Anthropomorphizationby Chrome MasqueradeChaptersChapter 1: Worlds MergeChapter 2: One Life Ends, Another BeginsChapter 3: A Trip Into Town/How Quickly Things Do ChangeChapter 4: Learning to CopeBetter Gardens at HomeLights WithinChapter 1: Worlds MergeI woke up and -after taking the time to do some exercises before breakfast- I went to have something to eat. After putting together a quick smoothie, I went back to my room to check out what was new with the world. Clicking on a “must-see” video, it showed a live "urgent" news report. It turned out that something really weird was happening all around the world. A strange energy was gathering, saturating the world as a whole. Suddenly the report went to static. As if on cue, there was an explosion that shook the very earth to its core! Okay, maybe not quite, but close! “Oh, Celestia! What's going on?!” I exclaimed, as I myself started feeling kind of strange. It didn't even occur to me that what I had said was strange. But then my eyes began to feel itchy, but only for a few brief seconds. When I looked into my conveniently placed mirror, I noticed that my eyes had changed colour (blue, now). But as my eye colour usually changes with everything I wear, I thought nothing of it. Then I noticed that my hair was turning alternately maiden white and cerulean blue, strand by strand, also lengthening, for some reason, with each strand that was changed! I touched my hair to verify that this was really happening, but doing that only made the itch spread to my hand, which started being covered in white as well! “What in the world is going on!?” I shouted, my throat getting the itch as well, causing my voice to rise several octaves. I had intended to swear there, too. My hair was down to my back by now, nearly completely white -much like most of the rest of my body- or blue. As the whiteness reached my face, it began to push out, bones snapping and reshaping with sickening cracking/crunching sounds, -oddly, with little pain- elongating into a muzzle, of sorts. I would have screamed, but I couldn't because -oh, yeah- my FACE was being remolded! Shortly thereafter my sense of hearing was lost to me for a moment, only to reappear.... higher up. I reached up slowly and touched where my ears should have been, only to feel soft fur, which I gathered was what the rest of me was covered in. Reaching higher, on a hunch, I found where my ears were. My left eye began to twitch. I went over to my bed to sit down, but yelped -in my now very much feminine voice- as I had sat on something. Reflexively reaching behind me, I found that a tail had developed, with much the same coloration as my hair, while my attention was more on my front end. Great. Moving that aside, I laid on my side, letting the rest of the change take place. As I lay there, I felt my feet crunching into a cylindrical shape, as the whiteness had reached there as well. Only one word came to mind to describe this. Hooves. Well, at least I had an idea of what I was becoming. That was... some comfort? At this point I did something REALLY stupid. I said the worst possible thing that I could have at that moment. “How could this get any worse?!” I said, before covering my mouth with my furred hands. Open mouth, insert foot. Er, hoof, I guess. On cue, the white reached my groin. I could feel my manhood being..... recycled, to be replaced with more feminine organs. Then the real pain came. Hormones flooded my system, changing everything from my groin upwards. I screamed in agony as my organs shifted shape and my fat reserves were burned to fuel the transformation, increasing my body's heat dramatically. My legs and arms became less muscled and more lithe. My belly fat (rather abundant, unfortunately) burned off swiftly, filling my veins with molten energy, which i... oddly felt shift into something more magical in nature, my profile shifting as the sensation of it went upward. To something more befitting of my new gender. At this point, I passed out, the pain too much for me. Chapter 2: One Life Ends, Another BeginsI awakened some time later. Alive, certainly... but changed. And, despite having eaten earlier... very, VERY hungry! Bolting up from my bed, I made a dash to the kitchen, my hooves making a distinct clip-clop sound rather than the thump-thump I was used to. Once in the kitchen, I instinctively began rummaging through the vegetable crisper. I grabbed carrots, celery, broccoli, and much more (even some ginger) and nommed on all of it with vigor. “Sho tashty!” I exclaimed exultantly, my mouth still partially full. Yeah, apparently my taste-buds and teeth (and oral muscle memory) had changed too. At that thought, I ran my tongue along my teeth, noticing that I oddly still had canines, though somewhat reduced. “Does that mean-?” I wondered aloud as I looked higher in the fridge. I opened one container. Beef? I instinctively made a face and my -rather long- tongue stuck out. Nope! Close it! Clooooose it, I say! Well, I wasn't terribly fond of beef anyway. I opened another. Ham? Hmm.... maybe another time. “Third time's the charm....” Catfish! Leftovers! Bingo! I didn't even bother to warm it up. Still good, if not as much so as usual. “Maybe it'd taste better with rice and fava beans?” I thought. Anyway, after I felt satisfied with brunch I went back to my room to get dressed.... only to notice that my 2x (men) clothes wouldn't fit my now Medium (women) body. Okay, that's not taking into account the freakin' BASKETBALLS on my chest! My moobs had become bazongas! How did I not notice that before?! Right, I was too busy mowing down. Sighing, I decided that I might as well get a good look at myself. “Hmmm... Let's see... speaking of seeing, my eyesight is better. Won't need those glasses anymore. Anyway, aside from the soccer balls attached to me, I'm much slimmer, obviously. Probably lost a hundred pounds at least. No wonder I was so hungry! White fur is soft, skin is supple,... Hooves are well balanced, oddly. They're either flush with the floor, or they aren't. Amazing. There's a tattoo of a sprig of blueberries on either of my thighs. Also, I feel more... alive than I ever have. Like... a weight's been lifted from my shoulders. I feel strong. Capable. Powerful.” I flexed in different ways, finding that I had some pretty good muscle definition and was quite flexible. “Not as flexible as Blossomforth, but.... wait, who's Blossomforth?” I halted my train of thought, noting that something didn't add up. I felt a headache coming on and a memory that I shouldn't have had entered my mind I was in an exercise studio, about to get down with today's aerobics class. Our instructor, Sapphire Shores said, “Okay, fillies, let's do this!” We started to warm up, doing some jogging on the spot, as was typical. Then moved into easy maneuvers at first, then more complicated ones. As we exercised I noticed Blossomforth next to me. She was able to stretch her body to its limits, far beyond what most of us could do. She was also quite agile. During the freestyle point of the session she did a cartwheel, a cartwheel wth one hoof, a cartwheel with no hooves... Before I knew it, we were about done.... “Five, six, seven, eight, Ba-BAM!” I awoke from the memory, panting and clutching my head, still trying to shake off the last bits of the migraine. “What the hay was that?!” I wondered aloud. One more thing came to mind: Winter Fields. A name. Mine, perhaps? I paused, confused, but after a time I figured that there was no point in dwelling on that for too long, so I decided to get dressed. I put on my smallest shirt and pants, grabbing my belt to make... SEVERAL holes in it. Naturally, when I put my pants on I didn't take into account the tail that I had, so I had to cut a slot in them. “This is going to take some getting used to.” I mused aloud. Seven extra belt-holes later, I was more or less ready to face the day. And possibly my parents. “Well, here goes something. The man I was is no more. World, say hello to.... Winter Fields. I had the impression that that was right and wrong at the same time. It sounded like it would be my name, but something seemed off abut it. “There's no point in dwelling on this!” I said to myself, shaking my head to clear it of these musings. I walked up the stairs to the main floor of our house. As usual, my parents were making breakfast for the guests that we had. I went into the kitchen to see none other than... Mr. and Ms. Cake?! What?! How did I even know those names? I fought off another wave of nausea as my memories filled in the blanks. Now I knew who they were, along with other names, other faces! Well, that was convenient. “Mom? Dad?” I queried. Not even turning around but continuing with her work, "Cup Cake" said. “Oh! good morning, son-of-mine! This isn't really the time, you know.” “Actually, I think this is the perfect time.” I said, causing her to turn around. “Oh. It happened to you too, I guess? But with some... enhancements, eh?” This was definitely my mother, but looked like Cup Cake. She had the blue coat and trademark two-tone mane, the mark, but she was different, too. She was thinner, yet, might I say, more voluptuous. Her mane was instead in a loose ponytail. The combination of the voices of two disparate characters seemed to merge into one that sounded... well.... Imagine a younger version of Cup Cake having the voice of Jessica Rabbit. There you go. That's essentially who I was looking at. Nearby was my “father”, as Carrot Cake. He had the yellow coat and orange hair, the tattoo on his legs, which actually showed through his clothing, for some reason. But he looked stronger, more confident. A little more heavyset. “You guys... don't seem at all fazed by this.” Cup Cake scoffed at that. “Pfft! Who do you think you're talking to? I can't dwell on weird horseapples like this. I have stuff to do!” Definitely my mother. Doesn't let ANYTHING keep her down for long. And sitting at the table was.... PINKIE PIE?! She noticed me looking at her and said, grinning, “Who were you expecting? Somepony else?” “Kind of?” I replied. “On the bright side,” My mother spoke again, “This does present a unique opportunity for when I go into town later. By that I mean that you get to come.” “And why is that?” I asked. “Are you kidding? This is the perfect opportunity to take my “daughter”” she emphasized that last word, “shoppin'.” she finished with a grin. “Oh.” Chapter 3: A Trip Into Town/How Quickly Things Do ChangeChapter 3: A Trip Into Town/How Quickly Things Do Change After breakfast for our guests, (who turned out to be Milky Way and Flash Sentry, of all pon- PEOPLE.) Mom was quick in taking me into town. (Through Jasper into Smiths Falls, if you must know.) Something felt wrong about this. I felt excited and yet... apprehensive. Eager, yet more than a little nervous. Like I was doing something that I wanted to do, but was missing something crucial. It felt like I was at odds with myself, and it flat out bothered me. 'Oh well. Might as well make the best of it.' I figured. As we proceeded into town, I saw... PONIES! Anthropomorphized Ponies everywhere! (and a Deer or Gryphon or two for good measure.) Some were running, reveling in their changes. Others looked confused, and rightly so! Others were just going about their daily work as if nothing had happened at all. There were mostly what my memories said were Earth Ponies, but a Pegasus here and there as well. No Unicorns, though, which struck me as.... odd, somehow. Again, I wasn't sure why. “So, hon?” mom said as we went along. “Hmm?” I replied. “Just curious: Have you decided on a new name?” “Uh... Why do you ask?” I said, with a raised eyebrow. “This is practically a new world, after all, and we have new bodies to show for it. We're not who we were before, (though we're still family, of course). If you were to take on a new identity at any time, now would be the best time.” “Well...” I said, pensively. “'Well?'” she prompted. “The first name that came to mind was Winter Fields, but then how could anyone tell that I'm related to you at all... whatever your new name happens to be?” “Ah.” she said. “I'm calling myself Cup Midelshyre Cake. Your father, similarly, chose Carrot Midelshyre Cake. Our surnames are our middle names. Or should I say, middEL names?” At that we both laughed, long and hard. “That settles it.” I confirmed. “From this day forth (or at least until this gets resolved) I will be known as Winter Midelshyre Fields.” “That's my girl!” my mother exulted. I winced at that. “Mooooom.” I complained, “I'm still getting used to that concept.” “You'd better.” she responded. “I won't say that you're wrong to feel that way; that just isn't true. In fact, I'd be more concerned if you DIDN'T have feelings like that.” “Thanks, mom.” I said, blushing slightly. “However, that isn't going to stop me from enjoying this as much as I can, so you'd best get used to it.” she finished, laughing at the deadpan look I gave her after that. At length, we reached Smiths Falls. All I can say is... BOY, had the place changed! Anthro Ponies were everywhere, yes, but that wasn't the HALF of it! The colours seemed brighter, the storefronts had more... pizzazz, what with the added colours to those too. Even the Wal-Mart had an embellished outside! (as we would see shortly thereafter.) I could see PegasI painting down the storefront, vaguely hearing one shout to another on the other side how much easier it was to do their job with wings. Oh, but it got better! There seemed to be a festival of some sort going on. Stopping at a nearby parking lot, we jogged the rest of the way. I have to say, it was much easier to do this kind of activity as a half-Pony! I had much more stamina than usual and was able to run at a fair clip. Or should I say, a fair clip-clop. Okay, that wasn't my best material. Give me another chance? Anyway, getting to the market strip, as we called it, it turned out that there was a banner proclaiming, “Happy Equestrian Fusion Day!” in bright, bold letters. Running the show was none other than- wait, Pinkie Pie?! As if I had actually called her, she zoomed over. “What?! But- but you- how? When? Why?” I stuttered, unable to properly convey my confusion at the complete WTF I was faced with. Eventually I settled for a slack-armed posture with my head tilted, one eyebrow raised. Mouth hanging open slightly. You know the expression. Suddenly, Pinkie brought up a cell phone and took a picture, causing me to blink a couple of times afterwards. After some tapping at her phone, she showed me the completed image. “Lookee lookee, sis! Your first meme!” Sure enough, there was my flummoxed expression, the caption “What is this?” at the top and “I can't even” at the bottom. To my surprise, I started to chuckle, then giggle. “You're right. That... that is... pretty funny!” I said in between bursts of mirth at my own expense. The team that the extremely powerful personality of the pink party planning Pony, Pinkie Pie had completely overtaken my brother's personality “Anyway,” my mother tactfully redirected our energies while holding back some chuckles herself, “we should get going if we want to get things done.” she finished, having me say goodbye to Pinkie (for the second time today) and go back to the car. Shortly thereafter, we were at the local Wal-Mart. Naturally, there were Ponies of every shape, size and stripe (yes, some of them had stripes) there too. My mother directed me to the ladies' section of the store. As we were going there, I was looking around and suddenly bumped into someone coming from a nearby aisle. “Sorry, miss.” said a fairly low voice. If I were to judge, somewhere between YamI from Yu-Gi-Oh and Relius Clover from Blazblue.(1) “Are you quite alright?” he added. “Yeah, i'm ok-” at that point I looked into his eyes at the same moment as he touched me. And WHOA! What a shock I received! A jolt of electricity ran all along my body, which started heating up. I felt something intense, something.... different about this character. I knew that we were connected somehow, but I wasn't sure how. My muddled mentality was trying to tell me something, but for the life of me I couldn't tell what. The flash ended and I was looking at a -mostly- monochromatic stallion, who had kind, golden yellow eyes and smelled of dark chocolate. He smiled, kissed my hand and walked away. Smooth. I collapsed to my knees, still dizzy from what had only been an instant but felt like a full moment. My mother helped me up. “Are you okay, Winter?” “I... think so?” I said, unsure. “How do you feel?” “Like I was just kicked in the gut.” I replied immediately. My mother's eyes lit up. “Well! Things are moving rather quickly.” “What do you mean?” I asked. Mom pulled me into a hug. “My daughter's found her first crush!” she squeed. 'C-C-C-Crush?' I thought. That's when those synapses started firing off again, making me realize two things: The two of us were meant for each other. And he knew it too. 'We WILL meet again.' I promised mentally, drawing a heart around his retreating shape... (2) before i realized what i just did and wiped th imaginary heart from the air. Mom found this pretty funny too. Author's Note I'm actually attempting to get into the habit of using a voice like that day to day. Yeah, I'm shipping my two main ponysonae. Chapter 4: Learning to Cope"What the hay was THAT?!" I queried frantically. "That, my child," mom said, "was love at first sight. Nigh-on infatuation. Like a... passive version of Attract from the Pokemon series." That threw me for a loop. "Wait, Pokemon? You've played that?!" And that gave her pause. "I... don't think so..." she said, more than slightly confused. Both of us having things to think about, we moved on. Mom brought me to the section for ladies' wear. Previously, i'd never felt comfortable walking through here. Now, though, i was actually browsing through the items. One thing i found odd, though: The bras were gone entirely. When I mentioned it to my mother... "What? Not fond of showing off a bit?" she joked, thrusting out her chest, emphasizing her far more than considerable G-cup mammaries. I'm pretty sure that my entire coat turned red. "M-m-m-mom!" i stammered, left eye twitching. "Whaaat?" she said, exaggerating the word, "Do you see anpony ELSE wearing one?" I took a brief cast around and saw that not one mare was wearing a bra. In fact, many were quite deliberately showing off their breasts. Some of them were quite well endowed, too. "This is practically a new world, hon. Remember, mares outnumber stallions four to one." my mother said, taking on a lecturing tone. "This new world has new rules, new laws, new social mores. In this society, what I'm feeling is, "If it feels good and doesn't disadvantage anypony, DO IT!"" she laughed at this. "We are the next evolution, the next step in the advancement of our society! We have more freedom than ever! What better way to start than with the freedom of the body? For once, anypony can feel good about themselves WITHOUT having to use makeup! What's wrong with reveling in it a bit?" As she finished, there was a round of applause as we noticed that we'd drawn a bit of a crowd. Not to mention that mom found out a few seconds later that she was standing on a soap-box. "Where did THIS come from?" she queried. Everypony shrugged and resumed clapping. Also, a pair of hands gifted my mother with an award. She grinned at me, stepping down. "See what I mean about new rules?" she said, quite smugly. Deciding not to question it any further, I selected a few outfits and went to the change room to try them on. Sure enough, they all fit nicely and (from what i saw in the mirror, possessing some fashion sense for once) made me look good. I took a leaning-back pose, also making finger pistols. "Lookin' cute, feelin' cute!" As it stood, I totally would've tapped me! If, you know, I wasn't me. I decided to buy those. Impulsively picking up a few packets of seeds and a few types of candy to sate my sweet tooth, we went to the checkout counter. The cashier refused to take any money from us after my mother gave such an inspiring speech, however, and so we got our stuff free of charge. New outfits? Nothing! New romance? Nada! New beginning? Pr-iceless~! 'I believe i'm going to like this new world.' i thought to myself as we left the store. Better Gardens at HomeWhen we returned home, mom naturally had things that she wanted to do later, so we took what we'd recieved from in town and put those away. When she saw that I'd selected some packets of seeds, that gave her pause. "Why did you get these? And why these ones specifically?" I turmed around to see what she was talking about. "What? Oh! Those. To be honest, I'm not sure why i chose those, but... something within me just felt like I needed to get them. I'm not even sure what I got; let me see those." Looking at my selections, I saw that I'd bought a packet each of zucchini, garlic, Sugar Snap peas, onions, potatoes, carrots, leeks and... three packets of Blueberry seeds? Whatever. I needed to do a few tasks anyway. Previously, one of the things assigned to me was watering the plants. Also feeding the chickens and ducks that we had around, but that's there and not here. I guessed that I might as well add those seeds to the developing garden. Going back outside with my purchases, I inhaled deeply. The air smelled sweeter, somehow; cleaner than before. Like someone had saturated the air with sugar and... maybe a hint of mint? I exhaled with a sigh before moving on. Not more than a few dozen steps away was the enclosure for the flock. Four chickens, four ducks. When we got them, we considered keeping them in separate enclosures... but oddly enough, they seemed to be okay living together, so we kind of just went with it. Getting feed enough to last for a few days, I entered. "How are you today, girls? Everything good?" I greeted quasi-rhetorically. Surprisingly, they all turned to me and started squawking back affirmatively. I couldn't tell what they were trying to say specifically, but I could tell that they were greeting me back and giving a yes-ish answer. Shaking that off, I filled the feeder, collected... eight eggs! Wonderful. Putting those aside for the time being, I brought the seeds to the back garden, making sure to get the hose as well. When I got to there, I knelt down, picking a new spot for some of the zucchini to be planted in. 'Let's see... five or six of these should be buried about... somewhere between two and three centimeters down. Spaced apart about... 15 centimeters apart, about two meters if I'm doing multiple rows.' I thought, before starting a bit "Wait, how do I know that? I haven't even read the instructions yet!" Looking at said instructions, I found that I was indeed correct. "Right. Magic." I went about that and moved on to another packet, and another, and another.... Eventually I found that I'd planted almost all of the seeds that I had bought. Once the last seed was planted (and watered liberally), I looked around at my handiwork. I don't know how I did it, but somehow I had picked the right plants to have EXACTLY the right amount of space to put them all in Following another bit of instinct. I leaned down somewhere in between the lot and sank my hands into the damp soil. I could feel energy flowing from me through the ground and to the plants therein. Immediately, I felt them growing, sprouting roots. Root that were slowly growing. But I could feel something different as well. Something deeper. It seemed to pulse in 3/4 time, like a waltz. I followed the sensation and a moment later, I found that I'd connected to the world's Heart. It was beating in time with my own heart. Snapping back to reality, I could feel an itch in my throat. Another instinctual moment had me open my mouth... and begin singing. I can't recall the lyrics, but it was a song of joy, a song about the beauty of the world in general. About how plants and flowers are wonderful. And a wish for them to grow big, healthy, strong. If I had been looking, I would have noticed that my Cutie Mark was shining brightly. Coming to my senses, I found that the plants that I'd sown were much larger, and showing signs of being empowered. I could tell, because some green-ish glow of... energy flowed up and down some of them. I stood up once more and nodded. I was about to turn and leave, only to immediately nearly trip. Looking down, I found that I'd buried my hooves in the soil at some point as well. The soil around me was bone-dry. Apparently rapid growth requires a lot more water. "Oopsie-doopsie!" i said, slightly embarassed. "Seems I forgot a couple of things." Uprooting myself from the soil, I re-watered the plants, much more thoroughly than before, considering their increased size. After that, I tured the water off, then went to get the eggs I'd collected and go back inside. Today was pretty productive, all told. I felt pretty proud of myself. 'I wonder what tomorrow will bring?' I thought. Lights WithinAfter I had come in from the garden, my mother trotted up, a worried look on her face. "I just got off the phone. It's... Your grandmother." She said, simply. My eyes widened. "Well, what are we waiting for?" One quick road trip later (again, no easy feat for one with hooves) we managed to arrive relatively safely at the local hospital. We galloped up the stairs to where my grandmother was being cared for. When we got there, we realized that, like many of the other patients here, she was unable to make the Transition to a Pony form. Their bodies simply didn't have the vital energy to do so. As a result, many of them were dying even faster. Not immediately, however. I began to cry silently. Then I felt an idea come to me. I started to go toward my grandmother's bedside. Mom was about to stop me, but I acted first. "Please, mom. Stand back." "How far back?" She asked. "Way back." And she did indeed back up quite a bit, just to be on the safe side. Instinctively, I trotted quietly over to my grandmother's side. Closing my eyes, I held her hand and words started to come to my mind. (1) I hold those I love close. My heart is always there. And when my Cutie Mark comes to life, There's life for all to share. Sure enough, my Mark was glowing brightly. My magic began to work its... Well, magic. The glow built up until I looked like an ice sculpture. Suddenly, wisps of blue-green energy burst from me and began to spread throughout the room, and then into the rest of the hospital itself. They began to suffuse the inpatients with the vital energy that would be necessary. The effect was almost immediate. Those who were previously laid up started to show signs of recovering quickly. They began to change form, just like we had. Their vital signs started to rise. Many of them began to open their eyes as well. Those who had breathing apparatuses took them off and began to breathe fresh air for the first time in a long, long time. As for my grandmother herself, she began to sit up straight. "Where am I?" She queried, looking about her. I all but tackle hugged her. "Grandma! You're alive!" My mother was utterly flummoxed. "Since when could you do that!?" "I... Don't know. Since always, maybe? I just had no idea how to do that before." She smiled softly. "Well, I'm sure glad that you did. You might have just put some people out of a job, however." I waved that off. "Ah, most of them weren't doing that great of a job anyway." "Touche." My grandmother looked at me quizically. "Do I... Know you from somewhere?" "Of course! I was previously your grandson-" I paused. For some reason, I couldn't think of what my previous name was. "You used to call me CJ on occasion." I did remember that. "Now I go by Winter Fields." She looked over herself. She had a tan coat, a light pink -almost White- mane and tail. She was the spit and image of Mayor Mare. If a younger version. She looked over at my mother. "And that makes you...?" Mom smiled. "You used to call me D. That was in the past. I go by Cup Cake now." "And so... Who am I?" I decided to field that. "Back in Ponyville, you were known as Mayor Mare." After a moment's thought, she said, "Marionbell. I can feel that my name is Marionbell." My mother spread her arms. "Welcome back to the world of the living." She half joked. We explained a bit of what had happened. After a Time, she said, "So if I'm to understand correctly, I have not one, but two granddaughters when I had grandsons?" "Well, yes. Pretty much." She smiled. "I think I can live with that." Without further ado, she fell asleep with a smile on her face. We decided that it would be prudent to return when she was feeling stronger. As quietly as we could, my mother and I left the building. Author's Note 1: Sorry but not sorry; I like this gimmick.
Chapter 1: Worlds MergeI woke up and -after taking the time to do some exercises before breakfast- I went to have something to eat. After putting together a quick smoothie, I went back to my room to check out what was new with the world. Clicking on a “must-see” video, it showed a live "urgent" news report. It turned out that something really weird was happening all around the world. A strange energy was gathering, saturating the world as a whole. Suddenly the report went to static. As if on cue, there was an explosion that shook the very earth to its core! Okay, maybe not quite, but close! “Oh, Celestia! What's going on?!” I exclaimed, as I myself started feeling kind of strange. It didn't even occur to me that what I had said was strange. But then my eyes began to feel itchy, but only for a few brief seconds. When I looked into my conveniently placed mirror, I noticed that my eyes had changed colour (blue, now). But as my eye colour usually changes with everything I wear, I thought nothing of it. Then I noticed that my hair was turning alternately maiden white and cerulean blue, strand by strand, also lengthening, for some reason, with each strand that was changed! I touched my hair to verify that this was really happening, but doing that only made the itch spread to my hand, which started being covered in white as well! “What in the world is going on!?” I shouted, my throat getting the itch as well, causing my voice to rise several octaves. I had intended to swear there, too. My hair was down to my back by now, nearly completely white -much like most of the rest of my body- or blue. As the whiteness reached my face, it began to push out, bones snapping and reshaping with sickening cracking/crunching sounds, -oddly, with little pain- elongating into a muzzle, of sorts. I would have screamed, but I couldn't because -oh, yeah- my FACE was being remolded! Shortly thereafter my sense of hearing was lost to me for a moment, only to reappear.... higher up. I reached up slowly and touched where my ears should have been, only to feel soft fur, which I gathered was what the rest of me was covered in. Reaching higher, on a hunch, I found where my ears were. My left eye began to twitch. I went over to my bed to sit down, but yelped -in my now very much feminine voice- as I had sat on something. Reflexively reaching behind me, I found that a tail had developed, with much the same coloration as my hair, while my attention was more on my front end. Great. Moving that aside, I laid on my side, letting the rest of the change take place. As I lay there, I felt my feet crunching into a cylindrical shape, as the whiteness had reached there as well. Only one word came to mind to describe this. Hooves. Well, at least I had an idea of what I was becoming. That was... some comfort? At this point I did something REALLY stupid. I said the worst possible thing that I could have at that moment. “How could this get any worse?!” I said, before covering my mouth with my furred hands. Open mouth, insert foot. Er, hoof, I guess. On cue, the white reached my groin. I could feel my manhood being..... recycled, to be replaced with more feminine organs. Then the real pain came. Hormones flooded my system, changing everything from my groin upwards. I screamed in agony as my organs shifted shape and my fat reserves were burned to fuel the transformation, increasing my body's heat dramatically. My legs and arms became less muscled and more lithe. My belly fat (rather abundant, unfortunately) burned off swiftly, filling my veins with molten energy, which i... oddly felt shift into something more magical in nature, my profile shifting as the sensation of it went upward. To something more befitting of my new gender. At this point, I passed out, the pain too much for me.
Chapter 2: One Life Ends, Another BeginsI awakened some time later. Alive, certainly... but changed. And, despite having eaten earlier... very, VERY hungry! Bolting up from my bed, I made a dash to the kitchen, my hooves making a distinct clip-clop sound rather than the thump-thump I was used to. Once in the kitchen, I instinctively began rummaging through the vegetable crisper. I grabbed carrots, celery, broccoli, and much more (even some ginger) and nommed on all of it with vigor. “Sho tashty!” I exclaimed exultantly, my mouth still partially full. Yeah, apparently my taste-buds and teeth (and oral muscle memory) had changed too. At that thought, I ran my tongue along my teeth, noticing that I oddly still had canines, though somewhat reduced. “Does that mean-?” I wondered aloud as I looked higher in the fridge. I opened one container. Beef? I instinctively made a face and my -rather long- tongue stuck out. Nope! Close it! Clooooose it, I say! Well, I wasn't terribly fond of beef anyway. I opened another. Ham? Hmm.... maybe another time. “Third time's the charm....” Catfish! Leftovers! Bingo! I didn't even bother to warm it up. Still good, if not as much so as usual. “Maybe it'd taste better with rice and fava beans?” I thought. Anyway, after I felt satisfied with brunch I went back to my room to get dressed.... only to notice that my 2x (men) clothes wouldn't fit my now Medium (women) body. Okay, that's not taking into account the freakin' BASKETBALLS on my chest! My moobs had become bazongas! How did I not notice that before?! Right, I was too busy mowing down. Sighing, I decided that I might as well get a good look at myself. “Hmmm... Let's see... speaking of seeing, my eyesight is better. Won't need those glasses anymore. Anyway, aside from the soccer balls attached to me, I'm much slimmer, obviously. Probably lost a hundred pounds at least. No wonder I was so hungry! White fur is soft, skin is supple,... Hooves are well balanced, oddly. They're either flush with the floor, or they aren't. Amazing. There's a tattoo of a sprig of blueberries on either of my thighs. Also, I feel more... alive than I ever have. Like... a weight's been lifted from my shoulders. I feel strong. Capable. Powerful.” I flexed in different ways, finding that I had some pretty good muscle definition and was quite flexible. “Not as flexible as Blossomforth, but.... wait, who's Blossomforth?” I halted my train of thought, noting that something didn't add up. I felt a headache coming on and a memory that I shouldn't have had entered my mind I was in an exercise studio, about to get down with today's aerobics class. Our instructor, Sapphire Shores said, “Okay, fillies, let's do this!” We started to warm up, doing some jogging on the spot, as was typical. Then moved into easy maneuvers at first, then more complicated ones. As we exercised I noticed Blossomforth next to me. She was able to stretch her body to its limits, far beyond what most of us could do. She was also quite agile. During the freestyle point of the session she did a cartwheel, a cartwheel wth one hoof, a cartwheel with no hooves... Before I knew it, we were about done.... “Five, six, seven, eight, Ba-BAM!” I awoke from the memory, panting and clutching my head, still trying to shake off the last bits of the migraine. “What the hay was that?!” I wondered aloud. One more thing came to mind: Winter Fields. A name. Mine, perhaps? I paused, confused, but after a time I figured that there was no point in dwelling on that for too long, so I decided to get dressed. I put on my smallest shirt and pants, grabbing my belt to make... SEVERAL holes in it. Naturally, when I put my pants on I didn't take into account the tail that I had, so I had to cut a slot in them. “This is going to take some getting used to.” I mused aloud. Seven extra belt-holes later, I was more or less ready to face the day. And possibly my parents. “Well, here goes something. The man I was is no more. World, say hello to.... Winter Fields. I had the impression that that was right and wrong at the same time. It sounded like it would be my name, but something seemed off abut it. “There's no point in dwelling on this!” I said to myself, shaking my head to clear it of these musings. I walked up the stairs to the main floor of our house. As usual, my parents were making breakfast for the guests that we had. I went into the kitchen to see none other than... Mr. and Ms. Cake?! What?! How did I even know those names? I fought off another wave of nausea as my memories filled in the blanks. Now I knew who they were, along with other names, other faces! Well, that was convenient. “Mom? Dad?” I queried. Not even turning around but continuing with her work, "Cup Cake" said. “Oh! good morning, son-of-mine! This isn't really the time, you know.” “Actually, I think this is the perfect time.” I said, causing her to turn around. “Oh. It happened to you too, I guess? But with some... enhancements, eh?” This was definitely my mother, but looked like Cup Cake. She had the blue coat and trademark two-tone mane, the mark, but she was different, too. She was thinner, yet, might I say, more voluptuous. Her mane was instead in a loose ponytail. The combination of the voices of two disparate characters seemed to merge into one that sounded... well.... Imagine a younger version of Cup Cake having the voice of Jessica Rabbit. There you go. That's essentially who I was looking at. Nearby was my “father”, as Carrot Cake. He had the yellow coat and orange hair, the tattoo on his legs, which actually showed through his clothing, for some reason. But he looked stronger, more confident. A little more heavyset. “You guys... don't seem at all fazed by this.” Cup Cake scoffed at that. “Pfft! Who do you think you're talking to? I can't dwell on weird horseapples like this. I have stuff to do!” Definitely my mother. Doesn't let ANYTHING keep her down for long. And sitting at the table was.... PINKIE PIE?! She noticed me looking at her and said, grinning, “Who were you expecting? Somepony else?” “Kind of?” I replied. “On the bright side,” My mother spoke again, “This does present a unique opportunity for when I go into town later. By that I mean that you get to come.” “And why is that?” I asked. “Are you kidding? This is the perfect opportunity to take my “daughter”” she emphasized that last word, “shoppin'.” she finished with a grin. “Oh.”
Chapter 3: A Trip Into Town/How Quickly Things Do ChangeChapter 3: A Trip Into Town/How Quickly Things Do Change After breakfast for our guests, (who turned out to be Milky Way and Flash Sentry, of all pon- PEOPLE.) Mom was quick in taking me into town. (Through Jasper into Smiths Falls, if you must know.) Something felt wrong about this. I felt excited and yet... apprehensive. Eager, yet more than a little nervous. Like I was doing something that I wanted to do, but was missing something crucial. It felt like I was at odds with myself, and it flat out bothered me. 'Oh well. Might as well make the best of it.' I figured. As we proceeded into town, I saw... PONIES! Anthropomorphized Ponies everywhere! (and a Deer or Gryphon or two for good measure.) Some were running, reveling in their changes. Others looked confused, and rightly so! Others were just going about their daily work as if nothing had happened at all. There were mostly what my memories said were Earth Ponies, but a Pegasus here and there as well. No Unicorns, though, which struck me as.... odd, somehow. Again, I wasn't sure why. “So, hon?” mom said as we went along. “Hmm?” I replied. “Just curious: Have you decided on a new name?” “Uh... Why do you ask?” I said, with a raised eyebrow. “This is practically a new world, after all, and we have new bodies to show for it. We're not who we were before, (though we're still family, of course). If you were to take on a new identity at any time, now would be the best time.” “Well...” I said, pensively. “'Well?'” she prompted. “The first name that came to mind was Winter Fields, but then how could anyone tell that I'm related to you at all... whatever your new name happens to be?” “Ah.” she said. “I'm calling myself Cup Midelshyre Cake. Your father, similarly, chose Carrot Midelshyre Cake. Our surnames are our middle names. Or should I say, middEL names?” At that we both laughed, long and hard. “That settles it.” I confirmed. “From this day forth (or at least until this gets resolved) I will be known as Winter Midelshyre Fields.” “That's my girl!” my mother exulted. I winced at that. “Mooooom.” I complained, “I'm still getting used to that concept.” “You'd better.” she responded. “I won't say that you're wrong to feel that way; that just isn't true. In fact, I'd be more concerned if you DIDN'T have feelings like that.” “Thanks, mom.” I said, blushing slightly. “However, that isn't going to stop me from enjoying this as much as I can, so you'd best get used to it.” she finished, laughing at the deadpan look I gave her after that. At length, we reached Smiths Falls. All I can say is... BOY, had the place changed! Anthro Ponies were everywhere, yes, but that wasn't the HALF of it! The colours seemed brighter, the storefronts had more... pizzazz, what with the added colours to those too. Even the Wal-Mart had an embellished outside! (as we would see shortly thereafter.) I could see PegasI painting down the storefront, vaguely hearing one shout to another on the other side how much easier it was to do their job with wings. Oh, but it got better! There seemed to be a festival of some sort going on. Stopping at a nearby parking lot, we jogged the rest of the way. I have to say, it was much easier to do this kind of activity as a half-Pony! I had much more stamina than usual and was able to run at a fair clip. Or should I say, a fair clip-clop. Okay, that wasn't my best material. Give me another chance? Anyway, getting to the market strip, as we called it, it turned out that there was a banner proclaiming, “Happy Equestrian Fusion Day!” in bright, bold letters. Running the show was none other than- wait, Pinkie Pie?! As if I had actually called her, she zoomed over. “What?! But- but you- how? When? Why?” I stuttered, unable to properly convey my confusion at the complete WTF I was faced with. Eventually I settled for a slack-armed posture with my head tilted, one eyebrow raised. Mouth hanging open slightly. You know the expression. Suddenly, Pinkie brought up a cell phone and took a picture, causing me to blink a couple of times afterwards. After some tapping at her phone, she showed me the completed image. “Lookee lookee, sis! Your first meme!” Sure enough, there was my flummoxed expression, the caption “What is this?” at the top and “I can't even” at the bottom. To my surprise, I started to chuckle, then giggle. “You're right. That... that is... pretty funny!” I said in between bursts of mirth at my own expense. The team that the extremely powerful personality of the pink party planning Pony, Pinkie Pie had completely overtaken my brother's personality “Anyway,” my mother tactfully redirected our energies while holding back some chuckles herself, “we should get going if we want to get things done.” she finished, having me say goodbye to Pinkie (for the second time today) and go back to the car. Shortly thereafter, we were at the local Wal-Mart. Naturally, there were Ponies of every shape, size and stripe (yes, some of them had stripes) there too. My mother directed me to the ladies' section of the store. As we were going there, I was looking around and suddenly bumped into someone coming from a nearby aisle. “Sorry, miss.” said a fairly low voice. If I were to judge, somewhere between YamI from Yu-Gi-Oh and Relius Clover from Blazblue.(1) “Are you quite alright?” he added. “Yeah, i'm ok-” at that point I looked into his eyes at the same moment as he touched me. And WHOA! What a shock I received! A jolt of electricity ran all along my body, which started heating up. I felt something intense, something.... different about this character. I knew that we were connected somehow, but I wasn't sure how. My muddled mentality was trying to tell me something, but for the life of me I couldn't tell what. The flash ended and I was looking at a -mostly- monochromatic stallion, who had kind, golden yellow eyes and smelled of dark chocolate. He smiled, kissed my hand and walked away. Smooth. I collapsed to my knees, still dizzy from what had only been an instant but felt like a full moment. My mother helped me up. “Are you okay, Winter?” “I... think so?” I said, unsure. “How do you feel?” “Like I was just kicked in the gut.” I replied immediately. My mother's eyes lit up. “Well! Things are moving rather quickly.” “What do you mean?” I asked. Mom pulled me into a hug. “My daughter's found her first crush!” she squeed. 'C-C-C-Crush?' I thought. That's when those synapses started firing off again, making me realize two things: The two of us were meant for each other. And he knew it too. 'We WILL meet again.' I promised mentally, drawing a heart around his retreating shape... (2) before i realized what i just did and wiped th imaginary heart from the air. Mom found this pretty funny too. Author's Note I'm actually attempting to get into the habit of using a voice like that day to day. Yeah, I'm shipping my two main ponysonae.
Chapter 4: Learning to Cope"What the hay was THAT?!" I queried frantically. "That, my child," mom said, "was love at first sight. Nigh-on infatuation. Like a... passive version of Attract from the Pokemon series." That threw me for a loop. "Wait, Pokemon? You've played that?!" And that gave her pause. "I... don't think so..." she said, more than slightly confused. Both of us having things to think about, we moved on. Mom brought me to the section for ladies' wear. Previously, i'd never felt comfortable walking through here. Now, though, i was actually browsing through the items. One thing i found odd, though: The bras were gone entirely. When I mentioned it to my mother... "What? Not fond of showing off a bit?" she joked, thrusting out her chest, emphasizing her far more than considerable G-cup mammaries. I'm pretty sure that my entire coat turned red. "M-m-m-mom!" i stammered, left eye twitching. "Whaaat?" she said, exaggerating the word, "Do you see anpony ELSE wearing one?" I took a brief cast around and saw that not one mare was wearing a bra. In fact, many were quite deliberately showing off their breasts. Some of them were quite well endowed, too. "This is practically a new world, hon. Remember, mares outnumber stallions four to one." my mother said, taking on a lecturing tone. "This new world has new rules, new laws, new social mores. In this society, what I'm feeling is, "If it feels good and doesn't disadvantage anypony, DO IT!"" she laughed at this. "We are the next evolution, the next step in the advancement of our society! We have more freedom than ever! What better way to start than with the freedom of the body? For once, anypony can feel good about themselves WITHOUT having to use makeup! What's wrong with reveling in it a bit?" As she finished, there was a round of applause as we noticed that we'd drawn a bit of a crowd. Not to mention that mom found out a few seconds later that she was standing on a soap-box. "Where did THIS come from?" she queried. Everypony shrugged and resumed clapping. Also, a pair of hands gifted my mother with an award. She grinned at me, stepping down. "See what I mean about new rules?" she said, quite smugly. Deciding not to question it any further, I selected a few outfits and went to the change room to try them on. Sure enough, they all fit nicely and (from what i saw in the mirror, possessing some fashion sense for once) made me look good. I took a leaning-back pose, also making finger pistols. "Lookin' cute, feelin' cute!" As it stood, I totally would've tapped me! If, you know, I wasn't me. I decided to buy those. Impulsively picking up a few packets of seeds and a few types of candy to sate my sweet tooth, we went to the checkout counter. The cashier refused to take any money from us after my mother gave such an inspiring speech, however, and so we got our stuff free of charge. New outfits? Nothing! New romance? Nada! New beginning? Pr-iceless~! 'I believe i'm going to like this new world.' i thought to myself as we left the store.
Better Gardens at HomeWhen we returned home, mom naturally had things that she wanted to do later, so we took what we'd recieved from in town and put those away. When she saw that I'd selected some packets of seeds, that gave her pause. "Why did you get these? And why these ones specifically?" I turmed around to see what she was talking about. "What? Oh! Those. To be honest, I'm not sure why i chose those, but... something within me just felt like I needed to get them. I'm not even sure what I got; let me see those." Looking at my selections, I saw that I'd bought a packet each of zucchini, garlic, Sugar Snap peas, onions, potatoes, carrots, leeks and... three packets of Blueberry seeds? Whatever. I needed to do a few tasks anyway. Previously, one of the things assigned to me was watering the plants. Also feeding the chickens and ducks that we had around, but that's there and not here. I guessed that I might as well add those seeds to the developing garden. Going back outside with my purchases, I inhaled deeply. The air smelled sweeter, somehow; cleaner than before. Like someone had saturated the air with sugar and... maybe a hint of mint? I exhaled with a sigh before moving on. Not more than a few dozen steps away was the enclosure for the flock. Four chickens, four ducks. When we got them, we considered keeping them in separate enclosures... but oddly enough, they seemed to be okay living together, so we kind of just went with it. Getting feed enough to last for a few days, I entered. "How are you today, girls? Everything good?" I greeted quasi-rhetorically. Surprisingly, they all turned to me and started squawking back affirmatively. I couldn't tell what they were trying to say specifically, but I could tell that they were greeting me back and giving a yes-ish answer. Shaking that off, I filled the feeder, collected... eight eggs! Wonderful. Putting those aside for the time being, I brought the seeds to the back garden, making sure to get the hose as well. When I got to there, I knelt down, picking a new spot for some of the zucchini to be planted in. 'Let's see... five or six of these should be buried about... somewhere between two and three centimeters down. Spaced apart about... 15 centimeters apart, about two meters if I'm doing multiple rows.' I thought, before starting a bit "Wait, how do I know that? I haven't even read the instructions yet!" Looking at said instructions, I found that I was indeed correct. "Right. Magic." I went about that and moved on to another packet, and another, and another.... Eventually I found that I'd planted almost all of the seeds that I had bought. Once the last seed was planted (and watered liberally), I looked around at my handiwork. I don't know how I did it, but somehow I had picked the right plants to have EXACTLY the right amount of space to put them all in Following another bit of instinct. I leaned down somewhere in between the lot and sank my hands into the damp soil. I could feel energy flowing from me through the ground and to the plants therein. Immediately, I felt them growing, sprouting roots. Root that were slowly growing. But I could feel something different as well. Something deeper. It seemed to pulse in 3/4 time, like a waltz. I followed the sensation and a moment later, I found that I'd connected to the world's Heart. It was beating in time with my own heart. Snapping back to reality, I could feel an itch in my throat. Another instinctual moment had me open my mouth... and begin singing. I can't recall the lyrics, but it was a song of joy, a song about the beauty of the world in general. About how plants and flowers are wonderful. And a wish for them to grow big, healthy, strong. If I had been looking, I would have noticed that my Cutie Mark was shining brightly. Coming to my senses, I found that the plants that I'd sown were much larger, and showing signs of being empowered. I could tell, because some green-ish glow of... energy flowed up and down some of them. I stood up once more and nodded. I was about to turn and leave, only to immediately nearly trip. Looking down, I found that I'd buried my hooves in the soil at some point as well. The soil around me was bone-dry. Apparently rapid growth requires a lot more water. "Oopsie-doopsie!" i said, slightly embarassed. "Seems I forgot a couple of things." Uprooting myself from the soil, I re-watered the plants, much more thoroughly than before, considering their increased size. After that, I tured the water off, then went to get the eggs I'd collected and go back inside. Today was pretty productive, all told. I felt pretty proud of myself. 'I wonder what tomorrow will bring?' I thought.
Lights WithinAfter I had come in from the garden, my mother trotted up, a worried look on her face. "I just got off the phone. It's... Your grandmother." She said, simply. My eyes widened. "Well, what are we waiting for?" One quick road trip later (again, no easy feat for one with hooves) we managed to arrive relatively safely at the local hospital. We galloped up the stairs to where my grandmother was being cared for. When we got there, we realized that, like many of the other patients here, she was unable to make the Transition to a Pony form. Their bodies simply didn't have the vital energy to do so. As a result, many of them were dying even faster. Not immediately, however. I began to cry silently. Then I felt an idea come to me. I started to go toward my grandmother's bedside. Mom was about to stop me, but I acted first. "Please, mom. Stand back." "How far back?" She asked. "Way back." And she did indeed back up quite a bit, just to be on the safe side. Instinctively, I trotted quietly over to my grandmother's side. Closing my eyes, I held her hand and words started to come to my mind. (1) I hold those I love close. My heart is always there. And when my Cutie Mark comes to life, There's life for all to share. Sure enough, my Mark was glowing brightly. My magic began to work its... Well, magic. The glow built up until I looked like an ice sculpture. Suddenly, wisps of blue-green energy burst from me and began to spread throughout the room, and then into the rest of the hospital itself. They began to suffuse the inpatients with the vital energy that would be necessary. The effect was almost immediate. Those who were previously laid up started to show signs of recovering quickly. They began to change form, just like we had. Their vital signs started to rise. Many of them began to open their eyes as well. Those who had breathing apparatuses took them off and began to breathe fresh air for the first time in a long, long time. As for my grandmother herself, she began to sit up straight. "Where am I?" She queried, looking about her. I all but tackle hugged her. "Grandma! You're alive!" My mother was utterly flummoxed. "Since when could you do that!?" "I... Don't know. Since always, maybe? I just had no idea how to do that before." She smiled softly. "Well, I'm sure glad that you did. You might have just put some people out of a job, however." I waved that off. "Ah, most of them weren't doing that great of a job anyway." "Touche." My grandmother looked at me quizically. "Do I... Know you from somewhere?" "Of course! I was previously your grandson-" I paused. For some reason, I couldn't think of what my previous name was. "You used to call me CJ on occasion." I did remember that. "Now I go by Winter Fields." She looked over herself. She had a tan coat, a light pink -almost White- mane and tail. She was the spit and image of Mayor Mare. If a younger version. She looked over at my mother. "And that makes you...?" Mom smiled. "You used to call me D. That was in the past. I go by Cup Cake now." "And so... Who am I?" I decided to field that. "Back in Ponyville, you were known as Mayor Mare." After a moment's thought, she said, "Marionbell. I can feel that my name is Marionbell." My mother spread her arms. "Welcome back to the world of the living." She half joked. We explained a bit of what had happened. After a Time, she said, "So if I'm to understand correctly, I have not one, but two granddaughters when I had grandsons?" "Well, yes. Pretty much." She smiled. "I think I can live with that." Without further ado, she fell asleep with a smile on her face. We decided that it would be prudent to return when she was feeling stronger. As quietly as we could, my mother and I left the building. Author's Note 1: Sorry but not sorry; I like this gimmick.
