//------------------------------//
// New Body 
// Story: Follow the Melody 
// by Astrocity 
//------------------------------//

After my little “freak out” with the screaming, the swearing, and the fact that I had been turned into a pony, a colt no less, the shocked expression on Lyra’s face steadily grew into a frown. Judging from her facial expressions, I learned that Equestria did in fact have profanity, despite it being a world from a cartoon originally made for little kids. However, swearing out loud was the least of my problems. Right now I had done what was physically impossible and was transported to a cartoon world filled with adorable ponies. I know. Crazy, right? There were only three explanations to what had occurred: one, I was actually hallucinating from taking drugs, although that seemed unlikely but still plausible; two, I had somehow gone crazy and I was now sitting in a padded room while talking to non-existent ponies; or three, I had been transported to the land of Equestria by magic. All these explanations seem pretty hard to believe, and the situation I was in didn't make any sense at all.
 
Back to the present, Lyra seemed a bit irritated by my sudden outburst of profanity and screaming from the frown she gave me. "Lyle, good little colts do not use foul language," Lyra scolded. Already my young appearance was having an effect on Lyra. Her didactic tone and lecture on swearing wounded my pride. Here she was talking to me like a child when not twenty four hours ago I was an adult. My poor brain was having too much trouble trying to process everything that had happened. It was a lot to wrap my head around.

"What the fuck? I'm not a little colt!"
 
She gave me a stern look. "That's right. You're not a little colt because big colts know not to say dirty words. But if you want to start acting like one, then I guess somepony won't be having pancakes for breakfast.”
 
I was about to retort with another string of profanity, but the loud protests from my stomach stopped me from doing so. "No wait! I'm sorry! I'll be a good colt from now on." I gave my best apologetic look. There was no way I was going to pass on free pancakes after eating cereal and frozen food for a week.

Lyra gave a warm smile, showing satisfaction in my genuine apology. "Well now that you're awake, let's go eat breakfast," she said as she began to trot out of the room.
 
I looked down at my equine body. Right... Hooves... The loss of hands and feet was a completely new sensation to me. I couldn't feel where my fingers or toes used to be now that they were gone. Going from a biped to a quadruped was disconcerting. It made all of this seem like a dream, but the soreness in my legs and the sting of my cuts told me otherwise. One of my rear legs gave a kick as I tested it out, showing that the stubby limb was definitely attached to me and was mine.
 
While being acquainted with my new appendages, I made standing up my first goal in this new small body. With more difficulty than it should for a normal pony — then again I wasn’t a normal pony — I stood up with my weight shifting between my hooves on the uneven surface of the bed. Standing up, I noticed that I had some bandages wrapped around parts of my legs and barrel. With everything that had happened, I can see why I didn't notice it. Honestly, it felt really strange, yet natural, to stand on four limbs. The two legs I was so used to walking on for the majority of my life were now bent in the opposite direction, and if I hadn’t known I was a pony, I would be having a panic attack right now.
 
Just when I thought standing up was hard, I found out learning to walk was ten times worse. As soon as I lifted my right foreleg, I lost my balance and fell flat on my face on the bed. It was a good thing I tried to start walking on the bed instead of the wooden floor. Otherwise, my face would probably hurt a lot more.
 
I got back up again, although rather shakily. Alright Lyle. You can do this. You've got this. Just take one step.
 
I carefully moved my right foreleg up, taking careful measures not to lose my balance, and placed it one step towards the edge of the bed. Seeing how I didn't fall on my face, I gave myself a triumphant grin. Fuck yeah! First step! Now for the other legs... Another question popped into my head as I thought about how I was going to move the rest of my legs. Do ponies move with alternating legs or did they move each pair at the same time? I decided to experiment and hesitantly moved my left hind leg forward. Luckily, I didn't fall, and I assumed I made the right choice in choosing my limbs. So like a newborn foal learning to walk, I did the same to my left foreleg then my right hind leg and began inching forward.
 
After finally reaching the edge of the bed, another problem came up. Now how the hell am I going to get down? I could try jumping off the bed, but I didn't want to risk anymore injury to myself. Instead, I decided to try and climb down the bed. Cautiously, I turned around so that my rear legs were position at the edge of the bed, and as slow as I could, I slid both legs off the bed with my forelegs grabbing onto the bed as if my life depended on it. When I felt a hard surface touch the bottom of my hooves, I gave a sigh of relief. As I loosened my death grip on the bed and attempted to turn around, I momentarily lost my balance. One second was all it took before I fell on my back with an audible thud.
 
Cursing under my breath, I attempted to stand again, though with less difficulty than it did the first time. I began practicing my walking by moving towards the dresser with the mirror. Left foreleg, right hind leg. Right foreleg, left hind leg. Usually, people don’t think when they walk, but then again, people don’t often get put into a new body all of sudden. I had my eyes on my hooves the whole time as I went through what was supposed to be a simple process.
 
When I finally reached the dresser, I realized how much shorter I got. My head barely reached above the dresser, but I was able to at least look at my reflection in the mirror. Like the rest of my body, my coat was mint-green. My mane was a lighter shade of my coat with a white stripe streaking through it like my tail. I saw the small horn perched at the top of my head, poking between the hairs of my mane. My eyes were the same color as Lyra’s, and they were larger than what it was before. Instead of having a normal mouth and nose, I had a small muzzle protruding out of my face. Bandages covered one side of my cheeks, evidence of last night’s incident. Another striking thing I noticed was how similar I looked to a certain human-obsessed unicorn. If I looked a few years older, I would have looked like a male version of Lyra.
 
I was pulled out of my thoughts when Lyra called out from downstairs. "Lyle, are you coming? Breakfast is going to get cold."
 
At that moment, my stomach decided to give a reminder of how hungry I was. "I'll be right down!" I replied. Making my way out the door, I noticed the pictures that decorated the yellow walls of the hall that led to the stairs. In most of these pictures were two ponies, one a green unicorn and the other a cream-colored earth pony with a rose pink stripe running down her blue mane. I recognized the pair as Lyra and Bon Bon. Housemates?
 
As I trotted down the hall, I stopped at the head of the stairs. Well... This is going to be impossible to go down without any bodily injury. Taking slow, carefully placed steps, I attempted to crawl down the stairs. It was going well at first, to the point where I made it halfway down the stairs, but then a certain unicorn decided to call out for me to come down at the worst time. "Lyle, are you okay up ther--"
 
She noticed me halfway down the stairs, and at that point I was already losing my balance after being startled from her sudden appearance. Time seemed to slow down as the disaster in front of me unfolded. I first misplaced one of my forelegs, sending my face falling forward towards one of the steps. As soon as my face made contact with the wooden step, a sharp pain shot through my face. That wasn't the end of my fall, however, as the rest of my body moved forward from the momentum, sending me tumbling down the stairs with pain coursing through my body with each hit against the hard wooden steps.
 
After my great impression of a slinky falling down the stairs, I came to a halt on the floor of the living room, flat on my belly in front of a worried Lyra. New pain replaced the aches and sores from the previous night. Lyra rushed closer to my side, checking for any serious wounds and spouting apologies. "Oh my gosh! Lyle, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to startle you. Are you okay?"

A painful groan escaped my lips. Oh, yeah. I’m fine, just dandy. I mean it’s not like I’m hurt or anything after falling down a flight of stairs. No, I'm not okay!

Of course, I didn’t say that out loud. She didn't know I was using hooves for the first time, after all, and it wasn’t like she did it with the intention to hurt me. It was just an accident. So instead, I gave a weak nod. She still gave me an apologetic look before leaning forward to nuzzle the side of my head. I was left flustered and speechless, unused to someone's face being so close to mine. I felt the heat rising to my cheeks as what I assumed was a blush starting to form. As she pulled her head away, she smiled at me, although there was still a hint of remorse in it.
 
"Sorry for startling you, Lyle. You're legs probably still hurt from that fall. Here, let me help you.”
 
I didn't know how she was going to help me. That was until I was enveloped in a green aura. She used her magic to hoist me onto her back. Another blush burned on my cheeks. Okay, so I’m naked and riding on top of— No! Stop that brain! I tried to perish that thought as Lyra carried me into the dining room. In the dining room was a wooden table with two plates stacked with pancakes covered in maple syrup, a small slice of butter sitting on top of each. Next to these two plates were glasses of the pulpy goodness that was fresh-squeezed orange juice.
 
My mouth watered at the sight before me. My stomach seemed to agree with me with another loud rumble. Food! I’m so hungry I could eat a horse... I better make sure not to say that out loud. Lyra heard my stomach and gave a small chuckle as I gazed at the nice spread. She levitated me off her back and onto a chair right by one of the plates filled with flapjacks. As I hungrily stared at the pancake in front of me like a predator eyeing his prey, I came upon another problem. How the hell am I supposed to eat this?

I looked at the fork and knife sitting next to the plate and then back at my own pancakes. None of this made sense. How am I supposed to hold utensils? And who the hell invented these utensils for pony use? I can see how a unicorn would use magic to pick these up, but how did other ponies use utensils? As I pondered over my predicament, Lyra was already digging into her stack, using magic to levitate the fork and knife. She stopped eating when she noticed that I hadn't taken a single bite out of the delicious-looking pancakes.
 
"Something wrong?"
 
I looked up from my plate and gave a nervous smile. "Oh, nothing's wrong. It's just... I’m not sure how to eat this without magic."
 
She gave an understanding nod. "I understand. Most young unicorns aren't able to use magic until they're older. Eat in whatever way you feel comfortable with. I don't mind."
 
I tried to grasp the fork with my right foreleg, but all I ended up doing was pushing the fork with my stubby legs. It seemed impossible to hold anything with hooves! Left with no other choice, I hesitantly took a small bite out of the top layer of pancakes. As soon as the fluffy, golden tan deliciousness came in contact with my tongue, there was an explosion of flavor – the buttery taste mixing with the sticky sweetness of the maple syrup. I let out a loud "Mmmmmm" of contentment as I savored each bite. It was one of the best things I had ever eaten this entire week. I attempted to wash down the flapjacks with orange juice, but the lack of hands reminded me of why this was going to be a difficult task. Throwing caution to the wind, I wrapped both of my hooves around each side of the glass, and using my fetlocks, I shakily lifted the glass off the table and brought it to my mouth. Forgetting that I now had a muzzle, I ended up smacking the glass into my nose and doing a little juggle with the cup as I tried to grip it again. Fortunately, there weren’t any damages and I only dropped a few drops of orange juice. I chuckled nervously at Lyra who had stopped eating and was watching the whole spectacle with one eyebrow raised. With everything back under control, I slowly tipped the cup back, filling my mouth with the sweet nectar of oranges. I downed the whole juice greedily before setting the glass down and letting out a sigh.
 
Now with food in my belly, I was able to think more clearly without the distraction of hunger. So a recap of what happened: I slept in my bed last night like normal, woke up in Equestria as a young colt, and got chased by timberwolves, leading up to where I was now. On one hand, er hoof (I'll never get used to that), I was in a place where there’s magic and my favorite adorable, talking ponies. On the other hoof, I was a little colt who has to relive childhood and whose family has no clue where he was. And to make matters much more complicated, there was explaining to Lyra what I was.

Should I tell Lyra what I am? I wasn’t sure how accurate the pony fandom was, so I wasn’t even sure if she knew about humans. With so many choices to make, I didn’t know how to approach the situation. Lyra, however, was able to bring my train of thought to a halt when she started asking questions.
 
"So Lyle, where are your parents? They must be really worried by now since you spent the night here."
 
I decided that I should tackle my situation one problem at a time, starting with my regressed age. "Well, I don't think they would really be worried about me spending the night here."
 
"Why wouldn't they be worried? Their young foal is missing! Don't they care about you?"
 
I needed to correct the misunderstanding quickly. “Oh, they care about me. I’m pretty sure they know I can take of myself.."
 
She frowned, unsatisfied with the answer she got. "Aren't you a little young to be living on your own? You're not even a full grown stallion yet."
 
Now was the moment of truth. "About that... I'm actually older than I look. You see, last night before I fell asleep, I somehow turned into a little colt. I’m actually older." I didn't want to tell her about being a human from another world just yet. There was no need to make things more confusing than it already was.
 
The little change her facial expression after I told her about my situation told me that she didn't believe a single bit of my explanation. She moved closer to me and placed one of her hooves on my forehead. "You still feel a little warm. I think you should rest a little more, and we'll talk about this later."
 
With a sigh of disappointment, which Lyra took as tiredness, I walked back to the living room and climbed up the stairs. I can tell you that it was a lot easier going up than going down. I walked back into Lyra's room and crawled into bed to sleep on the whole being-in-Equestria thing. It was midday, but I still felt tired after all that had happened just after waking up. As I began to sleep, Lyra quietly slipped outside and made her way to Ponyville's library.
 
I'm sure Twilight would know what to do with Lyle. She’s pretty smart after all, she thought.