Lightning flashed overhead, waking me up in a stupor. I looked around my bedroom taking in the familiar sights, light yellow walls, a computer and desk against the corner, tv and xbox sitting on my entertainment unit and bookshelves full to bursting lining the walls. The light was dim telling me that it was very early morning. I climbed out of bed knowing that with the rush of adrenaline, I wouldn’t be getting back to sleep any time soon.
My feet hit the cold hardwood floor and a chill in the air bit at my barely clothed form until I sluggishly pulled on a pair of black track pants and an equally dark hoodie. I walked out of my room into the hall and entered the nearby bathroom. Turning on the taps to my sink I gathered a couple palms pull of water and splashed it over my face, the last groggy parts of my vision clearing up as the icy water added a further shock to my system.
But as I looked up I froze, looking back at me wasn’t my reflection. A light pinkish creature looked back at me, it’s huge eyes wide open as it looked back at me from under a medium length mop of black mane. I stood there, unable to move as the unicorn looked back at me as unmoving as myself except for the occasionally twitching ear.
Memories of the previous few days rushing back into me as I stood there slack jawed, appearing in a crater surrounded by dark forest, meeting an alicorn princess and travelling to a small town and making another friend.
I was shocked out of my thoughts by the figure in the mirror moving, the pony reflection of me taking the initiative to move without my input. It’s face reconfigured into a cruel smile before speaking.
“Hello Mr Hayes, how lovely it is to speak to you face to face.” It said with a cold voice that pierced through my mind.
“Uhh, what? No, wait, what? Who are you? Why am I here? Please tell me this is just a dream!” I answered trying to stave off a panic attack.
“Of course this is a dream Mr Hayes, but does that make it any less real? You, I, we are but creations of your mind. While you may look more like your human self, I looking like a pony doesn’t make me fake, it just makes me a different incarnation of yourself. Or perhaps this is prophecy, a creation of your subconscious trying to make you ready for the inevitable.”
Each word from the creature in the mirror seemed to stab at me, daggers in the shape of letters attacking my mind and leaving a mark of ideas that swarmed through my thoughts.
“Perhaps I am your destiny. You are in a world vastly different from your own without any others of your kind, do you really believe you will be accepted for who you are? That’s not even to mention the magic that swarms around your body whenever anyone tries to come near you. Do you really think that will make you look any more trustworthy? You will be alone, just like you were in this place.” The reflection ended with a hoof pointing around your surroundings.
My words caught in my throat, the statements made by the pony holding enough truth to my mind to see no option but to believe them.
It’s true, no one will accept me. Even Twilight and Sanguine will leave me eventually and I’ll be alone again. I’ll be alone and unloved, or I’ll be hunted for being different. I saw the fear in Twilight’s eyes when she first saw me, there’s no reason to believe that won’t happen with everyone else I met. Sure Sanguine didn’t but she might be the exception to the rule, I saw how her mother reacted just to my presence.
A voice cut through my depressive reverie.
“I guess you see the truth of my word, but maybe there is a way you can change that. This is a world of magic, you’ve seen it yourself. Hell, your body is full of magic. You know what they say, if you can’t beat them join them.”
That’s true. Maybe if I was a pony then I would be accepted and my friends would stay with me. It wouldn’t remove the barrier but if I was like them other ponies might want to be my friend too. I wouldn’t be alone. A chill ran through my body as I began to believe this to be true.
I looked into the mirror at the stallion that had been talking to me and watched him phase a hoof through, reaching out for me. In fear I was unable to move and a moment later his pale pink hoof touched my forehead.
Pain unlike any I had ever felt before surged through my body and I looked down at my hands, I watched as they expanded outwards, becoming blockier and fine hairs grew out of them. The world around me grew as I shrunk, pain running through my body as bones rapidly shifted and forced me into a quadrupedal form.
Words suddenly exploded out of my mouth as my mind rebelled against my changing body. “I don’t want this!” Before everything went dark.
Eric’s P.O.V.
I awoke with a start, my body flipping off the couch I was laying on and landing on the carpeted floor below. Pain lanced through my back before I could open my eyes, seeing myself back in Sanguine’s lounge.
It was just a dream and I’m still myself. Just a dream, just a dream. I thought to myself, trying to calm my racing thoughts and forget the pain that felt so real.
“Eric!” I heard a female voice scream out before a purple figure burst out of a room and galloped over to me, barely stopping from launching herself at my prone form. “Are you ok? I heard you scream and a loud crash!”
I groaned while trying to stand. “Sorry Twilight, I just had a nightmare. Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine.” I said, trying to calm the panicking mare.
“But, that scream! I’ve never heard anypony scream like that!”
“Please relax Twilight. Look at me I’m fine, you don’t need to worry about me.” I lied. I was definitely not fine but I wouldn’t let the purple alicorn know just how much the dream had shook me up, it would only upset her further.
As I calmed Twilight down a silver unicorn had joined us, worry on her face also as she looked over me.
“Are you sure you’re ok Eric? That must have been one Tartarus of a nightmare to make anypony scream like that.” Sanguine asked.
“Don’t worry about it please. It wasn’t as bad as you think.”
“Alrighty then! Well how about you go get cleaned up, the caravan shouldn’t be passing through for a few more hours so we all have plenty of time to get ready before it arrives.” The mare returned to her regular bubbly self after accepting my answer and pointed a hoof towards a door.
“Thank you Sanguine, after the past few days I definitely need that.” I said before sniffing myself, and was repulsed by the smell. “Umm I think my clothes need to be cleaned too.” I said sheepishly.
“I’ll clean them!” She said darting forward and gathering the clothes I had discarded the night before. “They will be ready before you get out, but shouldn’t you also give me the rest?” She asked indicating to the thin shirt and boxershorts I was still wearing.
“Uh, well, you see, humans don’t really go around without any clothes on.” I stammered nervously.
“Why is that Eric? I mean it’s normal for everypony to go around without clothes. Why would it be different for humans?” Twilight asked with a slightly creepy smile on her face.
“Well, I guess it’s because our bodies aren’t covered in fur like yours so we tend to get cold much easier and need our clothing so we don’t get sick, but it’s also a kind of taboo because our naked bodies don’t really hide anything, umm, private.” I answered with a rising blush breaking out of my face.
Twilight was similarly afflicted as she understood the meaning of my words, a bright red showing through the purple coat covering her face.
“Alright Eric, just go into the bathroom and drop them out of the door ok?” Sanguine interrupted, saving Twilight and I from any more awkward questions.
I walked off to the bathroom, depositing the remainder of my clothes out through a gap in the door before closing it behind me. Looking around the small bathroom I climbed into a bathtub and turned on the overheard tap, working to bring the water to a nice lukewarm temperature. I sighed as the water washed away the sweat and dirt of the past few days and massaged the muscles I hadn’t worked for far longer than I would like to admit.
15 minutes later I heard the door creak open as I stood on the mat next to the shower/bath, it opened a short way before my clothes floated in on a silvery aura, lightly floating down to the floor before the door was pulled closed by an aura of the same color.
Smiling to myself from the kindness of my new friend I dried myself with a nearby towel before swiftly dressing myself and walking out of the bathroom.
“Thank you so much for that Sanguine, I really needed it.” I praised the unicorn.
“Ohh it’s no trouble Eric.” She said with a wide smile. “Well Twilight why don’t you have one next? I’ll go after then we can leave.”
An hour later and we were all clean and ready to go, the girls had on saddlebags to carry everything they would need for the trip.
As we walked out to the edge of town we spotted the trade caravan but that wasn’t all we could see. A line of 6 pegasi were staring at us, crude weapons at the ready and a familiar face standing in front.
“So, you thought you could take my daughter away from me did you?”