//------------------------------// // Awakening // Story: Why Am I A Filly? // by Sleepy Panda //------------------------------// "Hey, are you alright?" I think someone is saying something, but I'm not sure. Anyway, even if there is, it probably isn't important enough for me to stand up and give the speaker my attention. Besides, I am perfectly comfortable lying down and resting my eyes, and there is absolutely no reason for me to move from this position. Right now, I doubt that even food can tempt me to fully awaken. Mmm... food. Thoughts of pepperoni pizza float through my foggy mind. Maybe, just maybe, someone could convince me to move if they gave me some pizza. But only if it had pepperoni on top. And bacon. And sausage. But unless someone gives me that pizza, I am staying right here. "Is she dead?" An annoying, loud, high-pitched voice rudely interrupts my peaceful daydreaming, followed by a series of... footsteps? The sound is sort of similar to footsteps, but footsteps aren't quite as... sharp. It sounds as if a lady in high heels is stomping across a hard tile floor. "I don't know, Star. I can try asking, I guess." The footstep-y sounds come closer. "Um, excuse me, but are you, like, dead?" Vaguely, I realize that the voice is talking to me. Am I dead? I don't think so, but what if I am? Am I some sort of awesome ghost? No, I think I'm alive. I should probably signal to them that I'm alive, but that would require me to actually DO something. Ugh, this is not fun. I have always been rather lazy, and right now was no exception. But if I don't let them know that I am alive, they might bury me alive in the middle of nowhere, so I guess I'll just have to communicate to them that I am still living. With great difficulty, I pry one of my caked-shut eyelids open. At first the bright light blinds me, but as my eyes adjust, I begin to make out my surroundings. Bright colors, trees, and... WHAT?! Ponies. Three bright, colorful horse-thingies with freakishly huge eyes and tattooed butts. There's a white one, a green one, and a tan one. By the looks of it, all of them are girls. One of them has her head tilted to the side, as if carefully examining me. They all have crazy hair, large ears, and did I mention that they have huge eyes? Even crazier, one of the three ponies staring down at me, the white one, has wings. Yep, I know what I am dealing with. These ponies are from one of my all-time favorite cartoons. My Little Pony: Friendship is magic. Confused, I jump to my feet, almost fully awake now. Well, try to, anyway. Suddenly clumsy , I trip over my hooves and fall flat on my face. Wait a second... I have HOOVES?! I lift my face off of the ground, twist my neck around and stare at them in disbelief. How do ponies even use these things? They're nothing more than stumps! In the show, ponies are always picking things up and holding things with their hooves, but seeing them in... real life (what can I even call this? It's a cartoon!) had me all confused as to how these things could possibly work. As the last bit of drowsiness clears away, reality hits me. I have hooves, which means that I must be... I open my mouth and scream. ...a pony. ***** The three fillies stare at me and blink a lot before turning to each other and having a whispered conversation. I can only catch little snippets of it, but its enough to know that they are talking about me. "What is wrong with that pony?" "I don't know, Star Shine." "Why did she scream like that?" The white pony glances at me before answering. "Shh, she can probably hear us." Wait, she? I am clearly a guy! I am insulted. I am the most manly guy, or so I like to think, in the entire 9th grade at my school. But what if... no. I will not think about it. If I was a guy a as a human, than I must be a guy as a pony, too. There is absolutely no way I could be a filly. Those fillies probably have bad eyesight or something. I need to set things straight. I carefully position my forehooves underneath my furry blue-green body and attempt to push myself up to what counts as a standing position for ponies. I fall flat on my face again. "Um, guys?" I ask in my quiet, high pitched voice. A girl's voice. No no, just a sore throat or something. I am NOT a filly! "Can someone lend me a hand here?" The three fillies abruptly stop their whispered conversation and three pairs of unnaturally large eyes focus on me. One of them whispers, "She talks!" "What's a ha-end?" Star Shine asks. "Whatever it is, I've never heard of it. I don't think I have any of those, sorry." "Um, I mean, a hoof. Can somebo- I mean, somepony, lend me a hoof? I can't get up." The white pegasus trots over to me and holds out her hoof. "It's not that hard to get up. Are you hurt or something?" I just roll my eyes and attempt to grasp her hoof with mine. How is it even possible? I really wish I had fingers. "By the way, my name is Snow Crystal. What's yours?" The three ponies stare expectantly at me as I somehow succeed in my endeavors to use Snow's hoof to pull myself off of the ground. Wow, ponies blink a lot. "Um..." I don't know how to respond. I could tell them my real name, Nick, but that doesn't sound very ponylike. I need a new name, a pony name. I'm slightly panicking now and glancing around frantically, hoping that my surroundings will give me an idea. I'm clearly outdoors, and right next to the Everfree Forest. I see a berry bush off to my right and flowers to my left. "My name is...Berry Blossom. I'm... not from around here." "Well, Berry Blossom... Welcome to Ponyville! Well, the very edge of Ponyville, but still!"