//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: Applying Rule 1 // Story: Cold? Nay, BLUE // by Eternal Infernape //------------------------------// Chapter 1: Applying Rule 1 Shadowmoss Suburbs, SC Saturday, 10:25 P.M. I had the strangest of dreams last night. I dreamt of  a dark place, when suddenly,  there was this ‘pop’, and then a white mansion rose out of the ground.  It looked really fancy, like the kind you would expect a rich person to have.Then the dream ended at that, and I woke up. It was weird, because it was the first dream that I remembered so vividly.  I wasn’t sure what it meant, but I was too tired to think about it in more detail. Anyways, I woke up, but felt tired and wanted to go to sleep again, but for some reason, I couldn’t fall back to dreamland. So I just laid in my bed, enjoying that unmoving feeling in  my arms and legs. I knew I wouldn’t be disturbed, because mom left early to pick up my brother from the airport, who was coming home from a summer camp in Florida. They’ll probably be home soon, and my brother will no doubt be tired and complaining about how he misses camp and his friends. It is not fun at all, listening to his crying and whining and whatnot. At this time of thought, the sun’s rays oh so conveniently shined through the window and lighting my face at a very uncomfortable angle. Groaning, I buried my face in the pillow, trying to ignore the light. At least, I would’ve, if something didn’t block my way.Whatever that something was, it made a ‘tok’ sound against the head of my bed. This confused me at first, so I tried to do what I failed to do again, yielding the exact same result. “What the f...” That voice... was not my voice.  Did I just imagine that? I have to wonder... “Testing, testing, one-two, one-two, ok what the heck is this.”  This voice, which I now produced sounded fancy-ish. A bit too fancy for my tastes, really. I tested out the muscles on my body, trying to feel them. Eyes worked, ears and nose felt different, but worked nonetheless, mouth worked, also felt the thing on my forehead, oddly enough, shoulders check, chest check, stomach check, arms check, fingers... not check. Seriously, I could not feel them at all. Stay calm, Jacob. Remember rule 1, and you’ll be fine. Before I go any further, allow me to explain what rule I was thinking of. You see, I made a personal rule list to deal with life and any situation, and I mean ANY situation. Reading fanfiction for a year or two and having an odd mind will do that to somebody, you know, but it is a good list. I ordered these rules in priority, but they all hold some precedence. Rule 1, as I thought of above, is a very good rule of life: whatever happens, whatever you do, don’t panic in any given situation. Unless the situation calls for panicking. I got this rule/idea from the MLP fanfic So Long, and Thanks for all the Ponies. And yes, I am a brony, if that wasn’t obvious now. Anyways, back to the matter at hand. I ran the facts in my mind. Ok, my voice sounds fancy-ish, I felt something from my head, I can’t feel my fingers, some of my body parts felt different, and now I realize that posh and uptight and a little bit snooty perfectly describes this voice that is not mine much better than fancy-ish did. Ok, three possibilities so far: 1. This is all a dream. Unlikely, since I just woke up from another one, I think. 2. My body is transformed into something different, which is the most problematic. 3. Some other possibility I haven’t thought up yet. “So... which is it?” I exited my train of thought, and groggily brought my hand into my vision. But that was impossible at the moment, because I had no hand to bring within my sight. Instead I brought a grey hoof  and a white, fur-covered arm instead. “Oh.” My eyes widened at this appendage, as I moved it around when I moved an arm that should be there in the exact same motions. Seriously, I don’t think a horse can look at their own hooves, can they? I didn’t know. What I did know was that the appendage that was an arm seemed to be mine. Damnit, it was the second one! Beginning to panic, I threw off my blanket, and turned on my back, looking at the rest of my new white furred body and... is that a tail? “Oh god it’s a tail. Why do I have a tail? What am I, a horse or something?” On the bright side, I felt fully awake and alert, even at this time. “Wait... it could still be possibility one...” Which means I have to wake myself somehow. I took the first option that came to mind and raised my arm, prepared to hit myself. In an instant, I brought my arm down to strike at my gut. “Augh!” The result only left me unchanged and in pain. And the fact that I’m starting to regret this idea, but the pain would fade away in a while. “Ok, not a dream.Wait a minute...” I remembered that odd sensation from my forehead. I moved a hand- no wait, hoof- to my forehead, feeling the hard thing that came out of it. It was in the shape of a cone. It’s a horn. I have a horn on my head. Sure, why not? I seem to be a horse now, why not add a horn to make the image complete? Why f*sqawk*ing not? Although... considering how small I am, I suppose the term pony fits my new form better. What does my face even look like anyways? Where’s a mirror when you need one... Oh yeah, it’s in the hallway, where it’s always been. Duh. All I have to do is climb out of bed and walk over there. Should be simple enough. And with a path set and a goal in mind, I set out to accomplish the task of getting out of bed, which was around 3 feet high from the floor. I approximated and gave a rough guess that I was around that height at this time. How do I get from my bed to the floor? Come on, Jacob, think! Think! THINK! … You know what? Screw thinking. I decided to just roll out of bed in one single instant. Not my greatest of ideas, but it’ll work nonetheless. So I pushed myself and rolled out of my bed. Then gravity became an influence, and I landed on my side. Luckily, the floor of my second-floor bedroom was carpeted, so I wasn’t injured that much. A little ache, but nothing serious.   Ok, step two: figure out how to walk. I tried to stand on my hind legs like any person usually would do, but I could not keep my balance, and fell to all fours. With that failed attempt, I decided to try walking on my hooves. It sounded simple in my head; move one leg at a time, then progressively go faster until it becomes an ingrained thing within my mind. “One.” I took a step. “Two.” Another motion by the non-adjacent hind leg. “Three.” Move the other foreleg. “Four.” Move the last leg. Repeat until goal is accomplished. Simple enough, right? Surprisingly enough, yes, very simple. Eventually I made my way to the door. This door, like most of the doors in this house, had a handle. One I could reach, pull down, and bring the door to an open position. Hooray for handles! Those are the real men. Much easier than a knob, you know? Anyways, I managed to walk in a slow matter to the mirror in the hallway. Unfortunately for me and my new form, said mirror was too high for my eyes to properly see myself. Which was easily remedied when I climbed up the wall. Kinda. I would if I could, but I don’t have super spider powers or anything related. Instead, I used my front hooves to touch against the wall, applied pressure, and walk upwards. I got a good look at my face, and recognized it almost immediately. I moved my face and made random expressions to the mirror, and the reflected image mimicked the same motions back to me. I checked my butt to confirm one more thing, and I found a four-pointed gold star overlapping a four-pointed silver star. Well, it’s official. I appear to have become Prince Blueblood. I took a deep breath, and exhaled. This sucks.