Celestia's Awakening: Prologue

“No, no. That won’t work.” I press a button on the camera and the red light slowly dims to dark. “Alice you can’t describe the symptoms if we want to be able to determine who’s telling the truth. Try to be more generic and then ask them to provide the details.”

“Its Celestia when we’re recording these. Remember?” retorts the regal winged unicorn from the set on the other side of the room. It’s not much of a ‘set’ really. Just a chair, well most of it. A pony can’t sit in a regular full chair comfortably. This time we’ve unscrewed the top half of a swivel chair. We’re hoping it gives a bit of a serious tone to the video.

“All right ‘Celestia’. Should we take it from the top or do you just want to start from where you described the symptoms.” I ask as I nudge the camera trying to center her perfectly but instead push it too far and have to re-straighten it for the fourth time.
“The beginning, please.” She responds as she shifts slightly in her chair. I can’t really imagine what it’s like for her. The pressure must be immense. It wouldn’t be too far to say lives are at stake here. “Whenever you’re ready Cam.”

“Okay. 3… 2…” I hold up my hand and count down and press record.

“My faithful viewers, I would like to thank you in advance for your time. This will not affect most of you and I promise I’ll get back to my normal videos very shortly. However, I’ve received a number of emails lately that have me concerned.” She pauses for a moment and takes a breath.

“These letters detail worries that the sender may be slowly turning into a pony. Far be it from me to dismiss such claims I take such emails completely seriously. If you share such fears yourself I encourage you to email me at ‘Celestia at fastmail dot f m’. You can also find a link down below. As always I do my best to be prompt in my replies but in this case you may want to include something in the subject line so I can find it immediately. I promise, barring natural disaster or acts of ISP, either I or Cameron will get back to you within 24 hours.” She smiles at her little joke. Truth is there’s a good chance I’d still be able to catch any emails. If we were to suddenly lose connection I’d make trips into town just to check for these emails. It’s that important.

“Make sure to include as many details and symptoms as possible. Pictures may be helpful but are in no way necessary. I don’t believe I need to say this but all Emails will be completely confidential. This isn’t some joke where we’ll post your information. We are completely serious in this. So once again, we encourage anyone experiencing changes in their body that lead them to believe they’re becoming a pony to send us a message.”

“Again, thank you for your time. To my other viewers this shouldn’t impact my schedule in any way though I may be a little slower in responding to emails due to a likely deluge spam but I promise to reply  as quickly as I can. So to anyone going through this know that we’re here to help and as always ‘Be excellent to each other.’ She gives one last smile and nods to me to stop recording.

“Perfect. That was exactly what we need.” I say as I stop the camera. “Now should we do any editing?”

“Just a little. I’ll add in the email down below when I speak of it. I’d like to get it uploaded as soon as possible. There could be others.” The camera pops open and the memory card floats out. “I will let you know if I require assistance.”

“Alright. I suppose it’s going to be a long night. I’ll start on dinner. Would you like some hot chocolate or anything?” I ask as I start heading towards the kitchen.

“Perhaps later.” She turns to the computer for a moment before speaking again. “Thanks again James. Not just for tonight but since the beginning. I just hope I can do the same for any others there might be.”