Molly sighed a little as she looked over the edge of the Anthem and down at the water below. She was still getting used to the idea of being a pony to be honest and she had no idea where Izzy had gone off to.

After the Captain's speech Izzy had said something about feeling tired and left for her Cabin. Molly was honestly a bit worried about what she might find there if Izzy's parents were nearby. She had no idea what she was going to say to them or if they would even understand what was going on.

She hadn't thought that much about her relationship with Izzy before this. She had been drunk to say the least and had just needed to be able to blow off some steam. It was hard to believe that everything had happened like this.

"What are you going to do with yourself Molly?" She asked herself as she looked out at the water. "What could've happened that turned so many people into... well, this."

She sighed a little and brushed her new blue hair out of her eyes. It was weird to Think of herself like this, she couldn't even wear clothes. It was weird to walk around naked where anyone could see her body, but there wasn't much point in dwelling on it.

She thought about her parents, they were probably worried sick about her at this point. Was this just limited to the ship or was there something else going on entirely? Maybe if they could figure that out they could get back to something resembling a normal life at least.

Whatever normal was when you're a talking horse creature with a horn sticking out of her forehead.

"Do you mind if I join you?" A voice said from behind her and she turned to see another Unicorn standing there. This one was rust colored with a long dark red mane who gave her a weak smile.

"Hello Sherry," Molly said with a sigh, she recognized the voice as belonging to her friend who had come along with her on the trip. "What do you want?"

"I just want to talk," Sherry said as she moved up next to Molly and leaned on the railing. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have run off like that. I know I must not seem very grateful given everything you did to set this up for me."

"Yeah, I know, I just..." Molly started to say and sighed a little. "I wanted this to be perfect, and you ran off before I could actually do anything I really wanted to do. So where is your boyfriend anyway?"

"He, freaked out after we woke up as horses and threw me out of the cabin," Sherry said with a shake of her head. "It wasn't easy to figure out which one was you, but I wanted to find you and say I'm sorry for everything."

Molly looked at the other Unicorn for a long moment. She honestly wasn't sure what she was going to do at this point. Sure she still felt something for Sherry, though it was weird to try and work that out in these new bodies, but she wasn't sure what it was anymore.

"You know, I invited you along because I had feelings for you this whole time," Molly said with a sigh as she looked down at the water for a long moment. "I realized I was a lesbian because of the feelings I had for you, so when you ran off..."

"You felt betrayed, oh dear god I'm sorry," Sherry said as she facehooved at that. "Look Molly, I'm sorry that I... well did that to you. I wish I could say I felt the same way and I'm sorry but I'm just not into girls, or mares I guess. I'm sorry Molly, maybe if it had come up some other time..."

Molly sighed a little at that, she hadn't been that surprised given everything that had happened but she had still held out some hope.

"Its okay, thanks for understanding," she said with a slightly forced smiled that she didn't really feel like giving the mare. "I guess there's still plenty of fish in the sea so to speak."

"Yeah, there is," Sherry said with a sigh as she looked over at Molly. "I'm sure you'll find a nice girl out there who will love you for who you are. Are we still friends?"

Molly smiled a little and gave her a quick hug as best she could with these new limbs. "Of course we are, I didn't want that to change."

Sherry nodded smiled a little. "So, do you have your eye on anyone?"

Molly blushed a little and looked away. "Well, there is this one girl, but I kind of, returned with my face buried in a very, intimate area."

This got a laugh out of Sherry as she put her foreleg around Molly gently. "Well, it seems it didn't take you that long to get over me."

"Well, I was drunk at the time," Molly said with a blush.

"Still, do you feel anything for her?"

"Maybe," Molly said with a sigh as she looked away from her. "It was supposed to be a sort of vacation fling to blow off steam, but now we don't even really know if we'll ever get off this ship or anything."

"Yeah, I get what you mean," Sherry said and sighed a little. "Come on, lets get something to eat, I heard they're starting to get the restaurants back up and running again so we can at least eat while we're stuck out here in the middle of the ocean."

Molly smiled a little and followed Sherry down the stairs towards the restaurants on the decks below."

00000

Sam sighed a little as he looked at his reflection in the mirror again. It was weird enough that he had been turned into a Zebra, but now he had a whole new gender to get used to. He hadn't really talked with any others other than the Zebra that had visited earlier since it happened, and it had taken all of his willpower to not stare at her.

He sighed a little and brushed his mane back as he looked at the stripes. It was weird but they were actually in two different shades of grey, not at all like he had seen Zebra stripes before. They weren't actually that weird, but it was going to take some getting used to anyway.

"Excuse me, are you the ship's doctor?" A female voice with a slight southern accent asked from the door and he sighed a little.

"Yeah, I'm Dr. Sawyer," he said and turned with a smile. Standing there was a purple colored horse creature with a purple mane tied into a ponytail. "I'm sorry but I can't currently help you with any medical issues, I don't know the first thing about equine physiology."

"Oh, don't worry, that's what I'm here for," the mare said with a smile. "Dr. Ashley Richards, I'm a veterinarian from Virginia and the Captain asked me to come help you out as best I can."

Sam smiled a little and blushed as he found himself looking at the mare's flanks a little. She was rather cute, you know, for a horse creature. He shook his head and offered a hoof to shake. "Well I could use all the help I can get, I don't know anything about these new bodies."

"Don't worry about it, I know enough to get us through this," she said with a smile as she looked at him for a long moment. "Though, I have to say I don't know a lot about Zebras, do you mind if I..."

Sam blushed heavily as he removed his lab coat. He hadn't ever been uncomfortable with being undressed around a doctor before, but this was a new experience and one that he wasn't sure he liked.

Ashley looked him over as best she could. She tilted her head in curiosity when he flinched a little when she tried to check his underside. "Umm, are you okay Doctor?"

"Its, complicated," he said with a blush. "I don't know what happened, but I was, uh..."

"You can talk to me about it, I may be a vet but I can keep a secret," Ashley said and looked at him with a worried look. "Is it your new body? Are you not used to being a Zebra?"

"Uh... actually, I wasn't... male before this happened," Sam said as his faced turned even redder. "I don't know why it happened but, I was a woman before I got turned into a Zebra."

Ashley blinked a little at that bit of information, she honestly had no idea what to make of it. Though it at least made sense as to why he was so uncomfortable, he was still getting used to being a stallion, not just getting used to being a Zebra.

"Don't worry about it, I'm not going to judge you or something," Ashley said with a smile as she looked him over. "Well, as far as I can tell you seem healthy. Though I don't know what could've caused you to switch genders like that, that's not normal."

"What's normal about any of this?" Sam pointed out and Ashley laughed at that.

"Good point," she said with a smile. "Well, like I said I'm here to help you out as best I can. I know enough about equine physiology, even if some of us have gotten some extra appendages."

"Yeah, like your wings, I have to say I wasn't expecting that..." Sam said and looked at the Pegasus. "What do you know about this?"

"Well, based on the way we look I'd say we're actually ponies as opposed to full sized horses," she said with a sigh. "And there's a strange variety to them that are here. There are some people who were, well, half fish instead of normal ponies in addition to Pegasi and Unicorns."

"Wait, half fish?" Sam asked in surprise. "How is that even possible?"

"I honestly have no idea, none of this makes sense," Ashley said with a sigh as Sam put his lab coat back on as best he could. "Why would we suddenly appear as ponies like this? What's with the variety of species? Honestly I don't even know how much good I'm going to be given that I don't know how to treat some of the species that appeared at all."

"I see, well we're going to figure this out," Sam said with a sigh. "We have to really, we're the best chance if something goes wrong. Its not going to be easy, but if you're willing to help me, we'll figure something out, okay?"

Ashley smiled and nodded a little before she hugged Sam. "Thanks, that means a lot," she said.

Sam smiled and hugged back. This was going to be a challenge for him to say the least, but he was going to figure something out.

"I think you're going to need a new name if you're not the same gender," Ashley pointed out with a chuckle. "What was your name before?"

"Uh, Samantha," Sam said with a shrug. "Everyone called me Sam though, I liked it better than my full name so at least that's more gender neutral."

"Yes, though maybe you should go by Samuel, I mean its a nice name," Ashley said with a smile.

"Okay, Samuel Sawyer it is then," Sam said with a smile. "Now come on, lets get everything ready. I just hope that you'll be able to help me learn what I need to know."

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," Ashley said and they started talking again about what was going to happen next.

00000

"Mitchell, you've been acting weird ever since you came out of the bathroom," Donna commented as the couple moved into their elaborately designed cabin. "Is everything okay?"

"Uh, yes, everything is fine," Mitchell said with a smile that just got an incredulous look from her wife. "I'm just still getting used to this body you know?"

"Yes, it is quite unexpected," Donna said with a shake of her head. "But I'm sure once we get back to the mainland and get in contact with our families we can get it all worked out. Perhaps there's some way to reverse the process if we throw enough money at it. I don't like the idea of being an animal like this."

"Yeah, well, we'll figure something out," Mitchell said with a shrug. "Maybe we should try using the ship to shore system and get in contact with someone back home. I'm sure we can get information on it as soon as possible."

"Ah, yes, that would be a good idea," Donna said and after a bit of trying she managed to get the phone to work and called her father's phone number. The line was dead however, there was no dial tone, no recorded message, it was just dead. "That's odd."

"He didn't answer?" Mitchell asked as she looked at her wife.

"No, the call didn't go through at all, I don't know why that would've happened," Donna said with a sigh. She looked over at Mitchell and smiled a little. "You know, I wonder if what they say about horses is true..."

Mitchell gulped and backed away for a moment, she didn't want to explain to her wife that she wasn't even male anymore, how was she going to take that? She was having a hard enough time explaining it to herself and none of it even made sense!

"Uh Donna, I don't know, we're still new to these bodies and we really should make sure that we won't be turned back..." he started to say as Donna moved in closer and placed her hooves on the Pegasus mare's waist. "Come on, we don't want to risk getting pregnant, what if that's what traps you in this form or something?"

"Mmm, well maybe we won't ever get changed back anyway, what's the harm?" Donna asked and pulled off her "husband's" pants. "Come on now, there's nothing to be ashamed of, its not like you..."

She stopped when she saw what was between Mitchell's legs, instead of the equipment she had expected there was a pair of teats leading to a mare's vagina. She gasped and fell back in shock as she looked at Mitchell who just looked embarrassed. "But, that's not possible. you're... not a woman, how did..."

"I have no idea," Mitchell admitted with a shake of his head. "That's what I found when I went to the bathroom. I don't know how this happened, let alone what I'm going to do."

Donna just stared at the mare that had been her husband in shock. She had no idea what she was going to say to be
honest, Mitchell had been a marriage of convenience and money more than anything else and she wasn't sure how she felt about this.

"You're..." she tried to say, she was still trying to figure out how to put this into words. "But... I don't... you're..."

Mitchell sighed and went out through the door that lead to the balcony outside of their room and looked out at the sea. She didn't blame Donna for freaking out over this, she was still freaking out a little even if she didn't want to show it to her wife. This had been completely unexpected for both of them, and being a horse creature was bad enough, but being a mare? That was impossible to wrap her mind around.

What was this going to mean? Was she going to still be attracted to women or was she going to be attracted to stallions now? Would she have to worry about going into heat and getting pregnant? What was going to happen now? Would Donna even want to stay with her anymore?

She sighed and looked back into the room where Donna was sitting on the couch and trying to figure out what she was going to do now. Being a horse creature was weird enough, but now she had to figure out what she was going to do about her husband's transformation on top of everything else.

Donna sighed and looked out at the mare that was standing there. There was no doubt that she was her husband, but what had happened to him? Why did this change happen in addition to everything else? It felt kind of, weird, like the universe was playing a practical joke on them.

She sighed and thought about the phone call. Why hadn't it gone through? Something about that was bugging her, if it was the same day that they had been on before then there was no reason why it shouldn't have worked and gone through to her father.

Now everything was getting weirder and weirder, what was really going on around here and was it only on the ship? Maybe there was some sort of answers out there, at least that's what she hoped, for now she was going to have to figure this out.

But would she be able to figure it out on her own or would her new wife be able to help her? There was so many questions that were going through her mind right now, and she still had no idea what she was going to do as she headed back outside to talk to Mitchell.

"Mitchell, I honestly have no idea what we're going to do," she said with a sigh as they leaned over the balcony together. "I'm not into women and I don't even know if I'd be into mares. Lets just try and get in contact with home, maybe there's someone out there who can help us out, right?"

"I hope so," Mitchell said with a sigh as she looked out at the water. "Because the alternative is that we're the only sentient beings left on the planet. I don't really want to explore that possibility, being a horse creature is weird enough."

"Yeah, I know," Donna said with a sigh as she looked down at herself. "Everyone on the ship is like this too. What are we going to do now?"

"Hope that whoever is out there knows a lot more about it than we do I guess," Mitchell said with a sigh. "I just hope that whatever the answer is is one that we're going to like."

00000

Claudia Beretta was in a weird position. She had been taking a nap in her cabin when she woke up and found herself changed. She was now a blue dragon with horns pointing out of her head and a long tail.

As if that wasn't weird enough she found herself on a ship filled with other strange creatures. She hadn't seen any other dragons yet, but it had its fair share of oddities. She sighed a little and looked at herself in the mirror in her compact, being a dragon was a strange sensation, but what was weirder was that she didn't feel like there was some sort of fire or heat.

What did that mean? Was she not a fire breathing dragon or something? She remembered reading stories about dragons that had other traits, but she had never thought much about them. She sighed and looked out over the railing down at the pool to where everyone else was still trying to figure everything out.

"So, you're one of the odd ones out too huh?" A voice said from next to her.

"Yeah, I..." she started to say and blinked when she turned to see what looked like a strange mix of a horse and an insect. She had long light blue hair with a scythe-like horn sticking out of her head. "What are you?"

"I have no idea, and no one else seems to really like being around me," the strange insect creature commented as she looked down at the group of ponies. "Not that I ever really needed their company, but they seem afraid of me for some reason."

"Weird, I'm not getting anything like that," Claudia said with a shrug as she offered a claw to the strange creature. "Claudia Beretta, I'm a singer here aboard the ship."

"Elizabeth Fischer," the insect horse said with a nod. "So you're a dragon huh? What can you do, breathe fire or something?"

"Not yet," Claudia said with a laugh as she shook her head. "Not that I've really tried that hard, its not the kind of thing you want to try on a ship like this."

"Fair enough," Elizabeth said with a shrug. "I don't know what to make of this to be honest, my body feels, weird. I can't explain it but something just feels off."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Claudia said with a shrug. "I can't imagine its any easier for them, I don't really know what to make of all of this either. Its like like magic or something, but that doesn't make any sense, does it?"

"No, it does not," Elizabeth said thoughtfully. "And I don't like it, maybe there was something planted on the ship that caused this."

"Like what, a biological weapon? That sounds a little paranoid," Claudia commented.

"Trust me, in this kind of situation you have to think of all the possibilities," Elizabeth said with a shrug. "I don't like not knowing what's going on. I'm going to start searching the ship to see if there's any signs of tampering that could've caused this."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Claudia asked as she looked at her new companion strangely. "I mean, if nopony trusts you then how are you going to convince them that you're trying to help?"

"I don't know yet," Elizabeth admitted as she looked back at Claudia. "But I get the feeling that someone aboard this ship knows what happened. If they caused it or not, I'm going to find out."

"If they caused it, why would they still be here?" Claudia pointed out. "Wouldn't they have been caught up in the same thing we were?"

Elizabeth paused a moment and shrugged. "Perhaps, or perhaps they didn't care. I'll consider that possibility as well, I'll see you around Claudia."

Claudia nodded and watched the strange creature walk away. There was something weird about that woman but she couldn't put her claw on it. She was starting to get the feeling that something was going on aboard the Anthem, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know what it was.

She sighed and looked at herself again. The scaled tail flicked a little behind her and she closed her eyes, she was going to figure this out one way or another.

00000

"Honey, are you okay?" Janet asked as she looked at her husband who was watching Emily swimming in the pool.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said with a sigh as he looked over at Janet with a soft smile. "I'm just trying to figure out what's going on, you know? I'm worried about Emily."

"Yeah, I'm worried too," Janet said with a sigh as she looked at her daughter. "Are you sure she's going to be safe in there? I mean, what about chlorine, that might hurt or even kill her."

"I asked a crew member, they said that the pool used salt water pumped from the ocean instead of chlorinated water," Abraham said with a shake of his head. "Apparently its cheaper, who knew that cost cutting would actually save a life."

"Yeah, well I'm still a little worried about her," Janet said with a sigh. "And about Ben, do you think they're going to be okay, with everything that happened I mean?"

"Honestly, I still don't know if we're going to be okay," Abraham said as he looked down at himself. "Its a weird feeling, you know? I'm not sure what to make of this whole thing, it feels weird to be a whatever we are now."

"Yeah, I know," Janet said and leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. "But I love you anyway Abe, that's not going to change just because our bodies are different. We'll make it through this as a family, I promise."

Abraham smiled and kissed her back as he pulled her in close. "So, what are we going to do about the kids?"

"Well, one of us should be poolside at all times to keep an eye on Emily, and the other can watch Ben," Janet said with a nod. "Though I wish Emily could move out of the pool, have you tried?"

"Not yet, we don't even know how long she can last out of the water," Abe said with a sigh as he looked over at his daughter. "I don't like the idea of her spending the rest of her life like that. There's the wheelchair I saw before, but I don't know how much help that's going to be unless we modify it."

"We'll figure something out," Janet said with a sigh.

"Hey Emily," Ben said as he trotted over to where his little sister was swimming in the pool. "How's the water?"

"Its okay I guess," Emily said with a shrug. "Its relaxing, but I just wish that there was some way that I could spend more time out of the water. Oh well, I guess its not that bad."

"Mom and dad sure seem worried about it," Ben said as they looked back towards their parents before he looked back at her and chuckled. "Well, you always did swim like a fish anyway. You're like a little dolphin already."

"Real funny Ben," Emily said with a roll of her eyes and flicked her tail as she splashed Ben before diving back underwater before Ben could retaliate.

"No fair!" Ben said with a laugh as his sister just waved at him. "You're having way too much fun, you know that?"

"There's no such thing," Emily said with a giggle. "Besides, I might as well have some fun while I get the chance. You can't get me you silly boy!"

Ben just shook his head and laughed as their parents watched with a smile. Things were starting to calm down a bit with everything that was going on.

"I think they're going to be just fine," Abe said as he leaned over and kissed his wife gently. "I love you Janet."

"I love you too Abraham," Janet said with a smile as she nuzzled her husband gently.

The couple leaned back and watched their two foals talking and playing in the pool. Their world may have changed, but they weren't going to let it change their lives together.

00000

"Alright, so what's the latest status of the ship?" Charles asked. His crew were all here:Sam, Naudia, and an orange Unicorn mare they had brought.

"Well, I've done the best I can to see what we're all dealing with here," Naudia said. "We've mostly got horse creatures..."

"Ponies," Sam said and spoke up.

"Right, ponies," she said with a nod. "We've also got a few Zebras such as the Doctor here, a dragon, some sort of large dog creature, and I don't even know how to describe a few passengers. We lost some passengers who were turned into creatures similar to the Prince girl but couldn't make it to water in time."

"We'll hold a ceremony for them when we can," Charles said. "Have you had any progress getting someone to help with the medical situation."

"Yes sir, a veterinarian happened to be aboard and came to my office earlier," Sam answered. "We've been working together since then, but we don't really have any concrete information about what's happened either."

"And we've had no answer on the radio," Charles said. He looked to the unicorn mare then--was she his new engineer? "What's the latest on the engine situation?"

"Well, they're working, but we're dead in the water until we can figure out how to work the ship with hooves. I'm not sure what to do honestly, I just wish I knew how these things worked."

"Well, I'm sure we can figure something out, keep working on it and report back to me as soon as you know something," Charles said. "You're all dismissed."

He sighed as they left the bridge and he looked out at the ocean. We just have to get the Anthem running again. Once we get to land hopefully we can find some answers.

"Captain, you have two people here who want to talk to you," a voice said from the door to the bridge.

He turned to see his first mate standing there with a Zebra and what looked to be a normal horse creature without a horn or wings.

"Can I help you?"

"We, may have an idea of what happened," the Zebra said, shaking his head. "You see, my colleague here and I are from the government. We're here on vacation because, well..."

"We thought the world was going to end," his companion said. "We belong to a group called the Human Preservation Initiative. Given the situation, we felt it would be prudent to tell you everything we know right now."

Charles narrowed his eyes and took a seat. "Tell me everything."

Author's Note

The last scene edited by the always awesome Starscribe, thank you.