I awoke to the smell of happiness. I had no clue it had a scent, but it did.
I slowly got up into a sitting position, and found I was in a field of flowers, grass, and butterflies. It went on as far as the eye could see.
I looked down, and saw…
Hooves?
I had four of them.
I stood up and walked about, getting my bearings.
I appeared to be a horse, or as would be more appropriate, a pony.
I tried to remember what happened earlier, but I couldn't come close.
I decided to look more at my body so I could get better acquainted with it.
I had a light blond coat, my mane and tail hairs were a darker brown.
I was very straight haired, thin brown coat. My main was long, going down almost to the ground, with the occasional line of blue. It was a wonder I didn't see it before. It hung from the left side of my head, blocking my peripheral vision from there.
Near my tail, on my flank, happened to be a sort of tattoo of a fork and two kitchen knives, the fork sticking up and with the two knives in an X across it, which was oddly coincidental, given my odd obsession with silver ware.
I walked in a straight line until I came to the top of a hill. I looked off the top of it, and saw what looked like a settlement. I could see small dots down there moving, not too many, and not too few.
"Fork."
"What was that?"
"I said for…"
"What?"
The voice was soft, quiet, and female.
I turned and looked at a yellow pony with a soft, long, curving, pink mane and tail. Her eyes were green and on her flank was a cute little bunny. I noticed something about her sides. On them were small wings of the same color as her coat.
"I said fork…"
"Why would you say that?"
"Because I'm lost."
"But it still doesn't make sense."
"Not a lot has to make sense when you wake up somewhere you know you weren't before and discover you are in a body that you didn't used to have yet know happens to belong to you."
There was a long silence after that as she tried to process what I had just said.
"Well, you still alive? Your brain didn't explode?"
"No…"
"Well, no clue how to continue what's your name?"
"Klutzershy…"
Given how this was another world apparently, I had to make myself a new name. She seemed shy, and given how she was struggling for balance, her name was probably given to her based upon how she behaved.
Fork… knife… spoon…
Knifer? That would work.
"Knifer."
She looked confused for a few moments, but then seemed to understand a little too much.
"Not from here?"
"No."
I took a few more looks around the place and saw my silverware set, in it's container.
It was out of reach, up in a tree.
"If I hit the tree, it would fall, but break. If I somehow flew up there to get it, then it would be safe. Now then, I just a moment ago met you, and you have wings. Typically that would allow you to fly, but some creatures with wings can't fly because the wings are too weak…"
"Fine…"
I looked at her in confusion as she slowly flapped her wings; already they were stretched out, probably done while I was looking up the tree.
She slowly flew up to the tree, and she grabbed the box's cords in her mouth, its weight causing her to quickly descend.
She put it on the ground before she crashed.
I looked over the box. It was still the same, black with a sliver "WARE" written on it, with black cords that go from front to back on both sides, to allow for it to be "worn" like a backpack, and latches to keep it closed, but still allow for opening.
"Thanks. Now then, need to remember, never look a gift horse in the mouth."
She frowned at me, not angry or upset, but mostly irritated at that comment.
I smiled as I slowly figured out how to get it onto my back, and wobbled, not used to this sort of weight on this sort of stance.
I looked up at 'Shy' and she wasn't there. She had left to go help some nearby bunnies get into a bush, because the sun was setting.
"She is quite the animal person. I too have some skill with small animals… but then again, it might be different with this new body…"
I looked about again, and saw a small cobble path that curved and lead to the town.
I looked back and saw "Shy" flying away, back towards the town, slowly.
I then walked over to the path, turned and faced the town, then walked forwards.
I wasn't going to stop until I got there.
The sun had set and the moon was somewhat high in the sky by the time I got there.
Very few ponies were in the streets, but those that were happened to be heading home for the night.
I decided to wait outside for the night, to be cautious really.
So I backed up, turned around, and went under a fallen tree, and into its leaves.
I stretched out, rolled onto my side, let my mane cover my face, and fell asleep.
I awoke to very faint chatter coming from the town, and myself draped across the branches.
I rolled out of them, and they bent, letting me on the ground gently.
I slowly sat up, and blasted my breath at my main, sending it back in place.
I remained sitting, thinking about nothing, hardly moving, hardly breathing.
I let a butterfly land on me and stay there for at least ten or so minutes.
It flew off and I stood up, then looked about again.
Not a single pony was in sight.
I took advantage of that and walked into the town, taking note of a sign that read "Ponyville"
I looked up into the sky, and saw a few Pegasi flying in a V formation.
"HI!"
Another female voice, very hyper and high pitched.
I whipped around and looked at who was there.
Another pony, this one was pink, with a large, puffy, pink mane and tail, and a cupcake on her flank. Her eyes had large pupils and also pink.
"Hi…"
"You must be new here, because if you weren't I would know you!"
"…"
"Well?"
She took a step forwards.
I took one backwards.
"What?"
"Minimum safe distance."
She looked at me confused.
"Exactly what it says on the tin."
"What tin."
"Ignorance is bliss I see… What I said. Take it literally."
"No need to be all grumpy."
"That's two down. Several dozen left to go."
"…"
I smiled at her.
She smiled back.
"Scratch that, back to one."
She smiled like the Cheshire Cat.
This was somewhat creepy, so I backed up more.
She followed.
I turned, ran, and smashed into the side of a house.
"Watch where you're going, silly!"
I stumbled a bit, and checked to make sure my silverware was still there.
It was.
I looked back at this pink pony.
"Sekapu."
"Huh?"
"That's my name, silly! Though most just call me Seka."
"Sounds somewhat like cupcakes backwards…"
"Now that I think about it, you're right!"
"…and why so hyper?"
"I eat a lot of sugar."
"…"
"What?"
"That would not only make you hyper, but also do horrible things to your body."
"Not mine! I bounce about all day long!"
As she said that she began to bounce about, and I could tell it would keep going.
All.
Day.
Long.
"…"
She continued to bounce, her eyes closed.
I slipped away.
"Now I know two: Klutzershy and Seka."
I passed by a small group of colts, who were clearly farmers.
"I hope for hell I don't get forced to meet too many more…"
"Why would you hope for something like that?"
Another female voice.
It was getting tiring.
At least it wasn't soft, or annoying.
It was more mature, similar to that of a fancy person, who didn't force themselves upon others.
"GAGH."
She stepped into my field of vision and looked me over.
I did the same.
White, with a soft, flowing, purple main, similar to that of my own, her tail also long, longer than my own, and her tattoo or whatever showed a modeling stand for ponies and silk. Her eyes were an icy blue.
I noticed at the top of her head a short horn that matched her coat color.
"You are positively filthy! I cannot allow you to walk around like THAT."
"…"
I looked at myself in a nearby puddle.
I had tiny sticks and leaves in my mane, hard to see, but they were there.
"I can't believe you would let that happen! What did you do? Sleep in a tree?"
"Would you believe me if I said yes?"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Silence is exquisite."
"I agree."
"Yet there is some peace to be found in idle chatter just for the sake of sound."
"Agreed. You need a makeover, or a BATH at the minimum."
"Agreed."
"Then come."
I followed reluctantly.
"I'm Cerridwen, you are?"
"Knifer."
She turned her head and smiled at me, then looked forwards again.
I continued to follow, then slowly became lost in thought.
I was snapped out of it by the sound of a door clicking open, and I looked at the large building in front of me.
"The Carousel Boutique."
I looked at 'Dwen' as she stepped inside.
I checked to make sure my feet, or hooves, as they were now, happened to be clean.
They were, so I stepped inside.
The place was a dressing/clothes making building, with multiple tools, and many kinds of fabrics.
I heard the door close behind me.
At the same time, I felt my mane being lifted, parted, and rooted through for all the foreign objects.
"The length of your mane does you no good! It nearly reaches the ground."
"And?"
"Every time you sit down it gets dirty!"
"It's not like it can't be cleaned."
"I'M having a hard time with this."
I could tell she was annoyed.
"Check two, dozens left."
"Check two what?"
"Ponies I made annoyed with me."
"You're actually keeping track of that?"
"Yes. I make it a goal to annoy every living being I meet at least once."
"…"
"What?"
"I'm tying your mane up against your body so it won't need to go through this all the time."
"…"
I felt her putting gel in my mane to make it attach to itself, then moving it up against my body.
At the same time my silverware case was removed.
It got stuck there, and she looked pleased.
I just stood there for a while, until I was sure she was done, and she was.
My mane was truly stuck to my body.
She re-attached my silverware casing.
"Now, normally I'd charge you, but considering how I was the one to make you come here, it's free."
"... not that I would have been able to pay you anyways…"
"Which brings me to something else I need."
"Let me guess, a stereotypical delivery quest involving taking a dress to a client who lives very close to here but you are too busy to do it yourself, and in exchange I will receive some form of near meaningless currency that is only used to limit how much each citizen receives, and a stable economy could in fact exist without it if you used the more complex barter system, thus allowing you to use the materials from said currency to make other, more vital objects that would increase economy even further. Also, said dress probably belongs to a friend of yours who lives in some random tree somewhere in the town of Ponyville, and I will take a wild guess and say that the tree is a library and your friend happens to really have little interest in fashion, yet still needs the dress for an upcoming event in the capitol of this country to which you and five of your friends are invited."
"…"
"How close was I?"
Her facial expression slowly changed to one of confusion.
"Frighteningly so."
I could only help but smile. My famous ability to "read the minds" of those who had their guard down had just startled someone.
Again.
"I'm really just taking a wild guess and going along with subtle cues in your body language, yet most can't understand that and thus label me as a mind reader. It only works when your guard is down, which was the point of the rant about currency."
"…"
"…"
"…
"Silence is exquisite."
"We've been over that."
"Just trying to snap us out of the silence."
"…"
She was trying to find words, but she couldn't.
Instead, a box slid in front of me.
It was wrapped in what appeared to be a highly stylized and custom, probably expensive, paper of sorts.
Out of either side there were ropes, both spliced together to allow me to pick it up.
"Okay... so, how do I know it's her?"
"She's also a unicorn, and she's purple."
"Descriptive…"
I bent down and grabbed the box's rope, then walked out the now open door.
Now to find a map…
Or a tree sticking out of the ground…
"HI I THOUGHT I LOST YOU!"
Or Seka…
"You taking something for Cerridwen to someone?"
I set the box down on my hooves, so it wouldn't touch the ground.
"Yes."
"Who?"
"She didn't say other than a purple unicorn who lives in a tree."
"OH! You mean Fable? That's what everyone calls her."
"…"
She bounced into my field of vision as I picked the box up again.
"Follow me!"
I turned and followed Seka.
After maybe a half an hour, I saw a tree.
It had windows, a door, a balcony, and a few lights were light inside.
Seka was already at the door, and it looked like she was ready to bash it in with her own forehead.
"Wait; did Cerridwen give you a makeover?"
"A small one, against my will really, it was just my mane that she changed, putting it against my body so it won't get dirty every time I sit."
Seka smiled, then began to knock on the door.
Using her face.
And she didn't even flinch.
This kept up for at least a minute when she stopped and bounced off, clearly regretting what she did, or at least for how long she did it.
I didn't even turn my head to watch.
The door opened and a cute little dragon baby popped out and looked at me, then ducked back inside.
I waited.
I heard some conversing in there, too faint to understand.
Then the head of a purple unicorn pony slowly came from the side of the door frame, and looked about, probably for Seka.
She was, as I said, purple. Her mane was currently behead style, probably having woken up recently, and not yet cleaned up. It was also purple, yet a darker shade of it. Her eyes had black irises.
Her attention fell on me.
"Who are you, and what's that there?"
I set down the box on my hooves.
"Knifer. Cerridwen sent me to give you a dress or something."
The box lifted up into the sky and into the tree.
"Thanks."
The door closed.
"…"
I forced myself into a smile, despite how painful it was to do so.
I turned around, brought my smile back into a poker face, and walked back to the Boutique.
As I walked, I saw a dove and a pigeon fly over me, then part, the dove to the east, and the pigeon went the way I was.
I sped up to a canter.
I got back to the Boutique in about a half an hour, and the door opened.
I stepped inside and was instantly set upon by a wild dress.
"Oh no. Help me. The dress will eat me."
Cerridwen stepped down the stairs and looked at me, then began to laugh.
"I knew I should have made sure that wouldn't fall."
The dress floated up off me, and folded itself, then went up out of sight.
"…"
The pigeon I saw earlier flew past me and out the door.
At the same time, a small bag of coins was hung around my neck.
"…"
"They're called bits."
"So you figured I'm foreign, or knew from the start?"
"Former."
I felt myself being slowly pushed out the door buy the force of nothing.
"Then I'm off."
I pushed off with my front legs, turned around, and walked out of the store, and continued to go straight ahead.
"HI!"
"Oh god no…"
"What's wrong?"
"Absolutely nothing, Seka."
"I was going to ask you your name but I didn't get a chance until now, but I over heard when you gave Fable that box!"
"And this just in: Seka finally got some ears and tried them out. Much to her dismay, they did little to help."
Now she was looking annoyed.
"Three down."
"Some day something bad might happen to you, such as waking up to find yourself turned into a sugary sweet."
"I'm too water based for that to be able to occur correctly."
"It can happen…"
"…"
"I'm just kidding, no need to be so serious."
"…"
"Are you even there?"
"I got lost in thought."
"That happens to me too sometimes."
She finally decided to bounce into my sight.
"…"
She bounced behind me, then grabbed my tail in her mouth and pulled me.
I didn't bother resisting.
I was pulled into some building, and for the brief time I could read the sign it said "Sugarcube Corner"
Seka finally let go of my tail and stopped moving.
I could tell she was lost in thought.
"…"
"…"
"So…"
She got a Cheshire Cat grin again.
"Erm…"
She walked up the stairs, and motioned for me to follow.
I did so hesitantly.
The upper floors were an apartment, and were logically Seka's. She looked at my face and knew I knew.
"Don't you need a place to stay?"
"I could just use that tree out there…"
"Then Cerridwen would get upset at you!"
"Fine. Where?"
"Here!"
She immediately started bouncing about, and I just gazed on forwards so I wouldn't get dizzy.
"Fine."
I walked out onto the balcony and looked up at the sun.
It was noon.
"I haven't eaten for a whole day…"
Next thing I knew I was being pulled over to the table, lifted up, and sat down in a chair.
"…"
Then a large amount of candies, muffins, and cakes went across the table, some dangerously close to falling off.
Seka bounced over next to me onto a pink chair, and smashed her head into a large cake.
She proceeded to consume its insides.
I looked at what there was.
Sugary sweets.
"How can you survive off this?"
She pulled her head out and looked at me.
She was covered in a thick, dark red filling.
"I dunno!"
She went right back at the cake.
I carefully took off my silverware case and set it on the floor.
I opened it and pulled out a small, dull knife meant for cutting through stuff like this.
I carefully lifted a muffin, and set it down on a plate in front of me.
I cut open said muffin.
I cut it again, and again, into eights.
I placed the knife by my side.
I ate the muffin piece by piece.
Seka had finished the whole cake by the time I finished the muffin.
Chocolate, apparently.
I grabbed another one and did the same to it.
This one was sugary.
I closed my silverware case, flipped it over, opened it's other side, and put the dirty knife in it.
"So… what's with the rest of this?"
"All this food? I dunno, I just cover the table every time."
"Isn't that a waste?"
"Somehow it's non-perishable."
"…"
She smiled like Cheshire again.
I remained a poker face.
I stood up.
"I'll clean it up."
"Okay then Seka…"
Then table sunk into the floor and rose back up, completely clean.
"…"
"Fable figured out how to do that."
"…"
"I don't know how."
"I've seen weirder happen."
"Like?"
"Turning into a pony."
"…"
"…"
"You're silly."
I attempted the Cheshire grin, and failed miserably, actually hurting my cheeks in the process.
"Ow."
I returned to my poker face.
She did another Cheshire.
"It's still only one in the afternoon!"
"Yay… more torment…"
Seka brought her head next to mine, which scared me slightly, given how she was still Cheshiring.
I leaned backwards, and she stepped back a bit.
"So much Cheshire in just one small being."
She giggled.
I began to walk around the room, trying to think.
"Well, at least you don't make clothing out of the flesh of once living beings."
"…"
Her silence scared me.
A lot.
"So… you do?"
"No…"
She sounded resistant to tell.
I wasn't going to push her.
I looked back at her, and her grin was gone.
"…"
Except for a small section on the right side of her mouth.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"SEKAPU! We're back!"
"Parents?"
"Employers!"
She started smiling again and bounced down the stairs.
I sat down in the middle of the room.
I had to think.
In my old life I was really just a wanderer, never fitting into society.
I found an old ivory spoon during a brief period of insanity that I named Bert.
I still had him with me.
That started my obsession with silverware of all kinds, they were light, portable, and numerous.
They were my only friends.
I eventually managed to settle down in Detroit and work as a maker of fine and complex silverware.
I managed to get an education and go to college, learning a large amount of physics and other sciences.
One night I went to sleep, and I awoke in this place.
Due to the improbability of a wormhole opening up right where I was and dumping me safely in that exact spot, AND making me a pony, I doubt that was what happened.
Instead, a more logical explanation would be this magic that exists.
The unicorns.
But each one seems to have limited power.
Therefore, there must be a more powerful figure.
And as there needs to be a leader or more for a country to work, and since these people seem to not possess large amounts of mechanical equipment, the leader would be more powerful than they are.
Magic is inherently powerful, and capable of many feats. It seems to be the most powerful force they have available.
Therefore, the leader would need to be very magically powerful, and one of, if not the, best at it.
Given how there seems to be a female dominant society here, the leader would be matriarchal.
The leader or leaders could have done this to me, but I don't see any reason as to why; or how.
It also seems that only unicorns can use magic. That only pegsi can fly. That only normal ponies have something the others don't have.
But that would cause a blatant rift in the social structure, therefore the unicorn's lack of power is explained. The pegasi can be explained by having a home in the sky or at the top of mountains, where others cannot reach.
But then what would a normal pony be better at? Perhaps they are more physically powered. That would make sense, a large worker force that is kept at the same point in the social structure as the others, although barely.
Onto these tattoos.
It appears to symbolize what one is good at, possibly given after you have decided what you want to do.
Mine would still make sense then, given how I made fine silverware. But with hooves, that skill is gone.
Seka's makes sense, given her skill with making baked goods.
Cerridwen's also makes sense, because she makes clothing and such.
I went back out onto the balcony and looked down at the ponies there.
Many of them were doing work, and their tattoos matched what they were doing.
I went back in and laid down by the wall.
This was all too much in all too short of a time.
I rolled onto my back and tucked my legs in.
I waited.
Hours passed, and I heard a bouncing coming up the stairs.
"How long have you been like that?"
"Hours."
I thought about what Seka told me.
Employers.
That meant that they owned the shop and the apartment.
Which means part of her pay were said rooms.
She bounced up in front of me, making me look at her upside down.
I was feeling like I was tripping on some drug.
Being upside down has that affect on me.
We silently looked at each other for a few minutes.
She stuck out her tongue and started to bounce around me.
I just stared out the balcony.
I saw what looked like a flying carriage being led by pegasi, with a very large Unicorn/Pegasus riding it.
"Out the balcony."
Seka looked out and gasped.
"I FORGOT!"
She kicked me upright, and I quickly got onto my feet to balance myself.
She then ran over to my silverware case and ran back to me, then placed it on my back.
I popped the straps together and watched her run down the stairs.
I followed, because there are few times when one reacts like that.
I left the confectionary and followed her to what looked like the town square.
The carriage landed, and I looked over all those near it.
The ones pulling it were identical. White coat, male, blue-green eyes, blue mane and tail, pegasi, they wore golden armor that reminded me of the Romans, or the Greek.
The one on the carriage was a very tall, white equine of some sort, with a long unicorn horn and large Pegasus wings. Her mane and tail were very, very long, and looked somewhat like a rainbow, but with four different colors: cyan, turquoise, azure, and purple. They both flowed freely with the wind. Her eyes were magenta and she wore a sort of golden crown with a magenta gemstone set in it, a golden necklace like object around her neck with another magenta gemstone set in it, and four light gold shoes of some sort. Her tattoo was of the sun.
A blank, unknowing expression set into my face, and the world blurred as I lost focus on it.
The leader, maybe?
I turned somewhat, to not seem like I'm staring.
The blur that was said equine moved off the carriage and walked through the crowd that I had somehow missed.
She stopped next to Fable and spoke to her for a few minutes.
I slowly focused again on a stage.
The tall equine walked over to the stage and stood on it.
I decided to silently slip away, and did so.
I went in an alley and sat down behind a small part of a house that jutted out.
I went back into meaningless thought.