Sweet as Sugar

"Is he alive?"

"I reckon he is, pardner. He's still breathin', ain't he, Fluttershy?"

"Y-yeah, he's still breathing..."

"Ugh..." I groaned, turning over and lying down on my stomach. Oww, that stung. Whatever happened to me, I don't care. All I care about is that my body's tired, and aching, and I don't want any company until I feel better and know what happened to me. I could've fallen off a cliff for all I cared.

"He's a pegasus!" Someone gasped. I blinked slowly, my surroundings fuzzy and colorful. The voice sounded like it came from a girl, and, judging from the five other gasps that echoed hers, the others were girls too. Great. Just what I always wanted. Six girls seeing me in this pathetic state.

One of the girls spoke in a soft voice, "Poor little colt. He's bruised everywhere."

"He looks awful." Another voice, this time refined and sophisticated, added, making me twitch. Me, awful? OK, sure, I've got bruises everywhere, but I've got my pride.

I flipped around, saying, "Hey, I'll have you know that I'm not that-" I fell silent, staring into six pairs of eyes that belonged to six... ponies. Six freaking ponies that looked like they came out of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic show.

One of them, an orange Earth pony - I have yet to see any wings or horns on her - with bright green eyes asked me, "Hey there, li'l colt. Are you OK?"

"...?!" I didn't answer, terrified. I must be dreaming. I must be dreaming. She looked and sounded exactly like Applejack from the show.

"Oh, the poor dear's terrified out of his wits." I looked at the white unicorn standing beside the Applejack lookalike. Heck, I really must be dreaming. She looked and sounded exactly like Rarity, the prissy white unicorn who was supposedly the Element of 'Generosity'. "Twilight, care to check him?"

I punched myself in the stomach. Nope, I wasn't dreaming. The purple unicorn standing in front of me really was Twilight Sparkle, who lifted me up with her magic. I'm not kidding. I was literally rendered useless as Twilight flipped me around and around while checking everything.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." I mumbled, covering my mouth with my... hooves?! "WHAT THE HECK, HOOVES?!"

A yellow pegasus - oh God, I think that's Fluttershy - shrank behind a blue pegasus - RAINBOW DASH?! - as Twilight dropped me onto the grass, "OWW!" I yelled, rubbing my side as Twilight smiled sheepishly. "What the heck was that for?"

"Sorry. Your shout startled me." Twilight apologized, holding out a hoof. "My name's Twilight Sparkle, and you are?"

I paused, unsure how to answer. If I told Twilight my real name, then it would be really weird, a pony named Ryan. But if I made up a pony name, it would take a long time before I got used to the name. Huh... I stood up shakily before collapsing again.

"Whoah there, colt!" The pony who I'm going to assume is Applejack raised me up again. No, I didn't die, dammit. "Ya better be careful; make a wrong move and you'll break yer wings."

Wings? I twisted around, and sure enough, I saw blue feathered wings folded up behind me. "Are... you... KIDDING... ME?! Ryan, you had better be dreaming or else you'll get a boot to the head..."

"Your name's Ryan?" Rainbow Dash said skeptically. "Weird name for a pony."

I turned to her, stumbling slightly on my new hooves. Dear God, I will never get used to walking around on all fours like this. "That's just it, everybody. I'm not a pony, I'm a human."

"A human?' Twilight's gaze grew dark and thoughtful. "Humans are supposedly a myth, but if you're named Ryan..."

"And ya can't walk on all fours properly..." Applejack continued.

"Then that means you really are a human." Rarity finished with a flourish.

A pink Earth pony giggled, and I got the impression that this was Miss Pinkamena Diane Pie. "Yeah, plus, I haven't seen you before in town, and I saw a bright light a while ago, so I thought, Hey, we should have a light show party! Then I called everypony you see here and told them we're having a light show party, then we came here, and saw you falling out of the sky with a bright white light that surely came from another dimension!"

"... Eh?" I stared at Pinkie Pie, as did everyone else. "Is she always like this?"

Rainbow Dash groaned. "You don't know the half of it. There was this one time, we went to a genderswapped dimension, and Pinkie got together with her genderswap, Bubble Berry... or was it Berry Bubble? Then, they started planning the biggest party of the likes Equestria has ever seen!"

"Heh..." I knew that story. I encountered it in Fanfiction.net after looking for good stories. I didn't assume that fanfiction extended towards the actual Equestria world. "So, yeah... my name's Ryan... but that's not a good pony name, is it?"

Applejack shook her head. "Ah'm afraid not, sugarcube. But maybe we can think up a name for ya. Y'know, like you're goin' undercover."

"Like the Mares In Black!" Rainbow said, striking a pose.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Oh ponyfeathers, you never got over that, did you?"

"E-yup."

"Since when were you Big Macintosh?"

"OK girls," Twilight raised a hoof to silence everyone. "I've got a good name for Ryan over here. What do you think of the name Night Wish?"

I shrugged. "Sounds good to me. Night Wish. Heh, sounds like I go out of my house at night to wish upon the sta- hey wait, that's not far from true." It was true; I frequently went to my bedroom window to wish upon the stars during the night. "Yeah, just call me Night Wish, the..." I glanced at myself. A blue pegasus colt with... a black mane and tail with white streaks. If I recall correctly, my hair was slicked back, and it wasn't that long. Rather, it ended right under my head and just above my neck.

"OK then, Night Wish. Let me restart the introductions." Twilight Sparkle waved her hoof around as she mentioned names to me. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity."

I bowed my head; well, what else could I do. "I'm Ryan, but from this moment on, I am going to be called Night Wish. Er, just how old are you guys?"

"Around fifteen or so, why?" Pinkie Pie answered, giggling into her hoof. I got the distinct feeling in my gut that she was planning something, but what?

I paled. "Er, yeaah... you're fifteen... and I'm twelve... so where do I go?"

"Um, you could stay with me, darling." Rarity suggested, her horn glowing and lifting a measuring tape out of a bag I hadn't noticed before. "But I simply must take your measurements! Your body is simply perfect for my new designs!"

At that statement, I felt my cheeks flare up. "W-what?!" I felt embarrassed by the statement; it reminded me that I wasn't wearing clothes at all, but they didn't seem to wear clothes at all, so I guess it didn't matter.

"Strange. No wingboner from that statement." Rainbow muttered, scuffing the soil.

"A whatoner?" I asked skeptically.

Fluttershy nudged Rainbow onto her side. "R-Rainbow Dash... he's just a c-colt..."

"Heh. Leave it to Rainbow to think about wingboners at a time like this." Twilight joked. I didn't get it at all, sorry. But if you did, please don't tell me. I'm getting the sinking feeling that it's a mature thing to talk about for a pony my age... oh crud, did I just call myself a pony?! No, Dark Wi- Ryan, you'rea human. A human being with a human family. Not a stray pegasus pony surrounded by ponies.

Oh God, how will I survive being a pony? How will Justin survive without anyone to joke with?!