Camp Dependable Part 2

Tom didn’t sleep well that night. The bunk she had slept on sucked. She wanted her more comfortable bed, she wanted her freedom, and she wanted to see her family, friends, and co-workers. It’s bad enough that she was now a female of a formerly fictional species, but to be held against her will here, while being forced to sleep on this uncomfortable bunk. She had righteous anger with her loss of freedom, the loss of autonomy over herself, and yet had to keep a lid on her emotions for now.

She stretched, got on her hooves, walked to the restrooms, and then relieved herself in her morning routine. Tom thought, ‘Man, going to the bathroom sure is different now. Thank God this is a single gender house or I would have made a very easy mistake. Still, I have got to get accustomed to not seeing urinals in there.’
While she washed up her hands she looked at her image in the mirror. Her hair had the ragged look, but what grabbed her attention was the form her image had. The cyan fur covering a muzzle, with a pair of eyes bigger than they really need to be, and the rainbow colored hair, with a pair of horse ears. She took a deep breath to prevent her from punching the mirror.

“I will be me again.” She said out loud, but her words sounded hollow. The doc’s findings were bouncing around in her head. She was afraid, afraid that this is the image she will see in every mirror for the rest of her life. Before she got further down that path she went to the hand dryer, thankful that this place had them. She imagined trying to dry her furry-backed hands with paper towels.
She examined her short fingernails, somewhat covered by her furry coat. Because her fingernails were the same color as her coat, she sometimes forgot that she even had fingernails. She turned her hand over and then stroked her chin with her fingertips, realizing that she hadn’t shaved her face since her transformation. A smiling Spitfire had told her that not needing to ever shave her face again was liberating. But, to her mind, it was yet another reminder that against her will, she had been changed, with no more free will than a lump of clay on a potter’s wheel. In her mind, she filed her raw emotions into her “Deal with this later” file, because her empty stomach was demanding breakfast.
While walking with her two friends to the base cafeteria, she wondered why this type of costume transformation had never happen elsewhere, such as during a comic book convention or a Star Trek convention. She would not have minded that much to become Wolverine or a Klingon warrior, but didn’t speak of her daydreams to her brony friends.
At breakfast she and her new friends met Jasmine’s roommates. They never gave their human names. It seems that they, like her new friends, are abandoning their lifelong human identities and adopted their characters’ identities. It kind of bothered her a bit, but besides calling her Dash they didn’t try to force her to join them to embrace their new identities as pastel-colored mare-humans.

Interspersed with genuine laughter, Lightning and Spitfire talked about celebrating their first Hearth's Warming Eve in a couple of months as pony-humans. ‘Wait’, thought Dash, ‘why are my friends planning a celebration based on a cartoon series, when they should be worried about voting on November’s Election Day. I need to organize a breakout team together, make a map of the base, and then plan an escape route. I’ve organized on the job work teams before and this should be no different, I hope. I just never dreamed that I would be part of a real-life version of Steve McQueen's The Great Escape.’

After breakfast, which were pancakes that by the way were ‘YYYUUUUMMM!’ she was summoned by the same grumpy guards to the camp’s administration building. It was part of the larger group of buildings that had no fences around it. She saw only humans in this area as well. She was directed into a room that was illuminated by a light bulb. She saw a table with a pair of chairs, one occupied by a man wearing civilian clothing. He was wearing a tweed jacket with leather elbow patches, a turtleneck shirt, polyester slacks, and loafers with socks with some university logo printed on them that screamed ‘I’m a nerdy professor’. She took the other seat and then looked coldly at the guy.
“Welcome R412803. Now, I want to start with some questions about how you were changed, so we can run some proper test for all of you.”

“Well, you are out of luck I’m not answering any.” She replied folding her arms and glaring at him.

“Please R412803, we only want to...” He started to plead.

“First off my name’s Tom Davis, though I’m accepting Dash as a temporary alternate. Not this R41 whatever. I’m a person, not a thing, and I have rights. You violated those rights, so I don’t help you. You let us all go and then it’s a different story.”

“That’s outside my control. You are here for your prot..”

“That’s bull and you know it. That’s an excuse you made to violate the law, violate my constitutional rights as an American citizen. First, I haven’t been discriminated against, much less attacked by angry peasant mobs armed with torches and pitchforks. I don’t need your protection. Second, I saw a doctor before you goons kidnapped me and he wasn’t worried about it spreading from me. My transformation isn’t some disease or biological warfare. This is the result of putting on a costume changing me into this. The fact you aren’t in a hazmat suit means you don’t think so either. Thus, nobody needs protection from me. So the question becomes, why kidnap us? Somebody in your agency thinks we have value somehow and want us. From what I heard from my girlfriend on our potential, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the interest. So again, till you release ALL of us we have nothing to discuss.” She looked away and waited for his move. He just sighed, pressed a button, and she heard a buzzer go off outside the room. A burly guard that looked like a pro wrestler opened the door and looked in with a stone cold, inscrutable face.

“She won’t cooperate with us. Take her back to the others.” Without another word said, the guard escorted Dash out of the room, then the building, and was returned to the Pegasus enclosure. Once there she thought of what to do. Staying by her bunk would be just boring. She started walking around. At least she could decide where she would walk, give her back some control over her life. Most of what she saw was several bunk houses till she arrived at the basket ball court which was available to all stuck here, within the same shared area that the cafeteria was in. Although, she noticed a heavier guard presence in the shared area, she noticed the building on the right of the court seemed to have more inmates coming and going than the other nearby buildings. Curious, she decided to check it out. Going through the front door she saw exercise equipment throughout the building.

‘Nice! Might as well see how strong I am now?’ She went over to the area that had the dumb bells and chose a medium size weight. It felt too light in her hands, so she tried another. She had to do this two more times till she found one that felt a little heavy. Sitting on a stool she began her reps with a slight smile. She did one arm for five minutes before switching arms. After an hour her arms ached a little, but she was surprised how long she was able to lift the weight. No way could she have lifted that weight that long before her change. This was a fit body now. The first plus she thought of on her own since this whole thing happened. She decided to go check out equipment to exercise her legs and hoped Jasmine was doing okay.

* * * * *

Jasmine just got done with her interview and she refused to cooperate with the NSA agents unless her attorney was present. After a couple minutes she was escorted out and she decided to head back to her bunk. Once there she noticed a handful of her fellow ponies, but it was hard to get privacy here anyways. She took out a hair brush and put in on the small dresser she shared with her friend Trixie. She then closed her eyes and focused on the image of the brush. She imagined the aura she seen on TV surrounding it and lifting up into the air. She heard a soft and melodious hum and she looked to see the hairbrush floating in the air.

“Yes!” She cheered and then the hairbrush dropped back onto the dresser. She slumped at the sight. ‘Drat, I have to keep up concentration to be Rarity level. I have a lot of practice ahead of me. Looks like I’m going to start a magic kindergarten with myself as the first student.’ She cleared her head and tried again.

* * * * *

Back at Discord’s

“Well those two certainly have spunk. Much prefer that Rarity to the one here. Their plan also sounds interesting. Oh the chaos of a break out will be so delicious. I really like these ponies.” A metallic ringing interrupted his thoughts, so he looked over at his alarm clock. His clock was jumping up and down on two tiny legs, while two tiny arms pointed at the time. “Oh! Time for tea with Fluttershy. Will have to DVR this.” With a remote coming out of his open palm, he presses a few buttons and with a snap of his talons he leaves for time with his dearest friend.

* * * * *

Camp Dependable one week later

Dash was stretching her legs in preparation for a jog. She had gotten use to being called that name and since she started running and working out it fitted her more and more. A lot of the times Spits and Lightning joined her in her workouts and jogging, but she always look forward to certain jogging times and she smiled as she saw the reason walking towards her. Jasmine was walking towards her in the late afternoon sun. She had to admit, even in her current form Jasmine was a gem. Her white fur radiant in the sun and her hair was dazzling. Even her blue eyes sparkled. She remembered fondly when she asked her to join in the jogging.

* * * * *

4 days earlier

Tom took a seat across from Jasmine. “Hey Jasmine, how’s your project going?”

“Making progress, don’t need to concentrate as hard as I use to. I even convinced my friends Trixie and Fleur to try using their magic abilities on their own. How about you?”

“The workout is actually fun. I’m much stronger now than before everything so that should help if we have to do it. But there is one thing missing.” Tom took a bite of her meal. Grill cheese sandwich this time.

“And that is?” Jasmine asked curiously.

“You.”

Jasmine blinked at that before asking, “Me?”

“Yes you. I want to spend more time with you than breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You’re my girlfriend and I want to spend time with my Precious Jewel.” She took another bite and waited for Jasmine’s response.

“Oh I don’t know...” Jasmine began and Tom pulled out all the stops and stooped to the puppy dog eyes. Jasmine looked at it for a bit and then snickered. She tried to contain it as the look continued. Then she giggled. “Oh Tom, all you’re missing is the paper with the hug written on it with a question mark. Fine, I’ll go jogging with you.” Tom jumped up and cheered.

“YES!” Unbeknownst to her Jasmine watched in amusement.

‘That’s my precious rock.’

* * * * *

Under a blue sky, Jasmine did some small stretches since this jog was the only thing she did as far as physical exercise. Soon they were off on a circuit around the shared area.

“So have you heard the latest?” Jasmine asked.

“No, gossip is your area, not mine. The only thing I know is that they brought some more like us in.”

“Well that did happen, but those of us that have cooperated with the doctors have news of our condition.”

“And?”

Jasmine took a minute before answering. “Well, it looks like there is no going back. This is who we are now. They did DNA work and such and everything points to this. We have some human DNA the percentage between it and the pony DNA is 30% to 50% with 10% being completely unknown. And the human DNA didn’t match what they had before they were changed. On the upside, a once paraplegic Iraq veteran who is now an Earth pony stallion-human can now walk again. On the downside, there are a few pregnant women here who are in their first or second trimesters. Their babies that they carry within them have also become… like we are now.”

“What about kids there was likely pony costumes for children in that costume store. What happened to those children?”

“Those children transformed into pony-humans, along with any transformed parents, are being held in two other camps.”

“Kidnapping innocent children is unforgivable. What about where the suits came from?” Dash was doing her best not to freak out at the news and was grasping at straws.

“Absolutely nothing! While mall security cameras did show that the Canterlot Costume Emporium store did exist, but then it just disappeared in a flash when Halloween ended. From the sounds of it even the paperwork in the mall’s main office is just not there. The store’s manager didn’t tell anything about himself to his customers, who appeared to have operated that shop all by himself. A few costume customers remember seeing that the costumes were delivered to the stores by Fluttershy Express truck drivers; but there are no traces of their trucks, their drivers, or any evidence that these trucks ever bought fuel at any gas station or truck stop. The story is the same for the other stores as well. And, while these costumes did have official Hasbro authorized merchandising tags, all the records of the license have disappeared from Hasbro’s offices.”

They turned their heads when they heard a group cheer from the basketball court, then Jasmine continued by saying, “The costume instructions had a factory address that is an abandoned automobile plant. Yet, the factory’s loading dock overhead doors were so rusty that they fell apart when the NAS agents attempted to open them. The city administrators that manage that abandoned factory say that they never authorized it to be used by the costume company. None of the residents who live near the old car plant remember ever seeing workers come or go, nor deliveries of raw materials to that factory. Before Halloween, some costume customers did call the factory’s phone number and got human customer service representatives to answer their questions; but the local phone company has no records of those calls, while claiming that the factory’s phone lines have been disconnected for years. The company web site has also disappeared and those NSA agents are looking for web captures from fans and web archiving sites. Whoever or whatever made these costumes did a real good job in covering their tracks.”

‘So that’s it then. No one knows how to reverse this and all the leads are just gone.’ Her jogging faltered and she felt Jasmine touch her. She looked over and saw a concerned look from Jasmine.

“I’m right here for you Tom.”

“Just... just let me hold you okay?” She nodded and was then held by the former male. She took comfort in holding her love and ignoring the world around her for a time.

* * * * * *

Night was starting to fall when she let go of Jasmine.

“Thank you Jaz, I really needed that.”

“Will you be okay?”

“For now, yeah. When we finally get out of here I’ll really face this and deal with the ugliness of it all. Getting out is more important for if what you heard was right then I don’t want to spend the rest of my life as a prisoner in this totalitarian gulag.” She nodded and started for the cafeteria which should be in the final hour of supper. “Tom, just promise me that you will include me when you do face that issue.” She looked at Jasmine and gave her a sad smile.
“I didn’t imagine it any other way.” She held out her hand, Jasmine held it with care, and they went hand in hand to supper.

* * * * *

Discord

“Gah! What was that? I nearly lost MY supper. When did this start going down that Twilight Saga route?” The Master of Chaos took a deep breath. “Okay, going to take a break from this and go prank Luna. That will cheer me right up.” With a flash of light he disappeared for his pranking.

The Foal Free Press reported that his pranking drove Luna to have a slight relapse as Nightmare Moon. As the Mare in the Moon, she chased Discord for half the night before becoming too exhausted to continue the chase. Being the good sport he actually brought her back to her room and tucked her in. To everypony’s relief she reverted back to Luna in her sleep and Discord lowered the moon for her and thoroughly enjoyed himself.
At least till Luna unleashed Pinkie Pie on him.

* * * * *

Camp Dependable

After eating supper, Dash said goodnight to Jasmine and then headed for her bunk house. She had intended to check up with her friends, and then take a shower to clean herself up after her long workout. While showering, Dash had trained her mind to ignore the beautiful and often flirtatious mare-humans. Dash concluded that if her life was a fantasy novel, then her showers would be the encounters with well-proportioned ladies, heroines, and goddesses who are bathing under picturesque waterfalls. She said a silent vow to herself that despite temptations that she would remain forever faithful to her Jasmine. Dash needed Jasmine and Jasmine needed Dash, and that’s all there is to it.
Walking up to her bunk house, Dash noticed that someone had written Welcome to Pegasopolis New Cloudsdale in magic marker on the front entrance door. ‘Curious’ Dash thought to herself ‘my Pegasus-human roommates are coping with the stress of their unjust imprisonment by creating their own community, creating their own family of brony-ponies. And now, every five years for the rest of my life, I’m going to get notices for Camp Dependable internee reunions.’

Once beside her bunk, she noticed Lightning was missing. She asked Spitfire, “Hey Spits, where’s Lightning?”
The fire themed Pegasus looked back and said. “Some of the black uniform guard guys said that they wanted to talk to her again. It’s been awhile, so she should be back soon.” Dash frowned at that, but before she could say anymore the door nearest them to the outside was opened by a guard. He looked over the Pegasi in the room while holding the door wide open for two of his buddies. They were carrying something and it took a moment for Dash to see it was another one of them unconscious. They laid her limp body on the empty bed across from Dash, then without saying a word left.

Dash went over to the new girl and took note of her features. First she had a horn so that raised an eyebrow. Except for certain areas they kept the three types of for lack of a better word ponies separate, so why break that rule now? Have they run out of room in the unicorn area? The girl also had lavender fur with dark blue hair with a purple and pink stripe in them. Spits got close and then gasped.

“What is it?” Dash asked.

“That’s Twilight Sparkle!”