Jay's limbs were frozen at his side, or at least that was the best he could guess. Hushed whispers swirled around the edge of his perception, but there was a part of a single phrase he could make out.
"... wrong place... wrong time... need this."
It was a voice that was faintly recognizable, but he failed to place it.
beep beep.
beep beep.
beep beep.
The sound continued its pattern for a long time, or at least it seemed long for Jay; he had no way to tell time at the moment. All he could do is sit there, frozen, and listen. His eyes were as still as the rest of his body, beyond the reach of his ability to control or even feel them.
"... coma for... months... don't know if... wake up."
Jay wanted to cry out, to get their attention, whoever they were out there. He could hear them! He was there!
"... sorry."
Jay felt agony unlike anything he had ever experienced before; a burning that was both everywhere and nowhere at once. He screamed out in futility, crying out for someone to help him. The sounds of a scuffle reached his ears, grunts and screams following them; the burning was finally abating.
"Get him out of my hospital!" someone yelled. The voices were coming in much clearer now. "Shit... What did that monster do to you?"
"Doctor?"
"I want a full tox-screen on the boy. Find out what his father pit into the IV drip. The boy is stabilizing, but there is sure to be damage of some sort. Notify the Director and have Felix arrested for attempted murder of his son."
---
"Shh, Shh, it's okay. You're okay Jay. You're back. Can you hear me?" Jay turned his head away from the voice, the sound hurting his ears. His entire body hurt; everything was sore, especially his head. He could feel each surge of blood in his head from his heartbeat, each beat bringing a new wave of pain. "Motor skills look good... Auditory reflexes..." Jay heard someone snap their fingers right in his ears, amplifying his headache even more. He turned his ears away in an effort to shield his head from any further pain. "... Check."
"Jay, honey," another voice said. "Can you say something for us? Just anything."
"My head hurts," Jay managed. His throat was painfully dry, his voice raspy and faint.
"No kidding," the first voice said. She seemed to murmur this, trying to keep her voice down and out of Jay's range of hearing.
"Hush, Sam. We need to give him some more time to rest.”
"Surely. Lets hope the next one won't take three hours and lose half his head."
"Sam!"
Jay lazily lifted his head and pried open his eyes. Everything was hidden behind a curtain of blurry light, but he could make out faint shapes; one was a bright red standing next to him, the other white and orange on top standing further away from him. "Wh... What happened?"
The red blur shifted uncomfortably. "You were out for a while, Jay. You were shaking and mumbling for the last few hours. Can you get up?" Jay shifted his body. He felt his arms and legs, he felt the cold metal table underneath his body; the metal wasn't painful anymore, but still cool to the touch. He tried to prop himself up onto his elbow and brought his hand up to rub his eyes. A rock hard object smacked him in the nose, drawing a groan from him.
Carefully, he bent his wrist and began rubbing his eye with the ball of it, the blur finally fading from view. He was still in the lab. His head was still throbbing, and he was trying to gather his memories. Before he could do much more, he looked down and saw what smacked him in the nose: a tan hoof, covered in a fine sandy beige coat of fine hair. He inspected the curious sight, noting the hard part he smacked against his nose. He looked down at the rest of his body, seeing the same beige hair covering the rest of his skin. All the way in the back was a dark brown pile of wavy hair, that jumped up and back down as he inspected it. His tail.
Jay sat up on his haunches and leaned onto his hooves. His back legs were strangely shaped compared to the last home he saw them; it seemed that his knee now bent the opposite direction, and was higher up on his leg. He brought his hoof up to his face again, slower than before. He felt his long muzzle, and smacked his lips. His mouth felt strange compared to before; his tongue more so. Reaching higher up his head, his hoof clacked with another hard object. He traced it up and up, feeling the tip at a point. A horn. He was a unicorn.
Garnet held out her hoof. "Let me help you down." Jay pressed his hoof against hers; the hard surface something to prop himself against. He leaned forward and felt his body shifting slowly off the side of the table. At the moment he felt his haunches leave the edge, he tried to bend out his legs as if he was still human. They slid off the smooth floor, failing to catch his weight; he landed in a pile of splayed limbs.
He struggled to bend his legs to gain leverage to lift his body up; the new joints alien to his mind and out of his immediate reach. He pushed his forelegs out, lifting up the front of his body; he took a moment and relished the momentary volume of success. His legs trembling, he attempted the same with his hind legs, slowly lifting his backside up off the cold ground.
"Can you walk?" Garnet asked as she regarded Jay. He was struggling just to keep his balance.
"Not sure."
"Let's start you out one hoof at a time. Here, watch me and try and mimic it." Garnet slowly walked forward towards the door, turned around, and walled back. Jay studied her leg movements as she walked; it was more of a matter of moving the legs at a staggered pace, lifting one as the other is in mid-air. Jay out one hoof out, then moved one of his hind legs forward.
He managed to make it a few feet forward before one of his hooves slid out from under him. Garnet walked over, but Jay was already back up on his hooves. He was getting used to the new ways his legs folded and moved, albeit slowly and clumsily. He looked around the room and spied something odd. Below the table was a plastic basin filled with some lumpy grey slime, spots of it tinted red. There wasn't much of it; the entirety of the mass could fit in a drinking glass, but that wasn't what made him feel uneasy.
"Garnet? Sam? What is that?" he asked, pointing his hoof at the basin.
Samantha walked over and knelt down next to Jay. "Towards the end of your conversion, that mass was expelled from your head. It took a while for me to figure it out, but while you were asleep, I found it out to be scarred brain tissue." Garnet's eyes fell to the floor. "Conversion heals all sorts of ailments; all of them, actually. You must have had some serious injury when you were younger if that's what was healed," Sam said, pointing at the grey mass.
"The princesses... They said I was hurt where nobody could see," Jay said quietly.
"What's that? You saw the princesses?" Garnet asked, her eyes going wide. "Most conversion dreams are vague, formless. You say the princesses spoke to you?"
"Y-Yeah. They asked me if I wanted to remember something. After they left... I had a dream. I was in a hospital... I was in some sort of coma. But I don't remember ever being in a coma or ever going to a hospital before."
"Jay, dear, if this is what I think it is, then you will be remembering many things in the coming days. That scar tissue down there was blocking your ability to recall memories of anything that happened before whatever accident you got it in." Samantha picked the basin up and placed it up onto the counter, out of his sight. "But other than that little thing, you had a picture perfect conversion! Everyone's been worried sick about you; you should go and find them and put their worries at ease."
Jay nodded. Garnet led him out from the conversion room and down the hallway, taking a slower pace than she would have liked so Jay could keep up. He was finally getting the hang of walking at a steady pace, his legs moving as if they had known all along. To his conscious mind, they still felt strange and alien, but time would erode that away.
Garnet stopped before the door to the cafeteria, placing her hoof on the door and looked back to Jay. “Are you ready to see everyone? Or do you want some more rest? It’s perfectly okay if you do.”
Jay brought his hoof up and looked at it again. He needed to find some things out from his friends so he could make sense of things. “I’ll be okay.”
Garnet nodded and pushed open the door. Jay saw the table everyone was sitting at, but they hadn’t seemed to notice his entry. Jay stood in his place for a moment, unsure of what to do to get their attention. Austin was talking with Chloe about something with Leah listening in, but they were all looking off into the garden. Jay looked back to Garnet and shrugged; he needed some help. She proceeded to clear her throat audibly enough to draw at least a single pair of eyes over.
“Jay?” Chloe looked over, her mouth hanging open slightly. She brought her hand to cover it and stood up from her seat. Austin looked over and began to rush over, Chloe and Leah in tow.
“Jay, you son of a bitch! I thought you friggin’ died in there!” Austin yelled as he knelt down next to Jay.
“I’m... sorry. T-There was a... complication, and...”
“Wait a minute,” Austin said, standing back up. “Conversion doesn’t have complications. What happened in there?” Austin glared at both Jay and Garnet.
The red unicorn pushed her glasses up her muzzle. “I’m not at liberty to disclose the details of the procedure, but Jay is if he so pleases. I assure you he came out of it as a perfectly healthy unicorn stallion.”
Austin sighed and knelt back down. He rustled Jay’s shaggy brown mane and smiled. “Well, I’ll say you look pretty good on four legs... and a unicorn no less. Seems about right to me.” Austin poked at Jay’s horn, sending strange shivers down his spine. It felt like he was prodding a new pressure point, the waves of discomfort rippling through his body.
“Please... cut it out. It feels... weird. The horn.” Austin pulled his hand away and stepped back.
Chloe moved in close to Jay and knelt down. Her blue eyes sparkled in the lighting of the cafeteria, her brown locks hanging on either side of her face. “I was worried that you got hurt in there,” Chloe murmured. Her voice was as quiet as a whisper, but to Jay it spoke volumes. “We’ve been waiting for hours in here after everyone else left. Was everything okay in there?”
Jay saw genuine concern in Chloe’s eyes. Jay looked down at the ground, choking on his words. “I... don’t want to talk about it right now.”
Another tingle ran through Jay’s spine as something rung through his ears.
Remember this: A closed heart will find no friendship or companionship. You must open yourself to others if they are allow you into their lives.
Celestia’s words rang through his head as they did during his dream, but this time they were more ephemeral, and more difficult to catch if he wasn’t paying attention. The princesses were right; he never truly let anyone into his life, either personally or physically. He never invited anyone over to his house, never talked about his personal life, never told anyone about his feelings.
Chloe began to stand back up, her face stricken with sadness. Jay planted a hoof onto her arm and looked back up into her eyes. “Actually..." he began, but Chloe was already walking away to Leah. Jay hung his head and trotted over to one of the tables. His legs hung off the chair awkwardly; he shifted his body until he eventually just gave up and stood at the table. Austin walked over and took a seat next to Jay. Rain continued to patter against the windows and a rumble of thunder shook the windows.
"Something's eating you up... it’s written all over you. What’s wrong?" Austin asked. He placed a hand on Jay's back and began stroking his beige coat. The feeling was nice and soothing; Jay would have freaked out by contact like that when he was still human. But in his new body he welcomed the friendly gesture of comfort. He felt glad that Austin was concerned about his well being.
"How long have you known me?" Jay asked. Austin took his hand back and folded his hands together.
"Hmm, probably about six years, now that I think about it. What's going on?"
"Do you remember ever seeing me in school before that?"
"Well, I do remember seeing you here and there a few years before then, but not often. Never saw you at all the year before I started hanging out with you."
"I was in a coma."
Austin did a double take. "The hell you talking about? Why did you never mention this before now?"
"I had brain damage, blocking off my memories of the coma and everything before then. I'm still trying to understand these new memories..."
"How the hell did you get them back then?"
"The conversion fixed that part of my brain. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia asked me if I wanted to remember what happened to me... And I said yes."
"So you had a conversion dream. I've heard rumors of things like is happening, people having strange dreams during conversion," Austin said.
"It was more than a dream... after that dream I had another dream. I was in a hospital... The doctor said my dad tried to murder me."
Jay felt the weight of the realization finally hit him. His dad tried to kill him. In the hospital, while in a coma. What would possess him to do such a thing?
"That’s very serious, Jay. I don't remember ever meeting your dad, but if I did now... He'd be losing some teeth, I promise you." Austin stood up from his seat and began walking back to Chloe and Leah. Jay followed him in an awkward stride, but froze when his stomach growled. Austin smiled and guided Jay to the kitchen. "Let me get you something to eat for lunch. Hey, Peach! You back there?"
"One moment!" a once sang back. The yellow-pink mare trotted out from behind one of the walls in the kitchen and walked up to the counter. Her eyes grew wide when she saw Jay's new body. "Oh my gosh! You're okay! And I bet you're famished! Let me throw something together for you!"
The mare bounced back and lit her horn up. A tray and plate floated before her; all sorts of foods began floating onto them, each one of them a different color. She cantered back up to the counter and hung the tray out for Jay. He reached up with his hoof, but Peach floated the tray out of his reach. "Ah-ah! No more fingers, remember?" Jay sheepishly put his hoof back down on he ground. Before he could do anything else, Austin took the tray himself.
"Thank you, Peach. I'll make sure he doesn't make a mess." Jay walked behind Austin back to the table and looked at his plate. There was a small pile of hay, topped with a flower with some biscuits on the side. Jay nibbled on the first biscuit, the buttery bread almost melting on his tongue. The flavor was smooth and sweet, with a hint of salt from the butter itself.
After Jay finished the biscuits, he eyed the pile of hay. The yellow shoots sparkled with what was likely salt, but Jay was apprehensive. He knew full well he was a pony now, and most if not all ponies enjoyed eating hay, but he couldn't shake the idea of himself stooping to the level of a common animal by eating hay.
Jay reached out with his mouth and grasped one of the shoots with his teeth and pulled it in his mouth with his tongue. Slowly, he began to chew it. The flavor as unlike anything he expected. The sparkle on the hay was indeed salt, but that paired with the hay itself was extraordinary. The hay had a crispy texture to it, but not unpleasantly so. The taste was similar to a potato chip, the salt accentuating the flavor. There wasn't any grease that spoiled it, and he eagerly dug in for more.
"Never thought I'd ever see you getting so excited by eating hay," Austin said, chuckling.
After swallowing another mouthful, Jay smiled. "Just wait until you try it. It's better than you expect. Everything. Everything tastes so much more... distinct. You'll understand when you get converted."
"Say, have you tried any magic yet?" Austin asked.
Jay felt the side of his horn with his hoof and shrugged. "I completely forgot it was there. Nope, not yet. I'll talk to Firecracker after I'm finished. He is the unicorn trainer after all." Finishing off his hay, Jay finished off his plate with the daisy. The flower had a strange texture to it, the petals soft and smooth, while the center was crispy and chewy. The petals had a sweet, mellow flavor to them, while the center of the flower was more tart.
Jay swallowed the last of his late lunch and smiled. He enjoyed it much more than he expected to; he never imagined he would ever be eating hay and flowers in his life until he arrived at the bureau, let alone enjoy it so much. Austin took the tray and brought it up to Peach at the counter. She took it with a smile and waved as he left.
"I'll head to the library and see if I can find Firecracker. I'll see you at dinner?" Jay said as Austin got back.
"Sounds like a plan. Don't bring the building down with your amazing skills, or else!" he joked.
Jay walked out from the cafeteria and down the hall to the library. He was eager to tell Firecracker that he was a unicorn, since they had already become fairly close friends since Jay arrived at the bureau. He came up to the door and pushed it open, but when he entered he was greeted with two stares.
"Excuse you, who said you could come in here?" the pink unicorn mare asked. She had a turquoise mane and tail, and had an antagonistic tone to her voice. Jay didn't recognize her. Firecracker stared at Jay as well, but a short moment later his eyes widened.
"Jay, is that you?" the grey unicorn asked. He tentatively stepped forward away from the mare, eager to have his attention diverted. Jay stood still as Firecracker trotted around him, inspecting his new body from all angles.
“And a unicorn, too!” Jay said with pride.
“Well, that’s good. Can’t have you bashing on my computer with hooves, now can I?” He walked back to the center of the library, and turned back to Jay. “Jay, I’d like you to meet my... friend...” he spat, “Jasmine.”
The mare strutted up to Jay and eyed him over. “So he’s one of those newfoals, then?” She swished her tail back and forth, grazing it over Jay’s body in places. “I’d say he makes a fairly handsome stallion, wouldn’t you think so?” Firecracker frowned at the pink mare. “Oh, don’t be that way.” She trotted back to the stallion and draped her body over his back. Her turquoise mane fluttered over her face, as she waved her eyelashes at him.
“Erm,” Jay said, trying his best not to get wedged into an awkward situation. “Hey, Firecracker?”
“YES?” He shouted, leaping out from under Jasmine. She fell onto the ground and growled at Firecracker, who paid her no mind.
“Can you at least teach me a little magic?” Jay asked pleadingly. “I want to be able to use this dumb thing for something,” he said, poking his horn with his hoof. He twitched a bit every time he made contact.
“Well you can start by cutting that out!” the grey stallion said, swatting his hoof away from his horn. “You’re like a foal at this point. Don’t try to overexert yourself.” He stepped back and looked behind him at the pink mare. “Jasmine, do you mind?”
“Not at all, dear,” she said with a smirk, as she made herself comfortable in the soft chair Jay used before his conversion.
“Bah. Alright, well first thing you need to learn is how to access your magic. Try and visualize your magic as a soap bubble in your head, where that twitch you felt came from. Try and feel around it.”
Jay closed his eyes and focused inward. He groped around his head for different things, but following Firecracker’s advice, focused on the spot his twitches came from. There seemed to be a sort of void there, that he was guided around when he tried to feel for it. It pushed him away every time he tried to push forward. Firecracker was right; it was like a soap bubble. And how best to break a bubble with a sharp poke?
Jay focused all of his effort into one strike and thrust forward, breaking through the barrier. A rush of cool tingling coursed through his body, reaching all the way down into his hooves. It was a very comforting feeling; it felt right somehow. He wanted to swim around in the power a bit more, but something was pulling him back.
“...down. Turn it down, Jay!” Firecracker shouted.
Jay snapped back to reality to see the room lit up much brighter than it originally was. It seemed to glow in a golden light, the walls shimmering as if underwater.
“JAY!” Firecracker screamed. The room went dark again, back down to the regular lighting. “If you’re gonna make your horn glow that bright, don’t do it while I'm around.”
“That... was me?” Jay said, oblivious to what happened.
“Yeah, you lit up brighter than the sun for a minute there.” Firecracker sighed as he walked up and placed a hoof on Jay’s shoulder. “Just... try and take it slow from now on, okay?”
“S-Sure,” Jay stammered. He was a combination of embarrassed and ecstatic. He just did magic! He had no idea how, but he made his horn glow! It wasn’t much, but it was a start. The feeling he experienced was unlike anything ever before, and he was eager to learn more.
“Can you teach me telekinesis?” Jay asked, excitedly.
“Hm?”
“You know... moving stuff with my mind,” Jay asked, bashfully.
“Do you now?” Firecracker raised an eyebrow and grinned. “Every foal can learn telekinesis by the time they earn their cutie mark, so you still have some time to figure it out yourself.”
“A what?”
“Cutie mark.”
“What.”
“You don’t...?”
Jay shrugged. The word didn’t have any sort of relevance to him. Firecracker turned his side towards Jay, pointing to his haunch. On it was a small red fireball, surrounded by orange sparks. “It’s the thing that summarizes your entire being to the world around you. It represents you at your inner core. It-”
“No need to get so dramatic about it, darling.” Firecracker shot a glare back to the mare, who proceeded to giggle to herself. “Oh, fine. I’ll keep my little mouth shut.” Jay managed to get a short look at Jasmine’s cutie mark: it was a peacock feather. What that meant was beyond him.
“As I was saying, cutie marks. I got mine when I found out I was skilled with pyrotechnics.” Jay looked back at his own hip, but it was a blank flat beige surface. He hung his ears back in shame. “Oh, don’t worry about it. You’ll get your cutie park at some point. Nopony stays a blank-flank forever. But anyway, telekinesis. Pretty simple, but there’s a few things you need to know about magic that could save your life one day.
“Your limits for what you can do work similar to a muscle; the more you use it and practice, the more you can do later on. If you overextend your abilities early on, the spell will simply collapse, leaving you in an exhausted heap. So do be careful, okay?”
Jay nodded, taking in the information. “Telekinesis. Just think of it as another hand. Grasp out and pick up this book. Try it.” Jay looked at the book Firecracker was pointing at; it was a thinner book and didn’t look too heavy. “Get back to that point you were at with your magic before and focus on lifting the book. Focus on the book, and lifting it. Nothing more. Your mind will do the rest.”
Jay locked his gaze on the book. He pictured reaching out with his mind and lifting it up with an ephemeral hand. He poked the bubble of magic in his mind, careful not to let it overflow in his body again. He felt the tingling course through his horn once again, this time more controlled. Jay opened his eyes and saw his horn was illuminated by a light golden glow, his determination solidified.
He reached out with his mind towards the thin book, and a golden envelope of glittering light swallowed it. Jay could somehow feel the book as his aura held it. He could feel the smooth covers, the coarser pages, and the weight of the book itself. It felt like it was heavier than if he was holding it himself, but not outside his abilities.
He slowly lifted the book off the surface of the table, smiling as he watched it float. He spun it over its spine, and placed it back down onto the table.
“Nice start, Jay. Now do it again. Hold it in the air for a full minute.”
Jay nodded, and followed the instructions. He managed to hold the book in the air for about forty seconds before hie spell collapsed, the book falling back onto the table. Jay gasped for breath, not realizing he was so tired. “Take it slowly. Remember, you don’t want to expend all of your energy on one spell. Wait until you feel ready again, and hold the book in the air for a minute.”
Jay took a moment to gather his energy back, which took shorter than he expected, and tried again. He barely managed to make the one minute mark, but he immediately forgot about his exhaustion in his elation.
“Great. Now catch your breath and do it again, but with a heavier book.”
Jay sighed and lit his horn up once more.
---
Chloe scribbled down a rough figure in her sketchbook, on one of the last pages in the small booklet. The figure was sitting against a wall, slumped forward, and staring at the ground in front of him. She began scribbling in a mess of hair; not too long, but long enough to be easily messed up.
Leah slumped in the chair next to Chloe, who instinctively clutched her book towards her chest. She loosened up when Leah just stared forward towards the ponified humans: Andrea, Caleb, and Annie. But not Jay.
Chloe bit her lip. She was worried about Jay. He was clearly shaken by something once he got converted, something nobody else had to deal with. She wanted to talk to him about it, but he was reluctant... she didn’t pursue it any further because she didn’t want him to be angry at her. She didn’t want to pry if he didn’t want to open up.
“What a little bitch.”
Chloe looked at Leah, who leaned her head back. “Who?”
“Austin.”
“Oh... Why?”
“He turned me down. You saw it last night, right?”
“Uh, yeah. But how does that make him a bitch?”
Leah sighed and slumped forward. “Because I wanted him. And he said no!”
“I don’t follow...”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Chloe sighed and went back to her sketch. She began shading in the figure’s finer details. The subtle shadows on the folds of his pants, the shadow he casts from the light above him, the shadow his hair makes on his face. It made Chloe sad to look it, but she wanted to finish it.
“Shit, girl. Are you still busted up about Andrew?” Leah groaned.
“How do you mean?” Chloe asked, still looking into her sketchbook.
“You’ve barely said a word since that douche left this morning.” The comment hurt Chloe in her chest. “I mean, shit. There’s no way you could be so sad about that asshole leaving.”
“He wasn’t-”
“Yes. He. Was.” Leah punctuated each word with a forceful poke to Chloe’s shoulder. “He treated you like garbage while you fawned over him like he was some sort of prince charming or something. You remember when he smacked you last week?”
Chloe did. Andrew had accidentally smacked her cheek with the back of his hand during an argument. He was turning around to leave, but Chloe had moved forward to stop him, winding up in the way of his hand. The force of the blow wasn’t severe, but it left a wide red mark on her cheek for the rest of the day.
“H-He apologized!” she said, trying to defend Andrew. “And it was an accident!”
“Did he now? Why is it that I don’t believe you?” Leah said, holding a finger to her chin. “Oh, that’s right! I saw him leaving you on the floor and walking away without another word said.”
Leah hung her head as a tear began falling from her eye. Leah looked over and jumped to her feet. “Oh, come on!” She forcefully pulled Chloe up by her arms, and with her a squeak of surprise. “You never used to be this sad! Cheer up girl!”
“But...”
“No buts. You have to be kind of glad he’s gone, right?”
“Um,” Chloe mumbled.
“I bet it’s nice not having any jokes made about you!” Leah lowered her voice and said “I know I’m not missing the jokes he makes of me. And the names.”
Chloe giggled, her cheeks still a bit moist with tears. “Hehe, I suppose...”
“He was a terrible boyfriend, through and through, with this morning proving it without a doubt.”
“Yeah...”
“Huh?” Leah said, with a big grin as she held her hand up to her ear. “I don’t think I heard you there! What was that?”
“I'm..." The word seemed to stick to Chloe's throat, reluctant to be free and known. Steeling herself, she blurted it out all at once. "I'm glad that jerk's gone!"
Leah started giggling and hugged Chloe. With at once sentence, a burden seemed to lift from Chloe's shoulders, her heart finally free from the chains it had been pinned under since the morning. "Now how do you feel?" Leah asked.
Chloe giggled and smiled. "Much better, but there's still one thing I need to do. Come with me?"
Leah burst out in a hearty laugh and doubled over. "Sorry girl, but we're not THAT close yet!"
It took Chloe a moment to catch it, but when she did, her face turned red. "Not like THAT! Jeez! Shows where your mind is!"
the pair were giggling as they walked down the hallway. The rain continued to patter against the roof, the downpour seemingly unrelenting in force. The garden outside was starting to flood in places, but nowhere threatening.
Chloe and Leah walked through the lobby and toward the administrative wing. But before they could walk through the doors, the very unicorn she wanted to meet almost walked right into her.
"Oh! Chloe, how are you doing? I was just coming to see you," Garnet said. Her glasses reflected the fluorescent lights of the lobby as she looked up at Chloe.
"Oh, me too! I wanted to let you know I'm ready for my conversion whenever you have a spot open for me."
"Well that's perfect, because I was just about to ask you if you were ready for it! We wanted to get you done at some point today to keep everything on schedule without having to shuffle the convertees for each days round. It'll just be a mess. But that's great to hear! In fact..." Garnet began, holding a hoof to her chin. "Would you like to get converted right now? That way you can have dinner without a problem tonight!"
Chloe wasn't expecting to go through with it so soon, and she hesitated. There would be no going back, no second chances, no saying "I changed my mind." she'd be leaving the human world behind for something so alien and strange to her, that it might make her lose her mind if she wasn't careful. But...
There was very little value Chloe held in humanity anymore. She lost her parents, the person she thought loved her, even...
"Can you give me ten minutes? I have something I want to take care of first."
"Of course, honey. There's no rush. Just ask Sea Foam at the desk to take you to the conversion room when you're ready. I'll be waiting there for you."
The red mare walked off, leaving Chloe and Leah behind. Chloe went down and sat in one of the couches in the lobby and opened her sketchbook to the very last page and began drawing. She knew exactly what she wanted to draw, and had everything already planned out in her head. He scratching of pencil against paper momentarily filled her ears over the rain as she drew, the rest of the world drowned out by her passion.
As she put the finishing touches on the piece, she slammed the book closed and stood up. Leah wordlessly fell in behind her and follow her to their room. She placed her sketchbook and pencil on her bed and walked back out. She wanted to keep that sketchbook, as it contained her emotions and thoughts of the last days of her humanity.
When the pair reentered the lobby, Chloe confidently walked up to the blue and green mare at the reception desk. "Can you take me to the conversion room? Garnet should be waiting for me there."
The wide eyed mare momentarily sat silence until her eyes lit up with understanding. "Right! She sent me a message about it. Come with me then!" She hopped out from behind the desk and walked over to the door and waited for Chloe.
"Good luck, girl," Leah said, hugging Chloe tightly.
"I'll be in and out. Wait for me in the common room, okay?"
"Will do."
Chloe walked off to the conversion room with Sea Foam as Leah walked in the opposite direction.
"Are you excited?" Sea Foam asked.
"A little scared, but yeah, I'm excited."
"It's not that bad, trust me. You fall asleep for a bit and wake up, simple as that. At least that's what happened to me."
Chloe gasped. "You used to be human?"
"Yup!" the mare beamed. "Was one of the first converted down in Atlanta. People were scared of the place, but I had nothing to lose by going. Best decision I've ever made. I've never had so many friends as I do here."
Chloe smiled, more weight lifted from her shoulders. She wasn't so afraid of throwing away her humanity as much anymore. Sea Foam led her to a thick door and banged her hoof on it. The door hissed open and Garnet poked her head out.
"Thank you, Sea. Chloe, come on in!"
Chloe timidly walked into the brightly lit room. A red haired woman stood at the counter to the left, looking in a plastic basin. "Garnet, what do you want me to do with Jay's... What should we call it? Brain droppings? Brain child? It does kind of look like a fetus if you look at it at just the right angle. Arms, greatly oversized head, plenty of blood too..."
"Sam! Do you mind?" Garnet yelled. Chloe felt the blood drain from her face.
"What happened to Jay? What's in there?" she asked quietly.
Garnet sighed. "Jay had some severe cerebral scarring. It was expelled during his conversion and sits in that basin that my oh so tactful colleague was just inspecting." Garnet glared at Samantha, who only smiled and shrugged in response.
"I still like the term brain droppings. But anyway! Let's get this show on the road! Chloe is it? Time to strip!" Sam said, trying and failing to hide giggles from the room. She handed Chloe a paper gown and pointed her to a door on the side of the room. Chloe walked in and closed the door behind her. She stood there for a minute, thinking about Jay. Was that why he was acting so funny when he got back? I'll have to ask him about it after I get converted, she thought to herself.
She pulled her shirt off over her head, the cold air stinging her skin. She dropped it in the bin before noticing Jay's clothes he was wearing is morning were still in there. She pulled off her bra, her pants, and her underwear, and tossed them in the bin as well. The cold air was causing havoc in her nethers, and the paper gown that Samantha gave her doing absolutely nothing to help her with it. The sides didn't have any ties, so Chloe felt like she was naked in a snowstorm wearing a poncho made of nothing but paper. It sure felt that way.
She walked back out into the main room, shivering. She had a very small frame with virtually no insulation. She was always miserable during wintertime, but this was worse since she was wearing... Well, nothing.
"Alright, up on the table on your side." Samantha turned around and pulled a paper cup from in the cabinet. Chloe did as she asked, climbing onto the metal table. The colds metal burned her exposed skin, causing her to yelp in pain as more skin came in contact with the table. When she finally was flat on her side, she looked down to Garnet who stood at the foot of the table. Chloe blushed. She had never been naked in front of anyone before, not even Andrew, which had been the source of much of his frustration with their relationship.
"Um, Garnet? C-Can you move?"
"Is something wrong?" the mare asked.
"Um..."
"She doesn’t want you staring at her ‘honey pot’."
"Oh. Oh! I sorry, dear. Nudity is almost never an issue with us. I'm sorry if you felt uncomfortable." Garnet moved next to Samantha, who gave Chloe a wink.
"Okay, one dose. Drink it all at once, and lay your head down." Chloe picked the cup from Samantha's outstretched hand and looked down purple goop inside. The scent of grapes filled her nose. Without another thought, she downed the serum and placed her head. Back down onto the table as she felt the world melt away around her.
---
"Testing auditory response, check. Heart rate seems stable... Everything looks green. What a refresher after the one before, right?"
"It's always good to see a perfect conversion. Chloe, can you hear us?"
Chloe fluttered her eyelids open. The room began to come into focus. "I... I'm here."
"Another resounding success!" Samantha cheered.
"How do you feel, honey? Everything working okay?"
Chloe pushed herself up slowly, but didn't feel the cold of the table as much anymore. She looked down at her hands, but instead in their stead saw two dark blue hooves. She twisted in place and looked back at the rest of her body, which shared the same blue as the hooves. Her tail was primarily a dark rose, with highlights of pink scattered around.
She noticed there were no wings, so she wasn't a Pegasus. She felt her forehead with her hoof, but felt nothing there. No horn. She was an earth pony. But instead of a. Disappointment, she was happy with it.
"My, oh my. You look gorgeous. I love your colors!" Garnet said as she began walking around. "Can you try and lift your tail for me?"
"Huh? Why?"
"Trust me."
"I don't know how."
"Stay still, then. I just need a moment to check to see if you're in heat."
"What?" Chloe felt a ghostly force grip part of her by her rump, and get lifted. "What do you mean in heat?"
"Just as I thought. You're in season. Don't worry, I'll give you a pill that can counteract the effects of heat for your cycle. Try to stay downwind of any eager stallions, okay?"
"I'm so confused..." Chloe murmured. She did feel unusually warm, especially down by Garnet, but hadn't thought anything of it. "Am I going to have to worry about this every month?"
"Oh Celestia no! If mares were in heat every month, stallions would be rejoicing in the streets. No, our cycles are about a year long, so you shouldn't go into heat again for a good while." Garnet levitated a small tablet from the counter and floated it in front of Chloe's mouth. "Open wide." Chloe opened her mouth and Garnet dropped the tablet on her tongue. "Chew and swallow. It should get to work in a few minutes. We never had anything like this back in Equestria, and now you have pills that can put a mare in heat and take her out of it. You humans are amazing."
Sam stuck her tongue out at the mare. "Sex is what we're best at." Chloe giggled after she finished swallowing the tablet. It tasted of strawberries and went down easily. Slowly, she began shifting her weight off of the table and fell onto all four hooves on the ground. Her legs wobbled a bit from the impact, but she was able to maintain her balance reasonably well.
"Try and walk to me, dear. One hoof at a time." Garnet watched as Chloe slowly got the hand of her new legs, the patterns of how to move which leg when becoming clear to her faster than anyone yet. "Great job!"
"Thanks," she giggled. "I think that pill is working too." the warmth between her hind legs had dissipated and her head was clearer and sharper than it was before.
"Word of advice from somepony who's dealt with it many times before: find a special somepony to help you out with it; preferably a single stallion. You're your most fertile then, and you don't want to bear a foal for somepony who left you."
Samantha scoffed. "Handcuff them to you if you have to."
"I'll... keep that in mind." trying to resolve the situation, Chloe decided to go find Leah and tell her she was okay. "Am I okay to go now?"
"Well, you can walk just fine, and I'm sure you know how to use the facilities, so yes! You're all set. Make sure you meet up with Honeybell tomorrow for your earth pony class. I sure you'll love what she has to teach you." Garnet smiled and escorted Chloe from the lab. "Try to keep from galloping for a day or two. We don't want to have to pry your head from the walls!"
"I'll stick with walking. Thank you, Garnet!" Chloe waved goodbye with her hoof and began trotting down the hallway back towards the lobby. Sea Foam complimented her on her colors and her mane, which still held the wavy pattern she used to have as a human. Chloe was happy with her colors, her mane, her tail, her hooves, well, she was happy about everything! She smiled a grin a mile long as she trotted down the hallway, the new way of walking becoming second nature already.
When she finally made it to the common room, Leah practically tackled her. She was gibbering about how cute she looked and felt her head through her new mane. "I love your colors... I may have to dye my mane like that when I get converted."
"Oh! Okay, I'll help you pick out the colors if they have hair dye in Equestria!"
---
Jay wasn't exhausted. Not even close to exhausted. He was far beyond that, leaving exhausted in the dust for some unknown state of absolutely no energy from horn down to his hoof. He was panting and was sweating a bit, but he steeled himself once more.
"Again," Firecracker growled.
Jay lit his horn up and began to lift the stack of books. It lurched off the table and floated a foot in the air. The stack began to sag and drop down, but Jay corrected it. He would try to count down the seconds towards the end of the exercise, but the last time he did that, he lost his concentration and his spell collapsed. So he focused on lifting the stack of books for as long as he could, and that alone. The weight was far more than he could ever lift as a human, but with his magic, it was considerably easier. Borderline impossible, but still possible.
"And done. Place them down, and don't drop a single book." Jay gently placed the tall stack down on the tabs once more, but he could already feel the balance tipping to one side. One of the books fell from the very top, and without thinking, Jay caught it in a net of magic. He placed it back on the top and collapsed on the ground.
"Well done. Not many new foals can do that well with telekinesis on their first day. But perhaps large loads isn't your forte. We'll try some other things tomorrow if you'd like," Firecracker offered.
"O... kay..." Jay wheezed. He had a great headache, but he was too busy reveling in his new skill. Firecracker was right; he wasn't too good with heavy objects. Tomorrow he would try some smaller, finer manipulations with some of the screws and scraps from the empty labs.
"How about we get some dinner? It's... about... that... time..." Firecracker's speech grew slower as his head slowly turned. Jasmine was rubbing her side against his and sweeping her tail over his rump.
Jay's cheeks grew warm. "I think I'll get going then, and uh... Leave you two to your own devices. Right then. Bye." Jay hurriedly rushed out from the room just as he caught the smell. It was a heavy, sweet smell that seemed to slow down his mind. He was starting to feel really warm and each breath grew heavier, but the cool air of the hallway was clearing those symptoms away. Symptoms of what, he couldn't say.
Jay pushed the door to the cafeteria open with his magic, accidentally putting too much force into it and slamming it against the wall next to him. He drew the stares of everyone present, and smiled timidly. He sulked off towards the food counter and a smiling Peach Cobbler.
"How'd your lesson with Firecracker go?" she asked.
"Very, very tiring. But I think I got the hang of telekinesis at least."
"I ink everyone present knows that now," the mare giggled. "So where's Firecracker? He and I were supposed eat together tonight, but he's not with you, then..." the sad truth dawned on Peach's face. "He's with Jasmine isn't he?" she asked with a frown and a hint of tears in her eyes.
"Last I saw of them, yeah."
The yellow unicorn began to sob quietly, tugging at Jay's heart. It was so unusual to see her so broken up, the usually bubbly and happy pony. A thought popped up into his head. "Would you like to have dinner with me instead? I mean, I don't think I'm as dashing as Firecracker, but I don't like seeing you like this."
Peach chuckled at Jay's comment and nodded. "That sounds great. Really. Thank you." She levitated two trays from behind the counter and took them toward the door to the cafeteria floor. The pair of them walked over to an empty table to the side of the cafeteria and sat down. Jay looked over his meal: there was a plate of spaghetti and a dessert that he didn't recognize.
"It's tiramisu! I found out about it from one of my marefriends who's working in Italy. It's a popular dish there, so I figured I'd give it a try!"
"It looks pretty good, but gotta save that for last,"Jay mentioned. Peach nodded and they both dug into their pasta. The spaghetti was lightly buttered, not enough to weigh the flavor down. The pasta itself was cooked lightly al dente, soft and moist enough to shovel down. But Jay took his time, using his magic to use his fork to eat the pasta. He almost flung the fork into the ceiling when he picked it up, but after controlling how much energy he put into his spell, he was able to keep his grip on the utensil better. After a minute, using his magic for the fork felt like second nature. It was almost as if he never lost his hands and fingers.
"Mind if I join the two of you?" Austin asked as he walked up with his own tray.
"Of course!" Peach said.
Austin took a seat next to Jay and nudged him in his side. "Did you see Chloe yet? She got converted before dinner."
Jay's eyes grew wide as he dropped his fork. "What?"
"Yeah. See the dark blue earth pony with the red and pink mane by Leah? That's her."
Jay did see her. She was smiling and giggling at something, but the sounds brought elation to his heart. He was glad that she was so cheerful again, and so full of life. Perhaps she had gotten over Andrew? It mattered not to Jay. She was happy, and that made him happy.
Looking at her more, he really liked her coloring. She was a dark evening blue, her coat smooth and shining in the light. Her mane and tail shared a beautful dark rosy color with streaks of pink popping out against the dark. She was beyond beautiful to Jay, perhaps now more than when they were both human. It was an odd feeling for Jay when he realized it. He was physically attracted to a pony. Ears, mane, tail, muzzle, everything. Everything about her was beautiful and enticing.
"Hey, Romeo, enough staring. It's getting a bit creepy." Austin snapped his fingers by Jay's ears.
"Sorry." Jay plunged his fork into the tiramisu and took a bite. It had a rich mix of coffe and chocolate favors mixed in with the little cakes inside, creating a savory and smooth sensation his mouth.
"Do you like it?" Peach asked, her eyes hungry for his opinion.
"Mhm!" He swallowed the dessert and smiled. "It's so good! You're amazing, Peach!" The look on her face was so bright and happy that Jay didn't expect what happened next.
Peach Cobbler lunged across the table and kissed him right on the lips.
In that moment, everything froze. A few things made themselves known to Jay, and he listed them out in his head.
First, this was his first kiss. With anyone. It was a strange realization, especially since it was a pony doing it, but regardless it was a milestone for him. His parents never kissed him since the coma, at least from what he could remember, and he never was close with anyone his age.
Second, Peach Cobbler. She was a very pretty mare, that was for sure. She was happy, energetic, cheerful, and all round fun. Her lips were sweet and soft against his, the electricity between the two enough to light a city. But she wasn't supposed to be with Jay, and Jay wasn't supposed to be with her. Firecracker was supposed to be here to take the kiss.
Third, Chloe. Jay realized all too late that she had turned around when Peach had squealed with delight right before the kiss. She saw the lips connect, and with that, all the connotations that went with it. But from her angle, she didn't see that it was Peach that had lunged at Jay, who was clueless to it as she was.
Things finally returned to their normal speed. Chloe, frozen in surprise, turned back around and slumped onto the table with a heavy sigh. Jay and Peach were locked by the lips for about three seconds before he pulled away. Peach shrunk in on herself, her coat taking on a much redder hue, especially around her cheeks. Austin was at a loss for words, which was a first.
The group fell quiet for a long time.
"I'm sorry." Peach looked up with tears streaming down her cheeks. "I didn't mean to... I just... I'm sorry..."
Jay wanted to say something, but what it was escaped him. "It's... Okay. Don't worry about it," he managed. "I thought you wanted to be with Firecracker, right?"
Peach sighed and another tear fell down her cheek. "His ex-marefriend was in here earlier. She was talking to me and told me about how she and he are getting back together... I was hoping he would come to dinner to prove her wrong..."
Jay fell silent. There was no way Firecracker would voluntarily pass on dinner to do... whatever... with Jasmine over dinner with Peach. He saw the tension between the two while he was practicing his magic. But unfortunately, there was no way to tell what happened without asking Firecracker. But... It could wait until tomorrow. Jay didn't want to interrupt anything, lest he get on Firecracker's nerves inadvertently.
"I'll ask him when I see him tomorrow morning, okay? I'm pretty sure there's nothing going on between the two of them.”
“Thank you,” the mare murmured.
“The desert was fantastic, I assure you. Keep it up,” Jay said with a smile. Peach smiled and wiped away her tears.
“Will do!” she said back in a voice similar to her normal one. Jay lifted his tray and plate from the table with his magic and began walking to drop them off.
“That’s pretty impressive, not gonna lie,” Austin said. Jay allowed himself a pat on the back for his new skills. He was impressed with how well he can use his magic now, at least for a beginner.
He placed the tray on the counter for one of the new cooks to take. He was a burly brown earth pony stallion with a grey mane. “Thanks,” he said in a rough, gravelly voice.
“Are you one of the new staff?” Austin asked.
“Yeah, my name’s Cocoa Malt. Malt for short. Nice to meet you...?”
“I’m Austin and this is my buddy-”
“Jay. Nice to meet you, Malt.”
“Say, everything alright with Peachie over there? She looked down in the dumps.”
“Yeah, she should be better now. Got stood up for a small dinner date it seemed. I’m gonna ask that numbskull about it tomorrow and get it all sorted out.”
“See to it, eh? She does most of the cooking back here and I doubt that me and Berry Blue could handle it all without her.” Jay nodded. “Well, take care then.”
Jay and Austin walked down the hallway towards the common room for a more relaxed evening than the rest of the day beforehand. The rain was beginning to taper off, now reduced to a light drizzle. The streams of water coming from the roof gave a false impression of heavy rain as it splattered across the windows.
When Jay and Austin got to the common room, he saw Murphy and Andrea as well as Caleb and Annie; the pairs were inseparable. Caleb was chasing Annie around the room, the filly easily able to weave around the chairs and sofas while Caleb just knocked them out of the way. Andrea was nuzzling Murphy’s chest, his wing spread out over her back.
Leah was sitting by herself, but Chloe was nowhere to be seen; until Jay looked outside. She was barely visible, but Chloe’s dark blue coat stuck out a little bit against the darkness behind her. He immediately made for the door and gently opened it with his magic.
“Chloe?” he asked, nervously. He was sure she saw the whole ordeal with Peach Cobbler.
“Oh, hey Jay.” She sat on the wet grass looking up at the sky, which was now visible past the storm clouds that still swirled around the bureau. The little porthole to the heavens cleared a lot of the smog that usually obscured the sky, and the glittering of millions of stars amazed Jay.
“How are you doing?” he asked. “W-With your new body and all.”
“It’s... nice.” Jay knew she was being distant with him, but he wanted to find a way of addressing it without being too much of a jerk about it.
“Is there something wrong?”
“Why didn’t you tell me about your thing in the conversion room earlier?” she asked without pause.
“Oh... that...”
“I was concerned for you, Jay, but you pushed me away like always. That and the little thing with the cook earlier... I know she does special things for you with the desserts, but I didn’t know it meant that much to you-”
“Stop. Please.” Jay was forceful with his words, each and every accusation painful and easily addressable if she would pause for a minute.
“What? What do you have to say for yourself?” She was staring at him with cold eyes now.
“I’m sorry about shutting you out so much. I never should have turned you away earlier. It was my fault.” Jay dropped his head. “Celestia even told me I have to be more open with people...”
“What was that? You spoke with Princess Celestia too?” Chloe said.
“Y-Yeah. I saw her and Princess Luna. They were talking to me about my condition and asked me if I wanted to remember how I got that way. I said yes, and the next thing I know... I’m having a nightmare.” Jay shivered as the voices and pain came back to him. “I think... I think my dad tried to kill me while I was in a coma.”
“What?!” Chloe exclaimed. “How could your parents want to kill you? I never remember you doing anything wrong!”
“I don’t know!” Jay yelled. “I just don’t know! I’m still remembering things bit by bit, but it’s still all a big mess... I just...” Jay felt himself begin to sob as the emotions overtook him. Rejection, guilt, ridicule, hate... Jay was being interrogated by the girl of his dreams. Everything was going wrong tonight.
“Jay, I’m sorry. Jay? Please stop.” Her voice was quiet and gentle, but Jay still felt the accusations from what she had said about him before.
“And with Peach... I offered to have dinner with her because she was supposed to have dinner with Firecracker but he walked off with his ex-marefriend. I was complimenting her on her dessert like usual... and then...”
Jay felt Chloe wrap her hooves around his neck. She felt her soft, cool coat against his, dark blue on sand. She held him as he began to regain composure over himself.
“I’m sorry about that,” he said.
Chloe pulled back and looked back up into the sky, smiling. “The night sky sure is beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Not as beautiful as you.”
The words left his mouth before he could catch them. The moment he realized what he said, he shoved his hoof right into his mouth, covering his tongue with a gross mix of rainwater, mud, and grass.
Chloe turned and stared at him with a blush. Both of their hearts were racing.
“I’m sorry, Jay, but... it’s too early for me.” Chloe dropped her head. “Andrew left me just this morning, I just abandoned my species... everything’s changing so fast. I’m sorry, Jay, but I can’t... I just can’t right now.”
She stood up and left Jay alone in the grass, just as the rain began to pick up once more. Jay looked up to where the clear gap in the clouds used to be, but it was already replaced by blackness. Rain trailed through his mane and coat, hiding the tears coursing down his face from anyone watching.