Gears of Life and Change

by Shell Shock

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Human
Length: 5659

Matt was just a regular guy. He went to school, had a normal apartment, and normal friends. Everything in his life was normal. That is, of course, until his 25th birthday, where he finds his own cutie mark.

Matt was just a regular guy. He went to school, had a normal apartment, and normal friends. Everything in his life was normal. That is, of course, until his 25th birthday, where he finds his own cutie mark.
Matt first blames it on his friends, dismissing it as a prank. He soon realizes that it is more than just a prank. He is part of something that has been brewing his entire lifetime. So he decides to panic.

A sidefic to the story Five Scores, divided by Four, created by TwistedSpectrum. This is my first fanfic, please leave CONSTRUCTIVE criticism in the comments.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-05-14 01:55:52 UTC

Chapter 1 - Strangest. Night. Ever.

"Matt."

"Mmph... 5 more minutes."

"Matt."

"Go... away."

"MATT!"

The sheer volume he achieved with that single bellow nearly knocks me out of bed. I frantically grip the side of the bedframe to keep myself from hitting the ground. My childhood friend and roomate is standing over me, holding what looks to be a gift-wrapped box, and barely containing his laughter.

"Gotcha something," he says in his snooty, sarcastic voice. He holds the box out to me. I angrily snatch the box away from him, hoping for some kind of sarcastic comment, but he just laughs.

"Who crapped in your cornflakes today, Cloppy?" I sigh. This is why I don't tell people I'm a brony. They strangely all jump to the same conclusion.

"I've already told you I don't do that stuff. And you do realize my birthday isn't until midnight, right?"

"Ya, whatever. Just open the damn box already."

After glaring at him suspiciously for a good ten seconds, I return my attention to the box. It's small, with Christmasy themed wrapping paper and a small nametag that reads 'To Cloppy. From Cody.' Lovely. I rip the paper off and look inside the box. Within it appears to be a smartphone skin. I examine it closer. What I see almost puts me into shock. The skin is one of the 20, rare, discontinued, limited edition, Rainbow Dash smartphone skins that were cancelled after the horror that was Season 5.

"Wha... wha... how did you get this?" I asked incredulously.

"Found it on eBay. Sniped several poor old bronies just for you, Matt."

I'm so happy with my friend I decide to forget the fact that he woke me up before 10 on a non-school day. I hop out of bed gleefully, get dressed in the blink of an eye, and give Cody a big hug. He shoves me back on to the bed.

"Calm down, man. It's just a smartphone skin."

"I know, I know, I know! But it's got Rainbow Dash on it!" At this point all my words are coming out as high-pitched sqeals.

"What the hell is wrong with you people? Get a life." A voice calls from the other room. Oh ya, I forgot about Kyle. I hurry to apologize.

"Sorry! I was just leaving anyways! Come on Cody, let's get some breakfast."

"Breakfast? It's 2 o'clock."

"Really? Well in that case, let's just get the guys and go for lunch."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" he asks innocently. Too innocently, in fact.

I look down. I got pants on. I have all of my clothes on. I think, puzzled. Cody seems to notice my confusion. He smiles.

"Don't tell me you forgot." He says.

"Forget what?" Than it hits me. It's not just my birthday today. "Oh ya! Melissa!" I exclaim.

"There you go, Cloppy." I growl at him. "You almost forgot your own girlfriends- Wait. Did you just growl at me?"

"Maybe." I say innocently.

"Whatever. Let's just go eat."

Grabbing Melissa's present out of my coat, I make my way to the door. Something smells bad. Note to self, clean apartment tomorrow. Or next month. The door is jammed, again. I struggle with it for a few moments, then it opens, making a screeching sound as it does so. The elevator doesnt work, so we take the stairs down to the ground floor. Seems everything in this damned apartment is breaking down. Rent is good though, so I can't complain.

"Where are we going?" Cody asks from behind me. I'm not expecting the question. Cody should know where we're going. After all, we've been eating at the same place for a year and a half now.

"What? We're going to BB's. I would have thought-" He waves his hand to dismiss the sentence.

"No, I mean tonight. Where are we going tonight for the double birthday?"

I shrug. "I don't know. I guess just stay at home, watch a few movies." .

He laughs."Are you sure?"

I look at him sardonically. "No. Now stop asking me stuff."

We're on the ground floor now. I finally get a good look at the weather. Rain. Lovely. I don't own a car, so we drive Cody's beat up old truck down to the campus. Mike is already standing outside the door with an umbrella. I guess Cody must have texted him,

"What took you so long?" he grumbles. I can't help but laugh. He always reminded me of Gimli from Lord of the rings. The voice, the short stature, the beard, the personality most of all.

"Just get in here, Gimli." I say, yanking him into the back of the truck.

"What are you so happy about today?" he asks gruffly. I give him the best angel pose I can, which looks more like a demented gargoyle, if anything.

"Oh, nothing." I'm rewarded with a roll of the eyes. "We're on our way to grab Zach and Melissa, eat at BB's  then who knows what?"

"Sounds great. We should go to a bar and get wasted." He even thinks like a dwarf.

"Maybe. Not a bad idea actually" I say. I then shout into the cabin, "Cody, know any good bars?"

"Hell ya!" he responds.

"So, what My Little Pony present did you get her this year?" Mike asks. My girlfriend is the only Pegasister i've met in the flesh. And for some reason, she absolutely adores MLP jewelry even more than any normal pegasister should. This year I got her an actual sapphire necklace engraved with Rainbow Dash's cutie mark. RD isn't her favorite pony, but the rainbowbolt is certainly a lot cheaper to engrave than the hourglass Doctor Whooves has. I didn't realize we stopped until Zach hops in, rolling across the bed of the truck and slamming into the cabin. He thinks he's a parkour proffessional, but all I ever see him do is faceplants.

"What's up, boys?" He says, still upside down. Mike and I burst out laughing. He may be a little clumsy, but hey, comedy relief is comedy relief. "Where are we off to?"

"Grab Melissa, eat at BB's, screw around for a couple hours, then bar." I tell him. He nods .Then frowns.

"Forgot my party pants." I'm about to reply to this when Cody sticks his head out of the window.

"First off, no latex for you Zach." Zach groans dramatically. "Second, the birthday girl is coming out, so be on your best behavior boys." We all laugh, again. Today was gonna be great. Just a normal day out with the guys. The only difference is the free shots.

Melissa emerges from her apartment's lobby. She's wearing her casual clothes. Just jeans, a white hoodie, and sneakers. Perfect for where we're going. As she draws near the truck, I get a closer look at her. She seems distressed about something. Normally she's smiling and waving when we pick her up. She doesn't even look in my direction. She just hops in the cabin with Cody. That's odd as well. Normally she sits in the back with us. I look at the other guys. They're obviously thinking the same as me.

"What's her problem?" Mike asks. For some reason, Zach giggles like a schoolgirl.

"PMS?" He says, bursting into laughter. I glare at him.

"Dude, she can hear us." He immedietly stops laughing, and finds something interesting to look at in the distance.

Cody shouts to us in the back. "Almost there." He grins as another thought stricks him. "Make sure you have your orders ready. Starting.... NOW." Mike groans. He can never choose what he wants here.

We pull in, and hop out. We're all soaked. Oh ya. Rain. Stretching my legs out, I step over to Melissa's door. I bow down, and open the door. I attempt to surpress my grin as she looks at me and giggles.

"Why thank you, kind sir." She says. I can already hear Zach mocking her . I'll get him back for that later. Well, atleast she's in a better mood now. Holding her hand, I walk into the restuarant. The owner looks up and glares at us, probably because we're dripping wet. It'll dry, I tell myself. I look around. It's not very busy, surprisingly enough. Just an older couple in the corner and a family enjoying their meals. We sit down at out usual spot, by a wall covered with comic strips. The restuarant owner collects old newspapers, and decided to cut out all the comics and glue them to the wall. They provide a decent distractio, atleast. Until we get our meal. The waitress comes and takes our orders. I order my usual, a bacon cheeseburger and fries. I order this every time we come here, regardless of the time of day. We chat about various subjects for a while, me and Mike getting into an argument about the best pony near the end. I take the side of Rainbow Dash, him taking Pinkie Pie. We verbally spar until the food comes, the time when all conversation grounds to a halt. We finish our meals, and Zach insists on paying the bill, because he says he feels guilty about not getting me a present. I normally would have protested, but I blew most of my spending money on Melissa's necklace. Her necklace! Almost forgot I had an act planned. Well, wasn't really planned, more a spur of the moment sort of thing.

I get down on one knee besides Melissa. The other guys stop fighting over the mints to watch.

"Melissa. Today is both of our birthdays. We were born at the exact same time on the exact same day on the exact same year. At midnight we will be a quarter of century old. So I wanted to make this year special." I cough. The words come out in a blur that you'd have to be listening intently to decipher. "But... due to someone stepping in and telling me to take it down a notch, I could only get you this." I open the box and show her the necklace. The reaction is exactly the one I had hoped for. She squealed like a filly. Some of the other diners gave us angry glares, but I ignored them. I didn't want to see the reaction to the necklace. I wanted to see her reaction to me. She wrapped her arms around me so tight I couldn't breathe, and gave me a huge kiss on the cheek. I will never wash this cheek again.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou... THANK YOU!" she screams. I love my life. If only I could breathe.

* * * Almost 8 Hours Later * * *

Good thing I can handle my booze well. Most of the night was spent talking about things we'd never talk about sober, having drinking contests, and playing good ol' beer pong. Now we were counting down until midnight, where we would all take a shot of some kind of crazy beer mix. Probably tasted disgusting, but when you're drunk, everything tastes good. I looked at the clock. I had to strain my eyes to just barely make out the hands. Man I was drunk. I could almost swear time was slowing down in the seconds before midnight. The sound of my friends counting down snapped me back to attention.

"5"

"4"

"3"

"2"

"Get your shots ready, gentlemen!" someone called. Might have been the bartender. Too drunk to care.

"1"

I'm about to take the drink when my world fades out of existance. My vision becomes even hazier. I'm suddenly in some sort of mechanics workshop. That's odd. I don't remember being hired by a mechanic. A colourful figure fades in and out of my vision. I'm aware of something else just out of the corner of my eye. A strange mutation of flesh suddenly appears in front of me, laughing like a maniac. I rethink that statement. He IS a maniac. He... It... whatever is speaking to me now. I can only make out a few fragments of what he's saying.

"Silly Gearswitch...."

"I could've used your talents..."

"Shame you had to help your other pony friends..."

"Now you must pay for this..."

Just then, the other colourful figure I saw flitting around in my vision steps in front of my vision. It appears to be some sort of horse shape. Colourful horses. I must be REALLY drunk. The mutation is saying something again. This time I understand what the crazy thing is saying.

"Ah Gizmo, come to defend your friend, hmm? How valiant. Pity you failed. Now, why don't you two stand beside eachother." Some sort of spell he casts sends her flying into the wall beside me.

"Now, this will only take a teensy-weensy moment. There we are! Goodbye!"

Silence

...

...

Five Score, divided by Four.

Darkness.

                                                                                          * * *

When I come to, I'm sitting back in the bar, holding my shot in my left hand. Someone, I think it's Cody, is shouting in my ear.

"MATT! Snap out of it!" He screams.

"Wha... What? What happened?" I respond groggily. I rub my eyes. "Must have zoned out for a few seconds."

Cody looks surprised. "A few seconds? Dude, you and Melissa were both out for like 5 minutes as soon as it turned midnight. Are you all right?"

"Ya, must be all this booze. Wait. Melissa blacked out too?" He nods confirmation.

"You guys just sat there, staring at eachother. She called you Switch, by the way. Does that mean anything to you?"

The name sparks a memory of the dream I just had. The thing... called me Switch. I unconsciously scratch my right thigh as I think about the dream. I can only recall bits and pieces of what I just saw. The dream is already beginning to fade. Oh well, that's what dreams do. I see he's waiting for an answer.

"Uh... I don't know. Can I go home now please?" I sound like a 5-year old girl.

"Sure. I can't drive you though." He opens his wallet and produces a couple of 20s. Handing them to me, he tells me I should go get a cab. "I'm gonna have to get my truck home. Seeya there."

Melissa taps on my shoulder. "Hey, can I crash at your place? My dorm doesn't allow drinking, and I don't want to get caught."

"Uh... sure." I say, evidently slurring my words. "I got cash for a cab."

Stepping out unto the sidewalk, the first thing I notice is the freezing air. Of course. It's always freezing. We get into the taxi that Cody had whistled over for us, (what a gentleman) and sit on opposite sides of the cab. On the drive there, I contemplate the dream. It seemed... so... familiar. Almost like deja vu. Then it siddenly hits me. I had dreamt about the My Little Pony season 5 ending. The episode where Discord destroys the mane 6 and banishes them. Well then who were the two ponies in my dream? They certaintly weren't mane 6, so who were they? Backround ponies? I don't remember seeing them. I rack my brain  to gather as much information as I can. All I can come up with is "Switch" and "Gizmo". I open my phone and attempt to access the internet, hoping that I can access the MLP Wiki. Oh wait. No internet in a cab. I glance out the window. Well, this part of the neighbourhood looks familiar. Must mean we're almost there. I look over at Melissa. She's staring out the window, deep and distant in her thoughts. She's scratching her right thigh though. I look down, noticing I was doing the same thing, without even realizing it. I'd have to check that area out when I got home. It's probably a rash.

"We're here. That'll be 38 dollars, please." The cabbie says. Outrage. But what can you do? I hand over the two 20s and get my two dollars in exchange. I open the door and nearly fall out of the car. I stumble up to the door and push the door inside, nearly collapsing as I did so. How was I able to think about the dream without murdering my brain? I'm gonna hate myself in the morning. I look behind me. Melissa is following me, but still distant in her thoughts. Whatever. I'm too drunk and tired to care. We somehow make it up to my room without either injuring ourselves or waking the other residents. I fumble with the keys until I get them in the door and unlock it.

"Well," I say. "Goodnight." And then pass out on the couch.

                                                                                        * * *

I wake up with a pounding headache, like someone is pounding a nail into my brain. I barely manage to get up and get to the bathroom before I'm puking everything I had in the last 24 hours into the toilet. After rinsing my mouth out, I take a couple of Advils and look at myself in the mirror. I'm a mess.

"Need shower." I say to myself. "Need now."

I turn on the shower and wait until it is fully heated before stripping down and stepping in. The hot, steaming water feels amazing on my skin. That's when I remember the itching thighs. I examine them, expecting to find some sort of rash, or a patch of dried skin. What I see, nearly makes me pass out. Again. Tattoed on both of my thighs, is what looks to be a My Little Pony cutie mark. Three cogs interlocking. I rub my eyes and examine both thighs again. The cogs are still there, almost glowing it sticks out so much. My brain begins to piece together what I'm seeing. I have a cutie mark. What. The. Fuck.

Chapter 2 - Well. That's new.

The first thought that enters my head is, "Holy crap, my friends are dicks." Cody said I had only been dazed for about 5 minutes. Could he have lied? I think i'll go interrogate him when I get out. Just then, almost on cue, I just barely hear the door to his room slam closed over the noise of the shower. Better wrap up. I soak for a few more minutes, then step out and dry myself, catching occasional glances at my 'Cutie Mark'. Although, I think, the 3 cogs are kind of fitting for my line of work. I'm studying to get into an engineering trade school, but Steampunk is not the type of specialization I was planning on going for. Wrapping a towel around my waist, I grab my clothes and head into my room. I hold the clothes as far away from nose as possible, as the stench of vomit was almost unbearable. I get dressed, then sit on my bed and open my laptop. Before I question Cody, I want to check whose Cutie Mark I have on my thighs. I open my search engine, type in 'mlp wiki list of cutie marks', and click on the link. Scrolling down, I see many Marks I don't think I ever saw in the past, before finally coming across the 3 cogs I now have on my legs.

"Hmm... Gearswitch? Who's that?" I'm pretty sure Gearswitch was the name Discord called... me? This is very odd. Returning my attention to the page, I click on the link to her page.  The description reads out like this; A pegasus mare who appeared in Season 4, Episode 9 - The Steamship Express. I remember watching this episode only once, I guess it didn't stand out enough. In the episode the Mane 6 visit a city which is powered by the magic of Steampunk. Gearswitch and a unicorn named Gizmo Gadget both worked in some sort of mechanics shop, Gearswitch repairing the steamgear, Gizmo inventing new kinds. I scroll down to the gallery at the bottom. Strangely enough, they didn't have a picture right at the top, as they usually do. I click on a picture of Gearswitch and Gizmo together. Gearswitch has a shaggy, blond mane with black tips that almost look like the ends of her hair were dipped in oil. She has a lime green coat, and shining silver eyes. She wears a red belt with all assortments of tools on them, and a pair of safety goggles. I'm about to scrutinize Gizmo when Cody busts open the door to my room. He takes one look at me, than proceeds to look through my coat.

"What are you doing?" I question him suspiciously.

"Looking for my wallet." He responds dismissively. He searches for a few more seconds, lets out a frustrated groan and begins making his way to the door. I call his name firmly.

"Cody." He stops and and turns to face me, cocking his head to the side. "Sit down, I have some questions for you to answer." He slowly walks towards my desk chair, obviously wondering what this is about. I motion for him to pay attention. "Now, I am going to show you something, and you are going to tell me the truth about it, ok?" He nods, clearly quite puzzled. He always was a good actor, I think to myself.

"So... Matt. Are you feeling ok? Did I do something wrong?" I look at him sharply.

"Yes, I do believe you did. Can you explain this for me?" I reach down, and in one swift motion, drop my pants. He quickly covers his eyes.

"Dude! What the hell? I'm not gay!"

I sigh. He's really playing the innocent card until the end, isn't he? "No, not those. You're so dirty minded. I mean these." I say, gesturing at my Cutie Mark. He uncovers his eyes, stares at the cogs for a few seconds, then grins at me.

"Nice tramp stamps," he says. "I mean, I knew you liked MLP, but don't you think this is a bit too much?" I glare at him.

"Stop acting innocent. I know you did this to me. Now tell me how to remove it." He looks at me with the most convincing guiltless look I've ever seen. Even that can't be acting. But if he didn't do it, who did? Melissa wouldn't have, and Kyle doesn't know that I'm a brony. Or does he? I doubt Kyle did this, but I can't be sure. Mike doesn't have a mind like the rest. Still, I can't rule him out.

Cody gets serious for a moment. "Matt, I swear I didn't do that. Trust me."

"Well if you didn't do it, who did? Kyle? Mike?" I snap at him. He doesn't say anything, just shrugs. "Well this is ridiculous."

He grins. "Know what else is ridiculous? You are, right now. Put your pants back on. By the way, I like the choice. 3 cogs, with you wanting to be an engineer and all-"

I cut him off. "Yes, yes, I know. Very funny. Now help find out a way to get rid of this."

We sit in silence for several minutes, both of us thinking about homebrew ways to get rid of my mark. Going to a surgeon to get it removed is not an option, as I do have some dignity left, and lying on a hospital table while someone removes my 'Cutie Mark' will cause me to black out in shame. I'm not kidding. It wouldn't be the first time.

Cody's voice cuts off my thoughts. "Hey, Matt. Uh... your hair just changed colour. Not by much, but it was too fast to be a sunbleach." He stares at my hair for several seconds, squinting as he scrutinizes the colours. "Ya. That's odd, man. You're going blond. Really fast. Was there a chemical in the shampoo that would be causing this?"

"Not that I know of..." A nagging thought at the back of my brain keeps bothering me. Five score, divided by four, it keeps telling me. What the hell would it have to do with anything? How much is a score anyways? Argh, this is going to bother me until I figure it out. "Hey Cody," He lifts his head up from his phone and looks at me. "How long is a score, yearwise?"

He thinks for a few moments. "Uhh... I think it's something like, 10 years? Good question, I'll check it out." He types on his phone a few times, his stylus making an annoying 'tap, tap, tap.' everytime he clicks. "Ah! A score equals twenty years. Or something. All I know is twenty."

Alright, 5 scores. Five times twenty equals one hundred. One hundred divided by four equals twenty-five. It takes only a few moments for the dusty gears in my brain to process that 'Hey! I just turned 25 yesterday at midnight! Oh, and that's also when I blacked out and got the crazy pony dream!'

"Thanks, Brain." I say quietly to myself.

"So... any reason in particular why you had me search that? Or are you still drunk from yesterday?"

"No reason, just curious." Cody looks at me with a slightly worried look. Whatever, he doesn't need to know this stuff. He exits the room, grabbing his wallet from on top of my desk. No idea how it got there. I lie on my bed, deep in thought. First the tattoo, and now my hair is changing colours? What the hell is going on. Am I turning into Gearswitch?

"No..." I say out loud. "That... that can't be possible. It was a children's show. I can't be turning into a pony from some cartoon show. That just doesn't make sense."

Someone opens and closes the door to the bathroom. Probably Cody taking a shower. He smelt like vomit anywa-.

Melissa suddenly bursts into my room, screaming various things at me. "What the holy fuck did you DO TO ME?!"

I stutter. "I... uh... wha...?" She lifts her jeans to show a tattoo on her thigh, similar in colour to mine. Hers, however, is just a singular cog with a small flame in the middle. I'm betting that she has an identical one on her other thigh. "Wha... you got one too?" I barely manage to speak. She continues shouting at me.

"And the hair too? Really? God, you obnoxious little-." She stops, and stares at me with a strange look. "What do you mean, 'You got one too?' " She looks down at me. I realize that I'm still not wearing any pants. I have a bad habit of forgetting my pants. She's still staring at my Cutie Mark "What, you got a Cutie Mark as well?" I nod.

"And my hair has changed colours." I brush my hair out of my eye. Wait a minute. I kept my hair long, but not that long! Is it changing colours and growing? I return my attention to my girlfriend. She is looking straight into my eyes, almost like she saw a wraith. For some reason, her eyes are now a dark blue instead of hazel. I didn't know she needed contacts. Why is she staring at me like that?

"Switch, your eyes are silver," she says. "They just suddenly changed" Oh no, now my eyes are changing as well. Why is this happening? I have to find a way to stop this before I become a full blown pony. The thought makes me shudder. What would I do if I became a pony? I couldn't work, I couldn't go to school, I couldn't even be seen in normal society. My life would essentially be over. Alright, Matt, just calm down. We can figure this out later. Another thought hits me.

"Did you just call me Switch?" She looks confused.

"Did I? I suppose I did. Sorry about that Matt." She seems baffled as to why she called me Switch. "Must have been just a slip of the mind." I know her. She doesn't have slips of mind. That's also the second time she has called me Switch.

"It's fine. Let's just figure out how to stop this before we keep changing. I don't know how much time we've got left until we can't be seen in public." She appears worried, her eyes wide with fear and most of all, utter confusion.

She speaks slowly as she tries to piece together what I'm saying. "Are you saying that we're actually turning into ponies?" I nod. She shrugs, then grins. "Well, I'd like to know which pony I'm going to be. Or are we just turning into pony versions of ourselves?"

"From what I know, I think I'm going to become a pony named Gearswitch, and you are going to turn into a pony named Gizmo Gadget. I don't have much evidence to support yours, but it would make sense, as those two were very close in the show."

"So how long do we have until we are full blown ponies?"

"I don't know, but we need to act fast if we're going to prepare for this." I stand up, and grab my keys.

She looks at me skeptically. "Oh? And how do we suggest we do that?"

I turn around, almost like something out of an action movie. "We're going shopping."

* * * 4 HOURS LATER * * *

So 4 hours, $200 worth of various horse stuff, and very sore feet later, my girlfriend and I are lying exhausted on the couch. We got basic grooming supplies, a lot of alfalfa, and some vaccines. I don't know if a My Little Pony has the same diseases as normal horses, but better safe than sorry. I look at Melissa. She's already asleep, and it's only 8 at night. Whatever. I was going to take shower then head to bed anyways. The shower will give me a chance to look at any new changes. I make my way over to the bathroom. I try to open the door as silently as I can, as to not wake up the sleeping figure on the couch. I turn the knob on the shower, and wait for it to get warm. I should check myself out in case any other changes have happened. I think. Stepping over to the mirror, with my silver eyes looking back at me, I examine my body for any significant changes. My hair, or should I say my mane, has reached a full colour change. Light blond, with oily black tips, going down all the way past my neck. I feel a few strands of hair in my hand. It's soft, almost silky. I wish I could have a pillow made of this stuff. So soft... I slap myself to bring me back to attention. Concentrate on my body, dumbass! I shout at myself. Looking back at the mirror. I sweep my hands through my hair, still enjoying the velvety feel of it, when I reach my ears. My furry, lime green, perfectly equine ears.

"Well. That's new." I play around with my ears, flicking them back and forth. You would think I'd be feeling a bit different about looking in the mirror and finding out your ears are now those of a horse. You know, something along the lines of "Holy shit, I have pony ears and that shouldn't be possible." But no, I'm perfectly content to sit here and play with them, like a 5-year old with a brand new toy. For crying out loud, snap out of it! My brain shouts at me. I shrug. Might as well get into the shower. I can play with them some more once I'm done. I remove my clothes and step into the now-hot shower, and give myself a good scrubdown. I reach around with the soap to wash my back, when I see something I totally did not expect.

A tail.

Well. This is escalating quickly. Too quickly. I decide to leave it alone until I get out of the shower, so I don't waste my usual 15 minutes standing under the steamy flow, but get out as soon as I'm finished washing. I hop out, dry off, put my robe on and walk into my room. I immediately begin to mess around with my tail. Holy crap it's so soft! I could almost fall asleep with it. It's the same style and colour as my... mane? Light blond, with the black tips that look like oil. But my tail has something that my mane doesnt. It's got a strange blue-green border around the edges of the tail. Whatever, probably not important. Wait a second. I have to check if Melissa has grown her tail as well. I sneak out of my room, still wearing my robe, and stand beside her. She definitely has her tail, and her mane is fully coloured now. Hers, however, is a dark purple with red streaks. Reaching over, I nimbly pull her hood back, praying that she doesn't wake up. She doesn't and I get a look at her new pony ears. They barely poke out of the tangled mess that is her hair, but I can see that they are light blue in colour. I step back and stare at her. All I want to do is cry out 'aww'. She just looks so adorable! With those cute little ears and that colourful tail, I just want to snuggle up to her and give her a hug. Besides, I guess it's time for me to crash anyways. For some reason I'm really tired. Normally I don't fall asleep until eleven or twelve at night, later than that on the weekends. Oh well, it's probably my body getting used to all these changes. I cuddle up to my dozing girlfriend, and fall asleep in a matter of minutes, with three questions bouncing around my subconsciousness.

What the hell is going on? Why is this happening? What's going to happen tomorrow?