Dust on the Wind: Irony's Tale

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 11

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Hello Discord," I say as I sense the Draconequus, not bothering to get up or even look up from the book I'm reading.

"Hello Irony," he responds, seeming ever so slightly put out that he hasn't surprised me with his presence.

"So the time has finally come, then?" I ask, sounding almost bored though I am feeling anything but. I knew this confrontation would come. I had warned each of the Princesses on numerous occasions that he could not be trusted. I was certain of his betrayal. Too bad I couldn't be wrong.

"Indeed it has. You should feel honored that I see you as enough of a threat that I shall remove you before putting the rest of my plan into action," is his response.

He then begins to chant:

For Five Score! Divided by Four!

Your Memories Removed! Your Body Confused!

For your insolence you must pay,

Cast off to a land far far away!

Irony's removal, to meet my approval!

Your mind shall be weak, your outlooks bleak!

Forgetting everything and living like a fool,

You have all lost, now no one can stop my rule!

By the time he finishes the first line I have already leapt to my four hooves. My motions seem sluggish, almost like I am moving through molasses in January. I push on, knowing I only have one chance before I am dust. By the end of the third line I have managed to grab my flanged mace. During lines four and five I begin closing the gap. At line six I am raising my mace over my head to strike. Line seven sees me bringing the mace down in an arc at my foe. I can see it in my hand, preparing to crush the Lord of Chaos' skull. He finishes his incantation and snaps his claws just as I feel the mace make contact. Then everything goes blinding white and then darkest black.

And then the screaming begins...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I sit up in my bed, remembering every aspect of my dream. I have had it so many times that I can close my eyes and relive it in vivid detail any time that I wish, though I would rather forget.

I seem to always have that dream on the night of my birthday, as well as whenever I seem to be at a crossroads in my life. Today is the former. I am officially 25, as of 0433 this morning, April 25th, 2020. I look at my clock and see that it is 0440, as I expected. I always wake up right after having the dream on my birthday soon after my actual birth time.

I sigh and stretch my 6' 5", 295 pound frame, not bothering to lie back down. I'm supposed to meet my brother at the gym in a little over half an hour. I get up and throw on my workout shorts and shirt in the dark, grab a protein bar and my gym bag and head out the door.

The gym is less than a mile away so I jog there while eating my protein bar as a warm-up, knowing that today we were planning on lifting weights. My brother Jim always tried to push me to compete with him when we lifted, maybe because he isn't quite as big as me, being 6' 1" and about 225 pounds, but I knew it wasn't a great idea to let our egos get out of control. Too easy to get hurt.

I get to the gym at exactly 0530, knowing that Jim won't be there quite yet. He is always running a little late, but never by enough for me to gripe a lot. I stow my gym bag in a locker and begin limbering up. I'm halfway through my stretches when he walks in and starts doing the same without a word. We both take our workouts pretty seriously, an attitude that we got from having been in the Marines together, and which continued even now that we were both out of the service.

I finish stretching and walk around while I wait for Jim to finish. When he's done he comes up and grabs my hand and pulls me into a guy hug and says, "Henry man, Happy Birthday! You've finally made the big 2-5."

I laugh and say, "Yeah, and you're a whole 6 days behind me dude. So no old man jokes."

He laughs and says, "Okay, okay...no old man jokes, I promise, gramps."

I punch him in the shoulder and laugh at him. Jim and I aren't brothers in blood, but we might as well have been. We were both adopted at the same time from unknown parents. Our adoptive parents had never hidden the fact we were adopted from us, instead showing us how much they had wanted us and loved us. They were wonderful parents who adopted us late in life. Jim and I still missed them, even though it had been almost 7 years since they passed away.

"Are you ready for this? Today I'm going to lift more than you for sure," he says to me.

"Only in your dreams little bro," I laugh at him.

We start our circuit in earnest, taking turns spotting for each other. When we are nearing the end of our final circuit, Jim starts running his mouth, trying to push my buttons and get me to actually compete with him on the bench.

"Come on old man, you're not worried that I'll beat you are you? Maybe I should go get your walker?" he pushes and pushes.

"Fine you little pipsqueak, you're on!" I growl at him. Usually I just say no and he can't get a rise out of me, but today I feel a little different. I'm a little angry and just feel riled up.

"Alright! Let's start at 200!" he says jubilantly as he starts loading weight on the bar, knowing this is a rare opportunity for him to really measure himself against me.

"I don't think so. Let's make it 300. Loser picks up the bar tab tonight," I grin at him.

"You're on!" he finishes loading the bar and lays down on the bench. I take my place behind the bar to spot for him. He lifts the bar slowly and is able to do three reps before I have to help him put the bar back.

I laugh and say, "you'll have to do better than that. Throw some more weight on there."

Jim shrugs and throws another 25 pounds on each side. I lay down and pump out five reps before putting the bar back. I move to get up, certain of my victory when Jim stops me and adds another 50 pounds to the bar. I decide to humor him and lay back down, lifting the bar and do five more before putting the bar back unassisted.

"Dude...how much can you lift? We've been working out together for years and I didn't know you could do 400 pounds. You don't come work out by yourself do you?" Jim asks me, amazement clear in his voice.

"You know I would never work out alone! And I've never lifted that much before, so I didn't know I could do it either," I respond.

"Let's see how much you can do," he says as he loads up the bar with another 100 pounds.

"Come on man, you know I'll never be able to do that much."

"Just humor me bro. I've got a feeling."

"You and your feelings are gonna get me in trouble," I say as I lay back down and he stands ready. I hesitantly lift the bar out of the bracket and slowly lower it to my chest, fully expecting to need help to get it back up. I push the bar up, pausing at the top and then lowering it again. I can't believe it, I am lifting almost twice my body weight! Jim laughs out loud with glee as I continue. I stop when I get to ten, knowing I could do more but not wanting to overdo it.

"Okay, that's enough," I say, sitting up and wiping the sweat from my brow.

"Aww man...come on!" he cries.

I just smile at him and shake my head. I start unloading the bar and he helps so I don't have to go back and forth from side to side. When we finish I head to the showers with Jim following along behind. We grab our towels and strip down, heading into the showers. I'm lathering up my hair when I hear Jim yell, "Dude, what the fuck is that?"

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I finish rinsing my hair and say, "What the fuck is what?"

He points at my hips and says, "That, dude! When did you get ink done? And why did you choose your hips? I mean those are pretty badass, but still, on your hips?"

I look down at myself and then almost fall over from shock. On each hip I have a vibrant tattoo that I've never seen before. It takes me a moment for my brain to make my mouth work, "What the holy FUCK! Where did those come from?!"

Jim's head drops to the side as he looks at the tattoos in contemplation. "Man, they almost look like cutie marks. Or at least they would if they matched." He looks up at my face with confusion in his eyes.

"Dude, I swear I don't know where they came from! Wait a minute...it was you, wasn't it? You decided to prank me for my birthday, didn't you! I'm gonna get you back so bad for this dude!" even before I get halfway through my statement I can see he's shaking his head vigorously.

"No man, I swear I had nothing to do with those. I haven't even seen you in a few days, how could I have done that to you?"

"Oh shit...are you sure you don't know anything about these?" I ask, even though I know the answer. Jim never had a good poker face, if it had been him he'd be grinning to beat the band and laughing by now.

"No way. You didn't go out and get drunk last night, did you? Maybe got a little ink done while under the influence?" he asks.

"I haven't had anything to drink in weeks. Not to mention you know just how much it would take for me to get so sloppy drunk that I wouldn't remember. No way would any of the parlors around here give a guy some tattoos while he was that wasted," I respond, calming down as I try to figure this mystery out.

"At least it's great ink, not some shoddy job. And really dude, they are badass. It could have been worse, you could have ended up with a freaking butterfly tramp stamp or something," Jim tries to console me.

"I guess you're right," I say, looking at the tattoos more closely. One is a shield with a blacksmiths anvil on it, with a hammer and tongs crossed above the anvil. The other is a shield with a hand wielding a flanged mace surrounded by a purple starburst on it. I've seen that mace before, I think.

"Wait. Did you say they look like cutie marks?" I ask.

"Well, yeah they do, or like I said, they would if they were matching. You know, from My Little Pony," he responds, as if I could have forgotten the show. We were big into it when it came out ten years ago, and like everyone else in the fandom we were sad when it ended five years later. We called ourselves bronies, even though we were never nearly as fanatical as a lot of others who wore that moniker.

"Do you really think I could have forgotten where cutie marks are from?" I ask.

"Well...you seem to have gotten a couple of tattoos and forgotten about them, so...maybe?" he responds sheepishly.

"Touché sir...good point."

We finish our showers and get dressed then leave the gym together in Jim's car. It's sort of a ritual with us to have steak and eggs at the local mom and pop diner after we work out together, so that's where Jim takes us. Soon we are sitting across from each other in a booth, me drinking orange juice while he enjoys his coffee, black of course. I never had developed a taste for coffee, only drinking it when I really needed to.

We were talking about nothing of importance, when the conversation turns to ponies, and we start discussing the merits of each of the Mane Six. It doesn't really take us long to come to the same conclusion we always have, that Twilight Sparkle is still best pony. We then move on to discuss our favorite episodes and our second favorite ponies. Somewhere in the middle of the conversation our food comes, and our waitress chimes in with, "My favorite episode is the second Trixie episode, where she has the Alicorn amulet. I always liked that even though Twilight fooled Trixie and beat her soundly, she tried hard to not hurt Trixie's feelings."

Jim and I both gawked open-mouthed at our waitress, Sherry. We'd been coming here for years, and knew Sherry for most of that time, but neither one of us had ever known she was into MLP. She laughed at us and said, "What, you can be bronies, but I can't be a pegasister?"

We both blush, and I say, "We just never had any idea you watched the show too. The things you learn about people, I guess."

She smiles at our discomfiture and says, "Well, I've known for a while now that you two were bronies, so I finally decided this was a good opportunity to tell you I like ponies too."

Jim kind of freezes up for a moment, and I know that he's been thinking about asking her out for a while now, so I smile at Sherry and say, "Would you like to come over to Jim's to watch a few episodes with us later today?" I then flick my eyes from her to him a couple of times.

She smiles at Jim, getting the hint, and answers, "I think that would be great. I get off here around 5, so how about 6?" I tell her that would be great, and then write directions down on a napkin for her, including Jim's phone number.

Once Sherry has headed back to the kitchen to get someone else's food, I dig into my eggs while Jim just sits there looking thoughtful. I reach over and poke him with my fork and say, "Equestria to Jim."

He shakes his head and says, "Thank you dude. You knew I wouldn't ever be able to ask her out, didn't you?"

I just smile at him as I take another bite of egg. Jim never had been real smooth with the ladies, always being just a tad shy. Frankly I'm just glad he wasn't mad I was trying to help set him up.

"Irony, you're always watching out for me. I know I don't always show it, but I appreciate it," Jim says to me.

"No problem, little bro," I say in response.

We dig into our steaks and plow through our meals as only a couple of Marines can, finishing in no time at all. When Sherry brings our bill, she smiles and winks at Jim. I take one look at the bill and slide it over to Jim. He laughs and says, "So I should buy you breakfast because it's your birthday?"

"Nope. Just thought you might want to see that," I say, grinning.

Jim looks at the bill and grins back at me. Sherry left him her phone number on it, along with a note saying that breakfast was on the house. We both stand up, and as Jim turns away I pull out my wallet and drop a fifty on the table for Sherry, knowing that our breakfast probably came out of her pocket. And also knowing that Jim would do the same if he had it to give. Besides, he owes me a night on the town and that is going to cost, I grin as I think about that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Dude, get out of the shower! It's 1730, Sherry will be here soon! You'd better not be spanking the monkey in there!" I yell at Jim, pounding on the bathroom door to hurry him along. I walk over to the TV and queue up My Little Pony so it's ready when she gets here. I then walk into the kitchen and grab a can of cola and some celery from the fridge. I'm sitting on the couch still munching on it when Jim comes out a few minutes later.

"Out of all the snacks I have here, you choose rabbit food," he ribs me when he sees what I'm eating.

"Hey, gotta watch my girlish figure," I reply, laughing.

"Yeah sure, whatever dude," he says while he opens the fridge and looks inside. Just then the doorbell dings and before I can even attempt to stand Jim is practically running for the door yelling back at me, "I'll get it!"

"Hi Sherry! Welcome to my humble abode," I hear Jim say as he shows Sherry in. I wave to her from my seat on the couch.

She waves back and says, "Nice place. Glad I finally get to see it. Oh, I brought a guest gift. My mom always taught me to not show up without a gift when invited to someone's house for the first time," she hands Jim a bottle with a bow on it. Jim whistles and holds the bottle up for me to see.

"Bro, Sherry brought us the good stuff!" he grins at me, brandishing the bottle of Jameson Irish whiskey.

"Did she ever! Eighteen year old Limited Reserve! Now that's a nice bottle of whiskey!" I grin and hop off the couch to take hold of the bottle. "Thank you very much, Sherry! How did you know this was our favorite?"

"Actually, I brought it for purely selfish reasons, it's my favorite too," she replies, smiling broadly.

Jim turns to me and says, "Bro, this is a great way to celebrate your birthday! Good whiskey, great company, and ponies!" He holds up his fist and I give him a 'bro-hoof'.

"Wait, Henry, is it your birthday today?" Sherry asks me.

"Yup, 25 today. A whole quarter of a century," I say.

"Happy birthday! I wish I had known, I would have brought you a gift too!" she protests.

I hold up the bottle as I say, "oh, this is present enough for any sane man. You couldn't have done better, thank you."

Jim punches me in the shoulder and says, "Hey, that's for all of us!"

"Nope, you owe me, remember?" I laugh at the look of chagrin that appears on his face. "Just kidding man, just kidding!"

Jim growls at me as he grabs the bottle out of my hands and marches into the kitchen. He shortly returns with three glasses each with two fingers of the amber liquor in them. He hands Sherry and I each a glass and raises his in a toast, "To my brother turning 25 today! To making new friends, and to ponies!"

We all clink glasses, seconding Jim's toast. Then Sherry says, "I'll turn 25 next week myself, guess I'll have to invite you guys over for a party."

Jim gets kind of a funny look on his face and then says, "I turn 25 next week too. What day is your birthday? Mine is May 1st."

"Mine's on the 2nd, but only just. I was born a few minutes after midnight on the second," she responds.

"Wow, that's a big coincidence," I say to them, smiling a little at the vagaries of fate.

"I'll say, especially since I was born only a few minutes before midnight of the 1st!" says Jim.

"Wait, I thought you two were brothers. How can you both turn 25 a week apart?" asks Sherry, perplexed.

Jim looks at me and grins. "Care to handle this one, 'big brother'?"

"We were adopted at birth. We come from different birth parents and were born six days apart. Our mom and dad were getting on in years and wanted two children, so they adopted us both at one time," I answer for him.

"Okay, that explains it. Thought I was losing my mind for a moment. Now you were both in the Marines, right?" Sherry asks.

"Yeah. We actually served in the same unit, too," answers Jim.

"Wait, how did you manage that? Don't they have rules about family members serving together?" she asks.

"They do, but we have different last names. Our parents had us keep our birth parents last names, so we would always know where we came from. That and a request made to a friend of the family ensured we would serve together," I say in response.

"Wow. I knew you two were close, but you are really close. I've never known siblings that wanted to spend that much time together before, especially as adults," Sherry says.

"You could say we're close alright. Even more so after Henry saved my life," says Jim, smiling at me as I flush red with embarrassment.

"Jim, you would have done the same for me. Besides, I got lucky," I say.

"I sense a story here. Spill!" exclaims Sherry, looking from one of us to the other.

"Really it's nothing," I say, trying to deflect the conversation.

"I wouldn't say it's nothing," says Jim, not letting me off the hook. "Henry here threw himself on a live grenade that the enemy had thrown into the middle of our camp. He saved the entire squad. He even got a medal for it," says Jim, leaving out one important detail.

Sherry looks at me in wide eyed shock, like she had never seen me before. There is a reason I never tell this story to anyone. I don't want to be treated differently because I once did something that almost anyone would do in the same situation.

"Wait, if you threw yourself on a live grenade...then how are you still here to talk about it? I know they have made great strides in prostheses, but the blast alone should have killed you," says Sherry, beginning to suspect that Jim was having her on.

"Jim here is leaving out one very important detail," I say, glaring at Jim. "The grenade didn't go off. It was a dud, much to my happy surprise."

"You still saved all our lives, big bro. Everyone in the squad agrees with me. And so did the review board, that's why they gave you that medal you refuse to wear," adds Jim.

"I think it's amazing too, and so brave. You could have been killed!" says Sherry. She then adds, "By the way, what medal are you talking about?"

Jim looks at me and I shake my head. He proceeds anyway, "He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his 'unparalleled act of valor'. He refuses to wear it, or be acknowledged for it. The squad threw a party to thank him and celebrate, and the bum didn't show up!"

"That wasn't on purpose! I told you I got held up!" I gripe at Jim, wishing I could melt into the floor and disappear. Sherry just seemed to be in shock. I finally just walk away and out into the backyard, trying to get a hold on my emotions.

What Jim didn't understand, what no one understood, is that I wasn't being modest. I genuinely hate thinking about that incident. I should have died. The fact that I didn't was a wonderful blessing, but it left me damaged in a way no one seemed to understand. When I jumped on that grenade, I knew it was the right thing to do. My life flashed before my eyes, the whole thing, and while I didn't regret anything, I felt that something huge was missing. I could sense that something vast was wrong. Every night for a month afterwards I woke screaming from my dream, knowing in my heart that it meant more than I had ever realized before.

I hear the door open behind me, but I don't bother to turn around, instead I continue gazing out over the fields behind Jim's house and watch the sun set behind the hills. Instead of talking to me, whoever is behind me remains quiet, maybe watching the sunset the same as I. When I finally master myself I turn around to see both of them sitting on the back step just watching me. Neither one of them says anything, but I can feel that maybe they understand just a little bit of what I'm dealing with after all.

"I'm sorry I walked out, I just..." I begin, not knowing how to finish the sentence.

"No dude, no need for you to apologize. I'm the one who needs to apologize. I'm sorry man, I know this has been eating at you. I can't help but push some, mostly because what you did means so much to me. I know how it worked out, but it didn't have to be that way. What I saw that day, and what I've always seen in you, is how much you care for those around you. I know you love me, and I know you would jump on that grenade every time for me, but I also know you would do that for anyone. You are selfless in the extreme. You are the protector; I think it's in your blood. It may even be your destiny, if you believe in that kind of thing. What I'm trying to say is that you are amazing, and not everyone would do what you did, despite what you think. I hope that you can someday understand how special that makes you."

Jim stands and pulls me into a real hug as he finishes his speech. We haven't hugged like this since we were kids, and I can feel wetness on my shoulder from the tears flowing silently down his face. I hold him tightly and I can feel my cheeks are wet too. I can't even remember the last time that I wept for any reason. I whisper into his ear, "I love you brother, don't ever forget or doubt it."

After a few moments we awkwardly end our embrace, both pretending we don't see the tears the other has shed. We turn back towards the house and see that Sherry is standing, and her cheeks are shiny with the wetness of the tears she has shed for us. Jim and I each hold a hand out to her, inviting her to join us and I say, "Trixie, I..."

She takes our hands and just smiles at us and shakes her head. I realize there aren't any words for the situation, and that none are needed. It is then that I realize this has bonded the three of us in a way that none of us could have anticipated.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After a few more moments I decide to break the silence, "So...who wants to watch ponies?"

Jim chuckles and shakes his head while Sherry cocks her eyebrow and just gives me a small smile. I throw an arm around each of their shoulders and herd them inside to the couch, where I get them to sit down next to each other. I then pour us each another glass of Jameson and sit down in the overstuffed chair adjacent to the couch. I pick up the remote and start an episode of MLP before they can say anything about the arrangement.

The episode I selected was the one where Trixie first comes to ponyville. I glance over at Sherry and she lifts her glass in salute to my choice. I then see her cuddle in closer to Jim, who kind of looks like a scared rabbit. When the credits start to roll I queue up the second Trixie episode, knowing that it's Sherry's favorite. I see her smile and lay her head on Jim's shoulder. Jim, starting to loosen up a bit, carefully puts his arm around her.

They sure look cute together, I think to myself. I try to keep the smile off my face but fail miserably, so I cover it by faking a yawn and covering my mouth with my hand. This actually fits perfectly with my secret plot. As the episode continues I fake a couple more yawns and act like I'm having a little trouble staying awake. Then, just before the episode builds to its conclusion, I stand up and hand the remote to Jim and walk into the kitchen to put my glass in the sink, catching Sherry's eye and giving her a wink as I do. I walk back out to the TV room afterward, intending to beg off tired and head home. I glance up at the show and see it's where Twilight challenges Trixie to the rematch and I get caught up in it. When it gets to where Twilight turns Applejack into a 'stallion' I shudder involuntarily, and think about how really weird that would feel. I shake my head to clear it and then say, "Well, I'm pretty tired, think I'll go home now."

Sherry smiles at me and waves, and Jim says, "Dude, are you sure? It's still early!"

"Yeah, it's been a long day, and I'm planning to get up early tomorrow and spend the day working in my shop. I suddenly have the urge to start a new project," I answer, realizing that is exactly what I want to do.

"Okay bro, if you're sure. Happy birthday again man, hope you sleep well," he says, a little perplexed.

I smile at them and wave my goodbye, heading out the front door. I climb into my car, a 1970 Oldsmobile 442, patting the dash lovingly as I turn the key and hear the engine roar. I love this car, having spent a lot of hours carefully restoring it. It took me a long time to get all the parts together, as well as a fair bit of cash outlay, but it was all worth it. I'd dreamt of this car ever since I was old enough to love a car. It probably didn't help that my dad had let me watch Demolition Man a couple of times when he probably shouldn't have. He also was always telling me about an old friend of his who had a '69 442 long ago. He was always talking about how she outraced everyone in that car, and that it could do a ten second quarter. It wasn't until I was much older that I understood what that meant, and how fast that really was.

I decide to go for a bit of a drive, as I'm not really tired yet. I take it slow away from Jim's house, listening to the engine rumble appreciatively. I take a leisure drive out to an old highway nearby where I know I can open her up without getting in trouble. When I get to the old road I stop on an imaginary starting line and rev up the engine, taking the rpms almost to red line and back down a few times, just listening to the screaming roar of the 455 cubic inch engine. I let off the clutch, dropping all 425 horses and 500 foot-pounds of torque to the rear wheels, going from 0 to 60 mph in less than four seconds. Damn that feels soooo good I think to myself, grinning like a madman as I tear down the road at well over a hundred miles per hour. After a few miles I slow it down and start for home, feeling like this has been a pretty great birthday after all.

I pull into my garage and shut off the engine and climb out of the car. I close the door and stretch, reaching my arms way above my head, feeling my back pop in several places. Suddenly tired, I yawn and scratch my head, thinking hmmm...time for a haircut again I guess. I walk into the house and then to my bedroom and, dropping my shirt and pants on the floor, drop into bed. My head barely hits the pillow before I'm deep asleep.

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I'm lying on my bed reading a book. I realize this book is very familiar to me, so I read the page I just read again. I realize this is a book I wrote, which is odd because I don't remember writing a book. I reach out and close the book with my hoof, flipping it so I can read the title: "Mixed Pony Tactics: Fighting Superior Forces with Earth Ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns."

Suddenly I can remember everything that is in the book, and I know I wrote it from my own personal experiences, though I can't remember what those experiences were. It is totally baffling to me. I stare at the book for a moment when it strikes me that I had used a hoof to close it. I look down at my arms and realize they aren't arms anymore, they're legs, and yes they end in hooves instead of hands. I'm getting ready to start freaking out when I realize I must be dreaming. I shake my whole body, thinking this is really weird. I recognize this dream, but I've never had any control of it before. Maybe I can see myself?

I stand up and walk over to a mirror that is standing in the corner of the room and stare at my reflection. I am a pony. A dark, midnight blue, pony. With a bright blue mane that is streaked with purple, silver, black and grey. I realize that this body feels strong, very strong. I feel stronger than I have ever felt before; it is kind of a heady feeling.

Turning away from the mirror I see a flanged mace lying next to the bed. It is the same mace that I remember from my previous dreams. It's the same mace from my tattoo I realize with some shock. I knew I'd seen that before!

I look around, expecting Discord to show up any second. He doesn't show, but I do hear a weird noise. It's getting louder and more persistent. It gets to an ear-splitting level and I reach up to cover my ears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I clap my hands over my ears as I sit up in bed, breathing heavily from the sudden awakening. I glance around to locate the source of the noise when I spot my phone on my nightstand and remember I set an alarm. I fumble with the phone until it finally shuts up.

I groan and flop back, what a weird dream I was having. Imagine thinking I wrote a book about pony tactics. I mean, everyone knows that if you're attacked by a superior force you should use your pegasi as a harrying or flanking force while the unicorns cast attacking or distracting spells from a distance. And you use your earth ponies as a crushing charge or last line of defense, depending on your terrain--whoa, how do I know that? Wtf brain?

I finally shrug it off, figuring it's just leftover from my crazy dream. I pull on my pants and grab a ratty old shirt and head to the kitchen to eat a bowl of cereal before making my way out to my shop.

When I get to the shop I open the bay doors and turn on the overhead lights. I call it my shop, but it's really a lot more than a shop. I have a large propane forge on one wall with a true anvil near it on a stand. My hammers, tongs, gloves and apron line the wall behind my workbench which has a ten inch vise bolted to it. On the other side of the shop there is a 60 gallon air compressor and my arc and wire welding rigs. All of my equipment was well-used, and most of it had been before I got it, but this shop was my real pride and joy, even more than the car I rebuilt. This is where I come to be at peace. Pounding on hot steel made me feel like everything is right in the world.

Many a day I spend in my shop just working on whatever comes to me, letting the universe guide my hammer. Sometimes I sell what I make, though that is usually custom work that has been ordered by a customer, hey even I have bills. Most often though, I store or give away what I make. I never knew what I was going to end up with when I started on a project for myself, but in the end it never really matters to me.

I put on my leather apron, safety glasses and heat gloves, fire up the forge, pull down some steel stock and begin heating it. Once the metal glows a bright yellow I pull it from the fire and commence to hammering it on the anvil. Soon I am lost in the process, feeling the work. I set the first piece aside and get another bar of steel. After an hour or so of heating, hammering and reheating, I set aside yet another piece of steel and watch it cool. I now have seven pieces of steel in front of me, one is a rod about two feet long, tapered at one end and I have chiseled grooves in the other end. Six grooves, to match the six flat pieces of steel lying next to the rod. As I look at it I realize what I am making. Seems fitting, I guess, I think to myself as I carry the steel over to the other side of my shop and put on my welding helmet. I fit the plates into their grooves and proceed to weld a bead up and down both sides of each plate. Once the welds have cooled I take the work over to my forge and use a long pair of tongs to heat the entire piece to a bright orange and quench it in an oil bath.

Once it has cooled I hold up the piece. It is the same flanged mace I have tattooed on my hip. The same flanged mace from the dreams I have been having since I was little. There's even a ring on the end so I can hook it to a belt. I look at it for a long time. Then I shake my head and set it on another shelf next to some pieces I made the week before. I then pick up one of those pieces and look at it. It is a helmet, but not one that would fit any person I'd ever seen. I set it back down next to its twin and pick up the matching armor. It is oddly shaped too. I hadn't shown anyone these pieces yet because I had no idea what they meant to me. They weren't for people, that I was sure of. They almost look like they are meant for...ponies? But that makes no sense. Maybe my dreams have been infecting my work recently? I put back the armor piece I was holding and pick up the last piece I made last week, which was a damn big piece of armor. It was sized almost big enough for me, but seemed made for a woman, so I had no idea who it could be for. I looked from it to the smaller piece of armor I had just set back down, noticing that the smaller piece had holes in the back. Almost like...for wings?

I put the big piece of armor down and pondered the five pieces together, feeling they were somehow connected. I just couldn't put my finger on it.

I shut down the forge and cleaned up my work, brushing my hair out of my eyes every few moments. Wait...how is my hair in my eyes? I wondered. I stopped and actually looked at the hair hanging in my eyes, is...is my hair blue?! I run into the house and to the bathroom and flip on the light. Then I stop dead, just staring into the mirror. What...The...FUCK?!? My hair is indeed blue. Bright blue. With purple, silver, black and grey streaks. Just like in my dream!

I continue to stare at my reflection, still in shock. How had my hair changed colors? Why were they the same colors as the hair in my dream? Did someone dye my hair while I was sleeping? Could I have done it myself and forgotten, like the tattoos? Wait, it's longer too! How could it be longer? I don't think it was this long when I woke up this morning...was it?

I soon gave up the idea that I had been pranked; no one would have done it, not even Jim. Not to mention that no one could have known the exact color scheme I dreamed about the night before. I was also pretty sure I hadn't gotten it dyed and forgotten. I would have had to do it yesterday, and I spent the whole day with Jim. So that left me without a reasonable explanation for it.

Looking in the mirror again I realize there is something else different. My eyes...my fucking eyes! How did my eyes CHANGE COLOR? My eyes were magenta, freaking magenta! "What the hell is happening to me?!" I yell at the top of my lungs. I sit down on the toilet and try to get my bearings. After a few minutes I remember that I ran out of my shop without closing it up and locking it, so I stand up and walk out of the bathroom, closing my eyes so I wouldn't have to see myself in the mirror again right now. I go out and make sure the shop is cleaned up then turn out the lights and close the bay doors, making sure to lock them.

When I walk back into the house, much calmer now than I was before, I realize that I am drenched in sweat and covered in soot and oil. I decide that I need to shower before I do anything else, so I trek back to the bathroom, getting a towel from the linen closet on the way. Still not ready to see myself again, I don't look in the mirror as I turn on the shower and strip down. I step into the shower and start by lathering up my body, taking care to get all the soot and oil scrubbed off. While scrubbing I notice tenderness in my chest and wonder briefly if I strained something while working in the shop. I also find a sensitive spot just above my butt, right at the base of my spine. It didn't hurt, it was just sensitive. I soon forgot about it though as I started thinking about washing my hair. I normally keep my hair in a buzz cut like I did when I was in the military, but now it is much longer. Not to mention the color.

I decide the best way to handle it is to face it straight on and attack it like I would an enemy. I pour a bunch of shampoo into my hand and start scrubbing my hair as hard as I can. I soon realize I need even more shampoo. I have never had long hair before and have no idea how much shampoo this can take. Finally the hair is all washed and I am able to rinse out the shampoo. I just stand there under the spray, trying to think about the situation rationally. I can't think of a single logical explanation for any of this. When the water finally turns cold I am no closer to figuring it out, but am forced to get out of the shower.

Once I am out and dried off I decide I need to man up and look in the mirror again. I close my eyes and stand directly in front of the offending piece of glass and force my eyes open. Nothing has changed. My hair is still longer than it should be, the color is all wrong, and my eyes are still messed up. But at least nothing else seems to have happened while I wasn't looking.

I head to my bedroom, get out some clean clothes and get dressed. Once I'm done with that I sit on my bed and think about my next step. At first I think about hiding out here until this goes away, but I know that Jim will worry if I avoid him. He would come to see me and really worry if I didn't open the door when he came. Thinking about it, I realize that it is silly to hide this from him, he won't think less of me, and might be able to help me think of a solution. So I pick up my phone and dial his number.

"What's up bro?" he answers.

"Hey Jim...are you busy?" I ask, evading his question.

"I'm having lunch with Sherry, but other than that not too busy. Why?" he asks.

"I...have kind of a situation. Do you think you could drop by my place when you're done?" I reply.

"Sure man. Are you okay? If it's an emergency I can come right now," he says.

"No, no. Not an emergency. When you're done there is fine. I'll be here when you get here, just let yourself in," I say.

"Okay bro. See you in a little bit."

"Thanks dude. See ya."

I hang up and then it hits me that I could look this up on the internet. Maybe someone has heard of something like this happening before. So I turn on my computer, sit at my desk, and spend the next hour looking up information. I don't find much of anything. Spontaneous hair color change can happen, but it's only ever been recorded to go white, usually from a great shock. Hair can grow fast, but not this fast, at least not in any known history I could find. Last, but not least, spontaneous eye color change is exceptionally rare, almost always the result of some kind of injury to the head or eye, and that the change is a subtle variation, not a full blown color change. And magenta is not physically possible in any species on our planet.

I'm following a lead to yet another dead end, scratching my suddenly very itchy butt, when I hear from behind me, "Hey bro, we're here--oh my god, what happened to your hair?"

I turn to face him as I realize he said "we're here" not "I'm here" and see that Sherry is indeed with him. I forgot to tell him to come alone. As I turn fully to face them both of their faces go white as sheets. Jim's mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water.

"Dude, I know the hair is weird, but it's not that bad, geez!" I say to him.

Jim silently shakes his head and points at me, then Sherry says, "Henry, it's not your hair...it's your ears." Then she reaches up and touches her ears.

"What are you talking about?" I say, reaching up to touch my ears. Only my ears aren't where they're supposed to be. I start touching further up my head, until I hit fur and finally my ears. What are my ears doing up here? I think as I continue touching them, confirming that they are really my ears. They feel soft and lightly furred. I hear a sound from the other room and my ear swivels toward the sound. Okay, that felt weird, I think to myself. Then I see Sherry's eyes roll up into her head and she falls to the ground in a faint. Jim doesn't look much better.

"Henry?" he finally gets out. I just nod in reply.

"H...how? What? Why?" he seems to be limited to one word questions right now.

"I don't know bro. I noticed my hair earlier, that's when I called you. The ears are new though," I respond.

"Damn bro...I don't know what to say," he gets out, his color looking a little better now. He looks down at Sherry and stoops down to check on her. She seems to be coming around so he helps her sit up. She shakes her head a few times and I see her color returning.

"Are you okay?" I ask her.

"Yeah, I think so. Just a shock, you know?" she says before slowly looking back at me. She shivers a little bit at seeing me, but remains calm.

"I don't know what is happening to me," I say to them, closing my eyes and covering my face.

They come over and pull me into a group hug, patting my back consolingly. I try to convince myself that I'm not going to cry, but I can't stop it and soon I am sobbing into their shoulders. They just hold onto me and let me cry. I feel embarrassed for crying in front of both of them two days in a row.

Finally we break apart and they both look at me, not staring so much as analyzing what has changed. I let them look, knowing how much of a shock it is, also knowing that I need to go look in the mirror again to see the new change for myself. My ear flicks on its own in response to a fly buzzing close to it. Jim and Sherry's eyes open wide at that.

"That is sooo...weird," says Jim.

"You think it's weird? Try feeling it happen to your own body, this is the weirdest feeling I have ever had," I say.

"Does it hurt?" asks Sherry, to which I shake my head.

"It just feels weird. And I've never had hair this long before. I freaked out when I noticed the hair, and the eyes," I say.

"I didn't even notice your eyes," says Sherry, looking closely at my eyes. "Wow, they're really...pretty." She blushes a little bit at that, but I understand what she means. They are a very girly color.

"Dude, I'm sorry, but I have to address the elephant in the room here...I think you're turning into a horse," Jim says, looking a bit worried.

"Yeah, or maybe a pony. A very colorful pony at that," I say in response.

"Wait, by colorful...you don't mean like a cartoon pony? Like as in MLP?" asks Sherry.

Jim nods thoughtfully and says, "We certainly can't rule that out. The question on my mind though, is what's causing this? How do stop it and reverse it?"

"I was researching my symptoms when you showed up. Everything I find says that these changes are all but impossible, and certainly not with these kinds of results. These kinds of colors are physically impossible for humans. Our DNA just doesn't allow for these colors," I tell them.

"Okay, so no help there, except now we know what it can't be. That makes me think it might really be cartoon ponies. I know it sounds crazy, but in the show they have magic. What if that magic is real? I can't say I really think you are turning into a pony from MLP, but the similarities are kind of interesting. You even have ink on your hips, extremely vivid and bright ink at that. They really do look like some kind of cutie mark," Jim says.

"You have a cutie mark?" says Sherry excitedly. "Let me see!"

I lower my pants enough that she can see the tattoos on my hips, she practically squees in excitement. She studies them very closely, then reaches out and touches them, one after the other.

"They don't match!" she says.

"I know, I know...but we don't have much else to go on," I say.

"Henry, do you think the changes are going to get worse?" Jim asks me.

"I'd like to say no...but the evidence so far tells a different story. Speaking of which, I still need to see my new um...appendages," I say before heading to the bathroom to look into the mirror again.

I look at myself and reach up to feel my new ears. They feel like a part of me, almost like I never had any other ears. They are covered in dark blue fur and are very soft. I look for other changes and realize that my hair is even longer, reaching most of the way down my back now. I lift it up in the back and find that it's not just growing out of the top of my head, but out of my neck and a ways down my back too. I start checking the rest of my body and absentmindedly reach back to scratch my butt. Then a funny look crosses my face, because I feel something odd back there. I turn to the side and pull my pants down in back to see a hunk of flesh sticking out of my lower back, and it's covered in hair. Hair that is the same color as that coming out of my head now. I pull my pants back up and exit the bathroom, returning to Jim and Sherry.

"So...I have yet something else to share with you guys," I say, turning around and pulling my brand new tail out of my pants and show it to them. Sherry immediately starts running her fingers through it.

"Wow, it's so soft and silky!" she states.

"I know! It feels really good to run my fingers through it too. And my mane," I say.

"Your mane?" Jim asks.

I lift my hair up and show them how it's growing out of my neck and shoulders and say, "Yeah, my mane. It's more than just hair now. I, well, I kind of like it." I blush bright red as I say the last part.

"I can understand that, your hair is so nice. It's really pretty too," says Sherry, also blushing at what she just said.

"What's wrong with you two? Am I the only one who is still worried about all of this?" asks Jim pointedly.

"I...I'm not sure what's going on, Jim. I'm still worried, but I feel calm about it. Right now it's not like there is anything I can do to stop the changes yet," I say in reply.

"I guess you have a point, it's just weird to see you so accepting of these changes. I don't think I could handle it nearly as well as you are," he says to me.

"I might be able to...I always kind of wanted to be a pony," says Sherry, blushing again at her confession.

Jim and I both look at her for a moment, then I nod my head and say, "I can understand that, though it is a big difference when it's actually happening to you."

"I guess that makes sense," she says to me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make light of your situation."

I smile at her and respond, "I didn't think you were making light of the situation at all, I'm glad you feel that you can be so honest with us."

Sherry smiles at Jim and I, "I'm glad I can be here for you through this. We're in this together, always remember that. Whatever happens to you, we are with you all the way." Jim nods his head in agreement with Sherry's words.

"You guys have to stop or you're going to make me cry again!" I say in gratitude. "A girl couldn't have better friends than you two."

"Did you just refer to yourself as a girl?" asks Jim, shock plain on his face.

"Ummm...crap, I think I did," I say, worry evident in my voice.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Are you a girl now?" asks Jim.

"No. Not yet, anyway," I answer, pulling my waistband out and glancing down to make sure.

"But...what if you become a girl?" he asks.

"You'll have a sister?" I reply, trying to make light of the situation. I really don't want to think about that right now.

"I'm serious man, what will we do?" he pushes.

"It doesn't matter! We'll still be in this together, no matter what happens to her," interjects Sherry, immediately clamping a hand over her mouth. "I mean him!"

"It's okay...I mean, I already have purple hair, and if it happens I'll deal with it," I say, trying to get past this conversation. Truthfully though, I'm freaking out a little bit, mostly because I'm pretty sure it's true. I'm not only turning into a pony, but a female one at that. Oh god, what am I going to do?

"Sooo...how was your lunch date?" I say, trying to take our minds off this unpleasant topic of conversation.

Both Jim and Sherry blush and look down at their feet. Oho...this is going to be good, isn't it? I think to myself, chuckling.

"Did you guys have more than lunch?" I say, watching them closely. It's a good thing I am, because they both blush a deeper shade of red, and that spot on the carpet must be really interesting because they can't seem to take their eyes off it.

"Oh wow...you did, didn't you? You two are so bad!" I rib them, chortling.

"I...I..." Jim tries to say something, but can only stammer. Then it dawns on me, "You two spent the night together, didn't you?!"

Sherry nods her head slowly, now so dark red she's almost purple. I walk up to them and pull them into a group hug and say, "Well it's about time! You two have been into each other for a long while now. I can't believe how long it has taken for you guys to get together!"

"I...I'm so embarrassed," Sherry finally squeaks out. I smile at her and pat her on the back.

"It's okay! Don't be embarrassed! I think you two were meant for each other, or I wouldn't have tried to get you together," I tell her.

Jim turns to Sherry and pulls her close to him, saying, "I've had a major thing for you for a long time. I was always too scared to actually ask you out. If it weren't for Henry, I probably never would have gotten up the courage. I think you're amazingly beautiful, and I hope you want this to be more than a one-time thing."

"Well, like Henry just said, I've liked you for a long time too. I kept hoping you would ask me out, but you never did. I started thinking maybe you weren't interested. I can't tell you how happy I was when your brother invited me to watch ponies with you yesterday! I guess I should be really glad I finally told you guys about liking the show," Sherry shares with Jim.

"Well, my work here is done!" I say, laughing. "Success!"

I leave them standing there and walk into the kitchen, realizing that I'm pretty hungry, having skipped lunch to do research. I open the fridge and look inside, finally pulling out a bag of prepackaged salad, some shredded cheese, bleu cheese crumbles, cherry tomatoes, a cucumber and the ranch dressing. I set them on the counter and go to the pantry to get out a can of black olives, sunflower seeds, and garlic croutons. I get a plate and proceed to make myself the tastiest salad ever, slicing up the cucumber and olives to go on top.

About the time I finish making my salad, Jim and Sherry walk into the kitchen holding hands and smiling at each other. I sit down at the small table I have just off the kitchen and gesture toward the salad makings I have left on the counter and say, "If you're hungry at all, please feel free. Sorry, but I'm not waiting, I'm starving!"

"Maybe you're not turning into a pony...maybe you're turning into a pig," Jim joked, pointing at my salad piled high on my plate.

"Oink, oink," I responded.

Neither Jim nor Sherry are hungry so they just sit down at the table with me while I eat. Nobody says anything for a few minutes. Jim and Sherry seem to not know what to say, and I am too busy eating. Finally it seems that the silence is getting to Jim so he asks, "Did you get to work in your shop this morning like you wanted to yesterday?"

I nod and reply, "Yeah. You know, speaking of that, I should show you what I've been making recently. It's..." I trail off, not really knowing how to explain it.

"It's what?" Jim says.

I just shrug and say, "You'll have to see for yourself, I guess."

Sherry looks at us, a confused look on her face before she asks, "What do you make in your shop?"

"He has a whole forge setup and makes all kinds of stuff out of steel," Jim answers for me, as my mouth is full.

"That's pretty cool! What did you make this morning?" she asks.

"Today, just a mace." I reply.

"How can you make MACE out of steel? Doesn't that involve chemicals?" she says, perplexed.

"Not MACE, as in pepper spray, I'll bet he means like a medieval mace. Kind of like a big club made out of steel," Jim says to her.

Sherry facepalms and says, "I am sooo dumb sometimes."

"Nah, you just don't think about ancient weapons like I do," I smile as I reply.

"What's so big about you making a mace this morning?" my brother asks, getting us back on track.

"It's not the mace so much, though I think it's important. It's more what I made last week that might mean something," I say.

"What--"

"You'll have to wait and see," I cut Jim off with a wave of my hand and a shake of my head, as he starts to speak.

"You and your secrets, sheesh!" he gripes at me.

I just wiggle my eyebrows at him and go back to eating, soon finishing my huge salad. I have to stop myself from licking the plate when I'm done, it was so good. I get up and put away all the salad makings, not really hurrying because I can see it's bugging Jim. Once I finish putting it all away I rinse my dishes and put them in the dishwasher, washing my hands afterwards. Now that Jim seems about to burst I walk towards the door and say, "Aren't you coming?"

Jim quietly grumbles to himself as he gets up, but Sherry is grinning ear to ear, having picked up on what I was doing. It just goes to show that no matter the situation siblings will tweak each other to get a response.

I lead them out to the shop and open the door, ushering them inside and turning on the light. Sherry looks around my shop in awe, slowly walking along and gently touching a few things.

"This is wonderful Henry. Did you make all of these?" she asks, pointing to my storage shelf quite literally packed with items I created.

I simply nod, surprised at how genuinely impressed she is.

"May I?" she asks, pointing to some of the work. I nod my approval and she hefts a piece of art that I made quite a while back. "Wow that's heavy! But it's so beautiful! You made this from scratch?"

"Yeah, I usually start with bar steel and work from there. Most of the time I kind of trance out and make whatever comes to my hands. Sometimes it is more artsy and sometimes it's useful," I respond.

I walk over and pick up one of the helms I made last week. It is a barbute design, but has a much wider nose area than any helm I've ever seen before. I hand it to Jim without saying anything. He takes it and looks it over, then shrugs and puts it on his head.

"This doesn't really fit dude," he says to me, removing the helm. "It also doesn't cover as much of my face as I would have expected. I nod to him and then hand him the smaller of the two breastplates I made, the one with the holes in the back. Again, I make no comment as he turns it over in his hands.

"What the hell is this?" he asks me.

"I'm pretty sure it's a breastplate," I reply.

"Okay...but for who, or maybe I should say, what?" he says, understandably confused.

"I think it's for a pony," I say quietly.

"When did you make this again?" he asks.

"Last week. I made both helms and these two breastplates last week," I say, gesturing to the other helm and breastplate on the shelf.

"Oookay, that's freaky. So you somehow knew, subconsciously at least, last week that you were going to turn into a pony?" he seems flabbergasted.

My face goes slack and my jaw drops as my mind connects the dots. I've known much longer than that, haven't I? I thought to myself, remembering the dream I'd been having all my life.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Jim asks me, worry clear in his voice. Sherry comes over and stands next to him, a worried look appearing on her face as well.

"I...I...oh my god!" is all I can get out for a few minutes as it all hits me and my brain reboots.

"Henry! Are you okay?" Jim grabs my shoulder and shakes me, finally snapping me out of my stupor.

"Wow. I, um, have something rather unbelievable to tell you." I say, looking around for a stool to sit on.

"I need you to listen to me with an open mind. A very open mind," I say as I pull over the stool I found and sit down. "And I suggest you both sit down for this."

They each grab a stool and sit down near each other and Sherry takes Jim's hand as they listen to me begin my story.

"Okay, to begin with, ever since I can remember I have been having this weird dream. I've never told anyone about it, not even you Jim, because it scared me so badly when I was little. As I got older it scared me less, but I still didn't want to share it with anyone. It just seems too personal for that, but now I think it's time for you to hear it." I start, still kind of scared to be talking about this. I then describe my dream for them:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hello Discord," I say as I sense the Draconequus, not bothering to get up or even look up from the book I'm reading.

"Hello Irony," he responds, seeming ever so slightly put out that he hasn't surprised me with his presence.

"Indeed it has. You should feel honored that I see you as enough of a threat that I shall remove you before putting the rest of my plan into action," is his response.

He then begins to chant:

For Five Score! Divided by Four!

Your Memories Removed! Your Body Confused!

For your insolence you must pay,

Cast off to a land far far away!

Irony's removal, to meet my approval!

Your mind shall be weak, your outlooks bleak!

Forgetting everything and living like a fool,

You have all lost, now no one can stop my rule!

And then the screaming begins...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Dude, that sounds ripped straight from the final episode of MLP, you know that right?" Jim says in disbelief.

"I know! I know! But it isn't, I swear. I have literally been having this dream since I was too young to understand what it was. And I have most certainly been having it since long before the last generation of My Little Pony came out!"

I grab hold of my mane and tail and hold them out for Jim and Sherry to see, "I had another dream just last night, before my hair changed and I grew a tail, and my hair in that dream was these exact colors and this pattern! And my fur was the same color as that around my new ears."

I then stood and walked over to the shelves again and picked up the mace, and walking back to them I say, "And I had this exact mace, this mace is the same as the mace in all my dreams."

"It's the same as the one on your cutie mark too!" stated Sherry excitedly.

I blink a couple of times and pulling my waistband down enough to study the marks on my hips say, "You're right; I hadn't made that connection yet."

"Not only that, but now I'm positive that I will be a female pony when this is done. At least, I was in my dreams, and this is too much coincidence for me to discount them," I stop for a moment and look at the armor again. I pick up the smaller one and examine it. "And I don't think this is for me."

"What do you mean it's not for you? You said yourself you think it's for a pony. Who else could it be for?" says Jim, eyes wide in astonishment.

"I'm...not sure who it's for," I say. Though I have my suspicions, I think looking at Jim curiously. "But I know it's not for me, because I didn't have wings in my dreams." I point at the holes in the back of the armor, "Those holes are almost surely to fit the wings of a pegasus pony, and I'm now sure I won't be one."

"Whoa, dude...this is all too heavy for me right now," says Jim, rubbing his hand down his face. He has paled visibly.

"I wonder who it's for, since it's not for you," says Sherry, a somewhat wistful look on her face, reminding me of her confession earlier about kind of wanting to be a pony.

I hand her the helmet and indicate she should put it on, which she does. "Maybe it's for you," I say, teasing her a little bit.

"If only...but somehow I don't think so," she says, removing the helm and looking it over. Suddenly her eyebrows shoot up so high I think they're going to come right off her head, and she holds the helm out to me, pointing to the inside.

I look inside and see something I hadn't noticed before: evidently when I made it I put a nameplate inside, and on the nameplate it read simply 'Flash'. I suck on my lip for a moment and then grab the other helmet and look inside. On the inside of this one I see another nameplate. This one reads 'Irony'. I say the name out loud, already knowing that it means me. I take the helm in both hands and raise it over my head, then lower it down onto my head. I can't believe it, but it fits perfectly over my mane. I can feel how well it fits everywhere but the front of my face, and I realize it must be because I don't have my muzzle yet.

I look up and realize that Sherry and Jim are staring at me. I shrug and hand the other helmet to Jim, pointing to the nameplate inside. Jim looks at it and says the name out loud. I think I see a spark of recognition in his eyes, but it is gone so quickly I may have imagined it.

Sherry picks up the other armor, as Jim is looking at the helmet, and holds it up, barely. "Okay, who is this for? If you're going to be a pony, then who did you make this for? It looks like it's meant for a human woman."

"Maybe that's for you," I joke, taking it and holding it up to put it on her. She obliges me and I slide it onto her. It is a very poor fit, being way too large for her small frame. I laugh at how it is almost falling off of her as she strikes a muscleman pose. Even Jim is laughing now at her antics.

I help her out of it and put it back on the shelf, "I have no idea about that either. The only question I've answered about all of these pieces is that this," and I point to the helmet I'm still wearing, "and the mace, are for me personally. Not that I have any real idea how a pony uses a mace. If I was going to be a unicorn, then maybe...but I'm not, I'm an earth pony." I finish with certainty.

I stop for a moment as I realize that I'm starting to accept all of this as the truth, and that I am no longer so afraid of what is happening. Maybe it's because I finally have a clue as to what is missing. I also realize that if my dream is accurate, then I was a pony before.

"I was never supposed to be human," I suddenly blurt out, seemingly completely out of left field to Jim and Sherry, I'm sure.

"Do you mean because of your dream?" asks Sherry, immediately picking up on where my mind had wandered. I just nod.

"But that's...just a dream," Jim finishes lamely, realizing what Sherry and I had already realized, that there are entirely too many coincidences in all this.

I shrug at Jim and say, "I don't think it's 'just' a dream anymore. With every passing moment I become more certain that it isn't a dream at all, but a memory. A memory from before I was born, or reborn, or whatever."

"Well, what else happened, then?" Jim asks me skeptically.

"I don't know. I don't have any other memories of before. I don't know how to explain it, I'm just sure that this is a memory though," I answer, though I see that Jim is still not fully accepting what I know.

I look at my watch and realize we have been out here for a long time. I remove my helmet and put it back on the shelf with the armor and other helmet. Jim and Sherry stand as well and we prepare to leave. Before we leave though, Sherry walks over to my project shelf and takes one more look at what's on it. She picks up something and brings it over to me and says, "I think this might be for you too."

I look at what she has and give a start, realizing it's a shield I made months ago. On the front of the shield I engraved a design, a six pointed star.

"That's Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark, isn't it?" Sherry says and I not in confirmation. "It also matches the mace half of your cutie mark.

"What?" I ask, dumbly.

She grabs the waist of my pants and pulls them down to show my hip and points, saying, "There, around the mace, it's the purple six pointed star that Twilight has." She looks at the mark a little more closely and her hand shoots up to cover her mouth as she gasps, "A hand..."

I try to look at it more closely, but Sherry's other hand is in the way, so I move her hand and look at my hip. All I see is the shield, with the purple star, with the mace on it. And holding the mace is a...hand...oh, I get it. I shrug, having no clue what it could mean. I mean, I saw myself in my dream, and I was a pony.

"Maybe it's a reference to having been human now?" I say, but Sherry is already shaking her head.

"If that's you're cutie mark, then it would have been that way before you were ever made to be human. Not that I have any more idea than you do," she says to me.

I shrug again, not any closer to understanding, and put the shield on the shelf next to the helmets and armor. I think she must be right about the shield, though like the mace I am not sure how a pony could wield it. I usher them out of the shop and turn off the lights before closing and locking the door.

"Hey, Henry, do your feet hurt or something?" asks Jim as we walk back to the house, looking down at my feet.

"No, why?" I ask in response.

"Well, you're walking kind of funny..."

I look down and realize that I'm walking on the balls of my feet, like a tip-toe walker would. I force myself to flatten out my feet, which is more difficult than I would have thought.

"I haven't walked like that since I was a kid," I say.

"I remember. You walked like that all the time when we were little," says Jim.

"Do you remember when I had to have that tendon lengthening surgery because of it?" I ask him.

Jim nods and says, "I remember you had to have casts on your ankles for weeks after that, and walked with a walker too."

"Do you think maybe it's because you were supposed to be a pony?" Sherry puts out there.

I scratch my head, "Dunno...maybe?" I look down and realize that, without realizing it, I have gone back to walking up on my toes. I shrug my shoulders and decide not to worry about it, for now it's more comfortable to walk this way.

"I bet there are a lot of things from your past that you didn't have an explanation for that could be explained by the fact that you weren't supposed to be human!" exclaims Sherry excitedly.

"You're probably right..." I say, trailing off as I briefly think about my life growing up. "But I can't think of anything in particular that sticks out. I mean, Jim and I grew up together and the only thing I can think of is the toe walking thing. What about you, Jim? Can you think of anything?"

Jim just shakes his head, evidently drawing a blank as well.

Sherry, looking a little crestfallen, says, "Darn, I thought I might be onto something. Okay, so what do we do now?"

"Maybe we should check the internet to see if there is anything circulating about other people becoming ponies? If my dream is actually a memory, then I shouldn't be the only one that got banished. Unless Discord's plan failed..." I say, thinking out loud.

"That's a great idea! And if we find evidence of other people becoming ponies, then maybe we can meet up with them. Maybe we can gather together and come up with a plan for what to do next," says Sherry.

I lead the way back into the house and turn on my computer. After it boots up I start searching the web for news about strange occurrences first, thinking that someone else might not understand what is happening to them right away. There really isn't much on that front, mostly just talk about tensions heating up in the Middle East, but tension is always high there anyway. I then do a search for blogs with posts about transformations, filtering out anything werewolf or vampire related. I also realize I need to filter out the RPs, or role-players, who are pretending to live the life of a transformed pony.

"Arghh..." I push back from the computer in disgust, having come up completely blank. I turn to Jim and Sherry and ask, "Do either of you have any ideas?"

Jim shakes his head no, and Sherry shrugs but says, "Not really, but could I take a crack at it? We really shouldn't give up after only an hour or so."

"You're right, but sometimes searching the web is so frustrating! I hope you have better luck than I did," I tell her as I rub my eyes, only too happy to relinquish the computer to her care. "I know it's not productive, but I'm going to go watch a little TV and try to take my mind off this for a little bit, let me know if you find anything."

"No problem, it doesn't take all three of us to watch one screen anyway," answers Sherry.

"You want to come, Jim?" I ask him.

"Nah, I'm going to stay here and see if I can't be of any help," he replies, smiling.

It's good to see him so happy, even if my life has gone to shit, I think to myself, really glad they have finally been brought together.

I wave a goodbye and mosey out of the room and head to the living room and turn on the TV. I flip some random channels, not really finding much interesting to watch. I finally stop searching and just leave it on the history channel, which has some World War II documentary playing. I'm usually not really big into war documentaries, but this one doesn't seem too bad. As I'm watching the show I start to analyze the tactics on both sides, and soon am thinking about how I would fight that war with ponies instead of modern military equipment. Somewhere in my musings I fall asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I realize I must be dreaming when I see that I am in full pony form. I try to look around at my surroundings. I quickly realize that, unlike my last dream, I have no control of this one. I can only see what my body looks at, which leads me to believe this is another memory rather than a true dream.

I am standing at attention in front of four ponies. Wait, those aren't just any ponies, those are the Princesses! I realize in shock.

"Irony Smith, also known as Irony Shieldbreaker, do you know why you are here?" Princess Celestia asks me in her regal voice.

"I do not, dear Princess. I only hope that if it is for a failure, that I may rectify that failure," I hear myself reply stiffly, evidently assuming that I was about to be called on the carpet for a misconduct or failure of some sort.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle has informed us of your recent actions, and we have decided that they have merited a royal response," the Princess continues.

I kneeled before the Princesses, bowing my head to the floor, "I bow to your wishes and accept full responsibility for my actions, including any punishment you wish to mete out."

Princess Luna steps forward and says, "We have decided that your actions are deserving of recognition."

Before I can process what Princess Luna just said, Princess Cadance steps forward and says, "You shall be presented with our highest award."

Twilight steps forward as my eyes widen in shock, and places a medal on a ribbon around my neck, saying, "The Diamond Equestrian Sunburst."

"You shall also be elevated to the rank of 'General of Equestrian Armed Forces' and given the task of forming a Royal Guard for Princess Twilight Sparkle. A guard which you shall head until such time as you can no longer fulfill your duties or are dismissed," stated Princess Celestia, smiling down upon me.

I see that Twilight is beaming at me as she claps her hooves in approval. I am in utter shock at the turn of events. I...I was head of Princess Twilight's personal Royal Guard? Holy Shit!

I feel my body rise to its hooves at the Princesses gesture. I also feel tears sliding silently down my cheeks at the incredible honor I have just been given. Twilight comes over and wraps her hooves around my neck in an intimate embrace. She whispers into my ear, "Thank you. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for always being there when I need you."

Then the dream fades...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake up from my dream to see that the World War II documentary is over and some history of the old west is on. I look at my watch and see that it's after 2000, and realize that I've been asleep for quite a while. I use the remote to turn off the TV and stand up. Only to fall face first onto the floor. What the fuck just happened? I try to stand up again and fall back against the couch. Something seems wrong with my feet, I can't keep my balance.

I look at my feet and reach down to check my shoes. I find the shoes are extremely loose and come right off my feet when I tug at them. Hooves...Not feet anymore. Can't say I didn't see this coming, I think to myself, sighing. I throw the shoes in the corner, realizing that I don't really need them anymore, and make another attempt at standing.

This time things seem to go a lot more smoothly, either because the shoes are off, or because now I know what I'm trying to do. I stand still for a minute, just trying to learn my new balance point, before taking a step. Walking actually doesn't seem all that difficult now that I've got standing figured out. It's a little odd walking on hooves, but isn't any weirder than the rest of what I've been going through.

I walk down the hall, lightly touching the wall every few steps just to make sure I keep my balance. As I walk down the hall I am glad that I don't have hardwood floors, so I don't have to hear myself clip-clopping around the house.

I walk by the computer room and stick my head in to see how progress is going on the computer search only to find Jim and Sherry making out on the couch in there. I pull my head back without saying anything so I don't disturb them. I continue down the hall to the master suite and, realizing I need to use the facilities, head into the bathroom.

I stand in front of the toilet and drop my pants and briefs then reach for my member so I can do my business, but nothing is there. I drop my gaze to my crotch in shock. Taking in the missing genitalia, I begin screaming, "OH FUCK, OH FUCK, OH FUCK!"

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Jim and Sherry come charging into my bathroom after hearing me scream, and I instinctually turn towards them, still screaming obscenities. They come to a screeching halt and cover their mouths with their hands as they stare at my condition.

"My DICK is GONE! My BALLS are GONE! Jim, I'm a FUCKING GIRL!" I can't seem to stop yelling at the top of my lungs. Safe to say I am not handling this well...

"Henry, calm down! Pull your pants up! You're going to be alright!" says Jim, trying to stop me from screaming.

"Everything is NOT going to be alright! I'm turning into a fucking pony! And I've just lost my Goddamned DICK! This is as far from alright as I think I've ever been!" I reply, still yelling.

Sherry walks over to me and pulls me into a hug, thankfully ignoring the fact that my pants and underwear were around my ankles. I wrap my arms around her, squeezing her tightly as I begin to sob.

"Shh...we're here with you. We'll take care of you, I promise," she whispered into my ear as she stroked my back and just let me cry.

After a few minutes, Sherry takes me by the hand and leads me out of the bathroom and into my bedroom. My sobbing has quieted down quite a bit, but tears are still running down my cheeks and I'm hiccoughing every few moments. She helps me pull my pants up and then sits me down on my bed then sits next to me and holds my hands in both of hers.

"I'm okay now," I say, though it is an obvious lie because I'm still in shock, but I have to say something.

"Not yet you aren't, but you will be," Sherry says to me in a firm yet gentle tone. I can only nod back to her. Sherry turns to Jim and says, "Jim, would you please order us a pizza or something? We're all going to need to eat soon."

Jim finally comes out of his own stupor when Sherry repeats herself for the third time. He can't seem to speak yet and just nods his head a bit too quickly before leaving the room.

After Jim has gone Sherry scoots closer to me and pulls me into another hug and I hold onto her like she is my only lifeline to sanity. After a few more minutes I am able to pull myself together a little bit and I lean back, releasing Sherry.

"I think I'll be okay now," I say softly. Sherry gives me a reassuring smile and squeezes my hands in comfort. "I'm sorry for freaking out so badly. I was pretty sure this was coming, but it was still too much for me when I saw."

"It's a pretty crazy thing to have happen to you. I don't think I would take it very well if I suddenly grew a penis," she tries to comfort me.

"That's true, but I'm supposed to be made of sterner stuff than this. I'm a Marine! I've lived through actual combat! Hell, I jumped on a grenade and I didn't freak out like that!" I lament loudly, working myself up a little bit.

"Henry, this is way different from fighting. Plus, you were trained for combat before you ever saw battle, right?" Sherry says, taking my hands again.

I nod slowly, "I guess you've got a point. It's not like they have classes about suddenly changing species and genders. But I know I can do better than this. These changes aren't done yet, I know they aren't. I need to keep better control of myself."

"I think you'll be fine, after all, this is probably the hardest part of the change for you. In our society men value their organs highly, and you served in the military which actually increases the importance you put on your penises. Frankly, I'm amazed that you aren't curled up in the corner rocking back and forth in the fetal position bawling. I would say that was a minor freak out compared to what you could have had," Sherry points out.

"Thank you, Sherry. I'm so glad you are here for this. I don't know what would have happened if it had been just Jim and I," I say.

"You would still be screaming, and I'd be passed out on the bathroom floor from the shock, without her," says Jim from the bedroom doorway. "Thank you for being here with us. I know I couldn't have handled this nearly as well without you here. We both owe you so much."

"Neither of you owe me anything; I know that if it were me going through this that you would be there for me," Sherry states, to which Jim and I nod our heads.

She's right; we would do the same for her. We've known each other for quite a while, even though we really only became this close as of yesterday there is still history there, I realize.

"Even though we've only really been this close since yesterday, it feels like we have been this close for a long time," I say, giving voice to my thoughts.

"It kind of feels like we wasted a lot of time...I wish we had become this close a long time ago," says Jim, walking over and pulling Sherry into his arms. She lays her head on his shoulder and nods, looking over at me and mouthing the words 'thank you'.

Wow...if I didn't know better I would think they'd been a couple for years, instead of just now becoming one. This is so crazy... I think to myself.

"I--," I'm cut off by my phone ringing. I pull it out of my pocket and glance at the number that comes up and groan. "It's Kaitlyn," I tell Jim, and his eyes widen at her, as usual, horrific timing.

I answer the phone, "Hey sis."

"You know I hate it when you call me that," comes the reply from the other end of the line.

"Yeah, I know you do, that's why I do it," I reply.

"You're a regular riot. Do you have a cold? You sound kind of funny," she asks me.

"No, I'm fine, maybe it's our connection," I say.

"Maybe that's it. Sooo...what are you up to?" she asks me, rather coyly.

"Umm...not too much," I reply, lying through my teeth. Oh only in the middle of the freakiest thing to ever happen to me, but it's not much!

"Good...I kind of need a favor," she says.

"What kind of favor?" I ask with caution.

"I need you to pick me up," comes her reply.

"Pick you up? When did you get back to town?" I ask, bewildered.

"Actually, that's why I need you to pick me up...I'm at the airport," she says a little sheepishly.

"You're at the airport? What are you doing here? Why didn't you call?!" I ask, almost shouting by the end of the last sentence.

"Henry, relax, I'm calling now, okay? I didn't exactly think this through when I bought my ticket and got on the plane...I just felt like it was time for me to come back. I've missed you a lot. And I want to try again..." she sounds like she might be crying a little bit, so I start to feel bad for yelling.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you...this is just really unexpected, that's all. I...I can't come right now, but I can send Jim," I say, trying to soothe her hurt feelings.

"Please, Henry, I need it to be you. I...I really messed things up between us before, and I need you to be the first one I see," she pleads.

Shit! Shit, shit, shit! I yell at myself silently, already knowing I'll do it. I'm now just trying to figure out how I can go out without being seen too much.

"Okay Kate, I'll be there in about half an hour or so...you remember my car, right? Just watch for it out front of the airport and I'll pick you up."

"Thank you Henry. I'm at concourse 'A'. I'll come out when I see you," she says before hanging up.

"Dude...I mean...oh never mind that; dude, did you really just agree to go pick her up at the airport? Are you crazy?! You remember what you look like, right?" Jim asks me, looking at me as if I have grown a second head, and it's an ugly one.

"It's fine, I'll just wear a hoody, and that'll cover the hair and ears. No one will see my feet, er, hooves. I won't be getting out of the car," I say to Jim, trying to placate him.

"But what if--" he starts to speak, but I cut him off.

"No, it doesn't matter. I've already said I'll go, it's my decision," I say.

"We'll grab our jackets and go with you," he says, but I shake my head.

"No, I need to do this alone. We have some things we need to discuss alone," I say. He starts to speak, but I cut him off with a motion of my hand. "That's final. You two stay here, I'll be back soon."

"Henry, I didn't know you had a sister," says Sherry, confused.

"We don't," says Jim flatly.

"What do you mean? He called her 'sis' on the phone!" she says.

"She's not our sister," I reply. "We just always called her that because she was almost like a sister to us. We've known her since we were little; she used to tag along with us when we would go on adventures. Then we all grew up..." I trail off, a faraway look on my face, thinking about the past.

"What happened then? Why did she leave? And why don't you seem happier to have her come back?" Sherry asks me pointedly.

"She--"

"She had a major crush on him," Jim interrupts me; looking at me while he speaks of things I didn't know he knew, "she hated that he saw her as a little sister. So she got him drunk one night and tricked him into her bed. Henry didn't react very well the next morning. He kind of freaked out at what she'd done, not that I blame him. What she did was tantamount to rape. So, anyway, Henry yelled at her and called her a few choice names, none of which I'll repeat here. She ran away crying and then left town."

I just stare at Jim, my jaw practically hanging down to the floor, "H...How did you know?"

"Because, you schmuck, she came crying to me about it. She spilled the whole story to me and admitted how stupid she was. And told me how much your rejection hurt her. But I knew long before that how she felt about you, it was obvious to everyone! You should have known! But you were blind to her feelings, which is why she finally resorted to something so drastic. What she did was wrong, but I was angry with you for a long time because you had hurt her so badly," Jim admitted.

"I...I...wish you had talked to me about this a long time ago. I never had any idea you knew what happened. You weren't the only one angry with me. I hated myself for a long time because of the way I overreacted. I reacted so poorly because I was scared. Part of me was afraid I had done something to her, at least until she admitted the truth, then I was enraged that she would do that to me. I never should have talked to her the way I did, but by the time I'd calmed down and went to find her, she was gone," I respond, my head hanging in shame.

"Yeah...you kind of have me to blame for that," Jim says sheepishly.

"What do you mean? What did you do?" I ask.

"Well, she was heartbroken, and didn't have any money. I suggested she go see some relatives or something and gave her money to get a flight out of town. Now I feel kind of bad about that, but at the time I thought it was the right thing to do," he says.

"I understand bro, I probably would have done the same thing," I reply.

He nods to me in confirmation as I pull a dark hoody out of the closet and slip it on, pulling the hood up over my head and securing it tightly with the drawstring.

"I don't know how long I'll be, so could you guys make up the guest bed while I'm gone? I know you don't live far away, but would you guys please stay here tonight with me? I'll feel better knowing that you're here for me," I ask them.

"Of course we will, you didn't even need to ask. We aren't leaving you until everything is fixed," answered Sherry for both of them.

"Thank you. I'll be back," I say, grabbing my keys and wallet and heading out the door.

I climb into my car and put the key in the ignition. I hit the kill switch under the dash and turn the key, the engine roars to life and I back down the drive out of the garage. I turn out onto the road and put the hammer down, roaring away from the house.

As I'm driving I start thinking. What am I going to do about Kaitlyn? What am I going to tell her about what's happening to me? And probably most importantly of all: What are my feelings about Kate?

I ponder that last point most of the way to the airport. At first I think I feel conflicted, thinking about the anger I felt at how things were left, but then I realize that I'm scared, not angry. I'm scared that this won't work. I hurt so badly when she left. What if she's angry? What if my condition freaks her out and she leaves again? I think back to when I couldn't find her to apologize. I felt like a hole opened up in my chest, and that hole was still there. I haven't had any real relationships since, not being able to convince myself to really try. It wasn't until after she was gone that I realized my feelings for her went beyond her being my 'little sister'.

Maybe this will be a second chance... I think to myself hopefully, although I know that it is more likely to end up in disaster, especially with the current situation.

Before I know it, I see the signs for the airport, and pull off the freeway and make my way to the terminal. I pull up into the waiting zone right outside the 'A' concourse area. I see Kaitlyn's familiar form come out from the building, pulling a suitcase behind her. I pop the trunk so she can load her bag into it. Soon she is opening the door and sliding into the passenger seat.

"Hi," she says, a little bit shyly.

"Hi," I barely manage to whisper as I look at her. I feel the blood rush to my face in a blush, which I hope the darkness hides from her.

"Thank you for coming," she says.

"You're welcome," I say. "I'm glad you came."

"Me too. It just feels right," she answers.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a police officer walking toward my vehicle and realize I've overstayed my welcome. I nod to the officer and put the car in gear, slowly merging with the light traffic as we head away from the airport.

Rather than take the freeway, I decide to take the back roads as we aren't in a hurry to get home. Or at least I'm not.

"So...it's been a while," I say, finally breaking the silence that has arisen between us.

She laughs lightly and says, "That's the understatement of the week. It's been almost three years. Speaking of which, how have you been?"

"Well, mostly I've been doing okay. Been trying to keep busy. Finished building my forge and finally finished restoring this baby," I say, patting the dash lovingly.

"I see that, and she looks beautiful!" Kaitlyn says with true excitement in her voice. She knows just how important this project was to me.

"How about you? What's new in your life?" I ask her.

"Not much new. I've been kind of mooching off my aunt and uncle for the last couple of years. They don't seem to mind, but I still feel bad about it, but I haven't been able to find and keep a good job. Never should have dropped out of college, I guess," she shrugs.

"You're welcome to stay with me as long as you like, though it may be a bit crowded for a few days. Jim and Sherry are staying with me, at least tonight," I tell her.

"I'd like that, as long as they don't mind. Isn't Sherry that waitress that Jim had a crush on?" she asks.

I nod, "Oh yeah, I finally got them together. Only recently, actually."

"Why are they staying at your place?" she asks quizzically.

"It's kind of a long story, I'll explain it later," I say, not looking forward to when we have that particular conversation.

"Henry...I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for what I did. It wasn't right. I knew you saw me as a sister, but I couldn't control myself. I treated you horribly, and then I ran away. I've spent the last three years trying to build up the courage to face you again. I've been afraid that you would hate me... Do you?" she looks so sad sitting there; I know exactly how she feels.

"Kate, I don't hate you. I never did. I feel that I'm just as much to blame as you were for that whole situation. I was completely blind to how you felt about me, even though you weren't hiding it. I think I was in denial about my feelings for you, so I couldn't see what you felt. I had locked you into being my 'little sister' and was afraid of how my feelings toward you were changing. Yes, what you did was wrong, but it was also an act of desperation. I'm so sorry that I reacted the way I did. I was horrible to you. I went to find you later, but you were already gone..." I respond to her, my hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

She reaches over and takes my right hand in both of hers and says the words I hoped she would say, "Henry...I don't know how you feel about me, but I know I need to be straightforward with you. I love you. I loved you then, and I still love you now. And not like a sister would."

I quietly pull off the side of the road and stop the car. I turn to her and say, "Kaitlyn, I've loved you longer than I was ever willing to admit to myself. I don't know what's going to happen, but now, but I love you too. And most definitely not the way a brother loves a sister."

She smiles the most beautiful smile I have ever seen, and ever so briefly my heart is bursting with joy. But then reality intrudes its ugly head as I think about what else I have to tell her. I can't pretend this isn't happening to me, and I can't hide it from her...or at least, I won't hide it.

"What's wrong Henry? You looked so happy for a moment, but now you look sadder than I felt when I ran away," she asks me, her smile slipping off her face.

"I have to tell you something, and I'm not really sure how," I say.

"Oh shit, you've got a girlfriend don't you?! I knew it was too good to be true!" she started.

"No, no! Nothing like that!" I try to reassure her.

"Then what? What's wrong?"

"I...have to show you, but it's freaky, okay? It's going to shock the hell out of you, so please try really hard to remain calm, okay?" I say to her, pleading with my eyes for her to understand.

"Okay, I promise not to freak out...too much," she says, with a small smile, probably thinking that I'm being overly dramatic. She should really know better, that's not my style.

"Alright, here goes the neighborhood," I say, pulling my hood back and facing Kate. She gasps.

"What did you do to your hair? When did you grow it out? Why would you dye it like that?" she asks me, evidently not noticing the ears yet.

"It's not dye. And yesterday I still had it buzzed short like I always do. Feel it," I say in answer.

She reaches up and runs her fingers through my mane and says, "It's really soft...it's not a wig is it?"

I shake my head in response and say, "Pull on it." So she does, gently at first, then a little bit firmer. Finally she gave it a great yank. "Ow! Holy shit! I told you it's real, and it's attached! And I'd like it to stay that way!"

"I'm sorry; I just couldn't believe that it's real. I didn't mean to hurt you," she says.

"Oh my god, what is that?" I hear her say as her hand suddenly shoots out and touches one of my ears. Then she pulls on it too!

I holler in pain and tears start streaming from my eyes. Kate yanks her hand back and covers her mouth. "I'm sooo sorry!"

I reach up and gently rub my ear and say, "Yeah, that's attached too...and evidently VERY sensitive."

"But...what the fuck is it?" she asks, stunned.

I turn my head to the side and lift my hair back so she can see that I no longer have an ear on the side of my head. "They're my ears. They moved, and changed."

"What kind of surgery did you have? Why would you do this to yourself?" she asks, not understanding.

"I didn't. I would never do this to myself. Maybe we should continue home. Jim and Sherry are there, they'll help me explain it to you," I say, trying not to have my feelings hurt that she thinks I would choose to do this to my body. I pull the car back out onto the road and resume our journey to my house.

After a few moments of silence she says, "I'm sorry I thought you would have surgery to have that done. I just don't understand what's happened to you. Can you help me to understand?"

"Well, I don't really understand it myself. Yesterday I was normal, or at least as normal as I usually am," she laughs a little bit at that, which makes me smile. "I seem to be turning into an equine. A pony to be more specific..."

"But...isn't that impossible?" she asks.

"Well, yesterday I would have said so, yes. But as it is happening to me, I have become a believer in impossibilities. The hair and ears aren't the worst parts," I say, shuddering a tiny bit.

"What could be worse?" she asks.

"Well, like I have a tail too, for starters. Oh, and I have hooves instead of feet now..." I trail off as her eyes get round as saucers. Then I quickly finish by saying rather quietly, "And I'm not male anymore."

"Come again?" she says, seeming to not want to believe her ears.

I give her a hard look, "You heard me. My penis is gone. It actually happened not too long before you called me to say you were in town. I had just finished freaking out about it and managed to calm down. I'm still not comfortable with it, either."

"But, but...but..." she is completely at a loss for words. It's almost enough to make me laugh, if the situation wasn't so far from funny I probably would.

"Yeah, I know, that should be impossible, but trust me, it's not. Poor Jim and Sherry got an eyeful when I started screaming in the bathroom. They ran in to see what was wrong and literally caught me with my pants down. I'm not sure I'll ever live that down," I say, trying to see the funny side of all this. It's hard for me to do right now, though I can kind of see a point down the road when I might be able to laugh about it all.

Kaitlyn throws her arms around me and sobs into my shoulder, "Oh Henry, you poor thing! Why does this have to happen to you? You've never done anything to deserve something like this to happen to you!"

I'm just glad she believed me, I was afraid she wouldn't, and that she'd hate me because she was sure I was lying to her. Thank you Lord! This could have gone soooo much more poorly. I give a silent prayer of thanks for that rather large miracle.

I wrap my arm around Kate and hold her to me as we get close to home. After a few more minutes she calms down a little and dries her tears. Then she looks up at me and says, "I love you. Whatever you are going through, we will go through it together, okay?"

I pull her tighter and say, "You have no idea how much that means to me. I love you too, Kaitlyn."

We finish the drive in relative silence. Pulling into the driveway, I hit the garage door opener button, and then pull into the garage once it's open enough. Once inside I hit the button again to close the door, then climb out of the car and go around to the passenger side to help her out of the car. I pop the trunk and pull her suitcase out and carry it inside, while I have my arm wrapped around her.

Inside we are greeted by Jim and Sherry, who give Kaitlyn and I each a hug. Then we kind of just stand there for a moment, Jim and Sherry holding hands, and Kate and I holding hands.

Jim looks at our hands pointedly and says, "So...I take it you two worked things out?"

I chuckle and pull Kate to me and wrap my arm around her shoulders and say, "I think so." She looks up to me and, smiling, nods. I lean down and kiss the top of her head.

"I'm glad to hear it. Welcome home Kate," Jim says.

"Thank you Jim...I've missed you guys," Kaitlyn replies.

Now that we're home, my mind finally acknowledges an ache I've been living with for a little while now, and I reach back to my tail. I massage the base of it, and then pull it out of my pants, "Oh man, that feels soooo much better! I've been sitting on it for like an hour."

Sherry covers a giggle at my reaction and Jim says, "So, I take it Henry filled you in on what's going on?"

"Not all of it yet, but we can do the rest over some dinner," I say. "Speaking of which, what did you two decide we are having?"

"We ordered a couple of pizzas to be delivered, they should actually get here pretty soon," says Jim.

"Sounds good, I'll get Kate settled in while we wait for it to arrive," I say, taking Kate's hand again and leading the way down the hall.

I'm about to lead her into the guest room when she stops me and asks, "Do you mind if I sleep in your room, at least for tonight? I really don't feel like being alone. I can sleep on the floor."

"That'd be great. I don't really want to be alone, either. But if anyone is going to sleep on the floor, it'll be me," I reply, leading her further down the hall to the master suite. I lay her suitcase on the bed. Kate closes the door to the bedroom and the walks up to me, suddenly seeming shy.

"Hold me, please?" she asks quietly.

"Of course," I say and wrap my arms around her. I look down at her, realizing just how much I tower over her. She's only about 5' 4", and probably no more than 115 lbs. soaking wet.

She leans her head back to look up at me and then rises up on her tiptoes, realizing what she wants, I lean down and kiss her thoroughly. I kiss her the way I've wanted to for a long time. The way I'm pretty sure she's wanted to for a long time too.

While we're kissing she reaches behind me and starts running her fingers through my tail. It's a little unsettling at first, but feels really good. I groan my approval into her mouth. She then reaches her other hand up and very gently starts touching my ears, running the tips of her fingers over the fine fur and up the outside of them.

I back up until my knees hit the edge of the bed, and then I sit down and pull her up into my lap as we continue to make out. Now she's running the fingers of both hands through my mane and I return the favor with one hand while I'm holding her in my lap with the other.

After a few more minutes of this we finally come up for air. She smiles up at me and says, "I have wanted to do that for so long. I can't believe I finally got to, I thought this day would never come."

I smile down at her and tweak her nose and say, "I'm just glad that the day has come. I'm so glad you've come back."

"Hey, I just remembered you had a birthday yesterday! Guess I can give you this then," she says, unzipping her suitcase and reaching inside.

"Give me what?" I ask.

"This!" she says as she pulls out a purple pony plushie from her bag with a flourish. She presents me with the Twilight Sparkle Alicorn plushie.

"Hey, you remembered! Thank you so much! Where did you get it? I haven't been able to find any for a reasonable price," I say in great appreciation, hugging her tight again.

"Of course I remembered. How could I forget? I may not have been into the show all that much, but I paid attention to what you liked. As to how I got one, let's just say I have my sources," she grins at my excitement.

I'm still holding the plushie and staring at it when we hear a knock on the bedroom door, to which Kate replies, "Come in."

Sherry opens the door and sticks her head in, "The pizzas are here. Come on down whenever you're ready."

Kate jumps off my lap and says, "Yum, I'm starving!"

I stand up and, tucking the plushie under my arm, follow Kaitlyn and Sherry down the hall and into the dining room. Jim is setting out plates and cups for us as we walk in. We all sit down at the table and start dishing out the pizza.

Everyone digs into their first slice, and I immediately spit my bite out, saying, "Gross, I think something's wrong with this sausage."

The other three look at each other and shake their heads, Jim saying, "It tastes okay to me. Are you sure there's something wrong with it?"

I take another bite to be sure and immediately spit it out too, "Yeah, it tastes bad!"

I offer the piece to Kaitlyn to try; she takes a bite and shrugs, "Tastes okay to me."

Okay, what the hell? Why does it taste weird to me? I think, looking around the table. Then it hits me, Oh...well, I guess that makes sense. But it sucks! I love sausage on my pizza!

"I think it's because of my...changes..." I say, giving voice to my realization. "Dammit, I hadn't thought about missing out on meat...I love meat!"

I sigh and start picking the sausage off the pizza, as well as the pepperoni. In the end I'm left with black olive pizza, which is okay. "Good thing I like black olives."

Kaitlyn rubs my shoulder in condolence, "That sucks...I know how much you always loved good meat, especially bacon and sausage."

"Oh dude, no bacon? That REALLY sucks!" chimes in Jim. Sherry smacks his arm lightly, but is chuckling too.

I shake my head sadly, "I hadn't even thought about bacon...man, what the hell?"

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Well, maybe this is a good time for me to ask about what is happening to you. What IS happening?" Kate asks.

"Well, you see, it's like this..." I start, and fill her in on what has happened so far and what we've figured out about why. By the time I finish we've eaten the rest of the pizza, me sans meat, and have adjourned to the living room.

"And, in short, I'm becoming a pony," I finish with.

"Wow, um...just wow. If I didn't have physical proof right here in front of me, there is no way I would believe it. It just comes across as a fantastical tale," is Kate's response.

"Yeah, tell me about it. This certainly isn't how I thought my 25th birthday would go. It kind of feels like 'Happy Birthday, Surprise you're a pony! Oh, and by the way you're not a guy, either,' it's really pretty freaky. I'm still kind of trying to wrap my head about it," I say.

"Speaking of...so you're really a girl now? Like as in you have a vagina instead of a penis?" Kate asks me.

I nod in confirmation, "Yeah, I've got great timing. You finally come back into my life and now I'm the wrong gender. I'm sorry Kate." I hang my head in dejection.

Kate takes my hand and lifts my chin with her finger, "That doesn't matter to me. Maybe this makes me weird, but I really don't care. I've wasted all this time without you, and I'm not wasting any more. As long as you'll have me, I will be by your side."

"Really?" I ask, barely a whisper. Kate nods her head and smiles at me.

"Thank you," I whisper, tears forming in my eyes as I gaze into hers. "I want you with me always."

I pull her into my lap, wrap my arms around her and kiss the top of her head. She leans her head back and I kiss her beautiful lips. More than a chaste kiss, but not the soul searchingly deep one that I'd like to deliver, since we aren't in private.

"Ookay...so, not that I'm weirded out by my, um, sister making out with another girl, but..." Jim says, trailing off to silence as I stare crossly at him. "Sorry," he says sheepishly, turning a little red.

I grin broadly at him, "Just kidding bro, I can understand it being a little bit unsettling. I'm not going to pretend to be something I'm not, though."

"Of course not. I don't want you to, it's just new...you know?" he replies.

"Yeah, I can understand," I say.

"Although Jim was being a bit of a blockhead, I think maybe what Jim was trying to actually get to is, what do we do now? Do we wait for your changes to be complete and just continue living our lives? Who do we tell? Who can we trust?" Sherry asks me.

"And something that's been bothering me," Jim says, "is, going on the theory that your dream is a memory, Discord was planning to banish other ponies. Where are they? We can't find any trace of other people becoming ponies."

"Unfortunately, the answer to all of your questions is: I don't know. All I do know is that this transformation isn't stopping, and if it keeps up at this rate, I'll be a full pony by the end of the day after tomorrow at the latest. Frankly, I have not a single clue as to what that will mean for the all of us," I respond. "The one question you asked that I can answer is that I don't want to trust anyone yet. This is something new, and people like to experiment on new things. They want to find out what happens and poke and prod. I really don't want that."

"We won't tell anyone, and we'll do our best to protect your secret. We won't let anyone experiment on you," says Jim, as Sherry and Kate nod in agreement.

"I really appreciate that," I say. "And Jim, your question has been bothering me too. I can't be the only one, unless of course Discord failed. Unfortunately, I doubt that he did. The others are entirely too trusting, they never believed like I did that he would turn on them. Would have been nice if I'd been wrong..."

"So right now we just wait?" asks Sherry.

"Unfortunately, yeah. Not a lot we can do. We'll keep looking for promising leads for the next couple of days. If we don't find anything by then, we'll formulate a new plan," I say.

"Okay, I guess that makes sense. Now, um...not to be insensitive but, what do we call you? I mean, Henry doesn't really fit anymore, I'm sorry to say," says Jim, a little bit embarrassed.

I smile at him and say, "Maybe you should call me by my real name."

"What is your real name?" asks Sherry.

"Irony," I say proudly.

"Irony? That's an interesting name. What does it mean?" asks Kate.

I shrug, "I don't remember, at least not yet."

I look up at the clock and say, "It's getting late and I'm pretty tired. Jim, you and Sherry can use the guest bedroom if you like. Kate, are you still planning on staying with me?"

"Yes, please," she replies.

"Great. Goodnight guys," I say as I stand and hold my hand out to help Kate stand.

"Goodnight Irony," says Jim, testing out my new name.

"Goodnight," says Sherry with a small wave.

I lead Kaitlyn back to my bedroom. Once we're inside she closes and locks the door with a smile. She then reaches up and puts her arms around my neck and pulls me down into a kiss. I wrap my arms around her, kissing her back thoroughly. Soon my hands fall below her waist and cup her ass, squeezing it lovingly.

I lift her up and she wraps her legs around my waist, sighing happily as she does. She leans her head back a little to look into my eyes, "I've wanted you to pick me up and hold me like this since we were teenagers. I've always loved how strong you are both physically and mentally, and that you're strong without being hard or mean. You were always like my rock...until I screwed it up. I'm sorry for that, I regret all the time we've missed with each other," she finishes, leaning her head on my shoulder, a pair of tears sliding down her cheeks.

I run the fingers of one hand through her hair and kiss the tears from her cheeks, "Shhh...we don't need to dwell on the past. We're here now, and that's what matters. Besides, we don't know what would have happened otherwise, I may never have realized what I really feel for you."

She has a small, gentle smile on her face as she replies, "I suppose you're right. We'll just have to make up for lost time, right?" Then she presses her mouth to mine once again, her tongue slipping between our paired lips and searching out mine. I gladly oblige her searching appendage, wrestling it with my own tongue, groaning in joy as I do.

She pulls back from the kiss for a moment, smiling at my mouth trying to follow her to continue the kiss. She reaches her hands down to the bottom of her shirt and lifts it over her head, revealing her beautiful breasts lovingly embraced by a very nice, lacy black bra. I whistle in appreciation, "Nice bra."

She blushes a little and says, "I hoped you would see it eventually, though I didn't really plan on throwing myself at you quite this quickly. I hope you don't mind..."

I grin, "Oh, I'll get over it, I'm sure. But I think you're still wearing too many clothes, at least for what I plan to do to you."

"Oh my, and whatever could that be? You naughty, naughty girl..." Kate trails off, a little bit of a funny look on her face. "Okay, so I'm a little slow...I just now realize that you not being a guy, um, affects things in the bedroom."

I kiss her lightly on the lips, "Not for what I'm planning to do to you, at least not yet. But I understand if it's a little too weird. I mean, I kinda am getting to live every guys fantasy, but maybe it's not your fantasy..."

Her responding kiss helps to relieve some of my fears. Then she says, "I've never been with a girl before, but I think in this situation I'm feeling a little bit adventurous. Kiss me like you mean it."

I pull her into me and do just that, reaching up her back with one hand while I continue holding her ass with the other. I unclasp her bra with my free hand and pull the straps down off her shoulders. Her luscious breasts fall free of the cups, revealing already hard strawberry pink nipples surrounded by silver dollar sized areoles. I lean in and lick her nipples, one after the other, causing her to gasp.

I tease her nipples for a few minutes, lightly licking and flicking them with my tongue, before taking one into my mouth and gently sucking on it, nibbling it with my teeth. When she starts moaning I switch nipples and grasp the breast I just left with my free hand.

"Oh my god," she pants, wrapping her fingers in my mane and holding my head to her chest. "Whatever you do, don't stop!"

I flick her nipple with my tongue while I work the other one with my fingers. I then lay her on the bed and wrap both hands around her breasts as I flick each nipple with my tongue, back and forth. I lick down her stomach to the waist of her pants, then push the waist down with my fingertips and lick around the band of her matching black panties, "Mmmm...matching undies, I like."

Kate giggles, which turns to a gasp as I lick the front of her underwear down her slit. I lift her legs and push her pants down, licking down her thighs as I do. I continue down and lick behind her knees, eliciting another gasp from her followed by a soft moaning. I reach down and pull her pants the rest of the way off her feet, kissing the tops and bottoms of them as I do. I then lick the bottoms, causing her to giggle uncontrollably.

"Stop, stop!" she begs me.

"You're so evil," she laughs when I stop and grin at her.

"Muwahaha...yes, yes I am," I laugh evilly before licking her feet again and then up each leg back to her panties. I kiss around her thighs and then lick the sensitive skin where her thighs meet her waist and down between her legs to just shy of her cloth covered lower lips. I inhale the scent emanating from her sopping wet pussy, becoming exponentially more aroused by the pheromones she is emitting.

"You smell and taste amazing! Your juices are making my blood boil! I've never been so aroused before in my life," I pant as I reach my hands up and wrap my fingers into her panties and then rip them from her prone form. She squeals in excitement at my roughness.

I can resist her hot snatch no longer, I begin by lapping at her juice covered lips, teasing each one out with gentle nibbles from my lips and teeth. I drink up the juices that flow out of her, soon my face is smothered in her essence.

Kate wraps her fingers in my mane again, holding my face to her neatly trimmed pussy, and cries out, "Don't you dare stop, oh god that feels so amazing!"

I drive my tongue deep inside her hard, fucking her hot box with my face. I hear her cry out again as I begin exploring her inner walls, massaging her with my extra-long tongue.

As Kaitlyn's moans reach a fever pitch I pull my tongue slowly out of her quivering vagina, and lick her lips again, then lick up to her sensitive little nub. I slowly lick around her clit as I slide first one, then two fingers slowly in and out of her. I hear her start panting, and it gets louder and louder.

Suddenly I wrap my lips around her hard clit and pull it into my mouth and clamp my teeth on it while I lick it relentlessly with my tongue. I feel her body start to shudder around me. I add another finger to her pussy.

"Oh God, I'm CU--" is all she manages to get out as her body explodes around me, her juices spraying my chin. She screams louder than I have ever heard, and then a string of expletives comes flying out of her mouth, "Oh fuck, oh shit, oh goddam!" I grin internally to myself as I draw out her orgasm until she starts hitting at my head to make me let go of her clit. I finally release the sensitive little organ, only to lick all around her soaked crotch and then up her body to her breasts, pausing momentarily to lick and suck her nipples one more time before kissing up her throat to her lips. I deliver a soul-searing kiss as her body finishes spasming and then whisper, "I love you Kaitlyn."

Between gasps she replies, "I. Love. You. Too...Irony." Hearing her say that, and using my name, makes me smile from ear to ear.

"I've never felt anything as amazing as this feeling I am feeling right now," I tell her. "Hearing you tell me how much you love me...accepting me for who I am...I have no words to describe these feelings. Thank you Kate." I realize I am almost weeping with my joy.

Kate slowly sits up, puts her arms around my neck and pulls my head to hers, pressing our foreheads together. She kisses me gently and says, "You are amazing. And I'm not just saying that because you have just given me the most amazing orgasm I have ever had, either. You have always been an amazing person, and now I know you're going to be an amazing pony too. You have a strength of character that makes everyone around you respect you. I think that's a lot of what drew me to you, and then eventually fall in love with you, in the first place."

"I find you to be equally amazing, Kate. My life hasn't been the same since you left, and now that you're back, even though it's only been a few hours, I never want you to leave again. Promise me you won't," despite my best efforts, a tear slides down my cheek at the thought of losing her.

She looks me in the eye and says, "I will never willingly leave your side again, this I promise you. You, my dear, are stuck with me. Forever."

I smile and whisper, "Thank you, Moon Shadow."

She looks at me a little funny so I ask her, "What?"

"Did you just call me...Moon Shadow?" Kate asks.

I think back on what I just said and say, "Um...I guess so? That's kind of weird, isn't it?"

"Yeah, kind of...but just for a moment it felt...right. Like it resonated. Now that's weird," she says.

I nod, then shrug, figuring it's just a slip of the tongue. And Speaking of Tongues... I lean over and lick Kate's earlobe and nibble on it.

She giggles and turns into my lips and kisses me gently, "Are you ready for your turn?"

I nod, feeling myself getting a little damp just thinking about what she's going to do to me.

"Good, because I want your first time to be special," she says, pulling my shirt off over my head. She rubs her hands and fingers over my chest, feeling the well-defined muscles that my religious workouts have given me. Her hands knead the muscles, relieving some of the built up stress I hadn't even realized I had.

"Oh wow that feels good," I groan in appreciation. She just smiles at me as she continues to massage my chest and arms.

"Lay on your stomach so I can do your back," she tells me, to which I quickly comply.

As I'm lying on my stomach she begins massaging my back, moving up and rubbing my neck and then down to my lower back. At this point I'm almost continually groaning, it feels so good. "I haven't had a good back massage in over three years," I say.

"You haven't had anybody rub your back since I've been gone?" she asks.

I shake my head, "Nope. I haven't had anyone touch me in a long time."

She gasps, "You mean...nobody? Since I left?"

I simply nod in reply. She says, "You poor fool, whatever am I going to do with you?"

"Stay with me and rub my back every day," I joke.

She slaps my back lightly and says, "Maybe not every day, but we'll see." I can practically hear the smile in her voice as she goes back to rubbing my sore muscles.

She pulls my pants down below my tail and begins rubbing the base of my tail. I moan in excitement as I feel her rubbing it, "Wow, that feels amazing!" She strokes it a few more times, then massages the base of the tail and runs her fingers through the hair.

"Okay, this may seem weird, but that is getting me so hot right now," I say.

Kate leans forward and bites the base of my tail and says, "I don't really know why, but it's exciting me too. Of course maybe it helps that you have such an amazing body already."

"You just want my plot," I tease her and she laughs.

"You're right, I do, now give me that plot," she says and bites me right on said plot. I flick my tail and slap her with it.

"Did you do that on purpose?" she asks me.

"You know, I did, but I didn't really expect it to be so easy. Sorry," I say.

She bites me again in forgiveness and then backs down my legs and starts pulling my pants off at the ankle. I wiggle my hips and legs to help her in her endeavor. She finally gets the pants down, along with my briefs. She then starts massaging her way up my legs. Once she gets back up to my waist she says, "Now turn that sexy body of yours over, I want to see the front."

I turn over, a tiny bit nervous about showing this side of my body. Kate climbs up my body and soothes my fears with a passionate kiss. She then breaks the kiss and, giving me a smoky look, starts kissing her way down my chest. I watch her as she kisses her way, she stops and kisses my pecs and I notice in an offhand way that my nipples are gone. She continues further down, licking and biting each of my ab muscles.

I then see her kiss her way up two little bumps that I don't remember having before. And then she nibbles on something and I feel a tingling sensation that I have never felt before in my life. Wow, that feels amazing! What the hell is that? I think as I moan loudly in pleasure.

"Wow, what was that?" I ask her when she pauses for a moment and I can form words again.

"I think those are your teats," she says, reaching down and gently pinching them, causing me to arch my back.

"Oh god, is that what it feels like when I play with your nipples? I've never felt anything like that before," I say to her, slightly out of breath from moaning.

"Hmm...let's see," she says and then leans down and sucks one of my nipples into her mouth and nurses on it in earnest.

"Ohmygodohmygod..." I scream as I feel an incredibly intense burst of pleasure from my pussy. Fluid leaks out of my steamy vagina at a prodigious rate.

"Did you just cum from me sucking on your nipple?" Kaitlyn asks, then leans down and licks the juice dripping out of my slit and groans, "Oh my...if I knew women tasted so good, I'd have done this a long time ago!"

I am in too much of a state of shock to respond. She takes my silence as confirmation and dives back into my slick hole, licking it like an ice cream cone. She slips a finger into my tight pussy, slowly working it in and out, back and forth. I gasp loudly at the feeling, then she takes my clit between her teeth and starts sucking on it, while pinching one of my nipples between her fingertips.

I scream out, even louder than before, as I drench her face in more of my girl pony cum. My orgasm doesn't stop there, though, as she keeps licking and biting my clit and pinching my nipples. I scream out over and over again, as wave after wave of pleasure overcomes my body until I finally pass out from sensory overload.

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

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"Get up you lazy piece of shit!" I hear a voice I don't recognize say.

I start to stir, only to feel an excruciating pain as I'm kicked in the side by a booted foot.

"I said get up you stupid fuck! Get your ass out of bed now or I'll fucking bust your face in!" the voice yells at me.

I feel my body rise up off the floor, where evidently I've been sleeping. I look down at the floor and see the blanket that had fallen off me when I stood and remember this is where I belong.

What the hell is this? I think to myself as my body starts to move of its own volition. It seems that it at least knows what to do, even though I don't have a clue. I walk out of the shack I've been in and accept the meager piece of bread and cheese shoved into my hands as I walk out to the field.

I look around and see farmland everywhere I look, field after field of corn and remember that it's my job to start picking, along with the others. I look down at my body and it isn't how I remember it. My skin is loose over my flesh, I can feel that I have strength, but I'm a lot leaner than I remember. I'm wearing little more than rags. Good thing it's not cold, I guess, I think to myself.

I get to the corn and start picking it, throwing it into baskets that are nearby, one ear at a time. I'm working in a group of about ten people, most of them smaller and frailer looking than me. I can't remember how I got here.

As I'm trying to figure out how I got here and how long I've been here, I feel a searing pain on my back and hear the crack of a whip.

"You stupid lazy oaf! Move faster you fucking moron! If you don't pick up the pace you don't get no lunch or dinner," came the vehement voice from behind me. I don't even bother looking to see who is speaking; I just try to pick up the pace.

A few minutes later I stumble and feel the whip again. This time I am angry and turn toward my attacker, a retort upon my lips, but they are having none of it and begin to whip me in a frenzy. I try to raise my hands to protect me, but my body doesn't respond and I fall to the ground. I don't know how many times I am whipped, but it is still going on as I slip into unconsciousness.

I wake after an unknown about of time, my body screaming in pain. I moan and can feel hot tears streaming down my face from the agony.

Suddenly I look up, sensing something awry, and see that my body is enveloped in a purple light. I feel very strange, my pain is stripped away, and as I look at my body it begins to change. I'm floating there, my body changing, when everything goes black and I know no more.

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I awaken slightly confused, my dream having dulled my wits. I find I am not alone in my bed, then my mind starts to piece together the events of the previous evening.

I lift the blanket and look down at our entwined forms, grinning as the details from last night all come back to me. I gaze upon Kaitlyn's beautiful body and lick my lips at how yummy she looks. Then I turn my gaze upon my own body, knowing that there are going to be more changes that have taken place while I was asleep.

I can see that my teats are more pronounced and find, upon touching them, that they are even more sensitive than last night. I look further down and see that my legs are completely encased in midnight blue fur, and that it is creeping up my waist. I can also see that there are some patches of fur on my arms, and that my musculature seems a little less well defined.

I sigh after cataloguing the changes I can see, wondering if there are any that I can't see yet. I wrap my arms around Kate as I feel her begin to stir.

"Morning," she mumbles to me as she stretches. She never has been a morning person, I laugh silently to myself.

"Good morning, beautiful," I say to her.

She finishes her stretch and says, "Your voice is higher pitched. I thought it was a little bit last night, but wasn't sure because we hadn't talked in a long time. Now, though, I can definitely tell the difference."

"Really?" I ask. "It sounds the same to me. Strange."

She kisses me and says, "I like it. You sound more like what you are, my girlfriend."

I laugh lightly, "I suppose that's true. It's still a little odd being a girl after 25 years of being a guy. One thing I'm glad of, though, is that my sexual preference hasn't changed." I grin at Kate and wiggle my eyebrows.

"Yeah, well evidently mine has!" Kate laughs and swats my shoulder, "Show a girl one night of sexual bliss and suddenly she becomes a complete slut!"

"What can I say, you've shown me how wonderful this new body can be...I can't believe I passed out from the pleasure you gave me! That's never happened to me before!" I say in disbelief.

"Well, I can't believe you had multiple orgasms your very first time as a girl! That is so unfair!" she replies with a grin.

"That's only because I have such an awesome lover," I say and watch as she blushes.

"Yeah, well, that and you have REALLY sensitive tits," she teases me.

I laugh and say, "I guess that's true. I never knew nipples were so sensitive!"

Kate just smiles at me and hops out of bed, headed toward the bathroom. She shoots me a glance and says, "Dibs on the shower," and runs inside.

I jump up and run after her and catch her just as she's climbing into the shower, with the hot water already running. I follow her into the shower and kiss her, running my hands all over her body. She grins at me and says, "Behave yourself; we need to actually get clean. I'm pretty sure I smelled breakfast before coming in here, so we can't take too long."

I give her a pouty face and say, "Okay, if I have to..." giving her puppy dog eyes.

"Well...maybe just a little bit of making out..." she trails off as I play with her nipples.

In the end we took more than a little while, and used up all the hot water before we were done. We had to finish shampooing our hair with cold water, and were both shivering by the time we got out. Totally worth it, though...that was SO amazing! I can't believe how hot I am for Moon Shadow! I think to myself. Then my silly grin slips off my face as I realize what I just said. I called her Moon Shadow again...what does it mean? I quickly put the goofy grin back on my face so Kate doesn't see my look and ask me what's wrong. I don't want to try to explain this until I know what it means.

Kate dries herself off fairly quickly, while I am having great trouble with my mane and tail, "Ugh, I never knew washing and drying this much hair could take so much effort! How do you do it so quickly?"

"Well, you actually have more hair than I do now, especially if you count your tail. But the answer really is just lots of practice. It's one of the reasons women take so much longer than men to get ready to go anywhere," she replies.

"I guess I'll never be able to complain about how long you take getting ready. Seems like I'll be the holdup," I say.

"Oh, definitely. And I can't imagine how you'll do it without hands..." she trails off, realizing that may be a tender subject.

"I guess I'll just have to have you wash and dry me," I say, trying to make light of her comment.

Kate smiles slightly in gratitude and says, "We might be able to arrange that."

"Good, then I won't have a dirty mane and tail all the time. You know what they say, cleanliness is next to godliness. Or something like that," I say.

Kate smirks at me and pulls out a brush and begins to brush her hair, "You'll want to brush your hair too, otherwise it'll become a ratty mess and be impossible to deal with."

She hands me the brush as she finishes with her hair and I stand in front of the bathroom mirror, confronting my new visage. I notice that all of my facial features are subtly different. None of them are changed enough for me to say what has changed, but the overall cast of my features is decidedly more female. Of course the purple hair doesn't really help with that situation. I sigh as I start trying to run the brush through my mane.

"This is a lot harder than it looks," I say to Kate.

"Here, let me help you. You'll never get it done at that rate," She says as she comes over and takes the brush from my ineffective fingers and starts pulling it gently through my hair.

"Thank you," I say as I watch her in the mirror as she works.

"No problem, it's just like brushing the sister I never had's hair," she teases. I scowl at her in the mirror. She kisses my cheek and says, "I'm just teasing you."

"I know," I sigh. "It's just a little hard...everything keeps changing. I think I'm getting used to being female, but looking in the mirror and seeing the changes... I don't know. I'm not even sure what is bothering me more, transforming into a pony, or being a girl. Every time I look at myself, I'm different. The changes are becoming more pronounced."

"I can't pretend that I have any idea of what this is like for you, but I do know that I wouldn't handle it nearly as well as you are. I also know that you are beautiful, if you don't mind me saying. It may sound odd, but I really like your mane, and I think your tail is sexy," she says, blushing at the last. I swish my tail at her to show it off a bit and smile.

"Thank you...it's oddly comforting to hear you say that. I think I'm going to be okay, I just have my moments, you know?" I say. She nods in reply, rubbing her face in my mane.

"I suppose we should get dressed and go have breakfast," I say, not particularly wanting to end our time together, but knowing that we should start the day.

"Yeah, you're right. Besides, all of our nocturnal activities have made me quite hungry this morning," she grins at me and now it's my turn to blush.

"Well, we did expend quite a bit of energy," I say with a smirk. "And had a lot of fun."

She laughs and heads out to the bedroom while I watch her naked body intently, licking my lips at the view. She turns her head and catches me and says, "Oh stop it, you. Come get dressed."

"Okay, okay...fine, party pooper!" I retort, moving out of the doorway and into the bedroom.

Kate just shakes her head and laughs at me and pulls some fresh clothes from her suitcase. I can't keep from watching her as she starts putting on her clothes. She's just as sexy putting on her clothes as taking them off... I think to myself. She catches me watching her again and, laughing, throws her underwear from last night at me. I catch them and hold them up to my nose, inhaling her scent. I can immediately feel my new sex getting damp again.

I shake my head, trying to snap myself out of it. Have to focus on moving forward! Can't let myself get distracted. I chide myself. I step over to my closet and, opening the door, begin to peruse my clothes. I look through all my clothes and realize I'm dissatisfied with everything in my closet.

"Oh wow...I think my transformation from male to female is complete," I comment aloud.

"What do you mean?" asks Kaitlyn, tilting her head to the side to look at me.

"Well, I just went through my entire closet...and realized I have nothing to wear! It's all so boring..." I say, feeling just a little silly.

Kate laughs and says, "Oh, you're right, you are totally a girl now. Well, let's see..." she comes over and starts poking in my closet. Soon she pulls out a pair of dark blue sweat pants and a black Tee shirt. "It's not great, but really all that you have that will fit right now, but...hey, do you have a pair of scissors?"

"Yeah, what do you need them for?" I ask, rummaging through one of my dresser drawers and finally coming up with a pair.

She takes them from me and says, "You'll see." Then turns and does something to the sweats with them. She turns back and hands the sweats to me, saying, "There, those should fit better now. Let me see your underwear."

I just shrug and hand her a pair of my underwear, which she immediately cuts a slit in and hands back to me, "Try them on."

I pull them on over my hooves, up my legs and onto my waist. Kate comes up behind me and fiddles with my tail for a moment and I realize that she is maneuvering it through the slit in the briefs she just made. I take the sweats from her and put them on, finding the slit in the back of them and working my tail through it myself.

"Wow, that's a lot more comfortable than either shoving my tail down my pants or wearing the pants under it!" I thank Kate with a grin.

She tosses me the shirt and I put it on. Now we're finally both dressed and ready for the day. I take her hand and we start clopping our way down the hall to the kitchen, where I can hear Jim and Sherry talking quietly.

"Well hello, Miss Irony," I hear Sherry say as I step into the kitchen. "You look very nice this morning."

I blush a little at her compliment, "Thank you Trixie, you look very nice yourself."

She gets a funny look on her face, "Did you just call me Trixie?"

"Yeah she did," Kate answers from behind me. "If it makes you feel any better, she called me Moon Shadow last night."

I flush a bright red now and mumble an apology.

"It's okay," says Sherry, but it's obvious to me that she's confused, but she decides to let it go.

"So...which one of you is the screamer?" asks Jim with a huge smirk on his face.

I didn't think I could get any redder, but I do as I slowly wave to him, wishing I could just melt into the floor and disappear.

"Jim! Behave yourself!" Kate reprimands him.

"I'm just teasing...though I actually thought it would be you, Kate. It didn't sound like He...um, Irony to me..." Jim trails off, realizing he's put his foot in it by the look on Kate's face.

Before she can say anything he raises his hands in a warding off gesture and says, "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean anything by it."

Kate just continues to glare at him as I turn away to hide my red face, for all the good that it'll do me. I spot a bowl of freshly sliced fruit and help myself to some of it, putting it on a plate and getting a fork out of the silverware drawer. I get another plate and put some fruit on it for Kate too.

While my back is still turned, I hear Sherry come up behind me and whisper to me, "Don't let him bother you, he's just trying to make light of the situation."

I nod my head, knowing Jim even better than she does and knowing this is how he deals with things that are hard for him to get a handle on. Always with the joking when things got hard.

"Truth be told," she continues, "I was worried that my screaming might have kept the two of you awake..." And she blushes too.

"Well, I did hear you, but didn't want to embarrass you like Jim did Irony," Kate interjects.

"I didn't hear anything...I passed out from Kate's, ah, ministrations," I whisper. Sherry covers a gasp with her hand as she looks from me to Kate.

"Oh my...I've never experienced anything like that, though admittedly last night was close..." Sherry says quietly, not wanting Jim to hear and get a big head.

Speaking of Jim, "Hey, what's with all the whispering? I said I was sorry, and I mean it. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, Irony. I just wanted to tease you two a little."

I look over at him and say, "Okay, I'll forgive you just this once."

Jim stands and, walking over to me, pulls me into a real hug and whispers another apology into my ear. Then, leaning back and looking at me, he says, "I kind of forgot for a moment that you're my 'big' sister now instead of my brother. It won't happen again, I promise."

I punch him in the shoulder and say, "Hey, just because I'm your sister instead of your brother doesn't mean I can't still kick your ass. You'd better remember that." I grin, and he returns my grin.

"Careful Irony, too much testosterone and you might turn back into a dude," Kate warns, making me laugh.

"If only it were that easy!" I say.

Kate gets herself a cup of coffee and gratefully accepts the plate of fruit I hand her, taking a bite of some honeydew melon between sips of coffee.

"So, how are you guys this morning?" she asks.

"Pretty good, we slept pretty well," Sherry answers as Jim takes her into his arms. "How about you?"

Kate smirks, "Well, I've just found out I'm a lesbian, and I never want to go back...oh and I slept well too."

I shake my head, laughing, and then say, "I slept well. Except..." I trail off for a moment and then continue, "I had a horrible dream."

"What kind of dream?" Kate asks, concern plain in her voice, so I explain my dream to them, leaving nothing out.

"Do you think it's another memory?" asks Jim, seeming concerned.

"Well...I don't know. It felt like my other dreams, so yeah, it felt like it could be a memory. But I was human in this dream, at least until the end...and I know I have never experienced that in my human life," I respond.

"You said your body was transforming...were you turning into a pony?" asks Sherry.

"I'm not entirely sure...but I suspect so," I answer her.

"What do you think it means?" asks Kate, nibbling on her fruit.

"I wish I knew. My dream about Discord made sense in how it pertains to what's happening to me now, but this doesn't really make any sense to me yet," I say.

"Well damn, when you said you had another dream, it got my hopes up that it would help us figure out some more about what is going on," says Jim in frustration.

I nod, "I hoped so too. It's really irritating not knowing what's going on," I say.

"Speaking of which, I want to spend some more time today researching the net. I think there's something out there to find, I just need to ferret it out," Sherry says positively.

"Okay, that makes sense, and it at least is more than nothing. What should the rest of us do, though?" I ask the group.

"I keep in touch with a couple of the guys from our old unit, Jack and Tom, you remember them?" Jim says and I nod in response, knowing where he's going with this... Jim continues, "You know they always had a way of knowing things that no one else could find out..." He trails off, looking at me for permission.

I sigh, "Yeah, you should call them, but don't tell them what's going on, just see if they'll share any information they have on strange happenings. I hate to involve anyone else, but if anyone has a clue, it'll be them."

"That leaves you and me," Kate says to me. "What should we do?"

"Frankly, I'm open to suggestions. It's not like there's a lot else for us to do. Guys?" I say, at a loss for where to go next. I feel utterly useless.

"Do you still have all of mom and dad's old stuff in storage?" Jim asks me out of the blue.

"Yeah, I do. Why?" I return, not understanding what he's getting at.

"Well, it occurs to me that there might be some clues in their stuff, namely the old adoption paperwork, or maybe some letters or articles that could help. Did you ever go through it?" Jim explains.

I shake my head, "I never did. I just couldn't do it back when we put it in storage, and later it didn't seem important. It's a long shot, but I suppose it's possible they knew something, or had some information they didn't understand, that could help. Good Idea, Jim. Kate and I will go over to the storage unit and begin searching. If you find anything call me, I'll have my phone."

"Okay. I don't know if any of us will find anything, but better than sitting around twiddling our thumbs waiting for the inevitable, right?" Jim states. I nod and clasp hands with him before Kate and I say our goodbyes and head out to the car.

"How much stuff do you have left over from your parents?" Kate asks me.

"Unfortunately, quite a lot. I've got a 10' by 30' storage unit that is almost full of their old stuff. I guess you accumulate a lot of stuff over a lifetime. The good news is we shouldn't have to go through all of it, just their old paperwork. The bad news is that there is still a lot of paper to go through, and I'm not sure how well organized it is," I answer, unlocking the car and opening Kate's door for her.

"How long do you think this will take?" she asks as she slides into the passenger seat.

"Well, unless we get lucky, my guess is most, if not all, of the day," I say.

"I guess we'd better get moving then," Kate responds, smiling hopefully up at me.

"Indeed," I respond, climbing into the driver's seat and cranking the engine over.

The engine roars to life and I back her out of the garage and down the drive. It doesn't take long to get to the storage unit, as it is pretty close to my house. We pull up to the automatic gate and I enter my code. Once the gate opens wide enough I pull through and down an alleyway to the unit I rent. These units open to the outside, so I just pull up alongside it and get out of the car. I use my key to unlock the roll up door and open it.

We step inside and I pull the chain on the lone light bulb, revealing what was left of my parents' things after they passed away. I stop for a moment as I feel a wave of emotion flow over me. Even after all these years...seeing the things from their lives still has a profound effect on me, I realize in sorrow.

"Wow...this is going to be harder than I thought," I say. "I didn't think seeing their stuff would have this much of an effect on me."

"Are you going to be okay?" Kate asks me.

"Yeah...I will be. Not like we have much choice, anyway, right? We need answers, and they might be in here," I say in response.

After another moment I right the overturned dining room table that has been, up to this point, occupying the side wall near the door. I then grab a box marked simply 'papers' and set it on the table, "I'll dig through the boxes and see if I can get all the ones with paper in them out here, can you start digging through this box and see if there is anything important in there?"

"No problem," Kate replies, opening the box and digging in.

I start shuffling boxes around, setting any that say anything about paperwork aside and opening others to be sure they aren't mislabeled. I soon have found four more boxes full of papers. I move them up next to the table and continue my search. After another hour of moving and opening boxes I have found two more likely suspects but, more importantly, I have managed to make my way through all the rest of the boxed items in the unit.

I carry the last two boxes to the table and, setting them down, say, "Well that's all of them, eight boxes of papers out of all those boxes."

"I finished the first box and am about halfway through the second one. The first box was all old receipts, and this one seems to be old tax information. Nothing too exciting yet," Kate says, pushing her hair out of her face.

I grab a box at random and put it on the table, open it up and start to dig. This box seems to be Jim's and my old report cards and school work that mom must have saved for us, but I diligently work my way through the whole thing before moving to the next one. The next box is a bit more promising. The first packet I pull out has mom and dad's marriage license as well as certified copies of their birth certificates. The next pack of papers I come to has Jim's and my birth certificates, as well as our adoption papers.

"Jackpot," I say.

"You find something?" Kate asks me.

"Not necessarily, but this is what I was looking for as the most likely place: adoption papers," I tell her.

I begin looking through the file on myself first. There isn't a lot in it, but what is there has a fair bit of information. I was born to a 16 year old mother who didn't know, or wouldn't admit to knowing, who my father was. There was a note in the file suggesting that my existence may have been due to rape and that my mother was afraid to reveal the truth. I clench my jaw tightly as I read that, I hope either that isn't right, or that the bastard who sired me in this world got his in the end. Sadly, I will never know...

I slowly calm myself down and continue reading the file. I immediately went up for adoption and amazingly enough went from the hospital I was born in home with the parents I had grown up with. That's amazing...especially since mom and dad always said Jim and I came home with them at the same time. Wait, why was l in the hospital long enough to go home at the same time as Jim?

I look, but there isn't an explanation about that in the adoption file. Next I look at Jim's file, and his comes across as a little more normal. Born to teen parents, both listed on his birth certificate, mom 16, dad 17. Adopted within a few days of birth by our parents. Okay, nothing really interesting in his file, not that I expected there to be, I think to myself.

I set the adoption files, birth certificates, and our parents' marriage and birth certificates aside to take home with me and continue digging in the box. The next things I pull out of the box appear to be medical records.

Out of curiosity I open the first one. The folder contains the records from my birth. I pause for a moment and then take both folders and sit down on the ground with my back up against the wall.

"Did you find something?" Kaitlyn asks me, looking up from the box she is going through.

"A minor mystery, and maybe the answer in the form of my birth medical records," I reply. "I doubt it'll amount to anything, but I want to know for sure now." Kate nods and goes back to digging through her box.

I reopen the folder and start reading, a lot of it is vital signs and the known medical history of my birth mother. Then down at the bottom of the page is a note stating: baby boy being held for observation due to abnormal skin color. It goes on to explain: At first believed to be O2 deficiency, baby O2 SATs remain normal. Then it states: Mother refuses to breast feed, and I quote, "That dark blue monster."

A note added at a later date states: Abnormal coloring lessens day by day, normal hue is returning, baby expected to be ready for release in five more days' time. The last note on the page states: baby boy returned to normal healthy color this AM, scheduled for release later today. That note is dated the same day that I was adopted by my parents and taken home, the same date that Jim was adopted.

Holy shit! I think I just found my smoking gun! No way is it coincidence that my fur is dark blue and my skin was when I was born! I exult to myself before calling Kate over and sharing my find with her.

Kate looks at the medical report and I see her eyes get really wide, and then she says, "Well...I would say that is indicative of your situation. How fucking crazy is that? It can't possibly be a coincidence that your skin was not only blue, but dark blue, at birth. The fur growing in on your body is midnight blue, for crying out loud!"

I nod to her in response and then say, "I'll take this home with us and read the rest later. This is interesting, but it doesn't say how I came to be here. I'm going to read Jim's report and then finish that box. Have you found anything important?" I ask.

"No, not a damn thing," she replies, shaking her head.

"Okay, we'll keep looking, there might be something still," I say. Kate nods and goes back to work on the box of papers on the table in front of her.

I open Jim's medical record and start perusing it. It's actually almost identical to mine, in that we were both born in the same hospital and had healthy vital statistics when we were born. I look down at the notes section and see that there are a couple of notes, the first one says: baby boy under observation for apparent jaundice, skin more orange-gold than usual yellow color. The next note says: tests for usual causes of jaundice all come back negative. The last note, dated the next day, states: baby skin color starting to return to normal, with no cause found for original jaundice, being held overnight with planned release tomorrow.

I lean back and think, Whoa, does this think what I think it means? Can it possibly be? No...it can't be. I mean, what are the odds? They have to be like winning the fucking lottery or something! I feel...I don't know for sure what I feel.

"Kate, can you come here for a moment? I need you to look at this and tell me what you see," I say, trying to keep my voice calm.

"What is it?" she asks as she comes over. I hand her the file and she begins to look it over. After a couple of minutes of looking she stops and looks at me, "Does this say what I think it says?"

"I don't know...that's why I'm asking you, to see if you see the same thing I do," I say.

"What I see...is a second baby born in less than a week with an abnormal skin color, this time golden orange instead of blue, but still, without any kind of assignable cause. What I think I see...is another pony, with a different color of fur. One that matches the normal skin color of a human being a bit more closely, and so may be discounted as a normal malady. But what do we tell Jim?" she finally asks me.

"I'm not sure. We could be wrong, it could be nothing and we're just jumping to conclusions. But I guess we'll know for sure in a few days," I say.

"What makes you so sure we'll know then? What's so special about the next few days?" Kaitlyn asks.

"My changes started on the morning of my 25th birthday, starting with the cutie marks on my hips, and I suspect that if he is going to exhibit the same kinds of changes, that it will be on his 25th birthday. Which is the 1st of May," I reply.

"I'd forgotten his birthday was the 1st, which is funny because you would think I of all people would remember it. I remember now, how we used to celebrate all of our birthdays together, because yours is so close to his, and since the first of May is my birthday too..." she trails off, obviously thinking about the coincidence.

I ponder the new information for a few more minutes and finally say, "I think we need to warn him of the possibility. We don't know for sure, but I'd rather say something and have nothing come of it, than say nothing and have it come to pass. I know I would have liked some warning, even though it probably really wouldn't have helped."

"Yeah, I think you have a good point. I know I would want to know if it were me," she says, thoughtfully.

I hold my hand out to her and ask, "Would you come and sit down with me for a little bit?"

"Of course I will," she says, taking my hand and lowering herself gently into my lap.

I sit there quietly for several minutes, just holding her close to me. I kiss the top of her head and just look at her, deep in thought. I squeeze her tightly and finally say, in a low voice, "Kate, I think I need to tell you something."

She glances back at me and smiles a small, faintly sad, smile. Then she speaks quietly, "I think that maybe I already know, Irony. I have kind of been wondering about it since last night. And then what I heard this morning made me think even harder about it." She groans lightly as she stretches her legs and arms out, then, "When is Sherry's birthday?" she asks me.

"Um, just after midnight on May the second. She and Jim thought it was an amazing coincidence they were born only minutes apart, since he was born just shy of midnight on the first. I thought it was kind of a crazy coincidence too," I respond, still being rather quiet.

“So we have to tell them, don’t we? We can’t leave them in the dark about this, even if it comes to nothing in the end! But how do we tell them? We can’t just come straight out and say, ‘hey, by the way, you guys are both going to start turning into ponies in a couple of days too.’ What are we going to say?” Kate asks me, almost desperately pleading with me to provide an answer.

"I think that's almost exactly what we're going to have to do, though. There really isn't a gentle way to put this. We have to be honest and up front with them, we can't beat around the bush about it at all. I just hope they don't think I've lost my last marble with this transformation. I'd rather not be committed, or experimented on," I say, trying to make a joke at the end, but it just falls flat.

"That's not funny, Irony. Don't even joke about things like that. It would destroy something deep inside me if you were taken away like that," Kate says, almost crying.

"I knew it as soon as I said it, I'm sorry baby," I say to her, squeezing her tight again.

"I'll forgive you this time, just don't do it again," she says. Then she asks me, "So...do you know who they are? What ponies they will become?"

"If I'm right, and the more I think about it, the more I believe, Sherry will be 'The Great and Powerful Trixie' and Jim is Flash Sentry. I guess only time will tell..." I trail off.

I bite my lip for a moment and then decide I can't leave it to chance... I say to Kaitlyn, "Baby, you do know what this means, right? It means..."

She lays her head on my shoulder and sighs into my neck and I feel a tear drop onto my skin as she says in a barely audible whisper, "It means that I'm Moon Shadow, doesn't it?"

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"What if I don't want to be?" Kate asks me, tears openly streaming down her face now.

"I..." I try to speak, but nothing comes out as she pulls away from me.

Abruptly she stands and stalks away from me, her arms wrapped around herself as if she's clutching her humanity to her like a shroud.

"What if I don't want to be a pony? I can't just accept this!" Kate is almost yelling now, our moment of closeness shattered by the fear she is obviously feeling.

"Kate, it's--" I try to say, but she cuts me off with her hand, violently slashing the air.

"No! I can't talk about this right now!" she starts walking away, each step full of anger and fear.

"Kate, where are you going?" I ask, making to follow her.

She turns and stares me down, "I don't know, anywhere but here for right now. I need to be alone." She spins on her heel and starts storming off.

"Wait! Here, take the car. I don't want you walking out there alone," I say, running up to her and pressing the keys into her hand. She stares at me, as if she's expecting a trick.

"Thank you," she finally says, deciding I'm not going to try to stop her. She gets in the car and turns over the engine, revving the engine before spraying the area with gravel as she tears off.

I stand there and watch her until the car passes out of sight, then I hang my head and sigh sadly at our predicament. Maybe having advance warning of the changes isn't as helpful as I thought it would be, I think to myself.

After a few more minutes of introspection I pull out my phone and dial Jim's number. He answers after the third ring and I ask him to come pick me up at the storage unit.

"Why?" he asks. I tell him that I'll explain when he gets here. He accepts my evasion and tells me he'll be here soon.

"Thanks," I say, hanging up.

I set to work, gathering the information I'd found and packing the rest of the boxes away. It doesn't take me very long to clean up, so I have everything locked up and am sitting with my back against the door to the unit when Jim and Sherry pull up in Jim's truck. I wave carelessly to them as they come to a stop.

Jim leans his head out of the window and says, "Um...where is Kate, and where is your car?"

I just shrug and gesture with my hand, indicating everywhere and anywhere. I slowly stand and walk over to the truck and jump in the back, holding tightly to the folders I have in my hands. I lean my head back against the cab of the truck and ignore Jim's questions and wait for him to take us home. He finally gives up and drives out the gate and points the truck towards my home.

Once we reach the house I silently lever myself out of the back of the truck and walk into the house, dropping the folders on the counter in the kitchen as I walk by on my way to my room.

I know that I should say something to Jim and Sherry, but I just can't bring myself to talk right now. They leave me be, sensing my mood and accepting my need to be alone.

What are we going to do? I didn't think it would be easy for her to accept, but I didn't expect her to run away either. I really hope she calms down soon. What about Jim and Sherry? Should I really tell them? How will they take it if I do? How will they take it if I don't? My thoughts continue to get more disjointed from there as I have a bit of a meltdown.

Then the room starts spinning and I fall onto my bed as I pass into unconsciousness...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I find myself floating in a black void, surrounded by nothingness.

Where am I? Am I dreaming? I wonder, searching in vain for any kind of reference point, or anything at all to see for that matter.

I feel a lurch in my stomach, as if I'm falling, and suddenly find myself staring down at a farm. In the distance I can see a large, glaringly white house adorned with tall columns. Nearer to me, beneath my feat actually as I am floating ghost-like over the landscape, there are people working in the fields.

Peering more closely at the workers in the fields, I can see they are, without exception, very shabbily dressed. Their clothes are torn and fraying, most are ill-fitted. I feel a jolt of shock as I realize that almost all of the people have extremely dark skin... It looks almost like some kind of plantation being worked by slaves. But why am I seeing this? This is distant history, not current events!

My attention is soon drawn towards one of the few fair skinned workers. He is a hulking beast of a man, towering over the others by many inches. On closer inspection he is probably barely into his twenties and his back is covered in ropy scars, as though from many whippings.

As I continue to watch him work I see another man walk into the fields wearing a wide-brimmed hat, with an old fashioned revolver holstered on his hip, carrying a whip leisurely in his hand. When the young man stops to stretch his back the whip immediately snaps out to draw a fresh line on his back. I hear him grunt in pain as he silently stoops back to his work.

Why does this matter? I ask myself, not understanding what I'm seeing. Suddenly I feel the lurch in my stomach again and the scene before me changes. I am still looking down on the farm, but I am much closer to the house. From here I can see the house is much larger than I originally thought, three stories tall with a footprint big enough to hold two of my house with room to spare on all sides.

My attention is drawn towards a flatbed wagon that is approaching the house, pulled by two mangy looking horses. In the back of the wagon I see a young boy chained to the floorboards. I am struck by what I see in his eyes: an inferno worth of rage, tempered with an ocean of determination. I have never seen eyes like that on another human being before.

When the wagon stops in front of the big house the driver dismounts and pulls the blanket from around the boy's shoulders as a well-dressed man strolls from the house to greet him. On the boy's back I can clearly see bright rivulets of blood through the rents in his over-sized shirt. My fists clench in anger and tears form in my eyes at the sight as I realize there is nothing I can do for this boy.

I see money exchange hands between the men and the well-dressed man takes hold of the chain between the boy's wrists, pulling the boy behind him as he walks away.

I feel the lurch in my stomach again as the scene changes yet again.

I see the big man from before, kneeling next to a prone form. Through the gore smeared all over the body, I can see that it is a young, dark-skinned woman lying there.

In the man's eyes I can see a mountain of grief that is shortly consumed by an incomprehensible rage. He stands and turns to the man with the whip, who is standing nearby, and says, "You've killed her!" as he lunges.

By some unholy miracle, the whip-man is able to just barely evade the lunging youth. He slams his fist into the back of the young man's head and steps back, letting fly with the whip, opening a flap of skin on his scalp.

The much bigger man, undeterred by the pain of his torn scalp, turns and leaps at the man with the whip. He catches the smaller man's arm with his left hand and pulls him toward his right fist, which connects with his face.

The whip-man's eyes roll up into his head and he falls to the ground. The youth picks him up and brings his anvil-like fist to bear again on the malingerer's ugly mug. Blood flies from the man's battered lips and his broken nose pours gore like a charnel faucet.

The big man's fist raises three more times before a board is shattered over the back of his skull by another man with a whip hanging at his belt. As the big man falls to the ground, the jackals surround him and begin to hit and kick his unresponsive form.

I feel the now familiar lurch in my stomach and am treated to yet another scene.

This time I see the boy again, a little bit younger, in a small stone hovel, kneeling next to a bed containing a haggard woman's corpse. I see the mountain of grief in his eyes and the tears he cannot keep from falling down his face. His young body is wracked with silent sobs at the loss of what I can only assume is his mother.

The man I remember from the wagon steps forward and, taking the boy by his shoulder, says, "Now her debt falls to you. I'll find a way to make my money from you somehow!"

The boy struggles and manages to yank his shoulder away from the hard-faced man, falling to the floor as he does so. When he stands back up the man backhands him to the floor, saying, "You'll do as you're told, you little bastard. Now come with me."

The boy warily regains his feet and quietly follows the man, but I can see the murder in the boy's eyes.

I feel the lurch once again, but this time I feel a shudder through my soul as my perspective changes. This time I see a familiar scene:

"Get up you lazy piece of shit!" I hear a voice I now recognize say.

I start to stir, only to feel an excruciating pain as I'm kicked in the side by a booted foot.

"I said get up you stupid fuck! Get your ass out of bed now or I'll fucking bust your face in!" the voice yells at me.

I feel my body rise up off the floor, where evidently I've been sleeping. I look down at the floor and see the blanket that had fallen off me when I stood and remember this is where I belong.

I walk out of the shack I've been in and accept the meager piece of bread and cheese shoved into my hands as I walk out to the field.

I look around and see farmland everywhere I look, field after field of corn, and remember that it's my job to start picking, along with the others. I look down at my body and it isn't how I remember it. My skin is loose over my flesh, I can feel that I have strength, but I'm a lot leaner than I remember. I'm wearing little more than rags.

I get to the corn and start picking it, throwing it into baskets that are nearby, one ear at a time. I'm working in a group of about ten people, most of them smaller and frailer looking than me.

As I'm trying to figure out how I got here and how long I've been here, I feel a searing pain on my back and hear the crack of a whip.

"You stupid lazy oaf! Move faster, you fucking moron! If you don't pick up the pace you don't get no lunch or dinner," came the vehement voice from behind me. I don't even bother looking at the man; I just try to pick up the pace.

A few minutes later I stumble and feel the whip again. This time I am angry and turn toward my attacker, a retort upon my lips, but he is having none of it and begins to whip me in a frenzy. I try to raise my hands to protect me, but my body doesn't respond and I fall to the ground. I don't know how many times I am whipped, but it is still going on as I slip into unconsciousness.

I wake after an unknown about of time, my body screaming in pain. I moan and can feel hot tears streaming down my face from the agony.

Once again I am floating in the black void with nothing around me, but this time it feels different. I look around and see a speck of purple light. Without knowing exactly how, I move closer to the source of the light.

Soon I pass into another scene and I see Twilight Sparkle, her horn alight with her purple magic, massive bright sparks shooting out the tip. She is concentrating intensely, her eyes closed.

Suddenly there is a loud boom and a burst of concussive force as a form surrounded by Twilight's magical aura pops into existence right in front of us.

"Oh no, not again!" she gasps as her eyes become fixed on the very large, well-muscled, midnight-blue earth pony that has emerged from the heart of the blinding magical aura.

The scene fades before me, and I am floating in the void, trying to make sense of all that I have seen. I...no way. Can any of this really be real? I wonder.

Though it seems like a long time, I don't know how long I float in the void pondering what I've seen before I start feeling a sense of dread, deep in my soul. My body starts to shake uncontrollably.

"IRONY!!" the scream comes so loudly in my psyche that I feel it coursing through my body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake still feeling the scream flood through my body. Kate's in trouble! I don't know how I know this, but I do. I feel it with every fiber of my being.

I leap out of bed. Or at least I try to. Instead of the graceful leap, I end up summersaulting out of the bed and landing on my chin. I shake my head, trying to disperse the stars I am now seeing as a result of my fall. I yell for Jim as I try to ascertain the cause of my fall.

Well shit... I think as I take in my body, which has changed even more while I was unconscious. I'm not quite "full pony", but I'm not really that far off from it either. My hands aren't hooves, yet, but they might as well be. They're useless lumps at the moment. My legs don't want to bend the same way anymore. I can't stand upright on them, I keep falling over. My body is almost completely covered in fur now, though that seems almost inconsequential when compared with the rest of the changes.

How long was I out for? I think to myself, looking at the window and seeing that it is completely dark outside. Fuck, that means I've been asleep for hours! What the hell is wrong with me?!

Jim bursts into the room, almost knocking the door off its hinges. He surveys the room, looking for danger, before he comes over and kneels next to me.

"Irony, are you okay?" he asks as he looks me over for injury.

"Physically, well, my body is even more fucked up than before, but I'm not injured. I can't get up though, my body won't work right. Please help me back onto the bed," I say to him. He helps me get onto the bed, where I lay like an invalid.

"Sherry, it's okay, you can come in now," Jim calls out the door.

"So what was the yelling about? I thought you were being attacked, you sounded, well, afraid," he asks me as Sherry comes through the door and stands next to the bed.

"It's Moon Shadow. I mean Kate! Something is wrong, I'm sure of it!" I say, fear still gripping my heart.

"What do you mean, did she call you?" asks Sherry, looking worried.

"No, at least I don't think so. I haven't checked my phone yet. I just feel that she is in danger," I say.

"Where is your phone?" asks Jim.

"In my pocket, but I can't get it," I say, waving my useless lumps in the air. Jim calmly reaches into my pocket and pulls out my phone.

"You don't have any missed calls or new messages," he says, checking my phone for me.

"Dammit!" I exclaim.

"Slow down, where is Kate? You never explained what happened earlier," Sherry says.

"She and I...kind of had an argument and she took off. I gave her the keys to the car because I didn't want her walking out there alone. That's why I had to call you guys for a ride earlier. Speaking of which, what time is it?" I ask, looking around to see my clock is on the floor where I fell.

"It's almost two in the morning," Jim answers me.

"I was out for over 12 hours?!" I practically shout.

"Yeah. You were out pretty hard, too. We were a little worried because we couldn't wake you up," says Jim, "though we figured you must need it, so we didn't try too hard," he continues.

"What about Kate? Didn't you worry about her when she didn't show up?" I ask, incredulously.

"We were a little worried, but figured that if you weren't worried we shouldn't worry either," Sherry put in, worry showing plain in her eyes now.

"She's in trouble, we need to find her!" I state vehemently.

"How do you know she's in trouble? She's been gone for a long time, but that doesn't mean she's in danger. She might be staying over at another friend's house tonight," Jim says, trying to calm me down.

"Jim, I can't explain how I know; I just know that she is hurt or in danger right now. I feel it in my soul! We must find her!" I say, staring into Jim's eyes with determination.

"How are we going to find her? We have no way of knowing where she went, or what happened to her?" Sherry asks. "Do you want to go to the police?"

I shake my head, "The police won't be able to do anything, she hasn't been gone for even 24 hours yet. Not that I would trust them to find her before something happens."

"What about her phone? Did she have it with her?" Jim asks me.

"Good idea! Yeah, she had it alright. We can trace her using the GPS!" I say, smiling at Jim's idea.

"I'll call Jack again and see if he'll hack into the satellite network and trace her phone for us. We are going to owe him big for this though," Jim says, shaking his head.

"I know, but let me worry about how to pay him back later. If he balks, hint that you have something interesting to share with him, but don't tell him anything," I tell Jim.

"And what is this something interesting that I'm supposed to know?" he asks, though I'm sure he already knows.

I gesture to myself and say, "I think this is pretty interesting. And I'm guessing he doesn't know anything about it, or you would have already shared it with me. Right?"

"Yeah, neither he, nor Tom, knew anything of interest to us about this," Jim replies.

Jim steps aside as he pulls out his phone and dials Jack, having a quiet conversation with him in the corner.

"Irony, I'm so sorry that Kate is missing. We'll do whatever it takes to get her back," Sherry tries to comfort me.

"I just hope we reach her in time," is my response. Sherry just nods quietly.

Jim comes back over and says, "Jack says it'll be no problem. He said it's so easy that he'll do this one gratis."

"Yeah, which means we still owe him a favor, he's just not going to make a big deal of it," I say, knowing how Jack and Tom work.

"True, but like you said, we'll worry about it later. I didn't have to share anything with him, though I wouldn't be surprised if he suspects we're hiding something. He's definitely no dummy," Jim says.

"That much is true. Sometimes he was oblivious, but never a dummy," I say. Just then Jim's phone rings.

"It's Jack," he says, turning away to take the call.

"Okay, great, thanks Jack," I hear Jim say before hanging up again.

"He's got it, he's going to send me a link so we can track her phone from mine," Jim tells me, his phone chiming as it gets the link from Jack.

"Alright! Let's go then!" I say, trying to sit up to get off the bed. Jim gently pushes me back down.

"You aren't fit to go anywhere right now. Let me go see if I can find her. If she's hurt I'll bring her back here or to the hospital. If she's in trouble I'll recon and come back. Hopefully either I'll be back with her soon, or by the time I get back you will be able to come with me to get her out of whatever mess she's found herself in," he says, telling me something I already knew but didn't want to admit to myself.

"Please, Jim, take me with you! Help me get into the back of your truck, I need to be with you when you find her!" I say and he looks at me uncertainly. "What if our situations were reversed? Could you really stay behind if you knew Sherry was in danger?"

He sighs and shakes his head, "No, no I couldn't. Okay, we'll load you into the back of the truck, but you have to stay there okay?"

"Okay, but grab my stuff from the shop so we have it just in case. I want to be prepared for the worst," I say. Jim nods and helps me up and supports my weight as we walk out to his truck. He drops the gate and lifts me up into the back.

He fishes in my pocket for the key to my shop and goes inside, soon returning with an oversized burlap sack stuffed full. He throws it in the truck next to me and I look at him, saying, "What's all this? I meant the AR-15 and camo gear I have in a ruck in the loft."

"I...I don't know what I was thinking. I'll be right back," he says as he hurries back to the shop. I manage to get the bag open with my deformed hands and peer inside.

Why did he bring these? I think as I look. In the bag is the mace, shield, helmets and armor that I showed him yesterday. Maybe he's not thinking straight, I think in confusion at Jim's lack of judgment.

Soon Jim returns with the ruck and AR-15, throwing the ruck in the back with me and putting the AR in the cab with him.

"Ready?" he asks me.

"Are you?" I return, raising my eyebrow questioningly.

He nods and hops in the driver seat, starts the truck and backs it down the drive. We both wave to Sherry as we leave. She waves back and turns to go back into the house.

Jim tears down the road at top speed. After a while on the road I realize I don't know where we're going. I tap on the adjoining window. When he opens it I ask, "Where are we going? How far away?"

"We still have over an hour to go, according to her GPS. I'll stop a ways out and we'll go in incognito, with the lights off and as quietly as this truck can go," he yells back to me.

I nod in reply and hunker down for the long drive as he closes the window again.

After a few minutes of staring out into the darkness, I get a bit restless. To take my mind off my worry I decide to look in the sack again. The only object in the bag that I have any hope at all of putting on is my helmet. After some careful consideration, I am able to use the lumps at the end of my arms to hold the helmet and raise it to my head. It slips on surprisingly easily, and fits better now than it did before. It takes me a few moments to realize why. My lower face now extends in a pony muzzle, something I failed to notice in the panic I'd been feeling since I woke up from my dreams.

I lean my head back against the cab of the pickup, trancing out a little bit as I try not to let my fears overwhelm me. I come back to full awareness when Jim slows and stops the truck. We seem to be in some kind of industrial park. He opens the window so that he can talk to me and says, "We're close now. According to the GPS, she is in a building about two blocks from here. According to the map it's a medium sized warehouse. I wonder what she was doing over here?"

"It doesn't matter, let's go," I say with feeling.

Jim nods and, turning out the lights, continues on slowly to get closer to the warehouse. Once we are within a couple hundred yards, Jim stops again and turns to me, "I don't see anyone keeping a watch or anything, do you?"

"No. I don't see anyone out there. Though I can hear loud noises coming from inside. It sounds like metal grinding or something like it," I tell him.

Jim pulls the camo jacket out of the ruck and says, while slipping it on, "I'll go check things out. I'll keep an open line between us using the headsets of our phones. If you see anyone give a whistle over the line to let me know. I'm going to be running silent, okay?"

I nod and tell him, "Be careful."

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Jim takes the AR-15 and a couple of extra clips with him as he goes to recon the warehouse. He moves silently towards the building, slipping up on it like an assassin creeps up on a victim. Once he reaches the wall he presses himself up against it and sidles along to each window, carefully peering into each one before moving on to the next.

Shortly after Jim reaches the rear corner of the building and turns it, I see someone come out of the front of the warehouse and light a cigarette. I whistle quietly into the headset and then whisper, "One guy just came out the front, he's standing there smoking." I hear two short taps come over the line in acknowledgement.

The guy stands there smoking for several minutes. He finishes his cig and drops it to the ground, stepping on it. He walks to the corner, fiddles with his belt, and then starts to piss on the building. He finishes his business and zips himself back up. He's about to turn to go back inside when he looks down and seems to see something. He decides to investigate, walking along the wall towards the back of the building.

"Jim, the smoker is heading towards the back of the building. I'm not sure if he saw a footprint or what, but you may have been made. He appears unarmed," I say quietly into the headset. I hear the two taps of acknowledgement again.

I watch as the smoker continues along the side of the building. Just as he reaches the corner, Jim steps out from the shadows and wraps his hand around the guy's mouth while he pins his arms to his chest with the other arm. Jim then adjusts his grip to cut off the guy's air. Jim struggles with the guy for several minutes, until he finally passes out from the choke hold. Jim gently lowers the guy to the ground and then drags him around the back of the building.

A few minutes later Jim breaks the silence, quietly saying, "Irony, I can see Kate. She seems okay, but they have her tied to a bed. There's a curtain blocking the window, but there's enough of a gap for me to see her. We need to regroup and figure a way to get her out of there."

"Are you sure she's okay?" I ask, keeping my voice down.

"Yeah, she seems fine...wait, there's a guy coming into the room. Oh shit! No you don't you bastard! I'm going in! Irony, call the cops or something!" he starts yelling obscenities and I hear glass breaking. Then I hear several shots from the AR.

My fear and panic turn to anger in a heartbeat and, without any further thought, I'm leaping out of the truck, grabbing my mace and shield in the process. I race across the open ground and slam into the door, with my shield raised in front of me. It explodes open and I barrel through it, shield-checking the guy who gets in my way. An audible crunch can be heard from his chest as he flies backwards and hits the ground hard, landing in a heap that doesn't move.

I barely register that he's out of my way before the mace is up, crashing down on another dude's head. His skull splits like an overripe watermelon, gobbets of blood and grey matter come spraying out, painting the wall in gore, almost like a slaughterhouse movie.

I stalk down the corridor, my rage keeping me moving. The hall opens into a large bay area. In this area I see several cars in various stages of disassembly. I spot my 442 in a far corner, seemingly untouched. It isn't important, so I ignore it as I make my way further into the large bay, looking in all directions to get my bearings.

Several mechanics spot me, but they turn tail and run, so I let them go unmolested. I hear another gunshot from across the bay, drawing my gaze that direction. I see there is another corridor leading off from the bay on that side. I start jogging toward the hallway. As I come within 15 yards a man appears, leveling a 9mm pistol at me.

Just as his finger begins to tighten on the trigger I leap, hitting the ground with my shoulder and rolling with it as I hear the bark of his pistol and the bullet pass above me. I finish my roll and bound to my hooves, the mace already swinging in a wide arc. The head of the mace takes him in the left hip, splintering bone and pulping his flesh. The resulting scream echoes around the shop louder than the pistol fire. He whimpers as he falls to the ground with a thud.

I stand over him, my mace raised over my head, and yell in his face, "Where the fuck is she?!"

"Fuck you, bitch!" he retorts, trying to bring his 9mm to bear on me. I lash out with the shield, knocking the pistol from his grip, breaking all the fingers on his right hand in the process. He cradles his now mangled hand against his chest with his left. "Who--what the fuck are you?!" he cries as he gets a good look at me.

I threaten him with my mace, holding it against his chin as I rage in his face, "You can call me Irony, Irony Shieldbreaker. And if you don't tell me what I want to know, you won't ever call anyone anything again. Talk, you slimy piece of shit!"

"Okay, okay, anything! Just don't hit me again!" he pleads.

"Good," I point at the 442 with my mace and then tap his chin with it again and say, "there was a girl with that car. Where is she now?"

He very carefully points back down the corridor he'd emerged from and pants out, "Down that hall, 2nd left, 3rd door on the right. Look, I didn't touch her, I swear!"

My eyes narrow as I look into his, "What do you mean, you didn't touch her? Who touched her?!" My voice quavers with rage.

He pales visibly as he replies, "The boss claimed her for his own. I don't know what he did with her!"

I swing my mace and feel the explosive force as it crashes down. I look down to see the concrete next to his head shattered, spraying the side of his face with broken chips. He has slipped into unconsciousness from either the pain or the fear. He'll live, I decide, straightening up and heading down the hallway in the direction he'd shown me.

I race down the corridor at full tilt, my hoofstrikes echoing down the halls. In my haze of rage I don't care, nothing matters but reaching Moon Shadow before anything else happens.

Despite all the noise I am making, I still manage to hear a door open behind me. I spin, my arm straight out at, my mace at shoulder height. Shoulder height for me is head height for him. The foe has no chance to react as the metal connects with the top of his head, shearing his scalp away from his broken skull. His buddy is slightly luckier, managing to get a shot off before I ram the mace, tip first, into his chest, caving it in like a rotten pumpkin left out too long after Halloween.

I continue down the hall, leaving their still bleeding corpses in a heap behind me. While I am still a few yards shy of the turn I'm supposed to make, I see two guys with pistols in their hands come out of a door further down the hall. In a snap decision, I leap across the hall and crash through a door. I enter low, in case there is someone on the other side of it, but the room is empty of anything living. There is, however, a plethora of junk piled in the room, mostly broken office chairs and a smashed up desk.

I quickly throw a few of the broken chairs in the path of the door, not blocking the door itself, rather the pathway from the door. I push the desk over closer to the wall to create a hiding place and then I stand behind where the door will open.

It's a simple trick, but rather effective. The two goons, having obviously seen me, open the door cautiously. Their attention is on the desk, assuming I'm hiding behind it. They are taking aim at it when I kick the door closed and attack them from behind.

The first one doesn't even get himself halfway turned around before the mace takes him in the back of the neck, severing his spine where it meets his skull. As he falls bonelessly to the floor I am already turning to the second man. As he completes his turn, I bring my shield up in a devastating blow, catching him under his chin, tearing through his jaw like cream cheese. The edge of the shield becomes lodged in his nasal cavity, so I kick him in the chest and yank the metal disc away from his face.

Without bothering to look upon the carnage I have caused, I leave the room, racing down the corridor and skidding around the corner on my hooves.

Careering around the corner, my body slams into another man, knocking him to the floor. Looking down, I see that he is very well-dressed, in a suit which I can only assume is Italian. I also notice that he is holding a P90-LV SMG in his right hand. As he is still recovering from the collision, I shield-bash his right arm out of line and step on the elbow with my left hoof, crushing the joint.

As he screams I drop my mace and seize him by the throat, lifting him up with my right arm until his toes dangle inches above the floor. I growl into his face, "What did you do to Moon Shadow?!"

"Who?" he barely manages to choke out, his left hand slowly reaching toward the P90, which is hanging at his right side from a single-point strap.

"Moon Shadow!" I scream in his face, slamming him into the wall with enough force to dent the metal. "My friend! My mate, you fucking piece of shit!" I cry as I twist and ram his body into the wall on the other side of the hall, leaving an impression there too.

"Irony!" I hear from down the hall. I look in that direction to see Kate being propped up by Jim as they walk towards me. I drop the senseless man in a pile by the wall and leap to her side, dropping my shield to pick her up in both my arms. I hold her to me as I bury my face in her hair, tears coming unbidden to my eyes.

"Moon Shadow, oh my Moon Shadow," I say over and over into her hair as I caress her back with my hand. "Thank Celestia you're okay!"

"Irony, you came! I was so scared! I didn't think there was any way for you to find me!" she says, leaning her head back and showering my muzzle with kisses.

"I will always come for you, no matter what! I promise," I say with true feeling as I gaze into her eyes. "I was so afraid I was too late."

"Jim shot the guy who was about to rape me," Kate says quietly.

I look over at Jim with gratitude in my eyes, he simply nods in reply. Then he steps over to the guy in the suit and slams the stock of the AR into his head, knocking him out. He then removes the P90 and hands it to me. I take it, slipping the strap over my shoulder and letting it hang at my side.

While Jim kneels down to start going through the unconscious guy's pockets, I collect my shield and mace. Kate stays at my side every step of the way, which suits me just fine. Jim pulls something out of a pocket and tosses it to me. Catching it, I find that it's the keyring with the keys to my car.

"Looks like he decided to keep it for himself," Jim says, "not that I can blame him."

I take Kate's hand in mine and, pulling her around to face me, look into her eyes and ask, "Are you okay? Did they hurt you in any way?"

"No, they didn't hurt me," she answers, shaking her head. "I don't think they'd decided what to do with me. The one Jim shot was giving me lecherous looks all day, but he'd been ordered to stay away from me by that guy," she points to the unconscious man in the suit. "Evidently he got tired of waiting for permission."

"He paid with his life for it, too," Jim says, standing up as he finishes going through the pockets.

I look at Jim pointedly, "Thank you for saving her from that."

"You would have done the same, for anyone," he says, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

I nod, and then say, "Let's get out of here. Moo--Kate and I will follow you in my car." I close my eyes briefly at my slip as I realize I'd been calling her Moon Shadow since we found her.

Kate smiles up at me, squeezes my hand, and says, "Yeah, let's go."

We make our way back to the bay where all the cars are. I stop by the goon I got the information out of earlier and kneel down next to him. I check for a pulse and find he's still alive. I search his pockets and come up with a phone. I flip it open and dial 9-1-1.

"Please state the nature of your emergency," the operator says in my ear.

"There are injured and dead men at the chop shop at this phone's location," I calmly say and drop the phone on top of the unconscious guy's chest before the operator can reply.

I open the passenger door to the 442 and help Kate inside, then make my way to the driver's side and, putting the shield, mace and helm in the back, get in. I start her up and pull to the overhead door leading outside. Jim hits the button next to the wall and slips out, the AR at the ready. We drive over to the truck and wait for Jim to get in and start it. Then we follow him as he heads for home.

"I'm sorry I took off," Kate says after several minutes of silence, staring out the window.

"Don't be sorry for that. You needed some space, which I understood. I'm sorry that me giving you the car got you in trouble," I reply.

"It probably wouldn't have, if I hadn't driven so far that I got lost. I stopped to ask for directions at a shitty little gas station. When I went back outside, two of the thugs had guns and grabbed me. They kept talking about how rare it was to find one of these in such good shape," she says quietly.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't handle the news very well. Some part of me knew, but I didn't want to admit it to myself," she continues. "I spent a lot of time thinking, before and after I was caught. Do you know what I realized?"

"No, what?" I ask.

"I realized, after a lot of thought, that there is one very big reason for me to be glad that I will turn into a pony," she says, turning her head and smiling at me.

"What's that?" I ask her.

"You're a pony too," she answers, reaching out and taking my hand. I squeeze her hand tightly in mine. "In the end, that's all that matters to me anymore. You and I are together. Both of us being ponies will make it that much easier."

"Kate, I'm just glad you're okay, and that we're together again. It scared me to my core that you might not want to have anything to do with me. I even worried that you blamed me for what's going to happen to you," I say, sadness and relief warring on my face, a tear finally slipping free to glide down my cheek.

"How could I blame you? It's not like you infected me or something. This change is going to happen whether I'm here with you or somewhere else, right?" she says to me, I nod in response.

"One other thing," she says in a low voice, smiling beautifully at me, "call me Moon Shadow, please? I love you, all of you, and I know you love all of me too. I don't remember anything about being a pony, but I know that I am one now. I want us to always be together, and I accept who you are, which makes it silly for me not to accept who I am. Not when it feels so right to hear you say my name."

"I love you, Moon Shadow, and I'm never going to stop. This much change in our lives is a really big shock, but I know we can do it together. I'm glad you're here," I whisper to her, not trusting my voice to go any louder.

We drive in companionable silence for a while after that, just holding hands in the dark. I guess this day didn't end so horribly, I think to myself. Though I suppose it's really the beginning of a new day instead. Really, that's more fitting anyway.

As we get closer to home I look over at Moon Shadow and finally say, "I haven't told Jim and Sherry yet. After what happened...I just wasn't sure I should, you know?"

She nods slowly, finally saying, "I think that's wise. I know we decided to tell them, but I didn't handle it so well, and I already had an inkling about it. I'm not even sure they'll believe us until it starts happening to them."

"I'm not sure it'll matter in the end, either way it's going to be a big shock. At least to Jim it will be. I almost think Sherry will welcome it..." I say, remembering how interested Sherry had been in my changes.

"I think you might be right, Jim will probably have a much harder time with it than Sherry will. At least we all have each other, and we're together. Imagine what it would have been like if we were all apart," she replies.

I shudder at the thought of being all alone for this. It would have driven me insane to face these changes alone, I think.

"Yeah, I'm glad we're together in this," I finally say.

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

We pull into the driveway as the sky is starting to lighten. Dawn is still a little ways away, but the night is definitely coming to an end. I hit the button to open the garage door, pulling the car in and shutting it down.

I open my door and slump over, falling out of the car, suddenly too weak to get myself up.

"Irony! Are you okay?" Moon Shadow asks, leaning over to look at me through my door.

"Are you--Oh my GOD! Irony, you're bleeding! All that blood! JIM, SHERRY!!" she screams for help.

Sherry comes flying out the door into the garage at Moon Shadow's cry, "Kate, what is it?"

Then she comes close enough to see and covers her mouth at the sight of all the blood. The door panel and floor mat are soaked in my blood. I must have bled all the way home...wonder why I never felt it? I wonder, my mind fuzzy from the loss.

"Oh shit!" Jim states as he sees me lying there. He reaches down and gets an arm under me and starts lifting me. "Let's get her inside, to the bathroom!"

"Jim, my car's a mess," I say blearily as Sherry and Shadow help him get me into the house and down the hall, leaving blood drops and smears as we go.

"I know Irony, I know. We'll clean it up later, I promise," he says to comfort me.

They finally manage to wrestle my limp body into the bathroom and into the tub. Jim yells for a pair of scissors, which Shadow retrieves from my dresser, and then starts cutting my clothes off.

"No, no...you'll see me naked," I say, halfheartedly trying to push him away.

"It doesn't matter! I have to see where you're hurt!" he tells me, blocking my hands and continuing to cut. Soon he has my pants off and he can see the wound.

"Shit, you're still bleeding!" he says, inspecting the hole in my left thigh. He turns my thigh and says, "No exit wound, the slug must still be in there."

He calls for towels and bandages, putting pressure on my thigh while he waits for them to arrive.

I scream from the sensation, and my mind flees into the void.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I float in the dark for an unknowable amount of time. No visions or dreams come for a long time, much to my surprise. My consciousness simply floats, like a jellyfish in the current. Formless as the void itself.

After a wait so long I start thinking that I have died, I feel an ephemeral tug on my mind, and I'm slowly drawn to my bedroom.

I look down on my room, seeing myself lying in bed, covered with a sheet and blanket. Well this is weird, I think, look at me, I've gone full pony. And I can see myself. Is this what they call an out-of-body experience?

I see Moon Shadow enter my room quietly and sit down on the bed next to my body. She takes one of my hooves into her hand and begins to stroke it gently.

"Come back to me, my love," she whispers to me, and I can see the tears flow unchecked down her face as she gazes upon me. "Come back to me, I have news to share with you." I see her hand furtively move to rub her hip as a small smile breaks over her face.

The door opens and Sherry enters the room, followed by Jim and a man I don't know.

"Is she awake?" Sherry asks, to which Shadow shakes her head.

"She may sleep for a while yet," the man says. "She lost a lot of blood and will be weak even when she does wake. She needs rest for now."

Shortly after that they all file out of the room, Moon Shadow last to leave my side.

I return to the void, darkness surrounding me like a blanket once more. But I am not alone for long. A pony saunters up and sits next to me. I realize that it's my pony self. I look down and realize I am now in my human body.

Irony nuzzles her head under my arm and rests against my side. Neither of us speaks. It is odd to me how comfortable it is sitting here next to my pony self.

"We've been through a lot," she finally breaks the silence. I simply nod, somewhat at a loss for how to respond.

"It's hard to think about it all. We've had our lives turned completely upside down too many times. It's amazing we're still sane," she says, smirking at me.

I laugh, "Are we still sane? I'm sitting here, talking to a pony version of me, in my head, and I'm acting like it's no big deal at all. How sane am I really?"

"We learned how to compartmentalize our mind a long time ago, it was the only way to keep from going insane from the torture we endured so long ago. It's also the explanation for why you can accept this all. Our mind has been protected, and is now piecing itself back together. There is still much of us that is separate, but in time we will truly be one again. I look forward to that time," she looks at me a little wistfully, then her body turns to mist and merges with mine, and I am back in my pony body.

With our merging comes a misty memory of our mother singing us a lullaby in the flickering candlelight as we drifted off to sleep.

As the memory ends, I feel my mind falling back into my body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awaken to my quiet bedroom. I can see light shining in through a gap in the curtains. I figure it must be about mid-day. I am alone at the moment.

Sitting up I feel a little bit dizzy, but it soon passes. I open my mouth to call out and let everyone know I'm awake, but my throat is so dry, all that comes out is a light rasp. I decide to get out of bed and get a drink of water to help.

I slowly slide out of bed, mindful of my new body, and manage to stand there without falling down. Unfortunately, as soon as I try to take a step I faceplant directly into the carpet, my body crashing down with a thud that rumbles through the house.

As I am regaining my hooves my bedroom door opens and in comes Moon Shadow followed closely by Jim, Sherry, and the stranger I saw before.

Shadow throws her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly to her. It feels really strange to now be no taller than she is while on all fours.

"You're finally awake! We've been so worried about you!" she says, her voice muffled as her face is buried in my mane.

"Water," I finally manage to rasp out. Sherry runs back to the kitchen and shortly returns with a cup with a straw. I reach my neck out and take the straw in my lips as she holds the cup for me and drink greedily.

"More, please," I ask after I finish the cup.

"What happened?" I finally ask after the third cup of water.

"Evidently, you got shot," explains Jim, not really shedding any light on the subject.

"And what else?" I ask, arching an eyebrow at him.

"Maybe I can help with that," the stranger says.

"Who are you?" I ask, "And why are you taking a talking pony in stride?"

"To answer your first question, I'm Dr. Ray Stevens. I'm a veterinarian. As to your second question, I'm not. I tried to run screaming from the house the first time you spoke in your delirium while I was trying to remove the bullet from your thigh. Your, um, brother? Yes, your brother stopped me, with the help of your other friends. Frankly I have no idea what's going on, and am really hoping these last couple of days will turn out to be a really big dream!" says Dr. Ray.

"Okay, doc, what happened?" I ask him.

"When your brother realized you had a bullet trapped in your leg, he decided to call on me to come remove it. Which I did rather well, even with no prior experience, I might add. You lost a lot of blood, enough that I was almost certain you wouldn't make it, though I didn't want to tell them that," he says, looking specifically at Jim as he finishes.

"So...I managed to survive, at least it seems so," I say. "How long was I unconscious for?"

"Three days," Jim answers for the doc. "It's the 1st of May today."

"Well damn. Umm, happy birthday Jim and Moon Shadow, I guess?" I say, shocked at how long I was asleep.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Shadow says into my mane, giving me a shake in emphasis.

"I'll try not to," I say quietly, wrapping a foreleg around her and holding her close.

"I have something to show you when everyone is gone," she whispers into my ear, and I can see a smile light up her face, easing the worry that has so recently taken up residence there.

I kiss her gently and whisper back, "I can't wait to see it."

"I hate to break up the moment, but I think someone should address one of the elephants in the room," Sherry says, stepping forward.

"What's that?" I ask, looking up into her eyes.

"What are we going to do with the good doctor now?" she asks.

It dawns on me then that the doctor now knows my secret. Damn, what are we going to do with him? All it would take is for him to tell one person and then who knows what would happen.

"What do you mean, what are you going to do with me now?" Ray asks, looking decidedly unhappy.

Jim slashes the air with his hand and firmly states, "Nothing. I gave you my word when you came with me that you would get home safely. We will take you home when Irony is better. As long as you keep your word to say nothing of what you see here to anyone, that won't change. You hold our lives in your hands. Do you understand?"

Dr. Ray nods and says, "I do. I swear I will take this to my grave.

"Now, if we're done with threats and fear, I'd like to examine my patient," says the doc.

"Please do and I'm sorry for all that," I say to him. He waves off my concern, moving up next to me and removing the bandage. Twisting my neck around, I can see several stitches just beneath my cutie mark on my left rear leg.

"This looks better than I would have expected for a three day old gunshot wound. I think you will heal up nicely. Obviously you can stand on the leg, so I think as long as the pain is tolerable, you can walk on it. Just don't overdo it for the next couple weeks," he says, surprisingly talking directly to me.

"I'm a veterinarian, but I don't have any experience with creatures that change their shape like you did. Having said that, I think your transformation helped to heal this wound. You should count yourself very lucky. That much blood loss would have killed almost anything else," Dr. Ray states, looking into my eyes carefully as he redresses the wound.

"Thank you for all that you have done, doctor," I say earnestly.

"And that ever so helpfully brings me to the other elephant in the room, if you'll excuse us for a bit, doc," says Jim, motioning for the doc to leave the room. Dr. Ray eagerly complies, probably afraid to hear some secret that we'd actually kill him for.

"And what elephant is that?" I ask Jim after the doc exits and the door is closed once more.

"You'd better get comfortable again, this might take a little bit for us to talk about," he suggests. I carefully climb back up onto the bed, with a little help from Jim and Shadow.

Once I am comfortably ensconced in the bed again, Jim begins, "Irony, when we got to the warehouse, you could barely move. Your body was in between a two-legged form and a four-legged one. I didn't count on any help from you at the warehouse, as I was sure you wouldn't be able to come if I needed you.

"So imagine my surprise when I see you rampage down the hallway and beat a guy almost to death with your bare hands. And I do mean hands," he says, looking pointedly at my hooves.

"I didn't have time to think about it in the moment, but I've had plenty of time since. Also, seeing you change to a four-legged pony got me wondering even more. You stayed bipedal until after the vet was able to remove the bullet. After that, you gave a great sigh and your whole body relaxed. Then you changed, your body flowing like water into its new quadrupedal shape. Do you have any idea how you did any of that?" Jim finally winds down, asking me the 64-thousand dollar question.

"I have no clue. I didn't even know I was doing it at the time. Though thinking back on it I can feel that there was a difference," I say, caught completely off-guard by this news.

"I was afraid you'd say that. Ever since I realized what'd happened I've wanted to know how you did it. It sucks that we don't have a clue about what all is happening to you," Jim says in frustration.

I shrug at him, knowing that worrying about something I can't change won't do any good.

Leaning in and whispering in my ear, Moon Shadow says, "You sure had one hell of a pair of tits when you were on two legs. It was enough to make me jealous!"

I laugh, which causes Jim to glare at me, "Oh come on Jim, lighten up. I have no idea what happened, or how it happened. Worrying about something we don't understand at all will drive you mad if you let it."

"How can you act like this is nothing? You've turned into a fucking pony! But not just a pony! You seem to have random transformations! Doesn't that bother you?!" he's yelling at me now. I can see fear and anger warring on his face.

"Jim, I have to accept this because there isn't a damn thing I can do about it. What good would it do me to freak out? I wouldn't feel better; I'd feel a lot worse! Letting my emotions control my actions would make this infinitely harder on me. Since I can't do anything about it, I have chosen to make the best of it. It helps to have someone who loves me here for support," at the last I look into Shadow's eyes and smile.

"Well I'm glad you and Kate can accept this so readily. I thought I was doing okay, but this is all too much for me," he says, shaking his head vehemently.

"Jim, please call me Moon Shadow, or just Shadow if you want," she said, looking at him pointedly.

"What--why?" he asks her, confused.

"Well..." she stands up and rolls down her pants enough to show him her hip, which now has a beautiful cutie mark on it. It is a crescent moon, partially obscured by a night cloud, with a small six-pointed purple star just off the upper tip of the moon.

"Shadow, you got your cutie mark!" I say excitedly, wrapping my front legs around her in a hug.

Sherry squeals in delight and throws her arms around both of us. Jim just stands there, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. I look at him and can see his mind trying to process this new information. For a few moments I think it's not going to process and he's going to pass out, but he finally comes back to his senses and clamps his mouth shut.

Celestia, he looks unhappy! What's his problem, anyway? I think to myself as I look at him.

"Why the hell are you all so fucking happy about this?!" Jim roars unexpectedly.

"Jim, calm down!" Sherry yells at him, giving him a hard stare.

"I will not calm down! Evidently Kate is going to turn into a pony too, and you guys are happy about it! What the fuck? I thought we were going to look for a way to cure Henry!" Jim shouts. I can see he is at serious risk of coming unglued now.

"I imagine that I am happy for her for the same reason Irony is," Sherry starts, "it will be much easier for them to be together if they are the same species! What is your problem?"

"What is my problem? What is my problem?! My problem is everything is going bat-shit crazy here, and you all seem to be happy about it! What if you're trapped like this forever? What if it spreads to the rest of us? I don't want to be a pony!" Jim rants at us, his fists clenched at his side, his face a rictus of anger.

Ah, so that's why he's being so acting so damn weird. He's afraid of it happening to him too! I realize sadly. I guess he's in for a world of hurt soon.

I sigh sadly, "Jim--"

Shadow puts her hand on my chest and interrupts me, "Shut up Flash! This isn't some disease Irony gave me! We're all ponies that were banished to this world. I saw it for myself when my cutie mark appeared!"

"What did you just call me?" he asks, his eyes opening wide.

"Flash, that's your name! Yeah, you too, asshole!" Shadow yells at him, obviously angry at Jim for being such a dick.

All the color drains from Jim's face and I hear him whisper, "No...it can't be." Tears stream down his face as he storms from the room. I hear the front door slam and his truck start, and then peel out of the drive, roaring down the street.

I turn to Shadow and say, "That was pretty harsh."

She flushes and says, "I know, and I'm sorry, but he was such an ass. You're not diseased!"

"I know that, and really so does he. He's just worried about having to go through this himself. And you just told him in the most undelicate way that it will be happening to him, confirming his worst fear! Don't you remember how you responded?" I admonish her.

"I--I owe Jim a really big apology," she hangs her head in shame.

Sherry, who tried to follow Jim down the hall, re-enters the room and says sadly, "Well he's gone. I hope he comes back okay."

Moon Shadow walks over to her and, putting her arms around her, says, "I'm so sorry Trixie. I didn't mean to drive him off. I was just so angry at him for saying those hurtful things to Irony. Please forgive me."

"It's not really your fault. I think he's been having nightmares about turning into a pony. He cries out in his sleep sometimes. He won't tell me about the dreams, though. The last couple of days he's been getting worse. His worry about Irony hasn't been helping," Sherry says.

"I'm still really sorry. I didn't know he was having such a hard time, but I still shouldn't have told him like that," Shadow apologizes again.

"Speaking of that, how do you know he's a pony too?" Sherry asks.

Shadow looks at me and I shrug, so she says, "Irony and I figured it out when we went looking through papers at the storage unit. Well, I should say we found evidence that suggested it, but now that I have my cutie mark again when I look at him I sometimes think 'Flash' instead of Jim. Kind of like I'm recognizing him. It's like when I look at you, I think 'Trixie' sometimes. It's been happening to Irony too."

Sherry looks at me and I nod, then I see the last part of what Moon Shadow said hit her. Her eyes get huge as she quickly looks back and forth from Shadow to me.

"I...I...I'm a pony too?" she stammers out quietly.

Shadow and I nod at her, then I say, "Not only are you a pony too, but you are the 'Great and Powerful Trixie'."

She squees in excitement, "Really? Really!?" I can't help but laugh at her exuberance.

"Wait," she stops for a second, "is it wrong that my favorite pony is...myself?"

I laugh again and say, "No, but it might be very Trixie of you...Muwahaha!"

Then Sherry gets a sad look on her face, "I wish Jim were here sharing this with me, and that he wanted to. I hope he'll be okay, he was so upset."

"I'm sure he'll be fine. This isn't the first time he's had a bad reaction to something life changing. He just needs some time to get things straight in his own head," I say.

"I remember how badly he freaked out when your parents died," Moon Shadow says, shaking her head.

"Yeah..." I say, drawing the word out long as I think back to then.

"What happened?" Sherry asks me.

"Well...he kind of disappeared, like he's done today," I say, not really wanting to elaborate.

"How long was he gone for?" she asks.

"A week," I say quietly.

"A week?! Holy crap!" Sherry almost shouts.

I nod at her, "Yeah, a week. And he wasn't really in good shape when he got back. It took him a long time to come to terms with their deaths. In the end he joined the Marines with me rather than really deal with it, I think."

"How long do you think he'll be gone this time?" Sherry asks, almost in a whisper.

"I wish I knew. I'm hoping not more than a few hours, but I won't be surprised if he's still not back tomorrow. I just hope he comes back before the changes get too far along," I answer.

Sherry pulls out her phone and dials, calling Jim I assume. Evidently he doesn't answer, because she leaves a message for him, "Jim, it's Sherry. I love you, please come back to me. It's okay, we'll get through this together."

I lean against Shadow and say, "This is not good, not good at all. We need to stick together. We need to think and work together, especially now that we have confirmation that there are more ponies in the world than just me. I'm still worried about how the humans are going to take this."

"I bet the bronies will be ecstatic," she replies.

"Probably so. Though just because they're bronies doesn't make them necessarily any safer than anyone else. They're still people, and not all of them are wholesome, if you know what I mean?" I say.

"Yeah, it'd be our luck to find some really bad ones and end up R34'd to death," Trixie chimes in as she walks up to us. I hold out a hoof and she leans in, so I can wrap my leg around her in a hug. Shadow folds her into a hug from the other side.

"It's going to be okay," I say to her.

"I sure hope so," is her only reply.

After several minutes of us sitting there holding each other, I finally break the embrace, inching toward the edge of the bed.

"What do you think you're doing?" Moon Shadow asks me.

"I'm going to relearn how to walk and then I'm going to eat something. I'm famished!" I reply.

"The doctor told you to take it easy," she reminds me.

"Take it easy is not the same as being stuck in bed," I remind her.

"You almost died!" she says, trying to keep me from getting off the bed.

"True, but I didn't. And now I need to rebuild my strength, which I won't be able to do from my bed," I tell her as I slip past her and slide off the bed, landing on my hooves.

"You'd better not get yourself hurt any more than you already are, or so help me!" she raises her voice at me.

After a couple of minutes learning to walk I am able to reach the bedroom door. I lift a hoof to open the door and quickly come to a realization. All the doors in my house have knobs, which I can no longer turn with my hooves.

I clear my throat and say, "Would one of you be so kind as to open the door for me?"

Shadow grins in triumph and says, "Now you have to get the rest you need!"

I turn around in preparation to buck the door. What the hell, it's my house. I'll fix it later. I think as I wind up my hoof.

"Irony! Don't you dare buck down that door!" she yells at me.

"If somepony would open it for me, I wouldn't have to," I reply with a grin.

"Alright, alright. You win," Shadow gets off the bed and opens the door. "Would have really done it?"

"Eeyup, I shore 'nuff would have," I say, mimicking Big Macintosh from the show. "Thank you, little lady." I giggle at the stern look on her face. I look over and see Trixie is trying to stifle a giggle herself. I wink at her.

Moon Shadow throws her hands up in the air with a growl, "You two are incorrigible!"

I trot down the hall with a grin on my face, until I reach the kitchen and see Dr. Ray sitting at the table nursing a beer. There are two more "fallen soldiers" next to him, but he doesn't appear to be intoxicated.

I wave a hoof at him and say, "What's up doc?"

He gives me a pity chuckle and says, "Yeah, because I've never heard that one before."

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. Besides, I'm sure you'll have to admit, it's the first time one of your patients said it to you," I say.

"Very true. My patients usually don't say much to me," he replies.

I walk up to the fridge and, opening it with my mouth, peruse the interior. I see there is a large bowl of salad that someone made and decide it looks rather tasty. I very carefully grip the lip of the bowl in my teeth and pull it from the fridge, shutting the door with my flank as I turn toward the kitchen table.

I set the bowl on the table and look at it for a moment. Then, deciding not to stand on ceremony, I climb up into a chair and bury my face in the bowl. Oh wow, salad has never tasted so good!

The doc finishes his beer and, setting the bottle with the others, goes to the fridge and pulls out two more. He sits down at the table across from me, pops the cap off one and offers it to me. I nod, so he sets it next to me. I pause in my eating and see that I have inhaled over half the huge bowl of salad. Note to self: going three days without eating, even if you're unconscious, leaves you REALLY hungry!

I reach for the bottle of beer, only just barely stopping myself from knocking it over with my hoof. Oh yeah...that is going to take some getting used to, I think. I shrug and lean my head over and, wrapping my lips around the neck of the bottle, lift it up and tilt my head back. I let the sudsy liquid slide down my throat until the bottle is empty.

"Not bad," I say after I drop the bottle back onto the table and letting forth a little belch, "but not nearly as good as the Apple family's hard apple cider."

"Never heard of that one," Dr. Ray says.

"Erm, it's a brand from back home," I reply, realizing I actually remembered the taste of the cider from back in Equestria.

"Home, you mean as in Equestria?" Trixie asks me. I look around and see Shadow next to her.

"Hi, sorry, I didn't hear you two come in," I say, "and yeah, from Equestria."

"Do you actually remember, or are you just quoting from the show?" she asks.

"I remember it. Funny how I remember something like that, but can't remember much else," I answer.

"I wish you could remember more. I want to know what it's really like," Trixie says wistfully.

"Maybe you'll remember more about home than I do," I say.

"Why would she remember more about your home than you do?" asks Dr. Ray.

"You don't want to know, doc," I say, looking intently at him.

"No prob. I asked out of habit, I'm naturally curious. I don't really want to know any more than I already do. I'm trying not to freak out here as it is," he responds.

"Well, you're damn good at keeping it hidden," I say.

"Yeah, well, I was in the army for a lot of years before I decided to become a vet. You get good at not freaking out, you know?" he says, I nod in response.

"I want to thank you again for patching me up. I probably would have died without your help," I say in appreciation.

"Maybe, maybe not. You seem to be a pretty hardy creature. Truth be told it's been interesting. Of course, that could be the beer talking," he replies, waving around the almost empty bottle in his hand.

"Now that I'm on the mend, you are welcome to go home," I say.

"Nope. Even if I wasn't well on my way to being three sheets to the wind, you may not be completely out of the woods yet. I'll stay a couple more days to keep an eye on you," he says, smiling at me.

"Okay, you're welcome to stay. Just don't try to make me stay in bed. I don't handle being cooped up well," I say.

"No problem, really I think you'll be fine. I just don't like taking chances with my patients," he responds.

"Well, this has been an interesting day," I say after a few minutes of silence.

"That is has," Moon Shadow agrees with me. She starts rummaging around in my cupboards. Soon she returns with four glasses and a bottle of Bushmills Irish Whiskey.

"I think we should raise our glasses, to old friends and new," she says as she pours.

"To friends, and to birthdays!" Trixie says, and clinks her glass with all of ours. We all drink, me with only a little difficulty.

We drink to our friends many times that afternoon, and into the evening.

Chapter 12