Autumn had her eyes closed. She didn't normally do that when casting spells, but she didn't want to see what was happening. If it was going wrong, she was to proceed anyway. That would be easier if she couldn't see it working, or not working, or anything in the middle.

She sang her magical song, and thought pleasant thoughts of her precious Sunburst, who she planned to hug, possibly to death, as soon as the spell was done. As gifts went, she decided, she had received better, but the thought behind it was good. Despite that, she would have to fashion some manner of revenge for it at some later time. After he was, for sure, safe.

Sunburst, who was the target, and had his eyes open, could bear witness to what was happening. His back prickled and tickled as the strange energy seeped into him. He looked back over his shoulder, but his worn cape didn't let him see what was going on back there. Tickles at the back of his legs heralded the arrival of new, longer, tufts of hair. His eyes crossed, feeling that stiffness reaching down between his eyes, scales like armor extending along his snout.

He wanted to laugh, to call out, to cheer! But he kept his lips shut. Autumn was working hard, and interrupting her would be rude, and possibly self-defeating. His cheeks suddenly went red. It was... like, as a male can do, he was suddenly fiercely aroused, but it wasn't between his legs. Instead his eyes went up to his horn as it throbbed, or it felt like it was throbbing, growing larger, more curved, ornate. He was growing a kirin's horn, and it felt way too good. He licked over his lips, crossing his legs to hide any other signal of how nice that part felt.

It was working, just perfectly. He was almost vibrating as he felt his mane growing, gaining volume as it wrapped around his head. He could feel the beat of the magic, in him, around him. It was doing everything perfectly, and he fell into its trance. His own horn, changed, began to glow in the curious ways that kirins did, and he did what anyone listening to good music did, he began to sing along, playing the notes in a complimenting fashion, more complex than he ever could before, not thinking of it, just doing it.

Twilight tilted her head at the sight, watching the two. Her adept eyes could see the magic, make out the notes being played. He wasn't playing exactly the same spell as Autumn. What was he doing? She reached with her magic for the intercom button, but that isn't what came out of her. She began to play her own song, falling under the sway of the expanding song magic. Instead of controlling their throats, their horns were falling in line, and she joined in the orchestra of magic.

It spread through the unicorns of that floor, bouncing from one to next in a silent infection. Each unicorn would sit down on their haunches, a satisfied look on their faces, their horn glowing brightly. They were all captive to the seductive power of the intricate piece, joining it, but also altering it. Even its starter, Autumn Blaze, was swept up in it. No one singer could command the entire orchestra being played, unaware to the others in immediate view.

This would have gone entirely unnoticed, perhaps died there. But the manager of that floor leaned forward, her brow raised as two of her subjects began changing on the cameras. Scales grew along their backs, their hooves were splitting. Their tails were becoming naked in the middle, tufted at the end. All her unicorns were becoming kirin!

She turned up the sound and heard the unicorns, er, kirins, in the swimming pool were singing of their transformations in whimsical fashion as they paddled and changed all at once. The other subjects were starting to join in, the song music impossible to refuse. Their horns didn't glow, they didn't have any, but they were able to join in the audible song, praising their transformation. They all looked so happy, but it was all so very wrong.

She smashed a button, calling all the other floor directors at once. "Emergency!" she blurted out as soon as people's faces began to appear on her screen. "This is, look at this!" She patched in the audio/video feed of her camera into the conference call, letting them all see her ponies singing, horns glowing, and changing, all of them. Even the not-unicorns were adorned with horns. They were becoming kirins, each and every subject she had. "What do I do with this?!"

Singing emerged from one of the manager's cameras. That manager swore. "You just passed it to my floor. Damn it all." He hung up. Several other windows went dark, realizing the danger of continuing that call. But it was too late. It was spreading like wildfire through the facility. Each time a new pony was caught in it, the song would wind back a bit, to facilitate their change, to welcome them into it. The entire facility was singing a song of change, even if only a small handful had any idea what was going on.

"With a sway of the tail, it never fails, the kirin welcome you," softly hummed a janitor, releasing a mop from his yellow-plastic covered hand. The ponies were singing, again. They did that sometimes, and that one was especially catchy. He didn't even notice he was bobbing in time to the song as he put his things away.

The cafeteria worker of another floor was less in luck, not being hidden away, cleaning up. She was right there, serving ponies, when the mnemonic disease dropped on her, and she began to sing along, cooking with it as she played her part. Neither realized at the time, the way their hands became cloven hooves. Sure, she had dropped her tools, but she wasn't paying attention, trying to dance instead.

It was hard to dance in a form that was so quickly becoming a poor fit for the hazmat suit she wore, starting to tear at it as she bent and sang out in the joy of the moment. Unseen by her, Ponid eagerly filled the gap, but she was in the throes of an entirely different transformation.

She hit the ground on all four hooves clopping smartly just in time for the beat of the song as she swayed and sang, eyes shining with an unbridled joy, unaware yet what fate was befalling her.

The entire thing would be known as 'The Autumn Incident', when about 80% of the subjects and 60% of staff had succumbed to an infection they had no countermeasures prepared against.

Which is where I had come in. I had Autumn, Sunburst, and Twilight seated in front of me, each on their own chair, each looking guilty as hell, as well they aught have! "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

Autumn threw up her hooves. "I didn't mean to! I was just doing the spell on Sunburst, like he asked."

I should mention, Sunburst and Twilight were both kirins, neither singing, thankfully. As soon as the last person that would change finished changing, the song came to a sweeping finale, and they had stopped, confused, and altered. "You had mentioned that. Sunburst?"

"This isn't what I planned," he assured, adjusting his glasses with cloven hooves. "I mean, it worked perfectly, on me, but it was only supposed to affect me."

Twilight inclined her head. "I wasn't aware 'song magic' as they call it had any actual interaction with... magic magic, for lack of better term." She reached up, patting her altered mane softly. "I am unharmed, neither are any other ponies I've spoken to. It should wear off, like the mice."

I narrowed my eyes at that. "Speaking of the mice. I remind, most reverted quickly, some slowly, and one... never without assistance."

Twilight raised a hoof quickly. "Assistance I was able to provide."

"You're missing the point. If we assume the same number carries forward to--"

"Ponies should have less problems, not more," cut in Twilight. "I predict very few problems with ponies subjected to this spell."

Right, but... "What about the very human staff of the facility? We've hurried them off to isolation, but how they're reacting to it, or will recover from it, is entirely unknown." I leveled a good glare at Twilight. "Do you even have a hypothesis on that?"

"Well... no, not so much." She worried her cloven hooves together before she hiccuped, starting to glow. "O-oh!" With a bright flash, her changes ran backwards, hair exploding along her tail, her horn going straight, and the rest of her following along as she returned to her unicorn self. "That feels... much more interesting without the song magic distracting me. Ah ha! Still, right in the predicted time. I imagine most ponies should be reverting within the hour if they haven't already."

Autumn licked over her lips. "Still... hoping Sunburst is one of the 'lasts a day' ones." She leaned over and touched her nose to his altered ear. "All of this fuss has stopped us from enjoying the moment."

Oh, man... "You're all in trouble." But what could I really do with them? "No spells until I give the word. Not even the ones we know. Until we can get magic magic to not cross with song magic, we can't risk it." I tapped an arm with the opposing finger. "You also get to apologize to anyone who suffers effects from this beyond a day."

Twilight looked like she had taken a bullet with how drawn her face became. "Surely there must be another way! We're making so much progress..." She looked ready to cry, sniffling a bit as she looked to me, hoping, begging. Like a little kid just informed that Christmas had been cancelled.

"Make that your priority," I challenged. "Get magic separated from songs, so we can never have that happen again."

"I'm on the case!" she sharply barked, saluting and looking so very determined. Twilight was a peach, a very dangerous peach. "All research into thaumaturgy will be towards this safety consideration." She hopped down without hesitation. "I'll inform you of any progress."

I wanted to stop her, but she was basically doing what I wanted. I couldn't think of a good reason. "Good luck, and keep it safe." Twilight was soon gone, which let me look at the other two kirin, one who used to be a unicorn. "You two can't do much about this." This was a Director problem, not a Patient one. "Go on..."

Autumn threw a leg over Sunburst, almost knocking his glasses off as she dragged him to the ground and towards the door. "I want to inspect my boy! You're coming with me."

"Yes ma'am," he got out as he was dragged away, mostly willingly. I imagined they would have a great time. Good for them. A pity I had a lot of mess to deal with.

"You are frisky today," sang out Autumn nuzzling her stallion right where he most easily displayed his state. "Not that I mind, but why?" She clambered on top of him, belly to belly in a not typical way for two equines. Sapience, among its many advantages, meant they could mate in quite a few positions if they wanted to, and belly to belly as they flopped about happened to be one of Autumn's favorites, starting to make love with her roused stallion before even hearing the answer.

"Oh, um... you..." His words were haltering, his attention distracted with the want to drive against her, to work with her in the dance of life they had begun. "You... It worked... I mean... This..." He squeezed his eyes tightly, his horn beginning to glow.

"A!" She called out, squeezing tightly around him. "B!" She was watching the glow, picking out the letters as they came, but C never arrived, as her internal flexes drove him back into the physical moment, and they both forgot all about magic, except for the spell they were casting between them, the ancient spell shared by two mammals that liked each other very very much.

Neither could complain about the distraction.

As Twilight had thought, most people, pony or human, began to turn back to normal. Most rapidly around the time she had, lasting that roughly half an hour that had been noticed as the first and most likely time for reversion.

But then it slowed. They came in fits and spurts, but it was progress, and I was happy for that. That was fine, good even. There was another problem staring at me. A lot of staff was human, and had damaged their protective suits during the whole mess. We had them tested, and I snuck a peek. Some of them smoldered with Ponid, in them, ramping up.

Now, there was a thing. I could just, snap, make Ponid go away, spare those people, make it never have happened...

But then that would be the normal, what people would expect. I would be the safety valve of the facility. I didn't want that. I wanted people to be safer, not trust in God, even if god was a noodle that lived in the same building.

At the same time, I felt really bad for the poor saps that hadn't even agreed to the experiment, like Carrot Top, they did know the risk, but that didn't make me not feel bad for them. They had been following the rules, taking the precautions. None of the rules at the time covered song magic stealing it all away from them.

"You look sad." There was Starlight, looking kirin. She was on the slow side of regression, still all kirin despite the hours. Hopping up onto the chair next to me, she reached over a hoof. "This isn't your fault. Hay, it wasn't even your idea. Now, be honest, how do I look?"

I looked over her scaled, cloven, form. "I'd say exotic, but it's not really exotic when the entire facility shared the look today." I reached out and pet over her ornate ears, scratching her touch head scales. "You feel alright?"

"Perfectly fine, except that you're obviously being torn up." She raised her hooves to grab my hand, nipping at it. "I'm here for you."

At least I had people that cared about me... "I'm just worried about the minority, those who get stuck in kirin mode. That regression drug she has was made for mice, which we are not. Will it work out just as well? We can't be sure of that."

Starlight reached up, batting an ear with a cloven hoof. "Then I hope I'm one of them, since I'm a big girl, and this isn't, you know, the end of the world. I'm still yours, unicorn or kirin, to play with as you please."

Well, her fetish hadn't changed. "If it's you, I can change you back, or into something else... We have an agreement, a special thing."

"Just between us," sighed out Starlight. "That's so hot. Oh, by the way, I did get an email reply." She leaned in over me, swatting the keyboard, her horn glowing as she struck other keys quickly. "You asked me to check in on this, remember?"

There was an email, from a Director Reddings.

Good Day,

A pleasure to hear from a fellow director, though I'm told I'm actually writing to the assistant of one? I trust they will pass this letter to you. Though you almost certainly don't feel it, you got lucky.

Lucky? Starlight could see my doubt. "Keep reading," she bade, pointing at the screen.

Your patients are basically human.

I did not like that sentence. "Compared to...?" I kept reading.

I drew the short straw. I've worked miserable posts before, kept a calm head, and got the work done. They must have decided I was perfect for this. While most administered the ponid vaccine who suffer changes follow a few, very specific, lines, often into the ponies that gave it a name, some progress far less... elegantly.

Many of my subjects can't be called human. The majority of them show no signs of even basic sapiency. Hunger, thirst, anger and fear are about the only emotions they have left. We have to feed them like wild animals, but wild animals would be easier to train and befriend. That isn't even bringing up how many sharp bits and dangerous anatomies they have to bring to bear, and do so without hesitation.

In short, I must decline your request for 'visitors'. Your subjects do not want to meet mine, I can assure you.

Oh... I could have been a random mashup of angry body parts in a package of eldritch fury? Compared to being a noodle, I felt... quite lucky at that moment. I hit the reply button and quickly thanked Reddington for getting back to me. By his description, he wasn't wrong. That was not a facility that would give, or get, anything with contact with mine. "Starlight, that's just one, they can't all be that messed up, right?"

"I'm still digging," she threw up her hands deflectingly. "I've send out like five emails, and you saw the reply I got." She waved a cloven hoof widely at my screen. "A lot of quiet out there."

As if summoned, a new email popped up, to me, which made sense, that being my computer.

From: Randal Laudin, Director
To: You

Director! I thought I was the only one babysitting little ponies as they did their thing. They would be adorable if I wasn't responsible for everything they do. Hello, I am Randal Laudin, Director on the Pacific Northwest, not far from Washington (I can't specify much more than that, regs). Still, nice to hear from you.

We have ponies, pegasi, unicorns, gem ponies, and combo sets (Three unicorn pegasi). Mostly friendly, though they vary just like the humans they once were, with some preferring to hide in their rooms, but most being outwardly social creatures, forming fast and easy social circles with other subjects.

As you've likely been informed, physically transporting subjects is off the table. However, there's nothing stopping a little communication. The more socialization the subjects perform, the more content they become, overall, so I'd approve of moderated chat between our facilities, if you're up for it. You have a building-wide Discord network, don't you? Let's make a new channel they can chat in.

Right things in the Right place,
Randal Laudin

Well, that was... far more positive. "Alright, that... I can work with that." I hit the forward button, sending it on towards IT with a note saying I was alright with it. "I'll let them hash out the details, then our 'prison' gets a little bigger, with a window to chat with their neighbors." A perfect solution, no... but it was better.

Starlight huffed softly. "Sorry, shoot. After all that, I didn't bring you a single answer, just doom and gloom."

"You were trying." I gently petted over her head. "The others may get back to those emails you sent."

A new name appeared in a new channel. Princess Celestia typed, "Hello, my dear little ponies."

"Yer a princess?" came Apple Bloom's quick reply. "Princess of what?"

"I couldn't say," admitted Celestia. "It's just the name that came to me. Still, it is nice to meet you."

"Hello!" chimed Sweetie Bloom. "So you're from another place?"

"Me too," added another new name. The conversation began in earnest as names and greetings were swapped, quickly diving into similarities and differences between them.

"Your director is also a patient? 👀" asked Celestia.

Scootaloo jammed at the keys. "She sure is! She's super cool! She likes us all a lot, and she gives gifts! I think she's like a wizard or something. She can make whatever she wants. Super awesome!"

"How can we be sure?" Bon Bon entered the conversation suddenly. "That you're from somewhere else, and that you're another ponid patient, and not just somepony pretending."

"*body, god I hate that."

"I could upload a picture?" proposed Celestia. "Sending pictures from in a facility to another part of the facility should be alright. Perhaps I should hold up a sign that says something, so you know it's me?"

Bon Bon could be seen typing. "'I am definitely not screen capturing and editing this on the fly'."

"🙄Relax, Bonnie," assured Lyra. "But do it! I wanna see you!"

"One moment." There was a brief pause, then an image appeared, Celestia seated, facing the camera, perhaps of a laptop? Her wings were spread wide behind her, her horn glowed. Held in her magic was a paper, 'I am definately not screen capturing and editing this on the fly.

PS: Put your periods inside the quotes.' She was also smiling, looking so gentle and approachable, despite also seeming quite large compared to the things around her that gave some amount of perspective.

Lyra almost instantly posted a meme of a famous person laughing uproariously. "Wow! All hail the princess!"

Twilight began to type, "You have wings, and a horn. I wasn't aware that was possible. Please explain."

"I am uncertain I can do that." There was a pause before Celestia resumed typing, "This is just what I became, likely as the rest of you. None of you had much say in the matter. I feel... comfortable. I miss fingers at times, and I miss my old life at others, but... this new life isn't all that bad."

Bon Bon began typing quickly, "Why? What do you get out of this 'new life' besides locked up?"

"I get to support and help others," Celestia typed back far more calmly. "They consider me like a mother here, and I'm alright with the title. I never had children of my own, and now, suddenly, I have dozens on dozens."

"She really is," added another new pony, Fancy Pants. "Quite the noble sort, and obliging of any issue one of us might be facing. I couldn't have asked for a better friend."

"Hello," added a new person, who did not have a pony or other odd creature for a profile pic. "I'm a Doctor here. We consider Celestia to be practically a member of the staff. We can trust her to handle things appropriately."

"I doubt I will be 'handling' much of anything," retorted Celestia. "But it is an honor to be so trusted. Do some of you work with your doctors?"

"Ooo, me," piped in Starlight. "Starlight here! I work right with the director and the staff at large, helping to keep things in line and make sure everycreature gets what they need."

"Me too," chimed Twilight. "Though less regularly than Starlight. My current task is to decouple Vanilla from Chocolate Beans."

"I did not type that. I guess I can't talk about that. Shoot. Sorry, I wasn't trying to break any rules!"

Fancy added, "I was wondering for a moment there, miss."

"While I have you! Have you discovered how to use [REDACTED]?"

"Oh, well, at least that's more obvious. I think I prefer that." Twilight gave up on trying to discuss magic. Perhaps once they had removed its attachment to music, they could revisit that topic. "Still, nice to meet you all!"

"A pleasure. I would like you to meet my best friend," calmly typed Celestia. "Luna is currently 'getting her steps in' as she likes to call it. She is like me, a winged pegasus. She also watches over the other patients with me, though in a different manner and method."

"Winged pegasus?" asked Applejack.

"I don't suppose anyone here likes to bake?🍰" added Carrot Cake suddenly.

"That is a bit random," replied another new pony. "But, yes, I do." Chiffon Swirl was her name. "Let's not clog up the channel. We can DM."

"I meant winged unicorn," admitted Celestia, the conversation continuing.

Author's Note

He found what was missing! Yay!

Meanwhile, a lot of new things come to light, and it isn't all good...

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