Author's Notes:

Fair warning, the first half of this chapter contains a large portion dealing with Alex and his first period. If you want to skip all of that, search for the phrase: 'There was some chatter' after the court scene with the sirens ends.

Sonata shifted on her hooves, keeping her focus on the guard ahead of her. It had taken a day or two to readjust to non-human bodies, though in Sonata’s mind it was a worthy trade off to get her real magic back. She and her sisters had foregone their true forms for those of ponies, if only to not cause a panic. Sonata and Aria had both assumed the form of earth ponies, while Adagio insisted that she not appear as anything other than a unicorn, even if their appearances didn’t change their abilities at all.

The fact that the three of them were standing before Princess Celestia wasn’t a surprise at all, nor was the presence of Princess Luna. The presence of a new alicorn, other than Twilight, and her husband was a bit of a surprise for them at first, but that had quickly lost its novelty. What made Sonata keep fidgeting, aside from a creeping sense of boredom, was the fact that she couldn’t tell if a corner of the throne room was just poorly-lit, or if there was something standing in the shadows watching her and her sisters.

“The sirens have explained to me how their amulets work, Celestia, and I agree that their intent when they set out was good, and their main source of food being the darker emotions didn’t exactly leave them many options but to use the amulets. Their mother, Prelude Dawn, was using up a week’s worth of this emotional food in a day to try and cure a disease their father, a unicorn named Ocean Spirit, had come down with.”

“The amulets are enchanted so that they can absorb and store far more energy than any one siren could obtain, or digest, in a day. This energy is then released slowly over time at a rate that is just enough to keep a siren active and able to continue drawing in energy as needed. If the amulets are removed and then given to a different siren, say one that was sick or malnourished, the amulets pour enough energy into the siren to feed them for at least a day as well as burning excess energy to attempt to remove whatever the disease may be.”

“These do not work on ponies, as our bodies can’t turn emotions into food the way a siren or a changeling can,” Twilight continued, reading from her copy of the notes she’d written down about them. “A siren wearing an amulet that she used to collect the energy with will never feel satisfied as long as they wear the amulet. The amulets are also the key to making ponies feel darker emotions more intensely to enhance how much food may be obtained, and not something that all sirens can do naturally.”

“And these statements have been made within a truth detection spell?” Luna spoke up, her eyes squinting slightly as she stared at the three ‘ancient evils.’ “This does not seem to match up with the account found of his combat with them in his journals.”

Adagio bristled at that, opening her mouth to say something before lowering her head instead. She whispered to her sisters sadly as the thought crossed her mind that Twilight might be the exception to the prejudice. “I’m sorry girls. I really did doom us.”

“That’s correct, Luna.” Shining Armor spoke up, stepping forward from his place. “I cast the spell myself and the only time they even hesitated was when I asked them for their parents’ names so we could see if there was any record of a burial. I-I’ve never seen three ponies go from calm to crying so fast in my life.”

“You won’t find them in any pony place,” Aria said, shaking her head. “Our grandmother was Queen Savage Rondo. They were most likely laid to rest in the reef. Even if she was disowned for outright marrying a landbound pony, they wouldn’t insult her memory by not treating her body with respect.”

“Thank you, Aria.” Celestia’s voice was calm and understanding. “I’m ashamed to admit that we didn’t even know there was anything more than a scattering of your kind in the world, certainly not enough for a kingdom. I would appreciate your help in establishing some diplomatic ties, if you feel able once we are done here.”

Adagio snorted, holding back a glare. “After that racist asshole threw us into another world, told everyone how ‘evil’ sirens were? There’s a reason you didn’t know and Starswirl is the reason.” She spat on the floor, sneering at the name.

“I see. I can’t say that I like hearing him spoken of with such open hostility, but I cannot dispute your account of events when all three of you were examined separately and the only deviations were from... Sonata describing the differences between how emotions and food taste.” Celestia held a few sheets of parchment up in her magic, pulling them from the small pile of documents in front of the royal dais. “Apparently loathing has an aftertaste that’s like chocolate?”

Adagio facehooved while Sonata giggled at that. “I’m sorry, she has trouble taking things seriously at times.”

Alex groaned as he stood up. “Could we maybe get to the point?” One hand reached down to his stomach as it tightened somewhat. “I don’t think my breakfast is agreeing with me and I’d like to go lay down at home.”

“Let me see. Over a thousand years in exile. Loss of time with family... You’ve expressed remorse for manipulating the emotions of the ponies in the past, and your cause was of a somewhat noble nature.” Celestia began listing an array of qualifiers and indications of good or poor behavior during the short time they’d been back. “And the final, most important thing of all... Alex, is it true that these three stopped fighting as soon as it was made clear to them that there was a peaceful way to conclude things? One that would not result in the loss of a life?”

“Yeah, they gave up instantly,” Alex agreed with a nod. “Even healed our wounds.”

“Very well, then I personally see no reason they shouldn’t be allowed to reenter Equestria as citizens with the full rights thereof as long as they abide by our laws in the future. That does mean no more using the amulets to manipulate emotions outside of emergencies.” Celestia responded. “Does anypony object to the verdict?”

“Their punishment was far too severe to begin with. Twilight, is there any restriction on keeping the portal open with your machine?” Luna asked after making her opinion known.

Twilight shock her head. “The journal will need time to recharge every so often, but there shouldn’t be any problems using it.”

Alex snapped his fingers. “Oh, right, journal!” He turned and pointed at Celestia. “Can you still make those? I want to keep in touch with the Rarity on the other side without having to cross over and risk ending up in a dress every time I do.”

“You’ll have to go over in person once more at least to properly attune the books. The spell requires some hair, blood, or other ‘sample’ of the one it’s attuned to, and both books need to be attuned together. I suppose I could give you a set of instructions to follow and you’d have to hope for the best.”

“So, wait, does this mean we get to stay in either world or travel between them as much as we want?” Sonata finally spoke up, her voice full of hope.

“There’s always room in my castle,” Twilight offered, giving the sirens a smile. “It’s pretty empty now, I’d love to liven it up a little.”

“YAAAAAY!” Sonata danced in place for a few seconds, then leaped over to give Alex a hug that was a little stronger than he would have liked. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

“Oh for fuck’s sake, Sonata, let him go!” Aria finally managed to pull her sister away after a minute, but she did smile and nod at Alex over her shoulder as she walked back to Adagio’s side.

“You’re welcome,” Alex replied, smiling back. A moment later, said smile dropped and he went back to nursing his stomach. “So... can we go home now?”

“Of course, Alex. Let’s get you home so you can rest, and then I can help get the girls settled into a room in the castle.” Twilight smiled. And began charging a spell before looking over towards Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. “Thank you.”

“We’ll need one with access to a large tub. Now that we’re back home we’ll need to either stay wet or well-hydrated.”

“Like you have a problem staying wet, Adagio.”

“Oh, wow, I walked right into that one.”

Twilight blushed and completed the teleportation spell before any of the sirens could say anything else, crude or otherwise.

Fluttershy hummed, placing a freshly washed plate onto the clean stack. Grabbing another from the dirty pile, she glanced towards the direction of Alex’s room. His complaints of a stomach ache bothered her so much that she checked each dish for anything that could have caused it.

“What do you think, Angel?” Fluttershy asked, turning to watch the bunny bring over some of the animals dishes. “Did I add anything bad to Alex’s breakfast yesterday? He’s usually up before now.”

Angel shrugged and pointed at a picture of a cucumber, then mimed choking and fell over clutching his stomach.

“Just because you don’t like something doesn’t mean it’s bad for everypony, Angel.” She chided the bunny while looking up towards the ceiling. “You don’t suppose it was that appendix disease, do you? I should probably go wake him up and check.”

Angel frowned and pointed at the dishes, then started tapping his foot.

“Oh hush mister. The dishes will still be there in a few minutes, or an hour, and we have enough washed for all of you to have clean ones at lunch anyways.” Fluttershy walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs to the small guest room that had become Alex’s, and she knocked softly on the door. “A-Alex? It’s morning. You must be hungry by now. Please come downstairs and eat something, even if you’re not feeling well.”

“I feel like crap,” Alex replied through the door. “Don’t wanna leave the bed.” Something impacted the door, most likely Alex’s pillow.

“It’s not your appendix, is it?” Fluttershy opened the door slowly and paused as soon as the air of the room hit her face carrying a coppery tang. “A-Alex, why do I smell blood in the air? You didn’t look hurt when you came home...”

“Blood? Why would you smell blood? Aria healed all my...” Alex went silent, slowly sitting up.

“I didn’t smell it the other day, no.” She approached slowly and nudged her head against Alex’s side. “Oh, it’s definitely coming from you, dear. Come on, get up. Let’s get yo-”

A shrill scream erupted from Alex’s mouth, followed by a desperate scramble out of bed. Knocking Fluttershy over, he ran out of the bedroom. A few moments later the bathroom door slammed shut.

“Alex!” Fluttershy scrambled to her hooves only to slip and fall as her rear legs tangled in the blanket for a few seconds.She kicked her legs free and fluttered up in the air for a moment to reorient herself. Her eyes shot wide as she caught sight of a large red smear in the middle of the bedsheets. “ALEX! Discord! Alex is hurt!”

“What’s this about our favorite human being hurt?” Discord asked as his head appeared from behind Fluttershy’s ear.

Fluttershy merely pointed to the bloody sheets with one foreleg. “He didn’t come down for breakfast, so I came up to make sure it wasn’t something serious. I smelled blood, and the second I touched him he screamed and ran into the bathroom. He’s hurt.”

Discord’s mouth moved into an ‘o’. “Rest assured my dear, he’s not hurt at all.”

“But...but blood, scream, panic. He ran right over me as if I wasn’t right next to him! How could he not be hurt?”

Standing up, Discord pet Fluttershy’s mane assuringly. “He’s merely suffering from an unfortunate part of human reproduction.” Grumbling, he stroked his goatee. “Something both he and I should have remembered.”

Fluttershy sputtered. “R-reproduction?! B-but he said he didn’t do anything over there like that! Twilight said he was always with someone who would watch him...except for the part...” Her expression turned stony and harsh. “Adagio and the others have some explaining to do!”

Discord put a talon to her mouth. “No, Fluttershy. Your little colt isn’t expecting nor did he engage in things he promised he wouldn’t do. I believe a biology lesson is in order.” He smiled, sporting a lab coat, flanked on either side by charts. One depicted a pony and the other a human. He then went over all of the details about the differences between female ponies and female humans when it came to reproduction. “And that’s why our little boy has bloody sheets and is freaking out like he’s had a bad reaction to something he’d know as ‘Acid.’”

“That sounds quite uncomfortable for him.“ Fluttershy had her tail tucked firmly between her legs. “I wish we could do something to stop such an unpleasant thing.”

Moving past her, he made his way to the bathroom. “Alex? Do you need me to conjure anything up?”

“Go ‘way...”

“Come on now, you can’t stay in there forever.” Discord frowned, phasing his head through the door. “Now then-” He immediately pulled back with a yelp, followed by a heavy thunk coming from the bathroom door as something embedded itself in the wood.

“Leave me alone!”

“He just threw Aubade at me...” Discord slumped against the far wall. “I-I thought we’d really hit it off.”

“I think you still need to work on respecting privacy,” Fluttershy said, standing next to him.

“Think he’d respond any better to another human talking to him about this? I mean a real human, not you or me turned into one. Oh, we could try that sometime.”

“Dissy, now’s not really the time for talking about that.”

“Right. Right.” Discord nodded, coiling around Fluttershy. “I could get one of those doppelgangers from the mirror world. Maybe one of the fish? No, no, they won’t do...” Opening a hole in the wall, he reached in. “Has to be something in here...”

Fluttershy was used to Discord’s antics, but this time she could actually see into the hole he opened. “Oh my, what is all that?”

“Oh, that’s just my little home away from home,” he replied, pulling out a little spider statue. “Aha! This will do~ Now then, strange spider thing, I call upon thee for a very icky task.” That said he slammed the figurine against the floor and snapped all eight legs off of it.

The sky outside turned red briefly, and there was a loud sound of rushing wind before something started tumbling down the cottage roof and landed with a thud on the ground outside. A raspy voice called out in shock. “Who the hell calls someone from inside a tiny house like this?”

A different voice groaned. “Get off me first, complain later, Liz. You weigh around eight hundred pounds, remember?”

“Discord?” Fluttershy questioned, gingerly stepping down the stairs and towards the front door. “Who did... who’s outside?”

“Well, the voice in the spider said it was a paramedic when I picked it up during my rummaging. I figured a medical mind might be helpful.”

A few seconds passed before a knock came from the front door, followed by the second, smoother voice. “Um, hello? Did someone use a crystal spider or a crystal zerg drone in there? Someone called upon us.”

Grabbing Fluttershy, Discord walked through the door. “Yes, hi. That would be me. I’m Discord and this lovely mare is my main squeeze, Fluttershy. We have a bit of an... emergency.”

On the other side were two roughly human-shaped figures, one either made of metal or wearing an intricate suit of armor and the other covered in what looked like bony armor. “Uh, okay then.” The metal one spoke up. “Please state the nature of the medical emergency.”

The other one gently smacked the back of the metal one’s head. “Liz, not funny. Just because he sounds like Q doesn’t mean this is the time for jokes.” She sighed and stepped forward, offering her hand. “My name’s Sarah, this is my sister, Liz. What can we do for you?” She did her best to downplay the sharp talons at the end of her fingers, and the bony wings on her back curled in tight in an effort to minimize how threatening she might look.

Discord leaned in, scrutinizing them closely. “Well you see, our son Alex is having a very... female problem at the moment. Considering we’re not human and Shy’s never had the misfortune of going through it, we decided to call you two in.”

“Your son is having female problems... could you give us just a little background info? Trouble with a mare he likes or an inadequacy or something?” Liz asked while rubbing the side of her head.

Discord merely held up Alex’s bloody sheets.

“Oh. Right. That female problem.” Liz almost looked a little hurt at the sight and sighed. “Well, biology and organic issues are your deal now, Sarah, even if I have a bit more experience. It sounds like your perspective on things might be an even better reason, too.”

“Gee, thanks.” Sarah rolled her eyes at Liz, but smiled as she knelt down to look into Fluttershy’s eyes. “So, how old is your son and how long has he been here? I assume he’s like us, someone who got turned into some character they either love or were dressed up as?”

Fluttershy nodded. “He used to be twenty-five but now he’s fourteen, he’s been here for about a week and a half.”

Sarah stood up and closed her eyes. “Great, I’m going to be talking to some dudebro shoved into a teenage girl’s body. Well, I guess this is where having been in a fraternity will come in handy.”

Fluttershy bristled, glaring at Sarah. “I don’t know what a ‘dudebro’ is, but that isn’t what Alex is! I’d prefer if you didn’t refer to him so dismissively!”

Sarah held a hand up in front of her. “Okay, okay. I was making an assumption based on what I’ve run into in the past back home. My real home, not this whole...nevermind. Sorry, things have been confusing in our life recently and this whole situation is still rather new to us, all things considered. How about you just show me where he is and I’ll try not to scrape the woodwork too much, okay?”

“Okay,” Fluttershy said curtly. She turned her back to Sarah, walking back inside the cottage.

“One thing, scary lady.” Discord leaned into Sarah’s face. “You’re here to help him. If you happen to do the opposite well...” he snapped his talons, putting bits of cork on all her pointy bits. “Understand?”

Sarah idly flicked the bits of cork off the tips of her fingers. “I could do without the threats, papa wolf. I’m not going to intentionally hurt your adult child, and I have more experience with this kind of thing than you do. You of all people should understand the chances for unintended consequences.”

“As long as we’re clear.” Discord patted Sarah on the back, sending her directly to the bathroom door. “Just call if you need anything!”

Sarah stumbled for a moment, but she quickly regained her balance and knocked on the bathroom door. “Hello, Alex? Friendly neighborhood alien lady here to console and/or coach you through a difficult period in your... oh damn. Difficult time in your life? Look, can I just come in?”

“Who the hell are you supposed to be?” Alex demanded.

“Someone who knows a bit about what you’re going through right now. Someone who can possibly offer a few ways to fix things too, if you know anything about the zerg. I can put a couple great minds towards making some improvements for you.”

A long moment passed before the bathroom lock clicked. “Just come in,” he instructed, though he didn’t sound all that sure. Holding Aubade, he watched the door closely from his seat in the bathtub.

Sarah pushed the door open carefully and stepped in slowly while ducking down, since the house wasn’t really built for an adult human. “Okay, introductions. My name is Sarah, and you’re a Displaced. Welcome to the multiverse. Do you have any idea what I would do to have gone through what you are right now as a teenager?”

“Alex Lionheart and uh no, I don’t have any ideas like that.” Alex shrank back in the tub, tightening his grip on Aubade. “The hell’s a displaced?”

Sarah chuckled as she took a seat on the floor. “Displaced are people like you and me, beings sent off into the multiverse as characters from something we enjoy, usually given most of the abilities of those characters. I’m not really the best person to talk to about all the details on that, really, but I am a good person to talk to about what you’re going through. Used to be a guy, got stuck in a female body, rebelling against your hormones, and now suffering the ultimate ‘indignity’ of being in that body... right?”

Letting Aubade vanish, Alex hugged his knees. “I feel like shit,” he replied simply. “I got enough problems as it is.”

Sarah looked around the room and quickly pulled a washcloth down. “Well, I have nothing but time to talk about it. How about you put a little warm water on this and we can start getting your legs cleaned up, okay?”

“Right...” Gingerly taking the rag from her, he used the tub’s faucet to dampen it. Putting his back to her, he started to scrub his legs.

“Hey, Alex, not to be callous or anything, but you haven’t got anything I haven’t seen before. I used to have a wife, and two kids. I’ve literally seen everything a human body can have. I’m also not interested in children, so no need to be bashful since we’re both adults.” She managed to sound quite tired already. “Only reason I’m not volunteering to help you directly is I don’t want to poke you with these claws.”

“Right, right.” It took everything her had to reorient himself back towards her. “I just... I dunno.” He fought off a blush, trying not to look at her.

“What? Is it something else? I used to be just as male in body as your mind still is, judging by your parents downstairs calling you their son.” Sarah smiled as she tried to get Alex to talk, but it was a smile that kept her teeth covered by her lips.

“Yeah?” Alex asked, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. “How’d that work out for ya?”

“I hated almost every second of it. Had a few happy ones while I was married, but I was always a woman on the inside. It puts me in a unique position to talk with you about your issues since I’ve been in that position of hating how I look and wanting to change it.”

Alex didn’t reply, merely scrubbing his legs off. He didn’t know how to respond, much less piece together the disparate feelings he harbored on his new form. Turning his gaze away, he tried not to think on it.

“So, what’s your deal? I’m picking up anime vibes and I’m pretty sure that was a keyblade, but I don’t recognize who you’re supposed to be.” Sarah changed topics, but a frown formed on her face. “Locking things up inside never ends well, you know.”

“Xion, I got turned into Xion,” Alex said, frowning. “I’ve kept a lot of stuff inside, spike lady. Stuff I don’t like talking about.”

“I could say the same thing about my past, Alex, lotsa things happened that either really sucked or left me broken in spirit. Talking helps, even if it just feels like you’re poking an open wound. It’s better to reopen and irrigate than to allow things to fester.”

“I don’t...” Alex began before the words dried in his throat. Trying again, he got a few more words out. “I don’t know how to feel.”

“About what? Your new life? New body? New world? There’s a bunch you don’t know right now, Alex, and a lot of it is going to be confusing for you, even when it’s not related to your body.”

Blushing a little, he looked at the wall. “When we went through that mirror, it turned my coat into a dress. I-I kinda liked it.”

“Mirror, okay, I’ll have to keep an eye out for that on my side. So what do you feel that means for you exactly if you liked wearing a dress? I bet it was confusing for you, feeling happy with something you aren’t ‘supposed’ to do.”

“Made me feel like my old man was going to give me another black eye,” he replied, feeling his eye twitch again. “Yell at me for choosing to play something other than whatever he bought me.”

“Sounds like your old man deserved a sulfuric acid enema.” Sarah shook her head quickly. “No, sorry, sorry. That was a bit extreme. Too much of an insult for the acid.”

“Too good for him,” Alex scoffed, clenching his fist. “Fuck him. I hope his broken liver puts him in the goddamn ground!”

Sarah smiled sadly at this. “That’s more like it. I bet he was a construction worker or something, wasn’t he? Some throwback to the old guard of manliness where if you were anything less than 100% testosterone with duct tape for skin you were useless, right? I had a roommate like that, didn’t understand why a ‘man’ would want to be a pharmacist instead of a football player.”

“I fucking hate his guts.” Alex resumed scrubbing furiously at his legs. “Every night I have his stupid face in my dreams, taunting me about who I am now. It never fucking stops!”

“Ah, dream issues. Those are always fun. Unfortunately, without being a lucid dreamer you’re pretty much helpless to the images your mind conjures up, and I left my lucid dreaming book back home on Earth. I could give you a few tips on visualizing your goals, and how to meditate, but with a mind in turmoil both of those can be uncomfortable.”

Shoulders sagging, Alex let the rag fall some his hands. “You wanna know the worst part?”

“I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

“Being like this... I-it just feels... I dunno... right?” he asked in a small voice, hugging his knees again. “Bet he’s just laughing his ass off at me now. Everything he ever said was dead on.”

“You know what I say to that, Alex? I say enjoy it. If you really want to piss your old man off, enjoy what you’ve been forced into. Dive in headfirst and splash around in Estrogen River and flip him off every night before you fall asleep. If it feels right, and it makes you feel good, as long as you aren’t hurting anyone else...fuck those who judge.”

“You say that like it’s easy,” Alex grumbled, putting his head in his hands.

“I say that like it’s a goal to strive for. It took me until I was in my thirties to come to terms with who I am, and the day after I told my wife I wanted to transition she filed for divorce. Then she demanded sole custody, and claimed I had been abusing and molesting our children. We’ve both been hurt by people we cared for, and I’m going to be brutally honest here...it’s going to take years. I can help you only so much, like I’m sure you’ve heard many times before.”

“I’m just glad you aren’t treating me like a child like everyone else here.” Closing his eyes, Alex let himself slide down into the tub. “Why’s shit gotta be so complicated?”

Sarah shrugged. “You’re only one year away from being considered an adult where we come from, but I get the feeling I’ve been called a fair bit into the future, and beyond that you used to be 25 so treating you like a child would just be rude. As for complications...that’s just life.”

Alex snorted, turning to her. “Yeah well, I guess I’ll just have to deal. So uh... what do you recommend now that I’m not covered in blood?”

“Fresh clothes and a bit of perfume or soap to hide the scent, because you do still have the smell on you, or you could take a shower before the clothes. You do have spare clothes, right? Spare underwear at least? My sister and I kinda lucked out on that front what with me not needing clothes and her being incompatible with fabric in general now, but someone like you? Unless your version of Equestria has pantyliners for no real reason, you’re going to need some rags.”

“Ugh and we were just in that weird human world too.” Alex groaned, rubbing his head. “I’m gonna have to go right back. Fuck.” Sitting up, he nodded to the door. “Alright then, uh, mind if I take that shower then?”

“I’ll be downstairs with your parents and my sister, waiting. Feel free to wear whatever you like when you come down.” Sarah stood up and maneuvered her way out the door of the bathroom, closing it behind herself and leaving Alex with some much-needed privacy.

“Okay... Dive head first into the estrogen river...” Alex muttered to himself, standing at the top of the stairs. He had forgone the normal choice of pants and a t-shirt for one of the dresses that human Rarity had helped him pick out. “Just go down and do it.”

There was some chatter coming from the living room, and the voices sounded like everything was going smoothly. One of the voices was even raspier than Rainbow Dash, and that was most likely the ‘sister’ Sarah had mentioned to him.

Taking another breath, he made his way downstairs. “So uh... what’s everyone talking about? Anything good?”

“Alex!” Fluttershy started running over at the sound of his voice only to skid to a stop as she saw what he was wearing, and tilted her head to the side. “You’re...you’re wearing a dress?”

Discord glared at Sarah and held his paw up. “What did you do to Alex? I thought you said you helped him feel better?!”

“Hey whoa! It’s fine!” Alex shouted, putting his hands up. “Don’t go attacking anybody, Q. I’m wearing this of my own choice.”

Sarah stood up with her hands raised slightly. “Okay, I wasn’t actually expecting you to jump in headfirst today, but please tell me you thought carefully about this first rather than doing it just because someone told you it would be a good thing.”

“Hey, you’re wearing your mother’s colors.” This came from the unknown person to Alex, who looked exactly like a mid-90’s Transformer character. “That shade of yellow with the odd pink flowers. It looks cute.”

“Thanks.” Alex smiled slightly. “Look, my head’s a jumble of stuff so, why not just go headfirst and try and straighten it out?”

“Sounds a lot like a certain someone I know.” The mechanical woman stood up as well and walked right up to Alex. “Name’s Liz, and I can answer pretty much any questions you have about all the plumbing with you new body. Rule #1, carry spares of anything just in case.”

“Uh, right. Nice to meet you, Liz.” Alex looked up at her, offering her his hand. “Thanks for stopping by. So uh, how’s being a robot going? Get that Y2K bug worked out yet?”

“Very funny. I’m trying to be a little more helpful about this than Sarah can be since she never had a chance to go through it.” She took his hand in her own with a surprisingly gentle grip. “I’m serious. Extra panties, just in case. Keep an extra pair of pants somewhere at school just in case. Keep a handful of extra pads with you during it all, and at least one or two with you for the week before you expect it in case your cycle isn’t consistent. It sounds like you didn’t go through anything too painful this time, so if it ever starts feeling painful instead of just uncomfortable. Go. To. The. Doctor.” That last bit is said while gently poking Alex in the sternum with each syllable. “Ovarian cysts are no joke, and they can get huge.”

“Or he could forego pads, or tampons entirely and avoid all the extra garbage by using a menstrual cup. Reusable, and supposedly comfortable after getting used to it, and probably more comfortable than a tampon.” Sarah spoke up. “I may have never gone through it, but I certainly heard enough about it.” Sarah, oddly, had a rather large area around her where none of Fluttershy’s animals could be spotted. Even Angel seemed to stay as far away from her as possible on Fluttershy’s back.

“Just make a list and I’ll make sure he gets everything he needs.” Discord patted Liz on the back. “I’ll even throw in some scrap parts in exchange. Maybe a phaser or two.”

“If you have a pen and some paper I can get right on that.” A talon snap later and Liz was gifted a scroll and quill. “Oh, right, reality warper. I really do need to find a way to display reminders for things like that at some point.”

“There is something that’s a less immediate need, but no less of a major concern.” Sarah cleared her throat. “Kingdom Hearts had a fairly simplistic combat system, but it was a game series with a rather heavy focus on combat... and ambushes. Alex needs to be ready to fight, and able to fight well, at a moment’s notice.”

Fluttershy shifted, making no effort to hide her frown. “Princess Luna wants to train him. I don’t like the idea of putting Alex in harm’s way.”

“Fluttershy, he’s not going to have a choice. Just the fact that he can use a keyblade paints a target on his back that certain creatures can detect from miles away, and you won’t be able to do a thing about them.” Sarah sighed. “Preventing him from training will only hurt him more in the long run.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to like it,” Fluttershy huffed. “Alex shouldn’t have to fight, and it hurts to know that he’s in danger.”

“Which would hurt more: knowing that he’s in a bit of danger because he knows how to handle himself in a fight that will come to him no matter what you do, or seeing him in a hospital or turned into a being of darkness because you couldn’t bear the idea of him getting involved and he wasn’t prepared when something came for him?”

“Sarah...”

“No, Liz, there’s a point where being delicate about something has ceased being helpful.” Sarah turned to face Fluttershy. “Those are the stakes, Fluttershy. Either you’re a little uncomfortable that an adult in a child’s body is being trained to handle himself in a fight, or you risk his life in not having him trained to fight. Or her, if he chooses to truly embrace things after today’s ‘dress rehearsal.’”

“I never said I wouldn’t let him,” Fluttershy spoke in a soft voice before trotting over to Alex. “Please be careful. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Alex knelt down, giving Fluttershy a hug. “I’ll be okay. Don’t worry so much. I can do this.”

Sarah nodded with a grim smile on her face at this exchange, then turned to look back at Discord. “I have a weapon that I can attune in such a way that any damage it deals is nonlethal, purely momentary nerve disruption. Do you have something for him to use so that I’m not at risk for serious injury in assessing his abilities?”

“I got a big key,” Alex offered, calling forth Aubade. “That’s uh... about it...”

“Which is why she was asking me, Alex.” Discord snapped his fingers a couple times and produced a bunch of obvious foam keyblade replicas briefly. One that looked like a slightly bulkier version of Aubade floated over towards Alex. “Hold on to both of these and let go of the real one when they feel like the same weight. The last pony it was attuned to needed a much bigger handicap than you will.”

“Well, that sounds like a plan for a damage-free assessment of your abilities. I believe I saw a large clearing in the back of this cottage as Liz and I were falling.” Sarah thought for a moment before nodding again. “If you wouldn’t mind, Alex, this may be the best possible time for an impartial observer to offer some advice before bad habits become muscle memory.”

“Right. Right.” Alex nodded, looking between the two keyblades. He stared at them for a few moments before dismissing Aubade. “Feels about right now...”

“Good. Can’t have you putting dents in our new friend.” Discord conjured up Alex’s coat and held it out to him. “It’s starting to get cold out, you’ll need this.”

Fluttershy seemed to shrink in on herself a little bit at all this. “I don’t really want to watch, but I-I suppose I have to. It would look bad if you were fighting and I wasn’t around at least, especially so close to my cottage.”

“Thanks.” Alex set the foam keyblade down, pulling his coat on. “And hey, it’s just with foam and uh, something non-lethal. We’ll be fine.”

“Well, I see no reason to delay this, and the longer we wait the better the chance of losing good sunlight since I have no idea how early or late it was when you called us over.” Sarah moved to the door and opened it to head out. “Plus it wouldn’t be any fun if I had too many advantages.”

Liz shook her head and moved towards the door as well. “I knew you couldn’t be just doing this to see if he would be able to hold his own, even if this is rather important in its own way.”

“Alright then, lets go!” Alex followed after them, resting his faux-key on his shoulder. It hit Alex just how late in the year it was. The leaves were starting to darken and as Discord had said, a chill bit at the air. He attributed it to the whirlwind that had been his life since his arrival.

Sarah stopped after a minute or so of walking away from the cottage and towards the nearby forest, and assumed an odd, almost meditative stance with her eyes closed. Liz didn’t walk as far, and leaned against a nearby tree nonchalantly to stand watch.

“So uh... how does this work?” Alex asked, looking between Sarah and Liz.

“Step one, pray she doesn’t decide to whip out something from Soul Calibur. I have a computer for a brain now and I can barely follow what she does when she uses some of those moves.” Liz’s voice has a hint of bitterness to it at that.

Across the way, Sarah extended her right arm forward and slightly down, then curled her left arm in front of her to rest her fist slightly above her right bicep. A soft green glow began to emanate from her hands before taking the shape of two weapons. The one in her right hand was a rather long greatsword while the one on her left hand looked like a small curved dagger.

“Overcompensating much, huh?” Alex joked, gripping the hilt of his weapon tightly. “I’d make more of a joke but uh, I’m not in any position to.”

“You’re mistaking my intentions. I might not have a purely physical weapon, but I’m bound by what I remember unless I devote a lot of time to training and learning new ways to use a weapon. Unless you would rather I start things off by emulating Black Flame Friede?” Sarah approached cautiously, keeping her guard up as she took careful, measured steps.

“No idea who that is!” Alex moved to the left, swinging at her left leg.

Sarah’s reaction was swift, slipping back a step and whipping out the dagger-like blade to intercept Alex’s swing and deflect it up and away from her while swinging the larger blade out to the right. This was both a counterbalance to her left arm’s motion and a move to ready it for an attack. With the exception of that swift parry, her motions seemed to be quite slow and deliberate. “I guess you weren’t part of the crowd that liked Dark Souls, then.”

“No, I just never played past 2.” Taking a step back, Alex leveled his blade at her. “Didn’t feel like dealing with the fanbase’s hypocrisy.” Eyeing her closely, he moved to the left again, ducking under her retaliatory swing and thrusting at her stomach.

The foam keyblade seemed to collapse in on itself to a point as it impacted the bony armor plating on Sarah’s abdomen, but she ended up staggering back as if she’d actually been hit with the full force of a blow from the real thing. She also sucked in a sharp breath at the pain and dropped the shorter blade, leaving it to vanish into the air while she instead moved her left hand to the hilt of the larger weapon. “Well, she’s not quite as nasty as Manus, but still a pain.”

That larger blade whipped back around a little quicker than before, coming around with the tip at the level of Alex’s chest. Alex rolled to the side, flinging his weapon at Sarah’s head.

Sarah’s reaction was swift, as she ducked and rolled off to the side of the throw’s arc of travel. Her wings extended for the first time since she’d arrived, and the bladed tips stabbed into the ground to stop her motion a little faster as well as provide a bit of extra leverage in getting back up. She threw her own seemingly-massive blade at Alex as soon as she was back on stable footing.

Suppressing panic, Alex held his hand out. The foam key stopped and reversed, retracing its arc back to his hand. It smacked into the back of Sarah’s head, making it back into Alex’s hand in time for him to knock hers to the side.

Sarah’s blade dissipated the moment Alex deflected it, and she shifted her stance as it appeared in her hand once more. The shift in stance coincided with the blade deforming and shortening, becoming more distinct with a wavy, flamelike appearance. “Okay, you have some skill, and whatever your father did to it sure does make it sting.”

“I’m just doing what feels natural,” Alex dismissed, eyeing the new blade closely. “Stuffs sorta just... coming to me, ya know?”

“Indeed I do. It’s similar to how I know how to use the weapons I can turn my mind blade into...though that comes more from visualizing the attack animations I remember from the games I draw from. Being a psionic powerhouse just makes translating memory and visualization into reality that much easier.” She brought this version of the blade around effortlessly, and it seemed to more more as an extension of her arm than something she was holding. “You’re only showing purely basic things, though. Thrust, slash, throw and recall...it’s a little boring.”

“Oh sure. Pick on the guy who’s only had the big magic key for around a week or so.” Alex huffed, keeping his weapon up. “Isn’t that why we’re out here? To fix that?”

“Not quite.” Sarah raced forward, suddenly lashing out with the new blade at Alex’s side. “We’re out here to test you, to find out what you can and can’t do yet. You need to know your own limits, after all.”

Alex stumbled as the blade struck his side. Stumbling back, he swung his blade, trying to ward her off.

Sarah jumped back to avoid those wild swipes, her movements looking much more natural with this weapon than with the previous one, especially since she was using her wings along with her legs to aid in mobility. Her backwards leap ended in a crouch with her right hand held off to the side and her legs and wings both tensed for a pounce, only for a blast of magic to come in from above and create a small crater in the dirt in front of her.

“Alex!” Twilight Sparkle’s voice called from above as she dove to his side with Sign of Innocence held in her magic. “Why didn’t you call for help, or send Fluttershy to? You shouldn’t be fighting heartless on your own yet.”

“Nay, Twilight. Whatever this monster be, it does not bear the signs of being a heartless, and looks like some kind of corrupted human.” Princess Luna lowered herself to the ground as well, landing between Alex and Sarah with Missing Ache held diagonally across her body in a defensive posture.

“We’re sparring!” Alex snapped, waving the foam keyblade above his head. “Would I really be fighting someone with an American Gladiator prop if I was in fear of my life? Come on, people! Don’t be dumb!”

“Oh, that would be my fault, Alex.” Discord chimed in as he appeared above the field of battle. “You see, even though your opponent knows the weapon is fake, part of attuning it so that it reacts to you like a keyblade includes making it appear to everyone around you as if it were the real thing. Sorry, I really should have mentioned that sooner...and it’s not that oversized.”

Sarah finished brushing dirt and grass off of her face from the ground eruption and cautiously walked forward. “Ah, excuse me, I’m not a monster either. I know I might look a little odd, but I was trying to see if there were any tips I could give him other than the obvious ‘learn from someone who uses the same weapon.’”

“I apologize, I was merely concerned for Alex’s safety.” Luna lowered Missing Ache and gave Sarah a once over. “Are you injured? I can send for the local doctors if you are.”

“I’ll be fine, thanks. I heal much faster than any normal human would without magical aid, and there were only a few pebbles kicked up by that shot.” She gave her head a shake, trying to dislodge a bit of grit she could feel in her hair tendrils. “My name’s Sarah, and he has some natural talent, but needs training and guidance to get better than the basics. He needs spellbooks too, or whatever you have here.”

“He’s got decent reflexes.” Liz chimed in as she walked out from under the tree she’d been leaning against while observing. “His reaction times to your attacks were consistently under ten milliseconds. That’s just barely slower than the speed of nerve conductivity. Bet he’s played his share of twitch reflex games in the past.”

“I didn’t... ‘feel’ like I was moving that fast.” Alex lowered his arm, blinking at Liz. “That’s utterly insane. Holy crap.”

“I’m measuring pure reaction speed, not how fast you were moving. That’s currently well within human average, but every time Sarah made a move to attack you started moving in response. It’s like you weren’t even thinking about what to do up until the point where she started moving at a more normal speed.” Liz poked a few places on her left arm and held her hand out to create a small projected screen. “It’s the premise of a minigame we used to play on a SNES game, and Sarah always destroyed me when we were kids.”

The scene displayed was of two cartoonish characters facing off in front of a sunset. An exclamation mark flashed briefly, and the pink circle appeared behind the other figure, who was now slumped over with a flashing ‘08’ on a signpost nearby.

“The hell game is that?” Alex questioned, looking at the screen. “I wasn’t much into retro gaming.”

“That’s the ‘Samurai Kirby’ minigame form Kirby’s Superstar, one of the best games in the franchise.” Sarah said in response, crossing her arms over her stomach. “So...royalty, and here we came without being able to bear much in the way of gifts. You’ll have to pardon any appearance of rudeness on our part.”

“I think I have a couple spare energon shards in my storage space, but I’m not sure how much you guys can do with a few fragments of crystalized energy. We’re still trying to get our settlement in Flame Geyser Swamp under control and figure out a few issues with logistics before we can put Sarah’s army to use turning it into a civilized place.”

“I need no gifts, travellers,” Luna assured, giving a smile. “Meeting a far traveller is enough of a gift for me.”

“We’ll figure out something in the weeks to come, including how to send a gift through space as a friend of ours has done for us.”

“Yeah, yeah, look, I need a minute to talk to Alex in private. You keep chatting with these two for a bit.” Liz started walking back over close to Fluttershy’s cottage, motioning for Alex to follow her. Once they were alone she got down on one knee in front of Alex and looked into his eyes. “Look, I’m not entirely sure what it was my sister said to you up there, but take it from someone who helped her through her hard times after she figured out she wasn’t meant to be a guy. Don’t go too fast. Don’t push yourself too hard. Take everything one day at a time, okay? Live how you feel comfortable, and don’t let anyone else pressure you otherwise. This above all: to thine own self be true.”

“Thou art I and I art thou,” Alex replied with a smirk before nodding. “I’ll try. Stuff’s just... confusing, you know? Part of me just... doesn’t mind this... Hell, it might even like it.”

“And I’m willing to bet Sarah told you to embrace that part of you. She’s biased, of course.” Liz smiled and reached out to gently poke Alex in the sternum. “You need to find your balance point, the one piece of stability you have in this world. You’re gonna go through a lot of changes over the next few years, and you aren’t gonna like all of them. I know I freaked out a bit when my ass started putting on weight, but that’s just society and the drive for a woman to be as thin as possible. I was born female, you weren’t. I can’t begin to imagine the kinds of things that are going to make you uncomfortable.”

Alex rubbed the point of impact, meeting her gaze. “Oh she totally told me to ‘dive headfirst into the estrogen river.’ Thought I’d give it a try.”

“Hey, I’m not gonna lie, the look works for you, or that body at least. As you’re learning what works best for you, one thing to keep in mind is the fewer layers you need to remove in an emergency; the easier it is to take care of things. I’d offer you one of the ‘just in case’ tampons I was carrying in my purse, but they’re probably part of the alien device it turned into now.”

Alex quickly turned pale. “I-uh, err, tampon...those are the inside ones, right? N-no, no definitely not gonna...nothing inside for now, thanks.”

Liz laughed and quickly pulled Alex in for a hug. “Yeah, that sounds like a guy alright.”

“Yeah, sure, laugh at the poor re-teenager. This is why you turned into that mess of fuchsia plastic.”

“Kid, I’ve seen pictures of your character’s ‘final form’ and they ain’t much prettier.”

Alex couldn’t stop looking at the two miniature figurine keychains that had dropped to the ground when Sarah and Liz had been dismissed after telling him how to make his own token. One was a black widow spider with her legs wrapped around a purple gem of some kind, with a ‘chain’ made out of some kind of blue material, while the other was a miniature alien bug of some kind with a chain whose links looked like the cross section of a nautilus shell.

“Yes, might I ask where your feminine hygiene aisle is?” Discord’s voice startled Alex from his thoughts, reminding him of where they were. “My daughter here needs to pick up a few things she forgot about before our trip started.” The mirror had seen fit to put Discord into a tailored red suit and give him the appearance of some wealthy business mogul.

“It’s uh, aisle fourteen, back by the pharmacy, dude.”

“Thank you. Come along, Alex.” He led the way back, and immediately started trying to reach back and scratch through the suit. “My back itches where my wings should be. This is going to drive me crazier.”

Alex followed along, putting his new keychains in his pockets. “You know, if I didn’t know what you really looked like I’d think you were the Devil. Maybe I should make some toast and see if it falls jelly side down just to make sure.”

“Very funny, young man. It’s not like I’m responsible for how I look on this side of the mirror. Now... where are... the...” Discord trailed off and his expression turned blank as he stared at the wall of various products. “Please tell me you know what the difference is between all these things, Alex.”

Alex started looking, and quickly realized he was just as clueless as Discord about the difference between different types of pantyliners. He fumbled with the pockets on his coat, as it had decided to remain unchanged this time by being carried instead of worn through the mirror. “No, but Sunset did give me a phone, and her number, and told me to call her if I needed help.”

“Let’s do that. Call the expert. Tell her to hurry, because this suit is starting to itch in sensitive places I don’t normally have.”

“Quit whining, you big baby.”