//------------------------------// // Gender Confusion // Story: Follow the Melody // by Astrocity //------------------------------// You know, when you suddenly get sent to another world, you’d think your life would be a lot more interesting. Sure, it was at first. I thought that my life would be more exciting and filled with adventures when I came to Equestria, like fighting off long forgotten evils or going on wacky adventures with the Equestria’s saviors, but nope. Instead, I went back to school and spent my free time reading about magic and other stuff. I felt like fate ripped me off. Not much happens between the show’s episodes as it turned out. The life of a pony wasn’t that much different from that of a human. Kids are still kids; ponies, like humans, still have to work to eat; and tax collectors still collect taxes. The only thing different was the diet, the use of “somepony” instead of “somebody”, the new pony limbs, and of course, the presence of magic. Other than that, things weren’t much different here.   I strolled through the streets of Ponyville. My mind kept going back to my last night as a human. There were so many questions. How did I get here? Why was I here? So many questions, yet I had none of the answers. Bits and pieces of my last night on Earth started coming back. The last thing I remembered was coming back home and going into my room. Everything after that was hazy. I kept drawing a blank whenever I tried to think about what happened between then and when I woke up in the Everfree Forest.   I was too preoccupied by my thoughts to notice the filly trotting next to me. She held a pink flyer of two ponies, one bigger than the other. "Howdy Lyle! How're ya doing?" she asked with the flyer in her mouth.   Her voice broke me from my thoughts, startling me a bit. I shrugged my shoulders. "Eh, nothing much, Apple Bloom. I guess I’m just waiting for the plot to unfold," I said casually.   She scrunched her nose, clueless to what I was talking about. "The what now?"   I shook my head. “It’s nothing.” Though I said it was nothing, that didn’t stop her from giving me a suspicious look. Thankfully, I saw Sweetie Belle. “Hey, isn’t that Sweetie Belle?” I asked, changing the subject.   Apple Bloom turned her head in the direction I was looking. “Yeah, it is her! I wonder why she looks so sad.”   I began trotting in Sweetie Belle’s direction. “Then, I guess it’s up to us to cheer her up, right?”   She smiled and nodded. “Mhmm!” She ran ahead of me to cheer up Sweetie Belle. I chuckled at her enthusiasm to help her friend. Sweet kid. If only she could figure out what her cutie mark was…   Sweetie Belle walked with her head held low, her eyes looking down at the ground in front of her. She stopped in front of Apple Bloom, who now sported a happy grin. Apple Bloom set the flyer down. "How's the sleep over at Rarity's going?" she asked Sweetie Belle.   Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and grimaced. She then gave her best Rarity impression, which I had to admit was pretty good, complete with a pompous trot. "Why it's smashing!" She walked away, the scowl on her face returning.   Apple Bloom raised a brow. "Huh?"   The upset filly went up to a statue and sat on the pedestal. "I just wish we could do something special together that didn't include me goofing anything up."   Apple Bloom frowned at her failed attempt to cheer up Sweetie Belle. She was clearly concerned about her friend. I gave her a small cough to grab her attention and nodded my head at the flyer she put down. She seemed to get the idea judging by the huge smile she gave me. She picked up the flyer with her mouth and galloped towards Sweetie Belle. "The Sisterhooves Social! Applejack and I do it every year. You and Rarity can compete against other sister teams in all these neat events."   At the mention of the idea, Sweetie Belle lightened up. "That sounds like the perfect way for us to hang out! Rarity will think it's an excellent idea."   No, she won’t, I thought.   The two fillies turned their attention toward me, their smiles dampening at the sight of me. What’s up with them? Apple Bloom stepped forward. "Sorry Lyle, but the Sisterhooves Social is for sisters, and well, you're not exactly a filly." It didn’t take a genius to figure that out.   "But other than that, if you were a filly, then I guess you and your sister, Lyra, could join Sisterhooves Social," added Sweetie Belle.   I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be able to join the girls in the Sisterhooves Social, but I didn't let it show. Instead, I laughed at what Sweetie Belle just said. "It’s okay. I'm fine with that, but Lyra and I aren't sisters." The two fillies apparently weren't expecting my reaction or my comment about Lyra and me.   "You and Lyra ain't siblings?" asked the confused Apple Bloom.   "So are you two like cousins?" Sweetie Belle asked.   I shook my head. "Nope, we're not even related."   Apple Bloom put a hoof to her chin and made the most adorable thoughtful expression. "If you and Lyra ain't kin, then why are ya living together then? Where's yer family?"   Uh oh. This question again. "Uh... I don’t have a family anymore, and the reason why I’m living with Lyra is because I kinda got lost one day and ended up in Ponyville where I met her. She and Bon Bon thought it was a great idea for me to stay with them for the time being, but I think I'm just going to live with them until I find a place of my own." I hope earning the bits to buy a house isn't going to take long. I don't want to wait until I'm older to move out. The sooner I move out, the sooner I could be less of a burden to them.   It was too late to realize what I had said by the time I noticed the pitiful looks I was getting from the two fillies. Aw dammit, not again.   "That's... that's so sad..." Sweetie Belle looked like she was on the verge of tears, and looking back at Apple Bloom, I could see some tears hanging at the corner of her eyes.   Fix this Lyle before the waterworks happen. Fix it!   I waved my hooves frantically. "Nononono, please don't cry! I'm fine! Really! I'm used to living on my own. It’s no big deal, honest!" Unfortunately, what I said I had the unintended effect I was trying to avoid. They came up to me and cried, trying to nuzzle me while at the same time getting my coat wet with their tears. Thankfully, there was no one around to see this. Their tear-streaked faces pulled at my heartstrings.   My heart can't take much more of this. I tried to cheer them up before I got a heart attack from their adorableness. "Come on, girls. Cheer up! There's no reason for you two to be sad about me. After all, I'm not crying, and I'm the one going through this."   Apple Bloom looked up from my right shoulder, which she was using to wipe her tears. "B-but it's just… not having a family is…” THOSE EYES!   I shushed her with a hoof. "I'm fine. Now wipe those tears. Come on, let’s see those smiles," I said with a big smile of my own. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at me with small smiles on their faces. The two got off my tear-soaked shoulders and wiped their eyes with their hooves. “Alright, you two have fun at the social, and no more crying, you hear me?” The Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle nodded. “See you later, girls.”   “Bye, Lyle,” they said.   I walked back home. Lyra and Bon Bon weren't home yet, so I went up to my room and closed the door behind me. I rubbed my temples and let out a heavy sigh. I felt a headache growing as I was reminded of my stressful situation, and explaining to the girls why I was living with Lyra and Bon Bon didn’t make it any better.   I brought out one of Twilight’s books, the one on illusions. I flipped to a page, going over the steps for casting a more complex illusion. It was about time I tried my hooves at something a little harder. The sooner I looked older, the better. Though, as I was reading, I reminded of the reason for doing this. It was just another cover-up to become something I wasn’t. I was using another illusion to hide the fact that I was a little colt while hiding the truth that I was an adult human. There was another shot of pain from my headache – the pang of guilt. I stuffed it down the deepest recess of my mind before turning my attention back to what I was doing.   Okay, so I just have to keep the image I want to look as in my head while casting the spell. Let’s see… Warning, side effects may include: drowsiness, nausea, itching, blah blah blah… Ah, here we go!   I set the book down in front of me and closed my eyes as I prepared the spell. A light, prickling sensation covered the top of my forehead where my horn was. I clenched my eyes shut as the pressure built on my horn. I tried to visualize myself older, but the guilty thoughts crept back to my mind.   It’s not lying. I’m just trying to look my age, that’s all. Besides, I’m already lying by being a colt, and it’s not like I chose to be a colt. The pressure in my horn increased.   I’ll come clean to everyone as soon as I figure everything out. What would Lyra say if she found out? I shuddered at the thought as my mind shifted to the unicorn taking care of me. I didn’t want to think about how she would react. I imagined her being very concerned at my mental state or very angry that I had lied to her. Either way, it didn’t look good for me.   I was so distracted by my thoughts of Lyra that I almost forgot about the magic charging in my horn. By the time I realized it, it was too late. With a bright flash from my horn, everything turned white. I felt all the pent up magic flow out of my horn like a geyser. A tingling feeling covered my body. I didn’t have enough time to scream or yell in panic as it was over in an instant. By the time my vision came back, I was seeing stars. I held my hooves over my eyes.   “Ugh, I am not doing that again,” said a girl’s voice. My ears shot up as I looked around the room for whoever said that.   “Is anyone here?” I asked, but there was a girl’s voice instead of my own.   I cleared my throat. “H-hello?” The same voice answered again, which was the only answer I needed to figure out what happened. “Is that my voice? Is that my voice?!”   My hooves reached up to my face, feeling my muzzle and my throat. I needed a mirror. I ran, or rather stumbled, into the bathroom, taking a good look at myself in the mirror. It was not the result I had in mind...   I looked about the same age as I was before I cast the spell. But then I noticed some minor changes to my body… My eyelashes were longer. My muzzle was smaller. My body looked slimmer than before. For a second, I thought I was looking at a picture of Lyra of when she was a foal, but that was not the case. I raised a hoof, and so did the filly in the mirror. I slapped myself in the face, a painful reminder that hooves weren’t as soft as hands. I blinked twice at the filly who stood in the reflection. As realization sunk in, I gave a loud high-pitched scream.   "AAAAAAHHH!" I scrambled away from the mirror.   With my mind confused and screaming in panic, I thought freaking out was the best thing to do in my situation. “Oh no! Oh nonono! This can’t be happening!" In the midst of my panicking, I slowly looked down to confirm something. When I looked between my legs, I noticed a certain part of me missing and replaced with something… new… With a clear view of my new anatomy, I felt the heat rising to my cheeks, burning them as they took on a scarlet hue. I looked away and closed my legs. What the fuck happened?!   I fell onto my haunches and shook my head. “It’s just an illusion. It’s just an illusion. It better be an illusion.” Illusion or not, the fact that I now looked like a filly was distressing.   I rushed back to my room, picking up the book I was reading from. I hastily turned the pages to the spell. I facehoofed at what I was seeing. With the amount of magic I put into the spell, there was no exact time for how long I was going to be stuck like this, but I’d say a couple days, maybe… So, here I was stuck as a filly, adding on to the problem of being stuck in Equestria and transforming from a human to a unicorn, a young colt no less. Oh, I almost forgot to add being a huge liar to the list.   I spent the next few minutes banging my head against the floorboards of my room. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" I shouted after each thump of my skull making contact with the floor. I took a deep breath. “Okay, calm down. I have to calm down. I just need to wait it out. Yeah, that’s it! I just gotta wait it out!” I didn’t realize I was talking to myself like a certain purple unicorn, but at least I had a legitimate reason for being stressed out. I hopped onto my bed and lied there. “I just have to go without seeing anyone for a while until the spell wears out, and everything will be just fine.”   "Lyle, you here? I'm home!" called Lyra.   Oh great… I forgot she and Bon Bon lived here. I didn't want to see her at the moment with the way I was now, but that didn't stop Lyra from poking her head through my door. "Hey Lyle, what's goin—" She stopped mid-sentence, staring at me. The door was left wide open, giving her a full view of me. She slowly trotted in, still keeping her eyes on me.   I didn't get up from my bed. Instead, I stared at the ceiling, avoiding eye contact with her. "Hey Lyra. What's up?" I said. I still couldn’t get used to my new voice.   Lyra gawked at me, taking in all the changes that came with being transformed into a filly. "Why… No, how are you a filly?!"   I turned my head towards her, giving her a deadpan expression. "Magic… Magic happened." She was obviously still confused. “I’ll explain later. Just leave me alone for a while…” Without a word, she nodded and headed back downstairs. It must have been weird for her to see someone that looked like a younger version of herself, more so for me.   I lied on my bed for quite a while, just thinking about things, like what I would do if I was stuck like this or how my friends were going to treat me or all the events that led up to this moment. I couldn’t imagine living the rest of my life looking like a filly or a mare, even if it was an illusion. I gagged at the thought of a stallion or colt hitting on me, a thought I locked away in my mind, never to see the light of day again. By the time it was dusk, Lyra called me down for supper.   She knocked on my door. “Lyle? Are you okay to come down for dinner?”   I rolled off my bed and opened the door, revealing Lyra. She stood there with a worried expression on her face. I nodded listlessly. “Uh huh.”   We trotted downstairs and into the dining room wordlessly. Bon Bon sat at the table, a look of shock on her face when she saw me, though she didn’t say anything. I sat down and began eating the soup in front of me. Dinner went on in awkward silence with the occasional sounds of slurping. Thankfully, Lyra shattered the silence and was the only one brave enough to address the elephant in the room. She put down her spoon and looked at me. "Lyle, care to explain what happened?"   I stopped eating and set my spoon down. "Not really…” I withered under her gaze as she shot me a look demanding answers. I wasn’t going to get out of an explanation for this one. “Alright, fine. Long story short, something went wrong with a spell I was trying to learn, but don’t worry! This is just an illusion.”   The air in the room was thick with tension until Bon Bon spoke up. "So, how long are you a filly?"   I scratched the back of my head. "Oh, it’ll wear off in few days." Hopefully…   Lyra let out a sigh I didn't know she had been holding. "Well that's good. It would have been really bad if you were stuck that way forever."   "Don't jinx it," I replied curtly.   Seeing my irritable expression, Lyra looked around the room trying to find some way to get my mind off the situation. All of a sudden, her ears perked up and she began to smile. "Lyle, I have an idea that will cheer you up."   I stared at my soup as I absently stirred it with my spoon. "What?"   She left the table and returned with a flyer floating next to her. "You and I could join the Sisterhooves Social!"   I eyed the flyer and then at her. Is she serious?   "Even though you and I aren't sisters, we can join the events since we practically look related," she said.   Now that I was a filly, I could show up at the social and hang out with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. "Uh, sure, I guess that sounds okay."   Lyra beamed at me. "Great! Now we just need to give you a filly's name."   “Wait, what?” I have to change my name too?   "Well, we can't keep calling you ‘Lyle’ now that you're a filly. We have to come up with a new name for you."   Oh, that makes sense. I’d probably die from embarrassment if anyone else found out about this. So names, huh? Amanda, Julie, Lauren? No wait, I need pony names. Maybe Minty Green? Nah, something else that doesn’t sound a brand of breath mints. What else is there? I tapped my chin with a hoof. I looked around the room for ideas for a good name. My eyes stopped at Lyra’s cutie mark. Hmm, maybe something with music?   A name finally hit me. "What about Melody?" I asked.   "Hmm, Melody sounds nice. What do you think Bon Bon?" Lyra turned to the earth pony mare.   Bon Bon shrugged her shoulders. "The name is okay, but are you really going to do this?" she asked.   "Sure we are! It'll cheer up poor Lyle, I mean Melody, here after all she's been through," she winked, giving me a nudge.   Bon Bon gave a sigh. "Well, okay. You two do what you want."   After cleaning up after dinner, we all went to our rooms. I didn't know what Bon Bon was doing, probably sleeping or doing whatever she did in her free time, but from my room, I could hear the sound of Lyra practicing her lyre. Each string she strummed created the most wondrous sound that rang in my ears. As I lied in bed, my mind wandered to the guitar I saw in the shop the other day. I really missed playing music, and I didn't even have my phone or my computer with me to listen to my songs. My eyes grew heavier each minute. The last thing I heard before sleeping was Lyra’s lyre, humming its little tune.   ~~~~~~~   Today was the day of the Sisterhooves Social. Colorful tents were propped up, and mares and fillies were taking part in all sorts of events of the fair, from pie eating contests to apple bobbing. In the center of the fair, Granny Smith and Big Macintosh stood on a raised platform, ready to announce the big race.   "Now, the event you've all been waiting fer! The Sister Soci— The Socialhoof— Oh, dabnabbit, you know, the big race!" announced the green, old mare.   Lyra and I lined up at the starting the line. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach as we got ready. Although I wanted to go to the Sisterhooves Social and watch Sweetie Belle and Rarity race, I was still uncomfortable looking like a filly. It would be really embarrassing if the illusion wore off in the middle of the race in front of every single mare and filly at the social. Beside us were the other competitors. Of course, I recognized a particular pair.   As we lined up, Sweetie Belle noticed me and Lyra. I turned my head to the side away from her, hoping she wouldn’t recognize me. "Hi Lyra! I didn't know you had a sister." From the corner of my eyes, Applejack also looked just as surprised when she saw me.   "This is my sister, Melody. Say hi, Melody," Lyra said, nudging me with her nose.   I gave an awkward smile. "Uh... hiya." There’s no way they would believe that I’m her sister.   Sweetie Belle went up to me and held out a hoof. “Hi Melody! My name’s Sweetie Belle.” I took her hoof and shook it. I can’t believe she bought it…   “Howdy there,” greeted Applejack. “Ah’m Applejack. Lyra never told us she had a sister.”   I scratched the back of my head, giving a nervous chuckle. “Uh, yeah, it’s because I still live with, uh, Mom and Dad, and I’m here to visit her in Ponyville.”   Thankfully, I didn’t have to answer any more questions as the race was about to start. We all got in our positions.   “Good luck. Hope you two win,” I said to Sweetie Belle.   “Thanks, you too!” She beamed.   "On your marks... get set... Gooooo!" shouted Granny Smith as she poked her eye on the megaphone. Ouch, that had to hurt.   Lyra and I wasted no time as we ran ahead of the others. Taking a glance back, I noticed Rarity jump into the mud pit with a grimace on her face just before Sweetie Belle turned around to check up on Applejack. I smiled at this and continued on with the race. Lyra and I got through all the events quickly since I told her some of the strategies of winning each event. It helped to watch the show. By the time we got to the finish line, we had won in a record breaking time, followed by Sweetie Belle and “Applejack”.   Shortly after, Sweetie Belle finally figured out the switcheroo Applejack and Rarity did during the race. Apple Bloom came up running up to the three of them to congratulate Rarity and Sweetie Belle. Lyra and I decided to show up to show some good sportsmanship, or sportsponyship, if that made any sense.   "That was a great race, you two. We had lots of fun didn't we, Melody?" asked Lyra.   I nodded. "Yep! I had a great time."   We laughed and talked about the race, how funny it was to see Rarity act so “uncouth”, and Rarity’s plan to win her sister back. Needless to say, it was a blast. Like everyone else, Rarity asked the question about Lyra’s sudden appearance of a sister. "Lyra, I didn't know you had a sister. When did this happen?"   Before Lyra could even respond, I started glowing golden yellow, the same color as my magic. Oh no, not now! The tingling sensation returned, followed by a bright flash. All the girls that were there shielded their eyes from the bright flash, and like the first time I cast the spell, it was over. When they looked back at where I was, their eyes nearly bulged out and their jaws dropped down. The only exception to this was Lyra, who seemed relieved at the sight of me.   "LYLE?!" they shouted.   I looked over myself, glad to be male once again, then back at the ponies who shouted, shock and confusion plastered on their faces. Lyra stood with them, smiling at their reactions just like I was doing. I nervously laughed. "Heh heh, surprise?" It didn’t take long for the barrage of questions to hit me.   “You were Melody?”   “How’d ya do that?”   “That was cool! Do that again!”   With some help from Lyra, I was able to calm everyone down. I retold the tale of my magical mishap yesterday and how Lyra suggested the idea of the joining the social. I, of course, left out the reasons for wanting to change how I looked, simply stating that I wanted to learn more. I didn’t need anyone prying into my business, after all. After answering as many questions as I possibly could, I asked, "So, have you girls learned anything today?”   Rarity and Sweetie Belle glanced at each other, both their mouths shifting into a smile, before Rarity turned towards me. “Yes, Lyle. Yes, I have.”   “Me too,” added Sweetie Belle.   There was a heartfelt moment between Rarity and Sweetie Belle as they nuzzled each other, followed by all of us laughing when Rarity mentioned going to the spa. We all went home after the day's events. By now, Spike was probably writing a letter to Princess Celestia about Rarity and Sweetie Belle's lesson on friendship. At this time, Lyra and I were walking home just talking about stuff.   "Lyra, today was so much fun. Thank you for, you know, everything."   "It's no problem, Lyle," she replied.   "Well, thanks again for trying to cheer me up."   She gave a titter which I had grown to love. "That's what friends do."   I felt both happy and a bit sad when she said "friends". I quickly shook my head. Where did that come from? Am I really falling for her? I've only been in Equestria for about a week, and I'm still not sure if there's a way back home yet. Maybe it’s gotta be the spell messing with my hormones. Yeah, that's got to be it.   The rest of the walk went by in peaceful silence. By the time I got back to the house, I went to my room, taking out a pencil and a parchment. I began to write.   Dear Princess Celestia, Today I've learned an important lesson on the magic of friendship. I realize how precious the bond between friends really is. After seeing your student's friends, Applejack and Rarity, laughing and playing with their sisters during the Sisterhooves Social, I see now that sisters aren't just siblings. No, they're more than that. They're best friends. Siblings will have their ups and downs, that much is inevitable, but no force will be strong enough to tear them apart. They will continue on being the best of friends. The magic of friendship cannot be described with these words for it is much greater than that. From, Anonymous   After checking over the letter with a satisfied smile, I rolled the parchment up and tied it with a blue ribbon I found in the closet of stored boxes. I planned on sending an anonymous report on friendship every now and then. It was kind of a way to keep track of my adventures here in Equestria. Now with the letter held in my mouth, I teleported outside my window before gravity sent me falling down to the earth. Thankfully, a bush cushioned my fall, though it wasn’t exactly comfortable with a branch poking my back. I gotta work on that as well as my landing.   Stumbling out of the bush, I ran to Twilight's home just outside her window. I made sure I wasn't seen from the window as I stuck close to the wall. Looking inside, I saw Spike shelving some books and Twilight reading and taking notes. Looking at the note in my mouth and the book in front of Twilight, I tried to teleport my letter in front of her book. My aim was a little off. Instead of teleporting the letter on top of the page she was reading, it popped up above her head before landing on the unsuspecting mare. Startled by the sudden appearance of a scroll, she looked around the room before glaring at Spike.   “Spike, what was that for?!” she yelled.   Said purple dragon was still on a ladder, precariously balancing a stack of books in his arms. However, he fell and dropped all the books on the floor when his name was called. “What was what for?” he asked, rubbing his head. I made sure to stick to the shadows outside her house to avoid being seen but close enough to the window to see what's going on.   She lifted the scroll in front of Spike. “You didn’t just throw this at me?”   Spike shook his head. “No, I didn’t.”   She cast a questioning glance at Spike before turning to the scroll. She unrolled the piece of paper and began reading it. I saw her smile when she started reading the letter, but that smile gradually faded as she took on a more confused look.   Twilight put a hoof to chin. I watched her nose scrunch and her brows furrow as she stared the scroll, as if she could find some hidden answer by scrutinizing between the lines. She gave a sigh and levitated the blue-ribboned scroll to Spike, who quickly let out a breath of green fire. The parchment was magically incinerated, and the wispy remains of the letter flew out of the window I was looking from, heading towards Canterlot.   With my letter now sent, I ran back to Lyra's house and teleported to my window, just barely getting in, without Lyra even noticing I was gone. Dinner went on as usual with me, Lyra, and Bon Bon as we ate another vegetarian meal, no surprise there. I still missed the taste of meat and all the dishes with it, but since the ponies here didn't eat meat and the cows were sentient, I didn't have much of a choice.   With dinner finished, we all hung around at the table, talking about how our day went. My day turned out better than expected, despite being turned into a filly by an illusion spell gone wrong. It was getting late. We all headed towards our rooms and got ready for bed. The whole day as well as yesterday was, in summary, unbelievably crazy. Getting turned into a filly isn't something that happens every day to a guy. I flopped onto my bed, exhausted. While lying in my bed, I thought out loud.   "Fate, or whoever is messing with my life, the next time you decide to give me an adventure, leave my fucking genitals out of it. Please?" I was soon out like a light.   ~~~~~~~   Soon after Spike sent the mysterious friendship report to Princess Celestia, Twilight was racking her brain over the letter. Although Twilight continued from where she left off in her reading, her mind was still on the scroll and the mysterious sender, like a riddle that needed to be solved. Who sent that letter to me? Judging from the letter, this pony seems to know Applejack, Rarity, and for some reason, me. Apparently, he knows about my friendship reports, which was probably why he sent the letter to me and Spike. I wonder who it could be.