Pound was galloping through the streets of Ponyville in the dark. He couldn't see it. He didn't know what it was. But somehow, he just knew that something was chasing him, and it wasn't friendly. He had to get away. He needed to try to outrun it. But he was short on breath and running out of stamina. This couldn't go on forever.

Out of the corner of his eye, Pound saw an alleyway that blended in with the surrounding buildings. Acting fast, he ducked into it, hoping he could escape through the other side. Only twenty feet in however, he realized his mistake. It was a dead end. He was met with nothing but a brick wall.

Suddenly, Pound heard something crash into the walls behind him. The the thundering wind of Pegasus wings. Slowly, cautiously, Pound turned around.

The sight before him was almost beyond comprehension. He saw . . . himself? But something was wrong. This other pony looked like him but it's coat was scarred with countless bloody bruises. Half it’s mane was missing and what was left was in tatters. It's wings were broken and bent to the point that it shouldn't have been able to fly. Yet, somehow, it was hovering ten feet off the ground. It's crooked yellow fangs were curled into a malicious grin and, worst of all, it's eyes were missing. Blood poured out from the empty sockets, leaving twin trails of crimson fluid in their wake.

Then, without warning, the twisted reflection dove directly at Pound, it's jaw spreading wide like a serpent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pound awoke with a start, his heart racing. “Oh, thank the heavens!” he mused “it was just a dream. Returning to reality, Pound scanned his gaze across the bedroom, lit only by the soft glow of Luna’s celestial sphere.

Pound was too Frazzled to go back to sleep. As he sat up under the covers, he gradually became aware of how dry his throat felt and how badly he needed to use the bathroom.

As he climbed out of bed, he stumbled, not used to the short drop to the ground. “Why was I sleeping on an air mattress again?” he pondered curiously. But, in his groggy state of mind, he couldn't focus on the sentiment for too long.

As he trudged through the halls of Sugarcube Corner, his paranoid eyes darted around in the dark. Beyond all reason, he kept expecting something to jump out at him.

When he finally made it to the bathroom, he flipped the light switch, holding up his right forehoof to shield his sensitive eyes from the blinding light. "Huh, what?" he heard Pumpkin's voice in his head.

As Pumpkin awoke from her slumber, she subconsciously started to battle Pound for control over their body, prompting pound to lose what little balence he had in his groggy state. They fell flat on their face.

“Oooooooowww” Pumpkin moaned

When Pound felt his sister talk through their shared mouth, all the memories of the previous day came flooding back to him. “Oh no!” Pound thought, horrified.

“What is it?” Pumpkin asked through their parched throat. She screwed up their face and smacked their lips at the odd taste and texture.

“That was all real???” Pound snapped as Pumpkin moved to start filling a cup on the sink with water.

“NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!” Pumpkin felt their heart quicken and chest tighten up as Pound fell into panic mode. “What do mom and dad think of all this? What about the kids at school? What would they think? I’m a freak. A laughing stock. I’ll have to share everything with my dumb sister. Not to mention, no pri . . ,”. Gurgle, Pound was cut off as Pumpkin started chugging down water. privacy, ever!!! What if Twilight can’t fix this? Are we just gonna be stuck like this forever? Oh goddess, I don’t even wanna think about that!!!

As Pound spiraled through his rant, Pumpkin was helpless to stop it. Whenever Pound got like this, very little could break his train of thought and the longer it went on for, the more it snowballed out of control. Pumpkin tried to shut him up by forcing their mouth closed, but he just continued mentally. If anything, it just made him more agitated. In desperation, Pumpkin tried a breathing technique she’d learned. Ten seconds in. Ten seconds out. Over and over for as long as it took.

"And then we'd be stuck in a cave somewhere deep in the Everfree forest. We'd probably get mauled to death by timberwolves, assuming we don't get . . . eaten . . . first?

"Oh, thank the heavens" Pumpkin heaved a sigh of relief. "It worked.

"How'd you do that?" Pound inquired

"It's a technique I learned from Princess Twilight. She's taught me more than just magic you know."

"Oh, by the way, I've always wondered. How did you get a freaking alicorn princess for a teacher anyway?

"Well, considering that her best friend lives . . ."

"Good point" Pound interrupted.

"in our house." Pumpkin rolled their eyes at her brother's interruption. Fortunately, however, the gesture seemed to go under his radar.

"Anyway, like I was saying . . . what's gonna happen to us Pumpkin?"

"What do you mean?

"I mean, what if twilight can't reverse the spell? What if we just get stuck like this . . ."

"Stop it Pound! That's not going to happen. Princess Twilight will fix thi . . .

"No, you don't understand!" Pound interrupted again. "I mean, what if we get stuck like this? Maybe for months, or even years . . . what's gonna happen to us? I mean, we can hear each other's thoughts right?

Where are you going with this?

"Well, if this goes on for too long, then when it's finally over, would we even still be, well, y'know, us? I mean, what if our brains just sort of melt into each other and we end up as some crazy third pony? Not really you, or me but . . . somepony else . . ." Pound trailed off, unable to even finish the thought.

"Oh" Pumpkin said simply "Oh goddess! I didn't even think of that! No. No, I won't believe it. The Princess is going to help us Pound."

"How do you know?"

"I just do okay. Call it intuition, a gut feeling, whatever else you want. I just know." Pumpkin confidently declared. "Besides, she's an alicorn princess. I'm sure she knows what she's doing."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING Twilight screamed as she frantically darted around the messy library of the Chrystal Castle. Her mane was a unkempt mess in desperate need of combing. Her coat was was matted, mangy and in need of a wash. Her eyes were bloodshot, with bags underneath them from lack of sleep. The floor was practically carpeted in dozens of spell books, left over from a night of nonstop research. But all that study yielded very few results.

"I thought you said you had it all covered?" Spike inquired, still the same helpful assistant he's always been, if only a little bit taller.

"I did! But knowing how to do something and actually doing it are two completely different things. In theory, it should be pretty simple. All I'd have to do break them down at a molecular level and then put all of their atoms and molecules back in the right places. Easy peasy."

"That doesn't sound very simple" Spike tried to interject before Twilight rudely interrupted him.

"But no matter what I do, I just can't seem to get it right." Twilight was practically banging her head against a wall in her frantic state. "I mean just look at this!" Twilight fired the fusion spell at an apple and an orange sitting next to each other on a table. Then, she lit up her horn again with a counter spell.

What she was left with was a pile composed of orange apple slices and a red orange peal.

"Uuuuuuuugh" Twilight screamed in frustration

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After they managed to relieve themselves, for as awkward as that proved to be with both sets of genitals, Pumpkin suggested they take a shower.

"But I don't wanna!" Pound snapped

"Come on Pound, we're all sweaty, especially after . . . last night" Pumpkin said with a blush, recalling the events of the previous night. "plus, it's all weird and crusty, uh, 'down there', and . . ." Pumpkin sniffed underneath their right foreleg "Oh yeah, that smells awful!"

"It smells fine to me" Pound refuted. "We don't need a shower." Pound complained.

"Come on Pound, it'll be quick."

"I said no!!!" Pound snapped, stubbornly.

As Pumpkin tried her hardest to get them into the shower, Pound tried to make a beeline for the door. As a result, they were left in an awkward limbo where the wiggled around in one spot but didn't really go anywhere. To an outside observer, it would look like they were having a seizure.

Having had enough of the madness, Pumpkin finally decided to plant their hooves in place. Despite his resistance, she would make sure that he wasn't going anywhere. "Let me go!" Pound insisted.

"Listen Pound.

"NO!"

"LISTEN!!! Pumpkin shouted, getting him to shut up if only for a moment. But a moment was all she needed. "I'll tell you what. If you cooperate right now, then we can do whatever the hell you want when we're done."

"ugh, fine" he scoffed. But it better be quick. I got this a new Power Ponies comic a few days ago and didn't get a chance to read it yet."

"So you want to do that then?"

"Uh, yeah!" Pound exclaimed.

Pumpkin just rolled their eyes again. "Fine, I guess we'll do that. Still dumb though."

"You promise?" Pound insisted

"Pinkie Promise" she said, quickly doing the motions.

"Good" Pound said as he felt Pumpkin light up their horn to turn the water on. The feeling of magic draining out of him through his forehead was something he hadn't quite gotten used to yet.

With one fluid motion, Pumpkin drew back the curtain and they stepped into the warm stream of water.

Author's Note

I know there's no clop in this chapter. I plan have the clop be every other chapter so I could actually fit some sort of a story in.

On the bright side, you've got a shower scene to look forward to. That'll be fun.