Chapters “I got in… I GOT IN!” I cheered. Holding the letter in my hand, I raced into the kitchen where mom was making dinner. “Mom! Mom! I got in!” I held up the acceptance letter, with a comical green checkmark ribbon at the bottom.
My mom (the aptly named, Lavender Petals) smiled at me. Before you ask, she’s not my biological mother, she’s my step mother. I’m just used to the idea because I’ve known her almost all my life. I literally can’t remember life without her. But I don’t love her any less. The lavender unicorn wrapped her forelegs around me in a hug.
“That’s great!” She exclaimed. Mom released me from the hug. “Can I see it?” I held it out to her, and her levitation took it from me. She read the rest of the message. “Oh my! You need to leave by tomorrow oh my… good thing you won't need any clothes!” She joked. I laughed, feeling a bit nervous about what she was referring to…
I’m Alton, a 14 year old human living in the big apple. The thing I got accepted for: Conversion camp! A few years after the conversion bureaus got popular, the conversion camps were started. Lot’s of kids (and people in general) wanted to either experience it temporarily, or convert permanently, but due to the age requirement for conversion, kids couldn’t. So, all of these needs were met with a simple solution: conversion camp. People (mostly kids and teens) could spend a whole summer as a pony! It was super exclusive, and I GOT IN! ...Sorry, I’m just super excited! I’ve always wanted to go to summer camp, and most of my friends are ponies… also I’ve been wondering what Equestria’s like, because humans can’t go in… I honestly don’t buy that for a second, but I’m not crazy enough to test it. I’ll leave that for some idiots online. Wait...
“Wait, I leave tomorrow !?!” I asked. Mom nodded.
“Yes, that’s what it says here. May 18th, and today is the…” She levitated her Iphone P up to her face, and clicked the home button. “... 17th, so you leave tomorrow.” Then my thought process dawned on her. “Oh… we need to pack, good thing we don’t have anything too important planned for you this summer, besides this.” I nodded in agreement.
“I… still can’t believe it… I’m gonna be a…” I stammered to myself.
“This is wonderful!” Mom chirped. “I wonder what you’re gonna look like… what what race you’ll be! Oh! You’ll even get to see…” I eventually tunned her out as doubts secreted themselves into my mind. What if something went wrong… what if I got stranded there!? What if the potion/serum/spell/whatever wore off and I died !?!
“... Hey, you ok?” Mom asked, noticing the look on my face.
“Just a little nervous.” I grinned.
“Don’t worry, they’ve been around for a few years now, you’ll be fine.” Mom said, patting me on the shoulder.
The rest of the day passed painfully slow. I tried playing video games (Destiny, mostly) I lost interest, and my mind kept turning back to camp. I’d texted all my friends that I was going (the friends who would be in Equestria at any point were first on that list), the ones who responded were excited. Like I said, most of my friends are ponies… including my crush. Her name is Sunshine, we’re close (but strictly friendzoned). I hope we can be a thing one day… but not today. Right now, she’s cute. Nothing more.totally like that.reveled in that fact. He… didn’t like ponies ... to say the least. He also was really into guns, military, that sort of things. But he was not disciplined like a military officer. He had good intent… but he came out wrong. Now was not one of those times. “You can’t go around walking on four hooves, calling yourself Alton… now can you?”fallen comrade… no pun intended.
I didn’t get much sleep that night. I was too excited. Sure it would suck, not having hands for a few months… but I could live with it. Maybe I would be a pegasus, and have the power of flight, and control over the weather! Or maybe, I’d be a unicorn: master of the arcane! I chuckled to myself. I couldn’t wait to get there!
2 A Change in Circumstance
"Are you sure you needed nothing?"
"Yes! Look, do you see anybody with a bag larger than mine?" I replied. Mom shifted uneaslily, her eyes darting around the conversion beurea parking lot.
"Oooh. I wish that Glade was here." She whined. Glade was one of my pony friends, who was volunteering at conversion camp. "OK, go on now." She waved toward the bus. Most of the people had gotten on already. I hugged her, and waved a goodbye as I got on the bus. I walked down the row, and sat in an empty seat. Someone walked over to my seat.
"C- can I sit here?" He stuttered.
"Yeah, sure." I said, not paying him much mind. I opened, and stuck my head partially out the window.
"Bye! I love you!" Mom called, waving as the bus drove away. Part of me wished she didn't do that, but it was a tiny part. And besides, she wasn't the only one there to wave their child off. There were humans and ponies alike. I decided to talk to the kid next to me.
"Hey." I said to him.
"Oh, hi." He said back. He was blonde, and very lanky. His fair hair was short, and he looked like he was a little afraid of me.
"I'm Alton, you?" I asked for his name.
"I'm Aron." He said back. We sat in silence for a moment, through the drum of others talking about stuff. I heard two girls talking about... braiding their tails or something. Considering they're humans, that should be raising alarm bells. But I'm going to dismiss that as a girl thing and move on. Girls can be weird...
"You nervous? ...About the transformation, I mean." Aron asked. I shook my head.
"Not really, I just got jitters about what happens afterwards." I waved a hand dismissively. He lowered his face so he was looking over his glasses.
"Jitters?" He asked sarcastically.
"My grandma." He still looked confused. I shook my head. "Never mind." We sat in silence for a while, watching the city go by. Some of the side walks had children (more ponies than humans, but that isn't very surprising at this point) playing around. It was kind of cute, I missed being that young, maybe this summer would be like that. I've heard that Equestria is like a children's cartoon... it might be a nice change of pace. Earth isn't all that great, but I feel like it's getting better, now that more people are turning into ponies. The world is a lot happier with more smiling ponies. I smiled at the thought.
"So... uh, what do you like to do? Like, for fun?" I asked.
"Well, I like to read, and write, words are my forte." He said, smiling.
"Really, what do you write?" I asked.
"Stories, mostly. I post them online, people seem to like them, but I'm not very good." He admitted.
"I bet, that you are better than you think." I said, encouragingly.
"Really?"
"Yeah! I tend to never judge my own work, because you'll either sell yourself short, or praise it too much. You know what I mean?" He nodded at this.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." He agreed. "That's good advice, thanks." I waved a hand dismissively.
"No problem. Just happy to help." At that point we started talking about other stuff, like other interests, other hobbies, ect. But it was nice. We eventually started telling creepy pastas (because we don't tell regular old ghost stories any more, this is the 21st century!) and laughing at how silly they were.
"Goat men! I mean... GOAT ... MEN !" I laughed. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"
"I know right!" Aron laughed right on with me.
"And the part goat people have the power to shape-shift... SO DUMB!" I added.
"Yeah," Aron laughed, wiping a tear from his eye. "Creepy pastas can be really dumb. Not every story ever told is going to scare you to the bone and give you nightmares, after having you lay awake at night thinking about it's horrors." Aron said, in a mock philosophical way.
The bus suddenly threw us forward. Aron was slammed face first into the seat in-front of us... while I leaned slightly.
"You ok?" I asked.
"Yeah, I guess so." Aron said. He pulled his glasses off his face for inspection. He adjusted the nose pads a little and put them back on his face.
"LISTEN UP!" A female voice called. We looked up to the front of the bus, and saw a rainbow maned, cyan blue pegasus mare hovering there. "Alright Campers! Today, you are going to take your first steps as ponies!" The bus' passengers cheered. "I know! Isn't I great! I'm Rainbow Dash, the future pagasis' flight instructor. I'll also guide you to the transformation room. So come on! Let's get you ponied up!" She said. The bus cheered again, and we got up.
Walking in a single-file line, we walked into another conversion bureau. It was (as impossible as it sounds) better looking than our local conversion bureau. It was like an apple store, only with more ponies, and less "the next big thing" technology. I gaped in awe at the building. We were led past the front desk and down a long hall, and into a bare room, save the stage, with other people already in it.
'We must be the last bus," I thought.
Once we were all in the room, Rainbow flew up to the stage, and behind the curtain.
"Hey, now that I think about it, that Rainbow Dash must reaaaly love flying." Aron said.
"How do you figure?" I asked.
"Well, she hasn't touched the ground since before her speech on the bus." I thought about this, and realized he was right. Rainbow Dash had literally not set foot- er, hoof on the ground in the time we've seen her. Rainbow Dash reemerged from behind the curtain, followed by a purple unicorn, with a dark purple mane, with a dark pink stripe through it. She was followed by an orange earth pony with a yellow mane and cow-boy hat.
"May I have you attention, please!" She called out to the room of teens. The room settled down, a lot faster than I was expecting, considering the amount of people in here. "My name, is Twilight Sparkle, and I will be this year's magic instructor at camp. I am here to tell you a little about what you will be doing at camp, and then we will begin the transformations." She said, causing us to cheer and clap. "This is not going to be a traditional summer camp... beyond the turning into another species part." We laughed. "As you already know, you will all be placed with a host family in our home town, of Ponyvill. Each day, we will have an optional activity, save for the first few weeks. In that time, you will be taught by me, Rainbow Dash, or Apple Jack here, on how to be a pony. Your strengths, your weaknesses..." Twilight began to drone on.
Before I knew it, it was time to transform into a pony. A pink, poofy maned earth pony (with a name tag reading "Pinkie Pie") walked around and started passing out a purple punch. We were told it was a sedative (so we wouldn't feel the pain), and that we were not to drink it until instructed. Me and Aron soon got ours. I starred at it's sloshing contents, feeling fear well up in the pit of my stomach. While Pinkie passed out the rest of the punch, I heard a few people fall to the ground unconscious, because they either didn't hear that had to wait, or didn't want to wait.
"Alright every, soon-to-be-pony! Drink up!" Twilight said, excitedly.
"Down the hatch!" The pink pony cheered, bouncing. One by one, people started lowering them selves to the ground (some more quickly than others) and closing their eyes. I looked at Aron.
"As she said, cheers!" He said, raising his paper cup to me.
"Cheers!" I said, my fear escaping into my voice. We clinked our cups together, and downed the drink. The drink wasn't half bad. I'd go for at again, if I didn't have to pass out afterward. It suddenly felt like gravity desired to mess with me, making it's hold on me stronger and tilting slightly. I wobbled on my legs as my eyes struggled to stay open. Aron had lowed himself slowly and carefully to the ground, and on his back. His eyes were glossy, and I could tell he was on the verge of sleep. He yawned and closed his eyes. I followed his example and went down onto my back. I starred at the ceiling for a moment, wondering what I would look like when I woke up. Pinkie walked over to me, and whispered in my ear:
"Nightey night!"
I opened my eyes. The room was dark.
"Man, I hate it when I get up before the sun comes up." I groaned. I pulled off the covers, and swung my legs off the bed. I stood up, only to lose my balance and fall onto all fours. "Wow, that was weird," I muttered to myself.
Then my brain finished rebooting.
My eyes bulged out of my head as I scrambled around for a light. I saw a lamp on the dresser next the the bed, and clicked the large, pony-friendly switch on it. There was a body length mirror in the room. I looked in it, and a pony stared back.
I was a dark blue pegasus, with a slick (some-what bed headed) silver mane and tale. I looked over myself. I was... strong! Ripped even! I had powerful muscles in my legs, and...
"Is that a six pack !?!" I exclaimed, looking under me, seeing my abs. I flapped my wings and flicked my tale, noting every sensation. It felt, amazing! Pure bliss ! I loved every feeling I felt in my new body. I sighed happily. I smiled, thinking of what came next. Then I realized something, I was in Equestria ! I wobbled, and (ungracefully) shambled over to the window. It had curtains drawn closed. I pulled them open and looked out.
I thought I had seen a lot of ponies before, but this was a lot ! I was overlooking a market (just far enough away to not hear the noise, but close enough to see) that was bustling with ponies! I was unicorns levitating various objects, pegasi flying around, and ponies being ponies. Ponies laughing, talking, playing... it was beautiful! I smiled, and almost started crying! Almost.
Then, there was a knock at the door.
Author's Note
OK, I am in a bit of a situation. You see... I don't know who his host family is. I have no idea what they are like, what the look like, or even their names! But , the good news is, I have you ! I am open to suggestions. I need a family of characters, I'm thinking 3, a mother, a father and foal (a younger filly or colt, I don't care). They have to be nice (the parents at least) and none of them can be anti-human. The foal doesn't have to love humans... but he can't hate them. To be more specific: the most negative the foal can be is disliking humans. OK, I'm going to get to work working on the characters, but suggestions will really help me out. I'm even fine if you suggest your OC, so long as it fits the restrictions, (a live spouse, at least one foal, & can't hate humans). If you do suggest an OC, and I use it, I'll give credit (and link) to the creator. So... where was I? That's right, Barcelona.
"Come in!" I called out. A light faded pink unicorn with a long faded brown mane peeked in.
"Hey," She said softly.
"Hi." I said to her.
"Oh good, you're awake." She sighed, relieved. "I'm Gem Stone, I will be your host mother this summer." She said... still in a soft voice. It wasn't quiet... just soft. Her mark was a perfectly cut crystal. I swore I saw it shimmer in the light from the open window.
"I'm Alton." I smiled at her. She smiled.
"That's a nice name... But I think you're gonna need a better name than that to be a pony." She said, a bit of timidity in her voice. I thought about it for a second. The point of camp was to become a pony temporarily, so it only made sense to have a pony name. I nodded.
"What could it be though?" I asked absently, thinking of names. Arcing Stream? Na.
"Snowy Fog?" She asked, I stopped thinking, and looked in the mirror. It did kinda fit my appearance, didn't it.
"Yeah... I like it! Kinda peaceful, and a little intimidating!"
"I'm glad you like it, my son came up with it. So, why don't you come meet the rest of us." She said, nodding toward the hall. I took a few steps... and fell on my face. "Oh my! Are you OK?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. But I could use a ha- a hoof ." I corrected myself. She walked over, and levitated me up onto my hooves. "Thanks." I said, a bit embarrassed. I took a few more steps, more slowly and carefully this time, and this time, I didn't fall on my new muzzle. We stepped out into a short hallway, with doors on either side, which we started to walk down to some stairs.
"Hey... where am I? Ponyville... right?" I asked her. She nodded. We made it to the staircase, and I looked down it nervously. It was a long way down, longer now that I was smaller. I gulped, turning sideways, and walking down the stairs that way. It was slower, but hey: at least I didn't fall! After my slow descent down the stairs, I followed my host mother into a lobby. There (waiting for us) was a small faded blue pegasus colt (who looked like he could barely contain his excitement for something).
“Is he here? Is he here?” He shouted. Gem nodded, and stepped aside.even wider when he saw me. He sped over to me in an instant.
"Hi I'm Flit wick!" He exclaimed. Then the on-slot came... "So you're a human right? What's it like? Are hands cool? I can't believe you eat meat ! Is it good? I can't imagine eating meat, it would taste so bad to me! Can you imagine? A meat eating pony? But anyways, I'm glad you're finally awake! You were asleep for forever ! I was starting to think you'd never wake up! Thank Celestia you finally did, I was getting tired of waiting!"
... Once my highly sensitive new ears stopped ringing, I responded to him.
"Flit wick?" I asked, making sure I heard him correctly.
"Yup! That's me!" He smiled... loudly, causing me to wince.
"Calm down will ya? I'm not used to how loud everything is yet." I joked. "I'm Al-... Snowy Fog ." I corrected myself. He looked at me funny.
"That's not a human name." He said, confused.
"That's why I have it, because I'm not human right now." I explained. He nodded, but I could tell he didn't get it. I was guessing he was about 9 or 10 years old, judging by the way he was acting.
"But what's your real name?" He asked. I grinned at him.
"Just because I wasn't born with that name doesn't make it any less real." I said to him. He was getting impatient, I could tell.
"But what's your human name?"
"Alton."
"Alton... I like it! Human names are soooooo much cooler than pony names." Flit wick said.
"You like to talk... don't you?" I asked.
"Yeah! Talking is fun! Ponies say I talk a lot, but my teacher says that's a good thing."
"Well it is," I began. "You can get good jobs where you get to talk a lot. Like you can be a news anchor, or you can give speeches, or an actor... there are lots of jobs for people who love to talk." His eyes lit up when I said that.
"Really? You think I could be an actor???" Flit wick gasped, awe-struck.
"Maybe, we'll have to see if you're a true, thespian ." I said, making a mock theatrical voice. Flit wick and Gem Stone giggled at my joke.
"I think we better get along now, you need to be at the mess-hall for introductions and lessons." Gem said.
“Awww… Do we have to?” Flit asked saddly.
“Yes my child, Snow here has to learn how to fly.” Gem laughed softly.
“Ok… see you later…” Flit said, not looking up from the floor. Gem walked over to me, and tucked a little slip of paper in my mane.
“That’s our address, come by when you’re done.” She instructed.
“Yes ma’am.” I nodded. She waved goodbye, and then she and Flit Wick cantered away. I then, went to go find where I was supposed to get introductions.
"Hello new ponies." Twilight began (what was sure to be) another speech.
"Here we go," I groaned to the newly named "Aura Spark" (a green, brown maned unicorn formerly known as Aron). We were standing before town hall, where our guardians told us to go.
"I hope you like the body you'll be living in for the next 3 months, because there is no way to change you back before the serum times out." There were a few groans from the audience, but mostly it was fine. These groans came from people who either didn't like how they looked, or what race they were. "Another note, if you decide to convert when you're older, you will take the form you hold now, only then it will be forever!" A few boo's came up at this. "This isn't some video game where you can re-roll your character, one body is all you get." Twilight joked. It wasn't like I cared, I got a good one anyway! Did I mention how ripped I am? I mean... seriously ! I. Am. BUFF.
A bucking stud muffin!
... Because I'm a horse. stud , bucking ? Ah well, I'm not going to get my cutie mark in comedy. I'd prefer it to be something to do with flight ... but you can't really pick your cutie mark. I also wish the phrase was mark , and they'd drop the "cutie"... but it's their culture, soon to be my culture, and I have no place to request a change.
"... So today we are going to break up into groups, and learn about any new abilities your pony bodies have, and any abilities you've lost, like your dexterity has decreased for one." Twilight explained. Well duh, of course my dexterity's been... wait, decreased, not gone ?
I thought about it more, and it made sense, I'd seen ponies use their hooves like hands. I finally get to learn how that works!
"Do you think they'll explain how hooves work?" I asked Aura.
"Well... I bet Miss. Twilight will, but I'm not so sure about your instructor." He nodded to Rainbow Dash, who was (unsurprisingly) hovering in the corner of the stage. "She'll probably say: 'You just grab it!'" Aura said, imitating the rainbow colored mare. I snickered, he sounded just like her!
"Alright then newfoals! Let's move em' out!" Rainbow shouted. "Pegasi with me!" She then zipped out back.
"Catch you around," I said, hoof-bumping Aura before following the gro... joining the herd of pegasi and going out the way Rainbow went. Out there was a field, with a clear sky above it. It was the perfect spot for my first flight. I breathed out, and walked into the field.
"Alright newfoals! Let's do this!" I could do this... I could do this!
Aura followed Twilight into an out doors area, with nature in full bloom. 'Well duh,' He thought. 'This is Equestria , of course it's predominately nature!'
"This will be were you learn to channel your magic." Twilight said. I nodded, determined. Alright... alright! I can do this!
I trudged back into the main room, my wings (not to mention everything ) were killing me. I was sweaty, and covered in dirt. I was panting, and my tongue had lolled out of my mouth (which seemed to cool me down a bit). Then, Aura stomped back in, as if every step was harder than the one before it. He was panting, and head was drooped almost to the floor as well... he must look just like me.
"Hey." I managed to cough. He lifted a hoof in response. We were both exhausted. "So... how was... your... training." I panted.
"Kill... me... now." He panted back.
"Well at least you weren't getting slammed into the dirt 5,000 times."
"I know! I'm not sure why I'm so tired." He said. Twilight walked over.
"Well that's any easy one, if you use all of your magical energy, then your spells drain stamina instead. You must have been working hard!" Twilight said. She slapped him on the back, causing Aura to fall to the ground.
"I'm not getting up... ever." He said, not even lifting his head up. He had his legs spread out like he was some sort of animal skin rug.
"If you're that tired, you better drink a stamina potion." She chuckled.
"You can do that?!" We said to her.
"No, but you can drink some good old-fashioned water." Twilight said, levitating a sports bottle to me. I grabbed, then downed it. Aura grabbed it from me, and a look of dismay crossed his muzzle when he realized it was empty. "I didn't work you that hard... did I?" Twilight asked Aura.
"Yes!" He panted, after removing the bottle from his mouth.
"... And Rainbow Dash did the same to you?" She asked me. I nodded. Rainbow flitted over.
"I did what now?" She asked.
"Worked them too hard." Twilight replied.
"Well DUH! You're supposed to feel like that after a work out! And don't ya' feel better than when you started?" She asked me. I thought about it for a second, then nodded. I did feel... strangely good! "See? What did I tell you, he feels great!" I shook my head.
"Good, not great, I don't think "great" makes you wanna throw up." I said. I looked at Aura, still on the floor, and fell onto my side to join him. "I can't move any more." I groaned. My breathing was still heavy, but was calming down.
"Well thank Celestia you're not a human any more, if you'd worked out like that in your human bodies... you might have fainted!" Twilight said. Good thing ponies have better endurance than the average human, eh'?" Twilight joked.
"Can I die now?" Was my response. The other ponies in the room were in similar states. Twilight giggled, and walked up to the stage.
"That's all we have planned for today, so feel free to hang around here, go back to your host homes, or explore town." Twilight said. I looked around the room, at all the tired ponies.
"This is going to be a long summer."