//------------------------------//
// A New World, A New Start 
// Story: The Conversion Bureau: Tale of a Reluctant Newfoal 
// by Firemind 
//------------------------------//

        As we drifted in a ragged line towards the welcome building - a cheery wooden hall whose outer walls were covered in bright murals - it occurred to me that I needed more of a name than just “Frost”.  But what?  And should the “Frost” part come first or last?  Sugar, I wish I could just go on the net and look something up.  Then again, I spent too much time on there as a Human, and I’d rather not fall into old traps.  That said, waiting for more knowledge would be good - no sense in accidentally getting stuck with something perverted, or even really girly.  

        “Frost?”  Sammy asked tentatively, disrupting my reverie.  The others were ahead of us in line, walking pairs, and - in Comet, Shadow, and Thistledown’s case - a trio.  Always one of us teens watching over a foal or two.  “I think I have a new name.”  Interesting parallel … guess names were on a lot of our minds.  “What do you think of Starry Sea?”  

Whimsical and girly, it really fit her.  It also matched her looks quite well too … dark teal with a two-tone sea-green and blue-grey mane and tail, and silver eyes.  “I like it … it really suits you.”  

“Thanks.”  She smiled broadly with a far-away look for a moment, then it suddenly fell.  “Sorry about calling you ‘Miss’ … I didn’t realize you got turned into a girl when you got turned into a Pony.  I don’t know what I’d do if I got turned into a boy!”  She grimaced as she said “a boy”, apparently thinking boys were gross.  Can’t say I blame her, really; too many of the guys I’d went to school with did utterly disgusting things for kicks.  

“Apology accepted.  And just so you know, what makes somepony a colt or a filly, or even something else entirely, isn’t what’s on the outside.”  I tapped my head with a forehoof, “It’s about what’s up here.”

“So what are you?”  Starry Sea’s face shone with unbridled curiosity.  

Good question.  As a Human, I was just … there, really.  Going through the motions without being invested in anything.  And now, life kept throwing me curveballs, and I haven’t had time for anything to really hit me.  “I honestly don’t know right now … never really seemed to have strong feelings either way.  And with all that’s happened, I have a good bit of thinking to do.  When I do figure myself out, I’ll let you know. “

“I see …” The way she trailed off suggested that she’d never really considered the matter before.  

“You’d have gotten all that in a couple years, if it weren’t for the whole ‘End of the world’ thing.  It was actually one of the reasons my … my father pulled me out of school.”  Yeah, I really didn’t feel right calling the Old Rat that, but I wasn’t going to go into all that with a nine-year-old.  

“And what were the others?”  She just had to ask that, didn’t she?  Oh well, it’s not like I could blame her for being curious.  

I sighed deeply.  “Ponies.  With him being HLF and all, he didn’t want me learning Equish or associating with Newfoals.”

“He sounds like he was a real butthead!”  

“He still is.”  She looked at me in shock.  Guess she assumed I was an orphan.  “At least he was when he disowned me this morning.”  This morning?  Yeah, I guess it was … it’s hard to think it’d only been a few hours.  It felt like it was months ago.  In a way, it was a whole other life.  Lukas was dead now, only Frost remained.  Stars, that was a bombshell!  

“Sorry to hear that, but I’m glad you’re out of there.”  She smiled sadly.  

“Me too” I muttered as we entered the building.  I had expected a fairly utilitarian - if homey - room to greet us, but this looked like it was decked out for a perpetual birthday party.  Yellow, pink, and blue streamers hung from the ceiling, and they looked like they were actual cloth instead of paper, the materials for a number of traditional party games were strewn about - in a manner that suggested that they were primarily, but not exclusively, decoration - and some festive Equish tune I didn’t recognize poured forth from an ancient-looking turntable.  And to top it all off, there was a huge banner above the set of teller-style windows on the far side of the room, reading “Welcome to Equestria”, in all capital letters, each letter a different color from the next, following a pattern of red, yellow, green, cyan, pink, and ending at purple before restarting at red again.  Below that was a sign-board with a list of towns that the refugees coming through here were going to.  Appleoosa, Wingingberg, Shangri-La, New Hope, Arcadia, Oz, Bountiful, Ponyville!!! :-) (yes, the multiple exclamation points and emoji were actually in the sign, and it looked like it had been hastily placed), and Green River were all listed as destinations.  

“Sun and Moon!”  Starry Sea gasped, taking in the sight.  Her eyes widened, and I could almost see rainbows in them.

“Looks like they really went all-out!”  I was certainly impressed, especially since Ponies had probably spent years perfecting what I saw before me.  

“Of course we did, silly filly!  We wouldn’t want to welcome you with anything short of our very bestest!”  I had to restrain myself from jumping at the sudden voice coming from where nopony had been only a moment before, and from a Pony that had just been talking with Comet’s trio moments before, three meters from where she was now.  Starry Sea did jump - sideways, into me, almost knocking us both off our hooves.  “Sorry to have startled you.  I’m ambassador Pinkie Pie, and I wanted to personally welcome you to Equestria.  What’re your names?”

“Starry Sea.”  She gave her best attempt at a curtsy, and barely managed to avoid falling on her flanks.  

“Call me Frost … I’m still trying to think of the rest of my name.”

“Pleased to meet you both, I hope to see you both around Ponyville.  Dashie told me that your group was joining us there.”  Us?  That’s right, the Ambassadors of Harmony live there.  It’s a hard thing to remember when they seem to spend their time ensuring that Earthlings - Human and Newfoal alike - got our needs met in any number of ways.  Then again, most of Equestria was apparently mobilized to deal with the ongoing crisis.  “In the meantime, have fun while you’re in Welcome Town, we have all sorts of games and yummy foods for you tonight.  We even have funnel cake!  It’s this yummy food from Earth that’s pancake batter drizzled through a funnel and deep fried and covered in powdered sugar like a donut and … “

I hated to cut her off - being an ambassador and all - but I was beginning to worry that she’d keep rambling about food for goodness knows how long.  And besides, she was also the Pony who pranked the fudging King of England less than ten minutes after meeting him; I doubt she’d be offended by my breach in etiquette.  “I’m familiar with it, actually.  My grandmother used to make something very similar called ‘Strieble’.”  

“Oooohhhhh!  You’ll have to show me how to make it some day, if you can!”  Oh boy, I think mentioning that just made it worse.  

“I’m not sure I can.”  I admitted.  Pinkie’s frown in response made my own heart ache, but I honestly wasn’t sure if I could.  “My grandmother passed on shortly before Equestria showed up, and my father didn’t get any of her old recipes.  I doubt it’s too different from what you have, though I vaguely remember hers having cinnamon in the batter and then covered in cinnamon mixed with powdered sugar.”  That part I remembered fairly clearly, though I think it might have just been her recipe, not the dish as a whole.  

“Stop it, you’re making me hungry again, and I just had a big lunch a few hours ago.”  Starry Sea licked her lips, blushing self-consciously.  

“Oooh, I’ll have to let Sourdough know about that one later!  In the meantime, I have new Ponies to greet.  See-you-later-bye!”  The last sentence burst out in one breath, and then she zoomed up to Cheddar faster than my eyes could track - if she’d been a Unicorn, I’d have sworn she’d teleported.  The two of them then began talking excitedly faster than I could make out, while Lemongrass tried her best to stay out of their way.  

“Few hours?  What time were you converted?”  I knew there were a lot more Ponies on the shuttle than there had been at lunch, so she must’ve been Ponified earlier in the day.  

“Noon.  And it’s about 4:00-ish from our perspective, so that’s not too bad now that I think about it.”  It was on the low side of normal, believable for somepony going through a growth spurt or something.  Come to think of it, us Newfoals seemed a bit skinny.  

“Don’t worry about it too much; if you’re hungry, eat.  If you’re really worried, there’s probably somepony you could ask about it.”  There had to be at least a nurse somewhere in the loop, if not a full-on doctor.  If I had to get a physical in order to move from Naples to Cairo, and another when I moved to Johannesburg, I had to get something to move to another freaking world, even if Ponification dealt with anything even remotely dangerous I might have had, they’d probably want some basic vital statistics.  

“There will be a check-up from a doctor.  I saw a Unicorn with a medical-looking cutie mark take somepony into one of those curtained rooms just before you got inside.”  Windsong called back (is she telepathic or something, or just good at listening?), gesturing to a series of small rooms - more like alcoves, really - sectioned off by light green hospital-style curtains.  “You can ask them when it’s your turn”

“I will, and I’ll think about any other questions I should ask while I’m back there.  I guess we all should.”  Clever filly!  I had more than a few questions of my own.  And yep, I totally called it.  

“Yeah, we probably should,” I echoed.  I turned my head to let Cheddar and Lemongrass know, and saw that Cheddar and Pinkie Pie were still talking.  Guess I needed to go with Plan B.  “Hey Lemongrass?  Just so you know, Windsong told me that we’ll be having doctor’s visits.  Also, could you let Cheddar know?”  

“Yeah, sure thing.”  She saluted confidently as she replied.  

A companionable silence settled over our group as we thought about our most pressing medical questions as the line flowed forward.  For me, there were a few obvious questions involving the whole cherry potion thing, along with some more general myth-busting.  Of course, most of the rumors I’d heard involved sex - chalk it up to human nature, I guess.  Or sentient nature in general - going Pony hadn’t robbed sex of it’s mystique; at least not yet.  I’d heard that Ponies were fairly casual about it, but no two rumors agreed on how casual.  While I thought, I watched Ponies coming and going from the exam rooms, always going from the check-in windows to the waiting area, getting the exam, and then out the door opposite the one we came in, to Welcome Town proper.  

It didn’t take that long for my thoughts to drift to other things … big philosophical questions, mostly.  Who am I?  Am I the same person I was this morning?  I remembered the same things, to be sure - starting with the move from Dresden to Hamburg when I was three - and I could trace all of the changes if I thought about it.  On the other hand, I’d changed so much in the past couple hours … it was almost … yes, like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.  And the changes?  Well, so far, I liked more of them than I didn’t, and the exceptions were mostly related to that fudging cherry potion.  It was kinda funny that I was going by Frost now, since I’d been so cold and prickly as Lukas; winding up with a new name so icy just as my heart melted.  Wait, melting?  That’s it!  “Melting Frost!”  I mused aloud, receiving several confused stares in return.  “My new name is Melting Frost.”  That prompted cheers and congratulations not just from my friends, but from several other Ponies.  I thanked them, blushing.  

“It really fits you.”  Windsong smiled back at me, then realized that she was next in line, and somepony at a window was calling for her.  “Crap, I’m up.  Catch you after I check in!” she blurted before dashing off.  

I didn’t have much longer to wait, myself - a minute or so after Windsong got called up, two windows opened nearly simultaneously; Starry Sea went to the nearer one, and I went to the farther one.  The drab-looking Unicorn staffing it looked so young that I did a double-take.  He looked barely older than me, still more colt than stallion.  “Hello, my name’s Pinecone, and I’m here to check you in.  What’s your name?”  Between his thick Equish accent and his nervousness, I had a bit of a hard time understanding him, especially since he seemed to be reading from a script too fast.  

“My human name was Lukas Gunter, but now I go by Melting Frost.”  They’d given us options to declare a Pony name at every previous check-in, so I expected that there was an option here.  

“Alright, just one moment … “ he trailed off before loudly exclaiming something in Equish that I’m pretty sure was the equivalent of “holy crap” or something, before switching back to his thickly accented English..  “Why is it the prettiest fillies I’ve ever seen were all colts who drank cherry?  Know what?  I don’t care - you’re still pretty filly.”  

The only response I felt like dignifying that with was to put him on the spot.  “Anything else you need from me for your paperwork, or are you just going to try and make passes at somepony who’s not interested?”  

That got a response alright - Pinecone swiftly sported the most sheepish look I’d seen in years.  “Sorry.  Think that’s most of it, mean there’s normally a short questionnaire and a few other little things for your placement, but since they want you talk to Dream Tender after you see doctor, she can handle that.  She’s with Lunar Guard, can’t miss her, especially since she’ll come get you.  Sorry again.  And think I got your new name right - Melting Frost?”  I nodded, feeling kinda guilty that I’d rattled him as hard as I did.  “Oh, good, you can change that extra special easy any time in the next year if you don’t like it.  Sorry.  You can move over to the waiting area, and doctor will see you in a few minutes. They call your number and you go in”  And with that, he levitated a slip of paper with the number 409 on it in front of me.  Once I grabbed it in own horn-field, he told me to have a nice day, then immediately began a conversation with somepony else in the back area, and whoever it was didn’t seem happy at all.  

Making a hasty exit, I plopped myself on a cushion in the waiting area.  I’d scarcely begun to brood when Comet sat down beside me.  Didn’t say a word, he just pulled me into a wing-hug.  I leaned into him, craving the reassuring contact only another Pony could provide.  After a minute or three, I found my voice.  “Thanks, I really needed that.”  

“Glad I could help.”  Again, we lapsed into comfortable silence.  Soon, Windsong joined us, settling in on my other side, placing her wing over both me and Comet.  Cheddar and the foals joined the cuddle-puddle a minute or so later, taking places around the edge.  Unfortunately, my time basking in their warmth ended all too soon.  

“Number 409?”  The voice, with its hard-to-place accent (It seemed vaguely Slavic), came from an off-white Unicorn mare sporting a Red Cross cutie mark.  Her golden eyes scanned the throng of refugee newfoals, looking for her charge.  

“I’m here,” I replied from the Pony-Pile I’d found myself in.  “Just give me half a minute.”  As I extricated myself, I apologized to my companions.  “I’ve got an interview with somepony named Dream Tender after this, if we don’t connect in between, where should I meet you?”

After the others stared for a few moments, the doctor offered a suggestion.  “Why not meet up at the clock out there?  It’s easy to find, and there should be an open table or three nearby.”

“Works for me.” Windsong said with a jaunty wing-salute; Comet just shrugged.  

“Alright … If I don’t catch you in here, I’ll meet you there.”  

After a quick round of “see-you-laters”, I followed the doctor into the exam room.  “My name is Healing Light, you can call me that or Doctor Light.  So, Frost is everything feeling OK beyond the obvious?”

“How did you know my name!?”  Magic.  It just had to be magic.  

“Check-in sent me your file through the tubes.”  She gestured to a slot on the wall that held a pneumatic cylinder of the same type that you still find at some older banks.  Blast it, I was wrong on that one!  “Are you experiencing any sort of aches, pains, discomfort or odd pressures?”  As she asked, she picked up a clipboard and Human-style ballpoint pen in her horn-field, ready to take notes for the aforementioned file.  

I hadn’t noticed anything yet, but I decided I’d check to be sure, flexing several muscles through their range of movement as well as lighting up my horn.  Nothing stood out, even a little.  “No … I actually feel better physically than I have in years!”  Emotionally too … I wasn’t stress-free, by any means, but it all seemed more distant, less urgent.  

“Good … if you had, especially at the base of your horn or around your hooves, that could be a sign of magic overload.  It’s rare, but it’s dangerous if not dealt with.”  She smiled with obvious relief - magic overload, if left to progress, killed humans easily (if you were lucky, you spontaneously combusted; if not, your entire nervous system slowly and painfully burnt itself out), and could trigger dangerous, unpredictable surges in Ponies.  “Speaking of magic, have you used yours yet?”

“Yeah, I’ve actually been practicing as much as I can.”  Couldn’t help but puff my chest out a bit in pride.  

“You can show me your stuff in a few minutes.  I need to check a few other things first, though.  If you could step on that scale for me, please.”  She gestured to a bathroom-style model sized for a Pony, with height and length measurements marked out on the wall behind it.  I stepped up, aligning myself with the marks as best I could.  “Lessee, forty-three kilos, seventy-one centimeters at the shoulder, and ninety-three long.  Fairly typical for a newfoal your age, though a bit under your ideal weight.”  She noted that in my file, then motioned me forward.  “Now, time to have a look at your vision.  Could you come and stand at the blue line on the floor and read the smallest line of letters on the chart?”

“Sure thing doc.”  I made my way over to the line, relieved that the chart used the Roman alphabet instead of the Equish one.  Standing at the line, I could make out everything for a change.  Used to be I could only see down about halfway.  “Whoa!  I can see the bottom line!  P, E, Zed, O, L, C, F, T, D.  Clear as day.”

“Good.  That’s where it should be for a Pony, which translates to 6/1.5 vision for a Human.”  Holy crap!  I knew my eyes were better, but that much better?  She set the clipboard and pen on a nearby table, then pointed her horn right at me.  “OK, now, I want you to hold still, because this might feel a little weird.”  

O-kay?  I locked my knees without thinking, I knew I could, but I didn’t know how until I just did it.  I was glad I did though, because once she lit her horn, I was enveloped in a golden glow, and a sensation swept over me like millions of tiny bugs crawling under my skin, through my veins, and in places I really didn’t know I had much less wanted to think about.  After what felt like both an instant and an eternity, it stopped.  “What … what did you do?  It felt like I was covered in ants inside and out!”

“I just scanned you, that’s all … just making sure there weren’t any surprises in your conversion.  You’ll be pleased to know there aren’t, not that I was expecting any.”  Her face then scrunched up in puzzlement.  “Wait, you felt it that vividly?”  I nodded.  “That’s … unusual, most Ponies only feel a mild tingle.  Now I really want to see what you can do with your magic.  Are you ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be!”  How eager I was to show off startled me a bit - as a Human I’d been something of a wallflower.  Then again, I’d taken a lot of pride in my academics, I guess that pride just shifted outward, and got applied to magic as well.  

“Alright, the first test is about magical perception.  I want you to tell me what’s in each of those boxes up there as quickly as you can,” Dr. Light gestured at six small, opaque boxes on a shelf near the eye chart. “starting with the one on the left.”

“Alright.”  I closed my eyes and focused on the first box … the object inside was spherical save for a single ridge of excess material, and was springy yet slightly yielding.  “It’s a rubber ball.  Should I keep going?”

“Please.”

“Next up is a hoop earring ... a button …  a bottle cap … a wood screw … and a coin, probably a bit.”  I felt each object easily, and announced it.

“Very good, now it’s time to test your telekinetic control.”  She held up a red rubber ball about two centimeters around in her horn-field.  “I want you to take this and run it through those hoops on the ceiling as quickly as you can without bumping the hoops.”  The hoops in question - again, there were six, each around five centimeters in diameter, and hung with very thin thread, either dental floss or something very similar - were arranged in a tight loop.  

I took the ball in my own field, and raised it up almost to ceiling level, then began moving it through the hoops.  It was trickier than it initially looked, and I throttled back some after knocking into the second hoop, sending it spinning and swaying.  It took a good bit of concentration, but I made the completed circuit in what seemed like a good time for somepony who’d only had a few hours practice and a dream-fueled head-start on learning.  

“Not bad, about five seconds.”  Her tone implied that it was a good result for a beginner, and that I’d be capable of a lot more fine control with practice.  “One more test - raw power.  We could test your endurance too in theory, but that’d take longer than we have available.”  She gestured with her right forehoof towards a metal plate on the wall with a bullseye painted on it.  “For this test, just give the target a good solid whack with your magic.  Don’t worry, you won’t bust anything, it can take anything you can dish out.”  

Hmmm … how to handle this … I was used to gripping objects and manipulating them, not using magic to throw a punch.  Throw a punch … that’s it!  I turned towards the target, telling Dr Light to stand back.  I lined up my horn with the bullseye, then closed my eyes.  I channeled magic into my horn, visualizing it forming a fist, and then letting fly.  I both heard and felt the impact … it didn’t hurt, but I could definitely feel the force of the blow at the same instant the metallic clang reached my ears.  Sweet stars, that much force was scary … I could seriously hurt somepony with that, and the thought made me queasy.  With an inward vow to never use my magic to harm a living being (unless I was defending myself or somepony else). I shook the mental images of the things I could do to flesh and bone from my head, and looked up at Dr Light.

“You’ve got some juice in you.  I mean, you’re no Twilight Sparkle, but you’ve got the potential to be a solid mage if you apply yourself.  You’ll have to wait and find out where your strengths are on your own, though.”  Dr Light smiled warmly, and then gave me a knowing wink.  “Who knows, you might even become a doctor, though I’ll admit I’m a bit biased.”  Maybe … only time would tell, I guess, but being an actual mage of any sort really appealed to me.  

She glanced at the clock before continuing, “We have time to answer a few of your burning questions, though I’d like to address the obvious first, if you don’t mind.  There is a way to reverse the cherry part of your cherry potion,” Apparently, she was amused by the turn of phrase; I wasn’t, but I wasn’t as angry as I expected I’d be, “Unfortunately, it’s still being developed, the team that developed the original potion is hammering out the bugs; last I heard, it should be ready by the Summer Sun Celebration, but there will be something of a waiting list.  If you experience any significant dysphoria, let a doctor know, and you’ll be made a priority; otherwise you’re looking at about a two year wait.”  

Wait, what?  “Two years!?  Why so long?”  There’d better be a good reason for this!  

Dr Light sighed wearily.  “Every conversion potion we’ve made to date relies on the extract of a magical plant called poison joke, as it’s the only way we can render a person protean enough for a permanent species transformation - at least without a vat of potion, or very powerful, very complicated spells.  Unfortunately, this plant is hard to farm, and only exists naturally in isolated pockets of the Everfree Forest, so we’ve had to cut deeply into our own food production to grow enough to convert billions of Humans, and if the PER wasn’t stealing potion and being reckless with it, and the HLF wasn’t hellbent on destroying it, we’d have had enough for all fifteen billion two years ago.  Thankfully, nopony is going hungry because of this, but we are on some fairly strict rationing, and have drawn our once-vast surplus down to almost nothing.  And that’s not even going into how much other critical industries have suffered.  So yes, our poison joke production will be cut severely.”  

“Oh.”  Yeah, that was a good reason.  In hindsight, it explained a lot of things, really - and said a lot of things about Ponies on the whole, too.  Two years did sound like a long time, though having an emergency out if things got really rough really made it easier to think about.  Still, two years … that almost certainly came with something I was kinda afraid of.  “In those two years, will I go into heat?”

“Yes, twice a year in fact, once late in the spring, and again towards the end of summer, though you can also go into heat other times of the year if you’ve been extremely sexually active.  Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as some people make it out to be.”  Dr Light pulled me into a hug.  “Let alone how some Humans tend to portray it.”

“What’s it like?”  I blurted out, despite her looking like she was about to explain.  

“Your sexual desire will increase significantly over the course of a few days to a week, to the point of discomfort if you ignore it, and will remain at that peak for another week and a half to two weeks, then tapering off over a few more days.  That said, masturbation or other sexual stimulation will keep it in check, and copulation with a stallion and insemination will eliminate it entirely for a few days - unless of course you get pregnant, at which point you won’t experience any heat symptoms until you’re no longer pregnant.”

That really hit me like a tank.  I could get pregnant!  I.  Am.  Capable.  Of.  Getting.  Pregnant!  For some reason, that aspect had passed me by entirely.  And it scared the crap out of me, having never considered the possibility before … it really seemed alien to me, or at least to a part of me.  Another part - maybe something that came in with my conversion - found it appealing and exciting.  I sank to the floor, sobbing as I tried to process the whirl of emotions and thoughts running through me.  

Healing Light - it seemed oddly formal to think of her as “Dr Light” right now - knelt beside me, embracing me with a foreleg in what I recognized as a gesture of support and comfort.  It certainly helped.  “Yeah, that’s quite a shock, I imagine.  Just let it all out.”  And let it out I did, after crying for a minute or two, I did feel better.  “ Don’t worry, you won’t likely get pregnant unless you try to or get careless - the contraception spells and potions we have in Equestria are very reliable and easy to use.  And if you do get pregnant, you have a lot less to worry about than a Human woman.  Pony pregnancies and births aren’t nearly as bad as Human ones, and we don’t ever shame mares for getting pregnant.  I can’t really speak from personal experience on it, since I converted long before I became a mother, but I can point you to a boatload of medical evidence, some of which I helped compile, analyze and publish.”  

That was certainly a relief … pregnancy wasn’t as scary when it seemed like something that was possible in theory, but I’d have to go chasing after it, rather than something I’d have to fight uphill to avoid.  “That’s … good to know,” I managed.  What was odd, now that I’d calmed down is that I’d have expected this to have bothered me a lot more.  That was something that seemed significant to note, so I asked Healing Light about it.  

“Part of that is simply your conversion euphoria … the potion is designed to flood your body with endorphins to counteract the physical and mental stresses of the transformation; that should wear off some time tomorrow afternoon.  The rest is likely a result of the changes in your brain anatomy itself, which is a very important factor in your gender identity, though it can be counteracted by a strong emotional attachment to your gender.  The best thing for you to do is simply not worry about it, and rediscover who you are one day at a time.  If you’re hurting, upset, or otherwise not doing well, get help - there are plenty of Ponies who will be there to help you - but until and unless that happens, don’t dwell on what might happen.”  Sage words from a wise mare.  “Anyhow, I’m putting you on the waiting list for the coltification potion; if you decide that you don’t want it, you can tell your doctor or your integration caseworker at any time to drop.” I nodded to let her know I heard and understood.  “I have time for a couple more burning questions, though you will be getting copies of books about your new body, and about Equestrian society that should answer a lot of them.”

“Glad to know that I’ll be getting reference guides … still, I have a few things I want to ask.”  I decided that I’d leave the sex questions go, those are easier to just read about, provided you trust the source.  Instead, I decided I’d go with some general ones that’d been bugging me a while.  First up was a “clobber question” the Old Rat used to use to discredit Ponies as liars.  “I’ve heard that Ponies eat daffodils.  Aren’t they poisonous?”

That prompted a small laugh.  “Not to Ponies … we have a high resistance to many poisons, especially botanical ones.  I wouldn’t recommend gorging yourself on daffodils, but you can eat them just fine.”

“What do they taste like?”  Now I was really curious.  

“Kinda like a sweet onion mixed with a leek … savory, but blends well with a lot of cuisine styles.”  That sounded really tasty … I really wanted to try one now.  “They’re great on pizza, though you can’t really bake them into the cheese.  Sorry, some of my herd-mates are foodies.”

“No worries … you made me hungry for them, though.”

“Sorry … you’ll have a chance to try them after you chat with Dream Tender.  They’re in season right now, and the cooks just got in a big stash of ‘em.”  Smiling bashfully, Healing Light paused briefly.  “OK, we have time for one more question, if you have it.”

One more … which one to go with … “Can Ponies vomit?  I know Terran horses couldn’t, but we aren’t Terran horses any more than Humans were monkeys.”

“Yes we can.  Our digestive tract is still at somewhat of a bad angle, but we have a lot more force behind our gag reflex than Terran horses, or even Humans for that matter.  We don’t vomit often, but when we do, we don’t hold back.”  She glanced at the clock one last time before opening the curtain.  “Anyhow, it’s time for you to see Dream Tender, and for me to see my next patient.”  She popped my papers back in the pneumatic tube capsule, and sent it off to wherever it needed to go, and a fresh set arrived a few seconds later.  “Looks like she’s waiting for you Frost.  Take care of yourself out there.”  

“You too, Healing Light.”  I resisted the urge to hug her as we walked out.  She called out a new number, and another Unicorn approached her, a green-and-gold colt who couldn’t have been more than four.  As she turned around, she exchanged friendly waves with a heavily pregnant Thestral mare in Lunar Guard armor, who - since nopony else in the room was wearing anything like it - I assumed was Dream Tender.  Still, I’d better confirm.  “Hello, I’m Melting Frost, and I was told I was to speak to a representative of the Lunar Guard after my check-up.”

“Yes, I’m Dream Tender.”  Her voice was warm yet firm, her expression soft and sympathetic, and she spoke with an American accent.  That was surprising - Thestrals, the bat-winged offshoots of Pegasi - were exceedingly rare among Newfoals, and even then, most weren’t in the Guard.  “Please follow me, and please don’t tell anyone a word of what we discuss, as what you know may very well be a matter of life and death.”  

“Yes ma’am.”  I wasn’t nearly as worried as I ordinarily would’ve been, largely due to her demeanor.  Fudge, she reminded me a little of the counselor I saw a couple times after my mom passed on, before the Old Rat put a stop to it.  She led me off, through the office, into a comfortably appointed conference room, and closed the heavy wooden door.