-Chapter XXXIIX- Truth Be Told
-Ponyville, Equestria
-March 30th, 2012
-9:06 P.M.
-Nicholas
"All right, here you are." said Twilight happily as she used her magic to give me a bundle of two blankets and a pillow, neatly packed and folded.
I watched with curiosity and awe as it gradually floated across the room without a visible being holding it up. And, despite my confusion of magic, it almost seemed familiar. "Thank you very kindly." I told her gratefully.
She nodded with a sparkle in her eye, "see you in the morning." she said as she went back up the stairs and into her own room. "Sleep well!"
"You too!" I called back. I looked at the bundle of covers, examining the neatness and care put into packing them. It was so beautiful I almost didn't remove the strap keeping them together. However, I did anyway and, after a long while, was able to lay out some sort of bed with them. The chore was somewhat difficult, I found, because of a lack of hands, causing me to have to use my teeth. Once it was all set up, I slipped my hoof beneath the blanket on top, and I slid underneath, that way I was between the blankets, with one between me and the floor. I lied down my exhausted head, at first reluctantly, but when I noticed that it had been just recently washed, I relaxed.
I got into my typical sleeping position, but I quickly found it to be awkward more than anything, with my hands being replaced with hooves, because one of them were under the pillow and the other pressed against my back, causing the pillow where my head was to have a hard bulge in it and my back itch with fur pressed against fur. I sighed, and tried to find another position to get into, and eventually just gave up and tried to sleep what Max would call "military-style" on my back, hooves to my sides and looking directly up at the ceiling. I closed my eyes, and after a while of remaining completely still without disruption as to sleep eventually, I finally did. Sensation slowly drained from my pony body, and rest was achieved at last.
"Nick!" I heard Max call.
"Max?" I called out back, hearing my words resound through the empty air.
"Nick...? Nick!" I heard him say in shock, then excitement, it seemed, before something grabbed me from behind. I quickly shook free, unsheathed my sword, and spun around with the point of the blade at my captor. "Heh, see you haven't lost your skill, Nick." I lowered the sword when I saw Max standing before me. I then realized I was human again.
"M-Max?" I stammered. "Is it really you?"
"I told you I wasn't just your thoughts, Nick."
"But I thought..." I trailed off, and completely lost my train of thought when I heard a noise from behind me. I turned again to see Ly floating in the air before me. "Ly?"
She smiled. "Hello, Nicholas."
"What're you doing here?" I asked in confusion.
"We are your guardians." Max said bluntly.
"Guardians...?"
"Actually, we are but two of your guardians, Nicholas." Ly added.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, becoming flustered with how little I knew.
"For now, it doesn't matter." Ly said quickly.
"Celestia is in immense danger." Max said with a tone that was so well with fear and anger that it scared me. That tone meant something horrible had happened, or was going to happen.
"Why should I care? Why the hell would I care about some ponies that are completely and utterly useless!" I demanded.
"Because she's just as much a guardian of the Power Keeper as Ly and I!" Max said fiercely.
"Princess Celestia is a guardian? My guardian? And more yet, the guardian of the Power Keeper? Am I supposed to believe this?" I asked, turning to Ly for an answer as I spread out my arms. I then realized my arms were elongated yet again, and as I looked down, I realized I was again in my Polokus forme. "What the hell...?"
"For every forme you attain, there is a guardian and a companion." Ly explained. With a wave of her hand a reflection began to forme before me, revealing what my Polokus forme looked like.
"Why do I look like Jack Skellington?" I asked, looking at how my limbs were elongated. My eyes were very similar to what Globox's were. I was freaked out a bit when I noticed my elbows and knees, which floated in the air about an inch from where they were supposed to be attached.
"Celestia is in danger, Nicholas. You and your pony companion must travel to Canterlot to save your pony guardian."
"And if I refuse?" I asked simply.
"Nick, already these people have shown you great kindness, why wouldn't you help them?" Max asked.
"They're not people. They. Are. Ponies."
"Maxwell, let me handle this." Ly said with a suspicious smile.
I looked down and realized I was again in my normal forme, with arm and leg length normal again. "What are you going to do, huh?" I asked sarcastically. Ly smiled, and with a wave of her hand, a yellow smoke gathered around me, and I winced in fear, expecting immense pain. But with a flash of light that surpassed my shut eyelids and gave my vision a white blur for a second, it seemed to be over. I slowly opened my eyes, and realized I had to look up at Max and Ly to see them eye-to-eye. I looked down again, and saw that I was again on four hooves. I looked up at Ly in horror and shock. "You wouldn't."
"I would." she replied bluntly with a smile.
"So who's my pony companion?" I asked quickly as I turned my head to Max, who was doing his very best not to laugh.
He opened his mouth to speak, but as he was about to say the name, he vanished, just as Ly did. I remained my pony forme, however, and the solidity of the world around me disappeared, leaving me to float about in eternal darkness. My eyes shot open to be revealed to the sharp brightness of Equestria once again. Light filtered in through the windows and into the library, and I looked about, expecting to see Ly and Max somewhere about. I must save Celestia... was the last thought I had before I realized that I was awake again, and the stranger thing yet...was I wasn't even thinking about Ly's threat, but the truth in Max's point. I may not like them, but they have shown me great kindness, and I couldn't sit idly by as an entire country fell to its knees, all because of me.