“Meeh! Meeh!” Ruby said, as if eager to agree, her hooves twinkling as she danced on the table.
Goldie, Dusty and Quicksilver seemed just as curious about the new arrival as Ruby was, but they kept a well-behaved distance, simply looking up at the tiny alicorn with wide, curious eyes.
“Well, at least we know this one’ll eat mashed apples, just like Ruby did when she was a baby,” Hector laughed. “Amazing to think Ruby won’t be alone anymore. It must be tough, growing up knowing you’re the only alicorn in the world – well, in this realm, anyway.”
“Mehhhh! Me-ehh!”
Despite her insistent bleating, Ruby suddenly stopped prancing about on the tabletop, skidding to a halt and going very still as she stared up at the newly hatched alicorn. She turned her head first one way and then the other, blinking her eyes, before taking a few shuddering steps backward.
“Ruby?” Myrtle asked, concern in her voice. “What’s wrong?”
“Meeeh…” Ruby’s next little bleat sounded shaky and unsure, and immediately Hector was by her side, leaning down, his hand on her neck.
“Ruby? Is there something wrong?”
Ruby merely shook her head again, staggering back a little and almost falling off the table, though Hector was there to catch her before she could land on the floor.
“Ruby!”
Trent could hear the near-panic in Hector and Myrtle’s voices as they called out to their daughter, and his own fear churned in his stomach as he dashed forward.
What could have happened? What could have gone wrong?he thought frantically. Ruby had always seemed so robust and healthy, and she’d been fine just moments ago –How could something have –
His thoughts were cut off as there was a sudden brilliant flash of white light from behind the table where Hector had lowered Ruby to the floor. He heard the others in the room gasp, and, in the moment before he covered his own eyes, saw them throwing up their arms to cover their faces.
What the –
As soon as the light subsided, Trent dashed around the corner of the table – only to find, sitting there on the floor, not the alicorn that Ruby had been just a moment ago, but a little girl with long blonde hair that fell past her shoulders and pale skin, blinking up at everyone with pale hazel eyes, wide with surprise.
Trent’s mouth dropped open.
She – she shifted!
Trent had known that Ruby, as an ancient shifter, had been born in her animal form, and would, once she was old enough, have to learn how to shift into her human form, but no one had known how or when this would happen, or what age she might be when it did.
But it happened,Trent thought, for the moment too stunned to move or, really, even to think.She shifted. She became her human form.
“R-Ruby…?” Myrtle breathed, the newly hatched alicorn still cradled in her hands as she gazed down at her daughter. “Are you… did you…?”
“Mummy! Daddy!” Ruby called out to them, lifting her hands. “I shifted! I… became like you!”
Trent could feel a lump rising in his throat as he watched Hector and Myrtle drop to their knees by Ruby’s side, Hector taking off the jacket he was wearing and draping it over her.
Ruby looked about the same age as she acted in alicorn form – only about five or so years old. But her voice sounded older, as if she’d been talking for years. Ruby had waited so long to shift and to say her first words in her human form – maybe she’d spent all that time listening and learning.Or,Trent thought,maybe it’s all just part of being an alicorn?Rubywasvery special, after all.
Tears were running freely down Myrtle’s cheeks as, carefully tucking the newly hatched alicorn under her arm, she wrapped her daughter into a warm embrace, while Hector put his arms around them both, pulling them tightly against his chest. Trent knew that Hector considered himself a bloke’s bloke – but he could see the tears that were glimmering in the corners of his eyes as he hugged his family, his pride and love for them all showing in every inch of his body.
“Ahh – Daddy, I’m getting squashed!”
Ruby’s voice rang out as, clearly, Hector’s hug grew just a littletoofierce, and, reluctantly, he let them go a little, though his hands stayed on Myrtle and Ruby’s shoulders.
“Oh, Ruby, how did you do it?” Myrtle asked, running her hand over Ruby’s hair in wonder. “Did you do it on purpose? Did you know you were ready to shift?”
Ruby shook her head, her face solemn. Somehow, Trent could see all the mannerisms he knew so well from her alicorn form in her human form as well.
“No – I didn’t know. But when I saw the baby, I just knew I wanted to – to do something. And then I felt a big burst of light in my heart, and I didn’t know what was happening. But then…” Ruby trailed off, clearly not quite able to explain what she wanted to say in words. Instead, she made a bursting motion with her hands, and then frowned. “I wanted to getbigger,so I could hold all the light in.”
“Well, you certainly did that,” Hector said softly, looking down at her. “Was it maybe because you were so excited at the thought of… of there being another alicorn in the world?”
