1: Storming
I stared at the closed front door from where I stood in the entryway of my home. My heart was performing a strange combination of a twist, jump, the tango and the salsa. Tears sat the corners of my eyes, and I had to bite my bottom lip in order to keep myself from bursting into tears. I couldn’t believe what had just happened.
Mom had been in such a hurry because she had to take my brother to a doctor in Edmonton, Alberta. I had just wanted to say goodbye, and to tell her that I would be safe at home, when she had yelled at me to shut up. I knew she had been more on edge lately, but I couldn’t believe she had just shoved me to the side like that. I was so shocked that I didn’t even have the heart to say “I love you” or “goodbye”. My heart had latched onto my vocal-cords and not allowed a single sound to escape.
I slowly turned and walked into the kitchen, seeking comfort food to try to quell my sorrow. I sought comfort in food; I was just that kind of person.
In the kitchen, I poured myself a glass of chocolate milk. I sat the glass off to the side and took out a loaf of bread and selected two slices and put them on a plate. Then I took out slices of roast beef lunch meat, a jar of mayo, and a brick of marble cheese. Once those were also sitting on the counter, I made my sandwich and put them back. I then took my early lunch into the living room where I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.
I had to forget about what had just happened, or it would cause me to feel depressed for the entire time Mom and my brother would be gone, which was two days. Maybe Mom was just angry at me for asking if I could stay home. Or maybe my brother had just been too annoying that morning? I would never know until I could talk to my mother again. I just wished that Dad was home from work to mentally support her. Mom often got really depressed and angsty when Dad wasn’t around.
Flipping through the channels, I realized there really wasn’t much on. So I stopped on Teletoon, and started to watch an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic since there was nothing else I was interested in on. No Avengers or Transformers. And as I watched the neon-coloured ponies on the screen go about trying to figure out what the latest problem was, I found myself smiling. It was soothing my nerves, strangely enough, because this show usually was not able to do that. The show was usually so quiet that I’d end up thinking about other things while keeping half a mind on the show.
I finished my sandwich and drained my glass of chocolate milk by the time King Sombra appeared “in person” in the episode The Crystal Empire—Part 2. I watched the intenseness of the rest of the episode before I turned my attention to the large picture window that looked out onto the farm. On the horizon, I could see dark and ominous clouds, signalling that a storm was on its way. I scrunched up my nose and my heart fluttered anxiously as I changed the channel to the Weather Network.
Apart of a slight fear of being alone (it’s coined as ‘Monophobia’), thunderstorms or bad storms in general (other than rainstorms) unnerved me. I liked the sound of thunder, but seeing the lightning and then hearing the clap of thunder caused me to jump in surprise every time. And I know it’s kind of sarcastic that I have Monophobia and chose to stay home alone, but I was trying to work on not being afraid of being by myself.
The Weather Network showed one of those red emergency bulletins, warning of a severe thunderstorm approaching the area I lived in. It listed off all the possible disasters that could come from this ‘super cell’ as they called it. My heart seemed to stop pumping when I read the very first disaster listed. “Tornado warning”. That meant that someone had probably already seen a tornado touch down. I looked outside at the farm again, and bit my lip when I saw that the horses were still in the barn from last night. During my sorrow, I had totally forgotten to bring them out and feed them. If a tornado truly touched down, they would be trapped inside.
I threw the TV clicker onto the couch beside me and quickly got to my feet. I left the TV on, not caring to turn it off. From experience, I knew that storms could come swiftly, so I was out the door, leaving my jacket hanging on its hook. I charged across the yard and over to the barn. Throwing open the doors, I entered.
First, I had to get my horse Star out of the barn, so that she could get a head-start. She was an old bay mare with a star on her forehead, at least 22 years old, and had a bad knee. It had been bothering her a lot lately because of the humidity. I slipped into her stall and slipped her purple halter on. I took a hold of the lead rope and lead her out of the barn and into the pasture next to it. Once inside, I took her halter off and gave her a hug, not knowing if I’d ever see her again. “Be a good girl and come back to me,” I told her soothingly before heading back to the barn. Star was my buddy.
I went and got my other horse, Kelso, leading him out by his shiny turquoise halter and lead rope. He was a bay as well, and was 12 years old. He had no markings; and he was one of the last things I had from my Nana. I inherited him from her.
I got my father’s horse, Sam, from the barn, and then my brother’s pony Dan, and then my brother’s miniature pony, Stormy. Once they were all out there, they stuck together like the protective heard they were. I felt calmer about their safety, now. And now I just had to ensure the safety of the farm dogs. Dad had looked for a long time in order to find the right dogs, and here in Alberta, they were hard to find since so many people were so dishonest. So I took the dog whistle I carried around and blew on it, calling for the dogs.
“Buddy! Oz! Papi! C’mere, boys!” I yelled as a soft breeze began to blow. I glanced over at the clouds again and couldn’t help but release a small whimper as I saw the rate at which the clouds were approaching.
The three dogs came bounding up to me, so I quickly lead them over to the outside access of the cellar under the house. Once I got the door open, I pushed the dogs down into the depths of the darkness before closing and locking the door again.
I gazed up at the house, and sighed. Mom and Dad had worked so hard to save up for that house, and the windows had cost a lot of money, money which was quickly disappearing because of my brother’s medical bills. A lot of money was sucked away because of his heart murmur, and my parents’ attempts to calm his raging ADHD. So I rushed and drew the metal shutter down over the picture window—the most expensive window. Then I rushed around shuttering the other windows on the first floor.
By the time I was done, the clouds were nearly upon the house. I could hear the horses stomping and nickering nervously in the pasture. The dogs were howling down in the cellar. The air seemed to tense and everything went silent. “Uh oh…” I said quietly into the silent air. “Not good.”
Whirling around, I ran for the house, just as a howling filled the air. The terrifying sound sounded like a mix of what a freight train sounded like, the growling of an erupting volcano, and the whine of a very large hairdryer. It turned my blood to ice, and adrenaline kicked in. My brain screamed tornado! tornado! and I knew I had to get to the cellar as fast as I could.
I left the door unlocked after I closed it, and grabbed my cat on the way down to the cellar. But before I could reach the door leading down to my safe haven, the world seemed to explode.
Shards of glass whizzed by my face, missing it by mere inches as I was thrown off of my feet. I screamed in terror. My cat, Pebbles, left my arms right before I crashed to the ground. She came to me and pressed herself into my left side. I shielded her with my left arm, and struggled to get to my feet. But then something crashed into the back of my head, knocking me into the darkness known as unconsciousness.
Reality slowly returned to me. Slowly, my eyes slid open, and though my sight was blurry at first, it soon cleared and I was able to see what was in front of my nose. All I could see was the wood floor of my home. For a few moments, I thought it was normal, until I remembered what had happened before I had been knocked unconscious.
There should be glass in front of my face. And there should be pain wracking my body.
I was confused, but not scared. This was my home. I was safe.
But was the storm over? I listened carefully, closing my eyes in order to focus more on my sense of sound.
The storm was over. I couldn’t hear a sound. There was no roaring, no screeching, no explosive concussion of the wind. But if the storm was over, where were the damages? There was no glass on the floor, and there was no trace of what could have knocked me out.
I felt a small body press deeper into my side. Pebbles. She had stayed with me through the entire storm. “Thank…thank you…Pebbles…” I said hoarsely, my voice fighting me. The storm must have taken a lot out of me.
Pebbles got up and moved up in front of my face. For a minute, all I could see was her black and brown tortoiseshell-ness before her green gaze met mine and she licked my nose in comfort. I giggled weakly and allowed a small smile. “I…I love you too…girl…”
Slowly I gathered strength and got ready to get to my feet. Once I managed to get into the upright position, I realized there was something wrong when my center of balance was…not center. It was more forward and left me standing with my torso leaning forward. Also, I couldn’t move my fingers. And when I shifted my feet, there was a couple of clop, clop sound effects.
I looked down and squealed. Not in happiness, but in terror.
I definantly wasn’t human anymore. Light blue fur covered my body, and my body looked like it was designed to stand like a quadruped. Long brown hair hung into my eyes, which seemed a lot bigger than they used to be, and allowing me to see more than when I was, well, a human. My head seemed bigger, and a little disproportionate to my new body. I held up my hands in front of my face, and found that my hands were not hands, but hooves, and when I clicked them together, they also made a clop sound.
My stomach twisted in anxiety, alerting to me that they was not a dream. I had been turned into a pony, a pony from MLP:FiM. This was not good.
Lowering myself onto my front hooves, I thought about what was happening. I was in a bind. I wasn’t a huge fan of the show, I didn’t obsess over it like I obsessed over things like The Avengers or Transformers, so I didn’t know, really, what a MLP pony ate, what they could eat, what they couldn’t eat, etc. But I knew some of their terms. ‘Everypony’ meant everybody, ‘anypony’ meant anybody, ‘flank’ meant rear, and all that. But that didn’t mean I was going to run into any other ponies.
Slowly, I started to teach myself how to walk. It was rough at first, but once I remembered how my horses walked and such, my gait soon became smoother and a tiny grin appeared on my face. I walked myself to my bedroom, where I knew there was a mirror, going as quickly as I dared. Once there, I was afraid to look at my reflection as I approached my floor-to-ceiling mirror. But once I gathered up enough nerve, I simply stared at my reflection.
From this angle, my fur looked more like a turquoise-y blue. My brown hair, which was actually my mane, was long and thick, and was done into two loose ponytails that hung around my neck nicely. It reminded me of the hairstyle I had been wearing right before the tornado hit. A horn stuck out of my forelock, meaning I was a unicorn. I had a tail, and it was just as thick as my mane, probably thicker, and it was long enough to almost touch the ground. And on my flank, there was a cutie mark. It was comprised of an open book with a calligraphy pen writing in it. It seemed to fit my “talent”, which was writing. I wasn’t the best of writers, but I loved to write and I did a pretty good job.
I sighed and walked over to my bed, which sat under my window. I climbed up onto it and looked out the window and out into the world outside. My heart shuttered. “So this is why I’m starting to feel like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz,” I remarked sadly.
My house was now sitting just outside of a town. One that looked nothing like my hometown, and was populated with brightly coloured ponies.
Crystal in Ponyville
Slowly, I opened the front door and stepped outside. My hazel eyes, which were already big enough, were wide as I took in everything around me. It seemed so surreal.
Was I really standing on the soil belonging to Equestria? Was I really not in Canada anymore? Not on Earth…anymore? Was I really here, smelling the grass, feeling the breeze, seeing the light from the sun that Princess Celestia herself rose every morning?
I looked around, trying to take in everything at once. Everything was like it was back on Earth, but had hints of “pony” in it. In the backyard, there was an old wagon that looked like it used to be pulled by a pony. And when I turned my head to look down the road, I could see the occasional hoofprint.
Curiosity overpowered my nervousness and fear, and I trotted up to the road in front of the house. I was quickly getting the hang of moving about like a pony, but I doubted I’d be able to go faster than a trot. I stopped by the edge of the road and looked at it. I followed it with my eyes as it lead into town. Should I go into town? Should I mingle with the ponies so soon after my transformation? I thought about it for a little bit, then decided I shouldn’t. I was in an emotional turmoil, even though I felt only a faint sense of nervousness.
It was to be expected though. I missed my parents – Mom hadn’t really spoken to me when she left, so I wasn’t sure if I missed her or felt relatively angry at her – and I was on my own. By myself. With no friends to keep me from feeling the effects of my monophobia. Though my phobia wasn’t all that bad, going without anyone I knew left me visibly vibrating.
My pony ears drooped in sadness when I thought about that. I only took a moment to dwell on how natural it seemed to express my emotion through my ears before I turned back to the house and hung my head. I went inside and curled up in my bed, slipping my DJ headphones on over my new ears. Clumsily, I figured out how to plug the headphones in without fingers, and turned on one of my favourite songs. I found that my favourite songs seemed to sooth me, and I needed to be soothed desperately.
I ended up falling asleep to “Just a Dream” by Carrie Underwood with tears on my furry cheeks. I slept from the rest of the day, and ended up waking up around three in the morning. And I couldn’t go back to sleep. That frustrated me, because I liked to sleep. And because I couldn’t get back to sleep, I got up and went outside.
The cool breeze hit me as soon as I stepped outside, and I shivered. My ears pinned as I shuffled out into the open, where I lowered myself onto my stomach. With a sigh, I rested my chin on the ground and stared out into the darkness.
My heart raced and I felt on the verge of crying. I squeezed my eyes shut in order to try to hold back the tears, but some still leaked out from the corners of my eyes. What was I supposed to do?
My name was Crystal, and I am seventeen years old. I wasn’t ready to be on my own. A shaky sigh escaped me before the howl of a predator sounded from the forest in the distance. I yelped and dashed back inside.
When morning rolled around, I hadn’t gathered another wink of sleep. I was mentally exhausted, so I went through breakfast in a daze. I was coherent enough, but I was a ball of nerves. I eventually figured that if I mingled with other ponies, I’d start to feel better. So with that, I adjusted my mahogany sweater, which I still wore, and trotted into town. My mane and tail bounced as I made my way onto one of the streets. I scanned my surroundings, making sure I knew where I’d be going. My hooves clopped against the ground, and for a second, I allowed myself to marvel over it.
Maybe…I could get used to this? Being a pony, I mean. I just wished I knew how to pick things up with magic from my horn.
I stopped when I came across a treehouse – a literal house-built-in-a-tree – and saw that it was the town’s library. My mood brightened considerably before I quickly trotted inside. There had to be books on how to use unicorn magic in here! Hopefully there was a book on basic magic 101. I needed to be able to pick things up or I’ll be struggling for a long time.
As soon as the door closed behind me, I heard footsteps from the floor above. I followed the footsteps with my eyes until a small creature came dashing down the stairs. He was covered in purple scales and had large green eyes. I smiled. It was Spike, the baby dragon, and Twilight Sparkle’s companion. “Hi,” I greeted.
“Uh…hi!” Spike said in a chipper tone. “Here to look at a book?”
“Yup,” I replied starting to feel more at ease now that I was in someone else’s presence. “I need to look at more than one book, though,” I added as I drifted over to a bookshelf. I turned my head to look over at the baby dragon. “I need to learn magic, the basics.”
Spike’s eyes widened. “But…but…you’re a unicorn! Unicorns know how to use magic since, like, day one!”
“That’s the thing,” I said, turning away from the bookshelf in order to walk over to him. I lowered my head in order to look him in the eyes. “I haven’t…always been a unicorn.”
Spike’s eyes couldn’t get any wider. “W-what do you mean?!” he gaped. “What were you before you were a unicorn?”
My face drooped as did my ears. How was I to explain this? He wouldn’t believe me, since it was apparent that humans had never existed in Equestria. He wouldn’t know what a human was! “Um…” I started quietly. “You wouldn’t understand. And…I’m afraid to explain. Maybe I’ll tell you another time, when I’m braver.”
“O-okay,” the baby dragon said.
I started to peruse the shelves, looking for a book that was about beginner’s magic. They probably didn’t have one, since Spike had said that unicorns knew how to manipulate magic since they were babies. When I had seen most of the books on the bottom shelf, and had turned up empty, I turned to the small dragon. “Do you know what the magic technique that allows a unicorn to manipulate things like you do with your hands is called?” I asked.
“My friend, Twilight Sparkle, calls that type of magic ‘levitation’,” Spike informed me. I watched as he quickly jogged over to a bookcase across the room. He pulled a book off the bottom shelf and I trotted over to join him in order to see what it was. “Here’s the book you’d probably want to read,” he said. “Twilight just finished reviewing it.”
He set the book down on the floor, and I read the cover. “The Art of Levitation: How to Pick Things Up, Turn Pages, and the Like,” by Starswirl the Bearded. I remembered the guy. He was in the last episode of the third season of the show. He had made an incomplete spell.
“Looks like the book,” I smiled. I was feeling better, not so alone. I looked at him. “Could you please help me turn the pages? At least until I learn how to turn them myself?”
“Sure thing!” I was starting to like the little guy.
“How about you turn to the section where it teaches how to turn the pages, just so I don’t bother you?”
“No problem.”
He took a quick look at the table of contents before he quickly turned to the right page. I grinned as I took in the words on those pages.
The trick to starting this form of magic is to start small and gradually build in difficulty like you would in any other form of magic. To start – turning a page is fairly easy. The first step is to take an unused notebook, and practice turning its pages in order to not damage this book.
How to wield your magic in order to turn the page… Most of you should already know how to manipulate simple things with your magic. Channel your magic into your horn and then imagine yourself turning a page of the notebook. It might take a bit of effort at first, but quickly it will become easier…
I continued to read, and once I read all of the instructions, I focused on following them in order to turn the page of a notebook, which Spike happily provided. It took a lot of effort, just like Starswirl had said, but eventually, I turned a page. I continued to practice and by the time I deemed it time to leave, I could turn pages quite easily.
“I would like to borrow this book, please,” I told him.
“Right,” he said. “I’ll leave a not for Twilight. I’m Spike, by the way.”
I smiled, grateful to hear him introduce himself. Now I would be able to address him by name. “Thanks, Spike. I’m Crystal.” The dragon handed me to book, which I balanced on my left fore-hoof. “I’m going to work really hard in order to master levitation. When I bring this book back in a week, I should be able to bring it back with my magic.”
“Good luck!” he said before I walked out the door.
All that week I stayed at home working on building my control over my magic. There were several different things I had to learn, and worked on perfecting several of them a day. But even by the end of the week I was unable to finish the book. But I was able to lift it, and flip through its pages quickly. I was able to write with my magic, and perform several things at once, but I didn’t complete the book.
But I was fine with that. I was able to return the book while using my magic, like I hoped I would, and when I had given it back, I felt lighter.
On my way home, I thought about how I was going to settle in into this new life. It was going to be hard, since I used to be human, and I wasn’t the best socializer. Maybe I should start a journal, in order to remember most of what I did here. Because if I could get back…I would like to remember what it was like here, even if I forget.
Though, all thoughts kinda stopped when I came upon my house and saw that there were three little ponies…foals…in my backyard. The first was an orange pegasus with a pink-purple mane and tail, the second one was a white unicorn with a pink and purple mane and tail, and the last one was a yellow pony with a red mane and tail. In her mane, there was a large pink bow. I was wondering what the trio was doing on my property, and it made me feel a little defensive even if they might be there for an innocent reason.
I walked up to them, hoping that I might not scare them. “Hey,” I called calmly, grabbing their attention. “What are you doing here?”
The three suddenly developed shocked looks on their faces, as if they had been caught with their hands (hooves?) in the cookie jar. “Um…” the unicorn began nervously.
“We’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” the yellow pony exclaimed in what I could only guess was a Texan accent.
“We were looking for our talents!” the pegasus added just as loudly.
I hummed in curiosity. “So what were you doing…in my backyard…that might give you your cutie marks?” I asked nicely.
“We were being detectives!” the unicorn said.
“Yeah,” the pegasus said. “When we saw your house appear a week ago, we just had to figure out where it came from.”
“Did’ya come with the house?” the yellow pony asked.
I stared at them, it being my turn to be surprised. My jaw dropped slightly. “How…?” I gasped. “W-why didn’t you come and check me out right away?”
They shrugged in sync. “We thought somepony was just transporting their house magically,” the unicorn stated.
“But it’s rare, since not many ponies have the power to move whole houses!” the pony with the bow finished.
The pegasus narrowed her eyes. I could tell, she was slightly suspicious. “Did you move your house? Where did you come from?” she asked.
I smiled in order to cover how my soul seemed to squirm inside me. These were probing questions that threatened to force me to tell the truth, which they would probably not believe. “Ah, long story,” I replied. “But I’d be happy to teach you how to be real detectives. I’ve read enough books in order know the basics.”
“That’d be cool!” all three chimed.
“But first,” I said. “I need know your names.”
They grinned.
“I’m Scootaloo!” the pegasus exclaimed.
“I’m Sweetie Bell!” the unicorn proclaimed.
“The name’s Apple Bloom,” the yellow pony said, finishing the introductions.
I grinned. “Great. Now let’s be detectives!” I announced before pausing. “And my name’s Crystal.”