//------------------------------// // Reformation, of a Different Sort // Story: A Song of Transformation // by Honey Lavender //------------------------------// “I’m ready,” I tell Celestia, who has come to Ponyville to oversee this transition. Her, and about half of the nobles who had to see it for themselves, because fuck me and my dignity. “I’m ready whenever you are, that is.” Celestia seems genuinely saddened by my decision to go forward with this. Is there something that everypony knows, but is refusing to tell me? She bows her head, her horn emanating a soft golden light, and she approaches me. “Are you sure? I would not wish the experience you are asking for on anypony…” Celestia looks me in the eye, her fuchsia eyes glistening… with tears? She’s actually holding back tears on my behalf! I feel a pang of guilt for what I’m asking her to experience for me, but I will see this through to the end. “Yes, I’m sure,” I nod, eliciting an expression of defeat from the regal princess. She bows her head further, and closes her eyes. “Very well, then.” Celestia touches her horn to my chest, right over my heart. It flares brighter, as she actually casts the spell instead of holding it back while charged up. I feel a momentary flutter emanate from the organ, and then Celestia’s horn ceases glowing and she backs up. Her expression is unreadable, but if I had to guess I’d say that she’s probably ashamed of letting me go through with Rainbow’s plan. A small, scarlet magical field pops out from the spot where Celestia’s horn had been, and I’m surrounded by a blinding field of light and swirling magic; Twilight’s story of her ascension come to mind, as I’m gently lifted off the ground. However, after the light intensifies momentarily, it disappears with a similar loud pop to whenever Discord teleports into or out of my presence, and I’m set back down on the ground. The nobles, Twilight, and her friends start discussing the failure amongst themselves, as I open my mouth to inquire as to the lack of changes. However, when I open my mouth, all I can get off is a yelp. “Gah!” My body explodes in pain, as my very bone structure is rearranged while I’m still conscious. I fall to the ground, writhing spastically as my own thoughts are drowned out by the pain signals emanating from everywhere all at once. I want this to stop, now. I attempt to cry out, to beg for mercy, but I cannot do more than scream wordlessly. I can barely hear what’s happening around me, and soon I no longer have any sensory input as I edge closer to blacking out, pain overcoming my body’s ability to continue functioning properly. Then, nothing. I slip away into the dark embrace of unconsciousness. When I wake up, the first thing I notice is the rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor. What the… what happened? I think, as I open my eyes to find that I’ve been moved to a hospital. I’m alone in the room, and I try to sit up. There’s something behind me inhibiting the motion. I attempt to reach behind me to feel what it is, but to my alarm my arms won’t go that far. Panicked, I roll over onto my side to get up that way. A loud crash ensues as something knocks over the lamp on the nightstand by my bed. I attempt to stand up, only to find that my legs won’t hold me, and fall flat on my stomach. There’s a mirror across the room; I struggle along the floor to get to it. Staring back at me isn’t myself, but a scarlet pegasus stallion. He has a silver mane with storm-gray highlights, and emerald eyes. I lift my hand to scratch my head, and the stallion’s front right hoof matches the motion. Curious, I lower my hand in front of my face to have a look. Except it isn’t a hand, it’s a hoof. On a scarlet foreleg. I scream. I scream bloody murder, because this isn’t my body. “What. The HELL. HAS HAPPENED TO MY BODY?!” A team of nurse ponies rush in to check the source of the commotion, attempting to calm me down when they find me flailing around on the floor. Of course, it doesn’t help. As I continue thrashing, a pale brown unicorn walks in, her horn glowing a faint turquoise. It flares, then winks out as I suddenly lose feeling and stop moving. Damn... that packs a punch I think to myself, as I pass out from the magical sedative. When I awaken once more, Twilight is sitting in the chair next to my bed. The heart monitor has been disabled, and its sensor removed; the staff must’ve not wanted me damaging any more of their equipment with my panicked flailing. I look Twilight in the eye, and expression of guilt on my awkwardly long face. “Well…” she starts, a soft expression on her face. “You’re awake. Again. Not going to start thrashing and screaming bloody murder again, are you?” I can tell she’s trying to lighten the mood, but it’s not helping. I cringe at her comments about my reaction; clearly she’s heard the story. “Sorry I couldn’t be here earlier when you woke up the first time; Celestia took the spell’s adverse effects on you pretty badly. Somepony needed to be there for her…” Twilight looks away as she says this last part, then returns her gaze to me. “Seeing her spell cause that kind of side effects... she didn't take it too well.” I don’t know what to say. She hadn’t been the one to put me in that much pain; I had with my insistence that she cast the spell. For her to be beating herself up over my choices felt wrong, in every degree. Finally, I find my voice. “I- I’d like to see her. To apologize. Is that possible?” Twilight gazes at me, with a look of sorrow. “Yes, but not right now. Celestia had to return to Canterlot; her duties don’t wait for her to be ready to perform them.” Twilight pauses, noticing my crestfallen expression. Is it just me, or is this pony body more susceptible to emotions? I feel like I’m going to cry over this development; not a normal response for me. “However,” she continues, “there IS somepony who’s been waiting to see you.” I perk up as Rainbow Dash enters the room, and I hear that strange noise again: “-squee!-” Wait… did I just SQUEE?! Rainbow Dash attempts to hide a huge smile as I look around for the source of the noise, then busts out laughing as she can no longer contain it. I can’t help it; her reaction is contagious. Soon, we’re both laughing our tails off at the absurdity of the situation as Twilight leaves the room, chuckling. “Don’t worry; you’ll get used to it,” she assures me, once we’ve had our fill of giggles. “In the meantime, can you at least stand? Fair warning, you’re gonna need all four of your legs!” I roll my eyes; she’s also heard about the first time I woke up. Just great. I manage to sit up, with my wings dragging around and knocking things over again. “Here, let me help you fold those up. Even Twilight had trouble with that when she got hers.” Rainbow guides my wings, telling exactly which muscles to move and when. I finally fall out of the bed, and manage to balance on my hooves. This is weird, but I’ll have to deal for a few days. Rainbow looks me over appraisingly. “Not a bad color,” she comments on my coat. “But you’ve got a lot to learn about that new body of yours.” I attempt to take a step forward, and almost fall on my face. I feel like an infant, having forgotten how to use my body to do all except crawl. This is embarrassing. “Jeez! One hoof at a time there, newbie!” Rainbow admonishes, and I cringe as I realize that I’d tried to step forward with 3 of my legs. Not a great start… “Again,” I say, as I attempt another step with similar results. I was going to at least WALK, if it was the last thing I did. Determined, I keep trying… A few hours later, I’m laying in the bed again. My doctor had come in, and nearly blown his lid at the fact that I was up trying to walk- with a small amount of success, although I couldn’t go more than 5 or 6 steps before collapsing onto my belly; getting the sequencing down for having four steps to a pace instead of 2 was frustrating. I’m sure I’ll find the challenge rewarding to overcome, but in the meantime it does nothing but piss me off; I never realized just how much I take walking for granted until I lost that ability to something as stupid as a couple extra legs. It irks me to no end, not understanding my own body like this; it’s like going through puberty, all the fuck over again - complete with all the *joy* of wholly unfamiliar urges to top the whole ordeal off. At least Rainbow Dash is sticking with me through the ordeal, though, and that makes me feel a little bit better. “I got you into this mess; I guess it’s only right that I stay by your side while you deal with it,” she had reasoned. I don’t understand why, but I have an intense craving for some flowers; the very thing that I swore I would have no part of when I had first arrived in Equestria now tortured me by making my mouth water. Someone PLEASE make this stop. The doctor trots in, levitating a clipboard alongside him. “Good news, Steve. We’ve just got your tests back from downstairs, and you’re good to go. Although we would prefer if you let us transport you outside via wheelchair instead of tripping every 6 steps while in our hallways,” he adds, with a glare intended to remind me of how foalish I’d been. Of course, the warning doesn’t get through; I’m too busy hitting cloud nine upon finding out that I’m finally cut loose from this place - and apparently a pegasus' first response to being excited is to start flying mindlessly, because my head finds the ceiling in short order. Mother of God, make it stop. A few minutes later, I’m standing outside the hospital. Rainbow nudges me along and says “Come on; let's go get lunch. Celestia knows the others are waiting to see you.” I just mumble my agreement, eager to indulge my floral cravings. Rainbow and I are joined by Twilight and the rest of her friends. Once we’d finished eating, I’d related my observations on my transformation to everypony. Sure enough, Twilight had busted out a notepad and quill from her saddle bags and started taking notes; this WAS an undocumented occurrence in Equestria, so I guess I can understand her reaction. Rarity had glared at her, clearly disapproving of the rude gesture- however, she had said nothing to address it. “I’m so sorry to hear about your head, darling. Are you feeling alright?” The alabaster unicorn asks, tilting her head to get a better view of my flank before adding “And where is your cutie mark?! Did you never discover your special talent?” I cringe at the second question; I had been asking myself the same thing since I'd woken up and had the strange urge to look at my own ass. “I’m fine,” I respond bitterly. “I just can’t seem to catch a break, that’s all. As for my unmarked flank, I don't know what's up with that. Could've sworn my love of flight would mean something.” Twilight sets down her notepad and quill, a curious expression on her face. She has something to say, but she doesn’t give any indication of speaking up anytime soon. “Well I think that you look just absolutely dashing,” Rarity continues, ignoring the bitterness in my tone. “You make a fine stallion!” I literally sink to the ground at this declaration; my cheeks burn from embarrassment. Rarity looks over the edge of the table at me, then asks a single-worded question. “What?!” Words fail me. “Rarity, I don’t think he knows you well enough to realize that you aren’t flirting with him.” Applejack admonishes. This is somehow enough to make Rarity think about what she had said, and an apologetic expression crosses her face. I sit up and shift my wings nervously. “Anyway, how are you handling the changes sugar cube?” I just shrug; at least I can still do that with relative ease. Fluttershy is the next to comment. “You had us scared when you passed out; I’m really glad you’re okay,” her soft voice is impossible not adore. “Um, that is, if you are okay… you are, right?” I smile softly, and nod. Fluttershy seems satisfied with my response. Pinkie Pie starts pronking around; I have a feeling that she’s either about to break into a song or pull out her party cannon, but it turns out both my predictions are incorrect. “Ooh, well I’m glad that you’re adjusting well, Steve! If you’ll excuse me, I have preparations to make; come by the Sugarcube Corner later, and I’ll have a surprise for you!” And then, without waiting for a response, she’s off. I stare after her, wondering what the hell just happened. Looking over at the rest of the ponies left at the table, all I get is a bunch of shrugs and puzzled expressions in return. “Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pie; you just have to accept that weird is normal for her,” Rainbow Dash explains, and everyone else nods in agreement. “But in the meantime, we’ve still got to get you flying! Come on; let’s go!” With that, Rainbow takes off down the road. Twilight nudges me after her; all I can do is groan, stumble to my hooves, and start to slowly walk after her. 1, 4, 2, 3. 1, 4, 2, 3, I think to myself, taking the process one unsteady hoofstep at a time. Maybe I’ll be better at flying than I am at walking. And as frustrated as I am, I sure do hope that’s the case. I’ve been through enough strange crap in the last few hours that I could really do with a DECENT surprise for once…