Changing Anatomiesby BlueAlicornChaptersPrologueWhat kind of bucking tattoo is this?New limbs: Yay or Neigh?PrologueI got home from work at Farm & Fleet more exhausted than ever. I normally worked as a regular cashier, but my friend, Dominic, our designated strongman and box-picker-upper, had the day off, so it was up to me to lift all of the boxes that were in need of relocation. Still, today was an extremely weird day. Two girls had bought a shit ton of supplies, allegedly for their farm. There was this one farm about 1-2 hours away from us, outside of town. They were known for their excellent organic corn. No other farm could ever reach the quality of their food, ever, even if they tried. Hard. Sometimes we came for a visit there, but not often. The owners were... Jack and... Alan maybe? Definitely not girls. Not really important anyway, I guessed. Marta, the cashier who saw all that, was talking about how the girls talked about eating raw alfalfa. Raw alfalfa? Really? Of course it was highly unlikely, so I dismissed it as Marta’s bad hearing. Dominic had the day off because it was his birthday, after all. The birthday party was coming up, but he wanted to wait for me and our common friend, Cynthia, to become 25 as well. You see, our birth dates were extremely close together, and since we were very close friends since Junior High (which is, by the way, the stupidest thing in connection with schools to be invented ever), we always had our party together at Cynthia’s. Generally we’d also stay there another two or three days and do something together, like going sightseeing and playing games. Dominic was born on the 2nd of May, I was brought to the world on the 3rd, and Cynthia had her date of birth also on the 3rd. She still lived with her parents which I couldn’t blame her for because they were really rich. Really really rich. We could have our birthday party anywhere in their mansion and they wouldn’t hear anything if they just went into another wing. They even had a huge, and by that I mean HUGE garden. Cynthia had always tended to the garden with great care, which was good, because she ate a lot of her own veggies. One of the many, and perhaps the best thing about her was that she didn’t play the ‘rich card’ out much, meaning that she wasn’t a spoiled brat, she just tried to be ‘normal’ and fit in. Then again, what was normal in this world? But that didn’t always work. With her parents being so rich, she attracted a lot of ‘friends’ who wanted nothing but her money. Luckily, it was pretty easy to distinguish between real friends and moneygrabbers. Anyways, I made myself some corn-on-the-cob for dinner and turned on the TV. Just as I got comfortable on the couch, I facepalmed. “I forgot to congratulate him, goddamnit!” Of course I would congratulate Dominic at the birthday party, but it was just polite to be on time. I got up hastily and scrambled towards my phone. *beeeep* *beeeep* *bee.. “Hello?” Dominic sounded a bit distraught with a smidgen of exhaustion in it too. “Hi Dominic, happy birthday to you, man! Also, what’s with your voice? You didn’t move boxes all day, like me, did you? How come you seem so out of breath?” I could practically see him scratch his head while he was searching for an answer. “Hello back, Anon, and thanks for the congratulations. I’m exhausted because, well, you see, today has kinda been a weird day for me.” I chuckled. “You know, me too. Marta said that there were two girls who wanted to eat raw alfalfa. RAW ALFALFA. Although, I don’t really think that she heard that right. Also they bought farm and horse supplies for almost 500 Dollars.” Dominic was soundly impressed. “Not bad, pretty weird. But mine’s been even weirder.” I retorted. “Aha. And how so?” I could hear Dominic shuffling around. “Yeah, nah, I’ll tell you tomorrow at Cynthia’s. I have to process the things that occurred today.” I got a bit worried. “Hey man, what’s up? You can tell me, we’ve been friends for ever now. If you have a secret, you can tell me, I won’t tell anyone else. Except maybe Cynthia. I Pinkie Promise.” Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I’m a diehard brony. So is Dominic. Cynthia technically is too, but she preferred to call herself diehard ‘pegasister’. Ever since the show was cancelled after season five (with an absolutely horrible ending, I might add), the fandom had slowly died down. Less fan-made art, animation and fanfics were showing up, but we still liked the show, listened to all of the music the fandom had created (20% cooler!) and watched reruns of seasons one, two and three. I had no fucking idea what Hasbro was thinking for seasons number four and five, it was just... so wrong. We still clung to the show, though. Dominic sighed loudly. “Okay. I Pinkie Promise that I will tell you both tomorrow, okay? Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. But then you don’t tell anyone either, okay?” I laughed. “Dominic, it’s me! Anon! One of your best friends. We don’t have secrets. You sound almost afraid, man! Nothing can scare you! Come on, you’re Dominic, the guy who actually LIKES Thunderstorms! What in the world could you be scared of?” I thought that I heard a wince on Dominic’s end of the phone, but I dismissed it and cotinued. “ Okay man, I’m content with you telling me tomorrow, but then you better have something for me!” Dominic let out a dry laugh, but with no humor behind it. “Oh, believe me, I have something for you in store. And I think I know who did it.” “Huh?” “Like I said, I’ll try to explain everything tomorrow. I’d recommend that you get a good night’s sleep.” I was confused. “Okaaaay, see you tomorrow at 2.” “Goodbye, Anon.” “Bye, Dom…” He had already hung up. I was quite confused, yet again. “Oh well, maybe he just doesn’t want me to know that he has a huge surprise planned and he wants us to be really overwhelmed at the sight of it.” I went back to my plate at the couch and finish the rest of the corn. Damn, that was good corn. Clearly from that farm. Just then, I felt like going to sleep for some reason. “Man, did they put sleeping pills in the corn or what?” I thought to myself that with my big day tomorrow, becoming 25 and all, I should probably get some rest. I put the plate in the dishwasher and poured myself a drink. Some water. I gulped it down and made my way up to my bedroom, past my ‘hobby room’, which was where I kept my, you guessed it, hobby. I was totally into minerals and crystals and had a huge collection of them, ranging from Amethysts to many kinds of different Zeolites (get it? A to Z? Horrible jokes for LIFE). I had always had a thing for gems and the sorts and I had started collecting them from a young age already. I got to the bedroom door and opened it. Through my sleepiness, I thought about tomorrow again. “The day is going to be packed full with stuff to do.” I slowly drifted into sleep, not knowing just how correct my statement was. Author's Note This is my very first attempt at writing, and I thought with the very good Five score story, what better way to start a fanfic? . Constructive criticism is very much appreciated. What kind of bucking tattoo is this?That night I had a weird and freakishly realistic-feeling dream. I could only remember parts of it, though. “Everypony who still supports...” “Banishment to...” “Five score, divided by...” “outlooks bleak...” “Hahaha! ...is now mine to...” I sprung up, surprised at how long and detailed the dream was. I did a quick check on myself. My house, my room, my bed, check. Sweating gallons, check. Shuddering like a maniac, check. Everything else okay, check. After I calmed myself down, I slowly rolled around to see what time it was. That woke me up more effectively than any alarm could. “OH SHIT!” If the alarm clock had a face, it would definitely have smirked. The time was 1:15, meaning I did not have much time at all to get ready. I stumbled out of bed, only to fall over a pile of dirty clothes. “Ow! Really?!” I got up and went into the bathroom. I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth and very hastily washed my face. All at the same time. I got out of the shower, only to realize my beard was slightly more protruding out of my face than I would have liked it to. “Ah, crap. Why now, beard?” I put some shaving cream on and sketchily went over my face, chin and parts of my neck with a razor, ignoring the small cuts. When I was finished, I almost looked worse than before. I splashed some water over my face to get rid of the blood. I smiled and looked at myself. “That’s better.” I got dressed, some not too casual but still pretty casual clothes. After what seemed like ages, I decided on jeans and a button-down shirt under a normal sweatshirt. Once satisfied with my look, I went to my bedroom table and picked up my two presents for my friends. Some ray-bans for Dominic and many kinds of different seeds I could muster for Cynthia. Melons, lemons and oranges, to name a few. Before you say anything about how melons can’t be grown in places like Iowa, I say again, Cynthia’s parents had a huge garden, including a greenhouse, so almost every fruit or vegetable known to man could be grown there. I got Dominic sunglasses because I couldn’t really think of anything that he would like other than them. With presents still in hand, I rushed down the stairs and made breakfast. I was struggling, though. “Breakfast was never this hard to make, what’s going on here?” That’s when I realized that it is, in fact, easier to cook with two hands. I put the gifts on the table and facepalmed. “Alright, Anon. Keep calm and everything will be alright.” I cracked my knuckles and neck and got my head together. “Okay. Eggs, toast and a pan. This can’t be too hard.” And indeed, with some concentration, I managed to make myself 3 slices of french toast after 5 minutes. 60 seconds later, no french toast was to be seen anymore. I wiped the rest off my face with a napkin and looked towards the clock. The clock showed the time. 1:45. Just enough time to get to Cynthia’s. I went out of the house with the gifts. Something was missing. “Of course! The keys!” I ran back inside and came out again in record time, holding the keys for both the car and my house. My car wasn’t exactly a Maserati, but it was mine. It was and old and used BMW. I had gotten it for the measly price of $1999 plus all the repairs that needed to be done. It worked though, and that’s what counts for me. Did I just say that it worked? Scratch that. I turned the keys time and time again, but the motor would just give a gurgling sound and shut off again. The number of unfortunate events, ending with the car rebelling finally cracked me and caused me to spew the most creative enumerations of curse words I could think of. I got out of the car, furious that the BMW would rebel against me exactly on this day, and kicked it so hard that I put a dent into the autobody. After that, the car started up and slowly. started rolling down the slope that my garage was connected to. I stood still for a moment, then my brain started working again. “Car is rolling, sir. Advise immediate sprint for vehicle” “FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK” I ran towards the driver’s door and managed to slide in. “Whew, close call.” I looked to the passenger seat and was relieved to see everything still there and intact. After making sure that the motor would stay on, I raced through the suburb to get to Cynthia’s parents’ mansion outside of town. It wasn’t that far away from the previously mentioned farm, but also not that near, either. With the street leading to a very rural area, there wasn’t much traffic anyway. Even less so because at this time of day, almost everyone was at work. I took the opportunity and accelerated to 70 mph. It was 1:58 when I arrived at the giant property. I drove up to the fancy gates and rang the bell. An extremely nasal voice answered. “Yes? May I ask who is there?” It was Alfonse, the butler. Good guy, he just poked his nose into a lot of things that weren’t meant for him. I answered politely. “Hello, Alfonse. It’s me, Anon. I just need a place to park and...” “No worries, Anon. I’ll just let you in now.” A button was pressed and the gate slowly opened. “Thanks, Alfie.” “Sir Anon, you do know that I despise that nickname?” I laughed. “Sorry, Alfonse. See you inside.” And with that, I drove my car onto the gravel driveway. I hastily parked the car and picked up the presents. The front door was opened and I rushed in, past a very confused Alfonse. Before I sprinted up the stairs, I took a second to admire the main hall. A huge crystalline chandelier hung from the ceiling and the walls were a dark wood, undoubtedly of high quality and value. I took a second to wave to Alfonse, then I made my way to Cynthia. Cynthia’s room was upstairs, to the right, overlooking the driveway, so she knew that I was coming. She had barely opened the door when I stormed in. “Am I still on time?” Cynthia laughed. She had brown hair and green eyes. She was slim, and about 5’ 5” tall. She looked pretty good, although I wasn’t really attracted to her. It was just nice having her in a conversation, she was all around a nice person. I looked around, seeing that everything had been prepared for staying a few nights in this room. Food, water and 3 laptops. Dominic was sitting in a chair facing the couch and the door. He was 6’ 1”, had brown-ish skin and was pretty muscular, although he didn’t trade all his brains for brawn. He was also a nice guy, pretty religious, but not ‘uptight’ religious. As I saw him, I noticed that there was something odd about him. He had a mohawk, tinted light-turquoise. My chin dropped. “Dude, what the fu...” Dominic held his hand up. “Remember the conversation we had on the phone last night? I’ll try to explain, even though I have no idea how or why this happened.” I could barely back the laughter that was building up inside of me. “Okay, so you mean to tell me that you just grew a mohawk which is by the way, not colored in any tint that a human could possibly have without dyeing it.” Dominic stayed perfectly serious, even though I could hear Cynthia chuckle quietly behind me. “Yes, Anon, that is exactly what I mean to tell you.” His deadpan face made my laughter stick in my throat. “Dude. You Pinkie promised. Why would you lie? You know what happens to people who break Pinkie Promises.” Dominic was getting slightly shaky now. “Anon, I know what happens and I am not lying, I swear. I don’t know how this happened, but it just... did.” He looked me in the eye. “You believe me, don’t you? I wouldn’t make this up.” It was then that I realized that his eye color had changed. He had normally had blue eyes. Now they were flecked with gold. “Whoa, man. Why are you wearing contacts? I mean... gold is a nice color, but why go to that extent?” What I had said made Dominic freeze for a second, then he ran to the nearest mirror. “What is this? WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO ME?” He slumped onto the couch, looking more disturbed than ever. “All started with this damn tattoo...” he mumbled. Now I was curious and walked towards him. Cynthia also came to my side and asked: “Dominic, what tattoo? Well, first I would like to say that I find it very hard to believe you, even though you are my close friend. It’s just... that can’t happen. But if you show me that mysterious tattoo, maybe things will clear up a bit.” She turned her head to me. “What do you think, Anon?” I shrugged. “If he cut and dyed his hair, put in colored contacts that only cover a few specks of the eye and got a tattoo only to fool us, then I applaud him for his commitment. But then, the question comes: commitment to what? What prank could he make out of this? Scare us that he is potentially mutating? If so, I say again, kudos to him and go for the prank. But if he tells the truth, and he swore, then I have no fucking idea what is going on. So Dominic, do please show us that tattoo.” A quiet “okay, but this isn’t a prank, guys.” was the only answer before he pulled his pants down. I was very surprised. “What the fuck man, show us your tattoo, not your junk.” Dominic didn’t say anything, he just pointed to his thigh. Our heads moved to the spot where he was pointing and... “Whoa, man! And it’s even on both thighs!” I said as I recoiled. After the initial shock I got closer to the tattoo. It looked brand spanking new, but there was no red skin around it like there always is with new tattoos. It wasn’t a roll-on tattoo, the quality was just much too good and there were no corners peeling off. To be honest, the quality was too good for a normal tattoo too. That was weird. Dominic saw the look of confusion on my face and nodded. “Mhm. Pretty bizarre, huh? The first time I saw it was when I took a shower yesterday evening. The mohawk appeared this morning and you just so kindly pointed out that my eyes are changing. Remember the other things I said in that conversation?” I scratched my head. “Um, that you think you know who did it?” Dominic nodded again. “Initially I thought that it was a prank that one of you had in some way pulled on me, tattooing a cutie mark on me and all.” You could almost see a light bulb turn on over Cynthia’s head. Before she had only stayed in the background, thinking, but now: “I got it!” she exclaimed as she got onto one of the laptops. Dominic continued. “But then these freakish changes happened, with the hair and all. And now with the eyes... it’s like I’m being turned into a permanent cosplayer.” He let out a dry laugh again. “Dude, I will deny that I ever said this, but I’m scared. What’s happening here isn’t human.” I tried comforting him. “Hey man, I’m sure we’ll find a reasonable explanation for all of this. But rewind for a second. You said cutie mark. That mark reminds me of a pony. It had this mohawk too. But what was the name?" Cynthia answered the question for me. “Thunderlane.” I snapped my fingers. “Yes! Thunderlane!” Then it dawned on me. “Wait, didn’t he have golden eyes too?” As an answer, she turned the laptop around for us to see. And sure enough, the picture matched perfectly. Dominic’s hair looked kind of like in the picture, admittedly not really, but the mark was a perfect fit. A dark cloud with a lightning bolt coming out of it. Even weirder, Dominic’s eyes matched those of Thunderlane’s more and more. I didn’t know what to say, it was like somebody had made it their mission to make Dominic look like Thunderlane as much as possible. (by godoflight on deviantart) Cynthia cut in. “Guys, I know this is kinda weird now, having found out that Dominic here got played a prank involving him looking like a background pony from the show, but the time is 2:24! Do you know what that means?” I turned around, realizing what that meant. I almost slapped myself for forgetting that. “Dominic, I am so sorry about this rapid subject change, but it’s tradition. Come on, we have got to celebrate the exact anniversaries of our birthdays.” Dominic was born pretty late, somewhere around 9pm, I was born at exactly 2:27pm and Cynthia had her birth date at 3pm and a bit, I can’t really remember. I continued, trying to get Dominic in a better mood. “After that, we can inspect and speculate about your... problem. So,” I pulled him up, “hooray for Dominic! The oldest in our circle! Not really on time, but better late than never!” Dominic saw the pathetic try to cheer him up, and he gave a weak smile to support us. “Thanks guys, but I don’t think this is a prank...” Oh man, I could imagine being in his shoes. Looking more and more like a random background pony from an old kids' show without self-inducing it, even changing eye colors. Eye color mutation is possible as far as I know, but only at a very young age. There was the possibility that he was lying, but I ruled it out. He would never lie to us. Not after Pinkie Promising. I would be scared as shit too. Meanwhile, the time had moved on to 2:26. Now it was my turn. I stared at the clock intently. “Come on, just wait a little bit more...” 2:27. I looked around to my friends, happy that I had turned 25. They looked back and smiled. Cynthia produced a present out of nowhere, handing it to me. “Happy Birthday, Anon!” I thanked her and took the present. Right when I wanted to open it, I started feeling woozy all of a sudden. I lost my balance and fell onto the couch, looking to Dominic, who was on the brink of freaking out. “Lane?” I mumbled before laying down on my back, trying to regain my senses. After a while I started to see my surroundings again. Cynthia waved a hand in front of my face. “Anon! Hey, hey Anon, wake up! Somebody there?” I nodded and put a hand to my head. “Whoa, what was that all about?” I looked over to Dominic, who was shivering. “Dom, I’m okay. There’s no need to worry about me. I just had... something.” Dominic didn’t stop shivering, instead he pointed a finger at me. “That... that what you just had... it’s gone as fast as it came, right?” I shrugged. “I guess so. But what the problem with it? It’s gone now, you said it yourself.” Dominic shook his head furiously. “No, that is the problem. You see, the same thing, or at least a similar thing happened to me yesterday. I didn’t get dizzy and stuff, but I kind of... zoned out for a few minutes. At first I thought that it was nothing, but then all this happened.” He gestured toward his thigh, eyes and... My chin dropped. Cynthia had noticed it too. “Dom, your mohawk.” Dominic put his hands up to his head, his face growing more and more frightened. “What is it? What in the holy hell is going on?” His hair had gotten purely light turquoise and it was now a complete mohawk, with no hair left on his head. I looked to Dominic, trying to distract him from the quite disturbing fact that some of his hair were growing back into his head. “So, you were saying about zoning out?” Dominic looked in my direction, trying to regain his composure. “W...well... I didn’t look at the clock when it happened, but I would bet that happened on the exact anniversary of my birth.” I scratched my head. “So, you mean that your transformation, as I am going to call it because I haven’t ever heard from a human whose hairs grew back into their head,” I facepalmed as I realized what I had said. I should not have said that, Dominic was already at the mirror and freaking out. “AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!?!” I continued my sentence in Cynthia’s direction. “, that it started with getting woozy and zoning out, and it started at the exact anniversary of your birth? Do you think this is a conspiracy or something?” Dominic stopped freaking out suddenly and coldly looked at me. “What do you expect of me, Anon? Tell me what this is, then. Like you said, I haven’t heard of a human either whose hairs grew back into his FUCKING SKULL!!! What do you think am I going through now? This is nothing but a horrible, tasteless and cruel prank someone is putting me through and you make JOKES about it?!?!” I raised my hands up in a defensive position, trying to think of something to say. “Ummm, I didn’t mean it that way... Hey, look! Your eyes are almost completely golden!” Dominic lost all of his rage and sunk back into the sofa. “You see? I’m mutating or something!” Cynthia moved in to comfort him. “Don’t worry, Dom. We’re here for you and we’ll try to fix this.” Dominic waved her aside, still pretty depressed. “Thanks for trying, I definitely give you points for effort, but I wouldn’t want to stand in the way of you celebrating your birthday. It’s almost 3, isn’t it?” I looked to the clock. Sure enough, it showed 2:57. “Cynthia, when is your birthday again? The time, I mean.” I asked her. “Um, it’s at 3:01. Why do you...” It dawned on her. “Of course! If I get woozy at that time, that means that Dominic is right with the connection!” I nodded. “Mhm. So, let’s wait and see. Dom, maybe there actually is something to your theory.” Dominic laughed mockingly. “Oh wonderful. That will help us so much with figuring out why this happened because if we know that we get cutie marks on our 25th birthdays, then we know how to fix it immediately.” I didn’t give an answer to that. 3:00. Dominic started the conversation again. “You know, apart from us looking if this zoning out is connected to the freakiness that has happened to me, you should probably check out if...” I put my hand up. “Just a moment. We’re testing your theory, so concentrate on Cynthia, will you?” Dominic frowned. “Fine, but after this I have to tell you something.” Cynthia was clearly uncomfortable with four eyes concentrating on her at all times. She shuffled around, her eyes darting everywhere. “Guys? You staring at me like I’m some sort of alien is kinda getting weird, and I don’t really think that this actually going to happen, so could we please stop? I'm getting a bit... ohhhh.” She lost all of her concentration and her stare got empty. I looked at her, then at the clock. "No way! It's actually true, Dom! She's zoned out and it's 3:01! We might be on to something here!" Dominic did not share my enthusiasm. "That's great Anon, but what good will it do? Anyway, coming back to the thing I said. If what's happened to me is connected to this transformation, then there is a good chance that it has started with you now. So, if you have been following me, then you should remember that I said that it started with the tattoo, right?" The color drained from my face. "You mean that I'm going to transform too?" Dominic's face got serious. "I'd know a way to prove that. Pull your pants down." I hesitantly reached for my belt, unbuckled it and slowly pulled my pants down. I didn't look. "Dom? Is there something?" Dominic didn't say anything, I could just hear him go towards Cynthia and bring her back to reality. He whispered something into her ear and she pulled her trousers down. Eventually I couldn't keep my eyes shut anymore and I looked at Cynthia. She had three carrots plastered over her thigh, with a quality any tattooist would adore to no end. " Um... Cynthia? You've got something on your thigh." Cynthia's eyes were directed towards my side. "Anon? You kinda have something there too." I looked down at my leg. Gleaming there on my side, there was a cobalt blue Sapphire. Author's Note So, the second chapter is here. Let me know what you think about it :) New limbs: Yay or Neigh?The tattoos on our legs were of the same quality as Dominic's. They wouldn't let themselves be rubbed off, no matter how furiously I tried to. "So... are we going to be transforming as well? Getting a mohawk and all?" Dominic pondered a bit. "I guess so. But like I seem to be transforming into Thunderlane, so we could go by the other cutie marks. For example, I know that Cynthia's tattoo here belongs to another background pony. It's Carrot Top, although I can't remember how she looked." Cynthia looked at him, baffled. "Dominic, really. You don’t know what Carrot Top looks like and you still call yourself a brony?" Dominic got a little ticked off again. "Oh sorry, miss. I'm just a little distraught from the... recent events that have occurred. You know, like this?!" He pointed to his mohawk. Cynthia retorted. "Alright, I'll admit that. But still, she's even shown in the season finale, where Discord completely razes Ponyville and destroys her garden." I was surprised, Dominic had the same reaction. I started. "Cynthia, Discord razes Ponyville, that's true, but the last scene shows him destroying the office of the local geologist, Cerulean Sapphire. He says that everypony who still supported the royal sisters would be banished from Equestria so he wouldn't have any trouble ruling. Then it ends." Dominic stepped in. "Both of you are wrong. In the final scene he's seen as he burns Cloudsdale, which I find very ironic, then, in the distance, he fights with Rainbow Dash and banishes her. After that, he comes back to the destroyed Cloudsdale and expatriates almost everypony else. He does say something along the lines of what you just told us, Anon. Then the episode ends." Cynthia and me looked at Dominic like he was crazy. I raised an eyebrow. "What are you making up, man?" Dominic didn't understand. "I’m not making it up, that's really what happens, I swear. I can show you the series finale to prove it to you too." I answered. "Uh-huh. Okay then, let's watch it, but I still stick with my ending." Cynthia quickly looked the episode up on YouTube and clicked the link. 22 minutes and a horrible ending later, all of us sat there, baffled. Dominic, on the other hand, was furious. "They cut it out! Why did they cut out that scene? That was the most most detailed and best scene in the episode by far! And then they had to replace it with this lame Twilight scene" I was irritated too, but I was already thinking. "Hm. I swear I could remember that scene. Is this a version of the episode where they put in this other scene?" Dominic was searching for an answer. "I guess so. Anyway, that's not important right now. I have no idea how we got on this gigantic tangent, but we have a far bigger matter to be concerned about." He pointed to our thighs and to his head. "THIS! This is horrible! I've already started transforming and you seem to have started. So what now? Should we wait until we all turn into ponies?" Cynthia answered. "Well, I don't think that we will make good decisions if we are making them in absolute hysteria, so let's all just calm down. My nana always said that when fear takes hold you should lay down and think about what you are doing. Just... relax and we’ll be sure to figure out a way to fix this.” Dominic reluctantly agreed. “Alright, but promise me that when we put our heads together after the rest, that you guys will help me find a solution to this.” I was a bit miffed. “You know Dom, as far as I know that what happened to you is also happening to Cynthia and me, so we’re not helping you, we’re helping us.” Dominic blushed. “Oh yeah, sorry.” Cynthia threw herself on the couch. “Alright guys, time to take a power nap!” I chuckled and promptly laid down on the mattress that was provided for me. I turned my head to Dominic who hadn’t done anything and was still standing in place. “Hey man! Earth to Dominic, is somepony there?” Dominic snapped out of his trance. “No, no, I’m fine. I was just thinking.” He looked worried. “Thinking about what?” I asked. “Well, it’s nice and all that you are here with me, but what if we don’t find a solution to this? What if I... sorry, what if we completely turn into ponies? What will happen then? I mean, this can’t be a prank anymore. Or...” He pointed an accusing finger at me. “YOU tattooed these on me and dyed my hair and made it grow longer and put in contact lenses and...” He realized the stupidity of his theory. I tried to calm him down. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. I did NOT prank you, and neither did Cynthia. Just lay down and relax like she said, okay? And just so you know, you're not the only one weirded out by this." Dominic went towards his mattress and hesitantly laid down. “See you in a bit.” And with that, he closed his eyes and went to sleep. I laid down, yet I couldn’t sleep, Dominic’s statement was floating around in my mind all the time. What if we do turn into ponies? And how? Magic? “Nah, this can’t be. Magic doesn’t exist.” But Dominic’s hair grew back into his head. How could that happen? “Okay, maybe it does exist.” See? And now, referring to my original statement, what if we turn into ponies? “Stop it! I’m talking to myself here, I just want to go to sleep.” I forced my eyes shut and slept. I once again had a pretty detailed dream. I was in Ponyville, but I almost didn't recognize it. Most houses were destroyed, the ones still standing were burning and... one house was burning with ice. "What? Fire and ice? That doesn't make sense!" Suddenly, a voice rippled through the air, making my hair stand on my neck. "Oh please, what fun is there in making sense?" My muscles tensed. "Show yourself, Discord! What did you do to all of my friends!?" Discord only chuckled in response. "Why are you so angry? Look at all this beautiful chaos!" My rage built up more and more. "This isn't the end! Even though Celestia is gone, There are still ponies that will help to stop you! And I am no exception!" "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Why does everypony want to be this complicated? Oh well... For Five score! Divided by Four! Your memories removed, your bodies confused! For your insolence you must pay! Cast off to a land far, far away!" My world turned upside down, I barely had time to say: "Whaa?" before I found myself in a white void. It got darker and darker, until it was pure blackness. It felt like I was underwater, but somehow I could breathe. Suddenly, I saw a white light in the distance. I swam towards it, and when I reached it... I woke up and looked around me. I was on the mattress, in the room. Everything was okay. Apparently none of my friends was awake yet. I looked at the clock. It showed 8:07pm. I had slept for about three and a half hours. Wait, what? This was supposed to be a nap! “Guys, guys! Wake up! It’s already after eight!” Cynthia and Dominic slowly stirred. “Hm? Eight o’clock? Wait, is it really eight o’clock?” I nodded. “Exactly. We should have eaten long ago. What will Alfonse say?” Dominic mumbled something. I turned toward him. “What did you say?” Dominic said it again, this time loud and clear. “My butt hurts.” I burst out laughing at that statement. “Your butt hurts? Really?” Dominic looked at me with the most poisonous look I had seen from him in... ever. “Yes, it does. No need to make fun of it.” Cynthia stepped in before anything bad could happen. “Stop it, guys. Dominic, why don’t you show us your butt and we’ll take a look at it.” I rolled on the floor, my sides beginning to hurt. “Oh god, that’s priceless! I’ll gladly look at your ass, Dom!” Dominic continued his poison look and slowly pulled his pants down. “And? Is there something?” His expression turned into worry as he heard that my laughing had suddenly subsided. “Guys? Is there something? Please answer me.” I tried to formulate a sentence, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t possible. Then again, the thing on Dominic’s butt wasn’t possible either. I finally managed to push out some words. “Dude... you... you... Cynthia, am I seeing this? Or am I dreaming?” Cynthia stuttered. “Anon... I see it too. This is crazy. There is no way this is real.” Dominic was getting twitchy. “What? What is it for crying out loud?!” I looked at his body to see if there was anything else. My eyes scanned the body until they reached the top of Dominic’s head. No way. This couldn’t be. Dominic had large equine ears on his head. They were even covered with black hair, or fur, in his case. Another step towards looking like Thunderlane. I swallowed. “Dom, which news do you want first?” “What do you mean? The good news and the bad news?” I shook my head. “Nope. The bad news related to your head or the bad news related to your butt?” Cynthia asked me quietly: “Anon, I still can’t believe this. How did this happen?” Dominic’s ears swiveled towards Cynthia’s voice. “Wait... did my ears just swivel? How...” He raised his hands up to his head and felt the ears. His face got chalk-white. “No. No! NO!” He got up and rushed to the nearest mirror. When he saw it, he sank down to his knees and sobbed. Cynthia whispered to me. “He sure isn’t taking it well. I can understand him though, with the transformation and all. Do you think we should tell him that he has a tail too?” She immediately regretted what she said. Dominic stopped sobbing, having heard Cynthia, and turned his head to his bottom. He saw the tail, tugged on it, then let it sink to the ground. “No. Please god, no. No! NOOOOOOOO!” And with that he dropped onto the floor. I was speechless. Not only did Dominic grow fur-covered ears and a tail, it was most likely that Cynthia and I would grow them too in our respective colors. I stammered a sentence in Cynthia’s general direction. “Is... is that tail real?” Cynthia went towards Dominic and carefully tugged on his tail. “It seems to be. Hey, Dom. Are you there?” No response. I snapped out of my trance and ran to Dominic’s body. “Okay... how was that in first aid? Um... Oh right! Check the pulse.” I put two fingers to his neck and was relieved to feel a steady beating. “Whew, he’s okay. I’m pretty sure that he’ll wake up in a bit, but we should give him a pillow or something. Anyway, we should go and eat, or else your parents might get suspicious that we won’t come.” Cynthia looked to me. “Not really, no. They’re fully aware that we are supposed to be having our party in my room, so they won’t care at all.” I sat down on the couch. “Well, at least we’ve got that. But... I still can’t believe this. Cynthia... Dominic grew a BUCKING TAIL. What if he actually turns into Thunderlane? What if we turn into ponies? We’d have to...” Cynthia sat down next to me. “Anon, stay calm. This nap should have helped us concentrate, not give us more hysteria. We’re going through this together, and like we said, we will find a solution to this. We know that it has something to do with us getting woozy on our 25th birthdays." I scoffed. "Because knowing that will surely help us. Also, I've been having really weird dreams ever since all this started." Cynthia looked at me. "Weird dreams? What kind of weird dreams?" I shrugged. "Well, it plays in Ponyville, and it's mostly the scene that I thought was in the finale." Cynthia sat there, the gears in her brain visibly grinding. "I had a dream about Carrot Top's garden being destroyed by Discord. The same scene I thought was in the finale. Do you think this is a coincidence?" I scratched my head. "Maybe, maybe not. I guess we'll have to wait and let this situation get out of hoof even more." I had said 'hoof'. What? Cynthia smiled. "Hey, cheer up. We're in this together, after all. And anyway, how bad can it be to become a pony anyway?” I thought about that. “Well... If Dominic really ‘goes all the way’, then he will get wings. Pretty cool. I’ll get a horn and you...” I made a pathetic attempt at a joke. “You get nothing!!! You'll be an earth pony. But if we transform, how will we explain this to our families and friends? 'Hey mom, I just wanted to tell you that I'll be turning into a cartoon pony from a show for little girls that ended five years ago, bye'" Cynthia took that into consideration. "Well, I guess that's right. But think about it: you're still their son, and if I know anything about your parents, I know that they care for you. They'd never stop supporting you." Now Cynthia, she knew how to pick people up when they were down. And that pep-talk picked me up. "You're right! Mom and Dad will..." But it didn't last long, as I realized another depressing thing. "Cynthia... Again... Do you really think that we will transform fully?" Cynthia nodded. "Well then, be prepared to live a life secluded from any contact to the outside world. After all, from all I heard, cartoon ponies are a pretty rare breed. If anyone finds out about us, what do you think they'll do?" "When they find talking pastel ponies? They'll call the police, I guess?" "Most likely. And then?" Cynthia's voice got shaky. "What then?" My face turned grim. "They'll lock us up and study us. Perhaps even dissection. I think I should quote a favorite fimfic of mine. 'When humans want answers, they tend to ask pretty hard.' And because Dom has kinda really disproven any logical theory towards all this, my mind is searching for all of the outcomes of this situation. Also, it is almost ready to say: 'Fuck everything and be a pony'. But just almost." Cynthia tried to comfort me. "Come on, it isn't that bad. I'm sure our parents wouldn't let them dissect us. Also, I now see that your nap hasn't really helped with your concentration or calmness." I laughed. "Well no shit. I just want this to get right, it's all just so freaky." I could hear Dominic stirring from his unconsciousness and shuffled. I sighed. "I'm going to call them tomorrow, I want to tell it to them." Cynthia interjected. "Hold your horses there. You are their son, but do you honestly expect them to believe you?" "Well, no. But if we wait, the things that happened to Dom will happen to you and me. The manes of the ponies, the eyes and, most importantly, a tail that we can control with our will. If it happens tomorrow, they will believe me, I have proof then. Also, Dom.” Dominic walked over to us. “So... this is really happening. I have a tail. I can control it freely. I have ears that swivel. And I still can not believe it. I’m going to bed. I have to digest this.” And with that, he laid down and closed his eyes. I smiled weakly. “Well, let’s follow the leader. I, for myself, don’t have anything better to do.” Cynthia chuckled. “Neither do I.” Author's Note Yeah, kinda having writer's block lately. I don't this chapter is outstanding, but the next one will be be better, guaranteed.
PrologueI got home from work at Farm & Fleet more exhausted than ever. I normally worked as a regular cashier, but my friend, Dominic, our designated strongman and box-picker-upper, had the day off, so it was up to me to lift all of the boxes that were in need of relocation. Still, today was an extremely weird day. Two girls had bought a shit ton of supplies, allegedly for their farm. There was this one farm about 1-2 hours away from us, outside of town. They were known for their excellent organic corn. No other farm could ever reach the quality of their food, ever, even if they tried. Hard. Sometimes we came for a visit there, but not often. The owners were... Jack and... Alan maybe? Definitely not girls. Not really important anyway, I guessed. Marta, the cashier who saw all that, was talking about how the girls talked about eating raw alfalfa. Raw alfalfa? Really? Of course it was highly unlikely, so I dismissed it as Marta’s bad hearing. Dominic had the day off because it was his birthday, after all. The birthday party was coming up, but he wanted to wait for me and our common friend, Cynthia, to become 25 as well. You see, our birth dates were extremely close together, and since we were very close friends since Junior High (which is, by the way, the stupidest thing in connection with schools to be invented ever), we always had our party together at Cynthia’s. Generally we’d also stay there another two or three days and do something together, like going sightseeing and playing games. Dominic was born on the 2nd of May, I was brought to the world on the 3rd, and Cynthia had her date of birth also on the 3rd. She still lived with her parents which I couldn’t blame her for because they were really rich. Really really rich. We could have our birthday party anywhere in their mansion and they wouldn’t hear anything if they just went into another wing. They even had a huge, and by that I mean HUGE garden. Cynthia had always tended to the garden with great care, which was good, because she ate a lot of her own veggies. One of the many, and perhaps the best thing about her was that she didn’t play the ‘rich card’ out much, meaning that she wasn’t a spoiled brat, she just tried to be ‘normal’ and fit in. Then again, what was normal in this world? But that didn’t always work. With her parents being so rich, she attracted a lot of ‘friends’ who wanted nothing but her money. Luckily, it was pretty easy to distinguish between real friends and moneygrabbers. Anyways, I made myself some corn-on-the-cob for dinner and turned on the TV. Just as I got comfortable on the couch, I facepalmed. “I forgot to congratulate him, goddamnit!” Of course I would congratulate Dominic at the birthday party, but it was just polite to be on time. I got up hastily and scrambled towards my phone. *beeeep* *beeeep* *bee.. “Hello?” Dominic sounded a bit distraught with a smidgen of exhaustion in it too. “Hi Dominic, happy birthday to you, man! Also, what’s with your voice? You didn’t move boxes all day, like me, did you? How come you seem so out of breath?” I could practically see him scratch his head while he was searching for an answer. “Hello back, Anon, and thanks for the congratulations. I’m exhausted because, well, you see, today has kinda been a weird day for me.” I chuckled. “You know, me too. Marta said that there were two girls who wanted to eat raw alfalfa. RAW ALFALFA. Although, I don’t really think that she heard that right. Also they bought farm and horse supplies for almost 500 Dollars.” Dominic was soundly impressed. “Not bad, pretty weird. But mine’s been even weirder.” I retorted. “Aha. And how so?” I could hear Dominic shuffling around. “Yeah, nah, I’ll tell you tomorrow at Cynthia’s. I have to process the things that occurred today.” I got a bit worried. “Hey man, what’s up? You can tell me, we’ve been friends for ever now. If you have a secret, you can tell me, I won’t tell anyone else. Except maybe Cynthia. I Pinkie Promise.” Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I’m a diehard brony. So is Dominic. Cynthia technically is too, but she preferred to call herself diehard ‘pegasister’. Ever since the show was cancelled after season five (with an absolutely horrible ending, I might add), the fandom had slowly died down. Less fan-made art, animation and fanfics were showing up, but we still liked the show, listened to all of the music the fandom had created (20% cooler!) and watched reruns of seasons one, two and three. I had no fucking idea what Hasbro was thinking for seasons number four and five, it was just... so wrong. We still clung to the show, though. Dominic sighed loudly. “Okay. I Pinkie Promise that I will tell you both tomorrow, okay? Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. But then you don’t tell anyone either, okay?” I laughed. “Dominic, it’s me! Anon! One of your best friends. We don’t have secrets. You sound almost afraid, man! Nothing can scare you! Come on, you’re Dominic, the guy who actually LIKES Thunderstorms! What in the world could you be scared of?” I thought that I heard a wince on Dominic’s end of the phone, but I dismissed it and cotinued. “ Okay man, I’m content with you telling me tomorrow, but then you better have something for me!” Dominic let out a dry laugh, but with no humor behind it. “Oh, believe me, I have something for you in store. And I think I know who did it.” “Huh?” “Like I said, I’ll try to explain everything tomorrow. I’d recommend that you get a good night’s sleep.” I was confused. “Okaaaay, see you tomorrow at 2.” “Goodbye, Anon.” “Bye, Dom…” He had already hung up. I was quite confused, yet again. “Oh well, maybe he just doesn’t want me to know that he has a huge surprise planned and he wants us to be really overwhelmed at the sight of it.” I went back to my plate at the couch and finish the rest of the corn. Damn, that was good corn. Clearly from that farm. Just then, I felt like going to sleep for some reason. “Man, did they put sleeping pills in the corn or what?” I thought to myself that with my big day tomorrow, becoming 25 and all, I should probably get some rest. I put the plate in the dishwasher and poured myself a drink. Some water. I gulped it down and made my way up to my bedroom, past my ‘hobby room’, which was where I kept my, you guessed it, hobby. I was totally into minerals and crystals and had a huge collection of them, ranging from Amethysts to many kinds of different Zeolites (get it? A to Z? Horrible jokes for LIFE). I had always had a thing for gems and the sorts and I had started collecting them from a young age already. I got to the bedroom door and opened it. Through my sleepiness, I thought about tomorrow again. “The day is going to be packed full with stuff to do.” I slowly drifted into sleep, not knowing just how correct my statement was. Author's Note This is my very first attempt at writing, and I thought with the very good Five score story, what better way to start a fanfic? . Constructive criticism is very much appreciated.
What kind of bucking tattoo is this?That night I had a weird and freakishly realistic-feeling dream. I could only remember parts of it, though. “Everypony who still supports...” “Banishment to...” “Five score, divided by...” “outlooks bleak...” “Hahaha! ...is now mine to...” I sprung up, surprised at how long and detailed the dream was. I did a quick check on myself. My house, my room, my bed, check. Sweating gallons, check. Shuddering like a maniac, check. Everything else okay, check. After I calmed myself down, I slowly rolled around to see what time it was. That woke me up more effectively than any alarm could. “OH SHIT!” If the alarm clock had a face, it would definitely have smirked. The time was 1:15, meaning I did not have much time at all to get ready. I stumbled out of bed, only to fall over a pile of dirty clothes. “Ow! Really?!” I got up and went into the bathroom. I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth and very hastily washed my face. All at the same time. I got out of the shower, only to realize my beard was slightly more protruding out of my face than I would have liked it to. “Ah, crap. Why now, beard?” I put some shaving cream on and sketchily went over my face, chin and parts of my neck with a razor, ignoring the small cuts. When I was finished, I almost looked worse than before. I splashed some water over my face to get rid of the blood. I smiled and looked at myself. “That’s better.” I got dressed, some not too casual but still pretty casual clothes. After what seemed like ages, I decided on jeans and a button-down shirt under a normal sweatshirt. Once satisfied with my look, I went to my bedroom table and picked up my two presents for my friends. Some ray-bans for Dominic and many kinds of different seeds I could muster for Cynthia. Melons, lemons and oranges, to name a few. Before you say anything about how melons can’t be grown in places like Iowa, I say again, Cynthia’s parents had a huge garden, including a greenhouse, so almost every fruit or vegetable known to man could be grown there. I got Dominic sunglasses because I couldn’t really think of anything that he would like other than them. With presents still in hand, I rushed down the stairs and made breakfast. I was struggling, though. “Breakfast was never this hard to make, what’s going on here?” That’s when I realized that it is, in fact, easier to cook with two hands. I put the gifts on the table and facepalmed. “Alright, Anon. Keep calm and everything will be alright.” I cracked my knuckles and neck and got my head together. “Okay. Eggs, toast and a pan. This can’t be too hard.” And indeed, with some concentration, I managed to make myself 3 slices of french toast after 5 minutes. 60 seconds later, no french toast was to be seen anymore. I wiped the rest off my face with a napkin and looked towards the clock. The clock showed the time. 1:45. Just enough time to get to Cynthia’s. I went out of the house with the gifts. Something was missing. “Of course! The keys!” I ran back inside and came out again in record time, holding the keys for both the car and my house. My car wasn’t exactly a Maserati, but it was mine. It was and old and used BMW. I had gotten it for the measly price of $1999 plus all the repairs that needed to be done. It worked though, and that’s what counts for me. Did I just say that it worked? Scratch that. I turned the keys time and time again, but the motor would just give a gurgling sound and shut off again. The number of unfortunate events, ending with the car rebelling finally cracked me and caused me to spew the most creative enumerations of curse words I could think of. I got out of the car, furious that the BMW would rebel against me exactly on this day, and kicked it so hard that I put a dent into the autobody. After that, the car started up and slowly. started rolling down the slope that my garage was connected to. I stood still for a moment, then my brain started working again. “Car is rolling, sir. Advise immediate sprint for vehicle” “FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK” I ran towards the driver’s door and managed to slide in. “Whew, close call.” I looked to the passenger seat and was relieved to see everything still there and intact. After making sure that the motor would stay on, I raced through the suburb to get to Cynthia’s parents’ mansion outside of town. It wasn’t that far away from the previously mentioned farm, but also not that near, either. With the street leading to a very rural area, there wasn’t much traffic anyway. Even less so because at this time of day, almost everyone was at work. I took the opportunity and accelerated to 70 mph. It was 1:58 when I arrived at the giant property. I drove up to the fancy gates and rang the bell. An extremely nasal voice answered. “Yes? May I ask who is there?” It was Alfonse, the butler. Good guy, he just poked his nose into a lot of things that weren’t meant for him. I answered politely. “Hello, Alfonse. It’s me, Anon. I just need a place to park and...” “No worries, Anon. I’ll just let you in now.” A button was pressed and the gate slowly opened. “Thanks, Alfie.” “Sir Anon, you do know that I despise that nickname?” I laughed. “Sorry, Alfonse. See you inside.” And with that, I drove my car onto the gravel driveway. I hastily parked the car and picked up the presents. The front door was opened and I rushed in, past a very confused Alfonse. Before I sprinted up the stairs, I took a second to admire the main hall. A huge crystalline chandelier hung from the ceiling and the walls were a dark wood, undoubtedly of high quality and value. I took a second to wave to Alfonse, then I made my way to Cynthia. Cynthia’s room was upstairs, to the right, overlooking the driveway, so she knew that I was coming. She had barely opened the door when I stormed in. “Am I still on time?” Cynthia laughed. She had brown hair and green eyes. She was slim, and about 5’ 5” tall. She looked pretty good, although I wasn’t really attracted to her. It was just nice having her in a conversation, she was all around a nice person. I looked around, seeing that everything had been prepared for staying a few nights in this room. Food, water and 3 laptops. Dominic was sitting in a chair facing the couch and the door. He was 6’ 1”, had brown-ish skin and was pretty muscular, although he didn’t trade all his brains for brawn. He was also a nice guy, pretty religious, but not ‘uptight’ religious. As I saw him, I noticed that there was something odd about him. He had a mohawk, tinted light-turquoise. My chin dropped. “Dude, what the fu...” Dominic held his hand up. “Remember the conversation we had on the phone last night? I’ll try to explain, even though I have no idea how or why this happened.” I could barely back the laughter that was building up inside of me. “Okay, so you mean to tell me that you just grew a mohawk which is by the way, not colored in any tint that a human could possibly have without dyeing it.” Dominic stayed perfectly serious, even though I could hear Cynthia chuckle quietly behind me. “Yes, Anon, that is exactly what I mean to tell you.” His deadpan face made my laughter stick in my throat. “Dude. You Pinkie promised. Why would you lie? You know what happens to people who break Pinkie Promises.” Dominic was getting slightly shaky now. “Anon, I know what happens and I am not lying, I swear. I don’t know how this happened, but it just... did.” He looked me in the eye. “You believe me, don’t you? I wouldn’t make this up.” It was then that I realized that his eye color had changed. He had normally had blue eyes. Now they were flecked with gold. “Whoa, man. Why are you wearing contacts? I mean... gold is a nice color, but why go to that extent?” What I had said made Dominic freeze for a second, then he ran to the nearest mirror. “What is this? WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO ME?” He slumped onto the couch, looking more disturbed than ever. “All started with this damn tattoo...” he mumbled. Now I was curious and walked towards him. Cynthia also came to my side and asked: “Dominic, what tattoo? Well, first I would like to say that I find it very hard to believe you, even though you are my close friend. It’s just... that can’t happen. But if you show me that mysterious tattoo, maybe things will clear up a bit.” She turned her head to me. “What do you think, Anon?” I shrugged. “If he cut and dyed his hair, put in colored contacts that only cover a few specks of the eye and got a tattoo only to fool us, then I applaud him for his commitment. But then, the question comes: commitment to what? What prank could he make out of this? Scare us that he is potentially mutating? If so, I say again, kudos to him and go for the prank. But if he tells the truth, and he swore, then I have no fucking idea what is going on. So Dominic, do please show us that tattoo.” A quiet “okay, but this isn’t a prank, guys.” was the only answer before he pulled his pants down. I was very surprised. “What the fuck man, show us your tattoo, not your junk.” Dominic didn’t say anything, he just pointed to his thigh. Our heads moved to the spot where he was pointing and... “Whoa, man! And it’s even on both thighs!” I said as I recoiled. After the initial shock I got closer to the tattoo. It looked brand spanking new, but there was no red skin around it like there always is with new tattoos. It wasn’t a roll-on tattoo, the quality was just much too good and there were no corners peeling off. To be honest, the quality was too good for a normal tattoo too. That was weird. Dominic saw the look of confusion on my face and nodded. “Mhm. Pretty bizarre, huh? The first time I saw it was when I took a shower yesterday evening. The mohawk appeared this morning and you just so kindly pointed out that my eyes are changing. Remember the other things I said in that conversation?” I scratched my head. “Um, that you think you know who did it?” Dominic nodded again. “Initially I thought that it was a prank that one of you had in some way pulled on me, tattooing a cutie mark on me and all.” You could almost see a light bulb turn on over Cynthia’s head. Before she had only stayed in the background, thinking, but now: “I got it!” she exclaimed as she got onto one of the laptops. Dominic continued. “But then these freakish changes happened, with the hair and all. And now with the eyes... it’s like I’m being turned into a permanent cosplayer.” He let out a dry laugh again. “Dude, I will deny that I ever said this, but I’m scared. What’s happening here isn’t human.” I tried comforting him. “Hey man, I’m sure we’ll find a reasonable explanation for all of this. But rewind for a second. You said cutie mark. That mark reminds me of a pony. It had this mohawk too. But what was the name?" Cynthia answered the question for me. “Thunderlane.” I snapped my fingers. “Yes! Thunderlane!” Then it dawned on me. “Wait, didn’t he have golden eyes too?” As an answer, she turned the laptop around for us to see. And sure enough, the picture matched perfectly. Dominic’s hair looked kind of like in the picture, admittedly not really, but the mark was a perfect fit. A dark cloud with a lightning bolt coming out of it. Even weirder, Dominic’s eyes matched those of Thunderlane’s more and more. I didn’t know what to say, it was like somebody had made it their mission to make Dominic look like Thunderlane as much as possible. (by godoflight on deviantart) Cynthia cut in. “Guys, I know this is kinda weird now, having found out that Dominic here got played a prank involving him looking like a background pony from the show, but the time is 2:24! Do you know what that means?” I turned around, realizing what that meant. I almost slapped myself for forgetting that. “Dominic, I am so sorry about this rapid subject change, but it’s tradition. Come on, we have got to celebrate the exact anniversaries of our birthdays.” Dominic was born pretty late, somewhere around 9pm, I was born at exactly 2:27pm and Cynthia had her birth date at 3pm and a bit, I can’t really remember. I continued, trying to get Dominic in a better mood. “After that, we can inspect and speculate about your... problem. So,” I pulled him up, “hooray for Dominic! The oldest in our circle! Not really on time, but better late than never!” Dominic saw the pathetic try to cheer him up, and he gave a weak smile to support us. “Thanks guys, but I don’t think this is a prank...” Oh man, I could imagine being in his shoes. Looking more and more like a random background pony from an old kids' show without self-inducing it, even changing eye colors. Eye color mutation is possible as far as I know, but only at a very young age. There was the possibility that he was lying, but I ruled it out. He would never lie to us. Not after Pinkie Promising. I would be scared as shit too. Meanwhile, the time had moved on to 2:26. Now it was my turn. I stared at the clock intently. “Come on, just wait a little bit more...” 2:27. I looked around to my friends, happy that I had turned 25. They looked back and smiled. Cynthia produced a present out of nowhere, handing it to me. “Happy Birthday, Anon!” I thanked her and took the present. Right when I wanted to open it, I started feeling woozy all of a sudden. I lost my balance and fell onto the couch, looking to Dominic, who was on the brink of freaking out. “Lane?” I mumbled before laying down on my back, trying to regain my senses. After a while I started to see my surroundings again. Cynthia waved a hand in front of my face. “Anon! Hey, hey Anon, wake up! Somebody there?” I nodded and put a hand to my head. “Whoa, what was that all about?” I looked over to Dominic, who was shivering. “Dom, I’m okay. There’s no need to worry about me. I just had... something.” Dominic didn’t stop shivering, instead he pointed a finger at me. “That... that what you just had... it’s gone as fast as it came, right?” I shrugged. “I guess so. But what the problem with it? It’s gone now, you said it yourself.” Dominic shook his head furiously. “No, that is the problem. You see, the same thing, or at least a similar thing happened to me yesterday. I didn’t get dizzy and stuff, but I kind of... zoned out for a few minutes. At first I thought that it was nothing, but then all this happened.” He gestured toward his thigh, eyes and... My chin dropped. Cynthia had noticed it too. “Dom, your mohawk.” Dominic put his hands up to his head, his face growing more and more frightened. “What is it? What in the holy hell is going on?” His hair had gotten purely light turquoise and it was now a complete mohawk, with no hair left on his head. I looked to Dominic, trying to distract him from the quite disturbing fact that some of his hair were growing back into his head. “So, you were saying about zoning out?” Dominic looked in my direction, trying to regain his composure. “W...well... I didn’t look at the clock when it happened, but I would bet that happened on the exact anniversary of my birth.” I scratched my head. “So, you mean that your transformation, as I am going to call it because I haven’t ever heard from a human whose hairs grew back into their head,” I facepalmed as I realized what I had said. I should not have said that, Dominic was already at the mirror and freaking out. “AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!?!” I continued my sentence in Cynthia’s direction. “, that it started with getting woozy and zoning out, and it started at the exact anniversary of your birth? Do you think this is a conspiracy or something?” Dominic stopped freaking out suddenly and coldly looked at me. “What do you expect of me, Anon? Tell me what this is, then. Like you said, I haven’t heard of a human either whose hairs grew back into his FUCKING SKULL!!! What do you think am I going through now? This is nothing but a horrible, tasteless and cruel prank someone is putting me through and you make JOKES about it?!?!” I raised my hands up in a defensive position, trying to think of something to say. “Ummm, I didn’t mean it that way... Hey, look! Your eyes are almost completely golden!” Dominic lost all of his rage and sunk back into the sofa. “You see? I’m mutating or something!” Cynthia moved in to comfort him. “Don’t worry, Dom. We’re here for you and we’ll try to fix this.” Dominic waved her aside, still pretty depressed. “Thanks for trying, I definitely give you points for effort, but I wouldn’t want to stand in the way of you celebrating your birthday. It’s almost 3, isn’t it?” I looked to the clock. Sure enough, it showed 2:57. “Cynthia, when is your birthday again? The time, I mean.” I asked her. “Um, it’s at 3:01. Why do you...” It dawned on her. “Of course! If I get woozy at that time, that means that Dominic is right with the connection!” I nodded. “Mhm. So, let’s wait and see. Dom, maybe there actually is something to your theory.” Dominic laughed mockingly. “Oh wonderful. That will help us so much with figuring out why this happened because if we know that we get cutie marks on our 25th birthdays, then we know how to fix it immediately.” I didn’t give an answer to that. 3:00. Dominic started the conversation again. “You know, apart from us looking if this zoning out is connected to the freakiness that has happened to me, you should probably check out if...” I put my hand up. “Just a moment. We’re testing your theory, so concentrate on Cynthia, will you?” Dominic frowned. “Fine, but after this I have to tell you something.” Cynthia was clearly uncomfortable with four eyes concentrating on her at all times. She shuffled around, her eyes darting everywhere. “Guys? You staring at me like I’m some sort of alien is kinda getting weird, and I don’t really think that this actually going to happen, so could we please stop? I'm getting a bit... ohhhh.” She lost all of her concentration and her stare got empty. I looked at her, then at the clock. "No way! It's actually true, Dom! She's zoned out and it's 3:01! We might be on to something here!" Dominic did not share my enthusiasm. "That's great Anon, but what good will it do? Anyway, coming back to the thing I said. If what's happened to me is connected to this transformation, then there is a good chance that it has started with you now. So, if you have been following me, then you should remember that I said that it started with the tattoo, right?" The color drained from my face. "You mean that I'm going to transform too?" Dominic's face got serious. "I'd know a way to prove that. Pull your pants down." I hesitantly reached for my belt, unbuckled it and slowly pulled my pants down. I didn't look. "Dom? Is there something?" Dominic didn't say anything, I could just hear him go towards Cynthia and bring her back to reality. He whispered something into her ear and she pulled her trousers down. Eventually I couldn't keep my eyes shut anymore and I looked at Cynthia. She had three carrots plastered over her thigh, with a quality any tattooist would adore to no end. " Um... Cynthia? You've got something on your thigh." Cynthia's eyes were directed towards my side. "Anon? You kinda have something there too." I looked down at my leg. Gleaming there on my side, there was a cobalt blue Sapphire. Author's Note So, the second chapter is here. Let me know what you think about it :)
New limbs: Yay or Neigh?The tattoos on our legs were of the same quality as Dominic's. They wouldn't let themselves be rubbed off, no matter how furiously I tried to. "So... are we going to be transforming as well? Getting a mohawk and all?" Dominic pondered a bit. "I guess so. But like I seem to be transforming into Thunderlane, so we could go by the other cutie marks. For example, I know that Cynthia's tattoo here belongs to another background pony. It's Carrot Top, although I can't remember how she looked." Cynthia looked at him, baffled. "Dominic, really. You don’t know what Carrot Top looks like and you still call yourself a brony?" Dominic got a little ticked off again. "Oh sorry, miss. I'm just a little distraught from the... recent events that have occurred. You know, like this?!" He pointed to his mohawk. Cynthia retorted. "Alright, I'll admit that. But still, she's even shown in the season finale, where Discord completely razes Ponyville and destroys her garden." I was surprised, Dominic had the same reaction. I started. "Cynthia, Discord razes Ponyville, that's true, but the last scene shows him destroying the office of the local geologist, Cerulean Sapphire. He says that everypony who still supported the royal sisters would be banished from Equestria so he wouldn't have any trouble ruling. Then it ends." Dominic stepped in. "Both of you are wrong. In the final scene he's seen as he burns Cloudsdale, which I find very ironic, then, in the distance, he fights with Rainbow Dash and banishes her. After that, he comes back to the destroyed Cloudsdale and expatriates almost everypony else. He does say something along the lines of what you just told us, Anon. Then the episode ends." Cynthia and me looked at Dominic like he was crazy. I raised an eyebrow. "What are you making up, man?" Dominic didn't understand. "I’m not making it up, that's really what happens, I swear. I can show you the series finale to prove it to you too." I answered. "Uh-huh. Okay then, let's watch it, but I still stick with my ending." Cynthia quickly looked the episode up on YouTube and clicked the link. 22 minutes and a horrible ending later, all of us sat there, baffled. Dominic, on the other hand, was furious. "They cut it out! Why did they cut out that scene? That was the most most detailed and best scene in the episode by far! And then they had to replace it with this lame Twilight scene" I was irritated too, but I was already thinking. "Hm. I swear I could remember that scene. Is this a version of the episode where they put in this other scene?" Dominic was searching for an answer. "I guess so. Anyway, that's not important right now. I have no idea how we got on this gigantic tangent, but we have a far bigger matter to be concerned about." He pointed to our thighs and to his head. "THIS! This is horrible! I've already started transforming and you seem to have started. So what now? Should we wait until we all turn into ponies?" Cynthia answered. "Well, I don't think that we will make good decisions if we are making them in absolute hysteria, so let's all just calm down. My nana always said that when fear takes hold you should lay down and think about what you are doing. Just... relax and we’ll be sure to figure out a way to fix this.” Dominic reluctantly agreed. “Alright, but promise me that when we put our heads together after the rest, that you guys will help me find a solution to this.” I was a bit miffed. “You know Dom, as far as I know that what happened to you is also happening to Cynthia and me, so we’re not helping you, we’re helping us.” Dominic blushed. “Oh yeah, sorry.” Cynthia threw herself on the couch. “Alright guys, time to take a power nap!” I chuckled and promptly laid down on the mattress that was provided for me. I turned my head to Dominic who hadn’t done anything and was still standing in place. “Hey man! Earth to Dominic, is somepony there?” Dominic snapped out of his trance. “No, no, I’m fine. I was just thinking.” He looked worried. “Thinking about what?” I asked. “Well, it’s nice and all that you are here with me, but what if we don’t find a solution to this? What if I... sorry, what if we completely turn into ponies? What will happen then? I mean, this can’t be a prank anymore. Or...” He pointed an accusing finger at me. “YOU tattooed these on me and dyed my hair and made it grow longer and put in contact lenses and...” He realized the stupidity of his theory. I tried to calm him down. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. I did NOT prank you, and neither did Cynthia. Just lay down and relax like she said, okay? And just so you know, you're not the only one weirded out by this." Dominic went towards his mattress and hesitantly laid down. “See you in a bit.” And with that, he closed his eyes and went to sleep. I laid down, yet I couldn’t sleep, Dominic’s statement was floating around in my mind all the time. What if we do turn into ponies? And how? Magic? “Nah, this can’t be. Magic doesn’t exist.” But Dominic’s hair grew back into his head. How could that happen? “Okay, maybe it does exist.” See? And now, referring to my original statement, what if we turn into ponies? “Stop it! I’m talking to myself here, I just want to go to sleep.” I forced my eyes shut and slept. I once again had a pretty detailed dream. I was in Ponyville, but I almost didn't recognize it. Most houses were destroyed, the ones still standing were burning and... one house was burning with ice. "What? Fire and ice? That doesn't make sense!" Suddenly, a voice rippled through the air, making my hair stand on my neck. "Oh please, what fun is there in making sense?" My muscles tensed. "Show yourself, Discord! What did you do to all of my friends!?" Discord only chuckled in response. "Why are you so angry? Look at all this beautiful chaos!" My rage built up more and more. "This isn't the end! Even though Celestia is gone, There are still ponies that will help to stop you! And I am no exception!" "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Why does everypony want to be this complicated? Oh well... For Five score! Divided by Four! Your memories removed, your bodies confused! For your insolence you must pay! Cast off to a land far, far away!" My world turned upside down, I barely had time to say: "Whaa?" before I found myself in a white void. It got darker and darker, until it was pure blackness. It felt like I was underwater, but somehow I could breathe. Suddenly, I saw a white light in the distance. I swam towards it, and when I reached it... I woke up and looked around me. I was on the mattress, in the room. Everything was okay. Apparently none of my friends was awake yet. I looked at the clock. It showed 8:07pm. I had slept for about three and a half hours. Wait, what? This was supposed to be a nap! “Guys, guys! Wake up! It’s already after eight!” Cynthia and Dominic slowly stirred. “Hm? Eight o’clock? Wait, is it really eight o’clock?” I nodded. “Exactly. We should have eaten long ago. What will Alfonse say?” Dominic mumbled something. I turned toward him. “What did you say?” Dominic said it again, this time loud and clear. “My butt hurts.” I burst out laughing at that statement. “Your butt hurts? Really?” Dominic looked at me with the most poisonous look I had seen from him in... ever. “Yes, it does. No need to make fun of it.” Cynthia stepped in before anything bad could happen. “Stop it, guys. Dominic, why don’t you show us your butt and we’ll take a look at it.” I rolled on the floor, my sides beginning to hurt. “Oh god, that’s priceless! I’ll gladly look at your ass, Dom!” Dominic continued his poison look and slowly pulled his pants down. “And? Is there something?” His expression turned into worry as he heard that my laughing had suddenly subsided. “Guys? Is there something? Please answer me.” I tried to formulate a sentence, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t possible. Then again, the thing on Dominic’s butt wasn’t possible either. I finally managed to push out some words. “Dude... you... you... Cynthia, am I seeing this? Or am I dreaming?” Cynthia stuttered. “Anon... I see it too. This is crazy. There is no way this is real.” Dominic was getting twitchy. “What? What is it for crying out loud?!” I looked at his body to see if there was anything else. My eyes scanned the body until they reached the top of Dominic’s head. No way. This couldn’t be. Dominic had large equine ears on his head. They were even covered with black hair, or fur, in his case. Another step towards looking like Thunderlane. I swallowed. “Dom, which news do you want first?” “What do you mean? The good news and the bad news?” I shook my head. “Nope. The bad news related to your head or the bad news related to your butt?” Cynthia asked me quietly: “Anon, I still can’t believe this. How did this happen?” Dominic’s ears swiveled towards Cynthia’s voice. “Wait... did my ears just swivel? How...” He raised his hands up to his head and felt the ears. His face got chalk-white. “No. No! NO!” He got up and rushed to the nearest mirror. When he saw it, he sank down to his knees and sobbed. Cynthia whispered to me. “He sure isn’t taking it well. I can understand him though, with the transformation and all. Do you think we should tell him that he has a tail too?” She immediately regretted what she said. Dominic stopped sobbing, having heard Cynthia, and turned his head to his bottom. He saw the tail, tugged on it, then let it sink to the ground. “No. Please god, no. No! NOOOOOOOO!” And with that he dropped onto the floor. I was speechless. Not only did Dominic grow fur-covered ears and a tail, it was most likely that Cynthia and I would grow them too in our respective colors. I stammered a sentence in Cynthia’s general direction. “Is... is that tail real?” Cynthia went towards Dominic and carefully tugged on his tail. “It seems to be. Hey, Dom. Are you there?” No response. I snapped out of my trance and ran to Dominic’s body. “Okay... how was that in first aid? Um... Oh right! Check the pulse.” I put two fingers to his neck and was relieved to feel a steady beating. “Whew, he’s okay. I’m pretty sure that he’ll wake up in a bit, but we should give him a pillow or something. Anyway, we should go and eat, or else your parents might get suspicious that we won’t come.” Cynthia looked to me. “Not really, no. They’re fully aware that we are supposed to be having our party in my room, so they won’t care at all.” I sat down on the couch. “Well, at least we’ve got that. But... I still can’t believe this. Cynthia... Dominic grew a BUCKING TAIL. What if he actually turns into Thunderlane? What if we turn into ponies? We’d have to...” Cynthia sat down next to me. “Anon, stay calm. This nap should have helped us concentrate, not give us more hysteria. We’re going through this together, and like we said, we will find a solution to this. We know that it has something to do with us getting woozy on our 25th birthdays." I scoffed. "Because knowing that will surely help us. Also, I've been having really weird dreams ever since all this started." Cynthia looked at me. "Weird dreams? What kind of weird dreams?" I shrugged. "Well, it plays in Ponyville, and it's mostly the scene that I thought was in the finale." Cynthia sat there, the gears in her brain visibly grinding. "I had a dream about Carrot Top's garden being destroyed by Discord. The same scene I thought was in the finale. Do you think this is a coincidence?" I scratched my head. "Maybe, maybe not. I guess we'll have to wait and let this situation get out of hoof even more." I had said 'hoof'. What? Cynthia smiled. "Hey, cheer up. We're in this together, after all. And anyway, how bad can it be to become a pony anyway?” I thought about that. “Well... If Dominic really ‘goes all the way’, then he will get wings. Pretty cool. I’ll get a horn and you...” I made a pathetic attempt at a joke. “You get nothing!!! You'll be an earth pony. But if we transform, how will we explain this to our families and friends? 'Hey mom, I just wanted to tell you that I'll be turning into a cartoon pony from a show for little girls that ended five years ago, bye'" Cynthia took that into consideration. "Well, I guess that's right. But think about it: you're still their son, and if I know anything about your parents, I know that they care for you. They'd never stop supporting you." Now Cynthia, she knew how to pick people up when they were down. And that pep-talk picked me up. "You're right! Mom and Dad will..." But it didn't last long, as I realized another depressing thing. "Cynthia... Again... Do you really think that we will transform fully?" Cynthia nodded. "Well then, be prepared to live a life secluded from any contact to the outside world. After all, from all I heard, cartoon ponies are a pretty rare breed. If anyone finds out about us, what do you think they'll do?" "When they find talking pastel ponies? They'll call the police, I guess?" "Most likely. And then?" Cynthia's voice got shaky. "What then?" My face turned grim. "They'll lock us up and study us. Perhaps even dissection. I think I should quote a favorite fimfic of mine. 'When humans want answers, they tend to ask pretty hard.' And because Dom has kinda really disproven any logical theory towards all this, my mind is searching for all of the outcomes of this situation. Also, it is almost ready to say: 'Fuck everything and be a pony'. But just almost." Cynthia tried to comfort me. "Come on, it isn't that bad. I'm sure our parents wouldn't let them dissect us. Also, I now see that your nap hasn't really helped with your concentration or calmness." I laughed. "Well no shit. I just want this to get right, it's all just so freaky." I could hear Dominic stirring from his unconsciousness and shuffled. I sighed. "I'm going to call them tomorrow, I want to tell it to them." Cynthia interjected. "Hold your horses there. You are their son, but do you honestly expect them to believe you?" "Well, no. But if we wait, the things that happened to Dom will happen to you and me. The manes of the ponies, the eyes and, most importantly, a tail that we can control with our will. If it happens tomorrow, they will believe me, I have proof then. Also, Dom.” Dominic walked over to us. “So... this is really happening. I have a tail. I can control it freely. I have ears that swivel. And I still can not believe it. I’m going to bed. I have to digest this.” And with that, he laid down and closed his eyes. I smiled weakly. “Well, let’s follow the leader. I, for myself, don’t have anything better to do.” Cynthia chuckled. “Neither do I.” Author's Note Yeah, kinda having writer's block lately. I don't this chapter is outstanding, but the next one will be be better, guaranteed.
