Lucy hurried to the kitchen after cleaning up her appearance a bit. Her fist was clenched tightly around the capsule in her hand. The clatter of dishes echoed through the hallway, and only got louder as she rounded the corner. There her sister stood, frantically doing the dishes. She always cleaned things when she was frantic.

        “Hello?” Lucy timidly called from the threshold.

        Sophia turned her head with a kind of imperious scorn and started at her before responding. “We’re running late, I need you to make breakfast while I finish cleaning things up.”

        “But... if I cook while you clean, isn't it just going to make things dirty again?” Luna’s only response was a frantic glare and a twitchy eye. “Okay then... how about omelettes?”

        A large plate crashed from Sophia’s hands into the sink. “Omelettes would be fine, Luna... er... Lucy!” She shook her head, her lips tightening into an expression of pained exasperation.

        Lucy smiled weakly and removed a carton of eggs from the fridge. She loved omelettes, they weren't boring like cereal, and she didn't have to deal with any real meat. Honestly she preferred oatmeal, but her sister had placed an embargo on the substance quite a while ago, no doubt out of spite.

        The two sisters operated in silence. Each of them cast frantic glances between each other, clearly afraid of breaking the tension between the two. Luna started to whistle quietly as she loaded the ingredients into her sister’s omelette. After glancing behind her to check for scrutiny, she pried open the capsule and spilled the white powdery substance into the omelette as well. Her sister would understand, she was sure of it. All Tia needed was a little push. She’d understand why her little sister needed this stuff so badly.

        Lucy placed both plates across from each other and sat down before quietly enjoying her meal. Sophia shut off the water and dried her hands before sitting behind her own plate, she picked at it unhappily.

        “I’m sorry for how I talked to you...” She continued picking apart her omelette methodically, piece by piece, and Luna’s expression began to tense with worry. “And the music box I... Why would you hide something so disgusting inside of something so valuable?” Sophia’s eyes glistened with tears.

        Luna turned her eyes away out of guilt and shrugged her shoulders half-heartedly. “I don’t think it’s disgusting... I just... don’t. You’d understand if you just tried it!”

        Sophia looked away from her sister, and with a shudder, stabbed at the omelette and greedily devoured it. She coughed and choked back a short laugh. “You’re normally such a good cook Lucy, but this omelette tastes like chalk.”

        Lucy blushed, and stood up frantically. “Sorry! I’ll get you some Orange Juice, I must have just... used too much seasoning in one spot! That’s all...”

        “Mhm...” Sophia nodded quietly. When Lucy returned with a glass, she gratefully accepted and continued eating with a savagery that reminded Lucy all too readily of her ‘fake’ memory.

        Lucy picked nervously at her food and kept glancing around the room. How long was it going to take before this stuff kicked in? It’s supposed to be very fast acting, but... she’d never taken it without the casing before. What if the enzyme didn't survive the trip through the body? She began to yield to despair after finishing her meal, and that’s when she noticed something special, something that made her ecstatic.

        “So... Let’s talk.” Sophia wiped at her face with some paper towel and locked eyes with her sister. Lucy had to suppress a grin, her sister’s eyes were definitely bigger, and quite pink.

        “But of course, my dearest sister.” Lucy coughed. “Whatever shall speak about?”

        Sophia groaned, and absently scratched her arms. “Don’t play games with me Lucy! Remember? Drugs? We had a fight? You’re shirking your responsibilities?”

        Lucy rolled her eyes. “I’m not shirking my responsibilities! What about you? I hate being this way! I've never been happy before, and now that I've found something that fixes me you refuse to even try it, you won’t even acknowledge that you’re hurting just like me!” She placed her arm on the table and rested her head in her hand. “You don’t do anything but talk ‘at’ me, and never with me.”

        Sophia stared at her sister, taken off-guard by her sister’s sudden argument. “... Hooves off the table please.” She muttered quietly.

        With a smirk, Lucy lifted her elbow off of the counter and smiled. “Sure thing, just give me my medicine back so I can actually ‘have’ them...”

        “Luna, what are you talking about? Have your what?” Sophia clapped a hand over her mouth and winced. “Luna! Your name is Luna! I mean... Ugh!” It was right about then that she noticed the pristine white fur traveling up her arms with gentle flickering movements, like the flame from a lighter slowly engulfing a sheet of paper.

        Sophia’s chair clattered to the ground on its back as she frantically pushed away from it and fell on her rear. She let out a yelp of pain and looked down at the soft pink tail fighting its way free of her clothing. “Luna! You... You dosed me?!”

        Lucy averted her gaze, unable to stand the fear and accusation filling her sister’s eyes. “It’s for your own good Tia... Once you experience it, everything will be fine! You’ll see! Our lives aren't going to be ruined! This is good for us! Happiness is good for us!” She crawled over to her sister and embraced her comfortingly.

Sophia’s hands were locking up now, and tears were streaming down her eyes. “Why would you think this would make me happy?” She choked back her sobs. “I’m a freak! An animal!” She buried her nearly transformed face into Lucy’s chest and cried. Lucy had to deftly avoid being impaled on her sister’s new horn

What is going on? This isn't right! It’s supposed to be... pretty! It’s supposed to be magic! Why does this look so terrible while happening to her sister? Tia must be fighting it, that has to be it!

The sounds of popping clothing and stifled sobs echoed in Lucy’s mind. She did her best to comfort her sister while helping her out of her clothing. Her formerly shoulder length blonde hair had transformed into a billowing pink mane that should have been her sister’s pride and joy, but it looked pathetic the way her flesh seemed to bubble and hiss. Lucy reached a hand up and stroked her sister’s mane quietly.

“Shhh... Hush, Tia. This is you! Calm down and stop fighting it! I promise this isn’t bad, it’s good! It’s only terrible because you are ‘making’ it terrible!”

Her plan seemed to backfire however, her sister’s horn started to glow with a brilliant golden light, and the changes halted, some of them were even bouncing back and forth. Celestia looked up at her, one eye the appropriate size for a pony, the other struggling to avoid getting there, the colours dancing from green to pink and back.

“And why should I trust you?! You did this to me! You know I hate this! I hate everything about it! It’s improper! It’s indecent!” She looked down at herself and groaned in horror.

Her face set in an expression of grim determination. “Tia, where did you put the pills?”

“What? Why would I tell you that!?”

“Because I want to help you... Now please, tell me where they are!”

Celestia gestured with a hoof toward the bathroom with a hoof and sobbed at her appendage. “They’re on the tank of the toilet, I was going to get rid of them but... but we can sell them! I can’t work anymore days... I just can’t...”

Lucy stood up and dashed to the bathroom. She didn't really have to look, the bottle was sitting right there. She quickly snatched it up and returned to the kitchen, her azure trailing flicking behind her wildly.

“What are you going to do with them?” Celestia looked at her with great concern, her eyes were no longer miss matched, they were both very large and perfectly pink.

“I’m going to show you what this ‘should’ be like!” Lucy popped the top off the bottle and downed one of the capsules. She then began to quickly disrobe in front of her still gruesome sister.

“Luna, no! Please stop this... Please...” Celestia lowered her head and started to hyperventilate.

Lucy rushed over to her sister, now completely nude and keeping her tail close for warmth. She wrapped her fingers around her sister’s changing face and pulled her head back up. “No Tia... You need to look at me, do you understand?”

Celestia bit her lower lip, tears still streaming down her face, but she nodded.

With great care, Lucy removed her hands from her sister and scooted back. She lifted her head and closed her eyes. Her face adopted a serene expression as her own changes began to reveal themselves.

Celestia looked on in wonder. She had never really bothered looking at someone while they transformed. There were videos on the internet, but she never wanted to actually see the process. More than anything she needed it to be distant, she needed it to be cold and gruesome and out of a textbook.

Luna was right, it ‘was’ like magic... In fact, it was like two forces colliding. A brief struggle seemed to make her body twitch. Black cracks began to crawl across her skin as though she were made from delicate fine china, and flakes of skin started to drift up like pale white fire, and not flesh. There was something enchanting about the whole process, and Celestia looked down to see her own body following its example. She... couldn't recall ever learning ‘from’ Luna before. For the first time she could remember, she felt like the younger sister. She crawled forward and rested her head against Luna’s. Tears continued to stream down her face, but now she was smiling.

The soft golden light from her horn ceased being a source of opposition, and Luna smiled at her. It was unsettling... Her sister’s eyes were now much larger, and filled with a blinding white light. But Luna seemed ‘proud’ of her, and that made her feel happier than she had in a very long time.

Celestia closed her eyes and spoke softly. “I’m so sorry Luna. I don’t know what’s wrong with me sometimes...”

A gentle voice hushed her, and she felt the tickle of feathers against her fur. “Don’t be upset sister... I’ve gotten used to it.”

Celestia laughed, and the pair curled up around each other as they bathed in the light cast by each other’s magic.

_________

        Luna held her sister close for a few minutes after the proverbial dust cleared. Her eyes filled with sympathy as she rose to her hooves and stared at her sister’s new form, shivering as it was absent her company. She reached out a hoof and nudged Celestia.

        “Come on then, we need you to get you on your hooves. I don’t want your entire recollection of this experience to be... well, ‘that’.”

        Celestia looked up at her with pleading eyes. “Must I? I’d really rather just stay right here with you...” Her eyes darted around the room, fixating on anything that wasn’t her own body. With a weary sigh her wings stretched ever so slightly. Her eyes widened in panic and her wings snapped back against her sides with a rustle of feathers.

        Luna, seeming to notice the wings for the very first time, bounced around her sister in glee. “Ha ha! I knew it, I knew it! I knew you’d be just like me!” She stopped just in front of her sister and gave her a very enthusiastic hug.

        “I... What?” Celestia’s mouth hung open in shock and confusion.

        Luna reached down and gently seized one of Celestia’s wings between her hooves and pulled them into seeing range. “Wings! You’ve got wings and a horn, just like me!”

        “But... I’m pretty sure I’ve read that everypony gets either one or the other, nopony has both.”

        After returning to a more comfortable sitting position Luna smiled and nodded. “Exactly! As far as I know, we’re the only two who got ‘all of the above’! Isn’t it exciting?!”

        Celestia did her best to raise herself up on four shaking hooves, but collapsed to the floor in a heep. “Very...” she sighed.

        Luna lifted a hoof to her face and tried not to laugh. “This reminds me, I get to teach you how to walk!”

        “Don’t be ridiculous, I’m sure I can walk just fine! I just need to...” Celestia’s words were interrupted as once again her hooves tangled around each other and she slammed into the floor. During her reunion with the floor she had time to appreciate the thick carpeting of their home.

        This time Luna didn’t bother concealing her mirth. She trotted over to her sister and sat down, lifting her troubled sibling to a sitting position with a wing. “For now, we should probably start from a sitting position.” Luna demonstrated by resting on her haunches. Her front legs were kept perfectly straight with her hooves about a foot and a half apart.

        Celestia’s limbs wobbled as she struggled to balance herself, but after a few moments she managed to achieve some kind of equilibrium. She looked to her sister with a worried expression.

        “Okay, now what?”

        “Now you simply extend your rear legs until you’re standing.” Luna stared at her sister intently, and held a wing over her in case she needed to catch her.

        Celestia shook like a leaf as she cautiously tried to stand. Her legs wobbled like she was a newborn foal. She stumbled a few times, but seemed to be getting the hang of things. With a relieved sigh she cried out. “Ha! I did it! That didn’t take long at all!”

        Luna snickered and took a step forward. “Yes, your first time standing up was most graceful! Now we’re going to get you walking.”

        Celestia’s triumphant expression vanished immediately. “But... But I like standing! This is a very enlightening experience, standing. Standing here has taught me that you were right all along! There’s no reason for us to go anywhere!”

        Luna frowned at her sister and took a few steps forward. “Just try to copy me, okay?”

        Celestia bit her lip and nodded. Her left forehoof rose into the air to mimic her sister in mid-step.

        The pair continued like that. Celestia learned quickly, although Luna did take a small measure of pride in the fact that she learned much faster, and on her own, than her sister did. It didn’t take long before Celestia was cantering merrily through out the apartment.

        “Ha! Next we shall teach thee the magic of flight!” Luna raised a hoof triumphantly.

        “W-what? No! We are not flying Luna!” Celestia trembled, fell back on her haunches, and did her best to scoot away from the mad mare.

        Luna rolled her eyes and trotted over, wrapping a wing around her big sister. “Fine, fine, no flying. But we’re definitely going to take you to a mirror so you can get a good look at yourself-”

        Celestia jumped to her hooves with a start. Her wings flew out in a panic, knocking her sister against the wall.

        “Hey! Watch it!”

        “I’m sorry, but I’d really rather not do that either.” Celestia took a few steps backward. Luna was actually a bit impressed, it seemed her sister did just fine when she wasn't over thinking things.

        “And why not? You’re not still worried about your appearance are you? Sister, you look like some kind of amazing horse god!”

        Celestia finally stopped backing up when she hit the wall behind her. “I don’t want to see what I look like. I’m afraid that if I do, I’ll turn into you...”

        Luna tilted her head. “Don’t be absurd Tia, I’m blue.”

        “That is not what I meant!” Celestia was becoming even more frantic than when she had first started changing. “We’re human, Luna! We’re only like this because of some pill!” She brushed at her leg with a hoof nervously. “I don’t want to see myself and find out that this is more real to me than being human...”

        Luna was by her side almost before she was aware of the movement. She stared at her sister with pleading eyes. “Please Tia? I just really want you to know what I’m talking about... How I feel about all of this. I can’t really communicate it, you need to see it yourself!”

        “No! Absolutely not! You’re lucky I forgive you for dosing me in the first place!” Celestia turned her face away and lifted her nose into the air with disdain.

        “Fine, you brought this on yourself sister!” Luna bit her lip and her horn started to glow with a pale blue light.

        “Luna... Luna what are you doing?” Celestia stared at her sister’s horn in abject terror. “Stop that! Do you even know what you’re doing?!”

        They both had read the threads, some ponies could allegedly do magic. Neither of them had any idea of what Luna was attempting, however. Most were content to lift up a sheet of paper, a few could manage a book, but the aura from Luna’s horn grew in size until it engulfed both of them.

        ‘Mirror... I need a mirror... The bedroom! Perfect!’ Luna’s thoughts inspired a wave of emotion in her. A deep longing to be in front of those closet doors that doubled as mirrors filled her, and then in a flash of light, they were there.

        Celestia let out a yelp of surprise as the pair defied the laws of Space itself, or at least took advantage of one they were unaware of. “Luna what did you-” She stopped her rant mid-sentence and stared at the door length mirror with wide pink eyes.

        Luna stared smugly at her sister’s reflection. “So, ‘now’ do you understand?”

        Celestia quietly trotted forward and rested a white hoof against the mirror. Her mouth hung open and shock as she took in her large regal wings and her wavy pink mane.

        “Luna?”

        “Yes Tia?”

        “Where are we going to get enough of those pills to last us a lifetime?”

        Luna’s ears lowered, and she stared at the ground. “I uh... actually, I hadn’t thought about that...”

        “No, I suppose you wouldn’t have...” Celestia continued to be hypnotized by her reflection.

        Luna noticed a pair of feathers fall from her wing and float delicately to the ground before rotting away. She stared at her sister, a trace of nervousness in her voice. “We should really get you away from the mirror now...”

        Celestia stared quietly as her eyes shifted from pink to green. “We are in my room.”

        “Erm... Yes?”

        “I want you to leave.”

        “I don’t really think that’s a good idea...”

        “You are going to leave, ‘now’. You are going to shut the door behind you.” Celestia’s voice carried a dark tone that inspired terrifying fake memories in Luna. She winced as she felt her heart plunged into an unspeakable coldness. For a brief moment she felt more alone and isolated than ever before, as though stolen away somewhere for what felt like an eternity.

        “Alright... I’m going. But you really shouldn't watch-” The door slammed behind Luna with a flash of golden light once she had crossed the threshold. With a dejected sigh she trotted to her room, retrieved a blanket, and curled up in the den.

        She was so despondent, she didn't even notice when her body was back to normal, except for the tail. The first thing to snap her out of her reverie was her sister, naked except for a large blanket wrapped around her body and head like a cloak. Sophia walked into the kitchen and grabbed a capsule from the medicine bottle before swallowing it, her face was still stained with tears.

        Lucy stared at her sister with concern, and trembled in sorrow at what she said next.

        “I hope you know, you ruined me Luna...”

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