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// 2 A Change in Circumstance 
// Story: Conversion Camp 
// by Cool writer 
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	"Are you sure you needed nothing?"
"Yes! Look, do you see anybody with a bag larger than mine?" I replied. Mom shifted uneaslily, her eyes darting around the conversion beurea parking lot.
"Oooh. I wish that Glade was here." She whined. Glade was one of my pony friends, who was volunteering at conversion camp. "OK, go on now." She waved toward the bus. Most of the people had gotten on already. I hugged her, and waved a goodbye as I got on the bus. I walked down the row, and sat in an empty seat. Someone walked over to my seat.
"C- can I sit here?" He stuttered.
"Yeah, sure." I said, not paying him much mind. I opened, and stuck my head partially out the window.
"Bye! I love you!" Mom called, waving as the bus drove away. Part of me wished she didn't do that, but it was a tiny part. And besides, she wasn't the only one there to wave their child off. There were humans and ponies alike. I decided to talk to the kid next to me.
"Hey." I said to him.
"Oh, hi." He said back. He was blonde, and very lanky. His fair hair was short, and he looked like he was a little afraid of me.
"I'm Alton, you?" I asked for his name.
"I'm Aron." He said back. We sat in silence for a moment, through the drum of others talking about stuff. I heard two girls talking about... braiding their tails or something. Considering they're humans, that should be raising alarm bells. But I'm going to dismiss that as a girl thing and move on. Girls can be weird...
"You nervous? ...About the transformation, I mean." Aron asked. I shook my head.
"Not really, I just got jitters about what happens afterwards." I waved a hand dismissively. He lowered his face so he was looking over his glasses.
"Jitters?" He asked sarcastically.
"My grandma." He still looked confused. I shook my head. "Never mind." We sat in silence for a while, watching the city go by. Some of the side walks had children (more ponies than humans, but that isn't very surprising at this point) playing around. It was kind of cute, I missed being that young, maybe this summer would be like that. I've heard that Equestria is like a children's cartoon... it might be a nice change of pace. Earth isn't all that great, but I feel like it's getting better, now that more people are turning into ponies. The world is a lot happier with more smiling ponies. I smiled at the thought.
"So... uh, what do you like to do? Like, for fun?" I asked.
"Well, I like to read, and write, words are my forte." He said, smiling.
"Really, what do you write?" I asked.
"Stories, mostly. I post them online, people seem to like them, but I'm not very good." He admitted.
"I bet, that you are better than you think." I said, encouragingly.
"Really?"
"Yeah! I tend to never judge my own work, because you'll either sell yourself short, or praise it too much. You know what I mean?" He nodded at this.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." He agreed. "That's good advice, thanks." I waved a hand dismissively.
"No problem. Just happy to help." At that point we started talking about other stuff, like other interests, other hobbies, ect. But it was nice. We eventually started telling creepy pastas (because we don't tell regular old ghost stories any more, this is the 21st century!) and laughing at how silly they were.
"Goat men! I mean... GOAT... MEN!" I laughed. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"
"I know right!" Aron laughed right on with me.
"And the part goat people have the power to shape-shift... SO DUMB!" I added.
"Yeah," Aron laughed, wiping a tear from his eye. "Creepy pastas can be really dumb. Not every story ever told is going to scare you to the bone and give you nightmares, after having you lay awake at night thinking about it's horrors." Aron said, in a mock philosophical way.
The bus suddenly threw us forward. Aron was slammed face first into  the seat in-front of us... while I leaned slightly.
"You ok?" I asked.
"Yeah, I guess so." Aron said. He pulled his glasses off his face for inspection. He adjusted the nose pads a little and put them back on his face.
"LISTEN UP!" A female voice called. We looked up to the front of the bus, and saw a rainbow maned, cyan blue pegasus mare hovering there. "Alright Campers! Today, you are going to take your first steps as ponies!" The bus' passengers cheered. "I know! Isn't I great! I'm Rainbow Dash, the future pagasis' flight instructor. I'll also guide you to the transformation room. So come on! Let's get you ponied up!" She said. The bus cheered again, and we got up.
Walking in a single-file line, we walked into another conversion bureau. It was (as impossible as it sounds) better looking than our local conversion bureau. It was like an apple store, only with more ponies, and less "the next big thing" technology. I gaped in awe at the building. We were led past the front desk and down a long hall, and into a bare room, save the stage, with other people already in it.
'We must be the last bus," I thought.
Once we were all in the room, Rainbow flew up to the stage, and behind the curtain.
"Hey, now that I think about it, that Rainbow Dash must reaaaly love flying." Aron said.
"How do you figure?" I asked.
"Well, she hasn't touched the ground since before her speech on the bus." I thought about this, and realized he was right. Rainbow Dash had literally not set foot- er, hoof on the ground in the time we've seen her. Rainbow Dash reemerged from behind the curtain, followed by a purple unicorn, with a dark purple mane, with a dark pink stripe through it. She was followed by an orange earth pony with a yellow mane and cow-boy hat. 
"May I have you attention, please!" She called out to the room of teens. The room settled down, a lot faster than I was expecting, considering the amount of people in here. "My name, is Twilight Sparkle, and I will be this year's magic instructor at camp. I am here to tell you a little about what you will be doing at camp, and then we will begin the transformations." She said, causing us to cheer and clap. "This is not going to be a traditional summer camp... beyond the turning into another species part." We laughed. "As you already know, you will all be placed with a host family in our home town, of Ponyvill. Each day, we will have an optional activity, save for the first few weeks. In that time, you will be taught by me, Rainbow Dash, or Apple Jack here, on how to be a pony. Your strengths, your weaknesses..." Twilight began to drone on.
Before I knew it, it was time to transform into a pony. A pink, poofy maned earth pony (with a name tag reading "Pinkie Pie") walked around and started passing out a purple punch. We were told it was a sedative (so we wouldn't feel the pain), and that we were not to drink it until instructed. Me and Aron soon got ours. I starred at it's sloshing contents, feeling fear well up in the pit of my stomach. While Pinkie passed out the rest of the punch, I heard a few people fall to the ground unconscious, because they either didn't hear that had to wait, or didn't want to wait.
"Alright every, soon-to-be-pony! Drink up!" Twilight said, excitedly.
"Down the hatch!" The pink pony cheered, bouncing.  One by one, people started lowering them selves to the ground (some more quickly than others) and closing their eyes. I looked at Aron.
"As she said, cheers!" He said, raising his paper cup to me.
"Cheers!" I said, my fear escaping into my voice. We clinked our cups together, and downed the drink. The drink wasn't half bad. I'd go for at again, if I didn't have to pass out afterward. It suddenly felt like gravity desired to mess with me, making it's hold on me stronger and tilting slightly. I wobbled on my legs as my eyes struggled to stay open. Aron had lowed himself slowly and carefully to the ground, and on his back. His eyes were glossy, and I could tell he was on the verge of sleep. He yawned and closed his eyes. I followed his example and went down onto my back. I starred at the ceiling for a moment, wondering what I would look like when I woke up. Pinkie walked over to me, and whispered in my ear:
"Nightey night!"



I opened my eyes. The room was dark.
"Man, I hate it when I get up before the sun comes up." I groaned. I pulled off the covers, and swung my legs off the bed. I stood up, only to lose my balance and fall onto all fours. "Wow, that was weird," I muttered to myself.
Then my brain finished rebooting.
My eyes bulged out of my head as I scrambled around for a light. I saw a lamp on the dresser next the the bed, and clicked the large, pony-friendly switch on it. There was a body length mirror in the room. I looked in it, and a pony stared back.
I was a dark blue pegasus, with a slick (some-what bed headed) silver mane and tale. I looked over myself. I was... strong! Ripped even! I had powerful muscles in my legs, and...
"Is that a six pack!?!" I exclaimed, looking under me, seeing my abs. I flapped my wings and flicked my tale, noting every sensation. It felt, amazing! Pure bliss! I loved every feeling I felt in my new body. I sighed happily. I smiled, thinking of what came next. Then I realized something, I was in Equestria! I wobbled, and (ungracefully) shambled over to the window. It had curtains drawn closed. I pulled them open and looked out. 
I thought I had seen a lot of ponies before, but this was a lot! I was overlooking a market (just far enough away to not hear the noise, but close enough to see) that was bustling with ponies! I was unicorns levitating various objects, pegasi flying around, and ponies being ponies. Ponies laughing, talking, playing... it was beautiful! I smiled, and almost started crying! Almost. 
Then, there was a knock at the door.