A knock at her door roused her from a daydream she'd been having. Caught between staring at the posters on her wall of the Wonderbolts -- on dreaming of how much closer she was to being the captain -- and of the thought of her being at the head of the formation soon enough, she sighed. It by far wasn't a pipe dream, but it'd take some time for her to achieve it nonetheless.
Flying downstairs and opening one of her two doors, she saw the mail mare smiling at her brightly, wearing her blue and black cap and saddle bags full of parcels and parchments. That same wall-eyed look greeted her as well. She smiled too at her, her bubbly expression far too bright to not smile at. "Morning, Derpy."
"Good morning, Rainbow Dash!" Derpy exclaimed, beaming. "I know you told me to leave your letters in the mailbox, but-um... something special arrived today for you! I didn't see who sent it, but I think it was from one of your fans so I figured I should give it to you before I continue on my route!"
"Another fan, huh?" she smirked, amused as she peered over to the bulging side of Derpy's messenger bag. "I mean, I know I'm awesome and all, but who's the pony wanting to show their appreciation for yours truly?"
Derpy hummed in thought, tapping her hoof against her chin. "...I have no idea!" she then answered, far too enthusiastic. Craning her head around, she rifled through the bulging side of her bags, unlatching it and having one package fly out almost immediately, crumpled and obviously poorly handled. "There it is!" Oblivious, she stepped onto the mishandled package, further damaging it as she took a few sideways steps to Rainbow Dash, showing her the proper parcel in her bags.
"Can you sign for the paperwork before you open your gift? It should be..." She craned her head back around, finding the spot between her saddlebags missing a certain metal clipboard. "Oops... um, well that's okay! You can take it for now Rainbow and you can sign for it tomorrow!"
Pulling out the parcel using a mix of her hooves and mouth, she set it aside in the doorway, feeling two light-somethings therein as she nudged it in behind her. "Sounds good to me, later Derpy! Oh, and thanks a bunch!" Flashing the mailmare a short wave as she left (nearly witnessing her walk into her mailbox as she returned the wave), she once again handled the damaged parcel in poor fashion, stuffing it into her saddlebag once more.
Chuckling, she smiled calmly as then, she witnessed Derpy trip over the side of her cloud home. Seeing her quickly ascend, flying in a rather awkward and unsteady manner, she snorted in amusement. Turning, she headed back inside, closing the door in her wake as she lazily shoved the parcel along the floor of her foyer, heading into the nearby living room.
Setting the parcel onto her one of her cushions, she flung herself after it, the parcel bouncing past her to the edge of the seat. "Okay, let's see what I got..." she mused, smirking to herself. She read the rather informal paper pasted on the front, it saying no more than "To: Rainbow Dash; From: A fan!"
"Tch..." she chuckled dryly. "Figures... 'This should help your flying!'" she read, noting that the writing was done in expert cursive. Already, from that message alone, she expected to get something she couldn’t use, or didn’t want to use. She hoped that it wasn't another round of those potions that can "enhance the strength of one's wings" or something, as advertised by silver-tongued ponies. Like she never got enough from them, even with the good intentions of fans and foals who loved her.
Spying no signature at the bottom, of hoof, mouth, or unicorn, she hummed in thought. In the place of a signature however, was a small drawing of an open black heart. "Weird, no name or signature..."
Pinching the tape at the side of the package with her teeth, in one deft move, she tore the tape away that both sealed the package and kept the paper down. Digging in and opening her gift up, she found two long, individual silver cuffs surrounded by a massive amount of packing peanuts. Fishing them out one by one, she quirked a brow, puzzled.
Setting the empty box onto the floor, she looked over the each cuff, twisting it every this way and that, thinking she'd spy some sort of engraving, a message, or... something that made them so special for a gift. Setting them down onto her coffee table, she pursed her lips, looking them over as she stared at the openings... maybe...
Standing up in her seat, she leaned forward with her forehooves out, quickly slotting her forelegs through both cuffs. "Nrrggh... come on..." she grumbled, flinging herself back as she pulled them a bit further up her forelegs. Her initial struggles over, she stood up, the cuffs resting a few inches above the bottoms of her hooves, rather comfortably at that.
Hopping off her couch, she took a short, experimental trot around, lifting one of her hooves close to herself for a closer look. Feeling nothing strikingly different or unusual with herself, or the cuffs, she sighed, exuding her boredom openly. "Lame..."
Looking back to the box, she gave it another once over, dumping out the peanuts and looking inside. Finding nothing in regards in what they were for or how to use them, she chucked the box aside, grumbling. "I guess they're okay, but-..." Stopping herself, alarmed at the small bit of... whatever moving at the bottom of her peripheral. Lowering her head closer to her hooves, she blinked widely in surprise, seeing a black goo ooze out of the ends of the cuffs, onto her fur.
"What the hell?" Finding the bottom of her hoof encased, she panicked, throwing herself back onto her flank. Seated, she began digging her other hoof (now encased in a similar fashion) at the top of the cuff, however she found it unmoving, refusing to budge as the latex continued to crawl up her foreleg.
“Get off!” she cried, frantic. Feeling her heart start to race, she repeated the actions with her other cuff to no avail. Growing more desperate with each passing second, she quickly stood back up onto her hooves, stomping her hooves against the floor in an attempt to stop, slow, or shake off the goo. Reeling her head back, watching the shiny material gradually climb up her leg, she quickly dove back to the box, tearing it apart, in an attempt to find anything... instructions, a guide or... or some kind of warning about her gift!
Tearing the box to shreds, her endeavors notably bearing no fruit, she found that she was quickly running out of options. Resorting to her first plan, she scrambled to the side of her coffee table; now feeling the cold, rubbery material crawl up around her neck, she started to hyperventilate. Quickly losing focus as her head swam, she wedged the top of the cuff against the edge.
"Please work..." Closing her eyes, she dragged her hoof down a few inches, then yanking her hoof up sharply against the table. Catching the cuff against the edge of the table, instantly breaking off a chunk of the wood that flew through the air, she herself flew back against the floor. Wheezing as she knocked the wind out of herself, she felt the cold crawl of the latex underneath her chin.
Coughing, she suddenly found it increasingly difficult to open her mouth with each passing second. Lifting up one of her completely encased hooves, using one of the cuffs as a bit of a mirror, she opened her eyes, shrieking as loud as she could the very moment she saw her reflection; the flesh of her lips were slowly starting to meld together, starting to take on a pale, silvery sheen to them as the latex crawled along the sides of her cheeks.
Rolling onto her stomach, she lowered her muzzle to her hooves, pawing up at the encroaching mask of latex. "Mmmph!" Both feeling, and seeing the last sinews that separated her muzzle meld together, she mewled; her cries muffled behind the latex as it hardened, giving her that same, silvery sheen to her face that Pinkie had.
Her last airway then sealed, she felt her throat seize, starting to spasm as her desperation for air rapidly grew. Her strength fading fast, she fell, lying on her side as she saw darkness slowly crawling in from the corners of her vision...
Just as the shadows nearly touched the last bit of light in her vision, she felt something kick in... something... in the suit. Her eyes widened; the darkness quickly banished away in an instant as she shot up onto her flank, feeling life being brought back to her body. Heaving, without a sound, she brought her forelegs up to her muzzle.
Her mortified, silvery expression staring back through the reflection, it too frowned with her as she surveyed herself. Frozen, in a mix of fear and surprise, she saw her eyes... the suit had changed them. No longer did she have her lively, cerise colored eyes; two pale, cerulean orbs stared back at her, mimicking her every expression from curiosity, to fear, and horror. Her mane fared no better than her eyes, lacking the color and vibrancy it once had, now black and lustrous.
Looking down at the rest of her body, she saw it fared no better than her upper half; lustrous, smooth, black, and silvery. Lifting and spreading her hind leg, she looked between her legs. Unsurprisingly, her tail changed as much as her mane did, however sporting a tail cuff to keep it up at all times. Then unfurling one of her wings, she growled, bumping her head against the floor in frustration.
Not really noticing the fact she barely felt it, she felt her face redden underneath all the silver. There was just no way she was going to be able to fly like this... every last bit of her feathers were covered in latex, sporting that same stupid shine the rest of her body had.
But if she couldn’t fly... how was she going to practice with the Wonderbolts? How would she go out and be awesome...? She felt herself blanch underneath her silver mask, horrified. She'd be kicked out of the Wonderbolts for not being able to fly or partake in practice, she'd have to stay at Twilight’s castle every day like Pinkie!
Bringing her forelegs close to her eyes, she felt herself on the brink of crying, feeling the tears welling up... but as she almost let her floodgates spill, she suddenly felt... reassured. Something at the back of her mind… something that wasn’t her own voice told her that everything would be okay, that maybe things wouldn't be too bad like this -- that she’d be able to still be able to be herself, and that… maybe… maybe things would be just a bit better if she listened to others for once.
