The school day ended as it usually does in Canterlot High, the bell rings, and students disperse to go about the rest of their days. Whatever the rest of their days implied depended on the person. Some would go into extra curricular activities like sports or band, others hang out with their friends, or some go to work. While (nearly) every student enjoyed school or had good teachers, it was still fun for many to get out of school for the day… especially if it was the last day of the school year.
For me, I have just gotten through my first year of high school and I was stoked. Remember that bit where I said most students enjoy going to school? Well, I don't particularly enjoy it. Some of the topics we learn sound interesting and are then discussed in such a mind numbingly boring way that I doze off sometimes. I still passed all my classes with good grades, but I kinda wish I could avoid this whole 'high school' thing.
With me being fresh into high school(and new to the neighborhood), I didn't have a whole lot of friends. Well, if you can call them friends. They were really just people I sat next to during breakfast while we waited for the school day to start, and I never thought to strike up a conversation with any of these folks. Occasionally I would get a group partner during history class and we'd get along, but those people were usually just acquaintances that go their separate ways after we go through a project.
Or rather, I solo the whole project, and my partner gets credit for my work anyways.
But that's enough of that boring junk, so I'll shut up for now. Anyways, I take a step out of my classroom and catch my eye on a girl with rainbow-ish hair. Apparently her name's Rainbow Dash and she takes part in a lot of sports throughout the school year. I think she's a sophomore, and that's about it. Rainbow's really pretty. From her hair, to her physique(given that she's an athlete, it's near perfect), I just found her attractive. Alright, so I do have a slight crush, but let's not dwell too long on this, okay? Well, it's not really a crush, since I don't really feel attracted to her for the most part. I just take a moment to admire that she's pretty and move on.
Rainbow Dash was joined by five other girls, all of whom I've heard, but never really knew the names of. Pinkamena Pie, or Pinkie Pie for short, was well known throughout the school. She's a bit of a party animal, probably a horse, that's pumped up on sugar all the damn time and it's incredible. Sometimes she's faster than some of the guys on track with how damn energetic she is a lot of the time. Pinkie also helps school staff plan a bunch of events(events that I never go to. I'm not much of a… social butterfly).
Rainbow, Pinkie, and the rest of their friend group quickly make it out of my sight as I speed walk down the hallway. I was ready to go home and just take a nap, since neither of my parents were going to be home for a while, which meant ample nap time! I rub my hands together as I begin to ponder just what I can do with all the free time I have. I could grind for a sleepless week in 'Osu!' In hopes that I can become a god tier player. I could also just sleep, sleeping was fun.
I stepped by Vice Principal Luna's office, which was by the front entrance of the school, just as the woman opened the door. "Ah, Sting Ray, I was hoping to have a chat with you. Please, come inside my office, Principal Celestia's inside as well," the vice Principal said. As the words 'hoping to have a chat' left her mouth, my heart sunk. Was I going to have summer school? Was I getting expelled already? I couldn't even make an attempt to predict what Vice Principal Luna would want with me.
Sure, I did sleep a couple times throughout the school year, but maybe the school board should've thought about having me wake up at the ass crack of dawn for algebra class. But I still had pretty good grades(only got a C in Physical Science because I half assed a science project towards the end of the year). It also didn't help that the vice principal was hardly seen throughout the school. Vice Principal Luna was always in the shadows, doing god knows what.
If it were Principal Celestia asking me to walk into her office, I could come up with some vague reason as to why she'd talk to me. Even with me being a nobody, the only thing of note was that I did well in school and was new to the neighborhood. Also it was pretty common to see the principal, Principal Celestia even talked to me a couple times during lunch when she saw me sitting alone. I could be walking into a death trap and I wouldn't know with vVce Principal Luna.
"So, how was your first year of high school?" The Vice Principal asks as she sits behind her desk. Her office was dimly lit, with a couple chairs set in front of her desk. There was a computer off to the side and a bunch of paperwork next to it. There was even a bean bag, a book shelf with a couple books I recognized(I quickly noticed the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy amongst the collection), and a bowl that had some candy in it. Overall, the office was pretty cozy.
That would be if Principal Celestia wasn't sitting in one of the two chairs in front of her sister's desk.
"Well, it's high school, I guess. I hate having to wake up before the sun's even up to figure out that Christopher Columbus mistook Cuba for England?" I ask, a slight bit of humor etched its way into my voice before it quickly died. "But it's high school. I dunno if I should say more than that, since this should be a huge step for me in life. Three years from now and I'll be thinking of college or a job; I'm about to be an adult. It's still just high school though, not what I thought it would be, but I completely hate it."
"Well, I suppose it's good that you adjusted to Canterlot High rather quickly. I don't suppose you've made many friends? I don't think I've seen you linger very long with anybody," Princess Celestia said.
"Well, I really don't talk to any of my classmates. Not much of the outgoing type, y'know? I'm perfectly fine with just being a loner, but if somebody ends up wanting to be my friend, then that'd be cool. Still not my top priority, though," I said before shrugging. "So are you two going tot on me for dozing off a bunch throughout the year? Sorry for sounding a bit… rude, but I doubt you two want to waste time speaking to some chump that attends your school."
"Believe it or not, but my sister and I did want to talk to you. You seem like an excellent student even if you do seem a bit lazy at times… I've seen you sleeping in Language Arts, mister," Vice Principal Luna said. "Albeit your class was going over a relatively boring book, so I suppose that shouldn't be very surprising," the Vice Principal said.
"Hey now, I read the whole book during lunch after being given it. If my teacher didn't want me to doze off, she should've forced me to go at the pace of the rest of class," I chuckled. "If I'm bored and you give me a book and to write an assignment, expect me to sleep through class, since I'll be done in two class periods," I said.
"I suppose that should speak of your work ethic, but that's besides the point. We could dive into putting you into harder classes, but we can't do much without your parents present. This was mostly just a check up on you, we were a bit concerned about you, given that you're in a completely new environment with no friends to fall back on. Well, we won't hold you any longer, Sting. Enjoy your summer!" Principal Celestia said. With that, I said my goodbyes and walked out the door, and promptly headed out of the building.
My brother wasn't able to pick me up yet, and he told me not to walk home(which I didn't want to either, it's so damn hot!) So I walked up to the statue that's located in front of the school building and leaned against it. I know, I'm a criminal! I was loitering in front of a school building, like a scumbag. Anyways, I would've leaned up against the concrete and it felt like said concrete didn't melt around me the moment I touched it. I blinked a couple times and began to scream as I was sucked into the statue.
"Ugh…" I groaned as I laid on the floor of a dark room. It seemed mostly like a storage closet, with a bunch of stuff covered in white fabric. It really wasn't much, but I still have no clue as to why I'm here. I was just standing outside of Canterlot High, so either I got kidnapped or I got sucked into another world. I rubbed the back of my head as my vision began to clear up until I noticed something completely wrong; I couldn't feel my fingers.
I bring my right hand in front of me and blink a couple times. Instead of my hand, I saw a hoof looking thing. There was even a hole in it, which was mildly concerning, but the hole never bothered me. Nor did it spike up in pain when I snuck my… snout into it? My nose was longer than usual, so that probably meant I had a snout instead of a human mouth. My head began to hurt as I tried to think about what could've happened.
Was all of what just happened just a dream, or did I accidentally take up the local crackhead's offer on cheap cocaine? Maybe I'm already home and I'm knocked the hell out, and this is some lucid dream. I manage to make my way up onto my feet? Hooves? I don't know. Well, I am a bit wobbly since I'm walking on all fours without a couple big toes to help keep my balance, but I manage to walk around the room. Much to my pleasure, walking around was pretty easy and intuitive(after all, if evolution didn't make walking as a horse intuitive, then I suppose horses would've gone extinct by now).
I managed to locate a light switch and smile as I flicked it up with a hoof. At least I can do some basic tasks with my hooves. I couldn't work with an Xbox controller, but I can still do basic things I needed hands for… how the heck did I bend my front leg like that? As far as I knew, horse legs didn't bend like that. It was almost like bones were more flexible as whatever the hell I was. I then found a mirror and my eyes widened in shock.
Instead of me looking back at myself, I was staring at a weird mix between a bug and a horse. I had big, buggy eyes(my vision felt normal though), fangs, a small(relative to my size) pair of insect wings and a dull horn. Instead of fur, I had some sort of exoskeleton. But instead of looking like a spider, or even an ant, I looked like a horse. Just a horse that looked a lot like a bug, I even had horse ears which I found out I could wiggle, and flicked for one reason or another.
Well, this was going to be a fun dream at least. I rub my hooves together, and found myself somewhat surprised that I could be balanced on two hooves while doing so. With a confident smile on my face, I open up the door to my storage room and poke my head out. I was looking into a fancy looking hallway, which had a couple horses walking down with a few more standing around in armor.
One had a glorious white coat and blue-ish purple mane with a silverish streak across it. Its tail shared similar colors. I could tell it was a stallion, and that it was a unicorn by the surprisingly long horn protruding from his forehead. His hooves were also the same color as his mane and tail, minus the silver streak. Overall, he was a pretty horse, and I'm sure any rich bastard would love to have him as a pet.
The other was a pink pony with a multi-colored mane and tail. It had wings as well as a horn. Around its neck seemed to be a collar of some sort, which looked to be made of solid gold. It wore four horses that also seemed to be made of gold, which from the front extended past its ankles. Atop its head was a crown, which meant it was royalty. The fact that I was seeing ponies at all wasn't the weird part of my dream.
It was the fact that they were speaking english. Like, they were speaking the language better than I could, and I grew up with English as my first language. Then there were a couple horses speaking it far better than I, in my… dream? I retracted my head from the door for a bit and then bit my leg. "Yeowch!" I yelped at the slightest pinch from my fangs, which turned out to be pretty sharp, and my eyes shrunk into my skull.
I was very much awake, and I was apparently in a world full of speaking horses. The door flung open, and standing before me was the couple of horses I saw earlier… well, might as well communicate with the locals, right? What else could go wrong? There was absolutely no way these guys could magically break my neck without thinking, right?
I stared at the horses in front of me as the horses stared back. The white one seemed to be glaring at me while the pink one seemed on high alert. There was an awkward silence as each party studied the other. Should I bow? One of the horses in front of me was wearing a crown after all, which had to have meant that it was royal, right?
"Uh… hi?" I said as I offered what I hoped looked like a friendly smile.
"What are you doing here, Changeling?" The white one said.
"Well, y'know, breathing, standing, staring at a couple horses. You guys are horses, right? I think I might be one too, but the bug eyes, exoskeleton and fangs really tell me otherwise. Anyhow, how's your day going?" I asked while hoping I didn't somehow offend two horses that were already glaring at me.
"You certainly aren't a pony changeling. If you were going to try to say that you're a pony, at least disguise yourself," the white one said.
"How do I do that?" I ask as I look in the mirror behind me and back at the two horses in front of me. I look back and then shrug. "Well, I'll get back to you once I…" I look at the ground and find my backpack just… lying on the ground. I wander over to, nearly forgetting the horses glaring at me, and zipped it open with my teeth. I then dig around it got a couple seconds and sigh. "Well, I don't have my trademarked sunglasses- oh nevermind!" I pull out a glasses case and quickly pop out of my sunglasses. I then frown as I realize my head was now too big to fit them on my face.
"What kind of Changeling are you? Do you think you're going to full anybody by playing dumb?"
"What? Am I some sort of pest?" I look in the mirror again and shrug. "Well, that's a bit rude, but I do look a bit like a freak… oh my fuckin' god," I dropped to the ground as I began to realize I've gotten myself into. "I'm in a land with talking horses with no way out. I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming. There's no way I ain't dreaming. I have to be… well biting my leg did hurt," my ears instinctively flattened against my head as my mood shattered.
"Welp, that's just fucking great."
"Listen Changeling, wither you leave, or we'll have to put you in a dungeon and question you."
"I'm a human," I say.
"A-a what?" The pink one asked.
"I'm a human. I was just leaving high school for the summer and I wake up in here as a fucking bug, horse, Changeling, whatever the fuck I am now!" I grumbled before sighing. "Go ahead, shove me in a dungeon or whatever, i don't care anymore," I say as I remained where I am on the ground.
"I suppose he can't be lying," I overheard the pink one say. "The only ponies that know about humans are you, me, Princess Luna and Celestia, and Twilight and her friends," she continued. "Shining, can you keep this Changeling captive while I go write a couple of letters?" The pink one asked. The white one, or Shining, nodded.
"Of course, Cadence…" his horn began to emanate with a blue hue as I was lifted off the ground and found myself unable to move my body. Great, I couldn't escape if I wanted to now. Like it matters much, I don't see much of a future for myself now that I'm not even human anymore. I didn't even notice being placed in a jail cell until I felt the cold, stone floor meet my surprisngly sensitive exoskeleton.