The night had come. From within the room the silver speckled black sky provided a mystical backdrop to Luna’s white eye in the sky, its glow seeping through the glass doors. It fought against the fierce glow of the fireplace, its warmth and light claiming half the room and half of both couches.

Cadence sat to the side closest to the fire, a hoof lazily gracing Roxanne who rested against the couch from where she lay upon the floor. The vixen had made a bee line for the princess after the human and she finally parted and had kept close to her since. For Cadence, who had conjured multiple solutions to his problems, there was one that seemed to solve it all. However, it was dangerous but it might be the answer he needed if the world would show mercy. She’d try other options too but her mind always returned to this one method.

The man himself sat on the shadowy half of the couch opposite her with nought but the lunar light to keep him company. He kept his head in his hands and only the sound of muffled deep breathes were heard. Cadence kept an eye on William, finishing her tea and leaving the set to the side on a table skirting the room. She would be patient before she planned to press further. William needed this break, this pause to recollect his thoughts, she knew that. It was also advantageous to plan ahead whilst he was quiet.

To her surprise he seemed ready to speak quicker than she imagined; William’s head slowly slid up from the top of his fingers and left only his bloodshot eyes visible to her.

“I can’t believe that actually happened,” he said with a stifled and shamed tone, “I honestly don’t know what to say. I don’t know whether to be embarrassed or not.” He sighed as he pulled his mouth from behind his hands, instead opting to lounge back and rest his hands on the top of his head. With a perplexed expression, after his mouth flapping at a loss of words, he gave up and groaned once again.

“You shouldn’t be embarrassed but you should feel foolish,” Princess Cadence chided like a scolding mother. Her scowl was up to par as well. “That wasn’t just about the crush, Will, that was gem shards in the horseshoe.”

“And here I thought Applejack was the only one to use that saying,” he replied with a faint smirk, turning to face her. He was weary, they both were, but whereas she merely had tussled bit of disobedient mane he was suffering with a haggard, tired stare. “But… yeah.”

“Did you really have to make such a show about all this?” Cadence inquired with a condescending, yet mirthful smile. “I don’t think you should have taken things that far.”

“Things really got to me out there, let my emotions get the better of me and before I knew it I was standing up and trying to get away from you.” He rubbed his eye, his other hand reaching for the tube in his pocket. “Like I said, we do stupid things when we’re scared and others think the worst when fear gets the best of everyone.” Using his thumb he popped the lid of what looked to be a prescription bottle.

“It’s been fifteen minutes at best and already you’re quoting yourself incorrectly.” Cadence remarked, earning a mock scowl from his as he slowly plundered a tablet. They both squinted harshly at each other as he gradually placed the rounded medicine upon his tongue and then gulped it down.

“You’re really going to be that picky?”

“Actually I’m about to get curious. What are those? Anti-depressants?” She pointed with a hoof at the man. Whilst William responded with an amused huff Roxanne batted at the hoof for attention.

“Protein pills, the kind you ponies feed your pets with a carnivorous streak,” he explained, pocketing the tube, “What? You think I got this way through just nuts, beans and fungus? I am an omnivore after all.”

Cadence simply rolled her eyes and returned to petting her new playmate.

“Sounds like Shining and that morning egg shake thing, bleh!” she blanched, her face contorting before she poked out her tongue in disgust.

“I know how you feel,” William added with his own look of disgust, “It’s not as good, but I stick to cooked eggs. A thousand times better tasting and without the promise of salmonella.” He patted his pocket, making the rattling pills audible for her. “Those monthly check ups were good for my health after all.”

“And now I’m worried about your mental health,” Cadence commented with a saddened glance. It was enough to make him turn away, his hand attempting to scratch away the discomfort as if it were on his neck.

“I’m… smart… logical before I plan on most things I do, okay? Just the important stuff but at least I am thinking.” he replied with an awkward tone. He coughed into his hand before looking to her once more. “If I ever get to a really low point then I promise to kidnap a shrink.”

“Smart he says, kidnap a psychiatrist he then says.” Cadence scoffed before gazing towards the fire. It had going for a few minutes and her ears were currently entranced by the soft crackles of the timber. A stray thought crossed her mind as silence crept upon them.

“Aren’t you cold?” she asked, looking back to him, “I distinctly remember you saying humans weren’t fans of the cold.” He shook his head.

“I said winter but hey, misquoting and all that,” he replied with hoity shake of the hand and with his nose pointed to the ceiling. Despite how the smug grin made her want to slap it off, it was nice to see him calming down and returning to normal. This was key, something she thought about since getting him back into the room: keeping calm enough to talk.

“Even so, why are you starting to walk around without a shirt on? You’d never have done this ages ago, so what’s…changed?” The pause caused them to lock eyes, bother registering what had been said. She had subtly put forward a statement, a test, and when he didn’t answer but showed no resentment he’d confirmed it.

Then a smile instantly claimed his maw.

“Calm down,” he reassured in a placating manner, “I had a fun run with the nobles and I didn’t want my shirt to stink of sweat. Got changed on the way back to the course before bumping into Celestia.” He leant back into the couch and frowned towards the bookshelf behind Cadence. “I think she sees me as a rival now, I mean we’re both not the best there is, but at the time the nobles were too scared to run past her and I needed the bathroom so…” He illustrated his point further by tumbling one hand over another.

“I ended up coming fifth, whereas she came sixth out of the sixty or so that turned up. Either you ponies are slower than my Earth’s or I’m doing my ancestor’s proud.”

“So why didn’t you take off your pants? Why stop there?”

“You won’t believe how painful it is to run whilst your knees are getting slapped, heh,” he finished with a lewd chuckle. Cadence groaned as realisation dawned on her.

“Ew,” she whispered as she levitated another pillow to catapult at the man. He barely reacted, his arms moving to block the fabric missile. It rebounded after hitting hard and left him with a cheeky grin. “Okay, for real now-“

“Well I suppose I was being a bit too generous but-“

“Why bother giving up on being fully clothed?” she continued in a tone of voice that made it clear that she did not wish to be interrupted. “You started doing this a while back, I know, but the last time I saw you were fully clothed. Yet, I hear that most of the time you don’t even bother with your shirts unless it’s cold.” She magicked up Roxanne, the fox becoming temporally confused before being planted on the princess’ back. Whilst the fox got nestled between her wings, Cadence continued. “You said humans tended to go clothed partly because it keeps them warm.”

“Because I didn’t care,” William started with reluctance, “I mean, there’s no other humans to tell me how to act now. Most of you don’t really care about clothing so what the heck?” He took a more soft spoken voice as he glanced towards the fire. “I mean, it’s a part of me, and Rarity seems eager to embellish in it, and it’s not completely gone. I thought I could try and substitute some of my human culture with some of your pony ones and make me seem less… alien.”

Cadence paused in thought, her muzzle gently rubbing against Roxanne’s head as it rested on her shoulder. She seemed as restless as the princess, though displaying it more obviously than the alicorn was.

“Funny thing is I was persuaded to have something done that did manage to fix that, sort of,” he added with a ghost of smile, tilting his head as he looked back to her. Her full attention was directed to him, ears standing up and her eyes focused straight at the man. “Problem was the way to make me less alien worked too well.”

“What do you mean?”

“Cadence... Six months into being trapped here, after finding out the magical portal I used to get here, the same kind the breezies use, would only open again in a thousand years’ time, I was faced with a proposition.” William’s smile never left but his eyes spoke of a failure, of being let down. He seemed to wait for her for a few moments, where Cadence then nudged the air with a hoof to signal to him.

“Twilight, Celestia, and Luna were willing to edit transmorphication- or whatever the hell it’s called- magic spells in order to transform me into a pony.” He raised a hand and flexed the digits. They moved swiftly and with a mastery one would expect from having lived with them all their life. The pony and the human studied the limb as it moved, a hint of admiration for evolution in the man’s eyes.

“I took it without hesitation.” The hand balled into a fist but the smile remained. “I was broken but not depressed, more like my mind felt disconnected from the body… I rationalised in less than six hours that I might as well be one of you if I couldn’t get home. In less than six hours I decided to give up on being human in order to prosper.” He chuckled darkly, shaking his head and shifting his still bloodshot eyes back to the fire.

“If that isn’t a new type of Darwinism then I don’t know what is. My survival and future prosperity depended on me abandoning my body and I took it.”

Cadence wasn’t too sure how to offer up the idea of becoming a pony. Perhaps as a last resort she would have mentioned it right before he left but… hearing him talk now as if it were a simple choice, hearing him say it was an easy one to make… she didn’t quite know what to say.

“William,” Cadence began softly, “what went wrong?” She dared to ask because the obvious lay before her: it hadn’t worked. As to why she couldn’t say but needed to know. She guessed being let down was where he officially began to bottle everything up; he hadn’t seen anyone about his problems and nothing suspicious had been reported by Twilight so far. Then again, maybe he’d made her promise to keep quiet. This was all new news to Cadence after all.

“Nothing,” he replied as he rested his head on his hand. “The problem was that things went too right.” He smirked at her owlish look before continuing.

“I am not easily manipulated by magic, internally at least. I’m like a vacuum sealed box with a plug, you can pick me up and swing me around, give me a coat of cloud walking paint, but you can’t make me breathe fire or breathe underwater.” William frowned as he rubbed the knuckle of his free hand against his chest. “Or so Twilight tells me. I am, as a natural being, completely void of magic and that vacuum is sealed by my body. It’s not easy to open me up and add an enchantment.”

“I was gonna say, now that sounds like one of Twilight’s summaries after a magic based explanation.” Cadence giggled at his confirmation. “So… how did it go right, then?”

“Because Twilight tried it with just herself and found that she wasn’t able to transform me on a cellular level due to me being highly resistant to that type of magic. So she had to call in the bigger, sleeker, cuter guns.” Ignoring Cadence’s cocked eyebrow he snapped his fingers, an act that caught Roxanne’s attention. “She requested Celestia’s and Luna’s help and that did the trick.”

“So…”

“I’m getting there,” he replied with a slightly irate tone. The disarming smile was only met with concern, however. “So I had Celestia overseeing and Twilight and Luna pumping enough magic to destroy and rebuild me in a flash.” Cadence’s ears drooped at the expression, her discomfort becoming easy for him to sense.

With a melancholic sigh he raised his hand to his heart, “Sadly I died that day… but then I didn’t!” he exclaimed shortly after, his smile sliding off at the sight of her deadpanned expression. “But yeah, the power of the sun and the moon, and the power of the avatar of magic had essentially pulled the plug on a vacuum sealed box. There was one inevitable reaction.”

He took a deep breath and locked eyes with her.

“Princess Cadence, for five weeks, I became Equestria’s first male alicorn, one that had drawn power from three other alicorns.”

His face held no hint of deception and the moment for the punch line laughter had come and gone. They simply stared at one and other, her jaw slowly parting only to seal shut. She tried to imagine him as an alicorn, as to what he could possibly look like, and yet she was blatantly reminded of how human he was now.

“Th-th-then what happened?” she finally whispered.

“Celestia used the only spell she knew that would allow me to handle the raw magical power of her, her sister, and Twilight Sparkle-- she turned me into an alicorn in order to save my life.” William shook his head, chuckling in a hollow fashion. “I asked why couldn’t I be downgraded to another sub-species and she said that I’d still have the magical prowess of the other two species sans the means to use their magic. Like an overstuffed teddy bear, without something akin to daily magical dialysis I would burst.”

“Didn’t last as you can see,” he pointed out with a ‘mysterious’ wave of his hand. His eyes widened briefly and his smiled brightened before he spoke again, “Apparently there were two of us in the room who thought this was a bad thing.”

“Hang on,” Cadence butted in, shaking her head before massaging her temples, “You’re saying that the only way you can live as a pony is as a male alicorn.” Her tone of disbelief earned an amused snort.

“Aye, I’d be the power pony with the ‘Y’ chromosome.”

“And Auntie Celestia and Luna were not happy about that?”

“Okay, two things,” he interjected with two fingers, “One: I don’t see how they’re obligated to become pleased about that instantly, and I kind of feel a bit creeped out about that. Two: who said that Luna was the second one upset? She wouldn’t stop looking at me.”

In response Cadence scrunched her face up, her head rising further as she stood on the bench. She hopped off, her magic activating to catch Roxanne who’d just about dozed off upon her back.

“I’m guessing Twilight wasn’t the second upset so that means that you were,” she said as he joined him on his couch. She didn’t understand why he wouldn’t be happy, other than regretting his decision. She moved her stare from him back to the fire and watched the flames as they danced. She placed Roxanne between the two as she remained in deep thought.

‘Did he miss being human?’ A curious thought; he had explained himself as a rational man, one who planned and came up with scenarios, though at times she found such a thing hard to believe. Maybe six hours was too short of time to think over this sort of life choice, and yet, for William, it honestly did seem like a right answer for someone in his predicament. He’d seek out ways to live for the better and she could believe that turning into a pony was something he whole heartedly believed in.

The feeling of Roxanne hopping onto her back stole her attention and she felt the fox sit upon her. Looking back she noticed the fox gave William a dirty look before snapping her snout to the air to face away from him.

“What’s the matter with her?”

“I’m ignoring her and focusing on you,” William explained, reaching over to stroke the fox’s ear. With a sound that could only be described as ‘nnnam’ Roxanne turned around and clamp her mouth on his finger. “I’m gonna be in the dog house for a while.”

“She’s the jealous type and yet she’s hanging out with her enemy?” Cadence asked, her eyes glancing between the pet and the owner.

“She wants me to notice her ignoring me,” he added, earning a quiet ‘ah’ from Cadence. “I wasn’t happy because I had been ripped apart on an atomic level and resurrected as a completely new species, whilst having three lots of A-class magic pumped into me.” He gave her a level stare. “That. Hurt. A. Lot.”

He retracted his finger, earning a low growl. The princess had to admit, Roxanne did look simultaneously threatening and adorable with her fur poofing up along her neck and tail.

“So yeah, I went through a rebirth the first week, growing pains and all, magical horning pains the second to third week, and the spent the last weeks going through second puberty whilst trying not to blow a hole in the wall my room… or the moon,” he said before finishing with his head in his hands.

He groaned into his palms before speaking. “I was a hormonal wreck, basically a teenager who had just gone through trauma… or not… I remember when I was a teenager back in my normal life.” He looked back up but wore an oddly proud smile, “I was a proper shit-starter for no reason, heh.”

“Language, Will, you’re not crying on my shoulder so there’s no more leeway,” Cadence warned, earning a hiss from her friend.

“Ouch. Low blow,” he replied, covering his groin and going cross eyed.

“Okay, now I’m curious, what did you look like and why was I not invited?” She had been trying to imagine him as one of her own and yet couldn’t quite settle on a ‘design’ so to speak.

“Something about meeting delegates so you had to miss popping by Canterlot.”

“Right right right,” Cadence waved off, the memories coming back to her. “So what did you look like?”

“Pretty bulky figure, big barrelled, had a horn that needed to be introduced separately,” he said, gesturing a considerable distance between his forehead and where the tip would be. “The wings were awkward. I had a huge span and they felt like an extra set of arms on my back. I’m guessing males are less elegant but sturdier.”

“Okay, not too shabby,” Cadence praised as she looked him up and down. “What about your coat?”

“A nice beach sand tone with ashen fetlocks, black toes too, stark contrast to the fiery mane of mine,” said as he reached up to combed his hair, clutching a clump as he looked up wistfully, “It was kinda awesome having fire for hair, let me tell you. Not…real fire, just the kind of weird thing that Luna and Celestia have… but ginger, red and yellow. Just looking at my tail move was both epic and disturbing.”

She had to admit he did sound at least exotic as a breed. Colour scheme wise he was… unique but not off putting. She didn’t know what to expect from a human variety of pony. She couldn’t gauge how alien he was but she guess he took on a more Saddle Arabia style. Regardless that was now irrelevant as there were still issues she had to face now that her final plan of action had been removed.

‘Besides, Twi probably took pictures anyway.’

“So why change you back? Was the pain really that bad?” Cadence asked as she tilted her head to the side. William fell silent. He closed his eyes and rubbed his cheek as he contemplated his thoughts. Finally, he snapped his fingers, whistled, and then Roxanne slowly began to creep off Cadence’s back.

“Come on, Roxy, I’m sorry but daddy’s working through some issues right now,” he whispered, a hand beckoning the vixen over. “Come on girl,” he added, patting his leg. She slinked onto his lap, circling around before leaning into the man. He started to gently rub her tail and pet her chest.

“Good girl. Seen her a few times at Fluttershy’s and I managed to get her out of a snag whilst taking ingredients to Zecora, the Ponyville shaman, and from then on out she’d bound over to me whenever I visit Shy’s place. During my hormonal stages I fell into a serious depression, one that this little lady helped me out of. Of course I had Pinkie and Celestia counselling me as well but I couldn’t sleep with them. Or at least not always. Pinkie was quite determined to keep me smiling.”

“So sweet,” Cadence whispered before pouting, “I want one.”

“This one’s quite the little princess and wants to be treated as such,” he said, nuzzling his chin into his pet’s head. It was eagerly welcomed. “Princes’ are expected to be a certain way too.”

“What do you mean?”

“Cadence, I can’t become an alicorn without becoming a prince,” William said plainly, “Besides the fact I am not eligible to rule over anything greater than a house party, I’d be a danger to those around me until my magical outburst passed. Also can you figure out the problem with Celestia handing out alicorn status to a stranger like me? A nobody like me? Hell, Blue Blood’s still miffed that even he’s not an alicorn but Twilight is, and he is royalty.”

“Oh,” Cadence replied lamely. She couldn’t image what kind of uproar the nobles of Canterlot would have if not only a new alicorn walked into their life, their precious social-totem-pole hierarchal way of life, but if they knew he was originally human too? An outsider to the pony community?

“So, when they were able, the princesses three turned me back through draining me of my power,” William said before chuckling. “Twilight and Luna acted like getting back their original level of power on top of their regained power was a good buzz. Christ, Shy and I shared one hell of a picnic when she turned everything edible into living creatures by mistake.” He sighed and laid back with his eyes closed, gently petting Roxanne who lay on his lap in a ball.

“Twilight says she’d try to crunch the numbers and see if there’s a way to syphon the excess magic away from me during the transformation but… she said that months ago, and both Luna and Celestia have pointed out the improbability of that happening. We all think we shouldn’t push for that, what with her taking on a princess role herself and gaining new duties.” He sighed before rubbing his eyes.

“Its alicorn or human for a few years I’m afraid. My body can only change under the influence of one full grown alicorn. And apparently gathering multiple unicorns together to equate to their power wouldn’t be easy when you consider the scope, co-ordination and not to mention the potential risk. So that’s how I became one of the most powerful ponies in history and lost the right due to politics. I guess there are even things Celestia can’t do.”

Cadence sat up straight, her head bobbing up and down gently in thought. She combed her hair with her hoof, attempting to stomp out a rebellious lock but gave up.

“What about…” Cadence began with a hushed whisper, her eyes roaming the room as a prey would watch for a predator, “Him?”

“Him?” William asked with a cocked brow.

“Yeah… Um, the dragonesque?” she added, rolling her hooves and keeping her voice low. Paranoia gripped her as she swore she saw the creature she dared not name wink at her from the fire place.

Then again, maybe that was her imagination.

Maybe.

“Oh you mean Discord!” William exclaimed. He was perplexed when she instantly shot him a fierce glare as she shushed him.

“Don’t say his name!” She continued looking around and became suspicious of the tea pot. “They say he can hear you wherever he is.”

“Well that’s a load of rubbish,” William sniped with a roll of the eyes. “We tried to get him to help but apparently he’s busy improving his image elsewhere.” With a shake of the head the man passed the mare a withering glance. “I don’t think he’d help if he wanted to. He’s a big fan of inner turmoil, and other than that he’s great to just relax with once you just accept half the things he says… but I’d wager that he’s entertained by my troubled fitting in. Hence why I don’t see him much.”

Unanimously, they sighed and leant further into the couch.

“You know I was going to suggest that we try something that I thought was bit extreme,” she said as she turned to face him. He wasn’t looking at her anymore, merely the vacant space opposite him. “It would be my last resort and it was to turn you into a pony.” That earned her a half smile.

“I guess I would have followed you’re advice and when you finally told me this plan then I would have said something like ‘Why didn’t we go with that one first?’”

“And I would have told you that it was dangerous and I had to be certain that there were no other ways of tackling your little issues,” Cadence replied, earning a snort. She arched an eyebrow as he chuckled moments before facing her with a face of perfect disbelief.

“R-r-really? Little issues?” he quoted with wide eyes. She could easily say that he looked better now; with the fire catching his face it had brightened considerable than when he was in the cold light of the moon. He shook his head once more, scooting closer to the alicorn and leaning in. “I’ve got to hear this.” William murmured.

So, she thought, now’s the time.

“So,” he began with a smile of condescension, “What’s the answer, Princess?”

Author's Notes:

Although a 2 chapter story was promised, the second chapter came to around 9500 words so I broke the two up.

It has been interesting reading the comments but I would like the point out that this story has already been planned and I'm sticking to it. I understand that some may not be pleased about how magic can influence humans in this world of Equestria, but unless canon establishes how effective magic is against humans, I will stick by this.

Next chapter is Cadence's response, which has already been written and is currently undergoing editing; expect tomorrow. This chapter was half me breaking up a large chunk, half experimenting with a way to flesh out a character, even by a little bit.

As for the Alicorn design... yeah it was strange but I honestly don't think a human turned pony will look like your typical unicorn, earth pony, pegasi/ alicorn. Not that justifies the design.

Thank you all for viewing this and like/ favorite/ comment/ spin in your swivel chair/ continue being fabulous and all that jazz. Goodnight.