> I, Little Pony
>  by Lux
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Story of a Girl
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I, Little Pony

Chapter 1 – The Story of a Girl

Hi. If you’re reading this, then the magic worked! Yay me! Well, I have to admit that I didn’t do this by myself though. I had some help from Twilight Sparkle a little. Ok, I had a lot of help. I’m still learning magic you know. It’s not like I was born knowing this stuff. I’m especially not used to, what did Twilight call it? Oh that’s right “Transdimentional Apportation.” Yeah, it hurts my brain even trying to spell that. 

Oh, and sorry if this book appeared out of nowhere all of a sudden, especially if it accidentally landed on your head, or while you were driving, or taking a shower. Again, I really couldn’t say where exactly to have this appear, and even Twilight couldn’t pinpoint an exact place. So we settled on this book appearing anywhere in my hometown. Actually I really can’t call it my hometown anymore, as I haven’t been back there for at least a month. Or has it been two months? It’s hard to keep track of when things happened exactly after when it happened. 

What was the “it” that happened? Well, that’s the reason for this book actually. It’s basically my attempt to make sense of everything that happened in my life, trying to understand all the little things that led up to that one moment that changed my life and what happened afterwards. Confused? I’m sorry, but hopefully you’ll understand soon. 

So how should I begin this story? I guess I should explain who I am so that you’re not thinking you’re imagining this or ate a bad piece of sushi. Anyway, my name is Julia, or it was Julia before the event happened. I suppose you want to know my last name right? Well, I actually don’t remember it right now. Funny how you know something your entire life like your name and now because things change it now is so unimportant. 

You’re probably scratching your head about that part of how I used to be named Julia, right? Well, you read it right. You see I have a new name now. It’s Quill Flourish now. Yeah, I know my name sounds strange, right? But here it actually sounds ok. A new name comes with a new me I guess, and really keeping my name Julia would be weird around here as there isn’t anypony named Bob or Lisa.

That’s right, I said anypony. Sorry, that also comes with living here too. No, I don’t live on a farm or a ranch although I wouldn’t really mind that considering what I am now.  Alright, I guess there’s no other way to say this, and I don’t want to confuse further, so I’ll just come out with it. The reason why I changed my name and why I keep saying how things used to be but now are no longer is really simple. I used to be human, but now I’m a pony. Not just a pony like those you see in a fair where kids ride on. I became a cartoon unicorn from the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. 

Ok. You’re probably thinking that I need medical help or that I’ve been watching too many cartoons. Before you throw this book away or run out of the room in a panic, please hear me out. I didn’t take all this time to write this book just for a joke, and I’m not somepony that your friends put you up to pull a prank on you. I’m the real deal, and I’ve given you this to tell you the truth about my life. So please, get some popcorn or whatever snack and take a seat. If you still think I’m crazy after hearing me out, then I can’t force you to believe me. 

There’s another reason why I’m writing this. My mind each day is becoming less filled with the memories of my human self and more with my life as a pony. It’s like you have a binder full of important papers and slowly each paper is being replaced with a new one that is just as important. At first this new information doesn’t make sense but as more of it replaces your old thoughts it becomes second nature.  Twilight guessed that the effects of being in this new world is making this happen. So I wrote this in remembrance of what happened, because who know? Maybe one day in the future I’ll wake up and not remember that I even used to be human. 

So to continue my story of who I am or more importantly who I was, I guess I can first say that I was very much like other humans. I was your average girl living an average life. Sounds cliché, right? Well, I guess you can say that, but it’s the truth.  I remember that I was tall, but not freakishly tall. I was thin, but not like a celebrity or an athlete. I had a cream colored complexion, which was accented by my brown hair and blue eyes. Funny how looking back my hair was always done up in a ponytail, and now I really have a pony tail! Yeah, I guess you could say that I was a Plain Jane, just another face in the crowd. I tried doing things to stand out more like changing my clothes, but that didn’t really help. 

So now that you kind of know what I look like, let me tell you about my life. I don’t remember much of my childhood anymore except a few things. I remember that I wasn’t really a girly girl, much as my parents wanted me to be. I loved exploring the woods, playing sports, and learning new things. I really liked animals, especially horses. While most kids would be frightened by such big animals, I would walk right up to one and pet it. I remember that I used to take riding lessons and how I even considered becoming a veterinarian or what used to call a “horse doctor.” 

In school, from the little that I could remember, I wasn’t the most popular girl. In fact I was teased a lot, and I only really had a few good friends. I guess I did ok in school, but again I don’t remember much. What I do know is that my English teachers used to comment on how well I wrote and encouraged me to pursue that. That’s how after school I went to college for creative writing, to become an author or a journalist. I made some new friends and had a good time and actually it was better than my school days before. 

Sadly what they sometimes don’t tell you after college is that you may not automatically get the job you want right away. So I had to settle working at a coffee shop. It wasn’t the most mentally challenging job but I was able to get enough money to support living on my own in an apartment. The hours weren’t bad either. The best thing was that I met my boyfriend Mark there. He was the one of the people I still miss after leaving. Oh, if this is Mark reading this, I’m sorry that things didn’t turn out the way they did and I hope that you forgive me.

Are you still there? Great! Well, if I haven’t frightened or bored you away yet, maybe you’ll stick around to read the rest. You’ll understand how I got into My Little Pony and how one simple wish that I made changed my life forever. If there’s one thing I can warn you about it’s be careful what you wish for. You might actually get what you want! 

> Enter Ponies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2 – Enter Ponies

So where was I? Oh yeah, about how I discovered My Little Pony. I hope you know at least a little about the show, otherwise I might as well be speaking about this in another language.  Basically there are three types of ponies: earth ponies, Pegasus ponies, and unicorn ponies. There are others, but I’ll just keep it simple for now. In the show there are six ponies, two of each type, that go around helping each other and the land that they live in. Follow me so far? I hope so.

Now I have a confession to make. I don’t really know how exactly I got into the show. I guess it’s a combination of my being so involved with it and the fact of my memory going away. There are times now that I forget that the place I live in I once thought was just a cartoon, just a place I’ve lived in all my life. There were several episodes that stood out in my mind that could have made me like the show, although I can’t choose a particular one. I do remember seeing a lot of pony art online and how that made me wonder what all the fuss was about. After watching the show I realized that I liked it.

Ok, maybe the word “like” isn’t the best way to describe it. I think “mildly obsessed” is better. I mean I like cats but I don’t have a house full of them where I am now. Oh sure I looked like an average person on the outside. I didn’t go around wearing pony themed clothes often, and I really only talked about the show to my friends that I knew like it too. But once you walked into my apartment, things were very different. My place was like a pony shrine! There were art prints lining the walls, figures and plush ponies on every imaginable ledge and even other things like a pony themed lamp and bedding. You couldn’t be anywhere where something pony related was absent. 

Then something happened, and I really can’t tell you how or why or even when exactly. But one day I decided that I couldn’t just watch the show or look at art pictures or read fan fiction. I wanted to do more, to contribute something. I guess it was around this time that I realized that there was a brony fandom that shared a similar love for My Little Pony as I did. I made it my mission to do something for the newfound fandom, and I knew just how. 

I decided to create a character that would best represent me as a pony, a ponysona. So one day after work I sat down at my computer and began to type out a little biography. It started simple enough with describing to pony me. I’m not sure why I chose to have a raspberry colored pelt, a purple mane and tail, and green eye, but that’s what I came up with. They all seemed to blend perfectly and look nice yet not too girly. I also knew that I wanted to be a unicorn. I loved characters like Twilight Sparkle who were able to use magic without breaking a sweat and thought it would be cool to do that as well. I also knew that my pony would be a mare.

I was going along fine until I hit a wall. I didn’t know what to call her or what her cutie mark would be. If you’re reading this and have not seen the show, a cutie mark is like a magical tattoo that identifies a pony’s talent and is a really big thing. Ponies often have the habit of looking at your mark to learn a little about you before saying hello. At first that seemed odd to me, but then I got used to it. Anyway, I was thinking about my talent and realized that I got a degree in Creative Writing so I should have a name and a mark relating to it. Then my mind focused on having something relating to a quill. After all, ponies don’t use pens or computers. Soon after, I came up with the idea of a quill with a line of ink coming from it. Then I got the name Quill Flourish and as easy as that my writer’s block was over. 

From that point on, the rest of my character creation came easily. I created an entire history of my character, including how I developed my talent by winning a school essay contest which was based on my life as a human which gave the mark and how I went to college studying Creative Writing only it was in Canterlot of course. As for my personality, I used my own. This was easier said than done as trying to put down everything about how you act and feel towards different things can be tricky. Finally I had Quill Flourish created, her whole being on paper. 

After that I began to do all sorts of things with my ponysona. I began to learn how to draw online and started making pictures of her having fun. I also began to write stories of her adventures and how she seemed to get into strange situations which she used for her writing. I even joined a role playing site where I played as Quill where I could live my life as her. The more things I did involving her, the more I felt like I was her and she was me.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t some person that thought that they were a pony and went about acting or talking like one. I knew I was a human who had a human life and a job. No amount of drawing, writing, or role playing could ever magically change me into a pony or somehow make Quill Flourish appear at my door. But there were times I would look at something I wrote or Quill’s smiling face on an art I just drew or a fun encounter I had playing her and I would wonder what life would be like if I wasn’t an average human living a regular sometimes boring life. I wonder what new friends, things to learn, and encounters I’d have as a pony. I guess you could say I got a little jealous about how happy and carefree those ponies were. 

There were even some nights I would dream of being Quill Flourish saying hello to the other ponies, having fun, or even having wild adventures. These dreams were so real that when I did wake up I had to take a few seconds to think if I was still dreaming or not. I admit that I wished some nights that I would stay in that dream. 

What I didn’t know that I do now is that the universe at times can be magical, making things possible that would seem impossible and granting a person’s deepest desires. And that was exactly what happened to me one seemingly normal night.

> If Wishers We're Ponies
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3 – If Wishers were Ponies

Ok, so now that I bored you with my life’s story and my obsession, let’s talk about the moment you’ve been waiting for, how I became a pony.  Now, I have to tell you that I did not plan to have this happen to me. Sure, I liked My Little Pony, but if anyone came up to me and said, “Julie, you’re going to become a pony,” I would have run away so fast. Because really you’d be crazy to believe that could happen. It would be like something out of a horror movie, one of those werewolf ones. I could just picture it now, a poster saying “Night of the Werepony” where a girl gets bit by a pony and transforms into one when the moon is full! Yeah, that kind of crazy.

Even though I imagined what life would be like as a pony, I still didn’t think I would ever become one. I knew that when it came down to things, I was watching a cartoon and I was in my life as a human, and there was no way that the two could ever cross. The only thing that could bridge the gap were the plush animals and toys that filled my apartment, but even those I knew were not real. They couldn’t laugh or talk or share secrets or anything a living creature could. But every time I watched an episode or participated into a role playing event, I would wonder what life would be like as my pony I created. 
You may think I’m crazy, but consider a few things first. Is it crazy to imagine and dream about things, even those we know would never come true? When we were kids we used to do this a lot, making spaceships and castles out of cardboard boxes, pretending we were knights or pirates or princesses, and even talking with imaginary friends. But something happened where our imagination was seen as a bad thing. People would put labels on imagination like “childish” or “immature.” And so most of us lived our dull grey lives until we learned that imagination isn’t something as bad as we were told. I guess that’s why I liked My Little Pony as it showed a world full of joy and surprises. 

Anyway, for the while I lived a double life. There was the majority of my life where I spent at my job and doing other things like meeting my boyfriend or occasionally shopping or going to the movies. Yet when I turned on that computer and began to write, draw, or role play, I was Quill Flourish, my happy little pony. Only a few close friends and my boyfriend knew about this other side of me, and that’s how I wanted it. That way no one would think of me odd that I liked a cartoon, because in the end I was more than just a brony. My boyfriend, Mark, at first thought it was strange. He even laughed when I told him I liked My Little Pony like I was telling him a joke. But to his credit he stuck with me and my little obsession. 

Now comes the part that you were all waiting for: how I became a pony. That is why you stuck with me all this time, right? Well, it was a dark and stormy night. I know cliché right? But it really happened like that. I was at home after an ok day at work. I got there late and my boss was mad at me for that. Then I spilled a pot of coffee, broke a dessert dish and got yelled at by the most obnoxious customer who was rudely on his cell phone like I was his personal servant. By the end of the day I was happy to be out of there. I needed some comfort so I tried meeting Mark, but he was busy during the evening. I don’t blame him. He works really hard and sometimes can’t meet me. Adding to the misery was the rain. It stormed all day, soaking me every time I went from my car to a place and back. I would have yelled at the Pegasus pony who made such lousy weather, but of course I knew they weren’t on Earth. 

So there I was, sitting at my computer, staring at the latest picture I made of Quill Flourish. There she was my unicorn alter ego, relaxing in a flowery meadow with a book and a smile on her face. It was like a complete opposite to my life at that time. My mind was so fixated on the character that I began to daydream of me as her frolicking with other ponies in town, maybe singing those catchy songs randomly. That’s when I said it, something simple that I really didn’t mean to say. It came from the bottom of my heart and deep within my mind. It was:

“I wish I was you sometimes, Quill Flourish.”

That’s right, no special magical phrase or anything else. Just a simple sentence, a little halfhearted wish, but that’s all it took really. Of course I didn’t know it at the time. After saying that, nothing really happened. No sudden change, no blacking out, nothing. I felt perfectly normal the rest of the night, unaware of what was to happen. I often wonder what I would do differently if I knew that I was going to be spending my last night as a human.  Would I talk to someone or go somewhere? I can’t really say. In hindsight it was just another night and as I closed my eyes nothing was telling me otherwise. 
How wrong I was! 

> Not What I Expected
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4 – Not What I Expected 

So, you probably know what happened, right? Yep, I became a pony, Quill Flourish to be exact. And I awoke in Ponyville where I spent the rest of my life living in happiness and making lots of new friends and lived happily ever after. 

The End!


Not exactly.

You see, wishes are funny things. Not even the princesses really know everything about them. But one thing is certain, and that is wishes are fickle. You have to make sure you cover all the details because if you just throw out a random one, the wish has a habit of throwing in its own details. Now when I made that wish, I really didn’t expect things to happen. It was just something I said like “I wish it would stop raining,” or “I wish I had a million bits.” So details weren’t something I was interested in. 

Now before I explain what happened, I want to clarify one thing. You’re probable wondering if I felt anything becoming a pony. After all, it’s not every day that a human becomes one. This wasn’t some crazy scene from a werewolf movie either. The truth is I felt… nothing really. No pain, no dizziness, nothing. Yeah, pretty anticlimactic, so much that I don’t even remember that night. I fell asleep and I woke up. That was it. I barely even tossed and turned at night. In fact it was one of the best night’s sleep I had! 

When I woke the next morning, I remembered feeling strange. It wasn’t like I felt sick or tired. It was, I don’t know how to describe it. Maybe the word peculiar would be a good fit. It was like my body was trying to tell me that something was different. There were other strange things too. I felt warmer, like my body had an extra blanket wrapped around it. Strangely enough, whatever it was that made me feel warmer also felt fuzzy. 

Thinking nothing of it, I pulled myself out of bed, ready for the day. It was Saturday and a day I spent mostly doing things around the house or going to stores. No sooner had I stepped on to the floor and tried to walk I knew something was wrong. It was as if my legs could no longer support my weigh and after shaking violently they suddenly buckled and I found myself on the floor! Thinking I tripped on something, I tried to get up again, after a few steps I collapsed again to the floor. You can say I was definitely upset about what was happening. After all, the last time I had trouble walking was when I got a nasty virus that make me sick enough that I could barely walk straight and made me feel very dizzy. 

I found that after trying a second time to get up I only managed to get to as far as being on all fours. I wasn’t going to try any further until I felt I was able to do that. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results, right? So I waited for the inevitable falling down again, but to my surprise, my arms and legs held my body. I took a step, stopped to check my balance and then took another. 

Slowly I began to crawl from the bed to the bathroom, checking how things were as I went. It was odd that I felt like a kid again crawling on my hands and knees across the floor like some animal. Even stranger was the fact that my body felt natural being that way with my arms and legs below my body and my head above. It was as if I was born that way. Other things struck me as odd, like my legs feeling shorter that I imagined them to be. My hands were also all wrong, like someone glued my fingers into perpetual fists. 

I knew I had to get to the bathroom to see if there was something, anything that was wrong with me. Finally I touched the cold tiled floor, indicating that I reached my destination. The hard bathroom floor seemed unsettling to me for some reason when compared to the soft carpeted surface of the bedroom. Being on all fours was a strange perspective as everything seemed bigger than when I stood up. I looked up and knew that the mirror on the medicine cabinet was a mere three feet from my head, but it could have been three hundred feet until I could reach it. 

I once again stood up and feeling my feet starting to give out I quickly reached for the sink, hoping it could grab onto it and not just slip from the porcelain surface and fall again. I was able to grip onto the bowl of the sink, but it felt like I could lose it at any time. My ability to grip hold of things was very limited, but I did not know why. That was, until I looked down. Instead of seeing my hands there were what looked like a cartoon horse’s forelegs with a raspberry coloring, ending in a pair of hooves. 

My mind went into a total denial phase. I mean, if you saw something that was so different you’d think it was strange to make it unbelievable. But my denial was quickly broken when I looked at the mirror. There staring back at me was not my face but Quill Flourish! I gasped and the reflection gasped along. In my surprise I stepped back and let go of the sink. Suddenly I felt myself falling backwards as my legs again buckled under my weight. 

Then everything went black. 

> Reality Check
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5 – Reality Check

I felt myself slowly coming out of my sleep as my brain tried to make sense of things. The last thing I remembered was looking in my bathroom mirror and seeing Quill Flourish, the pony I created, staring back at me as if I was her and she was me. Immediately I thought that it was all a dream that I had imagined that I woke up as a pony. I’ve had many dreams before as me being a pony, although most of them started out as me as Quill in Ponyville rather than in my apartment. I guess when I dreamed of ponies, I liked to get rid of everything that was human, preferring to be in Ponyville. But to have a dream in my apartment where I felt terrified that I was a pony? That was definitely new.

Thinking it was a dream I believed that I’d just wake up and find myself safe in my warm bed nestled among the covers and happy. Then my senses started to return, starting with my sense of touch. Instead of feeling the softness of my bed to my surprise the surface I laid upon was hard and cold like a floor. My hearing returned but there was nothing unusual, although I found it odd that I could hear better that I had before. My sense of smell awakened and the smell of cleaning fluid mixed with that wet smell that lingers long after taking a shower invaded my nostrils. Where ever I was, it wasn’t my bed. 

At last my eyes opened, revealing the true world around me. I stared at what looked like a wall although it looked sideways for some reason. I quickly struggled to my feet, but then I felt that same eerie feeling that being on all fours was my natural stance. Again I felt that my hands and feet were different now, without fingers or toes and very firm like hooves. I began to worry what that meant as my mind suffered from a case of déjà vu. I again stood on my hind legs and immediately felt myself going to fall over. This time I gripped onto the sink and again like in the dream and saw my new hooves. 

I took a deep breath and looked at the mirror and then saw again not my human face but that of my ponysona. Part of me became surprised that I saw that pretty unicorn face in the mirror, but for some reason there was part of me that knew that it was not a dream, that this was the real deal. I spent what felt like an eternity looking at my face. I blinked and Quill blinked back. I tilted my head, and so did she. I then lifted my one hoof while trying to steady myself with the other on the sink and felt my face; just to be sure my eyes weren’t messed up. I felt the fuzziness of the soft raspberry coat that covered my face, waved my hoof in front of my now gigantic eyes, touched my violet mane, and even felt the eight inch long horn protruding from my forehead which gave off a little buzz like electricity ran through. 

I then abandoned the sink and slowly settling down on the linoleum floor looked over the rest of my body. It’s one thing to know what you look like as an artwork, and a completely other thing entirely when you are that art work and see how everything moves as a living breathing pony. I looked at my new legs and hooves. I examined my sleet equine body covered in raspberry hairs. I noticed how my tail moved frequently according to my mood, and right now it swished frantically from side to side. 

Oh, here are a couple of pony facts. First, when people see the title of the show My Little Pony, they imagine that ponies are the size of a small dog. That’s not the case. Ok, so a pony like me isn’t the size of a real pony that you see children ride on at a fair. But I, like other ponies, are over three feet tall and when we stand on our legs we can reach over five feet tall! So maybe we can’t reach the high shelf on a human house, but we can get stand pretty tall. Next, the eyes! Yeah, they’re big, but it’s not like I can see any better than when I was a human. My hearing and smell, however are much better. Now onto the cutie mark: it’s not a tattoo actually but it actually different colored hairs. I don’t know how they change color but like most things I just have to say magic. 

Ok, enough about the facts. I’ll explain more later. Anyway, it was like a delayed reaction with the realization that I had changed from a human to a pony. I guess I was walking around like in a dream state. But then it hit me like a clue by four. I was no longer Julie, this human who lived in an apartment and worked in a coffee shop while trying to be a writer. I was now Quill Flourish, the unicorn pony. It was like I was trapped in two worlds. One was the world of ponies, a place that I wanted so much to be in but realized it was just a cartoon. The other was the human world that I knew the one I was used to. I was stuck in the middle of these worlds, unsure of what would happen next.

A wave of terror overcame me as several questions arose in my mind. What if becoming a pony was temporary? What if it was permanent? What if somewhere the world of Equestria was real? How would I adjust to being a pony in a human world? What about my friends, my boyfriend, my job? The questions kept coming from my mind with everything from the eerily real to the crazy. 

And then, just when it couldn’t get any worse, I hear a knock on the door. 

> Surprise!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6 – Surprise! 

I quickly panicked hearing the knock on the door. My mind raced through everyone who it could be visiting me on a Saturday morning as I quietly made my way towards the door. I thought that maybe if I could be as quiet as possible then whoever it was would go away.  Really, if you became a pony overnight, would you want someone to know? I’d think not. You’ll probably end up as the main article in a tabloid “The Living Unicorn” right next to the woman who had fifty cats and the man who discovered Bigfoot. Or you’ll end up as a test subject at some top secret government facility. Or worst of all, you might end up as a pet.

As I exited the bathroom and walked into the kitchen, another knock reported through the wooden door. Whoever this was, they were persistent. Then I heard a familiar voice.

“Julie, are you in there? It’s Michelle. We had a shopping day today, remember?”

A wave of relief overcame me. At least it wasn’t some stranger. It was my friend Michelle. I met her in college and the two of us instantly became really good friends. By really good I mean like how the mane six ponies were with each other. I helped her to study and she helped pull me out of my comfort zone by taking me shopping, to the movies, or even a party or two. But how would she react seeing me as I was: a multicolored unicorn that for all purposes should not exist. 

For a moment I said nothing, wondering what to do next. Part of me wanted her to come in, give me a hug, and tall me everything was going to be ok. The other part of my brain just wanted me to be left alone, free for me to sort things out in peace. 

“Julie, did you sleep in again? Or maybe you’re in the shower. I know you’re there though. I can hear you breathing. Well, I set aside the whole day for you so I’m not leaving until you answer the door.”

I realized that as might as I tried to make myself disappear, I gave it all away.  I now had to say something, but what? Then something came to mind.

“Michelle?”

“Oh there you are! So, are you going to open the door or not?
”
“Um actually I’m kind of sick, so I won’t be coming with you shopping.”

“Sick? You were fine yesterday at the café.”

“Yeah, must have just picked it up.”

“Ok, well if you don’t want to go out, that’s fine. We can just talk. I mean, you’re not that contagious, right?”

With that she gave a little laugh. I realized that in lying I just buried myself deeper. I knew she wasn’t going to buy the sickness thing and even if she did she’d still want to see me. The downside of being best friends I guess. 

“Michelle,” I said through the door, “Something happened last night. I can’t explain it, but now’s not a good time.”

“Ah ha! I knew you weren’t sick! But what happened to you? Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine I guess.”

“Alright Julie,” she said more forcefully, “I know something is up. I can hear it in your voice. I’m your best friend, right?”

“Of course you are Michelle.”

“Then please let me in.”

With a sigh I knew that she wasn’t going away, especially now that she knew something was off. I had to show her what I became and tell her the truth.

“Ok. Give me a second.”

The door to my apartment had a lock in the door knob and a slide bolt above that. I stood on my hind legs and gripped the small lock. With a turn it opened.

“I just have to get the slide bolt Michelle.”

The question was how? The slide bolt was too high for me to grab with my hooves and I knew nothing about how to use magic yet. I looked around, trying to find something to stand on. That’s when I saw the computer chair. I wheeled it over with my muzzle until it hit the door.

“What are you doing in there, moving your entire apartment around?”

“Just a minute Michelle, ok?”

“Ok.”

I jumped up on the chair and the wrestled the slide bolt on the chain until it opened. 

“Ok Michelle. I…”

I was about to say, “Ok Michelle. Just one more minute,” and then moved the chair back. My friend had other plans. The moment she heard that slide bolt disengaged she opened the door with a force that slammed against the chair and sent me flying. I landed with a thud on my back (thank goodness for carpeting) just as Michelle stepped in. 

“Geez Julie. Next time move your chair. Now where are …”

She paused as she looked down and saw me there. Her face scrunched up in a look of surprise before giving a smile. 
“Alright, Julie, is this the big secret? You bought another pony plush, didn’t you?”

“Michelle,” I said which made her stop in her tracks, “It’s me, Julie.”

“Julie? But you…you’re…”

“A pony, yeah I know.”

“Eeeeee,” she suddenly squealed and picked me up like I was a cat, “You’re so cute!”

“Michelle,” I yelled, “You’re freaking me out. I’m not a pet, so put me down.”

“Oh, sorry Julie,” she said as she sat me back down, “But, oh my gosh! You’re really a unicorn. How did it happen?”

“Alright tell me everything.” 

> A Friend in Need
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6 – A Friend in Need

I spent a good hour telling Michelle everything that happened, how I created Quill Flourish and how I just innocently wished that I could be like her. All the while Michelle sat on the couch next to me with a look still frozen in amazement. I guess I couldn’t blame her. I mean, if you came to your friend’s apartment and found a living breathing and talking version of something that shouldn’t exist claiming that they were your friend, how would you react?

Finally I finished and waited her to say something.

“So you just made a wish and the next day you woke up as this?”

“Yeah, that’s what happened. I guess all I can say about it is that it’s magic.”

“Wow, I wish I had luck with wishes like that,” she said, “Do you know how many times I wished I won the million dollar lottery or for a boyfriend?”

She stopped and noticed the look of frustration on my face. 

“Sorry Julie. Guess I got carried away. So you didn’t want to be a pony?”

“Yes… I mean no… I mean I don’t know I guess part of me wanted to be Quill but I didn’t think it would happen. I like My little Pony, but to become one? It’s just, I don’t know.” 

“Magic?”

“Yeah, magic.”

“Well I have to say you’re really cute as a unicorn,” Michelle said looking at me like I was a pet.

“Michelle, I’m not a dog or a cat, ok? So, stop looking at me like that! I’m still me, just in another body. And I’m really freaking out here!”

“Geez Julie, calm down. I was just trying to make you feel better. Your my friend, and I’ll do anything to help you.” 
“I know… it’s just… oh Michelle! What am I going to do now that I’m a pony! Where am I going to live? How am I going to eat? I can’t get a job like this, nor can I be seen in public.”

I suddenly couldn’t take it anymore and began to cry uncontrollably. I then felt my friend’s arms around me as she tried to comfort me. She then began to stroke my mane. It felt odd at first but I did not protest. It actually felt good to be held and cared for. 

“Julie, we’ll figure this out together, ok? I already have things planned out for you. You’re going to move in with me.”
“Really,” I said as a dried the tears from my eyes. 

“Sure you can. My apartment has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, remember?”

“Yeah I think I remember,” I said trying to picture the times I went over to her apartment through the fog of confusion that was in my mind. 

“Well, that other room isn’t used for anything other than storage right now. It’s actually too big for me to live in but I made it work. You can live in that spare room, and we’ll just mix your things with mine.”

“Are you sure you want to do this? I mean an apartment is kind of a private place.”

“Julie, what part of friend don’t you understand,” she said with a smile, “I’m offering you a place to stay, unless of course you prefer living in a barn somewhere.” 

I was going to tell her that ponies don’t live in barns but actually really nice houses. Seriously, houses here in Ponyville are much better than the apartment I lived in and a lot cheaper too. Oh, I just went on a tangent, didn’t I? I really have to stop that. Twilight gives me a face when I do that which I always say, “Well excuse me Princess!” Anyway, I didn’t say anything to Michelle but thought about her offer. Finally I spoke.

“I’d love to move in with you,” I finally said. 

“Oh great,” she said suddenly giving me a hug that I thought my bones would snap, “I always want to have a roommate. We’ll have fun, you and I. Oh, we’ll move all your stuff out though. I’m not sure if you can help move anything other than a box or two as a pony though. Oh, wait a minute. You’re a unicorn. See, I learned something from you talking to me about ponies. So, can’t you do that teleprompt… telephone…”

“Telekinesis,” I corrected her.

“Yeah, that magic where ponies can lift things. Can you do that?”

“I’m not sure. I mean I’ve been a pony for just a few short hours. Most unicorns in the show have been practicing magic since they were foals.”

“Foals,” Michelle asked.

“Kids,” I said, “I think you still have a few things to learn about ponies.”

“Ok, well can you just humor me and try it?”

“I guess. What would you like me to try and move?”

“Um,” she said looking around the room for something suitable to practice on, “Oh how about that?”

I looked over where she pointed at. There next to the bookshelf was a Twilight Sparkle plush. It was odd how as a human it was such a small thing but now as a pony it was a third my size! 

“Ok, I’ll try,” I said as I stood near it. 

I tried to remember how magic worked in the show. It never really was explained how a unicorn could do it. They just did. I knew that it looked like it required concentration and energy, but beyond that this was going to be a bunch of guessing. I bent my head down, closed my eyes, and focused on the plush, imagining it floating in the air. I then felt my horn tingle as if it had electricity running through it. I opened my eyes and saw that the plush did…

Nothing. 

I tried again, gritting my teeth and grunting as I tried forcing more energy out of my horn. It felt like I was trying to lift a car instead of a plush pony that weighed less than a pound. Finally I gave up and collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. 

“Julie,” Michelle said as she got up from the couch where she watched my attempt at magic, ‘Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m just a little drained now. Sorry I couldn’t move the Twilight Plush.”

“That’s ok. I know you’ll get the hang of it. I’ll get some of my friends to help you move your stuff to my apartment and you can tell me where it all goes.”

“Thanks Michelle.”

“For what?”

“For all this. You know, for allowing me to move into your apartment and for being my friend.”

“Hey, what are friends for? Now let’s get breakfast. Are you ok with bagels, or Do I need to get grass from the lawn outside?”

“No,” I giggled, “Ponies can eat anything except meat. Oh boy, I’ve got a lot to teach you before I become your roommate!”

> Conversations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 8 – Conversations

Breakfast passed without incident the two of us sat. It was kind of hard to eat for me though. Part of it was the hooves. I guess you’re wondering how it feels having them instead of hands, right? I guess the best way to describe it is to imagine you’re wearing mittens, only your thumbs are connected to the rest of the mitten. Unlike a mitten though hooves are not soft but hard, so I guess it’s like wearing several mittens? It’s hard to remember even wearing things on my hands like rings or gloves anymore. All I’m accustomed to wearing now are bracelets and the occasional shoe for fancy parties. 

In any case trying to grip a knife to butter my bagel or to hold a glass was almost impossible. I felt so bad when I spilled the orange juice on Michelle. She merely laughed it off, but I felt like I was a baby having to now relearn the simplest of things like walking and using my hooves to eat. 

The other reason I couldn’t eat much was that my mind still kept trying to process what happened. I mean, if you suddenly woke up as something other than what you normally were, how would you feel? My mind was a tornado of feelings. Yeah, pretty crazy. It was so crazy that I barely could focus on anything else around me, especially Michelle.

“Julie, are you listening,” she said as her words finally broke into my mind.

“Huh,” I said as my mind finally snapped back into reality, “Oh yeah Michelle. I was listening. Um… what were you talking about?”

“Geez Julie. I spent like a half hour talking about my day and you completely zoned me out! Did turning into a pony short out your brain?” 

“Sorry. It’s just that I have a lot on my mind that’s all.”

“Yeah, I guess you would. So what’s it like… you know…”

“Being a unicorn?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s just strange. Not totally good or totally bad. Just strange. I can’t really describe it. It’s like part of me knows that this is my body now, but there’s another part that still doesn’t believe it. I guess you can say it’s like wearing a costume, only instead of knowing that you can take it off you’re stuck with it.”

“So besides looking like a pony, do you feel any different?” 

“Only a little. I can hear and smell a little better, but that’s about it.” 

“I’d think you’d be able to see better too with those big eyes of yours,” Michelle said with a laugh.

“Yeah, I’m surprised too, but no I can see the same as I did as a human.” 

“But aside from your senses, is there anything else?”

“Besides the fact that I’m a total wreck now?”

“Oh come on. Surely you’re not that bad.”

“Michelle, I may not look like it but I’m freaking out inside! How would you feel if you woke up as someone different?”

“Well, if I woke up with the body of a supermodel I wouldn’t complain,” she said trying to cheer me up. 

“I’m serious,” I said not buying her attempts to calm me down, “In an instant my whole life changed. Poof! Gone. How do I start my life over from scratch?” 

“Well, look at it this way, you have the basics covered. You’re going to be living with me and not in a barn somewhere. I’m going to feed you as long as you don’t raid my entire kitchen. As far as clothes, ponies don’t wear them do they?”

“Nope. Only for formal occasions they wear dresses, but that’s not going to happen for me. But I’m not going to be able to work like this, and as far as making any friends I don’t know how I’m going to do that if I can’t go outside my apartment without everyone looking at me like I’m some kind of freak.”

“Well, who knows? Maybe people will love you as you are. I mean, aren’t there those, what are they called? You told me about them, the people who like ponies but aren’t little girls?”

“Bronies?”

“Yeah, them. You’ll be like their mascot, no, that’s not the right word. My high school had a guy dressed in a bulldog outfit as a mascot. You can be like the ultimate celebrity for them, a living breathing example of the thing that they love!”

“Yeah, maybe,” I said pondering the idea of showing up at a pony convention.

“Anyway, you need to take things one step at a time Julie or else you’ll drive yourself crazy. Ok, so besides helping you move your stuff, how else can I help you?” 

“Well, everything that I need to get to has to be at my eye level, at least until I learn telekinesis.”

“Got it,” Michelle said as if she began taking a mental list.

“Food wise like I said I can have anything but meat.”

“Ok.”

“I’ll need room to maneuver in your apartment until I get used to my new body.”

“I’ll have to move some things around but I’m going to need to do that anyway when your stuff gets moved in.”

“Oh, and no friends for a while coming over to your apartment when I’m living there. I don’t want them to call a tabloid paper or animal control. Not even if your friends love MLP. I really have to get my life together before I’m prepared to meet them.”

“Alright, I’ll make sure of that too. And here I thought my day was going to be tough trying to decide what to buy at the mall.” 

“Oh and there’s one more thing, something we need to do today.”

“What’s that?”

“You’re going to watch all three seasons of My Little Pony to understand how ponies act.”

“Oh come on Julie! You know I love you, but converting me into a brony?”

“Please,” I pleaded, trying to give her the best cute face that I could copy from the show.

“Oh, alright. I can’t resist a cute face like that. Just don’t let the power of that look get to your head, ok?”

“Deal. Now turn on my computer and go to the Internet.”

> Quizzes and Questions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 8 – Quizzes and Questions

“Can we stop for now,” Michelle asked me as the credits rolled on the episode we were watching, “I think I need a break from ponies for a while.”

She noticed that I gave her a strange look when she said that. 

“Oh, no offense to you Julie.”

“None taken. Actually we have only one more season to go and it’s half of what the others were. But before we take a break, how about a quiz?”

“Come on Julie. I agreed to watch the episodes, but not to make this like a college class with an exam.”
“Just humor me, ok? It’s just for fun.”

“Fine,” Michelle said accepting her fate.

“First question, what was the name of the two ponies that got married in the season finale?”

“Shining Armor and Princess Cadence,” she said.

“Right, and how are Shining Armor and Princess Cadence related to Twilight Sparkle?”

“Shining Armor is Twilight’s brother and Cadence was her foal sitter.”

“Great! Now what was the wing power that Rainbow Dash wanted to achieve when sending the water to Cloudsdale?”

“A thousand I think?”

“Yes! What was the book series that Rainbow Dash likes?”

“Daring Do.”

“Yep, and what were the names of the two ponies that sold bad cider?”

“Flim and Flam.”

“Great! Where did Applejack go instead of returning home to Ponyville?”

“Dodge Town?”

“Close. It’s Dodge City. What are the Cake Twins names?”

“Pumpkin and Pound?”

“Wow, you really were studying! Alright, what was the name of the event that Luna returned to?”

“Nightmare Night?”

“Yep. What did Princess Celestia want Twilight and her friends to do?”

“She wanted Twilight to not worry about sending a letter to her every time.”

“And?”

“And she wanted her friends to send letters too?”

“One last question, who is the pony that appears in the background of almost every episode?”

“Um… Derpy Hooves?”

“Wow! I think I can say you’re a brony now.”

“Now, don’t expect me to be like you and start buying all these pony things.”

“That’s ok, you can play with mine. After all, those are going in your apartment along with other things.”

“Oh great, I’ll be inheriting your obsession. I’ll have to tell my friends that I have a fan of the show or else I’ll never live it down. So, since you became a pony Julie does that mean that ponies like Twilight Sparkle and the others are real somewhere?”

“I don’t know Michelle. I’d like to think that it wasn’t some freak thing that I’m the only real pony. Granted I don’t think you’ll find Ponyville anywhere on the map here.”

“So it’s real, but somewhere else, like another world?”

“Maybe. I mean if it’s possible that I could be a pony, then Equestria could be real too. But I wouldn’t even know where to start with trying to even talk to a pony there.”

“Ok, if you could meet any pony there, who would it be?”

“Definitely Twilight Sparkle, and if I could Princess Luna. But really I’d want to meet as many as possible. It would be a little strange though.”

“How?”

“Well, if I met them, I’d have to act like I never knew about them before. They’d think I’m crazy if I started talking about them like I was watching them.  And I certainly couldn’t tell them that they were from a cartoon.” 

Funny, looking back as I had this conversation I realize that eventually I told Twilight and her friends the truth. She thought I was weird for a while but things worked out. But that’s for a later part of this story, so let’s get back to my conversation with Michelle.

“If you were able, you know, to go to Equestria Julie, would you go live there?”

“I don’t really know. I haven’t really considered that.”

“Well, I’d miss you if you had to go,” Michelle said.

“Yeah, so would I.”

“But now that I think about it, you changed because of a wish. You don’t think there are others that became ponies too, do you?”

“I never really thought about it, but maybe. I guess I’ll have to explore that later. It’d be nice to have a pony friend, no offense to you.”

“None taken, Julie. So what do you want to do now?”

“Well first you’ll watch Season 3, then I guess we’ll see about getting lunch and deciding how to move my stuff.”

With that Michelle let out a groan upon mentioning more episodes. To tell you the truth though, I think she was starting to like the show.

> Interlude: First Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 9 – Interlude: First Night

Michelle stayed with me the entire time that day I woke up as a pony. I felt bad that I ruined her plans to go shopping with me, but really how could I expect that this would happen? She was ok with it, after all she reminded me that the whole point of trying to take me shopping was to hang out with me and to get me out of the apartment for a while.  I’m glad that she did come over though. I could only imagine how bad things would be if she wasn’t  there. 

The rest of the day we spent preparing for my eventual move. It was hard to imagine leaving the place that I spend a few years living in. I mean I knew that one day I would be moving out but that was for moving into an actual house or maybe another apartment, not because I became a unicorn. But I didn’t feel safe staying where I was. What if there was something I needed and had to leave? What if someone spotted me and thought I was a lost pet or something? Granted moving in with Michelle didn’t help solve everything, but at least I wouldn’t be alone. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay here,” Michelle asked at night. 

“Nah, I know you want to go home. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine here.”

“Ok. I’ll be over tomorrow to help you pack.”

That night after Michelle left, I wandered around the apartment thinking about what I would do on a typical night. It usually involved sitting at my computer either drawing or writing fanfiction or checking out something on the Internet. Sometimes I would watch a show or a movie on TV as well. But I wasn’t up to them. It reminded me when I was little and got really sick, so sick that I lay on the couch not being able to do anything except lay there like a slug. This time I was perfectly able to do things, albeit maybe with some difficulty now that I had hooves instead of hands, I just didn’t feel up to it. My mind was still trying to comprehend how and why this all happened. 

I happened to look up and see all my pony things around. It was as if they were staring down at me with their smiling faces telling me that I was one of them now. That did it for me and I decided that there was no use trying to stay up with my brain in a spin and everything around me reminding me of what my life was and what I became. I then had an idea something worthy of Twilight Sparkle or even the princesses to conjure up. If a wish made me a pony, maybe a wish could make me a human? It was worth a shot. If I could become a human again, then there would be no moving and no disruption in my life. I’d be the happy, and maybe wiser, girl again. 

“I wish I was back to my human self again,” I prayed, hoping that whatever made me into a unicorn would return things to normal. 

After the wish I retreated into the bathroom to shower before heading into the bedroom. Just to be sure, I decided to wish again.

“I really, really, really wish that I was my human self again,” I said hoping the emphasis would help my plea. 

I then climbed into bed and drifted off to sleep, hoping that I would awake and find that I was human again. As I slept, part of me even began to wonder if the day was just some vivid dream like the ones I’ve heard about where people think that a dream is so real they wake up and wonder if they’re still dreaming or awake. Maybe this time being a pony was just a very freaky dream. Whatever the case, I hoped that things would be back to normal. 

That night I had a dream that I was still a unicorn and at a pony convention. All the bronies there were cheering my name. Some wanted my autograph while others wanted a hug. There was fan art and plush animals of me touting the “Real My Little Pony, Quill Flourish.” But the dream then faded away into the blackness of sleep, but not before making me wonder something. If that clearly was a dream, what was I doing now? Was I having a dream within a dream, or had everything I experienced been real? My restless body and mind found peace as I returned to a deep sleep where I hoped that its conclusion would bring everything back to normal once again. 

> The New Normal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10 – The New Normal

I awoke the next day, hoping that my wish had come true, that I would be back to being a human. And guess what? That’s right, I was still a pony, but I think you knew that already dear reader. Part of me wasn’t really that surprised. After all, I didn’t expect the fact that I would become a unicorn in the first place, so how could I expect that I’d turn back to a human? In that moment I realized that this was, for better or worse, my new normal and no amount of wishing would reset things back to when I was human. The best I could do was to accept the changes and try to adapt to the human world around me. 
After getting ready and having breakfast, Michelle came over with some boxes to begin packing my stuff. 

“Well, I can see you’re still a pony,” she said.

“Yep, still am. What, you expected me to be a human again.”

“I don’t know, I guess a little.”

“Yeah, I didn’t know if I’d wake up as a pony or a human.”

“Oh well, pony or human you’re still my friend. Now, let’s get you packing.”

It’s funny how much stuff you acquire over a lifetime until you have to move it. Thankfully I had this same apartment when I moved for college, so there was no need to move things in and out of dorm rooms.  But over the years things seemed to multiply. Most of the stuff I needed although there was much more that I just had for fun. The trick was what I needed keep now that I would be moving into Michelle’s apartment and what I could afford to get rid of. 

First were the clothes. That was the easy part.

“Are you sure you want to get rid of all this,” Michelle asked, “You have some really nice clothes.”

“Yeah, I know, but I can’t wear any of them as a pony. Besides that, ponies don’t wear clothes except formal occasions. So, if you or your other friends want any of these, be my guess. I think that they’ll fit you. But let me select a few things to box up for me, you know, just in case I become a human again.” 

Michelle squealed with the delight of a kid on Christmas day seeing all those clothes that were now hers.

“Oh thank you Julie! This is better than any shopping day. Don’t worry, if you need some of these back I’ll let you share.”
With my selected clothes boxed and the rest left for Michelle to come back and take, we moved through the rest of the apartment with a surprising ease. Michelle seemed to have a photographic memory when it came to what stuff she had like for the kitchen and cleaning, which allowed us to easily separate things into what to take to the apartment and what to sell. It was funny how some of the things that I owned I took for granted would now be gone from my life. Even stranger was the fact that things I used to have an attachment to no longer mattered much. 

Finally we got to the multicolored issue in the room: my pony collection. I could tell that Michelle was more than willing to just box them up and forget about them. I wasn’t ready to get rid of them yet though.

“Come on Michelle. You know how much I like my collection.”

“Look Julie, you know I love you and that I’m happy to take you into my apartment, but don’t you think your pony collection is a little much?”

Saying that reminded of when my parents found out that I liked MLP. They would drop hints like, ‘You know some little girl would love what you have,” or “Don’t you have another collection you want to display?” What they were really saying was, “Julie, you’re a young woman and shouldn’t be playing with things meant for little girls.” But I stuck to keeping them, just as I tried with Michelle.

“What’s a matter Michelle? Are you afraid someone might see you’re a closet brony?”

“Ok, I admit, the show seems nice, but I can’t just rush head long into this like you did. And yes some might think it’s a little weird seeing pastel ponies in my apartment, no offense.” 

“None taken. Really you can say you have a roommate and she’s interested in MLP. That’s not lying.” 

“I still don’t know.”

“Ok, let’s compromise. If I can keep half of the pony things that I own, will that satisfy you?”

“I guess that works,” Michelle.

It was easier said than done. Everything I owned had its own charm to it. Eventually though I relented and gave up the things I could live without. With the last thing taken care of, we divided my apartment into what goes into Michelle’s place and what goes to be sold. 

“Ok, so now that my apartment is pretty much packed, what do I do now?”

“Now I’m going to start moving these boxes you want to my apartment. You can just relax for now as I’ll be back for another load. I want you rested for tonight.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes, tonight I’m going to get you to my apartment.” 

> Late Night Adventure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 11 – Late Night Escape

Michelle made several trips taking my boxes from my apartment to hers. She was such a hard worker I felt bad just staying in my apartment watching her work. But as a pony I was limited to what I could do, especially since I was only one for such a short time. The fact that I couldn’t use magic yet also hindered things. Still, I tried to help by pulling boxes with my mouth closer towards the door for Michelle. Even though she scolded me for what she thought would damage my teeth, deep down I think she was grateful for the help. 

It was strange to see the boxes slowly disappear from my apartment, making the space look more open with each trip Michelle made. Finally Michelle returned from her last trip in the evening as she collapsed on the couch. The poor girl looked like she was about to pass out if she lifted one more box. 

“Ok,” Michelle said and she tried catching her breath, “I think I’m done for now moving things. Did you pack the things you need for tonight in your bag?”

“Yes I did. Thanks again for helping me pack.”

“No need to thank me. Anyway I’ll gather the rest of the things later. Now, how about supper?” 

“That sounds good.”

“Do ponies like pizza,” Michelle said as she took out her cell phone.

“I think so, providing there’s no meat. I can’t believe I’m saying that though. I used to love things like chicken or ham, but now I’m not really interested in them.” 

“Do you feel any other changes, other than being a pony and not liking meat of course?”

“None that I know of. I guess I haven’t explored the new me entirely to see if anything else changed.”

“Ok then, I’ll order a regular pizza. Does that sound good?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

She ordered the pizza and later I hid in the bathroom while she answered the door. I’m not sure that the pizza delivery person would be happy to see a living cartoon pony.  Or maybe this person would. Still, I wasn’t going to take any chances. Once Michelle gave me the all clear, we were free to sit down and eat. As we talked and ate, I couldn’t help but notice two things. First was the fact that I was having my last meal in my old apartment. The other was that despite the insanity of the last few days Michelle treated me like I was the same even though clearly I was not. 

With supper over, we spent the hours talking, just like old times. We knew that we were stalling for time until Michelle felt it safe to take me to her apartment. Nevertheless it was nice to just talk for a while to take my thoughts away for a while from my life as a pony. 

Finally Michelle looked at her watch and announced, “Ok Julie, it’s midnight so the chances of meeting many people will be minimal. Are you ready to go?”

“I guess”, I said as I got up out of the couch. 

Michelle opened the door and waited for me to exit. For a moment I stopped and looked back at the apartment. It was strange seeing the placed that I lived reduced to a pile of boxes and some remaining pieces of furniture. But I knew there was no going back to me old life now, not with what I was. I could only go on to my new life, and Michelle was there to give me a new start. With a heavy sigh I walked out the door and followed Michelle into the unknown. 

The trip between my apartment door and the elevator which normally took only a few minutes felt like a tense eternity. There was a fear with every door I passed that someone would exit and see me there. I felt less like the pretty pony I became and more like some monster that would be hunted if discovered. Thankfully I made it to the elevator with success and waited as we made our descent to the first floor. There was still the fear that the doors would open to let another in, but there was no issue as we made it to the bottom floor. 

We made a quick jaunt out to the dimly lit parking space. There were others there, but because of the darkness no one seemed to notice. To them I just liked like the shadow of some big dog.  Finally we made it to Michelle’s car, a third of the journey done.

“Alright Julie, you hop in the back and stretch out on the seat while I buckle you in. You’ll need to stay as low as possible so you’re not seen, ok?”

I nodded as I got strapped in. Then Michelle placed the box of my essential things in the passenger seat and drove away from the apartment building. The ride lasted a few minutes as we sped through the city. Thankfully there were only a few cars on the road along with Michelle and with the exception of a few pesky red lights the trip went smooth. Finally we made it to her apartment building, a place that looked fairly similar to where I used to live.

“Ok,” Michelle said unbuckling the various seat belts around me, “We’re here. All we need to do is get into the door and turn right down the one hall. My apartment and yours now  is at the end of the hall.”

I followed her as we crossed the parking area, making out way into the lit foyer of the apartment complex. Then as if to not prolong the wait, I took off in a gallop towards Michelle’s apartment. 

“Whoa Julie! Slow down. I have to get there to let you in.”

She finally caught up to me as she unlocked the door. As I set my hooves in her apartment I knew I was home free. The last thing I remember is climbing up on the couch and then falling asleep after a day of adventure. 

> Demon Cat and Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 12 – Demon Cat and Magic

I awoke the next morning not sure where I was or how I got there. The last thing I remembered was making it to Michelle’s apartment where I assumed I still was. As I opened my eyes I saw Michelle staring down at me with a face that appeared both goofy and creepy.

“Ahhh,” I screamed as a flailed my hooves and fell off the couch. 

“Julie, are you ok?”

“Ugh,” I said rubbing my head, “What were you doing Michelle?”

“I was… watching you.”

“You were watching me sleep?”

“Yeah, you do look kind of cute when you sleep you know.”

“Do you have any idea how creepy that sounds watching me sleep?”

“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry about that. You remind me of Tiger.”

“Yeah ok, just next time don’t… wait, who’s Tiger?”

“She’s my cat.”

As if hearing her name being called, Tiger appeared. Now I used to like cats, but this this made me change my mind. Tiger was the cute ball of fluff that greeted you at the door with a friendly meow and slept at the foot of your bed at night. Michelle’s cat was a demon, worse that Opal that Rarity owned. When this thing saw me, its fur puffed up and began to growl and hiss at me.

“Oh hi there Tiger,” I said reaching out to pet it.

The demonic cat suddenly began to furiously swipe at me with its paws, claws fully extended. One strike hit home as it struck me across the cheek, causing blood to run out.

“Tiger, that’s enough,” Michelle said with an angry tone that I never heard from her before.

She then picked up the cat who desperately struggled to break free to deal more damage to my face and carried her into her bedroom. As I watched from the door Michelle opened the sliding door to her closet, unceremoniously tossed the cat into the space, and slid the door closed before Tiger could escape her cage.

“Julie are you ok,” Michelle said turning around to see me, “Oh no, Tiger got you. Here, let me get you cleaned up.”
She then turned and disappeared into the bathroom. I could still hear that evil cat crying to be let out to face me again. Michelle returned with a cloth and a bottle that smelled something foul. 

“Here, this is going to sting, but it’ll help you,” she said as she didn’t give me a second to react before putting the burning solution on my face causing me to wince. 

“Sorry about that,” she said, “Tiger acts like that towards new people.”

“You mean she’s done this before?”

“Well, she’s growled and hissed when I would bring a new friend or a boyfriend over. But you were the first ever to get clawed by her.”

“Yeah, I guess I’m lucky. Maybe she thinks I’m a strange animal rather than your friend.”

“Maybe,” Michelle said throwing the cloth soiled with blood and medicine in a clothes basket, “I’ll be sure to keep her in the closet when I’m not around. Anyway, now that you’re awake let’s get some breakfast.” 

The two of us ate breakfast, talking about our day. Michelle said she had to go grocery shopping today and then would later have a friend to go with her to pick up my bed. Later on Michelle said would return to clean out my new bedroom and set up my bed so at least I wouldn’t be sleeping on the couch again. 

As I bid her farewell and Michelle shut the door behind me, I realized that there would be time for me to be alone in the apartment. I decided that I would at least scope out my room for a little and help with moving things before she returned. Looking into my new bedroom, I saw that it was pretty empty except for a few boxes filled with clothes for other seasons and assorted things she decided to put there. 

“Ok,” I said to myself, “Just a few boxes to move. This shouldn’t be that hard.”

It was harder than I thought. With no magic and being unable to lift the boxes I had to resort to pulling and pushing them out of the room either with my hooves or my mouth. An hour later, I felt like I ran a marathon, barely able to stand much less move another thing. 

“There’s got to be an easier way to do this,” I said panting as I looked up at the remaining boxes.

I knew the answer of course. Earth ponies had their strength, Pegasus ponies could move things by flying things from one place to another, and Unicorns had magic. But that was the problem: I didn’t know how! So I stood stuck as a weak pony who couldn’t cast a spell to save her life.

“I have to try again,” I said as I focused on a box in front of me. 

I could my forehead tingly as I grit my teeth and tried to concentrate on the object. For a moment I thought I saw it glow like things do in the show when they’re about to be moved, but just when I think I got it, the box just sat there, not moving an inch. After several tries, I finally collapsed in a heap of frustration and exhaustion.

“What wrong with me? Why is using magic so hard? Maybe when I wished to be a pony I didn’t get the ability to cast spells. Oh, I wish I could move this stupid box to prove I’m not worthless!”

Suddenly I saw the box glow and hover into the air! I was so overjoyed I could barely keep a thought in my mind.
“Ok, what am I doing differently? Wait a minute, maybe I don’t need to strain myself to collapse. Maybe all it takes is to just relax and let it go like walking or breathing.”

I continued to move the box with my magic slowly, taking care not to drop it or overexert myself. Finally I made I got it to the pile and set it down.

“Alright, one box down, a few more to go. I should have this magic thing down in no time.”

I then moved to the next box with a renewed excitement and a determination to keep practicing. 

> Interlude: time Passes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interlude: Time Passes

I just looked back at those last things I wrote, and I could see that I was rambling! I guess that’s one of my problems I have. I start on something and can write on and on about it. A few pages later and everypony that reads it is now asleep or wanting to run far away from me as possible forgetting that they even heard the name Quill Flourish.

Oh dear, now I’m rambling about rambling. Sorry about that. I’m glad that you stuck in there to read my tale of how I became a pony and the events leading up to being here in Ponyville. But you don’t want to hear about all the details of me moving my stuff into the apartment and the everyday life of being a pony in a world meant for humans, right? Yeah, that might be as fun as watching paint dry. So apologies for rambling through those last chapters. The next ones I’m sure will be the stuff of many of those fanfics you read. There will be mystery, danger, a villain, a friend, and even a little romance! 

So to set things up, I want to briefly breeze through that first week in Michelle’s apartment. It’s funny as I still call it hers even though I lived there too. Old habits die hard I guess. Anyway, like I said before, I finally learned some telekinesis which helped immensely with living in a place built for humans. Michelle was surprised to find that the spare bedroom was cleared and ready for my things to be moved in. Of course I had to hide in the bathroom when she and her friends came with my bed and other furniture. 

That bathroom became like a second home every time a friend would come to pick Michelle up. Her friends would always wonder why they could no longer hang out at her apartment or who the mysterious new roommate was that they always found in the bathroom, or why the place had a faint smell of an animal different from Tiger being there. But Michelle always was able to come up with excuses as to all the mysteries. It’s hard to keep a secret, especially a big one like having a living raspberry colored cartoon unicorn pony living there. I would soon learn what happens when my secret did get out, but that for a later chapter. 

Speaking of Tiger, the demonic cat, let’s just say I took care of that. No, the cat was fine, but I wanted to make sure that her days of trying to scratch and bite me were over. But let me rewind things a bit. Life in the apartment was fairly basic. I’d get up, shower, eat breakfast, and say goodbye to Michelle as she went to work. The rest of the day I was free to do as I pleased. It was strange having all that time when I usually would be working or shopping, or other things. But I wasn’t ever somepony to get bored easily and would find something that needed to be done.

The first few days I spent getting my room to my liking by unpacking everything that I saved, placing it where it needed to be. In doing so I practiced my telekinesis, learning how to lift things big and small. There were setbacks as I ended up using too much force of a box, but over time I learned to control my newfound powers. I also helped out Michelle by doing things around the house like cleaning or cooking. Although she always scolded me for doing that, deep down I knew she was grateful. 

Back to Michelle’s demon cat, I decided one day that it was time to face Tiger. Besides this fact, I needed a new challenge with my magic: a moving target. I prepared myself and opened the door to the closet prison where Tiger spent the majority of her time imprisoned in. The cat looked at me like she was about to make sure she was never put back into that place again. She sprung at me, claws and teeth bared. I tried to grab her with my magic but missed and dodged out of the way. The second time she charged I missed again. This time I wasn’t so lucky as she dug into my side, hoping to inflict as much pain as possible for a cat. But through the pain I focused and grabbed the cat and lifted her high in the air. Tiger started freaking out that she was floating in the air feet away from her prey, unable to move or attack. I dropped her and she tried to attack again but I was ready and lifted her up. This went on for a good hour until finally Tiger realized that her days of attacking me were over. Exhausted she collapsed on the floor in a ball of fur. After that Tiger at least tolerated me there in the apartment. 

Besides moving things and battling a crazy cat, I wrote. Writing was therapy for me, to get my mind off of the craziness of my new life. And wouldn’t you know it, I was actually better at it than I was as a human! Of course I realized that when I made Quill Flourish her talent and what her cutie mark represented was writing, so there was no surprise to my ability. Sometime I would write about my feelings, other times fiction. Yet each thing I wrote helped me immensely. 

There were those times that I would watch My Little Pony on TV or see one of my pony things and think about being there, having fun and being free with those I knew from the show instead of being cooped up in an apartment afraid to show my face. Don’t get me wrong, I love what Michelle did for me. Without her, I might have been out on the streets scrounging for food and avoiding all contact with others. But yet there was part of me that wanted to do more with my life rather than spend the rest of my days hiding. I knew that traveling to Ponyville was something that I couldn’t even figure out how I would do that or how I would break the news to Michelle. She was always supportive of me and would be happy to see me happily living in Ponyville, but still I knew she would miss me deeply. 

But in my free time I wondered if someone else was out there like me, a human who loved ponies and wished to be one and then one day awoke as one like me. It sounded so farfetched, but then again so was what happened to me. Never in a million years did I expect to become a pony, but here I was.  I didn’t know if I should risk meeting somepony like that or even if I could find one like that. Yet sometimes when we think that something is impossible it can actually happen. 
And that something, or in this case somepony, was a stallion named Brush Stroke. 

> Contact
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Contact

As the days passed, I continued to dwell upon the idea that maybe, just maybe there was someone else that loved My Little Pony and became one. At first it was a passing idea, something I thought about when I was alone in the apartment, but then it grew in my mind. Maybe it was the belief that I couldn’t possibly be the only one to have this happen to, or maybe it was the need to meet somepony like me. Whatever the reason, I made my decision to try to reach out and contact one weekend. 

“I’m going to see if there are others like me,” I announced to Michelle during breakfast.

“You mean like other bronies, right?”

“No, I’m going to see if there are others who loved MLP and wished they could be a pony and became one.”

“Are you crazy,” Michelle said almost spitting out her coffee on me, “First of all, how are you going to find someone like this? It’s not like everything on the Internet is real you know. Second, don’t you think if someone became a pony that they’d be, oh I don’t know, hidden in an apartment like you are? Then there’s the fact that you are a pony. Do you realize that the chances of you getting seen will be through the roof in a city like this? And let’s not forget that aside from whomever this other person is being a liar, they can be some crazed fan or some nut job that thinks they’re a pony or worse.”

“You don’t think I thought this through,” I said, “That’s really all I have left in my life, you, this place, and lots of time to think. But I just want to know if someone is out there, that I’m not the only one like this in the world.” 

“I know,” Michelle said, “I can only imagine how tough it must be being the only pony that you know. Would you just do me a favor?”

“Sure,” I replied.

“Just be careful, ok? I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Got it,” I said as I levitated my empty plate back to the kitchen.

That afternoon I turned on the computer and went onto the internet. It was odd using my telekinesis to use the keyboard and mouse but having hooves made it impossible to use a computer otherwise. I started to search for things like “Human to Pony,” or “Becoming a pony.” Most of the results were fanfics, often resulting in said character that changed into a pony being in a relationship with one of the Mane Six or a Princess. One blog post was about a guy who felt like a human trapped in a pony body. Yet nothing got me closer to where I wanted. 

After two hours and over fifty pages of search results later, I was no closer to my goal. I was about to abandon the search and any hope that I’d fine somepony like me when I then noticed a link that seemed to call out to me. Clicking it bought me to a simple looking blog page with a title “My life as a Pony.” On the home page there was a photo of a pony, a male unicorn with a white coat and a black mane and tail and blue eyes. It looked too real to be a drawing or some elaborate photo manipulation. I knew I was staring at a real life pony staring back at me. 

I began to read the front page of the blog, analyzing the text to get a sense of this user. 

“My name is Justin, or it was before a few weeks ago, before I became this. I’ll start by saying that I was an average guy living an average life. Well, almost average. I was what you’d call a brony, a guy that likes My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It was just something I’d have fun watching the episodes, drawing (my specialty) and role playing. I even created my own pony named Brush Stroke who was talented in drawing. 

Then one night after a bad day at work I wished that I was a pony. Then the next morning I became one! I know right now you think I have an active imagination, or I’m too obsessed with MLP, or even that I’m insane, but it really happened. So I created this blog to tell you about my life as a pony, hoping that maybe there will be somepony out there who it happened to as well who understands.”

The rest of the blog was like a journal, chronicling his adjustment to life including moving into a brother’s apartment, learning magic, and trying to adapt to his new form. You could almost feel the part excitement and part worry in the words and how they matched how I felt almost exactly. The more I read, the more I wanted to get to know him. But it wasn’t until Michelle, who came to see how I was doing, saw a picture of where he stayed and gasped.

“Oh my gosh,” Michelle said, “I know that apartment.”

“Really? How?”

“It belongs to my friend Dan. We’ve been friends for a while, and we both liked each other. I thought that we would have a serious relationship with each other, but there were too many secrets. First Dan appeared to be hiding things from me, and then he wouldn’t even let me into his apartment, preferring to meet me outside. I thought his secret was that he had another girlfriend that he liked more than me but now I know.”

“And do you know his brother, this Justin?”

“Yeah, kind of. I met him when meeting Dan, but only a few times. He was kind of the quiet type, but not really all that shy. If you knew him you’d like him as he kind of reminds me of you how he acts.”

“Where is his apartment?”

“I knew this was coming. You want to see this pony, right?”

“Of course I do!”

“Fine,” Michelle said, “I’ll call Dan and tell him what’s going on. He’ll probably freak out that his brother made a blog and how I know his secret, but hopefully he’ll understand and have you meet Justin.”

“Thanks Michelle,” I said hugging her.

“You’re welcome. Now let me call Dan.” 

As Michelle took the step to reach out to her friend, I waited with the anticipation of meeting this new pony. I didn’t really listen to the whole conversation although I could hear Michelle pleading with Dan to let me see Justin. For a moment I thought that there was no way that this Dan would let me see his brother, just like Michelle wouldn’t let some random person me. Then I heard the phone call end and Michelle returned to me.

“Ok, it took a little begging, but yeah, Dan said it’s ok to see Justin tomorrow.”

I happily galloped around the room as I knew that soon I would meet another pony like me. Yet little did I know that with this meeting there would be an unforeseen consequence. 

> Meeting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meeting

The next day I got ready to meet Dan and Justin. I wondered how the two would be and more importantly if even venturing out of the safety of my apartment was a wise choice. Something in the back of my mind told me not to go out, not because of meeting the two but some unknown danger waiting out there. Yet I just thought it was my nerves getting the best of me so I suppressed them as best as I could as I headed out with Michelle. 

“Just stay close to me and try not to draw much attention,” Michelle said as we walked down the hall towards the door. 
Yeah, the fact that I was a living breathing cartoon unicorn pony was attention enough.  We got about halfway when a man left the apartment. I quickly darted behind Michelle, hoping that he didn’t see me but immediately doubting it. To my surprise, the man walked right past us without saying a word. 

“Phew, that was a close one,” Michelle said.

“Yeah, how come he didn’t see me?

“That’s Mr. Wallace. He’s as blind as a bat. To him you probably looked like a dog or a basket of laundry.”

Normally I’d be upset being called these things, but in this case I was thankful being seen as something I was not. We then hurried to the car as I leapt in to the backseat and hid on the floor.  With the car started up we were on our way to being ever closer to meeting Dan and Justin. I couldn’t really say how long the ride took or even where in the city the apartment was compared to mine. All I knew is that we arrived when the car rolled to a halt. Michelle got out first to survey the area before opening the door for me. 

“Ok, the coast is clear,” she said as I hopped out. 

As I looked around where we were, I knew this was the old industrial area. There were many factories and warehouses here, many of them long abandoned and decaying. Some, like the brick building which I followed Michelle to were refurbished into something new like businesses or shops or in this case an apartment complex. As I walked up to the door, I felt that same intuition, like something was not right about the area. Looking around there didn’t seem to be anyone around except for Michelle and I and those cars and trucks that were there looked empty.  I guessed it was just the fact that the place was so fallen apart and not somewhere you’d want to be at 2 AM without a car that sparked my fear. But little did I know as I entered the apartment building that someone in a white van about fifty feet down the road was watching and had seen the two of us exit our car. He, as I would soon find out, would be a big problem for me and Brush Stroke. 

We proceeded up the stairs to the top floor, passing by some people who were painting the walls, paying no heed to our presence. Finally we reached the door of the apartment and Michelle knocked lightly. 

“Who’s there,” a voice said from behind the door.

“It’s me, Michelle. I brought over Julie.”

“Ok, just give me a second.”

I could hear the sound of several locks unlocking and latches being undone. Either this Dan was concerned about the area he lived in or he was worried about his brother. Finally the door opened as we stepped in. Dan stared down the hallway for a while as if to check for anyone following us before closing and locking the door. 

“Sorry about the added security,” he said as he returned to meet us, “but I just don’t want my brother getting noticed that’s all. Anyway, I’m Dan. You must be Julie, right?”

“Yeah, but you can call me Quill Flourish too if you want. That’s my new pony name.”

“Ok, well, let me get my brother for you. He’s really been excited that you’ve come. Please, make yourself at home.”

Dan disappeared around a partition as we stepped into the main room of the apartment. The place was a loft, divided into a few rooms with thin walls. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it looked like Dan and Justin tried to make the best of it. Dan had only been gone for a few minutes before he came back. There alongside of him was a white pony with a black mane and tail. When he saw me his eyes went wide in amazement as did mine. I guess we never expected to see another pony like us, just like we never expected becoming one in the first place. 

“Well, I think we’ll leave you two alone while I talk to Dan,” Michelle said as he motioned to the older brother to give us space. 

“Hi, I’m Julie or Quill Flourish, whatever you want to call me.”

“Hi, Quill. I’m Justin, but you probably already knew that from my blog. It’s nice to meet another pony.”

“Yeah, it’s nice meeting you too. So, how long have you, you know, been a pony?” 

“I’ve been one for about a month,” Justin said, “and you?”

“Just for about a week,” I replied, “I was hard getting used to it at first, but I think I’m getting a hang of this new body.”
“Have you figured out your magic yet?”

“Yeah, I can move objects around and learned my talent with being to write with magic. How about you?”

“Wow, you’re a fast learner. I only got the hang of it a few days ago.”

As we continued to talk about what we liked and our lives both as humans and now as ponies, I could feel the start of something great forming in our lives, one that would only grow as time passed. It wasn’t like I fell in love with Brush at first sight, but at least now I had a friend to share my thoughts with who went through the same thing. Soon our friendship would be tested and we would learn that it would evolve into something more. 


> Escape
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Escape 

The conversation lasted for hours as we got to know each other. At first it started out as the two of us sharing our experiences becoming ponies and adapting to human life. As we talked, however, it didn’t matter if we were ponies or humans. We were just two individuals who had similar hopes, dreams, likes, dislikes, and fears. When we were together, time seemed to stand still and the world around us faded away. It was just the two of us now that mattered. 

Soon we realized that we had to part and go back to our lives. It was bittersweet meeting each other but having to separate. Though we didn’t want to admit it, deep down we wondered what life would be like living together, two ponies in happiness. 

“Well, I guess this is goodbye,” Justin said sadly.

“No, not goodbye,” I said, “Goodbye means forever. We’ll see each other again soon I’m sure.” 

We hugged each other in friendship as I approached Michelle and Dan who waited for me. 

“Ready to go,” I asked my friend.

“I think I am,” Michelle said. 

“I’ll walk you two out,” Dan said, “I’ll be back soon Justin.”

“Ok,” I heard my friend reply to his brother as he watched the three of us leave. 

“By the way, thank you Julie,” Dan said.

“For what?”

“For meeting my brother. He was lonely being, you know, the only pony that he knew. When he found out that you were a pony too, his eyes lit up. I haven’t seen him like that ever since he became a pony. So that’s why I said thanks.”

“Well, I felt the same way too, so I’m thankful for meeting him too. We’ll have to meet again sometime.” 

“Yes,” Dan said, “how about next week at the same time?”

“Sounds fine for me. How about you, Michelle?”

“That sounds good,” Michelle replied, “I’m glad you found a new friend.”

“Yeah, me too.”

The three of us left the apartment when suddenly Dan stopped as if he saw a ghost. Immediately I looked around for anything to cause an alarm but saw nothing except for a strange white van across the street. 

“What,” I asked Dan, “What is it?”

“The van,” he said still staring it, “He’s here.”

“He,” Michelle said, “Who’s he?” 

“I don’t know,” Dan said, “but he’s been hanging around the apartment for a long time now. I think he’s looking for Justin.”
At first my mind couldn’t fathom why someone would be interested in Justin, but then I realized the scary truth. Whoever this man was, he wanted Justin because he was a pony.

“Do you think… he saw me,” I said nervously. 

“I don’t know,” Dan said as he and Michelle stood unable to decide what to do next.

Suddenly the door to the van opened and a man wearing a jumpsuit, the kind that mechanics or janitors wore, casually walked out. But what scared me the most was that cradled in his hand was some kind of gun. I tried to make myself as hidden as possible but then I saw his eyes focused on mine. That’s when I saw the man’s smile, the kind of look when someone has found something they want and now was going to take no matter the cost. Then everything seemed to slow down around me as I watched him take a step towards me, then another, and another. He was coming for me, to take me away from my friends to do keep me or sell me. 

“Julie, run,” Michelle said as she and Dan turned to face the man in the uniform, “Run home and don’t look back.”

And so I ran as I cloud hear my friends desperately try to fend off my captor, bound for somewhere, anywhere that I would not be seen. I knew that my friends couldn’t hold back the owner with the van for long and eventually he would be on my trail again. I quickly crossed the street and through an overgrown yard which provided at least some protection as my heart felt like it was about to burst from my chest. I then saw a metal fence that surrounded an abandoned looking factory. After frantically searching for a way in, I found a part of the fence that was pulled back and ducked into the area surrounding the factory. 

Picking my way across the piles of bricks and metal, I made it into the cavernous inside. It was dark inside save for the light streaming in through the broken windows. There I stood all alone, wondering how I would get back or if that man was just waiting for me, to take me away from the only stable things I knew. I then heard a sound echoing through the factory area, coming closer to my direction. I braced myself as my muscles tensed, ready to flee at the slightest danger. 
Soon I saw illuminated by the sunlight a familiar face, a welcoming sign in such a dreary time. 

> Hope
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hope 

I couldn’t believe my eyes, the last person that I expected to see approaching me. No, it wasn’t Princess Luna or Celestia. Not yet at least. But I’m getting ahead of myself. It was Justin, searching around in the already dim space. Occasionally he would call out my name with a great worry in his tone as if he lost his best friend or the love of his life. 

“Justin, it’s me,” I called out hoping that the man with the van wasn’t nearby. 

“Julie,” he called back in shock that I was still here, “Where are you?”

“Just follow my voice.”

I stayed put and called out to him, listening to see if his replies were getting closer or farther away. It was like we were playing a game of Marco Polo but with greater stakes involved. Finally I felt something bump into me and I shrieked, thinking it was our hunter.

“Julie, it’s me Justin.”

“Oh Justin, I’m so glad to see you,” I said giving my pony friend a hug. 

“I’m glad to see you too. I watched you from my window, but when I saw that the man found you and you took off, I couldn’t just stay inside. So I ran past my brother and your friend to find you.” 

“But why? You were safe Justin, away from that man. Now he could be chasing both of us.”

“It’s because, well, I like you Julie.” 

The confession hit me like a ton of bricks. My brain just couldn’t fathom someone liking me and immediately went into a state of denial.

“What did you just say,” I asked which I admit sounded like I was either deaf or had rocks for a brain.

“I said I like you Julie. I’m a pretty good judge of people you know. Even before becoming a pony I could tell who I would get along with and who to avoid. When you first met me I felt good to be around you, even more than living with my brother if that makes sense. You probably think I’m some silly pony now, don’t you?”

“Actually,” I said, “that makes perfect sense. I actually felt the same way when I met you today. Oh sure I have Michelle who I feel happy hanging around me but you’re different. You make me feel, even better being around.” 

The two of us spent what felt like an endless amount of time comprehending what we both admitted to each other. Although neither of us wanted to go so far as to admit it, it was the start of love. It sounds strange admitting our love when we first met and even stranger in such a scary time, but that’s what happen. Considering the weird things that happened to me, this was actually minor. 

“So who was that man with the gun,” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Justin said, “I think I remember seeing him before when I was human. I think he was part of some kind of animal control or something.”

“You mean like a dog catcher?”

“I don’t think so. I’m not even sure if what he was doing was legal. All I remember was that my brother told me that this guy was rounding up stray pets and that he seemed like bad news. One day I think he saw me in the window and that’s why he’s been hanging out in this area. He’s waiting for me to leave the building. Oh Julie, I’m sorry that I got you into this mess!”

“Hey,” I said putting a reassuring hoof on his cheek, “Look at me, this isn’t your fault. You just were at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Thanks,” he replied still seeming like what I said didn’t help him entirely, “so what do we do now?”

“We have to get back to the apartment where Michelle and I live. That’s where she told me to run to.”

“Yeah, I don’t think my place is safe now. I think we should travel at night though, since few will be around. How about we rest now until it’s later at night and then we’ll get going.” 

“Ok. Actually I feel kind of tired so I’m going to try and sleep for a little,” I replied with a yawn.

“Sure,” Justin said as he yawned in response,” I think I need to do that too.” 

“Can you, stay with me? I feel safer if I know you’re near.”

“Sure Julie. I’ll be near you. We’re not going to get separated, no matter what.” 

“Thanks Justin,” I said as I lay down on the cool concrete floor, “Oh and call me Quill Flourish.”

“Ok Quill,” Justin said, “and you can call me Brush Stroke.”

I quickly drifted off into sleep, letting the thoughts of such a wonderful and terrible day slip away. Before the day was over, however, I was about to receive one more surprise. 

> Dreams and Discussions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dreams and Discussion

I drifted deeper into sleep that evening, my mind still filled with worry as much as I tried to put it to rest. I wished that I could put things back to normal, or at least normal enough that I was no longer being hunted by some crazed guy who wanted to do who knows what to Brush and I. Even where I was sleeping left me open to threats, leaving me unable to defend myself. All I could think about was being back at Michelle’s apartment, safe and sound. That night I knew how Brush Stroke felt, being cooped up in an apartment and wanting to explore the world yet becoming so dependent on the place he lived.

The darkness of sleep gave way to something entirely different, a nightmare of the worst kind. Have you ever had a dream so real that you can’t tell what was real and what was the dream even when you wake up? Yeah, that was like this one. Most dreams or nightmares I have and the next morning I forget all about them. This one, however, stuck in my mind ever since not just because of the surreal nature of it but of who I met there. 

The nightmare began where I was walking through the city park still as a pony. It was night and the full moon and the lights of the city were the only things that kept me from being in total darkness. I turned around to see a dark figure staring at me. As he stepped into the light I saw to my horror it was the animal control man, only he looked more demonic and menacing than in reality. His hands were encased in glove that had needles tipped with green fluid inside. He had the same uniform on although torn and covered in all sorts of stuff that made me shiver what it was. His face was completely darkened except for two glowing eyes. He walked towards me with a confidence that I was already his and there was no way I could escape. That didn’t stop me from trying as I broke into a gallop, hoping that I could out run him long enough to get away out of the park and into the city. Yet each time I looked back he kept getting closer and the entrance to the park was farther away. 

Then I remember tripping and falling hard on the ground. In my dazed state I saw him standing over me like a hunter glaring at his prize. He then slowly reached out with his needled hands as I braced for the inevitable. But then something happened. A flash of light and a figure appeared, putting herself between me and my captor. I didn’t know who it was but at the time didn’t care. All I cared about was whoever this pony was saving me from my fate. The demon took a swipe at the mare but she deflected it, shattering several of the needles. Then with a blast of her horn she sent a bolt of energy at the demon, shattering him like a glass statue. With the menace gone, my savior turned around to meet me. To my shock I learned it was none other than Princess Luna. 

“Are you ok,” Luna asked me as she helped me to my hooves.

“Yes, your majesty, I’m ok. How is it that I’m speaking with you in this dream? Don’t they just start and end when they want to?”

“No and yes. Many dreams are what you have said. They begin at a certain time and end just as quickly. But when I intervened this dream was transformed into a lucid dream meaning that you have the ability to speak to me now.”

“Thank you for saving me,” I said.

“You are welcome, what is your name?”

“Julie, I mean it once was Julie. I’m now Quill Flourish.”

“Well Julie now Qill Flourish, I have never met a pony with two names. I must say I have never seen a creature like that in anypony else’s dream either. And this world that I’m in seems foreign. Where do you live?”

“Well, you’re not in Equestria now Princess. You’re on Earth, at least a dream version of it I guess.”

“Earth,” Luna said thinking about the word for a while, “Tell me, are there more ponies here on Earth like you?”

“Only one that I know of named Brush Stroke. Actually I wasn’t born a pony. I sort of became one.”

“Interesting,” Luna said as she sat on the grass, “Tell me everything about how this came to be.”

And So I told her everything, all that I wrote about to you. Princess Luna did not seem surprised or shocked at what I said. Instead she mere sat there with little emotion listening to my tale, trying to absorb it as much as possible.  I tried to explain as much as I could about humans and technology and thankfully Luna didn’t look confused about things.

“So now Brush Stroke and I are hiding in an abandoned building trying to get away from this man,” I said ending my story, “and now I met you in a dream or nightmare actually.”

“Very interesting how you see our world as a, what did you call it, ah yes a television show.  You do realize now that we are quite real, correct?” 

“Oh yeah, I definitely do. But one thing I don’t know is how exactly did I become a pony with a wish?”

“Wishes are strange things Quill. Even my sister and I have much to learn about them. What we do know is that if one puts their entire desire into seeing that wish come true, often times it will. You and Brush are living proof of what wishes can do.”
“I see. So in taking care of the guy in my dreams will that stop him in the real world?”

“I’m afraid not,” Luna said solemnly, “Dreams and nightmares are made of the things from reality and while I can influence dreams like I’m doing now, you will still have to face those things rooted in reality.”

“Then can I ask you to help me with something?”

“My influence on your world is minimal. Still, what would you like help with?”

“Can you take Brush and I away from here, back to Equestria?”

“Will you not miss your home and Michelle? Will Brush not miss his brother Dan?”

“Yes, but what choice do we have? We can’t stay as ponies on Earth before another like that man comes for us. We have made up our minds that we cannot change back to being humans, not that we want to. We’re happy as ponies but we can’t stay happy where we are now. I’m sure Michelle and Dan know the same thing. So, will you please help us?”

“I cannot guarantee that I can deliver you to Equestria, but I will try little pony. I will speak to my sister and Twilight Sparkle about this matter. I believe that Twilight may be the key to helping you as she has recently traveled to a world like Equestria yet also strangely like Earth as well now that I consider it. But I digress. I will meet with you in your dreams the next night where I will explain to you what is to happen next. In the meantime please be safe and keep Brush Stroke safe as well. That creature in your dreams and the one that you told me about has darkness to him and an unsettling determination to capture you. Even though I cannot yet meet you in your world, I will give you something.”

With that Luna touched the tip of my horn with hers as a surge of magic went through me.

“Now I will be able to see what you see and feel what you feel. I can also offer you advice as to where to go. I must want you that this magic may not work all the time but hopefully enough to help you.”

“Thank you so much for helping me and Brush Stroke Princess Luna.”

“You are certainly welcome. Please be safe Quill Flourish and we will meet again in the world of dream.”

With that the dream faded as I remained in sleep, excited to tell Brush Stroke the news. It was a long shot with Luna helping us but it gave me one thing that I didn’t have before. That was hope for a better future. 

> Prison Break
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prison Break

I awoke from my sleep and my counseling with Princess Luna, wishing that I could still be with her in my dreams. Aside from Brush Stroke, she was the only pony I could trust in my life, making me feel that things would turn out right. As I opened my eyes I found to my surprise that instead of the darkness that I assumed I’d find within the abandoned factory at night, I was greeted by bright fluorescent lights. I quickly shut them and opened them slower to allow the light in as a feeling of worry began to well up inside. As the room came into focus, I could see that it what looked like a basement. The room was lined with cages and wreaked of a smell like an animal shelter. But the worst thing was that I was in a cage, one barely large enough to hold me. 

I tried getting to my hooves but felt so weak and dizzy. I knew that somehow the man in the van found me when I was sleeping. Then I realized about Brush Stroke! Did he get away or was he here in this same place?

“Brush Stroke, are you there?”

“Yeah,” a faint voice called out to me, “I’m in the cage right next to you.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. You went to sleep and I tried to stay awake but I guess I dozed off. Then I woke up here. I’m really sorry that I couldn’t protect you. Guess I’m not a good friend after all.”

“Don’t ever say that,” I said, “You’re a great friend. What matters now is getting out of here.”

Suddenly the door to the room opened up and the man we all hated and feared entered in with a smile on his face.

“Ah I see that you both are awake, well almost. I can’t have you too awake now can I?”

“What have you done,” Brush demanded with anger I’ve never seen him have. 

“Isn’t it obvious? I’ve taken you two to my house. I must say that when I saw you my fine colt friend I was amazed. From that moment on I knew I had to have you. But then when you came to this area, dear filly, well how could I pass up an offer like that. It was just my luck that you two were asleep. Of course I couldn’t take any chances, so that’s why I used one of my tranquilizers. But don’t worry I have no reason to harm you. Wouldn’t want to damage the merchandise.”

“Merchandise,” I said, “What do you mean by that?”

“You are so curious! Do you have any idea how popular My Little Pony is now? The fans pay thousands of dollars for art and plastic ponies. Imagine how much they’d pay for a real life pony like you two! I’ll be making a fortune! Now, how should I sell you, together as a happy pony couple or apart? Well, I have time to figure that out.”

“Well you’re wrong,” Brush Stroke said, “Quill and I are going to get out of your basement.”

“I knew you would say that,” the man said with a chuckle, “See that door I came in? It’s made of steel and locks from the outside. As for the window, I made sure to put bars on it. Plus those drugs I gave you I think you’ll find will prevent you from standing much less running away. So why go through all the trouble getting out when you know you can’t? Now I must be going but I’ll see you again. If you’re good little ponies I may feed you.”

With a laugh the man left the way he came in. As the door slammed home to our prison, so did the reality slam home.
I crouched down and began to cry, realizing that I might never be free again. Instead I’d be someone’s pet who although they might love me will never see me as anything but an animal that talks. 

“Hey, Quill, don’t cry. Oh please don’t, I can’t bear to see you unhappy. Not the pony that I love.”

“What did you say,” I said through the sobs.

“I love you Quill Floruish. I know we only met once but after that I realized that there was something about you. It took me a short time to realize that it was love. You must think I’m silly declaring my love to you when I’m not sure if you love me too.”
“No it’s not silly. In fact it’s the sweetest thing anyone has said to me. And I want you to know that I love you too, Brush Stroke. You made me feel good as a pony and when you’re around I feel nothing can hurt me. If we get out of here we won’t have another day apart you and I. We’ll be together.”

“We’re going to get out of here,” Brush said, “because I have a plan.”

“Really, how? We’re locked in.”

“Well we are until that man comes back,” he said with a smile, “All we have to do is get him back here.”

“How do we do that?”

“Well, first we need to get out of these cages. Can you do magic?”

I tried with my horn but I couldn’t lift the cage with me in it or even open the door. 

“No, I’m weak from that stuff he gave us.”

“Ok,” Brush said, “We don’t need magic. I want you to hit the cage with your back hooves as hard as you can, like Applejack bucking the trees in the show.”

I turned around and struck the door with my hooves. The door to the cage was bent but not showing any signs of opening. The cage did move however slightly forward.

“I can’t get the door open,” I said.

“That’s ok. I didn’t think you could. We’re going to make the cage crash to the floor by bucking it. Hopefully we can get out when it does.”

I was a little reluctant at his plan as it could lead to us getting hurt, but it was better than just staying in our cages. I continued to strike the cage, taking breaks as I went. The tranquilizer made moving harder and drastically decreased my strength, but I wouldn’t let that stop me. I could feel with each kick the cage moving with more and more off the edge. 
“I’m almost there,” I said to Brush.

“Great, so am I. When you feel it mostly off, lean to the front and brace yourself.”

I gave the cage a final kick, imagining that I was hitting the guy that imprisoned me there and felt the cage rock. I leaned up against the side, braced my hooves against the cage frame, and closed my eyes as it tumbled to the hard floor. I could hear the cage crumple on impact but didn’t feel any major pain except for a few cuts. Thankfully the impact caused the door to pop open allowing me to exit my prison. I quickly trotted over to where Brush exited his cage. From what I could see he was limping.

“Oh my gosh! Brush are you hurt?”

“I think it’s just a sprain,” he said with a wince. Clearly he was in more pain than he wanted me to believe. 
We embraced in our victory, never wanting to be separate from each other again. Then we heard the door open as the man stood there, his face contorted in surprise and anger.

“How did you get out of there?”

With that the man reached to grab us. We divided as we tried to dodge past him and out the door. I made it there when I saw that the man grabbed Brush by the neck. The man then pulled out what I knew was another tranquilizer dart out of his pocket and fumbled with it as he struggled to hold on to my special somepony. I knew I wasn’t going to get another chance so I focused all my magic on that syringe. Suddenly it sprung free of the man’s grasp and hovered in the air, the needle pointed right at his chest. 

“How did you do that? I put you to sleep!”

“Magic, duh,” I said “Time for a taste of your own medicine.”

With that I drove the needle into his chest and pushed the plunger on the syringe. The man screamed as he struggled to pull out the syringe, dropping Brush Stroke. He turned to pursue us but tripped over the broken cages and fell. The man tried getting up but suddenly collapsed from the drug now in his veins. 
“We did it,” I said amazed.

“Yeah, thanks for saving me there,” Brush Stroke said.

“Aww it was nothing,” I said embarrassed.

“No really, you’re like a super pony.”

With that the stallion suddenly kissed me on the lips. Never had I felt such joy and love in my life than when he kissed me like that. It felt we were locked in that kiss for hours of bliss. From what I could see on his face Brush enjoyed it too.

“Wow… that was wow,” I said.

“Yeah… can we do that again,” Brush asked.

“Let’s get out of here first. Then we can kiss all we want when we’re safe.”

The two of us left the prison room and darted out an open window of the basement and back into the glorious free night. 
“So, where do we go from here,” Brush asked.

“I think we’re about halfway there to Michelle’s house thanks to that guy in the van taking us here.”

“Alright, let’s get going,” Brush said as we took off into the night, trying to get as much distance before the dawn rose. 

> Sanctuary
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sanctuary

We had only traveled a mile or so when we saw the sun rising in the distance. We realized that we must have slept for a while in the man’s basement dungeon and that it was now morning. It also meant that we had to find somewhere quick to hide in the day, a place where no one would find us. Unlike where Brush Stroke lived, the part of the city we traveled through was not filled with abandoned buildings but places that where largely in good condition. That meant that hiding would be harder to do. 

As the morning broke, we carefully made our way through the back alleys of the city; places that we never dared venture as humans but had no choice but to do so. With all the crowds of people going to and from places, it was also easy to blend in between going from one block into another. All the while I heard the small voice of Princess Luna telling me where to go in my mind saying, “turn here,” or “stop,” or “watch out.” Brush Stroke seemed surprised with my sudden intuition of where to go, but he never doubted me. 

Finally we came to a place that once appeared to be a parking lot but now had been converted into a beautiful backyard garden. It was like a little piece of paradise among the city area. As I look back on that day I remember how much more I felt at home there than I did in the city. I guess that was the pony side of me taking over. 

“I think we’re safe here,” I said to Brush Stroke who I saw limping slightly, “How’s your leg?”

“It’s ok,” he said trying to not have me worry, “as long as we don’t travel too far. How are you?”

“I’m fine now that you’re with me. Anyway, let’s eat.”

There was a perfect amount of sweet grass to eat and a small fountain to drink from. As a human I’d be freaked out doing what I was doing but as a pony is seemed natural. Strange that not only my body changed but my thoughts did too of what I liked or didn’t like or the importance of things in my life. If you were to ask me if I missed human things like TV or a computer, I would actually tell you that even though I remember them they don’t really have any importance in my life any more. Ponies don’t have lots of stuff but what we do have we treasure and we hold friends and family as the greatest gift of all. 

We were so busy eating that we were unaware of a figure in the garden watching us with a look of wonder. Finally we heard the sound like the coo of a dove and Luna telling me that there was someone else in our presence that made me pick up my head and look. There standing there was a little girl, about six years old and dressed in pink pants and a t-shirt that had none other than Twilight Sparkle on it. My first instinct was to get Brush Stroke and run, but the girl didn’t seem like she wanted to hurt us at all. In fact she looked excited mixed with being afraid. I decided it was best to meet this girl, hoping that she would help us.

“Hi there,” I said to the girl as I stepped forward, “I’m Quill Flourish and this is Brush Stroke. What’s your name?” 

“My… my name’s Sarah. Are you real ponies, like from Ponyville?”

“Yes we are Sarah,” Brush Stroke said with a smile. 

The little girl squealed with delight and running across the grass suddenly gave me a hug so strong that she almost knocked me off my hooves!

“Oh my gosh! I kept wishing that I’d meet a pony like you but now I get to see two ponies. And you’re both unicorns! I love unicorns! Can you do any magic?”

“Of course we can,” I said to her, “but you need to promise me something, ok? You can’t tell your friends or family that we met you. It has to be our little secret.”

“I promise,” Sarah said as she let go of me. 

“Alright then,” Brush said, “Now I want you to keep really still Sarah while we use our magic.”

“Ok,” Sarah said as she stood like a statue in the garden. With a flicker of our horns we wrapped the girl in an aura and slowly lifted her a few feet off the ground. 

“I’m floating,” she said with delight, “like a Pegasus pony!” 

We let her float in the air for a while before setting her back down in the ground. 

“You two are amazing,” Sarah said.

“Thanks,” Brush Stroke, “but we need your help Sarah.”

“You do,” she asked wondering why two magical unicorns needed her help. 

“Yes,” the stallion replied, “We’re trying to get back to Ponyville but we need a safe place to stay.”

“You can stay here,” Sarah said, “Mommy and Daddy are working and won’t be home until way later. You can come in if you want.”

“Thanks,” we said as we headed into the house and a place of safety at least for a while. 

“You know,” I whispered to her, “Once we get back, we’ll tell Twilight Sparkle all about how nice you were to us.”

“Really,” she said as her eyes lit up.

“Sure,” Brush Stroke replied.

“Oh thank you thank you thank you,” she said hugging us yet again, “Oh you two must be hungry. Let me get you some carrots and apples.”

With that our wonderful guest disappeared in the kitchen and returned with some great food. As the two of us ate while she looked on I wondered where Luna would tell us to go and when that would be. As the day passed we watched My Little Pony with her, ate lunch, showed her some magic, and played all sorts of games. It was fun to see her so excited that we were there, filling her heart with happiness. In the afternoon I was in the middle of watching another episode when I heard Luna’s voice in my mind.

“Quill and Brush. My sister and I along with Twilight have located a park a short distance from your location. Please proceed there and call me with your mind and we will open a portal to the castle.”

“Brush,” I whispered nudging the stallion, “Luna spoke to me. She told me to go to the park tonight.”

“Yeah,” he whispered back, “she told me too. I spoke to her in my dreams last night.”

“Ok, we’ll need to talk to Michelle and Dan though so they can wish us good bye.”

“Ok, let me try something,” Brush said before speaking to Sarah, “Sarah, can we use your phone? We have some human friends we want to talk to.”

“Ok,” she said as she paused the episode as she brought us the phone.

“Thanks,” I said as I dialed with my telekinesis Michelle’s number.

“Hello,” a familiar voice appeared.

“Michelle, it’s me.”

“Julie? Oh thank goodness you’re ok! Is Justin with you?”

“Yes, he’s right next to me.”

“What about the man in the van?”

“I don’t think he’s going to bother us. But we’re safe now thanks to a very special person. But the reason I called Michelle is that there’s a change of plans. Luna spoke to me….”

“Wait a minute, Luna as in the Princess Luna from the show?”

“Yeah, that Luna. She told me to go to the park at night where she’s going to create a portal for us to go through to Equestria. Can you and Dan meet us there?”

“Sure Julie. Dan’s with me in the apartment. We’ll be there in the evening.”

“Thanks Michelle,” I said before hanging up the phone and whispering to Brush the news. 

“So are you two ok with your friends,” Sarah asked.

“Yeah,” Brush replied, “So how about seeing what happens to Pinkie Pie?”

“Ok,” Sarah said as she played the episode again, leaving us time to relax before the final push to our goal. Little did we know that a familiar face would show up, the last thing that would stand in our way from being finally free. 

> The Grand Finale
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Grand Finale

The sun began to set outside Sarah’s house as we prepared to make the final leg of our journey to our destination. There was part of me that was sad that we had to leave Sarah, a girl who loved My Little Pony as much as I did and who helped us relax before our journey. 

“You have to go now,” Sarah said looking like she was about to cry. 

“Don’t cry Sarah,” Brush said, “We really like you and had lots of fun. But now we have to go back to our homes.”

“You won’t forget me, will you?”

“Never,” I said to her, “I will always remember how you helped us. Will you remember us?”

“I will,” she said with a smile, “But, will I ever see you again?”

“Maybe one day, but as long as you remember us we’ll be there in your mind and heart.” 

With that Brush and I gave one last hug to Sarah. Then as we left out the backdoor we could see Sarah smiling at us through the window, waving goodbye and wishing us well. We left the safety of the garden and made our way along the alleyways towards our destination. It was only a short journey, but one that was probably the hardest one to make. As I walked with Brush Stroke, my mind played the events of how I went from being a human to a pony. Now Brush and I would be leaving Earth for good, abandoning humanity as we crossed over to Equestria. It wasn’t the human comforts or the technology that kept me bound to Earth. It was Michelle, my dearest friend, who was always there for me that I would be leaving behind. I could see that Brush thought about the same thing with leaving his brother Dan behind. 

The two of us knew that there was no other choice. Earth was not meant for cartoon ponies to live in except for on TV. We could live in an apartment, but that would be just another cage like the one the man with the van put us in, afraid to leave it as someone might find us and wish to capture us or worse. We were tired of running and tired of hiding. We wanted to be free where we could be accepted. Traveling to Equestria was the only answer. 

We got to the park as the sky grew dark and the full moon shown overhead. Everyone who enjoyed the park now left, the metal gate over the entrances to the parking lot signaling that the park was now closed. We ducked under the gate and crossed the asphalt lot, getting closer to the park. All the while I was on the lookout for Michelle and Dan to be there, but at that moment they did not show up. We passed by the playground, once a rainbow of colors but now looking like a strange castle of metal and plastic in the moonlight and devoid of the laughter of children who played there. Up ahead we saw the clearing, the place where we would make our escape to Equestria. 

“We made it,” I said.

“Yeah, we did,” Brush Stroke replied as he gave me a hug. 

“I hope that Michelle and Dan see us off.”

“Don’t worry. I think they will. So did Luna tell you when she’s supposed to beam us to Equestria?” 

“I don’t know, but I hope soon.”

“You two are not going anywhere,” an all too familiar voice suddenly said making us turn around. 

There standing in the moonlight like the monster in my dream, was the man with the white van. 

“Do you realize how much trouble you’ve caused,” the man said as he approached us, “I spent hours trying to find you two in the city after your little stunt putting me asleep. Well, now you’ll be mine again, and this time I’ll make sure that you two can never get out!” 

The man then brought out his tranquilizer gun and fired at us as we dashed out of the way. 

“Split up and hide,” Brush said as we went our different ways. 

I galloped with all my might as I felt something whiz past me, another one of the man’s darts. I needed somewhere I could be safe but still be close to the big clearing in the park in case the portal opened up. The open area provided no cover except for a tree or two, so I had to backtrack to the playground. I climbed up the chain link drawbridge, worried that with each creak and squeak I’d be discovered. Finally I made it to the top where a turret was, overlooking the field. 

For a moment I thought I was safe, that Brush and were well-hidden from the man and all we needed to do was wait for Michelle and Dan to arrive and the portal to open. But then I felt a gloved hand around my neck. I struggled to break free as I was lifted into the air, but the hand closed tighter. I began to choke, unable to fight with my magic or even move. I knew that the man had me.

“Alright now,” the man said loudly as he walked back to the clearing with me in his grasp, “I know you’re out there. I have you precious pony friend with me. If you surrender I’ll make sure you’re put into a good home like the pets that you are. If you don’t, I’ll snap this filly’s neck like a pencil and then I’ll come for you.”

As if to illustrate the point he squeezed my neck, making me cry out in pain. 

“So, what’s it going to be,” the man said mockingly.

“Leave her alone,” I heard Brush say as he came out of the darkness. 

“No Brush,” I choked out, “Run! Run away from here!”

“No Quill, we’re in this together. Besides I love you, remember?” 

“I love you too Brush,” I said as I began to cry at the fact that he was about to sacrifice his freedom for my safety. 
“Awww isn’t that sweet,” the man said, “two ponies in love. Maybe I’ll sell you two together. Nah, I’m going to make sure to sell you as far away from each other as possible after all the trouble you’ve caused me. But don’t worry, you can say goodbye when you’re back at my house. Now then, let’s go.”

“No,” Brush Stroke said defiantly.

“No? Silly pony you realize I have this mare’s life in my hand?”

“Yeah, but I also realize something else. It’s time to take out the trash.”

I didn’t see it from where I was but when Brush revealed himself he brought along something nearby: a trash can. The man it seemed didn’t notice either until it was too late. Before he could react, Brush overturned the can, covering the man in garbage and causing him to drop me and the gun.  I fell to the ground, choking as the air rushed back into my lungs. A purple ring around my neck marked what he did to me. Before the man could recover, Brush placed the can over the man’s head and arms. He tried walking but then tripped and fell, struggling to get up. 

“Quill, are you ok,” Brush said running to my side.

“Yeah, I’m ok now that you’re here,” I said.

We gave each other a long passionate kiss, not wanting to be apart ever again. But then we turned and saw the man covered in garbage and free of his trash can prison, holding the gun and determined that this time he would not miss. Before we could react, the sky brightened up behind us like someone lit up a thousand lanterns, causing the man to stumble backwards and fall, blinded by the light. We turned to see the source of the light and noticed an oval shaped portal, like someone tore a hole in the clearing. There we could the shadow of a pony step out of the portal, walking towards us. As her figure became clear we could see it was none other than Twilight Sparkle who came to our aid. 

“Are you two ok?”

“Yes,” we said in unison.

“Who gave you that bruise,” Twilight said sternly pointing at my neck.

“That man,” I said coldly pointing at the man who desperately felt around the grass for his gun, still blinded by the blast of light. 

“Step aside my little ponies,” Twilight said to us as her face furrowed into a look of anger at the man that caused us so much trouble. 

We parted as Twilight walked towards the man, not once looking at us as she did. The man saw the purple princess approaching and felt the power around her that crackled like lightning. In a last ditch attempt he reached for the gun but Twilight immediately seized it with her magic and crushed it in front of him like it was made of glass. 

“So, you are the one who Princess Luna told me about who is hurting these ponies?”

The man said nothing, whimpering like a puppy, but Twilight didn’t need a response to tell the guilty party. The princess grabbed the man by the collar of his uniform and pulled him close to her face. 

“Now listen very closely because I’m only going to say this once. You will not hurt anypony or try to capture them ever again, nor will you try to do the same to any living thing, understand? If I find that you’re doing this again, I will turn you into a bug and crush you with my hoof. You got it?”

The man could only let out a squeak as for the first time I think in his life he saw fear. 

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Twilight said as she let go of the man forcefully, causing him to fall on his back, “Now leave before I change my mind to let you go!”

The man quickly got up and ran screaming out of the park and back to his truck, his power gone for good. 

“Well you two,” Twilight said returning to her calm demeanor, “I have heard from you two that you had quite an adventure. I’m Twilight Sparkle by the way, but you already know that it seems.  I’d be interested to hear about your adventures later on and I think Princess Celestia and Luna would want to as well. But for now we must get you to Canterlot where you’ll be safe.”

Before we could go through the portal, we heard our human names being called. Then we could see Michelle and Dan running towards us. Twilight tensed up, fearing that there were others looking to do harm to us, as her horn started to glow.

“Don’t worry Twilight,” Brush said, “Dan is my brother and Michelle’s Quill’s friend.”

Twilight relaxed and stood by as Dan and Michelle met us.

“Julie, your neck,” Michelle said, “What happened to you?”

“That guy in the van came again but don’t worry. He won’t be hurting anyone ever again. Oh and Michelle and Dan, this is Twilight Sparkle.”

“Hello,” the two said nervously at seeing a pony who up until that point only existed on TV.

“So I guess this is it,” Brush Stroke said to Dan.

“Yeah, I’m going to miss you bro, but I know you’ll be in a better place.”

“I’m going to miss you too, Julie, I mean Quill,” Michelle, “Here take this.”

Michelle then took off her necklace and put it around my neck.

“That’s so you’ll remember me by,” she said as she gave me a hug. 

“I’ll never forget you,” I said to her, “and I promise that I’ll try to write to you if I can. Let me give you a piece of me. Twilight, will you do the honors and snip a little of my mane off.”

“Sure,” Twilight said before turning to Brush, “Would you like your brother to have a piece too?”

“Yes,” Brush said.

Twilight’s horn glowed as what felt like a pair of magical scissors cut into our manes, removing a small piece. The Princess then floated them to the two best humans in our lives as they held them like they were priceless mementos. 

“The portal will not stay open for long,” Twilight said, “We have to go.”

The two of us exchanged one final lasting hug with Dan and Michelle before we followed Twilight towards the portal.

“Are you ready to see your new home,” Twilight said with a smile.

“We’re ready,” we replied.

“Then follow me,” she said as she headed into the portal. 

We followed her through as the world around us dissolved into a spiral of colors. We felt ourselves spinning, floating, and falling all at the same time. Finally we approached a white light and then landed suddenly on a hard surface. Opening our eyes we could tell we were in the castle in Canterlot. 

“Yeah, I guess you weren’t prepared for that,” Twilight said as she picked us up on our hooves with her magic.

“So these are the ponies my sister has told me so much about,” a calm voice exclaimed. 

We turned around to see none other than Princess Celestia and Luna standing there; looking more regal than even the show portrayed them. We quickly bowed at their presence. 

“Rise you two,” she said with a nod, “There is no need for formalities like that.”

“You are the one from the dream,” Luna said to me, “The one called Quill Flourish?”

“Yes I am. And this is Brush Stroke. Thank you, all of you, so much for meeting me in my dream and helping us get here.”

“You are quite welcome. It is what my sister and I do, helping other ponies in need.”

“Well it seems that you two have quite a story to tell,” Princess Celestia said, “But perhaps it is best that you rest first from your journey before we speak. I have arranged two private rooms for you to stay in.”

“Um… Princess,” I said, “we actually prefer one, if you don’t mind.”

“I see,” the princess said smiling seeing the love in mine and Brush Stroke’s eyes for each other, “Very well then, one room. When you are rested, feel free to speak with Twilight, Luna, and myself. We have much to discuss getting you two acclimated to life in Equestria.” 

Princess Celestia then summoned a guard to direct us to our room. It was the most magnificent bedroom you could ever imagine with marble floors, big windows overlooking the city, and the biggest most comfortable bed I’ve ever slept in. After taking a well-deserved bath, Brush and I settled into bed for a long peaceful sleep. As I lay there next to the love of my life, watching him sleep, I knew for sure that I was home, and this new life of ours would be wonderful from that point on. 

> Epilogue: One Month Later
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Epilogue: One Month Later

I could have easily ended my story there. After all, Brush and I made it to Equestria. But there are a few last thing I want to mention before I say goodbye to you all, a catching up from the time we arrived in Canterlot until now one month later. It’s funny to think how over a month ago I would still be the average human living an average life except for her obsession to My Little Pony. How much have things changed since then! I guess that’s the funny thing about wishes. Sometimes you get them granted but not in the way you expect and your life gets turned upside down in the process. While I’m sorry to say that not everyone has a happy ending to a wish coming true, there are those few moments that when everything is chaotically crazy and you don’t know what your future is, you find your new life is better than you could ever imagine! I guess I’m living proof at that. Twilight once asked me that if I had the power to go back in time to the night I made that wish with the knowledge of what I had now, would I change things. And the answer I gave her was a resounding no. 

The next two weeks Brush and I spent in Canterlot speaking with Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Twilight (although she gets uncomfortable when I call her that.) At first I thought that these three would think that the two of us were crazy or maybe we ate some bad hay and we hallucinated the whole thing. But to our surprise the three were very interested in our tale of how we became ponies, our meeting each other, and our escape to Canterlot. Twilight seemed the most calm about it, and I think I heard her mention that she once traveled into a world where she and her friends were humans. I’ll have to ask her about that. 

Apart from us telling the story, we learned from the three Alicorns about Equestria. Trust me, there’s far more about the kingdom than the TV series can ever show you. We learned the kingdom’s history, its laws, and the pony culture. Twilight was kind enough to also help us with our magic too, getting it up to power of how an adult pony’s magic should be. We felt like little foals as we blundered through her lessons, but she never wavered or second guessed helping us. 

The coolest thing was when Twilight introduced us to her five friends and fellow bearers of the Elements of Harmony. She didn’t tell them our story though, preferring to just say that we were her new friend. I think she just wanted us to be normal ponies for a change and would leave the telling of our tale up to us if we wanted. In the end though, Brush and I decided not to tell anypony our secret. Our human life was in the past like a chapter in a book. Upon crossing over to Canterlot we closed that chapter and opened a new on for us to fill with new memories. 

I think our proudest moment came, apart from when Twilight considered us her friend, was when Princess Celestia and Luna granted us the full citizenship as citizens of Equestria. It was a proud moment for both of us. You should have seen Brush Stroke beam with pride! Celestia and Luna also declared that we were free to visit the castle at any time, well, unless they were busy with their royal duties.  I think they want to know more about human culture. Some doors don’t stay completely closed it seems.

The two of us moved into a nice home in Canterlot. I became Celestia’s personal author and have time to write my own novels with my magic as I’m doing right now. Brush is happy as a painter, creating beautiful works of art at our studio of scenes of Equestria. Princess Luna even commissioned him to paint a picture of the night sky. As for our love, it has never been stronger! In our busy lives we find the time to enjoy each other’s company or go out on a date. And you know something? I think he’s going to propose to me soon! Oh I’m as excited as a filly on Heath’s Warming Day thinking about it! 
So now we come to the present as I close out this book. I hope that in reading this you understand that sometimes what we think is fantasy like a book or a cartoon may be just an alternate reality in disguise, waiting to be explored. There are some events in our lives that we do not know why they happen but may be the moments in which wonderful magical things can happen. And I will close by saying be careful dear reader what you wish for. You might just get more than you expect! And with those lessons, I bid you farewell. 

I, the Little Pony, 

Quill Flourish 


The End!