A Compact Tale

Roanoke Island brought its own fair share of wonders to the world. It was also a significant place in the history of North America. Back in 1585, it had been the site chosen for the first English colony in North America. Although it had failed horribly, and the townsfolk had mysteriously vanished, it provided valuable lessons for the settlement of North America in the 17th Century at such varied locations as Williamsburg, Boston, and Jamestown (though not in that order, of course).

Roanoke Island today is home to one major settlement of Manteo, in North Carolina. A fairly average place until a few years ago, there was nothing of much note there except a certain fellow. Yes, that’s right, the shapeshifting North Carolinian himself, James T. ‘Jimmy’ Hook!

Last week had been most strange and bizarre. Two weeks earlier he had not been sighted changing into anything, although that probably had something to do with the fact, he spent most of that Monday unconscious, and therefore unable to do any changing (for reasons unknown, it, the transformations, always occurred whenever he was conscious). However, the fact a pony who seemed to spend her available time as a goth and speaking with a limited vocal pitch range was sighted around town suggested that the incident that week had occurred at night.

Only a week later, Jimmy had seemingly returned, only for the sun to set off his latest adventure. It seemed as if practically anything would and could set it off, but the contrast from a week earlier couldn’t have been greater. The pony he had changed into seemed to be hyperactive and on a permanent sugar rush, such was the speed at which she raced around. Then things got even weirder, as she had run into a Jimmy from the week earlier! Quite how two Jimmy’s could co-exist was confusing, but-

“We all co-exist at once!”

Oh no. Can you please shut up?

Anyway, quite how two Jimmy’s could co-exist was confusing, but the world is a strange place, and seemingly out to get our dear friend. On the topic of our friend, let us take a trip to the East Coast and see how he is doing.

Jimmy Hook was out and about in town, thankfully not in danger of being hit by the sun’s rays, as it was a very cloudy day. So cloudy, in fact, the water of the ocean had turned grey, which made it look disgusting, and there was a threat of rain. Safe to say, people were staying off the beach and were firmly keeping their umbrellas handy for all purposes.

Jimmy was walking behind a crowd of people, seemingly irritated. “Come on!” he said. They were walking very slowly for some reason, a reason which was not at all obvious, to Jimmy at least, and this itself was making him annoyed. “We all have places to be!” he added, hoping that would have the desired effect.

One of the people in the crowd, a woman, got annoyed of this as well, and smiled. “Well then Jimmy,” she said, with a smile. “It’s time to teach you a lesson.” Little did anybody realise, but this woman was the Merchant, the bane of many a conventiongoer, and purveyor of character items that caused strange side effects, including lost height, voice changes, morphing into ponies, ending up in other places, writing stories about it of varying quality, and inadvertently starting collaborative fiction. She looked in her bag, and saw just the item that would work perfectly for teaching this man a lesson or two. At the opportune moment, she cast it out of her hand, and it hit the ground with a bang, rolling to a stop as rolled up against the curb.

Jimmy saw this happen, and bent down to examine it, picking it up as he did so. “Excuse me!” he called. “You’ve dropped something!”

Just then a jolt shot through him as the object, a powder compact, began to glow with intensity and light, briefly blinding him. “Ow! What in the world?”

The woman turned around, laughing. “Oh, really Jimmy, this is your punishment for what you did. You really shouldn’t irritate magic users, you know.”

And then it happened.

Jimmy suddenly became aware of increased weight on his head, and as he looked behind him, he observed that not only had his hair grown longer, it was now an orange shade, compared to the usual brown. And as he looked, it continued to get longer, before eventually stopping.

“Enjoy being a pony,” the woman snorted.

But Jimmy just laughed, as a horn forced its way out of his forehead, briefly tearing open the skin before sealing up around the new protrusion that was present. “You think this is a punishment?” he answered. “For me, this is just Monday!”

He wouldn’t say much more that was intelligible, as his nose and mouth started growing out of his face, accompanied by his eyes growing larger and turning moderate cerise from their usual blue. The two new protrusions merged into a muzzle, and then stopped growing when they were several inches out. Jimmy’s ears vanished as a new pair grew out of the side of his skull, and he groaned as his neck suddenly reconfigured so that he was looking straight up, and then began to grow longer.

His arms suddenly straightened out before him, the elbow joints inverting and his fingers shrinking into his hands, which them flattened out into hooves. His chest then grew in size, ripping through his shirt which fell as useless tatters on the road, followed by his hips suddenly forcing themselves forward into a downward position, putting his front hooves on the ground and him looking straight ahead. This was followed rapidly by the knee joints inverting to face backwards, and his toes shrinking into his feet, which also flattened into hooves.

Jimmy knew what was coming next, and breathed in as best he could, to suppress the pain as best he could. And he was wise to do so, as his manhood vanished up his backside, with some other organs appearing in their place, alongside two other lumps appearing under her body. Shaking her ruined pants off of her as best she could, alongside another garment we shall not discuss for reasons of taste, she was just in time not only to see, but feel a tingling in her butt. This tingling soon revealed itself, as a tail sprouted from her backside and grew to several inches in length, the same color as her mane.

But things weren’t done. At the moment, she looked like some strange fleshy being, and that soon corrected itself as light yellow fur emerged out of her skin, followed by the last feature of all-an image of a powder compact-appearing on her flanks. And with that, it was over.

The woman looked confused. “You don’t even seem scared!”

Jimmy, by now Citrus Blush, laughed in response. “I’m used to this,” she said. “And using magic too!” Focusing, she opened a portal, and the woman fell through it, screaming as she did so.

“Never gets old.” Citrus smiled, and then walked back toward her home.