Gabriel woke up in his hospital bed and immediately sensed that something was wrong. Already, he was no longer ill, which was a good thing in itself, but he had the impression that there was something else going on...

The doctor he'd seen yesterday came into the room and greeted Gabriel, saying, “Good morning, Mr. Couset, how are you today?”

“Hello doctor, well, actually, I'm feeling much better than yesterday. I feel like I'm not sick anymore...”

“Ha ha, yes that's normal! We've found a solution to cure you immediately!”

“What? What do you mean?”

“See for yourself!” Replied the doctor, handing him a mirror. Gabriel looked into it, and couldn't believe his eyes. In the mirror, you could see a pony. A stallion, to be precise, brown in color with even browner hair.

He looked down, trembling, to see that his hands had been replaced by hooves. Fucking hooves! “What have you done to me...” He straightened up to face the doctor again. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME??”

“Whatever was best for you...” Twilight replied, coming out of nowhere behind the doctor.

“But why? Why?”

“Aren't you happy? Not only are you no longer sick, but now you're one of us! You won't feel different anymore! Isn't that great?”

“NO! No it's not great! I never asked for this! So I don't care if I'm sick, but you're going to make me like I was before right now!”

The doctor nodded negatively. “That's not possible, you're one of us now, and you'll be one of us forever...”

“Forever...” Twilight repeated.

“You're completely insane! There's no way I'm staying like this another second!”

“Forever, forever, forever...” This time all 6 pony friends were present, and they were all repeating those same two words over and over again.

“No, no, leave me alone! Get out of my way, you bastard! Fuck you!” As the ponies began to close in on him, Gabriel decided it was time to flee. He bolted out of bed and ran for the exit door. At least, he tried to, not being used to his new body yet.

Once in the corridor, he ran in a random direction. He could hear the ponies behind him. He turned and even saw nurses chasing after him with Twilight and her friends, always repeating, “Forever, forever...”

“Go away, you motherfuckers! Screw you!” Gabriel shouted as he ran. In the distance, he could see an exit door with the word “EXIT” painted in red. He hurried even faster to reach it.

Suddenly, he heard a voice different from the others. A soft, feminine voice, seeming to come from nowhere, saying, “Gabriel, stop, don't worry...”

“What?” Gabriel replied, still running. “Do you think I'm going to stop like that, you damn voice?”

“Please, calm down...”

“No... No I won't calm down! Kiss my ass, you hear me?” Gabriel prepared to wait for the door. Just before he did, he took one last look behind him and noticed, just behind the group of delirious ponies, a strange blue silhouette. It was equine and had a mane that seemed to move on its own. He couldn't say why, but the pony looked familiar. However, he didn't have time to see more, the white light outside blinding him as he passed through the door.

Gabriel woke up in a sweat. He would have liked to scream, but his throat prevented it, and a hoarse sound came from his mouth instead. He ran his hands up and down his body to make sure everything was in order. Yes, his hands. He was still human. “My God, thank you...” He turned on the bedside lamp after calming down a little, a coughing fit beginning to take hold of him. He saw the little bottle of syrup and grabbed it to drink just before the door opened.

A pink pony with freckles entered, which Gabriel had never seen before. She exclaimed, “Is everything all right? I heard a noise coming from here...”

“Uh...” Gabriel cleared his throat “Uh... yes, yes, everything's fine, I just had a nightmare, I'm sorry...”

“A... a nightmare? Are you all right?”

“Yes, yes... don't worry, I'll...” He coughed a little “go back to sleep, I'll be fine...”

“Well... all right then, good night, and avoid making too much noise please...”

“Okay, thanks...” The nurse left and Gabriel lay back in his bed, his gaze fixed on the ceiling. He was rethinking the nightmare he'd just had. He could still see a pony... and he'd never been so terrified in his life. But that was all over now, it was just a dream, a fucking dream...

He rubbed his face as he heard a voice whisper, “Uh... are you okay Gaby ?”

“Derpy? Don't tell me I woke you up again ?”

“Uh... yes, a little, but it doesn't matter I'm not tired anymore anyway...”

“Sorry, you're going to end up hating me...”

“No, no, it's okay...”

An awkward silence ensued, until Gabriel said, “Right, well, I'm going back to bed then, good night...”

“Good night...”

Gabriel tossed and turned in his bed, seeking sleep in vain. Not only was he thinking about the dream he'd had, but other, even less pleasant thoughts came to mind, such as his relatives who must have been worried sick about him, or the prospect of staying here forever. This went on for a few minutes, before Derpy spoke up again: “Hey, psst, are you asleep ?”

“Mmh... no, not really”

“Me too, I slept all day and now I'm not sleepy at all...”

“Yeah, that sucks...”

“Say, uh... what kind of nightmare did you have?”

“I... Uh... I dreamt that... I became a pony”

“You did?”

“Yeah, it was horrible...”

“But, it's cool to be a pony! No ?”

“What? No, it's not cool! Would you like to...” He coughed again “...turn into a human you?”

“Uh... It depends, would I still have wings?”

“No... Humans don't have wings”

“Well then, no !”

“That's it! I'm human and I want to stay that way!” Gabriel ran his hands over his face, then laughed lightly. “What the fuck am I talking about? How did I get to this?”

“What do you mean?”

Gabriel sighed before continuing, “Barely 2 days ago I was sitting at home, tinkering with my engine, and now I find myself in a hospital in a fucking other dimension, sick as hell, and on top of that I have no idea how to get home AND I can't contact any of my family and friends to let them know...” Gabriel had started to straighten up, but soon lay back down again, his aches and pains getting the better of him again. “And on top of that I'm entrusting all my problems to a Pegasus I barely know, no offense...”

“I... I'm sorry, really...”

“It's okay, you don't have to be sorry, it's not your fault. It's nobody's fault. Well, maybe it's somebody's fault, but who? I don't know.”

“That's sad...”

“Yeah... Well, I'll stop complaining. Did you dream of something ?”

“Oh, yes! I dreamt I could fly again ! And I was eating lots of muffins !”

“Oh... That must have been fun...”

“Yes ! It was great !”

“Ok...”

Another silence settled in, the two roommates unsure of what to say to each other. Derpy finally said: “You know what I do when I can't sleep? I read stories! Or I'm told one. Do you know any stories?”

Gabriel pondered, wondering what story he could tell, then an idea occurred to him. “Well, do you by any chance know Fontaine's Fable?”

“Er... no ,?”

“Well... of course you don't. We learned about them when we were kids. Basically, they're little stories about animals that are supposed to teach us something.”

“Sounds great !”

“Yeah, I remember one. Well, I can't remember exactly how it's told, but basically it's about a fox and a crow. Um... you know what it is, right?”

“Of course I do !”

“So, basically we've got a raven perched on a tree holding a cheese in its beak, see? And then a fox comes along and sees the cheese and says to himself, "Hey, I could really go for that cheese", and then he says to the crow, "Oh, you're beautiful, you're strong, etc....". He's flattering him, you know?

“Yes...”

“And then he says “Oh, I'm sure you can sing too well too, won't you sing me a song and see?”. And then the crow, because he's really flattered, opens his beak to sing, and the cheese falls out! And the fox grabs it and runs off !”

"Ho... That's pretty smart !"

“And then, the moral is that when people are too nice to you, it's probably because they want to use you or something, I don't remember...”

“Yeah... that makes sense...”

"Otherwise, I know another one about a cicada and an ant, and basically the ant doesn't stop working while the cicada doesn't do anything, and then...” Gabriel began to summarize the Fable again, when he stopped because he could no longer hear a noise coming from behind the curtain. Discreetly, he lifted the curtain with his hand to discover Derpy sleeping peacefully.

He smiled as he returned to the bottom of his bed. “I thought you weren't tired anymore? Well, I guess I'll just have to do the same...” He closed his eyes and tried to fall back asleep. But this time, it was much harder than the last. His brain was racing, wondering what he was going to do if he had to stay here for a long time, or even forever... Or how he'd justify it if he did manage to get home. So, after an hour like that, he set up the level 2 sleep protocol.

Once again, he played his favorite music in his head, but this time he tried to imagine what it would sound like if it were played on the piano. Soon his brain was occupied only with this task, and it was as if all his problems had disappeared. He finally managed to fall back asleep, in a dreamless sleep.

The next morning passed without a hitch. Gabriel awoke calmly, shortly before a nurse arrived and served breakfast (consisting of an omelette and a flower salad, which he set aside). He had also taken his prescribed medication and drunk an apple juice. Derpy had been called away for X-rays, so Gabriel was alone in the room.

Looking for something to do, the temptation had been strong to use his phone to keep himself busy, but without a network he wasn't going to be able to do much. And he didn't want to waste his battery, which he knew would wear out very quickly, just to play Hill Climb Racing. So he just stared at the wall, waiting for something to happen.

The wait was getting long, especially since if there was one thing he couldn't stand in life, it was doing nothing at all. Not to mention the fact that unpleasant thoughts about the future were beginning to resurface. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, but was in fact only a few minutes, Gabriel saw movement in the corridor, and saw the same pink nurse as last night pushing a cart.

Finally seeing an opportunity to occupy himself a little, he asked, “Uh... Excuse me? What's in that cart?”

“Oh this? Those are books for the patients! Would you like one?”

“Yes, I would! I mean, it would be cool...”

“Look what makes you happy!” She moved the cart forward and Gabriel rummaged through the books, looking for something interesting. He saw a lot of detective novels and other adventure stories, but that wasn't what interested him. If he was going to be here for a while, he might as well learn a little more about the world he was in.

He finally saw a book entitled: “Modern Spellcasting” He took it and asked the nurse: “Uh... This may sound strange, but is this book fiction, or...”

“Uh... No, it's a book about the different magic spells you can cast. It's mostly for unicorns.”

“That... sounds interesting... I'll take it”

“Alright, happy reading!” Said the pony as she left.

“Thanks!” And with that, he began his reading. “Let's see what these ponies can do with their magic...”

After an hour or so of reading, Derpy finally returned from her analyses, and was taken back to bed with her leg still in plaster. Gabriel looked up from his book and said, “Hey, Derpy! How did the tests go?”

“Oh, they went very well! The doctor said they'll be able to take my casts off by the end of the week !”

“Really? That's fast !”

“Yes, that's because the doctor's using a spell to speed up the healing !”

“Yeah, they were talking about that very thing in my book !” Gabriel hold up said book.

“Your book ?” Derpy leaned over to get a better look “Ho, I didn't know you wanted to learn how to cast spells !”

“Oh, no, it's just that I'm curious...” Just then, Gabriel heard a noise, and saw two ponygirls come in, whom Gabriel recognized well: Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle. Gabriel smiled at them and said, “Hi here, have you come to visit me ?”

“Hello Gabriel ! I've got some horrible news to tell you !” Pinkie exclaimed.

Gabriel took a much more serious tone and said, “What ? What's the matter ? What's going on ?” He was already imagining the worst-case scenarios in his head...”

“I... I'm afraid I'm going to have to cancel your party...”

Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief “Ho... Okay. But, uh, what party ?”

“But... your welcome to Ponyville party ! Well, even welcome to Equestria !”

Gabriel thought, trying to figure out what she was talking about, then remembered what they'd talked about when they first met. “Ah yes, that party... Well, you know, it's no big deal, I mean, I don't blame you...”

“Thank you... But it is very serious ! All ponies are entitled to their own Ponyville welcome party when they move here ! Well, you're not really a pony, but that's okay ! However, as you're ill, I didn't think it was a good idea for you to have a party, as you're supposed to be resting. But I had everything organized ! All that was left was to invite everyone, and...”

“Wow wow, calm down...” Gabriel coughed before continuing “...Pinkie. Listen, it's really nice of you to organize a party for me, but don't worry about it, okay ? At worst we'll have one later, if you want, and if I'm still here...”

Pinkie gave her a tearful look “You... you promise ?”

“Er... yes of course...”

“I swear, I hope I fly, shove a cupcake in my eye !” She said, placing a hoof over his eye.

“Wha... what ?”

“Just repeat the sentence!”

“Mmh... Okay. So, I swear, I hope to fly, and, uh... stick a... a what again ?”

“A cupcake !”

“...a cupcake in my eye !” finished Gabriel, covering one of his eyes with his hand.

“Perfect !”

“Okay...”

Twilight stepped forward, clearing her throat before saying, “Well... now that this is settled, there's something I need to discuss with you, Gabriel”

“Uh, okay, Twilight, what is it ?”

“Well, I got a letter from the Princess, and...”

“...she knows how to get me home ?”

Twilight looked sad and her ears lowered as she replied, “No... not really, sorry...”

“Ho...”

“But she sent this !” She levitated a sheet, which Gabriel grabbed.

“What is it ?” The latter asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's a declaration form to apply for temporary equestrian citizen status, with the approval of the royal sisters !”

“Ho... Wait, they want to make me a citizen of, uh, Equistra?”

“Equestria !” Twilight corrected him. “And yes, indeed, they want you to be a citizen !”

“But... I don't really know if that's a good idea, I mean, technically, I still have Belgian nationality. Besides, it's not like I planned to live here or anything.”

“I know... but yet you're going to have to...”

Gabriel frowned “What?”

“Well... You heard what the Princess said, the research on the portals might take some time...”

Gabriel lowered his head. “Yeah... And what difference does it make that I'm a, uh, Equestrian ?”

“Well, you'll have a lot of advantages ! If you're registered, you could get financial aid to settle here ! You could find a job or an apartment more easily ! In fact, it would make everything easier !” Twilight came a little closer and said, “The nurses here couldn't even register you in the patient files because they had no information available !”

Gabriel sighed, “Yeah... maybe you're right. Besides, it doesn't cost anything, does it ?”

“Well, just a few Bits to get the papers, but otherwise nothing...”

“Some what ?”

“Bits... that's our currency”

“Ho... ok. Well, I don't know how I'm going to pay, since I don't really have any at the moment...”

“Ho, don't worry, the Princesses said they'd take care of all the costs !”

“Is that... is that true ?”

“Yes, even the hospital bills !”

“But... what's the honor ?”

“Well, given that you came involuntarily via an uncontrolled magical portal, the Princesses have decided to cover part of the costs by way of compensation. Because, you see, part of their job is to constantly monitor the land of Equestria to make sure there are no magical disturbances that could threaten us. Maybe they've missed something and that's why you're here...”

“Well, that's... that's really generous of them, I... I don't know what to say. Could you... could you send them a letter to say I'm grateful ?”

Twilight smiles and replies, “Of course ! In the meantime, would you fill out this form? I'll take it to the town hall for you...”

“Okay, thanks...” Gabriel took some time to read the form, to make sure there wasn't anything weird written in tiny letters. Then he filled in the various boxes, indicating his full name, age, sex, etc... Then he also had to indicate which species he belonged to. He therefore assumed that ponies weren't the only intelligent race in this strange world. When he had finished, he simply signed at the bottom of the page. “And that's it, I think...”

“Great ! Well, I'll be off then...”

“Uh, wait, before you go, uh...”

“Yes ?”

“Well, I've been reading this book, there...” Gabriel began, pulling out the book in question.

“Oh, it's Modern Spellcasting ! It's a classic, I've got it in my library ! I must have read it a dozen times !” Twilight interrupts, full of excitement. “ Uh... sorry, you were saying ?”

“Well... I saw that there were electrical spells, and that you could cast them to recharge battery-powered electrical devices... Do you know how to cast one, by any chance?”

“Yes, of course ! Magic is my specialty, after all !” She said proudly. She added shortly afterwards, blushing, “Well, not to brag, of course...”

“Okay, then I'd like to show you this...” Gabriel pulled out his smartphone, specifically a Samsung, and handed it to Twilight, and Pinkie Pie looked over. “I don't think I've shown it to you yet...”

“Well, I saw it in your things when we took you to the hospital. I thought it was a small mirror, but I thought it looked rather strange... then it slipped my mind...”

“Well, it's actually a telephone...” Seeing the questioned and intrigued looks on the 2 ponygirls' faces, Gabriel continued: “It's a human invention that allows you to talk to people at a distance. You can call anyone else who also owns one of these things by typing in a specific phone number, and then you can communicate with them by talking into it...”

“That... sounds incredible ! We definitely have a lot to learn from you !”

“We can communicate with anyone anywhere ?” Pinkie Pie asked excitedly.

“Well yes, as long as that other person also has a phone...” Gabriel replied.

“Does that mean that if I have a phone and my sister Maud, who lives in Rockville, also has a phone, that means I can talk to her remotely ?”

“Well, in theory yes. The only problem is, I've only got one phone, and there's no phone service here, so it won't work...”

“Ho...” Pinkie says, disappointed.

“But we can do lots of other stuff, like look at the time, set alarms, take photos or videos, LOOK at photos or videos, listen to music, play games...”

“So...” Twilight asked “...it's kind of like a computer of sorts, if it doesn't work with magic ?”

“Yes, it is ! It's a little computer ! Do you have any computers here ?”

“Well, I've got a few big computers in my basement, but I've never seen anything like this !”

“Yeah... I guess you must have much less advanced models... Can you get on the Internet with them ?”

“On the what ?”

“Nothing, never mind.... Well I'd turned my smartphone off to save energy, but I'll turn it on to show you how it works...” He pressed the power button for a moment, then the phone vibrated a jolt and the screen lit up, then took a while to boot up. Gabriel then entered his two pin codes and unlocked the screen. The local time was displayed, along with a photo of the moped he had at home in the background.

“This... actually looks a lot more advanced than the computers I own...” Twilight said, her gaze riveted on the screen.

“Do you see that number at the top right of the screen?” Gabriel pointed at it. “It indicates how fully charged my battery is. Right now it's at 72 percent. Normally you recharge it via a charger that you put in here” He pointed to the hole in the underside of the smartphone. “The problem is, I didn't really use one to get here. And anyway, even if I had one I couldn't plug it in, so... I was wondering if there was any way you could magically recharge it or something?”

“Well, I've already managed to recharge a few electrical devices, so... I think I could manage that, yes”

“Okay, well go ahead, if you want, AND be careful, please, I care...”

“No problem...” Gabriel put down the phone, and Twilight closed her eyes to concentrate. Her horn began to light up, and Gabriel wondered if this was really a good idea. Then Twilight sent a beam right at the phone. “I think... this should be good...”

Sweating, Gabriel reached out to grab the phone. He picked it up, turned it on and... the battery was at 100 percent ! “It worked ! That's so cool, thank you so much !" He scrolled through the applications and opened the camera. “It works too, great !”

“It was nothing, it makes me happy !”

“Can you do this as many times as you like ?”

“Well, yes. Not too many times in a row, though”

“So... I could ask you to recharge it every other day, for example ?”

“Yes, no problem ! In exchange, will you let me try it out ?”

“Yes, of course ! Thank you, you don't know how much it means to me !”

“You're welcome ! Well, I've got to go now, see you later !”

“Yes, bye !” Pinkie also says

“Hi ! Thanks again !”

“And hi Derpy, sorry I didn't see you !”

“Yes, goodbye Derpy !” Also says Twilight. “I hope your wing heals quickly !”

“Thank you ! See you next time !” Replied the interested one, making a hoof sign with a smile.

“Wait, Twilight, one last thing before you go...”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Is my car still parked next to your house?”

“Er... yes, why?”

“Would you know how to try and keep an eye on it so no one gets too close? I'm a bit worried about someone damaging it, and I know there's bound to be some curious people who'll go near it...”

“Ho... all right, I'll make sure no one harms it!”

“Okay, thanks a lot. I really appreciate everything you're doing for me, I really do... If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask me...”

“Okay, but you should wait until you're better to say that !” said Twilight jokingly.

Gabriel laughed a little as he replied, “Yes, you're right... Well, bye then !"

With that, the two mares left, and Gabriel turned to his phone, a smile on his lips. “So, where do I start?”

Author's Note

Well, I'm glad I finished this chapter !

I tried to spend more time on proofreading to make fewer mistakes and improve my writing quality, I don't know if it shows...

I must admit that I feel I have less and less time to write, between work, school, etc... But I'll always have some time to write, at least I hope so... (Yes, I confide in you like a therapist😅)

I still have too many ideas!

Thanks for reading !

(And also I'm at the season 6 of the show if you wanna know)