//------------------------------// // And humans are... // Story: My Little Journal // by Brolkier //------------------------------// I suppose this makes Day Two. I had almost hoped that perhaps when I fell asleep last night, that I would wake up back in the real world...but no. Still a pony. Still a mare...and still pink. I don't know how this writing will look to anyone, or anypony else reading it, but as Doctor Whooves had put it in "Doctor Whooves and Assistant", it seems physically impossible to hold anything with these hooves. I tried writing with my mouth, but trying to hold something in your mouth, and then write with it, is as awkward as it sounds. I'm hoping at some point, that I might be able to write using my wing, kind of like how Pegasus ponies are able to use their end feathers almost like fingers occasionally in the show. In the meantime, be grateful if you're reading this in a legible fashion. Even I can barely read my handwriting now, and that's saying something, compared to how it looks in the real world. When I awoke, Twilight and Spike had already made breakfast, so I made my way into the room they were eating in. Now normally my breakfast consists of: eggs, sausage, a biscuit, a banana, some kind of fruit in a bowl, and orange juice and coffee. This breakfast had about half of that, and obviously no sausage. There were cooked eggs, toast, and some orange juice. I don't know why, but almost the entire time I was eating, I kept catching Twilight looking at me. I'm sure part of it was because I was eating like a toddler, burying their face in their food, but I got the feeling that there was something more. Sure enough, after I had finished eating, Twilight jumped at the opportunity to start asking me more questions about my life in the real world. Things started off simple enough. She asked what the culture was like where I'm from, and who the dominant species was. And then things got more complicated, where after trying to answer one question for her, she returned, rapid fire, with several other questions. I tried my best to keep up, until frustrated, I stopped her. I told her I had an idea on how to make the conversation go more smoothly, so that we could both get something out of it. One pony would ask the other a question, that pony would answer, and then the roles would switch, for however long. Granted I've seen almost the entire show, but there were still questions I had that would be interesting to hear from a more local source, as opposed to a writer's remark. I started by asking how time worked here, since my watch that I had looked like a regular face watch back home. Twilight told me that there were 24 hours in a day. Good to know there's no change there. Twilight then asked me who the King or Princess was that ruled over me back in my world. I told her that while there were Kings and Queens that ruled in certain parts of the world, that I lived under a President. She asked if I meant something like a committee, but I told her that in the "land" called America, where I'm from, the ruler of the entire country was called the President. She almost asked me another question, no doubt about America, but I stopped her short, and reminded her about taking turns with the questions. She apologized, and funny enough, let out the little squee sound that you hear in the show. I gave a little chuckle before asking my next question. I asked about how the calendar worked in Equestria, hoping I wouldn't get that big of a change from what I'm used to. She told me that there were 12 months, 365 days a year, and 7 days a week. I was a little surprised to say the least. While the four seasons seemed to be the same, and the names of the days apparently were still the same, I kind of expected the number of months and days to be a little shorter. I sneaked in another quick question, and asked what the months were called. I was expecting anything from horse pun named months, to completely different names, but what I got left me speechless. The exact same names. I'm like you, or whoever is reading this, I expected pun names at least, like: Hayuary, or Neighvember. Twilight asked her next question, obviously wanting to know more about America. I told her that Equestria and America really weren't all that different. Explaining that places like Filly Delphia, and Las Pegasus, existed in my world too, only they were "Philadelphia" and "Las Vegas", but they still worked and had cultures of the same fashion. She got giddy again, but stopped herself for me to take my turn. I felt a little daring, and quite honestly I was still very confused about it myself, so I asked how going to the bathroom worked here. I explained that aside from myself being a mare now, that I wasn't sure how ponies...you know...went in this world. Twilight seemed a little embarrassed by the question, probably because Spike was still at the table, so she asked him if he wouldn't mind going to grab a book that she was going to need for the day, while she answered me. I also wasn't sure if the fact that I was a male in a mare's body, was making her embarrassed as well. For the sake of whoever's reading this, I'm not going to go into detail about how this all works: 1. Because, again, I don't know who age wise is reading. and 2. I didn't even get all that much info. Twilight explained that, at least for mares, they go into the bathroom, sit down, and that's that. While she had studied stallion anatomy in her studies, she didn't feel comfortable speaking for them. So we now take that box, set it aside, and move on. Her next question pertained to what kinds of races we had in my world. Here, there was everything from ponies, to griffons, to dragons, all with their own racial systems. I explained that while griffons and dragons didn't exist in my world, ponies and certain other creatures did, but they weren't the dominant race. I told her once again, that the dominant race were called humans, and were essentially the pony version of life here, or different creature version, whichever makes sense. I then explained that the human race was broken down into different ethnicities, much like how there were different ponies from places like Saddle Arabia, and others around the world, humans worked in the same way. I was about to ask my next question, when Spike came back into the room, carrying the book that Twilight had asked for, and what looked like one of Princess Celestia's letters. She thanked him for the book, and asked what the letter said. He told her that Princess Celestia had thanked Twilight for her letter regarding me, and that she would be more than happy to try and help if she could. However, due to her schedule being overfilled, she had little to no time to leave, and I would have to make my way to Canterlot instead to see her. I guess I should have expected something like this to happen. Granted I was probably the first case of this to happen, unless Doctor Whooves did exist in this world, but I should have known that the Princess wouldn't just rush from her kingdom to come save me, that was more Twilight and friends style. I made up my mind, I was going to Canterlot...the only problem was how. I still didn't know how to fly, and while I had a rough idea in my head, from the map that had been made of Equestria back in the real world of where everything was, distance wise, I was clueless. I asked Twilight exactly how far away Canterlot was, and she told me that even for a Pegasus like Rainbow Dash, it would still take a long time to get there by flying. Train it is I guess, and with that, my next problem. Money. Even in the happy-go-lucky world of Equestria, you still have to pay for tickets for trains and such. I guess when they were passing out the welcome gift basket for sleeping world swapping ponies, they forgot to include a few bits with my watch. Twilight had already given me a place to stay for the night, and breakfast in the morning, so I didn't want to take advantage of her any more than I already had. Also, I figured that I probably wouldn't be getting to Canterlot today anyway, so I decided to try and spend the majority of my day trying to be a pony. Twilight started to offer to help me get to Canterlot, but agreed that it would probably be better for me to try getting used to being a pony in the meantime. With that, I told her and Spike that I'd be back later to work on using my hooves to write and such, and I made my way out the door. I took a few steps out the door, before taking a deep breath of fresh air, and closing my eyes. Today was going to be my first day of actual living here, so I wanted to try and make the most of it...and then the sack came. Seemingly out of nowhere, I quickly found myself having a sack tossed over my head, and then being lifted away somewhere. I was being...colt...fillynapped I guess. Was this the Equestrian mafia or something!? In this world was Twilight the daughter of a mob family that I angered or something!? I tried screaming for help, but by the time I started yelling, the sack had been taken off my head, and I found myself surrounded by ponies in Sugarcube Corner. They all let out a "Surprise!" and Pinkie followed with a "Welcome to Ponyville!” before singing her usual welcoming song. I had party hats placed on me, got handed/hoofed glasses of punch, which I quickly dropped from not knowing how to hold them, and it all came to a climax with Pinkie shooting off her party cannon, and covering me in confetti. The joy and laughter continued, until a few ponies and Pinkie asked me for my name. I sat there in silence once again, and the mood of the party seemed to follow. While I had trusted Twilight a little more with what I had planned to call myself, had I been a stallion, I still wasn't sure what to tell everypony else, since they just knew me as a mare. I muttered out a couple "uhhs" and "umms". My mind flickered back to my OC again, and I thought about using one of the names of mares that had been paired with him when I was writing my first story with him. Pinkie asked if I did have a name, when another pony in the room pointed out that I didn't have a cutie mark. Pinkie then let out her exaggerated gasp, and came to the conclusion that since I didn't have a cutie mark, that I didn't have a name either. I tried to convince her otherwise, but she told me to say no more, as she brought her hoof to her chin and began to think. When the light bulb above her head appeared...yes, I said light bulb. Literally, a light bulb appeared above her head. I can accept cartoon shenanigans like appearing out of nowhere and from impossible angles, but for a light bulb to actually appear? Anyway, after the light bulb appeared, she spoke and decided on my name. Cloudy Airy. That was the name that Twilight spoke when she entered the room, and cut Pinkie short. The rest of the ponies gave a slight confused gasp at the name, as Pinkie looked at Twilight in disappointment, stating that she was going to call me Pink Mint. I could have been Fluttershy's twin, sitting there afraid and confused, but Twilight spoke something that made me feel more at ease. She said that I was from a land far away from Equestria, and that I was hesitant to say my name, since I thought it was more of a stallion's name. She also told everypony that a recent turn of events made me lose some of my memory, and as such, it's like I'm learning to be a pony all over again. I knew that Twilight was always the head voice of reason, and would do anything to help her friends, but I never knew that she would go this far to help someone like me out. She still barely knew me, or where I came from, but she treated me as if we'd been friends forever. Cue lesson learned, letter to the Princess, final message, and cut to credits. The spirit of the party began to pick up again, as the ponies started greeting me as Cloudy one after another. Pinkie asked if she could still call me Pink Mint, and I told her she could, since she went through all the trouble of coming up with a name for me, and a name from Pinkie Pie would obviously mean something to Bronies back in the real world. Whether they'd believe me or not when I get back was up in the air though. I enjoyed the party as much as I was able to, and Twilight approached me to tell me that she'd seen Pinkie grab me outside her house, and figured that she'd throw a surprise party for me like this. She was glad that she made it in time before I was officially named Pink Mint, and that she figured that it probably would be best for me to use the name that I had originally planned to use, in case I ever did manage to become a stallion. I thanked her, and then went back to the festivities. Throughout the short span of the party, a few ponies tried helping learn how to pick things up with my hooves, and I eventually managed to pick up a party balloon, before it slipped from my grasp. With learning how to grab things with my hooves, and after being welcomed into Ponyville, I figured that I was already half-way into being a full-fledged pony in this world. However, I still needed to learn how to fly. After the party ended, all the ponies began going their separate ways, and Pinkie waved goodbye to me from the store's entrance. Twilight walked out with me, and told me that she was going to run a few errands before returning home, and that she'd leave the door unlocked for me whenever I decided to come back. Now alone in the street, I decided that I should try giving flying a shot. I wandered through the streets, until I finally found my way to the park. It seemed to have an open enough area for me to practice flying, and the few small slopes from hills would give me the chance to have enough distance between myself and the ground, for me not to hurt myself too much if I fell down. I opened up my wings like the Pegasus ponies in Cloudsdale had shown me how to do, and tried flapping them to give me some lift. No good. I imagined a Scootaloo cutie mark appearing on my flank, but figured I'd probably have a better chance at success, and was sure she would too eventually. I tried gliding from the top of the hills, and flapping my wings a bit from the air, but I only ended up causing myself to lose control and fall down. I tried a few more times, changing the angle of my wings slightly, and flapping different ways at times, until I managed to lift myself up a little bit while gliding. I landed from that attempt with such excitement! A few different ponies in the park saw me trying to fly, and asked what I was doing. I explained the story that Twilight had told for me back at the party, and the ponies seemed caring in hoping I was able to fly again. A female Pegasus offered to try and help me, and I accepted gratefully. I don't remember her name, but she might have been one of the random unnamed background ponies from the show, or a new one altogether, there was really no way to tell. She taught me about when and how to flap my wings, in order to give me lift, and how to keep myself in place up in the air. Ponies in this world must not have a lot to do in their day, because she and I kept at my flying for what felt like hours. Eventually, I just about got the hang of it, and was briskly flying around the park, receiving cheers from her, and the remaining ponies who had heard my story earlier in the day. The feeling of using wings to fly, it's like you're moving two extra arms on your back. The part connected to your back, and up through the center of the wing is like your arm, and the bones leading up and out, surrounded by your feathers, are sort of like fingers. Imagine the story of Icarus, who strapped wax wings to his arms, and flew up to the sun. It's like that motion of flapping that he would have done to get up that high, but on a completely separate part of your body. I was thrilled to finally live my dream of being able to fly! Although, the focus to fly at first is about the same amount of focus you need to make yourself fly in dreams, and maintain it the entire time. I was sweating just staying in the air! Realizing that it was starting to get late, I landed, and thanked the pony for helping me. She told me that she was glad to help, before taking off and flying away herself. I followed suit, and gently took off, back towards Twilight's house. Along the way, I looked down at the other ponies still going about their lives. I watched them walk in and out of stores, talking to each other in the streets, and even a few working here and there. I even saw a few couples walking the streets as well, and a thought occurred to me. If I end up being stuck here; what am I going to do about a relationship!? I'm, for the sake of the show, a colt in a mare's body! I'm Robin Williams from Mrs. Doubtfire! Martin Lawrence from Big Momma's House! I'm a man in a predominately mare's world! That was another thing that always had me wondering. Granted the show is marketed to little girls, but the majority of the citizens in My Little Pony are female. Was I placed into the cultural majority by chance?, misfortune?, some higher power? That would be something; Princess Celestia working together with God with a wicked sense of humor. But I digress. The thought stayed with me all the way until I reached Twilight's house. I opened the door, and walked in to find Twilight and Spike putting away her books onto the shelves. Twilight greeted me, and asked me how my first day as a pony went, aside from Pinkie's antics that morning. I told her that things had gone fine, and that I'd learned how to fly. She was ecstatic at the news, but sensed that I was feeling a little down. She asked if everything was alright, and I responded by asking if she wanted to do the question turns again. She accepted, and offered me the first question, in the hopes that I might reveal what was bothering me. I asked if she knew of any other couples, aside from her brother and Princess Cadence, and the Cake family. She seemed a little confused, and told me of a few random couples she'd seen since she'd been to Ponyville. However, instead of following with a different question of her own, she asked if there was any reason I brought the subject up. I responded by asking her how relations went in this world. She was still completely confused, so I tried explaining to her. I told her that back in my world, there were couple combinations of every gender; male-male, male-female, female-female. I asked if those same three existed here. She thought about it for a minute, but couldn't really think of any couple she had seen that wasn't a mare and stallion. I'm going to call blind luck for Twilight's lack of knowledge on relationships, otherwise I'm sure this conversation would have been a lot more awkward than it already was. I decided to test the waters by asking about same gender couples that had been made/shipped by Bronies back in the real world. I asked Twilight if she knew both Lyra and Bon Bon. She replied that she had seen them both before, but couldn't see any kind of connection between the two. I explained that back in my world, the two had been paired together, and were as such a same gender couple. I also told her that Octavia and Vinyl Scratch were a similar way. Twilight was still having a hard time understanding the concept, both from my world’s point of view, and from what she knew from living, and growing up in her own. I decided to flat out tell her what was wrong. I asked; "Since I'm a colt in a mare's body, what am I supposed to do about being with another pony?" Twilight froze, stuck in a confused "uhh" face. I told her that I should be trying to be with a mare, but would that kind of thing even exist in this world. I hadn't gotten hit on by a male pony yet, and I shuddered to think that I ever would as long as I'm here. Twilight tried turning to Spike for support, but the little dragon just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head in confusion. I took a deep breath, and told her that perhaps I shouldn't be thinking about things like that right now. I still needed to make my way to Canterlot at some point, and if it turned out that I couldn't get home, then I would worry about it then. Twilight nervously nodded her head in agreement, and decided to change the subject. She asked if I wanted to try writing with my hooves, now that I was back, and I replied yes. She went upstairs, and soon returned with a few blank pieces of paper and a pencil. She told me to try holding the pencil like I had done with the glasses of punch, and balloons at the party. It took a few tries, but I managed to pick up the pencil and keep it relatively still. However, as soon as I tried writing on the paper, it slipped from my hoof. I tried again, and again, and again, until I was able to at least draw scribbles on the paper. Twilight congratulated me, and told me to keep practicing, while she and Spike finished putting away the books. The first thing I tried to actually write was: Hello. That was the intention. The result however, came out as a giant wavy form of the word. I decided, for the fun of it, to try writing with my mouth. I placed the pencil between my teeth, and leaned forward to write. Let's just say I quickly went back to using my hoof. I practiced for a couple hours, until I just about got the hang of it. In the real world, I'm right handed, but my writing most of the time looks as if I'd written it with my left hand. I'll leave you to imagine how that might look, but take that image, make it slightly worse, but still somewhat legible, and that's what my writing looked like when I could finally write with my hoof. My cutie mark obviously won't be a fancy quill anytime soon. I took a break to have dinner with Twilight and Spike, where I managed to eat like a regular pony, and tried having conversation at the same time. I asked them both how their day had gone. Twilight told me about how she had gone out to retrieve and replace a couple books from a pony in town, and about having lunch with Rarity. Spike, then with small hearts in his eyes, told me that he'd seen Rarity today too. I'm sure he meant while he was taking his nap. Twilight and I laughed a bit at Spike’s reaction, and continued eating our meal. After we were done, I made my way back into the library, and asked Twilight if she could light a candle for me, so that I could start writing my next journal entry on my own. She gladly retrieved a candle from her cupboard, and lit it with her magic, before placing it on her reading stand. She told me goodnight, as she and Spike left upstairs. I knew better than to try writing with a quill and ink, like Spike had done yesterday. So I picked the pencil back up off the floor, and started to write my next entry. I find myself thinking, as I write this, that maybe being stuck here wouldn't be so bad after all. I mean, being human is alright, after living as one for a while, but being a pony is just, amazing. Tomorrow I'll have to start looking into making some money, if I ever want to get to Canterlot. I don't think I'll try doing either of Derpy's jobs, but I'm sure I'll find something that I can do. From a fellow Brony in Ponyville; Cloudy Airy.