Under Her Wing

by Memz

8: Getting Lost

Author's Note:

I missed a day!
My life has taken a turn for the busier faster than I expected.
I'm not sure I can guarantee a chapter a day anymore because of that.
I'll still do what I can.

My fear-paralyzed body was carried by the nape… nape-carried… naped, whatever, to somewhere. I couldn’t see anything for the tears locked in my unblinking eyes.

I couldn’t figure out why that artificial fear refused to subside, even when I was completely mentally separated from it at this point. Probably a side effect of whatever magic spell that was cast on me. Not that I really care, the shivering limp mass that was me was kind of comfortable. Eyes stung, but I was comfortable. I think I peed through, full body relaxation tends to include the bladder.

I peed on a princess!

The comfort didn’t last long, though as the cold sweat completely ruined it. It was at that point I got a little control back from the fear, but it wasn’t much,only enough to shiver. And shiver. And wanna scratch all over. I could feel the sheen of cold sweat, tickling like a swarm of ants crawling on me. I would have suppressed a moan, if I could control my mouth in any way other than the constant twitch of a shiver.

Either this castle was small, or the Princess’s destination was close, because it wasn’t too much longer before I was laid on my side, into something that felt... like memory foam, but weaker? More conforming? Either way, it was something I could sink into and remain in all day… when I’m not covered in itchy cold sweat, that is.

But that was soon to be remedied, when I felt a hot, waterlogged hand towel rub across my side, followed by a dry one. I felt my nape get bitten again, before I was flipped onto the other side to receive the same treatment there.

After the sweat was banished from my body, I felt the dry towel absorb the moisture out of my still unblinking eyes, followed by the sight of a soft smile on Princess Celestia’s face.

“Sleep well, Sunset. You need it.” She said, likely believing I was actually unconscious. To be honest, I probably would prefer that over this, but I can’t really complain. Like, I physically can’t move my mouth to complain. “Twilight, it’s your turn to get cleaned up before you go to sleep on the bed.” Oh, there’s the purple filly. I thought that was her mother’s name… names work weird here anyway.

“Five more minutes?” Weird, everything’s getting fainter.

“No, now.” Oh, I see. May sleep take my body as I fall unconscious.

“Aww, bu-”

[br]

“You cuddle like my brother.”

“Whuah!” I was jolted awake by the sudden voice, to find a pair of deep purple eyes staring at me… attached to the lavender filly that was between my forelegs. Of course Celestia put her in bed with me.

“Sorry!” Twilight apologized, her first name coming to me from my last moment of awareness. “Just a detail that I didn’t expect from an awesome, powerful unicorn like you, Miss Shimmer.”

Did Twilight idol the original Sunset? Oh no, now I’ve got both a motherly princess and an idolizing filly. “R-right.” I noted that she probably had a last name, so I decided to ask. “What’s your name?”

“Twilight Sparkle!” Twilight chirped. “Pleasure to cuddle, Miss Shimmer!” She wrapped her forelegs around me more tightly, her smile growing more elated. Absolutely adorable. I decided to return the favor.

“It has been pleasurable, I guess.” I joked, “But since I’m awake, I need to see the Princess. Some big things have been going on with my life and she needs to know the result of the latest of them.”

As I unlocked the tangle of hugging legs, Twilight voiced her disapproval. It wasn’t until I was at the door that she spoke up.

“Can I come?” Such an innocent question, how can I refuse?

“Sure, but don’t blame me if we get lost.” So far, getting lost seemed high in probability, so I have to make a disclaimer.

“Yay!” I looked back to see unbridled glee on her face, before I opened the door to step out with her.

“Then let’s go.” I’m gonna regret this when we get lost.

[br]

I regret this completely. Not only did we get lost, but I must have missed counting a turn somewhere, and now we can’t go back.

“I’m tired.” Twilight’s mood faded quickly after we left the security of the private bedroom, and I didn’t fare much better.

“Want me to carry you?” We were approaching a T-intersection as I spoke. I stopped and bent down for her, and felt her slide onto me as her answer. “Which way do you think we should go?”

“Maybe the wall is fake or something…” Twilight moaned, “If not, try going right.”

“What? Do they even make fake walls?” I went over and felt said wall, to find it as solid and real as I would expect a wall to feel. “Right it is then.”

Twilight fell asleep on my back, leaving me to my own thoughts. I used this time to ponder over the entirety of what I knew about what had happened to me, as I idly and mindlessly wandered the halls.

So the original Sunset Shimmer was seeking to receive a higher level of magic training, denied by her mother and tutor, Princess Celestia, for a reason most likely related to her attitude. Out of anger, rebellion, and spite, she began sneaking into a library section that she was forbidden from entering, because it had the resources she needed to learn the content anyway.

She soon found a mirror that, by description, lead to a parallel version of this world, but ignored any warnings and precautions. Sunset decided that she wanted to enter that parallel world for some odd reason, and attempted to do so before the mirror was opened, tearing apart her soul and spitting her body out so that it broke against the wall.

Somehow, I must have opened the odd book at around the time that this occurred, and whatever the book did, my soul was separated from my body, and saw the broken unicorn’s body as a first opportunity to have a new host.

I couldn’t think of how the book fit into the equation. Maybe it wasn’t actually the book that did it? I would have to find out more details before I could fully discern the how of it. Details that were a dimension away.

With my summary complete, I decided to restore my attention to my surroundings, and found a stained glass window peeking out the edge of the next turn. If I’m where I think I am…

Yep, throne room’s just ahead. From now on, I’m going to ask to have a guard nearby so I can have him escort me everywhere. This place is too much of a maze to not.

Sheesh.

Comments

[Snowfyre]

you poofed! what happened? holidays get too distracting?

[Memz]

7866112 I poofed coz college. Great timing on your comment though, I happened to be looking to my tracking list when I saw the notif bell had a number on it.
College has been fun, but it's been time consuming as well.
I can confidently say that I've had about half of the next chapter complete; not sure when I'll have the time and motivation to get back to it, but I have a little over 500 words in according to WPS Office's word counter.
It probably doesn't help that I can't decide exactly how I want to go with it at the current point it's written to.
I don't plan on abandoning this story quite yet. I may be poof for the moment, but I have not abandoned it, nor, as I just stated, do I plan to.
Just a little tight on time and inspiration right now, that's all.

[mastermenthe]

if you can, i would like to know more of your headcanon about Equestria. your ideas are interesting, and it can be more fun to discuss ideas than write it in a narrative.

[Memz]

7935440 If you want to discuss with me I have a Discord Server for it.
It's not very old and nobody has joined it yet, but it exists regardless.
https://discord.gg/5AW4Y

[Rusty Bascule]

It's unfortunate that this story was abandoned. It looked promising.

[Lupenndawolf]

A damn shame, this had so mich potential.

[Memz]

8955189
This is likely not over. I'm just not in the greatest state of life to work on this sort of stuff at the moment.
CIT college honor student, cramped living space, bad sleeping habits, it's all built up on me over the last year and a half, and at the end of it all I just don't have the mental capacity to do much more than think/consume anymore. I plan to return to this one day, for sure, especially if I can find and finish up the next chapter on my old laptop. I had a full plot thought out for this story as well, but I never wrote it down so I'm going to have to pull that back out of the ether if I can.
I don't know how soon I'll be able to build up the mental capacity for it; I get out of my twenty month college program come august, so that's some degree of stress out the door. Maybe then, maybe before, I can't say.
Either way, thanks for saying I have potential, makes me warm in the heart to know somebody likes something I did.
EDIT; I scrolled through and noticed my comment style hasn't changed over the years lol. Long and descriptive, just how I like it. Discord server still exists btw, invite link changed to this though. If you want to chat with me it's still barren so having someone there would be nice lol

[Lupenndawolf]

8969102
It was my pleasure to read through this and the fact that you desire to come back to it despite what's been going on in your life made me smile.

If I may make a suggestion, being a somewhat of a writer and a massive bibliophile (lover of books), I find that writing down ideas you have for a story when they come to you, even going so far as to write out the scene can actually be quite relaxing not to mention it expands your mental capacity in the process. Just be careful you don't get carried away and lose track of time.

All the same I'm looking forward to seeing this continued. I will be honest, I came to this story with trepidation as I was unsure if I would like the premise. But I am happy to say that I rapidly grew to enjoy it and it left me craving more.

[Heartless2]

Plz update