Chapter 4: It's Pony Time

"Bob are you ready to be changed into a pony and knowing the spell will last for 2 days?" Twilight asked.

"Better get it over with. I don't like the idea of being cooped up here waiting for the Princess to get back to introduce me to the citizens of this place."

She reads the spell one more time to make sure she knows what to do. Her horn starts to glow and I get enclosed in the same color from her horn. I start to feel my body changing shape and the pain of bones rearranging to that of a pony. She hears me cry out in pain but I tell her to not stop. Suddenly a bright flash comes from me as the spell finishes. Twilight became exhausted from the spell and looks over to where I was. She saw a deep red color earth pony with a two tone black mane and tail lying on the floor knocked out from the spell and pain. I came to a few minutes later and see her walking around me looking at her handiwork. "Did it work Twilight?" I asked. She nods and then levitates a mirror over to me to show me what I looked like. I too was impressed. I saw my eye color was a hazel color. I looked to my flank to see if I have a cutie mark and sure enough there was one there. It was the yin and yang symbol. I had a feeling it was going to be that. With my whole stick on martial arts and the balance of body and mind, what is more perfect?

She sees me smile when I saw my cutie mark and asked, "Would you mind telling me what that cutie mark stands for? I have a feeling you know with that grin on your face."

"It's true Twilight. I do know what this stands for and I am happy to receive it. It is called the yin and yang symbol. What it stands for are the beliefs and things have been telling you about. The basis of it is about balance and that can be anything. From sun and moon, good and evil, harmony and chaos, and right and wrong. Everything needs to be in balance, not just the body and mind, but everything in nature and in space. I hold true to this belief ever since I started my martial arts training as a child."

"That is something very good and pure to believe in. Don't ever lose it."

"One good thing about this is I know have my own pony form I can change into after this spell finishes up."

"How is that possible? I thought you need to see what you are going to change into to make it work."

"Most of the time, yes, if I have never seen that pony, creature, or object. But if I had seen it, I can use my mind's eye and recall that image to transform into. I would demonstrate it now, but I can't form the hand symbols. I can still manipulate my chakra to where I don't need hand symbols to do it."

"These are all interesting, but let's get you up so I can show you around Ponyville."

"I agree. Let's get going." I wobble a bit as I get up remembering that I am a pony now and walk on all four hoofs. I practice moving one leg at a time to familiar myself with the muscle movements. Once that is done, I slowly tried to walk recalling which muscles I have to move. Twilight was impressed with how quickly I was picking this up.

"How are you able to pick up walking like a pony so quickly?" Twilight asked. As I was about to answer, I fell down onto my face from losing concentration. "Oh! I am so sorry! I did not think you were concentrating so hard on it."

"It is no problem Twi, I knew I was going to fall onto my face a few times. Better now instead of later." I get back up and continue practicing walking until I could do it while having a conversation with Twilight, roughly half an hour.

We head outside after letting me borrow a saddle pack and she starts to show me around. I can't believe how exactly it resembles the TV show. Then I thought of a way to confirm I was in the TV series world. "Hey Twi, how long have been in Ponyville? You said you were a student of Princess Celestia, so you must have lived in Canterlot."

"You are correct. I did live in Canterlot from when I was born to about a month ago when Celestia asked me to oversee the 1000 year of the Summer Sun Celebration right here in Ponyville." Sweet, I now have futuristic knowledge of possible events from the TV show. She continues to talk about what happened to her when she arrived, meeting the other, the prediction of Nightmare Moon, and how they stopped her. All the same stuff from the first episodes.

"So you and your friends now are the barriers of the Elements of Harmony. I could see those traits in all of you now that I think about it. I am grateful you found me instead of something else that could have killed me." She continued showing all the different buildings in town and where her friends lived in. The last stop was Sugarcube Corner where Pinkie resided. "Hey Twi, I just thought since I am in a pony form right now, I should have a proper name instead of my human name."

"Not a bad idea. Have you come up with one?"

"I think so. What do you think of Swift Blaze?"

"I think it suits you. How long have you been thinking about this?"

"Since we left the Library. One thing you should also know about me is I multi task quite often in my head. I was listening to you tell about the town and then about your first time in Ponyville while I was looking at the scenery and thinking of what pony name I should have in this form."

"I am still surprised you are still amazing me as I hear more about you. Shall we go inside and get a treat?"

"Sure but let's see if I can surprise Pinkie by having her meet a new pony not realizing it is me. Just hang back. Oh can I have some money as I am broke."

"Sounds like fun. Here are a couple bits." She levitates a couple coins from her bag and places them in mine.

I head inside and see Mrs. Cake behind the counter. "Well hello stranger. I have not seen you in town before. Did you just get here this morning?" She said.

I decide to disguise my voice in case Pinkie was near and I went with a western accent, "Howdy there. I am new to these parts. Just got off the train coming from Appleloosa."

"That is some distance to travel. What brings you here?"

"Mostly just to take a hoof off from constructing more building there." All of a sudden, a pink blur comes at me from the kitchen and try to tackle me. Luckily I was able to sidestep and she misses and ran into a wall. "What in tarnation was that?" as I said that sounding surprised.

"I am so sorry! That is my employee, Pinkie Pie. I have told her to not tackle every new pony that comes to town. Pinkie, say you're sorry for trying to tackle this nice stallion named, err . . ."

"Swift Blaze. My name is Swift Blaze. I am actually used to being attacked. We have some pesky buffalo wanting us to move the town someplace else for unknown reason."

"Sorry to hear that dear. So what can I get you?"

"I am in the mood for a couple of fresh glazed donuts."

"Coming right up." She heads to the kitchen. Pinkie gets up and comes to me."

"I am sorry for trying to tackle you Blaze. I just get so excited when a new pony comes to town that I have to meet them right away and become friends with them. Strange though, my pinkie sense normally goes off when a new pony comes into town."

"Pinkie sense?"

"That is when my body sends me a signal base upon what my body does when I am not in control of it."

Twilight now comes into the shop and acts like she just met me the first time. "Hay there Pinkie. Why did you run off early instead of showing Bob around town?"

"You know silly. I have to plan his welcome party and that is going to be a surprise. Just like yours when you arrived here in Ponyville."

If she only knew she just told me. Mrs. Cake just came back with very fresh donuts. "That will be two bits sir." She said. I dug out the money and gave it to her. She walks with me to a table and sets the food down and then returns to behind the counter. I picked up one of them with my mouth, as I no longer have hands, and chew the entire thing up. These are even better than the ones at home.

"Hey Twi, have you met Swift Blaze? He just arrived in town this afternoon from Appleloosa."

Knowing she has to lie about this to play the joke, "Can't say I have. Well it is nice to meet you mister. How long are you going to be staying here?" Twilight said.

"Not long miss. Just a few days to relax before I return back to my hometown. I already got a place to stay at the hotel nearby." I said.

"Hay! Do you want to come to the surprise welcome party we are having for our friend? It will be at the library at 8:00pm." Pinkie said.

"Sounds like a barrel of fun. I shall see ya there." I head out and return back to the library. When I got there, I informed Spike of my prank so he knows to play along. I decided to kill time by reading some books on Equestria history to familiar me with it. Twilight shows up later with a huge grin on her face. I think she is really enjoying this prank. "What has you in a happy mood?"

"I am so excited to get back at Pinkie for startling me with my welcome party when I got here."

"Glad to be of service. I can't wait to surprise everypony the human they met now has his own pony form. In case ponies ask where I went, I went into the forest for some training exercises and can handle myself if danger comes. You agree with that correct?" She nods. "Are you going to invite the Princesses?"

"I should! Let go and write them a letter about the upcoming party. Oh this is going to be so much fun!"

As she goes and prance about to go and write the letter, I go back to my book and wait for the party to start. Pinkie shows up at 7:30pm with her party canon to quickly set-up all the decorations. Mr. and Mrs. Cake show up with the food and drinks. Soon everypony else shows up and get ready to surprise me. Won't they be the surprised ones.

"You remembered to tell Bob to come back at 8pm for dinner, correct Twilight?" Rarity asked.

"Of course. Now it is getting close to him arriving so everypony get into position." Twilight said. Everypony went to every hiding place that was available and I stayed close to Twilight. She whispers to me, "So when are you going to surprise them?"

"I will nudge you to signal you to get up and sound worried. Once everypony believes you, I will reveal myself." She giggles quietly at this plan.

8:15pm rolls around and I nudge Twilight to start. She gets up slowly and looks around. "Where is he? He promised to return at 8pm. I am starting to worry girls."

The others get up also start to look worried. "What do you think could have happened?" Rarity asked. "I hope nothing dreadful!"

"Then we should go out and look for him! He might be hurt!" Rainbow shouted.

I decided to make my move then. "What is everypony worried about? Wondering where I have been?" They all turned their head toward my direction looking for my human form. "What? Did you expect to come through the front door?" All their mouths dropped open as I have been there the whole time when they tried to surprise me. "I guess the surprise is now on all of you!" I started to laugh at them. Twilight and Spike soon joined end. Then everypony was joining in on the laughter.

"Oh man Bob! I think that was the best prank yet!" Rainbow said on her back laughing very hard.

"Just like Pinkie has her Pinkie senses, I use my intuition to figure out what was going on. Plus the fact Twilight gave me my own pony body for 2 days. So I have roughly 40 hours left before I turn back. But don't worry. I will be able to change into this form whenever I want to after that."

"Oh darling, you look very handsome as a pony. I have a couple designs I think would look good for you. Why don't you stop by and allow me to make some for you." Rarity said.

"But Rarity, I do not have any money to pay for them"

"Don't worry about it. The first one will be free and the others you can pay for them later when you do and at the friend discount."

"Thank you for the generosity. I will see you tomorrow then. So Pinkie, how are you after I turned the surprise on the surprise planner?"

"Ohthatwassocrazyandtrulyunex pected! Youreallygotmegood. Iamsohappyyouarehereandsomuc hfun. IwillcomeandseeyouwhenIwantt opullsomepranksonsomeponies."

"Pinkie, you should really slow down your speaking so everypony can understand you." She nods and returns to hosting the party. I mingle with the guest and tell some stuff about me that I can while in pony form, I mean I can't show any Ninjutsu stuff. I make my way to the Princesses so they can truly see me in this form. "Good evening Princesses. Did you enjoy the surprise I turned around?"

"It was good Bob, or should I call you Swift Blaze?" Princess Celestia said.

"I say in this pony form, call me Blaze."

"Very well. As for the surprise, we thought you might be in the room, but could not pinpoint you."

"How did you figure that out?"

"Thou soul aura is different than thy ponies." Princess Luna said.

"Ok and Luna, Twilight told me about her first visit to Ponyville and . . . the return of Nightmare Moon. I am grateful they were able to save you with the Elements of Harmony. If you ever want to have someone to talk to at night, I will most likely be up. I don't require that much sleep anymore with my training and meditation practice. Also if you would like, it would be my pleasure and honor to help you speak the way of the modern world."

"We would appreciate thou experience in this."

"Whenever you're ready Blaze, I would like to find out how you arrive here. I feel it is a touchy subject so that is why I did not ask when I first saw you." Princess Celestia said.

"I am grateful for that. It is somewhat a touchy subject and when I am ready, I will tell you and the girls as they should also know as they are now my friends."

"I am glad to see they have grown on you and you on to them. Have you determined where you are going to stay?"

"Well, probably for the first couple of days, I will see if Twilight or one of the other girls will allow me to stay with them, until I can get the resources together to build my own place. And please your Highness, I cannot accept your generosity in giving me a place that is made for a pony. There are certain things I need for my place and I will inform you another time in private as to the reason why."

"I understand that your species require things differently, but don't hesitate to ask for help as we help everypony."

"Thank you Princess. Now if you would excuse me, I think I should verify where I am going to stay for the night." I bow to them and make my way back to the mane 6 as they are grouped together chatting. "How's it going ladies?"

"We should be asking you how you are enjoying your 'Welcome to Equestria' party, sugarcube." Applejack said.

"I agree, how do you like it?" Rarity asked.

"I am enjoying the party. This is the biggest celebration I have been to in years and all for me." A tear starts to form in one eye. "I can't thank you enough for bringing me into your home when I was injured and into your hearts."

"Enough of this wishy washy. You are making even me tear up." Rainbow said.

"Alright. Changing subjects now, seeing it's getting late, and I just came to your world and broke, would one of you mind if I stay the night with you? This is only until I can build my own place and I can't get started till I am back in my human body."

They all started to offer up their places, except for Rainbow as she lives in the clouds. I tried my best to hear each of their reasons why I should stay with them, but they are saying it at the same time. The only one I could not hear was Fluttershy. "HOLD IT!" I yell to get their attention. "I realize now that was probably not the best way to ask as you all have good reasons. But I think one pony in particular I am truly thankful for helping with my injuries is Fluttershy. Would you allow me to stay at your place tonight and then I can help you feed the animals in the morning?"

She smiles big and says yes in the loudest I ever heard from her. Not a yell level, but more of an upper normal conversation level. I go over to her and give her a nice big hug. The party started to die down and other ponies started to leave. I helped out with the cleanup so it would take less time. The girls really did not want my help as it was my party, but I was not going to leave the burden to them.

After the cleanup, Fluttershy and I headed over to her place. She was scared to walk in the dark, so I kept her close to make her feel safe. Once at the cottage, Angel tried to stop me from coming in, but Fluttershy explained the situation. The rabbit sill gave me the stink eye for not to try any funny business. I asked Fluttershy where the bathroom was so I can freshen up as it has been a long day for me. I was in there longer than I planned, but who is going to fault me for I never used the toilet as a pony before. Nor have I tried to wash myself in pony form. Once I was done, I made my way to the couch and see Fluttershy sleeping on it under some blankets. I know I am the guest, but I could never take her bed. I did my best to pick her up without waking her and carried her to her bed. I asked Angel if he could pull the sheet back so I can place her in the bed. He does so and I gently place her in the bed. He Then goes and pulls the sheets over her to keep her warm. I went to the couch and successfully covered myself with the blanket. Thinking back on what has happened in the past 24 hours, it is still amazing I am here and they all care for me. Soon I fell asleep like a rock.