Hands and Hooves

Chapters

-1- When Fate is a Troll
-2- Magic, Magic Everywhere
-3- Nightly Mishaps
-4- The Adventure Starts... More or Less?

-1- When Fate is a Troll

~1~

The sun rose from the horizon, marking the beginning of the new day. I stretched a bit inside the tent and opened it to greet the day.

“Damn… heat and humidity… what a nice morning…” I said to myself. It was one week since the last time I saw another of the research teams. We were scattered to cover more area and we were only connected via radio. I approached the said radio and picked up the mic to make the daily proof of my existence.

“Cartography Camp Number 7, Mr. Barnyard at the radio. Do you copy?” I said in a monotone tone, yawning a bit. In a few minutes came the first response.

“Cartography Camp Number 2, Mr. Edison at the radio. Yes, I copy, and Tor, you are a dick. For the love of God, it’s fucking 6 in the morning…”

“I love you too, Ted. Now it’s your turn to wait the next one. Talk to you at evening. Barnyard out.”

“Hey wait! You son of a…” I trailed to the supply bag and prepared a fast breakfast, based on bread and… fruits. 'Blasted jungle…'

Our cartography team was sent by some of the most important universities, gathering young cartographers from the entire world. It was an expedition to make a reliable map of the high areas of the Amazonia, near the Andes. For me, a European from the southern countries of the continent, it was like a hell filled with sweat and mosquitoes. But it was the chance of a lifetime to make a work of an unknown area of the world.

When I was set, I opened my compass and made some notes on my notebook.

“Today, I’ll begin to make progress through the West. I’ll carry three beacons and I’ll place them according to the plan” I said our loud while writing.

It was pretty advanced stuff. Even while I’m pretty nerdy with machines and computers, this was like working with some alien technology. Beacons were placed in constant intervals by the teams, and then the satellite could make a 3D map of the zone with its sensors. I just hoped that the satellite is safe for use. It would be most unpleasant to be burned alive because some satellite laser malfunction.

I picked my backpack with the basic stuff plus the beacons (Stuff like some clothing in case of too much sweating, some food…) and checked again the compass.

“It’s going to be a long day… again…”

It was tiring, for saying something. Walking slowly through the wet soil, cutting with a machete the plants that were blocking my path. Tiring and boring. The first hours passed without much fuss, maybe seeing an animal or two crawling up in the canopy of the rainforest. I placed the first of the beacons just a bit before midday. I sighed and looked around. Trees and green everywhere. I was cleaning my glasses when I saw a spark between the trees. I put on my glasses and checked my compass. The direction I saw the spark wasn’t in the scheduled route, but I had a hunch about it, so I traded my rest time for chasing sparks between the trees. Odd enough, there was some kind of dirt path so it was a relaxed trial. Relaxed if you count that it was a jungle. I sighed to myself.

“Oh yeah great, I’m so bored that I can’t believe I’m doing…” I was thinking out loud when I saw a stone building in ruins. “…this”

It was very old, the stonework was totally ruined in the higher parts because of the erosion, and it was all covered in the green from the rainforest’s plants. I quickly noted this in my notebook and stepped inside it.

It was some kind of temple, since it had an altar in the middle of it. The style didn’t match any of the civilizations that were known. That fact intrigued me.

“Funny, buildings made with masonry techniques were very uncommon here… this place is giving me the creeps”

I walked to the altar and checked the floor. There was an engraving, a circle with five gemstones in a particular pentagonal formation, with a sixth one in the middle, where the altar was placed.

“Well this is interesting… Never heard of some kind of cult that adore six… rupees? Aw man, this would be funnier if Jesse or Ted were here. They are the Zelda nerds…”

I scratched my head and ruffled my hair a bit. I was a cartographer, not an archaeologist… I pondered the situation a bit and decided to check it up a bit and later place a beacon in the temple. Probably someone back at the lab is going to get mad, but… the discovery was worth it. I placed the beacons near me on the floor, preparing one of them to activate it. I saw again a spark, this time, from the altar. I looked everywhere to check possible reflective objects. Nothing in sight. I sighed and decided to do something dumb just for the sake of randomness. I placed both hands over the altar and put a serious face.

“Lamp Oil… Rope… Bombs… You want it? It’s yours my friend, as long as you have enough rupees” I said, putting an odd voice, imitating Morshu. I laughed my ass off at that.

“Oh god, I’m too bored… I miss my PC” I said. Suddenly the altar began to sink into the floor and an earthquake shook the place. I fell backwards to the floor, considerably hurting my gluteus.

“Now I know that Murphy is fan of Indiana Jones… CURSE YOU, MURPHY!” I yelled, trying to get up and failing miserably. A jolt of energy shook my leg and I looked at the formerly altar. Some kind of energy orb began to appear and to suck dust into it. I began to feel the pulling and sliding to it centimeter by centimeter. I tried to make my way out, but between that orb and the earthquake I just faceplanted several times. I sighed, remembering my life in merely seconds.

“Well life, it was a pleasure to hang with you. I’ll greet death in your name.” I said, knowing my fate. “I’ll miss the cheese”

The pull increased and I felt jolts of pain over all my body. I couldn’t see anything, my vision went to blinding white, and while the pain punished every nervous cell I had in me my ears began to ring painfully.

My legs began to hurt a lot, nearly fading to unconsciousness, but my stubbornness made me resist it, pressing my luck and will until the grim reaper came to finish the job. What came afterwards it can be described as excruciating pain. My very bones began to send loads of pain to my brain. I couldn’t feel my legs anymore, or even my head. I cried loud of the pain, holding my fists in tension. When the pain reached my arms I tried to fight it, clenching my fists as hard as I could but I only managed to create a tingling sensation in my chest.

The pain soon reached my arms and I nearly fainted again. I yelled what I thought it was a battle cry, even when I couldn’t hear or see, but it was worth the effort, since I evaded the unconsciousness again. Then suddenly the pain began to fade slowly. I thought it was the end, and my brain was just giving up. But soon I felt solid floor on one of my sides.

My body was aching, and I tried to move. I was rewarded with pain and I groaned. I was there, lying down like a ragdoll during minutes, maybe even an hour, just feeling the pressure of the floor against my right side, thanks to Madame Gravity.

My vision began to flicker a bit, traces of color appearing in front of my eyes. Also my ears began to operate, just hearing the sound of wind. I could feel too the cold stone floor again, and my hands twitched, trying to move.

“Oooooh… oogh…” I mumbled, slowly regaining control of my body. Oddly enough, my tongue felt oddly long and my head heavier. But I was more concerned about what just happened. After opening my eyes a couple of times I managed to look at the temple. It was darker and the dim light of torches covering the building. ‘Wait, torches?’

With another dose of vitamin P I managed to sit in the place and looked around. It was the same temple but… cleaner and without being half destroyed. I heard footsteps approaching and I closed my eyes again, tired of all the pain. 'I thought we were alone around the areas we were working on…’

Soon enough the footsteps became more clear and unsettling, since I was not hearing feet, but clopping of hooves. They stopped just in front of me, soon before a loud gasp. 'Wait, what the fuck?' I opened my eyes and what I saw with them was unsettling.

There was a pegasus with yellow coat and black-grey mane and tail, with magenta eyes and wearing some kind of shirt and helm like the ones used by explorers during XX century. I was just plain shocked.

“OK… now my jimmies are officially rustled” I said, not believing what I was looking at. The pegasus spoke with a female voice.

“You can talk!” She said, surprised

“Well yeah, of course. It’s you who aren’t supposed to talk, you are a flying horse! And I’m talking to you… I just became insane. The electrical orb just fried my brain…”

“Hey! I’m a pegasus pony, and have you looked at a mirror recently? YOU are a pony too.”

I snorted “What are you talking about? I’m a human, did you see any pony with hands?” I wiggled them at her face, when I noticed my hands were covered in fur. “Wait a second…” I looked at my hands. My left hand was covered by a cream colored coat of fur, while my right hand was in brown fur. I was shocked “What the hell?! What happened to my hands!?” I yelled. She was as surprised as I was.

“I’ve never seen an earth pony with… uh… hands, but I’m sure you’re a pony” She explained. I just became more panicked by seconds.

“No no no no no… This isn’t good…” I felt something moving at my back, and I saw my long, auburn tail. “AH! Holy fuck, I have a tail!” Then I saw my legs. They were bending like the hind legs of a normal horse. Oddly enough my boots were changed too to fit in this new shape. “OH GOD! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LEGS!?” I yelled, losing the little cool I had. She grabbed me and slapped me, looking serious.

“Hey, snap out of it! You are in the middle of an ancient temple and you just decide to panic? Why are you here in the first place? This is supposed to be a lost and abandoned temple” She said in a serious tone. It worked and my mind settled a bit.

“That’s the point! I am not a pony, not formerly… and I was in a temple exactly like this, but in the middle of the jungle up in the Amazonia” I said, trying to explain myself.

“Don’t you mean Amarezonia?” She asked, but I shook my head.

“No, AMAZONIA, you know, in South America?”

Awkward silence

“Brazil? Ecuador?” I asked, worried, and now was her turn to shake her head.

“Sorry, never heard of it…”

I tried to get up, my legs shaking furiously from their new shape. “You know… this defies all forms of science I know, but since it’s the last option it must be the truth…” I took a deep breath “This isn’t Earth, right?”

She tilted her head “We are over the earth…”

“Not the ground, the planet. Planet Earth” I replied

“Eh… you are scaring me right now…”

“What year is it? Please, tell me something!” I said, begging for some information

“It’s the year 1002… Wait, you really don’t know?” She asked, knowing finally that I wasn’t lying.

“Yes! Why would lie? I mean, I’m in a damned temple, looking like some biological experiment and totally lost… I think it’s too elaborated to be something I would come up just for fun, don’t you think?” I said, relieved but annoyed.

“Yeah… that kinda makes sense…” She shook her head “We can search for help later, but first I must recover an artifact. It must be placed over an altar just…” She looked to the floor “Just exactly where you are. Where’s the altar?” She asked.

“I-I don’t know! If this is like the temple where I was, the altar sank into the ground and some kind of energy orb sucked me. After that I just can remember loads and loads of pain. It wasn’t a pleasant experience…” I said, looking to my now furry hands. She nodded and looked around.

“Maybe it was some kind of magic device… something must triggered it” I just snorted at that.

“Magic? Please… Magic doesn’t exist, lady. That’s just a bunch of bullcrap” I said dismissively. She looked at me surprised.

“Okay… now I believe you. Somepony at your age must know at least the basic magical theory, so I can see now that you are really from another place” She spoke as a matter-of-fact. I just snorted again.

“Yeah, whatever you say, lady. But I’m glad to see some civilization and help. You know, I had the opportunity of my life to become recognized among my peers and now I’m just like an alien” I said. She sighed.

“Since there is no altar my travel was pointless so we can leave… and don’t call me “lady”, my name is Daring Doo, and I’m an archeologist. Do you have a name?” She asked, trying to be funny. She managed to do so at least.

“A pleasure Miss Doo, my name is Astor Barnyard, and I’m a geographer.” She chuckled a bit.

“So I see at least you are the ones who had the guts to be at the field. Some of my colleagues that are geographers aren’t so eager to leave their studies” She said, walking to the exit. I nodded and began to walk slowly. She noticed my difficulty to walk and politely slowed down while I was getting it step by step.

“Well yeah. Maybe I’m not a man of sports, but being at the brink of discoveries is always exciting enough to make up my mind” I said, walking like a toddler trying his first steps.

“A colt” She replied with a smile

“Sorry, what?”

“Maybe you were another thing Mister Barnyard, but now you look like a pony. Yes, a very strange one but a pony nevertheless, so you should try to speak like us. I figured that 'man' is the same to 'colt' or 'stallion' so you must speak those instead” She explained. I rubbed my chin, thinking.

“You are right there, I suppose… By the way, why do you say 'colt'? I mean, I’m not that young, I recently turned to 22…” I said, a bit offended. She just chuckled at that.

“Really? You look like 16 or so. Not a full grown stallion yet but neither a young colt.” She said. I sighed.

“Oh great, I look like a young punk. Having a career and some field work isn’t going to improve my looks too much, right?” I asked. She shook her head.

“Nope, I’m afraid not. But don’t worry about that. First we must return to Canterlot University. Maybe you are not an ancient altar, but I’m pretty sure that, giving the circumstances, somepony there can help you about your problem. There are a lot of scholars that study ancient magic” She spoke. ‘Magic again… seriously, what the fuck?’ I thought.

Soon enough we emerged from the building and we took a scenic look of the area. I gasped a bit at what I saw.

A green land with sloth hills in the middle stood in front of them, a wall of high mountains breaking the horizon, with a visible city hanging out of the mountains. Daring Doo pointed to the city with her right hoof.

“There’s Canterlot. Lucky for you, I was exploring this ancient temple near one of the first settlements of Equestria. Otherwise, I think you will be…”

“Pretty fucked up, I know… Thanks for helping me at all” I replied, still astonished.

“It’s not a problem, but please don’t use that harsh language, okay? It’s pretty unnecessary”

“Sorry, Miss Doo. It kinda attached to me back at the High School” I looked around, but I didn’t see any roads. “Well, how are going toWHOASHIT!” I yelled. She began to fly and picked me of like if I was a bag of potatoes.

“Hey, what I say about the language? And besides, we’ll be there in no time, so don’t worry” She said, I looked down panicked but not daring to move.

“We are flying at God knows how many meters high and you tell me to not worry!?”

“Well… yes? I’m used to lifting heavy weights and packages. Artifacts aren’t usually light. And you don’t weight too much” She said with a smile.

“Oh gee, you don’t know how much relaxed I am right now knowing that” I said, sarcastically. She frowned a bit.

“Don’t you believe me? I’m carrying you right now…” I shuddered a bit.

“I believe you, but I've never been flying before and it’s scaring the shit out of me… but hey, if you say I’m light weighted that means that I've lost weight and I think that can be… good?” I asked to myself. She sighed and continued to fly to Canterlot.

We talked about ourselves while flying. I discovered that she was like a pony version of Indiana Jones, looking always for ancient stuff and if it was dangerous or it was never explored before, the better. I told her about some field trips in my early years at the University, but they were far from interesting. She was interested though, mostly when I mentioned some of the digital tools we used to do our work. For what she said, they aren’t as advanced as humans back on Earth. That leaved me in a pretty delicate situation.

I knew thanks for lots of Sci-Fi movies and books that if a higher technological society influences other cultures less advanced they can change their history forever. I didn’t want to be some kind of interplanetary criminal, but as species humanity didn’t have that kind of laws… It was a hard fight between my ethics, morals and feelings.

Daring Doo seemed to notice my internal fight.

“Something is bugging you. Mind to share?” She asked in a concerned tone.

“It’s just that… you already know about the tools I talked about. They are pretty advanced, and probably far more than anything here. I just don’t want to mark your society in a bad way. Maybe I can’t build them but the simple idea of it can make somebody… somepony to try to make it…”

“And that’s a bad thing?” She asked “You know, making new inventions it’s always good and if it’s for the sake of ponykind why weren’t you sharing it?” She said with a smile. I frowned a bit.

“I don’t know… it’s like the easy way, you know? Instead of working on it I’ll just be there, blurting out all about those devices…” She nodded, understanding.

“I think I understand. It is up to you, Mister Barnyard, but I think you will do the right thing” She said. I just looked confused.

“Why do you say that?” I asked

“Maybe I just knew you today, but if you are thinking about how to avoid harming a new society means that you are a good pony” She explained, smiling.

“Thanks… I hope so at least” I replied, not so sure of myself.

The city began to grow larger, catching my attention. It was like a fairy tale. A white castle leading the skyline of pristine buildings, it was like a dim light over the grey mountain. I gasped a bit, it was truly impressive. Daring Doo just smiled and flew towards some kind of big tower, probably it was the Canterlot University.

When we landed I faceplanted again, still not used to my new legs. Many ponies in the surrounding were watching us suspiciously, but seemed that Miss Doo was known to bring strange things thanks to her adventures and they, luckily for me, ignored us more or less.

“Oops, sorry there” She said.

“No problem. Not your fault, really. I’m still getting used to these legs. They bend oddly to me” I explained, getting up back in two hooves. She nodded in acknowledgment

“Okay, come inside, we must find Dr. Scroll. He’s the one specialized about magic oddities” She explained while we were walking into the tower. I looked around suspiciously.

The place was filled with mostly unicorns, levitating scrolls, quills and other materials with some kind of telekinesis. The most notable thing about these equines was the wide amount of colors on their coats and manes. ‘Oh jolly, I think I’m going to puke rainbows at this rate’ I thought.

Daring Doo was already talking with an old looking pony while I was slowly approaching them. The old pony ran over the stairs, probably searching for the said Dr. Scroll. Miss Doo waved at me.

“Hey, it seems that your little trip wasn’t unnoticed by the unicorns. Some important ponies already requested being informed if some disoriented pony approached the city, and I think you fit in the description” She explained. I frowned a bit.

“How can they notice something like that? I mean, we were several kilometers away” She was about to say something but I stopped her “Don’t tell me… Magic, isn’t it?” I asked. She just nodded. I sighed at that. “You know, that’s eating my nerves. This is way too odd for me. I hope I can jump back home soon” Now she was the one who frowned.

“Hey, you could at least stay a bit. Not every day somepony met with a pony from other worlds. We can learn a lot about you, and you about us in exchange. Where’s your spirit of adventure?” She asked me. I shrugged

“I think I left it back in home when I was just being electrocuted to death” I said with an emotionless tone.

“You must try to look the good side of this. It’s not that bad…”

“Yeah, whatever. I’m not having a mental breakdown right now thanks for a lot of comics and novels about trans-dimensional travels and that crap. Maybe if I was sure that I can go back home I’ll be more willing to explore this place. But for now I want a ticket aboard the 'Return to Home' Express. No offense” I said, a bit tired. She nodded slowly.

“Yeah, I think that being pulled out of your home must be a pain” She said

“You bet…” I only replied, thinking about the implications of the situation.

The old looking pony ran back again to us with a startled expression.

“Sir, you must come with me. There are some ponies who wants to speak to you” He said. I looked to Daring Doo with a helpless expression. She chuckled.

“They aren’t going to eat you. And I need to check in about the temple. Maybe we’ll see each other another time” She extended her hoof. I took her hoof and shook it as a reflex ‘Wait, what just happened?’ She nodded and saluted in an informal way before leaving me with the old pony.

“We must go sir, please” He asked. I nodded and followed him. It was tortuous the mere act of climbing the stairs, but it was also a good way to learn how to use these legs. Some minutes after we reached a big door. The old pony pointed with his head to the door.

“They are awaiting you inside, sir” He spoke, I nodded

“Thanks” I replied, and entered the room.

It was a plain room, like if it was some kind of classroom for the university. In the middle, two ponies stood looking at me. Both seemed mares by their constitution, but they were far bigger than the other I saw. The smaller has a dark coat color and a wavy, blue mane and tail, with blue eyes. The taller one had an alabaster white coat with a wavy mane too, but hers was in three colors, from light blue to pink and she had violet eyes. Both have wings and horn and by the accessories they were wearing it was kinda obvious that both mares were very important here. I was a bit taken aback by their size, feeling very small. I gulped and walked slowly.

“Uhm… Are you the ones that wanted to speak to me?” I asked, not sure at all about what to expect. They just smiled, unnerving me more.

“Don’t worry, young one and yes, we are. My name is Celestia, and here at my side is Luna, my sister. We are the princesses of Equestria and we wanted to bid welcome to a traveler from a faraway place” She said with a relaxed tone, nodded alongside her sister as a welcoming gesture. I stepped back without thinking.

“I… wow… I've never met with royalty in my world… this is now pretty confusing to me. Sorry if I behave oddly, but right now I feel pretty on the edge. My name is Astor Barnyard, a pleasure to meet you, princesses” I replied. They looked to me interested.

“You see, young one, we sensed when you appeared on our land. You seem to have used a runic portal from ancient times, built for exploring other dimensions and worlds. It’s pretty strange though that you aren’t completely a pony” Luna spoke, inspecting my body with analytical eye.

“What do you mean?” I asked

“These runic portals open rifts over dimensions, and while doing so the traveler falls into a magic sleep, changing his body to fit in the world he’s going to appear. It works at the reversal way too. That’s how my sister and I explored different worlds when we were young.” Luna explained

I folded my arms and frowned.

“Well that explains a lot” I said. They looked confused.

“How so, Mr. Barnyard?” Celestia asked

“Because I didn’t see any portal, just a huge energy orb that pulled me inside of it, with a lot of pain while I was 'traveling' through it.” I said, showing my arms “I didn’t lose consciousness during the process, and I tried to fight back the pain by clenching my fists”

They began to think for a couple of minutes, pondering the situation. Finally, Celestia spoke.

“If what you said it’s the truth, then we have a problem” She said, concerned.

“What?” I was begin to be worried

“The phenomenon you described looks pretty much like the magic didn’t work as expected” Luna said. I looked pretty astonished, but I wasn’t able to speak.

“In simple non-magical terms… The rune portal seems to be… jammed” Celestia said

“Jammed? You are joking, right?” I said, nervous “It’s magic, I mean… How?”

“We don’t know, but I’m afraid that the portal isn’t active anymore. We need to look for an alternate solution to return you to home. Unfortunately, you body has suffered a “magic scar”… an overload of magic that stopped the transformation” Luna said, closing her eyes.

“Well… I am going to die soon, isn’t it?” I said with a gloomy expression. Celestia soon approached me and smiled at me.

“No, you are going to live, and by your magical resonance you are going to have a very long life…” She said, but her tone was a bit sad.

“Then what, Princess? You seem pretty concerned…” I was relieved about not dying soon, but something was still off.

“Your body is immune to any transmogrification spells because of that” Luna said, wearing a sad expression. I just tilted my head.

“Sorry, I’m more a science man… err… pony” I replied, a bit lost.

“What my sister wanted to say is that… you are stuck as you are for the rest of your life. There is nothing we can do about that” Celestia said, now with a sad expression too.

Something snapped inside my brain. Some of my neurons decided to get drunk with a ‘Fuck This Shit’ battle cry, with the result of me falling backwards, landing on the floor with a loud ‘Thud’. My eyes were lifeless, staring at the abyss… my mind just rebooting at the information.

I felt that Princess Celestia was levitating me with her telekinesis. I didn’t notice any movement, too busy inside my own head. I suddenly felt a bed, and by the smell, it was probably some kind of hospital.

The last things I heard before my brain decided to finally shut down the system was “Please doctor, keep a good eye on this colt, and let me know immediately when he awakes”. It was Celestia’s voice. My mind and body gave up finally, after God knows how many hours of permanent tensions and stress, feeling my eyes closing slowly, hoping at the depths of my mind that this was only a dream.

It was unnerving that before drifting to a deep slumber I believed my own brain replying to that thought with a deep and clear ‘NOPE’.

-2- Magic, Magic Everywhere

~2~

Maybe I don't have the best shape in terms of agility, strength or endurance… but my mind works at its top. One of the advantages of this is that when usually most of people need minutes to fully awake, I on the other hand wake up almost instantly, ready to take on the day. This works as a sword of two edges, since I quickly recalled why I was in a bed, in some kind of hospital. I looked for my clothes. They were near, neatly cleaned and they smelled like some kind of wild flora. I smiled a bit. My smell didn’t change at all; in fact I think it was even stronger right now. Maybe it’s because ponies have larger noses…

I put on my pants and my glasses and silently stared out of the window. The city of…Canterlot? Yes… Canterlot… I needed to get used to these new names. I looked to the crowded streets, filled with multi colored ponies. I looked then to the sky, losing myself in thought.

Here I was… on a strange planet without roots or a past that was important. I was like a newborn to these ponies. No home, no family and no friends. It stung a bit again, but I didn’t lose my mind like yesterday. That was the worst blow, but now I needed to rise from the ashes, as I always did. Life never was easy, but that never kept me from fulfilling my goals. I managed to begin my career even being from a poor family; I began to work for one of the most important universities in my country soon after, even when the odds were against me I always pushed on. My family supported me, and my friends…

Now I didn’t have one or the other. Only on my own in this place. It wasn’t a huge change, thinking about it coldly. Yeah, now I have equine legs and face, but I didn’t lose my mind or anything. Yeah, I was also as tall as a child, but I was as tall as any other pony in this country, excluding the princesses. And it had his advantages too. I had a tail! Boy, I always dreamed to have a tail, since I saw Dragon Ball. It was a weak point for Goku, yes, but it was also useful. And… forget about that. Having tail is just plain awesome. Deal with it.

I was playing around with my tail, trying to make it like a whip and strike an invisible foe when I heard coughing behind me. I turned to see both princesses and a stallion in a lab coat, probably the doctor, looking to me. Celestia was just smiling; the doctor was a bit dumbfounded while Luna was chuckling a bit. My cheeks turned to red in embarrassment.

“He he he… Uh… Good morning?” I asked, trying to hide my tail behind my hands.

“Good morning, young one. I see that you are better this morning than yesterday.” Celestia said. I nodded, a small smile mixed with a sad expression.

“I didn’t have it in mind to give up, but I admit it was a hard blow, princess.” I replied.

“I understand. I know that is a bold petition, but I must ask if you can aid us. You see, my sister and I were talking yesterday and we found your form quite interesting, and we wanted to run a few medical tests to check your condition and your body's capabilities. I am sure though that your physical capabilities are going to be the same as those of an earth pony” Celestia explained. I nodded.

“I don’t mind at all. I was eager to see what I can do with this body too” I replied. I put on my T-shirt and walked to them. The doctor began to walk outside the room and we followed suit.

“I find quite odd that I don’t feel as… sick as I was back in my world”, I said.

“You were sick? What sickness?” Luna asked a bit worried, I laughed a bit.

“Oh, no, no viral sickness or something like that. I mean that I had a lot of allergies and asthma. One of my allergies was… well… the fur of equines” I said “But I've already spent nearly two days here and I didn’t sneeze once, and I can breathe better now than ever before.”

“That’s a relief. But it is indeed a remarkable change, thankfully for the good” Celestia said with a smile. I laughed more.

“Yeah, I knew that some people are sick of themselves, but being allergic to myself would totally be a pain and quite uncomfortable for my tastes” I said.

We didn’t talk much after that, and after walking a bit we arrived to a big room with some medical utensils and objects plus a machine. It looked like a giant wheel like the ones on the cages for hamsters. ‘Running is probably a part of the test’

“Very well. Now that we are here, you just need to do one thing” Celestia said, pointing to the machine “Run as fast and long as you can. We will be monitoring your status in general with our magic” she explained “This way we can see your physical abilities, since your mental capabilities are the same. The transformations never change the intellect, just the body” She said. I just nodded and flexed a bit.

“Okay. I’m ready whenever you are” I said. The horns of the princesses began to glow a bit.

“Please, begin” Celestia said. So I ran.

I began to catch up speed first. I’m not a runner and I suck pretty much at every physical task that means lots of effort. Oddly enough I quickly built up more speed than I thought and I wasn’t even beginning to be tired! This simply amazed me. I liked speed, even not being a runner myself, but that’s why I liked to drive cars and bikes. Pondering in these thoughts, I didn’t notice that I was running pretty fast… for me at least. I began to sweat as my muscles were starting to grow tired and I unconsciously slowed down a bit. The pony doctor quickly noted that with a frown. In some minutes my cheeks felt like burning and I was panting heavily. It felt good though, because I never ran as long and fast as I was doing. I was ecstatic. But I couldn’t help but overhear the little conversation close enough to me.

“…don’t know if he should continue. He’s obviously very tired but his speed and resilience are below a normal colt of his age, that counting all the pony races. I think a unicorn can beat him in a race” the pony doctor said to Celestia. My emotions ran from happy to crashing gloom. I knew little about these species, but when someone was doing that kind of comparisons they were for the worst. It seemed that even in this new body I hadn’t the best fitness.

‘Maybe you didn’t use all of your potential?’ A part of my mind said. Suddenly I felt a flare in my chest, like a burning energy. ‘Maybe…?’

I began to accelerate again, this wave of energy pulling me ahead. My breathing was quick and my legs were hurting a lot, but I wanted to do it anyway.

“Please, you must stop! Your muscles are about to collapse from the stress!” Celestia said with a bit of a worried voice. I just continued to gain speed.

“I… Can… Do…. This!” I said, with another wave of energy, my legs felt like fire and I nearly doubled my speed in a couple of minutes. But all the good things come to an end, and the fire in my veins began to run out. I began to slow down until I collapsed and fell to the floor, totally exhausted. They ran to me with worried expressions.

“You didn’t have to prove anything! This was just a normal physical test!” The doctor said in a serious tone, I laughed a bit.

“I needed… to prove myself… that I could do it…” I said between breaths, sitting on the floor, my heart racing madly.

Celestia just smiled at me. ‘Man, I wish some people back on home would be always smiling like her’

“It was unwise to push yourself that hard, but I discovered something thanks to that” She said, quizzically. I just stared at her with a confused expression.

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you when the time comes. Now you should eat something, we just pulled you out of bed to make you run” She said. I just raised my hand dismissively.

“I wanted to do it. Besides a good run always feel good to the body. Mens sana in corpore sano”

Luna and Celestia looked to me confused “What did you just say?” Luna said. I just shrugged.

“You know… a healthy mind inside a healthy body. It is said since ancient times” I explained. ‘Maybe we share less things that I thought.’ “Anyway, before breakfast I should take a shower. I still have a couple of T-Shirts and pants on my bag”

“Very well. I’ll send one of the guards with you. He’ll be able to guide you to one of the guest rooms and back to the main chamber of the palace.” Celestia said, pointing with her hoof to one of the guards, who was quickly at our side and she explained him his orders. “Oh, one last thing, young one. I think that you need to have a pony name to move around Equestria. You will be the center of attention in any city you will be on. If you have a local name you will be more easily accepted. I know my little ponies aren’t bad in their hearts, but they tend to be easily frightened by unknown creatures or situations” Celestia explained. I saw her point, but it was too sudden.

“You have a very logical point but… I don’t know how to name myself here. I don’t know much about your culture” I said a bit troubled. Luna smiled at me.

“I have one, if you want to hear it” She said. Celestia raised a eyebrow in surprise.

“Really, sister? Let’s hear it at least, don’t you think, young one?” Celestia asked me. I nodded.

“Sure, why not? Besides, if you are the rulers here princesses you are probably very well known on your people.” I replied. Luna giggled a bit.

“That is true. For what we saw in you before, I think that from now you should be named Flaming Will. What do you think?”

She asked. I smiled at her. It was very catchy, but something was bugging me. ‘For what they saw in me? They were looking into my soul or something? Then again… Magic…’ I thought.

“Flaming Will… sounds pretty big for me but hey… Not everyday a princess chooses a name for someone… err… somepony, right?” I said laughing “I like it a lot, thank you, princess” I said, bowing with a smile on my face. Luna nodded.

“Glad you liked our suggestion… Mr. Will” She said. I laughed a bit more.

“I know it’s my last name, but please, call me Will. I want to consider both of you my friends… if it isn’t a bold thing to wish…” I said, a bit embarrassed but determined. Celestia and Luna looked to themselves and then to me, with a warm grin on their faces.

“Of course, we will be glad to be your friends, Will. It’s always a pleasure to have one more pony to call 'friend'” Celestia said, and suddenly giggled a bit “But I think we've made you wait too long for your shower. We will talk more during breakfast.” She finished. I nodded and began to follow the guard while making some kind of salute with only two fingers.

“See you there, princesses!” I said, unusually happy. ‘Who would have guessed? Friends with royalty!’ Then something hit me in a good way and I felt like a weight was lift from my shoulders ‘Friends… maybe I am not as alone as I thought…’

It was a silent walk to the guest room but it didn’t bother me at all. When we arrived I saw the biggest room I've ever seen in my life, decorated with elegant furniture clearly made for high class people… or ponies. I saw the open door to the bathroom and I nearly jumped to it. I took a shower as quickly as I was able to. I stumbled a bit because my clumsiness with my new legs but managed to take the shower without incidents and it helped me look at my entire body.

My hair and tail were auburn and my cream coat had big brown blotches in a totally random pattern. My eyes were, oddly enough, bluish. Intense blue to be exact. I shrugged at that, I didn’t care enough to be worried, it was just a color. It was quite a shock however when I discovered that my genitals hide themselves when they are not necessary. I recalled then to saw a whole bunch of male ponies and I didn’t 'see' anything, and they were nude. I trembled a bit by just thinking about how that worked.

“Holy shit, this magic stuff sure gives me the creeps” I said

I tried to dry myself as well as I could, but as always, I didn’t dry my hair completely. It was a bad habit, leaving the sun and the breeze to dry my long hair naturally. While I was dressing again I looked to my T-Shirts and thought for a bit. ‘Hmm… I need the most awesome one. After all I’m going to have breakfast with two princesses… Ah! I know!’

I picked up the only one that had a stamp on it. A black T-Shirt with Mazinger Z on the front. I put it on and looked in a mirror. My long hair was falling to my back and I was wearing my awesome T-Shirt with short jeans. ‘Yeah, I look pretty boss’ I thought with a grin.

I walked outside to the guard and I nodded to him. “I’m ready. Please, lead the way, sir”

We walked through big halls, and I looked out of the gigantic windows. There was a big garden, even with a labyrinth made out of tall bushes, with a large collection of statues.

‘It’s a damn palace, why am I so surprised to see that kind of stuff?’ I asked to myself.

In some minutes we arrived to the dining hall. It was impressive, with the ceiling high above and columns like it was a gothic castle, but built with white marble, giving it a more welcoming look. Both princesses were at the big table, with some seats near them. I waved a bit when they noticed me and took one of the seats near them. Luna instantly got interested in the T-Shirt.

“Greetings again, Will.” She first said “Can I ask you a quick question?”

“Sure, go ahead princess” I replied.

“What is that thing on your shirt?” she asked. I laughed and patted my chest with pride.

“It’s Mazinger Z. A super robot piloted by Koji Kabuto, who fights for justice! Well… it’s just from a fictional story, but I love it” I explained. Luna nodded. She was ready to ask more when Celestia interrupted.

“We can continue the questions about this… Mazinger Z while eating, don’t you think?” She asked. All of us laughed a bit. “So Will, what do you want as breakfast? I am sure that you must be hungry” She said. I thought for a bit.

“Yeah, I think I didn’t eat anything in near two days. So… um… How about bacon and eggs with peach juice and toast?” I asked with a smile. I noticed instantly that something was wrong. Very wrong.

Luna’s face turned slowly in a paler color, while Celestia looked to me a bit shocked. I could hear one of the guards of the room making odd noises.

“A-are you sure you want to eat that?” Luna asked I just shrugged. “It’s… meat”

“Well, yeah, right? It’s a full breakfast. That would be enough to fill my belly” I said. Then something clicked on my brain.

‘They are ponies, you idiot! They are herbivores’

“Oh! I am so sorry princesses! I didn’t remember that you were herbivores. I am so sorry” I said, looking down to the floor.

“It’s not a problem, Will. We have ambassadors from other countries and they eat meat too. It’s just quite… unsettling hearing that from a pony” Celestia said. I was going to reply but she raised a hoof to stop me “Don’t worry though, if that is what you want, it will be served. I asked what you wanted for breakfast after all” She said. I nodded slowly and looked around. They were eight more seats around the table.

“So, you are expecting more visitors, princesses?” I asked. They nodded.

“Don’t worry, we don’t need to wait, they will arrive later” A servant arrived and took note of the food, with a shocked expression, I assume when he heard about the meat. I just sighed.

“I think that I should try to eat more green stuff, right? I don’t think they were many shops that sell meat here” I said.

“I’m afraid so, but with your new body you must be capable to eat the same variety of food as ourselves. That’s why it’s quite shocking to see you eat meat” Celestia said. I just shrugged again.

“Yeah, but that’s why the fangs are for, right?” I said, opening my mouth and showing four pointy fangs, the upper ones a bit more big than they should. They were taken aback for that show.

“That’s… enlightening. So I assume your former species are carnivores?” Luna asked. I shook my head.

“No, humans are omnivores. That limits us from both sides. We are not capable to eat all types of meat neither all types of vegetables.” I explained “For example, we can't eat hay, grass or flowers like you” I said. Celestia looked thoughtful for a bit.

“Maybe you can eat the same variety of food as ponies with the addition of your former capabilities” Celestia said. I ruffled my hair.

“Maybe. That would be awesome, because I would be able to eat as before plus new foods. I love to try new recipes” I said with a small smile. In a couple of minutes I began to smell the air, catching the sweet scent of fried bacon. “Oh boy, the waiting is killing me. My stomach is rumbling mad right now”

“You have quite a snout there. I can’t smell anything right now.” Luna said, chuckling a bit. I just nodded. Soon enough a group of servant ponies arrived with our meals, looking mighty unpleased with my choices. I, on the other hand, was ecstatic. A full breakfast with crispy bacon.

“Well, bon apetit, princesses!” I said, picking a fork and trying the bacon. It tasted as good as it smelled. I rolled my eyes in satisfaction. “Good heavens, it was like years ago the last time I could eat some good, ol’ bacon” I said, munching the meat. I was granted with several reactions.

I could hear a couple of guards puking his guts out. Luna was wearing an ill green color on her face while Celestia had a small eye twitch. I became a bit nervous.

“Eh… he he… uh…” I babbled. It was clearly that they didn’t like at all the vision of a pony eating meat. ‘It must be like cannibalism for them…’ I thought, totally ashamed of myself. ‘But I can’t help it, I eat meat!’

I gulped the meat all at once, using the benefit of my now big mouth and drank all the peach juice to down it to my stomach. “I’m sorry, I didn’t…” I was saying, but Celestia interrupted me.

“It’s not a problem, really. Sorry about this, Will. It’s just that seeing a pony devour meat that way…”

“Yeah, I can imagine. I’m really sorry, I didn’t want to ruin the mood” I said, and then sighed. “Do you have a library here? I would like to read a bit, I don’t want to cause a bigger mess” I said. They both nodded.

“Of course, and sorry again, Will. It’s just too unnatural for us. I’ll send one of the guards to escort you

to the library here in the castle” Celestia said. Luna seemed to be still disturbed for my eating habits.

“Okay… oh, I wanted to ask you if there is any place where I can…” I was saying and Celestia, again, interrupted me.

“I will be most pleased to have you as a guest in our castle, don’t worry about that” She said. ‘Geez, I’m happy to not being homeless, but I’m a bit tired of being interrupted…’ I thought.

“Okay then… if you need anything princesses I’ll be on the library” I said, leaving towards the door. I followed the guard in silence.

“You are lucky” He said.

“Sorry, what?” I asked

“Usually only a few ponies can be at the Royal Archives. Try to enjoy the visit as much as you can” He simply said. ‘He’s right, they probably guard here the most important books of their kingdom. But there is only one subject I want to touch right now… The only one that I lacked any previous knowledge’

We arrived to the Royal Archives after some walk. It was a huge room filled with scrolls and books. It was like a paradise, all of that knowledge… but I had something in mind right now. Noticing that my hair was completely dry, I used the elastic I always had and styled it in a very characteristic and long ponytail.

‘Hell yeah! These are the benefits of having your hair long enough to reach your butt!’ I thought. I was pretty proud of my hair. After that, I examined the signs hanging around until I find the one I wanted. “Magic”

Then it hit me like a cannonball. The symbols were totally alien, but I could read it perfectly. ‘So what the fuck? I’m becoming very tired of this magic shit. Come on, they can turn me into a pony and then show me an entire language during some kind of excruciating and damned ritual?’ I thought. This whole thing was pissing me off, but it had a very good point. I can read their books and learn what I wanted. So I picked some books of basic magic.

They explained a lot of things I could comprehend, like focusing and stuff, but were totally impractical. All the books were based on unicorn skills. It seemed like the other races couldn't perform magic at all. At least not active magic.

After nearly an hour I grew tired and put the books in their place. I was searching again while I found a very interesting and dusty book, abandoned in one of the far shelves. ‘”Runes and Spells: Magic through the Will”… uh… let’s see what this baby has in it. The princesses said that rune magic was old… And it was runic magic what brought me here’ I thought.

I didn’t check the time; I was enthralled by the secrets inside the book. It seemed that the magic of runes were based on the willpower of the user and the word itself, making possible to invoke spells at will or enchanting objects with determined spells.

‘The Will and the Word… I've heard that before.’

The book also said that it was necessary to know and write the magic word in runic in order to perform any spell. In some cases, the caster can use advanced linking to use his voice to cast the spell instead of reading a scroll imbued with the magic, naming the word used to link it and pouring his power on it. This was awfully similar to the popular beliefs of mages of the medieval era back on Earth. Shout the spell loudly and put your power and will on it.

‘First I must learn how this works. Luckily I have my notebook, so I can use the paper sheets like scrolls and write there the spells. Heck, this is totally absurd, but if they can do magic I can too… right? I don’t want to miss all the fun’

I’m a very fast learner, and I memorized how to write Fire, Ice and Wind in runic instead of learning the entire alphabet, but I needed a place to test… and the book to perform the spells with a guide at hand. I put the old book in my bag. ‘They probably aren’t going to miss it anyway, and I’m not going anywhere outside the castle, just to the gardens if I needed to… Wait… Gardens…’

I walked to the door and saw the same guard, waiting.

“Excuse me sir, can you show me the way to the gardens? I want to breathe some fresh air” I asked.

“Sure sir, follow me” He said. We were walking a bit though the halls. I soon saw an open door to the gardens in one of the sides.

“Thanks, I’ll be in the gardens!” I said, and began to run. The guard just nodded, knowing that the gardens were filled with guards and his duty was only inside the castle. I was thinking about the possibilities when I stumbled upon somepony. We both fell by the force of the hit and I could hear a feminine “Ow”.

I saw a purple unicorn with a darker shade of the same color on her mane, with pink streaks on it. I helped her to get up and she was looking to me with a surprised expression. She was surrounded by other five ponies but I didn’t care to look, I needed to try the book after all!

“Sorry miss, I didn’t see you there. Bye!” I said, running again to the gardens. I could hear one of the other ponies said “The nerve!” while I was running, but I didn’t care enough to turn back.

I ran fast and made quite some distance in the garden until I saw a tree. I stopped in front of it and picked up my notebook with one hand. I sat right in the spot and began to scribble about what I was doing, to take record of my progress… that’s if I was able to do anything.

Then I picked a sheet and torn fine straps of it, to write the runes on them. ‘Okay… let’s try this’

I wrote the word for “Fire” in one of the papers. As I expected, nothing happened.

‘Runic magic has a clear advantage. This way you can prepare your spells long before you need to use them’ I deduced. I made some more copies of the spell and I picked one. I stood up and held the paper between my half-open hands. Then became the hardest part… using my own energy, magic, mana… whatever you want to call it to activate the rune.

I tried to focus, but I didn’t feel anything. I sighed. ‘I've never used magic before, so how the hell am I supposed to know how to make that “flow” go where I want?' I thought. The same flare in my chest answered the question.

‘Maybe that’s the energy… I should give it a shot!’

I felt the flaring energy inside my chest, now it was more defined, like if it never faded, just became a background on my inner sensors. I tried to move it to my hands. I felt a little tingling over both arms and I noted my hands were glowing a bit. ‘C’mon! Let’s do this!’

I tried to pour that energy in the paper between my hands. I felt like a whirlwind around me, moving my hair and tail to move in its direction. One thought, simple and powerful came to my mind. ‘FIRE’

The runes on the paper began to glow a bit and the disappeared. Suddenly a very tiny orb of fire appeared instead, floating over the paper… before exploding in a tiny ‘PUF’ of smoke. I was tired, internally tired, but I managed to perform magic! I should be happy, right?

“Seriously, WHAT.THE.FUCK? I thought this rune magic bullshit was so awesome that I could do lots of shit, and I nearly fainted just to do a stupid tiny flare?” I yelled, making a ball with the paper on my hands and throwing it to the ground, stomping it angrily.

“Stupid paper and stupid magic with stupid runes and stupid crap…” I said. I sighed and sat against the tree, trying to relax. “Seriously, what a waste of time… It was a worth shot though…” I said out loud.

But even angered I picked up another sheet of paper, and wrote the rune for “Ice” and tried to do the same as before. This time, a tiny ice crystal materialized in front of me. I tried to grip it with the energy flow, instead of letting it disintegrate like the fireball. I was growing tired fast, but I managed to take a good look at it before it shattered with a little “cling” sound. I closed my eyes to relax.

“Well, it seems that I’m a shitty sorcerer. Lucky for me, I liked to play as the tank in D&D” I said, laughing at my joke. Too bad these ponies didn’t know about Dungeons and Dragons. Probably.

I was very tired, panting and tiny orbs of sweat were dropping though my coat. This thing sure took a toll on me. Now that I wasn’t focused on the magic, I clearly heard rustling around some bushes and voices speaking there. I tried to ignore them but after more than ten minutes they continued to speak and spy on me.

I picked up my things and putted them on my bag, and without a word I walked to the castle. I didn’t like meddling people, or ponies. They were still hiding when I passed near the bushes. ‘Huh… figures…’

I walked to my room slowly. It took me a good bit of time but I arrived around noon, while the sun began to set. ‘Damn… the whole day reading runic words and doing stuff? Well, I want to sleep anyways…’ I thought. I was near the door when I saw the same guard as the other times. ‘Man, is he my bodyguard or what?’

“Greetings, sir. If you are ready we can go to the dining hall. Dinner will be served in an hour” He said. I just sighed.

“Sorry, I’m too tired that I don’t want to eat. If you excuse me, I’ll take a shower and I’ll go to bed.” I thought then for a moment. ‘If the princesses are waiting for me, then I’m sorry, I can’t even feel my ass…’

The guard just nodded and walked away. I opened the door and walked in. I threw my bag on the floor, making it bounce before stop. I threw my boots and clothes near it, making a pile. I looked at it and chuckled. ‘Just like home’ I thought. I had the bad habit to make piles with dirty clothes. I loved to live in an “organized chaos”. I walked to the shower and cleaned myself, again. I usually tried to not take baths or so more than once in a couple of days, but I just had the urge to. It relaxed my muscles and my mind.

‘What a day… If anypony back home asked me about if I could pull fire out of my ass… wait, I just thought “anypony”?’ I thought. Damned local slang…

I walked out of the shower, feeling refreshed and with an incredible urge to sleep when I noticed movement inside the room. I saw a lot of colorful blobs. I put on my glasses and saw the princesses plus the lavender unicorn mare and her friends. They were looking to me with curiosity, some of them even analyzing me with their stares. A pink one smiling wide at me. My mind began to process the scenario.

‘You left the door open, so they entered without calling.

They are eight mares in total.

Mares are equal to girls.

Inside your room.

You are naked.

In front of them

Processing results…’

*Ding*

‘Sucks to be you’

My eyes went wide and my face turned red as fast as my heart was able to pump enough blood there. By pure reflex I covered my jewels, even not being visible at the moment.

“OH GOD! WHY ARE YOU STANDING THERE!? I’M NAKED!”

-3- Nightly Mishaps

~3~

“For the love of God, I’m naked! Turn your heads so I can at least put some clothes on!” I said, trying to walk over to the clothes near my bag.

“And why is that a problem? Ponies are usually naked…” said the purple unicorn. Her friends just nodded, but the princesses seemed to be more thoughtful about the situation.

“Please, let’s just turn around so he can dress quickly” said Celestia before turning 180º. The others followed suit in a blink. ‘Oh I would kiss you right now’ I thought. I picked up my bag and pulled out some slips and my long jeans. When I had at least my private parts covered I turned to them.

“I’m finished… but seriously, you gave me the scare of my life! Why did you do that?” I asked. Celestia just smiled.

“The guard that I assigned to you told us that you were very exhausted and you were going to skip dinner. We were just concerned. Plus, my student here told me something interesting” She said, I raised an eyebrow.

“Who?” I asked

“Oh my… I just totally forgot. I was going to present you to them during dinner. Will, this is my student and here are her friends, also known as the Elements of Harmony” She said. I was just looking at them with a little frown. Quickly the lavender unicorn mare took a step forward. She was, like the normal ponies, just a palm or two shorter than I was… while I was standing bipedal. ‘Man… Daring Doo told me that I looked young but in all fours I must be like one of their kids…’

“Hello! My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I’m Princess Celestia’s student. Pleased to meet you” She said, extending a hoof ‘Maybe it’s just like we do with hands?’ I asked myself, holding her hoof and shaking it with a doubtful expression on my face.

“Sure… likewise. I’m Flaming Will, or Will for short” I said.

“Why Will? I would think more about Flame, right?” She asked me with a small smile and curious eyes.

“Whatever, Will or Flame. I’m okay with either” They stared to me with obvious confusion, but that didn’t calm me at all.

Next to her an orange mare with a blond mane approached. She had green eyes and wore a cowboy hat. ‘Well, isn’t that just funny?’ I thought.

“Howdy, partner! Name’s Applejack. Nice to meet ya, Will!” She said, nearly not waiting for my handshake and almost lifting me while doing so. She left my hand quite sore and hurting a bit.

“I… uh… nice to meet you too” I said, a bit shaken. Quite literally.

The next one was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane. She approached me while flying, with a smug smile on her face.

“I’m the fastest pegasus in Equestria and the future Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash! “ She said making something like a hero pose. I would swear that I heard a very faint “Woohoo” From behind them. I just raised an eyebrow in disbelief. ‘Seriously? Somepony is very full of herself…’ I thought. I made a quick two finger salute with my right hand.

Just when she was near squinting with a frown my face was filled with pink

“OHMYGOSH! Anewpony!HimynameisPinkiePiebutyoucancallmePinkiesowhereareyoufromdoyoulikeparties?BecauseI’mgoingtothrowyouapartyand…” My brain was in full alert for two main reasons. First, my brain was just overloaded with PINK and a rambling of epic proportions. Second, and most important… someone unknown was invading my personal space.

Don’t mind me, I really like hanging with my friends, but I have a bigger personal space than most people, and I tend to feel attacked when somebody approaches.

My reaction was quick, efficient and surprisingly unexpected for everypony in the room. I just shoved the pink mare away from me, stepping back and creating a good distance between me and the crazed mare. My heart was beating fast from the shock.

“Personal…Space…” I said, holding out my palm with my arm totally extended, making a perimeter around me with it. “This is enough distance, OK?”

Pinkie was a bit taken aback with my reaction, but after looking to my eyes a bit she suddenly drew a big smile on her face. “Okie dokie lokie!” She said bouncing to the others. They looked at her very surprised, but she just giggled and made a “I’ll tell you later” look.

The next mare was an ivory white unicorn with a long, curled and purple mane. She had the looks of someone who takes great deal with personal appearance. ‘Oh great… I was always the one who wore the worst fashion among my friends…’ I thought, still frowning a bit.

“I am Rarity, a pleasure to meet a pony so unique. I run the Carousel Boutique in Ponyville, so if you find yourself in need of fashionable clothes tell me and I will see what can I do” She said. I nodded in respect.

“Charmed” I said. I was shuffling uncomfortably, feeling a bit lost and without any desire to go to sleep.

The last one was a yellow pegasus with pink mane. She was clearly hiding her face with her mane.

“I’m… I’m… Fluttershy…” She said, nearly in a whisper. I nodded.

“Nice to meet you” I replied. I looked to the group of mares and then to the princesses. “So… Celestia, you said they were… the Elements of… uh… something?” I asked “Sorry, I’m still a bit shaken from before…”

“We represent the Elements of Harmony” Twilight said “And Princess Celestia called us to meet you and help you to adapt to Equestria.”

“Yes, that is true. I saw you needed somepony to bring you up to your hooves and begin your life here. I want to search for a way to, at least, make contact with your home dimension… but my royal duties are first, I hope you can understand” Celestia said. I frowned and nodded. “Ah… that reminds me… Twilight told me that she and her friends saw you performing magic… is that true, Will?” She asked me. I shrugged.

“Yeah, I found this old book about runes and I tried to cast fire and ice, but it tires me a lot. I pretty much suck at it” I said. “That’s why I was going to sleep, but… I don’t feel like sleeping now…”

“We can talk about it while we are having dinner, don’t you think?” Celestia said, all of us nodded “Well, we shall go to then!”

We began to walk and I tried to make myself at some distance of the group, but two mares were attached to me like my shadow: Twilight and Pinkie.

Twilight was looking to my hands and my way of walking while Pinkie was… just bouncing and smiling to me. That was unnerving me to the core.

“You’ve never seen a bipedal animal before?” I asked to Twilight. She blushed a bit.

“Sorry. It’s that you walk over your hind legs with ease, and then you have those claws at the end of your forelegs…” She said. I grinned, my brain switching to “Professor Will” mode.

“You see, my former species, humans or Homo Sapiens evolved this way, freeing our ‘Forelegs’ from locomotive work and we began to use our “Hands” in order to use tools. That’s why we become the apex species on our planet” I explained “It was a work of millions of years, and we were at the verge of annihilation for natural causes a couple of times… but in the end we thrived. Hell for what I’ve seen we are far more advanced than you ponies… no offense” I said. Twilight looked like a little girl on Christmas morning.

“Oh! You have more advanced technology? Tell me about it!” She asked. I chuckled a bit.

“We have a wireless information network around our entire planet and with that we can exchange information in seconds or chat with someone at the other side of the world. We have a very wide range of locomotive machines for our daily labor and transportation, through ground, air and sea. We are even capable of space flight. We sent a man to our own moon and he came back. We were planning on going to the nearest planet in our solar system in the next few decades…” I said casually. This attracted the attention of somepony, and in a blink Luna was also at Twilight’s side.

“Your species managed to get to the Moon?” She asked, like if I was saying something unbelievable.

“Eh… yes, went to the moon and managed to get back. It was a mission several days long and with outdated technology. I mean, we managed it like… more than 30 years ago… The technology has advanced a lot since then” I said “I can explain a bit of our technology if you want. However, I’m reluctant to share any technological knowledge I have, which is few. I don’t want to change the way your society is developing…” I said until Twilight interrupted me.

“I understand. Where is the fun if we can’t discover it for ourselves?” She said, with a warm smile. ‘She has a very scientific mind’ I thought. I smiled a bit.

“Yes, that’s a way to put it. I can still offer some ideas if somepony wanted to ask, but nothing more” I said.

We were chatting a bit about everything when we arrived to the dining hall. We took seats while awaiting the food. This time I asked about something vegetarian to not scare them again. I was feeling rather well, watching everypony talking and having just a good time at the table. Unconsciously, I started to humming a familiar song while waiting, tapping lightly my fingers doing the percussion parts. It was a song that I linked to dinners, maybe because I loved to play the game that has that song on it after eating dinner back home.

I didn’t notice until the end that Luna and Fluttershy were watching me with interest. I blushed and hung down my head in embarrassment. “Sorry…” I said.

“You don’t have to say sorry, I was wondering what kind of song were you humming. That is… if you don’t mind…” Fluttershy trailed off. I laughed a bit.

“Don’t worry. It was just a song from when I was little. Kinda stuck on me” I said.

“Oh, a lullaby?” Luna asked. I shook my head.

“No, it’s just the main theme of a game” I explained. “A video game. You know… virtual worlds?” I tried to explain.

“Aren’t those the ones who are in those big machines with joysticks? I saw younger colts playing with them” Said Pinkie cheerfully.

“That sounded a lot like Arcade Games, you have those here?” Pinkie nodded “Well then the video game I told you about it’s something like that, but played on a personal computer. It’s more like an adventure novel made into a game. It’s pretty funny” I said “I had the habit of playing that game right after dinner…”I said, remembering my home. It pained a bit, even knowing I now had to adapt to this new world and that I had their help it saddened me thinking about home. Luckily, the servants came with our meals “Say… if you manage to have a flute around I can play the song for you, after dinner” I said. This made Luna smile a bit.

“Of course! It would be enlightening to see some of your world’s culture” She said. I nodded in agreement. We all began to eat when Celestia spoke.

“Will, can you explain us about the magic you showed while being in the gardens?” She asked, I gulped a mouthful of food and nodded.

“Sure. The book explains that if you inscribe in runic a spell and you pour your magic in the written spell it would just manifest. I learned how to say and tried fire and ice, but it’s very hard” I said “I thought it would be easier”

“That is a incredible thing to do, Will! Don’t you know that earth ponies like you cannot do any magic?” Said Twilight with excitement. I raised an eyebrow.

“Really? That explains why all the other books where centered only in unicorn magic…” I said, thoughtful, tapping my chin.

“Will is more unique than he looks my faithful student. Why don’t you take a look at his inner magic system and see for yourself?” Celestia said, I just looked at her confused,

“My what?” I asked. Celestia just giggled. Twilight’s horn flared up and I felt a tingling sensation.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing dangerous. You must know that ponies have an internal magic system. Think of it as the cardiovascular system of magical energy. Your former species didn’t have one and since your little… accident your body needed to build a new one for you. In normal circumstances the portal would create a normal, earth pony system. Because of the accident, your body is adapting to this new magical energy from zero, so it managed to build some unique features” Celestia explained with a warm smile. I just nodded.

“So… basically I’m like a mutant?” I replied bluntly.

“Heavens, no! You are just a very special kind of pony” Luna tried to explain. I laughed at the situation.

“It’s not a problem. You can call me that or mutant. I’ll be a pony with hands anyways…” I heard a gasp from Twilight and she levitated my hands up against my will. “Uh… Twilight… what the f… what are you doing?” I corrected myself.

“Your hands…” She said.

“They are… handful?” I asked

“No! I mean… Yes! I mean… UGH!”

“Calm down, Twilight” Celestia said, and Twilight sighed and calmed as she was told “She was trying to say that your body is developing some structures more proper of unicorns, mainly inside your hands” She explained. I just shrugged.

“I’m totally lost here, I don’t know what that means. I’m going to grow spikes or horns in my hands or something?” I asked. Celestia laughed.

“It is not that drastic, Will. To put it in quickly, your hands can act as a unicorn’s horn. In other words, you could perform runic magic before because you had something to channel your magic. A normal earth pony cannot do such a thing.” She said.

“But I felt totally exhausted. And they were very simple spells. Maybe I can do magic now but… I don’t think I’m going to be good at it” I said. It was clear to me, it was a total failure. Not that I minded at all, I had magic!

“Don’t think that way, Will” Said Twilight with a smile. Why she was smiling? “For what I saw you system is equivalent of a newborn. You must give your body time so it can develop properly. You will probably be as good as any other unicorn! And being an earth pony it would be an historic event! An earth pony who can do magic!” She said. I sighed.

“I think I’m not in that group, no pony had hands like, ever. You must think of me as what I am, a fortuity” I said “Just look at me. I was a proud adult with a strong frame and now I’m a scrawny, short kid”

“Colt” Said Luna.

“Yeah, colt” I sighed. “I can’t even work for what I know. I don’t like to live at the expenses of others…”

“Just don’t go there, sugarcube. Maybe ya were a grown up, but ya don’t know nothin’ ‘bout Equestria and to me ya look now like a young colt. Hay you look jus’ a bit older than mah little sis! And she goes to elementary school” She said. The others nodded in agreement.

“It wouldn’t be so kind to leave a young colt alone at his own luck, right?” Asked Rarity, I just shuffled in my place.

“I suppose so, I mean I wouldn’t leave a kid alone… But I’m not a kid… err… colt! I just look like one” I explained.

“That’s the point, darling. You look like one. We know but you can’t be explaining this whole ordeal of yours to everypony, can’t you?” replied Rarity with a soft smile. I cringed a bit. ‘She’s right. I can’t be saying that I’m a trans-dimensional traveler of sorts’

“No, I can’t, but once when I feel prepared enough I’ll try luck on something out there, even if nopony believes in me. I need to prove myself, and find a purpose” I said, maybe a bit more confident that I should.

“Yes, maybe even find your cutie mark!” Said Pinkie. I just stared at her.

“Cutie what? Are you kidding? What is that?” I asked. They looked at me a bit confused too. Celestia chuckled at the consensual feeling of confusion.

“A cutie mark is a symbol that appears on the flanks of everypony when they find what their special talent is. Mine, for example shows my sun-related powers. I raise and lower the sun every day after all” She explained to me. ‘Raise the sun? They are pulling my leg here’ I thought, and put my hand over my mouth, hiding a smile and trying to dissolve it moving my fingers like if I was styling a moustache. That make them more confused but I needed to do that, or I’ll be laughing my ass off right there. I began to take deep breaths and calmed myself after a minute or so.

“Are you ok, Will? You are acting odd…” Asked Fluttershy, I just nodded.

“Yeah I’m fine. I just…” I hide my smile again “I found that joke pretty funny”

“What I said about cutie marks is true, I can assure you” Said Celestia, I shook my head.

“I was not talking about the cutie things, but about the sun. I mean, that’s pretty funny! No one can move something that can’t even see where it is!” I said, barely hiding my smile but repressing the laughter. Celestia and the others looked to me like if I was now joking.

“But I actually raise the sun, and my sister the moon, giving Equestria the night and day cycle” Celestia said.

“But that’s impossible! I mean... The sun that we can see is so far that it’s light arrives with 8 minutes of delay, at least if this star system is nearly similar to the one I’m from, which until now seemed to be so” I said, frowning a bit. “And the extreme mass of both objects are tremendous and with the energy to barely move one of them you could power the entire world with electricity for more than a year. Also if you were capable to do that it would violate the gravitation laws, because the sun is much bigger than Earth-like planets like this one, so it would be natural for the planet to orbit the sun, not the other way…” I said. I can be very open-minded, but don’t mess with my physics!

They just stared at me, Rainbow Dash mumbling something about “Egghead”. I was just starting to be a little irritated.

“Maybe your world works that way, but I am sorry to say that here it is not the same.” Luna said. I huffed a bit.

“Yeah…Then what’s next? Animals incapable of taking care for themselves? Or maybe you can manipulate the climatology?” I asked with sarcasm.

“Actually, I’m on the weather patrol on Ponyville” proudly said Rainbow. I felt my right eye twitching. I massaged my temples.

“It’s something wrong?” Twilight asked,

“Well, I could say that everything is wrong, this just messes up so many physical laws that I don’t want to think about it anymore” I replied with a frown “Sorry for being a party pooper, but it’s unnerving me that most of the things I learned back home are nearly useless here. I feel like an idiot right now”

“Don’t be so hard with yourself, Will. I think that you being as a young colt has a purpose, for you will be able to learn without losing years to do it.” Celestia said “You still have your mind but your body is many years behind your original age. Think about it as a new opportunity, because you will probably learn as quick as the youngsters do but with the comprehension of an adult” She said, smiling. I just crossed my arms and frowned.

“Well yeah, that’s just the thing, right? It seems that I’m going to be studying all my life…” I said. They noticed clearly that I was not in the mood to talk about it, glancing between them, not knowing what to say.

“So…” Said Rarity, trying to break the awkward silence “Why did you have such a long mane? And tail too. Usually colts style their manes and tails short” she said. I puffed my chest with pride.

“Well, I worked my long hair since I began my career. I wanted to have long hair since I was little” I said, just before rubbing my chin “Now, about the tail I cannot say. I never had a tail before. Maybe it’s because the hair too? I dunno…” I said, shrugging.

“In any case, you should take more care of it. Your mane looks spiky…” She said, grimacing a bit. I smirked.

“Well, I comb my hair… when I remember to do so” I laughed “I never minded about my looks, just about my weight, but for health reasons. I tend to eat a lot” I said.

The conversation was dying a bit, but with the tension avoided. We chat a bit of everything ‘till we finished our meals and waited for the desserts. When I was hoping to have a “normal” night for my standards my stomach began to grumble very loudly. Twilight looked at me worried.

“You’re still hungry? You ate like two of us already…” She asked, but my fear in my face was too obvious “Are you okay?” I covered my mouth with my hand and looked to her with an apologetic gaze.

“I’m sorry for what is about to happen” I said. Celestia raised an eyebrow

“What do you mean by…” She didn’t have the chance to finish. I belched very soundly, the deep burp resonating in the dining hall in the process. It was more proper of a cave troll than a person. My face went totally red and tried to hide under the table. They were looking at me perplexed and Rarity just fainted. But other sound became as loud as my belch.

Pinkie Pie was laughing her ass (plot?) off while Rainbow Dash began to snicker, and finally gave up and began to laugh as well. Then everypony in the hall except me was laughing hard. ‘Oh God… this is the most embarrassing moment of my life…’

Pinkie was holding her chest and crying of laughter “That… that was…” She started to laugh again.

“How… how the hay did you do that?” asked Rainbow, snickering between words. I rubbed the back of my head with my ears low.

“I… eh… how to put it…” I began to rub my hands “My friends and I found pretty funny to make very loud and long burps so… I kinda… uh… trained to make them louder and longer…” I looked down to the floor “Now I can’t control it, my stomach just simply generates a lot of gas… “My cheeks were burning ‘I must be like the worst person ever. I mean come on! Have a special ability to make stunning burps? How is this even useful?’ I scolded myself.

“Don’t worry Will. It’s a natural process in everypony’s body. Yours it’s quite impressive I might add” Celestia said, giggling a bit “And your friends were right. It was quite funny. Unexpected, but funny” She said, smiling at me. ‘Hell, I’m going to kiss you in the end if you keep being so nice to me, Celestia… I wish I met someone like you before’ I thought.

“I uh… sorry again. I know it’s pretty uncouth and uh… I think Rarity might want a bit of help there” I said, pointing to her on the floor.

“Nah, she’s just a drama queen. She’ll get over it any minute now” Said Rainbow, waving a hoof dismissively. I just shrugged.

“Okay… If you say so…” I replied. I scratched my chest a bit by reflex. “So… um… anything on your minds to do after dinner?” I asked “Night it’s still young”

“You promised us a song, didn’t you?” said Luna playfully “I need to find a flute for you, we probably have one here. We need to keep a wide variety of instruments in the castle for special events like the Grand Galloping Gala” She explained. Rainbow just scoffed.

“I don’t think he can play something awesome with a tiny flute. I bet it’s something pretty boring…” She said. Applejack looked at her with a stern expression.

“That wasn’t very nice…” She said. I just looked at Rainbow with a sly smirk.

“So, you want something awesome…OK… I know something perfect” ‘She wants awesome? I’m going to give her the meaning of awesome and badass’ I thought.

“Luna, do you have an electric guitar?” I asked. She looked at me puzzled.

“Why yes, of course.” She replied

“I need one, a drum set, a saxophone and a bass. I’ll sing and play the guitar, but I need…” I didn’t finished when a pink blur moved around the dining hall, setting the said instruments plus a couple of disoriented ponies at the drums and the bass.

“What the hell just happened?” I asked. Suddenly, PINK.

“You asked for these ones, right? So I remembered that I have hidden instruments all around in case of musical emergency! You never know when you need to pull a song, right? RIGHT?” Pinkie said right in my face. I just gulped, trying to not comprehend what just happened.

“Y-yeah, you’re right. But who is going to play the sax?” I asked. Pinkie giggled.

“Me, silly!” she simply replied, bouncing to the saxophone. I picked up the guitar and played some notes, trying to remember my lessons and the song I wanted to play.

“Are you sure you want an awesome song? Maybe this is too much for you…” I asked Rainbow, playfully. She just snorted.

“Come on! Start already” She said. Meanwhile, Rarity regained consciousness and looked around confused.

“Wha…?” She only said.

“Shh… Will is trying to be awesome with a song” Rainbow said, snickering.

I pulled the first notes. They floated in the air while I was feeling magic around me, and I smirked. I played again the same notes and looked to Pinkie and the others. They smiled with me. I played the same notes two times before they began to play with me. Then the song started

On the day I was born, the nurses all gathered 'round

And they gazed in wide wonder, at the joy they had found

The head nurse spoke up, and she said leave this one alone

She could tell right away, that I was bad to the bone

Bad to the bone

B-B-B-B-Bad to the bone

B-B-B-B-Bad

Bad to the bone

I started to move my hair wildly around, making it spikier.

I broke a thousand hearts, before I met you

I'll break a thousand more baby, before I am through

I wanna be yours pretty baby, yours and yours alone

I'm here to tell ya honey, that I'm bad to the bone

Bad to the bone

B-B-B-Bad

Bad to the bone

I began to swing my hip with the music in a very suggestive way while playing the guitar like a madpony, a wicked smile on my face. I decided to modify a bit the song for my pony audience.

I make a rich mare beg, I'll make a good mare steal

I'll make an old mare blush, and make a young filly squeal

I wanna be yours pretty baby, yours and yours alone

I'm here to tell ya honey, that I'm bad to the bone

B-B-B-B-Bad

Bad to the bone

Pinkie and I were standing back-to-back and she started her solo, Pinkie totally absorbed by the song, playing the saxophone like if she played it all the time. We winked at each other and continued to play, my guitar solo keeping all the attention while I was swaying my tail and hips to the audience. I was having the time of my life.

And when I walk the streets

Kings and Queens step aside

Every mare I meet

They all stay satisfied

I wanna tell ya pretty baby

Well Ya see I make my own

I'm here to tell ya honey

That I'm bad to the bone

Bad to the bone

B-B-B-B-Bad

B-B-B-Bad

Bad to the bone

We continued the song and when it finished we looked to our small audience.

All of them wore different shades of blush on her faces, Twilight and Luna the reddish ones. Fluttershy was just trying to hide her blush with her mane. It was pretty cute actually. I looked directly to Rainbow Dash. She had her wings spread for some off reason. I smirked.

“Awesome enough?” I asked. Pinkie was stomping her hooves, I though as a way to applaud.

“That was fun! Can we play it again?” She asked. I looked to the silly collection of blushes and I laughed.

“No Pinkie, I think they had enough. Thanks for the help with this song. You sax solo was sick” I extended my punch and she eagerly bumped her own hoof in a odd mix of bro-fist and bro-hoof.

“I don’t know how an instrument can be sick, but thanks!” She happily replied. The other two ponies just shrugged and walked away.

“Well that was… interesting” Twilight said. Rarity didn’t dare to look at me. Fluttershy was mumbling something and Applejack was looking at me with a funny expression.

“Ah’m confused. Ah liked tha song but the lyrics aren’t a bit… uh…” She tried to say. I laughed again.

“The song it’s meant to be that way, Applejack. So don’t worry about it. It was pretty fun for me, and I think for Pinkie too” I looked to the princesses and I scratched the back of my head. “I hope you liked it. It’s a pretty catchy song back home. I know the lyrics are a bit inappropriate for a castle, but I wanted to show Rainbow how we rock back on Earth” I said with a smirk. Rainbow and Luna looked away while Celestia coughed a bit before talking.

“It was very entertaining Will. It was also useful you see, because you just performed magic while playing the song” She said. I nodded.

“I noticed that. I felt a rush inside me and the other ponies just knew the song, even when it isn’t a song from Equestria. How is that possible?” I asked. She smiled at me.

“Music is a very special kind of magic, and here in Equestria, it isn’t odd to look or even be in a sudden musical parade. Music usually makes ponies happy and the harmony that governs this world makes this kind of events possible because it wants happiness and harmony between ponies and others.” She explained.

“So if I start to sing on my own there is a possibility to also start a musical performance? Just because it makes me and others happy?” I asked. Celestia nodded. ‘Well, that’s interesting’ I thought, shrugging.

“Oh well, it isn’t the worst that can happen” I said, brushing it off. I yawned and stretch a bit.”I think fatigue is catching up with me. I think it’s better for me to catch some sleep.” They nodded in agreement.

“Of course. We are going to be up a bit more. Tomorrow we need to talk about your where you are going to live and some more arrangements. Sleep well, Will” Celestia said. I waved to all of them.

“Good Night, everypony. See you tomorrow” I said, walking to my temporal bedroom, again escorted by the same guard.

I was dead, totally dead. I walked like a zombie to the bed and laid there, thinking about the day. I rolled to free my face from the pillow and looked to the ceiling. It was a good day.

‘Learned a bit of magic, meeting new ponies… sang a badass song making sexy moves…’ My trail of thought was brutally cut by the last bit of it. I picked up the pillow and tried to choke myself with it.

“Oh God… I just made a sexy dance and insinuated with a song to two princesses-goddesses and five chicks! WHAT’S WRONG WITH ME?!”

-4- The Adventure Starts... More or Less?

I didn’t know how or when it had happened, but…

I was home.

I couldn’t believe it. I was back in my hometown, in the middle of nowhere. My breath was heavy and I began to feel light headed while my chest was starting to ache as the feels I managed to keep on hold became too strong. The cold breeze of the mountains, the green forests around, and the birds chirping happily… it was home. I looked around and ran to my house and bumped into the door, opening it in the process. There weren’t any neighbors around, so we didn’t need to shut the door completely.

‘I’m… I’m back?’ I thought, too stunned for what my eyes were seeing. I ran upstairs to the living room and there she was, looking at me with a warm smile…

My mother.

I began to cry silently and ran to hug her. She welcomed me opening her own arms and hugged me tightly. Then I noticed that my head was barely at her chest… I was still a half-pony. This was only a dream… I cried on her chest as she was hugging me.

“Shh… it’s alright…” She said in a caring tone.

“Mom… I… I thought…” I barely said, sobbing like a little kid.

“I know dear…” She replied

“How…?” I asked, sobbing a bit with a jagged breathing. Her smile deflated a bit.

“You aren’t here dear. Can’t you tell? I’m at home, but you are still out there…” She explained. I just stared at her with watery eyes. “This is a dream, and we are both sleeping” She said, and then chuckled a bit “Look at you… my little baby is now a fluffy horse” she said, ruffling my mane. My face went red and managed to chuckle a bit even when I was still crying.

“Mom… I’m… I’m not a baby anymore… I’m a pony” I explained, she just hugged me more.

“You will always be my little baby…” She simply replied. We stood there, hugging each other for what looked like hours before she pulled me gently and cleaned the tears from my face. “Now why is my valiant knight is crying? It seems you’ve found yourself an adventure” She said smiling at me.

“But… I’m in another world, and it’s all so strange and… I…”

“Now what is that? You’ve never hesitated before, even when the odds were clearly against you son” She asked me.

I looked down to the floor “But… I’m not human anymore mom. I don’t know what I am…I don’t even know if I can return home…” I said, crying again. She picked my chin and made me look straight at her hazel eyes.

“I know what you are… you are my son, and you’ve always made me proud of you. You look like a pony… so what? What matters is here…” She pointed at my heart “…and believe me, I can’t tell if you are my son or not, and you are, as you always have been. Where you are doesn’t matter” She hugged me tightly “Never doubt of yourself, and trust your heart. It will lead you to the right path” She said “I’m glad to know that you are alright, but I think someone is trying to wake you up, so we must say goodbye for now son” She looked at my eyes again and her smile grew wider. “You know that now your eyes are now blue like the sky? Now they show your true soul… Never change, my son, and believe in yourself” She said, as the dream began to crumble into mist. I tried to hold her but she just vanished like everything else around me.

After the dream world just disappeared I was standing over space… or something like that. I dried my tears and waited like forever to something to happen.

“So… what now? I thought I was going to wake up right now…” I said out loud.

It was dark and I couldn’t see anything around me… until two sparks appeared; two bright orbs of some kind of luminescent substance, one of them was deep blue as the sea, and the other one was a mixture of colors, like a blob of rainbow. As I approached them I could see two figures surrounded by darkness, their forms barely recognizable and each one standing behind the sparks. Behind the blue one was standing the figure of a human and behind the other one a pony on all fours.

“The spirit of Terra and the spirit of Equus…” said a woman’s voice out of nowhere. “Choose wisely…”

‘What the fuck…? I have played enough Kingdom Hearts to know where this is going…’ I thought. Of course I would associate an odd situation with a video game. Bad habits die hard. Not that I minded though.

I just stared at the blobs a good five minutes, but they didn’t do anything except be bright and ethereal. I decided to approach the blue one, the Spirit of Terra. When my hand was near I could feel an odd energy inside my arm. It was like raw energy, it pumped in me a fighting spirit and determination. The feel faded away as I retracted my arm.

“Huh… that’s interesting, let’s see the Spirit of Equus now…” I said

When I got my hand near the rainbow blob I felt very energized, pure magic running through my veins… but also a sense of peace and… harmony? It was hard to describe. After the testing I looked at each spark, and then ahead of the figures. A human and a pony… but… something wasn’t right.

“I’m both, so why not both of them?” I said out loud to myself. I extended both arms and grabbed both orbs. A strange feeling of accomplishment filled my soul as the sparks were absorbed and I was left again in darkness.

“Such an interesting choice” She same female voice said, and the dark dissipated, showing a night landscape. I could see the city of Canterlot at the distance. A tall pony, who looked a bit like Celestia, but with a red, normal mane and a light colored coat stood near me. “As interesting as you, young pony”

“Who are you?” I asked her bluntly.

“Don’t worry about that, right now I am here because of your little predicament and I’m going to help you with some explanation about your situation. You are stuck in your actual form, and as you already know as well, you can manage certain abilities not known to Earth Ponies” She explained “That is because you aren’t one, but neither a pegasus nor a unicorn. You spirit wasn’t in resonance with your body until now. Now that your soul isn’t fighting itself you can…”

“Wait, wait… My soul was fighting itself?” I asked her, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes… you are from Terra, and your spirit didn’t adapt to our magic-filled world, Equus, as was intended with the runic portal. You could have died, maybe not now or tomorrow, but in time. You are an accident, Flaming Will, with all the consequences”

“Gee… way to work my self-confidence…” I replied a bit offended. She just chuckled.

“You know that I didn’t say that in a hurtful tone. Anyway, now that your soul is healed from its inner fight your spirit shines with its own light, and you can survive here, or any other magic world in fact, because you will simply add a bit of it to you” She said. I scratched my head a bit.

“I… think I understand… more or less?” I replied.

“Good” She said, a smile forming on her face “I don’t want to sound hasty, but we are short of time. As I said before you aren’t a ‘complete’ pony, and I’m offering you a choice” She said. Her horn glowed, showing three emblems floating on its own. One resembled an earth pony, one a pegasus, and one a unicorn.

“In time you will master your abilities to an extent. Maybe you can’t be as strong or as powerful as some gifted ponies… But you will probably be a bit more proficient than the average pony, if you train hard and work for it. Now, I can offer you the essence of one of the three pony races, so you will be at least capable of the same things as other ponies can do. You can call it… a welcoming gift to Equus and Equestria.” She explained with a smile “I saw your physical test and it was… not amusing I’m afraid. Right now you are far below the average pony in every aspect, physically speaking”

I just shrugged “Well yeah, right? I read that they have like magic enhancements to their physical strength and stuff. I’m just an average man. A very unimpressive one if I might add”

“That’s why I am here. You can choose the resilience and strength of the Earth Ponies, the speed and agility of the Pegasi, or the magical power and skill of the Unicorns” She said, pointing at each emblem while doing so.

I pondered mere seconds and picked the pegasi emblem.

“You know that you aren’t going to grow wings, right? She said. “Why the pegasi powers?” She asked

“That’s easy. A boost to my agility will give me a bonus to attack and evasion rates, improving my defense and attack as if I were stronger or more resilient, and with improved velocity I can quit front lines with ease and cast spells at the back lines, while evading attacks easily. I mean, this is like an all-in-one! I’ve played enough RPGs to know that these kinds of boosts are the best suited for me” I explained, in a dead-serious tone.

I can swear that, in that precise moment, the whole universe facepalmed.

“I…I see. It’s… an interesting way to put it. Then, if you are sure…” She said.

“I’m sure. I pick this one” I said, showing her the emblem. It dispersed on tiny orbs of energy and flew to my chest, giving me a warm feeling. ‘Huh, always a warm touch, eh? Why not cold? Cold isn’t bad… right?’ I thought.

“Then it’s time to go” She said, turning her back to me.

“Wait!”

“Yes?” She said.

“It was you… did you connect my dream with my mother’s dream?” I asked. She nodded.

“These kinds of accidents with gateways to other realities aren’t supposed to happen. Take it as… an apology.”

I was crying again, but with a smile on my face

“Thank you…”

“Enjoy your stay in Equus, Flaming Will…”

“Will! Will! Wake up!” A concerned Twilight said, shaking the crap out of me.

“Hey! What’s the big idea? Ugh, now I’m dizzy…” I said, holding my head, my eyes spinning on their sockets. I looked around and saw Luna, Celestia and Twilight around, with variable degrees of worry on their faces. I just reacted the way my brain knows.

“Who died?” I asked in a bored tone. They stared at me with blank expressions.

“Sorry, it’s a joke, because you look as if somebody has just died” I said with a small smirk. Twilight smacked me right in the neck.

“Aw, what the hell? What was that for?” I asked her.

“That was a very bad and disgusting joke. How can you just say ‘Who died?’ and expect us to take it as a joke?” Twilight said frowning at me.

“He he…um… by saying it?” I said. “OK, I get it. No morbid jokes around you. Too bad if you ask me, because I know some good ones… Anyway why are you all gathered here?” I asked, frowning a bit.

“We sensed a strong magic building up here and we came post haste” Said Luna “We thought that you might be in danger”

“Nah, I’m far too disposable to be in danger… probably” I said, dismissing that with my hand. “I had some weird dreams though. A very trippy one and…uh…” My voice cracked at there and I closed my eyes, breathing slowly trying to calm myself as the memory of the dream was still strong enough to hurt my feelings. I managed at some extent but silent tears rolled down my face.

“Will, are you alright?” Celestia asked. I sniffed and cleaned my tears.

“Yeah… It’s just that one of the dreams… I dreamed about home… and my mother…”I sniffed again “It’s hard, you know? Knowing that it would be impossible to return, or if I return my life will be completely changed… But I’ll survive…” I said, looking to my hands, recalling holding my mother in them inside the dream. I felt a tug at my side and when I looked, it was Twilight who just hugged me.

“It must be terrible to be away from your family.” She said in a sad tone “You have us here, and we will try to help you Will”

I was too emotionally beaten to reply and push her away, so I just remained silent. After noticing that I was a bit tense Twilight eased the hug. “It’s something wrong, Will?”

“N-nothing. I’m just not used to being hugged by… hum… anypony” I said, shifting uncomfortably. She retreated and sat back where she was with a sheepish smile.

“I forgot, sorry. Ponies around here are more…”

“Open to body contact? Back home people are used to that too. It’s just me. I don’t like to be surrounded by people or ponies” I said, cleaning the tears off my face. I noticed that my shirt was nowhere to be seen, I probably tossed it during night and I couldn’t remember where.

“We can talk about that later, for now I think we must go and take the morning with a good breakfast. Usually a good meal helps to raise the spirits… and fills the stomach” Celestia said to us with a smile, and we all nodded. I jumped out of the bed, with my pants still on from yesterday, my chest uncovered and my hair running wild without its usual restraint. Twilight looked at me and giggled.

“You should comb your mane first” She said. I looked at her with my eyes now covered with a good ‘chunk’ of wild mane. My spiky mane ran wild down to my waist, from front and behind, making me look like Tarzan… but with more hair. I just smirked and looked at Luna.

“Luna, do you mind if I go as I am right now?” I asked her. She shook her head. I then asked the same to Celestia, with the same reply. “See? They don’t mind” I smiled smugly. “So… Onwards to the dining hall!” I said as I jumped to the door… just to crash against it. “…Why didn’t you tell me that the door was closed?” I asked, holding my snout in pain while they laughed.

“So… this nameless alicorn gave you the essence of one of the three pony races?” asked Twilight, just a bit after arriving at the dining hall. I explained to her and to the princesses about the strange dream during the walk. They weren’t as skeptical as I had thought, but very interested and had a couple of theories by themselves.

“Yeah, at least she said that in the dream. I don’t feel different, though” I replied, inspecting my arms and tail.

“But something has changed about you. Your aura feels different somehow” Said Luna. I just shrugged. This magic thing was new to me, so I was barely understanding the half of it.

“It’s good, I suppose. I mean, what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger, right?” I said with a smirk “So for now, I’ll be concerned about eating! ‘Cause I’m starving…”

“Ah can agree to that!” said Applejack, making appearance with the rest of the mares of yesterday. They sat at the table and started to talk a bit, until a loud gasp came from Rarity.

“Dear, what happened to your mane?” She asked me. I just picked my hair and looked at it with interest.

“Uh… nothing? It always looks like this, why do you ask?” I said with an innocent smile, while Twilight was giving me an ‘I told you so’ look.

“But it is all disheveled and unkempt!” She replied. I laughed a bit.

“Nope, it’s just naturally styled” I said, while making an exaggerated gesture of styling my hair, moving my forelocks upwards with my hand, showing a playful look in my blue eyes and wiggling my eyebrows just a bit before the hair went down again. Rarity looked very displeased while Applejack and Rainbow Dash were snickering. Twilight decided to enter the conversation.

“Anyway, I would like to know more about you, Flame. I mean, yesterday we talked a bit about your world but you never talked about yourself” She said. I just shrugged.

“What do you want to know?” I asked her.

“What about your job?” She replied. I nodded, and also the servants served the breakfast just as I started to talk.

“That’s an easy one. I am a geographer” I said simply, taking a bit of the food. They stared at me a bit.

“So… you made maps and that stuff? That’s so uncool,” said Rainbow Dash. I just chuckled.

“No, I was in the fields all the time. Gathering data and that stuff. That’s why I ended up here. I was with a team exploring an uncharted area of the biggest rainforest on my world when I found an ancient temple by pure luck and I activated something… and here I am,” I explained a bit. “It was my first real job too. I did odd jobs from time to time, but I was focusing more on my studies than other things. I just finished my career, and getting to work on a project that big was the chance of a lifetime!”

“So ya don’t have any experience in any work? Ya jus’ were all studyin’?” asked Applejack.

“Maybe I am an adult but back on my world the period of learning takes from 3 years old to 16, in the most cases. A lot of people like to take on more studies and carry on with bachelor grades and finally, the careers… at least from where I am. If you like investigation you can apply for a doctorate, but I liked to work so I just lived with that.” I said “So answering your question, yes, but because I was learning to do a specific job, and I needed to study to be able to do it”

“And what do you like? Uh… you don’t have to answer if you don’t want…” Asked Fluttershy. I just shrugged.

“No problem, Fluttershy. Let me think…” I tapped my chin a bit “I love videogames, reading… and eating. I have a lot of hobbies too but I think that sums it all up in a simple way without stepping into specific things” I replied.

“So you don’t like to hang out with your friends or go to parties?” asked Pinkie. I just looked at my food with a blank expression before answering her question.

“I… uh don’t like parties very much, yeah… and I need friends to hang out with in the first place, right?” I said, and smirked a bit “I have a couple of very close friends, but they live on the other side of my world so I wasn’t able to see them daily when I was there, or even often. But it’s ok; I’ve always lived on my own more or less, with the help of my family of course. It’s better to be alone than being in bad company” I said as a matter-of-fact, and it was for me. Pinkie gasped loudly when the others looked uncomfortable, Twilight and the princesses looked like if they realized something.

“You dislike parties and like to be alone?! But everypony loves to have friends and go to parties!” Pinkie said nearly yelling, I grimaced a bit.

“Well, I don’t dislike all parties, I just don’t like crowds of people, and parties tend to be crowded with them” I stated simply. Pinkie looked at first very thoughtful but then she quickly recovered, smiling mischievously. I finished my breakfast quickly, wanting to end the awkward conversation, and sat up.

“I think I’m going to pick up my things. Not wanting to sound ingrate or eager princesses… but you have already made my living arrangements, right?” I said with a sheepish smile and lowering my ears.

“Don’t worry, and yes, it is all prepared. You will depart to Ponyville and live there under the tutelage of the Elements of Harmony. We cannot watch over you at the castle, and even so, we need our time to look for a way to establish a link to your homeworld, so I thought that you will be better with somepony who I can trust. I will see you at the train station, we must take care of some business before you depart” Celestia said with a nod. I nodded as well, understanding her reasoning.

“Very well, I’ll be ready soon” I replied, walking to my temporary room.

The trip was uneventful, and in a couple of minutes my hair (Or is it my mane now? It’s so confusing) was styled with my trademark ponytail and I was dressed as I always was, with a simple dark-green t-shirt and jeans. When I placed all my belongings inside my bag I decided to take a look at myself again. My hair resembled one of those anime guys, all spiky and that, and I liked it a lot. It also moved on its own… I mean that I tried to put down the “spikes” on my hair but they just jumped out again and again, so I just shrugged and walked to the main hall, with that guard guiding me. ‘Seriously, I should invite him to a drink or something. He’s almost my bodyguard’

“Hey, guard” I asked him, he just turned his head a bit, “Are you part of some kind of military or you are just the guards of the princesses?” I asked him, he just complied and, on the way out of the castle, he explained to me how the Royal Guard worked, the two different branches, serving under either Luna or Celestia, and a brief description of the corps and their duties. The way out was oddly short and soon we were looking out at Canterlot.

The girls were all gathered outside the main entrance when I walked out of the castle, taking a look of the surroundings and feeling the chilly breeze.

“It must be autumn or winter here, right?” I asked, sniffing the air and looking to the skies. “…and it’s going to rain soon it seems”

“How can you know? And yes, in fact the Running of the Leaves will be soon” Said Twilight. ‘Huh, that must be some kind of festivity’ I thought.

“I can tell because I’ve learned how to read the cloud patterns and to know how the air smells in most meteorological situations. For example, in summer the air smells more li-OOOF!” I was saying before being interrupted by a white unicorn with blonde mane that just bumped me, making me fall flat on my ass.

“Who dares to…? Who is this whelp?” The unicorn said, looking at me with a disgusted expression “Watch your way, commoner. I have no time for the likes of you” He said. The mares were looking at him with sternly but he just huffed and walked away. I got up and looked to him with a hateful expression. ‘Great, a royal pain in the ass now has something against me, well then fuck him sideways with a chainsaw…’ I thought.

“Fucking moron…” I mumbled “Let’s go, we need to catch a train”

Fluttershy looked at me with a concerned look on her face.

“That wasn’t very nice… I mean… he was mean to you but you shouldn’t be the same…” She said to me while we were walking to the train station. I just frowned and continued to walk.

“Maybe you are right. I don’t want to sound… um… like an asshole but I really don’t care if it’s wrong or right. Thanks for the advice though” I replied, sounding emotionless about the topic. ‘I don’t like people or ponies who try to lecture me as if they are better than me’ I thought bitterly. I must confess that I have had (and still have) problems with keeping my temper in check and I am easily offended when someone was questioning my actions or thoughts without asking. I wasn’t mad with Fluttershy at all; I just didn’t like that kind of comments.

“Oh sorry… I didn’t mean to upset you…” said Fluttershy, looking away from me. I just sighed.

“I am not upset, believe me” I replied her. The other mares were trying to be subtle while they were listening to us, but they weren’t very good at it. I just rolled my eyes and continued walking. They took a bit of distance and began to talk between them. I laughed mentally at that. ‘It’s obvious that I am a disruption factor and they need to find a way to locate me in their lives’ I sighed at that and looked at the sky ‘I hate to be a bother. Yesterday they were just a bunch of unknown mares but now they are like my legal tutors or something… Seriously, at the first chance I must get a job and buy a house or rent one to be on my own again… But I don’t know the cost of anything here… Damn I need to read and learn a lot first if I want even to survive here… then again I don’t even know if they have a library in Ponyville…’

I stuffed my hands in my pockets and walked grumpily, not talking to anypony on the way to the station. I looked at the buildings around me with almost no interest at all, just taking note on the styles and quality of them (Bad habit from urbanism and history classes). Canterlot looked like it was from a Victorian story, a place with a lot of culture and a lot of snobs. So I naturally took a mental note to myself: evade Canterlot at all costs.

Soon, we arrived at the station, and that brought me a small and sincere smile. Maybe I was a total gamer and nerd, but also I just loved electronics and machinery, and the old trains from the industrialization era were simply an impressive marvel to watch in movement. Of course I saw a lot of steam-powered trains in museums, but looking at one in movement was a pleasure I didn’t enjoy back at home. I brought a hand to my mouth, muffling my chuckles about the silly design of the exterior. ‘I didn’t know that they were ways to make a steam machine look… childish. But… I stand corrected’

“Hello again, my little ponies” said Celestia, suddenly emerging from the station and startling me. ‘Holy shit! How can she be so sneaky if she is that big?’ I thought. She just chuckled at my reaction. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist the chance. There are not many ways to have fun when one is surrounded by work and servants, right?” She said with a wink “Oh, but that was not why I am here. Take this with you, Will” Celestia pulled out of nowhere some kind of scroll with her crest on it. “It is the document necessary to credit your citizenship. From this day forth you are a full citizen of Equestria, and you are welcome to come and pay a visit anytime you want. Canterlot can be very boring and stressing sometimes” She said with a gentle smile. I took the scroll with care and looked at her.

“Wow… I mean… To acquire this kind of document in my world, you have to pass through a bureaucratic shitstorm first…” I said as I was really impressed and grateful. Celestia laughed and smirked.

“I know. Maybe because I’m the princess I was able to get them in record time… if you know what I mean” She said, moving her eyebrows playfully. I laughed hard at that, and soon Celestia joined, earning odd stares from the other six mares.

“Gee… Now I feel pretty bad. You are doing all of this for a stranger without asking something in exchange” I said, turning my ears down and scratching the back of my head. Celestia put her hoof on my shoulder and smiled.

“Do not worry. Friends help each other Will. And we are friends, right?” Celestia said. I didn’t know what to say, I just stared at her and nodded slowly, my expression unreadable. Celestia just chuckled. “Why so surprised? Just accept our help, and please try to enjoy your life here. I need to go for now, my little ponies. Farewell and safe travel back to Ponyville”

Celestia flapped her wings and teleported away nearly as quick as she appeared, confusing the group of ponies and just making me far more interested in magic than before. I shrugged and looked at them.

“So…. All aboard the train?”

Once aboard they sat and talked about things not relevant enough to my interests, so I sat on one of the empty seats and looked the scenery through the window, biting and playing with a golden cross. Let me explain. I always wear a gold chain with a golden cross, a gift from my mother, and I had the bad habit of biting it whenever I was nervous. The poor thing was a bit disfigured by my biting, but it was recognizable. It was a partial solution to biting my nails, and right now my hands didn’t have any. But of course, it was a matter of time before somepony had the need to talk to me.

“What is that thing that you are biting?” Asked Twilight, appearing from the door of the caboose and a bit confused to why I was doing such a thing. I looked to her without moving my head.

“It’s a gold cross” I said simply.

“Why are you biting it? I think that gold objects are supposed to be used as jewelry or other kinds of fashion articles, not as stress-relievers.” She replied, still looking at the cross, now resting on my chest. “It looks like some kind of pendant”

“Well, because it is” I said to her, drying the cross with my shirt and showing her “It’s like a pendant. This is a religious symbol, and it was a gift to me from someone very special to me. That’s why I always have this on me. And yes, I use it as a stress-reliever when I bite it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense! Why would you bite a religious symbol? And what kind of symbol is it, anyways? What is the name of your religion? Oh, where is my quill and ink when I need them?” She said, starting to look a bit flustered and excited. I just rolled my eyes.

“Well I don’t have religion, but the name of the one represented by this symbol is called Christianity. And for why I bite it… I used to have nails, so it was better to bite this than myself” I said, shrugging and observing how she was levitating quill and paper and started to write. ‘Damn, THAT is a nice magic trick. I need to learn that’

“Oh! And why it is called that? What are the principles of that religion? What…” I interrupted her by putting my hand over her mouth, muffling her voice.

“Sorry, I am not going to debate religion with a pony. You can ask about anything else, but not about that. I don’t want to expand the influence of any religion of my world here, something tells me that it would be… bad. On the other hand I will be more than pleased to debate philosophy, if you want” I said to her. Her eyes grew wide and her grin was a bit unnerving ‘How she is looking at me it’s … unsettling…’ I thought, starting to be a bit nervous.

“Oh! I want to arrive to Ponyville right now! I have a lot of questions about you and your world! Oh and you can ask me too! We can learn so much from each other!” She said to me, her face too close to me to be comfortable with it. I just pushed her back gently.

“Eh… yeah, I’m sure, but please, go totally nuts about alien stuff just a bit farther away, ok?” I asked her. She understood and sat again on her seat, chuckling a bit.

“Ah yes, that ‘Vital Space’ thing you have. You need to be more open, Will. If you push out everypony you will have problems with friends.” She said with a smile that screamed ‘I know what I’m talking about, bud’, but I just shrugged and looked back to the window.

“You said that as if I was concerned about friends. If someone… hum… somepony wants to know me then that somepony only needs to ask.” I replied to her, manipulating my cross with my hand “That doesn’t mean that I’ll befriend anypony who just talks to me” I looked at her eyes, and I saw that she was indeed listening very carefully. “I don’t want to be or sound rude, but all of you aren’t ‘friends’ to me yet. I don’t use the word ‘Friend’ lightly, and when I call someone ‘Friend’ it’s because I mean it, and it must be earned” I just sighed and looked away from her lavender eyes. “All of you are pretty good in my book, and you are even going to watch over me for no good reason at all. That means a lot to me, trust me, but… it’s not enough yet. I need know you more to call you my friends… I hope you can understand” I said, looking back to the window. I needed to say that to her. It was obvious that they had a different concept or extent of friendship, and I didn’t want any misunderstanding. I distrust anyone by default reaction since I was a teenager, and I was not going to change that anytime soon.

“I… think I understand, and I respect that” She said, her smile growing a bit “You know, I also thought that friendship was a silly thing, but I learned that friendship had something… something magical… and it was the beginning of a great chapter of my life. We all just need our time to see it, Will.” She said, trotting away to the rest of them, leaving me with my mind. I sat as comfortably as I could and started to doze off, trying to make up my mind about today’s events so far.

I, apparently, had my soul ripping itself apart but now it was fixed? What’s up with that? Anyway, I had a ‘new’ and improved soul, some kind of pegasus agility as far as I know and I was going to be tutored by a group of mares who are some kind of heroines? Also it seemed that Twilight and Celestia were very concerned and dead serious about the friendship issue. Twilight even said that there was something magical about it too.

‘So… Friendship is Magic?’ I just chuckled at the silliness of the concept and tried to catch some sleep ‘That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in a long time’.