So my father was one of the most well-known innovators of the 21st century. My life should’ve been luxurious, but I was never really fond to the idea of being pampered. By the time I was 7, my father had an accumulated a massive amount of credits. His success granted us the lives of kings, and therefore became them. I still went to public school, but it was hard sometimes. I shadowed his success and tried not to make a big deal out of it it, especially if it was brought up in conversation.
When I became 18, I just got up and left. I realized that that life was not what I had wanted. I still remained in touch with my father, but if he offered me creds, a job, or anything of the like, I would swiftly refuse the offer. In the time that I was on my own, I became a freelancer, much to the disapproval of my father. Nevertheless, I loved my line of work. I never thought that I would kill for a living, but I had finally found something that I liked. It wasn’t the killing as much as being adventurous, or stealthy. Something about sneaking into gang hideouts and corporate headquarters satisfied me beyond the reasonable limit. I always had a teeny bit of trouble killing, though. To know the hardships the person had faced, how much they had gone through, and their trek down the wrong path had all led to that one moment. That one moment where it could all be taken away by the sharp edge of a blade… That always bothered me. But once I thought about the evils they committed and the ones to come, killing came easily to me.
When my father found out about the work I was doing, he offered me a position of head security at his headquarters. I refused, of course, and assured him that I had found my profession. Coming to terms with this, he realized that he could use me. In my final days as a freelancer, most of my contracts came from him and detailed PER or HLF assassinations. When the portal opened, my father sought to unravel the mysteries behind it. The HLF formed soon after Celestia revealed herself, and hastily gathered strength. Putting his work in jeopardy, my father started to bless me with contracts. In the beginning, the HLF planned to assassinate my father, but their plans were corrupted by me when I took out their regional leader. The assassination plots continued for a while, but died down about two months ago. Now my father had me target any threat to public safety within the HLF and PER. Terrorists, drug runners, lieutenants, etc. My life was pretty relaxing for the past two months, up until now, that is.
“Dad. Sleep?” I asked him seriously.
“Look, it’s 6 in the morning. In two hours or so, Walter will be returning along with your mother. John is already here and well asleep. He came the morning of the day you were in the accident to get converted. Had he told you?” My father began his explanation clearly but trailed off near the end.
“Yeah he dropped by that morning. We kind of had a little spat, but we aren’t mad at each other or anything.” I began to notice tiny rays of light peak through the blinds of my windows. It was still extremely early outside however, leaving my hospital room pretty dark.
“Well, now that I think about it, I shouldn’t keep you waiting.” He sighed exhaustingly as if he had been stressed for a while. “Go ahead. Ask me anything.” He slouched back on a chair close to my bedside, and began to listen intently.
“Oh, um, alright… Why am I a pony? For starters, I didn’t take that much damage from the fall or the collapse. My armor and shields protected me from a lot of things.” I began to hazily recall climbing out of the rubble.
“Indeed. The exterior of your body was fairly unscathed. But on the inside, your lungs were in horrid condition. Your lungs were repaired to near perfect condition, I may say…” His expression turned to a depressed, almost aggravated form.
“That doesn’t explain why I’m… Well, this.” I held up my right hoof and examined it with a bit of disdain. I exhaled with a slight shudder and looked over to my father. He retained a rather ghastly appearance, as if he hadn’t been well rested in a few days.
“I was… Getting to that… At first, you were fine. Perfectly healthy with only a few minor burns and scrapes on your face. They said you would be perfectly okay, and that you would be waking up soon, but… Days passed. Two days past and you were still in a coma. That’s when they called me and told me that you were dying. Slowly, but dying. Your organs were failing, and there wasn’t any explanation to why. They confirmed that you had indeed gone blind, and become paralyzed from the neck down. They figured out all of this with readers, as you were asleep. They couldn’t figure out why, nor did they have any treatment for you. Well, except one. As you know, ponification eliminates all previous ailments and health problems. Instead of waiting for you to die, I decided that I would get you ponified instead. After the procedure, they confirmed that you were alive and well. I decided to stay overnight, and wait for you to wake up. Delvin, you should be grateful you’re alive.
I wasn’t paying much attention to him after the ‘Paralyzed from the neck down part’. This was truly bizarre. For all that to just happen? Impossible. Then it hit me like a truck.
“The Pill. The Drug. That’s why I was dying.” I stared blankly into space as my mind wrapped around this new concept.
“The Pill?” My father took on a look of horror-confusion.
“Yes. Instead of meeting Deran alone in his penthouse, someone else was there, arguing with him over something. The other man somehow knew I was there, and two guards appeared out of nowhere. They took me hostage while the man forced me to take some kind of pill. He turned to leave, saying “raze it to the ground” and left his guards to plant explosives. Deran escaped, and I did as well, only barely making it out before the collapse. When the man was talking to Deran, he kept saying “a month”. That’s all I remember.” I felt really depressed now, not being able to stop the man from killing all of those people.
“His name.” My father took on an overly serious psyche.
“What?”
“His name. What was the man’s name?” He appeared to be in very deep thought.
“Uh… I think Deran called him something along the lines of ‘Kaleth’. You know-“He rose to his bipedal stance and walked over to the door with a purpose. I now remembered that I wouldn’t be able to walk on two legs like that ever again, and shrunk a bit.
“Where are you going? Dad?” He was out of the room before I could say anything else. All of the sudden, I felt extremely lonely. I gazed out into the hallway of what I now know is a Conversion Bureau. Kaleth. That name meant something to him. I began to look around a bit more.
There wasn’t anything really in the room except a bed, some cabinets, and a closet. The room wasn’t designed to be applicable with medical equipment, and just looked like a hotel room with linoleum floors and white walls. It was rather small, clearly designed for only one person, yet it still felt big and slightly chilly. The bed was comfortable enough; however, something was odd about it. It wasn’t designed for any normally sized human, and was slightly smaller than anything I knew. I don’t exactly know how long I lay there, but I must’ve fallen to sleep.
“Mr. Martin, time to wake up.” I stirred from my slumber to find that a white Unicorn had been nudging me softly with her hoof. She had a corn silk mane and tail.
“I fell asleep?” I asked her rhetorically.
“Oh, you were already up?” Light surprise coated her vocals.
“Well, yeah… I already know what’s going on. I woke up at about six and freaked out, but my dad left unexpectedly.” I thought back to my life changing awakening, and remembered that my dad left when I mentioned Kaleth.
“Hmm. Well, I’m just glad you’re okay. Your father returned along with some others. Should I send them i-“She halted unexpectedly as I began to hear a commotion down the hall.
“Where is he?!? Where’s my son?” My mother could be heard with her unmistakable voice.
“He’s down the hall Ma’am, room 13. But, we were told not to let anyone in until he was secured.” A monotone male nurse informed my worry-induced mother. Paying little to no regard to the nurse’s words of warning, I could hear her panicked footsteps resounding off the walls. As they neared, I steeled myself. A shadowed figure stopped in front of the door, revealing that the lights outside of my room were brighter than the ones inside. I witnessed her lower jaw drop open as she looked about me. Entering slowly, she began to speak.
“D-Delvin?” She was really worried now, visually shaking.
“M-Mom?” I called back to her, what followed was a long silence. In part to disbelief on her part, and hope on mine.
“Mom… I-It’s me, Delvin… Please Mom…”
“No... No… You… You can’t…” She looked on the verge of tears as my father suddenly came into view, and put his arm around her quivering body. She turned to him as he gently wrapped his other arm around her in an embrace.
“Miri… Please, he is our son. I know it’s hard to believe, but you have to understand. It was the only way…” My heart fairly broken, I began to sob quietly. I didn’t put my accursed forelegs up to catch the tears, nor did I try to hold them back. My own mom doesn’t even love me anymore… She thinks I’m a goddamn freak with hooves. To be honest, I’d believe anything at the moment, and my mind was jumping to conclusions which only further worsened my broken heart. Damn these godforsaken pony emotions!
“Honey, please… You’re upsetting him… He feels bad enough already. It’s not his fault…” My father said under his breath. My mother almost cut in.
“Just… If he didn’t do the things he did… Why does he have to do all those dangerous things? He was almost killed, Eric! And now… Look at him. He’s not my little Devy anymore…”
“Oh my god… Mom please!?!? I love you Mom…” My sobs broke into audible weeping as I shuddered with every hastily exhale. Sitting up in the bed now, I looked down at my damp sheets salty with my fresh tears. Dammit. I was an emotional wreck. I’ve killed a lot of men, and you would figure I was tough as nails, but having your parents, especially your mom, reject you like that hurts. A lot.
I began to feel warmth surround me. It was my mom who had begun to hug me. I felt her hands moving about my back, feeling my furry coat.
“Mom? I…” I was cut off,
“Shh… It’s okay. I didn’t mean the things I said. You are my son, and I’ll always love you. Don’t ever stop believing that. I was just shocked, as all.” Relief flooded my head and my body began to feel light. I was still shaking as an after effect, however. I reached my hooves up and wrapped them around her.
“I-I love you…” The words escaped my lips weakly.
“I know…” We did that for a while, as it seemed she couldn’t pull herself away.
“Hmm… Your coat… It’s so soft and warm…” My cheeks flared at being complimented on my coat. It was weird to be complimented on such a thing, especially since I hadn’t had one before. Upon my mother’s pulling away, I noticed two tall figures beside my dad in the hallway. I recognized both of them immediately.
“John? Dennis?!” I didn’t expect Dennis to come. He was supposed to be in New York, but had probably heard about the fact that I had almost died. He was a tall, lanky guy who was the same age and height as me. Well, he WAS the same height as me. We met in 8th grade and went to high school together. He was probably my closest friend.
“Bro, you’re a horse!” I laughed lightly at Dennis’s obvious statement, but that horrible reminder caused my head to ache a bit.
“No shit.” I replied to Dennis with a bit of sarcasm. I looked up at John, who wore a smirk of irony.
“I didn’t think I would see the day that Delvin Martin got ponified. A true sight to see, indeed.” His smile lit up the room.
“You haven’t gotten ponified yet? How long have you been here?” I wasn’t quite sure how long I had been out.
“It’s been about three days since I came by your apartment. I came in here later that morning. They call people at random, so who knows when I’ll get ponified. Looks like you got the express treatment.” We all chuckled a bit.
“So… How do I look?” I waved my hooves in front of my face waiting for their reply. I had deduced that my coat was a dark greyish color, which suited me rather well. Other than that, I hadn’t seen the rest of my body in my now well-lit room.
“Well, you’re dark grey, of course. But… Your mane…” I saw them attempt to hide their chuckles.
“What? What’s wrong with my mane?” Instead of hair I had to call it a mane. These pony terms were starting to piss me off.
“Bro, it’s purple. Like stripes of purple and black.”
“What?!” I angled my head down to let my mane cast over my forehead and over my eyes, “Oh goddammit.” I was fairly annoyed with the color choice of my mane.
“Well, it’s not that bad. Actually looks kinda cool.” John stated proudly. Just then, Dennis began to find it hard not to laugh at something.
“What now?” I inquired
“Your eyes are purple too!” Dennis scoffed.
“Come on man, they aren’t that bad. I would have to say that they’re pretty badass.” John always stood up for his friends and family like this. He didn’t like to see people hurt over something like appearance.
“Well, I guess so. Hey, have you learned how to walk yet?” Dennis became unusually curious. I replied with a little nod.
“Well, no. I haven’t been up yet.” I hadn’t yet thought about walking, and almost dreaded it. I knew I would have too, but I think the whole experience would be extremely weird.
“Then let’s get you on your hooves!” Dennis hyperactively stated which was followed by him wrapping his arms around my chest, and picking me up. My ride was cut short, however, as he dropped me in mid-air. I landed spread out on the ground, cursing his bone-headedness.
“What the hell, man?!” I yelled back at him. I then noticed I had flinched at my own words. I shrugged it off and waited for a response.
“Dude… You have wings!” I cautiously looked over my shoulder and glared at the grey appendages that adorned my back. I was a Pegasus? I just kind of stared at them for a bit, I think.
“Can you use them?” John sounded overly intrigued.
“Let’s just focus on walking right now, shall we?” My dad had spoken for the first time in a few minutes. He walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my chest, pulling me up to a standing position. Upon letting go, however, I tripped to my side, falling into a wall.
A few more tries later, and I succeeded in standing, albeit a bit unsteadily.
“Hmm… I had always imagined it to feel like walking on hands and knees, but it doesn’t. It just feels… Right, somehow. My forelegs feel like they are a mix between an arm and a leg, and my back legs just feel like they have always been legs. My hooves feel like they are my fingers and toes, and the bottoms feel like my nails. It’s all pretty natural, somehow.” I thought out loud.
“Yeah, that’s how it’s supposed to feel, I was told.” John remarked with a sense of pride. A deep rumbling emitted from my stomach.
“Jesus, Delvin! Hurry up and figure it out so we can go eat!” I wasn’t gonna lie, I was extremely hungry. I had heard about the mythical ‘First Meal As A Pony’ thing before, and how awesome it was. I never would have thought that it would be that good, but it definitely sounded as such. Especially now.
“I’m trying here, guys. Give me some time. It’s hard enough without you yelling at me to do something I don’t even know how to do.” I had always remembered knowing how to walk, like most people do. You typically don’t even think about it at all, you just kind of do it. Now, this was something totally different and foreign to me. Come on! Work, dammit! I sent these messages to my legs that obviously rejected them. I made it about two feet when I fell on my face for the fifth time in a row. Jack and Dennis both laughed hysterically, however my dad only looked upon me with a bit of what seemed like regret, or misery. He helped me get back up again.
“Try not to think about it. The more you think about it, the harder it will become. Don’t use your mind, use your legs.” Coming from a man who used his mind for everything, I wasn’t that reassured. But, sure enough, it worked. I stared at the doorway, and thought about just walking there, as I did as a human. Astonished, I looked back to my father and the two now bewildered faces.
“I didn’t think about moving each and every leg individually, but rather as a whole, like I would’ve done as a human. It’s not too difficult if you don’t think as much.” Proud of myself, I just told my legs to move faster, and they did. I guess once you know how to walk as one species; you know how to do it as another. Well, I don’t exactly know how to walk yet, but I can. It just happens.
“Wow. I had to take special classes for walking. You did it like it was nothing. Impressive.” I blushed lightly at that.
“Well, I guess I’m just an innovator.” I looked up at my dad who was beaming from ear to ear. He liked that feeling of me being like him, and I guess I was.
All I could think about anymore was food. The smell of breakfast flooded my nostrils. It was almost unnatural at how my body reacted to it. At a gallop now, which felt extremely odd, I directed myself toward the toxic smell of food. I glanced back to witness all three of them jogging after me. My mother had gone to talk to a nurse or something. It didn’t matter to me, though. Actually, nothing mattered at this point but food.
“Delvin! Wait up, asshole!” All three of them were out of breath at this point, and looking fairly annoyed with me.
“You three, go and sit over there at that table. I’ll get the food.” As long as I got my damn food, I was cool. My dad suggested for us to sit at kind of an odd table, as it was very low with pillows to sit on.
“What kind of jacked up table is this?” Dennis asked roughly.
“It’s a table that is designed for ponies. It’s low because they’re short and there are pillows because chairs can be slightly uncomfortable for them.” I looked up at John with a bit of a frown, remembering my lost humanity and realizing that it might be odd for them to sit here. To be honest, it was a bit weird for me as well.
“Guys, it’s cool, we can sit at the human table.” I referenced a table in the corner with my hoof.
“No, no. We want for you to be comfortable, not us.” John beamed at me with an awkward hint in his eyes. It was bothering them quite a bit, but they chose not to show it.
“Please. I really don’t want to sit here either. It feels weird to me.” They looked at me with relieved but concerned expressions.
“Alright man, whatever you say.” Dennis certainly agreed with me, although John looked a bit uneasy. With some difficulty, I hopped up onto the seat and sat down in the middle whilst John and Dennis sat on either side of me. God, this was a bit weird; a bit depressing, actually. I had sat the same way for all of my life, but now it was suddenly uncomfortable to me. I sat the way I normally would as a human, even though it bothered me a bit. I felt at least a little human when I did that. I looked over to see what the two were doing. Dennis, on my right, played around on his Datapad, while John just kind of stared at the table, obviously a bit hungry. But there was a little bit more than hunger on his mind, I could tell.
“John? Is everything okay?” I put my hoof on his shoulder. I cursed myself for not being able to grasp it. I just kind of put it there.
“Yes, I suppose. But I have a question. What are you gonna do now? Like, your profession was based around the fact that you were human. I’m not entirely sure ponies can use guns or anything.” He was right. I hadn’t thought about that yet. What I did, I loved. The adventure was part of my core being. Killing was one of the downsides of my love for adventure, but it was the only kind of adventure I liked. Not like exploration adventure or tomb raiding adventure, but thrilling adventures where I often had to fight for my survival at the barrel of a gun. Something about it lit an ever burning candle in my chest.
“Hmm… God, you’re right. I… I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do.” I put my forelegs on the table, leaning my head forward to greet them. Dishearted, I hardly noticed when my dad brought the food back.
“All right guys. This one’s for John, This one’s for Dennis, and this is for Delvin.” I looked up at the three hearty meals my father placed before us. John’s meal was a Caesar Salad from the looks of it, topped with grilled chicken. I knew well enough that the Salad itself was either imported from Equestria or grown in a controlled environment. Dennis’s was a juicy hamburger along with French fries, which I knew had to be produced here. The Conversion Bureau offered meat to the humans for health reasons, and the hamburger looked unrealistically pure and organic. Mine was… Uh…
“Uh… What’s this? Is this a joke?” I stared at my plate that contained what looked like crispy hay, oats, dandelions between two slices of bread, and a single heavenly apple, which was the only thing on my plate that looked moderately delectable.
“Oh yeah, ponies are strictly vegetarians.” John overviewed me with a sense of pity in his eyes. I turned to face Dennis’s hamburger which he was overly enjoying.
“So that means I can’t have any meat…?” I looked down at my food with disdain. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes. God, I didn’t know I could get this emotional about meat.
“Nopth. Gutta Sthick wif Gwath an gwainths an offah sthuf.” He finished his sentence by swallowing a gigantic portion of his hamburger.
“I’m sorry son, but this is what you are now. Better than dying, I would have to say.” My father had a very concerned look in his eyes.
“I never asked for this you know…” I plopped my head down on the table and stared at the horrid food before me.
“Look. Try and eat the apple. I think you’ll get the most enjoyment out of that.” He chuckled, hinting that he knew something that I didn’t. “Try and use your hoof to get it.” I looked at him uncertainly.
“How the hell’m I supposed to that?” I began to consider all of the joints in my foreleg, and tried to spot anyway I could utilize them. The bottom of my hoof kind of felt like a fingernail, and my hoof itself kind of felt like one big finger.
“You call that a Fetlock. That’s how Ponies pick things up in their hooves.” It felt like having a very limited hand, almost. Like no thumbs and just one big finger and a palm. I reached over to the apple and gripped it with my Fetlock.
“I always wondered how they could do this stuff.” I shot John a quick grin for the advice, and looked back to my unrealistic apple. It looked very bright and vivid. I wasn’t sure if it was just because of my new vision, or it was just like that. I took a bite, wrapping my new muzzle around it, and a flood of flavor and ecstasy shot through my mind. God, what was in this apple? They drugged my apple. Had to. There was no way that this amount of flavor and delectability could be jam packed into this tiny apple.
“Thith… Ith Amathing! Whath in thith?” I looked at my father with a jubilous smile, which he returned.
“It’s imported from Equestria. It’s good to us, but not THAT good.” John gave me a matter-of-factly grin, and continued eating his salad.
“Yeah dude, you were having a foodgasm hardcore! I’ve never seen someone, or somepony react that way to food before.” I looked over at Dennis who had finished his hamburger. He threw me an amused smirk which caused me to blush and my ears to fall.
“He he. Sorry… I hope I didn’t disturb you guys or anything. I didn’t even know that I was doing that.” I looked down at my now halfway eaten apple.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve heard a lot of Newfoals do that the first time they experience food as a pony. It’s normal.” John and his words of wisdom. He’d only been here for like three days and knew everything there was about being a pony, even if he wasn’t one yet. I distracted my gaze from my apple and to my plate of grass. I would have to try it eventually, so I decided it would be best to go ahead and do it.
“What’s this stuff?” I asked John, knowing he would have the answer. I pointed to the crispy hay.
“Hay Fries.”
“How do I eat them? Looks like you need a fork, or fingers.” They were indeed too small to fit in my fetlock.
“Oh, yeah… You have to eat them off the plate with your mouth.” I looked at my Hay Fries with disgust.
“Fine… I guess it’s the best way for me.” I dipped my grey muzzle into the crispy hay and gathered it up with my teeth. An audible chuckle came from my right.
“Dude, you look like an animal. Well, you kinda are one, but still.” He always had something like that to say. Dennis was never very kind or respectful, and always ended up fucking something up. I swallowed my hay, which wasn’t that bad, and looked over at Dennis.
“Animals are different. I’m sapient, therefore I’m not an animal.”
“Still eat like one, look like one, and smell li-“ He leaned over to sniff my coat. “Actually, you kind of smell like bubbles or something. Soap, to say the least. You don’t smell bad, you smell good. I take back what I was about to say.” He leaned back into his seat that messaged ‘I’m defeated’.
“You’re an asshole, Dennis, but I love you anyway.” We all had a laugh, and then got back to eating. I tried my other food, and it was all pretty good, surprisingly. However, the apple was glorious.
“So, have you figured out what you’re going to do yet?” Dennis shot me a quick, but hopeful smile.
“Well, no, actually. I mean, you all know about my work as a freelancer. That’s my passion. Now though… God, I’m not sure.” I looked down at the table again, and dropped my pointy ears. Every time the subject was brought up, I was immediately brought down.
“Delvin, I actually need to talk to you about that. Could we take a walk?” My father put his hand on my mane, and patted me. He couldn’t possibly be thinking about giving me more contracts, could he? John stood up to let me through. Forgetting about the fact that I had four legs, I immediately fell on my face.