she could push no harder. "Gather... power. Then use it. Practice, get better. I was gonna try... simple stuff. Luck. Maybe be smarter. Or live longer. Might try different things."

"Doesn't sound anything like what happened with us," Charlie said. "I feel like... the opposite of smarter. The longer I'm awake, the more I'm thinking through a fog. You know?"

Derek nodded. "I knew things that made sense to me before. But explaining them is hard. Shouldn't be."

"And some words we can't say," her friend said. "Including names. How could that happen?"

She shook her head once. "No clue. There are some names you shouldn't say. Forbidden names, that attract attention. That seemed like superstition. But I can't think of how we would be stopped from saying our own."

Just like she couldn't think of any reason they should be in a giant room, changed into a pair of weird horse-things. "I don't like how I sound," she whispered. She needed no external reason not to want to be overheard just now. "Am I a girl?"

Charlie hesitated. "I've seen horses before. You want me to look?"

Derek nodded, ears pressing flat with embarrassment and face heating to bright red. Maybe the fur would stop her embarrassment from being visible. Maybe.

"Try to lift your tail," Charlie said, after a second. "I don't wanna touch it."

Could she? In thinking about it, Derek twitched her lower body, then the tail responded. She flipped it up, then sideways so she felt most of the hair falling over her butt. Probably a word for that.

Charlie squealed, a sound that by itself told Derek all she needed to know.

She plopped violently down onto the bed, covering herself as quickly and completely as she could. "That bad?"

Charlie nodded. She slunk away, then flopped off the edge of the bed with another thump. Derek didn't even have to watch to know she was going over to the mirror. Somehow she managed to twist herself around, lifting her own tail for a second.

She squealed again, far less shock this time. Now the sound was grimly resolved, defeated. She dragged herself over to the bed, speaking up towards Derek. "Anything in your book that could explain this?"

This time she didn't have to hesitate, or doubt herself. "Nothing even remotely."

"Figured." Charlie flopped onto the floor, spreading out there like a useless lump. Derek understood the sentiment perfectly. "What do we do? What kind of... weird petting zoo kidnapped us?"

Derek had no answer. Sunlight streamed in from the windows to either side, fairly bright now. But they were so high she could see nothing but the occasional cloud pass overhead. Maybe some birds, but they moved so quickly and inconsistently that she couldn't get a good look.

"We might be able to get that door open. Maybe you could get up onto my shoulders?"

Charlie groaned, crawling over to the trunk. Unlike the door and windows, it was positioned at their height, so that it was easy and comfortable for her to flip it open.

There were folded clothes inside, or maybe those were blankets?

That was enough to make Derek finally roll sideways out of bed. flopping down onto the ground to investigate for herself. But the bed wasn't up that high—maybe it was built for animals their size too.

Charlie poked inside, wedging one of her hooves under the first layer and flipping it out onto the ground in front of them.

Even having never seen it before, Derek recognized the basic shape instantly. Thin loops at the shoulders, then wide ruffles and an opening on the back. The fabric was plain gray, with a few faded pink ribbons at regular intervals. Like something calculated to make the wearer seem small and pathetic.

It would probably be a perfect fit.

Charlie made a frustrated sound, digging deeper. In an instant, the trunk became an absolute mess of crumpled fabric, spread in an unrecognizable jumble.

Derek leaned in behind her, squinting down at what was inside. A few different sizes—some had weird holes in the back, while others were older and of a slightly longer cut. They would probably be even more inconvenient to wear.

"It's not fair," Charlie grumbled. "There aren't any shorts in here. Girls wear shorts." She settled down on her haunches. "The ones outside were naked. Maybe I shouldn't bother."

"Outside?" Derek pawed at the fallen dress with one hoof. It took a little dexterity to open it with one leg. But once she did, she could see the way it was supposed to be worn.

Before she could second-guess herself, Derek squirmed forward, wedging her head between the straps, then wiggling her forelegs into place. The fabric settled up against her, hugging the body that she didn't recognize.

It was a little uncomfortable to have fur pressed so flat. She twitched her hindlegs once, the way she'd seen dogs react when something dirty stuck to them. Maybe she'd feel better naked too.

"You're gonna wear a dress?" Charlie asked, indignant. "Why?"

Derek couldn't answer. She couldn't explain why she'd felt or done a lot of things since waking up. There was something particularly strange in her head, memories of... somewhere cramped and dark, with walls that dripped and were spotted with strange markings. A cave, maybe?

"Better than nothing," she said.

Charlie laughed, the first familiar thing she'd heard from her friend since arriving here. She could almost hear her old friend's voice in it, if Charlie had been several times her current age, and also male.

"Not to me. Knock yourself out." She shoved away at the bundle of clothes, smacking the box closed. At least she could hide the mess she'd created.

Strange sounds echoed from the doorway, like half a dozen people all moving together at once. Derek stumbled away, but didn't trip on the dress. It was more of a skirt really, and didn't get in the way of her legs. Somehow it had been designed for her stupidly confusing body.

She wasn't sure who she expected to be standing at the door. Maybe a park ranger, in their green uniform. Maybe a dog-catcher, maybe a team of riot police.

What she didn't expect was a horse, twice her size and wearing a simple white vest. She grinned down at Derek, eyes going directly to the skirt. "Sorry to keep you waiting. How are you two?"

Derek retreated, her tongue going suddenly numb. She wanted to answer, but she couldn't string the words together. Something about seeing an adult alien for the first time, or maybe wanting to know the way home. It blurred into a confusing mess of nothing in particular.

At least her friend was a little better with people. Charlie stood beside her, resting one leg around her shoulder. "Can you tell us what's going on? We want to go home."

That wasn't the way Charlie usually talked—but at least she'd managed to say anything at all.

"We've been arranging the details of that very thing," said the gigantic horse. She stepped into the doorway, causing the two of them to recoil almost in unison.

But she didn't back down, following them into the room. She dropped down onto one leg, lowering her head until she was almost at eye level with them. "I have some difficult news for you both. Can you be big fillies and listen?"

Filly, Derek had heard that word before. It meant... a young female horse, right? One that hadn't yet had children. Maybe it implied some other things, but she couldn't have said what.

Charlie's expression twisted with pain, a pain Derek recognized well by now. The pain of words suppressed, and a reality strangled. An almost supernatural hold on her expression.

The older horse apparently took that for an invitation. "We cannot find either of your families, and we might never be able to. It's not your fault... you're not unwanted. You haven't failed. But you probably won't be able to go back where you came from."

She might as well have reached right into Derek's chest and ripped out her heart. She spluttered, then started sobbing. Her world turned blurry with tears, and she flopped over sideways.

That was apparently enough to trigger her friend, too. Soon Charlie had joined her, as pathetic sounding as Derek felt. But she didn't care.

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