"....Where am I?" I wondered after what felt like hours of floating in this void.

I was still floating in some super bright, empty area, which was completely white and devoid of any details.

“I’m starting to doubt the possibilities of me being either dead or dying. I’m also starting to think I must have taken some kind of drug.” I scrunched my mouth. “This is extra trippy in that case...How would I have even taken them?”

I felt like a fish in water what with all this aimless floating. This place felt both warm and cold somehow. Empty and full. It wasn’t pleasant, and why was I STILL HERE?!

“I STILL can’t move!” I raged. “This must be purgatory!” I cackled. “Maybe I should have donated the rest of my money, or or or done something else like volunteering.” I looked around, hopelessly trying to look at someone. “Is it because I hate my parents?!” I yelled out. “They never loved me so why should I love them back?!”

I got no answer back and frowned.

“I would have at least like to ‘smite’ Gerald were I in heaven.”

Mmm. Gerald. I hate him. I hate him so much. The first bully I ever met as a kid. He started off a nasally, carrot-top nerd that I would frequently beat up in response to him insulting my grandfather and I, to which I’d get in trouble for. Unfortunately, as the years went by, he started gaining muscle mass, preventing me from attacking him in response to his attacking. Unfortunately for him and his dyed, black sideburns, I was adaptive and started working out to at least develop my own muscles. It was also he who taught me how dangerous anger could be when not controlled.

He got into a gang when I was seventeen and walked up to the school I was at to threaten me. The idiot came up to me, accompanied by three other thugs, with one of the letter-opener knives pointed towards me, thinking he could scare me with such tactics. Tch. So ‘hardcore’. I’d laugh if I felt like it. I brushed his ‘threats’ off and turned my back to him, prompting myself to get stabbed in the back. Putting my hand to my back, I felt that he speared me with his pen knife, pushing one of my buttons, so I ‘exploded’ while he and his friends laughed at me.

With adrenaline going through me, and with my face devoid of emotions during my rage, I couldn’t feel the wound properly and Gerald couldn’t figure out what I was thinking. I was towards him as he taunted me, grabbing his throat and pushing against his esophagus. He panicked and dropped the knife instead of stabbing my arm. I took the knife and used it to attack the others who tried to hit me, striking them in their stomachs and moving the blade across as best as I could. I was hit several times, but the adrenaline protected me, albeit temporarily. I didn't kill them, but they felt pain. Most likely they've killed themselves. Redemption through pain, such a dark train of thought.

I’m not sure what happened after. I just recall waking up in the hospital with grandfather sitting next to my bed. Those other four punks were sent to the same emergency ward as well. Unfortunately, my grandfather didn’t look too happy to see me and slapped me despite my facial wounds. He started blabbering about the laws of survival, and while I knew very well what he was trying to say, I mostly ignored him. As the days went by and he kept adding to his speeches, I started to ponder what he was saying. Although I’m not exactly sure what it is he said, I feel as though I had found a new meaning to the value of life, but that wouldn’t change my behavior anyways.

“Why am recalling this?” I wondered. I dropped my fist into my open palm. “Oh yeah. Blow up Gerald’s car. Mental Note: Blow up his car once I reach heaven.” I chuckled to myself. My mood quickly dropped. “I feel all depressed and emo now…” I heaved a sigh then looked back up angrily. “HEY! I DON’T MEAN TO BE RUDE OR ANYTHING -except yes I do-,” I whispered under my breath. “BUT CAN I GET OUT HERE NOW? PLEASE?!”

I received no response, but then something started to weigh on me.

“Why do I feel so...heavy?”

I felt like I was under the gravitational pull of Jupiter, and I could barely breathe. Very quickly I felt myself getting pulled downwards and squeezed Silver even closer to my chest. It seemed I wasn’t going to heaven but to hell. Great. Well, those demons won’t be getting my plush. I won’t let them. Even in eternity I won’t let any harm come to her! I yelled when I saw a green spot below, thinking it to be an acid put.

“I’m waitin’ here!” I shouted. “COME ON! You won’t be getting me, my only memento, and you certainly won’t be getting the positive memories I still have.” I challenged the pit. “You’ll never break me!”

I felt myself accelerating, bursting through like a jet at hyper-sonic speeds. That small dot was growing bigger and bigger and getting closer by the second. It turned into a massive circle surrounded by the white space, so I closed my eyes and readied myself for eternal torment. The last thing I remembered was the sound of a loud explosion.

My body ached, and I felt as though I had entered a coma. Adding to this was me only being able to see the blinding white light which I figured were the demons trying to prank me and get me to lower my guard. I hugged Silver closer to me...or at least, I tried. I couldn’t find her. Now, for most people, losing something like a plushy wouldn’t have been a big thing. However, as I mentioned many times, that wasn’t the same for me. There was too much sentimental value in it, so I started to panic and tried to move. Big mistake.

I groaned loudly in pain. “Oh God...I feel like I was hit by a truck. I...I think all my bones are broken…”

As I writhed in pain, I cracked open one of my eyes slightly and saw the blue crystal from the mountain plop right in front of me, its body glowing dimly.

I became suspicious. “How did it-GAH!”

As if it weren’t bad enough that I couldn’t see, the thing blasted my eyes with bright blue light. I mean, I couldn’t really complain seeing as I could only see white, and blue was a nice change...maybe. When the light started to dim, I noticed something...odd.

“But...but...I thought I fell into hell.” I looked around as best as I could. “What kind of hell is this?”

I still couldn't move my neck, but at least I could see clearer now. I was on an open plain during the day with grass as far as the eyes could see. The sun shone a comfortable ray of light and heat, while the wind decided to smack me across the face with a cool breeze to relieve the possibilities of overheating. The plains were accentuated by mounds at seemingly random locations, giving it a very lumpy and uneven appearance. The grass was comfortably long and flew in the wind like a work of art, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen on Earth. Then it hit me.

“Wait a minute...Something you don’t see…” I felt all the blood rush from my face. Oh no. I’m in purgatory!” I shouted. “Wait no...I’d still be burning.”

I spotted that stupid crystal that was definitely the cause of all this, and when I tried to move, I found that my limbs were no longer locked up. My body still didn’t feel right and my back was aching something fierce, so crawling was the best way to go. As I slowly chased after the stone, realizing that it was somehow moving on its own, as crazy as that sounds, it decided to stop above a pond that had formed within a large ‘crater’. It was just a bowl in shape with barely any plant life, let alone animal life, but was too clean to be normal. Hell, somehow, the crystal was ‘standing’ on it. How? HOW?!

“Oh great.” I rolled my eyes. “They said Jesus would be reborn, but I didn’t think it would be in the form of a rock.” I reached out to grab it, then I saw my reflection in the water and stayed there.

I was too confused and angry to notice. My voice had become more high-pitched, like a girl’s. It wasn’t possible. I refused to believe this stupidity! It was too crazy to be true. I saw my pupils shrink when my jaw dropped. I lifted what was once my left hand hand to my face. This was...Illogical. Impossible, even!

“No fucking way...S-Silver?!” I gasped.

I prodded my face a few more times. Yup. I had turned into my toy, and that wasn’t what bothered me the most. The worst thing is that I was not just a tiny horse, but a female tiny horse.

“How am I supposed to deal with this?” I cried. “What the hell even?!”

I fell back on my rear and moved my two ‘fores’, seeing that they still worked like arms...In the movement range at least. Another thing on the surface of the crystal caught my attention, confusing me even more.

“Wh...Is that a trollface?!” I squeaked

I swear that it had one inside of it. How would it even know about that? It moved towards me by sliding along the water and stopped right between my...dare I say it…hooves.

“YOU did this to me!” I accused it. “I was FINALLY living like I always wanted.” I would have clenched my fists hard if I could. “I’m going to crush you underneath my hooves!”

As I shouted with my new voice, my two front hooves slammed upon the crystal. Unfortunately, apart from some resonating sounds, nothing happened. I shielded my face when the crystal turned into a giant bull of pulsing, swirling blue energy. It charged at me, making me glad that I had the reflex to shield myself. It avoided my face completely and charged at my hind legs, and since I couldn’t use them yet, it was free to split in two and crash into my flanks. Since I could see my right one better, I could see what was going on more easily. For some reason, I had Silver’s marks, but the blue crystal leaves were gray like the silver ingot they surrounded.

“NO NO!” I yelled. I didn’t know what was going to happen and got scared.

A brief ‘jir’ noise came from my flanks as the energy fused to SIlver’s marks, making the petals blue again.

“Ow…” I complained. “Well, nothing seems to have happened to me. I don’t feel any different…” I tapped my forelegs on the ground. “All that’s left now is getting up...Come on, Derry. You can do it! IT’S NOT SO HARD!”

It took me, maybe, a few hours to stand up, but I at least succeeded...and then fell down. Annoying. I managed to stand up fully the second time, but my legs were all wobbly from trying. I didn’t even want to think about what would happen if I tried to walk with my legs in this state. It was like standing in high heels WHILE wearing high heels. There was the tail as well, but I couldn’t really figure out how to control it, so I’d whip myself in the face multiple times.

“Well...now what do I do? I don’t know where I am, where to go, how to call for help...AND THIS VOICE IS SO ANNOYING!”

I could understand the voice as being the one I gave to Silver in my head when I was little, but hearing it over my own voice was gravely annoying when I wanted to hear my own. I had a perspective on life as a man, so how the hell was I to fare any different when I was turned into a female pony?! I tried to think of a plan, then I overheard someone speaking in rhymes behind me.

“What is this? A little pony who can resist?
The cold is not a place for a silver pony like you.
Perhaps you would prefer a house and a warm brew?”

It was a zebra with a mohawk talking to me, and that was...pretty cool, actually. I decided to follow her, and that wasn’t because of her hairstyle. Nope...no...maybe…

“Sure?”

“Good!” she cheered.

“Then follow me.
There is a town in view, and Twilight Sparkle might be able to help you.
She is well organized and very smart,” The zebra leaned in towards me. “Although her behavior is a bit worrisome for my part.”

“Intriguing,” I replied dismissively.

Why was she speaking in rhymes? Most of the parts didn’t even sound right to me. Maybe she was just having a rough day?...That’s a ‘she’, I hope. I hobbled towards the pathway, occasionally getting help from her as she quickly realized my issues, and then I saw the village in the distance. Further away I could see...a castle in the side of the mountain?! How? How do you even manage that?!