Fall of the Rightful King-Clean

Chapter One

Rain started to fall over the field, sparkling in the bright spotlights. People hit each other and everyone fell. The referee blew his whistle and I skidded to a stop. Foul. Fantastic. My other teammates started shouting at the referee. It was a stupid call. Yeah it was a foul, but the other guy deserved it. I didn't have the energy to argue and play the game, though. I bent completely over and coughed into the grass.

Ross, our coach, ran over to me.

"You ok, Nick?"

"Yeah, fine," I lied. It was easy to lie about my health. I'd had plenty of practice the last few months, after all.

Ross frowned. I knew he didn't believe me, but I hadn't told anyone about my diagnosis. I just didn't see why they'd have to shoulder the load too.

"Ok, I'm switching you with Chad. Chad! Get in!" he yelled. I jogged over to the bench. I'd have argued with Ross, but I was out of breath. It was always like this. I was mostly fine - my particular angel of death didn't leave many symptoms until the last few weeks, and I had a while left. I couldn't decide if that made it more sadistic or less.

The only symptom right now was that I didn't have as much endurance. Sure, the coach noticed, and a few teammates knew something was wrong, but it wasn't anything I couldn't chalk up to a minor issue. I'd been working longer hours, after all.

Two girls came over to greet me at the bench. Erin, my beautiful black girlfriend, and Brittney, her sister. Brittney was on crutches and struggled a bit in the mud, but kept a warm smile on her face. She brushed her tangled hair out of her face. Erin was biting her lip and hugging herself.

"Are you ok?" Erin asked, handing me a gatorade.

"Yeah," I said, sitting down. "Just a bit winded. I'll be back up in a minute." I took a drink and sat down on the bench. I felt Erin's cool hands on my arm. I looked up at her. Her eyes were round and sparkling. I could just about see myself in them - a Hispanic guy with short cropped hair and a slim figure.

“Do you need me to get you a tampon?” she asked. I pushed her and she started giggling.

"How late did you work last night?" she asked.

"Two in the morning." I said.

"And you were back at work at six?" she said, her voice rising.

"Yeah," I said. "It was stupid but they needed help. We're kind of short-staffed right now."

"I know, but it's not fair that they're working you this hard, especially when you're sick," she said. She hugged me.

"Please be ok," she whispered when we got close. She had a warm voice, but it was shaking.

"I'll be fine," I said. "I'm... I'll be fine. Really."

"Ok," she said. "I trust you."

My chest felt like stone - heavy and cold. I really had to tell her. It wasn't fair to keep her in the dark. Heck, I'd tried to tell her before. I just didn't know how and never managed to lead the conversation the right way. Besides, she’d… she’d been through a lot lately.

I saw gold light play off of Erin's hair. Wait - where was that coming from? I heard people start screaming and stood up.

Storm clouds were racing across the sky. They were moving way, way too fast. Clouds just don't move that quickly. They were lit from within by lightning (normal,) and gold light (not normal.)

"What the heck?" Erin asked as she turned around. I looked at the ground underneath the clouds and saw a wall of dust heading our way.

I twisted to put my back to the oncoming dust and put myself between her and the storm. The first wave of dust hit like a thousand needles, and I gritted my teeth at the pain. It didn't last long. Only the leading edge was bad, but we kept getting buffeted by winds from every direction. It wasn't consistent - it'd leave us alone for a while, but then surge for a few seconds.

"Are you ok?" I yelled over the wind.

"Yeah" Erin yelled.

"Help!" Brittney yelled. She'd lost hold of her crutches and was clutching desperately onto Erin. I put her arm over my shoulders.

"We've got to get to the car!" I yelled. Gold flashes lit the ground around us. I dimly realized that the lights had gone out over the field. Thunder blasted into us, and I could feel it like a cannon shot. That meant it was close. We had to go.

"Let me help!" Erin said, trying to get under her sister.

"I've got her," I said, "just grab her crutches and get to the car!" I'm an EMT, so she listened and took off towards the car. I didn't have time for dignity or image, so I threw Brittney over my shoulder and started running.

My body started to tingle. It became painful as all the hair on my body stood up, even in the wind and rain. I looked behind me and saw Brittney's hair puffing up all around her head. Then someone poured light on us. The ground was shaking and I was shaking and everything was fire and blinding light and noise.

Next thing I was aware of was me lying on the ground and rain pouring over me. I was completely soaked. Erin suddenly appeared at my side and shook me.

"Nick!" she screamed. I sat up, unsteady, and looked at Brittney. She was just lying next to me.

Triage mode happened. Everything else got pushed out of my head. There was someone in danger and I had to help. Training cooled my nerves and helped me focus. Lightning strike. Victim is unconscious. I put one hand on her wrist and another on her neck. No pulse. No breathing. Begin CPR and get aid.

I started chest compressions. "Erin!" I yelled. "Call 911!"

"Brittney!" she yelled, looking at her unconscious sister.

"Call 911!" I repeated. I bent down to see if Brittney had started breathing again and checked for a pulse.

"Nick," Erin said, “there’s too much static! Oh no oh no Brittney!”

Light burst up from around Brittney. I jumped up and shielded my eyes reflexively with a forearm, trying to see past the light. Brittney was glowing. I heard Erin vomit behind me, but I was too focused on what was happening to her little sister.

Brittney’s skin was turning red. She was shaking and parts of her twisted around as they started to change. The light got brighter until it was too intense to look at, and I had to turn away.

I don’t know how long I stood there, thunder cracking the air around me, as my girlfriend’s sister changed behind me. It was long enough to think “holy crap” and not much else.

Wind hit me and I stumbled forward, falling to my knees in front of Erin. She was shaking and holding her head, mumbling “ow, ow, ow.” I steadied myself with a deep breath, then turned around to face whatever had happened to Brittney.

And I sure as heck did not expect that. This is the part that gets a bit hard to explain, but she was… a horse. Except not a horse. Too small and colorful. Her muzzle was tiny, and her eyes were huge. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have said… but no, that was impossible, right? I looked at her side and swore.

A cutie mark. An actual cutie mark. Gold lightning, freak storms, and my girlfriend’s sister was a freaking cartoon pony. She had red fur, black hair that sparkled in the rain, and a cutie mark. It was shaped like Celestia’s, but with a black circle in the middle.

I had nothing. Not one bit of my training ever covered something like this. Fortunately, what I did know how to do was check for injury, so I bent down automatically to check.

It was hard to tell, given that I really didn’t know what she was supposed to look like, but it didn’t seem like she had any fractures. She was breathing again. I heard Erin get to her feet behind me, but I was a bit distracted.

“Oh ow… Nick, she… Brittney! Is that her?!”

Ok, ok, come on Nick. Restrain the panic. Think. Logically. Brittney is now a pony. Assuming it’s still Brittney in there. Let's go with "it's still her." She’s unconscious, soaked, we’re all soaked, and the wind is picking up. It’s getting colder, and fast. She has to get inside, way the heck away from other people or cameras or anything like that. She has to get warm and dry.

“Erin, we have to get her inside!” I said, bending down. I wasn’t sure where to grab.

I turned to face her. “Erin, she’s-”

Once again, I was left speechless. My girlfriend had turned pink. I don’t mean flesh-tone either. I mean Pinkie Pie pink. I tried to say “Ok, let’s go,” but I guess my speech centers hadn’t quite caught up to the rest of me yet.

“Azum… bada zwa?” I said.

“What?” Erin asked.

I shook my head. “Ok, ok. Alan’s not home for a few days, so the house is empty. Let’s go. We have to get her safe so we can figure out what the heck just happened.” I decided to put my arms along Brittney’s belly, with her legs hanging to either side, and lifted. It mostly worked. Hey, I’d never practiced this. We got to the parking lot, Erin limping forward, wincing as she leaned forward and opened the door. She was still muttering, but it had gone from “ow” to spicier terms. I’d have joined in, but I was running on pure training. Someone was in danger and needed help. Beyond that, I had zero plans.

It wasn’t until we started driving away with the heaters on full that I started to think about this situation. First off – what the heck had just happened to us? Erin was pink, Brittney was a pony, there was a freaking magic storm, and did I mention that Brittney had just turned into a “my little” pony? Was it still her? Maybe she was just a horse now. No, bad idea, toss that aside. She had to be her. Ok, so magic. Magic was definitely a real thing that really existed. Ok. That’s a new one. Does this mean that Equestria is real? I mean, Celestia, Discord, Rainbow Dash, everything? That seemed a bit much, but the cartoon pony in the back seat was also just a little bit much because I mean HOLY CRAP

I took a deep breath in through my mouth and let it out through my nose. Concentrate, Nick, you’re not home yet. You have to stay focused. Get them to safety. What would happen to Brittney when she woke up? We’d have to be ready for that. What if she’s just an animal, and she wakes up alone and in a strange place? Heck, what if she’s still her, and she wakes up alone, in a strange place, with hooves? Better to have her wake up with Erin.

I glanced over at my girlfriend. She reached over and touched one of Brittney’s legs, which was hanging over the edge of the seat.

“Oh Britt…” she whispered. Tears were pouring down her face. She was changing too. Or, at least, she was pink now. Well, pink with her old features. She still looked like her – round eyes, full lips, everything. Just pink. Wait, what if Erin was turning into a pony?

Nope, not thinking about that one. Lock that down now.

Ok, back to Brittney then. She still might be her, so we need to take care of her until she’s stable. Then we need to figure out what the heck is going on.

I shook my head, trying to make sense of this whole mess. This was turning out to be one heck of a night.