Hands and Hooves

~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!”