//------------------------------//
// Spritelight 1, Chapter 10 
// Story: Spritelight 
// by Makitk 
//------------------------------//

After having calmed down, and having had a drink or two between us, Turkey and I left our store to find a bulky Earthpony stallion waiting outside of it, looking like he didn't know what he was doing there either. We watched from the balcony as the Earthponies used their strength to move items aside, while the Unicorns tried their hardest to get their glitchy magic to help out as well.

They had only been ponies for about four hours, but I was already spotting some who were faster at learning the potential of their magic than others. I even saw a pair of foals playing with a ball from a toy store, pushing it back and forth between them with their magic as if they were playing soccer.

And then there were those who were hopelessly lost to the idea of moderate use of magic. Exploding fruit, drinks splashing into faces, and the occasional two-by-four flying off in a random direction - only to be caught by someone more versed in magic - were among the humorous misjudgements of just how much energy needed to be put into items to make them levitate.

And all the while we were watching them clear the area and build up the stage, the Earthpony stallion was uneasily shuffling a hoof while he was watching us.

I turned to him and looked him over. White coat, muscular, blue mane and tail, he could almost be one of Celestia's guards if he were to apply to the position. He had the build for it. Looked a bit like Shining Armor, but there were clear differences between the faces of the two.

"Are you ok, dear?" I asked of him, and a blush immediately crept onto his cheeks. "You keep rubbing your hoof over the floor like that and you'll grind it down until it's useless."

The stallion looked down at his hoof and stopped it moving about, his ears flicking uneasily.

"You look like you have something to ask me, but you're unsure where to start. Am I right?" I tried, and the stallion nodded in silence.

"Ok, so let's start with the basics; I'm Spritelight," I introduced myself. "I'm a Unicorn mare from Equestria. Now who are you?"

The stallion drooped more and then a quiet voice came from his large form, "I'm Stacey, I'm a girl... or I was... I don't know."

Turkey perked up at this revelation and moved up to my side, looking the stallion over. "No you're not. You're a stallion," she corrected the other.

The stallion looked away more, and quietly shook his head.

"Hey, look at me," Turkey demanded, stepping up to the stallion and putting her hoof under the other's chin to force him to stare at her. "What I used to be, what you used to be, what we used to be, it doesn't matter! I'm a Pegasus mare now, named Turkey. That's who I am."

I tilted my head at this interaction, and the stallion cast a pleading glance at me. Before I could open my mouth, Turkey had moved in-between us.

"Am I getting through to you? I'm a Pegasus mare. I didn't used to be, but I am now. That's all that matters," she told the stallion again, and locked eyes with him. "And you are a stallion. An Earthpony stallion. A strong and fierce pony, who may one day be a royal guard."

"R... really?" the stallion stuttered, his ears turning indecisively on his head.

"Yes! Now repeat after me; I'm a fierce and proud Earthpony stallion!" Turkey all-but shouted.

"I... I'm a fierce... and... er... proud... Earthpony st... sta..." the stallion started, but Turkey narrowed her eyes at him and hit him in the side of his face with her left forehoof. Hard enough to cause the stallion to back away from shock, but not hard enough to break anything.

"Not good. Again!" Turkey shouted like a drill sergeant, and I sat my butt down in amazement at her assertiveness.

"I'm a fierce and... proud Earthpony stall... stallion!" the stallion whined.

"Again!" Turkey demanded, standing in a proud stance herself, her chin up, her tail held up just enough to still keep her modest.

"I'm a fierce and proud Earthpony stallion!" the stallion cried out, his eyes closed.

"Again!" Turkey repeated, and I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm a fierce and proud Earthpony stallion!" the stallion droned, and at the last word opened his eyes to stare straight at mine.

I stumbled back a little from the sight of those eyes. Gone was the embarrassment and unease in them, and what had replaced them was a grim determination.

"I'm a fierce and proud Earthpony stallion, and I am to keep watch over you to make sure you don't leave before we get to question you!" the stallion repeated, putting his hooves down and pushing his chest forward as he took a proud stance.

Turkey smirked and gave a light nod. "It's in there, you see? It's been part of you since before Spritelight came to our world. It was the same with me."

I flicked an ear in confusion, looking between the two. The stallion slowly relaxed a bit more, and looked over at Turkey.

"I wouldn't accept it. I was still in shock over what happened. Tried to stick around her, to find out what exactly happened. I couldn't believe it," Turkey rattled, but then turned to me and nuzzled her cheek up against mine. "I was a mare before I was transformed."

I just sat there, with Turkey nuzzling into me, while the stallion tilted his head at us. "Yeah, I don't know either," I offered with a shrug.

Turkey punched me in the chest with her right forehoof, then broke away from me and sat down a little to my left, letting out a snort. "You should know! You said your magic turns us into what we are inside. Our deepest desire. Our true identity!"

"I didn't actually say," I started, but Turkey snorted again.

"That's what was implied!" she shouted. "I used to be a businessman. I used to go about from one house to another, buying up property and renting it back to people for more than it was worth. I was a despicable person. I'm GLAD I'm a mare now! Clean slate; tabula rasa!"

I could do nothing but blink at that, and Turkey continued her ranting.

"You know what I was doing when you bumped into me and transformed me? I was on the way to some girl's place. Someone I met in a bar who was only after my money. And I? I was only after her... well, you know."

Turkey paused a moment and looked down between her hind legs. "And now I have one of those myself."

The stallion let out an awkward whistle, then turned to look at me. "Hey, does this mean I won't have a period anymore?"

I glanced between the two, then put my hoof to my face to rub at it. "Ok, so I didn't know all of that about you, Turkey. But I'm not going to judge you for something you did as a human. As you said; clean slate. And, no. You won't get a period anymore because you're a guy now, Stacey. You may want to think of a new name for yourself."

I lowered my hoof to the ground again and smirked up at Turkey. "You, on the other hoof, can start to look forward to when you get your first heat. If you think that little self-exploration you did the other night was strange and confusing, you have seen nothing yet."

Turkey's face went blank and her ears and tail slowly drooped down as she slowly started to realize what my words meant.

I cast a glance over the balcony's edge and realized the other ponies had just about finished setting up the podium below.

"We may want to start going downstairs," I suggested. "They're going to want some answers soon."

As the stallion named Stacey nudged Turkey into motion and I fell into line behind them, I found I started to feel a bit nervous.

Nervous not in the sense of "oh shit I have to talk to a lot of ponies", but more of the "oh shit someone is watching me" variety.

I looked behind me, but there was no-one there. I quickly checked for the presence of Discord or Zecora, but they were probably in Equestria somewhere, as I could not find their energy on Earth.

But there was someone, somehow, staring at me. I could feel their eyes on me, I could just not find where they were looking at me from.

I shook off the feeling as we reached the top of the stairs. My audience was waiting. My ambassadors, waiting for an explanation. Waiting for someone to tell me what to do next, now they were no longer humans.