//------------------------------// // Chapter-1 School Problems // Story: So Yea... Now I'm a Pony // by uraveragebrony //------------------------------// The sound of my alarm going off aroused me from my wonderful dream state with no warning. After trying to drown out that wretched sound, I just decided to smash the tiny torture device called an alarm clock sitting on the nightstand next to my bed with my hand before crawling back under the covers of my safe haven. After a few minutes of just lying in bed, relishing in a few extra minutes of sleep, I decided that now would be a good time to check the time. “Why do I have to wake up so- 8:30!” I nearly shouted as I quickly realized that I snoozed for a little longer than a few minutes. I attempted to jump out of my bed, only for my sheets to get tangled around my legs, to cause me to immediately fall flat onto my stomach right next to my bed. Not having the time to be hurt, I untangled myself, not caring in the slightest about the mess I was making in my small room. And after tearing through all of my clothes to find a uniform, snapping my toothbrush, and eating an over-ripe orange, I was in my car and driving to school. As I drove to school while breaking more than a few traffic laws, various thoughts crossed my mind. ‘I can’t miss my exams! Do I have everything? Why didn’t mom wake me up like usual? Why do I want ice cream so badly?’ I contemplated all my life choices as I drove to school, hoping, praying that I don’t miss my mid-terms if I want to have any chance of being alive after winter break. I swerved into the student parking lot, hitting a curb along the way, searching for an open spot. I quickly spotted one near the back of the parking lot before turning into the spot, this time a little more careful. I don’t need more problems. After running from my car to the other side of the school, I finally burst through the cafeteria doors panting. This drew the attention of everyone in the room as well as stopping the test administrator mid-sentence. “I’m… here… am I late?” I asked, still catching my breath with one hand on my knee, to the teacher who only stared back with a raised eyebrow and a hand on her hip before motioning to an empty seat while shooting me a disapproving gaze. I quickly ran over to the seat and plopped down into the chair just as the teacher began again in her monotone voice. “Today you are going to be taking the…” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ *3 Hours Later “Stop. Please put your pencils down while…. I drowned out the monotoned rambling of the teacher as I closed my test and laid my head down on my desk. About halfway through the test, I started developing a migraine which is strange since they are not by any means a normal occurrence for me. Once I was no longer able to ignore the pain, I raised my hand and asked the teacher if I could go and see the nurse. And you know what she said? And I quote ‘You can wait five more minutes especially after that entrance.’ And people wonder why I hate school. I sat at my desk, my head resting on my arms, while the teacher finished collecting all the testing supplies. “You are dismissed.” Those were the only words I needed to hear. With haste, I walked out the door, got my bag, and headed to the only place in this school I actually enjoy, the cafeteria. ‘Wait… already here.’ I thought with a small smile adorning my face. I walked over to my usual spot, threw my bag down, and headed to the lunch line which was already starting to fill with kids no more than a minute after testing ended. After a few minutes of waiting in line, I finally got my burger and sat down. By this time, a few of my usual friends had also made their way to the table. To the left of me was Brock, next to him was Preston, and to the right of me was Conner. All three of them have been my closest, and only, friends throughout high school. We met in elementary school when we were all around nine or ten. We instantly seemed to click, which is strange since all of us seem to have problems making friends. Not to mention girlfriends. “Hey, Oliver.” Conner said while taking his usual lunch out of his lunch box. A ham and cheese sandwich with a bottle of water and “BEANS!” He exclaimed while holding his cup of bean high so everyone could see. “I still don’t know why you like beans so much. You have had them for lunch every day for like they past… forever.” Brock stated as he started digging into his lunch, school pizza. “I don’t know, I just think they're neat.” He said while stroking the container before shoveling a spoonful into his mouth and smiling right back at Brock who only raised an eyebrow. “Ok… well on another note, how do you think you did on the test?” Brock asked before taking a bite of his burger, which is almost immediately spat right back out. “What is it?” I asked him, now looking at my burger with suspicion. “This tastes like garbage!” He nearly shouted, which turned a few heads, before downing nearly his entire water bottle in one go. “These things are normally bearable at the very least!” I looked at Brock, then looked at my burger, and hesitantly took a bite which I immediately regretted. “Bleh! Mine tastes like total crap too!” I threw the burger right into the trash can behind me before drinking my chocolate milk carton all in one go. “I’m getting something else. You coming too?” I asked Preston as I got my wallet out of my bag and headed back towards the cafeteria doors. “Yea, I’m coming too. Just give me a second.” *About 30 minutes and a big salad later…* *Ring* “You guys are still coming over to my place later right?” I asked Conner and Preston as we threw away what was left of our lunches and got ready for our next and second to last class of the day. “Yep, be at your place around six or so, see ya.” Preston said before giving us a wave which was also mimicked by Conner before they turned and headed their separate way. Brock and I picked up our bags and headed towards the opposite side of the school for our algebra class. We walked to the class in silence, not really knowing what to talk about considering that we were both mentally exhausted from the test earlier today. As we walked, I almost decided to take a detour to the nurse’s office. My headache now migraine, was really starting to wear on me as the pain was steadily increasing in intensity almost to the levels of unbearable. After we arrived Brock almost immediately sat down and laid his head on his arms. Our teacher, Mrs. Davie got up from her desk a moment later and began her plans for the class. “Well, I know most of you just finished your test and winter break it in two days,” she began “but we still have work to do.” She said, which elected more than a few groans of annoyance from various parts of the room. “Today we are going to be talking about logarithmic…” Class droned on as usual, with one minor inconvenience. “Mrs.Ostrom?” I asked with a raised hand from my position in front of the room. “I’ve got a really bad migraine; can I go to the nurse?” “Fine, but you know you are going to have to do this when you come back, whether it’s before or after winter break.” “I know.” I moaned. She promptly proceeded to the back of the room and opened a small drawer in her desk before pulling out a small pink slip and writing something on it. As she was filling out the little pink slip, another hand came up from right next to me. “Mrs. Ostrom, I’ve got a really bad migraine also. Can I go to the nurse too?” Brock asked from the desk next to me. “Really?” She asked with a raised eyebrow and skeptical tone. “Please.” Was all he said before she finally conceded and pulled out another pink slip. “Alright, here you go. But I will be making sure you two both make it to the nurse, so no doing anything you’re not supposed to do.” She said in a stern tone that every teacher seemingly managed to develop while holding out both the slips towards me and Brock, which we gladly accepted. After the door closed behind us, I turned to Brock, “Do you really have a migraine too?” “Yea, been bugging me since the morning, but I only decided to go to the nurse since you were going too.” He said with obvious pain in his voice. “It’s been getting really bad, I should have gone soo- “And without even finishing the sentence, he promptly passed out and fell onto the floor right in the middle of the hallway. Seeing this only seemed to make my pain worse. It started feeling like my head was going to explode from the pressure. Soon after, I felt incredibly lightheaded, followed shortly by a wave of dizziness. After that, nothing. _____________________________________________________________________________________ I awoke to a world that felt completely alien to me. Consciousness slowly began to come back to me as I now realized I was laying on the tiled ground, which felt… different than I thought it would. Slowly, I attempted to open my eyes, which were immediately blinded by the artificial lights from the school hallway, which I now recalled. My body still felt like I just ran a marathon with how stiff and sore I was. ‘Why the heck am I sore?’ I thought to myself as I slowly continued opening my eyes, which greeted me with the bland beige of the school hallway. Slowly, I started to move my head to get a better look at my surrounding. And to say an action as simple as this felt strange would be the understatement of the century. The feeling was completely alien, yet somehow felt like something I’ve done countless times before. I continued to look up and down the school wall, still unable to move much at all due to the stiffness and resulting pain it caused. Having the thought of movement on my mind, I quickly realized I couldn’t feel my fingers nor my toes. I attempted to move my arm to- “AHH!” I quickly got to my… whatever, forgetting all of the pain it sent through my body as I quickly backed away from where I heard the scream come from. On another note, something on top of my head was… moving? Yea, dwell on that later, there is a dark green horse sitting in the middle of the hallway! “What are you!?” I nearly shouted at the horse… thing sitting no more than a few feet away from me. “I could ask you that same thing!” It somehow shouted back. “I’m Oliver! You’re a talking horse thing!” “I’m Brock! And you’re a horse thing too!” The horse… Brock yelled back. This caused what I was about to yell back to immediately die in my throat as realization dawned on me. The first thing that I saw was the thing at bottom of my vision which I realized was my muzzle. Slowly, I looked down and was greeted with more marble-colored fur before it ended at two equally white stumps resting on the ground. I looked back over at the creature across from me who also happened to be my friend with wide eyes completely speechless. The sound of a door opening from not that far from where were quickly caught both of our attention as the things, which I soon deduced were ears, turned and faced towards the new sound. Looking at the door, we were greeted by a red-haired girl sticking her head out and immediately freezing when she laid eyes upon our two equally wide-eyed forms. She proceeded to turn around and say something into the room along the lines of ‘things in the hallway’ before looking at us in a scarily calm manner and retreating back inside of the classroom. No more than a few seconds later, a lady I recognized as my language arts teacher walked into the hallway and froze mid-step when she saw us. Her reaction was eerily similar to the girls as she calmly proceeded back into the classroom and shut the door. Brock and I looked at each other with realization in our eyes that now would probably be a good time to get moving. With the thought of walking on my mind, it instantly became at least a hundred times more difficult as my legs immediately started shaking. My brain now knowing what not to do with all the foreign senses coming in now that I was no longer distracted by something else started to breakdown. Looking up, I see that Brock is also having the same difficulties as me. Refocusing on my own problems, I slowly took a step forward. After my leg sat firmly on the ground a few inches where it previously was, I gained a little bit of self-confidence back. ‘This isn’t as hard as I thought. Feels like I’ve done this before.’ I thought to myself as I took a few more steps. It wasn’t long at all before I was slowly walking in a circle. Looking over to Brock shows that he isn’t having the same kind of luck I am. He’s yet to move more than a few inches from where he first woke up from. Our attention was grabbed once again as we hear what sounds like multiple people walking up the stairs. My eyes go wide as I see that the people who have just arrived are not just school staff. Instead, they’re in uniforms with animal control displayed on them. Instinctively, I slowly start to back up. “Well, not too often you get a call saying there is a horse in a school.” One of the men starts “I was rather surprised as we don’t get many calls about hor-“ He stopped mid-sentence when he finally looked down the hall and right at the both of us staring back. “Those… what are those? They kind of look like horses, or ponies.” The second man to his right stated, with a questioning tone. Brock attempted to get up, only to fall flat on his stomach once again. He raised his head and looked at me with pleading eyes. “Well… we will get them out of here for you. Just a little… strange is all.” The man on the left stated before kneeling slowly shuffling over. “It’s ok girl… I’m not going to hurt you.” He said in a calming tone, as he inched his way forward. I wanted to speak up, but the more I thought about it, the worse this could get if either one of us talked. 'I mean, what if they just send us to the government so they can cut our brains open huh? But someone heard the scream and found us in the hall!? What if… never mind'. I brought myself out of my internal debate and around the real world. Brock sat frozen on the ground, not daring to move. Either he had the same not talking idea as me, or he was just scared out of his mind. My attention was brought to the other man who was being oddly quiet, which I quickly learned the reason for. With an open case on the ground next to him, he was slowly walking up behind his partner holding what looked like a tranquilizer gun. I quietly gasped as I realized I didn’t want to get drugged. Without a word, the man with the gun pointed it and shot Brock right in the shoulder. This elected a slight “eep” from him as looked at the dart in his arm. Without a second wait, I bolted down the hallway in the opposite direction. ‘How… am I running?’ I thought just before I tripped over my own feet and went tumbling into a wall. Quickly getting back up, I stole a glance back at where I came from and saw Brock’s new form lying motionless on the ground with the two men running down the hall towards me. With adrenaline filling my body, I bolted down the right hallway as there is an emergency exit down at the bottom of the stairwell. The door to the stairs came up much quicker than I thought it would which caused me to overshoot. I tried to stop which resulted in me flat on my face once again. As I got back to my… hooves, I saw that the guards were still coming right for me. Looking at the door, I pushed the bar in with my nose which got a ‘click’ as well as the door swinging open. I ran down the stairs… somehow… and burst through the emergency exit out into the parking lot. I just ran. Plain and simple. Across the parking lot. Through bushes. Through yards. Trying to stay hidden. And after running non-stop for what felt like hours on end, I finally reached my house. I immediately ran up to the porch and collapsed in front of the door deciding that I was safe now as our house was surrounded by trees on all sides and not visible from the road. Laying there, my alien sense started coming back to me as the adrenaline finally started to wear off. Everything was sore. I was completely exhausted from the two-mile run all the way home from school. As I lay there, thoughts raced through my mind at lightning speed anywhere from ‘I’m hungry’ to ‘what about Brock?’ But one kept coming up repeatedly. “What am I?”