"So, what am I supposed to do anyway? Just take the goddamn pills and stare at the screen?" I chuckled.
"Yeah, basically that."
"Sounds like bullshit to me, if you wanna know the truth."
"Oh, come on Paul, you're such a pussy — Swallow'em up already!"
I liked Twilight Sparkle, I really did. My friends said it was stupid, but I didn't care. She was my little obsession since I was a teenager. God knows why, I loved that egghead.
"Alright, alright — hand over the box." I said. "How many should I take?"
I inspected those tiny pills on my hand. They looked like candy — a bizarre kind of candy — the sort you wouldn't leave around your kids or something.
"Just one." My buddy said, grabbing my hand and making me put back in the box a couple of extra pills I had gotten. "That's not Valium, for god's sake. It's not like you're getting any high out of these."
I pinched the little thing between my fingers; it was a soft white and pink pill. Nothing more than that, and still the never-ending infomercials on TV made it seem as if it had magic powers. We were going to a party that night, and everyone was supposed to wear a different modification. Neil already had his fox ears perched up on his head, but I wanted a unicorn horn — Twilight's horn, to be more specific.
Animale forced your cells to multiply extremely quickly, and the nano-robots guided them to assume certain shapes. The shape was determined by the focus in what you were seeing or thinking. Hence why so many teenagers had trouble in growing their cat ears — no brains at all — ended up with a pair of misshapen skin hanging from their foreheads or something. It'd be gone in a few days, but it was a ridiculous sight anyway.
I had a very vivid idea of what I wanted when I closed my eyes and placed the pill on my tongue.
'Come at me, you purple freak.'
I swallowed.
Images of Twilight bubbled in my mind. I wanted that so badly — horn and ears. I wanted both. I visualized myself scratching the back of her ears, moving up a bit to feel the tiny contours of the unicorn's horn.
That was it.
There was a warmth building up in my forehead and somewhere in my scalp, it wasn't uncomfortable, but it was definitely weird to feel your blood vessels rearranging themselves.
Then came the urge to scratch whatever was growing up there, a vicious, hellish urge.
"Ah!" My fingernails must've ripped apart the couch's armrest. "What the hell Neil!"
"Hold on, it's almost done! Don't you ruin it!" He said, grabbing my arms and preventing me from touching whatever was up there. "Damn!" He laughed. "How the fuck did you do that, dude?"
The urge finally started to subside when I opened my eyes and let out a breath.
"I'm never — never — taking Animale again-" I froze. Neil held a round mirror in front of me, he had a hilarious expression stamped on his face.
"It works." I muttered. "The thing fucking works!" I couldn't contain my excitement. Not only I got the horn, but a pair of lavender ears also appeared near the back of my skull. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, for Celestia's sake!" I grabbed my phone to take a picture.
"Now, hold your horses partner. You can take as many selfies as you want later, we've got a party to attend now." Neil said, grabbing his car keys.
"Oh yeah... That."
The party was a blur on the back of my eyes. That taste of cheap booze still lingering on my tongue. I had left the building feeling quite a bit dizzy, and made my way back to the car.
Shortly after, I heard the door opening. Neil poked his head inside the car and stared at me with a puzzled expression.
"What the hell did you do, dude?" He asked. I could feel my skin bubbling from underneath, as if my blood had started to boil.
"That goddamn whiskey gave me a hell of a headache — I know you always carry those aspirins in the car, so I came here and found some." I said, struggling to keep my voice as normal as possible. "Besides, the music sucks."
It really sucked. You don't wanna know what they listen to in a kinky furry party.
"Dude... It's been six months since my doctor forbid me from taking those. Whatever you took, it was anything but aspirins." Neil had a weird look on his face, the street was gloomy and I couldn't see straight. But I could feel in the air that something was definitely wrong.
"Then what was it?" I turned on the interior lights, and found an empty bottle of Animale on the passenger seat.
"Oh shit, Paul!" Neil face-palmed, shaking his head as if to deny what just happened.
That was bad. That was pretty bad.
"Neil, take me home bro."
"I'm not taking you home! I'm taking you to the freaking hospital. Look at your skin!"
I extended my arms in front of the light, and was shocked to see that I was now tinted in a shade of lavender.
"Holy crap, I'm becoming Twilight Sparkle."
"No man, you're becoming the pony version of that roach-thing from Kafka's Metamorphosis."
"The what?" I closed my mouth with both hands. My voice — Animale was changing my voice.
"Stop thinking about her! You're making things worse!" Neil started the car and set the GPS to the closest hospital — which wasn't close at all. The party was on an industrial zone, miles away from the city.
"I can't! She's all over my head!"
As Neil drove away down the streets, I curled on my seat and tried not to panic. My strategy seemed to be working, until a back-bending pain stabbed my shoulder blades.
"Ahhhh! Fuck!" I screamed, desperately trying to rip apart my shirt. Something was expanding, shredding my skin from inside out.
The car tires shrieked as Neil stepped on the brakes.
Then it happened.
As I disentangled myself from my coat and the seat belt, a pair of bizarre appendages sprouted on my back. I leaned forward, grunting in agony as those things blossomed into a pair of wings, together with feathers and all that crap.
"You said she was a unicorn!" Neil looked terrified.
"An alicorn. It's a flying version of a unicorn." I tried to explain with my ridiculously girly voice. I was being 'anthrofied' alive. The dream of half of the furry community was becoming my nightmare.
Looking down at my hands, I felt the skin between my fingers uniting in what first resembled a duck foot. The bizarre feeling extended itself deeply into my bones.
I knew what was about to happen.
A wave of muscular spasms and cramps made me curl up again, my bones were fusing and rearranging themselves inside of me.
I was gaining hooves.
"When is this going to stop??" Neil asked, dividing his attention between the road and whatever was left of me.
"You're my very best friend, you know?" I murmured.
"Jesus... Get yourself together dude!" By that time, I was afraid it was too late.
What began in my upper body, descended through my legs and spine. In terror I felt my fingers and toes retracting into my body, I felt myself shrinking like a grape that was left in the sun.
I moved my hands to touch my face, only to realize they were gone. My pants became too big for my shape, and after so many kicks and bumps, they escaped me.
The worse happened when the effects reached my head. The feeling of having your eyes expanding like balloons into your skull is indescribable. It was by far, the worse thing I had ever experienced in my life.
Neil screamed from the driver's seat, but I couldn't hear any of his words. I believe he must've seen one of the most terrifying things when my nose and mouth fused together into a muzzle.
"D-don't take me to the hospital" I managed to say. "They'll cut me open."
My consciousness was escaping me like water from a leaking pipeline. One moment I was there in the car, seeing the city lights getting closer and closer, the other second I was somewhere else.
"Stay with me Paul — Paul, are you listening? — Stay with me dude." The car had stopped, Neil's voice dissipated in the air around my ears. Animale won.
They say that the first breath after coma is the moment your body breathes back your soul.
Light from the windows bathed the room in a white, diffuse glow. For a few seconds I thought I was dreaming, but I had never felt pain in a dream, and my muscles ached whenever I moved.
"How did I..." I muttered, rubbing my temples. There was just a blank space, as empty as the walls of that chamber.
The door handle moved, and I retracted under the covers.
"Hey. You're awake."
A vague memory flew like a ghost on the background, but I remained in silence.
"It's me... Neil." He said, approaching the bed.
"Take me home." I replied.
"Paul, this is your home bro. That's your room, and your bed."
"No!" I screamed, pushing the bed sheets away.
"Calm down Paul, I know it's difficult but-"
"Stop calling me that! Whatever that is." I said. The man gave a step back and stood in the doorway like a statue. "Take me home. Now." I ordered. "Take me back to Ponyville!"
"This can't be happening." He shook his head.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, this is an order! My friends must be looking for me, and they will find you, mister."
"Nurse!" He called. "I'm so sorry man. I swear, we all tried."
"W-what... What are you even-"
"He's not ready yet." I heard him whispering to someone else at the door. "Actually... He's not there at all." The other person nodded.
She had a syringe filled with a white liquid.
"No. Get away from me!" I yelled, as another nurse immobilized my hooves. "You'll pay for that!"
"Animale deeply apologizes for that, Paul." One of them said, as she injected the liquid into my veins. "Or Twilight Sparkle, if you prefer." I heard her voice saying as I drifted back into sleep.
A deep, comforting sleep.
Extra - The Directors Board Letter
Life Corporation Archives - Letter #1
To:
Dr. William Robinson, PhD
Dr. Lilian Hoffman, PhD
Dr. Spencer Matarazzo
Greetings,
It has come to our attention that another incident report has been filled regarding the experimental drug Animale.
To our deepest dismay, we received the information that Patient 06xSPRKL has escaped from its secure containment zone.
It is not of our company's interest and/or goals to be disturbed by the media's attention, whilst having our name distorted and tinted by unconfirmed accusations.
Life Corporation aims to preserve its reputation at any cost; a reputation that was built upon decades of uninterrupted work, and sacrifices.
Since the '96/TTP7 incident in Congo River Research Facility, we have been cautious with any sort of pharmaceutical development outside the bio-engineering facilities, and unfortunately, the latest events have only served to prove that our vision of security although considered 'radical' by many, is utterly essential and correct.
For these, and many other reasons, the Directors Board has issued an immediate relocation order for the entire network of New Haven's Pharmaceutical Laboratories.
All the facilities shall be evacuated and transfered to The Reserve. All employees should go through psychological evaluation before the transference, or else shall be permanently dismissed from their activities.
Test subjects shall be eliminated, alongside with any files regarding their existence.
We regret to inform that all laboratories will be kept in lockdown until Life Corporation's Transportation Service arrives for retrieval. Please, do not try to leave before the Transportation Service arrival, as our confidentiality contract allows us to use -'force as a method of containment if lockdown orders are not followed'
Incineration will be applied to all suspect objects and/or possible sources of evidence.
The Department of Control and Security has already started working on the tracking of Patient 06xSPRKL
All these measures were taken for the general safety and well-being of Life Corporation's personnel, and the continuity of its operations.
Animale shall not be discontinued, and until further notice all the allegations regarding its side effects must be deemed as sheer fantasy.
We wish you all a very productive day.
Respectfully,
The Directors Board.
Author's Note
Yes, a sequel is already underway. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this little conspiracy-fuel.
