Adaptation
Eric walked through the living room, ignoring his mother on the couch looking at her favorite cooking show. He had had a terrible day, with that annoying hollow feeling gnawing at his guts whenever he sat next to two empty chairs.
It had been two weeks already and he just couldn’t get over it! Ah… he should, right? Everyone told him to…
A feminine voice cut through his angry thoughts. “Had a nice day at school, Eric?”
Surprised, he almost stopped dead in his track. He hadn’t expected her to notice, or care all that much, really.
“Not that bad,” he replied without conviction. Luckily, his mom was too focused on her show to notice.
Phew, that was closer to normalcy. Eric just shrugged it off as a fluke.
The teen was midway through when the strange event repeated itself, though this time with a much closer note of familiarity.
“And that meeting with your therapist?” She wondered out loud, without any concern so to speak.
He didn’t answer that one.
He let his feet carry him out of the living room and that surreal scene.
It was much calmer in his family’s computer room. Sure, it had always been cozy, what’s with the green walls, the fan, the small fridge in the corner and the big windows filtering plenty of natural light in, but lately, since every environment had started to become hostile, this place had turned into a haven.
Eric might have been slowly adopting the lifestyle of a hermit and a recluse.
Not that he cared much, not without anyone to actually care in return.
With a disheartened sigh, Eric sat down in front of the screen and started browsing, mostly about pony stuff. He… hadn’t managed to ignore the force of habit. He had steered clear of the new episodes, but he had caught a few glimpse of the new alicorns through the fandom’s art.
The opinions were… mixed to say the least.
Eric’s eyes dodged the pictures as soon as he noticed dark blue and red in the same frame. The phantom image of his friend looking at him… the burning anger in Sam’s eyes were daring him, double daring him even, to just peek at these and appreciate them.
His face hurt just to think about the kind of violence that would be behind the fist it promised.
Perhaps hurriedly, he opened his pony roleplay chat. It was empty, save for a single user. Eric felt a surge of relief when he recognized which of his online pal that was.
“Greetings, LoveCupackes.” He typed.
The answer came within seconds, flashing onto his screen.
“Hey NightServant, how’s it going?”
“It’s…” His fingers hovered over the keyboard. What should he write? Should he just up and confess his troubles over the Internet? Nah, not quite that desperate… yet… “I’m fine. Got into a bit of trouble at school, but what’s new. You?”
Again, Eric barely had the time to blink before another reply came.
“Always a ray of sunshine for my pals, you know that.”
He had to fight the urge to grin at that. It made him feel a weird, as if a ball of warmth was dancing all over his organs and making it harder to be gloomy. Well, at least someone cares.
For a moment, he simply didn’t know what to type next, for fear he’d go on a weird tangent, he kept silent.
Finally, it was LoveCupcakes that started the conversation again.
“Still boycotting the show?”
He could not tell if there was any bitterness in those words. LoveCupcakes was usually… well… screwing over with everyone.
“Yeah, but not because of that alicorn debacle. I just can’t get into it these days.”
It was entirely true too. He wasn’t particularly excited about the show nowadays. Who cared about this stuff when your friend went missing?
“Well, you’re missing out on some nice stuff. The plot is getting really… like… intriguing, far from the light-hearted thing from before. Well, I mean sure, they went into lighthearted topics too and it was rather fun seeing Rarity dragging Applejack and Rainbow Dash all around Canterlot to teach them shopping, but there are those background events with the two new guys… it’s weird.”
Even if he had promised himself not to get into another debate about ‘My Little Pony’, he just couldn’t resist a comment.
“Oh, so the new alicorns are being pushed into the background, again?” Why add them then? “I thought something big would happen…”
Well, he wasn’t really sad he had stopped watching the show if that was the kind of writing he would have to deal with.
“Come on, it looks like they’re building up for some epic stuff! There was some sort of implied threat in Ventus’ words! He was all ‘We were forbidden from coming… we may have awakened something terrible’! You can’t say that doesn’t sound big, like ‘Return of Harmony’ big.”
Eric felt his indignation flare. “Oh, you did not go there…”
“I did, suck it. Plus, they’re male alicorns! Come on, you can’t say you didn’t want to see some of these!”
He almost regretted his deadpan expression could not be translated so easily through his written reply. “Not really, I was fine with just two, so reaching six is actually getting on my nerves.”
“Come on. It makes for a nice story.”
His face turned into a perfectly neutral mask, eyes half-drooped with a clear feeling of being unimpressed to the utmost power. “I’m not buying it, Love.”
“For the last time, stop abridging my username to ‘Love’, it makes you sound like we’re a couple.”
“Puh-leaze, that’s nothing you. I mean, that’s what Scat-.” ScatteredWind used to do…
He froze.
His chest ached.
It had been a while since the last time he had thought about fun memories of Sam, rather than the burst of rage and the pain. It… it made him long for that simple reality that had slipped away so abruptly. The feeling of loss weighted heavily on his shoulders, making him slump on his chair.
He… did not want to think about this anymore. Not of Sam, not of Cassandra, just as he did not want to ponder on the isolation plaguing his life.
The young man’s stare at the computer screen seemed lifeless, easily belonging to an image rather than a person. Still, Eric caught sight of his fellow bronies’ question.
“Dude, are you still there?”
Eric did not move.
“Dude?”
--
Twilight let out a content sigh. This had gone better than she had expected, but there was nothing quite like an afternoon spent with Pinkie Pie to drain the energy out of a pony. For once though, none of her articulations ached with overexertion, so that was a small victory for the side of eggheads everywhere.
Without a thought, the young alicorn took off her tiara, letting it levitate to its placeholder on a table close to her window. The piece of jewelry, the Element of Magic, no less, was slowly getting less uncomfortable to wear.
Royalty and its functions were progressively becoming less of a mystery to her… even if there were some exceptions.
Golden fur came to mind.
Twilight’s eyes went to the ground instantly, admonishing herself for her moment of weakness. But her mental berating had little effect on her accelerating heartbeat.
Why is he so… so casual? He’s so different from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna… He doesn’t act anything like them in private. With Princess Celestia, there’s always that majesty and grace to her, even when sometimes overshadowed by a mischievous streak.
If anything, he reminded her of Cadence. The Alicorn of Love certainly was flexible on decorum when need be, especially whenever her kindness shone through her royal attitude.
“He’s nothing new then, so why is he bothering me so much?” She whispered, thinking back to his cocky grin after he had managed to nail all three of them down with a well-times trap.
It… It just didn’t make sense!
“Who?” Somepony asked quietly.
However quiet that had been, to the overthinking alicorn, it had been like an impossibly loud explosion. As such, she jumped ten feet of air in shock.
“Oh, Twilight, I’m sorry I took you by surprise like that.” The voice owner’s stepped forward, lowering her head in an apology, pink mane hiding her face.
“O-oh, no! that’s nothing!” Twilight quickly replied, waving a hoof before her. “I just didn't hear you enter our suite.”
“I… was here the entire time.”
Twilight felt her cheeks flush a nice dark purple color. Thank Celestia that was the only one of her thoughts that had been vocalized!
“O-oh…” She exclaimed, wincing with embarrassment. “I was a bit out of it. Sorry.”
“Oh no!” Fluttershy instantly backed away. “It was my fault for not making myself more easily detected right away!”
Twilight frowned. “What? No, it was my fault. I was thinking and I didn’t think to check if you were back.”
Admittedly, both mares decided to drop the issues, even if not quite satisfied with this turn of event.
“O-okay then…” Fluttershy looked away. “W-who were you thinking about? I-if you don’t mind me asking…”
Even more than before, the alicorn’s body was animated by a cringe. “N-nopony!”
In response, the pegasus mare simply looked away, a slight pain hidden behind her bangs. She was neither naïve nor stupid. And, Celestia forgive her, she was a little disappointed her friend hadn’t come out clear with it right away.
Seeing all that passing on her friend’s face, Twilight felt a pang of guilt still her heart in her chest. Biting her lips, she looked away as well, holding out an internal debate.
“L-look, Fluttershy…” The mare’s head turned to her, seemingly as peaceful as before. “This is all very complicated and I’m not exactly sure what to make of it yet, but…”
She swallowed loudly, and with it, her pride went down the drain. “I was talking about Prince Ventus.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy’s eyes lit up with recognition. “Him.”
Then, curiously, the yellow mare let out a disheartened sigh.
“Fluttershy?”
“I haven’t been very nice to him, have I?” She hung her head low.
“Didn’t you apologize for that?” Twilight’s eyebrow furrowed.
“Y-yes, but I still don’t feel-”
A pair of purple hooves pressed on her shoulders. Looking up, she saw the kind, reassuring expression of her friend.
“It will be fine,” Twilight promised. “From what my researches tell me, Prince Ventus seems to be a rather forgiving stallion. He’ll understand what happened and won’t hold it against you. He already did so with Pinkie.”
“R-really?” The mare looked up hopefully.
“Of course! He even spent the afternoon playing with Pinkie, Calx and me.”
The second her friend looked at Twilight in confusion, then blinked, she realized what she had said.
“You spent the aftern-”
“SO? WHAT DID YOU DO TODAY?!” The poor alicorn shouted, suddenly quite nervous.
Luckily, her friend didn't so much as flinch at her strong reaction.
“I met up Discord at a café in downtown Canterlot today. It was…” Her hesitant smile turned into a scowl. “Special.”
“I can imagine.” Twilight nodded, an incredibly forced smile slapped on her face.
“Oh, the food was nice and that waiter was so brave to keep up with Discord’s antics even when he was shaking like a leaf. The poor dear just seemed to have lost ten years of health to the experience.”
“Fluttershy! Was Discord bullying the staff?” She asked, scandalized at the idea of her sweet friend being so indifferent to this kind of fear.
“Of course not.” Fluttershy’s eyes narrowed into a glare. “He was showing me his new inventions like the Horn-“slash”-trumpet-cake tree and the puddinghead first edition exclusive historical figurines. Nothing. More!”
Twilight’s wings clasped close to her sides at the accusatory tone. Oops, that had been a blunder.
“Right, sorry, Fluttershy. I did not mean it like that.”
“It’s… fine,” she sighed. “Lots of ponies are very suspicious of Discord and he is not always making it easy for them to believe he turned a new leaf.”
“It’s rather hard to forget what he did to Equestria the last time he was freed,” Twilight muttered bitterly, feeling a remnant of hatred fester in her heart.
“Yes…” The pegasus looked down, feeling somewhat overwhelmed by her role in all this. “He is trying though. It was quite nice at some points. We just talked about a lot of things over sandwiches.”
Small talk with the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony… that’s a bit hard to imagine. “Oh… well, I’m glad it wasn’t all bad. What did you talk about?”
“Oh, we breached a variety of topics, from my little angels to the weather pattern in Fillydelphia to the rumors in Canterlot.” She paused, apparently unsure on whether or not she should continue.
“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, worried by this sudden silence.
“He also asked what I thought of Prince Ventus and Prince Calx. He seemed quite interested.”
The alicorn barely hid her shock.
D-Discord… is showing interest? In those two? But… why?
Ah! She knew she had a perfectly good reason to be intrigued by Ventus and his brother. Perfect! Further studies were indeed needed.
She pointedly ignored the part of her that berated her voluntary blindness.
--
I pounced on my prey, showing my teeth in a triumphant grin. It stretched even further as my hooves closed on their targets.
“I got you!” I laughed, crushing him under my weight and using my free hoof to rub it in on the side of his face.
“I’m not…” He squirmed under me, trying to lift me and mostly failing. “Done yet!”
Something yanked the tip of my tail, sending a small signal of pain in my rump and making me yelp.
Indignant, I turned around, only to see a blue aura surrounding my tail. Oh horseapple…
Faster than I could smack his horn and disrupt his concentration, Calx put his all into his spell and threw me off him. My chin painfully hit the stone floor, resonating all throughout my jaw and my teeth.
“Ah, I won!”
Snorting, I could only say. “Yeah, you sure did.”
“Duh, not like there was any doubt,” he gloated, his wings fluttering and his head held high.
Why must you be such an adorable little squirt? Eh, makes me wonder how bad you will be when you grow up. But my thoughts were cut short by the image of a drawing. It was… rather simple… quite childish too, but the one holding was out of my sight. Curiously enough, no magic seemed to be holding it up in the air, only somepony’s grasp.
I… did not recognize the memory. This was an old one, to be sure.
Wait… memories? …There was something I meant to ask Calx, right? Slowly, the mental conversation came back to me and it prompted me to look at Calx directly in the eyes. “H-hey… is it fine if I ask you something?”
Blinking, clearly not expecting this, the little colt nodded.
“It’s… huh… really important that you answer me honestly, ‘kay, Buddy?”
“Sure.” He shrugged, not seeing the bigger picture.
To be honest, I didn’t see all that much more myself.
“Do you remember those names we call each other, so the other don’t know…”
“Ventus and Calx?”
Nicknames? No, that isn’t quite right. Those are our names, aren’t they?
“No, the other ones.” I made a small circular motion with my hoof. I wanted him to go on. This had stirred up an old memory, I just knew. That thing about nicknames…
Nicknames…
Wait! It is right! They’re just nicknames! Codes! I couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction. “Yes! Those aren’t the real deal, aren’t they?”
Ca-Tom just looked more off put. “You’re being weird, Sam…”
That… that’s it… I know that’s the right name. I’m a human named Sam! I waited, bracing myself for a mental impact, as there was bound to be one. A bit nervous, I even closed my eyes, trying to put myself at ease before the inevitable breakdown or whatever I would be put through.
Except… it didn’t happen.
My heart jumped up in my throat, almost making me gag. Why aren’t I suddenly feeling the weight of my memories crushing down my mind and giving me the worst headache of my life?
“Sam?” Tom tilted his head, frowning at me.
Somehow, I simply remembered being Sam… and Ventus. And, in my mind, things just clicked, making sense for once.
“I’m fine, Tom.” No, I’m not.
I had both the memories of myself back on Earth and those of the astral planes, whatever their names were. I didn’t feel… different all that much. Just like I had remembered something I had forgotten before.
Insignificant. The revelation was crushing. I looked at my brother, at his muzzle and his horn, at his wings and his hooves. I saw his big crimson red eyes, shining with incomprehension and worry, and… for the first time… I didn’t have the image of a human boy reflecting through those traits.
Calx Iugum… Tom… The only difference was the amount of memories I had of each.
The same thing could be said of myself.
I hadn’t been disappearing. My memories weren’t being erased, but the amount of it changed.
Seventeen years… I imagined a balance, tilting on both sides shakily. Four hundred and twenty six… One scale hit the ground so hard it left an impact.
That was just it. I was Sam, without a doubt, but I had been Ventus for more than twenty times the same amount of time. How could I pretend that I was only Sam in that context? Heck, me not remembering everything made sense too.
Who could remember so easily all the details of a period of time that didn’t encompass more than a few percent of their actual life experience? I couldn’t. And with the life I had now, seventeen years weren’t all that much, not to mention early childhood… that part didn’t even register. So that was what? A little more than a decade. In comparison to forty-two.
There, rational, non-mystical and mysterious explanation to my current predicament, ain’t that dandy? I bit my bottom lips with some bitter anger. Why couldn’t I care MORE?! Damn it!
“You just retreated in your head, right?” Twin hooves pushed against my chest, a little, annoyed glare directed at my face. “You always do that when there’s something you don’t like.”
“I know… I was thinking.” I rubbed his head softly, without putting enough strength in it to be uncomfortable.
There was a little passion in there, but, appropriately, I felt mostly… peaceful.
Really, I tried to summon my indignation, that sentiment of bitter injustice. The anger, the hatred, the loathing; none of that could find a place in my heart anymore. At most, there was a rational understanding that it would be very sad for us to be stuck as ponies, to have lost… less than two decades of existence in favor of these new lives… Sad… right?
No fire…
Was this how Celestia felt after all those years? Pushing on not because it was important, but because every tragedy would just fade in the background when you had lived past a certain number of years?
No flames of determination burning in my chest. Even if being human eventually became nothing more than a fleeting memory, I wouldn’t care.
Not on a gut level.
Not anymore.
D-damn it!
I couldn’t even mourn my own death sincerely!
“I… I think it’s time for you to go to bed.”
Calx let out a spectacular whine at that.
At least, that never changed no matter the life or dimension.
--
She walked down the path wearily, hooves heavy and horn lowered. Ironical as it may be, her fate was to ensure others’ peaceful rest, regardless of how troubled her own dreams were. Her years lost in the darkness that was her mad alter ego had not been quite lost, as Nightmare Moon had sometimes invaded the populace’s mind, although more as her folkloric rendition as a pony-eater than an all-beloved queen.
Still, alone she remained on the starry path into the dreams of others.
Her nightly patrols had been important before, though perhaps more as a mean for her to regain her subjects trust, especially that of foals. Recently, however, it seemed as if these patrols were a scouting device.
Nightmares had multiplied. Such occurrences were not unheard of, far from it, but, curiously, they showed a certain resistance to her powers, as if they weren’t born only of the mind of sleeping Equestrians.
It was worrying and, more remarkably, exhausting.
Sighing, Luna straightened her posture, steeling her resolve and her mind. The land of dreams were hers and no Princess she would be if she appeared so weak in front of her subjects.
Without hesitation, she stepped into a swirling black light and appeared elsewhere.
--
Far away, under the starry sky, winds blew stronger over the eternal ice of a certain mountain.
Winds cold enough to freeze one’s heart.
--
Luna’s eyes scanned her new surroundings.
Her eyes narrowed. “Something… isn’t quite right here.”
Illusionary wind brushed her fur, pushing pale blue clouds away from the coast, toward the ever darker ocean. Singing, ethereal, otherworldly, echoed through the air, tainting it purple and casting a painting not unlike that of a madpony.
Sand gritted against her horseshoes, friable – too friable? – under her weight. Water would splashed inches away from her, yet gave off a vibe. The liquid seemed to stretch just a little too much, just out of the way it should, to reach her, as if trying to drag her underwater.
“What is the meaning of this?” She asked herself, taking in the twisted scenery.
However, time to ponder was not given to her as a bloodcurdling scream reached her ears.
Instantly on guard, Luna jolted around, in time for a most baffling sight.
Water up to their knees, five ponies were kneeling in the bay.
They were holding struggling ponies underneath the surface.
It was a nightmare, she knew. Drowning, the fear of it, was particularly strong amongst her citizens, seeing as most had some troubles swimming. For a coastal city like the one she visited, the fear seemed logical enough.
However, the Princess of the Night certainly hadn’t expected their nightmares to be about drowning somepony else.
The dream selves – the identity of the ponies dreaming – were akin to stars in the night to her. Easily distinguishable amongst all other beings. There was no mistake. Some of her citizens were having dreams about killing others.
The lunar princess’ heart burned with anger. Reeling on her back legs, she stomped her hooves against the beach, sending a shockwave through the whole dreamscape. “Enough of this travesty!”
Stunned, the ponies collectively lost their grips on their victims, who vanished within the second. What remained of that mad frenzy was but a hoofful of ponies, slowly coming to their senses, slowly realizing what their dreams had been about.
One such pony stepped forward, toward her monarch.
“P-Princess Luna?” A pale blue mare muttered, struck by horror. “W-what happened? I was dreaming of a nice stroll on the beach with my husband when…”
Suddenly, the mare paused, eyes widening and iris shrinking. Face paling, she let out a squeak of pure agony, suddenly looking at her hooves like they were dirtied.
Luna had an inkling of an idea as to what kind of things might dirty that mare’s hooves.
“You need not feel guilty, young lady.” The alicorn’s voice came out strongly. “This is no mere nightmare, nor a desire of your heart. Not even those of your fellow ponies,” she added toward the few mortified mares and stallions surrounding her.
Her eyes, however, were toward the darkened horizon.
From within the depth of the ocean, something stirred.
The ponies flinched as their leader’s expression became furious. They had heard of their co-monarch’s features, spoken of with great references, but none of them had ever imagined them deformed by such powerful rage.
Baring her teeth, the Alicorn of the Night stood tall in front of a mass of seething evil, whose form changed and crawled over toward preys it could corrupt. Its ends became sharp, a mimicry of claws, even as its center folded and separated with thin openings. Its head, if one could qualify it as that, had stretched forward, into their directions, dripping shadows falling off what seemed to be fangs.
The creature oozed a malice Luna hadn’t seen in a pony in a long time. Quite obviously, such monstrosity was the reason behind those disturbing nightmares her subjects had had. Creatures of fear had a way to destroy ponies.
Memories of a red horn and a shadowy mane flashed before her eyes, flickering into oblivion soon afterward.
The nightmares plaguing the citizens of Colthasset weren’t purely mundane monsters.
They stemmed from an external magical source. And that, amongst other things, was the purest form of her duties as Princess of the Night.
Growling, Luna released her restraints over her power. That storm of magic, her energy, the imitation of gods within her was let loose.
Her subjects’ stares intensified as the princess’ rose over them, glowing of a mystical light. Shadows hesitated and the world became still as the princess demonstrated her birthright and her standings as the master of all dreams.
With her voice, it seemed as if the heavens themselves would shake. With the flap of her wings, storms would explode. With the heat of her stare, her enemies would be reduced to ashes.
“Hear me, nightmares of Colthasset! I am Princess Luna, Maiden of the Night, Oneiric Lady and Shield against the Impure Darkness! Skies darken in my presence and my presence eclipses the sun. Ancient dragons weep in my wake for the honor of seeing my image. The creatures of Tartarus bowed before me, lest they be destroyed on a whim. I command the land of dreams and my words you will heed! Return to the void you were created from or face my wrath!”
They left.
--
I woke up, for the first time, completely peacefully, without any sensation of alienation in being a pony upon my awakening.
That is sad, I thought, but did not feel.
By my side, there was a small bundle of bed sheets and pillows, lifting itself to the rhythm of a peaceful breathing.
The sight tugged at some corners of my mind, though in a way that reminded me of more… appreciable occurrences.
Before my eyes flashed the images of a much smaller colt, curled up against our mother’s side. My curiosity had been almost childish then, despite the centuries of age behind me
This was a new life and the spectacle, not new in itself, had that distinct quality to it in that we shared the same blood, the same origin. For an alicorn as lonely as I had been, well, it had almost blown me away to feel this link to another outside my parents.
However, I was not the only one doing the observing, as two round crimson eyes looked at me with a blank lack of understanding. In effect, it simply meant the foal lifted one small chubby hoof toward me and made a sound.
At that point, a push had forced me closer to Calx, delivered by a grinning Magnus, who couldn’t seem prouder than at this moment.
Vows to protect him had been sworn. Here and there, back home and in that other world.
Some things about me never changed either.
With a grin, I stretched my wings, getting to my hooves slowly, letting the fog of sleep fade by itself. There was no use to fighting off this comfortable warmth so soon.
On the other side of the bed, Calx started to stir.
“Rise and shine, little brother.” I nudged him softly, stroking his head with my feathers.
He answered with a growl.
“Our cousin’s sun has already risen over the horizon.” A spark went through my horn and Calx’s started levitating. “It is high time for us to descend into the dining hall and make an appearance.”
Dangling, Calx still didn’t wake up, curling up further at the sudden exposure to the rest of the world, away from our comfortable mattress. At that point though, I had my doubts. Especially when his face crunched up and his mouth moved enough for another grumble to escape.
“Last chance, little squirt. You either stop pretending to be asleep or you face my wrath.”
In the air, he turned around, showing me his rear end. Fairly eloquent as far as silent replies go.
You asked for it, I thought grimly, all the while a part of my mind focused on hardening air around a handle in the room adjacent to ours. I quickly had the satisfaction of hearing a sound akin to a stream of liquid.
Eying the blue foal floating in the air, I grinned. “Remember, I gave you a chance.”
With a yank of my magic, he disappeared through the next door.
When his breathing form was in the right position, I dropped him.
His screams of confused panic were a delight to my ears. As were the splashing and the promises of payback.
It build up in my throat, but it truly exploded when my little brother came out of the bathroom, soaking wet, with a glare to kill a timberwolf. Really, how else could I have reacted?
I broke into a laughing fit.
--
Nopony dared questioned our wet appearances when we entered the dining hall. It simply wasn’t one of those questions a noble could ask, I would later realize.
At the moment though, the trails of water left in our wake led to no questioning whatsoever and I could appreciate that fact.
“Good morning, everypony,” I said with a polite bow of my head.
Most ponies bothered with a reply, amongst them Celestia and Blueblood. The rest, I suspected had done so due to my apparent rank, Blueblood especially. Still, eyes stayed on us longer than I would have liked. Their strange insistence was rather discountenancing. Had I done some sort of royal faux-pas?
Feeling a little self-conscious, I led Calx to our seats, which unfortunately, were still besides a certain arrogant foal.
“Hello, Prince Ventus,” he greeted me, with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Are you doing well in this fine morning?”
Swallowing the scowl and the biting reply I wanted to throw in his face, I sat down warily. “When my dear cousin does such a good job of it, it is rather hard not to.”
The reminder of our status seemed enough chastising for most, but as I started digging into the delicious meal placed before us, I felt the gaze of others trailing my every move with a certain intensity. Adding to my discomfort was the realization that eyes were more on myself than on my brother. In which case… well, it probably wouldn’t concern manners and should reasonably be assumed to be a bigger problem.
“Prince Blueblood?” I called my neighbor of seat.
Many raised their heads from their meal and their whispered conversations at the sound of my voice, addressing the same pony I had completely tore into.
“Y-yes?” The stallion replied, with a little tremor in his own voice. The strain was barely noticeable, but it could heard, though the look in his eyes contradicted it. “May I help you somehow?”
“I seem to be a center of attention at the moment.” A wave of unease spread through the impolite nobles as they heard me. My attention, however, remained on the white stallion. “Is there something I should be made aware of?”
“Have you…” He cleared his throat. “Perhaps… read the morning press?”
“Not as such, no…” I narrowed my eyes at the papers spread in front of some ponies.
“Not even ‘The Dusk News’?” He pressed, smirking slightly.
Again, I shook my head and denied.
Silently, the prince shoved a copy of said newspaper toward me, his own, I hazarded.
“Is there something our Princess should be made aware of?” The flankhole asked ironically, as I took a closer look.
My eyes fell onto the image at the front page. To be perfectly honest, I had no idea why this could be worthy of getting that many glances. Blueblood’s gaze in particular looked singularly smug.
The photography itself hardly seemed fussing over. Golden fur and wet white locks, a perfect depiction of my face, smiling fondly toward Twilight.
I might have made my opinion known, had my eyes not caught sight of the title accompanying it.
Exclusive! The new royal couple! Celestia’s cousin, Prince Ventus, in love with new Princess Twilight Sparkle!
Oh you bunch of stupid shippers. I groaned. Could they not see completely platonic way friends played together? I mean, mostly, we did that because Calx and Pinkie wanted to.
A part of my mind knew this was a lie.
Right?
Internally, I sighed. Knowing Celestia’s character from my observations and my knowledge as both an alicorn and a human, this would be the source of an endless stream of teasing. ‘Trollestia’ indeed…
I glanced her way, already preparing a resonant “She is not my marefriend!” answer and thus destroy all plausible deniability. As an added bonus, the simple thought would make me blush and further cement my new relationship status in everypony’s mind.
Elders was I wrong about this. My estimation of Celestia’s reaction was monstrously off.
The expected playfulness was nowhere to be found. If anything, I detected a slight sense of wariness in her reserved expression. It became worse when our gazes met.
“Young love is always such a beautiful thing,” Celestia remarked casually, skimming through the newspaper while holding a cup of tea to her lips. “Though I would hope you two are not moving so quickly.”
In the corner of my eyes however, I caught sight of Blueblood’s passing display of surprise. As a noble though, he managed to hide it quickly enough. I couldn’t tell if anypony else had noticed.
I hid an urge to frown.
What was going on here?
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The plot thickens.
NIGHTMARES! SHIPPING! AND SLOWLY LOSING YOUR MEMORIES!
Cue the happy theme music!
2559259 Indeed.
(btw, how did all your projects go? Hopefully well. Sounded like you had a lot of stuff on your hands last time.)
Oh dear..........the tabloid romancing has begun. Well, they nearly got it right; just need to switch the two names around (as even though attraction on both ends has been shown, only Twilight has really shown an interest in making a relationship out of it).
I wonder how the Discord meet-and-greet will go.....and if he'll break/annihilate the fourth wall by mentioning prior human status...
A big topic that jumped out from this was that "Sam" is still around; memories and all. It's just that "Ventus" has a greater amount of life experience; hence becoming the dominant set of memories for this past while......
IDEA!!!!
There's a way back; a way to Sam's Earth, but it ISN'T through that last ritual. It also isn't the ritual he "remembered" as THAT ritual would have sent him to the Elders (hence why Magnus appeared for the warning). The problem is that, besides Sam and Tom, we haven't seen any link from Earth to Equestria that could potentially be followed back. We HAVE seen plenty for the other way around (My Little Pony, for one; the original ritual, for another).
Which then begs the question: has anyone ELSE from Earth been sent to Equestria, and if so, have they been able to return, and what impact did they have? Have any Equestrians (pony, dragon, diamond dog, griffon, zebra, etc.) been in contact with, or set foot on, Earth? If they traveled there, were THEY able to return to Equestria, and what impact did THEY have?
Ooooooh, I can't for the next part!
Unfortunately, I must.
I bet a certain Youtube user named AnY Pony would love to see how many dark implications are being made in this fic.
..
It looks like Sam and Ventus' memories aren't erasing each other. They're just... meshing?
...
Celestia's not joking about young love? Inconceivable!
...
Colthasset? Huh. I had my money on Sombra. Guess I owe myself $10.
...
Yeah, there's no way Discord won't look suspicious with his antics.
...
Huh, I don't remember having ADHD. Since when are my thoughts all over the place like this? Weird. *shrug*
If I Celestia heard rumors of someone dating Twilight, I'd expect her to give the "you'd better not break her heart or I'll turn you into lawn ornament" line.
2559395
Colthasset was the town the dreamers were living in, not the name of the one responsible for the nightmares.
2559508 She is probably more worried about the whole, "Oh Elders, last time it was Luna now Twilight... I hope we don't have to go through ALL of that mess again!" angle.
2559351 The tabloids... they're everywhere!
Discord makes everything better. I'm telling you! And I'm not suspiciously gray.
And yes, it's just a matter of fancy mathematics on Sam's personality.
2559395 Anypony? Who is that? (and darn yes, I think I mighthave to add a dark tag later on in this fic...)
Not even memory meshing... He (ah, debated which name to use here
) remembers both, but since Ventus is four hundred years old, he obviously remembers that life more. It's that much more important.
Celestia may have a lot of stuff on her mind. Like maybe the disturbing nightmares shared by a group of ponies from Colthasset (which was also the name of a coastal town btw, named after the obscure Cohasset), or the upcoming chaotic mess that will invariably occur, or even just the worry that her sister may get really angry with Ventus.
Discord? See my other comments on him.
(Your thoughts are all over the place because I scrambled them that way)
2559508 Haha... no.
Ihatethatkindoftalk2559623 Yup, you speak the truth.
Here's hoping Discord will help Sam's memories be the dominant one instead of Ventus, because it's really creepy to find out that your true memories are comparable to that of remembering your childhood. Also he seems less concerned about getting out of here now and I thought at first the ponies were drowning Sam and his real memories.
2559289
They went...
In what direction you might ask?
Sideways.
2559676 You always think other ponies are drowning Sam.
2559823 ...okay?
Oh, I can't wait to see Twilight's reaction to the news...
2559838
What do you mean? This is the first time that's happened. ^^; How can I always think that ponies are drowning Sam. ^^;
...Dang, Sam seems to not having a great deal of good luck going for him lately, what with his memories and the shipping rumors. At least he regain a little of his human memory. And, I have this suspicion that a certain reformed Spirit of Chaos is probably about to reveal something big to Twilight soon.
C&C:
“Yeah, you sure do.”
> I think you mean ‘did’.
name, should be capitalized