~Beginning of a New Life~
Faint voices could be heard through my unconsciousness, though no specific words nor tones were detectable in such a state. Through the voices I heard a low hum, gradually increasing in depth and volume till a soft golden glow pierced my thoughts. The glow grew steadily till I had to raise a hand to shield my eyes from the brightness.
Huh? I noticed that my consciousness was back in my body, but my clothes were gone and all I could see aside from the pitch black was a now more concentrated sphere of the golden glow. I watched the orb curiously, seeing a shape of some creature beginning to emerge from the center. With the shape becoming more distinct I saw that it must be an ungulate of sorts, the creature gently stepping out from the orb and facing me. The faint glow from the orb kept the figure well obscured in a silhouette as it began to approach me slowly, causing me to take a cautionary step backwards. It continued at its slow pace, I assumed as a way of showing its lack of hostility.
"Please don't be afraid, I only wish to talk." A gentle, motherly voice spoke out from the creature. I stopped backing away as confusion set in, the orb shifting to a position above and in between the two of us, allowing me to tell now that the creature was a small horse. One that just spoke to me in plain English, no less.
"You can talk?" I surrendered to my curiosity and just asked, wondering what sort of hallucination my mind conjured up in what I could only think was my final stage before death. The clean white coat and glittery, flowing, multicolored mane defying all logic of how I thought a pony could be.
"Of course, why wouldn't I be able to?" The pony stated, tilting her head quizzically to the side. "Rather, I'm more curious as to where you came from. I've never before seen a creature quite like you in Equestria."
Equestria? I thought, puzzled. "You mean to say that this isn't Earth?" I inquired.
She furrowed her brows at me, "Earth? I'm afraid I'm not quite sure what that is, but I can tell you that this place is called Equus." She straightened herself out and came a little closer, her eyes being just a little under my eye level. "Which makes me must ask, what are you? And how did you get here?" She continued calmly, waiting for a response.
I retraced my steps and decided to explain all that I could remember. "Well, for your first question, I'm what's called a human. As for your second question, I'm pretty lost myself. I was just hanging out with my friends one moment, then the next moment some mysterious haze pulled me through some portal, and then I found myself in the midst of that forest." Recalling what had happened back in the forest, the alarm in my heart grew once again.
"Wait, I remember basically dying in that forest after getting injected with some sort of strange liquid. Did I die or something?" I asked worriedly, looking into the pony's eyes.
She turned her head to the side a bit and went on, "about that, actually. You're not quite dead, but rather unconscious still." She stopped for a moment before explaining more. "You are in quite grave danger though, as those that are attacked by that plant usually aren't able to receive aid in time. You're very lucky that our friend was able to find you so quickly after being poisoned."
I could feel my heart sink, but her last statement gave me a little bit of hope. "So, you're saying that I'll be alright, right? That there's a way to get rid of what's attacking me?"
"Err, yes, but it's not quite as simple as that." She locked eyes and gave me an almost grim look. "The agent that's attacking you is a unique one. As you probably saw from where it injected its fluids, the surrounding blood was turning a different color, correct?"
I nodded and she went on. "Well, the complicated thing about this is that it attaches itself to and mutates your DNA, essentially acting as cancer till your body eventually shuts down and decomposes. It's a rather vicious thing."
"So, you're basically saying that there's no way for me to be cured?" I hung my head in defeat.
"Not quite, there is a method, but there are certain risks involved, and I thought it best to consult you before proceeding. Seeing as we have a bit of time before your condition is irreversible, I assumed you might appreciate this." She added with consideration, her features softening to match her sympathetic tone.
"I do appreciate it, thank you. So, what are the risks?" I began hoping a bit more, my mood lifting a tad.
"Well, we can assure you that you will still be alive afterwards, but your body may not exactly be the same as before. The spell we plan to use will counteract the agent affecting you by adjusting your DNA to a state as far as possible from the already affected DNA. We will, of course, try our best to keep things as close as possible to what they naturally should be, but seeing as you are an unfamiliar species, I can make no promises." She informed me.
With all that information thrown at me at once, I processed most, but had to ask about the most glaring statement, "did you say spell? Spell as in magic?"
"Yes," she answered. "Magic is a common thing in this world which many are capable of wielding. Much of it being a great benefit to society. Especially in times such as this one."
"Wow, well I definitely wasn't expecting that, but I guess that would be the only way to cure something like cancer, huh." I thought aloud, mulling over what she had said once more, seeing only one outcome if I wanted to come out of this alive.
She noticed me thinking and probed gently, but with urgency, "is there anything else that you wish to know? I know I told you we had some time, but the spell will be more effective the sooner we use it."
I sighed and looked back into her eyes, seeing sincerity and worry. "Alright, I've made up my mind." I took a deep breath and began, "please use the spell on me. I can accept whatever consequences come after. I'm sure I'll be able to manage."
A kind grin spread across her face and she bowed her head lightly. "Very well, then we will commence straight away. I will see you again when you awake." She said as she was engulfed by the glowing orb that descended to her.
Things went back to black for a moment before a wavy purple hue deftly weaved its way into the dark space. A few tendrils emerged from the aura, gradually making their way over to me and wrapping around my body. The tendrils eventually enveloped my whole being, restricting my movement, but giving a warmth that was almost comforting. That comfort lasting only momentarily as a million tiny spikes entered my body, beginning an excruciating process. I felt like screaming, wriggling uncomfortably as the appendages continued their work, but to no avail.
This continued for what felt like an eternity, but eventually either the spell subdued me, or my mind could no longer take torment and gave in as I felt my vision fade into black.
~~~~~~~~
As quickly as my vision seemed to fade, it began coming back to me once more. I blinked several times, trying to clear the blurriness from my eyes to get a grasp on my current situation, my memories of that strange exchange a little foggy. Eager voices greeted my ears, words not yet reaching me, but the tone reminding me of what had just transpired.
My eyes snapped focused, being met with an impressive aquamarine-ish colored ceiling, looking to be made from some form of high-quality stone. Noticing that I was lying on my back, and that it had become quite uncomfortable for some reason, I looked down at my body to inspect the results. My jaw dropped and I promptly shrieked in confusion, a much more feminine shriek than I expected at that.
Due to the magnitude of such a combination of shocks, I ceased to scream and just looked at my body, seeing that not only was my whole body dark mint colored for one, but that my arms and legs could no longer be called as such. My body was covered in dark mint fur, and I had entirely equine legs. The bangs that fell into eyesight were a light cinnamon color, and I'm pretty sure that I saw a long trail of that same cinnamon color between my lower legs poking out too.
"Don't worry, you're alright now." I heard a familiar voice off to the side and looked over to see that same pony that I had conversed with moments ago.
"Y-you... you're the one that I talked to just now, right?" I spoke shakily, still perturbed by how soft my voice had become, also at how long my neck felt.
The pony nodded and smiled warmly at me, "Yes, my name is Celestia, glad to finally make your acquaintance." Looking again in a normal state, I could see that her appearance was much more majestic than I gave credit for before. A golden crown with a purple gem in the middle adorned her head, a long white horn resting just below it. Looking at her sides revealed two wings which looked like they spanned a decent length, and likely did more than merely add to the apparent regality of her figure.
"Nice to meet you too. My name's Charlie... But, um, what exactly happened to me?" I looked back down to myself, not yet convinced that this was what should have happened.
"The spell changed your body pretty drastically, but it succeeded in removing the poison." I turned to see a second pony speaking from the other side of me, this one with lavender fur and a violet mane with a couple of streaks of other purple-ish colors in it. They also had a horn and a pair of wings to the side, but her mane and tail seemed to rest more normally than Celestia's did. "My name is Twilight Sparkle, by the way, pleasure to meet you, Charlie." She said with an almost giddy grin she seemed to be trying to contain.
I nodded at her, giving the most enthusiastic "yeah", I could muster before trailing off and staring at my body in bewilderment once again.
"I understand you're shocked, considering you used to be-what was it again-human? From what Princess Celestia told me. However, these results are pretty good for a spell I haven't been able to practice, and I assure you I did my best given the circumstances." Twilight explained, her face going from that of matter-of-factness to one of sympathy, "and hey, being a pony isn't all that bad, it even looks like you got something a little extra out of it with those wings there."
"Wings?" I shifted clumsily on my side, arching my neck eerily well to look at my back and seeing that yes indeed, there was a pair of wings attached back there. An involuntary twitch in my back caused the wings to pop out a bit, startling me slightly before folding back against my sides.
Finally composing myself enough to give more than just two word answers I spoke, "Cel- ahem, princess Celestia and...Twilight, was it? I truly am thankful for the help you've given me, but I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around this. This body is pretty foreign to me, not to mention that my sex also changed during the process from what I can gather, so it's just a lot to handle." I steadied my breathing and came to grips that this was how my body was now, and that I could either rue accepting their help and turning out like this, or just make the best of it. Choosing the latter, I attempted to sit up on my hind legs to look at them more comfortably.
"That is quite alright, Charlie. We're honestly just glad that we were able to help you before it was too late. Some of our own kind have been in similar situations due to that plant in the Everfree, but often times we weren't able to aid them quickly enough." Celestia lamented, recalling the previous occurrences.
"Not to mention this proved very valuable for my research on this spell." Twilight chimed in, "I honestly thought that there wouldn't be much point in learning such an extreme healing spell, but it looks like it was well worth it." She finished with a smile.
"Well, thanks a lot again guys, it means a lot to me to still be alive." I said as I positioned myself to try to get off the bed I had been laid on, only for one of my legs to get caught in the sheets and send me face first to the floor, stopping mere inches away. I looked up and noticed a purple hue around my body, like the one I saw when I was unconscious, and realized that Twilight's horn had lit up. I was repositioned to be standing upright and set gently on the ground on shaky legs, the purple hue fading followed by Twilight chuckling a little.
"Are you okay?" She asked as she finished releasing her grip on me with her magic.
"Yeah, thanks for catching me, Twilight," I replied sheepishly. "Looks like I'm gonna have to learn how to walk in this body as a start, so bear with me." I tried taking a few steps, only to trip and having to pick myself up slowly after learning how to better handle these new appendages.
"No need to rush, dear," Celestia spoke in that reassuring tone of hers. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions about what's going to happen from here on out, so just take your time and go step by step. Twilight is very reliable, so I'm sure you'll learn quickly with her. I have some other duties to attend to, but I'm glad to see that you're alright." She began to walk towards the door, turning to look at Twilight and me before exiting, "Take care of Charlie, Twilight. I'll come check in on you both later." With that and another warm smile, she was gone.
"Of course, Princess Celestia! You can count on me." Twilight gave a salute as she finished her statement, then turned around to face me, giddiness written almost all over her face. "So! You said you're a human, but that barely scratches the surface! Where did you come from? Was everyone there like you? What do humans do back where you're from?"
A bit taken aback from the sudden barrage of questions I merely chuckled and began to think of the best way to answer. Getting caught up in how to best answer her, a brief "ummm" escaped my lips, making Twilight stop and breathe for a second to contain her excitement.
"Sorry, sorry. I got a little too excited, didn't I?" She rubbed the back of her neck with a hoof, blushing a little bit at the realization of her slight brazenness. "First things first, I'll help you learn how to walk, then if you'd like I can show you around a bit and answer some of the questions that you have for me. Seem fair?" She extended a hoof in an invitation of friendship. I smiled and lifted one of my front legs, going for a hoof bump but missing horribly and throwing myself off balance, falling to the ground once again.
"Ugh," I groaned, but chuckled a bit. "I never thought I would have to do something like this in my life. Hopefully, this goes better than when I tried to learn how to skateboard though, because that was a mess." I stood myself back up and saw a puzzled look in Twilight's eyes.
"Skateboard? What's that?" She questioned.
I simply smiled and began taking some more steps, "don't worry I'll tell you all about it and more." And so, we set off to learn how to walk and to exchange information about each other's world.
~~~~~~~~
After about an hour or two, I had finally mastered walking in my new body, and Twilight and I had discussed quite a bit. All the things that I'd heard from her about Equus, and especially Equestria, being quite interesting. Almost unbelievable, but hey, everything that had happened in the last 24 hours was basically impossible, so we'd already crossed that line.
"So, you're telling me that humans use little boxes with glass windows to talk to each other from far away?" Twilight looked like she was about to fall out of the edge of her seat-if she had one-with how intently she was listening to my description.
I giggled a bit before replying, "Yeah, they're called cell phones, and basically everyone has one back in my world. I feel like if cell phones just disappeared one day that the world would go into chaos. Some people treat those things like they were their babies I swear." I laughed a bit more, reminiscing home.
"Same goes for you too, I imagine. Those cell phone gadgets seem pretty spectacular." She looked forward and at the ceiling, trying to picture in her mind all the possibilities of such a device.
I cut her thoughts a bit short though, "So hey, I kind of forgot to ask since we got swept up in the rush of the rest of our conversations, but since you seem pretty well versed in magic, so to say, do you have any idea how I was brought to this world?"
She turned back to me and furrowed her brows, thinking back to my tale of entering this world. "Well, there doesn't seem to be much to go off if your memory of that event is accurate. I'm not too sure who or what could control a mist like that. Except for maybe..." Twilight trailed off.
"Except for whom?" I inquired, curious to know who might've been responsible for my current predicament.
Twilight thought a bit more before shaking her head, "It's not important, there was really only one pony that used shadows a lot with their dark magic, but we've already rectified that problem, so it's highly implausible." She looked to me apologetically, "Sorry, Charlie, but I'll have to think about that one a bit more. Nothing makes sense about it right now."
I shook my head and smiled at Twilight, "That's fine, I figured I might as well ask since you'd know best but looks like I'll have to do some digging."
"Indeed. I'll help you dig, of course, two heads are better than one, right?" She stated happily, before a low growl could be heard coming from underneath her.
"What was that?" I looked at her but was then disrupted from my thoughts as a similar growl sounded out from my stomach.
"I was having so much fun talking with you that I must've forgotten how long it's been since I've ate. Speaking of which, you must be starving." She observed.
My stomach growled again in greater intensity this time, causing me to blush a little. "Definitely so, I don't think I've eaten anything since I arrived here, so some food would be really nice right about now."
"Well then it's a good thing I came to check in on you two." Celestia spoke as she approached us with a smile. "I figured that you two might forget to find something to eat, so I've had my cooks prepare us something for dinner, if you'd join us."
"Yes of course! We would love to join you, right Charlie?" Twilight looked over at me expectantly.
At the mere thought of food, I began to salivate, and quickly replied, "yeah, food sounds like a good idea."