I refuse to admit I'm a bronyby BlueSkyHeadLeft010ChaptersChapter 2: My neighbor is a dragon. Nuff said...Chapter 3: In which the truth is revealed!Chapter 4: This was a stupid idea...Chapter 5: Fly Barney! Fly!!!Chapter 6: Chicago at last!Chapter 7: An ItchChapter 1: One Good Turn Deserves Another...Chapter 2: My neighbor is a dragon. Nuff said...Fifteen minutes from my house I get a call... My ears swivel to the phone sitting in the cup holder as I groan and pull over to the curb to answer. "Ya?" I answer annoyed as I put it on speaker. My ears are too high to both listen and speak at the same time with my phone. "Oh, Hey Em! Uh, is this a bad time?" The speaker asks me. It's Jacob Spiff, my neighbor... I wonder what he needs me for? Isn't he supposed to be at school too? "*sigh* No, I'm parked on the side of the road, whatcha need?" I said tired. My ears were still twitching back and forth as the traffic zoomed by; it was annoying. "I was wondering if you could maybe pick me up at my house? " he asks. I blink, "Sure." I shrug as I crank back up the car, "But why are you there? Aren't you taking classes?" I asked curious. "I didn't have any today. My professor called in sick, so I'm just hanging out." There was a pause as something made a loud noise in the background, "Listen, can you please hurry? I'll explain when you get here..." There was someone shouting in the background before the call was disconnected. I just sat there staring at the phone for a few minutes in confusion before I hung up and pulled back onto the road. Something was off about the whole conversation. Ignoring my horn and ears for a moment, I sped down the road concerned for my neighbor... The scene in front of my car was pure chaos... Seriously! Broken chairs were strewn about on the lawn of my neighbors place, along with various other objects, like a tornado had invited its friends to play twister... And in the midst of Discord's work was Jacob running around screaming bloody murder as a woman, presumably his mom, was holding a bat chasing after him down the hill. (I assume he was screaming because his mouth was open, but I had my windows up so I couldn't really tell.)... The first thing I did was park my car immediately as I practically leapt out of the car, flinging my door open so hard it probably ripped some of the hinges in the process. "Demon! Demon! In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to leave!" Jacob's mom was yelling as she chased after him. Once he saw my car he veered right and started heading my way. "What the bucking Tartarus?!" I said shocked, as I watched his mother actually flinging the bat down at him as he kept running my way. I assumed the man at the top of the hill watching the whole thing was Jacob's father because he was in a wheelchair and I knew he was partially paralyzed... I kept running towards Jacob to help him as he ducked and avoided the bat by mere inches. "Quickly! Get into the car!" I said as Jacob continued panting and I practically grabbed his hand and threw him inside... I amazingly managed to get the drivers door open in record speed, as Jacob's mom had now started throwing clay pots at my window, and cranked the car up as I slammed on the gas and reversed the car outta there... His mom ran after us a few yards away, but gave up once we left the property as I saw her fall to her knees and openly weep. Well that was weird.. I shuddered as my ears turned their attention to the panting man in the back of the car. I had managed to turn the car around properly as we headed back towards home... "Sweet Celestia Jacob! What the hay was that all about?!" I said still trying to rear in my initial shock as Jacob continued gasping for air... "M-my mom..." He panted, "She flipped out on me when she saw my eyes and... Fangs." He paused for a moment as I heard shifting occurring in the backseat, "Her and Dad thought I was a demon possessing their child and you saw the rest..." He coughed, "I barely was able to slip away to call you... Thanks for getting me out." He said. My ears folded emabarassed. "So you too huh? Horse apples, I thought this was just me..." I frowned as I snuck a quick glance at him from the driver's mirror. True to his word his eyes were slitted like a reptiles and were colored a deep purple like an amethyst. His fangs were long and pointy, looking odd for his jaw line, and probably very uncomfortable. Jacob must've taken this time to examine my form too as I heard an audible gasp coming from behind me... "When did you get a horn and pony ears?" He asked confused. Pony ears? That's what they are? Wait a moment... I thought as we pulled into my drive and I turned off the car. "This morning. I felt a surge of power as a white light overloaded my senses and I found this horn on my head." I explained as we unbuckled and I took out my keys... Jacob was silent for the most part, but let out a silent 'ah'. "By the way, how did you know these were pony ears?" I said intrigued as I unlocked the door and let the dog loose inside the house. He was very happy to see me, he kept wagging his tail a mile a minute and barking at me... Didn't seem to like Jacob though. Must be the fangs... Jacob shrugged as he just laid down exaushted on the couch. "I'm a biology major, duh. I know about all kinds of animals and their psyiology..." He said like it was obvious. I blinked, "Oh. That's right." I sighed as I too took a seat. Things were awkwardly quiet for a bit. Neither one of us knew what to say to the other, and frankly we were both pretty wiped out. "So, the stripes new?" He asked, casually breaking the silence. "What?" I said as I sat up and looked at my skin. Bright white layers of skin ran across me in a zebra like manner. I wet my finger and tried to rub the pattern off, but it only made my skin red... "The buck?" I said confused as I got up to look in the bathroom mirror. Jacob followed suit too as we turned on the bathroom light and just, stared... It wasn't just my arms... The white stripes lead all the way up my face and left a wide white gap from my forehead down to the bridge of my nose. Not counting my wonderful yellow horn still existing on my head, the white stripes look vaguely familiar to me but I couldn't place it... That's when I heard another rip. An audible 'yelp' could be heard as Jacob suddenly sprawled out on the ground twitching, as his shirt was ripped to pieces in the back and seven purple spikes poked their way out. "Woah..." I said as Jacob shivered for a bit more and finally sat up. "W-what was that? What happened?" He asked as he felt his back and touched the spikes. "Um, you got like six or seven spikes growing..." I said, not knowing how else to put it. "WHAT?!" Jacob shouted as he turned around in the mirror to get a good look at them... He seemed to calm down after he saw them and hummed in thought as he examined them more closely... "Do you think we're really turning into demons or something?" He gulped. I snorted and rolled my eyes, "Or something..." I laughed, "Look, if I was turning into a demon do you really think I'd look like some kinda half pony-centaur thing?" I said. Jacob chuckled, "No, I suppose not. But this is just so-" "Surreal, yea I know." I said as I looked at my white stripes again... That's when my phone rang again... It was mom. Ignoring the mirror for a moment, I picked up the phone to answer. "Hey mom, whatcha need?" I said casually, as I watched out of the corner of my eye Jacob making odd random faces in the mirror using his fangs. "Hey sweetie, I'm just getting off work. I've gotta go run a few errands and then I'll be home." Mom explained. "Ok. Hey mom? Jacob's over here by the way. He's got these reptile-like eyes and fangs, so his parents are being all crazy right now..." I said. There was a pause like I expected... "Ok....? Just be sure to offer him anything he would like to eat, and I'll try to make the trip short. Bye! Love you!" She chirped. "Love you too!" I said as I hung up. Jacob had finished posing for the mirror. "So now what?" He blinked. I shrugged, "We just wait.. I've got snacks, games, and homeworrrrrrr-, aw Horseapples! I left my work back in Sylva!" I cursed as I left the bathroom and Jacob followed. "So, just snacks and games then..." He muttered as he rubbed his chin in a thoughtful way. I groaned as I tried to swallow the bubbling panic of loosing my work over staying focused that I don't become a freak. Ah screw it, becoming a pony takes top priority... An idea suddenly popped up into my head as I grinned like a mad mare. Jacob noticed it and looked oddly uncomfortable as he backed away slightly. "Uh, Em?" He said, but I held out my hand to shush him. "Ever played SSBB?" I grinned deviously with a sparkle in my eyes. Jacob returned the grin even more menacing as his fangs gave him the fear advantage. "You're going down!" He roared as we broke out the controllers... Back at the Crystal Empire... Cadance did not look well today... Her mane was in a tiss, her wings were in desperate need of preening, and her eyes were bloodshot despite the sleep she had gotten from the previous night... "Bookmark! I need more quills!" Cadance shouted as several crystal ponies ran to and fro in a panicked motion. "Yes ma'am!" Bookmark saluted as the aging stallion dashed away with the speed of a stallion half his age. "Aged Page! Bring me all of the books we have about the ancient mirror and forbidden arts!" Cadance roared over the panic. "Yes your highness!" Aged Page shook in fear as he headed another way through the empire to get more books. "And Sprinkled Sprinkle!" She said, this time with the facade of somepony completely calm and contrary to her appearance. "Yes?" Sprinkled asked curious as she looked up at her majesty's mangled appearance afraid. Cadence loomed over Sprinkled with a look that would turn Discord to stone and match Fluttershy's stare. "Please bring me a cup coffee and a glazed donut if you will..." She smiled warmly as Sprinkle's legs gave out and she let out a sigh of relief. "Y-yes. Princess Cadance." Sprinkled bowed as she left the throne room shakily. Cadance smiled as she clicked her hooves together in a tapping motion.. "Everything is going to plan..." She cackled as a couple of panicking ponies carrying paper bumped into each other and caused a paper avalanche. "Mwahahahahaha!" She laughed deviously at the mayhem before her as thunder could be heard in the background.... Author's Note I'd like to thank everyone who has commented on the story so far! :) Thank you so much for those who have pointed out errors or inconsistencies, I really appreciate the feedback and am glad you all are liking the story so far! On a side note, please be patient with me... I'm not the fastest nor most productive writer. ^^; I don't have any proof readers and so on and so forth... I'm mainly writing this for fun, so don't take it too seriously. Thank you! :D ~ Blue Sky Chapter 3: In which the truth is revealed!"You rotten dirty cheater!" I yelled as the wii screen revealed Jacob as the winner by three points... Jacob smirked, "Hey, it was fair game. I got the power up and you didn't. You should've picked a better character than lucario." He grinned with those annoying fangs of his. I scowled, "I hate you. Why do you always pick Snake?" I huffed as I crossed my arms. "Maybe because he's cool and has missiles?" He shrugged. I threw my pillow I was sitting on at him. "Hey!" He laughed as he picked up the pillow I had threw and aimed it back at me. I dodged, but got the message as he stared expectantly. 'Oh it. Is. On!' Jumping up from my seat, I grabbed the pillow and took cover as I launched directly at his face and weaved. Jacob took the initiative as he picked up one of the dog's squeaky toys and chucked it my direction. I retaliated by throwing a quilt at him. "Argh!" He bellowed as he clawed his way out of the quilt and threw it to the side. I laughed as I dodged another pillow, but missed when he threw something else at me... You know all those warnings about wearing the wrist strap on the wii remote to avoid injury to you or people around you? Yeah, that rule was thrown out the window when he TOSSED IT AT MY HORN!! I remember bracing, and then a loud 'crack' before I fell over and blacked out... Clang! Clang! CLANG! Ugh, what happened...? I awoke to find I was in some kind of cobbled stone building. Clang! And there was that noise again... Turning my head to the right I found the source of the noise. Someone dressed in a brown apron, donning a wielding mask, was hovering over an anvil smacking what looked like a metal sword. Clang! They went again, as I got up and walked over to them curiously. The figure was pony-like in appearance, and something about this all seemed vaguely familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it, as I watched the pony in awe... Clang! They rose their hammer up in blue magic as it came down on the sword a final time and they set it aside... "*phew* That should do it..." The muffled voice of the pony said, as they took off their wielding mask and soaked the sword in cold water. I gasped as I saw the face of the equine... It was a mare unicorn with a brown mane and yellow fur. Her eyes were green, like spinach, and she had brown freckles across her muzzle following some white stripes. She seemed to notice me at the exact same time I saw her face and stared up at me quizzically. "What are you doing here?" She talked with a slight Appaloosian accent as she halted all movement. "You're Sunstripe! My OC!" I gasped as I just gawked at the pony in front of me. Sunstripe just blinked at me as she turned her attention elsewhere, "Ya, and I'm kinda busy right now... Whatcha need?" She huffed impatiently, as she undid her apron with her magic and trotted over to where a set of yellow mechanical wings were sitting and strapped them on. I blinked, not expecting the curt response, as I watched her effortlessly use her magic to adjust the wings on her frame. To be honest, I still couldn't believe I was actually looking at a pony from my drawings doing normal real life things. I mean, here she was right in front of me using magic as effortlessly as breathing, and blinked and twitched and moved just like any other living creature that ever existed. In short, I was stunned. "H-how? Why-?! You can't be real!" I just gawked dumbfounded, as I watched her snap the wings in place for good. She tested them for a few moments, flexing them up and down and side to side before turning her attention back to me. "What's ta say I'm not real? Ha! I'm talking to you aren't I?" She challenged, as she flicked her mechanical wings upwards in annoyance, and walked over to me staring directly at my face. "Well I-, um..." "I live to challenge what can and can't be done! See these wings here?" She pointed to them as she turned around to show, "Ah built em myself! They feed off magic and allow me ta fly!" She stomped as she got closer, making me feel slightly uncomfortable, "Many folks told me I was chasin' a fool's dream, but I did it anyways... Saying I'm not real is as dumb as saying you ain't turning into me!" She poked my chest as I just stared, unsure of what to say to that remark. I remember creating Sunstripe as coming off a bit strong willed, but never expected to actually see it in action like I was experiencing right now. I pondered over what Sunstripe had said, though slightly confused. "Well I guess so, but what am I doing here then?" I said the thought aloud. Sunstripe shrugged, making the wings move with her, "Don't know partner... But look, I gotta go." She said as she opened the wooden door to the blacksmith and walked out. I gasped as I saw out the door ponies walking outside doing normal things and talking to one another. Could it be real? Did a place like this exist? "See Ya!" Sunstripe waved as she took off into the skies with her mechanical wings. I just stood at the door watching her until she was nothing more than a blip in the sky. All those things she had talked about... Was I really going to become a carbon copy of her? Before I could ponder it much longer, a piano suddenly fell on my head. "Look out!" A voice similar to Derpy's said, as I titled my head up and saw the thing hit me before I blacked out again... "..." A constant ringing echoed through my brain as a dull throb woke me back up into the real world. "She's coming too, back up!" A voice, male???, spoke as the ringing died down and the pain became more manageable. I groaned as I felt my limbs come back online and I cracked open an eye as I involuntarily twitched my right arm. Two sea foam green eyes blinked back at me as I jumped in surprise from where I was laying, and felt something go flying towards my head followed by a loud crack! A yelp was followed soon after, as I made out more details of what was going on as the green eyes relented to reveal a familiar face. "Wow! You just did magic!" A high feminine voice giggled as I saw toothpaste colored hair and a horn attached to the green eyes. The rest was human, so I immediately knew who it was thanks to the chubby body and size difference. "Ariana?" I croaked as the pain finally subsided, like I had stretched a limb that had been cramped forevermore, and I realized I was laying on top of the master bed. The girl laughed as she cracked a grin my direction, "Yep! I'm so happy you're awake now! We can do magic together!" She cheered as I just blinked and looked around... Ariana was here? Why is she becoming a pony as well? I immediately recalled the events leading to me blacking out and felt my horn. It felt slightly raw, but wasn't cracked or worse for ware. I let out a sigh of relief to know the bone wasn't damaged. Everything else checked out, though there was an odd sensation below my hips, but I would deal with that later. I found Jacob standing to the side silent, but looking horrified as his eyes were pointed upwards directly towards the ceiling. Confused, I followed his gaze only to realize that when I had been startled, I had caused an unintentional 'magic' burst to shoot out of my horn that had left a burn mark on the ceiling and continued to sizzle slightly. I snapped back over to Jacob who was still staring up and raised an eyebrow, "yo Einstein! Care to explain what's going on since you HIT ME WITH THE BUCKING WII REMOTE?!" I scowled as he finally snapped into attention. Oh I was angry alright, but not angry enough to actually do anything about it, yet... Despite it being unintentional, I still wanted to pound some guilt into the half dragon boy, even if he didn't quite deserve it. He blinked for a moment trying to reboot as he opened his mouth to- "Jacob called me thinking he'd killed you after the incident, and I came home and helped out before I picked up Ariana here." A feminine voice said, as a form walked into the bedroom. "Mom?" I smiled as it felt good to see another friendly face admits the chaos. Mom smiled as she handed me a water bottle and I took a few sips. Ah moms, never live without them. Jacob finally broke the silence, "Yeah um, I wasn't really worried. You were still breathing and all. I just called your mom to be safe ya know?" He coughed as he glanced away guilty. I just rolled my eyes and looked at him like 'really?' But let it drop as I turned to look at the other person in the room, Ariana. Ariana is my younger cousin, and the most obsessed MLP fan I've ever met. (Though granted, where I live there are few 'actual fans' of the show since we live in such a small town.) She was roughly five years younger than me, placing her at thirteen, and was somewhat similar in appearance. The main differences were that she was somewhat chubby, round, and was legally blind despite wearing very thick glasses. Her obsession with mlp is, to put it best, what fangirls are like when they meet Aaron Carter. In other words, she loved the show. To my knowledge, she's watched every episode there is, drawn the main six religiously, and of course created hundreds of OCs. Of course, being at her age, it was considered normal for her to like these types of cartoons. It was the people who were older, and often times male, that were commonly mocked for liking such things. She's been a fan of the show long before I even got started. I believe I discovered it around season 3, where as Ariana had been a die hard fan from the beginning. The answer was fairly obvious why she of all po- erm, I mean people was turning into one, but I still had to know. I rubbed my chin, "So when did you start becoming a pony?" I asked, as I stood up from where I was sitting and walked into the bathroom to straighten out my hair. Whoa! I'm gonna have to be more careful with how I balance myself from now on! I turned around to find I had indeed grown a brown tail to match my already brown hair as I simply flicked it back and forth until I could sway it to my walking rhythm to get to the mirror. Ariana giggled as she hopped up and down in the bedroom where I could see her, while mom left us three alone. "Oh! Oh! That's easy! It was this morning!" She grinned as she had suddenly reminded me of a certain pink pony the way she was behaving... Jacob grumbled as he slicked back his hair and folded his arms, "Long story short she called your mom because she had a some sort of 'magic episode' and turned her parents into fruit and then back again the moment she grew a horn." He explained. I stopped brushing my hair after that and just stared, "Whoa wait. Hang on, So you just happened to pull an 'alicorn moment' like Twilight? What happened to your mom and dad?" I asked while looking at my own horn. What trouble did I get myself into? Would I too have more magic fits? "Well it turned them back after the fit died down, and then they called your mom thinking you would know something, but she didn't answer until this afternoon so they let me skip school until your mom could pick me up!" She cheered. I snorted as I parted my hair a bit and noticed the hair line coming down further into my shoulder blades, "Well that explains it. Probably think this is some weirdo voodoo DnD stuff, so they obviously blamed me." I sighed as I turned around and my tail followed in rhythm. Gosh, this was weirder than my pony ears... I thought back to my dream with Sunstripe... The changes were so painfully obvious now. The tail, the yellow horn, the white stripes. Was I really going to become my OC? This lead me to another question I looked at Jacob who had said very little as he just stood in place unsure of what to say or do. "Jacob..." I began as I got his attention, "Tell me... Did you ever watch mlp?" I said curious as a slight smirk curled across my lips. His face turned bright red as horror dawned on his face. "What?! No! I never watched that nine year old's show! Why would you say that?!" He stammered as his face said otherwise as he looked away to hide the fact. "Uh huh." I crossed my arms as I let a small smirk show now, I had him. "Just like the time with Owl City or Webk-" "Stop! Ok! Ok! I did watch a couple of episodes! Hay, I even made a dragon OC alright?!" He shouted as he ran over to stop me from blackmailing him any further... I smirked, "Thought so," I said as I sighed and rubbed my temple, careful to avoid my horn, "Well that helps clear up a few things... But I still don't understand why..." I hummed in thought. "Understand what?" Ariana asked as she looked at me confused with those adorable green eyes. Gosh darn it! Why are ponies so darned cute?! I blinked out of my daydream, "Oh. Well I think we're turning into characters we made, but I don't know why." I said. The silence spoke numbers as the two just stared at me like I'd grown a second head. Finally, Jacob broke the silence by screaming, "What?!" as he went hysterical. "What do you mean we're turning into cartoon creatures?! I just thought this was all some weird military experiment or something!" He hyperventilated as he looked at us and then back to himself. "I need-, I need some air." He huffed as he left the room and walked outside. I started to stop him in order to explained better, but Ariana shrugged at me and grinned, "Well, one positive side of this is that he's pretty much indestructible as a dragon and I get live out the life of Berry Blast with my cousin." She grinned. Berry Blast, that's right. That was her first Oc she made if I recall. She had been going for a Trixie look with it, but I initially helped her come up with the name. That made me wonder... Sunstripe was my only Mlp Oc I had created simply because I only wanted to have one for the sake of figuring about the best way to ~~copy~~, I mean animate Hasbro's ponies. As far as I knew Jacob also only had one, but Ariana... I groaned as I flopped down on the living room sofa, "Buck this. I don't think I handle dealing without having hands and bacon." I frowned as I pulled out my tablet and began to surf the web for answers... A little while later Jacob finally came back in as the dog came out of his room to see what was up. I had just pulled up some interesting news footage when I turned to see him looking sheepish as I noticed his appearance had took on a rougher demeanor. "So, did you get some air?" I said as I dragged my eyes away from his pointy hands that were becoming much sharper now. Jacob nodded as he sat down and mom came out with some muffins she was baking the whole time to lighten our mood... "Yeah, I thought about this for a while... Being a dragon won't be so bad, but I don't know how my sister will take it, let alone my parents." He groaned as he rubbed his face, "I'm going to be scolded all the time for making a character and for liking a girly show..." He sighed, as he stared at me and Ariana, "It's humiliating okay?" He said like we didn't get it. I looked at him surprised, "Did I ever laugh at you for something like that?" I said as he stared at me dumbly, "No, I never did. But look, we can't change this now, we just have to continue onwards and hope for the best! Besides." I said as I held the tablet closer to the other two, "It looks like we're not the only ones..." I pressed play on a video entitled 'Breaking news: Mass transformation of people into various creatures occurring world wide!'. The video started to play... When it stopped I scrolled down from the video and read aloud. "What you see in the video before you is a home made fan video for a show entitled 'My Little Pony'. But unlike the video above, the scenario has become real. For some strange reason, people who have fallen in love with the show are now becoming the very same creatures shown above. I honestly never thought that a show my daughter likes would end up with her sprouting wings and growing hooves... ~ Said Margret from a Facebook post earlier today. This is just one of the thousands of concerned family members across the globe as hundreds of people are becoming ponies. In the United States alone, Health care advisers are baffled as millions of people are flooding in through their doors donning these pony ears or having horns sprouting out their skulls. It is baffling the amount of cases we have concerning this mass genetic transmutation over here in Washington state. I had one patient come in with a hole the size of a golf ball running through his upper leg joint, yet surprisingly could bend and walk on it just fine! ~ Cameron, Nurse at Washington Medical. Scientists are baffled by this, and without proper samples or any type of models to go on, are in a panic as they advise people to stay indoors as much as possible until they can diagnose if the problem is transferable to other people." I stopped as I continued to read alone for a moment. Jacob snorted as he leaned back, "So what?! They just want to quarantine and sweep this all under the rug?! This is stupid! If millions of people are already affected, then what's stopping it now?" He rambled angrily as he ferociously bit into one of the muffins on his plate. I shushed him for a moment as I held out my hand, "Listen to this." I said as I read on. "One common report from those afflicted with this 'pony problem' is that many claim to have felt a massive power surging through them around the same time, in each times zone respectively, before the transformations occurred. In the midst of all the confusion, two people named Len and Andy have stepped up to take the blame for the entire incident, and have invited those afflicted to join them in Chicago at a convention center to discuss a way to fix the problem. Though unlikely, these people are the only ones to have an apparent explanation for this particular crisis. In other news related to the pony event, scientist Bill Nye has proposed a new philosophy o-" "Wait stop! Read the part about the two guys in Chicago again!" Jacob interrupted as I sighed and read it over once more. "It just says two guys in Chicago know something about this whole OC transforming thing and are taking the blame." I shrugged as I scrolled down some more to read. "No! It said something about them hosting an event in Chicago to explain everything!" Jacob said excitedly as he leaned in closer to the screen and I had to move it so he wouldn't fog it up. "Ugh, dude not so close!" I frowned as he apologized. "Hey, do you think we could ride Jacob to Chicago since he's becoming a dragon?" Ariana asked excitedly as Jacob paled. "What?! No! That is out of the question!" He scowled as he backed up and folded his arms, "Those guys in Chicago might have some kind of antidote for this whole mess before I completely turn, so N.O. You are not riding me." He said as I suppressed a laugh. Mom chose this time to speak up as she had moved from the kitchen to close to where we were sitting. "It's a long shot, but I think it's best we head to Chicago.." She said. I blinked, was she seriously thinking-? "What?! Mom, no way! We don't even know if this is legitimate or not, and besides the police will start cracking down on anyone out and about!" I frowned as I thought this was a stupid idea. Mom shrugged, "Maybe it's fake, but look at it this way... There's going to be lots of other people there with the same problem to compare notes with. Who knows, if we put our heads together we might figure this out." She grinned, "Besides, I've been saving up some money for a vacation, and it seems like the perfect time to fly out there." She smirked. I groaned as I facepalmed. So this was it... "Fine... On the condition we get to enjoy the convention while we're there." I said, sealing my fate. "Deal. I'll go book the flight right now." She said as she got up. Behind me Ariana cheered, "Woo-Hoo! Vacation time!" She cheered as she pranced around. I groaned as I face planted on the table in a vain attempt to block out Ariana's annoying cheer as she pranced around the living room. "Uh, I don't know about this..." Jacob said nervously as Ariana continued to hop up and down. "Road trip! Road trip! Road trip!" Author's Note Sorry no Cadence in this chapter. :P This story was already pretty long and I couldn't figure out a good place to write her in this time around. :/ Meh, just means that next time I'll work harder on giving her more screen time. :) (Also, side note here. Big thanks to bluemoon1996 for setting the idea of how this whole pony transforming thing is dealt with. Seriously helped me to organize the plot here. So thank you! :3) Chapter 4: This was a stupid idea..."Well this is a disaster." I groaned as we arrived at the Atlanta airport at 7, waiting in line to be screened. The crowd was normal for a typical Monday evening, as it would be a little less than 30 mins before it was our turn, but as we got in line I realized something... In order to avoid suspicion about us turning into ponies, my mom had ransacked my closet for various articles of clothing to hide the o' so obvious changes. I was wearing mom's red bucket hat, akin in likeliness of 'Paddington the bear' haha, yoga pants, and a thick coat so no one could see the stripes all over me. Jacob also sported my heavy snow jacket, that is three sizes too small for him but was the best we could do, to hide his scales, along with gloves and a pair of sunglasses. Ariana was lucky and only had to wear my rain jacket, since the hood was big enough to hide the horn and ears, as she skipped merrily down the line with us. It was currently about 59° outside, typical for an October evening in Georgia, and was raining. Luckily, this drew suspicion away from the funny pair of people wearing thick coats as we moved up the line. I guess I should explain why I know so much about the Atlanta area. You see, my mom's sister lives not too far away from here. Her job is basically selling various medical equipment to hospitals and dentists offices akin to how a telemarketer tries to get you to buy Avon products, etc. Typically once a month I, or my mom, would drive down here to hang out for the weekend and go sightseeing. So I knew the layout of Atlanta fairly well. Also, the Atlanta airport is one of the biggest airports in the country, and was a favorite of mine to use when we flew down to Orlando in the summer. Needless to say, this wasn't my first rodeo. With that I realized one tiny flaw in getting screened. You see, most airports do a 'pat down'; a non invasive check to see whether or not your harboring anything illegal on you, but here in Atlanta pat downs had been replaced with a machine that did the screening for them. This machine would spin around you and do a scan which you shows your outline to the security officers while also highlighting anything metal, making the machine go off. To my horror, this also meant it would probably detect my horn and tail and immediately alert them to it. I glanced around as we moved up some more and watched as people filed in behind as the chatter continued around us. I was sweating bullets by now. I could technically refuse to be scanned by the machine, but that would mean I'd have to be patted down, and that would mean they'd feel my tail. Either way I was screwed, as the line moved on at a pace faster than I would've liked it to be. "ID?" The lady said, as I blinked out of my daydream for a moment and fumbled around in my purse before pulling out my drivers license. She scanned it along with my ticket before I crammed them back in and started pulling off my shoes... My toes were becoming oddly squished ever since the drive over here... They already refused to go down from the tip toe position, but I wasn't as concerned with that since I'd been walking on my toes for my whole life. (Yeah, yeah I know I'm odd. But for whatever reason the habit stuck.) Anyways, I slung my shoes into the bin as I took off my watch and emptied my pockets before walking down the line and putting my purse in a separate bin. The others were not far behind me, but as I watched the number of people in front of me decrease from ten to just three in front, I felt myself gasping for breath. "Next please!" The lady shouted as I took a deep breath and walked into the machine. Time seemed to drag as the machine clicked and whirred about before doing its spin as I stepped out. I looked behind me to see the lady examining something closer on the screen as she crinkled her brow in confusion and whispered something to the TSA agent. Oh Celestia I'm dead. I shivered as the TSA man started walking towards me with a look of confusion written across his face. Please pass by me... I squeaked, but no such luck as the others came out and the lady who was doing the scans showed the same baffled face. "I need officer Mike to the front please, officer Mike thank you." She said as she put down her pager as the TSA agent made it to us. "Excuse me kids, but I'm afraid we need to ask you a few questions if you would follow me." He said as he looked at my mom who had before been putting on a brave face, but now looked scared and lost. The TSA man tilted his head, "Are you the guardian? You need to come as well." He said as we began out long track to the back of the air port... All I could think was, Crap... "Open these doors right bucking now!" I screamed as I banged on the only exit out of this hell hole. Once the TSA had gotten wind of us trying to sneak on board when everyone affected was supposed to be staying away from public areas, they did the only thing they knew to do until back up arrived... Throw all four of us in the kid's lounge room. "Buck it!" I cursed as I kicked the doorframe for good measure before sitting down in a chair defeated. "Calm down Emily. Yelling will only make it worse." Mom assured as I watched Jacob scratch a spot on his chin that he had been messing with for the past fifteen minutes. During that time my feet had felt like pin cushions, as my balance was threw off and I ended up wobbling off and on since they put us in here. It was only making my anger worse, as I wanted out of here and to Chicago ASAP. I didn't want to have to explain myself to security, and even if banging on the doors made things worse, it was better than just sitting here doing nothing when we could be headed to somewhere that had answers... Jacob appeared to be growing scales around his ears, soon to be just ear holes as the cartilage was dissolving already, as he kept scratching only for mom to give up on scolding him for such behavior. Ariana was busy being entertained by the TV playing some kind of pixie fairy show that I could care less for, like really care less for, and she had took off her glasses since her eyes were expanding in size. To be honest, it was an hour till our flight took off, we were being quarantined, my balance was off, and I was hungry. All this added up to me being pretty angry as I just grumbled and took off my hat to scratch my pony ears. Still trying to get used to these thing by the way. The hair is so sensitive something always seems to be tickling it. And did I mention the noise amplification? Yeah, it didn't help I couldn't block out that blasted kids show anyways... Thinking about this made me realize something, "Hey Jacob? What exactly was your dragons name?" I asked curiously. Jacob stopped itching for a moment as he looked at me, "Huh? Oh! His name was Scorch. Red dragon with purple eyes and highlights. Vicious fire dragon adult male with a talent in dragon martial arts. Heh, easy enough for him to take on much tougher foes without them even knowing." He smirked. Argh! Again with the fangs!! "Hm.. Do you think you can breathe fire yet?" I asked as I pointed to the door. Jacob shrugged and did a small puff of air, which just resorted in me smelling his bad breath, ew! And then sighed once we both realized fire wasn't going to help us get out of here. We sat in silence for a bit, save for the TV, as my ears kept twitching and I ended up resorting to folding them down on my head. That TV! Faust! It would be the end of me... "So what did you learn about how to make the color purple today?" The chubby pink fairy asked the cheeky chipmunk. The chipmunk thought for a bit, scratching above his ear as he hummed in concentration, "Hmm... Well I know that you have to have blue paint and a whole bunch of peanuts!" The chipmunk raised his arms up for emphasis. The pink fairy laughed as s- "Faust! For the ever loving sake of Celestia will you Shut. Up!" I screamed as I felt a familiar sensation run through me and then there was a crash! "Gah!" Jacob shouted as I blinked and realized the TV was now smoking on the ground with blue flames.. "Whut." I dead panned as I looked up to my horn where the feeling was coming from and caught a glimpse of a faint blue spark before it winked out of existence. "E-Emily?" Mom asked in shock as I just stared at the now broken TV, and then back to my horn, and then back to the TV. Ariana was watching me too with wide eyes as the gears turned as I reached for the familiar sensation again.. A blue aura engulfed a magazine nearby as I concentrated hard and moved it into my hands. The aura disappears as soon as the magazine launched in my lap and I grinned. "I've got magic." I tittered, as a slew of ideas began running through my brain. "Magic?" Mom repeated still blinking. The titter turned into a chuckle and then to a small laugh before I was roaring on the couch. Everyone respectively backed away from me as I grinned manically. "I have magic!!!" I shouted crazy as the next thing anyone knew there was a boom followed by a war cry as the door to the kid's area was blown apart. Princess Cadenza was frantically tapping her hoof on the crystal library's desk as she flipped through pages and pages of books held in her magical grasp. Each one was labeled either 'magical disturbances', 'creatures of Equis', 'magical artifacts throughout time and space', or 'apocalyptic prophecies'; the latter group briefly skimmed but not taken seriously. As Cadance used her magic to weed through every book she held at blinding speeds, another jolt of magic went through her horn as she halted all activity when it shot a bolt out her horn. She ground her teeth as the flare subsided and she tenderly rubbed her horn, before catching all 128 books that had fell out of her telekinetic grip. "Another magic burst..." She huffed as she resumed her reading. They had been occurring more rapidly now. At first there had been only the one that she had assumed to be an odd occurrence that happened once every century, later on it was one in the morning and one in the evening for half a week, now it was four a day. She did not know what caused these flares to occur, since no other unicorn, pegasi, or earth pony could sense them, but one thing for sure was they were increasing in frequency and she did not know when they would halt or if they ever would. She shivered as she set down another book she had finished flipping through. What if it never stopped? Was she doomed to bear the intense magical backlash of whatever this was for all eternity? The thought made her hasten her research. The flares may have been increasing in frequency, but not strength, which was good. Cadance had experienced enough of them already to deal with the backlash, it was only when they caught her off guard like this one had did they sting. She sighed as she finished the 'magical artifacts' section and began to skim more thoroughly through the 'apocalyptic prophecies' when she stopped and started to laugh. "What am I doing?" She chuckled as she set down the books and levitated her notebook over to her. "These books aren't going to tell me anything. I need a living source." She smirked, as she sent off a letter to her Aunt Celestia and packed up her things. She waved to the librarian, Amethyst, sweet deary really, and headed back to the castle. She had some packing to do... Author's Note Wooooo! Chapter's up! :D Here's Cadance for those who were missing her last time! So much mystery in the air~! Wonder what will happen to our group of little ponies? :O Only time will tell! Enjoy! Chapter 5: Fly Barney! Fly!!!"Stop in the name of the law!" Two TSA members were yelling behind us, since I had used my magic to bust down the kid's lounge door previously, as we made a break for it. Briefly, I snuck a glance behind me to find them still hot on our tails with the panicked looks of everyone around mirroring it. "Was it really a good idea to bust down the door Emily?" Mom huffed as we kept on running. We had made it past the food court area into our respective flight zone, with just enough time to maybe actually make it onto the flight thank Celestia, but if we didn't shake these guys we'd never get anywhere. I shrugged as I kept on running, "Maybe?! But what other choice did we have?" I shouted as I skidded right and ran through a more congested section of people to slow down the TSA agents. Mom would've finished, but she was too busy trying too keep up. I hate to admit it, but I was getting tired too... I'm more of a sprinter in nature, and while Jacob was clearly in the lead for being the most psychically built, carrying Ariana on his back not withstanding, he too was barely outpacing these guys. "I need backup on floor C!" One of the TSA members shouted into his Walkie-Talkie. I cringed, our flight was another mile's walk ahead, but if we didn't loose them now, we were goners. Briefly I began to panic. Was this how it went down? Perhaps I had been a bit delusional in thinking we could actually outrun trained professionals, not to mention my feet could become hooves at any second... Let's face it... This was hopeless to start with; I frowned. I was about to call it quits when by some miracle I spotted the one thing that could be our saving grace. A few feet ahead, sitting idly off the sidewalk, was one of those mini carts used for the handicap and the wealthy. I veered that direction as I turned left, "Jacob! Cart up ahead!" I called as he nodded and put on a extra burst of speed. Me and mom were right behind him as Jacob practically launched Ariana into a seat, and turned the ignition key on as he quickly maneuvered it out into the walkway. Me and mom dashed over to it and jumped in, well more like mom jumped, I tripped at the last possible second (stupid feet) and fell in painfully but managed to miss my horn. Jacob then hit the gas, and for effect turned on the sirens, as we practically sped down the walkway at a speed close to 35mph. As I finally sat up, I noticed the TSA getting farther and farther behind before they stopped to radio in more help. I would've smirked if it weren't for the fact we were steadily running out of road ourselves. "Uh Jacob?!" I panicked as I poked him, while we edged closer and closer to the end of the hall where there was nothing but a glass window up ahead. There was no time to stop. ~~If we did it might've been much worse..~~ Instead Jacob narrowed his slit eyes and shouted, "Hold on! We can make this!" As he did probably the second most bravest, or stupidest, thing I've ever seen him do before... The cart sped up with us and our luggage in tow (forgot to mention we had been dragging it with us the whole time, oops!), as the window ebbed closer and closer. People around us screamed as they ran out the way in a panic, including one dude who had been reading a newspaper when he looked up to see what the fuss was about and hurled himself out of the way, before we hit the window pane dead on and flew out of the airport onto the runway with a thud!. I held on for dear life as Jacob quickly recovered and spun the cart left before he hit the gas once more. "Is everyone okay?" I shouted as we sped down the airport parking lane. "I'm fine! The cart took the impact of the glass shattering and the hood fended off the rest!" Ariana called as mom nodded in confirmation and I sighed in relief. Next came Jacob. I smacked him on the head. "What the hay were you thinking?! You could've gotten us killed!" I screeched as Jacob yelped and ducked to keep me from smacking him again. "Hey! You blew apart a door! I'm just taking notes from your book of crazy and dangerous!" He scoffed as we continued to speed down the parking zones. The thought occurred to me, "So uh, where are we going?" I blinked as zone c-73, 72, 71, etc. zoomed by our vision. Jacob shrugged, "Well, I thought we'd just head on over to where we were gonna board anyways and snag a ride then. "Without our tickets?" I questioned as the numbers of the zones kept going down. Jacob grinned as he stole a glance my way, "More like we hide in the cargo." He said, which earned a 'what' from me. "Again, this could've gone much better..." I grumbled as here we were, packed and hidden in between carelessly thrown about luggage in the bottom of the plane. "Honestly, I don't know how much better it could've been." Mom sighed sadly as we made ourselves as comfortable as possible amongst the hard suitcases. I was sitting closer to the animal cargo, and was petting a sleeping dog while groaning simulatenously. "I guess the bright side is we've still got our luggage." I said as I pointed out the fact that we still had them with us. Everyone nodded as Ariana played fort and Jacob laid down, careful not to bend his spikes. "This is sometimes a little to much to handle. Did we really manage to pull it off?" He tittered, his face twisted in between a nervous laugh and downright shock. Welp, I guess the adrenaline finally wore off then... I shook my head, "Not yet Jacob. We gotta get there first and leave this place without being detained." I sighed once more. There was no telling what would happen to us now. We were wanted felons, and- "Right." Mom said as she donned a serious face. "I'm not usually for going against the law, but I think our circumstances warrant it." She said. I just blinked in surprise as she grinned at me. "What?" She said, "This is a national crisis! I'm not just going to let you all fail at the one chance of figuring out why this is happening!" She said bravely, though none of us felt really brave right now. She turned towards Jacob who was donning some more purple scales near his ear holes. "Right, now listen here everyone! This is the plan..." Author's Note Alright! Enjoy the chapter everyone! More to come soon! Chapter 6: Chicago at last!The plane shook as I snapped awake from my day dream and braced as we finally landed on the runway. "Huh, only 10:30... That was a short flight". I said as I checked my watch. "Everyone ready?" Mom asked as the engines cut off. Despite the flight only lasting roughly forty-five minutes, a lot had changed since then. Turns out Jacob's eyes glow in the dark, creepy but neat at the same time. I practiced my magic briefly on a few pieces of luggage, and managed to lift roughly thirty pounds before I gave out. Ariana was practicing what she called 'hoof jabs', and mom used the wi-fi to book our hotel while we were stuck here. We knew getting out of here was going to be no easy task. It was most likely the police were on high alert and already had our mugs plastered about, not to mention they had tazers, so we had to be careful. We sat in silence for what seemed like eternity before voices were heard climbing up towards the cargo lock and we sprung to life. "I keep telling you Joe! Every time I come to work, something odd always happens! I-" The man called Joe opened the latch with a ear grinding noise as he crawled his way inside. We went into hiding, snuggling ever deeper within the luggage as I tried to even my breathing. The doorway, our exit, was right there! But we needed to wait. Joe scooted in as his face burrowed in confusion before latching the conveyor belt down. "Huh, seems like we've got a lot of luggage in here Mike. I think more than regulation permits..." He frowned as he started hauling down bags. That was Jacob's cue... Grrrr... Joe froze as he whipped his head over to where the animals were still laying half asleep. He blinked for a moment, looking around before cautiously unloading more luggage. I don't know if you guys know this about me, but I'm really good at making all sorts of animal calls. I carefully swallowed my spit as I shifted my vocal cords to the back of my throat and took a deep breath... SCRREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! I shouted at the top of my lungs as Joe just froze in horror and put his hands over his ears and grimaced. The sound echoed throughout the cabin, waking up the animals as they started barking and hissing and even growling, before Joe scoooted towards the entrance of the cargo lift. "Hey Mike! Something odd's going on in here! There's a funny noise and the animals are in a tiz! Can you come up 'ere and look? My eyesight ain't as good as it used to be..." Joe hollered down as the clanking of Mike's shoes could be heard before he too jumped into the cockpit. It was getting uncomfortably crowded now... Grrrrrrrrr.... Jacob let out another deep throaty growl as both Joe and Mike whipped around to the source of the noise. Mike frowned as he undid his flashlight, "Probably some f****** pitbull that got loose" he swore as he carefully made his way over to Jacob's hiding spot. Jacob rustled the bags around him a bit more as he let out another growl. "What the-?" Joe said as he obviously looked spooked. Mike edged forwards as Jacob rattled the luggage even more... Mortalssssss... He hissed as Mike blinked before his face turned to one of mock humor. "Alright kid, get out!" He growled in warning as Jacob continued to rustle even more. "YOU DARE?! He shouted as he suddenly sprung up to full height and turned his glowing purple eyes at the man. Mike must've peed himself right there because the two men swore as they froze in shock for a good half moment. I AM SATAN INCARNATE! WHO DARES?! He bellowed, as he suddenly burst in height and two leathery like appendages sprung out from his back. Joe fell out of the plane and hit the ground, and Mike just dashed out without a word as his face said it all. I laughed. Oh Luna! Did you see their faces?! No time to bother though, we grabbed our things and ran. Joe was passed out on the ground from the fall, and Mike was long gone as the quiet surrounded us... Jacob about didn't make it out the cockpit, seeing he just grew twelve feet with wings!, but clawed his way out and we grabbed the cargo van and just booked it. I barely made it in when I suddenly broke out in cold sweat, and realized Ariana was doing the same, before I released my contents of my stomach onto the asphalt. A loud ripping was heard as my feet suddenly fell out of my shoes and I couldn't feel my toes, and then my pants ripped as my toes bent and warped in an inhuman way. Ariana beside me sprouted a tail and grew a muzzle before she screamed in horror as mom pushed down on the gas. "Uh guys, this is really uncomfortable.." Jacob said, as he put on another burst of size and suddenly broke the seat in his cart as the line snapped and his wings became more defined. His ears suddenly sprouted fan-like membrane and two small horns poke from his head. The cart screeched as Jacob grew to the size of a plane suddenly and I was lurched out like a toy doll. Luckily, I managed to catch myself on the back end of a wheel spoke, so I didn't fall hard. "What the-?" I blinked as Jacob shook off the broken cart from his leg and stood up full height. "Whoa... I guess I forgot how big Scorch is..." He commented as his voice seemed to reverberate as I looked on in shock. "You there! Halt!" Some security guards suddenly shouted as stun darts were fired. We dove to the sides as everyone screamed and Jacob whipped around his eyes wide. What to do? What to do?! We were hoping not to get caught by them! The guards fired more shots as Jacob tried to swerve behind a plane and the men charged. Like a lightning bolt, a thought hit me as I looked from our luggage, to us, to Jacob again who's wings seemed twice as long as his body. "Jacob!" I shouted as he whipped his head towards me in confusion. "Can you fly us with those things?!" I called as the shots got nearer. Jacob's eyes went huge, "I honestly don't know! How do these work?!" He called as he winced when a bullet came a little too close for comfort. "Good enough!" I shouted as I grabbed the luggage closest and turned towards the rest. "Everyone! Pile onto of Jacob! We're going!" I called as they opened their mouths to no doubt protest another crazy idea, but obliged since the guards were firing. Jacob sat as close to the ground as possible as we climbed on his ripped jeans, thank Celestia for elastic all the way through, or else we'd *ahem... He helped as much as possible as we used his spikes to hold on and plopped the luggage between our legs. I sat in the front to help be the 'co-pilot' and told him to go. "Head towards the run ways! You'll get a good start!" I called as Jacob stood up and ran! "Stop!" The guards called as I could see police cars running down the road at us, but Jacob was faster. In front, a Boeing 747 was preparing to land as Jacob's wing tip nearly brushed the side as it swerved out of our way. He started flapping, but we were getting no where other than a big gust of wind. "Emily! This is crazy! I-I can't do this!" he croaked as his speed faltered and the cops were coming... Panic welled up in me. This was the last shot we had! I bit my tongue. "No! Jacob you have to do it! We don't have any other choice! You can make it! You can!" I shouted as Jacob panted in fear. Another plane was approaching as Jacob started making flapping motions clockwise and we gained some altitude and then fell once more. "I-can't!" He wailed as the plane came even closer. I practically yelled as I pulled on his scales, "Yes, you, CAN!" I screamed as the roaring of jets overtook anything else and I realized we were about to become a pancake. Something must've suddenly registered with Jacob, as his eyes narrowed and he spread out his wings wide... The plane came ever closer, a mere four yards! Before with a flick of the wrist his wings twitched down with a hard thrust and we shot straight up like a bullet out of the plane's way. Everyone screamed, but Jacob wasted no time flapping once more with his powerful wingspan. "This is amaziiiiiinnnnnnnnggggg!" Ariana laughed as we flew over the Chicago's night life... Well, here's hoping... Chapter 7: An Itch*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!* My ears twitched at the sound of steel hitting metal as I stirred and groaned at the noise. My surroundings were different again... I recalled going to bed in the hotel room, then nothing... Currently I was laying on a bale of hay in a stone room with a wooden door... *CLANG!* There was that noise again. It sounded very familiar to me. Getting up from the hay bale, I noticed my balance was severely thrown off. Looking down told me why... Right, pony legs. Man Equus mammals were strange. A shattering noise from the next room made me snap out of my daydream. Pushing the unlocked door aside, I nearly stepped onto pieces of sharp glass as I heard someone swear up ahead. Casting my gaze away from the shards of glass, I saw who had made the mess. "Sunstripe?" I blinked somewhat surprised, as I saw her leaning over a broken piece of sculpture shaped like a crane, until it was shattered that is, as she grit her teeth. She looked at me briefly, before using her magic to pull out a piece of glass from her hoof and bandaged it up. "You again..." She snorted, as that appeared to be the extent of our conversation before she went to sweep up the mess she had made. "Here, let me help." I offered, as I reached to grab the broomstick from her magical grip. She snarled and moved the broom away from me as it went to sweep another spot. "DON'T!" She snapped, before shock of what she had just said went through her face and she turned away to bite her tongue and continue sweeping. "I-I'm sorry..." I said startled, as Sunstripe muttered to herself and kept sweeping... Feeling upset that I possibly did something wrong, I went over to examine the broken figure... The crane's beak had been snapped clean off, and a part of the leg had as well. It was barely standing as is, and I use the term loosely... I hummed in thought as I felt the texture... "You rushed this one..." I added absentmindly. Sunstripe stopped sweeping suddenly as her magic grip let go of the dust pan and broom. She whipped around to look right at me, "You think, I don't know that?" She tittered. Okay, odd... I stopped touching the crane and let my hand go slack. "Something's wrong. What is it?" I said serious. Surprised, Sunstripe seemed to hesitate as she deposited the glass she had swept up. "Like you'd care." She snorted, before turning around to bump right into me. "I do care. I'm your creator and if something is bothering you I need to know!" I shouted, as She backed up afraid for a moment. Then she scowled, "I don't care if a bucking cow made me! It ain't none of your beeswax!" She shot back, as she moved to pick up the broom once more. I put a hand out, effectively stopping her, before I grabbed her horn determined. "You're not leaving until you f***-ing answer me..." I growled, fed up with her trying to ignore me. She seemed taken back this time, and slouched, given up on her false bravo. She looked away from me as I heard a faint sniff, "You think you're special, but really it's me doing all the work you know?" She whispered, before looking at me serious, "You think I'm just going to live in your sleep forever?! Hah! Wrong!" She laughed, but tears were coming down her eyes, "You always wanted to know why I don't pay you attention? It's because I'm scared! There! I bucking said it ok?!" She was hyperventialating by this point, " When you fully turn I'm dead ok? There will be nothing left because there was nothing to begin with!" "Sunstripe, what are you talking abo-" "I WAS GIVEN LIFE WHEN THAT MAGIC THING HAPPENED!!! NOW-" she chocked back a sob, as I let her go and she slumped to the ground defeated, "Now... I find out that with every change I'm loosing more of me to you.." She cried. My heart snapped as I felt compelled to hug her. "Shhhh... Hush now, it's not happening right now." I said. Sunstripe nodded sadly, "I-I... Check your flank." She looked away again. Check my flank? What was she talking about- oh.... I stared directly at a hammer with red stars on both of my thighs. To confirm, Sunstripe lifted one of her mechanical wings to show her cutie mark was gone. Dang, what a huge blow. I let out a low whistle... "Well shoot, I feel like I'm suddenly the mother telling a four year old kid that this won't hurt." I laughed painfully as Sunstripe bit back more tears, her ears folded back as she couldn't look at me. "Before the day is through the transformation will be complete." She sighed, "I tried my best to hold onto what was left of me, but... Whatever caused this has other plans," she looked at me serious. I nodded sadly, "I'll never forget you." I promised as I hugged her, "You may have not existed for the long, but I did enjoy this time.." I admitted. Sunstripe laughed bitterly, "Thanks. I wish we could've started over." She smiled defeated. I shook my head, "It doesn't matter. I'm just glad to have met you, and heck to even know that a peice of something I made is real? Well, that's frosting on the cake." I smirked. Sunstripe laughed. "Glad to know I'm appreciated by my 'mother'." She joked as I smacked her ear playfully. "But seriously, I promise to carry your legacy as well as mine." I said, "I won't let your existence, no matter how short, be in vain." Sunstripe looked at me surprised before it quickly faded back away. "Heh, thanks Em." She rubbed her neck, "Listen, I know it's not much but... I want you to have this." She said as she unblocked her mechanical wings and hoofed them towards me. My pupils widened, "You're giving me your prized wings?!" I gasped. Sunstripe nodded, "I won't be needing them. And somepony's got to show that dragons and pegasii aren't the only ones who can fly, right?" She winked. Gingerly I took the wings and felt them with a hand. "Are you certain?" I asked, still feeling bad. "Positive." She nodded, before smiling and poking me, "Now go out there and show 'em what you're made of!" She smirked, before the world started to go hazy and white. I swore I heard Sunstripe say "good luck" before she completely faded, but my mind was already swimming and there was a pounding in my head. I awoke to my alarm clock. "H-how can this be??" I stammered as I held a pair of perfectly smithed yellow and white mechanical wings, that I had found on my nightstand when I woke up. There was no doubt, even by the individual markings and scuffs from time, that these were Sunstripe's magical wings. "Um... Does anyone know what happened to the bathroom?" Ariana asked confused, as me and mom stopped looking at the wings and walked to where the bathroom was. A giant hole in the plaster had been torn open as pieces of cheap tile hung on their sticky mesh in vain. But that was just the tip of the metaphorical iceberg here... Metal piping was bent in strange and bizarre ways, and parts looked like they had been ripped by God's own two hands and dragged forwards out in the bathtub. The shower curtain was a wreck, with it being ripped right off the guide pole and sprawled out on the floor, torn to shreds. The sink was slightly better, with only the faucet and pipes below missing, and the toilet had been untouched oddly. Mom went over and examined the shower curtain as I reeled in my own shock at the extensive damage. "I think I understand what has happened..." Mom smirks as she holds up the curtain to reveal that the rips and tears were not haphazardly, but actually cut out in a bizarrely familiar pattern... Squinting, I saw an oval shape here and-... Suddenly it clicked as I slumped to the floor. "O my goodness, I did it that didn't I?" I asked rhetorically. Of course it had to have been me, err or Sunstripe specifically... Holding up the mechanical wings in my shaking hands, they were hard to control much more, I noticed that what I thought were stains and dings, was actually rust and bent spots from where the pipe had been ripped violently out of the bathroom. Looking at the wielding, I noticed how fine it was. Had to have been magic, specifically the type that was fixated in the furno plane, which was- Wait. How did I know that?! Blinking out of my stupor I noticed everyone was waiting for an explanation as I turned sheepish. "I need to check something..." I held my hand up as I backed out of the bathroom and gently pulled down my pants, which now had cut holes in them for my tail... If I was right, and I was 94% sure, it should be right about- there! Moving my jeans further down past the hip line to where my yellow and white stripe fur was, were two identical markings depicting a hammer and three red stars around it. I sighed. So this was it huh? I finally got Sunstripe's cutie mark to create things with magic... Carefully, I set the mechanical wings back down on the night stand and walked back into the bathroom serious. "It's because of the cutie mark." I stated simply as Ariana went 'ooooh' and Mom looked at me confused. "Cutie what now?" She questioned. Feeling bold, I shrugged and figured 'what the heck, I'm going to be naked eventually' and pulled my jeans down far enough to show the mark. "This thing." I said bluntly, waving my hand in a circle to show off the my somewhat nude hips, "Is a cutie mark. It's like your personal symbol for what you're good at." I explained as I pointed to mine. "Sunstripe's was making things. She was very good at blacksmithing, so I guess last night when I got it I must've had the urge to build the very thing that lead to Sunstripe earning her mark." I then pointed back to the damaged bathroom. Mom sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Well I guess it can't be helped. We did pay them for the room, which includes insurance sorta, so let's just go find Jacob before a maid comes in." She frowned. I lowered my ears sadly. I hadn't mean't to do it, and I know Mom wasn't upset at me in general but... But if I hadn't been turning into a pony I would've never done this... I frowned as I glanced one more time at the damaged bathroom before walking over to pack my things... That's when two things happened... First, my vision went blurry and all cross eyed, like when I get them dilated; and then my legs gave out from underneath me as I heard something pop and move and I fell to the ground and blacked out... ..... Something was happening... Cadance had felt the magical surge flow through her once more, but it was better controlled this time around. She frowned. The surge is growing weaker and we've had no luck finding the source, she sighed as images of the Crystal Empire before it's restoration flooded her brain. She shook her head, no not this time. They were close, she could feel it. She just needed something, anything, a crack or an imperfection in the stream to tear at the mystery source. Even things that appeared flawless, had some imperfection in them. A 'Chaotic spark' as she had been taught by Celestia. Speaking of which, Cadance felt another presence appear behind her as she was snapped out of her musings. The aura was that of a familiar one, but the signature... Well, that could only belong to one- "Did someone think Chaos??" A voice said gleefully. Author's Note And the next chapter will be - The convention. Enjoy~! ;3 Chapter 1: One Good Turn Deserves Another..."And so, if we turn to page five hundred and nine, you will find an image of the frontal lobe; which is where most of the sensory processing is don-" blah, blah, blah.... It was a typical Monday afternoon in my Psychology class... The teacher was horrifically boring, and lectured in a dull monotonous voice. The clock showed it was currently 2:20pm, just ten more minutes until we got out of here! I had spent most of my time doodling today instead of taking notes... I didn't really need to pay attention since I had already read the same thing in the book last night. So instead I was drawing ponies. They covered every inch of college ruled notebook paper with only a few spots left; soon to be drawn on as well... Today felt kinda like an OC day, so I was working more on my design for Sunstripe, my unicorn/zebra pony. I chuckled as I drew different aspects of her imagined lifestyle. [Here is teh pic :P] She was a carpenter by trade. Her talents involved inventing and building new things using her magical blue aura. Much like the cartoon Phineas and Ferb, she had sort of a knack for envisioning big things. In my drawings, she donned a mechanical set of wings she had built herself... They were powered by the users magic, and gave her the appearance of a small alicorn; if only because she looked similar in appearance. Her white stripes took the effect away though. They ran across her yellow coat like bleached clothing, giving her the name Sunstripe. Like my other OCs, she was treasured as I took the time to draw her out carefully; the drone of the teachers voice already long forgotten about. Even though I had to take this College Psychology class to graduate, my one true passion was art. I had intended to pursue a career in Graphic Design before fate threw me a curve ball. The time was now 2:23pm, when I had turned my attention back to the classroom. Suddenly, as if a massive earthquake had shook the building, I felt a surge of power go through me followed by a flash of light as I jerked in response and fell out of my chair. I heard someone laughing from behind me and then another crash before the voice of my psychology professor could be heard. "Miss Sugar, are you alright?" She asked, utterly confused as to why there were a bunch of chuckling students and some kids in the floor. I groaned as I picked myself off the floor and tried to steady my inner inertia. My sense of balance was off, but I managed to crawl back into my chair... "Y-yea. I just slid off my seat for a moment.." I breathed as I tried to keep myself from repeating the same process again... "Well, as long as you're alright we shall continue." She said as she turned back to the blackboard. The students snickering behind me finally died down as the other woman who had fell too picked herself up and went back to writing... I would've too, but something felt off. I realized my hat that I wore, often times so I could sleep in class without anyone being the wiser, was pushed upwards too far on my head, so I reached upwards to grab it back down. It didn't want to budge, like something was hung on it, but I didn't have the patience to ponder why as I just pulled it down harder, resulting in a loud 'rrrrriiiiiiiiiiip' to resound in class as I tore a hole in my hat by whatever was blocking it. Meep. I dead panned as everyone just stopped and turned to look at me. Slowly, I reached up for my hat and wretched it off my head. Sure enough there was a big fat hole right through the center of the darned thing, but that was nothing compared to the added weight up there. My hand shot up to grab it, and I froze when I realized I was actually touching solid skin on bone. I have a horn. I panicked, as I tossed my purse over my shoulder and flew out the classroom; not caring if I got in trouble. I headed for the bathroom first thing to look at this anomaly and bit my tongue to keep me from screaming once I saw it... Roughly six inches in length was a yellow spiraled horn sticking clear out of my acne faced forehead. I have to be dreaming. I thought as I recalled some of my previous vivid dreams about dinosaurs and time traveling devices. I tittered, yeah that was it! This was all a dream! Except I never have been able to realize if I was dreaming in a dream. I froze as I thought about that. I had never been blessed with the gift of dream realization. So, therefore something was up. I quickly held up my phone and took a snapshot of the out of place appendage and texted my mom, who is a very good social worker and has seen a lot of weird diseases, to ask her what she thought of this. The response was, "I can't get picture texts from you because I don't have a smartphone..." Crap! I started to panic as I just dialed her to see if she would pick up, while also locking myself in a stall. The phone rang once; twice... Come on. Pick up, pick up please. I repeated the mantra before I heard it click. "Hey Emily? What's going on?" Mom asked, knowing I was worried. I swallowed some spit down my tight throat as I tried to remain in control of my emotions, "M-mom. I have a horn." I spoke rather rushed as I tried not to have an anxiety attack. "A what? You watched porn?!" She said confused, thinking we probably had a bad connection. I shook my head no even though she couldn't see it, "No! I've got a unicorn horn on my head!" I raised my voice in a panic as mom said something. "Emily! Emily! EMILY, calm down!" She said stern but reassuring as I took in a large gulp of air... "Now what's this about a horn? Do you mean you're having another breakout of acne on your face? I-" "No, no! A real horn... Like it's six inches long and yellow.." I explained, calming down slightly for a moment... There was silence on the phone for a long moment before she finally spoke up again... "... Well, that is odd. Did this just happen right now?" She asked me. I let out a painful sob as the last of my walls came down, "Yeah... I was in class when this burst of power came rushing through and I fell and ripped a hole in my favorite hat a-" On the other side of the call mom was laughing. I stopped to ponder why she thought this was hilarious, "S-sorry. It's just kinda comical to think about. Are you in any pain?" She asked me. "No." I replied instantly. Growing a horn should've hurt, but it surprisingly didn't. "Ok. Well I don't know much about what to do, and sweetie I've got coustomers, so I'll have to get back to you.. In the meantime just head back home and text your professors and we'll go from there, ok?" She reminded me. "Ok." I breathed as we said our goodbye and I hung up and came out of the stall. I looked at the hat again and then to the horn. Since it already had a hole in it, I put my hat back ontop of the horn and walked out of the bathroom. Truthfully I was terrified, but my talk with my mother had reassured me that despite this bumpy point I would still move on. I walked out of the community college as composed as I could be and headed over to the parking lot to find my car. Despite being eighteen and a freshman at the college, I never once complained about how understanding my mother was. I could always rely on her when things went south. Now maybe I can keep it together for another forty five minutes as I drove over the Sylva mountain... Man, what is up with people on the road today?! On my way back across the mountain at least four semi trucks had nearly rammed into my rear as they swerved into the next lane and sped on by. I get sometimes Monday's are busy on this road, but it's usually not this crazy and WHERE WERE ALL THE COPS WHEN YOU NEEDED ONE!? OUTTA THE WAY BOZO!!! I barely avoided a dude in a corvette as she swerved in between traffic like a mad mare. Wait, did I say mare? I couldn't dwell on it at the moment as I swerved to miss a car that had decided to FLIPPING BREAK TEN FEET IN FRONT OF ME CAN YOU AT LEAST PULL OVER BEFORE YOU STOP COMPLETELY?! Anyways, like I was saying besides the crazy drivers out there I discovered that my new 'horn' really hated the tight arrangements. It was currently trying its best not to scrape the roof as I suddenly felt my left ear itch and I absentmindedly reached up to scratch it. Wait, where are my ears? Oddly the sides of my head were bare, not even an ear hole, but I could still hear. Worriedly I pulled down my mirror to find two yellow leathery like objects perched ontop of my head flicking to and fro at the traffic noise. I tried not panick as I pushed harder down on the gas peddle and sped up. Please tell me this isn't going to get any worse i whimpered as I finally made it into town. Meanwhile at the Crystal Empire.... A large jolt of energy pressed against Cadance's horn as she shot up in a cold sweat from her sleep. "Shining?" She asked blearily as she used her magic to turn on the lights. The stallion in question simply rolled over in his sleep snoring away as Cadance stared at him puzzled before gently nudging him awake. "*yawn* What is it my princess?" He said sleepy as he cracked open an eye and rubbed his hoof over his face. Cadance looked at him troubled, "Did you feel that?" She asked concerned. "Huh? Feel what?" He said still half asleep. "Nevermind... It was probably nothing." She shook her head as she laid back down under the covers. Shining yawned as he leaned over to turn off the light and snuggled back in, "Ok. Well get Colonel Peanut Brittle to investigate in the trail mix..." He muttered as he fell back asleep. Candace just shook her head as she too felt the lull of slumber. She didn't know what the sudden surge of magic was about, but she would ask Auntie Celestia in the morning... Author's Note Yay! Chapter one is done! Welcome to my Contribution to OC Tales! :3 If you're confused with what exactly is OC Tales, please read MidnightChaos' story, or go check ut the group here ==> https://www.fimfiction.net/group/205029/oc-tales Thanks! And I'll return soon! ^^
Chapter 2: My neighbor is a dragon. Nuff said...Fifteen minutes from my house I get a call... My ears swivel to the phone sitting in the cup holder as I groan and pull over to the curb to answer. "Ya?" I answer annoyed as I put it on speaker. My ears are too high to both listen and speak at the same time with my phone. "Oh, Hey Em! Uh, is this a bad time?" The speaker asks me. It's Jacob Spiff, my neighbor... I wonder what he needs me for? Isn't he supposed to be at school too? "*sigh* No, I'm parked on the side of the road, whatcha need?" I said tired. My ears were still twitching back and forth as the traffic zoomed by; it was annoying. "I was wondering if you could maybe pick me up at my house? " he asks. I blink, "Sure." I shrug as I crank back up the car, "But why are you there? Aren't you taking classes?" I asked curious. "I didn't have any today. My professor called in sick, so I'm just hanging out." There was a pause as something made a loud noise in the background, "Listen, can you please hurry? I'll explain when you get here..." There was someone shouting in the background before the call was disconnected. I just sat there staring at the phone for a few minutes in confusion before I hung up and pulled back onto the road. Something was off about the whole conversation. Ignoring my horn and ears for a moment, I sped down the road concerned for my neighbor... The scene in front of my car was pure chaos... Seriously! Broken chairs were strewn about on the lawn of my neighbors place, along with various other objects, like a tornado had invited its friends to play twister... And in the midst of Discord's work was Jacob running around screaming bloody murder as a woman, presumably his mom, was holding a bat chasing after him down the hill. (I assume he was screaming because his mouth was open, but I had my windows up so I couldn't really tell.)... The first thing I did was park my car immediately as I practically leapt out of the car, flinging my door open so hard it probably ripped some of the hinges in the process. "Demon! Demon! In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to leave!" Jacob's mom was yelling as she chased after him. Once he saw my car he veered right and started heading my way. "What the bucking Tartarus?!" I said shocked, as I watched his mother actually flinging the bat down at him as he kept running my way. I assumed the man at the top of the hill watching the whole thing was Jacob's father because he was in a wheelchair and I knew he was partially paralyzed... I kept running towards Jacob to help him as he ducked and avoided the bat by mere inches. "Quickly! Get into the car!" I said as Jacob continued panting and I practically grabbed his hand and threw him inside... I amazingly managed to get the drivers door open in record speed, as Jacob's mom had now started throwing clay pots at my window, and cranked the car up as I slammed on the gas and reversed the car outta there... His mom ran after us a few yards away, but gave up once we left the property as I saw her fall to her knees and openly weep. Well that was weird.. I shuddered as my ears turned their attention to the panting man in the back of the car. I had managed to turn the car around properly as we headed back towards home... "Sweet Celestia Jacob! What the hay was that all about?!" I said still trying to rear in my initial shock as Jacob continued gasping for air... "M-my mom..." He panted, "She flipped out on me when she saw my eyes and... Fangs." He paused for a moment as I heard shifting occurring in the backseat, "Her and Dad thought I was a demon possessing their child and you saw the rest..." He coughed, "I barely was able to slip away to call you... Thanks for getting me out." He said. My ears folded emabarassed. "So you too huh? Horse apples, I thought this was just me..." I frowned as I snuck a quick glance at him from the driver's mirror. True to his word his eyes were slitted like a reptiles and were colored a deep purple like an amethyst. His fangs were long and pointy, looking odd for his jaw line, and probably very uncomfortable. Jacob must've taken this time to examine my form too as I heard an audible gasp coming from behind me... "When did you get a horn and pony ears?" He asked confused. Pony ears? That's what they are? Wait a moment... I thought as we pulled into my drive and I turned off the car. "This morning. I felt a surge of power as a white light overloaded my senses and I found this horn on my head." I explained as we unbuckled and I took out my keys... Jacob was silent for the most part, but let out a silent 'ah'. "By the way, how did you know these were pony ears?" I said intrigued as I unlocked the door and let the dog loose inside the house. He was very happy to see me, he kept wagging his tail a mile a minute and barking at me... Didn't seem to like Jacob though. Must be the fangs... Jacob shrugged as he just laid down exaushted on the couch. "I'm a biology major, duh. I know about all kinds of animals and their psyiology..." He said like it was obvious. I blinked, "Oh. That's right." I sighed as I too took a seat. Things were awkwardly quiet for a bit. Neither one of us knew what to say to the other, and frankly we were both pretty wiped out. "So, the stripes new?" He asked, casually breaking the silence. "What?" I said as I sat up and looked at my skin. Bright white layers of skin ran across me in a zebra like manner. I wet my finger and tried to rub the pattern off, but it only made my skin red... "The buck?" I said confused as I got up to look in the bathroom mirror. Jacob followed suit too as we turned on the bathroom light and just, stared... It wasn't just my arms... The white stripes lead all the way up my face and left a wide white gap from my forehead down to the bridge of my nose. Not counting my wonderful yellow horn still existing on my head, the white stripes look vaguely familiar to me but I couldn't place it... That's when I heard another rip. An audible 'yelp' could be heard as Jacob suddenly sprawled out on the ground twitching, as his shirt was ripped to pieces in the back and seven purple spikes poked their way out. "Woah..." I said as Jacob shivered for a bit more and finally sat up. "W-what was that? What happened?" He asked as he felt his back and touched the spikes. "Um, you got like six or seven spikes growing..." I said, not knowing how else to put it. "WHAT?!" Jacob shouted as he turned around in the mirror to get a good look at them... He seemed to calm down after he saw them and hummed in thought as he examined them more closely... "Do you think we're really turning into demons or something?" He gulped. I snorted and rolled my eyes, "Or something..." I laughed, "Look, if I was turning into a demon do you really think I'd look like some kinda half pony-centaur thing?" I said. Jacob chuckled, "No, I suppose not. But this is just so-" "Surreal, yea I know." I said as I looked at my white stripes again... That's when my phone rang again... It was mom. Ignoring the mirror for a moment, I picked up the phone to answer. "Hey mom, whatcha need?" I said casually, as I watched out of the corner of my eye Jacob making odd random faces in the mirror using his fangs. "Hey sweetie, I'm just getting off work. I've gotta go run a few errands and then I'll be home." Mom explained. "Ok. Hey mom? Jacob's over here by the way. He's got these reptile-like eyes and fangs, so his parents are being all crazy right now..." I said. There was a pause like I expected... "Ok....? Just be sure to offer him anything he would like to eat, and I'll try to make the trip short. Bye! Love you!" She chirped. "Love you too!" I said as I hung up. Jacob had finished posing for the mirror. "So now what?" He blinked. I shrugged, "We just wait.. I've got snacks, games, and homeworrrrrrr-, aw Horseapples! I left my work back in Sylva!" I cursed as I left the bathroom and Jacob followed. "So, just snacks and games then..." He muttered as he rubbed his chin in a thoughtful way. I groaned as I tried to swallow the bubbling panic of loosing my work over staying focused that I don't become a freak. Ah screw it, becoming a pony takes top priority... An idea suddenly popped up into my head as I grinned like a mad mare. Jacob noticed it and looked oddly uncomfortable as he backed away slightly. "Uh, Em?" He said, but I held out my hand to shush him. "Ever played SSBB?" I grinned deviously with a sparkle in my eyes. Jacob returned the grin even more menacing as his fangs gave him the fear advantage. "You're going down!" He roared as we broke out the controllers... Back at the Crystal Empire... Cadance did not look well today... Her mane was in a tiss, her wings were in desperate need of preening, and her eyes were bloodshot despite the sleep she had gotten from the previous night... "Bookmark! I need more quills!" Cadance shouted as several crystal ponies ran to and fro in a panicked motion. "Yes ma'am!" Bookmark saluted as the aging stallion dashed away with the speed of a stallion half his age. "Aged Page! Bring me all of the books we have about the ancient mirror and forbidden arts!" Cadance roared over the panic. "Yes your highness!" Aged Page shook in fear as he headed another way through the empire to get more books. "And Sprinkled Sprinkle!" She said, this time with the facade of somepony completely calm and contrary to her appearance. "Yes?" Sprinkled asked curious as she looked up at her majesty's mangled appearance afraid. Cadence loomed over Sprinkled with a look that would turn Discord to stone and match Fluttershy's stare. "Please bring me a cup coffee and a glazed donut if you will..." She smiled warmly as Sprinkle's legs gave out and she let out a sigh of relief. "Y-yes. Princess Cadance." Sprinkled bowed as she left the throne room shakily. Cadance smiled as she clicked her hooves together in a tapping motion.. "Everything is going to plan..." She cackled as a couple of panicking ponies carrying paper bumped into each other and caused a paper avalanche. "Mwahahahahaha!" She laughed deviously at the mayhem before her as thunder could be heard in the background.... Author's Note I'd like to thank everyone who has commented on the story so far! :) Thank you so much for those who have pointed out errors or inconsistencies, I really appreciate the feedback and am glad you all are liking the story so far! On a side note, please be patient with me... I'm not the fastest nor most productive writer. ^^; I don't have any proof readers and so on and so forth... I'm mainly writing this for fun, so don't take it too seriously. Thank you! :D ~ Blue Sky
Chapter 3: In which the truth is revealed!"You rotten dirty cheater!" I yelled as the wii screen revealed Jacob as the winner by three points... Jacob smirked, "Hey, it was fair game. I got the power up and you didn't. You should've picked a better character than lucario." He grinned with those annoying fangs of his. I scowled, "I hate you. Why do you always pick Snake?" I huffed as I crossed my arms. "Maybe because he's cool and has missiles?" He shrugged. I threw my pillow I was sitting on at him. "Hey!" He laughed as he picked up the pillow I had threw and aimed it back at me. I dodged, but got the message as he stared expectantly. 'Oh it. Is. On!' Jumping up from my seat, I grabbed the pillow and took cover as I launched directly at his face and weaved. Jacob took the initiative as he picked up one of the dog's squeaky toys and chucked it my direction. I retaliated by throwing a quilt at him. "Argh!" He bellowed as he clawed his way out of the quilt and threw it to the side. I laughed as I dodged another pillow, but missed when he threw something else at me... You know all those warnings about wearing the wrist strap on the wii remote to avoid injury to you or people around you? Yeah, that rule was thrown out the window when he TOSSED IT AT MY HORN!! I remember bracing, and then a loud 'crack' before I fell over and blacked out... Clang! Clang! CLANG! Ugh, what happened...? I awoke to find I was in some kind of cobbled stone building. Clang! And there was that noise again... Turning my head to the right I found the source of the noise. Someone dressed in a brown apron, donning a wielding mask, was hovering over an anvil smacking what looked like a metal sword. Clang! They went again, as I got up and walked over to them curiously. The figure was pony-like in appearance, and something about this all seemed vaguely familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it, as I watched the pony in awe... Clang! They rose their hammer up in blue magic as it came down on the sword a final time and they set it aside... "*phew* That should do it..." The muffled voice of the pony said, as they took off their wielding mask and soaked the sword in cold water. I gasped as I saw the face of the equine... It was a mare unicorn with a brown mane and yellow fur. Her eyes were green, like spinach, and she had brown freckles across her muzzle following some white stripes. She seemed to notice me at the exact same time I saw her face and stared up at me quizzically. "What are you doing here?" She talked with a slight Appaloosian accent as she halted all movement. "You're Sunstripe! My OC!" I gasped as I just gawked at the pony in front of me. Sunstripe just blinked at me as she turned her attention elsewhere, "Ya, and I'm kinda busy right now... Whatcha need?" She huffed impatiently, as she undid her apron with her magic and trotted over to where a set of yellow mechanical wings were sitting and strapped them on. I blinked, not expecting the curt response, as I watched her effortlessly use her magic to adjust the wings on her frame. To be honest, I still couldn't believe I was actually looking at a pony from my drawings doing normal real life things. I mean, here she was right in front of me using magic as effortlessly as breathing, and blinked and twitched and moved just like any other living creature that ever existed. In short, I was stunned. "H-how? Why-?! You can't be real!" I just gawked dumbfounded, as I watched her snap the wings in place for good. She tested them for a few moments, flexing them up and down and side to side before turning her attention back to me. "What's ta say I'm not real? Ha! I'm talking to you aren't I?" She challenged, as she flicked her mechanical wings upwards in annoyance, and walked over to me staring directly at my face. "Well I-, um..." "I live to challenge what can and can't be done! See these wings here?" She pointed to them as she turned around to show, "Ah built em myself! They feed off magic and allow me ta fly!" She stomped as she got closer, making me feel slightly uncomfortable, "Many folks told me I was chasin' a fool's dream, but I did it anyways... Saying I'm not real is as dumb as saying you ain't turning into me!" She poked my chest as I just stared, unsure of what to say to that remark. I remember creating Sunstripe as coming off a bit strong willed, but never expected to actually see it in action like I was experiencing right now. I pondered over what Sunstripe had said, though slightly confused. "Well I guess so, but what am I doing here then?" I said the thought aloud. Sunstripe shrugged, making the wings move with her, "Don't know partner... But look, I gotta go." She said as she opened the wooden door to the blacksmith and walked out. I gasped as I saw out the door ponies walking outside doing normal things and talking to one another. Could it be real? Did a place like this exist? "See Ya!" Sunstripe waved as she took off into the skies with her mechanical wings. I just stood at the door watching her until she was nothing more than a blip in the sky. All those things she had talked about... Was I really going to become a carbon copy of her? Before I could ponder it much longer, a piano suddenly fell on my head. "Look out!" A voice similar to Derpy's said, as I titled my head up and saw the thing hit me before I blacked out again... "..." A constant ringing echoed through my brain as a dull throb woke me back up into the real world. "She's coming too, back up!" A voice, male???, spoke as the ringing died down and the pain became more manageable. I groaned as I felt my limbs come back online and I cracked open an eye as I involuntarily twitched my right arm. Two sea foam green eyes blinked back at me as I jumped in surprise from where I was laying, and felt something go flying towards my head followed by a loud crack! A yelp was followed soon after, as I made out more details of what was going on as the green eyes relented to reveal a familiar face. "Wow! You just did magic!" A high feminine voice giggled as I saw toothpaste colored hair and a horn attached to the green eyes. The rest was human, so I immediately knew who it was thanks to the chubby body and size difference. "Ariana?" I croaked as the pain finally subsided, like I had stretched a limb that had been cramped forevermore, and I realized I was laying on top of the master bed. The girl laughed as she cracked a grin my direction, "Yep! I'm so happy you're awake now! We can do magic together!" She cheered as I just blinked and looked around... Ariana was here? Why is she becoming a pony as well? I immediately recalled the events leading to me blacking out and felt my horn. It felt slightly raw, but wasn't cracked or worse for ware. I let out a sigh of relief to know the bone wasn't damaged. Everything else checked out, though there was an odd sensation below my hips, but I would deal with that later. I found Jacob standing to the side silent, but looking horrified as his eyes were pointed upwards directly towards the ceiling. Confused, I followed his gaze only to realize that when I had been startled, I had caused an unintentional 'magic' burst to shoot out of my horn that had left a burn mark on the ceiling and continued to sizzle slightly. I snapped back over to Jacob who was still staring up and raised an eyebrow, "yo Einstein! Care to explain what's going on since you HIT ME WITH THE BUCKING WII REMOTE?!" I scowled as he finally snapped into attention. Oh I was angry alright, but not angry enough to actually do anything about it, yet... Despite it being unintentional, I still wanted to pound some guilt into the half dragon boy, even if he didn't quite deserve it. He blinked for a moment trying to reboot as he opened his mouth to- "Jacob called me thinking he'd killed you after the incident, and I came home and helped out before I picked up Ariana here." A feminine voice said, as a form walked into the bedroom. "Mom?" I smiled as it felt good to see another friendly face admits the chaos. Mom smiled as she handed me a water bottle and I took a few sips. Ah moms, never live without them. Jacob finally broke the silence, "Yeah um, I wasn't really worried. You were still breathing and all. I just called your mom to be safe ya know?" He coughed as he glanced away guilty. I just rolled my eyes and looked at him like 'really?' But let it drop as I turned to look at the other person in the room, Ariana. Ariana is my younger cousin, and the most obsessed MLP fan I've ever met. (Though granted, where I live there are few 'actual fans' of the show since we live in such a small town.) She was roughly five years younger than me, placing her at thirteen, and was somewhat similar in appearance. The main differences were that she was somewhat chubby, round, and was legally blind despite wearing very thick glasses. Her obsession with mlp is, to put it best, what fangirls are like when they meet Aaron Carter. In other words, she loved the show. To my knowledge, she's watched every episode there is, drawn the main six religiously, and of course created hundreds of OCs. Of course, being at her age, it was considered normal for her to like these types of cartoons. It was the people who were older, and often times male, that were commonly mocked for liking such things. She's been a fan of the show long before I even got started. I believe I discovered it around season 3, where as Ariana had been a die hard fan from the beginning. The answer was fairly obvious why she of all po- erm, I mean people was turning into one, but I still had to know. I rubbed my chin, "So when did you start becoming a pony?" I asked, as I stood up from where I was sitting and walked into the bathroom to straighten out my hair. Whoa! I'm gonna have to be more careful with how I balance myself from now on! I turned around to find I had indeed grown a brown tail to match my already brown hair as I simply flicked it back and forth until I could sway it to my walking rhythm to get to the mirror. Ariana giggled as she hopped up and down in the bedroom where I could see her, while mom left us three alone. "Oh! Oh! That's easy! It was this morning!" She grinned as she had suddenly reminded me of a certain pink pony the way she was behaving... Jacob grumbled as he slicked back his hair and folded his arms, "Long story short she called your mom because she had a some sort of 'magic episode' and turned her parents into fruit and then back again the moment she grew a horn." He explained. I stopped brushing my hair after that and just stared, "Whoa wait. Hang on, So you just happened to pull an 'alicorn moment' like Twilight? What happened to your mom and dad?" I asked while looking at my own horn. What trouble did I get myself into? Would I too have more magic fits? "Well it turned them back after the fit died down, and then they called your mom thinking you would know something, but she didn't answer until this afternoon so they let me skip school until your mom could pick me up!" She cheered. I snorted as I parted my hair a bit and noticed the hair line coming down further into my shoulder blades, "Well that explains it. Probably think this is some weirdo voodoo DnD stuff, so they obviously blamed me." I sighed as I turned around and my tail followed in rhythm. Gosh, this was weirder than my pony ears... I thought back to my dream with Sunstripe... The changes were so painfully obvious now. The tail, the yellow horn, the white stripes. Was I really going to become my OC? This lead me to another question I looked at Jacob who had said very little as he just stood in place unsure of what to say or do. "Jacob..." I began as I got his attention, "Tell me... Did you ever watch mlp?" I said curious as a slight smirk curled across my lips. His face turned bright red as horror dawned on his face. "What?! No! I never watched that nine year old's show! Why would you say that?!" He stammered as his face said otherwise as he looked away to hide the fact. "Uh huh." I crossed my arms as I let a small smirk show now, I had him. "Just like the time with Owl City or Webk-" "Stop! Ok! Ok! I did watch a couple of episodes! Hay, I even made a dragon OC alright?!" He shouted as he ran over to stop me from blackmailing him any further... I smirked, "Thought so," I said as I sighed and rubbed my temple, careful to avoid my horn, "Well that helps clear up a few things... But I still don't understand why..." I hummed in thought. "Understand what?" Ariana asked as she looked at me confused with those adorable green eyes. Gosh darn it! Why are ponies so darned cute?! I blinked out of my daydream, "Oh. Well I think we're turning into characters we made, but I don't know why." I said. The silence spoke numbers as the two just stared at me like I'd grown a second head. Finally, Jacob broke the silence by screaming, "What?!" as he went hysterical. "What do you mean we're turning into cartoon creatures?! I just thought this was all some weird military experiment or something!" He hyperventilated as he looked at us and then back to himself. "I need-, I need some air." He huffed as he left the room and walked outside. I started to stop him in order to explained better, but Ariana shrugged at me and grinned, "Well, one positive side of this is that he's pretty much indestructible as a dragon and I get live out the life of Berry Blast with my cousin." She grinned. Berry Blast, that's right. That was her first Oc she made if I recall. She had been going for a Trixie look with it, but I initially helped her come up with the name. That made me wonder... Sunstripe was my only Mlp Oc I had created simply because I only wanted to have one for the sake of figuring about the best way to ~~copy~~, I mean animate Hasbro's ponies. As far as I knew Jacob also only had one, but Ariana... I groaned as I flopped down on the living room sofa, "Buck this. I don't think I handle dealing without having hands and bacon." I frowned as I pulled out my tablet and began to surf the web for answers... A little while later Jacob finally came back in as the dog came out of his room to see what was up. I had just pulled up some interesting news footage when I turned to see him looking sheepish as I noticed his appearance had took on a rougher demeanor. "So, did you get some air?" I said as I dragged my eyes away from his pointy hands that were becoming much sharper now. Jacob nodded as he sat down and mom came out with some muffins she was baking the whole time to lighten our mood... "Yeah, I thought about this for a while... Being a dragon won't be so bad, but I don't know how my sister will take it, let alone my parents." He groaned as he rubbed his face, "I'm going to be scolded all the time for making a character and for liking a girly show..." He sighed, as he stared at me and Ariana, "It's humiliating okay?" He said like we didn't get it. I looked at him surprised, "Did I ever laugh at you for something like that?" I said as he stared at me dumbly, "No, I never did. But look, we can't change this now, we just have to continue onwards and hope for the best! Besides." I said as I held the tablet closer to the other two, "It looks like we're not the only ones..." I pressed play on a video entitled 'Breaking news: Mass transformation of people into various creatures occurring world wide!'. The video started to play... When it stopped I scrolled down from the video and read aloud. "What you see in the video before you is a home made fan video for a show entitled 'My Little Pony'. But unlike the video above, the scenario has become real. For some strange reason, people who have fallen in love with the show are now becoming the very same creatures shown above. I honestly never thought that a show my daughter likes would end up with her sprouting wings and growing hooves... ~ Said Margret from a Facebook post earlier today. This is just one of the thousands of concerned family members across the globe as hundreds of people are becoming ponies. In the United States alone, Health care advisers are baffled as millions of people are flooding in through their doors donning these pony ears or having horns sprouting out their skulls. It is baffling the amount of cases we have concerning this mass genetic transmutation over here in Washington state. I had one patient come in with a hole the size of a golf ball running through his upper leg joint, yet surprisingly could bend and walk on it just fine! ~ Cameron, Nurse at Washington Medical. Scientists are baffled by this, and without proper samples or any type of models to go on, are in a panic as they advise people to stay indoors as much as possible until they can diagnose if the problem is transferable to other people." I stopped as I continued to read alone for a moment. Jacob snorted as he leaned back, "So what?! They just want to quarantine and sweep this all under the rug?! This is stupid! If millions of people are already affected, then what's stopping it now?" He rambled angrily as he ferociously bit into one of the muffins on his plate. I shushed him for a moment as I held out my hand, "Listen to this." I said as I read on. "One common report from those afflicted with this 'pony problem' is that many claim to have felt a massive power surging through them around the same time, in each times zone respectively, before the transformations occurred. In the midst of all the confusion, two people named Len and Andy have stepped up to take the blame for the entire incident, and have invited those afflicted to join them in Chicago at a convention center to discuss a way to fix the problem. Though unlikely, these people are the only ones to have an apparent explanation for this particular crisis. In other news related to the pony event, scientist Bill Nye has proposed a new philosophy o-" "Wait stop! Read the part about the two guys in Chicago again!" Jacob interrupted as I sighed and read it over once more. "It just says two guys in Chicago know something about this whole OC transforming thing and are taking the blame." I shrugged as I scrolled down some more to read. "No! It said something about them hosting an event in Chicago to explain everything!" Jacob said excitedly as he leaned in closer to the screen and I had to move it so he wouldn't fog it up. "Ugh, dude not so close!" I frowned as he apologized. "Hey, do you think we could ride Jacob to Chicago since he's becoming a dragon?" Ariana asked excitedly as Jacob paled. "What?! No! That is out of the question!" He scowled as he backed up and folded his arms, "Those guys in Chicago might have some kind of antidote for this whole mess before I completely turn, so N.O. You are not riding me." He said as I suppressed a laugh. Mom chose this time to speak up as she had moved from the kitchen to close to where we were sitting. "It's a long shot, but I think it's best we head to Chicago.." She said. I blinked, was she seriously thinking-? "What?! Mom, no way! We don't even know if this is legitimate or not, and besides the police will start cracking down on anyone out and about!" I frowned as I thought this was a stupid idea. Mom shrugged, "Maybe it's fake, but look at it this way... There's going to be lots of other people there with the same problem to compare notes with. Who knows, if we put our heads together we might figure this out." She grinned, "Besides, I've been saving up some money for a vacation, and it seems like the perfect time to fly out there." She smirked. I groaned as I facepalmed. So this was it... "Fine... On the condition we get to enjoy the convention while we're there." I said, sealing my fate. "Deal. I'll go book the flight right now." She said as she got up. Behind me Ariana cheered, "Woo-Hoo! Vacation time!" She cheered as she pranced around. I groaned as I face planted on the table in a vain attempt to block out Ariana's annoying cheer as she pranced around the living room. "Uh, I don't know about this..." Jacob said nervously as Ariana continued to hop up and down. "Road trip! Road trip! Road trip!" Author's Note Sorry no Cadence in this chapter. :P This story was already pretty long and I couldn't figure out a good place to write her in this time around. :/ Meh, just means that next time I'll work harder on giving her more screen time. :) (Also, side note here. Big thanks to bluemoon1996 for setting the idea of how this whole pony transforming thing is dealt with. Seriously helped me to organize the plot here. So thank you! :3)
Chapter 4: This was a stupid idea..."Well this is a disaster." I groaned as we arrived at the Atlanta airport at 7, waiting in line to be screened. The crowd was normal for a typical Monday evening, as it would be a little less than 30 mins before it was our turn, but as we got in line I realized something... In order to avoid suspicion about us turning into ponies, my mom had ransacked my closet for various articles of clothing to hide the o' so obvious changes. I was wearing mom's red bucket hat, akin in likeliness of 'Paddington the bear' haha, yoga pants, and a thick coat so no one could see the stripes all over me. Jacob also sported my heavy snow jacket, that is three sizes too small for him but was the best we could do, to hide his scales, along with gloves and a pair of sunglasses. Ariana was lucky and only had to wear my rain jacket, since the hood was big enough to hide the horn and ears, as she skipped merrily down the line with us. It was currently about 59° outside, typical for an October evening in Georgia, and was raining. Luckily, this drew suspicion away from the funny pair of people wearing thick coats as we moved up the line. I guess I should explain why I know so much about the Atlanta area. You see, my mom's sister lives not too far away from here. Her job is basically selling various medical equipment to hospitals and dentists offices akin to how a telemarketer tries to get you to buy Avon products, etc. Typically once a month I, or my mom, would drive down here to hang out for the weekend and go sightseeing. So I knew the layout of Atlanta fairly well. Also, the Atlanta airport is one of the biggest airports in the country, and was a favorite of mine to use when we flew down to Orlando in the summer. Needless to say, this wasn't my first rodeo. With that I realized one tiny flaw in getting screened. You see, most airports do a 'pat down'; a non invasive check to see whether or not your harboring anything illegal on you, but here in Atlanta pat downs had been replaced with a machine that did the screening for them. This machine would spin around you and do a scan which you shows your outline to the security officers while also highlighting anything metal, making the machine go off. To my horror, this also meant it would probably detect my horn and tail and immediately alert them to it. I glanced around as we moved up some more and watched as people filed in behind as the chatter continued around us. I was sweating bullets by now. I could technically refuse to be scanned by the machine, but that would mean I'd have to be patted down, and that would mean they'd feel my tail. Either way I was screwed, as the line moved on at a pace faster than I would've liked it to be. "ID?" The lady said, as I blinked out of my daydream for a moment and fumbled around in my purse before pulling out my drivers license. She scanned it along with my ticket before I crammed them back in and started pulling off my shoes... My toes were becoming oddly squished ever since the drive over here... They already refused to go down from the tip toe position, but I wasn't as concerned with that since I'd been walking on my toes for my whole life. (Yeah, yeah I know I'm odd. But for whatever reason the habit stuck.) Anyways, I slung my shoes into the bin as I took off my watch and emptied my pockets before walking down the line and putting my purse in a separate bin. The others were not far behind me, but as I watched the number of people in front of me decrease from ten to just three in front, I felt myself gasping for breath. "Next please!" The lady shouted as I took a deep breath and walked into the machine. Time seemed to drag as the machine clicked and whirred about before doing its spin as I stepped out. I looked behind me to see the lady examining something closer on the screen as she crinkled her brow in confusion and whispered something to the TSA agent. Oh Celestia I'm dead. I shivered as the TSA man started walking towards me with a look of confusion written across his face. Please pass by me... I squeaked, but no such luck as the others came out and the lady who was doing the scans showed the same baffled face. "I need officer Mike to the front please, officer Mike thank you." She said as she put down her pager as the TSA agent made it to us. "Excuse me kids, but I'm afraid we need to ask you a few questions if you would follow me." He said as he looked at my mom who had before been putting on a brave face, but now looked scared and lost. The TSA man tilted his head, "Are you the guardian? You need to come as well." He said as we began out long track to the back of the air port... All I could think was, Crap... "Open these doors right bucking now!" I screamed as I banged on the only exit out of this hell hole. Once the TSA had gotten wind of us trying to sneak on board when everyone affected was supposed to be staying away from public areas, they did the only thing they knew to do until back up arrived... Throw all four of us in the kid's lounge room. "Buck it!" I cursed as I kicked the doorframe for good measure before sitting down in a chair defeated. "Calm down Emily. Yelling will only make it worse." Mom assured as I watched Jacob scratch a spot on his chin that he had been messing with for the past fifteen minutes. During that time my feet had felt like pin cushions, as my balance was threw off and I ended up wobbling off and on since they put us in here. It was only making my anger worse, as I wanted out of here and to Chicago ASAP. I didn't want to have to explain myself to security, and even if banging on the doors made things worse, it was better than just sitting here doing nothing when we could be headed to somewhere that had answers... Jacob appeared to be growing scales around his ears, soon to be just ear holes as the cartilage was dissolving already, as he kept scratching only for mom to give up on scolding him for such behavior. Ariana was busy being entertained by the TV playing some kind of pixie fairy show that I could care less for, like really care less for, and she had took off her glasses since her eyes were expanding in size. To be honest, it was an hour till our flight took off, we were being quarantined, my balance was off, and I was hungry. All this added up to me being pretty angry as I just grumbled and took off my hat to scratch my pony ears. Still trying to get used to these thing by the way. The hair is so sensitive something always seems to be tickling it. And did I mention the noise amplification? Yeah, it didn't help I couldn't block out that blasted kids show anyways... Thinking about this made me realize something, "Hey Jacob? What exactly was your dragons name?" I asked curiously. Jacob stopped itching for a moment as he looked at me, "Huh? Oh! His name was Scorch. Red dragon with purple eyes and highlights. Vicious fire dragon adult male with a talent in dragon martial arts. Heh, easy enough for him to take on much tougher foes without them even knowing." He smirked. Argh! Again with the fangs!! "Hm.. Do you think you can breathe fire yet?" I asked as I pointed to the door. Jacob shrugged and did a small puff of air, which just resorted in me smelling his bad breath, ew! And then sighed once we both realized fire wasn't going to help us get out of here. We sat in silence for a bit, save for the TV, as my ears kept twitching and I ended up resorting to folding them down on my head. That TV! Faust! It would be the end of me... "So what did you learn about how to make the color purple today?" The chubby pink fairy asked the cheeky chipmunk. The chipmunk thought for a bit, scratching above his ear as he hummed in concentration, "Hmm... Well I know that you have to have blue paint and a whole bunch of peanuts!" The chipmunk raised his arms up for emphasis. The pink fairy laughed as s- "Faust! For the ever loving sake of Celestia will you Shut. Up!" I screamed as I felt a familiar sensation run through me and then there was a crash! "Gah!" Jacob shouted as I blinked and realized the TV was now smoking on the ground with blue flames.. "Whut." I dead panned as I looked up to my horn where the feeling was coming from and caught a glimpse of a faint blue spark before it winked out of existence. "E-Emily?" Mom asked in shock as I just stared at the now broken TV, and then back to my horn, and then back to the TV. Ariana was watching me too with wide eyes as the gears turned as I reached for the familiar sensation again.. A blue aura engulfed a magazine nearby as I concentrated hard and moved it into my hands. The aura disappears as soon as the magazine launched in my lap and I grinned. "I've got magic." I tittered, as a slew of ideas began running through my brain. "Magic?" Mom repeated still blinking. The titter turned into a chuckle and then to a small laugh before I was roaring on the couch. Everyone respectively backed away from me as I grinned manically. "I have magic!!!" I shouted crazy as the next thing anyone knew there was a boom followed by a war cry as the door to the kid's area was blown apart. Princess Cadenza was frantically tapping her hoof on the crystal library's desk as she flipped through pages and pages of books held in her magical grasp. Each one was labeled either 'magical disturbances', 'creatures of Equis', 'magical artifacts throughout time and space', or 'apocalyptic prophecies'; the latter group briefly skimmed but not taken seriously. As Cadance used her magic to weed through every book she held at blinding speeds, another jolt of magic went through her horn as she halted all activity when it shot a bolt out her horn. She ground her teeth as the flare subsided and she tenderly rubbed her horn, before catching all 128 books that had fell out of her telekinetic grip. "Another magic burst..." She huffed as she resumed her reading. They had been occurring more rapidly now. At first there had been only the one that she had assumed to be an odd occurrence that happened once every century, later on it was one in the morning and one in the evening for half a week, now it was four a day. She did not know what caused these flares to occur, since no other unicorn, pegasi, or earth pony could sense them, but one thing for sure was they were increasing in frequency and she did not know when they would halt or if they ever would. She shivered as she set down another book she had finished flipping through. What if it never stopped? Was she doomed to bear the intense magical backlash of whatever this was for all eternity? The thought made her hasten her research. The flares may have been increasing in frequency, but not strength, which was good. Cadance had experienced enough of them already to deal with the backlash, it was only when they caught her off guard like this one had did they sting. She sighed as she finished the 'magical artifacts' section and began to skim more thoroughly through the 'apocalyptic prophecies' when she stopped and started to laugh. "What am I doing?" She chuckled as she set down the books and levitated her notebook over to her. "These books aren't going to tell me anything. I need a living source." She smirked, as she sent off a letter to her Aunt Celestia and packed up her things. She waved to the librarian, Amethyst, sweet deary really, and headed back to the castle. She had some packing to do... Author's Note Wooooo! Chapter's up! :D Here's Cadance for those who were missing her last time! So much mystery in the air~! Wonder what will happen to our group of little ponies? :O Only time will tell! Enjoy!
Chapter 5: Fly Barney! Fly!!!"Stop in the name of the law!" Two TSA members were yelling behind us, since I had used my magic to bust down the kid's lounge door previously, as we made a break for it. Briefly, I snuck a glance behind me to find them still hot on our tails with the panicked looks of everyone around mirroring it. "Was it really a good idea to bust down the door Emily?" Mom huffed as we kept on running. We had made it past the food court area into our respective flight zone, with just enough time to maybe actually make it onto the flight thank Celestia, but if we didn't shake these guys we'd never get anywhere. I shrugged as I kept on running, "Maybe?! But what other choice did we have?" I shouted as I skidded right and ran through a more congested section of people to slow down the TSA agents. Mom would've finished, but she was too busy trying too keep up. I hate to admit it, but I was getting tired too... I'm more of a sprinter in nature, and while Jacob was clearly in the lead for being the most psychically built, carrying Ariana on his back not withstanding, he too was barely outpacing these guys. "I need backup on floor C!" One of the TSA members shouted into his Walkie-Talkie. I cringed, our flight was another mile's walk ahead, but if we didn't loose them now, we were goners. Briefly I began to panic. Was this how it went down? Perhaps I had been a bit delusional in thinking we could actually outrun trained professionals, not to mention my feet could become hooves at any second... Let's face it... This was hopeless to start with; I frowned. I was about to call it quits when by some miracle I spotted the one thing that could be our saving grace. A few feet ahead, sitting idly off the sidewalk, was one of those mini carts used for the handicap and the wealthy. I veered that direction as I turned left, "Jacob! Cart up ahead!" I called as he nodded and put on a extra burst of speed. Me and mom were right behind him as Jacob practically launched Ariana into a seat, and turned the ignition key on as he quickly maneuvered it out into the walkway. Me and mom dashed over to it and jumped in, well more like mom jumped, I tripped at the last possible second (stupid feet) and fell in painfully but managed to miss my horn. Jacob then hit the gas, and for effect turned on the sirens, as we practically sped down the walkway at a speed close to 35mph. As I finally sat up, I noticed the TSA getting farther and farther behind before they stopped to radio in more help. I would've smirked if it weren't for the fact we were steadily running out of road ourselves. "Uh Jacob?!" I panicked as I poked him, while we edged closer and closer to the end of the hall where there was nothing but a glass window up ahead. There was no time to stop. ~~If we did it might've been much worse..~~ Instead Jacob narrowed his slit eyes and shouted, "Hold on! We can make this!" As he did probably the second most bravest, or stupidest, thing I've ever seen him do before... The cart sped up with us and our luggage in tow (forgot to mention we had been dragging it with us the whole time, oops!), as the window ebbed closer and closer. People around us screamed as they ran out the way in a panic, including one dude who had been reading a newspaper when he looked up to see what the fuss was about and hurled himself out of the way, before we hit the window pane dead on and flew out of the airport onto the runway with a thud!. I held on for dear life as Jacob quickly recovered and spun the cart left before he hit the gas once more. "Is everyone okay?" I shouted as we sped down the airport parking lane. "I'm fine! The cart took the impact of the glass shattering and the hood fended off the rest!" Ariana called as mom nodded in confirmation and I sighed in relief. Next came Jacob. I smacked him on the head. "What the hay were you thinking?! You could've gotten us killed!" I screeched as Jacob yelped and ducked to keep me from smacking him again. "Hey! You blew apart a door! I'm just taking notes from your book of crazy and dangerous!" He scoffed as we continued to speed down the parking zones. The thought occurred to me, "So uh, where are we going?" I blinked as zone c-73, 72, 71, etc. zoomed by our vision. Jacob shrugged, "Well, I thought we'd just head on over to where we were gonna board anyways and snag a ride then. "Without our tickets?" I questioned as the numbers of the zones kept going down. Jacob grinned as he stole a glance my way, "More like we hide in the cargo." He said, which earned a 'what' from me. "Again, this could've gone much better..." I grumbled as here we were, packed and hidden in between carelessly thrown about luggage in the bottom of the plane. "Honestly, I don't know how much better it could've been." Mom sighed sadly as we made ourselves as comfortable as possible amongst the hard suitcases. I was sitting closer to the animal cargo, and was petting a sleeping dog while groaning simulatenously. "I guess the bright side is we've still got our luggage." I said as I pointed out the fact that we still had them with us. Everyone nodded as Ariana played fort and Jacob laid down, careful not to bend his spikes. "This is sometimes a little to much to handle. Did we really manage to pull it off?" He tittered, his face twisted in between a nervous laugh and downright shock. Welp, I guess the adrenaline finally wore off then... I shook my head, "Not yet Jacob. We gotta get there first and leave this place without being detained." I sighed once more. There was no telling what would happen to us now. We were wanted felons, and- "Right." Mom said as she donned a serious face. "I'm not usually for going against the law, but I think our circumstances warrant it." She said. I just blinked in surprise as she grinned at me. "What?" She said, "This is a national crisis! I'm not just going to let you all fail at the one chance of figuring out why this is happening!" She said bravely, though none of us felt really brave right now. She turned towards Jacob who was donning some more purple scales near his ear holes. "Right, now listen here everyone! This is the plan..." Author's Note Alright! Enjoy the chapter everyone! More to come soon!
Chapter 6: Chicago at last!The plane shook as I snapped awake from my day dream and braced as we finally landed on the runway. "Huh, only 10:30... That was a short flight". I said as I checked my watch. "Everyone ready?" Mom asked as the engines cut off. Despite the flight only lasting roughly forty-five minutes, a lot had changed since then. Turns out Jacob's eyes glow in the dark, creepy but neat at the same time. I practiced my magic briefly on a few pieces of luggage, and managed to lift roughly thirty pounds before I gave out. Ariana was practicing what she called 'hoof jabs', and mom used the wi-fi to book our hotel while we were stuck here. We knew getting out of here was going to be no easy task. It was most likely the police were on high alert and already had our mugs plastered about, not to mention they had tazers, so we had to be careful. We sat in silence for what seemed like eternity before voices were heard climbing up towards the cargo lock and we sprung to life. "I keep telling you Joe! Every time I come to work, something odd always happens! I-" The man called Joe opened the latch with a ear grinding noise as he crawled his way inside. We went into hiding, snuggling ever deeper within the luggage as I tried to even my breathing. The doorway, our exit, was right there! But we needed to wait. Joe scooted in as his face burrowed in confusion before latching the conveyor belt down. "Huh, seems like we've got a lot of luggage in here Mike. I think more than regulation permits..." He frowned as he started hauling down bags. That was Jacob's cue... Grrrr... Joe froze as he whipped his head over to where the animals were still laying half asleep. He blinked for a moment, looking around before cautiously unloading more luggage. I don't know if you guys know this about me, but I'm really good at making all sorts of animal calls. I carefully swallowed my spit as I shifted my vocal cords to the back of my throat and took a deep breath... SCRREEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! I shouted at the top of my lungs as Joe just froze in horror and put his hands over his ears and grimaced. The sound echoed throughout the cabin, waking up the animals as they started barking and hissing and even growling, before Joe scoooted towards the entrance of the cargo lift. "Hey Mike! Something odd's going on in here! There's a funny noise and the animals are in a tiz! Can you come up 'ere and look? My eyesight ain't as good as it used to be..." Joe hollered down as the clanking of Mike's shoes could be heard before he too jumped into the cockpit. It was getting uncomfortably crowded now... Grrrrrrrrr.... Jacob let out another deep throaty growl as both Joe and Mike whipped around to the source of the noise. Mike frowned as he undid his flashlight, "Probably some f****** pitbull that got loose" he swore as he carefully made his way over to Jacob's hiding spot. Jacob rustled the bags around him a bit more as he let out another growl. "What the-?" Joe said as he obviously looked spooked. Mike edged forwards as Jacob rattled the luggage even more... Mortalssssss... He hissed as Mike blinked before his face turned to one of mock humor. "Alright kid, get out!" He growled in warning as Jacob continued to rustle even more. "YOU DARE?! He shouted as he suddenly sprung up to full height and turned his glowing purple eyes at the man. Mike must've peed himself right there because the two men swore as they froze in shock for a good half moment. I AM SATAN INCARNATE! WHO DARES?! He bellowed, as he suddenly burst in height and two leathery like appendages sprung out from his back. Joe fell out of the plane and hit the ground, and Mike just dashed out without a word as his face said it all. I laughed. Oh Luna! Did you see their faces?! No time to bother though, we grabbed our things and ran. Joe was passed out on the ground from the fall, and Mike was long gone as the quiet surrounded us... Jacob about didn't make it out the cockpit, seeing he just grew twelve feet with wings!, but clawed his way out and we grabbed the cargo van and just booked it. I barely made it in when I suddenly broke out in cold sweat, and realized Ariana was doing the same, before I released my contents of my stomach onto the asphalt. A loud ripping was heard as my feet suddenly fell out of my shoes and I couldn't feel my toes, and then my pants ripped as my toes bent and warped in an inhuman way. Ariana beside me sprouted a tail and grew a muzzle before she screamed in horror as mom pushed down on the gas. "Uh guys, this is really uncomfortable.." Jacob said, as he put on another burst of size and suddenly broke the seat in his cart as the line snapped and his wings became more defined. His ears suddenly sprouted fan-like membrane and two small horns poke from his head. The cart screeched as Jacob grew to the size of a plane suddenly and I was lurched out like a toy doll. Luckily, I managed to catch myself on the back end of a wheel spoke, so I didn't fall hard. "What the-?" I blinked as Jacob shook off the broken cart from his leg and stood up full height. "Whoa... I guess I forgot how big Scorch is..." He commented as his voice seemed to reverberate as I looked on in shock. "You there! Halt!" Some security guards suddenly shouted as stun darts were fired. We dove to the sides as everyone screamed and Jacob whipped around his eyes wide. What to do? What to do?! We were hoping not to get caught by them! The guards fired more shots as Jacob tried to swerve behind a plane and the men charged. Like a lightning bolt, a thought hit me as I looked from our luggage, to us, to Jacob again who's wings seemed twice as long as his body. "Jacob!" I shouted as he whipped his head towards me in confusion. "Can you fly us with those things?!" I called as the shots got nearer. Jacob's eyes went huge, "I honestly don't know! How do these work?!" He called as he winced when a bullet came a little too close for comfort. "Good enough!" I shouted as I grabbed the luggage closest and turned towards the rest. "Everyone! Pile onto of Jacob! We're going!" I called as they opened their mouths to no doubt protest another crazy idea, but obliged since the guards were firing. Jacob sat as close to the ground as possible as we climbed on his ripped jeans, thank Celestia for elastic all the way through, or else we'd *ahem... He helped as much as possible as we used his spikes to hold on and plopped the luggage between our legs. I sat in the front to help be the 'co-pilot' and told him to go. "Head towards the run ways! You'll get a good start!" I called as Jacob stood up and ran! "Stop!" The guards called as I could see police cars running down the road at us, but Jacob was faster. In front, a Boeing 747 was preparing to land as Jacob's wing tip nearly brushed the side as it swerved out of our way. He started flapping, but we were getting no where other than a big gust of wind. "Emily! This is crazy! I-I can't do this!" he croaked as his speed faltered and the cops were coming... Panic welled up in me. This was the last shot we had! I bit my tongue. "No! Jacob you have to do it! We don't have any other choice! You can make it! You can!" I shouted as Jacob panted in fear. Another plane was approaching as Jacob started making flapping motions clockwise and we gained some altitude and then fell once more. "I-can't!" He wailed as the plane came even closer. I practically yelled as I pulled on his scales, "Yes, you, CAN!" I screamed as the roaring of jets overtook anything else and I realized we were about to become a pancake. Something must've suddenly registered with Jacob, as his eyes narrowed and he spread out his wings wide... The plane came ever closer, a mere four yards! Before with a flick of the wrist his wings twitched down with a hard thrust and we shot straight up like a bullet out of the plane's way. Everyone screamed, but Jacob wasted no time flapping once more with his powerful wingspan. "This is amaziiiiiinnnnnnnnggggg!" Ariana laughed as we flew over the Chicago's night life... Well, here's hoping...
Chapter 7: An Itch*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!* My ears twitched at the sound of steel hitting metal as I stirred and groaned at the noise. My surroundings were different again... I recalled going to bed in the hotel room, then nothing... Currently I was laying on a bale of hay in a stone room with a wooden door... *CLANG!* There was that noise again. It sounded very familiar to me. Getting up from the hay bale, I noticed my balance was severely thrown off. Looking down told me why... Right, pony legs. Man Equus mammals were strange. A shattering noise from the next room made me snap out of my daydream. Pushing the unlocked door aside, I nearly stepped onto pieces of sharp glass as I heard someone swear up ahead. Casting my gaze away from the shards of glass, I saw who had made the mess. "Sunstripe?" I blinked somewhat surprised, as I saw her leaning over a broken piece of sculpture shaped like a crane, until it was shattered that is, as she grit her teeth. She looked at me briefly, before using her magic to pull out a piece of glass from her hoof and bandaged it up. "You again..." She snorted, as that appeared to be the extent of our conversation before she went to sweep up the mess she had made. "Here, let me help." I offered, as I reached to grab the broomstick from her magical grip. She snarled and moved the broom away from me as it went to sweep another spot. "DON'T!" She snapped, before shock of what she had just said went through her face and she turned away to bite her tongue and continue sweeping. "I-I'm sorry..." I said startled, as Sunstripe muttered to herself and kept sweeping... Feeling upset that I possibly did something wrong, I went over to examine the broken figure... The crane's beak had been snapped clean off, and a part of the leg had as well. It was barely standing as is, and I use the term loosely... I hummed in thought as I felt the texture... "You rushed this one..." I added absentmindly. Sunstripe stopped sweeping suddenly as her magic grip let go of the dust pan and broom. She whipped around to look right at me, "You think, I don't know that?" She tittered. Okay, odd... I stopped touching the crane and let my hand go slack. "Something's wrong. What is it?" I said serious. Surprised, Sunstripe seemed to hesitate as she deposited the glass she had swept up. "Like you'd care." She snorted, before turning around to bump right into me. "I do care. I'm your creator and if something is bothering you I need to know!" I shouted, as She backed up afraid for a moment. Then she scowled, "I don't care if a bucking cow made me! It ain't none of your beeswax!" She shot back, as she moved to pick up the broom once more. I put a hand out, effectively stopping her, before I grabbed her horn determined. "You're not leaving until you f***-ing answer me..." I growled, fed up with her trying to ignore me. She seemed taken back this time, and slouched, given up on her false bravo. She looked away from me as I heard a faint sniff, "You think you're special, but really it's me doing all the work you know?" She whispered, before looking at me serious, "You think I'm just going to live in your sleep forever?! Hah! Wrong!" She laughed, but tears were coming down her eyes, "You always wanted to know why I don't pay you attention? It's because I'm scared! There! I bucking said it ok?!" She was hyperventialating by this point, " When you fully turn I'm dead ok? There will be nothing left because there was nothing to begin with!" "Sunstripe, what are you talking abo-" "I WAS GIVEN LIFE WHEN THAT MAGIC THING HAPPENED!!! NOW-" she chocked back a sob, as I let her go and she slumped to the ground defeated, "Now... I find out that with every change I'm loosing more of me to you.." She cried. My heart snapped as I felt compelled to hug her. "Shhhh... Hush now, it's not happening right now." I said. Sunstripe nodded sadly, "I-I... Check your flank." She looked away again. Check my flank? What was she talking about- oh.... I stared directly at a hammer with red stars on both of my thighs. To confirm, Sunstripe lifted one of her mechanical wings to show her cutie mark was gone. Dang, what a huge blow. I let out a low whistle... "Well shoot, I feel like I'm suddenly the mother telling a four year old kid that this won't hurt." I laughed painfully as Sunstripe bit back more tears, her ears folded back as she couldn't look at me. "Before the day is through the transformation will be complete." She sighed, "I tried my best to hold onto what was left of me, but... Whatever caused this has other plans," she looked at me serious. I nodded sadly, "I'll never forget you." I promised as I hugged her, "You may have not existed for the long, but I did enjoy this time.." I admitted. Sunstripe laughed bitterly, "Thanks. I wish we could've started over." She smiled defeated. I shook my head, "It doesn't matter. I'm just glad to have met you, and heck to even know that a peice of something I made is real? Well, that's frosting on the cake." I smirked. Sunstripe laughed. "Glad to know I'm appreciated by my 'mother'." She joked as I smacked her ear playfully. "But seriously, I promise to carry your legacy as well as mine." I said, "I won't let your existence, no matter how short, be in vain." Sunstripe looked at me surprised before it quickly faded back away. "Heh, thanks Em." She rubbed her neck, "Listen, I know it's not much but... I want you to have this." She said as she unblocked her mechanical wings and hoofed them towards me. My pupils widened, "You're giving me your prized wings?!" I gasped. Sunstripe nodded, "I won't be needing them. And somepony's got to show that dragons and pegasii aren't the only ones who can fly, right?" She winked. Gingerly I took the wings and felt them with a hand. "Are you certain?" I asked, still feeling bad. "Positive." She nodded, before smiling and poking me, "Now go out there and show 'em what you're made of!" She smirked, before the world started to go hazy and white. I swore I heard Sunstripe say "good luck" before she completely faded, but my mind was already swimming and there was a pounding in my head. I awoke to my alarm clock. "H-how can this be??" I stammered as I held a pair of perfectly smithed yellow and white mechanical wings, that I had found on my nightstand when I woke up. There was no doubt, even by the individual markings and scuffs from time, that these were Sunstripe's magical wings. "Um... Does anyone know what happened to the bathroom?" Ariana asked confused, as me and mom stopped looking at the wings and walked to where the bathroom was. A giant hole in the plaster had been torn open as pieces of cheap tile hung on their sticky mesh in vain. But that was just the tip of the metaphorical iceberg here... Metal piping was bent in strange and bizarre ways, and parts looked like they had been ripped by God's own two hands and dragged forwards out in the bathtub. The shower curtain was a wreck, with it being ripped right off the guide pole and sprawled out on the floor, torn to shreds. The sink was slightly better, with only the faucet and pipes below missing, and the toilet had been untouched oddly. Mom went over and examined the shower curtain as I reeled in my own shock at the extensive damage. "I think I understand what has happened..." Mom smirks as she holds up the curtain to reveal that the rips and tears were not haphazardly, but actually cut out in a bizarrely familiar pattern... Squinting, I saw an oval shape here and-... Suddenly it clicked as I slumped to the floor. "O my goodness, I did it that didn't I?" I asked rhetorically. Of course it had to have been me, err or Sunstripe specifically... Holding up the mechanical wings in my shaking hands, they were hard to control much more, I noticed that what I thought were stains and dings, was actually rust and bent spots from where the pipe had been ripped violently out of the bathroom. Looking at the wielding, I noticed how fine it was. Had to have been magic, specifically the type that was fixated in the furno plane, which was- Wait. How did I know that?! Blinking out of my stupor I noticed everyone was waiting for an explanation as I turned sheepish. "I need to check something..." I held my hand up as I backed out of the bathroom and gently pulled down my pants, which now had cut holes in them for my tail... If I was right, and I was 94% sure, it should be right about- there! Moving my jeans further down past the hip line to where my yellow and white stripe fur was, were two identical markings depicting a hammer and three red stars around it. I sighed. So this was it huh? I finally got Sunstripe's cutie mark to create things with magic... Carefully, I set the mechanical wings back down on the night stand and walked back into the bathroom serious. "It's because of the cutie mark." I stated simply as Ariana went 'ooooh' and Mom looked at me confused. "Cutie what now?" She questioned. Feeling bold, I shrugged and figured 'what the heck, I'm going to be naked eventually' and pulled my jeans down far enough to show the mark. "This thing." I said bluntly, waving my hand in a circle to show off the my somewhat nude hips, "Is a cutie mark. It's like your personal symbol for what you're good at." I explained as I pointed to mine. "Sunstripe's was making things. She was very good at blacksmithing, so I guess last night when I got it I must've had the urge to build the very thing that lead to Sunstripe earning her mark." I then pointed back to the damaged bathroom. Mom sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Well I guess it can't be helped. We did pay them for the room, which includes insurance sorta, so let's just go find Jacob before a maid comes in." She frowned. I lowered my ears sadly. I hadn't mean't to do it, and I know Mom wasn't upset at me in general but... But if I hadn't been turning into a pony I would've never done this... I frowned as I glanced one more time at the damaged bathroom before walking over to pack my things... That's when two things happened... First, my vision went blurry and all cross eyed, like when I get them dilated; and then my legs gave out from underneath me as I heard something pop and move and I fell to the ground and blacked out... ..... Something was happening... Cadance had felt the magical surge flow through her once more, but it was better controlled this time around. She frowned. The surge is growing weaker and we've had no luck finding the source, she sighed as images of the Crystal Empire before it's restoration flooded her brain. She shook her head, no not this time. They were close, she could feel it. She just needed something, anything, a crack or an imperfection in the stream to tear at the mystery source. Even things that appeared flawless, had some imperfection in them. A 'Chaotic spark' as she had been taught by Celestia. Speaking of which, Cadance felt another presence appear behind her as she was snapped out of her musings. The aura was that of a familiar one, but the signature... Well, that could only belong to one- "Did someone think Chaos??" A voice said gleefully. Author's Note And the next chapter will be - The convention. Enjoy~! ;3
Chapter 1: One Good Turn Deserves Another..."And so, if we turn to page five hundred and nine, you will find an image of the frontal lobe; which is where most of the sensory processing is don-" blah, blah, blah.... It was a typical Monday afternoon in my Psychology class... The teacher was horrifically boring, and lectured in a dull monotonous voice. The clock showed it was currently 2:20pm, just ten more minutes until we got out of here! I had spent most of my time doodling today instead of taking notes... I didn't really need to pay attention since I had already read the same thing in the book last night. So instead I was drawing ponies. They covered every inch of college ruled notebook paper with only a few spots left; soon to be drawn on as well... Today felt kinda like an OC day, so I was working more on my design for Sunstripe, my unicorn/zebra pony. I chuckled as I drew different aspects of her imagined lifestyle. [Here is teh pic :P] She was a carpenter by trade. Her talents involved inventing and building new things using her magical blue aura. Much like the cartoon Phineas and Ferb, she had sort of a knack for envisioning big things. In my drawings, she donned a mechanical set of wings she had built herself... They were powered by the users magic, and gave her the appearance of a small alicorn; if only because she looked similar in appearance. Her white stripes took the effect away though. They ran across her yellow coat like bleached clothing, giving her the name Sunstripe. Like my other OCs, she was treasured as I took the time to draw her out carefully; the drone of the teachers voice already long forgotten about. Even though I had to take this College Psychology class to graduate, my one true passion was art. I had intended to pursue a career in Graphic Design before fate threw me a curve ball. The time was now 2:23pm, when I had turned my attention back to the classroom. Suddenly, as if a massive earthquake had shook the building, I felt a surge of power go through me followed by a flash of light as I jerked in response and fell out of my chair. I heard someone laughing from behind me and then another crash before the voice of my psychology professor could be heard. "Miss Sugar, are you alright?" She asked, utterly confused as to why there were a bunch of chuckling students and some kids in the floor. I groaned as I picked myself off the floor and tried to steady my inner inertia. My sense of balance was off, but I managed to crawl back into my chair... "Y-yea. I just slid off my seat for a moment.." I breathed as I tried to keep myself from repeating the same process again... "Well, as long as you're alright we shall continue." She said as she turned back to the blackboard. The students snickering behind me finally died down as the other woman who had fell too picked herself up and went back to writing... I would've too, but something felt off. I realized my hat that I wore, often times so I could sleep in class without anyone being the wiser, was pushed upwards too far on my head, so I reached upwards to grab it back down. It didn't want to budge, like something was hung on it, but I didn't have the patience to ponder why as I just pulled it down harder, resulting in a loud 'rrrrriiiiiiiiiiip' to resound in class as I tore a hole in my hat by whatever was blocking it. Meep. I dead panned as everyone just stopped and turned to look at me. Slowly, I reached up for my hat and wretched it off my head. Sure enough there was a big fat hole right through the center of the darned thing, but that was nothing compared to the added weight up there. My hand shot up to grab it, and I froze when I realized I was actually touching solid skin on bone. I have a horn. I panicked, as I tossed my purse over my shoulder and flew out the classroom; not caring if I got in trouble. I headed for the bathroom first thing to look at this anomaly and bit my tongue to keep me from screaming once I saw it... Roughly six inches in length was a yellow spiraled horn sticking clear out of my acne faced forehead. I have to be dreaming. I thought as I recalled some of my previous vivid dreams about dinosaurs and time traveling devices. I tittered, yeah that was it! This was all a dream! Except I never have been able to realize if I was dreaming in a dream. I froze as I thought about that. I had never been blessed with the gift of dream realization. So, therefore something was up. I quickly held up my phone and took a snapshot of the out of place appendage and texted my mom, who is a very good social worker and has seen a lot of weird diseases, to ask her what she thought of this. The response was, "I can't get picture texts from you because I don't have a smartphone..." Crap! I started to panic as I just dialed her to see if she would pick up, while also locking myself in a stall. The phone rang once; twice... Come on. Pick up, pick up please. I repeated the mantra before I heard it click. "Hey Emily? What's going on?" Mom asked, knowing I was worried. I swallowed some spit down my tight throat as I tried to remain in control of my emotions, "M-mom. I have a horn." I spoke rather rushed as I tried not to have an anxiety attack. "A what? You watched porn?!" She said confused, thinking we probably had a bad connection. I shook my head no even though she couldn't see it, "No! I've got a unicorn horn on my head!" I raised my voice in a panic as mom said something. "Emily! Emily! EMILY, calm down!" She said stern but reassuring as I took in a large gulp of air... "Now what's this about a horn? Do you mean you're having another breakout of acne on your face? I-" "No, no! A real horn... Like it's six inches long and yellow.." I explained, calming down slightly for a moment... There was silence on the phone for a long moment before she finally spoke up again... "... Well, that is odd. Did this just happen right now?" She asked me. I let out a painful sob as the last of my walls came down, "Yeah... I was in class when this burst of power came rushing through and I fell and ripped a hole in my favorite hat a-" On the other side of the call mom was laughing. I stopped to ponder why she thought this was hilarious, "S-sorry. It's just kinda comical to think about. Are you in any pain?" She asked me. "No." I replied instantly. Growing a horn should've hurt, but it surprisingly didn't. "Ok. Well I don't know much about what to do, and sweetie I've got coustomers, so I'll have to get back to you.. In the meantime just head back home and text your professors and we'll go from there, ok?" She reminded me. "Ok." I breathed as we said our goodbye and I hung up and came out of the stall. I looked at the hat again and then to the horn. Since it already had a hole in it, I put my hat back ontop of the horn and walked out of the bathroom. Truthfully I was terrified, but my talk with my mother had reassured me that despite this bumpy point I would still move on. I walked out of the community college as composed as I could be and headed over to the parking lot to find my car. Despite being eighteen and a freshman at the college, I never once complained about how understanding my mother was. I could always rely on her when things went south. Now maybe I can keep it together for another forty five minutes as I drove over the Sylva mountain... Man, what is up with people on the road today?! On my way back across the mountain at least four semi trucks had nearly rammed into my rear as they swerved into the next lane and sped on by. I get sometimes Monday's are busy on this road, but it's usually not this crazy and WHERE WERE ALL THE COPS WHEN YOU NEEDED ONE!? OUTTA THE WAY BOZO!!! I barely avoided a dude in a corvette as she swerved in between traffic like a mad mare. Wait, did I say mare? I couldn't dwell on it at the moment as I swerved to miss a car that had decided to FLIPPING BREAK TEN FEET IN FRONT OF ME CAN YOU AT LEAST PULL OVER BEFORE YOU STOP COMPLETELY?! Anyways, like I was saying besides the crazy drivers out there I discovered that my new 'horn' really hated the tight arrangements. It was currently trying its best not to scrape the roof as I suddenly felt my left ear itch and I absentmindedly reached up to scratch it. Wait, where are my ears? Oddly the sides of my head were bare, not even an ear hole, but I could still hear. Worriedly I pulled down my mirror to find two yellow leathery like objects perched ontop of my head flicking to and fro at the traffic noise. I tried not panick as I pushed harder down on the gas peddle and sped up. Please tell me this isn't going to get any worse i whimpered as I finally made it into town. Meanwhile at the Crystal Empire.... A large jolt of energy pressed against Cadance's horn as she shot up in a cold sweat from her sleep. "Shining?" She asked blearily as she used her magic to turn on the lights. The stallion in question simply rolled over in his sleep snoring away as Cadance stared at him puzzled before gently nudging him awake. "*yawn* What is it my princess?" He said sleepy as he cracked open an eye and rubbed his hoof over his face. Cadance looked at him troubled, "Did you feel that?" She asked concerned. "Huh? Feel what?" He said still half asleep. "Nevermind... It was probably nothing." She shook her head as she laid back down under the covers. Shining yawned as he leaned over to turn off the light and snuggled back in, "Ok. Well get Colonel Peanut Brittle to investigate in the trail mix..." He muttered as he fell back asleep. Candace just shook her head as she too felt the lull of slumber. She didn't know what the sudden surge of magic was about, but she would ask Auntie Celestia in the morning... Author's Note Yay! Chapter one is done! Welcome to my Contribution to OC Tales! :3 If you're confused with what exactly is OC Tales, please read MidnightChaos' story, or go check ut the group here ==> https://www.fimfiction.net/group/205029/oc-tales Thanks! And I'll return soon! ^^
