28 - No Time Wasted
Laud was ready to meet the day! He was clean, fed, and dressed sharply. There was one problem. Nothing required his direct intervention. The construction was proceeding smoothly. The artists had shown up and gotten to work eagerly, placing carvings and works that made it clear to anyone that ponies lived nearby. Many took the idea of a spaceport to heart, which meant pictures of helmeted ponies in space were a popular pick, with great glass fishbowls for those helmets. It was charming, and ridiculous.
None of that gave him something to do. His precious land was in a state of transition. He could attempt to micromanage, but that was the sport of men who thought they knew better than the souls they hired to do a specific task. The builders were building. The artists were fashioning art. They did not need him to tell them how to do that.
There was another option. He hadn't forgotten Starlight's offer and walked purposefully for her room. He rapped on the door with the back of his hand. "Miss Glimmer?"
"Mmm?" The door opened inwards to reveal Starlight, looking alert. "Good morning, Laud." She said in Ponish, with her collar echoing the statement in English. "What's up?"
"I wish to meet these not-humans. The 'Canterlot Highs', as you called them?" His curiosity had gotten the better of him. Starlight had not misled him so far.
Starlight burst into sudden giggles. "Great! Oh, one warning." She held up a hoof. "Going through a mirror portal ensures that you fit in with the locals, so far we can tell. Most likely, your proportions will be messed with to fit in. It undoes itself when you come back, so don't worry too much about it, and you're already used to two legs, so the hard part's done."
She was hiding... something. "Most likely?"
She wobbled a hoof. "Well, the last, uh, not-pony we sent through became another species entirely, but they could still talk and function, so it shouldn't be a big deal in the long run. You're not scared, I hope?"
He was being needled. Was she that worried that she felt the need to taunt him into proceeding? "What animal was that?"
"Oh, well, Spike went through and became a small dog." Starlight gave a nervous laugh. "It worked out in the end." She stood up tall and moved to trot past Laud. "If you don't like you, you can go right back in and you'll be back to your normal self, I swear."
A small dog? Laud raised a brow as he began to follow Starlight. "Mayhaps it is a mental thing?"
"Mmm? Not sure about that. I mean, there is a Spike on the other side, who actually is a small dog." She shrugged softly. "I turn into one of those Canterlot Highs. In theory there is another me there, but I haven't met her. I wonder what she's like... Regardless, there should not be another you there, since you're not even from this world."
That stood to reason with the logic he had been given so far. "How easy is it to return, since it's been brought up. Are we taking a potentially hazardous journey?"
"As if." She waved a hoof to dismiss the idea. "It's a mirror on our side, and a statue on the other. You just walk into the statue and you end up back here. It couldn't be much more simple than that. The place we're headed to is mostly a bunch of almost-adult colts and fillies. Don't forget that. They are still colts and fillies. They will be sure they know everything, as teenagers do, but they're still colts and fillies. Don't talk down to them, they hate that." She flashed a smiled as she went. "I turn into one of them, so it's just a chance to relax and have fun so far as I see. Oh! Right. If you meet Sunset Shimmer, which you likely will, she is an adult. She was a grown pony before she migrated there, so don't be fooled by her young appearance."
Right... "And I will know her by what features?"
"Fiery mane." Starlight nodded. "I'll also introduce her, of course. Oh! You'll like this. Most of the people there don't do magic. It's pretty limited to my friends."
That was a plus, though a small one. "I have plenty of other things to consider." He looked around as they descended into some kind of laboratory. "And this is where we need to be?"
Starlight trotted up to a cloth and pulled it free, revealing an ornate mirror with all manner of scrap and technology strewn across it seemingly in a chaotic mess. "This is our ticket to Canterlot High. Fortunately, I already have permission to use it, so..." Her horn glowed, undoing a locker and pulling free a book. "Here we are, the journal. Without this, we'd have to wait for a specific time to go through, and that's no fun at all." She set it down on top of the crazy device. "And now, with a pull of the lever..." She pulled it with a hoof and the whole thing began to glow and vibrate. The mirror ceased being a mirror, showing a swirling space within. "There we are."
She stepped up and poked a hoof at it, proving it was liquid. "I'll go first, so I'll be there to help, not that I expect you'll need any."
"Hold!" He held up a hand. "What of my clothing, and my weapon?"
She shrugged. "It'll be translated, or not, and go back to normal when you come back. Leave them on for now though, unless you want to come back naked. I'll get clothes when I go through, since naked Canterlot Highs are not normal."
He hadn't even thought to ask that, but was relieved to hear. He wasn't ready to enter a land of nudists, rather, one of humans or things like them. He had gotten accustomed to ponies having absolutely no shame in their bodies, nor the need to cover themselves outside of very cold times. He watched Starlight vanish into the mirror, her form engulfed by whatever strange magic was at play.
Laud realized he was crossing a threshold. It was one thing to tolerate magic around him. He was about to use it himself. He would be trusting and allowing it to encompass his entire being. It was a test. He would not fail it. If he was to be the mouthpiece of ponykind, he could not fear what they found so natural. As awkward as it was, his fear would only hinder his efforts. Either he trusted his new allies, or he would live in misery and be ill-suited for the role entrusted to him.
He gripped the hilt of his blade a moment before he took a step forward. History would not wait for him. He stepped into the vortex. Everything was distorted. He was distorted. His very essence was being drawn and spindled as he fell forward. He tried to be silent and stoic. He almost succeeded. He was thrown free and realized he had closed his eyes at some point.
He heard laughing, equine laughing.
"Starlight?" He opened his eyes and saw he was at the feet of some large person with immense legs. They had the proportions of a doll more than a person, and they had Starlight's fur color for their skin color, not to mention her mane color for her hair color. That was clearly Starlight, in a new form. "It is you." He could hear his words being echoed. Had he put on his collar? He didn't remember doing so.
Starlight slapped a hand over her mouth. "Forgive me. You are just... too cute."
Cute? Laud stood up onto all fours, then properly onto just his legs, but things felt wrong. He was wobbling in place instead of standing naturally. There was something blocking part of his lower vision. "I..." He had a snout. He could see the projection. "Am I a dog?" He didn't look at himself. Part of himself refused to do so.
"N-no..." Starlight looked around nervously. "Look, we should... get going, meet the girls. They will love you!"
He fell down to all fours and a clopping noise came as his hooves struck the pavement of the sidewalk they were on. Hooves. He had those. "I'm a pony?!"
Starlight nodded softly. "A fine one. No cutie mark though. Let's not panic. You'll go back to normal when we go back." She pointed at the statue they were beside.
A goodly portion of him wanted to leap back and return to humanity, but that would be admitting fear quite plainly. "Right... back to... normal." He took a slow step forward. "What kind of pony am I?"
"Why don't you look for yourself?" she asked with a hiked brow. "Checking out what I had become was one of the first things I did, and Twilight too from her stories."
So he did. He turned to look back on himself. He was a pony, a little pony that didn't even reach the crotch of the teenager he was standing next to. He was a perfectly standard shade of brown for a pony to be. He had stubby little legs, making it clear he was a pony, not just a small horse. He was male. He had a tail. It could swish left and right.
He also had his sword. It was strapped around his midsection just behind a large device that draped over much of his back. What was that? He pointed at it with a little hoof and asked as much of Starlight.
"I'm not sure." She reached for it and easily took hold of it. "It looks like it's made to hold."
As she stood there holding it, someone came jogging past and paused to look at Starlight, and Laud. He blinked, jogging in place. "Oh wow, is that a guide pony? I never saw one of those in person before!"
Starlight was fast to adapt. "Sure is! I don't go anywhere without this little guy."
"He's adorable. Can I pet him?" He stepped closer, hand reaching out towards Laud.
Laud's ears pinned back on his head. He did not want to be pet.
Fortunately for him, Starlight knew equine body language. "He's a little shy around people he doesn't know."
"Oh, well, have a nice day!" He jogged past on his merry way.
Laud watched him go a moment before turning to Starlight. "There is one positive to this."
"Oh?"
"Ponish has become easier to speak." His words came more naturally from an equine mouth. He could snort and chuff and do all the things required in a natural way. It was liberating, in a fashion. "So I've become a guide pony? I presume that is like a guide dog. You should keep a hold then, so people assume I am with you and are not alarmed."
"On it." She squeezed the metal bar that led to the harness around Laud's midsection. "Let's find the girls and show you off. You can talk around them, they're used to strange things by now. Nice job not talking to that other guy, would have freaked him out, I'm sure."
They advanced towards the school. In Laud's eyes, it was a place of opulence. Clearly only nobles would send their children to such a well-built, large, and stately place. The idea of tiles everywhere was somewhat impressive. They had lockers he normally only saw in military situations. "Do the students live here?"
Starlight hiked a brow. "Not that I know of, but I'll confess, I don't know this place that well. We'll ask the girls when we find them. Now where would they be...?" She turned slowly in place.
"Are you lost?" He perked an ear at her. "I thought you knew the way."
"Last time I met them at the statue! Just give me a moment. I'll find them."
A new friendly voice spoke, "Are you a new student?"
They both looked up at a dark-haired woman that was taller than Starlight. She had dark and light blue hair. She had a moon on her collar. "We haven't met. I'm Vice-Principal Luna." She offered a hand towards Starlight. "Are you vision-impaired?"
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if he turned into a pony, it means that he have a pony counterpart in a distant planet in the EQG dimension?
I was going to say something snarky about how destiny knew Spike was like a pet so that's why he was a dog in the other world, or something, and Laud had nothing to be worried about as a definitely-not-pet.
Then he was a pony, and I was amused, and it proved destiny was pretty haphazard.
hahahahahahahaha you turned into a pony hahahahahahaha
8489666
There is a reason for these things. You get an Internet cookie if you correctly identify it.
8489786
Well, two things. One is Ponies became Humans, so... Humans might become Ponies.
The other is, if Laud really does see himself as a guiding sort of person, a service animal might not be too untenable.
But, it also basically sorta uh... makes things awkward. Do you see yourself first and foremost as a strong protector? Okay. You're a pet.
Do you instead see yourself as a normal person with your own amounts of wants and needs who just happens to be heroic? Sure. You can be a person.
8489818
Jokes on you. Service animals are not considered pets by basically most laws. They are specifically exempted from that status so they can do their job. No pets allowed, says that sign? Good thing your service animal is not one of those.
8489829
I have seen some fics where DogSpike is actually a service pet. For adding emotional stability to Sci-Twi.
That was absurdly fun. And props to Luna for taking a new girl with a harnessed pony in stride.
We actually had a customer with a guide pony in at my work last month. Raised a few eyebrows but folks (generally) remembered what the signs in back said:
I was a bit proud of them, really.
8489786
Gonna guess "Starswirl is a giant troll".
8490085
I can't argue this.
Laud is equestrian pony or more "real" one?
Well, the transition conversion folowed those rules, but the trick with the guide animals is that they need a lot of training. From what Ive seen with guide dogs at least its done in stages, with different people for different stages. A useful option at this point is that Starlight isnt visually compromised, but Laud doesnt know what a Guide pony does but he wont be spooked the same way a new to training animal would be. So the current behaviour would be training to not steer people into objects etc, which takes the visually capable trainer. when the guide animal passes testing, then they go onto taking blindfoolded and affected people before being passed onto the actual person to have them.
Some useful bits on the EQD linked Dailymotion episode which has a section with Maud, though things get confusing to me in someways.
8490124
He is a miniature guide pony.
8490231
A Shetlaud?
8490373
guidehorse.com/images/erik/c1.jpg
8490375
That's just too cute. Absurdly so. Cuteness overwhelming!!
8491968
I'd take one over a guide dog any day.
O this story ark is going to be soooo goooodddd i am hoping MR Silver gets several chapters out of this.
the real guidehorses.
Hmm. I have to wonder if Starlight really has permission, of just a lack of explicit forbiddance.
Ha! Symmetrical property applies... which means that under no circumstances should Winona be allowed through the portal.
So... are the amazing technicolor stick people speaking Ponish? I'm not sure what the language situation is there.
And VP Luna's in for an interesting day... though given her year thus far, Starlight might be able to get away with "We're from Equestria. Oh, and we don't want to take over the world."
8494082
In this story's fanon, everyone speaks Ponish, except Laud. Well, he does too, but with a thick accent as befits a human speaking horse.
Ok, here's to hoping this doesn't go the cliche route of not turning him back into a human.
we've done it! Laud is a pony! Well, mostly...
Principal
8871729
She does not put the pal in there.
Now, that was unexpected! Laud got ponified. (At least I had the decency to use the spoiler tag!!)
In one of my favorite stories, "Star Trek: A Knight's Gambit," Twilight leads Picard, Geordi, and Data through the portal. They're fine on the other side, but are ponified upon their return. (Well, Data is kirinified.)