Chapter 17: Disguised

“Hmm…” I hummed as I looked at my transformed self.

It had taken the better part of the night to get a version of the Transformation Rune to turn me into an Earth Pony, but now that I was looking at the results, I was more than satisfied with what I got. Not that I had any right to complain to begin with, it had only taken mere hours to completely rewrite my biology from a Human into a magical, talking Pony. If anything, I was blown away by how good the final result was.

I had literally turned into a Pony. Not covered myself with the illusion of becoming a pony. No… Everything down to an anatomical level was changed. My vision, field of view especially, was better, and my sense of smell was better. I’d taken a bite out of a piece of a hay-and-oats bar that was part of the complimentary snacks provided by the inn, and the otherwise inedible bar to my Human counterpart actually tasted great.

Hell, even my Status had changed.

[Status]
[Level: 45 (60) (Effective Combat Level: ~Level 45)]
[Name: Victor Hex]
[Race: Human (Earth Pony)]
…

[Stats]
[Constitution: 41 → 42 (92)]
[Agility: 35 → 37 (57)]
[Strength: 39 (89)]
[Reflex: 37 → 38 (58)]
[Understanding: 43 → 44]
[Intelligence: 45 → 46]
[Magical Potency: N/A → 0 (10)]
[Magical Control: N/A → 8 (18)]
…

[Abilities]
…
[Earth Pony Form (Level Max) - Tentative Ability]
[Details: Changes your Race to Earth Pony, giving you access to acquire any of the Unique Abilities of a natural Earth Pony. Retroactively applies the following bonuses to your Stats: +50 Strength & Constitution, +20 Agility & Reflex, +10 Magic Potency & Magic Control. Furthermore, changes Level Calculation by changing Inherent Levels to 33]

Unless I explicitly told others, I doubt anyone — bar maybe some Unicorn going out of their way to experiment on me — would be able to tell that I was actually a transformed Human. Walking outside of my room and into the streets once morning came, I no longer had to worry about Ponies running for their lives after taking so much as one glance in my direction.

No… Now, instead of running away in fear for their lives, I was simply getting stared at by most Ponies. There were a few reasons I could think of for why this might have been the case.

In a town as small as Ponyville, perhaps, they were all simply curious as to who the stranger was in town. Perhaps the fact that I was a rather large, even as an Earth Pony, stallion was the cause for most of the looks. Maybe, it was a combination of the two…

Or, it could just be the fact that as I tried to walk around, I kept tripping over my hooves like a newborn — That would certainly explain the precipitous drop in my effective combat level. Pony foals were supposedly able to walk as soon as a few hours after they were born, so I can imagine what I must have looked like as a fully grown stallion who constantly stumbled as if it were the first time I was talking a stroll; which, was exactly the case for me.

Anyway, now that I was no longer unable to interact with the locals, I made my way over to the marketplace at the center of the town. I didn’t really have much to do aside from rest, relax and maybe wait for someone to come around looking for me, so I was going to be focusing on simple projects until I got back to Canterlot.

First, I went to the local blacksmith — because of course those were still a thing in a world that primarily ran without the aid of computers and electronics. Usually, I had the maid who attended to me in Canterlot Castle do this for me, so this would be the first time I bought raw materials for myself.

“Welcome, to my shop, er… You new in town, or something?” The stallion stationed behind the blacksmith’s storefront said as I entered the store.

“Only for a little while. I’m here on vacation and to see some of my friends,” I said as I approached.

“You’re visiting a blacksmith during your vacation? You’re an odd one, stranger. I’m Ferrum Forte by the way,” he said as he extended his hoof.

“My idea of fun is definitely considered odd to many,” I acknowledged as I accepted his hoofshake. “Victor Hex, by the way.”

“Well, Mr. Hex, what can I get for you today?”

“Here, I made a list of everything I need,” I said as I handed him a piece of paper I’d been carrying from the inn.

“Uh… I have a few of these items, but, er… I gotta ask: What the heck are you planning to do with all this stuff? To me, it looks like a bunch of random raw materials.”

I admit that it certainly would look like that to anyone who didn’t know I could use Automation.

“I make my own equipment. I’m going to use most of those materials to make a few “cooking devices.” Ever heard of an espresso machine or a fermentation chamber?”

“Coffee and booze?” Ferrum looked at me like I was crazy.

“Exactly! Those are just two of the things I plan on making. It’d be a shame to not have good coffee or booze when I’m supposed to be on vacation, right?”

“Sure… Just, you know this is going to cost a fortune, right? Just the barrels and piles of metals you can buy from me is going to cost you a hefty 2,779 Bits. Also, unless you want to be making a hundred trips, you’re also going to need a wagon which will cost another 5,000 if you want one big enough to carry everything you’re asking to buy.”

“Damn. How could I have forgotten,” I lamented as I reached over to my wallet/pouch-turned-saddlebag and handed over 78 Rainbow-colored Bits — The standard Gold Bit was worth one Bit, the Platinum Bit was worth 10 Bits, while the Royal Rainbow Bit was worth 100 Bits.

“Well damn! Are you loaded or something, mister?” Ferrum asked as he handed me back my change of 21 Bits. “That kind of money is more than enough to cover a few months' worth of living expenses here in Ponyville.”

“The Princess pays me a very good wage,” I said as it dawned on me how unbelievably wealthy I must have been if his words were true.

My daily salary was 8,500 Bits and I could effortlessly increase that if I made more than the standard 10 potions that were required from me per day. Before coming here, I thought I was just moderately well off. How utterly naive of me to not realize I was making “fuck-you” levels of money. Most likely, Canterlot’s cost of living was absurd, I mean it was the capital of Pony society and home to the overwhelming majority of the Pony nobility.

“You work directly for the Princess?” Ferrum asked. “What’s that like?”

“She’s busy all the time, so I don’t really see her and to be honest, there’s not much to my job. I just make a couple of potions for her and call it a day.”

“Jeez, man. No need to be so humble,” Ferrum shook his head. “An Earth Pony making potions for the Princess? You must be crazy talented to pull that off.”

“I mean, she hasn’t complained yet,” I said and left it at that.

…

Walking around Ponyville after getting all the things from Ferrum, I dragged my wagon all over the town until I finished buying the last thing on my list, near noon. Long before then, my theory that Canterlot’s cost of living was astronomical was confirmed and as I was walking back to the inn, I calculated that it was nearly twenty-eight times higher than that of Ponyville.

That was… something. I mean, even back on Earth, I couldn’t think of a country that was nearly thirty times cheaper to live in than in the U.S. Some, I could recall, were seven, maybe eight or even nine times cheaper, but even third-world countries weren’t any cheaper to live in than that. Then again, the U.S. wasn’t even the most expensive country to live in on Earth, so maybe there was a much larger disparity I wasn’t aware of.

Fortunately, it seemed the disparity in cost of living between Canterlot and Ponyville didn’t impact quality of life that much. Granted, I wasn’t exactly seeing any rows upon rows of extravagant mansions or luxury vendors anywhere in the town. But by that same token, there weren’t any signs of overt poverty either.

The streets were clean, every building I’d been in was furnished with working electricity and plumbing, and I’d not come across even a hint of homelessness or crime, uh… Ever since I was taken in by the Changelings now that I thought about it. In neither the Changeling’s Hive Colony, Canterlot, nor Ponyville, I’d not seen anyone so down on their luck.

Weird… But, more than acceptable. Equus was far from a true utopia, but at least in this regard, it was much better off than on Earth.

In any case, as I finally returned to the inn, I parked my carriage, went back to my room, transformed back to my normal Human self, and put on some goddamn clothes before I returned to the carrige to start working with what I’d bought. Turns out, I would have to heavily invest in modifying the Transformation Rune before I’d get to the point where I could get it to magically store and re-equip my human clothes when I transformed.

On my way back to the carriage, I stopped by the innkeeper’s desk and sure enough, the mare standing at attention was the only Pony who hadn’t already run off at the sight of me. While commendable, she was currently sweating through her coat to the point where I could notice, so I decided to skip the pleasantries and get to the point immediately.

“Say, I was planning on listening to my music while I, uh… work” I rolled my eyes. “Are there any noise ordinance laws I should know of before I turn up my speakers?”

“Um… T-there shouldn’t b-be. Vinyl Scratch hosts her DJ shows a-all the time a-and she n-never g-gets in trouble. But, er… , I wouldn’t really k-know. Maybe she get’s special permission to be so loud because it’s for her job?” She said, seemingly asking herself before her nerves returned and she addressed me once again, “Y-you’d have better luck asking M-Mayor Mare.

Waving her off, I started to walk away as I said, “I’ll just keep the music at a reasonable level until someone starts complaining.”

When I returned to the carriage, I hooked up my music player, selected a song arbitrarily from my “Safe For Pony Ears” playlist, and started working on making tools for brewing alcohol. Ever since I’d increased Automation to Level 3, I’d earned the ability to bypass time as a part of any action involving manufacturing or production.

Unfortunately, it cost a lot of “physical stamina” to use that particular aspect of Automation, such that if I tried to age anything for more than a few weeks, I’d feel like I’d just finish sprinting a marathon at max speed. So, after I made all the equipment for making a few barrels worth of alcohol, I worked on making all my other appliances; actually aging the alcohol would be the last thing I did on any given day.

I made myself a miniature freezer, filled it up with water, and by the time I was done with making myself the espresso machine, I had the ice to make myself a nice Iced Coffee. Back on Earth, I’d been called a “psycho” for being able to stomach pure unadulterated coffee, but that was more out of laziness than actual preference.

The truth was that back when I still had a day job at a nine-to-five, the office always had a fresh pot of coffee for anyone to take. They didn’t provide any milk or sugar, though, and since I was too lazy to pack my own and too frugal with my money to not take advantage of the opportunity, I got used to drinking straight-up black coffee after months of going to the office.

Now that I had more than enough energy, time, and money to actually make what I liked, I made the most basic iced latte imaginable and… I enjoyed it for about three seconds before I noticed the group of Ponies that had surrounded my carriage.

Author's Note

It's a goddamn Christmas miracle!

I actually managed to come back to a story I stopped writing for and complete not one, not two, but three whole chapters. Unfortunately, picking up this story again ended up feeling more like work than it did make me happy to keep writing and the call of a new story drew me away. I mentioned in the new story I've already started to publish chapters for that I'd been working on this one and thought it'd be rude to hold out on the chapters I'd been saving. So... here's the first one. I'll upload the next two between today and tomorrow.