Balance

I awoke with an oddly jolting start. My eyes peered open slowly to find myself looking into an incredibly bright light. Confused but still able to think clearly, I tried to get a good feel for my surroundings. I wiggled my arms and legs around to find that I was no longer on the rough gravel that I crashed on, but rather a solid but still fairly fluffy substance. Maybe a mattress? Was I in a hospital? Well, at least I could move again.

I mentally searched my body for pain, quickly finding very little. 'How long was I out?' I thought to myself.

Having no answer for my own question, I tried searching for answers on my own. Peeking my head up in the least bit gave me a good idea of where I actually was: I was... in... a...

What.

The.

Hell.

Rather than a hospital, my own house, or my driveway, I was in what appeared to by a bustling city that appeared to be made entirely of... What the...? Clouds? Was I dreaming? I quickly wrapped together the most logical conclusion possible with the mumbo jumbo coursing through my brain.

I thought I was in a dream, but I was aware that I was dreaming. I was not dreaming. I was hallucinating. Right? I'm going crazy. That would explain why I'm in the middle of a street made of pure water vapor that I was not only laying on, but several others were on, too. I looked around the streets to find several other beings, which were all... Walking. On four legs? Where the hell was I, anyway?

With my vision adjusted to the bright, cloudless sky around me, I looked closer at one of the four-legged creatures around me.

Four legs, all nearly the same length. Brightly colored coat, hair, and tail. And right on their hips, was a tattoo... My heart skipped several beats. Could it be possible? I had to look closer before I made a conclusion.

Huge eyes. Pointy ears. Long snout. Cartoony, undetailed wings. Hooves.

I was looking at what I believed to be a pegasus... From. My. Little. F***ing. Pony. Holy s***! I was in Cloudsdale! I was literally in the show!

I nearly had a heart attack from the situation drawing the line between freaky and awesome.

I knew I wanted to get a good look at myself again. Was I still human? Or was I a pony? Quick logic pieced together in my mind and told me that if I was a pony, I was a pegasus, given that I hadn't fallen through the cloud I was on yet. Good God... I could be a pegasus!

With a quick action on my part, I flung my shoulders to the side to get me on my... Hooves? Now laying belly down with my arms stretched in front of me, I could clearly see them: Two sets of flawlessly light blue forelegs, each with hooves on the end.

Out of joy, I laughed.

My eyes slowly opened as I found myself awake once again. The second my eyes were fully alert and adjusted to the bright light being given off by the cloudless sky around me, a searing shot of pain tore my left side. Struggling not to holler out in pain, I felt a trickle of wetness flow down my body. What the hay? Since when does crash-landing on a cloud give you injuries? I'd done it plenty of times... I didn't understand what was going on.

Propping my head up to get a better look around, I nearly had a miniature heart attack from my surroundings. Instead of the usual fluffy skyline of my hometown, I was on a concrete street in the middle of a neighborhood. There were chariots lining a sidewalk, which lined several stone and wood houses. Certainly never a place I had ever seen before...

I took a closer look. The chariots... They weren't made for ponies. I didn't even know what they were made out of... They were smooth, shiny, and sleek all at the same time. And covered? Where in Equestria was I? Knowing that it wasn't home, I tried getting up and asking somepony where I was.

Getting up from the gravel was incredibly weird for some reason. First I tried using my wings to push me upwards, but I quickly realized two things by doing that: One, I couldn't feel my wings at all, and two, I realized that I was wearing clothing. Gee, that was comforting: Knowing that my wings were completely numbed, I was moved who-knows-how-far, and I was given a complete dressover in my unconsciousness.

Screwing the wing idea, I just decided to use my forehooves to push me up backwards. Doing such alerted me of several other things, all of which set my heart to a setting I never knew existed: Butterflies operating a jackhammer.

One: I realized that I was laying down straight, which was a position that should have normally been incredibly uncomfortable.

Two: My forelegs were all-of-a-sudden really long. Or just really skinny. Maybe both. Was I starving?

Three: I had no hooves. Directly in place, instead of the solid enamel, was a malleable but dexterous display of five... Miniature tan hooves? I panicked. They looked like limbs and had enamel on the ends, so what else could they be? Claws? There were more digits than claws had, so I had no idea what they were...

I tried moving them. Almost the exact second I pictured how weird they would look, it had already happened: It almost appeared as if I had summoned five tiny tan snakes at my hooftips, causing them to wiggle back and forth in an almost gross manner. This bizarre sight forced me to realize the situation I was in: I wasn't home, let alone in my body.

Out of fear, I laughed.