Have you ever had one of those mornings? A morning that you’re forced to wake up when you were in the middle of a really good dream, and just don’t feel like getting out of bed? That by some hopeful chance, you’d be able to experience the dream again if you fell back asleep right on the spot?

This was not one of those mornings.

First off, I ended up not even having a dream. For me, that is a sign that something is wrong with me. I can’t recall a time where I slept and didn’t dream.

Second, I somehow felt fundamentally WRONG. I couldn’t place my finger on it, but it was as if someone had literally tried to cram me into something small, almost as if trying to put on clothes that were too small for you. I felt...diminished. Shrunk. I don’t really know how else to put it, but let’s just say that I did not feel like myself at all.

As the edges of sleep left my eyes, I found myself staring at my ceiling. I could hear my phone alarm blaring in my ear, but I couldn’t really be bothered to actually turn over and turn it off could I? With a heavy sigh, I did just that. I turned over, glaring at the iphone as I grabbed it-

Wait.

I stared at the appendage that was now overtop of my phone. There was a name for such a thing, but a hand was definitely not one to describe it. Slowly, I lifted my ‘hand’ and brought it to my face. It was a stump. The stump was covered in a turquoise fuzz, and curved around at the bottom in an eerily familiar way.

“...A hoof.” I slapped a hoof to my mouth, and I do mean actually slapped. Have you ever slapped yourself with a hoof? It hurts. A lot. Don’t ever do it.

That wasn’t my voice. ignoring the throbbing pain on my face, I pulled my hoof away from my mouth and crossed my eyes to look down towards my nose. Instead of a nose, a short muzzle extended out from my face. At this point, I was starting to get the hint and quickly tried to throw the covers off of my body, which I failed at miserably. I won’t go into details, but let’s say it was at least a period of about ten minutes before I finally managed to get the covers off of my body. Instead of my body reaching down towards the bottom of the mattress like usual, it ended about halfway down, my feet replaced with two unfamiliar turquoise stumps. More hooves. Right. Equines usually had about four of those. And counting my other two hooves, that eliminated a wide range of possibilities of what I could have become.

Okay, don’t panic Zack. The worst thing you can do right now is panic. Get to a mirror. Look at yourself. Emboldened by a task that I had managed to set out for myself, I quickly swung my fee- hooves out of bed and pushed myself to the floor...and fell flat on my face.

“Ow...” I said in my new voice, looking up and being greeted with the legs of my computer desk.. “Right...hooves, four legs now, not two...” I cautiously placed my hooves on the tiled floor, shakily trying to push myself into a standing position. One of my front hooves slid out from underneath me and I fell onto my side, rolling over onto my back with my legs sticking up into the air. I wondered why I wasn’t totally freaking out right now. I guess I’ve always been an open minded sort of person, so something like this happening to me probably would take a while to register completely.

One sigh and another attempt later, I had managed to push myself up into a shaky standing position, my eyes narrowing in determination. After a while, I was able to steady myself on four hooves and I cheered for myself. The cheer was instantly silenced as I realized just what it was that I was cheering for. Standing. Zachary you rock! Woo hoo. Sarcasm, of course. it helps to calm my nerves down as I take a deep breath.

Okay, learn how to stand. I can strike that off my mental ‘to-do list’. Next on the agenda.... I tentatively placed a hoof forward, immediately bringing it back once I felt my balance beginning to wane. “Ugh... c’mon Zack, the more time you waste doing this, the more time you’re taking away from yourself in figuring out what happened...” Talking to yourself usually isn't a good sign, but in this type of situation I’ll take all the motivational talks I can get.

I thought about my dog, how did he move on four legs? I slowly picked up my right front hoof and placed it forward, moving my back left hoof at the same time. I didn't immediately lose balance again, so that was a good sign. I tested out the stance, placing my weight on these two as I tried the same motion with my remaining two hooves. It seemed to work. I was now one hoof’s pace away from where I was mere seconds ago.

See? Progress. Feeling optimistic, I began to throw myself into a trot, only to face plant once more. Slow it down, tiger.

“Shut up...”

Talking to voices in your head? Tsk, tsk. I gritted my teeth. It was then that I realized I didn't have any canines. Everything is pointing to pony. Haven’t reached that conclusion yet. One thing at a time.

I spent the next hour or so trying to teach myself the basic walking movement. Keep in mind that my room isn't that big, and about 50% of it is taken up by my computer setup alone, so I didn't have much room to practice in, but I made it work.

Confident in my walking/trotting abilities, I looked towards my room door.

Wait.

Door.

Fuck.

How was I going to grab the doorknob with hooves? Walking up to the door, I realized just how small I had become. As opposed to my previous 5 foot 10 inch height, I now stood at maybe 2 feet/two and a half feet as I stared at the bottom portion of the door, where my eyes reached. I frowned, looking up at the door knob. It just stayed there, maddeningly out of reach as if mocking me. I’m sure after it was done with me it was going to get all of it’s door friends and point and laugh at my situation. Doors don’t have friends Zack. I pushed the thought out of my mind before contemplating how best to tackle this. I could probably reach the doorknob if I reared up on my back hooves and braced myself against the door. Testing this out, I slowly put my thoughts into action. Okay, easy enough-

My back hooves slid out from underneath of me and I hit the floor for the third time that day so far, my plot sticking up in the air. Goddamnit. I cursed my dad’s decision to get tile floors. If I hadn't broken SOME bone in my face it would be a miracle.

I tried again, placing my back hooves a little more underneath of me so they wouldn't slide out again as easily. Very carefully, I gripped the doorknob between my forelegs and turned, my body turning with the motion. I heard the click of the doorknob opening and I grinned like a little filly. It was a pull, so I slowly started backing up, keeping the door knob locked firmly between my forelegs as I did. Before long, the door was in its full opening position and I stood in the now open doorway, a massive smile upon my face. Achievement unlocked: Open a door. 5 gamerscore. I frowned. Being a gamer offers few options for motivation.

I stuck my head out from my room, glancing both ways. The door to my father and his girlfriend’s room was shut, and the dogs were locked up in their cages. Good. I began to trot across the hallway to my bathroom. clip, clop, clip, clop I froze. That was too loud. I listened for a sound indicating that I had woken anyone up, but I didn't hear anything except for the dogs whining a bit. I continued a bit more quietly into the bathroom, glaring up at the high counter top as I entered. Man, was everything in this house an insult to small peopl- ponies?!

I reared up on my back legs again, propping my forelegs on the countertop as I pulled as much of me up as I could. Dark green eyes stared back at me from the mirror. A cyan mane...MY cyan mane I guess, was perched atop my head between two pony ears. The mane was somewhat messy, and hung down along my neck and rested on my back. Behind me, I noticed two feathery turquoise wings, and my entire body was covered in dark turquoise fur.

Yep, I had become a pony.

...Guess this was going to be one of those days. Next Chapter: Do you like bananas? Estimated time remaining: 10 Minutes