//------------------------------// // An Uncut Diamond // Story: ECMC: Sour Marshmallow // by ChewyCard //------------------------------// Day One “Great. Four fic ideas and all of them suck, that must be a new record for me.” The dim glow of the laptop reflected the exhaustion in Alos’s eyes. He had spent all night obsessing over ideas, and in the space of ten sobering minutes the chat room he frequented had torn them all apart, even his favorite, a story about Rarity he had been particularly proud of. He had been trying to ignore the real problems in his life, but even writing had it’s limits. His parents were threatening to “throw his lazy ass out” if he didn’t find a job, but his winning personality had all but made finding one impossible. He sat there, half dreaming, eyes sore and blurry. As he gazed into the darkness the lines between dreams and the waking world began to blur. Oh Rarity, what would you say in this situation? he wondered, yawning loudly. Alos had always admired Rarity’s dedication to her craft. In many ways he had looked up to her, for even though creating dresses was about as far creatively from writing as could be imagined, he liked to believe that they shared some common ground. Closing his eyes, he started to doze off... “My dear, I would tell you to take a break. You look simply disastrous right now!” Alos couldn’t believe his ears. That voice was unmistakable. “...Rarity?” “In the flesh darling! Well, so to speak.” Alos suddenly noticed he was in a strange area, like nowhere he had ever been before. It looked like outer space, but it wasn’t cold and he could breathe. “Rarity, what’s going on? Why are you here?” “Isn’t it obvious? You’re dreaming! How else was I supposed to help you with this little story you’re working on?” “Wait, you know about my story?” “Why yes dear, Luna herself asked me to assist you with it. Besides, it’s always nice to meet someone who has an appreciation of style!” “You think my work’s stylish?” At this point Rarity gave a strained expression, like she was trying to hold back her true feelings on the matter. This didn’t surprise Alos in the least- he knew he needed to hone his craft. “Well... you’re an uncut diamond my dear, not yet ready to shine.” She smiled. “You know, you remind me of my sister...” Alos suddenly noticed the world around him start to grow, and something appeared to slightly obscure his vision, as if his nose had grown substantially. “Oh my! I was told that the magic involved in talking to you like this could have strange side effects, but... well my dear, you’d probably better see for yourself.” Rarity summoned a bag from the ether and rummaged around in it. Alos began to develop a rather uncomfortable feeling regarding this development. Why had the dream world become larger around him, and what was going on with his nose?” At long last Rarity produced a face- size mirror and gave it to Alos, who fumbled it in his hooves. What. Alos broke out in a cold sweat. Rarity looked extremely uncomfortable and could no longer make eye contact. Why do I have hooves? What the hell is happening! Slowly holding the mirror, he finally gathered the courage to look directly at it. He was Sweetie Belle. “AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!” “My dear, I am so, so sorry, I never knew dream magic could-“ “I AM A HORSE! I AM YOUR SISTER! WHAT IS GOING ON?” Rarity looked hurt by the remark. “Well! I’m sorry you find that form so offensive! Perhaps I should have left you to wallow in the mediocrity of your previous writing?” This statement was so ridiculous that Alos just had to laugh at it. As if the writing mattered anymore. He was a horse! A little pony, and not even a boy one! His laughter turned manic, then broke down into a deep sobbing. As hot tears streamed down his face Rarity turned sympathetic. “Now now dear, it’s not so bad! I’m sure you’ll turn back soon enough!” “Like when I wake up?” Alos said, still trying desperately to recreate the sound of his true voice. “Well of course darling! Even Luna herself can’t make dreams come true!” Funny, this’ll probably be the only time I’ll ever be relieved to learn that dreams don’t come true! “But this dream feels different...I’ve had hundreds of dreams before and I’ve never felt that any of them were this real before! What if you’re wrong?” Rarity seemed to be struggling to find the right words for the situation. "Oh Darling, I don't think Princess Luna would lie to me about something like that. Besides if somepony could change into somepony else just by having a dream, we would wake up as somepony different every day, right?" Alos couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of changing form after every dream. It was so bizarre that it actually made him feel a little better. “See? You’ll cheer up in no time!” Alos decided that the smartest thing to do would be to keep Rarity talking. He had a bad feeling that, if Rarity was wrong about all this, that this would be the most normal conversation he was going to have for a long time, assuming a creepy scientist didn’t try taking him apart to see how he ticked when he finally got back to the real world. Rarity suddenly looked pleasantly surprised, she had clearly thought of something to cheer him up. “And you know dear, there’s one advantage to being stuck like this; magic!” Suddenly Alos’ shock subsided, and his fear faded a little. Magic! Of course, Sweetie Belle was a unicorn, she could use magic! “Well naturally you won’t be able to do much more than levitate a paper clip because of your age, but I imagine this will do as some small compensation for your current, er, state.” The possibilities swam through Alos’ head. He imagined himself lifting things with his mind, teleporting, and doing all sorts of incredible things. Rarity seemed very pleased with herself. “You see darling? Enjoy the dream while it lasts, and even if the teeny-tiny chance that you’ll stay stuck this way does come true, at least you won’t be powerless! Well actually... most unicorn fillies can't do much with magic, but it sure beats using your mouth and hooves for everything, right dear?” Alos pondered this new development for a second… he didn’t actually know any spells! “Er, Rarity, you don’t happen to have a book of magic on you, do you?” Rarity checked her bag again, before throwing him a small book. “Well I suppose there’s no harm in giving you this, since this is a dream. Not that there’s much point either, but whatever.” The edges of the world around Alos began to shimmer and wobble. Rarity seemed to notice this too. “Oh my, it seems the dream world is growing unstable! Well my darling, it appears that our time together is near it’s end!” Alos began to feel a deep sadness. For a brief second it felt like he really was her sister. “Wait, Rarity! Will I... will I still be me? If I wake up stuck in this body, I mean?” Rarity gave him a tender look and smiled. “Yes. You’ll always be you.” Alos re entered the waking world with a crash, falling out of bed. His vision was blurry, and as he went to rub his eyes he found himself bumping his snout with his hoof. No no no no NO! DAMN YOU RARITY, YOU IDIOT! Alos began the sort of rampage that only a tiny little filly could muster. He grabbed a pillow with his teeth and tried throwing it ineffectually against the wall, but he wasn’t even strong enough to manage that. He stomped his hooves and screamed, though his voice was still fairly quiet as he had yet to get used to it. “This isn’t a dream, this is a NIGHTMARE!” After his adorable temper tantrum was over Alos stared at his bedroom. All things considered he hadn’t really made much of an impact, and what little damage had been done really wasn’t noticeable, as his room was always a mess. “At least you won’t be powerless!” Stupid lying Rarity, what does she know about dreams? If only Princess Luna was here, she could fix everything… Suddenly Alos felt as if he was sitting on something lumpy. He turned and saw Rarity’s book of magic next to him. Yes, it had made the trip! Unfortunately, the smile dropped off his face as soon as he saw the title. Making Dresses Magically Volume One: Hems and Bows *** After a few more minutes of cursing Rarity and his unfortunate fate, Alos came to terms with the situation. It had helped that he had done most of his screaming about it in his dream, as it meant his family hadn’t heard any of it. What could he do? It was just a matter of time before he was discovered, and if he ran away he’d be homeless to boot! He decided to see just how closely he resembled Sweetie Belle, and so went to the large mirror nearby. He was glad that it was basically as tall as the wall itself, as his tiny frame wouldn’t be able to see anything if it was any higher. It was exact. Not only did he look like Sweetie Belle, but his new body was rendered in the same style as the show. He felt three dimensional, but looked distinctly flat in the real universe around him. He tried styling his hair (mane?) but it stubbornly returned to Sweetie Belle’s style every time. He briefly considered cutting his hair to more closely resemble his own style, but without hands the idea quickly became impossible. Luckily his glasses weren’t falling off from the strange new configuration of his face, though he was a little disappointed that his new eyes still needed them. Just for fun he tried wrinkling his nose- it was every bit as cute as he imagined. It was then that he noticed his horn. He gently touched it, and quickly pulled his hoof away. It was about as sensitive as he expected it to be, and he decided to leave it alone in future. He didn’t want to risk damaging it and losing the one cool thing about this sorry little mess, after all. He blushed when he finally noticed he was naked. Not that it was a problem given his new species, but he still felt rather awkward about it. The fact that he had also changed genders only added to his embarrassment. 'This “magic” thing better be awesome', he thought. He then began to consider his identity as a person-or pony, now. Should he call himself Sweetie Belle, or his own name? He, or she? Should he act like Sweetie Belle, or stay true to himself? This last question was the only one with an easy answer; he planned on staying himself forever, even if it meant giving a long winded explanation to everyone who didn’t flee from the sight of him. Speaking of which, Sweetie Belle- no, Alos!- had noticed that his sense of smell and hearing had increased significantly. He could hear the gentle rustling of the wind chimes that he knew were about 300 yards away at a friend’s house. As for the smell, there was a faintly nauseating stench coming from the kitchen. Approaching the fridge, he opened it up to find a tuna sandwich from yesterday. He could barely touch the thing, even though it was still fairly fresh. Out of a morbid curiosity more than anything, he decided to take a bite. It seemed his taste buds had altered too. The fish tasted of flaky dead flesh, and he spat it out immediately. 'This must be what all meat tastes like to a pony', Alos mused. He then decided to test this theory by nibbling on a carrot he had left alone in the salad box for far too long. Even though it was fairly mushy with age, the carrot’s flavour was wonderful to his new tongue. Juicy, sweet and crunchy! After helping himself to a few apples Alos was more than full. But now what? It had been a wonderful breakfast, but he was bored, and needed to distract himself from his predicament. With great difficulty he attempted to start his computer. In the short space of time he had possessed them Alos had already decided that hands were better than hooves, easily. He logged on to his favourite online chatroom and began to explain the situation. hEy guys Hey Oh hi nooblet So I tuned nto a hors Your spelling sucks today Thts becaus im typing with m tongue Its disgutiing, i don’t even want to think of wat im tasting rright now Dude, seriously quit it. You say stuff like this everyday and it’s getting old. You’re not a horse, you’re a lonely neckbeard that is trying too hard. PWNED f this had signed out (Quit:you all suck) On second thoughts, it was his least favourite chatroom. It was at that point that the door behind opened him with a creak. Oh, no. “Oh my God, you’re so cute!” Oh God no. Before Alos could even say anything his little sister had grabbed him. He tried struggling but she carried him to her room. At only eleven years old she was a diehard fan of the show, and up until this point it had been the only thing that she and Alos had in common. She had always been a strange one, but as the years went by it had become more and more of a concern for their parents. Alos could often hear them whispering about her when they thought he wasn’t there. “So, you’re Sweetie Belle? I’m Kate.” To Kate, the idea of her favourite cartoon intersecting with reality wouldn’t have bothered her at all. Alos began to regret in hindsight that his first reaction to her oddness had been to keep his distance, instead of helping her maintain a better grip on reality. “Sis, it’s me! I’m not Sweetie Belle, I’m your brother, A-“ “So what’s it like being a pony? Do you need a lozenge? Because you’re a little horse!” And you’re a major pain in the ass, you psycho. “Sis, you gotta help me! I don’t wanna be stuck like this!” At this point it dawned on Alos that Kate, as always, was only hearing what she wanted to hear. As far as she was concerned, he was Sweetie Belle, and if he couldn’t change her mind he could at least exploit it. “That’s right Kate, I’m Sweetie Belle, and I demand to watch the television, turn it on!!” Kate stared blankly at him. As usual, getting her to do anything was going to be a hassle. Clearly, he would need to negotiate. “If you help me watch TV I’ll sing you a little song?” Kate’s previously vacant face lit up at the suggestion, and within minutes she and Alos were watching My Little Pony together. The irony was not lost on him. “So Sweetie Belle, what’s Applebloom like?” “Eh, she’s a jerk.” Alos revelled in the chance to ruin every bit of headcanon Kate had established since the show began. He claimed Celestia was a lazy ruler who made Luna do all the real work, and that Spike wasn’t allowed to leave Twilight’s house unless she said so. These were the nicer “facts” he told her. “I can’t believe this! They all seemed so much nicer on the show…” “Well yeah, but they have to keep it age appropriate, y’know? It’s not like the television shows in your world reflect your reality either.” “Yeah, my brother says that all the time.” she sighed. At this, Alos’ mind was bombarded by Sweetie Belle’s memories , including a few that were never even shown on the show. How could have he called Applebloom a jerk? She was- based on the memories he just had- a nice and kind filly, and always tried to be the peacemaker of the group. It was then that he felt a deep sadness. He had always been fairly distant from his sister, and had even considered her to be scatter brained if not outright crazy, but maybe he had gone too far this time. After all, the show had been one of her few joys in life, and now he had ruined it for her. “Kate… I was lying. It’s all a big, nasty joke that went too far. I’m sorry.” Kate considered him for a second, then looked away. Her eyes were shining. "I don't like this game, Sweetie Belle. Why did you ask me to pretend we just meet then be a jerk like my stupid brother?” “Wait...what do you mean, I asked you to pretend we had just met? Have we met before?” Kate seemed unhappy with this. “C’mon Sweetie, knock it off, this isn’t funny anymore. Can’t we play a normal game like we always do?" 'Wait a minute, She’s met ‘Sweetie Belle’ before? Oh my god, she IS delusional. Sis…' And yet, he couldn’t help but wonder if he hasn’t gone crazy himself. He had been turned into a cute talking cartoon unicorn, after all. Was he really qualified to say what was sane or not? What if all of this is in my head? Maybe I’m even crazier than Kate is… well, even if she’s crazy, she’s still my sister. I guess there’s no harm in humouring her for awhile. "Hey… sorry about that. All those lies… I just said them because I was angry at… my sister." Alos then hugged his little (but relatively large) sister. "Now, want to play or something?" They began by playing Connect Four, which was the only game Kate could pull out of the massively overstuffed closet (taking anything from the massive pile of junk in there was practically playing a game of Jenga in itself). Alos won, as always, but he took care to let her win the last round. “Hey, not bad sis, you’re getting better!” “...Sis? Sweetie Belle, we’ve never played this game before. You always want to play Chess.” “Oh right, I’m sorry. You just reminded me of my sister is all.” They then had a quick game of chess, which Kate won with ease. It had always struck Alos as strange that she was so good at such a complicated game, and yet she couldn’t play something simpler to save her life. I guess she must have had a lot of practice with “Sweetie Belle” Alos thought darkly. Oh yes, she’s quite the skilled player. said a voice in Alos’ head. 'Wait, Sweetie Belle? Is that you? The REAL you?' 'Not the real deal, but the one who plays with your sister. Thank you very much for finally taking time to play with her!' 'Wait, I’m losing track of Sweetie Belle’s here. Are you the third or-?' Listen, that doesn’t matter. I’m here to talk to your about your new form, and why- -The hell it doesn’t! You tell me who you are and why you’ve been playing with my sister, and you tell me now! Oh, fine! I’m not really an imaginary Sweetie Belle, I am… Suddenly, the world turned grayscale and froze, save for Alos, and he could see a strange creature in front of him, it kind of resembled Discord, if Discord was female, cute, and about Sweetie Belle’s size. What was this? A gender reversed little Discord? "...Little Eris!" she said proudly, as if he should already be familiar with that name. Alos didn’t know what to say. He decided to play it cool despite his frustration, as he knew all too well the sort of damage an upset draconequus could cause. "So, you’re the one that plays with my sister. I should thank you I guess,” he said aloud. ” I get the feeling she’d be pretty lonely without you. It’s not like I’ve been a very good big brother to her." Alos said to her "You know what? Maybe I deserve to be stuck like this…" "Really? That was kind… of anticlimactic." The young draconequus said, sounding disappointed. "Anyway, my name is Little Eris, or just Eris. I come from a gender reversed version of Equestria, and I found the human world by accident. And guess what? I am the only magical creature around here… well besides you and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders of course!" "Wait a second… you don’t happen to know why this happened to me, do you? Your kind revels in chaos after all, and me turning into a little filly seems to fit the bill pretty well... " "I dont know if I should feel insulted or grateful that you just didn't assume it was me all along. Hello, female Discord here?" she said, folding her arms and putting on a mock-hurt tone of voice. "It WAS you! How could you do this to me? Was it because I wasn’t a good enough brother to Kate, or was I chosen at random?" "It actually started with a funny idea I had: What if dreams could become reality? It would be complete chaos! But then I realized humans dreamed a lot of things, and making it all happen at once wouldn't be chaotic, it would be more like apocalyptic !" she laughed. "Oh well, at least you were considerate enough to NOT destroy the world. Great job I guess. Besides, what right do you have to mess with people’s dreams- that’s like reading a person’s diary, but a thousand times worse!" "You just kind of admitted you deserve to be stuck as Sweetie Belle, remember? Now could you let me finish my story please? Or you don't want to know why I did all this?" "Well before you start your story again, I have a few questions if you don’t mind! Firstly, why Sweetie Belle? I’m nothing like her at all, she gets on really well with her sister! Secondly, why did you choose to start messing with dreams all of a sudden? Don’t you have the power to alter reality in the real world? That could have saved you some serious time, and there’s a good chance nobody from Equestria would have realized you had even done it! And lastly, you said the Cutie Mark Crusaders- as in more than one. Does that mean I’m not the only one you’ve changed? Who were the other two unlucky ones?" "-Anyway, I decided to look around people dreams, and then I found a guy talking to Rainbow Dash, the REAL Rainbow Dash for some reason.” she said, ignoring him completely. “ And then the guy was turned into Scootaloo as a joke by Dash, it was impossible to resist making it stick for when he woke up! Then I tricked Rarity and Applejack to talk to two other guys… and made sure they turned into the two missing members of the Cutie Mark crusaders. And that's it!" “Well thanks for answering a whole one out of my three questions,” Alos muttered under his breath. This was getting him nowhere. Little Eris was having far too much fun to change him back, so he decided to change tactics. "So, who are the other two poor losers? I bet we could cause some serious chaos if we met up!" "Really? 'Serious chaos?' That didn't sound in character at all! Try to act more like Sweetie Belle, ok?" Crap, she’s on to me! I better think of something fast! "Well, the way I see it I might as well cause some havoc with this new form. I mean, I can’t let you have all the fun after all! And besides, there’s more to me than meets the eye!" Urgh, so forced. I bet she’s only going to get angrier if I don’t wrap this up soon, but I NEED to know who the other two are before she leaves! "Listen Little Eris, I’m gonna level with you. I really want to return to my original form and if I can’t do that then at least I don’t wanna be alone. My sister thinks I’m a product of her imagination, and I have no idea how my folks are gonna react when they find out but it definitely won’t be good, so please please PLEASE give me a break and tell me who these other two ponies are!” "Well… tell you what. Play with your sister for today and I will tell you tomorrow, ok?" Little Eris then smiled and teleported to Kate’s room, whispering a few things in her ear before she left. "Good luck!" Little Eris then winked and disappeared, the world returning to normal. “Oh thank you thank you THANK YOU! I promise I’ll give Kate the best time ever!” he yelled into the darkness, hoping she would hear it. Alos walked to Kate's room. She was playing her Xbox and seemed rather preoccupied. “Hey Sis, you mind if I join you? You’re going up against the final boss already…?” That night, Alos trotted out to the sidewalk and gazed at the stars. He had played with his sister for five hours straight, and hopefully that had been enough to please Eris. Worryingly however, she refused to disclose whatever Eris had whispered to her. Well, at least there’s hope now. I’m not sure what this Eris girl wants, but she doesn’t seem completely evil, at least... Alos considered whether he should start calling himself a 'she' now instead. Did it even matter anymore? If he couldn’t meet up with the other crusaders, if he didn’t figure out a way to change back… then he might as well start thinking of himself in that way. He-no, she- would be stuck like this forever otherwise. For the first time in her life, Alos saw a star shoot across the sky. It was the second new thing to happen to her today, and it was by far the more pleasant one. "A shooting star, huh? I wish… I wish…" But she was already sound asleep before she could think of anything, her tiny body too tired to continue for the night. However, unlike the filly, her sister Kate not only had seen the star, but actually wished on it. "I wish... I wish that no matter what, I can become friends with other talking ponies like Sweetie Belle." That had been her insane, childish request. She remembered the words she had heard whispered in her head; 'Kate, Sweetie Belle is now real. No matter what, don't let your parents hurt her or take her away. Also, if you happen to see a shooting star, make a wish using your heart, not your mind.' Then, seeing Sweetie Belle asleep on the front porch, Kate picked her up and took her inside. Kate was careful to put the filly over her brother’s bed and cover her with a blanket. Kate didn't know where his brother was, but if that was the price for making Sweetie Belle real she wasn't going to complain. It was terrible to admit it, but having her best friend be real was better than a brother that never had time for her could ever be. Still, she hoped that her stupid brother was okay in whatever place he was now. Alos had entered the realm of dreams again. It was much like the last time, but she felt alone. She decided to take the time to reflect on the things that had happened. All things considered, was it really so bad? She could still talk, after all, and her mind, despite being plagued constantly by thoughts and memories that were not hers, remained her own. Tomorrow she was going to discover the whereabouts of the other two crusaders, and together they might even be able to convince Eris to change them back! Besides… as crazy as it was to admit, being Sweetie Belle had given her a chance to talk to her sister, to make up after years of neglect. She had opened up about things she never would have admitted to her, and for the first time in a long while they were as close as siblings should be.For the briefest instant, she even questioned if she wanted to change back, but quickly quashed that idea as being part of the madness of the day.Whatever happened next, she hoped that her newly forged bond with Kate would stay strong. It had almost made this whole crazy mess worthwhile. Little Eris watched over the sleeping filly and smiled. Oh, So the female elements of harmony and those princess were trying to find a solution? Let them try, she had claimed all of Earth's magic as her own, an easy task as it seemed no pony on Earth had used real magic for centuries. Besides, she wasn't even the Discord of their universe, and by claiming all the magic, she had also received certain… responsibilities. Yes, as much as she hated it, she could no longer live as the carefree chaos creature she had once been… while it seemed all this was just a prank on her part, there were powerful forces at work, important reasons why each of the pony races needed an unwilling representative on Earth. It was the same old story, told since time immemorial; a great evil awakens, and destiny summons heroes to defeat it, right? Oh, but responsibilities or not, she was chaos, and the tedious predictability of destiny made her blood boil. In truth, not even Eris herself fully understood what role these three fillies would have to play, and the idea excited her. Whether they succeeded or not was left to chance, a simple flip of a coin- and there was nothing more chaotic than Lady Luck. After all, it wasn't like they didn't have time to prepare. She was gonna train them, and whatever happened, she was sure of one thing: It was going to be one hell of a time.