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Non-Fiction to Fiction and Fiction to Non-Fiction
Getting to Know the Person
The Other Side
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Non-Fiction to Fiction and Fiction to Non-Fiction

Words contain power. They create feelings, stir them, and maybe even destroy them. Certain combinations of words becomes a whole new meaning to any viewpoint and perspective and even alone, they can certainly strike a heart string or two. They connects different persons, resulting to creation of societies and later connecting the whole world, despite the cultural differences as language’s primary backbone is and always will be words and, words turns ideas and thoughts into something to be shared with, resulting a world of different shared perspectives, values, rationality, what is right or wrong, and even retelling what had already passed. It generated stories, a life of another individual in leaves of a book, whether they were significant or not. One can experience another’s lifetime by reading. Soon, people became mesmerized with another’s experiences, especially ones that were unusual. Perhaps it was the hunger for an obscure story led people into creating them, one’s that are not based on a person, but on the figment of their imagination. Then, fiction was born, and now every one of us has known a fictional story. Whether they were fairy tales, movies, T.V. shows, or comics, these have definitely shown us a world that have only been perceived by a person’s mind. It wasn’t real, but we loved it. It would lead us into imagining our own worlds, perhaps even create our own story.

In that sense, long have I wanted to create my own story. When I was young, I read books, perhaps even forgetting what reality had for me at that time. I would read and read, trying to escape what the present wants me to concentrate on. I have slayed demons, faced fears, lost a friend, and became different, all because of reading fiction. I travelled through time into the future simply by reading as hours would fly by with each chapter of the book I was reading. While I did not read all kinds of books, I have learned that each book has its own tale to tell, maybe even a lot. Soon, I began dreaming for the impossible; for anything fictional to happen, a miracle, maybe or even an accident filled with mystery.

Alas, reality is not kind and would not subject to such childish claims. It obviously did want me to stay here, where I would wake up, go to work, go home, and sleep. Only dreams became my only hope to achieving such surreal desires. I have lived my life for twenty years, and I have yet to see a real ghost or even find a time traveller. And then, just like that, I gave up. Before I finished my schooling, I realized nothing was coming from the vastness of space; that a zombie apocalypse is too easy to control, and fiction is always fiction. That was it. It was hard for me to get over it, since my life revolved around the stories I have loved and always love. Whether it was a book, movies, and anything, I had hoped parts of them were true. But I grew up, and like a butterfly shedding its cocoon, I have shed my clinging to fiction. They became a simple pass time, a hobby even.

Throughout my school days, I have learned to create art and even some short stories, few being fan fiction. Years later, bam, I am now sitting here in the office of an unknown television station’s creative service department. What do I do here? Create the commercials ordered by companies. Since this T.V. station is rather under the bridge, companies that come for advertising are more or less unknown companies too, with lots of money to burn. I simply just take my superior’s orders from the customer and voila. Most of the time, I don’t even really do anything, so I end up reading a book to burn the hours by. If there is any work that comes, it usually doesn’t go to me, but if it does, I do it quickly; after all, the boss is really easy to impress.

Right now, I am sitting on my office chair, facing my work computer placed on top of a desk that I am sharing with a co-worker. In a small cubicle that is barely the size of two portable toilet and actually heated up like a sauna, it is hard to believe the company actually owned more than ten air conditioners. My portion of the desk doesn’t have much on it, just my computer, novels I’ve already read, order files, and my graphics tablet that I don’t really use much since people never really need hand drawn things. They are fine with designs based on existing ones, which just makes my job easier. Sometimes I wonder why no one has even filed any complaint about that. Maybe the company is not even that significant. Heck, even I don’t watch the company’s channel and when I did, I turned off the T.V.; it was unbearable.

I just sit on my chair, facing my computer that is turned on, holding a book with both my hands and holding it up my face. The story is getting to its good part when suddenly-

*CRASH!*

I flinch maybe a little, and then looked behind me. It was my co-worker and cubicle mate, Yui. It is quite an odd name, and at times I can’t even say it right, so I just call her U.I. She just dropped her laptop and some papers.

“You alright?” I ask as I turn my chair to face her and lower the book, though in my heart I did not want too.

“Hai! Daij- I mean, I’m okay, yeah, I’m okay.” She replies as she fumbles through her belongings on the ground. Apparently she tripped herself over, well, something. I check the floor and saw nothing to be tripped over with. She probably just ran. She could be a little careless.

U.I. is the company’s owner’s daughter who grew up in Japan and now wants to earn for herself, from what I heard. So now she works for her dad. For me, I think this is just another way of receiving allowance from her dad. Most of the time, she would reply in Japanese and then immediately translate it in English, which made her like Google Translate with narrator on. We never talk much.

I go back to my reading. I don’t think anyone could be so careless with stuff and yet here she is, clearly stating that there are different kinds of people in the world.

“Oh, um, Gerald-san?”

I didn’t hear her. Apparently, I am currently in a gruesome battle between aliens and the human race. I cannot be disturbed.

“Gerald-san?” She started poking my shoulder.

I feel annoyed, and I think that is an understatement. Hearing her use san at the end of any person she meets just seems wrong for me. She’s not in Japan anymore. I don’t have the gall to tell her that though, or I just didn’t care enough. The thing is, I am not really sure.

“Yeah?” I lower the book once again.

“New orders from Chief. She wants you on this one.” She hands me a sheet of paper, and I take it.

“Right, don’t you want to do this?” I ask her as I put my book onto the desk.

“I don’t think they want a newbie doing big time stuff.” Her voice was weak, but audible enough to hear, while she stared at the floor.

I look at her. She is wearing an orange t-shirt that shows a picture of a guy wearing a mascot character, or armour or something, a dark green pair of pants and to finish it off, a pair of neon green sneakers. Hideous. Her hair is short, bob cut at that. Her eyes are another reminder she came from Asia. Another thing about her is her scent that is vanilla. She probably puts on perfume.

Obviously, she wanted to do more work, but they never really gave her anything serious, perhaps due to the fact she’s the big cheese’s little girl. I don’t blame them, her dad can actually be very strict and scary, and the fact he cherishes her more than his Mercedes Benz, and everyone in the building knows how much he loves that shining silver mode of locomotion. He would fire anyone that touches it, exceptions to U.I.

U.I. thinks she’s not getting much work because she’s inexperienced and probably not skilled enough. I don’t blame her for thinking like that.

I read the paper given to me. So, they want me to make a poster for a late night show. Gosh, who watches that crap?

“Did they give anything for reference, or pics for the poster?”

She looked at me quizzically, as if I just asked her if she is on her period.

“I’ll be right back!” And there she dashed off from the cubicle. And went back to drop her laptop to her desk and dashed off once again. I shrug and went back to reading. Ah, to be back in fiction…

It wasn't long before came back, panting while holding a flat flash drive that contained all the files needed. Catching her breath, she held her open palm with her arm stretched towards my direction. I took it from her sweating hand.

“Thanks,” I say to her. I wanted to say she didn't have to run just to get the files, but she probably didn't want to disappoint me or something. Besides, I already tried telling her that before, and she still runs around the office.

“Sorry it took long.”

Dearie, me, that took long? It took about like thirty seconds and I wasn’t even in a hurry. She might as well be the Flash for that, not that I want her to get hit by lightning, that would be terrible and that it won’t give you powers, just burns and possible end of personhood.

I plug in the flash drive and copy the files onto my computer. The files consists of pictures and a logo. I am no photographer, but at least I can say these pictures, or if you can even call them that, are a professional’s nightmare. The shots were blurry, the model was doing a weird pose, and even the camera was in a weird angle. There were also shots that the camera was not focused at the model, but rather at the background. I don’t even get why these get approved by the higher-ups. They could be blind, for all I know. I have seen cell phone camera shots that are a lot more proper that these ones.

Great, I have to edit them first before I use them. Just great.

After picking the ones that looked least disgusting, I loaded the images into Photoshop, the master of making pretentious things disguising as photographs into real ones. And they say Photoshop makes everything fake...

After beautifying the said ‘things’, I immediately created the layout for the poster. I think about how I should design this thing. It supposed to be an advertisement for a small clothing line, focusing on teenage clothing. Looking at the photos, I can say they, at least have decent clothes.

U.I. just drags her office chair behind me, and sits. She always watch me whenever I work on something unless she is working on something too, which quite rare. As I work, I sometimes ask her for opinion, but she often say whatever I do, it is good. She just underestimate herself too much, and the company isn’t exactly helping her get rid of such mind set.

After deciding the design, I start, yearning for a quick finish. The poster was not even a challenge, so I quickly finished the image and saved it. U.I. on the other hand, was just watching me doing my work. Soon, more orders came, and I had U.I. do some of it. She seems to be overjoyed receiving work, as she never stopped smiling even after I gave her portion of work. As she worked, her smile became plastered to her face.

I don’t get her.

I asked her if she had done a different job before, and she said she just do art commissions on the internet. According to her, many likes her art, so she usually gets more than enough. I don’t like the idea of freelancing, though. She stopped focusing on her computer and faces me.

“Do you draw, Gerald-san?”

Not with the san thing.

“Not really.” I did not even face her. I want this thing done.

“Why not?” She tilts her head with a confused look, then straightened up, smiling. “Do you have some works I can see?”

“Go to my online portfolio,” I automatically answered.

With that, she looks up my name in Google, which yields my portfolio in the first result.

“Nothing much there,” I say to her.

For a while, she didn’t say anything. I keep working. After a few minutes, I look at her. She is staring with her jaw dropped. I don’t think my works are that good?

“Uh, U.I.?”

She doesn’t respond. I stood up and look at what she is burning her eyes at. It was a stained glass with different fantasy themes in it, like angels, dragons, swords, wizards, elves, and even science fiction featuring robots, laser guns, and other things. It was one of my works that I really cherished, since it really represented what I like; fiction.

I poke her shoulder, which made her flinch.

“Oh, sorry. It’s just that I really like this particular art you made.”

I look back at my old work. I really like it too, but I don’t see it very amazing. Seeing other works on the internet made me realize I am not the best out there.

“You really should do some commissions! You can charge big for these.”

“I already have a job, no thanks.”

“You’re a great artist! You should do more of these.”

“Too busy for that.”

Upon hearing my answer, U.I.’s face fell to a frown. Besides, I didn’t like the idea of doing another’s fantasy. I only made art for my own satisfaction, and I don’t trust an online account holding my money.

It is almost time to go home. At last, relaxation and carelessness will be my only activity, and nothing will get in the way. Actually, I just read a bit more at home and watch a bit of T.V. It is a simple ritual I enjoy. U.I. is just working hard, squinting her eyes at the screen as if she was defusing a bomb. I wonder if I look like that whenever I worked.

“Hey, aren’t you going home yet?” I ask my ever concentrating co-worker.

“Mou chotto owaru kara. Saki ni kaette te mou ii you,” she says as her eyes move quickly and her right hand dragging the mouse around. I have no idea what she just said, but I’ll take it as ‘You can go ahead.’

“Alright, turn off everything before you leave.” I pick up my coat and suitcase.

Her head bobbed, nodding to my asking. I turn around and walk out of the cubicle.

“Ki o tsukete!” She calls out.

I stop walking down the hallway and go to the window, just to check the weather. They did say it will be raining. I look outside the gigantic pane, seeing the clear clouds and the sun setting. It looks so peaceful.

I can’t help but think about my old art work. I was full of free time when I made that. It was so much fun, thinking what things I like that I can cram into the digital canvas. Throughout my school days, I spent my leisure time doing art or reading, though reading was more done in the classroom as I try to burn the time away from the boring lectures. I do miss making art, but work made it seem impossible to have many hobbies at the same time.

I was going to contemplate some more until I hear a loud thud in the window, followed by a squeaky sliding sound. I look up and wonder what I am currently seeing with my eyes.

It is something cyan colored, four-legged animal, though I could not really describe it. It stopped sliding a second later, stuck in the glass. I look around me, thinking this may be a weird prank by the other co-workers. I see no one. I look back at the weird animal before me, and I noticed the rainbow colored hair and tail. I opened the window and pull the weird creature from its position, holding it in my arms, then I notice its hooves.

It was a pony. A cyan-furred pony with rainbow mane and tail. Whoever owns this must have taken some sort of weird drug, or they must have a daughter with a liking for rainbows and ponies. It is still breathing, with its face showing it was hurt from the bump. Why would it bump itself? But I knew that can’t happen. It just can’t, we are on the fourth floor after all. So who would toss this poor equine up so high?

I should bring to a vet or something. Why must this happen to me? Oh yeah, I always ask for the impossible, and now here it is, in form of a multi-coloured animal. The pony started to wake as I walk.

Its eyes are huge. When I say huge, I meant as big as a slipper. It blinked a few times, then its eyes shrank, as if it realized something. It jumped off my arms and flew in mid-air, matching my height. Wait, it flew. Something is very wrong. My mind tries to register the fact a pony has a pair of wings on its back, hovering like a humming bird.

“My head hurts,” the pony said in a raspy female voice.

Okay, now my head hurts too. The pony is currently flying and just said something. What does that point to?

“A Pegasus…?”

“And you a human, duh,” the pony retorted back with its right foreleg pointing at me.

“How is this even possible?” I shake my head slowly in disbelief. “I don’t know.”

“Right. I don’t either. This dimension travel is more of Twilight’s thing,” it said in an annoyed tone.

I am talking to a Pegasus. I haven’t read any fiction about talking horses.

“Hey! You okay?” The pony poked my forehead with its hoof.

“Yes. I must be either high, or a really weird dream.”

“You’re not dreaming, let me show ya.”

And just like that, it hovered closer to me and smacked my head with its hoof.

“Ow! What the hell!?” I flinched away and hold the spot it just hit with my hand.

“Feeling better?”

“Obviously not!”

The pony landed on its hooves and looked around, as if scouting for enemies and being alert.

“Is it just you? Where are the other hairless monkeys?”

“They all went home.” I rub the pain in my head. “What are you?”

“Name’s Rainbow Dash. Listen, I don’t have much time, I need to borrow you for a while, maybe even longer.” She keep looking around. “Am I even at the right place?”

“Huh?”

“Here.” It- er, she extended her hoof, ignoring my confusion and as if she is expecting me to shake it or kiss it.

“Um-”

“Just hold the hoof, won't ya!?”

I kneel down and take the little hoof like a handshake. Is this even called a handshake? Or hand/hoof shake?

“I promise I won’t harm your body!”

The pony named Rainbow Dash closes her eyes and began to say something. I was about to ask her what she meant by borrow my body, but my hand holding her hoof began to glow that continues to become brighter. Soon, it filled the whole room with a sound effect that sounded like it came from a Harry Potter movie.

I soon feel my body itching, like a lot. Slowly, I open my eyes and realize I am lying on the ground. Something felt wrong, besides that my body feels like being eaten by fire ants.

I stood up instinctively, shaking my head as if the shake off the light-headedness from me.

“What just happened to me…?” I ask to myself as I rub pain that was on my head, only to realize the pain was long, and felt instead a hard material that had hit the particular spot.

Confused yet again, I look at my hand. A cyan hoof greeted me, as if mimicking my hand’s movements. Then I realize, where the hell is my hand? I move the hoof away from my and then back close, checking that this is the hand I am looking for. This could only mean one thing. I have to look at myself.

I look down, expecting a human body, but instead I saw the floor. I turned my head to my side until I can see my rear. Humans can’t turn their heads like this. I can see my new cyan-furred body with a weird tattoo on my new flank; it was a cloud spitting out a three-colored lightning bolt. I can also see my new wings, folded neatly like a bird.

I’m a Pegasus.

I’M A RAINBOW PEGASUS!!!

I feel so confused again. I keep getting confused, I notice, but who wouldn’t be? I don’t know whether I should be excited that pegasuses (or is that still pegasus?) exist, or that I became one.

One more thing I discover is that I am half of my original height. Everything looks too high for me.

“Right, because I’m walking on four legs.” This is too surreal.

The feeling of walking on four legs like how a normal person would when imitating a dog, except this feels more natural. Am I an animal now? I tried to walk forward, but instead I went tumbling forward and crash my face into the carpet.

This is going to take a while.

After falling and tripping a couple of times, I have learned to walk briskly. This is probably how babies feel like when learning to walk. Goodness, it was excruciating and painful, but at least I can walk. It would take another hour to learn how to run. Or is it gallop now?

I pry myself against the wall and look around the hallway, making sure no else is in the floor. I need to get home and settle this. I probably have to hide before someone else can find me. God knows they’ll probably take to an animal shelter or vet or worse, keep me as a pet. No, scratch that. They might even sell me. I walk down the hallway and stop in front of the elevator. The lift is on the first floor, so I reach the down arrow button with my right front hoof. And I didn’t reach it. Damn it, why do I have to be small?

I look down the staircase beside the elevator. It is eight flights of stairs before I can reach the ground floor. I only learned to walk, so the thought of taking the stairs is apparently not a good idea. I jump a few times before I finally hit the button with my hoof with an unsatisfying crack. The tile around the button cracked due to my reckless attempt to press it. Well, better than never. I have to remember that hooves are hard as rocks.

I enter the elevator and pressed B for basement, and upon reaching the wanted floor, leave the elevator and go straight to my car. I was going to jump for the car door this time, but then I realize two thing I have forgotten; one is that I don’t have my car keys and two: how the hell am I supposed to even drive?

“Shit.”

Then I hear footsteps. Someone’s here. I feel panicked. I have to hide. I look around the parking lot, and notice they weren't even much cars beside me to hide with. On instinct, I ran to the nearest car and pressed myself on the car door. What do you know, I can run. Or gallop. This is too confusing. Confusing is becoming the word of the day.

I noticed the car door is slightly open. I push the door with my head and go inside. I can hide hear for a while, until that guy is gone, perfect. The car smells oddly like vanilla.

I hear a few more footsteps. And they were getting closer.

What if this was his car? More importantly, what should I do!?

Maybe I can reason with him, tell him I just need shelter. I’ll sound like a runaway, no doubt, so no. Maybe if I pretend to be a normal horse? No, he’ll take me to the animal shelter right away. Maybe-

The driver’s seat door opens and the woman sits inside. Wait, she looks familiar…

“Sa, kaero ka.”

U.I. Great. I might freak her out. I don’t how she’ll react if she saw me. I look around and saw a pile of jackets in the sit. I dive inside it and hear the engine roaring to life. Why didn’t I recognize this is her car!? I think I’m still forgetting something.

The car suddenly thrust forward, hurling me to the hard back of the driver seat and rendering me unconscious once again.

Now I remember; U.I.’s a bad driver.

Getting to Know the Person

Fiction is a universe I have always wanted to be in. It is where lightsabers, legendary swords, magic beans, and even a talking hat exists. Creatures like griffins, demons, fairies, ghosts and even those that can be ungodly reside in such world. In this world, I am forced to accept facts laid out by scientists and discover a world that is not excited. Sure, there things worthwhile, but not for long. Technology, concepts, trends, or anything becomes outdated and boring.

That is why I escape reality and went into the realm of unreal, through books and other media; not wanting to get bored. Life gets boring, even with friends. The lacking of friends is even more boring. Reality is the kingdom of boredom, and I refuse to accept it, that is until I grew older. I realized that it is futile to wish for an alien invasion and save the world, be a hero, and win the lady. I had to give it up, for reality crushes the sanity of the person who kept wishing. Even some religious people become crazy for believing too much. I don’t want to be crazy, so I stepped into the world of grown-ups. I left what can be deemed as childish and immature, and instead lived with the fiction that grown-ups think are appropriate for them. Though I enjoyed these adult fantasies (not in a sexual way), I always missed the simpler times; stories of ghosts, a tale of a magical land, and more.

So when I said I wanted to write my own story, I wanted it to be something magical yet daring as serious as any action movie, something powerful, but not cheesy.

Little did I know that my life is going to be something as outrageous as being a colourful flying horse, er, pony rather? I am small, after all. All my life had I wished something ridiculous to happen to my life, as long it resembles fiction. And now, it is a fiction on its own, and I feel stupid for wishing so. Of all fictional possibilities that can happen, fates have decided I become a pony with wings forcibly attached on its back. I always knew Pegasus cannot fly, due to their weight, so I doubt I can.

But I have more important things to do right now than contemplating about my transformation into a talking mythological creature, so I should get right back on track with what’s going on around me.

I can feel the car moving at probably dangerous speeds. Only God knows if I will survive this car ride. I am still under the pile of jackets, and so I woke up to the sound of the engine that seems to be begging to be destroyed due to being abused of its horse power. Horse power, funny. It wasn’t long before she hit the brakes, tossing me to the back seat with my head first. I swear, amnesia won’t be long if this keeps up.

As my consciousness came back the second time, I realize the engine is silent. I plunge into the pile of clothes deeper, hoping she won’t see me. I hear the car door beside me open. I only hope she doesn’t rummage into the colourful laundry.

She didn’t; instead, she picks up the pile along with me inside. Calm down, she doesn’t know you’re here. Yet. Shit.

I couldn’t see anything, but I hear footsteps then a screen door swinging open. It’s hard to breathe in this thing, it smells too much of vanilla. Maybe she has an obsession with vanilla.

“Haa… Tsukaretta…”

I don’t know what that means, but I hope it doesn’t stand for ‘I found an intellectual equine that requires further study down in the basement.’ I am overthinking about this, aren’t I?

I feel the pile being set down on something and hear her walking away. I hope I’m near the front door, because I need to get away fast and hide. As soon as I hear no more footsteps, I poke my head out of the pile. I study the room. Huh, this place isn’t bad. I am currently in a living room, and a big one at that. It has a really high ceiling, or maybe I think it’s high since I’m small? There are bookshelves on the right, about three of them, and a hallway. I can only guess she’s reading comic and those shelves are filled with those. I never seen her read anything and she never asked me about anything I read.

The floor is made of shiny wood and the walls are decorated with pretty fancy wallpaper, the ones with bird cages outlines and whatnot. This place looks really expensive. I can also see two couches in front on the television on the left and U.I. sitting on it, staring at me. Those couches look really comforta-

Wait, she saw me.

Shit.

I see her staring with her mouth open while she held a can of something. She blinks three times and then stares at me again. I can only stare back. The atmosphere is filling with tension, though I don’t know what kind. What is going to do? Scream? Grab a broom and shoo me away? Call pest control? Worse yet, kill me?

As I assume the worst, she stands up, still holding the stare. I stare back, unable to move for reasons I couldn’t know. Fear? Anxiety? Nervousness? Feelings start to swirl inside me as she walk toward my direction. My breathing becomes faster. My heart starts to pump like a timer on fast forward. My body is frozen. She is now right before me.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the ear-piercing scream, or the hard swing of the broom. Instead, I feel hands around my arm pits or rather my leg pits? I feel being lifted in the air and then lowered. I am still in her hands. I slowly open my eyes, and I see her still staring with her mouth open.

“Ka-kawaii…”

At least I know what that meant.

“I’m not cute you know,” I reply to her. My voice is very not masculine right now.

She jolts, loosened her grip on me a little.

“Shabetta…” She says without closing her mouth.

Apparently, she is more fascinated than terrified. Wait, what am I thinking? Who would be terrified of a brightly colored pony?

“Su-sugoii! Kimi shaberu koto dekiru des ne!? ” She asks with now a brightened face.

“I’m gonna take a guess that you’re asking if I can talk, yes I can.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry! You speak English, right. Oh my, you are so…”

“Cute?”

“Adorable!”

I frown at the word.

“Can you put me down now?” I ask her.

“O-of course!”

She places me beside the stack I was in. I sneeze at the scent of too much vanilla.

“Honto ni kawaii!!!”

She is totally fan-girling over the fact I sneezed. I’m not sure how I should take that. After a few squeals from her, she calmed down and bends down with her hands on her lap to match my height, or at least try to.

“So, where did you come from, little one?”

She’s treating me like a little kid, or a pet and I don’t know which is worse. As for her question, I don’t know the answer. I do know that the owner of this body is currently running around with mine. I don’t also know if I should tell her. I don’t know her much and she doesn’t particularly strike me as the smart type. Still, she’s the only person I can confide to right now.

“Okay, here’s the thing, U.I.-”

“Wait, only Gerald-san calls me that.”

Shit. Well, at least she now has an idea who I am, I think.

“You’re…”

“I’m…?” I gesture my hoof with spinning motion, gesturing her to continue.

“That is so cute!”

“U.I.!”

“Right! Um, you’re… Gerald-san’s pet!”

I face palmed. Or face hoofed. God, I have to remember I’m not human right now.

“No. Pets don’t talk, U.I.,” I say with disappointment.

“Oh, okay. Let me try again! You’re…”

“Yes?”

“A robot created by Gerald-san!”

Another face hoof, and this time, it hurts my face. And she even said it so seriously. If she can’t guess it, I might as well tell.

“No, U.I. It’s me, Gerald.”

Her face become contorted with confusion, registering the new information in her head. When she realize what I was saying, her smile became bigger.

“Now don’t be silly! You could be friends with Gerald-san, but I know I’m not that stupid to fall for that!”

“You see a multicolour pony in your room and you think that is impossible?”

“Oh you silly little pony!” She started petting my head. It reminds me of being praised by my dad. I kind of like it. I close my eyes and-

“Knock it off!” I shake my head, tossing away her hand.

“Sorry,” she says and then chuckles. “It looked like you enjoyed it.”

“Whatever.” I roll my eyes. “I am Gerald, no matter what you say.”

“Really? Tell me something Gerald knows.”

“U.I., you don’t know anything about me.” This is true, since I never really talk much to her, unless it’s business.

“Just say something!” She seems too excited.

“Ugh, I like reading?”

“There you go!”

“So you believe me?”

“No,” she answers so casually, with a smile.

Never before have I wanted to stampede on a girl with my new hooves so badly. She’s not taking me seriously. I have to convince her.

“Anything else?” She asks.

To be honest, I don’t know anything about her, and she doesn’t even know me much too. Just great. Now she thinks I’m just someone’s pet.

Wait, I have an idea.

“Then why don’t you call me- I mean, Gerald?”

“Aw, you want to go home already?” Her tone irritates me.

“Just call.”

She fishes out her cell phone out of her pocket. Her phone is one of those flip types, colored bright orange with a strap of an orange slice. I don’t know what to think of that.

“Just a sec, Rainbow!” She says as she hold the phone on her right ear.

I flinch at what she called. It is the pony’s real name, Rainbow Dash, the one who stole his body. He has to get it back, before she makes me look like an idiot.

“That’s odd, no one’s answering.” She puts down the phone and calls again. After a minute, she puts down her phone. “Usually, he answers quickly.”

“Let’s check up on him,” I suggest.

“Nah, he’s just sleeping in early.”

This girl is very hard headed, I am tempted to try kicking her temple.

“Fine!” I shout. I give out a stern look, an all-serious, I-am-not-kidding-with-you look. It’s going to be hard to achieve with this spectrum equine body of mine.

She looks at me, a little curious at what I am going to say, although I think she is mostly amused.

“Gerald is my owner, I want to go home, so please take me back to him.” I say with probably the most bored and uninterested tone I can manage. Since she’s so dense, I might as well say it that way.

“There you go, now I can take you back to your owner!”

“For the second time, I am no pet; I am a sentient being, not some dog that follows orders and craps everywhere.”

“Right. Sorry about that. But you just said he’s your owner.”

“I meant friend!”

“Okay, calm down. Sorry about that.”

At least I can go home for now. I walk forward and notice I am on top of a coffee table. I jump down and go straight for the door. The front door has a shoe rack beside it and the floor before the door goes lower than the floorboards.

“Come on, let’s go. I wanna go home.” Which is true.

“Wait! Don’t you want to rest for a while and have dinner while you’re at it? Please stay.” Her face is actually like a puppy begging to have its belly rubbed. I want to say no, but God, I don’t want to ruin that face. Besides, I am hungry.

“Fine, just some grub and we go.” I roll my eyes as I say.

Her face brightened up.

“Oh thank you! Let me get you something to eat! So what would you like, uh…? What’s your name, anyways?”

I think about that for a while. She doesn’t know it is me trapped inside a pony body, so I guess using this pony’s name will be fine.

“I’m… Rainbow Dash…”

“That is so adorable! And cute! And… and… KAWAII!!!”

I regret that I have said that name, and I yearn for a time traveling device to undo such happening.

“So Rainbow Dash, what would you like?” She asks as she walks toward another room, presumably the kitchen.

I ponder at her question. Would I be okay eating human food, or am I limited as a vegetarian? I decide not to care and just eat anything.

“Whatever you’re having.” I go straight to the couch she was sitting on. Damn, this is pretty comfy.

“Um, about that. I’m having bacon.” Her voice is filled with concern.

“I can eat meat, don’t worry.”

Then, I started to hear the frying sounds from the kitchen. I just sit on the couch, like a dog I guess, making myself comfortable. Should I feel degraded? Before the couch is a glass coffee table and then a large smart television that probably costs about like my whole salary for two months. I find the remote control beside. I guess I’ll watch some television. I grab the remote, and the remote slides farther from me. I miss my fingers.

I try to hold with both of my front hooves holding the side and then sliding it on top of my left front hoof, as if I have a palm. With my right hoof, I pressed the power button, which ends up smashing all of the buttons next to the power button. After a few presses, I manage to turn the television on. The display shows Discovery Channel, and the topic is about… horses. What a coincidence. I think God or whoever is in control of my life is laughing right now. I toss the remote control to the other side of the couch with minimal results. I really miss my fingers.

U.I. came in walking while carrying a stainless, fancy-looking tray. From the way her house looks, I think it’s only missing a butler or a maid.

“Do you live alone, U.I.?” I ask as I sit up straight, like a dog. As much as I want to sit like a normal person, this position seems best for my current condition. I also notice that she is half of my standing height, or maybe even smaller. I thought ponies are supposed to be bigger?

“Not really.” She sets down the tray onto the coffee table before the couch. “I had maids around, but I had them leave. I’m more comfortable cleaning up my own house.”

A house your dad bought for you. Still, I admire her determination to live on her own. It was like being myself, learning to do things on my own.

I look down at the tray; a plate with piles of bacon strips, another plate with French fries, and another plate with four pieces of bread. This is a weird dinner.

“I didn’t what to cook, so I cooked what I like.” She smiles. She does that awfully a lot today.

“U.I.?”

“Yeah?” She sits down beside me, picking the plate of bacon and eats one strip.

“Why are you being like, uh, acting this is all normal? I know myself that I am not normal, being a pony that can talk.”

I hear her swallow the strip down.

“I don’t know. When things that are too good to happen happens, I just enjoy it. Though I should question it.”

“Then why aren’t you?”

She ponder on the thought. Even I would question the existence of a speaking animal. Heck, I talked to it before her, and a lot of questions have been hanging around my mind since I met the pony. Then I became the pony.

“Well, you know Gerald-san. I think that’s enough for me.” She takes a piece of bread, places the bacon and some fries onto it, and folds it. She then takes a huge bite.

“How is that enough?”

“Gerald-san doesn’t have many friends. I think I’m just glad you two are actually close enough for him to talk about me to you. He never really talks to anyone else in the office, or even to me.” As she said that, her smile fades for moment, but then comes back.

For a moment, I feel weird. I didn’t know she cared that much about me, her co-worker who could care less if she trips and breaks her laptop. Me, who escapes reality on a daily basis, and there she is, thinking if I was okay.

“Rainbow? Are you okay?”

“What?” I notice I was staring and shake my head. “Sorry, I dozed off or something.”

She laughs.

After a few bites of bread and fries, I lay on the couch, just like how a dog- just like how a pony should. I realized before I ate was that I had to use my mouth to eat. U.I. offered to spoon feed me, and for some reason, I agreed, though I had to stop since it was getting embarrassing for me. Unfortunately for me, bacon doesn’t taste as it used to anymore. I actually spitted the bacon off my tongue. I can’t believe the day I would come to despise bacon would actually come.

U.I. just went to her room to answer a phone call, probably from her dad. According to her, her dad does this every night, and I told her dad is being so overprotective. She just shrugged and went to her room.

Looking around the room, it still amazes me that she gets to own this majestic house. I didn’t even notice the chandelier before. Some paintings on the wall bores me, though. They were just still images of objects like fruits or a bench. Why a bench, of all things?

I get up and jump off the couch. Right now, standing and walking on four legs doesn’t even surprise me anymore. It became instinct. I also learn how to move my tail, which is totally a new thing and even freakier than walking on four legs. It feels like connected to my spine, so moving it feels like moving my spine itself. I look at my colourful tail, moving according to my thoughts. Don’t ponies use tails to swat flies?

I notice another part of me; my wings. Technically, this body is not mine, but the fact remains that I am controlling it, so I guess it’s good as mine. I still haven’t figured out how to move them. Flying does sound exciting, and it is possible since I saw this pony fly before me last time. That will have to wait. Until I get home I can… Wait, what happens then? All I think about it getting home, but I never thought about what is next.

Do I go after my body thief? What happens after that? Can I even change back? What happens to U.I. and me?

Life will never be the same, and I realize it is my fault. I asked for this. I so longingly desire this unnatural transformation. I sought it, rejecting everything real. And now, I have it, and I feel, well, nothing. I am still Gerald, an employee of an unknown television station under the creative services department, living alone in an apartment. I guess I’m fired if I am like this. There’s a feeling inside me that I couldn’t describe. I missed walking on two legs. I missed working.

I missed being normal. Wow, the past me would have killed me right now. It saddens me, even though I should be celebrating that I have seen the impossible. Why am I feeling like this!? Is it because of U.I.? When I learned that she cared even I was being non-existent?

I push away the questions. I don’t want to get depressed, so I walk around the living room, making the sounds of clip clop with each of my step. I have to get used to that eventually.

I approach the book shelf. It’s as tall as the ceiling, and to think there are three of them. There’s even a ladder to reach the ones that are on top. At my place, the books are just stacked on a table next to my desktop computer. I really need to get a book shelf.

On the shelves, each row contains different kinds of books like ones from college and some fiction. Why does she keeps her college books? On another row, it is filled with books with Japanese texts on them. I can’t see the next shelf. I climb up the ladders, making my head reach the third shelf. There are English books here, but they featured anime characters and some of them are just Japanese words in English texts.

As I climb higher into the ladder, a deafening shout of the word ‘what’, causes me to fall on the wooden floor, hitting my head once again. This time, I keep myself awake and conscious, with the world spinning around me. I stand up on my legs, only to find myself swaying left and right.

“Rainbow-san, taihen des’!!” U.I. emerges from the other room, holding her cell phone. She then finds me doing sways like a drunk. She only giggles.

“Help me…” I manage to stutter.

She catches me on my right, holding my side and touching my wings. Reacting to her touch, my wings flare open. I don’t know how I did that.

“Oh my, you have wings!” Her excitement immediately removes itself. “Wait, no, we have a problem.”

“What?” The world finally stops spinning. “What’s going on?”

She leads me back to the couch, and I sit down.

“Well, my parents bought me this house.” She sits beside me.

“I figured.” I rub the bump on my head. “Do you have any ice?”

“So, my parents offered to stay here, and I refused since I wanted to be independent,”

“My head hurts, can you get me some ice, please?”

“Since they worry too much, they sent the maids I mentioned before. They were really professional, you know! They must have cost a lot.”

“Uh… I think I have a concussion.”

“Anyway, I sent to away and told them to tell my parents that I can take care of myself.”

“U.I….”

“My mom always thought I couldn’t get by on my own, so she does this thing every month.”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake! My head hurts!”

“S-s- I am so sorry!”

She rushes to the kitchen and soon enough, she hands me an ice bag, filled with ice cubes. I hold it on my head. Ouch.

“What were you saying?” I ask as I press the cold plastic.

“My mom will be visiting,” she says as she sits down.

Oh, her mom will be visiting. That’s nice of her. My parents could care less what I do, that kind of makes me jealou-

“WHAT!?” I drop the ice bag.

“Don’t worry! You can hide in the attic while my mom stays to talk. It will only last a few minutes, probably two hours tops, and then she leaves.”

I pick up the bag and place it back on my head. Two hours? What the hell are they going to do, play Scrabble? I can’t really complain though, she is treating me like a guest here.

“Okay, so when does she arrive? In an hour?” I can only guess that long, since it’s already nine in the evening.

“Here’s the thing,” she breathe in and out slowly. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know when your own mother is coming to visit you?”

“Yes.”

I am tempted to do my face hoof, but I don’t want to hurt my head any further.

“Why would you not know when your mother is coming?”

“She likes doing surprises. One time, I was getting inside my house and she was waiting for me, dressed like a ghost, with make-up and all.”

I’m not so jealous of her parents, all of a sudden. It’s hard to imagine an old woman scaring her own daughter for the sake of surprise.

“So, should I go to the attic now?”

“Yes. Don’t worry, its cosy in there.”

We go to the right of the living room and enter a hallway. We walk until we reach the end. She pulls out a stool from underneath a table, steps on it, and makes a couple of small jumps. For a while, she jumps until she manage to take hold of a string I didn’t notice before. She steps down the stool, and makes a hard pull. The ceiling folds, unfolding a staircase. Dust soon followed.

“I haven’t been in this room for a while.” She says as she swat away the particles from her nose.

“Cosy indeed.”

We climb the stairs, and enter the low ceiling room. She wasn’t lying about not being in this place, alright. The place is not even a match with the rooms downstairs. Instead, the walls and ceiling is a curve, making the room like a semi-circle.

“This is it.”

I’m not staying in this dust bin. I flap my wings, blowing all the dust into the air. U.I. started coughing and so did I. I should have opened the windows first.

I stop coughing and rub my eyes, and U.I. still haven’t stopped.

“Geez, the dust has settled. Are you asthmatic or something?”

“That wasn't me.”

Soon a figure emerges within the room, the source of the coughing sounds. A young girl steps out of the post, as if hiding for some time. We both only stare.

“Konbanwa, *cough* Yui-chan,” the girl says in a soft voice as she rubs her eyes.

“I thought your mother is visiting, not your sister,” I tell her without removing my eyes off the girl.

“She is my okaa-san.”

“And that would mean?”

“I meant she’s my mother.”

The Other Side

People go looking for adventures, more often outside their own comfort. They travel, searching for the unknown and even hope to discover something no one else had seen. They would scour the Earth’s already discovered sites, learn, and then find the undiscovered, if they are lucky. Others who don’t travel and brave enough to do so, imagine. Imagine what is undiscovered, what is not of common knowledge, and create their own adventures. Then, they share it. Soon, many have shared stories of bizarre adventures, funny stories, tales of the old, and legends of the mighty. I have read these stories and they continue to fascinate and astound me. Reading stories, whether unreal or not, have given me hope that maybe I could live and have an adventure on my own. I do not mean travelling the world, I mean being in a fantasy, seeing the impossible without losing my sanity. I desire for the opposite of reality.

After living for more than twenty years on Earth, I have not seen anything paranormal, outlandish, or anything that resembles the world that is described in fiction novels.

But right now, one can say I am living my dream, though I am not sure if it’s really a dream or a dire situation. I know I asked for, heck I begged for it. To be something out of the fairy tale story book is probably amazing or what not, but I guess I am more used to being a normal person. I miss being not normal, but at the same time excited because of the possibilities it holds; the possibility of seeing other talking creatures, and if this pony has wings, I can actually learn how. An exchange for losing my hand, I guess. I know how to move my wings, after all. It doesn’t make much sense how, but I can just ‘feel’ the appendages on my back and move them.

As of present, U.I. has shown me I can trust her. She cares for me. That sounds weird, wording that out. At least I am not alone in this situation. I don’t have to face it alone. I didn’t know having someone to trust is… Well, I can’t describe it. From novels, I always thought the protagonist will always get someone to trust, regardless who he or she is. I thought I am no protagonist, so I will be always alone. I think I can say I feel reassured that I have a companion in getting through… whatever this is.

But right now, it’s not just U.I. and me. There’s a stranger, right before us, and U.I. says she’s her mother. How can that be when she looks like my age?

The girl that U.I. claims to be her mother wears a one piece dress, white and all. Her hair reaches her waist, which is really amazing to look at. Her face resembles U.I.’s greatly, and not as a mother, but a sister, albeit U.I. has a bob cut hair do. On top of that, her ‘mom’ has an unmistakeably body of a college girl on her first year.

“Yui-chan?” She tilts her head, as if wondering if we heard her. I hid behind her leg. I know she can’t hide me, but the stairs behind closed itself, and there are no other hiding spots for me to run to.

“Okaa-san… koko kakurette nante, shoki desu ka!?” She screams at her relative. I have no idea she just said.

“Bikura shita? Tte yuu ka…” The girl looks at me, trying to see what the heck I am. This can’t be good. “Inu?”

“Ahahahaha! So desu! Inu katta desu!” Her fake laughter is only making this worse, and I can only assume she lied to her about what I am.

“What did she say?” I whisper to her.

“Not now,” she whispers back.

I look back at her mother. She is now in front of U.I. What do I do?

“Kawaii janai ka?” Great, she saw me. “Demo kawaiso. Nande konna ippai iro no?

They keep talking in Japanese while I try to open the stair behind me. How do you even open this thing? There are no door handles, or anything. It’s like the door disappeared. I keep moving my front hoof, trying to feel anything that is movable.

“Dash, what are you doing?” U.I. says as she sits down beside me.

“Busting out of here,” I whisper back.

Her mom then said something, and then U.I. replies back at her. I think I need to learn Japanese right now if I have stay in this any longer in this room with both of them. She then pets my head.

“Just play along,” she hushes.

The mother says something, and then U.I. replies in a tone filled with panic. She then opens the floor by lifting a panel, and then twists a lever inside. After a clinking sound, the floor drops, revealing the wooden staircase. I run first and reach the ground floor. I can at least pretend I’m shy.

Soon, the pair follows my steps as I go to back to the living room. I thought of hiding in the other rooms, but I have no way of reach those door knobs. I jump into the couch and tuck myself inside between the throw pillows. This just reminds me of hiding back in the car and those were shady memories. Probably because I bumped my head and passed out.

I can still heard them bickering in another language, with the word ‘kawaii’ being said to many times.

“Dash! Where are you~” She sounds like playing hide and seek with a kid. And the kid is me. Fantastic.

I feel a small tug on my tail. It is still a strange sensation, having a new body part being touched. Wait, that means my tail exposed.

“Come on, Dashie! Mom wants to meet you!”

I’m afraid I don’t feel the same, since she thinks I’m some animal. And what kind of a nickname is ‘Dashie’? Then, I feel her hands around my waist, or whatever they call a pony’s waist, and lift me out of the pillow haven.

“Aw, aren’t you adorable?” She says with a tone that makes me want to gag. Too bad I don’t have fingers to force myself to do so. I wonder if I can do it with hooves. U.I. places me on the floor, right before her mom. Or sister. Heck, she even looks younger.

“Rainbow Dash, des ne?” The mother sits with her knees on the floor and starts to pet me with her right hand. The way she said Rainbow Dash was weird, but that is the only words I can understand. I must say, she does it better than U.I. I close my eyes. It’s just so relaxing, I end up sitting down. She starts rubbing my neck too. I start to feel sleepy. That’s not good.

I shake her hand off and go back behind U.I.’s leg, then jump into the couch again. They start to talk again, this time her mom telling excitedly about something. Gee, I wonder what that could be. U.I.’s still smiling, but something is off about that, and it’s probably what her mother said.

After a bit of talk that lasted for a minute, her mom went to a room, leaving the two of us.

“When is she leaving?” I ask her as I poke my head out.

“She’s staying… For the night.”

“WHAT!?”

U.I. covers my mouth.

“Not too loud!” She whispers.

“Yui-chan? Doushita no?” Her mom calls out.

“Nande mo nai desu!” She laughs nervously. “Okay, here’s the plan; you keep playing as pet until morning, then I get you home. Gerald becomes happy.”

“That’s more of a checklist than a plan.” I scowl at her. “And I don’t want her to stay! She’s going to pet me all the time, and that makes me feel-”

“Delightful?”

I deadpan her answer. I turn my head to the right and look back at the door her mother went into.

“What is she doing?” I ask her as I turn back to U.I.

“Fixing her room. Look, I know you don’t being treated as a pet, but if you want your secret to be safe, you just have to get through this. Okay?”

“What if she expects me to, uh, you know, ‘neigh’?”

“Don’t worry, I told her you’re mute!” She exclaims as she clapped her hands together.

I give out a big sigh. Dealing with her mom could be easy, depending how things will go tonight.

“Do you think your mom will freak out if she heard me talk?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I reacted just fine, I don’t know how my mom would.”

I think of how I am going to act around her mom, or if she is her mom. It could be just a weird nickname of sorts, I mean that can happen, right? I don’t like acting like a little shy animal, it kind of feels degrading. Other than that, I have no idea what in all that is holy they are talking about.

I look back at the door in the corridor, and notice the door is left open. I thought she close the-

“Boo.”

“AAAHH-mmmmmhhhhh!!” My attempted scream is being covered by U.I.’s mouth. Nice catch.

Her mom is behind the couch, and stands up straight, laughing at my surprised face. She says something fast, and U.I. lets go of my muzzle.

“Sorry, Dashie.” Her mom said.

“It’s alright.” I reply, and sigh afterwards.

I pause myself. I think I just did something wrong.

“Ima wa… ” Her mom trails off her sentence, and I can guess she said ‘That was…’

U.I. starts to talk fast. I think even if I did speak Japanese, I would not even understand a word she said since she started firing away words. Her mom gestured her to stop. You know, with her hand open. I miss hands.

I’ll just hide in the couch, again…

Before I could even hide, their conversation became louder, and soon starts to sound like a fight. I don’t know why they would be fighting since I’m the one supposed to be the one they are talking about. Unknown words are hurled to each other, and I don’t know if it’s still about me. Her mom starts to point at me. That’s a bad sign.

“Uh, excuse me.” I say, trying to cut their soon to be round one of Street Fighter.

They keep on fighting, with words. I think they are fighting.

“Um, hello?” I say with a louder voice.

And I seem to blend in the background. It’s funny, since I am a rainbow-coloured horse. I had enough.

“STOP IT!!!” I scream with everything I have. It hurts my throat, but at least I got their attention. Now, both of them are staring at me and I can see they really do look alike.

“Thank you.” I can still feel my throat sting. “Now, let’s be civil and talk more calmly.”

I think we all didn’t move for a minute, as if cooling down from all the rage. It is only then that U.I. moves first and faces her mother. She started saying something to her, probably explaining what am I?

“Can’t your mom speak English?” I ask U.I.

“I most certainly can, little pony,” the mother says in a weird tone. At least U.I. sounds a lot more normal.

“First thing first, hi, I’m Rainbow Dash,” I wave at her as I say. “I’m a pony and I just want to pass the time here without anyone fighting and be peaceful.”

“Right. A talking pony. That’s not crazy.” Her mom holds her head with both of her hands.

“Okaa-san, Dashie’s a friend of a friend of mine. She’s just here because she’s lost. She’s not my pet and she’s not anyone’s either. So please, let her stay.”

Her mother looks at U.I. She looks a bit pale, learning that an animal can talk and be sentient.

“Fine,” she answers after she let out a big sigh. “But you’ll have to answer my questions, pony girl.”

Pony girl? I never really thought about it, being in another gender, which is probably why I am going to act like an idiot.

“I’m not a girl,” I say.

The girls looks at each other, sharing a confused look. Then, they laugh like they were watching the Three Stooges for the first time.

“Oh Dashie! What did Gerald-san tell you?” U.I. asks as she tries to hold back her laughter.

“I know I’m a guy!”

“This is just rich! Not only she’s rainbow coloured, but also a lesbian!” Her mom says, then followed by torrents of laughter. Her daughter did the same. I can only scowl at them.

So they keep laughing until their stomachs hurt and tears start to fall from their eyes. I, on the other hand, uh, hoof, just look at them, boringly.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Dash,” U.I. says as she wipes the tear from her left eye. “Did you grow up believing you’re a guy?”

“I’ve always been a guy!” I scream in a girly voice that doesn’t help my current situation. “And I am not a lesbian!”

“Stop! You’re just making my stomach hurt more.” Her mom sits on the couch, trying not to fall on the floor from too much laughter.

“Do you want me to prove it? Because I can!”

The two of them huddle together, whispering in another language. They face me together.

“Okay, prove it,” U.I. says in a serious voice with a serious face.

I stand before them and shoved my ass in front of them.

“THERE! Happy!?”

They hold back their giggles. “Are we supposed to see something?” Her mom asks.

“Of course you-”

I look at my crotch, and see nothing. What? My mind freezes upon the new discovery. Of course. I exchange body with a female horse, but why didn’t I bother to check? Maybe because I still feel normal down there.

I can only stare at my… thing. Technically, my va- Nope, I’m not going to say it. As the information registers on my mind, I scream. In a raspy, and really girly voice. Oh, and I pass out.

I wake up to the sounds of the shuffling papers right next to my head. I raise my head slowly and look around. I am back at the office, in front of my computer.

“What?”

“As I said, Chief wants a picture done. Just vector this image and make a poster of it.” U.I. then hands me a printout.

What’s going on? I thought I was a…

I was something. I don’t remember, but I know something happened to me. I am missing an event. It feels like… normal.

“U.I.?”

“Yes, Gerald-san?”

“Am I missing something?” I ask as I scratch my head.

“Not that I can think of any. Are you okay?” She looks concerned.

“I’m fine,” I answer. “I’m just a little… I don’t know.”

“Oh, you should sit down. It’s probably that again.” She helps me sit back to my office chair, though I really can do it by myself. That again? What is ‘that’?

“Look, I’m okay. I just feel-”

“I know. Does it hurt?”

My head does hurt.

“Yeah, a bit.”

“Wow. Mine always hurt a lot. You’re either tough or it just doesn’t hurt a lot.”

Why does she gets bad headaches? That’s not normal.

“Does it always hurt?” I ask her.

“Well, yeah, duh. But lucky for us, it only happens once in a while. Guys have it better, though.”

With a few thinking, I manage to link what I think we are talking about. My mind is rejecting it, but I try to take it in.

I look at her with all seriousness.

“U.I., I cannot get the ‘cramps’. I’m a dude.” I say in almost hushed tone.

“G, when are you going to accept this is normal for you?” She asks playfully. “You’re the prettiest girl I met, and you keep insisting you’re a man.”

That can’t be. I’m born a guy, raised by my boring, normal parents, played and hanged out with the boys, and even played basketball since it was cool.

“I mean, come on, G! You have even a better figure than me!”

I freeze at her sentence.

“What?”

“You look pale. Have you looked at the mirror lately?”

I stand up and dash off the cubicle, turning left the corridor and into the restroom. I enter the male, hoping I am really just hearing things from her, even though my subconscious has told me the possible true. Or maybe, the inevitable truth.

I immediately run the water from the tap and wash my face. Slowly, I raise my head.

I see a girl, returning my movements. My shocked face, my increased breathing is being imitated by the girl before me. No…

I lift my hand and wave, and the girl did the same. Well, shit. This is me. At least I look really pretty, not to mention, sexy. My boobs even look great-

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!”

My eyes open hastily, and see a white ceiling above me. I am sweating and even breathing fast. I had a nightmare. It felt so real. I actually felt the weight of my bo- You know what, never mind about that dream. Why am I here again?

I look down at my body and see my cyan body still there. How come I didn’t remember this while dreaming? I sit on the edge of the bed, thinking what happened to lead me here sleeping. Ah, yes. I passed out learning I’m-

Nah, I don’t remember. But I do need to pee.

I jump off the bed and land on my hooves, making a clop sounds. These hooves are pretty thick, I could hurt someone with these.

After walking out of the unknown bedroom, I realize I have no idea how to get to the bathroom. Looks like I’ll have to guess. I start to walk to the right of the corridor, avoiding the living room on the left end. Where are the girls?

I reach the end of the hall and see and open door and see a toilet. Thank goodness, I couldn’t hold it any longer.

Another problem prevails; I can’t reach it. I try to stand on my hind legs, but my height doesn’t increase much. Guess I’ll have to do it sitting. I climb the toilet using my front hooves and push myself upward, then turn around to sit. I almost fell, but I manage to sit like a king. Ah yes. Let it rip…

And then I hear a loud splash. God, who turned on the water tap? Well, at least I’m almost done. I look down and see-

“SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT-”

U.I. storms in, probably hearing my link of swears.

“Dash!? Are you alright?” She asks her head pops in from the door frame, then comes inside and kneels beside me. “Dash, calm down, calm down.”

I did what I am told and start to breathe slower.

“Good. Now let me get you back to bed.”

I hold a hoof in front of her.

“No. I… I’m fine.” I shake my head as I say. “Don’t you have work today?”

“Don’t be silly, it’s Sunday. Come on, breakfast is ready.”

The word breakfast reminded me of the taste of bacon, which was ungodly unlike when I was human. I wonder if I can still eat eggs. They’re technically meat, so will those taste different as well? I hope not, as my diet composes of eggs for almost ten years.

“How are you feeling, Dash?” U.I. asked me as we walk the down the corridor.

“Better, I guess.” My hooves clops on the wooden floor. I’m getting worried that I might actually damage the floor. But I’m a pony, not a horse, I told myself. I don’t weigh much.

“I still kinda confused. Are you sure you’re okay? You’re pretty shaken up with all the girl thing,” she says as we step into the living room.

“Because I am. Or at least, I was.”

At the breakfast table, her mom cooked omelettes and some pancakes, and they smell heavenly. I gave up determining if she is her mother after tasting her dishes; if she can cook this well, she has to be a mother. The whole meal, no one talked. Maybe because we were tired, or groggy, but not me. I just didn’t know what to say. Sitting before them like its normal to have a horse on the dining table eating omelettes and pancakes, what am I supposed to say? Perhaps they felt the same, so they didn’t say anything too.

Shortly after breakfast, U.I.’s mom left, saying something in Japanese and I think I heard Dash within her sentences. At this rate, I might as well go to Japan and live there. It’s back to just the two of us; me and U.I. Or Yui. I think I need to call her properly now, since she’s being kind to me.

“Yui?” It feels weird to say her real name.

Yui looks like she is deep in thought.

“Yui?” I call her in a bit louder volume.

She snaps out of her thoughts.

“Oh sorry, Dash. I’m not used to that name when it’s from you,” she says as she scratches her neck. Don’t you think I’m not used to the name Dash? Oh, right. You don’t. I decided to cut to the chase.

“So… What now?”

“We go to your place!”

I almost forgot about that! Right, I have to prove to her I am Gerald, and here is my chance.

“Alright, what are waiting for?”

Home Bittersweet Home

If you would go back in time, exactly about two days before all this and tell me that my life will be all different in one day, I’d simply shrugged off that statement. If you tell me that I will turn into an equine that has fur matching a box of crayons, I would say that you must be out of your mind. But if you tell me that I would become a girl, I would have hit your face with my fist. I’m a man, and I have no intention in going over the other side of gender wall. I like being a guy and I never wondered what’s it like to be a woman, or at least not particularly interested. Sure, there are some fictions that tackles the certain issue, but they weren’t my type of reading. I like adventure, action! Maybe I should have been more specific when I was desperately asking for the impossible. I don’t like this. I like being a man. I enjoyed its perks and grew up being one, and now you tell me that’s not the case anymore?

It’s funny. I reacted more on my gender change than my whole body swap. I should’ve checked my whole body, but I guess my mind was too occupied to do anything. Now that I think about it, I wonder what happened to my real body. From what happened that night, it seemed that she needed to do something, but only as a human. She said she would take care of my body, but people only say that when something is dangerous is going to happen. I don’t know what to think of Rainbow Dash, other than what she shown me; brash, rude, and sounds like a lesbian. Wait, is that it? Is she going for human females!? I have to hit myself for thinking like that. There’s just no way. She’s a pony, why would she go for humans? Unless it’s okay for them? Am I being racist? I have to find my body and get an explanation.

As of now, I am riding shotgun in U.I.’s car, while she drove to my place. It is about half an hour to get to my place, since I live in the city rather than in a neighborhood. I have to say, this is a peaceful looking place, unlike my place. I look out of the window on my door. There are people hanging outside their houses, either gardening or just resting. The atmosphere makes me want to live here.

“Are you sure you’re supposed to seat there?” U.I. asked, sounding worried.

“I called shotgun. Shush.” I answer back as I keep people watching.

I’m not worried that people might see me. After all, people easily doubt what they think they see and always put up a logical reasoning for what they see. Unless I am completely in front of them, I have nothing to fear.

I see a kid on a terrace staring at me as I stare back at her. I wave a hoof at her, and instinct lead her to do the same, while her jaw dropped.

“Stop calling attention to us. We might get in trouble.” U.I. says without looking away from the road.

“Please, like it’s illegal for a pony to sit in a car.”

“No, it’s not. But-”

“But what?”

“Now that I think of it, I don’t know. I don’t think anyone cared if anyone sees you, especially in this neighborhood. It’s kind of lax around here.”

And it’s true, from what I observed.

For a while I just stare outside, until it got boring. Nobody reacted whenever I wave at them. It’s like they don’t find a rainbow mane pony to be surprising, so I stopped. Then silence ensues. For a minute. Within that minute, I have cooked up a perfect conversation starters for U.I.

“Hey U.I.”

“Hmm?”

“What you and your mom fighting about?”

Asking her what they were fighting about was not in my conversation starter list, but it came out anyways. I know I am being a meddler, but their fight was something serious that they decided to ignore my existence.

“It’s nothing.”

And when people say that, it always meant the opposite. So, I did exactly what she did.

“Oh, okay.” I answer and look out of the window again.

Silence comes back, and this time it is unsettling to U.I. From the way she looks, she always wanted to tell someone about her problems, and just now, she shot down her chance of doing so. Twenty seconds has passed from my last word. Just ten more seco-

“Okay, it was something.”

See? I was off ten seconds, but I still got it.

“So, what was that all about?”

Her face contorts to a miserable form, as if remembering the very night.

“You see, I had a dog.”

“Your mom was comparing me to a dog!?”

“Will you let me finish?” She looks at me with a face of disappointment. I decide to shut up and nod.

“My mom always love animals. She would take to zoos and petting places and the like. I enjoy those trips, as any child would. So, there was this time we went to a stable, where you can ride horses and ponies.”

The last sentence made me raise my eyebrow, if I even have one. I can’t imagine someone riding on my back.

“So my mom rode a horse named Joshua and I rode a pony named Pringles.”

“Pringles? Really?”

She nods.

“We were riding them normally, you know, making them walk and stuff. I had an idea to make Pringles gallop, so I did what horse racers do; kick them. Sure, Pringles did gallop, but then Pringles was a bit of a retard and crashed himself into a fence. I was thrown off to the bushes, which really cushioned my fall. Pringles just lied there, helpless.”

She pauses.

“My mom, worried as hell, thought I was tossed away by the pony and start blaming it. It was the first time my mom was so angry at an animal. She thought I was harmed or even got killed.”

I try to picture it; her mom verbally abusing a pony because of her daughter’s plight. I couldn’t.

“So, with my childish mind, I decided to trick my mother. I made a fake voice pretending to be the pony and said sorry.”

What?

“And my mom bought it. Maybe her mind was really vulnerable at that time, or something. She then cried, thinking she was being too cruel to an innocent creature. It was weird, even for me as a kid.”

“So how is this story supposed to relate to the fight last evening?” I tilt my head.

“She thought I was reminding her of the past to get back at her for the surprises she did. I was explaining to her I wasn’t trying anything like that. She wouldn’t believe it, though.”

It look to the front. What I just heard was probably one of the most bizarre things I have ever heard. At that moment, I didn’t know what to say.

“That’s why I’m really thankful to you.” U.I.’s eyes still on the road.

“For what? I didn’t do anything.” I look at her.

“For breaking the fight between us. I know how uncomfortable it is to be in the middle, but you still stepped in even though you’re a pony.

If you didn’t talk, well, I don’t want to think about that.” She then smiles.

That night, when they were fighting, I didn’t realize how big it was for her.

“You’re… welcome, I guess.”

We finally reached my place. U.I. parked the car right in front of the building, as my car is at the company. The building is eight stories high, with aging orange bricks that made it look like a giant carrot strip, with holes being windows. The front glass doors look unpolished, as always.

“This is where Gerald-san lives, huh.” She says, looking up to the carrot building.

“Yep.” I answer, doing the same. It looks bigger now, with my height lower. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Wait! What if there’s people in there?”

“Trust me, nobody hangs outside their rooms.”

Walking inside the halls made me feel at ease and at alerted. After all, I’m not quite normal at the moment and there’s a chance one of the tenants might leave their rooms. I knows one particular old lady here that hates animals and would bash her cane at any four-legged creature, unable to differentiate a dog from a cat. I would do anything to avoid seeing her.

“Hey, let’s take the elevator.” U.I. says as she approaches the said contraption.

“It’s broken, so don’t bother.”

“What!? Are you serious? This building has eight floors!”

“And I live on the second floor.”

“Thank goodness for that.”

We approach the staircase, and U.I. starts climbing the first set. I just stare at the staircase. I guess you can say I’m on a ‘stare case’.

God, the pun is so bad, I want to hit myself.

“What’s wrong, Dash?”

“I have a problem.”

U.I. starts to climb down. “What is it?”

I look at her.

“I can’t climb stairs,” I said, in almost a whisper.

For a moment, she just stares at me, totally baffled at the thought of me not able to climb stairs.

“What?”

“I can’t climb stairs.”

U.I. stares yet again, then blinks while I stand there, looking away in embarrassment. She whispers something.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing!” She shakes her head violently. “So, I guess I’ll have to carry you?”

“Just do it!”

After a few minutes, we reached the second floor. Apparently, piggy back rides only work if you have fingers, so I ended up falling one time, and it was then I decided to let her carry me with her arms. Embarrassing as it was, it reminded me of being carried by my parents. We reach the door to my room.

“You can put me down now.”

“O-oh! Right.” She sounded a bit disappointed.

I drop to the floor and look around for people.

“So, do you have any keys?”

“No, it’s-”

“Under your rug!”

I look at her.

“Except I don’t have a rug.”

“Oh.”

“Just go the end of the hallway, there’s a plant. Look in the pot and the spare key should be there.”

She looks at me curiously.

“That’s actually a smart way to keep a spare…”

After a while, she comes back with the key. Come to think of it, I never invited U.I. over. Heck, I never did with anyone. U.I. goes to the

door and inserts the key. As she turns it, her face becomes confused.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

“The door is not locked.”

What? I’m pretty I locked up before going to work. I never left the house unlocked. Was I robbed? Did someone broke in? Shit, they could have stolen my P.C.!

In my worry, I kick the door with my hind legs and move to get inside, only to be slammed by the door as it swings back from my attack, sending me flying to the wall. I stick like an insect to a windshield.

“Ouch. That’s gotta hurt.”

“Yes. Yes it does.”

I fall from the wall and make a thud to the floor. I got up, shake my head, and run straight to my room. There’s no time to waste, my humble abode was intruded and desecrated.

Through the door, I can see no difference. It is still the way it is, all my belongings in place and intact. The room first greets me is my living room, where my bookshelves on both left and right wall are filled with different books, novels I have read and have yet to read. The floor is covered in a carpet I only vacuum once a year, making the bright blue covering take a darker hue. Farther to the north from the door is the couch before the LED television. And the television is on, with Discovery channel showing.

A head poked out of the couch’s back rest, obviously belonging to the intruder. It seems he or she hasn’t noticed my loud knocking. What kind of a person breaks into an apartment and watches Discovery? You can look up things in the internet. As the show progress, I can hear the uninvited guest murmuring.

“Fascinating…”

The television is showing images and videos of space rockets, the lift off, and the astronauts themselves. While it is an interesting coverage, I still can’t believe the intruder sounds like it was their first time seeing space stuff. The intruder, who apparently is a girl, keeps murmuring.

“Is that even possible!?”

The television shows the rocket bursting to the skies, emitting tons of smoke and fire on its bottom. Slowly, the black and white pointed tube lifts off, and then penetrates the paper sky.

“Oh, my. They reached the moon this way?”

From that sentence, I can already tell the girl is not very bright, or that she never been to a school. I am taking the former, though. Okay, I had enough of this. I loudly clear my throat.

“Wah!” The girl jumps off the chair, and lands standing facing us. The look on her face is mixed with confusion and panic. Then, recognition. “Rainbow Dash?”

Do I know her? Let’s see, shall we? The girl is around flat five feet or lower, her black hair reaches her shoulders, however the other half of her head is shaved, which is kind of disturbing for me. Thin and slender, she wears a black tank top, black leather pants, and God almighty, a pair of leather boots that has some sort of metal cover on the toes. Her shoulders are bare, covered in tattoos of skulls, a woman, and others that I can’t recognize. Did I mention that her tattoos on her arms that reaches before her hands?

She wore makeup that reminds me of a certain rock band who claimed they weren’t emo, but I know they were. Thick black eyeliner and a bit of lipstick. While she does have a pretty face, her make up ruins it.

Basically, she’s a teen in a stage of rebellion. I can imagine a woman crying seeing her. No wonder she’s so amazed with Discovery.

Oh, and the answer’s no.

The fact the punkish looking girl recognize this pony body can mean one thing; she’s one of the ponies stealing bodies. Which means her pony body is somewhere in the city, lost and confused. Unforgivable.

“Oh, you’re not Rainbow…”

“The hell I am! You turn me back this instant!” I even stomp a hoof, which I later realize look too adorable to be taken seriously.

The girl looks at my companion with recognition.

“Rainbow, I told you to explain before doing the swap! Did you even ask for their permission?” She says as she folds her arms.

U.I. didn’t reply. In fact, she doesn’t have anything to say as her mind probably went blank.

“Rainbow?”

“That’s her, right?” U.I. points at me.

“That’s her body with someone else’s mind. Wait, if you’re not Rainbow, then…”

“Oh, yeah Twilight, I forgot to ask, can I dye my hair?” A new voice enters the room, originating from my bedroom on the left, but I couldn’t see who it is. “… ‘Cause you just appear too bright for me and…”

The voice’s owner comes to view after it arrives next to the couch, and along with it the stink of instant coffee. A lavender pony with purple hair stops as soon as it sees us. I also notice the floating mug above its horn, which is on its forehead.

That makes it a unicorn, right? A pony unicorn. It’s making the cup float. Unicorns are magical, right? That’s not a trick, right?

“Oh wow. Two ponies in the room,” the unicorn says in a bland tone.

Seeing another pony made me silent. I think my jaw fell at the sight before me. The purple one looks at me for a while.

“At least I don’t look like a gay parade advertisement. I’m starting to like mine. Right.” She moves to the couch and jumps on it. “I guess you guys are in the same boat, huh?”

“Where’s Rainbow Dash?” the girl asks and that snaps me out of my stare.

“Wait, I’m the one who asks the questions. What did you horses do to me?”

“First off, we’re not horses, we’re ponies. Secondly, Rainbow Dash should have explained to you everything. Are you saying she just took your body and left?”

“Yes! That darn pony just took off!”

“Oh, Rainbow…” She makes a face palm.

“What the hell is going on? You better explain!”

The other pony hides in the couch as my voice reaches levels of howling.

I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I turn my head. U.I. looks at me caringly. I realize my face was plastered with anger all over it.

“Are they cool now?” The unicorn asks.

I sit on a cushion from the couch and others did the same, making a circle behind the couch.

It’s an awkward gathering; a pair of people and a pair of ponies. For a while, all of us were just exchanging looks and glances without saying anything. U.I. did not even look up much, she’s pretty interested in her own sock-covered feet. I couldn’t blame her, though.

Twilight, who seems to look like a metal band member that could possibly be a drug pusher, didn’t quite act her look’s part. She often would look at her fingers, moving them or hold a pencil like it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

As for the other pony, she just sat there, looking at us with less interest compared to the others.

“Um, we should introduce ourselves.” Twilight stands up. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. I have been sent from Equestria by our leader under order.”

“Your name is Twilight ‘Sparkle’? No kidding?” I ask.

“Is my name that weird?”

“Never mind.”

The girl sits back down.

“Your turn.” She says to the unicorn on her right.

“Fine.” The pony stands. “People call me Morrigan. I used to be a really awesome girl until I became a girly, bright pony.” And with that, she sits on her haunches. Twilight rolls her eyes.

It is my turn to introduce and they all look at me expectantly. I gulp, and stand on my hooves.

“Uh, name is Gerald. Used to be guy until this colour explosion showed up and changed bodies with me.” I sit down, not able to think

other things to say. “Okay, can we get to the part where you explain all that is happening to me?” My irritation increases with each passing second.

“Okay. As you can see, we are not of this world. We come from a different world, one we call Equestria, where ponies and other sentient creatures dominate the planet, unlike your world where humans are the only species.”

“Yeah, I’m not here for a history lesson, so can we get to the point where why I am like this?”

“O-okay? In our world, we have two princesses who rules over us, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”

“Pretty pony princesses. I’m gonna be sick. Where are the queens when you need them?” Morgana groans, which earns her a glare from Twilight.

“Two years ago, Princess Celestia was the only ruler.”

“Are you telling me Princess Luna is only two years old?” U.I. asks curiously. I’m pretty she wants to see a baby pony princess.

“Uh, no. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are actually more than a thousand years old.” Twilight’s answer places a grimaced look on U.I.’s face.

“So, really old horses does the governing?” Morgana lies on her belly, with her hooves splayed out. “Not to mention, immortal. Kinda hard to imagine wrinkling old horses barking orders to others. Oh, wait, it’s not hard.”

“They don’t age, from the looks of it.” Which brings back a grin to U.I.’s face. The thought of immortal and forever cute ponies governing is probably the reason.

“Just get back to the story.” I scowl at Twilight.

“Sorry! We go back thousand years ago, where Princess Luna became jealous of Princess Celestia. The legend says Princess Luna envied Princess Celestia’s daylight, since ponies are awake by the day and sleep at night. Evil spirits tempted her and conned her into giving in to the darkness, and then, she became what all of Equestria’s fear, Nightmare Moon.”

“Have I seen this show somewhere? ‘Cause this sounds like weak plot at an attempt to make a T.V. series.” Morgana says in a deadening tone.

Nightmare Moon. The name sticks into my mind. As I heard the name, there was a flash of recognition. I have heard the name, but I am pretty sure I have never read anything about a princess being transformed into a… I don’t know.

“Nightmare Moon,” Twilight says, with a tone of irritation. “Made the night last forever, until she was sealed in the moon with the power of the Elements of Harmony.”

“Cliché as fuck.” Morgana says.

We all shoot glares at her.

“Oookay. Sorry, go on.”

“We now go back to two years ago from now, Nightmare Moon returns from her banishment, aided by the stars in her escape, or what the books says.”

“Let me guess; princess saves the day, seals her back to the moon?”

“Well, no. Princess Celestia was the one who got sent away, with Nightmare Moon being stronger than before.”

“How was she defeated?” U.I. asks, worried about the fate of colourful ponies’ future.

“My friends and I wielded the Elements of Harmony, and defeated Nightmare Moon.”

“You killed her!” Morgana feigns a fake dramatic voice, pointing an accusing hoof.

“What, no! We didn’t kill her!”

“You tossed her into the sun!”

“Star Swirl’s beard no!” She stands up, upstarted by Morgana’s accusations.

“Just let her finish.” I didn’t even realize I am already placing my right hoof onto my face.

Twilight places her hand on her chest, and lets out a big sigh and with it her hand forward. She then sits back down with us.

“We destroyed the evil magic that possessed Princess Luna; we saved her.”

“Okay, then you guys lived happily ever after with magical rainbows and gumdrops, hooray. Now tell me where we get involved in all this?”

As much I wanted to learn more about a magical land dominated by assorted colored ponies, I still have to know why the hell I am like this. I might go asking Twilight after this is all over.

“Two years ago, we thought we eradicated the evil spirit possessing Princess Luna.”

“Whoopdie doo, now the evil spirit is in our world, and you need champions to help you deal with the ghost?”

“I- Yes, exactly.” She scratches her head. “How did you know?”

“Like I said, fucking cliché.” Morgana smiles.

“Why do you even need us? From what you said, the Elements seem to control the thing just fine. Whatever those are.” I ask, ignoring the foul mouthed pony.

“That’s what I thought too, but our Elements only work in our world.”

Well, that’s dumb, how convenient for the demon. I didn’t say it out loud, for some reason.

“And why is that?” U.I. asks and then grabs and stuffs some potato chips from Morgana in her mouth. Who told them to make themselves at home?

“The nature of our world is well-versed with what makes the Elements of Harmony. This world, however, is not so much…”

“I don’t get it.” Morgana eats more potato chips by putting her muzzle through the bag.

“What I mean is your world is kind of uh, how I put this nicely… Chaotic?”

“And your world is paradise, okay, sure. This world is hell, I know that. I can only imagine a little girl’s world over there.”

I can only agree with the sarcastic purple curser here. A land where colourful ponies live in peace, not to mention they have unicorns and pegasus too. It does sound like a damn toy set from a kids’ show.

“What’s our part in this?” I ask.

“I’ll be straight with you guys then; the spirits want your bodies.”

Us? Why us? We aren’t even special, though in ways different from other people. All I did was to hide from realness of reality with books. I can’t be special. I don’t know about Morgana, but she doesn’t seem special too.

“Why us?”

Twilight looked down, as if the answer is in her lap. “I don’t know.”

Of course, she doesn’t know. That’s how it always work with stories; you just have to embrace the path laid out for you, but this is just ridiculous. It feels awkward to be in a plot so similar to some stories I have read before. The chosen one cliché. Zero chances of winning, an unknown enemy and fictional, sentient creatures; I thought I would love it, but then again, responsibilities is a part of reality I always escape from, so this new responsibility is no different.

I was about to say something; but the door behind me explodes, sending over our heads and crashing into my T.V. I’m supposed to be angry about that, but I’m more afraid of what’s capable of doing such a thing.

A figure walks into the room. It’s myself, wearing a biker jacket and dark jeans. Am I wearing boots?

“Sorry, tryin’ out these new kickers!”