Changes

by TTV_KingPhoenixEmbers

Changes

“Okay... this has to be the most vivid – and weirdest – dream I've ever had... and I think it's only been about ten seconds.”

Looked around for a bit, walking forward a few steps.

“...Yup, weirdest. Probably because it's the first lucid dream ever... and the first actually memorable dream in about ten years...”

After a bit more of walking, an eyebrow was raised at what was presented there.

“A table?” A scrape as the chair was pulled back, the paper on the small table picked up, and the nearby pen left alone.

“Welcome.”

The person jumped, looking about. When there was no response, he then frowned with a tilted head as he looked back forward, “Okaaay... uh... thanks?”

A chuckle resounded in the near-empty white void, “There is no need to be confused. This is nothing more than a simple test.”

His other eyebrow rose, “And here I thought I'd get away from school in my own dream.”

“A far more important test than one of those, my little human.”

“You say that as if you aren't...” He commented, as he looked back at the table – and realized he'd dropped the paper in his surprise earlier. With a grunt, he picked it up from the floor... if it could even be called that.

“It is only one question, but you have a limited time... must I explain it in detail?”

“No, but I'd like to know how long I have.”

“Once you start reading, the clock will start ticking – and you will only have seven minutes.”

The man blinked, and looked at the paper a little more closely, no longer being distracted by the voice. Sure enough, as soon as he began, three bright red numbers burned in the air beside him, erupting into existence with a small fwoom as the flaming digits appeared. Just as quickly, they began to tick down from seven minutes. His eyes widening as he read along at the directions, he made sure to read it again:

Imagine that right now you will be transformed into one of the Mane 6 from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Some basic rules: you must be transformed; the change is permanent; you must remain in your home world; you don't have the memories of the pony of your choice, only yours; as a result of the previous rule, anything they can do, you can – but you must teach yourself.

Now, make your choice.

“Okay, not gonna lie, this has to be one of the hardest choices I've ever had to make...”

Silence for a moment. The male looked up, giving a dull look.

“Oh, so now you vanish?” He scoffed, before standing and starting to pace.

After a bit, he glanced at the timer, and immediantly noticed that the timer was already getting low on minutes. It was getting into the final several seconds. He had started to search through the drawers, and after finding what he was searching for, smirked, and pulled out his prize. The voice returned at what he'd picked up.

“You're serious?” It asked in a deadpan-tone. “You're seriously going to make this important of a decision by flipping a freaking coin?”

“You do know the whole mechanic of flipping a coin, don't you?” The man countered, confident. “I have two choices in my mind, both equally advantagous... not that it really matters in a dream...”

“Well, whatever the mechanic is, you'd better hurry; ten seconds.”

“Because when one flips a coin...”

“Five seconds.”

“In those few moments that it hangs in the air, you suddenly know what answer you're hoping for.”

“You'd better choose now, or I get to pick for you.”

“And my choice is –!”

He jumped a bit, and blinked in shock at the alarming sound. Unsure of just what was so annoyingly loud, he looked about, before spotting his alarm clock and how it was going off. Sighing, he plopped his head back onto the pillow, reached over, and hit the snooze button. Five more minutes, please. He couldn't even remember why he'd set the darn thing when it was a freaking day off. After another moment of thought, he reached over and shoved the alarm into 'off' mode; no need to have it go off in five minutes when he didn't even have an agenda for the day.

“Weirdest. Dream. Ever,” He mumbled into the soft pillow, trying to bury himself as deep into the bed as physically possible, his wings twitching slightly as he did so.

Pause as sleep started to slowly encompass his mind again. Then he bolted upright, suddenly wide-awake as alarm raced through his veins. There was just no way.

“It's just a dream, just a dream...” He said to himself, feeling as if he were on the verge of a panic-attack. “It's just a freaking dream!”

Reaching up to his face, he poked hard at the cheek – and winced at the sharp jab's harsh contact. Which kinda hurt from the fact that he practically poked his eye out from the attempt at 'waking up'; scrambling out of his bed – and crashing on his face on the floor – he spent a couple minutes struggle to pull open the door, before racing rather awkwardly into the bathroom and heaving himself onto the counter – where it was confirmed. He collapsed on the counter, just staring at the reflection in the mirror... and no matter how much he tried to internally dispute it, he couldn't; reality had already set in, the fact that he was clearly awake proving as a testimony to that fact. With a gulp, he carefully set about getting down from the restroom counter, ending up on his face in the process.

“This is going to get old fast...” He grumbled, forcing himself to his feet – er, hooves.

Gingerly, carefully, he set about learning how to walk on all fours, and to get some food. He paused at a picture of himself and his mother – christened John, Mom & the Cape – showing them smiling as they stood atop a mountain with a beautiful ocean in the background. He wondered how she would react to finding out just what had occurred – and all because of a freaky dream, no less. John would tell her in time, but for now, he needed to get this walking thing down. Again.

“Whoever thought that walking on all fours was easier was insane,” He grumbled darkly, as he slipped again, this time on the cold tile of the kitchen. “This is freaking impossible. Not to mention the wings... just how in the name of all that is holy am I going to teach myself how to fly?”

John carefully sat up from where he'd crashed into the kitchen's harsh floor, gently rubbing a sore spot on the underside of his chin, and looked himself over again. While he openly admitted to being a brony, he never expected this to happen. If there was anything about this that he was grateful for, it was that he was still, well... he was still a he. Everything else, though, just threw a monkey wrench into his life. What was he supposed to do?

In the dream he'd made the final choice of Rainbow Dash, and just as had been told by the instructions, he'd actually been made to look almost exactly like her, cutie mark and all... with some differences. It looked a bit odd, being a slightly bulkier version of what he'd seen on the screen, his muzzle a slightly different shape; but he wouldn't have noticed if not for spending those several minutes staring in the mirror. The differences – aside from gender – were as small as physically possible, so that to the unobservant viewer, he was identical to the actual Dash. Only the smallest of details – like a lack of the feminine eye-lashes, his eye color being tinted darker by the smallest possible amount, and a slightly different muscle distribution. All in all, he looked just like Dash if one ignored the details.

He paused his thoughts as his stomach growled loudly, “And just what am I supposed to eat? Equines don't eat meat... so now what?”

Very carefully making his way to the fridge, John wondered how he'd open the door to it. After quite a bit of struggle and failure, he decided to deal with it later, and just went over to the fruit bowl sitting on the side-table. Grabbing an apple in his teeth, he wondered how he'd do this, and decided that simply eating it one bite at a time would help him get accustomed to this shape. The former human was surprised to find it rather easy to eat the apple, finishing it all the way to the core for the first time in a long time.

“I suppose I should try to shower...” John mused to himself, as he walked along gingerly back to the restroom. He paused once inside it, sighing as he looked at his reflection again – before shaking his head and continuing on, making sure to shut the door behind him. “Now just how am I supposed to grab the handle?”

Going over the tub's rim one hoof/leg at a time, he gave a bit of a smile at having not fallen over in a while. Perhaps walking on all fours was as easy as some people said. Especially with the tail helping to balance. As for turning on the water, it turned out to be a bit of a struggle, as he assumed he had to wrap two legs around the knob to turn it – until he felt something on the underside of a hoof 'grip' the device. With a blink, he twisted the knob, and was shocked to see the water turn on. Blinking in confusion, he pulled it back and stared at the underside.

“I think I'm finally going insane,” He murmured to himself. “Not that I wasn't already a bit crazy, but still...”

Wishing to test this again, John reached over for the bar of soap in an attempt to pick it up – and was utterly shocked when it worked. The thing stuck to the underside of his hoof like a magnet to metal. Frowning in confusion, he put down the soap and inspected the hoof again, sitting down to poke at it with the other hoof. Blinking in realization at what he felt, he suddenly had a theory.

“It feels like magic or something,” He muttered to himself. Thinking aloud always helped him get his thoughts straight. “Lauren mentioned for her show that ponies have natural magic, and only unicorns are able to access at will. It's the magic that lets pegasus ponies walk on clouds... maybe that same magic gives the hooves the ability to 'grip' things?”

After fixing the water to make a shower and not a bath – which was now much higher up than before – he started to practice the “picking up” of objects with the soap again, hoping to get it down. At least it made it easier to do other things. By the time he felt sufficiently clean and pruned, he set about turning off the water and drying off. It took a bit longer than yesterday, still unaccustomed to the use of the magic... grippy... whatever.

“Alright,” John muttered under his breath. Talking to himself again, just like always. Why did that help to straighten his thoughts? Something to ponder later. “Got the walking down, it's not that –” A pause as he slipped and smacked his face against the carpet – “Ow. Okay, never mind. Still gotta get the walking down... well, that's step one, I suppose.”

Right now, he was just thankful he had this one Saturday off from everything.

As it turned out, being a pony wasn't nearly as difficult or as annoying as John had originally thought. Different, obviously, but certainly not all that difficult. It did get annoying, though, when he assumed he had hands for certain tasks and got practically slapped in the face with the fact that he didn't. Like typing on the computer – just how in hell was he supposed to his homework? He couldn't without fingers, so his laptop was just going to go abandoned for a while.

He was already starting to figure out how to hold a writing utensil in his mouth and properly write with said item. Not that his, er... “mouth-writing” looked nice. It looked like that of a toddler, for crying out loud! Spitting out the pen again and rubbing his jaw from where it was sore from holding the offending item for so long, he spoke aloud again, once more thankful he didn't have roommates.

“Stupid freaking writing...” he muttered darkly. Then he paused, as he walked slowly out of the small office and over to the couch. “If I'm a pony now, should I start using the 'foul' language they use in the show? It would certainly make sense... not that the whole thing that started this makes any sense, but that's beside the point.”

As John pulled himself onto the small and comfy couch, he carefully lay down. It still felt weird to lay in a relaxing position rather than sit, but it wasn't too bad at this point, after taking all day to get a bit more accustomed to the new form. It did put things into perspective, being forced to live like something like a cat or a dog, without opposable thumbs, even though he had figured out how to use his mouth to use certain objects. Such as the TV remote... not that there was anything on worth watching at the moment, but that was fine. There never was. Which is why having a bunch of DVDs was a good idea – thank you, movies, for taking up a large chunk of time.

“Man, is it already that late?” John thought, yawning as he glacned at the clock, already feeling rather tired. “Almost ten at night...”

The excitement and rather annoying transition into a new body was surprisingly exhausting, mostly in a mental way. It didn't help that said feelings transitioned into making him physicially tired. Not really interested in actually moving that much and glad he hadn't actually turned on the lights – that had been a bad idea for his eyes – he just groped around from where he lay, grabbed one of the decorative couch pillows, and pulled it close. Almost as soon as his head hit the soft fluffy heaven that was the pillow, he was asleep...

A grunt, a bit of movement, and –

“OW!”

A flash of pain. Well, wasn't that a lovely way to wake up from such a lovely and dreamless sleep. After taking a few moments to make sure that only his pride and face hurt, John carefully picked himself up and stretched. When he noticed two wing joints give a pop along with his back, he noted that, no, yesterday had not been a dream. Grumbling and shaking his head as he tried to make his sore nose stop hurting, he slowly walked towards the bathroom.

“I still can't believe that stupid dream actually came true... what the hell,” he muttered to himself as he carefully shouldered open the door to where he could shower. It took only a few minutes, once more, and as he stepped out, he swore colorfully at a memory. “I have to work tomorrow... and school... just how in the name of all that is holy will I manage to avoid both?”

Heaving a heavy sigh, he wandered back into the living room, where he could lay on the couch and plot his next move. Should he call in sick? He certainly could. Would it work? Perhaps... but people would get suspicious after the first day, and that just wouldn't do. With a heavy sigh, he went for the house phone, and carefully picked it up and just as gingerly dialed.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” John said. “It's John, you open today, dude?”

“Sure, you wanna hang?”

“Yeah, something like that... come over in an hour, 'kay?”

“Gotcha, later.”

Now that someone was coming over, John wondered what he would say. Especially to his best friend of about six years. They'd gone through high school together, having met in their freshman year, and continuing on to even going to the same college. John had been a brony for a while, and his friend only recently became one, after he'd convinced him to watch a couple episodes.

“I guess I could try setting up a breakfast for myself,” John mused, stepping over to the kitchen, opening the fridge with ease this time. “At least I have the whole magic grabby thing down now.”

It took a thankfully short time to set up a sandwich, with not much more than lettuce and such. He was avoiding the meat, since even though he wanted some, his new physical form wouldn't be able to handle it. That was going to suck, not being able to eat steak or chicken ever again. Either way, by the time he tossed the pseudo-plate paper towel, it had been almost half an hour.

“I thought that would take a lot longer,” John admitted to himself, trotting over to the couch, where he took a spot and snapped on some TV. Well, considering that nothing was ever on – which was due to the fact he didn't pay for a connection – he snapped it to the DVDs. “Time for some Mythbusters!”

It was only what felt to be a few minutes later that a knock was heard from the door, making John jolt. Returning to reality from the show and trotting over to the door and unlocking it, he opened it a touch.

“John, you gonna open it all the way?” His friend asked jokingly.

“Yeah, uh... just promise you won't freak out or something?”

“From what, your place or your face?”

“I'm serious, Max.”

Max rolled his eyes, “Fine, I promise.”

The door was finally opened, and once he was in, it closed shortly after. Max gave a quick glance around, ignoring the noise of the TV for now.

“Wow, you got a remote-control door or something?” Max asked, kicking off his shoes and walking for the couch.

“No, you're just not looking in the right places,” John replied from behind him.

Max whirled about, and looked down – and blinked. Then a snicker came from him.

“Seriously? A Rainbow Dash animatronic? How'd you even manage that?”

The 'animatronic' glowered at Max, and smacked his leg with a hoof, hard.

“Ow! What the hell!”

“Don't laugh at me, I didn't plan for this!”

“Wait, so that's actually you?”

“That's what I just said!”

Max gave a look, “How the hell did you do this to yourself?”

“You're gonna love it,” John sighed, walking back over to the couch and shutting off the TV as he grabbed a spot. Max followed, and listened to his best friend's story.

By the time the short story was over, Max was rubbing a sore spot on his arm. Every time he'd started to laugh, John had been more than happy to swipe at him with a hoof – and each time hit him in the exact same spot. Which now hurt.

“Damn, man, you've still got a mean left hook,” Max commented with a grimace. “Couldn't you have held back a little?”

“I was holding back,” John said, rolling his eyes. Then he sighed. “Seriously, dude, what am I going to do? I can't go anywhere like this.”

“I don't know,” Max shrugged, leaning back against the couch. “But you're right, you can't go out like that, people will freak out or something. Unless you fly over their heads...”

“That's assuming I can figure out how to fly...”

“Shouldn't be too hard, you just gotta learn the form and stuff.”

John gave his friend a look, “Right, flying is easy... those birds totally make it seem that way.”

Max shrugged, “I'm just trying to be supportive.”

There was a sigh, “Yeah... sorry...”

“It's fine,” Max said with a dismissive wave. “How're you going to figure out this whole flying business, anyway?”

“How should I know?” John responded with a shrug and a look of confusion. “I don't even know how to move these things!”

“I think that's step one... c'mon, try moving 'em.”

“How?” John repeated. “I mean, I have no idea where the muscles even connect, so how am I supposed to move them?”

“I know as much as you do!” Max retorted, coming over and poking at John's back randomly around the wings.

“Hey, what're – wait, poke that spot again,” John said, cutting himself off.

Max looked at his friend, before poking right above where the left wing connected to the main body. John could feel the contact cause his muscle to twitch, and by extension, a portion of the wing. Then his friend poked hard enough for the limb to snap out on pure reflex, smacking said human in the gut and causing Max to stumble back. John blinked, before bursting out laughing. After a couple moments, his friend joined in.

“Were you actually trying to do that?” John asked, once it had died down.

“No, I was just poking around,” Max rolled his eyes, once he recovered. He noticed a wince come from his now-pony friend. “You alright?”

“They're just stiff. I haven't moved them in almost a day.”

“You're gonna have to really stretch. Need help finding the muscles on the other side?”

After a bit of focusing, John shook his head as he opened his right wing, “Nah, I got it.”

“So what's next?” Max asked.

“Learning to use these muscles, I think. Then I can work on the actual flying thing.”

Max gave a snort, “You're gonna be stumbling around like a little kid, huh?”

“And you're gonna be my target everytime I crash,” John retorted immediantly.

“Note to self, keep a helmet on hand.”

John couldn't resist laughing at that, before standing and stretching, cracking his back a bit as he did so. Slipping off the couch, he headed for the kitchen.

“Wanna a snack or something?”

Max admitted to being a bit hungry, and came in to find his friend tossing him something, while said pal just grabbed an apple.

“Great, I'm low on apples...” John muttered, taking a bite of the one in hoof.

“How're you doing that?” Max asked, ignoring the banana in his hand.

John looked confused, then realized that his friend was referring to the magic grabby thing, and just shrugged. After a few more bites, he tossed the core into the trash, and then looked back to the fridge and sighed – before recieving a brilliant idea.

“Want some free meat?” He asked his friend.

Max gave a confused look, “Why?”

“I'm a pony now, dude, I can't eat meat,” John pointed out. “How about a deal?”

“What, you want me to get you a bunch of veggies and stuff for the meat?”

John nodded, and Max was agreed to the deal.

“I'll bring back some veggies for you in a couple days, 'kay?”

“Thanks, man.”

There was a bit of an awkward silence, before John's friend started to head out.

“I got to leave and get to work,” Max said, as he opened the door, John following and grabbing the door handle.

“Come visit sometimes, dude, it's gonna get boring with nothing to do.”

“Yeah, about that, what're you gonna tell your boss and your parents?”

“I'll come up with something...” John frowned. “I can't go to work, but I have enough in my account from last year to last me a month or so for bills.”

“Oh yeah, from that big job you worked on the year before you joined college?”

“Yup, those big paychecks should last me a while.”

“Alright, well, see ya.”

John nodded and waved as his friend left, before closing and locking the door. Trotting back to the couch, he looked at his still stretched wings, noticing that the untrained muscles were beginning to strain. Trying to stretch them as much as he could for a bit, he smiled as he gently worked out the kinks, and decided to leave them open for the rest of the day as he settled on the couch.

Now that they were open, he could see the feathers, and carefully worked on spreading them out to view each one. After a few minutes of making sure they were all straightened and realizing that they felt much better that way, John turned the television back on to watch some more DVDs. In the meantime, he periodically stretched the muscles around his wings and everywhere else just to keep them from getting stiff.

“Glad he helped me find the wing muscles, it feels nice to stretch 'em,” He muttered to himself, as he finally switched off the video and headed to bed.

Crawling under the sheets, he opted to not set the alarm, seeing as how he couldn't really go to school as a pony. That wouldn't work out too well, but for now, the first thing on his mind was some sweet, blissful sleep.

“Man, stretching these things still feels good,” John sighed happily at feeling the muscles for his wings moving together. It was surprisingly simple to move them in tandem, actually, almost as if it was second-nature now that he knew how to move them in general. “What should I do today? I need to get a refund for the college stuff, but mom and dad won't like that... I'll have to talk to them sooner or later.”

After a few quiet discussions with himself, John decided to figure out a way to go online and resign from the college... and e-mail a resignation to his boss at work, considering his new form and that his boss probably wouldn't even recognize him. Taking a few minutes to clean off for the day, relishing the feeling of the hot shower going over his feathers, John went back out to the kitchen for a little breakfast.

“I guess I could start practicing this whole flying thing... but where?”

After taking a bite of his last apple, he pondered just what he was going to do. There was that pool his apartment complex had, but it was fairly popular, so people would be all around and watching as a talking pegasus tried to learn how to fly. Yeah, that would totally not grab attention. Of course, there's the lake in town... which usually had a bunch of campers and was patrolled by park rangers. Huffing a bit at the thoughts in his mind, John tossed the core into the trash can. The beach was out of the question completely, he was not hiking a two-hour drive to where he could be spotted and possibly sent to the pound or something. No, that was nothing more than a bad idea... then again, he wasn't quite sure he even knew how to flap his wings correctly.

“Perhaps I should figure that out first,” He chuckled to himself, taking a few minutes to move all the breakable stuff out of the way. “Step one: flap them correctly. If I can learn to hover, I can figure out the rest easy.”

That was what began the day's series of failures. It was certainly easy to flap the wings themselves, but getting them to flap at the right power and speed and angle? Much harder. He was just thankful that this new form had come with the same athleticism the real Dash had, which thankfully meant he didn't have to build it up himself. That didn't mean he would fly immediantly; oh, no, his initial jump and flap like crazy idea just sent him crashing back down to the floor.

“OW!” John cried out as he slammed into the carpeted floor. “Ow ow ow... okay, I think I should set up a big pile of pillows or something...”

By the time lunch rolled around, those pillows had saved John from quite a few bruises, and he was significantly hungrier. Despite the sores that were no doubt going to develop, he was smiling from all of the progress he'd made.

“Hovered for ten seconds that last time!” He said cheerfully. “But man, it makes me hungry...”

After a few moments of scrounging in the kitchen, he tracked down something that should work for his equine stomach. Bananas worked, right? It took some time to open, especially since he had to resort to a knife. But after about fifteen minutes, the edible was consumed and he was anxious to get back to flying practice. After setting up again, he took a moment to catch his breath, before leaping back into the air and flapping his wings as he'd practiced. Holding his breath for a moment, he held his eyes closed, waiting for the inevitable fall back down to the floor.

It didn't happen.

John slowly peeled his eyes open, and looked down. A grin slowly grew on his muzzle, as he started to laugh. He looked back at his wings, and watched as they beat in a steady, harmonious rhythm. He takes a moment to try and go forward, but gets the angle of the wings wrong. By instinct, he over-compensates for the mistake... and just ends up crashing into the pillows again.

“I actually flew!” He grinned to himself, standing quickly. “Let's try that again, 'cuz that was awesome!”

He launched himself into the air again, determined to figure out how to move back and forth. Surely it couldn't be all that difficult; he just needed to tilt his wings in the right way, that's all. So once he was back to hovering, he put all his focus in changing the axis of his body slowly. Several moments went by before he finally started to slowly move forward. Feeling a little daring, John shifted his wings to be tilted the other way just as much. Immediantly, he stopped going forward and went backwards instead. He practiced this several times before finally slowly lowering himself to the ground. His hooves gently touched the floor, and that was when he grinned widely and gave a loud whoop.

Without even thinking about what he was doing, John just started to hop from hoof to hoof, bouncing about like a child that had just won a bucket of candy at a raffle. His grin was practically permanent right now, especially as he found himself hovering once again. While he most certainly suffered from acrophobia, with each successful temporary flight, it felt like that fear was more and more irrational. A knock on his door cut him short, and without even thinking about it, he just hovered over and looked through the peeping hole.

“Hey, Max,” John greeted as he opened the door and let his friend in.

“Hey, what's – holy shit, are you flying?!”

“What? Oh, yeah. Took me all day to get the basic stuff down. Annoying as hell.”

“But... but... it's been, like, one day!”

“The body came with the instincts, dude.”

“I thought you said part of the rules were you had to learn how to fly yourself.”

“I do have to learn how to fly; but the body is still Rainbow Dash's, and the instincts for flying are practically hardwired into it. I just have to figure out how to associate my brain with what my body is telling me to do.”

Max had a thoughtful looking on his face, before giving a shrug and a nod. “True enough. I got those veggies and other stuff you wanted. Can you come help me bring it in?”

John turned to him with a pensive look on his face. He really, really didn't want to have to step out of his apartment. But after a moment, he gave a shrug and a look that more or less said 'buck it.'

“Screw it, yeah I'll help,” He agreed. “I'll have to step outside sooner or later, might as well get it over with.”

Upon stepping outside of his second-story apartment, John spotted a neighbor stare at him. Deciding to have a little bit of fun, he walked with a slight swagger towards the stairs. He could hear the guy racing back inside and slamming the door shut, making him chuckle. Max just facepalmed.

“Was that really necessary?”

“No. But it was funny.”

Max snorted, “Yeah, but dude? Don't do it again. It looked really freaking weird.”

“Noted. Now where's the stuff?”

“You haven't walked down stairs yet, have you?”

“No, but there's a first for everything, right?”

“Don't blame me when you fall on your face.”

John scoffed, he wasn't going to pratfall. Unfortunately, that is exactly what he did down the first half of the stairs. The second half was a lot less painful since he opted to take it much slower. Max was being very supportive – he laughed the entire way down, and made sure to dodge each of his friend's swipes.

“I am so making you fall next chance I get.”

“Let's see you try.”

It took almost twenty minutes to haul all the veggies up the stairs and into John's apartment, mostly because the poor pony had to really focus on taking his time with the steps at first. By the time they'd moved the meat into the car as a replacement for the veggies, he didn't have to look at his hooves anymore, but by that point almost thirty minutes had passed.

“Thanks for doing that.”

“No problem, just means I get a lot of beef out of the deal. That and tomatoes and mustard.”

“True enough. Wanna do something?”

“What can we do? I mean, seriously, dude, you're a pony with hooves and no way of holding a controller or your cards anymore.”

“Well, the controller yes, but the cards? I can pick those up. Magic grabby hooves, remember?”

“Oh, yeah... wanna head off to the college and play there?” Max noticed John's expression and said something before the pegasus could. “You had no trouble showing off for that dude next door. Might as well head on over and hang out or something.”

“Sounds like a –”

Ding dong.

“Who's that?” Max asked as the doorbell was rung. “Were you expecting anyone?”

“Well, I wasn't expecting you.”

“Aside from me.”

“In that case, no.”

Ding dong.

“This is the police, please open the door.”

There was a mutual silence between Max and John, before the latter decided that as the owner of the apartment, he had to do as asked. With an obviously nervous look on his face, he carefully opened the door. There were two of them; a man and a woman. The woman was the one in front, and spotted Max first.

“Excuse me, are you the owner of this apartment?” She asked, her badge identifying her as Jean.

John rolled his magenta eyes, “No, that'd be me.”

They both looked down at the human turned pony, before understanding just what they were called for. Someone had been apparently doing experiments or something else odd in order to make this happen.

“Sir, we're going to need you to come with us,” Officer Jean asserted.

“What for?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. “As far as I know, I haven't done anything wrong.”

“Possible experimentation on animals, sir.”

Max sighed, “Officer, I can vouch for him when I say he wouldn't do that. I've known him for years, and his interests lie in video games and card games, not experimenting on animals.”

“That's because it would take far too much work and more money than I have,” John agreed. “I mean really, I'm a college student living in the cheapest apartment I could find next to a community college that has no dorms. Does that sound like someone who could be experimenting on animals when I have enough trouble keeping up with the bills and keeping my own fridge properly stocked?”

“Be that as it may sir, we need to at least interview you at the station.”

John gave a heavy sigh, “Fine. Let me at least lock up.”

“We're also going to need your friend to come as well.”

“As a witness?”

“That would be correct, sir. Believe it or not, we have procedures regarding these happenings.”

“Really?” John asked, as he and Max left his apartment. “You actually have procedures about humans turning into ponies overnight?”

“You weren't the first for it to happen to, sir,” Jean affirmed. She watched as the former human carefully locked up his place, asking his friend to hold onto the keys. “This way.”

They were led down towards the police car, and John was the first to hop in, getting help with buckling up. The tight space and the sensation of being pinned to the seat made his wings twitch, something inside him screaming about how being stuck in a car was not okay.

Great, He thought bitterly. Pegasus instincts come with claustrophobia at being unable to fly away. Freakin' great.

That was John's basic mentality to the police station. He kept figdeting and having to fight back the urge to just break out and fly off. Especially since at the moment, his flying skills were still rather poor. Not that it didn't stop his body from twitching with how desperate it wanted to get the buck out of the car.

At least the ride wouldn't be too long.

For the love of all that is holy, LET. ME. OUT.

“Dude, seriously. Chill.” Max said at last, as the car finally left the traffic-jammed freeway.

“I can't help it!” John said, as his wings twitched again. They'd been doing that the entire ride over, and it was only getting worse. With each passing moment, every last fiber in him was screaming to be put back out into the wide-open skies. “I've just... gotta get out there. Like, now.”

“Then it's a good thing we're here.”

The instant the car was stopped, John was out of it. He gave a sigh of relief at being able to finally stretch his wings outside of that cramped space. He didn't even notice the looks he got from everyone around at his reaction, mostly because he didn't care.

“This way,” Officer Jean called, leading him and his friend to an open interrogation room. The claustrophobia started to set in again almost immediantly when the door was closed.

Buck this. John didn't even think about it; he just started to hover around the room, looking up in the corners, and just generally looking around. Sitting down in that tiny chair was not an option after that tiny car. This is stupid, why am I even here? I could've just flown off! Why didn't I?

“Take a seat, please.”

John did as he was told, although very reluctantly. “How long is this going to take, officer?”

“Not long.” The man wore a very nice suit, and his badge labeled him as one of the higher ranking officers there. “Officer Henry. Just got a few questions for you.”

The first few questions were very basic: name, address, family names, those sort of things. There were a few security things that only he would've known, like his birthdate and where he was born. Social security number. All that jazz.

“I'll be back in a few minutes,” Henry said. “Don't fly off anywhere.”

John gave a mock salute, to which the man smirked. He tried to wait patiently, he really did; but everything wanted to move. Everything. So he did what he was doing earlier, and kept hovering around the room. True to the man's word, he returned a few minutes later.

“I thought I said not to fly off.”

“You never said I couldn't hover around.”

Henry's smirk just grew, “Touché. Sit down, I can't focus on you if you're up there. Anyway, I got confirmation that you are who you say.”

“What does that mean for me?” John asked, curious beyond all belief about what Jean had been talking about.

“It means I can finally follow Pony SOP.”

“There's such a thing as standard operating procedure regarding humans turned into ponies?”

“There is now. You think you're the first? Because you're not. There's an entire hidden community in the states, kept top secret ever since this started. Regular people turning into ponies overnight that need help. There are those out there that would be more than willing to go after you guys and shoot you.”

John rolled his eyes, “Sounds about normal. So where is this place?”

“That's what I'm going to be telling you.”

As it turns out, it wasn't all that far from the college. It was near the coast of Oregon, where everything a pony could need was. It was a remote section of the country, too. There was nobody there, really, except for the occassional deer and other wildlife. It was far away from humans, far off the beaten path, and was accessable from the ocean and air only unless you knew exactly where to hike. They already had another pegasus from there heading up to meet John, to help him fine-tune his flying. She would be there very soon.

“Wait. She?” John asked. “What's she look like?”

Henry gave a grin, “Why, you lookin' for someone?”

His face turned red, “No! I'm just curious!”

“I can't share that information with you. I'm not at liberty to. We're going to have your stuff transferred to one of the open houses in that community for you, in fact we're already doing that. Your friend has already been told all this; that's why it took me so long to get back to you. He's down at your place helping get the stuff you want to keep.

“Look, I know it's a lot to take in; you don't have to act so tough. You aren't the first one I've met. I can tell that you're rather stressed out by all of this, and it's alright. We'll take care of you.”

John had been stressed out. Freaking out, in fact, but he hadn't been willing to show it. Something about not letting anybody else worry about him.

“What about my family?”

“We'll talk to them and give them a method to contact you once you settle in.”

John nodded, going silent, his wings drooping. He had to move away from home, away from the place that he felt safe. Maybe the place he was going would be fine, but he didn't know that; he just had the word of this man to go on. A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts, before it opened and his mind froze. There, standing in the doorway, might as well have been someone right out of the mirror. The other cyan pegasus gave a very Rainbow Dash smirk, hovering over to in front of John's face.

“So you're the new guy, huh?”

The stallion had to fight down a blush. “Uhh, yeah? So?”

“Didn't think I'd get a male counterpart so quickly.”

“Wait, what?”

“I'll explain later. Come on, lazy flanks, let's go!”

John watched as the mare went out of the room as fast as she had arrived. Without even thinking, he called for her to wait and raced after her. By the time he caught up, they were back outside the station.

“Faster than the last pegasus I had to go help,” She complimented. “Not fast enough, though.”

“Thanks,” He deadpanned. “It's not like I became a pony only two days ago or anything.”

“Two days? Really? Have you flown yet?” She asked this as she hovered about ten feet in the air.

John hovered over to her. “No.”

She snorted at the answer. “Name's Kate.”

“John. How long have you been a pony?”

“A few of months now. It took me a couple to get used to the fast flying. How fast can you go?”

“Not very fast, I just got the hovering down today.”

“Well, that's what I'm here for! We've gotta get moving anyway, so c'mon.”

John very carefully followed Kate higher into the air, as she explained that they had to hurry along to where he would be staying from now on. She said not to worry about his studies, there were several teachers and professors at their small community. They even had a proper transfer program! The government had apparently been kind enough to help set up the little hidden community, which was spread out among the west coast, in areas that were hidden from sight.

“See, after a little bit of arguing with the first ones that were transformed,” Kate explained, as they chilled on one of the lower clouds. John was still amazed at how soft it felt. “The government decided to do some Men in Black kinda thing, and – hey! Pay attention!”

John ducked under a swipe from her hoof, as he grinned at her. “Can't help it. Shiny red ball syndrome.”

Kate just laughed, “I know exactly how you feel.”

“Anyway, something about Men in Black and it being a good movie?”

“No! Well, yes, it is a good movie, but that's not the point! They did what the movie did for us ponies – they hid us in the country, like they did with the aliens in the movie.”

“Do you get visits from people in suits?”

“Sometimes, yeah. They help keep the place in line. It's not so bad, really. They handle the transfer of groceries and stuff.”

“Like my college credits.”

“Except better, because they don't lose any in the transfer like those jerk colleges.”

“Doesn't sound too bad,” John agreed. “How far out is it from here?”

“It didn't take me that long, but with you along it'll take forever.”

“Well, you'll just have to endure me, I suppose,” John said with a sly smirk. He grinned as a he watched her cheeks flush and her wings twitch. He just laughs when she smacks him over the head.

“Jerk.”

“Takes one to know one.”

She just laughs at the old school response, before standing up and stretching. “I'll help you get better at flying, but we should head out pretty soon. There's a portion of the community pretty close by, which is why it didn't take me that long to get here. We can take the underground ride from there to where you'll be staying with me.”

“With you?” John asks, raising an eyebrow. He tries to hold back his smirk and laughter at the way she stumbled over her own hooves, her face turning beet-red. “I don't think I'd mind that.”

Her wing smacks the back of his head again, making him laugh, before they head out. He watches her buck the cloud out of existence, making sure to keep note on how she did it. Then she started to head west towards the coast, and he followed.

“So how many have been transformed, anyway?”

“Enough for there to be three or four places on the west coast.”

“Why just the west coast? Aside from it being best coast.”

“Because the east coast is too full. There's lots of room on this side of the country for us to hide, not nearly as much as there is over there.”

John had to admit that was true enough. He watched as she kept having to remind herself that he wasn't as fast as her yet. He was still trying to allow the body's instincts to take over as he flew at such a high altitude without a protective shell. Although, it certainly helped cure his fear. Acrophobia, eat your heart out.

“Hey, John?” Kate's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“How much faster can you go?”

“Uhh, I don't know. Why?”

“Because people are coming after us with guns.”

John looked back. Indeed, there were three guys with pistols chasing them. “Oh. Faster?”

“Faster.”

They both rocketed forward as fast as they could. For Kate, this was obviously easy; but for John, this wasn't going to be fun. He was having enough trouble keeping level as he tried to keep up, even as the sound of gunfire spurred him on.

“AGH!”

“Kate!”

Without even really thinking about it, he'd flown under her and caught her as she started to fall. Blood was flowing through the hole in her wing, and spilling over his own feathers and fur. The sensation of the warm liquid spilling over his back touched something inside.

It made him snap.

Without so much as a moment of hesitation, he dropped her off on the nearest cloud, glad she'd explained that his magic would hold the cloud where it was for the next hour before the wind took over again. Once that was done, John flew as fast as he could down to the three grown men who were so foolish as to piss him off. When they saw him land in the middle of their group, the one he was facing froze.

There was hellfire burning in those eyes. And that fire promised one thing:

These men would regret hurting his friend.

“Hey. Hey. Hey! Wake up! Come on, I did NOT fly with you on my back all this way just for you to die after getting your wing taken care of. C'mon.”

Kate's eyes very carefully opened to find the source of that obnoxious voice. Whoever thought it okay to wake her up that rudely was in for it. Then she noticed the look of worry on what might have been her own face, before realizing who it was.

“John? What happened? Last I remember...” Her eyes widened, turning to the wing bandaged at her side.

“You were shot, yeah. Right through the center of that wing. I had to carry you the entire way here after I wrapped it up.”

“But what did you wrap it with? I wasn't carrying any bandages.”

“Those guys were.”

“Hey!” A nurse called through the door, looking sternly at John. “I thought I told you to stay in bed!”

“I told you that she was my friend and that I would be there when she woke up,” John countered. “You also told me that I needed to take thirty minutes everyday to get out of my bed in order to keep my muscles from cramping. I've only been here for ten.”

The nurse paused, “True enough. Now move over, I have to check her vitals.”

After several minutes of annoying prodding from the unicorn nurse that had a red and white cross cutie mark, she left them alone. She made sure to tell John that he was to be back in his own room in ten minutes for a final check-up.

“Why were you admitted to the hospital?”

John just held up a foreleg, which was wrapped in a cast, getting a gasp. “Like I was saying, those guys that came after us had a first aid kit. After they shot you, I kinda... went after them, after I put you on a cloud. They ended up breaking this leg, almost broke one of my wings, and cut me on my side. If it weren't for their kits, neither of us would've made it. I'm glad neither of us are getting away with scars as it is.”

“I'm sorry, this wasn't supposed to be how you were supposed to be introduced to us.”

“It's not your fault, don't worry about it.”

“And those guys?”

“They won't be going after ponies for a while,” John smirked.

“Oh no,” Kate said, rolling her eyes. “What'd you do?”

“Well, I may or may not have kicked their asses. Even as a pony I still know my fighting moves.”

“You have fighting moves?”

“No.”

They both got a good laugh out of that, and before anything else could be said, John was escorted back to his room. He was subsequently told that he was free to leave, but chose to wait for his newest friend. It took almost two days for that to happen, and he'd gotten very good at falling asleep almost at will by then. Kate was told to stay out of the air for another week for the wing to heal properly.

“So how're we getting to wherever we're going?” John asked.

“Subway.”

“Really? Part of the government thing, I suppose?”

“Yup. It's this way.”

It took them a few minutes to pay for the tickets, and it made John glad that these communities opted to just use the same monetary system as the country they were in right now. It certainly made things easier. The two of them were mostly ignored as they headed onto the underground train, sitting across from each other as they chatted to keep their minds off pegasus-induced claustrophobia. By the time they got to their destination, they were very antsy and ready to get out of there, something they did very happily.

“Oh, I really hate confined spaces like that,” Kate commented, stretching everything that was allowed to be stretched. Her bad wing was very carefully tied to her barrel, so that she couldn't move it.

“Is that part of being a pegasus?” John asked, taking a minute to just crack his joints and do some mild stretching. Kate shrugged. “Well, you said I was gonna be a roommate, where are we headed?”

“Over here. I wish it could be a cloud house, but the best I was able to get was a cloud mattress. We can't risk being found too easily, so we're stuck with ground-level homes.”

“Cloud mattress, though. Close enough.”

“True,” Kate giggled, as they reached the place.

“Wow, close to the subway.”

“Yeah, I work up in the place we came from.”

“So you have to go through that stupid claustrophobia every day? I'm sorry.”

Kate just shrugged as she unlocked her door and lead the way inside. John took the time to clean his hooves off before treading the plush carpet. There was a nice TV, a medium-sized kitchen, a few comfy-looking couches and chairs, and a small table in view from the front door. A few doors peeled off down the only hallway in sight, probably leading to restrooms and bedrooms.

“Sorry it's not much.”

“Bah, I lived in an apartment before all this. From my experience, this is luxury.”

Kate's giggle reached his ears again, and it made his wings fluff up a little, as he followed her inside.

“I only have one bedroom, so you'll have to use the couch. Sorry about that.”

“It's fine. Am I staying here forever?”

“No, you'll have your own place in a few days.”

“Sweet.”

The two of them set up a quick dinner for the late hour, and decided to go to bed shortly after. It had been a tiring few days, and the pain meds were lingering in Kate's system still, making her drowsy. After helping him set up the couch for the next few days, she headed off to her own room while John took the time to think about his new place in life. Police were going to be checking in with his family, letting them know what was going on, and proving it. He would be able to send them letters fairly soon, and now he had a new place to stay, surrounded by other ponies. On his way over he'd noticed that not all of them had been one of the mane six. There were, in fact, many kinds of ponies. Any kind of pony that had been seen in the show, there was probably one of them around. With those thoughts, John snuggled up in the blankets and lay down for a good night's rest.

Unfortunately, John found himself blinking awake in the middle of the night. He rubbed his eyes with a forehoof, careful not to use the one in the cast. Which had been rather annoying to walk with yesterday, but manageable. Either way, something had woken him up, and after casting his ears around, he thought he heard something coming from Kate's room. With a yawn, he carefully got off the couch and decided to see what it was. Upon going down the hallway, he found her door cracked a smidgen, and quietly nudged it open.

“Kate?” He called quietly, spotting her on the cloud mattress she'd mentioned. She was shivering and huddled up under the covers, despite the fact that it wasn't cold. The sound of a whimper reached his ears. “Kate? Are you alright?”

John very carefully walked over to her bedside, where he found that she was fast asleep, and shivering from some nightmare. He fidgeted in place for a minute, before giving a silent sigh and climbing in beside her. He noticed that her good wing was spread out and twitching anxiously, sending the feathers into disarray. He knew that it was an incredibly private act and would be insanely rude, but he also knew how calming it felt.

So, he started to preen her good wing as gently as he could.

Somewhere halfway along, her shivering had stopped, but her body was still tense. When he finally finished, he carefully wiped off the grime his muzzle had accumulated. Then he gently lay one good wing over her back, laying his head near hers as well. As his body warmth spread through her, her body finally started to relax, and the wild movement of her shut eyes at last started to slow to a more relaxed pace. With a slight smile, John fell back to asleep beside a fellow Rainbow Dash.

Kate slowly woke to the smell of someone cooking something that, according to her nose at least, would be very delicious. And she didn't even know what it was yet. With a yawn wide enough to hold an entire orange, she tossed back her covers and stepped onto the carpet. She blinked at how her wing seemed to feel oddly straight and organized. She'd opted last night to wait until the morning to preen; surely she hadn't done it in her sleep?

“Hey, John,” She greeted as she stepped into the kitchen area. “Whatcha cookin'?”

“Food.”

“Duh. No, seriously, what're you cooking?”

“Good food.”

“C'mon, I'm serious.”

“So am I. How'd you sleep?”

“Pretty well, actually. I had a bit of a nightmare, though. It's fine, I have them a lot.”

John nodded, “How's your wing?”

“It itches. How about your leg?”

“It itches.”

They both got a laugh out of that, and by that point, their breakfast was finished. John was having a bit of trouble carrying it on his back, so Kate moved over to help him carry it to the table, where they set up their dishes for the morning. The mare was about to say something as she swallowed a bite of the delicous omelette he'd cooked, but paused at the look on his face.

“Kate, was there anything... off last night?”

Kate paused to think. “A little. Somewhere in the middle of my nightmare, it felt like someone was preening my wing. It really helped to relax, too. Why?”

John simply used a hoof to point to his own muzzle. The gesture was clear enough, and it made Kate's face turn red. He took the time to explain what had happened, fighting to keep his own blush down as he did so, not to mention his wings.

“...Thanks,” Kate said quietly, having finished her meal as he talked. John just gave a sly smile.

“Anytime.”

On his way to the sink to wash the dishes, she happily smacked his side with a hoof. It only made him laugh. The two of them made their way back over to the subway once the mare had taken a few moments to straighten up at least enough to be presentable. They talked a lot on the way over, trying to keep their minds occupied from the tiny space that was the subway train, full of other ponies who tried to ignore their happy chatting and laughter. John found out that she worked for the agency responsible for helping ponies fall back into their lives after being transferred to the new community, and she worked at the branch closest to where he'd originally lived. It took him all day to finally get a job, something about being a store clerk at one of the grocery stores back where he was staying with Kate.

“Ugh, that was annoying,” John commented as he flopped onto the couch after dinner, taking the time to stretch as he did so. “But at least I got a nearby job, huh?”

“No kidding, right down the street and everything! Not fair.”

John just laughed, “Is somebody –”

“Somepony.”

“...Someone jealous?”

“No! Well, okay, maybe a little. This bandage is making my wing cramp a little. I want it off...”

“Doc said you gotta wait until the end of the week.”

“I know, but... ugh, fine.”

“It'll be fine, Kate. They'll take it off at the end of the week, and then you can go flying as fast as you want again.”

“And I need to help you get up to Dash speed.”

“I've been practicing while you were gone, you know. Not speed so much, but balance. Gotta be careful with the hoof.”

Kate nodded, before yawning.

“Somepony's tired,” John observed, getting a smirk for what he emphasized. “Good night, I suppose.”

Kate just gave a quiet good night as she headed to the hall, before pausing. When he heard her shifting from hoof to hoof, he turned to her, and found her positively glowing from one hell of a blush.

“T-This is gonna sound, uh... awkward, but uhh... c-could you do what you did? Last night?”

John blinked, before blushing slightly. He did, however, nod, and followed her into her room. As she pushed the door open, he froze when her tail flicked against his muzzle.

“Just keep your hooves off,” She said slyly. “And fix those wings of yours.”

John took several moments to force his wings to be obedient, before climbing into bed next to the mare, where he gently draped a wing over her, just as he did last night.

For once in her life, Kate didn't have a single nightmare that night.

By the time Kate was allowed to have her bandages off, John's stuff was ready to be moved into an empty house of his choosing. Max had been smart about what to send; there wasn't much stuff, mostly inconsequential items that didn't matter that much. DVDs, cards, and a few items that were precious to him.

But, by that point, he... didn't want another house. So he sat in house he shared with Kate, thinking on what to do. When she got home from the hospital, where her wing was finally released, she was shocked to find him there.

“What're you still doing here? I thought you'd be out house hunting again.”

John shook his head, “I couldn't find a place I liked.”

“Really? Not even the place you said looked exactly like your apartment?”

“Not even that place.”

“What changed?”

He looked up at her, “You.”

She took a step back, blinking in surprise. She watched as he stood on his now uncovered hoof before walking over to her.

“I... Kate, I can't just leave you. You'll start having nightmares again. I don't want to have to see you every morning and find out that you couldn't sleep because of a bad dream.”

“You... you want to stay?”

“I... I was wondering... there's that resturaunt down the street. Would... would you like to go with me next Saturday?”

“Like... on a date?”

“If that's alright with you.”

Kate didn't know what to say, but she did know how to answer: she nodded. When they were waiting for sleep to overtake them later that night, Kate leaning against the stallion with his wing once again draped over her back, she decided to ask the question on her mind.

“Have you really fallen for me?”

“Do you want to know how hard?”

She just smiled. That was the only answer she needed, before she leaned up and kissed him.

“You know... we don't need to wait. I trust you.”

As she spoke, she pushed him onto his back, watching with a sly smile as his wings rapidly stiffened and his cyan face turned a deep crimson.

“If I didn't, I would've kicked you out already. Besides, I've been waiting to see if you would have the guts to ask.”

“I didn't think you'd accept.”

Kate kissed him again, “Let me show you how much I've been wanting this.”

After that night, she explained to him how easy it was for her to grow to trust him. Whatever was making humans become ponies, it was smart; it knew when a pony needed a companion, and it knew exactly who to choose to be that companion. Whatever was doing the changing liked playing matchmaker, it liked helping others in the world find someone to love, someone to be with, and sometimes that meant making a pair that was more or less the two of the same pony with the only difference being their genders. Because it knew what someone would eventually choose in their test, even if it was by a coin toss, and it knew how to put them together in just the right way.

And, as Kate and John found out, those that it helped didn't mind at all.