> Dream On
>  by Colbbie
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I sat anxiously in my apartment, staring at the phone sitting in the middle of the desk,  awaiting the call I was sure to receive any second now. I had trained my whole life for this moment. One simple phone call would determine where my future goes next.

After a few more minutes of waiting, the very loud sound of the phone ringing nearly caused me to jump at the sudden noise permeating the previously quiet room. I reached out and picked the phone up and confirmed that it was the number I was expecting. And after a few seconds of staring blankly at the phone with it rining in my hand, contemplating my whole existence, I answered it.

"Hello, is this Oliver?" Greeted the deep voice on the other end of the phone.

"Yes, that is me, and you're here to tell me if I made the team right?" I asked, deciding to get right to the point. I was so anxious I had idly started tapping my foot and biting my nails without even noticing it. And the long pause did nothing to help that anxiety pass, only it made it worse, like, a lot worse.

"Huh," he chuckled "straight to the point, I got that kind of attitude from you and I like it. But to answer your question, yes I am here to break the news to you. So first, let me ask you this, are you ready to commit everything you got to this organization?" He asked with a tone that clearly said 'no' was not the right answer.

"Yes sir, I've been training since I was a kid, and getting drafted made one of my lifelong dreams come true. Getting to the best league in the world is my end game, no matter the cost or effort I have to put into my game." I finished with less anxiety present in my voice than previously.

"Alright, that's what I like to hear. So here it is, the ECHL roster doesn't have any room for you," This statement made my heart stop and my breath catch in my throat. All that work, all that effort, only to get cut? That thought and many more ran through my head. My eyes started to water up slightly, but my attention was drawn back to the phone when he continued talking. "that's because you've earned a spot in Syracuse in the AHL." And in a heartbeat, all that sadness and frustration instantly melted away into disbelief and happiness.

"R-really?" I asked, not believing what he just said.

"Yes kid, you made the American League roster. Congrats, and since there's no more training camp tomorrow, go celebrate with your pals, but remember, be responsible. Have a great day kid." He finished before a click signaled that he had just hung up the phone.

I slowly put the phone back down onto the desk before standing back up and staring at myself in the mirror above the desk. "Yes!" I suddenly shouted, happiness and relief filling my voice. After three years of junior and getting drafted, I'm now only one level below what is considered to be the best hockey league in the world.

I continued to celebrate, jumping around the room while pumping my fists into the air for what felt like an hour before the sound of my phone going off stole my attention away. And with a slight jump in my step, I went over to the desk and picked my phone back up, and read the message.

"Hey bro, I'm heading to a local bar in downtown Tampa tonight. You in?" Read the text from a lifelong friend, Brock, who also happened to come with me to watch me and support me during my first professional training camp.

"Yea and I got good news!" I quickly responded.

"You made the team!? I'm pulling up the front of your hotel now, get down here and tell me about it!" Came the reply about a dozen seconds later. And that was all I needed to hear before I grabbed my room key and wallet before heading towards the elevators.

"So what happened? Did you make it?" Brock asked as I closed the passenger side door to the black rental car he was currently driving.

"Better, I made the AHL roster!" I happily exclaimed as we started moving towards the exit to the main road.

"Oh, nice! Well, this bar should be a pretty good place to go celebrate. And also, drinks on me! You deserve it." And thus started a fun night filled with drinking, and celebrating my recent achievement. I almost decided to lay off the alcohol but thought, 'hey I just turned 21 not to long ago, AND, it's time to celebrate. 'I'll be fine.' I thought, having made up my mind. 

About 3 hours later, the clock read 9:00 p.m. as we both stumbled into the car, heavily intoxicated. "You sure you can drive?" I asked, well, attempted to ask. My very non-sober mouth making it sound like a load of gibberish.

"Yeah dude, I got this!" Brock responded in an equally drunk state. Him having turned 21 no more than a month ago made him much more vulnerable to the effects of alcohol than me, so him driving was probably worse than just about any other scenario. This thought, however, slipped my intoxicated mind as we slowly pulled out of the parking lot.

Surprisingly, things were going pretty well considering how drunk we both were. Brock attempting to drive the car in as straight a line as he could, and me badly singing Don't Stop Believing to the static-laced voice coming over the radio. Once we entered the ramp to the highway and reached around 70 miles per hour, the car started swerving, a lot. Both of us started drunkenly screaming as we were thrown side to side in the vehicle while Brock tried to regain control, but to no avail. The last thing my drunken mind remembers were the headlights of a very large semi-truck staring right back at me. 





It was just an average every day in the peaceful capital city of Equestria, Canterlot. The day was going by as usual. The usual tourists gawked at the castle of the princess while the nobles were as arrogant and snobby as normal. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for anyone that day nor would it.

While inside the magnificent castle,  Celestia was having quite possibly the most boring day in at least a few decades. It was so bad, that it would make anyone rather work an office job for the rest of their life as it would be a hundred times more exciting. 

"And that, Princess Celestia, is why nobles should be exempt from all taxes!" Prince Blueblood finished with a confident smirk splayed across his face.

Celestia let out a sigh. Day court today was even more mind-numbing than usual with all the nobles deciding that today would be a great day to propose their reasons for not have to pay a bit in taxes to the Equestrian government. "Blueblood," she began with a flat tone, "how many times have you proposed this idea to me?"

"Umm..." Blueblood began, starting to sweat, "only a couple I believe."

"Sure," she replied sarcastically, "and what have I told you every time?" She said, this time, eyes narrowing slightly causing Blueblood to shiver.

"You have umm... told me... no." He said with nervousness permeating every aspect of his voice.

"That's right, so-" Celestia stopped, something felt off. Her sensitivity to magic was many times that of an average unicorn, even her own sister. While she had learned to tune out the everyday magic levels, something,  somewhere had just exploded with enough magic to level a city. "There is a disturbance in the magic." She whispered to herself before addressing Blueblood. "I must attend to something immediately. You are dismissed." She said quickly with a tone that held no room for argument.

After the doors closed behind Blueblood, Celestia quickly trotted out of the throne room and up the stairs to her own personal quarters. "No one is to disturb me unless it is of utmost urgency." She said to the two guards standing next to the entrance to her bedroom door. And all they did was give a curt salute back with a "Yes your majesty."

She closed the doors and took a seat in front of her millennium-year-old desk before floating over a quill and starting a letter.

'Dear Twilight Sparkle-'
> Chapter-1 The Awakening
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pain. Lots and lots of pain. That's the first thing my groggy, barely conscious mind understood. Pain filled my entire body to the point of me just wanting nothing but for it to stop. I had no idea where I currently was as my eyes were still slammed shut, the pain making it extremely difficult to open my eyes, none the less, breathe or really do anything for that matter.

I laid on the ground for probably another good half an hour or so, a groaning, twitching,  pain-filled mess. But gradually, the pain started to subside to a more, slightly bearable level, allowing me to get a hold on my current situation to some minor degree. And the first thing I tried to do was open my eyes. All that got me was a large bout pain. So, I decided to use my other senses to try and figure out my current situation.

Touch, that was the first big thing I noticed. I was laying on my side on something I had never felt before in my life. It was soft, like a memory foam mattress, yet it was also holding my weight very firmly. It was also slightly damp against my side that was currently facing downward. But the strangest feeling was something on my back. Every time I thought of the strange sensation on my back, it would result in a brief twitch and a fairly large dose of pain. So I decided to investigate that when I wasn't in pain.

The smell was the next thing. It smelled like it had just rained very recently with a few other much more unpleasant smells like garbage and sewage reaching my nose as well. But the main difference causing yet another sensation to feel completely alien was just how powerful every odor was. It seemed like I was laying face first in a wet pile of garbage in the middle of a sewer, which I definitely was not as the side of my face was resting on the same soft, damp material the rest of my body was currently residing on and not a mound of trash.

The sound became something I quickly took notice of as what sounded like an extremely large bird flapping its wings quickly pushed its way to the front of my mind. But as I heard the sound, another alien sensation filled my brain. Something on top of my head seemed to move in the direction of the unfamiliar sound. This slight movement didn't cause as much pain, so I decided that maybe I would try opening my eyes again to try and see the strange environment I was currently residing in.

The first thing that happened when I opened my eyes was being immediately blinded by a street lamp. After a minute or so of squinting, I had the wonderful idea to try and look away. And after looking away, I continued looking around without moving my head too much but enough for me to know that I was in an alley. Though, the white ground and walls on either side of me greatly confused me as to what they were made of.

Finally, after laying on the ground for well over forty-five minutes, I decided that I was going to try and sit up. And to say that moving was weird would be an understatement. First I rolled onto my stomach, which caused me to slightly wince, but when I tried to push myself up with my hands, I noticed a crucial detail was off. I don't have hands.

"Ahh! What the heck!?" I screamed in confusion, all the pain I was currently feeling was immediately pushed to the back of my mind as I looked at where my hands were supposed to be and saw instead two fuzzy white arms ending in stumps. Panic quickly took over as I held my shaking han- thing in front of my face and waved it around just to be sure that what I was seeing really belonged to me. And after flailing my arm about, I realized that this thing was definitely connected to me.

Next, I decided that I must be having some kind of crazy lucid dream. They say that if you get hurt, you wake up... right? Well, that's what I thought, so without a moment's hesitation, I clocked myself in the head with my new arm and instantly regretted it. I fell back down onto my stomach, my head now throbbing with pain from the self-inflicted blow. I cradled my head with my new arms, feeling like I was going to throw up from mind wrenching pain. "Definitely not dreaming!" I groaned to myself in pain.

Eventually, the pain once again died back down to a noticeable, yet manageable level. With difficulty, I slowly sat back up, this time deciding to try and get a look at my whole body, fearing what could have happened if my new arms were anything to go by. Not too long after sitting back up, I noticed that my legs were bending the completely wrong direction. I slowly turned my head to look at my legs, and my fears were slowly confirmed as more and more of a strange white body filled my vision. I also took note that my neck was very long as I could look almost completely behind me without moving my body. And to top it off, adorning my back were two new equally white appendages that looked like... wings? 'What the heck am I...?' I thought as I tried to take in more of my strange form. While this freaked me out to no end, having a panic attack in some dark alley may not be the best of ideas.

"Hello?" This voice did nearly cause me to have a panic attack as the moment I heard it, my heart stopped and I froze in place. "Hello? Is somepony down there? Are you alright?" Came a quiet feminine sounding voice from the entrance of the alley behind me. This of course caused me to freak out. 'Oh no, someone saw me! What are they going to do to a creature like me?' Thoughts like this ran through my head at a million miles per hour as I decided that I had to see who was there.

Ever so slowly, I turned my head in the direction of the voice. And the closer I got, the more anxious I got fearing that I would see a bunch of animal control people waiting to get me and drag me away or something. Instead, what I saw left me speechless. Standing in the entrance of the alley was what looked like an orange horse, though not quite, with equally orange wings similar to mine and red hair. The creature was just staring back with a timid aura about her. I also noticed that this creature seemed to be pretty similar to me in terms of general build.

"Hello miss, umm, are you alright there?" She said, slowly approaching me with a caring smile adorning her face. 

"Umm..." Was all that came out when I tried to talk to this creature... and did it just call me miss?

"Oh my, you're hurt!" It gasped before rushing up to me.

This caused me to back away, which didn't get me far because soon after I bumped into a wall.

This caused the creature to freeze. "Oh I'm so sorry, somepony must have done something horrible to you! I mean just look at you! Please, I live in the building right here," she gestured with a leg to the building I was leaning against "I don't want you getting anymore hurt than you already are."

'Why would this creature just take me in?' I thought, suspicious of why this thing would do such an act for a complete stranger. And given the fact that it isn't freaking out, that must mean whatever I am must be normal or to some degree at least. But, I don't really have anywhere to go, and just laying in a broken heap in some random alley may not be the best of ideas especially if a person were to just come walking by and see me. "Alright." I said with resignation before realizing just how high my voice was which sparked even more worry in the back of my mind.

"Alright, let me help you up." She said, this time approaching me more slowly than she did the first time.

The creature wrapped its... wing? around me which caused me to realize I am now going to have to try and walk. And taking a glance at the creature again made corroborated the fact that I was going to have to attempt to walk on all fours. Sucking in a deep breath, I attempted to stand and immediately fell back down onto my midsection even with the creature's support.

"Oh my, this is worse than I thought. Thank Celestia I live right here." I heard the creature say to itself which raised another question. 'How does it speak perfect English?' I decided to contemplate all this later and focus on standing now.

Sitting back up from my prone position, I took it a little slower this time. Ever so slowly with the help of the creature, I got to my shaky legs. Two too many I might add before I attempted to take a step. This was much harder than I anticipated as soon as I lifted my leg I nearly lost my balance before I planted my leg back down and the creature rebalanced me.

"It's ok, take your time. And I'm assuming you can't fly if you can barely walk. Am I right?" She asked with a very comforting tone that had absolutely zero malice in it that I could find.

"No, I-I can't f-fly" I responded, my voice two octaves higher than what I was used to before refocusing on walking.

And ever so slowly, I started to put one leg in front of the other and move. Coordinating my back legs and my front legs was difficult, but considering we were moving slower than a snail's pace, it was doable. I had to put all my attention into walking to not trip over my extra legs. Though surprisingly, I picked up the whole walking thing pretty quickly. And after not too long, we emerged from the alley and into the artificial light of multiple street lights.

This extra light caused me to look up and nearly pass out from the huge spike in stress. Looking around, it was very evident that this was somewhere not Earth. Looking to the right and left, I saw a white building lining a street, with no street. Instead, there were white sidewalks with bridging connections between the two sides. Floating buildings made out of the same white stuff made me realize what we were standing on. Clouds. Though I immediately rejected the idea that I could somehow be in the sky, who knows how high up, standing on clouds. Though the thought lingered in the back of my mind.

We continued on slowly down the sidewalk towards what was clearly the entrance that the creature said was where it lived. While we closed the distance between us and the door, I used this time to continue to soak in the unknown environment around me. The architecture reminded me of all the greek stuff I learned about in school. Also, every creature that looked like us seemed to have a pair of wings whether they were flying or just walking. I only saw one that didn't have wings walking down the sidewalk opposite of us. I also took note of the lack of fall prevention, but I guess when you can just fly there really isn't all that much of a need. There were not many creatures here because it was currently night time and judging by the building sizes around us, I would assume that this must be a fairly populated area.

"Hello there Ms. Breeze, welcome back, and I see that you have a guest." The doorman... whatever said to the creature which I now know has Breeze somewhere in its name.

"Hello, Shining, I'm just taking her up to my apartment to fix her up." And with that, we walked past the reception desk and towards what looked like an elevator from the 1900s.

"Alright, just up to the 8th and well be there." Breeze said as we slowly walked into the elevator, me being more than a little apprehensive to get in something that looks like it belongs in a museum. But eventually, I stepped in with the elevator shaking a bit not helping to alleviate my worry.

We didn't go falling down the elevator shaft to our deaths, instead, we slowly ascended, the little arrow above the door slowly making it's way closer to eight every second.

The elevator stopped with a slight rattle as we reached the proper floor just before the doors opened and we walked out into the little elevator lobby. The place didn't look too shabby as it was a fairly nice looking tiled floor with a simple beige paint job and lights lining the walls every five feet or so along with flowers and other decorations here and there.

We walked out of the little lobby, past about six doors before stopping in front of a door that had a little 826 on the front of it.

"Alright, here we are, I'm going to let you go so I can get my key alright?" Breeze said which I responded with a slight nod. And a second later, I was standing on my own for the first time. Not having the extra support made my legs wobble a little, but having walked a fair distance made it much easier to stand here than when I was back in the alley.

While Breeze was fishing for the key in the bags I just noticed she was wearing, I took in a little more of my situation. 'I'm on a completely unknown planet for all I know, I appear to be one of the natives, and I'm walking right into one of their houses.' They could be cannibals for all I knew I could just be walking right into a trap. Though, having some kind of shelter was probably be safer even if it is with just a random stranger. But then again, she had been pretty nice to me.

The click of a lock opening brought my mind back to the present. Breeze pulled the key out and deposited it back into her bad before biting onto the handle with her mouth before pulling down and pushing the door inward to reveal her apartment.

Walked right back up to me and helped me into the apartment. Once we were fully inside, she kicked the door closed with a back leg before continuing on deeper into the room. And not too far from the door was a brown, three-person sofa only a few inches off the ground, where we walked up to and I sat down on.

"Alright, you just stay right there. I'll be right back with the first aid kit." And with that, I was left sitting on the couch pondering my current situation. Many thoughts tried to push their way to the front of my mind, but the one that consistently beat them all was, "What the heck am I?"

"What was that?" Came the voice of Breeze from down the hall on the right side of the room.

"Nothing." I quickly responded. This disturbance brought my mind back to the present and I decided I should get to know where I'll be staying for who knows how long.

I appeared to be in what was the living room. A three-person sofa with a  small coffee table just in front of it and two pillows on the ground next to the table. Looking to my left showed the front door to the apartment where we came in as well as a closed-door in the wall to the right of the front door. Looking the other way to the right showed a small dining room with a round table with four pillows on the ground as well as a small rose sitting right in the center. And just behind the dining room was a very small kitchen with what looked like a small refrigerator, a stove, and a sink.

'Wow, this looks just like an apartment from Earth minus the small differences in the furniture and lack of technology.' After pondering that for a second, I looked past the dining room and down a hall where Breeze went. There were two doors on the right side of the hallway. One was closed and the other was open with light shining out from within which was where Breeze must have gone. A couple more glances around the apartment showed a few other personal touches like pictures and other various decorations scattered around.

The sound of a shower turning on brought me back once again to the real world. And a few moments later, Breeze came out of the first door in the hallway.

"I started the water for you so you can get cleaned up before we patch those cuts. I left a fresh towel and there are some soaps in the shower already." She said before coming over to assist me.

"No, I'm fine, I can do this myself, but thanks." I said before almost instantly regretting it. 'How the heck am I going to wash myself? I can barely even walk!' So to not keep her waiting any longer, I promptly got onto my legs, very shakily, and slowly took steps across the room towards what must have been the bathroom.

"You sure you don't need help washing up?" Breeze asked with concern.

"No, I'm feeling a bit better. I can do this myself." I shut her down, wanting to save at least a small portion of my pride and also wanting some private time to look at the most important problem of them all. And with that, I continued on my miniature marathon to the bathroom door.

After slowly passing through the dining room and down the hall, I made my way into the bathroom, steam already starting to fill the small room, before closing the door. It was a standard bathroom. A toilet in one corner and a bathtub and shower in the other with a sink in the middle.

"Well, if you need anything just shout." Came Breeze's voice before the sound of her walking away.

And once I confirmed that the door was locked, I took a look between my legs and almost cried. A very important part of me was missing. One that basically defined me was gone. "I'm... a girl." That was all I could say, the bombshell of no longer being male completely obliterating my thought process. My alien reflection staring back at me only making me feel even worse.

In an attempt to not cry by taking my mind off the subject, I decided to get into the shower and try to bathe myself. So without hesitation, I drew the curtains back, felt the warm water, before stepping one leg, then the other, then the extra two before closing the curtain behind me.

The shower was pure bliss compared to how the past hour or so had been. While the various cuts covering my body stung a little, the warmth and the pitter-patter of water against my body calmed me down greatly. But I couldn't just stand under the water, I've still got to clean myself.

With that goal in mind, I quickly spotted the soap bottles sitting in the corner and attempted to pick them up, only to knock one to the ground due to my current lack of fingers. And I mentally cursed myself for forgetting that I now lacking a very important tool that I took for granted.

Thinking back made me remember that Breeze did most of her things with her mouth. While this was extremely unsanitary, how else were you supposed to do it? So with that thought now in mind, I bent my neck down and picked up the bottom end of the bottle with my teeth. Next, I lifted my head up and stuck one of my new appendages, 'these look remarkably similar to a horses hooves' I thought before realizing I was pouring shampoo all over the shower floor and quickly stopped. I then realigned my leg with the bottle and bit down which squirted a fair amount of shampoo all over my arm.

I tried to put the bottle back in the corner, while it was sideways, it was close enough. I then sat down and took my arm and rubbed it over as much of my fur-covered body as I could reach, which was almost all of it.

After covering the majority of my hair and body with soap, I stood back up and walked back under the water to rinse myself out. After a few minutes of just standing under the water and relaxing, I finally decided that I've spent enough time in the shower.

At the front of the shower was a knob which I walked up to and grabbed in my teeth before twisting to the off position which quickly did as it was supposed to and shut the water off.

After shaking some of the excess water off, I pulled the curtain back and carefully stepped out, now noticing my extreme lack of grip on the tiled floor. With all four legs out of the shower and onto the tiled floor, I carefully walked over to the sink and pulled the towel off the corner and onto the ground. I then sat down and put it over one of my arms and proceeded to attempt to dry myself to the best of my current ability, which honestly wasn't very well.

After deciding that I wasn't going to be able to get myself any drier, I put the towel back on the corner of the sink, not having any idea where to put it, before walking back towards the door but not before catching a glance of myself in the mirror and being reminded even more of my current situation.

I walked out of the bathroom and back towards the living room to see Breeze sitting on one of the cushions next to the coffee table. She quickly turned and saw me before getting up.

"Oh, you're done. Why don't you go take a seat on the sofa while I get the first aid kit." She pronounced gesturing to the sofa before walking past me back towards the bathroom.

I quickly took her advice and walked over to the living room and took a seat on the sofa, still slightly damp, before she reemerged from the bathroom.

"Alrighty, let's get you fixed up shall we?" Breeze said walking down the hall and back towards the main room with what was most likely a first aid kit balanced on her back.

I gave her a nod which was all she appeared to need before she set down the kit and started digging through it. This made me look at the condition of my new body, which was not good. I was covered in small cuts and bruises everywhere. 'How did I not notice any of this... Also, how did I get like this?' These thoughts provoked me to try and remember the last thing that happened to me. But every time I tried to think back to just before everything happened, I would just come up blank.

"So, what's your name? Mine's Autumn Breeze but just call me Breeze." Breeze asked while she somehow held a bottle of something with her stump of a leg without the aid of fingers.

"Hello?" She stopped and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yea... just dozed off, my names Ol-" It dawned on me that Oliver may not be a normal name considering that her full name was Autumn Breeze. Something season-related maybe? Well, my favorite season is winter so, "It's Winter Ice, yea, Winter Ice but you can just call me Winter." I said, trying to sound like I at least know my own name.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Winter, wish we could have met under slightly better circumstances, but hey, better late than never." She said with a small chuckle before she resumed her work patching me up. I winced each time she dapped one of my many wounds. She then proceeded to cover some of the larger cuts with bandages before steeping away to admire her handy work.

"Well, it's ain't much, but it's honest work." She said before closing the first-aid kit and balancing it on her back before walking back to where she got it from the put it back. And a moment after she disappeared through the doorway, she reappeared nothing on her back.

She then proceeded to take a seat on one of the cushions opposite of me before she began. "So, what happened?" She asked bluntly.

This surprised me a bit, but I said the truth. "I-I don't know. I can't remember anything that could have caused this. The last thing I remember was me just going about my day like normal," A whole different species I might add but obviously decided against it. "And the next thing I know I'm waking up in an ally."

This seemed to surprise her as she adopted a sympathetic smile a moment later. "Well, I hope nothing too bad happened, but your welcome to stay here the night. Do you live nearby?" She asked, that last question making my anxiety shoot up for the thousandth time in the last hour.

"Umm, well you see, I'm not from around here." I responded, deciding to pretend that I was just visiting. "I'm uh, visiting from very far away."

"Oh my, well, let me tell you, Cloudsdale" 'So that's what this place is called.' I thought and continued to listen, "is a very nice city. I don't know what happened to you, but just know that Cloudsdale is a very nice city." She said with pride for her city very evident in her tone.

I gave a little nod in agreement which seemed to be enough for her.

"Well, it's getting late, would you like any food before bed?"

"No, I'll just head to bed... um, where could I sleep?" I asked, still unfamiliar with the sleeping situation.

"Oh yea, you can have the guest bedroom." She walked over to the door on the right wall adjacent to the entrance before pushing it open.

I got up and slowly walked over, still not completely confident in my walking skills, to reveal a fairly normal-looking bedroom. A white room with a twin-sized bed in the far corner with a nightstand next to it with a small clock and a lamp. as well as a desk at the foot of the bed with a quill, inkwell, some paper, and another lamp.

"Well, hope you like it. I'm gonna head off to bed. My room is the door next to the bathroom. Just knock if you need anything. Goodnight Winter." And with a little wave, she walked away leaving me alone in a fresh guest bedroom all by myself.

I went and closed the door before getting up onto the bed and laying down under the covers. While I was lying there, thoughts were constantly trying to push themselves to the forefront of my brain. Instead of contemplating all my problems, I just shut them down with the thought, 'tomorrow me's problems.' And with that, I promptly passed out from the mental exhaustion of the evening.
> Chapter-2 The First Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was slowly roused from my sleep as the light of a new day permeated the darkness of the bedroom and went right into my eyes. Consciousness slowly came back to me as the dreamscape was left behind while reality started to once again take hold.

“That was the weirdest dream ever…” I said as I groggily sat up in my bed and started to rub the dirt out of my eyes, well, I tried to. What I got instead was a pretty hard knock on the head. “Ow…” It muttered, opening my eyes to see what I just hit myself with. But instead of seeing my hand where it should be, the sight of a white arm ending with a distinct lack of fingers instantly unlocked the flood gates to all the memories of the previous night. Waking up in the alley, having a new body, getting taken in by someone. All that really happened last night and none of it was a dream. And worst of all… I’m now the opposite gender. With a dejected sigh, I took a quick glance around the room which did nothing but solidify that this was real life as this was definitely not my room.

My mood was at an all-time low. All that confusion, sadness, and anger I had pushed off till tomorrow, well today is yesterday's tomorrow. I sat on the non-made guest bed, contemplating everything that has happened and what was going to happen. ‘What am I doing to do next?’ being the most prominent thought that went through my mind over and over again. Other things like my family and my friends weighed heavily on me as well. I continued to stare blankly at the floor, a stray tear here and there falling onto a now damp part of the bedsheet.

With a sniffle, I looked towards the door as my attention was grasped once again and pulled back to reality by the sound of sizzling food as well as the heavenly smell of fresh coffee reaching my new, much more sensitive nose. And with a sigh, I resigned from my feelings as to not draw too much attention to myself from Breeze.

“Good morning Winter, how did you sleep last night?” Came the voice of Breeze from the kitchen not too long after I had walked out of the guest bedroom.

Still a little shook from my small morning breakdown, I responded with a simple phrase as to not lead her on about my current situation. “I slept alright.” I said, trying to hide my current feelings with a tired look as I sat down on one of the cushions by the dining room table.

“That’s good,” she said as she flipped a pancake up into the air before catching it and depositing it on top of a tall stack of finished pancakes...

‘Actually… how is she holding that pan?’ I thought to myself, my eyes glued to the spectacle before my eyes. This display just threw every single thing I knew about how basic physics works right out the window. Somehow, a flat surface was gripping a handle just like someone with a hand would. This was made evident once again as she promptly proceeded to pick up the plate with one arm and balance it on her back before she started walking over to the table.

“Hope you like pancakes, I make a mean flapjack!” She said with a little giggle as she set the plate with at least a good 10-15 pancakes right in the middle of the table before walking back into the kitchen.

My mind was still elsewhere having been shocked by something for the thousandth time in the past day before I was once again snapped out of it by the sound of a glass bottle of syrup hitting the table.

I looked up and saw Breeze taking a seat on the pillow across from me before taking five pancakes off the top of the stack and putting them on her own plate before somehow picking up the bottle of syrup and smothering all the pancakes.

“So, do you like pancakes?” She asked as she finished covering her whole plate with syrup before closing the cap and sliding it back into the middle of the table.

“Oh yea, I like pancakes.” I said with a nod before reaching out and wrapping my arm around the plate of pancakes to pull them closer to me. Looking down, I noticed that there was already a plate sitting there for me. I then proceeded to completely neglect the silverware sitting right next to the plate and use my arm to slide a few pancakes off the stack and all over my plate.

After pushing the plate back to the middle of the table, I looked up and saw Breeze giving me a questioning look which I just returned with a meek smile and shrug in response. And after staring at me for a second longer, she then shrugged as well before she went back to cutting her pancakes.

With her attention elsewhere, I now contemplated how I was supposed to eat this. I couldn’t pick up the fork or the knife, nor did I think it would be a very good idea to just stuff my face into the food by the look Breeze gave me when I used my arm instead of a fork to take the pancakes off the pile. With no idea what to do, I just decided to try and somehow do what Breeze was doing and attempt to pick up a fork.

I stared down at the fork sitting to the right of my plate before placing my… hoof? ‘I guess they kind of look like horses… like if they were designed by a child.’ I thought as I placed my hoof on top of the fork. And with absolutely no surprise, the fork did not stick when I lifted my arm up. I looked up to make sure Breeze wasn’t watching, which she wasn’t although she somehow already ate four pancakes, before setting my hoof back on top of the fork. This time though, I knew that there must be something else to it. So, I channeled my inner Star Wars and pretended to use the force. And all I ended up doing was pretend as the fork once again didn’t budge.

I cursed under my breath, this drew the attention of Breeze as she looked up at me after finishing her last pancake. “Are you alright?” She asked with concern and skepticism evident in her voice.

“Y-Yea, I’m good.” I said, trying my best to play the situation off.

“Ooookay then, well you said you were visiting right?”

“Yea” I responded, no longer trying to pick up the fork by slamming my hoof into it.

“Are you thinking about doing anything special today?” She asked before taking another three pancakes off the quickly diminishing pile of pancakes before covering them in a slightly more respectable amount of syrup.

“Umm,” I started but didn’t finish. ‘Do I lie? I don’t know anything about this place!’ I thought, trying to come up with the best course of action. “No.” I said with a shrug, having no idea what else I would say.

“Oh well, you must have an apartment or something in the city right?”

“Well you see, I don’t have a place either. Nor do I have any money.” I responded before quickly regretting it. ‘She’s probably just going to think I’m some homeless person and kick me back out onto those weird streets!’ I thought with dread of what she was going to say next building up in my mind.

“Oh no!” She gasped, “I bet those mean ponies who left you in that alley took all your stuff!” She stood up, her tone suddenly taking on a very hostile nature before she took a deep breath and sat back down. “Well, you’re welcome to stay here. I’m always open to helping ponies in need.” She finished with a smile.

A couple of my thoughts were brought to my attention. ‘So they're called ponies? Wow, they look like ponies out of a children’s cartoon show.’ As well as, ‘why would she just let some random pers- pony into her house?’ I pondered these thoughts for a couple of seconds before thanking her, which she happily accepted.

“Well, I have to go to work in about an hour. Oh, if it’s alright, may I ask what your job is?” As she asked that, for some reason, she seemed to try and look at my butt for some reason. And when I looked, I still had no clue. But she sure seemed to know something as she gasped even louder than earlier before holding a hoof up to her open mouth.

“Y-you don’t have a cutie mark!?” She asked in a state of disbelief “How old are you? Oh my, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have asked that!” She quickly apologized for apparently asking my age which I didn’t pay any attention to. Instead, I was wondering, ‘What the heck is a cutie mark?’

I looked back up to see that Breeze was nearly crying for some reason. So I decided to ask why she was suddenly on the verge of tears.

“Hey, umm, why are you crying?”

“I shouldn’t have asked you that! Now you probably think I’m mean and won’t want to stay with me anymore!” She cried, barely able to make a coherent sentence. This left me very puzzled as to why she would think any of that, all she did was ask me my age and now she was bawling her eyes out after being in a good mood, not more than a minute ago.

“Hey, uh, I’m not mad at you. All you did was ask me my age, and I am twenty-one by the way. There’s really no need to be upset.” I said in my most comforting voice I could manage without sounding creepy.

“R-Really? You’re n-not mad at m-m-me? But that was such an unfriendly question!” She asked seemingly in disbelief.

“Yea, I don’t see what there’s to be upset about.” I said with a shrug, “Oh, and by the way, what’s a cutie mark?” I asked before regretting it the moment after Breeze gasped the loudest out of all the other gasps this morning.

“You don’t know what a cutie mark is?!” she nearly shouted while running up beside me. “This is my cutie mark,” she said while pointing to a picture of a setting sun with leaves falling in front it plastered on her flank. “It tells us what we’re good at! I work at the weather factory here in the fall season department.”

“What, do you get like a tattoo or something?” I asked, still kinda lost on the whole point of cutie marks.

“No silly, they show up once we discover our special talent. I can tell you my story if you want to hear it.”

“Sure, why not, I got all day.” I responded with a shrug, being completely honest about having nothing to do today.

“Well, it started when I was a filly around age- IT’S 8:30! I’M LATE!” She screamed before running off into her bedroom before reemerging, still trying to tighten the strap on her bag. “Sorry, I got a little carried away. Work starts at 8:30 for me, there is a spare key in the jar next to the stove. See you later!” She hastily said before walking over to the window in the kitchen, opening it, and jumping out.

I nearly had a heart attack as I quickly ran up to the window as I looked down, expecting to see her guts splattered all over the white sidewalk. But instead, I saw her flying away above all the buildings toward what appeared to be the center of the city. ‘Oh, she has wings…’ I remembered about five seconds too late. Though this sparked my mind into thinking about my own new additions.

“How am I going to fly? How is it even possible to fly with these, they’re so small!” I said to the fluffy things resting on my back.

I decided to think about flying later, considering I just learned how to walk literally last night. So with that out of my mind, I sat back down in front of my untouched pancakes. I stared at them for only a second before saying, “Oh to heck with it.” Before just stuffing my face into them and eating doggy style. About ten minutes later and half a dozen pancakes heavier, I walked into the kitchen with the plate in my mouth before depositing it into the kitchen sink.

“Well, I should probably get to know this place better considering I am now stuck here.” I muttered to myself in thought as I walked over towards where Breeze said the spare key was located.

‘What’s the point of locks if you just let some random person into your home?’ I thought, this world making less and less sense the more I thought about it.

But when I looked up from the ground and saw the jar had more than just a key in it, I realized I was going to have to solve this dexterity problem now.

And so without further ado, I proceeded to get on my hind legs, look at the lid to the jar, and accidentally crack it from smashing my hoof into it. ‘Nice one’ I thought before more carefully pulling the lid off with my teeth and gently setting it down on the counter.

After successfully infiltrating the jar, I spotted the key conveniently resting on top of the pile of other junk in the jar. I then stuck my hoof in, which barely fit, before thinking of how Breeze could possibly pick things up.

And after 20 minutes of lifting my arm up and down, I nearly just smashed the jar before giving it one last go. This time, I pretended that I still had my hand and pretended to pick the key up as I would have with my hands. Not expecting this to work like everything else, I was more than surprised when the key just stuck to my hoof. Although, as soon as I thought about how I was holding it, the key fell right back down into the jar. So, I tried again, and it worked again. I shook my head at the absurdity of what I was currently doing before deciding to contemplate reality after I explored the city.

I noticed that the key had a little string tied around it, and it just happened to perfectly fit around my massive head and rest on my chest. With the key now safely around my neck, I headed to the door. But then out of nowhere, I got blindsided by the reality that I was about to go out into public naked. I wanted to call off my expedition there but then decided that since Breeze wasn’t wearing any clothes either, which sounds very wrong, it must be normal. While this didn’t help to ease my discomfort at the situation, I also knew that it wasn’t like I had any pony shaped clothes lying around.

Not wanting to stall myself anymore, I headed towards the door, set on exploring this new world that I am stuck in for the foreseeable future… with no career… and no friends... jeez, my mood went downhill fast. Though I guess Breeze considered me a friend. I’m staying in her place crying out loud. Meh, push all the negative stuff to later tonight I thought, trying to stay somewhat positive.

I reached up with a hoof and placed it on the lock. I then tried the same trick I did with picking up the key, and it worked. A click signaled that the lock was open. I then proceeded out the door and checked the room number to make sure I don’t knock on some random person's door. And after getting her room number as well as the building name engraved in my brain, I was on the street of this city known as Cloudsdale.

After walking out of the apartment lobby, the first thing I noticed was how many ponies there were. Unlike last night, there were more than just a few, there were dozens on both sides of the… road? Not sure what it was called. There were mainly those with wings like me, though there were two other kinds I noticed. Ones with horns, ‘unicorns, I remember those from all my little sister’s toys’ I thought upon seeing the multi-colored horns adorning their heads. And, the ponies with neither wings nor horns. ‘I wonder if they can do anything special?’ I wondered, thinking that they got the short end of the stick.

I idly wandered down the sidewalk, merely a few feet from the edge of what would be a very long fall, taking in all the things around me. Ponies of all shapes, sizes, and colors were here. A fair amount of them looked like tourists with cameras around their necks and small children pulling at their hair.

I finally got to an intersection, and when I crossed it with everyone else, I finally got to see a glimpse of how high up we were, and I instantly regretted it. I nearly wet myself before getting as far as to the middle of the crosswalk as I could. ‘My new fear of heights is going to make flying very difficult.’ That was all I could think as I finally crossed the intersection and was back on the much wider sidewalk. “OSHA would be having a fit if they saw this…” I said with an uneasy chuckle before continuing on my way.

Looking around, it became evident that I was heading towards the more urban part of the city. There were more and more ponies the further I went as well as the buildings getting bigger as well as the shops going from small cafes and shops to more upscale looking establishments.

Finally, I reached what appeared to be this world's version of time square. A massive area with huge buildings all around with very expensive looking clothing stores, though no one was wearing anything, and restaurants as well as a tourist trap here and there. I decided to get out of there as I never really like massive crowds, especially in a place like that. And after having to almost push my way through the massive crowd filling the whole sidewalk, I finally made it out of what must have been the most crowded part of the city.

I walked a little further before encountering what looked like that coliseum you see from Rome, except the whole thing was white and appeared to also be made out of whatever all this white stuff is, just like all the buildings here. And looking at the various signs, I soon learned that this place was home to the Wonderbolts, whoever they are. ‘I’ll have to ask Breeze about that later.’ I thought before walking further down the sidewalk, although, as I kept walking, the banners of all the ponies who were most likely the Wonderbolts reminded me that I could have been on one of those back on Earth as a hockey player. It wasn’t uncommon to see huge pictures of the athletes on the side of the arenas, so having my picture up there was a dream, but we all know what happened to those dreams. Letting out a slightly depressed sigh, I ignored the arena and looked around at the other various stores along the block.

After about another three blocks or so, the establishments started going back to the smaller scale cafes and restaurants rather than those posh, ultra-expensive stores. And not too long after, my stomach alerted me that it wanted sustenance after walking for at least a few miles. I looked around at some of the restaurants before realizing that I didn’t have any money. I was about to give up and just go hungry for a while before I spotted a sign sitting just outside a small cafe that read, ‘Come perform on stage and earn a free meal!’

I could play the piano and guitar as well as sing pretty well, though I wasn’t sure if I would be able to play the guitar or a piano with hooves. So, I decided that maybe I could just sing one of my favorite songs and see if that counted.

After heading back about a block to the last intersection, I crossed the street and headed back to the café before spotting it and walking inside.

A little bell that hung above the door signaled my entrance to the waiter standing off to the side with a few menus resting on… I thought it was a girl, as I noticed that ponies either had a more round face or a more angular face which I was assuming must be boys.

“Hello, welcome to the Sunny Side Café! Is it just you?” She asked with a pleasant smile.

“It’s just me, I don’t have any money, but saw your sign outside and was wondering if singing a song counts?”

“Sure! Just head up to the stage, the manager likes to hear all the performances, so she’ll tell you when to start.” She responded, pointing at a small stage with a microphone and a piano sitting atop it.

Walking up onto the stage, a few of the patrons took notice and started to watch. While I had sung in front of a larger crowd, I didn’t do it much so it always made me a little nervous every time I got ready to perform. The microphone looked normal, although it wasn’t plugged into anything, when I tapped it, it amplified the sound as a normal microphone would. But the piano is what got my attention. It looked like a piano, except someone had stretched every key to about twice its normal length. While the keys were large, there were not as many so the range wouldn’t be as good as a normal piano.

A brown pony with dark brown hair and wings in a green apron walked up to the stage and said, “You can start whenever you’re ready! Good luck!” Before she took a seat at the table closest to the stage.

I then proceeded to take my own seat in front of the piano. I looked at all the keys and experimentally played a few notes. I decided that while I couldn’t quite play all the chords, it would be possible, but a little more difficult. And after setting my hooves in the right place, I started to play. And not too long after, I started singing.

After I played the last note, I looked at the piano a little surprised. While I had been far from perfect, that went much better than I thought. As I looked up, I was surprised to see that there were quite a few more ponies in here than when I started. Most were wearing an impressed expression, while some just continued drinking their coffee and reading the paper.

“How was that?” I asked the manager as I walked off the stage and over to her table. By now, the applause I was not expecting had ended and most of the ponies had left the place while a few had stayed behind to order some food.

“That was… amazing! I’ve never heard that song before, it sounded so… dreamy!” She enthusiastically exclaimed. “Oh, and by the way, my name is Sunny.” She said, extending a hoof.

“Winter, nice to meet you.” I said, bumping her hoof with mine, assuming that was what she wanted which appeared to be right as she put her arm back down a second later.

“That was good!”

“I mean, it wasn’t that good, I messed up a couple of times.” I said still not really believing my performance of fireflies had gotten me that much attention.

“Well, that sounded completely different than all the other stuff ponies normally come in here and play. Usually, it’s just the normal classical that all the ponies in Canterlot enjoy. But that was so different! What was that called?”

“Umm, the song was called fireflies and the genre is pop I think.” I answered back.

“You got any more songs like that?”

“Yea, I know a bunch more.” I said with a shrug, not really sure where this conversation was going.

“Well, it’s not even rush hour and you brought in more ponies than I’ve ever seen in this place at once. How would you like to be a performer here? You get free dinner, pay, as well as any tips you make.”

This surprised me, all I did was walk into a restaurant and play a song that they seemed to enjoy and now I’m being offered a job as a performer. This did come at a pretty good time, I'll have to admit. I need a job if I’m going to be stuck here until I can find out what happened to me. “Sure, I’ll do it.” I said having decided that I needed to find a way to make some money, and this was it. Whatever their money is.

“Oh goody! Well, would you be able to start tomorrow at, oh let’s say five until around six-thirty?”

“Sure, I can do that.”

“Yay! We haven’t had a somewhat decent performance in forever! If you keep playing songs like that, you’ll make a name for yourself.” She exclaimed, giving me a little jab in the shoulder, “Oh and you’ll make twenty bits an hour so, about thirty a night. Do you have any questions for me?”

“Nope, I think I got it all.”

“Alright, well I can get your free meal for you now if you’d like?” She asked, pulling a menu out of nowhere and holding it in her teeth.

“Sure.” I responded before my stomach gave another groan in complaint.

After Sunny sat me down at one of the vacant tables, I skimmed over the menu and decided on a lettuce, tomato, cheese, and tofu sandwich as well as a glass of iced tea. ‘I don’t think I’m going to be getting any more meat anytime soon.’ I thought as I looked over the entire menu more thoroughly and not seeing a single piece of meat anywhere. They’re called ponies so them being herbivores did make sense.

“Here you are, miss, enjoy your meal!” A waiter said, setting my drink and plate of food down on my table.

“Thank you very much.” I responded before my stomach alerted me to its dire needs. And after I finished about half of my meal, a teal blue girl with white hair walked up to my table.

“Hey, that was a pretty nice performance earlier.” She said as she stood on the opposite side of the table.

“Thanks, though it wasn’t that good.” I responded, I never really had liked all the positive attention after I performed. Though, she seemed to be a little surprised about something. “My name is Winter, Winter Ice.” I greeted, holding out a hoof.

“You don’t know my name?” She said, leaving me hanging.

“Umm, no, I don’t think I’ve ever met you before.” I responded, honestly having no idea who she was.

“Well, my name is Fleetfoot.” she said, bumping my hoof. “Does that ring any bells?” She continued to hint that I somehow knew her.

“Sorry, I don’t recognize that name.” I said with a shrug.

“It’s alright, it’s just that everyone here seems to know me and my friend’s names.” She said, looking around the restaurant.

I looked around too and noticed that a lot of eyes were on us for some reason. Especially all the kids. “Well, I’m new here so I don’t know any people.”

“People?” She raised an eyebrow, which made me realize my mistake.

“Ponies, yea, I’m from really far away.” Far being an understatement.

“Hmm, alright, well, you’re going to be performing here again tomorrow night right?”

“Yea, I’ll be here tomorrow.” I answered.

“Good, I’ll bring some of my friends here tomorrow after our show. See ya!” And with a little wave, she walked away and towards the exit.

‘Hmm, I have no clue who that was. Why was she expecting me to know her?’ I thought as I shoveled the last of the sandwich into my mouth with my magical hooves.

After thanking the manager, I was out of the restaurant and on my way, but not before memorizing the surrounding area so I could find it again tomorrow.

I decided to walk around a little more as it was still only around noon to explore more of the city.

After walking about another four to five blocks, I came across what was seemingly an empty lot. But when I got closer, I saw a building floating in the middle of nearly the entire block with rainbows falling off the side like they were liquid, and nearly a constant stream of clouds coming out of the bottom. The entrance was a very grand looking set of double doors with a stairway leading to it from the sidewalk.

I decided to investigate further, so I continued up the stairs with all the other people. I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to go in, but a sign that said free tours today about halfway up the stairs eased my mind.

After I reached the top of the stairs and passed through the double doors, I was greeted by a grand looking foyer with a decent amount of ponies in it all lined up in front of what appeared to be the main desk. I joined the line and took in more of the incredible looking architecture.

Directly in the middle hanging from the ceiling was a very large chandelier covered in what looked like gold filled with lit candles. And all around the room were sofas and chairs along with paintings covering the walls. These paintings had everything from clouds to ponies with text under them I couldn’t read. And in the far left and right side of the room were two closed double doors that must have led deeper into the factory. Whatever it was a weather factory made.

My attention was brought to the desk that was now right in front of me.

“Hello miss, are you here to take the free tour?” She asked, to which I responded with a yes.

“Alright, let me put your wristband on.” She said as she picked up an orange wristband which I promptly responded to by placing my left arm on the desk. And she then proceeded to put it around my wrist with the help of her hooves as well as her wings. “There we are,” she said after she finished putting it on.” have a nice day. Next!” And with that as my cue, I made my way out of the line and towards the outside of the room and took a seat while I waited for the tour to begin.
> Chapter-3 What's a Rainbow Taste Like?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Alright everypony with an orange wristband! Would you please stand up and follow me!” Shouted a blue pony from one of the double doors at the end of the room.

This quickly replaced my bored expression with that of curiosity as I continued to walk towards the small group that was gathering in front of the big double doors. I genuinely had zero ideas of what or how the heck a weather factory operates to any degree. 

“Alright, if everypony is here, let's begin our tour!” She pronounced to the group of ponies I was currently in the back of.

With that, they pushed the doors open and our group of around ten to fifteen ponies walked through them and down the preceding hallway. As I passed through the big doors, it was pretty obvious that this area was specifically for tours. Dozens of portraits and pictures with placards decorated the walls and the fancy carpet adorning the floor was not something that would belong in a normal factory.

We were directed into a door on the right side of the hallway which led to a smaller locker room-type place with helmets and what looked like jackets for ponies lining both sides of the walls, each with their own small locker underneath them.

“Ok everypony, choose a locker and place any valuables and or anything you don’t want to get possibly damaged into them.” She directed, opening a locker of her own at the end of the room. “Once you’ve placed all your belongings into the locker, you must put on an anti-static jacket to protect you from any possible stray electricity,” That statement was not comforting in the slightest “and a helmet for standard safety.” She then placed a white helmet upon her own head with her sky blue ears poking through the holes in the top of the helmet.

While the helmet seemed pretty easy, the jacket on the other hand was a nightmare to get on. So when I walked up to a little stall with no one near it, I kept the locker closed because I didn’t have anything, and then proceeded to contemplate how I was going to get this jacket on without making a fool of myself.

Drawing up blank, I decided to just look at the pony next to me. They were also the same kind of pony as me, so watching them seemed like a good idea. They seemed to have no problem flipping it up onto their back and then simply putting their front legs through the sleeves and then sitting on their bottoms and tying a simple knot with surprising dexterity.

Now with somewhat of an idea on what to do, I grabbed the jacket off its little hook with my mouth and then tried to get it on my back as they did. But all I ended up doing was throwing it onto the ground next to me. I gave a little chuckle and an uneasy smile as the pony who I just watched effortlessly put on their jacket gave me a raised eyebrow.

“Do you need any help?” The tour guide said from out of nowhere causing me to jump a little.

“Uh, yea that would be nice.” I responded in a very forced relaxed tone.

The process went much more smoothly from there as she used her wings to pick the jacket up off the floor before placing it on my back. I then did the rest of the process by myself under the watchful gaze of the tour guide before finishing and standing back up.

“Do you need anything else miss?”

“No I’m fine, thank you.” I thanked her to which she responded with a smile and a nod before moving back to the far end of the room.

“Alright, looks like everypony is ready so let's begin the tour!” She declared nearly hopping in place.

‘She must really like her job…’ I thought as I placed the white helmet on my head, crushing my new ears, before fixing it and walking towards the opposite end of the room.

When I reached the backlogged group of ponies near the small door, I began to question this reality as I prepared myself for the possibility that ‘weather factory’ isn’t some kind of metaphor and they quite literally make weather.

The answer to that question was slammed into my face as I walked onto the metal catwalk and looked down to see dozens upon dozens of ponies manually carving snowflakes. No silly metaphor here, they are actually hand- erm hoof carving snowflakes one at a time. How did they make enough each year? I had no idea and no intentions to find out.

Then as if to answer the question on my mind the guide said, “This is where all the snowflakes are hoof-made every single year.” She said, gesturing to the entire room below us. “While regular snow is mass deposited all over Equestria, these snowflakes are special as they are released upon Canterlot on the first day of the winter solstice every year.”

‘That seems a little more possible…’ I thought as I watched all the ponies in deep concentration do what they have most likely been doing for who knows how many years at this point. Each one had a clear container on the corner of their work area, some almost completely filled and others completely empty with the carving area taking up most of the rest of each of their desks. I personally had no idea how they could just sit there in total concentration all day throughout the week and do this without getting bored or just exhausted. I looked back up to see that the guide was talking and listened in. ‘Hoping I didn’t miss anything too interesting,’ I thought to myself. 

“This is going to be the first snowflake they drop on Canterlot this year, so please don’t drop it.” She then handed a container that looked to be made of something expensive before they handed it to the pony next to them; soon after, the container made its way to me.
I carefully used my magic hooves to grab the container, being extra careful to make sure that I had a firm grip, before bringing it in front of my face and inspecting the single snowflake resting inside. To say it was impressive would be an understatement. The amount of detail put into something that small was incredible. Crisp, clean lines with the perfect symmetrical shape, it was completely flawless. It looked like it was taken right out of a Pixar film, only it was one hundred percent real and two inches away from my face.

After looking at it for a few more seconds, I took my gaze away from it and saw the tour guide standing about a foot away from me. I gave it one last look before giving the snowflake back. She accepted it and walked back through the group to the front before the gap was filled and I lost sight of her once again.

“Alright, now we’re going to head to the autumn wing!” Came the voice of the guide from the front. A few moments later the group started walking again at a steady pace across the rest of the catwalk; moving towards a door on the opposite side of the wall.

As we made our way across, I took note of just how big this place was on the inside. The outside took up an entire city block, yet this place felt like it took up double the space.

We stopped only for a moment as the guide punched a code into a keypad next to the door before a hiss escaped and the door opened to reveal more catwalks above an equally expensive room.

The main thing that stood out, as I passed through the door, was the swift change in temperature. The previous room felt freezing compared to the warmth of this room, yet I didn’t notice at all. ‘How was I not cold?’ The more I thought about the more I  realized it had been nearly freezing in that room. I was forced to put that thought aside for later, however,  as the guide began talking again, forcing us to come to a halt.

“This, everypony, is the autumn section. Here, specialized clouds are made for this season specifically.” She began while pointing towards a fairly large gathering of clouds off to the side.“These clouds are specially made to not rain when they are placed together. They keep the sky overcast most days and help keep the temperatures cool without it raining all the time.” She explained as her hooves raised to towards the floor of the room, which housed dozens of machines making this room look like what I expected when I heard the word factory.

The machines had to be about fifteen feet tall and looked like giant pots with various gauges and valves all over them as well as a small opening that some ponies were looking into. They were all connected by clear tubes; they seemed to all run into the ground to some unknown location where I would assume they are distributed outside somehow.

We watched a few batches of pretty normal-looking white clouds get made before we continued on, only this time we didn’t leave the room. We went down a set of stairs and were on a restricted section of the factory floor specifically for tours and heading towards the back left corner of the room.

I was a little surprised to see that we were now in front of what looked like a control room. The room wasn’t what surprised me, however, rather it was the pony inside. Breeze was staring at a gauge on the big console right in the middle of the room while scribbling something down onto a piece of paper.

“This is the central control room where the lovely mare inside, Autumn Breeze, makes sure everything is running smoothly. From water pressure to cloud pressure, she manages it.”

By this point, Breeze had looked up and given a wave and a smile to the group which a few ponies promptly returned. When she spotted me her enthusiasm and smile only grew as she waved with a little more energy.

After we exchanged waves, the group continued on with the rest of the tour. This time, instead of a floor covered with loud and dangerous machines, I was greeted with a sight that nearly made me gasp. Rainbows were flowing from the right wall down across clouds, like one of those little water fountains you see at restaurants, into a mini lake at least the size of a swimming pool. The whole sight was surreal to the point where I had to make sure that I was still awake. The soothing sounds of flowing water accompanied by the slightly sweet yet spicy smells made it all the more surreal. The first thing it reminded me of was all the illustrations of what Olympus looked like only with a lot more rainbows.

I was taken out of my awe-struck state as the tour guide continued on towards the pool of rainbow in the middle of the room before she started talking again.

“This is where all our rainbows are stored, the process for making rainbows has remained a secret for hundreds of years! Only a select few ever even get to see how they are made!” She then pointed towards the top right corner of the room behind us where a dark and somehow thundering wall of clouds was with a door covered in all kinds of warnings. Just looking at it caused a shiver to run down my spine, so I diverted my attention back to the rainbows.

“While they aren’t specifically made for tasting, you most certainly can eat rainbows. Some ponies even like to use them in their cooking to add a little… zest! If you’re daring enough, you can even try some right now!” This caught the attention of a few ponies, including mine. So, I did what anyone would do and decided to try a rainbow.

I made my way through the group of ponies to where the tour guide was holding what looked like a miniature shot glass full of liquid rainbows. I came to a stop in front of her and took a glance around to see that all eyes were on me. Anyone else who seemed eager to try it now seemed to be just fine with watching me instead.

After pushing my second thoughts to the back of my head, I decided, ‘To heck with it!’ before downing the shott of rainbow all at once. The first thing I noticed after swallowing was that it tasted pretty sweet. I actually liked it. Then the spice came, and it wasn’t just hot, it felt like I had just taken a drink out of a volcano.

“Spicy! Water please!” I just about shouted into the face of the tour guide through my searing, pain-filled mouth. She just as quickly held up a glass of milk meaning she knew exactly what was going to happen as I’m sure it's happened dozens of times before.

I took the glass and chugged the whole thing until not a drop was left without a single breath in between. Following a huge breath of air, the fire in my mouth finally started to dwindle down from the level of pain to uncomfortable which I could live with for a little while.

“How was it?” The guide asked, extending a hoof which I placed the now empty glass back into.

“Spicy!” I said between gasps.

The tour went on throughout the rest of the factory. Nothing else was really special, just more ponies and more machines making different kinds of clouds and whatnot. While my mind kept yelling at me that none of this was possible, it was pretty hard to deny what was right in front of me. Eventually, we made our way back to the main lobby to the factory but in full Disney style, not before walking through the gift shop.

I was making my way down the grand stairs leading to the entrance when I looked up and saw that a clock posted on a storefront on the opposite side of the street read 3:30. I had spent nearly four hours of my day on the factory tour; but since I still had a few hours before I should go back to the apartment, I decided to try to find a nice park.

I walked through the city for about another half hour passing by all the various shops and apartments that lined the streets until I spotted an opening in the sea of buildings.

In that vacancy laid a luscious green park lined with a black metal fence where a sign about every twenty feet or so read, ‘Cloudsdale Park’.

The exhaustion that had started building in my legs instantly vanished as I redirected my path towards the park with renewed vigor.

I crossed the street and walked over to an entrance in the fencing. But just before walking in, I took in the calmingly familiar sight of nature which remained the same even in this alien world.

After deciding I had stood there long enough, I walked in and began to explore the fairly large-sized park. While it had nothing on Central Park in Manhattan, it was still pretty big considering that it’s in a city, taking up two whole blocks. The grass, trees, and flowers scattered about with a small creek or two combined with the various sounds of the animals and insects that call the park home nearly made me forget about all of my problems.

Having taken in most of the park, I spotted a fairly secluded spot hidden away behind some bushes where a tall oak tree resided, casting its shadow upon the land.

Deciding that it was a good spot, I took a seat under the tree, still not entirely used to sitting like a cat, and decided to go through my pre-game routine.

Hockey had taught me a lot of things, but the most important thing to me was my ability to tune out the real world and dive into a world of my own imagination with no worries plaguing my mind about what was going on around me. 

I started my meditation and began to perform all of my normal stretches and breathing exercises. Some stretches were a little difficult due to my new physiology, but I managed.

I continued on with my routine without a worry in the world, calmness being my only thought. All my problems and anxieties were put away and forgotten about. The sounds of birds chirping and ponies talking tuned out of my mind. I was completely relaxed, in my own world. I eventually came back to reality, taking in all the sounds, smells, and sights of the real world.

I then started to lay down, the feeling of dirt against my body calming until I was completely on the ground with my head resting against the grand oak tree.

I was roused from my rest by rays of the warm sun shining against my face. The sounds and feeling of the world slowly came back to me before I slowly, and carefully, rubbed the dirt out of my eyes followed by a hefty yawn before standing back up.

I looked towards the horizon where the sight of the receding sun informed me that I had been asleep for a few hours at the minimum. I decided to head back to Breeze's apartment so as not to stay out too late and worry her.

After getting the rest of the sleep out of my system, I reluctantly left the park for Breeze’s apartment, but not before engraving its location in my head so I could come back another time.

About halfway through my journey back to Breeze’s apartment, I stopped by a fairly upscale hotel to use the restroom. After doing my business, I was surprised to spot Fleetfoot across the lobby sitting at the bar talking with a few other ponies.

“Oh hey, Fleetfoot!” I said as I redirected my path and made my way over to her and the two other ponies she was hanging out with at the hotel bar.

“Hey Winter, Nice to see you.” She said while turning around and greeting me with a wave.

“Are these your friends?”

“You don’t know who I am?” Asked the yellow one with a raised eyebrow and skeptical tone.

“No, but I’m assuming you’re a friend of Fleetfoot here.” 

“Guys,” Fleetfoot spoke up, “this is that mare I was telling you about who performed at the cafe we’re going to tomorrow!” Fleetfoot said expectantly to the two other ponies.

“Oh yea, you were talking about how good she was.” The blue pony said before he got up and walked over with an extended hoof. “I’m Soarin, nice to meet you.”

“I’m Winter, and it's nice to meet you as well.” I said with a smile as I bumped his hoof with mine.

“You sure you don’t recognize us?” The yellow one asked again, still not believing me.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve never met you before, I think I would remember.”’Because you’re a talking horse and I just got sucked into this magical world.’ I thought but restrained myself from saying.

“Well, I’m Spitfire,” She raised her hoof, still seeming to expect me to remember her from somewhere.

“Nice to meet you, Spitfire, I’m Winter if you didn’t hear.” I said as I bumped her hoof.

“So, you’re going to be the one we’re going to see perform tomorrow right?” Soarin asked, sitting back down in his chair.

“Yeps, I’m going to be playing some of my favorite songs so I hope you like it.” I said with a smile.

“Do you do anything in addition to performing?” Fleetfoot asked curiously.

“I’m a hockey player.” I spoke on instinct before realizing my error. “Well, used to anyway.” I said, attempting to correct my blunder.

“What’s hockey?” Spitfire questioned, the others also seeming to take an interest in my response.

“Uh, it’s a sport that-”

“Oh nice, you like sports? We all really like sports and athletics too.” Fleetfoot blurted out before apologizing for cutting me off.

“Well,” I continued, “it's a sport played on ice where you have to try and shoot a puck into a net and score. That’s a very simple way to put it, I can tell you more tomorrow at the cafe if you want though.” I shrugged, then saw the time on the clock above the bar and realized that it was getting late. “I should really get going.” I told them, which Fleetfoot seemed a little sad about.

“Alright, I want to hear more about this hockey stuff! See you tomorrow!” Fleetfoot said with a wave that the other two mirrored.

“Bye!” I said, giving my own wave, before turning and heading for the exit.

“Huh, they don’t have hockey here… guess my old profession is out of the picture…’ I thought, saddening me a bit. I could no longer play the sport I grew up loving, but considering how the game was played made me realize that the sport would be nearly impossible given my new physical limitations. I swiftly pushed that thought away and continued back out into the still busy city.

I realized just how far I had gone from the apartment when the walk back seemed to go on without end, the sun continuing to gradually sink below the horizon.

Finally, I reached the apartment building and made my way inside with heavy legs. After entering the lobby and telling the doorman where I was going before showing my key, I continued towards the elevator lobby and pushed the metal button. A moment later, the door in the middle opened and I stepped onto the wobbly elevator. Subsequently, I pushed floor eight and the elevator began its ascension upwards.

Once the elevator dinged, I walked down the hallway, tried to open the wrong door, found the right door, and with my improving dexterity, took the key from around my neck and inserted it into the lock. A click followed by the door opening signaled my entrance.

“Hey Winter! How was your day?” Came the smooth voice of Breeze from the kitchen accompanied by the sounds and smells of cooking.

“It was pretty good, just walked around and took the weather factory tour.” I responded as I locked the door before making my way into the kitchen. “So, whatcha making?” I asked while taking in a deep breath which rewarded me with the heavenly smells of properly cooked and seasoned food. The specific smells, however, seemed to elude me.

“I’m making hay and tofu pot pie with a flower salad. I made some for you too!” She then pointed at a plate covered in flowers of all shapes and sizes with tulips being the most prominent. While I nearly asked why I would eat flowers, the fact that I was no longer a human stopped me.

“Thanks! I appreciate it a lot, though I hate mooching off of you…” I sighed before she placed a hoof under my chin and lifted my gaze to hers.

“I’m helping you out. I will not just let you go back out there with no money and nowhere to go! Please, it’s alright. If I didn’t want you, I would have thrown you out already.” She put it very bluntly.

After staring into her lime green eyes, I reluctantly agreed. “But while we're on the topic, I got a part-time job at the Sunny Side Cafe as a performer.” As I said that, a smile appeared on her face and she congratulated me but said I really didn’t have to, to which I responded by saying, “I need to do something, I can’t just sit around your place all day.”

She soon finished preparing her own plate which she brought over to the dining room table which I also did.

After we sat down and Breeze got both of us a glass of water, we began to eat, though I was a little hesitant. Hay and flowers were going to be the first and if I still had human taste buds, I didn’t think that hay and flowers would taste that good. But not wanting to be rude, I picked up a fork and skewered a flower before lifting it in front of my face and putting it in my mouth. And to my delight, they actually tasted pretty good.

After breaking the ice, I indulged in the rest of the meal that Breeze had oh so kindly prepared. Once the last bit of food was erased from my plates, I slouched over feeling stuffed.

“Thanks for the food, it was really good.” I said to Breeze as she was in the process of finishing her own food.

“Thank you, I enjoy cooking so it was nothing.” She responded after swallowing what was in her mouth. “And I have another thing I want to ask you.” She said, stopping me in my tracks as I was getting up to put my plate in the sink.

“Ok, what would you like to know?” I asked while sitting back down.

“Alright, well, I got two free tickets to the Wonderbolts show in two days and I was wondering if you would like to go?” She then pulled two glossy tickets out of nowhere and held them up.

“Really? I mean, don’t you have any of your friends that you would rather take?” I said a little surprise that she would take me to something like this, not that I really know much about the Wonderbolts anyway.

“You are my friend, silly! So, you wanna go?”

“Sure, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of my little job at the cafe.”

“It shouldn’t be a problem, it’s at two on Sunday.”

“Alright, that sounds good, thanks!” I was a little excited to see what these Wonderbolts were all about. I mean they had their faces plastered all over that section of Cloudsdale near the stadium. So they must be something right?

I cleaned my plate and left it out to dry, all the while I was pondering over the various events that transpired throughout the day. And as I was finishing drying my dish, a yawn escaped my lips and I stole a glance at the clock on the wall of the living room and saw that it was about 9:30.

“Alright, well thanks for the dinner but I think I’m gonna hit the sack. Goodnight!” I said as I made my way towards the guest bedroom.

“Goodnight Winter, and I don’t have work tomorrow so we can do something if you want.” She said as she looked up from the rest of the dishes.

“Ok, goodnight!” And with that, I closed the door and made my way over to my bed and got comfortable under the sheets, all the walking I did now catching up with me.
After getting nice and cozy under the sheets, I remembered I didn’t brush my teeth.

After reluctantly getting back up, getting a toothbrush from Breeze, and brushing my teeth, I was back in bed under the covers with heavy eyelids.

All of the problems and questions on my mind tried to push their way to the surface for me to think about and question, but I kept them at bay with the simple saying of ‘why do today what you can put off till tomorrow’ until the soft embrace of sleep finally overtook me.
> Chapter-4 Wings!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

This morning was nothing special, I woke up around eleven and Breeze made us both brunch. We talked for a little while and she mentioned that she would come with me to the Sunny Side Cafe to see me play.

Soon after, I finished eating and thanked Breeze before deciding to make my way back to Cloudsdale park so I could just sit and relax for a while as well as do my meditation and stretches. I grabbed some of their currency, I still need to figure out what it's called, and left just before Breeze. She said she was going to be out most of the day doing some shopping. After saying bye, I was on my way. I poked around some of the areas I missed yesterday on my way and found a killer food stand that sold what was quite possibly the best tofu I had ever eaten, and I hate tofu! I explored a few other places, most of them being strange little shops behind all the major ones. But I soon arrived at the park and began to perform my meditation and stretching routine for about an hour.

After meditating and finishing my stretches, I  felt amazing. But I soon realized I had no idea what to do once again. I just decided to sit under the tree and try to think of something to do other than just walk around and explore. It didn’t take long for me to spot what appeared to be a couple flying through the sky together, this reminded me that I also had wings that I had no idea how to use. I couldn't help but chuckle a little as I remembered the Red Bull commercials.

"I don't need any Red Bull now..." I said, laughing a little at my own dry humor.

I then decided to give flying a shot, and to put it simply, I couldn’t fly. Heck, I could barely move my wings even just a little. I got up, determined to make them at least move, and tried everything I could think of. However, nothing I tried seemed to work, from pretending to have an extra pair of arms on my back to just jumping up and down, nothing would get the feathery appendages on my back to move.

After nearly an hour of unsuccessfully jumping up and down, I was frustrated and drenched in sweat. I stomped my foot in frustration and nearly screamed as both my wings flared out in anger. I stood there huffing for a few moments before I realized what I just did. I looked back to see my white wings pointing nearly straight up, I was about to celebrate that I had at least gotten them to move before I saw that they were starting to fold themselves again. I quickly tried to feel what was making them move and was a little surprised to feel something around my ribs rather than my back. I was expecting most of the feeling to come from my back muscles, rather it felt like I had arms sprouting from my ribcage, it was a very strange feeling.

After my wings fully folded themselves, I thought back to the weird sensation they created and pretended they were an extra pair of arms except on my ribs, and what do you know it worked. While I could only move them very slowly and unsteadily, it was a start. As I continued to stare with concentration at my wings, I occasionally noticed the ponies above me sending some questioning glances when I took a break. I thought nothing of it, I could fly! Well… not yet, but maybe soon! That thought alone was unimaginable and definitely enough to excite me. While I never really flying in a plane delightful, flying on my own willpower, though, intrigued me.

I quickly lost track of time practicing my wing movement and before I even realized it, I had been practicing for close to four hours. I was alerted of how long I had been there by the grumbling of my stomach snapping me out of my little wing world. Feeling my hunger, I just decided to just head back to Breeze's place and see if she had any food there since I needed a shower and didn’t have much money on me, or to my name in general.

I began my journey back to Breeze’s place, which was sped up by the fact that I wasn't looking in the window of every store I passed. And after walking for about half an hour and taking a small stop at a cool little shop I found in Cloudsdale’s center, I was basically right back at where I started this morning.

I greeted the doorma- doorpony? Before making my way onto the rickety elevator and going up to the 8th-floor. Soon I was at the proper door where I slipped off the key and with my ever-improving dexterity that should be impossible before sliding it into the lock and unlocking the door before pushing it open and going inside before locking it behind me.

“Breeze, you here?” I asked, walking into the apartment and looking around for any sign of Breeze. After a moment I concluded that she must be out doing her own thing.

I decided to hop into the shower before I made something to eat so I didn’t accidentally stink up her apartment.

Even though it was only my second shower in this new body I was surprisingly good at cleaning it considering my overall shape and general lack of hands. I constantly questioned how I could pick up the shampoo bottle with flat hooves the entire time I was in the shower, it nearly made me forget about washing my tail. While I was getting decently good at cleaning myself, getting dry was another story. I was reminded once again of how difficult it is to dry my tail and my back, but considering I could only use one arm instead of two I think I was doing pretty good. I soon realized I had the best idea when I dropped the towel on the ground. Just lay down and roll around, amazing right?!

After getting up off the ground and hanging my towel back on the rack, I looked into the mirror and stared back at myself. While my hair didn’t look so bad, my wings were a whole different story. Turning my body, I was able to get a better look at one of my wings. It was a rat's nest of feathers. Many of them pointing every which way and others completely broken. I didn’t take much to assume that they weren’t supposed to look like that.

While I knew they looked horrible and unsure whether it was actually bad for me somehow, I had no idea how to fix them. I wasn’t really sure how my feathers didn’t get messed up when I took a shower two days ago either. While I really wanted them to look good, whatever that was supposed to look like, I just plain and simply didn’t know how to do it. With a shrug, I turned around and headed out of the bathroom intending to just ask Breeze later.

While making my way towards the kitchen, I looked at the clock in the living room and saw that it was already four-thirty. I was pretty sure Sunny said to be there at six, but I decided to get there around twenty to thirty minutes early just to be safe.

Once I entered the kitchen, I immediately went for the fridge and opened it to see that there wasn’t much inside. Half a head of lettuce, some various fruit, a few tomatoes, onions, carrots, and a half-filled jug of lemonade. I decided that a nice salad would be enough to hold me over long enough until I could have a better dinner at the café. Come to think of it, what kind of cafe has dinner? I thought all those places had was breakfast, oh well. I shrugged the thought off as I got the lettuce and a few other assorted vegetables out of the fridge.

After searching for the cutting board, chopping all the vegetables, and putting them in a nice big bowl, but not before getting a glass of lemonade, I was sitting down and eating my early dinner.

Nothing really happened other than me contemplating life for a little while as I ate my salad. But right after I forked the last piece of lettuce into my mouth, I heard the lock turn, and not a moment later it swung open to reveal Breeze with two bags on her side packed with groceries.

“Hey Winter! How was your day so far?” She greeted as she closed the door and made her way into the kitchen.

“It’s been pretty good so far,” I replied while getting up myself and bringing the bowl to the kitchen, “I just had a little salad before I head down to the café. I want to get there a little early.”

“Ok, just let me put these groceries away and I’ll come with you!” She said as the two bags fell off her back and plopped onto the ground.

“I hope you didn’t get any eggs.” I said with a laugh, really hoping she didn’t.

“Of course I didn’t, if I did they would be all over the ground right now.” She giggled as she started picking up the foods and placing them in their respective places.

After washing my bowl and setting it out to dry, I proceeded to help put the rest of the food away.

"Let me go tidy up a bit, then I'll be ready to go!" She stated as she made her way towards her bedroom. I heard the door click a moment after she disappeared.

I decided to sit down in the living room, really hoping that she doesn't take as long as women from Earth to get ready.

I was pleasantly surprised when only a few minutes later she reemerged with her hair clearly brushed and what looked like a little bit of make on.

"You're all set?" I said, getting up and walking over to her.

She opened her mouth, but stopped halfway and gasped with a hoof over her mouth. “Oh my, Winter, you know your wings are a mess! Aren’t you going to preen them?” Breeze said pointing at my very unkempt wings.

“Oh yea, about that, I don’t know how to uh, what was it you said, preen my wings.” I said with a shrug and a worried smile hoping that what I just said wasn't outlandish or something without me realizing it.

“You don’t know how to preen your wings?” she asked, a little stunned, “But every- oh, you must not remember after those meanies did whatever they did to you!”

“Yea, I don’t remember how.” I breathed a sigh of relief to myself that she came up with that conclusion herself. Actually, I’m quite surprised she still hasn’t asked me if I remember anything about what happened.

“Okay Winter," she began, "all you really have to do is sit down and pull the broken ones out with your mouth and straighten the rest.” She then proceeds to open her how wings and show me, moving very slowly and exaggerating each movement. While I had no idea how I was supposed to preen wings, I didn't really like how she was showing me like I was a little kid, though the kids here are probably better at preening wings than me.

“Why don’t you give it a try?” She said, standing back up and walking over to me.

“Alright, I’ll give it a shot.” I said as I sat down and slowly opened one of my wings. Unlike how Breeze’s were nice and straight with no broken feathers insight, mine was the complete opposite. Every other feather was seemingly either broken or completely out of place. Carefully, I did my best to replicate what Breeze did, reach over with my mouth, grab a feather, and twist it back into place.

After doing so, I pulled my head back and was pleased to see that it looked like it was a little better, not perfect, but better.

"Hey Breeze, do you think you could help me?" I asked because at this rate it would take me all night to preen both of my wings.

"Umm, you w-want me to what?" She stuttered after gasping causing me to look up and see her staring at me wide-eyed and with her face now a few shades redder.

"Umm, did I just say something?" I asked, really hoping I didn't just accidentally say something that would get me kicked out onto the streets. Though the blush on her face made me realize I may have said something that hinted towards a topic I would rather avoid at all costs considering that I was now on the other side of the spectrum.

"Well, I could... it's just preening is usually done between parents and couples..." She said while rubbing her hoof on the ground and taking a very keen interest in it.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean anything by it, I had no idea!" I frantically responded trying and save myself from my already sunken ship.

"It's ok, you didn't know." She responded, finally glancing back up at me though still with a little red on her cheeks.

I decided to leave it at that and opened my wing to continue preening. For the next ten minutes, I focused on nothing but getting each feather either as straight as possible or out of my wing.

But finally, after going over every single feather on both my wings, I had finished and we were out of the building and on our way to the café.

After getting out onto the sidewalk, Breeze unfurled her wings and took to the sky. This, however, left me stranded on the sidewalk. It didn't take long for her to notice that I wasn't flying beside her and she promptly turned back around and asked me what I was doing.

"What are doing? It'll be a lot quicker if we fly there." She said as she landed on the sidewalk next to me.

"I forgot to tell you but I can't fly." I said with another awkward smile.

"How can you not fly?” She asked in a quizzical manner.

“Um, I guess when my head got all messed up.” I said, having decided to resort to that excuse once again.

“Ok… I guess we can just walk there then.” And with that, we began our walk to the Sunny Side Cafe… at dinner time. Seriously, I've never heard of a cafe opened for dinner, at that point, it's just a restaurant.

We walked for a few minutes with me contemplating what a cafe that serves dinner is called before Breeze broke the silence with a question.

“So, I’m assuming you’ve never seen a Wonderbolt’s show right?”

“Nope, I never even heard of them before I got here.” I responded truthfully.

“Do you even know what they do?”

“I’m assuming they fly because all the Wonderbolts I’ve seen have wings.” Plus, what else could they really do… 

“Well, at least you know that much, I’m just so excited! I might even get to meet a Wonderbolt tomorrow!”

I stopped looking at the passing ponies and turned my attention to Breeze to see her with a huge smile plastered across her face. I also noticed that she seemed to also have a little hop in her step, it reminded me of all the little kids I would see going to my hockey games. The thought saddened me a little, but Breeze soon continued.

“I’ve only ever gotten to meet a Wonderbolt once, and it was Surprise. I’ve just been in love with the Wonderbolts since I was a little filly.” her tone quickly became more nostalgic, “I would spend all of my allowance money on all the new Wonderbolts merchandise. I had so much that it started to spill out of my room and into the rest of the house.”

I looked over after a moment and saw her figure starting to deflate a little.

“But after attending my third or fourth flight camp, I realized that I wasn’t as good as I thought I was. Another mare… Rainbow Dash I think… was what good looked like. She blew me and every other colt and filly out of the sky with how fast and agile she was.” her mood quickly began to brighten once again, “But never the less, I soon found my love for the weather. I stayed a huge Wonderbolts fan and I still am, all my stuff is still in my old room at my parent’s house. I just wish I could go to more of their shows, but work takes up most of my time.”

“They sure seem pretty cool, it sure would be an experience if I got to meet a Wonderbolt at my first show.” I smiled at the thought, but my sadness lingered. I remembered how I used to be on the other end, meeting all the young fans who adored their local team, but I pushed those feelings away as I looked up and saw that we were almost at the cafe.

“Well, I’m just going to sit down at a table and order some food, if you want to join me you can unless you have to get ready.” Breeze said as we walked up to the door of the cafe.

“Yea, I think I should get ready. I have a few songs in mind, just gotta make sure I remember them.”  And with a wave, she entered the cafe and headed for the seating.

I followed a few steps behind and was surprised by what I saw. It looked just like it had in the morning, only there were about thirty ponies packed into a restaurant made to fit about twenty at most. 

What the heck… are there really that many people- ponies here to see me? All I did was play one song like two days ago… I continued to say to myself as I walked up to the stage on the opposite side of the small restaurant. I went to the side and walked up the few steps onto the slightly elevated stage with the same piano and microphone I had seen the day before.

I sat down on the small bench and began thinking of the songs I wanted to play. After a few moments, I got a few in my head I began to lightly tap the oversized keys while humming the lyrics to make sure I remembered them.

After I got a few songs in my head that I remembered and didn’t have anything that would seem out of the ordinary in it, I looked out into the restaurant and saw Breeze standing towards the back right of the room. She waved when she saw me looking at her, a wave which I returned.

I continued to look around, and it wasn’t long before I spotted Fleetfoot and her friends sitting at a table. They seemed to be conversing with another group of ponies sitting at the table next to them, though they seemed to be talking primarily to the one with the rainbow hair.

I brought my attention back to the piano in front of me and took a few deep breaths to calm my nerves. I still could not believe that after only playing one song in some little cafe that I had somehow gotten an audience of around thirty ponies to show up to my next little performance. I wasn’t really even expecting that many ponies to show up to a cafe for dinner!

I took a few more deep breaths and pushed all the thoughts of how absurd this is out of my mind as I began to play. And as I began singing the first few words, everyone's attention immediately shifted to me, all their voices dying down into the background.

I continued to play, the words flowing out of me as I steadily played the piano to another one of my favorite songs by Owl City. The notes, each one played to perfection, sounded amazing to me as I relived another one of my favorite childhood songs.

“Oh, darling I wish you were here…” I sang the final words as the piano continued on.

A few moments later the piano stopped and I looked out into the audience with a smile. I was more than a little surprised to see a few kissing in the crowd as they applauded.

I basked in the attention, my confidence growing, as I turned back to the piano and soon began to play the next song.





“Hey Winter, that was really good!” Breeze said as I walked up to her table. The place was only beginning to clear out, but she must have snagged a table when someone got up.

“Thanks, those are some of my favorites.” I said while looking around, I was hoping to see Fleetfoot somewhere so I could introduce her to Breeze, but I was unable to see her or her friends through all the ponies walking around the place.

“What are you looking for?” Breeze asked, looking around too.

“Oh, just some friends I met here the other day, but I don’t see them.”

“Oh ok, well I have to go to the little fillies room, I’ll just be a minute.” She said as she got out of her seat and walked towards the two doors on the opposite side of the restaurant.

After she disappeared into the crowd, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and smiled when I saw who it was.

“Hey, Fleetfoot!” I said as I gave her a fist bump… hoof bump?

“Heya Winter! That was a really good performance, Spitfire and Soarin really seemed to enjoy it!” She said as she began making out with herself in a comical fashion.

“Well, I’m glad they enjoyed it.” I said with a laugh, who knew that Owl City was that romantic.

“I enjoyed it too, I’m just sick of all the classical music that I constantly have to listen to in Canterlot.” She said with obvious disdain.

“Is there only classical music here?”

“No, there’s some other stuff, it’s just not that good, and classical is by far the most popular in Equestria.”

“Well, I’m glad you guys like mine. Oh, do you know about the Wonderbolt show tomorrow?”

“Yea, I know about them,” she said, a little smirk appearing on her face, “why?”

“Well, my roommate, Breeze, got some tickets to the show tomorrow and she’s taking me!” I said with excitement, Breeze’s attitude towards them was rubbing off on me very quickly, “It’s gonna be my first show!”

“Really? Well, I’m going to be there too!” Her smirk seemed to grow a little.

“Really? We should meet up before the show!”

“That sounds like a good idea, I can introduce you to some of my other friends, they’re going to be there as well.” At this point, her smile was rivaling that of the Cheshire cat... how strange.

“Cool, oh and if you wanna wait a minute I can introduce you to my friend, Breeze.”

“I’d love to meet them, but I should really get going, Spitfire and Soaring are waiting for me outside.” She motioned to the group of ponies outside and laughed a little. I looked over and was barely able to make out a piece of Spitfire’s fiery yellow hair right in the center of the crowd.

“Oh, alright, where do you want to meet?”

She tapped her hoof to her chin for a moment, “Do you know where the main entrance is?”

“I think so, yea.” I said, expecting her to say in front of the building or something.

“Alright, meet me on the opposite side of the building, you should see a back entrance that says 'No Entry'.”

“Ok… why there?”

“Oh, no reason.” Her smile seemed to grow once again to an impossible size, “Just meet me there an hour before the show, alright? You'll see.”

“Sure, I guess we can do that.” I responded, thinking about why she would want to meet us behind the building.

“Well, I better get going. See you tomorrow Winter!” And with a wave of her hoof, she headed towards the entrance where the mob of ponies still seemed to be mobbing something.

About a minute after she left, Breeze returned and sat down opposite of me.

“Did you see your friend?” She asked as she took a sip from her cup I didn’t know she had.

“Yea, she said she is going to be at the show tomorrow too! I thought it would be a good idea to meet up with her.”

“Yea, that would be fun, and I could get to meet her.”





We talked for a while while I got my food and ate dinner. It was pretty good, a bean and rice bowl with tofu and guacamole. It reminded me heavily of Chipotle in terms of how it tasted.

But after I ate, we talked for a little longer and the manager came and gave me my bits, I guess that’s what the currency is called. Apparently, there was a tip jar somewhere on the stage I missed, I really am oblivious to the environment around me when I get in the zone.

I counted all the bits, some with a five written on them, but most of them had a one with the rare ten. And after counting all of them including the bits guaranteed, I had a total of eighty bits. It felt like a lot but I had no idea how much eighty bits was worth.

I asked Breeze, and she tried to explain it without much success. Though I eventually guessed that eighty bits must be pretty close to about eighty USD. My bowl, which they gave to me for free, cost eight bits, and something of similar size from Chipotle seemed like would cost about the same. So it seemed like the conversion ratio of about one to one must be pretty close. But it nonetheless surprised me that I earned essentially eighty dollars for playing for only about two hours.

After collecting all my bits and leaving a tip, we began our journey back. It was filled with various small talk about Breeze’s job and a few events that had happened the last few days. But for the majority of the walk, I just observed the night sky. I always enjoyed the stars, but seeing them from here was something I had never experienced before. The stars seemed as if they were dancing across the sky, the shapes they formed were also unlike any constellations I had ever seen on earth. It was beautiful in my opinion, and I made a mental note to go stargazing if I’m still here.

But the walk back soon came to an end as we arrived at the apartment building. We made our way up, and upon arrival did our own separate things. Me, I was tired so I just decided to take a shower, brush my teeth, and head to bed.

I was soon snuggled under the covers of what was now my bed, for the time being, getting nice and comfortable. I glanced to my right and saw that the clock read nine o’clock p.m. before I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. My previous exhaustion, however, was seemingly forgotten.

I just laid there and continued to stare at the ceiling, noticing every crack and mark on it. I just couldn’t fall asleep. I just laid there, eyes glued to the ceiling, occasionally being drawn to an errant sound coming from the street below. But no matter how hard I seemed to try, my mind just wouldn’t shut off. Due to my inability to sleep, my mind started doing the one thing I feared, it began wandering into the past.

I started thinking about my home, how this may be my new home, how could I fix this. I wanted to go home, but this place held so many new things. I began to think of all the new things here that I could do, all the ponies I could meet. I felt a little excited, but my excitement quickly came to an end, because along with those thoughts came some I didn’t want. The homesickness quickly began setting in as everything of my past life started coming to mind. My thoughts, with nothing else to think about, instantly started throwing every scenario of what happened to me, what happened to my family, what happened to Brock, and everything else in between into my mind.

I tried to think of anything but what I had lost, but the tears slowly started filling my eyes. I tried thinking of the feeling of the bed sheets against my fur, but all that did was remind me that I had fur now. I tried to think of the Wonderbolt show, but it just reminded me of my former career. I tried thinking of my new friends, but that only reminded me of all the friends I lost.

At this point the tears started to flow freely, dampening my pillow as I rolled over and buried my face into it. Though nothing hit me harder than remembering I didn’t have one of my favorite possession, a stuffed dog I had since I was a kid, was not with me. I slept with him every single night and used him to help me calm down when I had my midnight breakdowns. His presence was greatly missed as I felt like I had something missing from my grasp that I desperately needed. How I wished I could just have something familiar to me at this moment.

I just laid there, my face buried in my pillow, as I curled up into the fetal position and kept crying. It felt like I just cried for hours, but slowly the tears started to run out. I continued to lay there, covered in a cold sweat, as I continued to take shaky breaths, begging that I could just go back a few days and everything would return to normal.

After what felt like all night, I finally fell asleep, tears staining the fur around my eyes, with the same song lyrics repeating over and over in my head, doing nothing but to taunt me and remind me of my unfortunate situation.


“I tried so hard, and got so far.


But in the end, it doesn’t even matter.”