Chapters It was just another average Friday night. Kids played video games, parents made plans for the weekend, and high school students got into trouble. Only this time, the trouble would be a bit more... Interesting... than normal for a certain individual, because tonight, their life would change forever.
The Flarem family lived in a small house in the middle of nowhere. The trees hadn’t been trimmed in forever and the lawn was yet to be mowed. Others found the Flarems crazy for living in a small cabin in the middle of nowhere, but the Flarems didn’t care, especially the Flarem boys, Shane and Tyler, who enjoyed the peace and quiet. The windows and door needed some serious work, thanks to the father of the family’s ongoing construction projects. But they made do.
The thing with the Flarem boys is the fact that, even though they are complete opposites, they still are basically best friends. While Shane always wants to party and got into trouble, Tyler just wants to finish his studies and pass with straight A’s. Tyler and Shane did butt heads sometimes, especially when Tyler brought up that, even though he is two years younger than Shane, they were both in the same grade. So, when Tyler found out that Shane was going to a party and that he had to go too since their parents wanted Tyler to get out more (and keep Shane out of trouble), he wasn’t too happy.
April 13, 8:38 PM
Shane Flarem wiped some dirt off the car and onto his shirt, leaving a brown smudge on his light blue t-shirt. He knew that it would wash out and that his mom wouldn’t be too happy, but at least he hadn’t wiped it on his khaki shorts. He grinned as he saw that the car was spotless. Well, at least until he totaled it like the last car he owned. The car itself had a few problems, like the fact that the passenger seat belt was held together by duct tape and the airbag switch was very sensitive.
“Tyler come on, we’re going to be late!” Shane yelled to his brother as he moved his brown hair out of his eyes. “The guys will absolutely murder us if I’m late again!”
He could see his little brother walking out the door, wearing his torn blue jeans and that stupid lavender t-shirt he was always wearing. His brother looked a lot like him, even though they were complete opposites. The only way to tell the two apart was that Tyler’s hair was short and clean while Shane’s was long and greasy, and the fact that Tyler was about two inches shorter than Shane.
“That sounds like a you problem dude,” Tyler groaned while pushing open the broken door and walking towards the car. “All I have to do is just go so I’ll just stay in the car while you knock yourself out,” The frown on Tyler’s face made it clear how he felt about going to this party
“Yeah, I know. But you could just come in for a little bit and enjoy yourself,”
“Not happening. Anyway, let’s get this over with,”
“I’d change my attitude if I were you, lavender boy” Shane said nodding at the shirt Tyler was wearing.
“I happen to like lavender and just because you’re sixteen now doesn’t mean you can tell me what to do bro,” Tyler said with a grumpy look on his face.
“True, but I’m still two years older than you and I always will be. Also, Matt doesn’t like you already and wasn’t too thrilled that you were coming to the party, so at least try to look happy,” Shane said with a smirk. “Anyway, let’s just get a move on, and have some fun, shall we? It looks like it’s going to rain, and I don’t want to be caught in that,” Shane said while looking up at the cloudy sky
“What’s a little rain? I mean, it could be worse,” Tyler said.
“Why do you have to say things like that” Shane groaned as he pulled out of the driveway.
April 13, 11:08 PM
“Nice going dude. You just got me kicked out of my friend’s house!” Shane yelled at Tyler while driving home from the party. They had been on the road for about ten minutes now, Shane fuming with the fact Tyler got him kicked out of his friend’s house. “I can’t believe you thought that calling the party a, “stupid waste of time and money,” was a good idea!”
“You’re the one who wanted me to come in and “enjoy myself”, which, by the way, I didn’t,” Tyler shot back at his brother.
“And is your idea of, “enjoying yourself” making me look stupid and getting me kicked out of a party!?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?”
Shane sighed. “No,”
The brothers sat in silence for a bit as cars went past and they hit potholes in the road. After a while though, Tyler spoke up with tears in his eyes.
“I’m sorry I’m not the brother you wanted,”
Shane looked at Tyler, his eyes wide. “Why would you ever say something like that! Just because you don’t like going with me to parties doesn’t mean you’re not the brother I wanted!”
“I know, it’s just-”
“-It’s just what?” Shane demanded.
“It’s just that I feel like you don’t care at times,”
“Are you kidding? You’re the best brother I could ask for! I mean, sure, we fight a lot, but I wouldn’t want it any different! So, don’t go saying things like that alright bro?” Shane took his focus off the car for a minute to comfort his brother in a hug, accidentally hitting the button to turn the passenger airbag off.
“Okay,” Tyler said wiping a tear from his face.
“Oh, and one more thing. You owe me for getting me kicked out of the party, especially since-”
“LOOK OUT!” Tyler suddenly screamed.
Shane turned to see a pickup truck coming down the wrong lane heading straight for them. He slammed the brakes, but it was too late. They hit the truck head on, sending Shane head first into the airbag, while Tyler broke the seat belt and went flying out the windshield, over the truck, and disappeared into the nearby woods, hitting a few trees and rocks along the way.
“Tyler!” Shane yelled in fear.
Shane quickly inspected the damage to himself and his car. He had a long gash on his left arm from where the glass from the windshield sliced him, as well as some small bruises and cuts. The car, on the other hand, was missing the windshield and headlights and the engine was destroyed too. But that didn’t matter to him. All he cared about was his brother and why the man was driving in the wrong lane.
As the driver of the truck got out and inspected the damage to his truck, Shane got out and walked up to the man, who from what he could see was drunk, and punched him in the shoulder. The man then fell to the ground from the impact and started to say something before Shane interrupted him.
“What the hell is wrong with you! Do you have any idea what you just did!" Shane yelled. The man just sat there and stared at him with that oblivious look all drunks have. Shane then pulled out his phone to call the cops and his parents, but he then remembered something.
“Tyler,” he whispered to himself as he desperately ran towards the woods while calling the police and his parents.
April 13, 11:18 PM
As Shane slammed the brakes, all Tyler could hear and see was the seat belt ripping in half and the shatter of the windshield as he was thrown out of it. And the trees and rocks he hit in the process. He felt several branches scratch him and bones break as he went straight into the side of a giant boulder. The last thing he heard before he lost consciousness was his brother screaming his name.
April 13, 11:33 PM
About fifteen minutes later, the police showed up with Shane’s parents and the paramedics. Shane’s parents weren’t too happy about the car, but they were more concerned about their kids. Shane had had no luck finding Tyler in the dark woods without a flashlight, so his father went with the police to search for Tyler. The paramedics bandaged up Shane’s arm in the meantime and the remaining officers questioned Shane and then promptly arrested the drunk driver for driving under the influence and reckless driving
Shane and his mother were sitting near the side of the road while the search party was out. Shane had been crying for a while now, believing the worst and that it was his fault. His mother tried to comfort him, but nothing could stop his tears, or his parents for that matter, when the search party returned with nothing, but a small piece of blood-stained lavender fabric.
“No. No, he can’t be- no. NO! He can’t be- oh God why!” Shane sobbed into his mother’s shoulder. He knew what they all thought, but he couldn’t bring himself to believe it. His parents and a few of the officers had started to cry. The head officer then walked over to the grieving family, trying to comfort them.
“I know you don’t want to hear this right now, but without a body, he can’t be labeled as dead. So, he is considered missing, and we will continue to search the area and find what we can. As for that though, there isn’t anything more we can do except recommend grieving counseling and give you more info as it comes up,” he said with a sad look on his face.
“Thank you, officer,” whispered Shane’s father.
“No problem,” said the officer.
The officers and paramedics started to leave, but then Shane said something that shocked everyone.
“No problem, yeah sure. My brother is probably bleeding out in that forest right now and all you can do is search the area and offer counseling? You cops are all the same, search for a week and then give up.
The head officer turned toward Shane. “Sir, I’m sorry, but there is nothing more we can-”
“-I’m not done yet!” Shane yelled at the officer, causing him to flinch. “I don’t care what you pieces of crap think. Tyler is out there, and I’m going to find him, dead or alive!” Shane turned away from the officers and got in the car with his parents.
“He is alive. He has to be. And even if I have to travel to another fricking planet, I will find him!” Shane yelled before he slammed the car door shut.
April 13, 11:21 PM
When Tyler came to, all he could see was his twisted, broken body. His right arm had a long cut while his left arm was clearly broken. He tried to stand up, only to realize that his ankle was twisted, and his right leg was broken. The blood covered leaves and grass below his leg suggested he had cuts and bruises across the rest of his body. He winced in pain as he crawled over to a pile of brush, looking for something to wrap his leg into stop the bleeding, or at least slow it down so that he didn’t die of blood loss. He had no such luck, but he knew being as smart as he was he could come up with something. He then looked at his torn and bloodied shirt, an idea forming in his mind.
“If it works in movies, it should work in real life. Hopefully,” he said to himself as he tore off part of his lavender shirt and wrapped it around his leg as tight as he could. He smiled a little as he saw the bleeding slow.
Tyler then tried to stand again, but then fell down a hill, new pain filling his body. He tried to stand again, but then he noticed something he had missed before. He had no idea how he could miss something so obvious... Unless it happened when he fell on the hill.
He had a tree branch impaled clean through his abdomen.
“Crap,” Tyler said while looking down at his now even more mangled body.
It was in this moment he heard something in the bushes nearby. He hoped whatever it was was friendly, or even someone who could help him.
“Hey! Hey over here! I need help!” he hollered in the direction of the rustling.
The only response he got was silence.
“Please help me! I need to find my brother!” he yelled again at the bushes
No response again.
“Hello? I need a doctor! I’m dying over here!” he continued to yell.
The mention of death seemed to get the attention of what or whoever was in the bushes. He then heard a voice respond back.
“Hello? I can’t see a thing in this here forest, ya’ll!” he heard a feminine voice with a southern accent respond. He sighed in relief that it was a person that had been in those bushes, and not a bear or wolf.
“AJ, what the buck are you doing?! He could be hostile!” he heard a second voice hiss. This one was also clearly a girl, but with more of a raspy voice. “You know we’re not even supposed to be here, and now you go start talking to one of them!”
Tyler suddenly had a confused look on his face. What did she mean by “one of them,”? But before he could question it, he heard another voice.
“Dash, come on, we have to at least try!” said a ladylike voice that sounded somewhat British.
“Yeah, I’m with Rarity on this one. We have to at least try to save him! He could have cupcakes!” Said a fourth, perky sounding voice.
Tyler was so confused now. What kind of names were Dash and Rarity? And why would he have cupcakes?
“Well, A’hm going to help him,” said the southern one (AJ?). “I don’t care which of ya’ll come with me either,”
“I’m right behind you,” said the Brit (Rarity?). “I think that we-”
“-Are all going to get ourselves killed?” said the raspy one (Dash?) “Because this sounds like something that would get us killed, right Fluttershy?”
And just when Tyler thought names couldn’t get any weirder, he a heard a fifth voice, female like the rest of them, but this one seemed scared and a little shy.
“I- I um... I th-think we sh-should help h-him,” she said.
“Me too! He might like a party!” said the perky one.
“Uh, fine. I’m in,” said Dash.
“So, ya’ll ready?” said AJ.
“Yeah, but if he attacks us, I won’t hold back on the, “I told you so,” front,” said Dash.
“So... are you done talking about me like I’m not here or what?” Tyler said jokingly. He could see the silhouettes of figures walking out from behind the brush. “And what did you mean by, “one of them,”? I mean it’s not like you guys are aliens or anything...” Tyler’s jaw dropped when he saw the figures up close.
They were humanoids, but they were far from human. They all had candy-colored fur over their bodies. They also had horse ears and tails, as well as muzzles and hooves for feet. He could see that two of them, the yellow one and the rainbow-haired one had wings poking out of their clothes, while the white one had a horn protruding from her head. The orange one was wearing a brown Stetson on her head, and, from what he could figure out, is that she was most likely the one with the southern accent. The last one, the pink one, was staring him down intently with her huge eyes like she was confused but happy at the same time.
As he started to lose consciousness again, he saw the creatures walk (or, trot, I guess?) over to him and start to drag him over to some white glowing rift in the air. The one with the white fur walked into it and just... disappeared.
“What... the... hell...” was all Tyler could say before he fainted.
April 14, 12:24 AM
When Tyler came to, he thought about what had happened in the forest with the alien horse things. He did a quick look around the room, checking to see if they were still there. When he saw that he was alone, he let out a sigh of relief as he took in his surroundings.
The room was completely white in color, with a small couch and some chairs in a corner. A table with what appeared to be medical supplies on it was in the other corner, near the door. Looking to his right, Tyler saw a bunch of wires and other things hooked up to him, including a blood bag, most likely to stabilize his blood flow and prevent him from dying of blood loss. The clock on the wall said that it was 12:24, meaning he had been out long enough to be taken to a hospital. But something felt off about this.
“Wha- what happened?” Tyler asked to himself, trying to process what had happened in that forest.
As Tyler thought about how impossible it was that there were anthropomorphic alien horses on Earth, as well as that weird rift he had seen before he passed out, the door opened and the five creatures that found him walked in, as well as another one that was most likely a doctor based on the fact he was wearing a lab coat. He quickly faked being asleep, hoping to get information about where he was, who they are, and what they are. It wasn’t hard to fake being asleep since he was in so much pain from being thrown out of the car and being impaled by a tree branch.
“Is he going to be okay, doctor?” said the white one with the purple hair and tail.
“I don’t know, ma’am. His condition is stable, but the branch has hit some major organs, including his liver and stomach, and is too close to the heart to be removed easily. But I fear if we don’t do something, he will be dead by morning,” said the doctor with a grim look on his face.
“WHAT!” Tyler yelled, having heard all of that, bolted straight up in the bed. The look of shock on the creatures’ faces that he was awake said it all. They had all thought he was asleep during that conversation.
“I-I’m go-going to d-die?” Tyler stuttered while wincing in pain from his wounds.
“Not for certain, but the blood loss could become significant enough that you could die,” said the doctor. Tyler finally got a look at his name tag, which said, “Doctor Horse”. Fitting. “The problem is if we remove the branch, it will hit other organs, and cause so much bleeding you would be dead in minutes. And that’s ignoring the fact that your anatomy is most likely different of ours. You got lucky that they found you when they did, or would already be dead,” he nodded towards the five women, or mares, since they were horses.
“I know, and for that, I am grateful. But right now, I’m more concerned with the alien horses in front of me,” Tyler said in response to the doctor’s words.
The mares looked at each other awkwardly, as if trying to say something without actually saying it. The white one with the purple hair, or mane as he came to realize, was avoiding the conversation, seemingly trying to stop an angry outburst. But it was the blue, rainbow-maned one that burst out in rage.
“We are not horses, you idiot! We are ponies!” she said with a tone that made the fact seen like something that should be obvious. “And if anypony here is an alien, it’s you,”
“Dash lay off. He’s in pain and is probably trying to process what the buck is going on right now,” said the one with the Stetson on her head. Tyler could see the tips of her ears poking out of some precisely made holes in the hat. But he didn’t question it. That was nothing compared to what else he had been through that day. He also made a mental note that the blue one with the rainbow-maned one was named Dash.
“Well, you aren’t wrong there miss...?” Tyler said with a confused look on his face.
“Applejack, but you can call me AJ,” she responded in her southern accent. She then nodded at the others. “That’s Rarity and Pinkie Pie over there, the one behind them is Fluttershy, and you already met Rainbow Dash,”
Tyler was finally able to study what they all looked like. Rainbow Dash had a blue coat and a rainbow mane and tail. She also had magenta eyes and was wearing what looked like running clothes, except with holes for her tail and wings.
Pinkie was, well, pink. Her hot pink mane and tail were a curly mess and her blue eyes gave Tyler chills. They looked happy. Too happy. She was wearing a blue and white striped shirt and a pink skirt that had three balloons on it.
AJ had an orange coat and a blond mane and tail with a red hair band at the end of each. Her green eyes barely were visible under her Stetson. She was wearing a white top and blue jeans, which gave Tyler the idea she was some sort of farmer due to her accent and the way she dressed.
Rarity had a white coat and a dark purple mane and tail that was curled neatly with not a single hair out of place. Her dark blue eyes matched her outfit perfectly. She was wearing a light purple skirt and a tight black top with three diamonds on it. She also had a horn on her head and an excessive amount of makeup on.
Finally, Fluttershy had a yellow coat and a long, light pink mane and tail and light blue eyes. Her wings were just peaking out from her green sweater. She was also wearing jeans, but unlike Applejack, hers were clean and didn’t have tears in them.
“I’m Tyler. Tyler Flarem,” he said to them since it was the polite thing to do, even if they were aliens.
“That’s a strange name,” said Pinkie.
“Yeah, well I could say the same about all of your names,” Tyler said with a smile that quickly disappeared. “But can we get back to where I am, what you are, and how to make it so I don’t die?
“Well, we already answered the second question. We’re ponies, and this is the major hospital in Canterlot, the capital of Equestria. And as to how you won’t die, I don’t know, I’m not a doctor, darling,” said Rarity.
“What’s Equestria?” Tyler asked.
“The name of this country,”
“But I’ve never heard of this country before, and I can name all the countries on earth-,” Tyler’s face went pale with realization. “Wait, are we still on Earth?”
“No Tyler, they had to take you through the portal that connects our planet and Earth to keep you alive,” said a new, regal voice that he hadn’t heard before.
A regal looking mare walked into the room. She had a white coat like Rarity and a flowing mane with green, blue, and purple in it, same as her tail. She had some sort of necklace around her neck, a white gown, and a crown on her head, which suggested that she was royalty of some form. She was a few inches taller than Tyler, thought the giant horn on her head added a few inches. As she walked in, the others all bowed, which set clued Tyler in that he was in the presence of royalty.
“Princess, what are you doing here?” said Rainbow Dash.
“I just came to meet our extraterrestrial visitor. It’s not every day five of my subjects sneak through the portal and come back with a dying human,” she glared at the five mares, who were all blushing.
The princess walked over to the side of Tyler’s medical bed, looking at the medical equipment and frowning. She whispered something into the doctor’s large ears, and he left the room.
“Excuse me, uh, princess? I never caught your name,” Tyler said to the princess.
“I never said it, but it’s Celestia,” she said with a half smile.
The smile quickly faded as her eyes drifted to the branch in Tyler’s abdomen. He eyes seemed to sparkle for a minute as she was deep in thought. Suddenly a light glowed around her horn and a clipboard of doctor’s notes on the table. Tyler stared in awe as the clipboard floated over in front of Celestia. He tried to say something but was at a lack of words other then stutters of gibberish. Celestia smiled and started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Tyler asked.
“What’s funny was your reaction to me using my magic,” the princess said with the clipboard hovering in front of her.
“D-did you just say m-magic?” Tyler said his eyes wide in curiosity.
“Yes. Why, is there no magic in your world?” Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No. And this throws all we know about science out the window. And as a scientist, this is impossible,” Tyler said as he put his hands up to face.
“M-magic is actually a s-science h-here, right?” said Fluttershy, finally speaking and looking at the others for support Celestia nodded to tell Fluttershy she was right. “So it technically doesn’t, “throw science out the window”,” Fluttershy then added.
“As interesting as this all is,” Dash said sarcastically as she looked at Tyler. “He is still dying from his wounds,”
Celestia the put the clipboard back on the table. She seemed to have an idea, but the grim look on her face didn’t reassure anyone that it would work.
“I know that look. It’s the same look my parents and brother have when they have an idea, but aren’t sure if it’s a good idea or if it will work. I’ve had to deal with that my whole life, so just spill alright!” shot Tyler who was crying in both sadness and pain. Celestia walked over and put her hand on Tyler’s shoulder and hovered over a tissue box. Tyler gladly took the tissues and wiped up his tears.
“Tyler. You are almost dead already. Your body is completely destroyed on the inside, and there is internal bleeding everywhere. The only way to save your life is to move your consciousness into a new body,” Celestia said with a frown.
“You can do that?” Tyler asked, his eyes wide. “Wait, what’s the catch?”
“I was getting to that. The catch is we don’t have the knowledge or resources to transfer you into a human body. The best we can do is use a transformation spell to turn you into a-
“-No,” Tyler shot with a glare. “I won’t let you do that. I’d rather die than lose my body,”
“You didn’t let me finish. We would temporarily make you a pony, take out the branch and fix your injuries using pony anatomy, and then turn you back into your old body, good as new,” the princess said. “It’s risky, but it’s the only option we have if you want to live. We’ll give you some time to think about it. Come on girls, we need to discuss you five going to Earth without permission,”
“Darn, I had hoped you forgot about that,” said AJ as she and the others walked out of the room.
April 14, 12:57 AM
Trying to process what had just happened and the offer he had received from the princess, Tyler tried to pull the branch out on his own, hoping to have it come clean out and not have to do what Celestia said needed to be done. Bad idea.
The branch almost came out, but the amount of pain and blood that sprayed the bed was enough to make Tyler stop. He didn’t want to die, but being put into a new body and put back into his old one sounded like the riskiest thing he would ever do. And he wasn’t one to take risks unless they were absolutely necessary. But at the same time, if this worked, this would be something for Earth’s history books. He had been to another planet and met sentient beings that were peaceful, and intelligent. His family was also probably worried sick about him since no one would find him on Earth. That thought of never seeing his family again was enough to lock in his decision.
“Hey! I’ve made up my mind! You can do the spell thing or whatever, as long as it means I can see my family again!” Tyler yelled at the door, waiting for them to enter.
The door opened slowly as Fluttershy walked in. The others weren’t behind her which surprised him a little bit. He wondered where the others were, but at least he could talk to one of them about this.
“Hey. Fluttershy, right?” Tyler asked calmly, assuming she was shy due to her name.
“Y-yeah,” she said quietly while moving a strand of pink hair out of her eyes.
“Where are the others?” Tyler asked curiously.
“The others are getting scolded by Celestia for going to your world without permission. She sent me to check on you and see if you made your decision yet,” she said while looking at the floor.
“Well, I’ve made my decision, but can I ask you something?
“Um, sure?” She asked looking up at him with an eyebrow raised. It was just now he realized how big their eyes were.
“Why did you five come to Earth in the first place, if you don’t mind me asking?”
Fluttershy frowned and looked at Tyler with tears in he eyes.
“Oh, sorry. If you don’t want to talk about it that’s fine. I was just curious,”
“It’s fine. We were talking to Celestia about the last attack on Canterlot and helping fix the damage in the castle when Rainbow Dash saw the portal and thought it was a good idea to sneak in and go through to the other side. When she went through, the rest of us panicked and went after her. We ended up in the forest and saw a human that seemed to be looking for someone so we hid in some bushes, and then you started to call out and... well, you know the rest,” she said, seeming to perk up a little. Then something she said caught Tyler’s attention.
“Wait, this human you saw, what did they look like?”
Fluttershy seemed confused at why this mattered, but she continued. “They had a strange brown mane that was like yours, only long and unclean. They had a blue shirt I think and tan shorts, I can’t remember for sure. You’d have to ask Rarity, she pays more attention to how ponies, or in this case, people look. Why do you ask?”
“Because before you found me in the forest I was with my brother Shane in our car when we got hit by a drunk, and this person sounds exactly like Shane,”
“Oh,” Fluttershy responded with a sad look on her face. “I don’t know what a car or a drunk is, but they sound scary,”
Tyler chuckled. “Can’t argue with you there,”
April 14, 1:06 AM
A few minutes after Tyler and Fluttershy talked about the girls coming to Earth and the car accident, Celestia and the others came in with a large book that looked old and had a lock on it, preventing it from being opened without a key.
“What’s with the lock?” Tyler asked.
“You see, this kind of magic is the forbidden sort that we don’t want the natural public having access to, so I have to keep it under lock and key in the restricted section of my library,” the princess said while pulling out the key to unlock the book. “Fluttershy told us your decision, so I figured we’d just get this taken care of as soon as possible,”
“That’s fine by me. My family is probably freaking out right now. I mean, with the last place they saw me being a car crash, they probably think I’m-” he stopped, not wanting to say the word.
“Happy? Sad? Nervousited?” Pinkie said trying to guess what Tyler was going to say.
“Pinkie, he was gonna say dead,” said Rarity with a serious look on her face.
“Oh,” her eyes went to the floor and her mane went flat. “Sorry,”
Celestia glanced over at Tyler. “Are you ready?”
Tyler nodded. “Let’s do it,”
Celestia nodded and unlocked the book and flipped to the page on transformation spells. Her horn glowed a bright yellow as she muttered the incantation.
Suddenly, her eyes went completely white and her horn started sparking violently as it shot a beam of light straight into Tyler, knocking him back into the side of the medical bed. She continued to mutter the spell, seemingly unaware of the chaos around her. Her light from her horn soon faded as her eyes went back to their natural pink.
When she had finished, nothing seemed to have happened. Then Tyler started screaming in pain.
Tyler could feel his body shifting and changing before his eyes. His eyes that were turning purple and growing to the size of grapefruits! Lavender fur had covered his body in a matter of seconds. His hair started growing down to his back and became straight and turn a bluish-purple with a hot pink and light purple streak in the middle. He howled in pain as his nose and mouth merged together into a purple muzzle while his teeth changed into that of an equine. His ears grew huge and covered in lavender fur and moved to the top of his head, just barely poking through his new mane and swiveling to the different sounds of the room. There was a throbbing pain on his forehead as a spiraled horn grew out of it.
The pain didn’t stop at his head though. Soon his feet were the center of attention as his toes merged together and rounded out into hooves. A tail that matched his mane then burst from the back of his pants. The back of his already ripped shirt was destroyed as a pair of wings emerged.
Thinking the changes were done, Tyler sat up and looked in the mirror Rarity handed him. He was impressed. He was actually a pony. But something felt off. He looked around at the mares in the room, and then himself. He looked like a... like a mare.
“Crap,” he said, instantly covering his mouth after hearing the feminine voice that came out.
It was in this instant the changes started again. He screamed in pain as his body shrank down to that of a girl. His hips widened and his waist shrank inward while his arms and legs became more slender. He felt pressure building in his chest as two mounds began to form. He groaned in pain as his manhood turned into a marehood, leaving him a she.
“I didn’t ask to become a girl!” she shouted in her girly voice at Celestia.
“I’m so sorry Tyler. I don’t have control over what you look like. I just pick a target and the magic does the rest,” she said in an apologetic tone. “But at least this is only temporary. I’ll go get the doctors so they can take out the branch and stitch you up,”
“Thank you, princess,” she said, cringing at her new voice. At least it was only temporary.
April 14, 2:13 AM
The surgery was a huge success. In the matter of an hour, the doctors had removed the branch and stitched up the new mare and cleaned up her cuts and given her clothes that weren’t ripped to shreds. She did ask to keep the lavender shirt though since it was hers. The doctors had given her a blue top with an image of a six-pointed star with a few other stars around it on the chest area with a belt that was to go around the abdomen area, as well as a lavender plaid vest and some black pants that felt a little tight, but Tyler didn’t care. She was just glad that this was only temporary since she wanted to go home and she was definitely not going home a purple anthropomorphic mare, that’s for sure.
While the six mares waited for Celestia to return from talking to the doctors about the results of the surgery, Tyler asked them questions about magic, which seemed to fascinate him more than it should.
“So, it’s the horn that channels magic?” she asked Rarity, who was stitching up Tyler’s lavender shirt.
“Yes darling, its the horn that channels the magic, hence the glow when we use magic,” she responded, lifting a piece of fabric over to her from her bag with her magic to demonstrate.
“And what about the whole, "magic is a science” thing that Fluttershy mentioned earlier? Are there like subtypes or something, like books?” She said with her ears twitching in excitement. “Also, this whole ears moving thing is freaking me out,”
“Well, you won’t have them much longer. It’s time to get you back into your body and send you home,” Celestia said walking into the room with the book of spells.
“Oh thank god, finally. This is hands down the weirdest thing that has happened to me. Its the kind of thing where you don’t appreciate something until you don’t have it anymore,” Tyler said
“I didn’t know you were into philosophy, Tyler,” The princess said with a raised eyebrow.
“When you read as much as I do, you pick up some things like that,”
“Understandable. I have so many books in my library I have yet to read them all. But then again, my job doesn’t exactly allow much free time, now does it?” she chuckled.
“Yeah, but can you change me back now? Like, right now?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry,”
The princess opened the book and Tyler closed her eyes and lay down on the bed as Celestia’s horn started to glow as she muttered the incantation to reverse the effects of the first spell. Tyler knew this would hurt, so she grit her teeth as she waited for the agonizing pain when Celestia finished the spell.
But it never came.
“Whenever your ready, princess,” Tyler said, suddenly realizing something was off. The last transformation hurt like hell, but there was no pain this time
“Uh... Tyler,” said AJ.
“Yes?” she said in her still feminine voice. She instantly knew what Applejack was going to say.
“It uh... it didn’t work,” Rainbow finished.
“WHAT!” Tyler yelled as she opened her eyes and bolted upright, looking at her body, seeing she was still a pony her eyes flew over to Celestia. “WHY DIDN’T IT WORK! YOU SAID IT WOULD WORK!”
“I don’t know, the spell should have reversed the transformation completely. Unless...”
“UNLESS WHAT!?” Tyler demanded, with tears flowing down her cheeks and into her fur. Pinkie and Fluttershy were trying to calm her down, but they weren’t getting anywhere.
“I need an honest answer from all of you. Did my eyes turn completely white at any time during the time I cast the original spell?”
"Yeah, I was confused about that, what was that?" Tyler asked, starting to look scared for her life.
Celestia looked away, putting her hands over her face. "So. There was a magic surge. That would explain it then."
"What's a magic surge?" Tyler demanded.
"Its basically magic's version of adrenaline. They happen randomly and cause magic to be more powerful than intended. And in the case of transformation spells, it's especially dangerous since it can cause the spells to be-"
"Be what?" Tyler asked in fear, since she had a good idea what she was going to say, but she couldn't bring herself to accept it.
"Permanent," Celestia finished as she turned to face Tyler, her expression grim.
That one word caused Tyler to burst into tears as she realized what this meant. It meant that she would never be human again, and would be stuck as a lavender pony for the rest of her life. Then, the question that meant the most to her came up.
"S-so, how am I s-supposed to g-go b-back to Earth like this? Tyler whimpered.
"That's just it. You can't," Celestia said bluntly. The collective gasp from the other five mares in the room made them all realize the gravity of the situation. "I'm so sorry Tyler, but there's nothing we can do. This is the new you," She nodded at Tyler's new body.
"No. No no no no no no no NO! I have a life on Earth, a family that loves me and has no idea where I am. I have a future there! And here, I have NOTHING! YOU HEAR ME! NOTHING!" she shouted at the sky and had started crying again and hyperventilating.
Fluttershy and Pinkie walked over and gripped Tyler in a tight hug, as they were also crying. Dash, AJ, and Rarity were trying to hold back tears as well, but they joined in the group hug as they tried to comfort their new friend.
The princess was standing aside trying to hold back tears as well, she but let one slip when Tyler asked the question that she could find answers to.
"So... what now? I have nowhere to go, no money - since I assume you have a different currency than I do on Earth-, no clue how to fly, and no idea how day to day life or magic works here. And to top it all off, I have to adjust to a new body "
"Well, I can give some bits- our currency-, a place to live in the town of Ponyville, and I believe the flight and magic can be found figured out through studying and practice," said the princess as she put a hand on Tyler's shoulder.
"Thank you, but I don't know where this, "Ponyville" place is or where to find books on this stuff," Tyler said with a frown.
"Leave the Ponyville part to us, sugercube," Applejack said. "All five of us live in Ponyville and would be more than willing to help get on your hooves. Right girls?" She looked at the other four, who all nodded.
"You guys..." Tyler sniffled. Her tears had turned into tears of happiness at knowing she wouldn't be alone. "But what about the research and studying I need to do? I mean, I have no idea where to find a library!"
"I wouldn't worry about that part," The princess said with a smile.
"Huh? said the other six with confused looks on their faces.
Author's Note
And so ends the first chapter of my first fanfic, so if there are spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors, don't freak out. I do plan on writing more on the story of Tyler and Shane, or, more specifically, Shane trying to find his missing brother and Tyler adjusting to his new body and life in Equestria. However, I have no real schedule for writing and posting chapters because, believe it or not, I have a life outside of this.
Anyway, thank you for reading this and yes, there will be more.
Sincerely,
P.S. Here's some info about me
New World, New Home, New Name
April 14, 6:36 AM
“Where are we going?” Tyler asked as she exited the hospital with the others behind her, cringing as she heard her voice she had yet to get used to.
“The Friendship Express. More specifically, the train route from Canterlot to Ponyville,” Celestia answered. Tyler chuckled at the name of the train, getting a strange look from the others as she did.
“What’s so funny, darling?” Rarity asked.
“Nothing, nothing. Just the name of the train,” she answered as she moved some purple hairs out of her eyes.
“I can’t blame you there, dude,” Rainbow said. “It’s really girly,”
Tyler stared at her for a minute then spoke. “You are a girl though,”
“So are you,” Dash spat before realizing what she had just said.
“Don’t remind me,” Tyler muttered with tears starting to form in her eyes.
“Hey, sorry. I keep forgetting how new you are to this,” Rainbow said as she put a hand on Tyler’s shoulder. “I just say things without thinking a lot, but I don’t mean them. Most of the time,”
“You would get along well with Shane, Dash. He does the same thing,” Tyler said.
“Who’s Shane?” AJ asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Shane is that human we saw in the forest before we found Tyler,” said Fluttershy, speaking for the first time in a while.
“Yeah, but he’s also my brother,” Tyler said, finally letting the tears fall at the thought of his brother. He knew he would never see him again, since he was on Earth and she was in Equestria, not to mention that even if they did somehow meet again, he wouldn’t believe it to be his brother.
Fluttershy walked up to the crying mare and gripped her in a tight hug. Soon everyone else was trying to comfort their new friend as well. Tyler was a mess, mentally and physically. Her fur was sticking to her face and her mane was a mess. Pinkie pulled a box of tissues out her mane and handed them to Tyler. She got a weird look from the purple pony, but she took the tissues anyway.
“Thank you, Pinkie. I just can’t get over the thought of never seeing my BBBFF again,”
“Your what?” Rarity asked with a raised brow.
“Big brother best friend forever,” Tyler replied, blushing under her fur. “We came up with it when we were little and have been using that phrase to describe the other one ever since,”
“That’s sweet,” said Fluttershy with a smile that quickly turned into a frown. “You must really miss him,”
“Yeah. I do. Its only been a day, but knowing I won’t see him again is like having a part of me ripped away,” Tyler looked at the ground and sighed. “I just hope he’s doing alright,”
April 14, 6:36 AM
Shane was most certainly not alright. He had gotten no sleep after he got home. He was far too worried about what happened to his missing brother. He tried not to think about it, but it was hard not to. His parents were having a hard time as well, with the cops and detectives everywhere, asking questions about last night. Mostly they talked to Shane about the car crash and the rest of the night.
The police had been everywhere in that forest and called in detective Harold McBlane to investigate the scene of the crash, and after a thorough search of the forest, all they could find was a puddle of blood and some strange footprints, that one officer swore looked like hoof prints.
“I don’t know what to tell you,”McBlane said to the Flarem family. “Its like he just disappeared,”
“What about the drunk? Mrs. Flarem asked. “Did he know anything?”
“Unfortunately, no. He was drunk as a skunk at the time and saw the kid go into the forest, but after that was when Shane here ran into the forest and then we arrived, but other than that, we got nothing from him. But there are still a lot of things that baffle us,”
“What specifically?” Shane asked curiously.
“The, “hoof prints” and the fact that they just disappear and the blood path leads to the same spot. Not to mention why he was bleeding so much in the first place,” McBlane said bluntly.
“Well, he did get launched out of a car and hit few trees before he vanished, so maybe he got cut severely or even impaled by a branch,” Shane said matter-of-factly, even though he didn’t want to think about that as a possibility, because that would mean that Tyler was definitely de-. He stopped himself from thinking about that word.
“That’s certainly a possibility,” the detective said as he wrote that down on his notepad. “Anyway, I have to get back and see if the boys found anything else we missed. If you think of anything that might be helpful, don’t hesitate to call,” He handed them his card.
After the detective had left, Shane went upstairs to Tyler’s bedroom. He knew that he didn’t want to, but he knew his brother would want him to make sure it was left the same as when he last left it. He opened the door to the room, not wanting to enter. But he knew he would have to in order to get over the loss of his little brother best friend forever.
He picked up the book Tyler had left on the desk before they had left for the party. He looked at the title and smiled. Tyler had been reading another sci-fi book, his favorite kind to read for fun. Shane had never liked reading that much and often poked fun at Tyler for being such a bookworm, but he still read a book every now and then. The books that Shane read were usually the sci-fi books Tyler owned, and Shane had a tendency to forget about giving the book back.
As Shane opened the book though, a paper fell out and onto the floor. As Shane bent down to pick it up, he saw it was a picture of him and Tyler about a year ago, when they both started high school. The brothers were standing next to each other with huge grins on their faces and their arms wrapped around the each other. Shane had always hated that Tyler had skipped two years of school since he was smarter than anyone in his class, and ended up in the same grade as Shane. It was embarrassing to have people know that your brother is significantly smarter than you, and also have to keep the bullies away from the little nerd since he was basically walking around with a pinch me sign on his back at all times. Shane finally let the tears flow down his cheeks as he looked at the picture.
“I’m sorry bro. I’m so, so sorry that this happened to you. I just wish I could have done something about it,” Shane sniffled while sitting down on Tyler’s bed. “I don’t care what anyone says. I will find you. Even if I die trying, even if I have to travel the world, hell, even if I have to go to another planet to get you back, I will. I will find you, brother,”
April 14, 6:42 AM
The train station was huge. And packed full of ponies. The station itself was a large platform with a large building on it that had glass walls and a purple roof. There were pillars on the corners that looked like something from the medieval era. Tyler then remembered that Equestria didn’t have the technology Earth had. There was a clock above the large glass doors that said the time was 6:42, which meant the train would leave in three minutes.
The six mares talked about the differences between Earth and Equestria while Celestia went to get tickets for the train. There was a small group of pegasi racing around in the sky and some others moving clouds around. Tyler just looked at Rainbow with a look that said, “what are they doing?”.
“They’re setting the weather for the day,” Rainbow said like it was normal, which got a confused look from the purple pony.
“Huh?”
“The pegasi control the weather. It’s their job,” Rainbow explained.
“Wait, so the pegasi control when it rains or snows?” she asked.
“Pretty much,”
“Weird. On Earth it just does whatever it wants,” Tyler replied. That got her a look from Rainbow.
“Yeah, at times I wish it did that so I don’t have to work and can work on getting into the Wonderbolts,” she said with a dreamy look on her face.
“What are the Wonderbolts?” Tyler asked.
“How do you not know who the Wonderbolts are?!” she yelled, getting a group of nearby ponies to glare at her. She then remembered where Tyler was from. “Oh, right. Sorry. Anyway, the Wonderbolts are only the coolest group of ponies out there, They perform flight stunts and compete in flight races. I’ve been trying to get into their ranks for years! I would kill it in the Wonderbolts and become a household name in all of Equestria!”
“Dash here helps with the weather in Ponyville, but she also wants to be a professional athlete,” AJ explained. She then leaned in and whispered to Tyler. “But between you and me, I think her biggest problem is her ego,”
“I heard that!” Dash shouted at them, getting a laugh out of both of them, Tyler cringing as she heard her new laugh.
Celestia came back with the train tickets, taking some golden coins from everyone except Tyler since he didn’t have any.
“I can pay you back sometime,” Tyler spoke while looking at the ground. Celestia raised up Tyler’s chin and looked directly at her purple eyes.
“Don’t worry about it. You’re a guest here, and I have more than enough bits to cover a simple train ticket,” she said.
“Yeah, don’t beat yourself up about it. We get it, this is hard for you, and we’ll do everything we can to help, darling,” said Rarity.
“Thank you, but I don’t think you get it. I just had my whole life ripped away from me, and now I have to adjust to not just a new life, but a new body and culture as well,” Tyler frowned and looked at the ground once again.
“Don’t look so down, Tyler. At least you have us to help you. I mean imagine if you had to go through all of this on your own,” Pinkie said trying to make Tyler happy.
“Yeah, I really don’t want to think about that, just like I don’t want to think about...” Tyler pulled a folded paper out of her pocket.
“Think about what, sugarcube?” AJ asked.
Tyler looked at the picture for a moment, as a single tear ran down her face. She then handed the picture to Applejack. When she saw the picture, she knew what their lavender friend was thinking. It was a picture of Tyler and Shane from about a year ago, from when they had started high school.
“Shane,”
“Attention everypony! The train to Ponyville is leaving in one minute.” said an announcer on the speaker system.
“We can talk on the train. Let’s go!” Pinkie said as she bounced towards the train with the others behind her.
“I just hope this train has decent food, I’m starving,” Tyler said as she boarded the train.
April 14, 6:53 AM
“This is not what I meant by decent food,” Tyler complained as she read the menu for the small amount of food that she could buy. It was all candy, fruits, vegetables, and other weird stuff. Seriously, what the hell is a hayburger anyway?
The group took up a decent chunk of the train car they shared with some other ponies going to other places around Equestria that the announcer called out every now and then. Tyler would need to ask what these cities were and why some of them sounded like cities on Earth. Las Pegasus, Baltimare, and Manehatten; couldn’t be a coincidence that Earth had cities with similar names. Tyler was sitting with Dash next to her, Fluttershy and AppleJack in the seat across from them and Rarity and Pinke were in the seat behind Tyler and Dash, while Celestia was in the VIP section, since she was royalty.
“Sorry dude, but this the usual around here, so get used to it. Now just eat it, it’s better than you would think,” Dash told Tyler handing her a hayburger as she chomped down on one herself.
Applejack looked right at Dash as if she was challenging her. She then got up and came back with a plate full of hayburgers.
"Whoever fails to eat the most hayburgers in a minute has to give the winner twenty-five bits!"
"Oh, it is on! Dash shouted, getting the attention of other passengers on the train, who walked over to watch the contest. Pinkie was a part of this group, and suddenly had on a whistle and a referee cap.
"Three Two! One! Eat" the crowd yelled as Pinkie blew the whistle.
As the competing mares ate, getting ketchup and other condiments all over the table and themselves, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Tyler stared in disgust. Rarity looked like she was going to hurl. Tyler haded Rarity some napkins as she went to find the restroom. With just Tyler and Fluttershy alone, Tyler started to ask questions, since she felt that Fluttershy, while she was the shy one of the group, was the most openminded.
"Is this normal?" she asked, pointing at the eating contest.
"Sadly, yes. Those two are always competing with each other," Fluttershy said with a sigh. "and sadly I'm the only one who can stop them,"
"Why is that?"
"Rainbow and I were best friends since we were fillies," Fluttershy explained. "We met at summer flight camp in Cloudsdale. I was really shy back then, more than I am now. I got bullied a lot by some of the colts for being a slow flyer. Rainbow Dash was the only one who stood up for me. She took them on in a race and did her first sonic rainboom, which then led to her and I, as well as Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack getting our cutie marks,"
"Ok, now I'm just confused. What's a sonic rainboom? And what's a cutie mark?" Tyler asked with a confused look.
Fluttershy giggled. "A cutie mark is a symbol ponies earn when they find their special talent. Mine for example; three butterflies. It represents my love for animals and my gentle personality,"
"While that's interesting and all, how does that relate to flight race?"
"That's a long story," Fluttershy responded.
"I'm still a little confused about the whole cutie mark thing. If it's a symbol you earn, is there just a building full of stamps or something?"
"Actually, cutie marks are kind of like tattoos. They appear on their bearer's flank after they find their special talent," Fluttershy said as she lowered her jeans a little to show Tyler her thigh area, so she could see. Sure enough, there were three pink butterflies there.
"Fascinating," Tyler whispered.
"You know, you'll get one too eventually," Fluttershy said matter-of-factly as she pulled her jeans back up.
"Yeah, well knowing me, it'll probably be a book or a beaker of some sort, since I love reading and science," Tyler said. she frowned."But then again, that aren't really talents, are they,"
"Not really. But as unlikely as it is, the spell could have given you a cutie mark already," Fluttershy said.
Tyler quickly grabbed her pants and pulled them down a little bit, to find a pink six-pointed star with five smaller white stars around it. she and Fluttershy just stared at it for a moment before they were brought back to reality by a voice.
"Congrats, darling. It would seem you have gotten your cutie mark," Rarity said, getting the attention of the competing mares and Pinkie, who stopped what they were doing to see.
"Nice dude. It's not as cool as my lightning bolt, but still, it looks cool," Rainbow said. Tyler just rolled her eyes at the comment.
"Thanks, but what does it mean?" Tyler asked.
"That's for you to find out," Princess Celestia said as she walked toward the group. She rolled her eyes as the passengers of the train all bowed. "And the bowing is not necessary everypony,"
"Princess, why do I have this thing? I haven't even been here for twenty-four hours yet! How does it-"
"-Say no more Tyler. You'll figure it out in time," the princess interrupted. "But I need to talk to you about something else. Alone,"
"Um...okay?" the mare said as she got up from her seat and walked over to the next car of the train with the princess.
They continued through the train until they were in the very back car. There was a flight of stairs that lead to a small viewing platform above the train, which they went up.
"Princess, what is this about, if I may ask," Tyler said with a raised eyebrow.
"Well... you're not going to like this, but..." the princess trailed off.
"But what?"
"You... you need a new name Tyler. Your current one won't work," she said quietly.
"What," Tyler's face quickly turned to a glare.
"I said you need a new-"
"-I KNOW WHAT YOU SAID!" Tyler yelled, making Celestia flinch. "But first you took my body, then my family, then my home, and now you want to take my name too! What the hell!" Tyler had started crying again.
Celestia wrapped Tyler in her arms and wings. Tyler soon returned the gesture and said a single word that made the princess of the sun shed a tear.
"Why,"
"It's a guy's name, and no name you will find anywhere here I'm afraid. That, and the ponies wouldn't accept your identification files that I put together under the name Tyler since you're a girl." she then handed the sniffling mare a piece of paper. "I-I put together a list of names that are similar to your current one, they're just more...Equestrian and girly,"
Tyler looked at the paper. There were only a few options, all of which started with the letter T.
"I-I figured you'd want to keep your current first letter and last name," Celestia said looking away from Tyler as tears went through her white fur.
"You know, as mad as I am that I have to do this, some of these are pretty similar to Tyler," Tyler mumbled. Then the last name on the list caught her eye. She knew that, of the list of names, this one was by far the coolest and sounded like her, and if she had to change her name, she would pick this one.
"Just so you know princess, I'm not mad at you for what happened. I'm mad at myself for blaming you,"
"Tyler I-"
"Twilight,"
"Huh?"
"Call me Twilight. Twilight Flarem," she said turning to the princess while wiping the last few tears out of her face.
"Attention everypony! We are approaching the Ponyville station!" said the announcer over the intercom.
"That's our stop. We should get going Tyl- Twilight," The princess said with a half smile. "If I may ask though... why did you pick Twilight over the other names?"
"Simple really. All the other names sounded dumb or overly girly. You basically just took the last of my masculinity away, so I'm trying to keep as much as possible. That, and it just sounds cool,"
"Well, you're right. It does sound cool," the princess chuckled as she walked down the stairs and towards the exit. "And Twilight,"
"Yes, princess?"
"You're taking this better than expected. How do you do it?"
"Well, I have you six helping, so that makes things easier. Twilight said. "But also, I try not to think about Sha-" she stopped herself from saying his name.
Celestia wrapped one of her wings around the lavender pony. "I understand how much you miss them. I would know," she had tears in her eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"I had to banish my own sister to the moon for treason a thousand years ago. She's back now thanks to the others and myself. I had to help Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie defeat her in a battle to convince her to come back to the light," she looked at the floor. "You'll meet Luna eventually, but not now since she raises the moon and spends the day sleeping. She's more of a night pony,"
"With a name like Luna, I'm not surprised," Twilight said with a chuckle.
Celestia shared the laugh with Twilight as they stepped off the train. "Yeah. Anyway, we need to get you to your place. I know you'll like it,"
April 14, 7:26 AM
“Welcome to Ponyville, Tyler!” Pinkie yelled while bouncing around the train station. She suddenly pulled out a canon from somewhere and shot confetti in Twilight's face. Twilight was about to ask where Pinkie had gotten the cannon when Dash put a hand over the lavender pony's mouth.
“Rule number one of being friends with Pinkie: don’t ask questions. Seriously, it just makes it more confusing,”
Twilight nodded in understanding as Dash removed her hand. "Thanks for the warning. Oh, also um... Celestia kind of made me change my name to a girl's name," Twilight said blushing.
"Well, that makes sense darling. Tyler is hardly feminine at all," Rarity commented, but seeing the look on their friend's face made her realize that Twilight wasn't too happy with changing her name.
"So what um... what did you change it to?" Fluttershy asked.
"Twilight. Twilight Flarem," said the lavender pony.
"I like it. I mean, it's cool but not as cool as mine," Dash said while punching the air.
"A'hm not one for long names, so can I just call you Twi?" Aj asked, getting a nod from Twilight. "Sweet. If anything it sounds better than Twilight,"
"Twilight sounds like the kind of name for someone who wants a party!" Pinkie shouted as she pulled out another cannon, shooting more confetti in Twilight's face.
"Sorry Pinkie, but we need to find my house before we can throw a party, alright?" Twilight said.
"Okie Dokie Lokie," Pinkie said with a large grin.
"I gave you everything you'll to get started in this bag," Celestia said while floating a large bag with Twilight's cutie mark on it over to her. "I have other matters to attend to, but you can contact me via your roommate,"
"Roommate?" Twilight said while looking at the others.
"No, it's somepony else. But he's a nice guy. You'll get along fine I'm sure," she said as she spread her wings to fly back to Canterlot.
"Thank you!" Twilight yelled as the princess flew into the distance.
"Who could the roommate be?" Rarity asked with a raised brow.
"No clue. But we should find Twilight's place, give her the tour of Ponyville, get her situated, then go to Sugercube Corner and have a party!" Pinkie yelled as she bounced around.
"Maybe... maybe we should let Twilight decide what we do? Since all of this is for her and all?" Fluttershy whispered.
The five mares all looked towards Twilight.
"I say we go take this stuff to the house, then decide what to do from there," she said.
"Well, what are we waiting for! Let's go!" Dash shouted at them as she flew down the street. She then flew back with an embarrassed look on he face. "Um... which way is Twi's house?"
Applejack just laughed as she took the papers Celestia gave Twilight out of her hand. "Well, let's see. Twi's place is...the one in the center of town with the "sold" sign next to it,"
"Isn't that...oh, I get it now," said Dash with a smirk.
"What? Where am I staying?" Twilight asked.
"You'll see," said a smiling Pinkie.
"Let's get a move on ya'll," Aj said as they walked towards the center of town.
April 14, 10:38 AM
About ten minutes of walking (or flying) later, the group reached the center of town. There were ponies walking around the center of town, talking, eating, running, and pretty much everything else you could name. There was a giant building in the center of it all, which Twilight assumed to be the town hall. There were a lot of houses around, most of which were just buildings with straw roofs. The river that flowed under the bridge the group walked on splashed against the riverbanks.
The group continued walking until they found Twilight's place. It was a tree, but it had been hollowed out. There were small windows along the sides of the tree and a balcony above the main building with a telescope on it. The wooden door looked worn and old as if it needed to be replaced. The whole building looked that way like it was in good shape, even though it looked abandoned. What caught Twilight's eye, however, wasn't the building, it was the sign next to the tree. As she walked closer to read it, she was both grateful that Equestria used the English alphabet and psyched at what the sign said.
The Golden Oak Library.
"Are you serious! I live... in a library!" Twilight shouted as she flung open the wooden door and tried to run inside, tripping over her hooves that she had yet to get used to.
"Pfft, eggheads" Dash muttered under her breath, getting a punch from AJ.
The library had bookshelves built into the sides of the tree, and there were books everywhere! There was also a staircase that led up to what was most likely the living area.
"This place has been out of business for months. The last owner moved to Canterlot and left this place abandoned," Rarity said.
"It's not as abandoned as you might think. I just don't clean it enough," said a voice.
The group looked to see a small purple and green dragon walking down the stairs. He had no wings and was small enough that he was most likely a baby. He burped and a piece of parchment formed at the end of the green trail of flames.
"Woah," Twilight said under her breath. "How did you-"
"I'll explain that later. Are you the human from Earth?" he asked looking at Twilight.
"Uh.. yeah?"
"Great. I'm Spike, the "assistant"," he said making air quotes. He then handed Twilight the piece of parchment "The princess wanted me to give you this and then help you get settled in,"
"Thanks... Spike," the lavender alicorn said as she took the paper and read it.
Dear Twilight,
I see you've found the Golden Oak. I had a feeling you'd like it from the way you acted, and the fact you seen to like science and reading. Spike will deliver messages between the two of us via his flames. He's a baby dragon who has agreed to help you and be the librarian's (you) assistant, at the expense of living with you in the Golden Oak. He'll also show you how to live here along with the girls.
The bag I gave you has enough bits to buy cleaning supplies to clean up the library and buy food and other necessities like furniture and some other things. The bag also has a map of Ponyville, a map of Equestria, the identification papers that you need to take to city hall (I filled them out for you on the train), and a list of books that I'm shipping in from Canterlot for the library.
Also, I gave you some books about our culture, flight, magic, and other things like that. While I recommend reading them, I would also talk to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash about flight and Rarity and myself about magic. It'll help, trust me.
I have given you some of the textbooks from my School for Gifted Unicorns, just as a study tool for magic since after a quick check of your magic levels, which are through the roof, by the way, you'll need to learn about magic more than anything, as it seems to be what you'll be good at.
One more thing. If you've noticed, there are four races of ponies in Equestria: earth ponies (like Pinkie Pie and Applejack), unicorns (like Rarity), pegasi (like Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash), and the rare alicorn, which is what you are. And after a quick double check of my lists, there are only five known alicorns: myself, Luna, Princess Cadence, her daughter Princess Flurry Heart, and you. Alicorns are really rare and are the most powerful race of pony. They have the abilities of the other three races combined, which means you have the strength and endurance of an earth pony, the magic of a unicorn, and the flight of a pegasus. Ponies look toward alicorns as leaders, so be prepared for that.
Anyway, I will come down to Ponyville on Monday to check up on you. See you then!
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia.
P.S. Give the sapphire in the bag to Spike. It's a little something for him since he's going to be helping you.
Twilight opened the bag the princess had given her as she thought about the letter. So she would be living with a baby dragon. Honestly, that was the least strange thing that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. She pulled out a few books from the bag and set them on the table, glancing at the titles Unicorn Magic Volume 1: Beginner, Unicorn Magic Volume 2: Intermediate, and Flight Basics. She would have to look these over later. She had other things to do at the moment.
She pulled a large blue sapphire out of the bag and tossed it to Spike who looked it over.
"Sweet. I haven't had a sapphire in forever. Thanks!" he said as he took a large bite out of it. Twilight just stared open-mouthed at the baby dragon as he chewed the gem.
"Wha-what did he- did he just-," she stuttered
"Dragons eat gems," Applejack said matter-of-factly as Spike continued chewing the rock.
"Uh...," the lavender pony said as she stared at Spike.
"Just open look in the rest of the bag," Spike said as he swallowed another bite of sapphire.
Twilight did just that, finding a long list of books for the library, a pouch full of bits with a list of basic essentials, and her identification papers. A quick look over the papers showed that they had her name, race, sex, age, and a spot for a picture. The things that caught the mare's attention though, was her age. While she was fourteen on Earth, the papers said she was twenty. The transformation spell must have changed her age too. Great. There go six years of my life was all she could think when she read the papers.
However, she still needed to go get her picture taken at city hall, buy basic stuff, clean the library so she could open, learn magic and flight, get to know Spike, figure out her house, and learn the town.
This was going to be fun.
Author's Note
And so the story continues. Tyl- sorry- Twilight is going to have fun with the list of things to do and get, not to mention the party Pinkie wants to have.
April 14, 10:49 AM
“So what should we do first?” Rainbow asked Twilight.
“I’d say get the identification papers taken care of since I assume I will need them to buy the rest of the stuff,” Twilight said while staring at the pegasi moving clouds above them as the group walked out of the library. Spike had decided to stay behind and start cleaning while the others went to her Twilight.
“But darling, you look awful. We simply must go to my place and fix your mane and tail,” Rarity said with a slight sparkle in her eyes.
“Rarity, I think the last thing she wants is to be made all prissy and girly. Besides, I think Twi has had a hard enough day. Right?” Rainbow said with a brow raised at Twilight.
“Yeah, I’m gonna have to pass on that. I’ve already lost enough of my masculinity today, and makeup will send any I have left out the window,” Twilight said with a frown. “But I’ll come over later since I need clothes anyway,”
That last comment got Rarity’s attention. “Really?”
“Where else would I go? And besides, with how you all have helped me so far, I think clothes shopping is the easiest thing you can help me with,” Twilight said to the group. “You know, as much as I hate it,” she then muttered.
“What was that Twilight?” Rarity asked.
“Nothing, nothing,” Twilight quickly said while Rainbow and AJ snickered, having heard her comment.
“Enough about clothes, where’s Town Hall?”
“Oh, silly, we’re here already!” Pinkie laughed while the others rolled their eyes.
Twilight looked at the building next to them. It was circular in shape and had a church like look to it, with a few windows on it and some different colored flags that were attached to the top of the building. As she walked in she saw that the inside had brown walls and some platforms above the main floor, which Twilight assumed were for the pegasi. There was a large stage on the other end of the room, and some doors leading to other sections of the building.
“Ah, you must be the new pony the princess told me about,” said a voice from the other side of the room.
A mare with tan fur and a gray mane and tail walked towards Twilight. She adjusted the collar of her white shirt and brushed some dust off of her tan shorts. She had glasses on end of her muzzle and her blue eyes stared Twilight down.
“I take it you’re here to get the identification papers filled out?” she said with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, Twilight here is soooooo new! She was from another planet before she came here! And a dude! And a human!” Pinkie said with enthusiasm. The others just glared at Pinkie.
“I know. The princess informed me of your... interesting.. background. Anyways, I’m Mayor Mare, the town mayor. And you must be Tyler,” she nodded at Twilight.
“Actually, the princess made me change my name to Twilight,” said the purple pony with a sigh and a sad look on her face. Fluttershy put a comforting hand on the mare’s shoulder.
“Honestly, that doesn’t surprise me. It definitely isn’t a name you’ll find around here,” said the mayor, whose expression changed when she saw the state of Twilight. “Sorry, I know this is must be hard for you,”
“It is. In the last few hours, I’ve been in a car accident, impaled, brought to another world, been turned into a pony and a girl, had surgery, been told I can’t see my family again, and changed my name. Name one way this could be worse,” Twilight said with a raised voice.
“Okay. You could be dead.” said the mayor.
“That question was rhetorical,” said a fuming Twilight.
“Oh, sorry. Anyway, can we get the pictures taken now? I have a lot on my schedule today,” the mayor said adjusting her glasses.
“Yeah, let’s get this over with,” Twilight said as he handed the mayor the papers.
“Thank you. Right this please,” the mayor said while walking toward the stage where a mare with a blue coat and a white mane, as well as pink glasses was waiting with a camera.
“This is our photographer, Photo Finish. She’s going to take a few pictures for the identification papers. I’ll leave you to it while I get the rest of these filled,” the mayor said as she went to another room.
“Stand here,” Photo Finish demanded.
Twilight quickly moved to where she was supposed to while Photo Finish lined up the camera.
“Smile for the camera,”
Twilight did as asked, even if the smile was fake.
A few clicks later, some pictures fell from the old-fashioned Polaroid camera. Photo Finish then went to the same room the mayor had gone into. A few minutes later, Twilight had a complete Equestrian ID and a complete file in the town hall. The group thanked the mayor and the photographer and left, Twilight sadly looking at the picture on her ID. Now she had a constant reminder that she was no longer human or male. A single tear fell from her eyes as Fluttershy put a hand on her shoulder.
“It’ll be okay,” was all the shy mare could say.
If only Twilight believed that.
April 14, 10:13 AM
Shane had sat in Tyler’s room for a while, crying as he held the picture of the two of them. His parents had tried to comfort him, but all Shane could do was open the floodgates. He was going to stay and mourn, but the knock at the door changed that.
“Shane. Are you there?” said the familiar voice of his friend Matt.
Shane sulked towards the door. Normally he’d be thrilled to see Matt, but after getting kicked out of his house and losing his brother, all he wanted to do was be alone. He knew though that being with friends could help.
“Yeah, I’m here,” he said as he opened the door, to find Matt and Rachel standing on his porch.
Matt and Shane had known each other since they were in elementary school and had been through a fair share of trouble together. He had always been kind of stupid, but he could be really caring when needed. He had blonde hair that he kept short and always wore a green baseball cap on his head, which was the same shade of green as his eyes, as well as a red t-shirt and some faded blue jeans with some tears in them.
Shane and Rachel had been together for about eight months now. She had long, wavy brown hair that she often kept in a ponytail that came down to the bottom of her back. Her black top contrasted well with her streak of red that she had dyed in her hair and her blue eyes, as well as the pair of purple shorts and high heeled boots. She was always there for Shane when he needed her and could give some good advice in a hard time, something Shane just couldn’t get out of his brother.
“Hey guys, come in,” Shane muttered.
“Thanks, dude,” Matt said while walking straight to the kitchen and opening the fridge, grabbing the soda and pouring three glasses. The Flarems treated friends like family and allowed them access to all of the food to them.
“What are you guys doing here?” Shane asked, already knowing what this was about.
“We saw the news Shane,” Rachel said bluntly.
“Oh,”
Rachel kissed Shane on the cheek, much to Matt’s disgust. “Shane, its okay. We’re here for you and we know how you feel. Tyler was our friend too,”
Shane smiled for the first time since the accident. “Thanks guys, but I don’t think you get it. Have you ever felt like your brother’s disappearance was your fault before?”
“Shane, don’t blame yourself. If anything it was the drunk’s fault,” Matt said while drinking his soda.
“You don’t get it. I was the one driving. I was the one who wanted to go to your party in the first place. If I hadn’t my parents wouldn’t have made Tyler come with me and he would still be ali-,” Shane didn’t want to think that his brother was dead, and was now openly crying on the couch.
Rachel sat down next to him and embraced him in a hug. “You can’t beat yourself up like this, Shane. Sometimes letting it all out is the healthy thing to do,”
Shane sniffled and returned the hug. “Thanks, Rachel. You always know what to say when I need it,”
“On a different note, what did the cops say?” Matt said.
“All they said was that they found no body, a blood puddle, and some strange hoofprints that just disappeared,”
“Hoofprints? What, did some horses kidnap Tyler?” Matt said with a snicker.
“I’m pretty sure that didn’t happen, Matt,” Rachel said while rolling her eyes.
“The detective also gave me is contact info in case we find anything. I was going to head over there later an see if they found anything, and if possible, check out the area for myself,” Shane said with a yawn.
Rachel sighed. “Shane, how late were up last night?
“No idea. Though I did have a nightmare of when Tyler and I were little. Except...” Shane trailed off.
“Except what?” Matt asked.
“He got hit by a car and I had to watch him die,” Shane muttered.
Rachel and Matt both gasped.
“I know what’ll help you get over this,” Matt said.
“What,” Shane muttered
“The arcade! My treat!” Matt shouted.
“Yeah! C’mon, that’ll take your mind off of things,” Rachel said.
“Fine. And your right, that should take my mind off things,” Shane said.
If only Shane believed that.
April 14, 12:26 PM
“Why must we do this next?” Twilight complained as the group went inside the boutique.
“Because Twilight dear, you have nothing to wear and what you have currently is, while nice, not going to get you through the winter,” Rarity said.
“Rarity, I am going to make this as clear as possible for you before we even look at clothes,” Twilight said.
“What, Twilight?”
“No dresses, gowns, shoes, hair stuff, or makeup. Am I clear?” Twilight said with a raised brow.
Rarity sighed, “Yes. But I could totally see you with eyeshadow,”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash both rolled their eyes.
“Now, let’s get this over with,” Twilight sighed while walking towards the section of the store to her left.
“Uh... Twilight?” Fluttershy said while Pinkie started to giggle.
“What?”
“Wrong section missy!” Pinkie said while laughing on the floor, getting a kick from Applejack.
Twilight looked up to see that she was walking towards the men’s section out of instinct. She sighed and walked over to the women’s section.
“Why me,” was all she could say.
The others just glanced at each other with looks of concern on their faces.
“Twilight, it’s alright to have a hard time with this. I know we haven’t gone through what you have, but we’re always here for you, so let’s just get you some clothes, and then leave the shopping to us while you get to know Spike and your house, alright?” Rarity said.
“Thank you. Now, let’s see, this one looks nice,” she said while looking at some shirts.
“Which one darling?” Rarity asked.
“The blue one,”
“You mean the cobalt one?” Rarity said with a raised brow.
Twilight sighed. This was going to be a long day.
April 14, 12:26 PM
Shane starred out of the passenger side window as Rachel parked the car at Paul’s Place. It was bustling with people since it was Saturday, and the smell of pizza that surrounded the arcade filled Shane’s nose. The green building had it all: an arcade, pizza, and a bowling alley. Not to mention the nicest owner ever. Paul’s had been here since the group of friends had known each other, and while he was old, his son Bill managed to keep the place alive and well. Paul had known Rachel, Matt, Shane, and Tyler since they could walk, and Bill had been in school with them until he dropped out to help keep the business running after Paul’s wife died.
As the trio walked in, Bill walked towards them, his usual smile replaced with a somber look as he saw that Tyler wasn’t with them.
“Hey, guys. Here you go,” he said handing the group the cup of tokens as Matt handed him the cash. “I take it you’re here to cheer him up after... you know,” Bill said nodding at Shane.
“You heard I see,” Matt said as he walked to the pizza buffet.
“Dude, the whole town knows. It’s all over the local news and this town is so small that we all know each other. Everyone knows about Tyl-” he stopped himself before saying the name. “Sorry, Shane. I can’t imagine how you must be feeling right now.” Bill walked out and gave his friend a hug while trying to hold back his own tears.
“I’d ask more about what happened, but I have work to do. Catch ya’ guys later,” Bill said with a wave.
While Bill got back to work, the trio played games for the next two hours, with occasional pizza breaks until it was time to get going. Shane and Matt would go basically to war at the basketball game, while Rachel just stood and shook her head. That is until Matt let Rachel take a turn and she kicked Shane’s butt. Shane wasn’t too happy with that, but he felt a lot better, for a while at least. As the group walked out of the arcade, Shane couldn’t help but feel sad, knowing that he would most likely never play games with his little brother again. Before the group could leave, they were stopped by Bill, who was holding a roll of tickets, which he handed to the group.
“You guys really thought you could leave without saying goodbye?” he asked as Matt took the tickets. “It’s the least I can do for you guys. Also, I’ll be coming over later for dinner with my pops. Your parents invited us over since they figured we could help cheer you guys up. That, and they wanted some of my lasagna for dinner,”
Shane smiled at the joke. But it didn’t last as he thought about the last time Bill brought his lasagna. Tyler had loved the stuff and would eat almost the whole thing if he could. Shane thought back to a few months ago when Tyler had eaten so much lasagna he was sick the next day, Shane laughing the whole time while saying, “We told you not to eat that much,”. Tyler had responded with two words.
Worth it
Shane sighed as he thought about how he would never get moments like that again, which lead Rachel to hug him, tears on her face as Matt climbed into the car. Bill put his hand on Shane's shoulder while they took Shane to the car.
"It'll be alright Shane," Rachel said while kissing her boyfriend on the cheek.
Shane just stared into space as the car pulled out of the parking lot. He didn't think it would be alright.
April 14, 2:43 PM
"Well, it only took two hours, but we did it," Rainbow Dash said as she entered the library.
The mares entered the room carrying a plethora of items, ranging from food to clothes to a freaking couch! Applejack was carrying two huge baskets of apples under her arms while Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Spike were carrying the couch upstairs to the living area of the library. Fluttershy and some assorted animals were carrying other basic household appliances, like dishes and cleaning supplies. Rarity went upstairs with a large stack of clothing for Twilight, only to find the mare out on balcony staring at the sky.
"Twilight? Are you alright?"
The alicorn turned towards Rarity. "Oh, hey. Yeah, I'm fine. Just enjoying the view I guess," she looked down at her hooves, still getting used to them. "And just thinking about, well, everything," Rarity placed her hand on Twilight's shoulder as the others came up the stairs.
"How's she holding up?" Dash asked.
"Better than I thought actually," Fluttershy muttered.
"So... when do I get to throw the welcome to Ponyville party?" Pinkie asked excitedly.
"Next week, Pinkie. Next week," Twilight said with a grin.
"Awwwwww...why?" Pinkie moaned.
"She wants time to settle in, Pinkie. She deserves it," Applejack said.
"Thank you, AJ," Twilight said.
"No problem, sugarcube,"
“Oh, Twilight, one more thing. I finished fixing your shirt. I figured you’d want it back,” Rarity said while handing Twilight the lavender shirt that she fixed.
Twilight just stared at the lavender fabric that now perfectly matched her fur. She now realized that other than her picture with Shane, this was all she had left from Earth. She watched a single teardrop wet the shirt and thought about the life she was leaving behind.
“Ya’ alright, Twilight?”Fluttershy said.
“Yeah, I am,” Twilight said with a smile.
April 15, 2:34 AM
”Get back here you!” Tyler yelled to Shane as he ran after his brother.
“Never!” Shane yelled.
The two boys were running in the forest behind their house playing tag like they did when they were little, the younger brother chasing his older brother through the woods as the sun set behind the trees. The late night birds chirping among the sound of crunching leaves while the boys ran through the woods, Tyler finally catching up to Shane and tagging him, but not before Shane tackled Tyler to the ground, the brothers laughing as Tyler pushed Shane off of him.
The scene as happy and peaceful, until a car flew by and hit Tyler, sending him flying into a tree, his bones cracking as Shane could only watch in horror.
“NO! NOT AGAIN!” the older brother screamed into the sky.
“Do not worry Shane, this is just a nightmare,” said a regal feminine voice.
Shane spun around to find some sort of human-horse hybrid standing before him. She had midnight blue fur on her body, as well as a flowing blue mane and tail. She was wearing a light blue gown with a crescent moon on it and a small blue crown on her head, which was staying in place thanks to her horn. A pair of wings rested on her back and her hooves made the trademark clip-clop sound as she walked towards him.
“What and who the hell are you?” Shane said with a startled look on his face as he backed away from her.
“I am Princess Luna, one of the rulers Equestria. I protect the dreams of ponies- or in this case humans-from nightmares. I am here to help you find your brother,” she held out her hand to Shane, who just ignored it.
“What the hell is Equestria?” Shane asked with a raised eyebrow. “And how do you know my name?”
“Equestria is the country I rule with my sister, Celestia. And as for how I know your name, my sister told me your name and where to find you,” Luna explained.
“But, how does your sister know my name? And did you say you know where my brother is?” Shane said, his eyes watering as he waited for the answer he hoped for.
“Yes, I know where Tyler is. He’s the one who told my sister about you and where to find you. She then sent me to tell you that your brother is safe and in Equestria,”
Shane was now openly crying. Luna put a hand on his shoulder.
“Wait. This, “Equestria” place, I’ve never heard of it,” Shane said.
“That’s because it’s another world,” Luna said.
“Then how the hell is my brother there!” Shane demanded, his eyes wide.
“Some of our subjects went through a portal to your world against orders. They found your brother dying on the ground in the forest. So they did what they had to do to save him, which includes getting him to equestrian doctors as soon as possible. He is fine now, but the rift between Earth and Equestria is shut for the time being. It shut after your brother was pulled through. My sister and I are trying to open it right now, but it did have enough energy left for me to tell you about your brother,” Luna said.
“So... he’s alright?” Shane asked.
“Yes, but he looks a little... different than he used to after the surgery,” Luna said with a somber look. “But I’m afraid our time is up. I have to get back before the rift closes again,”
“Wait!” Shane yelled.
It was too late. Luna was gone and Shane woke with a start, panting as he shot straight up.
“Either I’m going insane, or that was real and Tyler is alive. Now I just have to get to him,” Shane muttered. “And Luna, if you can hear this, thank you,”
Author's Note
So the story continues, with some new faces!
