Brony Recon: A New Songby YkayneyChaptersThe First BeatThe Travelling BandModulationThe First BeatIt was a Thursday morning and the results day for my A-Levels. My name is Sam, a normal, geeky guy who likes computers, playing video games and I play guitar. Oh, and I like Ponies. Like I said, totally normal. I had set the alarm on my bedside clock for 8:00am, but, as my body-clock likes to do, I ended up waking 15 minutes early. I got up out of bed and went about my morning routine. It wasn’t until I began getting my breakfast ready that my mother finally woke up. I sat down with my laptop next to me and begin eating. If people apart from my close friends found out what I eat for breakfast they’d think of me as weirder than they already did. I eat sausage rolls for breakfast, heated in a microwave... Yeah. As the time approached for me to leave for school to collected my results, I became incredibly nervous. Shaking a bit with the tiniest of twitches happening every now and again, I knew this feeling all too well. 9:30am came and my mother drove me down to school, admittedly I probably could’ve walked. I walked in to see my friend, Andy, standing outside the Main Hall holding a large envelope. “Hey Andy, got yours already?” I began. “Yeah, I’m too nervous to open it. Hurry up and get yours so we can look together.” He didn’t look nervous but I guess I didn’t either. I tend to calm down a bit when I’m with friends. I walk inside the hall and scan the long table of envelopes, near the other end of the table I spot an envelope with my name printed on a sticker attached to it, it was luckily on top of the package. I began to feel sick as I reached for the large, white object. Remembering back to my exams and how badly they went, along with seeing visions of the disappointed faces of my teachers as they looked at my coursework. I grab hold of it and walked out quickly to meet Andy. I spoke as I approached him, “You ready?” I took hold of the seal. Andy let out an audible gulp and replied “Yep!” For someone who was supposedly nervous and always expected the worse I found the positivity to be a surprise. We opened our envelopes almost simultaneously and began slowly flicking through pages to reach our grades. Andy was first to his and his anxious face turned to a slightly disappointed one. Then I saw my results, my mouth drop open slightly and heart began to feel heavy and if I didn’t something soon I knew I was going to throw up. I had passed, but barely. Out of the 3 subjects I had taken I received an E grade in all of them. I felt an urge of happiness rush through me as well as sadness. Sure I had passed, but for what reason, in all honesty, these were terrible passing grades and I know that I could have done better. That’s when I realised. Hiding between two sheets of paper that I had pulled from the envelope was another smaller envelope, almost business card size. I pulled it out and showed it to Andy, “Hey look at this. Do you have one?” Andy looked between his sheets of paper then back into his large envelope spotting a similar envelope to what I had found and u he pulled it out. “Yeah, I do. Any idea what it says?” He asked as he looked back towards me. “Not yet.” I opened the small envelope and pulled out a letter which when I unfolded became the size of an A5 piece of paper. I began reading the letter: Dear Samuel Kane, For now you may refer to me as MB. I am writing this letter to invite you to join a project I have been a part of. When told by our superiors that we needed more to join us, I knew instantly that i should pick you two. You seem like the kind of people I can trust, so I am inviting you to initially meet me inside of your local woods (I presume you know the one) on 20th August 2012 to discuss further what exactly this project ensues. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and I await our meeting. Yours sincerely, MB Andy had been reading his letter whilst I read mine out loud. “Mine says exactly the same, obviously apart from the name change.” I pondered over the contents of the letter for a moment. There was something about it that seemed familiar. Something that seemed to give Andy an excited appearance. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna go home.” I nodded towards the main exit. “Yeah, me too. See you, Sam.” I raised my hand to say goodbye as we returned to our respective parents cars. Of course, after showing my mother my results, she was incredibly happy that I passed, but I still knew that I could have done much better. When I got back home, I took off my shoes and headed upstairs to my room which is where I spend most of my days playing games on my laptop and talking to Andy over Skype. And today was no different, the first thing I did was log into Skype and open Minecraft, I needed something to get my mind off of the results. Time passed quickly and before I knew it, it was 6:00pm, I only noticed that because I saw Andy come online in a Skype pop-up box. A couple of seconds after, a call was begun. “Hey man, where have you been?” I had been wondering, he was on later than usual. “Sorry, parents wanted to spend the day out.” He sighed. “Oh okay.” There was a small silence before I spoke again. “I’ve been thinking about that letter we got today, something about it seems familiar.” I heard the sound of an exaggerated face-palm which was quickly followed by a message in the Skype chat. “I wonder why.” Upon looking at the message I saw that it was a link to the first story in my favourite My Little Pony fan-fiction series, Brony Recon: To Live and Love in Equestria. Sudden realisation hit my brain like a cannon ball to a castle wall, ‘I have just received a letter from Markus!’ My eyes were wide and my mouth agape, I honestly could not believe it; I had thought that they were only stories made up by a fan of the show. Were myself and Andy really being given the chance to live in Equestria? Andy could sense my shock, “Calm down Sam, we don’t know what he’s going to say.” I snapped out of my state to reply, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But what if it really is what we think?” There was a short pause of silence, “Then I’m going to be incredibly excited!” Andy practically shouted down the microphone making me smile and laugh a little. Our conversation carried on as normal until it was time for us to go to bed. We ended the call and climbed under the sheets, falling asleep was not as easy tonight, all I could think about was the experience of being a Pony and living in Equestria. I lay there thinking for about an hour until a sudden state of having a blank mind allowed my body to drift off to sleep. <<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<< The next 3 days were like any other day, I would get up, eat breakfast and sit down at my computer playing games, browsing the internet and talking to Andy. Finally, the day had arrived, 20th August. Andy had slept over the night before so we could get to the forest as quick as possible. There wasn’t a specific time written on the letter so me and Andy presumed that ‘MB’ would be there all day. We finished getting ready and left my house to begin the short trek down the road to the local woods. Not too much was said on the way down, neither of us were morning people and if we weren’t so excited about the aspect of living in Equestria, then we’d both want to be back in our beds right now. We soon reached the entrance to the woods and before heading in we looked towards each other for reassurance, we nodded and walked inside. For a small woods it got pretty dark in there, light was only able to get in from the sides where there were either houses or fields, it was a perfect place for a little meeting. After walking down one of the smaller paths, figuring that the meet wouldn’t happen on the main one, something suddenly appeared in front of us walking out of a hedge to the left. We couldn’t believe what we saw, it was a male pony, from My Little Pony, Me and Andy just stood there eyes and mouths wide open, staring, as the Equine revealed his blue coat and lighter blue mane with a book and quill as a cutie mark. I recognised this pony from the description written in the Fan-Fic. “Markus?” My voice broken up slightly by shock and excitement. “I am never waiting in a bush for anyone ever again.” Stated Markus as he shook leaves and small branches from his mane. “I really hope you’re Andy and Sam.” “Um... Y-yeah.” I still couldn’t believe what was happening. He gave us a strange look and began explaining things, “I’m glad you came, I’m going to get straight to the point. I am part of a programme called Exodus Equestria. This means that a few chosen people get to be transformed into Ponies and sent to Equestria to live a new life and report back to us things that they learn. A team of 6 were already dispatched a while ago and I was a part of them, we’re currently back to earth for a vacation of sorts. Unfortunately, I wasn’t transformed back into a human, so I’m stuck like this with my wife-to-be. Speaking of, where is she?” All three of us looked around before a sound of rustling leaves was heard and a voice spoke. “I’m here, Skyblaze!” We all looked up to see a midnight blue Alicorn float down and land next to Markus. “Andy, Sam, I would like you to meet my fiancée, Princess Luna.” We stood there for a moment, eyes wide and mouths agape. The Princess I worshipped so much was standing right before me, what I did next was to probably be expected. I dropped to one knee and bowed my head, I lifted my head up slightly to confirm that what I saw as true before lowering it again after meeting her eyes with my own. “Princess Luna, I am honoured to be in your presence.” Luna giggled slightly. “Now Sam, there’s no need for that. Please, rise.” As I stood up I noticed her giving me a humble smile to which I reply with my own nervous smile. Markus cleared his throat before continuing his previous speech. “Now, we want to see how the same Ponies react to new Ponies joining their ranks, hopefully, they’ll be accepting of you.” He turned his head slightly towards Luna and she nodded her head back to him in confirmation. “Should you choose to accept this invitation then I would like you to pack as soon as possible and meet me at this location, I have some transport pre-arranged so we can get to where we need to be without any hassle.” Myself and Andy turned our heads to face each other before I spoke up, sounding sure about my decision “I don’t know about you Andy, but at this time, going there would be far much better than staying here. Markus, I’m in!” I gave him a determined look. Andy seemed unsure; I knew that he would want this more than anything. “What’s wrong Andy?” Something has to be up. “I want to go, I really do, but.” He looked off to the right, away from Me, Markus and Luna. “I don’t want to leave Emily behind, she would love it there, I just know it. And if I left... I just don’t want to see her upset.” Of course, Emily, his little sister would love it there as much as we would, and to find out that her brother could go but she couldn’t, would probably leave them on bad terms. Markus raised a hoof onto Andy’s shoulder. “I’m sure we can let just one more person join you.” Andy turned his head to face Markus with a teary smile. “Off you go now gentlemen, time to get packing and tell your family where you’re going. Meet me just outside these woods at 3pm tomorrow.” Me and Andy began walking back the way we came when Markus called to us once more, “I forgot to ask. What are your Equine names?” I was the first to reply. “I’m Cyan Beats.” “And I’m Crimson Bolt.” “And your sister?” “Aqua Gem.” Andy gave a slight smile. Markus nodded to us as acceptance of us leaving and we continued our walk. “Well Andy, out of all the strange things that have happened. This must be THE strangest thing.” “You’re not going to stop quoting that are you?” “Eenope!” I replied with a smile quoting Big Mac as we returned to my house. The Travelling BandSam’s POV The sun shone bright and early on to my un-expecting face, waking me almost instantly. “Go away sun” Turning over helped to delay the inevitable which was sped up by the fact I remembered what was coming today. I jumped up, lifting my glasses to my face and stared in Andy’s general direction. Typically he was still asleep. I tried my loud whispering to try and wake him up, but that was unsuccessful. I decided it was time for drastic measures. I grasped the large object nearest me in my hand, lifted it slowly above my head and threw. Time seemed to stand still for a second as the pillow landed straight on to Andy’s face. The silence was soon broken by a fairly loud grunt. A muffled “Buck you!” emanated from beneath the pillow. “Good. You’re up.” I gave a sly smile. Upon getting out of bed, I put on some comfortable clothes and turned on the light, queuing Andy to get up and dressed too. We made our way downstairs to get some breakfast. I had the usual sausage rolls and Andy helped himself to some cereal. It was silent until we had both finished eating. We were the first ones to get up so that didn’t help to get some conversation going. Finally, I heard another noise come from upstairs whilst stroking one of my cats. “Ah, the beast rises.” I said, referring to my mother. Andy giggled in reply. “That isn’t nice.” I just smiled in return and gently nudged the cat off of my lap, deciding that I had better begin packing my bag with things that would keep me occupied. I walked upstairs with Andy tailing, I walked past my mum, who was now fully awake and dressed, greeting her with a ‘good morning’ before continuing on to my room. I pulled out a small drawstring bag from my wardrobe and threw it onto the spare bed. “Hey Andy, could you pass me that sketchbook and the pencil and sharpener near it, please?” I requested pointing to the objects that lay at the bottom of my own bed. Andy walked over and placed them beside me. After placing them inside the bag I walked over to my laptop and began packing it away. “I really hope I end up a unicorn. Otherwise, I better come up with some way to work this thing.” I looked at my microphone for a second, debating whether to pack it away. I decided against it, it cost a lot of money and I don’t fancy like losing it in another world. If I ever return then I can retrieve it, but for now, it stays. “Is that all you’re taking? No clothes?” Andy asked curiously. “Well, we’re not going to need clothes in Equestria are we? Ponies don’t wear clothes. Plus, they wouldn’t fit.” “Yeah, I suppose. I guess we could just buy some new clothes if we needed to.” Time passed quickly during that conversation and I had already packed away my laptop and charger in its bag and was now standing back over by the spare bed in my room. “Time to go get your stuff I guess.” I suggested to Andy. “I don’t really have anything to bring apart from myself. But I need to collect Emily and say goodbye to my parents anyway.” “That you do my friend. That you do.” I turned to my doorway and we made our way back downstairs. After allowing my mother time to finish her coffee we climbed into the car and drove to Andy’s house. He may have lived nearer the coast but it was only a 15 minute drive away from where I lived. <<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<< Upon arriving at Andy’s house I had decided that I was going to go and see our friend Scott before we departed, leaving Andy to deal with his family on his own. My two best friends lived incredibly close to each other, literally down the road. It made things quite convenient for times like this. I opened the gate that led up to the large glass door of Scott’s house. I knocked gently and I saw him appear from the side as he rose from his sofa and he slid open the door. “Sam? What are you doing here?” he had a puzzled look on his face. “We’re bringing Andy back home for a bit. I thought I would come by to say ‘hi’, well ‘bye’ actually. Mind if I come in? I have some things to explain.” Andy’s POV I didn’t know how I would break it to my parents. I was supposed to just tell them where I was going, but would they believe me? Even if they did, would they let me go so easily? I decided to speak to my sister first. After walking upstairs and opening the living room door I motioned to Emily to follow me. She got up out of the computer chair and followed me downstairs to my room. I shut my door after we entered so I could explain the situation. <<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<< “You don’t believe me, do you Em?” “I want to, but it just seems silly.” She sounded so confused and slightly upset. “You get to come too you know.” I smiled to her. Emily’s face lit up quite a bit at this statement. The smile dissipated for a second as she looked to the floor in thought. “Are you going to tell Mum and Dad?” “Of course I was, smelly. I wanted to let you know first.” I walked over to my door to let my sister out, I followed closely behind. “Well, here goes.” I opened the living room door and asked for my parents to sit down so I could explain things. Sam’s POV “So, you’re actually going to Equestria? To live, as a pony?” I haven’t seen Scott act like this in forever. “Yes. That would be correct.” “I take it I can’t join you guys.” “Sorry, no. Only we’re allowed to participate.” I felt genuinely sorry, but it was the truth. I felt we had already caused some hassle by having Emily allowed to join us. I could see a tiny bit of sadness in Scott’s eyes. After talking for a little while more about we hugged and said goodbye. Although I never looked back, I could tell that he didn’t close the door until after I had closed the tall, wooden gate behind me. On the way back to Andy’s house all I could think about was how Scott must be feeling. We were like brothers and now I’m going away with a possibility of never seeing him again. I decided to wait in the car with my mum whilst we waited for Andy to finish up. My favourite album was playing with my favourite song, Homecoming by Green Day. The whole album seemed like it told a story, a story I could vividly picture every time I listened to the album in full. I have always been quite an emotional person and this is one of the things that could show that side of me. As the song neared its final part Andy appeared from around the corner followed by his sister, Emily. They climbed into the car and belted up. I was the first to speak. “Everything go all right then?” “Surprisingly, yes.” Andy sounded very happy, I’m not surprised either considering what was about to happen. <<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<< I told my mum to pull over at the entrance of an alleyway that allowed a shortcut to the woods. The three of us bronies left the vehicle and began our short walk to the entrance of the woods. As we approached, we were stopped in our tracks by a whispering voice. “Psst! Hey, over here. To the left, just walk.” The mysterious voice coaxed us towards it. As we turned the corner we noticed that the person who had called us over was a man, about our height wearing a grey t-shirt and blue jeans. I forced the other two to stop as I realised I didn’t recognise this person. “Don’t worry, it’s me, Markus.” “Markus? You were a pony last time we saw you.” I said, pointing out the obvious. “Yes, I was. We had problems when I was ponyfied, so they hesitated changing me back into a human.” He gave a reassuring smile and then he spotted Emily closely packed to Andy. “Ah, you must be Emily. Nice to meet you.” Emily, being a shy person returned a ‘hello’ that was only audible as a high pitched squeal. “So Markus.” I began. “You said that you had pre-arranged transport. Where is it?” “I am over here. IT is in there. Sorry about that.” A strange man appeared from a bush behind Markus. He was wearing a brown patterned suede jacket, complete with smart trousers, a white shirt, suspenders and a bow tie. “And, who are you?” I was as confused as the other two at this point, everything seemed to be so surreal. “You can call me the Doctor. Now, are we going to leave soon? I don’t want wildlife to begin growing around the TARDIS. It can get very messy.” The man now known as the Doctor walked off whilst still mumbling to himself giving a little shudder as he entered the woods. We followed Markus in the same direction that the Doctor went to see a blue police box in front of us to which the Doctor was walking around checking for any attached wildlife. “This is getting a bit surreal.” Andy broke his silence. “First, an invitation to go to Equestria, and now we have just met the Doctor. I don’t even.” I took the opportunity that Markus was giving us by looking around outside the woods to talk to the Doctor. “So, I have to ask. Are you the real Doctor? Like the one in the Doctor Who show?” “Yep, that’s me! Well, kind of. Technically the one in the show is an actor, completely human.” One thing I had noticed, was that the show was incredibly accurate in the way he spoke. “Okay, everything checks up good!” Markus called over. “Let’s get ‘em in and we can be off.” The Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS and we all walked inside. Even though I knew what to expect, seeing with my own eyes that the ship was bigger on the inside was completely mind blowing. The three of us stood near the doorway staring in awe at the beauty of the ships interior. “Okay, is everyone ready? We’ll be taking off as soon as I flick this switch.” I had been so caught up in admiring the TARDIS that I had been oblivious to the Doctor rushing around the centre console. “We’re ready when you are!” I called across, which was replied by a smile from the Doctor as he threw the switch. I’m going to admit, it was a rather anticlimactic experience. The TARDIS made struggling sounds and then the central spire powered down. “What’s happened?” Markus had a look that displayed growing panic. “Come on girl, what’s up?” The Doctor spoke to himself but stopped suddenly as he flicked on the camera screen. “Ah, there’s our problem.” I walked over to the screen to see what the fuss was about and what I saw next must have been one of the most unexpected things I had seen all day. There was an eye, staring directly into the camera. I decided to take the initiative and I ran over to the door, opening it and then looking around the left side of the TARDIS. What I saw shocked me. Scott was there, hanging on to the side of the TARDIS. “Scott?! What are you doing here?!” “You know this person?” asked Markus in an annoyed voice as he joined me outside. “His name is Scott. One of my best friends and he’s about to explain what he’s doing here.” Scott climbed off the side of the TARDIS. “I couldn’t let you go. Not without me. You’re like a brother to me Sam. If you’re going to Equestria then I want to come too!” I had never seen Scott like this before, a single tear trickled down his cheek. I stayed silent and looked over to Markus. Markus stood, thinking hard for a moment until he finally spoke. “Fine. Scott, you may join your friends for the Exodus Equestria project. You’ve come so far and know so much that it only seems fair.” The softness of the moment was shattered to pieces as the Doctor poked his head through the door. “Can we go yet? There’s some fish fingers and custard back at the warehouse just screaming my name.” After he pulled himself back through we waited a moment before all bursting out into laughter. Back inside the TARDIS, Andy had sat down keeping his sister company, assuring that everything was going to be okay. Being very timid and shy, Emily wasn’t going to take a long time from home too well. Myself and Scott took a seat next to Andy as the Doctor readjusted his settings, and without warning the ship began to make loud noises of machinery moving as well as the famous scratching sound. I didn’t expect it to be a smooth ride, but then again, I didn’t expect it to be this rough. At one point, I found that I had been grabbed by the arm to stop me falling onto the floor. This went on for a couple of minutes until all went silent. The Doctor strode over to the door and opened it, holding out his arms in an inviting manner. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have arrived.” ModulationSam's POV The sight in front of me didn't really come as a shock. I was kind of expecting a large, dirty warehouse in an unknown place. One by one we left the TARDIS to scan the immediate area with our eyes, the concrete floor seemed to spread for miles either side of us and the sun was being dulled by industrial fog, although there seemed to be no factories around for miles. The Doctor had disappeared off to the side of the warehouse as we explored and the doors began to slowly slide open. As light crept into the room I saw several large objects, none of them as spectacular as was expected. A structure stood in the middle of the room with four quartz pillars and a control panel. The other, off to the right, was a large circular structure that was a bit more hi-tech looking than the other object. The Doctor re-appeared from the left inside of the warehouse. "Welcome, this is where the magic happens." He walked in front of us and began to point at the two structures. "That there is the ponyfication machine. Quite simply, that is what's going to make you into ponies." He said, describing the structure in the middle. "And that, that is the portal to Equestria." The Doctor announced, standing proudly. He turned to us, smiling. "Don't worry, I know how to use them." The four of us looked nervously at each other. "Doctor, where are the others? Did they go back already?" Markus spoke up curiously. "I believe Cereal and Seth said they had some important things to do, so they'd be sending the others back earlier and would leave me to deal with you five." The Doctor replied as he began to change some dials and switches on the Ponyfication machine. He hit one final large switch making some lights on and around the machine to light up and causing it to make whirring noises as it began to boot up. "So, who's first?" The four of us 'newbies' gulped loudly and simultaneously as he asked. Seeing our obvious nervousness, Markus walked forward. "Look, I'll go first. I'll show you that it's safe, now." "Now?!" Scott shouted in shock. "There were some… Complications when I was first ponyfied." Markus looked sternly, but friendly, back at Scott as a strange sign of reassurance that still displayed some nervousness. As Markus steadied himself inside of the machine, the Doctor turned a dial and the machine began to shine with bright lights and loud noises. All we could see was the silhouette of Markus as his form changed from humanoid to having four legs, a mane, and a tail. After a couple of minutes the lights died down and a blue pony with a lighter blue mane and tail stood before us. "Welcome back, Skyblaze." The Doctor announced as some residue fog dissipated. Skyblaze smiled and nodded his head towards the Doctor as he stepped off of the machine platform. "Go on then Scott, your turn." Skyblaze nudged my friend towards the machine from behind as he accepted and began to walk towards it. There was another light show before the figure of a grey stallion with a two-toned black and purple mane and tail stood on the platform in front of us. "Now that is a cool look!" The Doctor clapped his hands, obviously liking the style of the pony before him. "What's your name then?" Scott seemed to ponder about his decision for a moment before meeting my eyes with his own. "Arcade. Arcade Beats." He walked off of the platform and joined Markus over by the portal. Andy's POV That was two of them done, next up was my sister. I had to walk her to the machine so she would be convinced to stand there. She gulped nervously as she stood as stiff as a brick wall on the platform. I watched as her form changed behind the lights, everything seemed to be normal, except for one thing. As the smoke cleared, my suspicions were brought to the light. What I saw before me made me laugh. I could see the look on my sister's face becoming angry. "What are you laughing at?!" She stopped suddenly after shouting, her voice was incredibly squeaky. This caused me to laugh even more. Emily caught her reflection in the machinery around her, her jaw dropped as she realised that she had become a small filly. "Why am I so small?! This isn't fair!" The small blue filly dropped to a sitting position as a big displease frown spread across her face. The Doctor walked around to lift her up. "Aww, I think it's cute." The filly stopped struggling to break free for a second as she showed a blush from the Doctors comment. Now laughing, the Doctor placed her back on the ground. "Now, go on Aqua Gem. Go join your friends." Aqua trotted towards Skyblaze and Arcade as I made my way onto the platform. The machinery started to whir and begin it's warm up, then I was hit with a light. If I could've moved during the process I would have ducked up and covered my eyes, the blinding light didn't hurt though. I felt a strange tingling sensation as the structure of my body began to change, getting smaller and falling on to four legs. As the smoke cleared I began to walk off of the platform. I had expected to fall over once or twice, but walking on all fours with hooves seemed to come as naturally as walking on two legs as a human. I made my way over to my sister and the others as I felt Sam pat his hand on my back. He had always been a nervous person, so I guessed that doing that was his way of reassuring himself that he was ready rather than any of us. Sam's POV There was a lot of heat coming from the platform and the machinery surrounding it. I warily stepped onto the platform, feeling as though I was actually in France in the summer. The machine didn't need any more time to warm up and the process unexpectedly began immediately. It was a shock to my body, causing me to flinch. Stinging pains filled my arms as though I was being stabbed with a thousand tiny needles, my blood, muscles and bones felt as though they were pulsating from their transformation, and then the light hit me. From the day I was born, I've had a condition called photophobia. This caused the pupils of my eyes to not shrink in the light, thus allowed large quantities of light through that, at times, would cause pain beyond anything I could imagine. The light from the machines was in my face and almost as bright as the sun itself. I felt my naturally acidic tears begin to stream from my eyes, causing more pain. Even through the pain, I knew I could withstand it and pull through okay, but suddenly a stray electrical current struck my spine, instantly sending me into unconsciousness. <<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<< "Sam? Cyan? Are you okay?" I began to hear voices ask for me as I returned into the awoken world. I slowly opened my eyes to see 4 ponies leaning over me as well as the Doctor in human form. Remembering the process I had just been through, I lifted my head up to see that my hands were now hooves and my skin was now a coat of fur, coloured with a muted cyan. I caught my reflection in the machinery, my mane and tail were a two-toned red-brown and green and a horn protruded from my head, the same colour as my coat. "What in the hay happened?" I managed to grumble. "The machine was beginning to over-heat. Fortunately, the process had been completed before the motherboard decided to melt." The Doctor announced rather calmly. His statement shocked me slightly causing my eyes to noticeably widen. "Oh don't worry! I'll have it fixed in no time!" Still being unsure at how true this statement was, I fumbled around eventually managing to stand up on my two extra legs. Arcade gave me a slight nudge on my right side. "Don't think about walking. Just walk, it'll come naturally to you." I took in his advice and nodded, managing to seamlessly walk over to where the Doctor had pointed out. All of us, except the Doctor, stood in the inner part of what appeared to be a large circle, with wires and fancy looking panels of red and silver metal on the outside, the inner was lined with hollow tubes that almost looked like some sort of guns. "Now when I press this button, you will all be sent on your merry way to Equestria. Are you ready?" The Doctor asked as he walked over to us holding a small remote. We all nodded enthusiastically but with hints of nervousness. "Oh, and for all those that are new. Don't breath." Before any of us got to question the Doctors final statement, there was a flash of light as the 'gun-looking' objects shot beams of energy at us, sending us from physical existence on Earth.
The First BeatIt was a Thursday morning and the results day for my A-Levels. My name is Sam, a normal, geeky guy who likes computers, playing video games and I play guitar. Oh, and I like Ponies. Like I said, totally normal. I had set the alarm on my bedside clock for 8:00am, but, as my body-clock likes to do, I ended up waking 15 minutes early. I got up out of bed and went about my morning routine. It wasn’t until I began getting my breakfast ready that my mother finally woke up. I sat down with my laptop next to me and begin eating. If people apart from my close friends found out what I eat for breakfast they’d think of me as weirder than they already did. I eat sausage rolls for breakfast, heated in a microwave... Yeah. As the time approached for me to leave for school to collected my results, I became incredibly nervous. Shaking a bit with the tiniest of twitches happening every now and again, I knew this feeling all too well. 9:30am came and my mother drove me down to school, admittedly I probably could’ve walked. I walked in to see my friend, Andy, standing outside the Main Hall holding a large envelope. “Hey Andy, got yours already?” I began. “Yeah, I’m too nervous to open it. Hurry up and get yours so we can look together.” He didn’t look nervous but I guess I didn’t either. I tend to calm down a bit when I’m with friends. I walk inside the hall and scan the long table of envelopes, near the other end of the table I spot an envelope with my name printed on a sticker attached to it, it was luckily on top of the package. I began to feel sick as I reached for the large, white object. Remembering back to my exams and how badly they went, along with seeing visions of the disappointed faces of my teachers as they looked at my coursework. I grab hold of it and walked out quickly to meet Andy. I spoke as I approached him, “You ready?” I took hold of the seal. Andy let out an audible gulp and replied “Yep!” For someone who was supposedly nervous and always expected the worse I found the positivity to be a surprise. We opened our envelopes almost simultaneously and began slowly flicking through pages to reach our grades. Andy was first to his and his anxious face turned to a slightly disappointed one. Then I saw my results, my mouth drop open slightly and heart began to feel heavy and if I didn’t something soon I knew I was going to throw up. I had passed, but barely. Out of the 3 subjects I had taken I received an E grade in all of them. I felt an urge of happiness rush through me as well as sadness. Sure I had passed, but for what reason, in all honesty, these were terrible passing grades and I know that I could have done better. That’s when I realised. Hiding between two sheets of paper that I had pulled from the envelope was another smaller envelope, almost business card size. I pulled it out and showed it to Andy, “Hey look at this. Do you have one?” Andy looked between his sheets of paper then back into his large envelope spotting a similar envelope to what I had found and u he pulled it out. “Yeah, I do. Any idea what it says?” He asked as he looked back towards me. “Not yet.” I opened the small envelope and pulled out a letter which when I unfolded became the size of an A5 piece of paper. I began reading the letter: Dear Samuel Kane, For now you may refer to me as MB. I am writing this letter to invite you to join a project I have been a part of. When told by our superiors that we needed more to join us, I knew instantly that i should pick you two. You seem like the kind of people I can trust, so I am inviting you to initially meet me inside of your local woods (I presume you know the one) on 20th August 2012 to discuss further what exactly this project ensues. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and I await our meeting. Yours sincerely, MB Andy had been reading his letter whilst I read mine out loud. “Mine says exactly the same, obviously apart from the name change.” I pondered over the contents of the letter for a moment. There was something about it that seemed familiar. Something that seemed to give Andy an excited appearance. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna go home.” I nodded towards the main exit. “Yeah, me too. See you, Sam.” I raised my hand to say goodbye as we returned to our respective parents cars. Of course, after showing my mother my results, she was incredibly happy that I passed, but I still knew that I could have done much better. When I got back home, I took off my shoes and headed upstairs to my room which is where I spend most of my days playing games on my laptop and talking to Andy over Skype. And today was no different, the first thing I did was log into Skype and open Minecraft, I needed something to get my mind off of the results. Time passed quickly and before I knew it, it was 6:00pm, I only noticed that because I saw Andy come online in a Skype pop-up box. A couple of seconds after, a call was begun. “Hey man, where have you been?” I had been wondering, he was on later than usual. “Sorry, parents wanted to spend the day out.” He sighed. “Oh okay.” There was a small silence before I spoke again. “I’ve been thinking about that letter we got today, something about it seems familiar.” I heard the sound of an exaggerated face-palm which was quickly followed by a message in the Skype chat. “I wonder why.” Upon looking at the message I saw that it was a link to the first story in my favourite My Little Pony fan-fiction series, Brony Recon: To Live and Love in Equestria. Sudden realisation hit my brain like a cannon ball to a castle wall, ‘I have just received a letter from Markus!’ My eyes were wide and my mouth agape, I honestly could not believe it; I had thought that they were only stories made up by a fan of the show. Were myself and Andy really being given the chance to live in Equestria? Andy could sense my shock, “Calm down Sam, we don’t know what he’s going to say.” I snapped out of my state to reply, “Yeah, I guess you’re right. But what if it really is what we think?” There was a short pause of silence, “Then I’m going to be incredibly excited!” Andy practically shouted down the microphone making me smile and laugh a little. Our conversation carried on as normal until it was time for us to go to bed. We ended the call and climbed under the sheets, falling asleep was not as easy tonight, all I could think about was the experience of being a Pony and living in Equestria. I lay there thinking for about an hour until a sudden state of having a blank mind allowed my body to drift off to sleep. <<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<< The next 3 days were like any other day, I would get up, eat breakfast and sit down at my computer playing games, browsing the internet and talking to Andy. Finally, the day had arrived, 20th August. Andy had slept over the night before so we could get to the forest as quick as possible. There wasn’t a specific time written on the letter so me and Andy presumed that ‘MB’ would be there all day. We finished getting ready and left my house to begin the short trek down the road to the local woods. Not too much was said on the way down, neither of us were morning people and if we weren’t so excited about the aspect of living in Equestria, then we’d both want to be back in our beds right now. We soon reached the entrance to the woods and before heading in we looked towards each other for reassurance, we nodded and walked inside. For a small woods it got pretty dark in there, light was only able to get in from the sides where there were either houses or fields, it was a perfect place for a little meeting. After walking down one of the smaller paths, figuring that the meet wouldn’t happen on the main one, something suddenly appeared in front of us walking out of a hedge to the left. We couldn’t believe what we saw, it was a male pony, from My Little Pony, Me and Andy just stood there eyes and mouths wide open, staring, as the Equine revealed his blue coat and lighter blue mane with a book and quill as a cutie mark. I recognised this pony from the description written in the Fan-Fic. “Markus?” My voice broken up slightly by shock and excitement. “I am never waiting in a bush for anyone ever again.” Stated Markus as he shook leaves and small branches from his mane. “I really hope you’re Andy and Sam.” “Um... Y-yeah.” I still couldn’t believe what was happening. He gave us a strange look and began explaining things, “I’m glad you came, I’m going to get straight to the point. I am part of a programme called Exodus Equestria. This means that a few chosen people get to be transformed into Ponies and sent to Equestria to live a new life and report back to us things that they learn. A team of 6 were already dispatched a while ago and I was a part of them, we’re currently back to earth for a vacation of sorts. Unfortunately, I wasn’t transformed back into a human, so I’m stuck like this with my wife-to-be. Speaking of, where is she?” All three of us looked around before a sound of rustling leaves was heard and a voice spoke. “I’m here, Skyblaze!” We all looked up to see a midnight blue Alicorn float down and land next to Markus. “Andy, Sam, I would like you to meet my fiancée, Princess Luna.” We stood there for a moment, eyes wide and mouths agape. The Princess I worshipped so much was standing right before me, what I did next was to probably be expected. I dropped to one knee and bowed my head, I lifted my head up slightly to confirm that what I saw as true before lowering it again after meeting her eyes with my own. “Princess Luna, I am honoured to be in your presence.” Luna giggled slightly. “Now Sam, there’s no need for that. Please, rise.” As I stood up I noticed her giving me a humble smile to which I reply with my own nervous smile. Markus cleared his throat before continuing his previous speech. “Now, we want to see how the same Ponies react to new Ponies joining their ranks, hopefully, they’ll be accepting of you.” He turned his head slightly towards Luna and she nodded her head back to him in confirmation. “Should you choose to accept this invitation then I would like you to pack as soon as possible and meet me at this location, I have some transport pre-arranged so we can get to where we need to be without any hassle.” Myself and Andy turned our heads to face each other before I spoke up, sounding sure about my decision “I don’t know about you Andy, but at this time, going there would be far much better than staying here. Markus, I’m in!” I gave him a determined look. Andy seemed unsure; I knew that he would want this more than anything. “What’s wrong Andy?” Something has to be up. “I want to go, I really do, but.” He looked off to the right, away from Me, Markus and Luna. “I don’t want to leave Emily behind, she would love it there, I just know it. And if I left... I just don’t want to see her upset.” Of course, Emily, his little sister would love it there as much as we would, and to find out that her brother could go but she couldn’t, would probably leave them on bad terms. Markus raised a hoof onto Andy’s shoulder. “I’m sure we can let just one more person join you.” Andy turned his head to face Markus with a teary smile. “Off you go now gentlemen, time to get packing and tell your family where you’re going. Meet me just outside these woods at 3pm tomorrow.” Me and Andy began walking back the way we came when Markus called to us once more, “I forgot to ask. What are your Equine names?” I was the first to reply. “I’m Cyan Beats.” “And I’m Crimson Bolt.” “And your sister?” “Aqua Gem.” Andy gave a slight smile. Markus nodded to us as acceptance of us leaving and we continued our walk. “Well Andy, out of all the strange things that have happened. This must be THE strangest thing.” “You’re not going to stop quoting that are you?” “Eenope!” I replied with a smile quoting Big Mac as we returned to my house.
The Travelling BandSam’s POV The sun shone bright and early on to my un-expecting face, waking me almost instantly. “Go away sun” Turning over helped to delay the inevitable which was sped up by the fact I remembered what was coming today. I jumped up, lifting my glasses to my face and stared in Andy’s general direction. Typically he was still asleep. I tried my loud whispering to try and wake him up, but that was unsuccessful. I decided it was time for drastic measures. I grasped the large object nearest me in my hand, lifted it slowly above my head and threw. Time seemed to stand still for a second as the pillow landed straight on to Andy’s face. The silence was soon broken by a fairly loud grunt. A muffled “Buck you!” emanated from beneath the pillow. “Good. You’re up.” I gave a sly smile. Upon getting out of bed, I put on some comfortable clothes and turned on the light, queuing Andy to get up and dressed too. We made our way downstairs to get some breakfast. I had the usual sausage rolls and Andy helped himself to some cereal. It was silent until we had both finished eating. We were the first ones to get up so that didn’t help to get some conversation going. Finally, I heard another noise come from upstairs whilst stroking one of my cats. “Ah, the beast rises.” I said, referring to my mother. Andy giggled in reply. “That isn’t nice.” I just smiled in return and gently nudged the cat off of my lap, deciding that I had better begin packing my bag with things that would keep me occupied. I walked upstairs with Andy tailing, I walked past my mum, who was now fully awake and dressed, greeting her with a ‘good morning’ before continuing on to my room. I pulled out a small drawstring bag from my wardrobe and threw it onto the spare bed. “Hey Andy, could you pass me that sketchbook and the pencil and sharpener near it, please?” I requested pointing to the objects that lay at the bottom of my own bed. Andy walked over and placed them beside me. After placing them inside the bag I walked over to my laptop and began packing it away. “I really hope I end up a unicorn. Otherwise, I better come up with some way to work this thing.” I looked at my microphone for a second, debating whether to pack it away. I decided against it, it cost a lot of money and I don’t fancy like losing it in another world. If I ever return then I can retrieve it, but for now, it stays. “Is that all you’re taking? No clothes?” Andy asked curiously. “Well, we’re not going to need clothes in Equestria are we? Ponies don’t wear clothes. Plus, they wouldn’t fit.” “Yeah, I suppose. I guess we could just buy some new clothes if we needed to.” Time passed quickly during that conversation and I had already packed away my laptop and charger in its bag and was now standing back over by the spare bed in my room. “Time to go get your stuff I guess.” I suggested to Andy. “I don’t really have anything to bring apart from myself. But I need to collect Emily and say goodbye to my parents anyway.” “That you do my friend. That you do.” I turned to my doorway and we made our way back downstairs. After allowing my mother time to finish her coffee we climbed into the car and drove to Andy’s house. He may have lived nearer the coast but it was only a 15 minute drive away from where I lived. <<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<< Upon arriving at Andy’s house I had decided that I was going to go and see our friend Scott before we departed, leaving Andy to deal with his family on his own. My two best friends lived incredibly close to each other, literally down the road. It made things quite convenient for times like this. I opened the gate that led up to the large glass door of Scott’s house. I knocked gently and I saw him appear from the side as he rose from his sofa and he slid open the door. “Sam? What are you doing here?” he had a puzzled look on his face. “We’re bringing Andy back home for a bit. I thought I would come by to say ‘hi’, well ‘bye’ actually. Mind if I come in? I have some things to explain.” Andy’s POV I didn’t know how I would break it to my parents. I was supposed to just tell them where I was going, but would they believe me? Even if they did, would they let me go so easily? I decided to speak to my sister first. After walking upstairs and opening the living room door I motioned to Emily to follow me. She got up out of the computer chair and followed me downstairs to my room. I shut my door after we entered so I could explain the situation. <<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<< “You don’t believe me, do you Em?” “I want to, but it just seems silly.” She sounded so confused and slightly upset. “You get to come too you know.” I smiled to her. Emily’s face lit up quite a bit at this statement. The smile dissipated for a second as she looked to the floor in thought. “Are you going to tell Mum and Dad?” “Of course I was, smelly. I wanted to let you know first.” I walked over to my door to let my sister out, I followed closely behind. “Well, here goes.” I opened the living room door and asked for my parents to sit down so I could explain things. Sam’s POV “So, you’re actually going to Equestria? To live, as a pony?” I haven’t seen Scott act like this in forever. “Yes. That would be correct.” “I take it I can’t join you guys.” “Sorry, no. Only we’re allowed to participate.” I felt genuinely sorry, but it was the truth. I felt we had already caused some hassle by having Emily allowed to join us. I could see a tiny bit of sadness in Scott’s eyes. After talking for a little while more about we hugged and said goodbye. Although I never looked back, I could tell that he didn’t close the door until after I had closed the tall, wooden gate behind me. On the way back to Andy’s house all I could think about was how Scott must be feeling. We were like brothers and now I’m going away with a possibility of never seeing him again. I decided to wait in the car with my mum whilst we waited for Andy to finish up. My favourite album was playing with my favourite song, Homecoming by Green Day. The whole album seemed like it told a story, a story I could vividly picture every time I listened to the album in full. I have always been quite an emotional person and this is one of the things that could show that side of me. As the song neared its final part Andy appeared from around the corner followed by his sister, Emily. They climbed into the car and belted up. I was the first to speak. “Everything go all right then?” “Surprisingly, yes.” Andy sounded very happy, I’m not surprised either considering what was about to happen. <<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<< I told my mum to pull over at the entrance of an alleyway that allowed a shortcut to the woods. The three of us bronies left the vehicle and began our short walk to the entrance of the woods. As we approached, we were stopped in our tracks by a whispering voice. “Psst! Hey, over here. To the left, just walk.” The mysterious voice coaxed us towards it. As we turned the corner we noticed that the person who had called us over was a man, about our height wearing a grey t-shirt and blue jeans. I forced the other two to stop as I realised I didn’t recognise this person. “Don’t worry, it’s me, Markus.” “Markus? You were a pony last time we saw you.” I said, pointing out the obvious. “Yes, I was. We had problems when I was ponyfied, so they hesitated changing me back into a human.” He gave a reassuring smile and then he spotted Emily closely packed to Andy. “Ah, you must be Emily. Nice to meet you.” Emily, being a shy person returned a ‘hello’ that was only audible as a high pitched squeal. “So Markus.” I began. “You said that you had pre-arranged transport. Where is it?” “I am over here. IT is in there. Sorry about that.” A strange man appeared from a bush behind Markus. He was wearing a brown patterned suede jacket, complete with smart trousers, a white shirt, suspenders and a bow tie. “And, who are you?” I was as confused as the other two at this point, everything seemed to be so surreal. “You can call me the Doctor. Now, are we going to leave soon? I don’t want wildlife to begin growing around the TARDIS. It can get very messy.” The man now known as the Doctor walked off whilst still mumbling to himself giving a little shudder as he entered the woods. We followed Markus in the same direction that the Doctor went to see a blue police box in front of us to which the Doctor was walking around checking for any attached wildlife. “This is getting a bit surreal.” Andy broke his silence. “First, an invitation to go to Equestria, and now we have just met the Doctor. I don’t even.” I took the opportunity that Markus was giving us by looking around outside the woods to talk to the Doctor. “So, I have to ask. Are you the real Doctor? Like the one in the Doctor Who show?” “Yep, that’s me! Well, kind of. Technically the one in the show is an actor, completely human.” One thing I had noticed, was that the show was incredibly accurate in the way he spoke. “Okay, everything checks up good!” Markus called over. “Let’s get ‘em in and we can be off.” The Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS and we all walked inside. Even though I knew what to expect, seeing with my own eyes that the ship was bigger on the inside was completely mind blowing. The three of us stood near the doorway staring in awe at the beauty of the ships interior. “Okay, is everyone ready? We’ll be taking off as soon as I flick this switch.” I had been so caught up in admiring the TARDIS that I had been oblivious to the Doctor rushing around the centre console. “We’re ready when you are!” I called across, which was replied by a smile from the Doctor as he threw the switch. I’m going to admit, it was a rather anticlimactic experience. The TARDIS made struggling sounds and then the central spire powered down. “What’s happened?” Markus had a look that displayed growing panic. “Come on girl, what’s up?” The Doctor spoke to himself but stopped suddenly as he flicked on the camera screen. “Ah, there’s our problem.” I walked over to the screen to see what the fuss was about and what I saw next must have been one of the most unexpected things I had seen all day. There was an eye, staring directly into the camera. I decided to take the initiative and I ran over to the door, opening it and then looking around the left side of the TARDIS. What I saw shocked me. Scott was there, hanging on to the side of the TARDIS. “Scott?! What are you doing here?!” “You know this person?” asked Markus in an annoyed voice as he joined me outside. “His name is Scott. One of my best friends and he’s about to explain what he’s doing here.” Scott climbed off the side of the TARDIS. “I couldn’t let you go. Not without me. You’re like a brother to me Sam. If you’re going to Equestria then I want to come too!” I had never seen Scott like this before, a single tear trickled down his cheek. I stayed silent and looked over to Markus. Markus stood, thinking hard for a moment until he finally spoke. “Fine. Scott, you may join your friends for the Exodus Equestria project. You’ve come so far and know so much that it only seems fair.” The softness of the moment was shattered to pieces as the Doctor poked his head through the door. “Can we go yet? There’s some fish fingers and custard back at the warehouse just screaming my name.” After he pulled himself back through we waited a moment before all bursting out into laughter. Back inside the TARDIS, Andy had sat down keeping his sister company, assuring that everything was going to be okay. Being very timid and shy, Emily wasn’t going to take a long time from home too well. Myself and Scott took a seat next to Andy as the Doctor readjusted his settings, and without warning the ship began to make loud noises of machinery moving as well as the famous scratching sound. I didn’t expect it to be a smooth ride, but then again, I didn’t expect it to be this rough. At one point, I found that I had been grabbed by the arm to stop me falling onto the floor. This went on for a couple of minutes until all went silent. The Doctor strode over to the door and opened it, holding out his arms in an inviting manner. “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have arrived.”
ModulationSam's POV The sight in front of me didn't really come as a shock. I was kind of expecting a large, dirty warehouse in an unknown place. One by one we left the TARDIS to scan the immediate area with our eyes, the concrete floor seemed to spread for miles either side of us and the sun was being dulled by industrial fog, although there seemed to be no factories around for miles. The Doctor had disappeared off to the side of the warehouse as we explored and the doors began to slowly slide open. As light crept into the room I saw several large objects, none of them as spectacular as was expected. A structure stood in the middle of the room with four quartz pillars and a control panel. The other, off to the right, was a large circular structure that was a bit more hi-tech looking than the other object. The Doctor re-appeared from the left inside of the warehouse. "Welcome, this is where the magic happens." He walked in front of us and began to point at the two structures. "That there is the ponyfication machine. Quite simply, that is what's going to make you into ponies." He said, describing the structure in the middle. "And that, that is the portal to Equestria." The Doctor announced, standing proudly. He turned to us, smiling. "Don't worry, I know how to use them." The four of us looked nervously at each other. "Doctor, where are the others? Did they go back already?" Markus spoke up curiously. "I believe Cereal and Seth said they had some important things to do, so they'd be sending the others back earlier and would leave me to deal with you five." The Doctor replied as he began to change some dials and switches on the Ponyfication machine. He hit one final large switch making some lights on and around the machine to light up and causing it to make whirring noises as it began to boot up. "So, who's first?" The four of us 'newbies' gulped loudly and simultaneously as he asked. Seeing our obvious nervousness, Markus walked forward. "Look, I'll go first. I'll show you that it's safe, now." "Now?!" Scott shouted in shock. "There were some… Complications when I was first ponyfied." Markus looked sternly, but friendly, back at Scott as a strange sign of reassurance that still displayed some nervousness. As Markus steadied himself inside of the machine, the Doctor turned a dial and the machine began to shine with bright lights and loud noises. All we could see was the silhouette of Markus as his form changed from humanoid to having four legs, a mane, and a tail. After a couple of minutes the lights died down and a blue pony with a lighter blue mane and tail stood before us. "Welcome back, Skyblaze." The Doctor announced as some residue fog dissipated. Skyblaze smiled and nodded his head towards the Doctor as he stepped off of the machine platform. "Go on then Scott, your turn." Skyblaze nudged my friend towards the machine from behind as he accepted and began to walk towards it. There was another light show before the figure of a grey stallion with a two-toned black and purple mane and tail stood on the platform in front of us. "Now that is a cool look!" The Doctor clapped his hands, obviously liking the style of the pony before him. "What's your name then?" Scott seemed to ponder about his decision for a moment before meeting my eyes with his own. "Arcade. Arcade Beats." He walked off of the platform and joined Markus over by the portal. Andy's POV That was two of them done, next up was my sister. I had to walk her to the machine so she would be convinced to stand there. She gulped nervously as she stood as stiff as a brick wall on the platform. I watched as her form changed behind the lights, everything seemed to be normal, except for one thing. As the smoke cleared, my suspicions were brought to the light. What I saw before me made me laugh. I could see the look on my sister's face becoming angry. "What are you laughing at?!" She stopped suddenly after shouting, her voice was incredibly squeaky. This caused me to laugh even more. Emily caught her reflection in the machinery around her, her jaw dropped as she realised that she had become a small filly. "Why am I so small?! This isn't fair!" The small blue filly dropped to a sitting position as a big displease frown spread across her face. The Doctor walked around to lift her up. "Aww, I think it's cute." The filly stopped struggling to break free for a second as she showed a blush from the Doctors comment. Now laughing, the Doctor placed her back on the ground. "Now, go on Aqua Gem. Go join your friends." Aqua trotted towards Skyblaze and Arcade as I made my way onto the platform. The machinery started to whir and begin it's warm up, then I was hit with a light. If I could've moved during the process I would have ducked up and covered my eyes, the blinding light didn't hurt though. I felt a strange tingling sensation as the structure of my body began to change, getting smaller and falling on to four legs. As the smoke cleared I began to walk off of the platform. I had expected to fall over once or twice, but walking on all fours with hooves seemed to come as naturally as walking on two legs as a human. I made my way over to my sister and the others as I felt Sam pat his hand on my back. He had always been a nervous person, so I guessed that doing that was his way of reassuring himself that he was ready rather than any of us. Sam's POV There was a lot of heat coming from the platform and the machinery surrounding it. I warily stepped onto the platform, feeling as though I was actually in France in the summer. The machine didn't need any more time to warm up and the process unexpectedly began immediately. It was a shock to my body, causing me to flinch. Stinging pains filled my arms as though I was being stabbed with a thousand tiny needles, my blood, muscles and bones felt as though they were pulsating from their transformation, and then the light hit me. From the day I was born, I've had a condition called photophobia. This caused the pupils of my eyes to not shrink in the light, thus allowed large quantities of light through that, at times, would cause pain beyond anything I could imagine. The light from the machines was in my face and almost as bright as the sun itself. I felt my naturally acidic tears begin to stream from my eyes, causing more pain. Even through the pain, I knew I could withstand it and pull through okay, but suddenly a stray electrical current struck my spine, instantly sending me into unconsciousness. <<<>>><<<>>><<<>>><<< "Sam? Cyan? Are you okay?" I began to hear voices ask for me as I returned into the awoken world. I slowly opened my eyes to see 4 ponies leaning over me as well as the Doctor in human form. Remembering the process I had just been through, I lifted my head up to see that my hands were now hooves and my skin was now a coat of fur, coloured with a muted cyan. I caught my reflection in the machinery, my mane and tail were a two-toned red-brown and green and a horn protruded from my head, the same colour as my coat. "What in the hay happened?" I managed to grumble. "The machine was beginning to over-heat. Fortunately, the process had been completed before the motherboard decided to melt." The Doctor announced rather calmly. His statement shocked me slightly causing my eyes to noticeably widen. "Oh don't worry! I'll have it fixed in no time!" Still being unsure at how true this statement was, I fumbled around eventually managing to stand up on my two extra legs. Arcade gave me a slight nudge on my right side. "Don't think about walking. Just walk, it'll come naturally to you." I took in his advice and nodded, managing to seamlessly walk over to where the Doctor had pointed out. All of us, except the Doctor, stood in the inner part of what appeared to be a large circle, with wires and fancy looking panels of red and silver metal on the outside, the inner was lined with hollow tubes that almost looked like some sort of guns. "Now when I press this button, you will all be sent on your merry way to Equestria. Are you ready?" The Doctor asked as he walked over to us holding a small remote. We all nodded enthusiastically but with hints of nervousness. "Oh, and for all those that are new. Don't breath." Before any of us got to question the Doctors final statement, there was a flash of light as the 'gun-looking' objects shot beams of energy at us, sending us from physical existence on Earth.
