CHAPTER 1

Because this is the beginning...right?

What is that noise? What is that smell?! Why am I sleeping? My boss is going to kill me. "...but how is she even alive?! That should be physically impossible!" I know that voice but from where?

"Now Twi, Ya shouldn't be yellin' like that. Yer gonna wake her an' Ah don't think that would be the best idea. " That is AppleJack.... and the other voice was Twilight. So I fell asleep at work and left my Ipod on. I think it is safe to say I am fired. My boss is a hard ass to begin with.

"Miss Sparkle, this is why I implored you to wait for the princess. These ruins are dangerous, even for the Night Guard."

Night Guard? Is this a new episode? Ok. I have to wake up now. I can't miss the new episode. Eyes! Open! ....No luck. I have to wake up. A small groan escaped my throat as I struggled to open my eyes. That wasn't my voice. It was like someone flipped a switch. My eyes popped opened and I was staring into the most magical purple eyes I have ever encountered. This was wrong.

"Oh by Luna's moon. " There was that voice again. It came from my throat but it didn't sound like mine.  Twilight Sparkle. The actual Twilight Sparkle was in front of me. I was dreaming. Only explanation.

"Told ya, Twi!" My eyes darted over towards where the voice was coming from. Eeyup. AJ was standing there with a worried look. "Hey now, Sugarcube. Jus' stay calm and don't move, alright?" She was talking to me, but why did she look like she was about to cry? Twilight looked the same.  

"Calm?" I asked. "But this is totally awesome?"  That ended in a question. Why, you ask? It is because I was starting to become more aware of what was happening. First was the awkward position I was in. I had my back against cold stone. I could feel my legs sprawled out but my butt wasn't quite touching the ground. My mouth was incredibly dry for some reason and there  is still this weird smell.  "What's going on?" Twilight shuffled her hooves. It was then, I realized the light that was being shone over them was from her.

"Miss, we called Princess Luna for help. She should be here soon, Ok?" Twilight was crying. It struck me as odd. I guess it might be because they have never seen a human before.

"Twi...Why are you crying? I am not going to hurt you. This is just too awesome." This only made the look on her face worse. AJ walked next to Twilight. Clop clop clop. The sound almost made me giggle with glee. I watched as AppleJack hugged Twilight.

"Twi...Ah don't think she has noticed it..." She? Yeah, they were referring to me and I now know they haven't seen a human before.

"Hey hey hey. I am a guy. A male, ok?" My voice must sound like this because of my throat being so dry. "I know it might seem weird, how you have never seen a human before, but I am a human male." Ha! The looks on their faces.

"Human? Ya look like a normal pegasus ta me." My mind went blank. I looked down at my body.

"NO!"

They had both yelled in unison to stop me. It was too late. Yeah. I was a pony, but that fact seemed paltry to what I saw. That smell from earlier was blood. My blood. It was oozing out of my chest. My chest which had a sword through it. The sword, which was through MY chest, was pinning me to the wall. I was in shock obviously. I raised a hoof to touch the sword, I guess to see if it was real.

That idea was THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING.

I am sure I woke up Celestia with my scream. My head bucked back, smashing into the stone. I couldn't feel that, at least not at that moment. Has anyone ever had a sword through their chest? Yeah. The pain was horrendous. Out of instinct, I struggled to get away. To try and take the sword out. Anything to relieve myself. I would find out only later that thanks to three guards, Applejack and Twilight using her magic, I was able to be held down. Then, the last thing I can remember through the pain, was a pair of large indigo wings and piercing blue eyes before my world went black.

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I was standing in space. Well, I think it was space. It was black with millions of tiny lights about. "The sword!" I said out loud.  I grabbed at my chest in a panic, only to find the offending object missing. I sighed in relief. I was still a pony, but I honestly am not worried about it at this point. Seeing myself impaled on a sword kind of dulled any excitement or worry from that fact.

"Are thou calmed?"

I tried to turn around but tripped over my own hooves. Gonna have to work on that. I looked up to see none other than Luna, which was not something that calmed me. I was there, faced pressed against some invisible ground with my flank raised high into the air. There was a humorous twinkle in the Princess' eye but her face remained calm .

"Oh...hello Luna..." Stupid. Idiot. That is the first thing you say to royalty?!  Oh no. I didn't call her Princess. I don't think it mattered much though. She smiled as I tried to right myself.

"Thou knows my name and speaks to me informally, but I don't believe we have met."  

I just frowned. "Sorry, Princess. Um..." I looked around us. "This is a dream, isn't it?"She nodded.

"Yes. Thou was putting up quite a struggle. We were afraid that you were going to cause further harm to thyself. I put you to sleep and came here to speak with thee." Meaning I was acting crazy and still had a sword through my chest. On a side note,  she sounded like her speech was improving.  "We are confused. How did thou end up here in the old castle?"

The old castle? Oh yeah....in the Everfree. " I apologize, my Princess...I am not sure...My head is kind of fuzzy trying to remember."  

She nodded in response. "It is alright. We hold it not against thee. Thy memory will return when you are ready for it. " She suddenly frowned.

"What is the matter, Princess? "

"Bad magic." She spat out. "The sword has disappeared when we tried to remove it from thy chest, but your wound...The flesh is knitted back together. " I nodded. I felt unreasonably calm. I think there was more than a sleeping spell on me.

"Am I going to wake up now?"

The lunar princess shook her head. "No...We shall take thee to a place of healing. We wish for thee to be in proper shape before waking." I remembered the pain and nodded again. "Thou shalt have a calm sleep. We shall inform Twilight Sparkle to alert our sister when thee awakens. Sleep now, little pony." She put a hoof on my forehead and gave me the gentlest of smiles. "Sleep"

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Warm and soft. I almost hated having to wake up. I nuzzled my pillow, trying to deny the fact my rest was over. "That was a strange dream." I mumbled as I scratched my nose with my hoof. Hoof? My eyes shot open. The room I was in wasn't my own. The walls were deep green and the sun shone in brightly from the window. Panic was rising. "This is...a hospital." I sighed. Stay calm. Assess the situation. "OK. I am a pony. I am in Equestria. I am ok even though there had been a fricken sword through me." I brought a hoof into my field of vision. "Purple...My coat is purple. " It was a much darker shade than Twilight's. I looked up. "My mane is a weird colour. " It was almost a reddish colour but it had too much of a purple hue to be called red. "What the hell is with the purple? Is it a bit much to ask for a different colour scheme?" I shrugged. Something was off though. My back didn't feel right.

I arched my head to see what was wrong. Wings. I had friggin wings! AJ's voice floated back into my head. "A normal pegasus..." My blood went cold and I am sure the colour was drained from my face as I remembered something else. I looked down at my body. A mint green sheet was pulled up to my chest. I gulped, slowly sliding my hoof under the sheet. It went down my chest then my belly, tickling the fur that covered them. Lower and lower, my hoof went, until it found the right spot.

While it found the right spot, a couple things were definitely missing. "No....No No No No!" My voice got louder with each no. "How? This isn't fair! This isn't right. Nope nope. I am a male. Not a mare! NO!" Safe to say I was freaking out.

"Oh, little one. Calm down."

"Huh?" I looked to my bedside to see a purple unicorn with a purple and black mane. Purple purple purple! It was starting to get a bit extensive. "Who are you?" She giggled.

"Your roommate." She held up a hoof that was in a cast.  I have never seen this mare in the show. I would have known too. Her mane was kind of crazy looking.

"That isn't what I meant. What's your name?"

She gave me a frown. "It is rude to ask a lady her name without first introducing yourself." That was an annoying answer, but I guess she was right.

"My name is Christian," I stated flatly.

"Eh. No. Your human name doesn't make a good pony one."

I sighed. "Yeah. I guess that is true. I wo...Wait what?" The sound of the door opening made me look away to see who entered. Nurse Redheart...Why not? I shook my head and looked back to the unicorn. Or I would have. The room was now empty except for me and the nurse. Who was she? How did she know I was a human?

"Good morning!" Nurse Redheart's chipper voice cut through my thoughts. "We were quite worried when Twilight brought you in last night and explained what happened. Normally I would have thought it was some little prank but she had a royal letter from Princess Luna backing up her story and asking us to give you the best treatment we could." She had walked over to my bed.

She waved a thermometer in front of my nose. "Now say 'Aaaah' " I frowned and opened my mouth. She smiled and stuck the thing under my tongue. "Alright..." She took her stethoscope from around her neck and placed it in her ears. She pulled my covers down a bit, making me blush. I knew that ponies didn't normally wear clothes but my human modesty was still very much intact.

She placed the cold piece of metal on my chest. "You'll have a scar there." There was a small patch of fur missing and the skin looked a bit twisted. "I have to check for any irregularities in your heart beat. To make sure there isn't an internal injury we are missing. " She frowned and moved the stethoscope around. She continued to do this, only making her frown deepen.

"What is wrong?" I may have said this a bit too loudly. She let out a squeak and pulled the medical instrument from her ears, rubbing them and giving me a look. "Sorry..." I said sheepishly. "But what's wrong?"

She wrinkled her nose, which was totally cute. "Well...I can't find a heart beat." More good news. I am just loving this string of events. "I'll...go get the doctor..." She quickly made her way out of the room. I sighed, noticing the thermometer still in my mouth. It kind of worries me she forgot it. I grabbed it with my hoof and read what it said.

"Well....At least that is normal. " I dropped the thing. "How was I holding that?!" I picked it up again. I didn't have fingers but the thing just sort of stuck to my hoof. "Weird." I dropped it again and sighed...again. I wanted to get up and practice walking but I think it was better to just stay in bed. I ran over what has happened in my head. I am in Equestria. I got turned into a pony. A mare...I grimace at the thought. pegasus. I woke up with Twilight and AJ staring me down. I was in the castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. Ugh. I was also impaled with a sword. Eeyup. A grand adventure! I doubled over when a sudden burst of pain shot through my head. "Ow ow ow ow." I grabbed my head with my hooves. "Nurse! Someone!"

I fumbled out of my bed just as a pony walked into the room. I could hear them rush to my side and start petting my mane. "Oh my..." A faint familiar voice said. "Come on now. Let's get you back into bed..." Oh gods...It was Fluttershy. I would have been bouncing off the walls like Pinkie Pie if it wasn't for the pain. I let her help me into bed but I didn't lay down. A cooling sensation began washing through my head.

"Mmmm"

I let out an embarrassing moan. I couldn't help it. I looked up to see Twilight standing there, horn glowing. "Hello again..." She looked nervous. "I um...I hope you don't mind. I learned this spell to help me out after long study sessions."

I chuckled at her blushing. "It's no problem, Twilight. Thank you too, Fluttershy." I let out a breath of relief.

"How do you know Fluttershy's name?"

Damn it! I was hoping to avoid this topic a bit. "Umm...It is difficult to explain..." Twilight's horn stopped glowing. Thankfully the pain didn't rush back, but I was a bit disappointed that soothing feeling was gone.

"He is a human. " We all jerked our heads over to the window. The one unicorn from before was there, looking out of it with her back to us. " And he has been sent here on a quest. A dark wind is stirring. "

Twilight frowned. "What are you talking about? And that doesn't answer my question."

The mare at the window laughed. "Yeah but you need to trust me. You should not learn how he knows your names. You'll find him quite knowledgeable on a few subjects of Equestria. "

"Why should we trust you? You haven't even given me a reason." I said angrily. I am still kind of peeved she pulled that disappearing act earlier. The mare turned around.

"Well....I don't have a reason you should trust me. I could actually give you reasons not to trust me. It is up to you if you want to sound like a lunatic in their eyes. They might believe you though, considering the magic used to pull you here. " She held her hooves up. "But just remember, it was your choice to come here." She disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Twilight gaping.

"Instant teleportation? She didn't even charge up for the spell! Just who was she?" Of course, Twilight looked at me.

"I don't know who she is. She was in here earlier, pretending to be my roommate." I noticed Fluttershy was staring at me with quite the blush across her face. "What's wrong?"

She looked away. "Umm...your wings."

I looked behind me.  One of my wings was flared out quite proudly while the other just hung limply. "What the hell? What are they doing?" I pushed on my stiff wing but it didn't budge.Suddenly a stray thought strolled into my brain. "Oh gods, please tell me this isn't something sexual!" If I thought Fluttershy's face couldn't get redder before, I was wrong. Her face turned about as red as Big Mac's coat. Even Twilight turned red and looked at Fluttershy.

"Oh! Oh no. It's not.... I...I was just." I didn't hear the rest she said. It came out in a squeak. Everypony then just turned away from each other. We sat there in silence until the doctor entered the room. It was the same doctor that was treating Rainbow Dash in the episode where she hurt her wing. I couldn't remember his name though.

"Hello everypony. My name is Doctor Stables." Oh...yeah. "I heard from Nurse Redheart that she was having a bit of trouble checking up on our mare here." I winced. "Now lets see what the problem is."

I raised a hoof to stop him. "That is all well...But can you tell me what's wrong with my wings first?" He looked like he just noticed them.

"You aren't doing that?" I shook my head. " Well let's see..." He took the rigid wing in his hooves and started feeling up and down it. I won't lie. It felt good. That kind of embarrassing good. "Well...it seems like your muscles are tightened up....Try moving it."  Easier said than done. I closed my eyes and rolled my shoulders. I could feels my wings but I wasn't quite sure how to move them.

I growled and just decided to wing it, if you will. Good news. I got the stiff wing to fold. Bad news. The limp wing suddenly flared out. I winced as it smacked into something solid.

"Ow ow ow ow"

Twilight recoiled away from me, grabbing her nose. "Oh Twilight! I am so so sorry!" I tried getting out of the bed to go comfort her. Remember how I wanted to practice walking? I tripped over my own hooves and my face smashed against the tiled floor. This floor was not as soft as the dream one. Fluttershy was looking back and forth between me and Twilight, torn between who to help. She eventually went to Twilight as the doctor helped me up.

"That was...interesting? " When he got me back on the bed, he kept a hold on my hoof. "....Hmm. There is a pulse." He used his magic to float his stethoscope from around his neck. After putting it on, he pressed it against my chest. A frown was quickly put on his face as he moved it around. "That is strange. I do not hear a heart beat at all...." I was getting worried again.

Twilight sniffed, still rubbing her nose. "Do you think it has something to do with the sword she was pierced with?" Again, I am referred to as a female. Doctor Stables furrowed his brow.

"I am not sure...I will go and get the X-ray viewer." He left the room with a frown plastered on his face.

I turned to Twilight. "I am sorry about that Twilight. I really didn't mean to."

She smiled. "It's alright. It isn't the first time I have been smacked in the face by a wing, but you got them both folded up now." I looked behind me. She was correct. "Hmm."

Fluttershy put her hoof on my shoulder. "Is something wrong?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah." I said, smiling at her. "Everything. I wouldn't know where to start though....I guess the biggest problem I am thinking of is being a mare. I am a male."

Twilight frowned. "Gender changing spells are very hard to accomplish. It would have had to been done by a very powerful unicorn....It might have been that unicorn from earlier!" She clopped her hooves together, like she solved a big mystery.

I couldn't help but start laughing. All this seemed so surreal.

"What's so funny?" Twilight looked a bit annoyed.

"Oh...I don't know..." I laid back on the bed, only half aware of my exposed position. "Have you informed Princess Celestia that I was awake,Twilight?" She opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by Doctor Stables and three nurses rolling a machine into the room.

"Alright then. If the patient can calmly step this way? "

I nodded and slowly slid off the bed.I took baby steps, still not used to walking on all fours. I was quite aware I was being stared at as I walked. I eventually made it to the machine.

"Alright. Now just position yourself like this aaaandd perfect!"

He said as he helped me into position. With a glow of his horn, the machine lit up. He had a focused face as he started twisting the knobs on it. I couldn't see what it was showing and it was quite uncomfortable having the six other ponies watching my insides like I was some sort of circus side show. I finally noticed the doctor had stopped twisting the knobs and was just staring slack jawed at the machine. In fact, all the ponies in the room had the same expression. "What?! What's wrong with me?!" Twilight was the first to speak up.

"You....You don't have a heart."