“I’m not who you think I am.”
“Then who are you?”
“I'm a nobody trapped in a body with responsibility I never wanted.”
This was the exchange between me and Princess Luna in my dream. The only problem was, it wasn’t my voice. It was Celestia’s. Unfortunately, my inner alarm clock dispelled any chances of finding out just what was going on, so I tried to imagine the rest of the scene for the remaining ten minutes there were left before the actual alarm went off. Yet my misfortune streak continued, as I couldn’t settle on any direct lines of dialogue other than that already presented.
Not that it mattered. After all, it was just a dream, not some story I was writing. Either way, I still had to get out of bed, throw on my shoes, and get packed and ready for school. Fun fact: I go to a Robotics academy where they require you to have a laptop. Eeyup. I had to pack a laptop with me. As I survived another day at school, I found myself unable to think about much more than that dream. Eventually I started asking myself questions, like could it be real? Was there a hidden message there? It got to the point where I felt the need to share, but I never got the chance.
It was lunch time at school, and I was already done eating. I eat fast so I have more time to surf the net and manage my roleplay characters. Mostly ponies. Today, I wasn't doing much of that, having already apologized and delayed my roleplays because my head wasn't in the game.
"Hey, man. Is something wrong? You looked kinda out of it today." One of my friends Alec asked as he came up to me. He was more of an acquaintance than a friend, though. All of them were. I guess I never much felt the connection of friendship. Ironic, considering I watch a show all about it.
"Yeah, but I wouldn't want to burden you with my problems. Isn't there a girlfriend you promised one of those muffins to? She's more important than me." I said, pointing out the two treats he'd bought from the school store.
"It's fine. You're my friend. I'm sure she'll understand." He said. I smiled.
"Thanks. I had a dream last night, and it's been bugging me since I got up." I said. I felt the headache I'd accumulated earlier spike, and winced.
"What's wrong?" Alec asked, seeing my suddenly pained face. I brought a hand to my head to hold back the tide of pain and tried to answer.
"I don't kn- Agh!" I was cut off by a sudden spike of pain from my stomach. I doubled over, but Alec caught me.
"James? James, what's wrong?" He asked worriedly, but even more spikes of pain kept me from answering. When it was clear something was horribly wrong, Alec shouted down the halls. "Somebody get help!" He turned back to me to reassure me help would be here soon. At the rate the pain was growing, I wasn't so sure it would get here in time to stop whatever was going on. Alec put a hand on my shoulder to try and help, but he jerked it away with a hiss of pain for some reason. “Jezus! You’re freaking molten!” He hissed as he shook his hand from the pain.
I looked at my skin to find out what’d become of it, since it pretty much felt like my bones were snapping and reshaping with the pressure and heat of the earth’s core. I felt the rising urge to vomit, seeing that it was charring until it sloughed off, white fur slowly growing in its place. I could feel my blood boiling, as people began backing further away, and my body began undergoing more extreme changes, anything that hadn't already combusted beginning to sag as it started to melt. Even the tiles on the floor became nothing but a twisted, molten mess, and my body left a compression in them. What tiles weren’t already black became black as I felt my guts incinerating inside me.
A worse feeling blossomed from my back, and I heard the burning roar of something sprouting from my back in a molten plume of fire. I couldn’t look back to find out what it was though. My skin burned too much, and I was paralyzed by pain. I felt my hair combust, but rather than burning everything out of my skull, the flames seemed to glide down my back and leave entirely new and longer hair behind. A similar sensation extended my spine and left a length of tail hair on it. The feeling in my guts continued to make its way up my body, causing me to scream, as smoke belched from my mouth, before it petered out, along with my screams. I began clawing at my throat, struggling for air despite my lungs most likely being molten flesh, until the sensation passed them, allowing me to gasp, inhaling deeply, before screaming again. A whole new level of panic overtook me when I felt my heart stop. I rapidly felt a constricting feeling where it had once been, slowly growing stronger, as my vision begun to blur, before where my heart had once been, it felt like star had sparked to life, sending liquid fire running through my veins. The sensation continued upward, my screams cutting out as it reached my vocal chords, before the screaming resumed, sounding more feminine. When it finally reached my head, I almost immediately passed out as I felt it reach my brain.
When I awoke, I could see the sun, as well as feel something molten on my chest. The sunlight felt, energizing, as I begun to recall what had happened. Looking again, I realized I had a horn jutting from my forehead, and a muzzle. I tried to shake the cobwebs from my brain and the ringing from my ears, when it hit me. There was something molten on my chest. I began freaking out, expecting a searing pain, but only feeling warmth. looking up towards the sun, I was surprised by two things. I was looking straight at it without even squinting, and a hole had been melted in the ceiling. Slowly standing up, I found I was still on all fours, and looked down, discovering I had hooves. Whatever had been on my chest plopped onto the once molten floor, and as I looked around, I realized everything around me had melted. Panting from the near panic, I looked myself over. My clothes were nothing but ashes now. Thankfully my laptop bag had been left far enough away from the epicenter, that it was undamaged. Mom and Dad would kill me if I let anything happen to it.
Mom and Dad... They wouldn't recognise me at all. They didn't even know what MLP was, let alone that I was a fan of it. I was going to have to explain to them how I'd turned into a magical, talking pony princess. It wasn't going to be easy, but I had several lines of proof. I wouldn't give up if it came down to it.
I looked around at where Alec and the crowd used to be, but there was noone there. As well, the ringing in my ears hadn’t gone away. A flashing light brought my attention to the emergency evacuation sirens that were going off. Somebody must have tripped the Fire Alarm when I started burning up. Well, at least that explains the ringing in my ears…
I heard the distinct sounds of a chopper from the hole and looked up to find a news chopper flying about. How long was I out? I looked around at the smoldering wreckage, seeing the radiating heat beginning to calm down. It looked like a miniature sun had hit the place. Wait a minute, I pretty much am the sun. It’s no wonder everything burned like it did. A voice called from the hole in the ceiling.
“Okay, things are cooling off. Let’s move in and capture the objective.” the gruff voice said. I easily recognised the commanding tone of an officer. I facehoofed, and looked up to see coils of rope descending from the hole. Rather than run like a cowardly idiot, I just stood there, waiting for them to come down. I passed my gaze to each operative as they dropped down. They were in some kind of Pyro Suit, sensibly to protect them from the heat. Two of them had a net, probably meant to “capture” me.
“There’s no need for force, officers. I’ll put up no resistance.” I told them when the two with the net approached. They all froze at that, definitely unprepared for a sentient horse, and even more unprepared for a willing surrender. One of them reacted quicker than the rest and brought a hand to a button on his mask.
“Uh… Command? I think this might be bigger than we thought. This isn’t just some nuclear horse, she can talk, in english, and she’s agreed to come peacefully. She’s got a crown too, so she must be royalty.” He reported. I heard some radio chatter for a few minutes, not really able to make out what was said, but I remained calm. I knew Florida police were sensible if nothing else. I just hoped they wouldn’t blow this out of proportion.
As I waited, I went a grabbed my laptop bag. It was slightly difficult getting it on, but I managed. Soon enough, the guys with the net just packed it up, and nodded to me. They gestured for me to follow them, and they lead me through the school. Thankfully, I wasn’t radiating any more heat, so I didn’t torch any more of the school. Once we left the front doors, I was ushered into a large transport truck, and was joined by the police that had escorted me. There were chains in there, made in adjustable sizes, but seeing as I was coming willingly, they weren’t used. I wasn’t uncomfortable with the silence, but I wanted to know where they were taking me.
“So, may I ask where I’m being taken?” I asked. One of them removed his helmet and looked at me with a nervous smile.
“Command wants to see you. They’ve asked that we bring you to them so we can talk things out, your highness.” He replied. I frowned at that. He acknowledged me with a title that wasn’t mine to hold. And no doubt, if I couldn’t figure out magic, they’d find me out as a fake. I might as well be completely honest with them.
“Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not really royalty. The true owner of this body is, but not me. I’m really just a human like you guys.” I told them. At that news, all of them stared at me like I’d grown a third head.
“What happened then? What could possibly turn you into… that?” the maskless guy asked.
“I don’t know. The only warning I had was a dream, in which I’m talking to the sister of this body’s owner. I doubt anyone else is gonna turn into a pony though. At least not in the future. Whatever happened to me, I suspect if it were going to happen to anyone else, it’d already have happened.” I told them. The maskless guy nodded in acknowledgement. I then grinned as I thought of a way to really freak them out. My inner troll just couldn’t help but whip it out and use it.
“Oh, and I used to be a guy.” Mr. Maskless dropped his jaw so hard, I swear, if this were a cartoon, he’d have made a hole in the floor of the transport.
“Was it painful?” One of the other soldiers asked. This one had a badge marking him as the captain of this group.
“Imagine being turned into a sun.” I answered. “Now compress that into the form of a little pony.” The captain took off his helmet and looked me over.
“You aren’t signed, or sweaty in any way… but you were in the epicenter of that heat blast. How’d you even survive that, let alone get out without a scratch?” He asked.
“I-” I cut off with my hoof in the air ready to explain when I realized I couldn’t explain it very well. “Um… Good question…” I brought the raised hoof to my chin and rubbed it in thought. “Well… Celestia, the princess I’ve become, is basically the sentient embodiment of the sun. She’s responsible for raising and lowering it in her world. It could be magic.”
“Magic…” He replied in a deadpan tone. I could tell they had no idea what I meant, so I elaborated.
“Yeah, magic. It’s actually an integral part of a pony’s biology, and has a huge science behind it. At least, integral in the world this body comes from. Uh… Let me try to get this thing working so I can show you.” I said, tapping my horn to show what I meant. I focused on happy memories knowing equestrian magic was based on emotions. I felt a spark, and opened my eyes to see a little wisp of golden magic in front of me. I took hold of it in my mind and moved it down to my bags to grab onto it. The golden aura spread over my bag and lifted it. Then, a moment later, my bag dropped as the small spark of magic slipped off of it. Well, at least I’d lifted it a little. I turned my attention back to the police guys to see their reaction.
“What the hell was that…?” The captain asked.
“Magic. Levitation, to be precise.” I answered simply. They stared for a moment longer at my bag. Then, I got a sinking feeling in my gut when their gaze slowly went to the horn on my head. “You guys are going to want to run tests, aren’t you?”
“Oh, that’s not our job. You’ll be referred to the Science guys so they can run the tests.” The captain said. “We’ll just be there to watch.” Oh boy. Maybe I should have kept my magic secret. Or better yet, I should have just shut up to begin with. Oh well. I’ll just have to accept the consequences of my actions and really hope they won’t treat me too badly.