Waking Up in Black and White

by _Kenzu_

To Learn, Explore, and Walk Once More.

I just laid there staring at the ceiling for Celesita knows how long, still trying to process what had just happened to shatter my life. I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to speak. I didn’t want to do anything that reminded me of the zebra whose body I now inhabited, so I just laid there and stared at the ceiling.

In my mind I tried to will everything back to normal as I closed my eyes. Of course as expected nothing at all was different when I opened them again and turned to see my right hoof in my vision. I had a feeling of complete helplessness. I was a zebra mare from a hit kid television show and there wasn’t anything I could do or say to change that now.

After a second eternity passed the panic and fear finally began to die down as acceptance of the situation slowly forced its way in. ‘Sitting here feeling sorry for myself isn’t going to help in any way’ I thought to myself in defeat. Steadily I rose to my hooves and looked back to the dresser mirror that towered above my head. ‘Better to just get this over with’.

I got up on my hind legs again and stared at the image in the mirror. There was no doubt about it. Zecora stared straight back at me in awe. Something seemed off about her though, but I couldn’t put my hoof on it. She looked like she was missing something to her. It only took me a second to realize what it was though. Her signature golden rings on her neck and right foreleg, as well as her earrings were missing. ‘I’ll worry about those later.’ I sighed. First, I had to do something else to at least get a little bit of reassurance of myself.

I began to move my mouth slowly forming words and watched as the reflection of Zecora did the same. At first, no sound whatsoever came out. Trying a second time, I heard a small, almost Fluttershy like whimper. “I…” I finally managed to croak out, “I can’t raise any more objection. This is truly my ref-“I cut myself off before I could finish another rhyme. “This is me, Zecora the zebra.” I told myself.

I put a hoof on the mirror as Zecora did the same, feeling a shiver run down my spine as the real and mirror image touched. “And I don’t speak in rhymes.” I declared to myself. I felt my spirits lift up a little at that declaration. Things were still far from getting better, but I felt as if I was starting to lift myself out of the broken heap of stress that was lying on the floor moments earlier.

Content with myself for the moment, I slid off the dresser, again losing balance but quickly correcting myself before another face plant. “Whoever said four legs was easy, lied” I grumbled as I stood up shakily.

I turned my attention back to my desk where I had left my desktop running the night before. Maybe there was something on the internet that could help. After all, there was plenty of news out there on the subject of people turning to ponies, and any information that could help me probably wouldn’t hurt. A part of me wanted to look deeper into this whole ordeal.

Carefully I maneuvered my way back across the room. Admittedly the walking part was becoming a bit easier as I practiced, though I still had to be careful not to trip underneath my own hooves. Slowly, I climbed into my desk chair and gazed at the computer, bumping the mouse to bring it to life when something to my right caught my attention.

There, sitting completely undisturbed on the top of my desk were two large earrings and ten thin golden rings of varying sizes. “This… I must be wrong, but have those been here all along?” I asked rhetorically in a bit of confusion. I put my hoof to my forehead frustrated as I realized what I had said. “I mean… when did those get over here?” It was true though. I didn’t notice them there before. Then again, at the time I was slightly distracted by falling out of bed to look closely at what was on my desk.

I went to grab for one of the larger rings without thinking, almost pushing the entire stack of rings off the desk with my hoof.

“Oh, right, hooves… not very good for grabbing.” I said to myself, with remorse at the reminder of my lost hands. I wedged my hoof underneath one ring and pulled it up to my face to inspect it closer. “She cheated.” I said in an almost amused tone as I stared at the golden ring.

There was a hinge, almost unnoticeable from a distance, on one side of the ring, and a crease on the opposite side to allow it to snap on and off. Experimentally, I grabbed one end of it with my mouth and pulled the ring open with my hoof. With a snap it opened revealing the hinges on the inside. I balanced it over my neck, between my two hooves and shut it with an audible clicking sound. With greater ease I managed to slowly put on the others as well.

The earrings and arm rings were slightly harder to put on, but after couple minutes of experimenting I managed to get them on successfully. How Zecora did this day in and day out completely eluded me. Guess it just took practice. With the proper attire on I looked at the mirror one last time. I looked exactly how Zecora always appeared in the show, though my mane still was thoroughly roughed up by my morning bed head.

With that out of the way I returned to my computer. I bumped the space-bar with the tip of my hoof, allowing the computer to spring to life from its hibernation. I still had my trusty mechanical keyboard, so typing was still possible but just barley. After a few initial attempts at using the keyboard with my hooves, and dozens of unintended mashed buttons, I gave in and grabbed my Ipad stylus, pressing keys with it using my mouth.

“First thing is first.” I told myself as I fumbled the mouse over to ITunes icon. I grabbed my pair of noise canceling headphones, sliding them over my head and pressed the shuffle button. The rest of the world was instantly shut away to me as I listened to Clic Clac from DJ Scooter. Everyone had their own personal ways of dealing with stress. My own way was to push the outside world away through music. It really didn’t matter on what type it was, so long as it had a catchy beat to it. I’d often lose myself in one or two songs that I’d repeat over and over, forgetting why I was even worried in the first place.

With the immediate need satisfied I returned to my investigation. Opening the web browser, I quickly went to the DerpyNews.com to see if there was any new information. From day one when Lauren Faust had become Princess Celestia the website along with Equestria Daily had done an amazing job at keeping up to date on the current situation with the ponies, sometimes even getting the information out before the actual news networks.

As soon as the main page to the website loaded, I rubbed my eyes to make sure what I was looking at was correct. The front page showed a picture of Shining Armor and Flutterhsy waving happily. Underneath was the headline in bold “Fluttershy and Shining Armor Attacked.”

I opened the article and scanned through it thoroughly. Apparently they had been attacked by some sort of anti-pony organization. The article continued, discussing the ramifications of the incident and how local law enforcement had started a routine investigation into the group. To my relief I saw that no one was injured though, apparently thanks to Flutterhsy and her element.

I continued onto other articles, including one about some sort of bizarre incident at an Ihop that involved a gazelle, and Pinkie Pie. For a moment, I wanted to look further into the article before I stopped with one thought. ‘Its Pinkie…it’s probably better just not to ask…’ and with that I moved onto the actual news websites.

There were many out there. Articles and interviews from people who had woken up in similar positions that I had now found myself in, press conferences, and anything from politicians and celebrities on their views in order to gain publicity, to personal blogs, many of which came from this “People against Ponies Association”. I felt a twinge of fear resurface as I looked into them further.

Apparently they were scattered into many different factions of hate and discontent. Some only wanted ponies to not gain unfair rights, while other cells seemed to want ponies out of the world in any way possible, even if it meant physically. If there were people willing to attack two ponies out in an open parking lot in the middle of the day, I didn’t want to think of what else they would be willing to do. I found myself unnerved at the idea of being hunted down like a common animal.

My stomach interrupted my thoughts as it grumbled in protest. I looked over at the clock, and noticed the time. ‘8:59 AM’ I had been awake for two hours now and still hadn’t had a thing to eat. I sighed and took off my headphones. “Well no use worrying on an empty stomach.” I sighed and jumped out of my chair.

I looked up at the giant grey bedroom door as I walked up to it and gazed at the door knob perplexingly. I hadn’t actually thought how difficult it would be just to get around my own house till this moment. At first, I tried grabbing it with both my hooves like I had with the rings and gently twist it open. After a couple attempts to do this as my hooves slipped off uselessly I had to try another approach. I bit on the doorknob with my teeth and gave it a twist. One moment, and a bad taste in my mouth later, the door swung open to the rest of my house.

I made my way down the hall towards the kitchen, my hoofsteps echoing against the wooden tile that covered most of the house. I wasn’t worried about waking my parents up. Neither of them were in the house this late in the morning. They both had morning jobs and were usually gone before I had a chance to see them. It was nice to usually get some privacy for myself in the mornings, but now more than ever. Of course, that only delayed the inevitable problem of explaining the situation to them till the afternoon when they would return. But that would just have to be a problem I’d have to face when the time came. For now, I just needed some food.

Upon entering the kitchen I looked around, quickly realizing that mostly everything on the counter tops was now out of reach to my diminutive size. Grudgingly I pulled a chair from the dining room and brought it to the refrigerator door.

The refrigerator door handle was much easier to open than my bedroom door, being only a simple metal handle that ran the length of the door. I wedged my hoof between the door and handle and pulled. To my dismay though, I only then realized that we had not gone grocery shopping in a week. The fruit bin was empty, as were most of the vegetables. The snack foods of course were gone after the first day. I gazed at the sandwich meat for a moment, but turned away as I felt my stomach twist in knots at disgust. ‘Zebras don’t eat meat you idiot, you’re an herbivore now’ my mind scolded me.

I looked through the rest of the kitchen for anything that would be edible for a zebra. My search brought me to the cabinets where we stored most of the canned goods. With a bit of luck I came across a couple cans of fruit. My mouth watered at the thought of getting to try some pineapple, or peaches. Even the canned spinach seemed slightly more interesting to me now. I was about to pick one up when I realized I had to use a can opener for one.

“I should have known we wouldn’t have any food,” I sighed as I shut the cabinet door and jumped off the chair “but I won’t think straight till this hunger is subdued.” I grumbled as I left the kitchen, much to my stomach’s protest. I guess Zecora must have not eaten for a while, but with no thumbs, cans were out of the question.

Defeated, I turned back to my room and tried looking for anymore information. It wasn’t long however till the nagging in my stomach came back to annoy me again. I knew I couldn’t wait for someone to just come home and open a can for me. I had to go out and find some grub.

“Well there’s the grocery store down the block…” I idly mused to myself. The idea to go outside didn’t sound so appealing, especially with the thought of some anti pony organization out there, but at the same time I knew I couldn’t hide in my house forever, and I had to eat something eventually. My stomach growled in agreement.

I got up and turned to the bathroom. If I was going to go out, I was at least going to presentable. My mane still looked like it had a horrible cow lick, not to mention the fact that between rolling on the floor a couple times and digging through old cabinets I probably didn’t smell to flattering either.

I walked into the bathroom, and turned to the large walk in shower. As I turned the water on with a hoof, I quickly learned that showering as a pony was very different from washing as a human.

“COLD!!!” I brayed when I turned wrong handle.

Eventually I left the bathroom still wet after trying to dry myself with a towel with only limited success. But after using an entire bottle of shampoo, and getting to know what a bar of soap tastes like, I was finally clean again. Getting Zecora’s mane into her signature Mohawk was not a simple task either… but after some attempts at using my hooves, I finally managed to get it close enough. I looked into the bathroom mirror now seeing the Zecora I had known so well from the show. Clearly I still had much to learn if I was going to master using this body.

I returned to my room to gather things for my trip outside. The first thing I grabbed was, of course my Ipad and headphones. I almost always had my headphones and music wherever I’d go. Some of my friends even told me that my headphones were bolted to my head. I couldn’t argue with them there. “Out of all the ponies I could have become, you’d think you would have been Vinyl Scratch” I told myself as I put my headphones back over my ears. Hopefully Zecora wouldn’t mind my taste in music.

I grabbed my old Garra gourd backpack. I never used it much because it was small, but given my new size it made an almost perfect improvised saddlebag. With a bit of trouble on my end, I managed to tighten the strap to fit around my torso.

Lastly I pulled my favorite black hoodie from its wrack. I didn’t feel right just walking out into public in just my fur, but after putting the hoodie on it looked as if I was wearing an entire cloak. The sleeves completely covered my forelegs, and the back almost went down to my hooves. “Adjustments must be made.” I declared as I took the huge piece of clothing off.

I retrieved my father’s pocket knife in mouth. “Sorry old friend, but your time is at an end.” I said as I began to cut the sleeves and part of the bottom off. After a couple minutes I was satisfied with the results and put on all my travel gear again.

I looked at the mirror to view my work. Now picture before you, a zebra getting ready for an anime convention, and you probably had a good idea of what I looked like. “If Rarity saw me like this…” I said as I thought out loud. “Oh well, function over fashion.”

I made my way to the front door, and pulled it open. I swore I’d never get used to the taste of metal in my mouth. I looked out to the quiet neighborhood bathed in a mid noon sun as I left the sanctuary of my house.

There was no one on the street, which of course was little surprise. Most people would be at work at this hour. Most kids would not get out of school for a couple hours. But at the same time I had a dreadful sense that I was exposed out here. It wouldn’t take much for me to cause a scene. As far as I knew I was the only pony, er, zebra in the entire city. The idea of being the center of attention unnerved me.

“It isn’t that far of a walk… only just down the block”. I said to reassure myself but the rhyme didn’t help much. Part of me wondered whether the rhyme had actually been intentional or just another Zecora moment. “Ok, no turning back now.”

I turned my Ipad to shuffle music and took my first step off of the porch and into an entirely new world in a new body. So many things could go wrong, and probably would. But it was too late to turn back now, and with that, I began my trek down the quiet neighborhood sidewalk.

Comments

[_Kenzu_]

first of, WOWEE guys, I didnt expect such a large positive reaction to chapter 1
you guys are awesome

hope you enjoy chapter 2 ^^ and *spoiler* things are going to get bad in chapter 3

[gryphon88]

The idea of people turning into characters from the show is new! That's why people like the fic. And from the standpoint of Zecora gives it another nice twist.

[Hope]

I like it!

[SunsetyDays]

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[Freescript the Bard]

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[xbox432]

Interesting....verrrrry interesting. I look forward to seeing how long you can maintain the rhymes.

[Red Rover]

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That being said, where do you keep an iPad while you're walking and listening to it? Always seemed to bulky to me.

[The Watcher 509]

He.....Hehehe.....

I LIKE IT

[World Theory]

Heheh, Garra gourd. At first I thought it was an actual gourd of a variety named Garra. But then I recalled it was also a backpack, and was retrieved for the purpose of putting things in. *revaluation* Hmm… Garra sounds fam— oh hey Garra gourd! Garra wore a gourd like a backpack! Must be merchandise.

So anyway, I am liking what I read. Don't expect too many comments, because I will be busy reading the next chapter(s). This story better have at least 800,000 words by the end of the month.

[Alondro]

My reaction upon waking up as Zecora:

My equine lips spread wide in a salacious grin as I spoke in the most sensual voice I could create, "Now here's a body I cannot hate! It's time for me to molesternate!"

And inside, Zecora bitch-slapped me, "Oh NO you don't, boy! You best not be disrespectin' me!"

Zecora will not let me do naughty things with her body.

[Pinklestia]

Well, a zebra, thumb ups for originality.

[The Spy of the Tiger]

2016900
In that small backpack was th the headphones hanging out the zipper

[Xenolis]

2473624

It's actually spelt gaara