"Subject Lauren Keibin is avoiding many of the problems associated with--"

I was watching the letters appear on a screen. They were being typed. I wasn't anywhere in the room. I shouldn't have known any of it, and yet, there I was.

"--this variety of the Ponid transition. Her forming bonds with those she has accepted as a part of her social unit is very powerful, to the point that she obsesses over their needs and opinions of her without consideration of her own desires."

That wasn't true! I had plenty of selfish thoughts... I wanted to yell at Doctor Miller, but I wasn't there. I wasn't... at all, just somehow watching.

"Her physical alterations appear complete. Despite her unusual appearance, the others accept her readily. Part of her form was self-determined. Of course, such tricks are not outside the means of this--"

So he did know more about what was happening to me? "Tell me!" I shouted, but there was no noise. I was just shouting in my head, and I didn't even know where my head was.

I was but words on a computer.

But the computer wasn't real either. It was a description of a computer that was itself on another computer, being typed by some other being I didn't even know. That being was being dreamed by yet another being, and behind it. "Stop."

Discord was standing in front of me, in a field of stars. "Don't look too far that way. You're about to give yourself quite the headache."

But I could remember it, the... thing I had seen, felt? "What's going on?"

"You're confused, scared... I get it, really I do." He smiled charmingly, his voice so soft and smooth. "Just listen to me a moment. Now, I'm going to keep you."

"Keep me?!" I jerked back and away. "I don't want to be kidnapped, thanks."

"Oh, no. Nothing like that." He drifted closer, his hands closing on mine, his fingers trailing through my fur. "Just for a day. Let your body sleep. It's just getting more miserable anyway. I want your mind."

Tears welled up in my eyes, even if I knew they were fake eyes. I was dreaming, but the sobs wouldn't stop. "I'm so scared... Tell me, help me! You're like me."

"I am you," he corrected. "Well, sort of. You're more like a 'could be' of me. Don't think about that too hard." He waved it off, smiling at me so calmly. "Now, I'm serious. If you want to hang out with me, you got it, a full day. What an honor. But if not, that's alright, your choice. I'll let you wake up like you usually do."

"Tell me." I grabbed his lion's paw, squeezing it. "Please, help. I want to be Lauren. I want to be me, not you."

"But I am you," he reminded, but he didn't pull away. He didn't shrink or flinch. He was calmly floating there, holding hands. "You are me. What 'Lauren' is? That's up to you. I'm sure you're a lovely people, and you'll keep right on being one. One thing about being us, we get to make the rules."

"I don't know any of the rules," stomped down a dragon's claw on ground that hadn't been there until I needed something to stomp on. I was standing then, on an island in the middle of the stars. "I've turned into... this." I waved with my dragon claws at my strange body.

"It's not that strange," he said in almost a whine. "I happen to think we're quite handsome. If I was the narcissistic sort, I'd ask you out, but let's not get too far into the self-love thing. Besides, I have a mare waiting for me."

"My dreams." I drew both hands away to weave patterns in the air. Colors, shapes, and even textures seemed to gather at the tips of my claws, creating outlines then moving shapes of my past dream visions. "I was in a cottage. I was back home. I was in a lot of places, changed in--"

"Hey now, that's a personal cottage." He crossed his arms, but looked more amused than offended. "Funny you found it. Still, not for you." He tapped my nose with a lion's finger. "Oh, poor thing." He was looking at the image I had of Cindy at her home, coughing. "You should probably do something about that."

"What can I do?!" I made a wide sweep, banishing the image as if I had swept away some fog in the way. "I'm stuck in the hospital, or lab, or whatever it is. She's... not there. What could I do?"

"Whatever you wanted." A little smile spread on his face. "But, since you asked, at least getting them somewhere safe." He wriggled a few fingers at me. "We can't have them spreading pony cooties everywhere... Why not bring them here? They're used to pony people."

My eyes widened at the implication. "She has--"

"--Oh yes, quite the case. You know, she got it from you."

I sputtered before throwing my hands down and back. "That's a lie! There's no way that could be true."

"She came while you were sick, brought you soup. Don't you remember?" He leaned forward. "She really isn't in the habit of wearing masks. No matter. She's been changing, slowly. She's going to explode in pony awkwardness any moment now, all at once. You got a warning, she won't even get that... Lucky her."

"Lucky her," I repeated, my tongue feeling heavy. "She's in trouble."

"You could save her." His voice was so smooth, making sweet promises.

"How? You keep implying things without saying anything! Tell me--" I grabbed him at the shoulders. "How!"

"Step one, stop shaking the handsome fellow trying to help you." He was just suddenly to my right, a hand on my shoulder instead of the other way around. "Step two, start making what you want a thing, instead of asking me how to do it. Shall we try a little experiment?"

"If it helps Cindy, I want to know."

Her forming bonds with those she has accepted as a part of her social unit is very powerful, to the point that she obsesses over their needs and opinions of her without consideration of her own desires.

The words appeared floating over us, the typed words on a screen. Discord shook his head softly. "He isn't entirely wrong. Still, being a good person isn't all that bad. Works out for me." He shrugged softly. "Just don't let it make you too soft."

I reached up with a hand that was just large enough to grab the letters and began tearing them apart angrily, casting them out into the void. "I want to see Cindy!"

And we saw her. Her house was right there, below us. We were floating over her neighborhood. It was dark, minus the many street lamps. "Jesus! What if someone sees us?"

"What if they did?" he countered. "Besides, we're not really here, so nothing to see." He looked around slowly. "Nice place. You live not far from here, am I correct?"

"That way," I replied a little weakly, pointing in the direction of my old home, where I wasn't. I felt the scene try to slip away and I grabbed onto the air, preventing it. "Stop it! No, Cindy. How is she?" I dove down through the air. Was I just a thought? Like an astral traveler? I willed my wings to flap and my tail to sway, propelling me as if through water to get to her bedroom window. "I'm being such a creep right now."

"Checking in on a friend is hardly the worst thing one could do." Discord was right next to me. I hadn't saw him move, he just was. "Well, we're here. Go on, take a peek."

I hesitated a moment before leaning forward, putting my face against the glass of the window. Of course, I had no physical body at the time. I went right through it.

The room was dark, but I heard soft breathing, fast? Little grunts. Thump. Thump. Thump. Rapid little thumps. What... was that? It was coming... from her bed. My cheeks began to go a bright red in the gloom. Was she with a boyfriend?!

"Lore!" she groaned. It was Cindy, flopping back suddenly, heaving and huffing. "Oh... Oh wow..." She snorted up a big snot collection and grabbed for tissues. "What the hell is happening to me?" She blew her nose and grabbed more tissues, cleaning something... else.

"She has it bad," noted Discord, still right next to me. "Or should I say 'he'? I imagine you'd need to ask them which they'd prefer."

"What?!" I basically screamed at him.

"Huh?" Cindy looked around as if she heard something. Despite me floating there all too close, she didn't act like she saw me, and returned to what she was doing. "This ain't right..."

"She's becoming a fine stallion," explained Discord patiently. "Well, a human-stallion. What do you call them... anthropomorphic? What a delightfully conceited word that is." He waved it was as if it were nothing. "Still, they have it bad. You going to help them?"

"You keep saying that. You keep acting like I could just... do whatever."

"Who says you can't?" he challenged with a little shrug.

"Uh... physics?" I started, counting on fingers. "Laws, biology, chemistry?"

"All boring." He looked me in the eyes. "Fix it, or don't. But don't act like you just can't"

"So... what? You think I can just grab her." I snatched at Cindy, taking hold of her night-time jammies. "And just throw her into my room." I made a throwing motion. Cindy got out a squeal of surprise as they vanished into a hole that closed up after them, popping with all the permanence of a bubble.

I floated there, staring at the spot where my friend had been.

"Congratulations." Confetti rained down around us. "You did it! Good job." He brought his hands together in a slow golf clap. "Now, you have company. Isn't that delightful? Of course, now I can't let you sleep all day, unless you want your friend wandering off without you."

I imagined her landing on or next to me back in my room, and the freakout that would--

We were back in my room. "Where am I?!" Cindy cried, falling off the bed where my body was snoring peacefully. "The hell is that?! What's going on?"

Discord clucked his tongue. "Well, you may as well wake up now. Still, congratulations are in order. You'll have to figure out the rest on your own. Oh! One last tip."

"What is that?" I was already reaching for my body. I didn't want Cindy to get into trouble. "Make it fast, please."

"A sharp snap helps things along. Distract the universe and it doesn't notice the changes you make as easily. Now, ta ta. Have fun making your own rules." He casually bowed so hard he folded in on himself, popping out of being.

I jumped for my body, crashing into... myself.

I woke with a start, gasping and looking around, squinting against the bright light. "Cindy! Please don't panic, Cindy!"

"Lore?" Cindy scrambled to her feet, sniffling with the same flu that still had me reeling. "Is that you? What did they do to you?"

I rolled over onto my belly and pushed up, scrambling closer to her. "I'm alright. Sorry! Sorry!"

"What are you apologizing for and how am I... wherever we are? Is this a dream? Is this why men jack off so often?"

I blinked at her crude words. "I hope not... I pulled you--"

The door suddenly slapped open. Heavy boots filled the room as three men in full hazmat suits charged in. I suddenly slipped up between Cindy and them. "I brought her here!" I squeaked. "She didn't sneak in. She needs help, please. She has the ponid."

One of them pulled out a small walkie talkie. "We have visual."

Revision: Subject Lauren has demonstrated worrying abilities, Keep under closer watch.

The words were being typed, somewhere. "I'll be good," I promised. "I just want to help her."

Cindy's hand landed on my side from behind. "That really is you, Lauren? You're... soft." She was feeling my sides with her finger tips and I felt my muscles flutter. I wanted to just... enjoy being pet. A pity there were several guards in my room.

Part of me wanted to shove them out, to send them far away. But they hadn't done anything wrong, just their job, and it wasn't even a bad job. "I'll make sure she starts filing reports."

"Tell her to keep the unidentified patient in lockdown until we've had a chance to enter them in the system." This was spoken to the man. I didn't hear it, but I did hear it. Internal hearing.

"Roger," he replied out loud. "Keep her here until we say otherwise." He motioned with a fist and they began to leave.

I sagged against the bed with relief, tail thumping the bed in the motion, nervous energy looking for a way out even as I sniffled, still clogged and miserable.

"Thanks... for saving me." She sat down on the same bed next to me. "Now tell me what's going on."

"This is where I live." I waved around my room. "And you're becoming a pony."

She blinked softly. "That... explains parts of me." Her eyes dropped right down between her legs before going back up to me.

I was not a very dirty person, promise, but enough hints had been given. "Are you seriously sporting... that, down there?" I pointed with a dragon's claw.

"Are you going to make fun of me?"

Make fun of her? It was... "You're a woman..."

"You were a human, Lore... What... are you now?"

I shrank at those words. Not a human? "I'm still Lauren..."

"I never said you weren't." She reached for my closer hand, rubbing it gently with her smooth fingers. "I'm still Cindy."

"But not a... woman Cindy?" That bothered me so much. It bothered me more than it had any right to bother me. "How do you feel?"

"Like I should be screaming, but I'm not. Instead... here I am, with you. I want to show it to you."

My cheeks darkened at the offer. "You're joking!"

"You're already showing off everything you have." She casually reached up to my chest, cupping my slender breasts, her fingers trapping my nipples and squeezing. "I still like what I see, even if you aren't as round as before."

"A-are you in heat?" I stammered out. It was not helping that being manhandled by Cindy was... a nice thought. But Cindy wasn't a lady! Which should just make that better, right? She was a he. She could do... guy things... I, a heterosexual freak of nature, should be happy about that.

Why wasn't I happy?

"Like an animal?" She... he? Was looking me over. "You're the big tall furry thing. You tell me. A sudden sneeze broke the romance, peppering my front as they slumped back with a miserable groan.

I knew that feeling. I grabbed for the tissues and stuffed the box in their hands. "Here. I'm going to wash up, then we're going to bed."

"Bed with Lore," she slurred out as if drunk, or just miserably sick. She giggled as I slipped away to wash up.

I took a little shower, enjoying the warm spray of water as I thought to myself. Why was I hearing more and seeing more? Discord implied pretty heavily it was all under my control. I just... had to do more. And snap. I made the motion, but, as it turns out, it's hard to do with wet furry fingers. Wet scaly fingers were only mildly better. When the sound emerged, I felt a strange little something. An instant that attention was focused, not on me, but on that sound. It was gone as quickly as it came.

I had distracted the universe, and that was a scary thought.

A huge snort interrupted the thought, my nose so full and miserable. Stupid flu.

Wait... That was a test worth doing. I had finished changing. I was a draconequus, hear me roar! What if I... I raised a dry hand up. "Look here." I waved the hand and snapped, my thoughts focusing. As the slow-instant sensation of attention sliding off me towards the motion and sound, I pushed the sickness out of me.

Time resumed, a great glob of snot splattered to the ground. I felt... clear. I felt... whole. I was cured! I giggled with a childlike joy, dancing from foot to foot, narrowly avoiding the mess I had made. I was all better! I mean, still a freak, but not a sick freak!

I scampered out of the bathroom, falling forward to all fours and scuttling along despite it, slowly getting myself back upright as I hurried back to bed, a huge grin plastered on my face. "Still there, Cindy?"

"Lore?" mumbled a voice, her voice. "You sound different, again."

"I feel better," I assured as I slid in under the covers. Cindy was already under them. It was so much nicer having someone to snuggle. "Hey... I need to know. Are you a he or a she?"

"Physically? About as he as you get, and more than that considering..."

I reached down and felt her hand. Our hands intertwined a moment before she began drawing me down the rest of the way, to feel things. Right into her pajamas, I soon felt the truth of it. She had an equine sheath, a tube of flesh that began to swell as I felt along it. Under it, big horse balls. She was a stallion... "But... are you a he or a she?" I repeated. "Be honest."

"You can't argue--"

"--You can," I flatly denied them. "Which are you? Which... are you, not your body."

She hooked one arm around me, pulling me closer. "Right now, I'm tired and horrible. Did you like the soup?"

I smiled in the dark, snuggling against her. Without really thinking about it, my hand was slowly exploring and playing with her, taking note of what made her jump, and what made it grow more. "It made my day... You saved me. Emergency soup, right in the nick of time. You... should be freaking out a lot more, just saying."

"This is a crazy, but sexy, dream. Is this what you meant by getting pets?" She stroked through my fur in slow motions. "Because you are very pettable... just like you promised. I'm going to enjoy it, and wake up, and wonder what kind of crazy dream I had."

Part of me wanted to push the sick out of her like I had myself, but there were so many questions. Like, she wasn't done changing. Would doing that mess it all up, leave her as a mostly-human with a big fat horse dong? Would that be an improvement or not? Would I hurt her trying it? It was one thing to risk myself, another to play master with her delicate form like I was some kind of furry god.

"Stop doing that unless we're going all the way."

My ears pinned against my head. "Cindy! Seriously?"

She flopped against me. "If I have a huge boner with my lady friend in a dream, why shouldn't I enjoy it?"

I pulled her up, rolling her right up on top of me, supporting her on my long fuzzy form, my hands on her hips. "Can you assume, for a moment, this isn't fake. If it was real, all real... what then?"

"I... would freak out a little," she admitted, looking less sure. "Laura... You would keep me safe, right?"

"With all my heart." I squeezed her hips. "Guy or girl, you've been a wonderful friend... Which is why I want you to trust me when I say what I say. I'm actually this. This is me, Lauren, the draconequus."

"Lauren..." She sat up on top of me. "This is scary as hell."

"You don't sound as scared..."

"You're here, at least." She sank down against me, curling up on me. "And I'm sick, I think... Gonna go to sleep now."

Her fitful sleeping sounds soon filled the otherwise quiet room. I held her, smiling a little. No matter how frightened I was for her, I had her. I had my Cindy. Life wasn't going to be so bad. I lapsed off myself without really thinking about it much.

"This cannot be allowed," spoke another scientist in a window on the screen. "We have room up here. Send the patient up here."

Doctor Miller spread his fingers. "The subject has already shown signs of social bonding and previous experience with the unknown. We have reason to--"

"--Be that as it may, you already have an unstable situation with your Type-DE. Focus on her, and send the other up here."

"As you order, but I am objecting."

"Your objection is noted." The window closed.

Doctor Miller sighed softly, opening a new window. "Get the new subject and bring them to floor four. Be gentle, and quiet."

Hopefully, Lauren would not be too upset about her new friend going away, but it was out of his hands. He resumed his typing.

I woke with a start. "No!" But she was already gone. But I had seen it. I saw the exchange. I got to my feet, tail lashing behind me. "Bring her back," I snarled, looking around until I found a camera, stalking towards it, fingers flexing. "Bring back Cindy, now!" I pointed at the camera. "I don't care who told you to take her, bring her back."

But the camera didn't reply. With a grunt of annoyance, I stormed right out of my room, click-clopping along.

Now, that was so far away from the time to be consider it, but I felt pissed at the universe. "Why is my goat hoof so... not goat hoofed!" I thrust the smooth hoof forward and clapped my hands. Distraction. My hoof touched the ground, cloven into two. My toes felt... so much better. They could wriggle properly. "One down..."

"Hey, Lauren." There was Flash, waving at me. "What was that you did?"

I didn't have time for him... "Just a little trick I picked up. I'm getting the hang of this. Where's the elevator?"

He suddenly looked super nervous, taking a step back. "Uh, I dunno."

He was lying. I could feel the lie. It was an oily thing, slithering against my ears. "I bet you were told. Did you forget?" I reached for him and he scrambled back, but not fast enough. I got a hold of him and casually pulled a DVD from his furry ear.

He gaped at the media I had created. "What is that and how...? Are you going to hurt me?"

"Hurt you? Of course not." I petted him gently with my free hand, turning to stuff the DVD right into the wall as if it had a spot to play it. "I just want answers." I snapped my fingers. "Ah, there it is." I casually hit the play button and a scene began to play of Starlight pointing out the elevator to Flash.

"But don't tell anyone," Starlight advised. "I wasn't even supp--" I smacked the stop button. I had seen enough. I turned away from the player and faced where the elevator was.

"I'll be back, with my friend." I began striding forward, a frown on my face.

And then Starlight. She scurried between me and the elevator. "Lauren, I know you're super mad, and you have every right to be."

"If you know that, why are you in my way?"

"Because I'm your friend?" She smiled nervously, but her words were not a lie. "Please, calm down... Let's talk this out. We can take care of this without... this."

"Without what?" I huffed out, feeling very ready to test what I could do, or not.

"Anything. Please... One day, that's all I ask." She held up a lone hoof. "Show them you can be reasoned with like a nice sane pony."

"I'm a very angry not-pony," I corrected, crossing my arms under my chest. But I didn't shove her aside. "One day..."

"One day," she echoed, slumping with relief. "All I ask."

Author's Note

We are rather close to the start of things, are we not? Discord has shown Lauren how to reach beyond, and Lauren seems ready to start grasping. A bad time to go snatching her friend, I think.

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