The next morning, Leo awoke before the sun came up. Rolling out of bed, he walked to the window and gazed out over the land that he was brought to, still amazed at it all. But he still wondered why, why him of all people. His thoughts then turned to his sister and the beating he was bound to get when he got back home. His sister Lisa wasn't normally a violent person, only when it came to Leo slacking off did she have to beat some sense into him.
He sighed as he continued to stare out the window as the sun started to rise. He didn't think that he would, but he missed getting out and working on the farm, the satisfaction of a hard day's work, and the dirt and sweat of working all day in the fields. However, he was here, in a castle to basically be used as an experiment. While he had agreed to it last night, he was starting to have second thoughts.
He was brought out of his thoughts by a knock at the door. He opened it to reveal a white pegasus in golden armor standing outside, "The Princess requests your presence at breakfast." Nodding, Leo noticed the guard showed no emotion about the strange creature that was in the room. Thinking that they were trained that way, he followed the guard down the hall to a set of double doors. Thanking the guard, he opened the door and saw Celestia sitting at a small table reading the morning paper. Remembering that she is one of the rulers of this land, he bows," Good morning Princess."
Setting the paper down, she smiled and motioned Leo to raise and to take a seat. "Did you sleep well?" she asked while letting one of the guards in the room that it was ok to bring in breakfast.
"Yeah..." his words drifting off as the thoughts from earlier this morning replayed in his mind.
Celestia, taking note of his facial and the way he answered, could tell that something was bothering him. "Are you having second thoughts about being here?"
Leo knew he had a horrible poker face and the fact that he had shook one of his life principles, to never go back on your word. Sighing, he was about to answer when a door opened and breakfast was served. It was a fruit spread with orange juice. The sight of food brought a rumble from his stomach, which brought an embarrassing blush on his face. Celestia let out a small laugh, levitating a strawberry," Go ahead and have some, that's why I invited you here." she said with a playful smile.
Thanking her, he grabbed an apple. Taking a bite, his eyes widen on how juicy the apple is. These apples are better than the ones I grow. After taking a few bites, he finally decides to answer her question. "Yes, I was having second thoughts about being here. Mainly, I am worried about my sister back home." The look that the Princess was giving him was one of understanding, which made Leo a little more comfortable. "But, one of the things my father instilled on me was that a man never goes back on his word, he follows through on the promises that he makes. Even though I have had second thoughts, I will follow through with what I agreed to last night."
Celestia was pleased; the character of the one she brought here was strong. She had no doubt the test with him will be successful. With a smile she levitates a small box over to Leo. Opening the box Leo found a silver bracelet, inscribed with symbols that he did not recognize. "That bracelet was found in the ruins of a human settlement. We still haven't figured out what the symbols mean..." spoke Celestia as Leo put the bracelet on his left wrist. As soon Leo put the bracelet on, there was a flash of white light. As the light faded from where Leo once was, there now stood a black unicorn with a short brown mane and tail with an orange shield cutie mark.
To Leo, whatever just happened felt like it scrambled his brains. "What the hell just happened?" He put a hoof to his head to massage his temples. His eyes shoot open, jumping out of his chair as he looked over his body; he was a pony. "What the Hell!"
To say Celestia was shocked was an understatement. She had no idea that the humans had been working on something like this. Sighing, she knew she had some explaining to do about the relationship between humans and unicorns 1300 years ago. "Leo, there is something I need to tell you."
Leo, still in shock, could only nod in response. He knew his that impulsiveness had caused this. Putting on a strange bracelet with strange marking without knowing if there was any history behind it was only asking for trouble. He composed himself and retook his seat so that Celestia could explain.
"About 1300 years ago," Celestia began, "before the unification of Equestria, there was fighting between unicorns and humans. They both had their own types of magic and both wanted to be the dominant species. Both sides fought each other with their respective magic’s, which lead to the devastation of most of the land now called the Hollow Shade. There were heavy losses on both sides and both sides were not above taking prisoners. It seems that the humans were working on a way to turn into unicorns to infiltrate the unicorn cities and ambush them. The unicorns had been working on something similar, but the records of both the unicorn and human experiments have been lost."
Leo raised his left foreleg and stared at the bracelet that he was given. “This was a weapon of war?” He thought. He knew, back in his world, that his kind was prone to war and they used any and all exploits to turn the battle in their favor. He started to understand the reason why he was brought here. "And this bracelet was the result of the human research?" he asked as he continues to look over the bracelet.
Celestia nods, “There wasn’t any reports of this ever being used. It was also during this time Discord showed up and the humans just disappeared.”
After hearing all this, Leo got out of his seat and walked over to a window. All of this new information was weighing on his mind. “Take your time,” Celestia spoke gently, “I know it’s a lot to take in right now. Why don’t you head to the garden? It’s peaceful there and a good place to clear your head and maybe think of a new name for yourself. Leo isn't really a pony name." She said with a slight smile, "When you are ready we will see if you can use unicorn magic, if you can then I can teach you a spell that should be able to change you back.”
Leo thanked her and trotted out of the room. Celestia returned to her chair to also to think things through. She was brought out of her thoughts when a flash of flame deposited a scroll in front of her. As she looked the scroll over, a smile came to the Princess’s face, “Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day indeed.”
After Leo left the room, he slowly made his way to the garden. Every now and then he found himself tripping over his own hooves. "They make it look so easy." He thought to himself as he continued to trot down the corridor towards the garden. Before he exited the castle, he came across a mirror. "So I'm a unicorn." He muttered to himself as he looked himself over. "Black coat, blue eyes, brown mane and tail, and an orange shield on my flank. These pictures on these ponies’ flanks have to mean something. I'll ask Celestia later about that." He mused as he left the mirror and went outside into the garden.
As he entered the garden, he couldn't help but feel more at peace. Meandering around, he found a tree next to a small pond. As he sits down he stares up at the clear blue sky and begins to think about what the Princess had told him along with what just happened to him. "No matter where they are it seems that humans only want to fight and prove that they are better than others, whether it be another race of humans or another species in general. If she has watched us like she said, then why take the chance to bring a violent race back to a peaceful world? Maybe at one time the humans here were peaceful, but what changed it." He sighed as he continued to dwell on it; now that he is here he might as well make the most of it. "And now I'm a unicorn to boot." He could only laugh at himself for that mess he got himself into. His sister always called him a walking Murphy's Law for how he would always act without thinking. "Well if I am going to be in this form I might as come up with an alias like the Princess said. Hmm, maybe something to do with the shield on my flank that would probably be the easiest." He smiled as he looked up into the clear blue sky, while thinking on a name for himself.
After about an hour, he was broken from his thoughts by a bunch of pegasi flying around. From what it looked like to him, it seemed like one pegasus, a powder blue one, was being chased by about 6 others, with the one desperately trying to get away. This made Leo chuckle, remembering how some celebrities would try to get away from the media. The single pegasus, after trying to out fly the ones chasing him, changed direction and flew directly down where Leo was.
Leo could only stare wide eyed as the powder blue pegasus dived into the tree right above him. The six other pegasi tried to follow him but were turned back by the appearance of the royal guard. Chuckling softly, he looked up into tree. "It's safe to come out."
After a few moments, the pegasus fluttered out of the tree and landed right next to him. "Word gets out that you are an eligible bachelor and the mares are all over you." The pegasus sighed as he stuck out his forhoof to Leo, "Name's Soarin."
Leo smiled and gave Soarin a hoof shake, "Ardent Shield." "Let's see if he buys it."
"Ardent Shield, huh. You a new guard?" Soarin asked, getting comfortable.
"Yeah, day off." Ardent replied. "I hate lying, but I think the Princess would appreciate it if I kept a being a human a secret and kept up this alias of being a guard, I’ll have to ask her that later.
The two of them spent the next few hours chatting and getting to know each other. They hit it off rather well, and before long they became friends. "If everyone is like this guy, being an experiment here might now be so bad." Before Soarin left, he let Ardent know how he could be contacted. Saying their goodbyes, Soarin took the skies, leaving Ardent alone again. Smiling, he realized he doesn't really need to worry about what the past humans did; he is here now, even if he is in pony form. He now as a friend here, he hopes when this is all said and done maybe Celestia would allow him to return at times.
Slowly getting up, he heads back inside to go talk to the Princess. She had mentioned that she wanted to see if, with him being a unicorn, he could use magic. He also made a note to ask her about these marks on his and every pony he has met flanks. As he was walking back inside, he met up with the Princess who was on her way to check on him. The Princess then led him to an empty room to see if Ardent can use magic. On the way there, Ardent asked her about the flank pictures. She tells him that the pictures are called cutie marks and that each pony gets his or her cutie mark when they discover a unique characteristic or talent that sets themselves apart from others. This gave Ardent some pause to think about his shield cutie mark. He's a farmer and nothing to do with a shield or protecting anything.
After explaining how unicorn magic works and how to cast spells, Celestia waited to see if the transformed human could in fact cast spells. After a few tries an orange glow stared formed around his horn, signifying that he could. While it shocked Celestia how well the bracelet transformed a human into a copy of a unicorn, it was also working in Ardent's favor. If he could learn the polymorph spell, he could change back into Leo without any help. After teaching him the spell, it took Ardent a few hours to get it down. He could successfully do the spell, but it took a lot of out of him in the process.
After a long day Leo, now back in his human form, decided to turn in for the night. After saying his goodnights, he headed to his room to get some much needed rest. Lying on his bed, he reflects on the day's events, as well as the last thing the Princess told him. "Tomorrow I have a surprise for you." Leo smiled tiredly, "A surprise eh. After today, nothing could be possibly more surprising. Lisa, I hope you are doing ok."