//------------------------------// // Slice of Life 2: A Chance To Relive An Old Favorite // Story: Book 1: A New Element of Friendship // by Medley of MLP //------------------------------// A New Element of Friendship A Chance To Relive An Old Favorite Well, this was certainly an interesting way to wake up. Getting a scroll at about 6 in the morning through dragon flame is a bit disconcerting, but it’s not the worst that could’ve happened. It’s sad though that I have a lot to compare it too. Nevertheless, if it was by dragon fire, then it must mean that Twilight had some need for me. Hopefully, it wasn’t going to be more experiments. I like experimenting as much as the next pony, but that mare can take things to the extreme when she’s looking for an answer. Anyways, I soon got up and read the letter, blinking the sleep out of my eyes. Dear Medley,         I know that this is an earlier time than usual for me to even talk with you, much less send a letter through Spike. However, I think I may have found a cure for your speech condition in one of my old books, modified for your situation. I have no idea if it may work, but the good news is that there’s no chance anything bad will happen to you if it goes wrong. Please come whenever as soon as you can so I can see if I did anything wrong or if it worked. With hope and happiness, Twilight Sparkle I was astounded at that, though not as much as you may think. I’ve already gotten three letters like this one since I told her of my condition. However, this was the first time that she said nothing bad would happen if it went wrong, which to me made it more likely to succeed. After all, the last three times she tried it nothing had happened, but that was not the worst-case scenario, so I had some hopes for this to work. I quickly got my clothes together, a muted yellow vest this time as I flew out the door, making good progress towards Twilight’s Library Home.         Once I arrived, Twilight immediately used her magic and moved me quickly to a different room in the library that had some kind of circle going on. My eyes widened a bit as it looked like a ritual of sorts and from what I can remember, those never ended well.         “Um, Twilight, you sure this is a good idea?” I began to feel very nervous.         She didn’t respond as a spellbook levitated in front of her, pages wildly flipping through until they stopped on a specific page.         “Twilight?” Panic began to course through me.         She then shot a continuous beam of magic into the circle and it began to glow brightly. I started to levitate, my wings still limp at my sides. I then began to yell when the magic began to seep into me, slowly changing my body, both inside and out. My organs felt like they were being squished around, changing to fit some other creature as my front hooves began to turn into hands and arms as my back hooves turned into legs. My body then started to grow more in size, becoming more upright and thinner, my fur coat slowly changing into cotton clothing. It soon ended as I and Twilight both collapsed onto the ground, looking exhausted. When she looked up finally, her face paled a bit.         “M-Medley?! What in Celestia’s name happened to you?” She yelled as I slowly began to sit up, feeling very off from before.         “Twilight… what happened?” My voice was deceptively calm as inside my mind it was a full panic attack.         She nervously levitated over a full-sized mirror so that I could see my reflection. She nervously explained, “I… I have no idea why that ritual changed you so much… it was only supposed to change your voice, not your whole body…”         I looked at my reflection, a maelstrom of emotions running through me. I was… human again. The sensation felt… interesting. I wasn’t too mad at Twilight, as being turned into my former race wasn’t too bad of a thing. However, what I was mad about was the fact that she didn’t warn me in advance about what ritual she was using, how badly it could affect me, or even realize the danger of tinkering with a ritual in the first place.         “There is a way to change me back, right?” I looked back at her, trying to keep my calm demeanor.         “Y-Yeah… I’m so sorry… I was only trying to help…” She was starting to cry a bit, flinging the spellbook away from her.         I smiled a bit and leaned over, giving her an awkward hug. “It’s alright Twilight, I know. Just please… next time tell me something like this could happen and don’t mess around with rituals unless you know exactly what it is you’re dealing with, alright?”         She nodded as she burrowed her head into my chest, sniffling a bit as she dried her face on my shirt, which was a white color, just like my coat.         I chuckled a bit. “At least my fur coat made it through the transformation into clothes. I don’t think you’re quite ready to see the male human body naked.”         She giggled softly a bit, a small smirk on her face as she looked up at me. “Well, we can always do a few… experiments~”         She then started to laugh at my both horrified and scared expression on my face.         “I’m only kidding, Medley, honestly,” She still giggled after a little while had passed.         I gave a small sigh of relief, which prompted a few more giggles out of her.         “You nearly had me there, Twilight,” I grinned a bit back at her, a faint blush on my cheeks.         She giggled even more as I realized I was blushing. “Please, dear LaurFastia let me turn invisible right now.”         I soon broke off the hug, feeling a bit embarrassed as well as we awkwardly stood there. The good news was, Spike came down, which did break the awkward tension. Bad news, Spike came down and saw the human in place of his friend Medley.         “Gah! Twilight! Wh-What is that thing and what is it doing in our house?” Spike yelled as he fled behind Twilight.         I rolled my eyes at that. “I swear to LaurFastia Spike, I will come by in the middle of the night and blare rap music for that little comment.”         He peeked his head out a bit, clearly still scared. “M-M-Medley? Is that… you?”         “No, it’s the pink monster from the ice-cream lagoon, here to turn you into a nice dessert,” I sniped back at him.         A broom levitated over my head and whacked me right on top of my head, Twilight giving me a pointed look at the blunt sarcasm.         I gave a small sigh. “Sorry, Spike. Yes, it’s me, Medley. Twilight was trying to help with my condition and some things got… mixed up, shall we say?”         “Oh… OK… if you say so…” Spike slowly walked up to me, poking me a bit with his claw. “Wow, you look and feel so… different.”         “Heh, thanks, Spike,” I grinned as I held out a fist. “We can actually do a fist bump now, at the very least.”         He chuckled as he did a fist bump with me and as Twilight looked through the spellbook, her face starting to slowly pale as she got more and more through it. “Come on, come on, I know it’s in here somewhere…”         I looked a bit nervously at her. “There is a way to counteract this… right?”         The spellbook soon fell onto the ground after hitting the last page, Twilight’s face a near perfect shade of white. “Uh-oh… This isn’t good!”         “No… you gotta be kidding me… p-please don’t tell me…” I began to panic again.         She gave a small and slow shake of her head before her eyes light up as she flipped through. “That’s right, I was working with a modified one for transmutation! All I have to do is figure out how to reverse the base ritual then modify that to turn you into a pony again!”         I gave a sigh of relief. “You nearly had me again, Twilight. I swear, I’ll collapse from shock if you keep it up. How long do you think it’s going to take?”         “W-Well… it took me about a week to modify the base ritual… and now I have to find how to reverse it and modify THAT… so about… two weeks?”         “...can’t you just simply perform the ritual in reverse?” I blinked a bit.         She blinked a bit as well. “Medley, you are one of the smartest ponies I have ever met!” She grinned as she tackled me into a hug.         I smiled a bit and chuckled as I gave her a small hug back. “I used something called common sense and simple thinking. You really don’t have to over-complicate this, Twilight.”         She gave a small giggle as we soon broke off from one another. I have to say though, these hugs felt… oddly comforting and warm. Inviting even. But I digress.         “The set-up for the ritual took about a day, so it looks like for one day only, Ponyville will have it’s first, and probably last, human being,” She gave a small smirk at me as the book levitated in front of her again. “In the meantime, why don’t you make yourself at home here in the library? I’m not sure everypony’s ready to meet you quite yet in your… former form.”         I gave her a small nod as I started to walk out the door, only to bang my head against the top of the arch of the door out to the library. I uttered a minor curse quietly as I could hear both Twilight and Spike giggling at my mistake. I soon gave a small smile and shook my head a bit as I ducked underneath the door and stood in the library.         It wasn’t too long until Rainbow Dash came by to crash. Quite literally too, as she managed to break through the ceiling and landed right into a bookshelf, collapsing onto the ground as books rained on her. I’ve seen her do this a couple of times before, so I knew that she was alright after getting herself re-oriented. Sure enough, her head poked up from the pile of books as she shook her head a bit.         “Man I need some work on that Buccaneer Blaze… Nearly had it this time too,” She grumbled as she started to stand, a few books falling off of her.         “No kidding. But hey, I know you’ll get it one day. Eventually,” I snickered a bit.         “Oh yuck it up, Medley. I don’t see y-” She turned to me and immediately stopped speaking as she saw my human body.         I gave a small wave and grin, winking slightly. “Heya Rainbow. Like the new look?”         “But- How- What?!” She spluttered as Twilight walked out to see what the commotion was about and quickly put everything together.         “Hey Rainbow Dash. Sorry about the surprising new look for Medley today. One of my modified spells went wrong and this was the result. It'll all be cleared up by tomorrow, don’t worry,” Twilight said with a bit of exasperation at seeing the damage caused by Rainbow yet again.         “Gotcha Twilight,” Rainbow gave a small salute as she looked up at me. “Wow, you’re really tall.”         “Did you just notice this now? Then again, it’s much easier to tell with a human than a pony. Either way, yeah, I'm 6 foot in a human form, or so it appears,” I shrugged as I sat down to her eye level.         She snorted a bit. “Gotta say though, wish you coulda kept the wings. That’d be so awesome to see!”         “Yeah it would, wouldn’t it?” I grinned back. “It’d certainly give the weather patrol something to talk about.”         She laughed as Twilight shook her head in amusement, books levitating and flying back onto the shelves, in their proper order.         “Well, I gotta go. Gotta practice my routine for the upcoming Best Young Flier’s Competition,” She quickly said as she stretched out a bit and looked ready to take off.         I gave her a small, two-finger salute. “Divine speed,” I added with a smirk.         She gave a small smirk back as she took off through the hole in the ceiling, leaving her trademark rainbow trail behind her.         “Well, that happened,” I said as I stretched a bit, helping Twilight a bit with putting up the books.         “Why do I get the feeling that all of our friends are going to visit one at a time and each have their own reactions to your current… condition?” Spike slightly grumbled as he swept up the dust and small pieces of ceiling.         “Don’t be silly Spike. That only happens in cartoons or some made-up story by somepony who can’t think of something too creative,” Twilight admonished him as she vanished away the larger pieces of ceiling rubble.         Pinkie popped up right behind Twilight. “Heya everybody!”         “GAH!” Twilight jumped back, as did Spike and I, though to a lesser degree.         She giggled a bit as I calmed down enough to speak. “Hello to you too Pinkie. What brings you around?”         “Oh nothing, just wanted to check on my friends,” She coyly said as grinned at me.         “Uh-huh... riiiiight…” I wasn’t buying it as I crossed my arms as I raised an eyebrow.         She giggled as she bopped me on the nose lightly. “You got me. I just wanted to see a human in real-life. You seemed like just the one.”         “You saw Rainbow Dash fly off and wanted to know what she saw,” Twilight drolly said as she looked at Pinkie with an unreadable expression.         “Oh wow! It’s like you’re both psychics! Oh, oh, oh, try to guess what I’m thinking now!” She jumped excitedly.         “...you’re thinking about sweets of some kind!” Spike interjected.         She clapped her hooves excitedly. “Yay! You’re all psychic!”         “Now that can’t be true. After all, we didn’t know you’d appear out of the blue at this time. Plus, you never seem to be predictable. At all, in fact,” I chuckled.         She giggled a bit too. “Well, I’m kinda needed back at the Cake’s place. I think-” She stopped before her face paled and she made a mad dash off, screaming, “THE OVEN IS STILL ON!”         All three of us took a collective blink before we shook ourselves out of it.         “And just when we started to get the hang of her…” Twilight groaned slightly.         “Twilight, I say this with all the love a friend could have: Don’t question how Pinkie Pie works. It’s better for your health and sanity.” I replied with a straight face.         She shook her head, looking really determined to solve the mystery that was Pinkie Pie. I shrugged in response as I heard a knock at the door.         “Twilight? Ya still home? Kinda wanted to know, it’s after lunchtime. Gotcha some stuff to eat,” Applejack called out.         I had a wide grin as Twilight paled a bit and shook her head, silently trying to tell me that whatever I was planning was a bad idea.         “Come on in Applejack! There’s even something new that was just recently added that would get your attention real nice,” I called back out to her.         Applejack walked through the door with a few baskets of what looked like Apple Family products. However, Twilight had to catch them quickly with her levitation, as Applejack jumped back a bit in fright when she saw me.         “What in tarntion?! Twilight, this ain’t funny!” Applejack yelled.         I laughed as Twilight glared a bit at me. “Heya Applejack. Nice to know I can get some recognition.”         “Wait a tic… Medley? That you? You look kinda different from before...” Applejack looked at me suspiciously, trying to see if I was lying or not.         “Well, that’s the… HONEST TRUTH!” I laughed as Twilight, Applejack, and Spike all face-hoofed (palmed in the case of Spike) themselves.         “Yeah, that’d be Medley alright,” Applejack shook her head as she looked back at me, then at Twilight. “Now just how in Equestria did you manage to turn Medley here inta a human?”         “Spell gone wrong. It’ll be fixed tomorrow,” Twilight explained rather succinctly.         “Thank ya kindly, Twilight. You can still eat apple stuff, right Medley? From what I remembered, there weren’t a whole lot of fruits that ya ate.”         “Oh, I like apples just fine. Golden Apples are the best though, in my opinion,” I replied with a grin.         She shook her head a bit, more so in amusement now. “Welp, I gotta get back to the farm. Just wanted to check up on Twilight and make sure she was eatin’ sumpthin’. See ya both later.” She then waved goodbye and walked out the door, closing it behind her.         Both Twilight and I didn’t really speak much, as we both started eating into the Apple Family foods, which I swear is one of the best fruit products I ever tasted. And I had lived in two different worlds, so take that as you will. Nevertheless, it seems Spike’s prediction became evermore truthful, as the next knock we heard at the door was Rarity.         “Twilight darling, are you alright? You’ve seemed to have been cooped up in here for most of the day.”         “Just fine Rarity! Just doing some studying!” Twilight yelled back at her.         “Oh, but I insist you have at least some kind of company in there with you,”         Spike didn’t say anything about him being there, as he looked smitten at the door. I decided then to speak up a bit.         “What, do guys not count or something?” I answered.         “Oh, Medley! You know very well I didn’t mean it like that. Apologies to Spike as well, I almost forgot about him,” Rarity sounded like she just remembered.         “Don’t say a word there, Mr. Casanova,” I lightly bonked Spike on the head, snapping him out of it and he gave me a death glare. Well, a small death glare, but still, props for trying at the very least. He then smiled and opened the door, letting Rarity in, despite Twilight’s protests. All I can say was-         “Ow, ow, hey, stop it, ow, hey, quit it-”         Yeah, once Rarity saw me, she reacted by telekinetically grabbing the nearest object (which was a broom, what a shock) and repeatedly thwack me on the head with it, screaming at me.         “Rarity! It’s just Medley! Don’t hit him too hard!” Twilight panicked as her magic started to combat against Rarity’s, causing the broom to stop mid-air, but that’s about as far as it went as the broom vibrated in place from the combating magics.         “Seriously Rarity, I know I don’t have any fashion sense, but I didn’t think it was worth being hit with a broom!” I jokingly yelled at her, grinning a bit.         She soon let go of the broom as she then recognized me once more. “Medley? How in-”         “A magic spell went awry. It’ll be fixed tomorrow,” Twilight gritted out as she put the broom back where it was.         “Oh, I see. Well, you still look rather dashing as a human, Medley dear. I quite like the clothes that you have on, they suit you quite nicely,” Rarity commented as I got the glare from Spike once again, this time for getting a compliment when he didn’t.         Rarity then looked back and forth at me and Twilight, puzzled a bit before grinning a bit. “I do have to say though Twilight, I didn’t expect Medley to keep you company. I don’t think you’re too mad though~”         She giggled at Twilight’s and my face of both shock and blushing. Twilight then stammered out something unintelligible and I wasn’t faring much better.         “Oh darlings, do lighten up a bit. You know I’m only teasing. Or am I?” She then waved a hoof goodbye with a small wink as she walked out the door, closing it behind her.         It was a long while before we were able to snap out of it, mostly because of Spike laughing at our faces, to which we both turned to him with a glare.         “Not funny Spike,” Twilight and I snapped at the same time. We then looked at each other with both a small glare and a deeper, but still light blush as Spike just laughed harder.         I had just noticed that Celestia was setting the sun, taking a look out the window. “Wow, this day went by fast. It’s kinda funny though when you think about it.”         “Why do you say that?” Twilight gave me a curious look as she walked off to the kitchen to make a small meal.         I followed her as best I could, answering her as well. “Well, it’s just that normally I feel like I’m often sidelined, like as if I’m just another Ponyville resident. Even as a human it still doesn’t really change. Heck, the only thing different is just initial reactions. I know you girls and Spike got some advanced warning and you already know me well enough to know me on voice, but still… It doesn’t feel like I belong with any of you.”         She stopped abruptly, making me stop as well, nearly running into her. She then turned to face me, a look of guilt and worry made very clear.         “Medley… don’t say that. You ARE a friend to us, don’t ever think otherwise. I know it may seem as though we don’t care about you, and I apologize if that was how you saw us,” Twilight softly said, walking up and nuzzling me a bit.         I softly smiled sadly and knelt down to give her a soft hug. “It’s alright Twilight. It’s just… Being a stallion and all that, plus having a former life as a human… it makes me feel different from most ponies.”         Spike tagged along as well, seeing Twilight head for the kitchen. He was ahead of us a bit and stopped to look back at us. Even though he was a baby dragon, he could clearly see the conflict in my face and went back before giving me and Twilight both a big hug. Well, as best a hug as he could give at any rate.         “I can say the same, Medley,” Spike gave a big grin. “After all, I AM a dragon. Plus, I know I’m really young for a dragon at that. I can sorta understand where you’re coming from. I gotta say though, ponies really like you and your talents are just so awesome. If they can like a dragon of all things, I think that they’ll like you as well. Especially Lyra.” He giggled a bit at that.         Soon we were all laughing, imagining Lyra begging for the ritual to turn her into a human, or me back into a human. The mental image of such a thing happening was just the thing to bring me back into a good mood as I gave Spike a small hug as well after we had calmed down a bit.         “Thanks, Spike. Looks like you can help other ponies just as well as you assist Twilight,” I thanked Spike with a small grin.         Spike blushed and waved a claw, saying it was nothing before running ahead and started to make dinner for the three of us. Twilight followed suit, but not before giving me a quick but deep hug and dashing off, leaving me kneeling there, stunned at what just happened. I soon shook out of it though, as I made my way to the kitchen, where I could smell pasta being made along with a sauce that looked red.         “We’re having spaghetti tonight?” I asked with a wide smile.         “Yep! With garlic bread and a few daisies to help add some flavor to it,” Spike said as he stood on a stool, stirring both the sauce and the noodles.         “Heh, gonna be hard to do that with the human body. We weren’t really meant to eat flora, all we got instead was the ability to eat meat. While I am human, no matter how many times it may happen, I promise I will not eat any meat in Equestria. I’ll find some other way to get the vitamins I need,” I promised as I helped bring down dishes and take out silverware to set.         Twilight looked scared for a moment when I mentioned the meat-eating, but visibly calmed after I made that promise. I also noticed that she had an intense blush that hadn’t quite died. I must’ve had the same thing going on as well if her deeper blush was by anything to go by.         She does look kinda cute when she blushes… Wait, what am I thinking?! She’s just a friend… right? I daydreamed before snapping out of it and quickly setting up the table.         Before we could start eating, there was another knock at the door, and from the small sound it made, I guessed it to be the only friend not to have made an appearance today: Fluttershy.         “Well, looks like I was right on one count: it seems everypony chose today to come over and visit you, Twilight,” Spike grinned as he went over to let Fluttershy in.         “I wonder how Fluttershy will react to me being human. I just hope she doesn’t think I’m some kind of rare animal. I like her, but her mothering nature to animals would just seem a bit too… off for me,” I worriedly said.         “Oh don’t worry Medley, I’m sure she wouldn’t… do… that…” She trailed off as she thought about it and judging from her pale expression, she was worried about such a thing herself. “Never mind, you should probably be prepared, just in case.”         “Aaaaand now I’m starting to panic again,” I drawled, panic seeping into my voice.         It was soon time that Fluttershy entered the kitchen, and from the gleams in her eyes, it was just as I worried. She then flew right at me, tackling me off the chair and held me down as she turned to Twilight.         “How did you get such a rare creature Twilight? Is he alright? What is he?” Fluttershy fretted.         Twilight giggled as I groaned out, “Well, looks like you were right Twilight.”         This caused Fluttershy to instantly sit up at hearing a familiar voice and panic. “M-M-Medley?!”         “Yes, Fluttershy. That’s Medley. A spell had gone wrong and he turned human. The counterspell will be done tomorrow,” Twilight tiredly explained.         Fluttershy blushed and started to stammer quietly and get off me slowly, looking more and more afraid. It took me a bit, but I soon realized that Fluttershy was starting to fear me and I instantly snapped into action to not cause her a panic attack.         “Fluttershy, it’s alright, you didn’t know. I’m not upset at all. Far from it. It’s OK Fluttershy, don’t worry,” I soothed her, reaching out a hand calmly.         She flinched away from the palm before slowly leaning into it and timidly nuzzling it before smiling softly and coming back towards me. I smiled back as I petted Fluttershy a bit, causing her to blush a bit, which in turn caused Twilight to giggle a bit at seeing Fluttershy’s expression.         “S-Sorry Fluttershy…” I looked away, feeling a bit guilty.         “Oh… it’s fine Medley… this just feels… so strange… and comforting…” Fluttershy trailed off.         When I looked at Twilight for a brief second, I thought I saw something flash on her face for a brief moment that I couldn’t place. It quickly disappeared as she smiled and as I stopped petting Fluttershy.         “So, what brought you around before I distracted you?” I asked, tilting my head in curiosity.         “Oh yes, that’s right. I was trying to find you so that we could schedule the next lesson,” Fluttershy whispered, hoping Twilight didn’t hear her.         However, it seems she could hear, as she asked, “Lessons? On what?”         “Fluttershy, do you mind telling her?” I asked her, not wanting to make her feel embarrassed or feel like a total weirdo. Not the term she would use, but close enough for me.         She shook her head, but pointed a hoof at me, nodding her head a bit.         “Or I could tell as well,” I smiled and nodded a bit as I turned to Twilight, who was eagerly awaiting an answer. “She’s taking singing lessons from me so that she can both keep her singing voice from becoming rusty and so that she can improve a bit more. I think she had a beautiful voice to begin with, but as they say, practice makes perfect.”         “Oh, so that’s why you and her disappear every once in awhile. I heard her sing a bit before, for the last Summer Sun Celebration. I would agree with your assessment. Are you enjoying these lessons Fluttershy?” Twilight turned to Fluttershy, who gave her a very shy nod.         It soon came time for her to say goodbye, as she waved a hoof goodbye and quickly made her way off back to her cottage, probably to feed the animals. When she was far out of sight and we had all finished the meal, Twilight turned to me with a different strange look on her face. She soon blushed a bit as she nervously kicked a hoof.         I sighed a bit. “What is it Twilight?”         “Um… can you please… do that thing you did with Fluttershy?” She whispered, almost too quietly for me to hear correctly.         “I’m sorry, what did you say?” I leaned in closer, as did Spike.         She gave Spike a look that paled him a bit as he nodded and made a mad dash off to his room before she turned to me again, the blush intensifying.         “C-Can you please… do that… th-thing you did with… Flu-Fluttershy?” She stammered nervously, still a bit on the quiet side.         However, this time I could hear her and I blushed a bit before nodding and started petting her as well. She relaxed as I continued to run my hand through her mane, feeling even more embarrassed, but also relaxing a bit as well, sitting nearby her. She eventually started to nuzzle lightly into my hand strokes reflexively. I decided not to say anything to make this even more awkward than I’m sure we already felt. She soon snapped out of it and quickly flinched away from me and got up fast.         “Well, time to head off to bed. Sleep and all. Goodnight Medley!” She rapidly said before making a gallop off to her room, embarrassment and horror still clear on her face. I, on the other ho- hand, was left feeling guilty and confused on what had just happened. I eventually just let it slide to the back of my mind and slowly made my way to the spare bedroom I saw before when I had visited. I finally got some sleep, but sleep was not very peaceful.         When I had arrived in my dream world, it was in a state of chaos. Everything was flying about in random clusters, fictional ponies I had made up over the years acting bizarrely out of character, the landscape forever changing at random times, and the weather seemed to be off-kilter as well, raining during the night before hailing on a sunny day after a small moment. When the world had returned to it’s natural state and I was about to wake, I could’ve sworn I saw a red unicorn, a blue earth pony and a strange looking statue in the middle of town, but I chalked it up to the aftereffects of the chaos I had witnessed and I was a part off and soon woke up in a small, cold sweat. Twilight it seemed was standing nearby as she looked shocked and gave a surprised yelp before backing up a few steps, stopping, and moving back towards as she realized I was finally up.         It took a while, but we had both calmed down and Twilight interrogated me, asking, “What were you dreaming just then to give you that much tossing and turning?”         “I… I don’t know. It was all so crazy and the dream kept on changing,” I replied, still a bit shaken up from how real the dream felt.         She grudgingly accepted the answer before nodding her head towards the magic practice room. “Got everything set up now. Time to be a pony again.”         I grinned and chuckled. “That means I can finally fly again. I do miss having wings. Still felt a bit weird not to have two appendages I had been born with in Equestria.”         She giggled a bit in agreement as we made our way to the ritual room and she performed the counter-ritual. I felt the same pain again, this time though feeling myself return to my natural equine form. It had soon ended, leaving me flopped over in the middle of the circle with a small grin on my face.         “I think we should do this on Halloween, just to see what might happen,” I chuckled.         She gave me a look that spelled doom if I attempted this and paled a bit. “On second thought, it’s best not to worry about it. At all.”         “Indeed, my little ponies,” A soft, but authoritative voice spoke as Twilight looked behind me, scared out of her wits. When I looked back, I adopted a similar expression as I made my way to stand by Twilight.         LaurFastia chuckled a bit at our expression. “Relax, my children. You’re not in any serious trouble, as you have righted the wrongs made.”         We both relaxed a bit, but looked a bit worried still as we had caught on that she said we weren’t in any serious trouble.         “However... “ The ritual that turned me human soon popped in front of her as she frowned a bit. “I thought it was impossible for a human to appear in Equestria unless I had given them permission to remain so, especially since I made it impossible for humanity to naturally find my children.”         “W-What do you mean by that, Mother Goddess?” Twilight stammered a bit, looking nervous.         LaurFastia sighed a bit. “While humanity does have it’s good parts too it, the species as a whole is not ready to meet with other species, especially ones so peaceful as my children. I occasionally look into their realm and pick out a few humans I deem worthy to be welcomed with little to no problems. Those that have lived good lives have the option to be reborn here while those who represent the virtues of humanity are given the chance to remain human and live life as they normally did, just in Equus instead of Earth.”         I must’ve had a priceless expression, as LaurFastia giggled a bit at me. “Yes Medley, you were one of the few chosen. You lived a life without too much trouble or strife, but yet you went and did some good in the world instead of becoming spoiled and corrupted. I know not everypony’s perfect, but you just weren’t virtuous enough to be considered to keep your human form.”         “I don’t mind, my goddess,” I smiled a bit as I looked at myself and my wings. “I would’ve asked to become a pony anyways. Fitting in with the local population better and all that. While I do occasionally miss my old form, I wouldn’t trade my current one for it willingly. Well, unless I want to have some fun scaring going on or if I want to change things up for a day. But pretty much, I would stay pony more so than be human.”         She laughed a bit as the ritual floated back down to Twilight, coated in what seemed to be a pure, white magic aura. “I shouldn’t expect anything else from you. I knew I made the right choice.” She soon turned serious. “I will let you, Twilight Sparkle, keep the ritual. I have given it numerous magical protections that only a god from a different world could even hope of breaking. That ritual could be immensely dangerous with the wrong beings, but I have seen into the future, and have seen that you will have need of that ritual. It will not be needed in the near future, despite the bleak circumstances that you will have to overcome, but it will be needed.”         “I… I am honored, Mother Goddess, for being entrusted with such a task. I will perform it with the best of my ability,” Twilight nodded, determined not to disappoint her.         LaurFastia smiled at her and gave a small nod back. “Now, I will be off. Farewell, my little ponies.” She turned to face the wall before stopping and turning back to us for a brief moment. “Oh, and I give you both my blessing. Do not try and make me regret that.” She smiled at our confused, but determined expressions not to disappoint her before she walked through the wall, seemingly going through an invisible portal back to wherever she stayed.         We stood there stunned for a moment before we both shook out of it and Twilight instantly put the ritual in the ritual room, hiding it deeply and adding a few more layers of protection to it before giving a small nod in satisfaction.         “So… what now?” I asked, feeling a bit awkward just standing there.         “Now? Now we go and hang out with our friends and have a fun day today,” She answered as she turned back to me with a bashful smile.         I gave a soft smile in response as we both headed out the door and had a blast with our friends today. Everypony was slightly relieved to see me back as a pony again, though a bit disappointed when we said that we couldn’t repeat the spell again. However, we all had our fun as Pinkie threw yet another party, just for the 8 of us when you include Spike.         I finish up my final thoughts tonight as I can feel sleep creeping up on me after having so much fun getting around in my pony body yet again. Though I’m still left with even more mysteries, I decided to just put that aside for tomorrow to discuss with Twilight. Though even as I write down her name, I get a small tingle that runs through me. Yeah, definitely gonna need to talk with her tomorrow. But until then, I think I’ll sleep peacefully, knowing that even as a human, my friends still care for me.