Blossoming: Learning How To Fly

by nanashi_jones


This Trumps That Time I Woke Up In A Bathtub

I suppose it’s what I get for tempting fate, but can you blame me? People turning into ponies left and right, Discord screwing up any notion of a Gregorian Calendar for at least the near future, the world in varying shades of panic- what self-respecting fan wouldn’t start cruising the background pony list for good fits?

“You’d be an adorable Blossomforth,” I’d told my girlfriend, holding up my laptop.

She’d nodded and blew her nose, her mild cold rendering her more as smiling audience than vocally responsive crowd. She’d then gone to bed with me grinning at the picture thinking, yeah, Jessica would be cute and she loved the notion of being a flying pegasus.

So of course I’m the one who actually wakes up as one. Of course.

Day 10

I knew something wasn’t quite right when I woke at 5:00 am, ready to go. I’m a fairly light sleeper and don’t need a lot of rest, so it wasn’t unheard of for me to wake at any hour, but I usually rolled back over till my internal alarm woke me at 7:00 am. I figured maybe I was being thrown by the fact it was Threesday till I rubbed my eye.

Maybe if I hadn’t rubbed my eye, I’d have just lay there unawares. But as soon as I rubbed my eye, quite a few things became apparent.

One) I did not have fingers.

Two) I had things on my back.

Three) My face was fuzzy.

Four) The dog was on my side of the bed, sniffing intently.

The last really got my attention as Phouka, our mixed breed, blond, coyote-looking animal companion was making her disconcerted whine as she sniffed at my elbow, which I noticed in the dim light was propped near the side of the bed. She then started licking my elbow, so I rolled over and ran a hoof over her, which calmed her considerably.

Certainly got my brain in gear. Hard to claim you’re in the fuzz when you feel your dog’s fur from your frog rather than the palm of your hand.

I blew in Phouka’s nose, to give her my scent, and she sneezed. She licked my nose and I got a bit of her scent, which was... Different. I felt like she’d just flipped up her Facebook ID and I knew what her relationship status was, that she was a helper and liked to lay on couches and beds and comfy blankets.

“I knew those last three, silly,” I whispered and blinked.

Whoa. So not my voice. More squeaky and definitely higher. I’m- I was big and had a kind of a rough voice for a girl, so this was... Different.

Alright. I’m a pony. Pegasus if those muscles in my back were anything to go by, which was completely unfair. Not that I’m against pegasi, I just had a preference to Earth Ponies. The OC I made in the generator was an Earth Pony.

I shook my head, setting preferences aside. I needed to get a handle on things.

Taking a deep breath, I stood on the bed, shuffling back the covers and nearly toppled over as a result. I snapped my eyes shut and listened to my new body.

It’s not as hippy dippy as it sounds. You just close your eyes and feel out where your balance naturally wants to go. I picked it up from doing a lot of dance and some martial arts as a kid.

Though engrossed in finding how my new pony body sorted itself, I felt the bed shift as Phouka hopped up and curl up to sleep. She only did this when there was enough room, and as I was barely taller than the dog and probably weighed less, space was not an issue anymore.

Out of reflex, I muttered, “Your majesty.” This just earned me a brief tail wag.

My girlfriend, Jessica, stirred nearby and her arm moved around, searching. Carefully, I reached out a forehoof and moved the pillow that was my substitute into her reach. She grinned slightly and pulled it close. The Me-pillow filled in whenever I had work before Jess. Not as good as the genuine article, she said, but it smelled like me.

As she inhaled the scent I had left on the pillow, I realized I could vaguely smell my scent too. My old scent. Wow. I used to smell pretty good. Kinda comforting and friendly.

Shaking my head again, I briefly wondered if I had some kind of pony ADD or was just freaking out in the calmest way ever. Taking a breath, I focused back on learning to walk.

I could feel Phouka’s eyes on me in the dark and I ignored them as I shuffled about, adjusting to my new balance. This wasn’t that hard, really. Four hooves plus tail and wings makes balance kind of an afterthought. What was hard was trying to ignore those parts of my brain that were screaming I shouldn’t have been able to do this, but it was okay because this was how it was only not.

Maybe I really was having a very calm breakdown.

Once I was happy I wasn’t going to face plant simply from walking, I wiggled my little booty and hopped down from the bed. And promptly face planted.

Thank you, thank you. I’m here all week. Try the veal and tip your waitress on the way out.

“Love...?” came Jessica’s groggy voice.

“Just... Having some navigation issues,” I said from the floor.

“Mmm.”

Jessica’s brain doesn’t get into gear until a certain hour. Anything before that is because her Girlfriend In Danger sense went off. Seeing as how I was simply stumbling in the night, I just warranted a confirmation of okay-ness. Even if I sounded like somepony else.

Rising, I rubbed at the ache in my jaw and moved out of our bedroom into the living room. My wings spread on instinct, feeling the amount of space I had available to me. I pulled them back in and walked through the living room to the sunroom.

Originally, I’d thought of going to the bathroom, but seeing as I still didn’t really know how to use my wings and hauling myself up to the counter for a peek at my new pony visage was going to be a hassle, I opted for the full length mirror we kept in the sunroom. Normally, it was for cosplay or costuming projects, but I figured it’d work for seeing a new pony body.

As I stared up at the light switch, considering this sudden new hurdle in my life, out of the corner of my eye, I saw myself moving about in the mirror. I was shrouded in early-morning dark, so it wasn’t a clear picture per se, but I could make out my shape well enough. Definitely pegasus.

Going to our coat rack/umbrella stand, I pulled my umbrella loose with my mouth and went back to the light switch, rapping at it till I got it switched on. Steeling myself, I put the umbrella down and turned.

My mane was bluntly cut in bangs over my eyes and short on my neck with alternating stripes of bright green and a pink-magenta. My tail had the same coloration and pattern and blunt cut on the end, but unlike my mane it was long, nearly down to my rear fetlocks.

My fur wasn’t strictly white; more of a soft vanilla which extended to my wings. My cutie mark, a pair of flowers which subtly looked like gears matched my mane and tail colors. Freckles in a lighter shade of vanilla dusted across my muzzle, and I could hear Jess asking if I thought freckles were cute now that I had some. They looked cute enough on me, that was for sure.

Opening my mouth, I found flat teeth, regular tongue. I made faces a bit and giggled.

The most striking, though, were my eyes- they were practically unchanged. I’d had blue eyes my whole life and when I got glasses, a friend had encouraged me to get contacts so I “wouldn’t hide those pretty blues.” Jessica says she’s a big fan of them too, so I had stared at the color for a while to see what the fuss was all about. Expecting a full overhaul to this pony body, it was weird to see them still intact in a way, though in a new face and shaped a bit differently.

Then, it clicked as I recognized myself. I was Blossomforth. The pony I’d shown Jess last night.

Oh sweet Celestia, I was a pegasus from Equestria named Blossomforth. And I didn’t know who that was.

I could guess, sure. Maybe she was like the mare of the same name in the Winningverse fics. Maybe she was completely different. Maybe she was from Stalliongrad. The most I knew was that she’d been one of the featured pegasi in Hurricane Fluttershy. AND WHO KNEW HOW ACCURATE THAT WAS?!

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply.

Focus, I thought. C’mon. You definitely can’t take your meds in this body. It... Could really mess you up.

Opening them again, I started from square one.

“Hi, I’m Blossomforth,” I said, offering a hoof to the mirror. “But you can call me January for now.”

I smiled at myself and felt a little better. Okay, it was silly, but introductions help, even if it’s your new face.

Because though this was a new face, I knew about the girl behind it. I knew I was still January, would-be author, hiding out in tech support land till I figured out what to do with my life. I was a proud geek girl who watched a LOT of cartoons, Friendship is Magic in particular, and had a healthy love of books and reading. I hadn’t changed. I was still me. The only thing that had changed was my body.

My body had simply betrayed me again. That was no change at all.