It was, at long last, the greatest day of the year. The day of fair, noble, and mighty heroes coming together to reject tyranny and establish freedom and democracy forevermore. A day so marvellous in the record of marvellous days that it was placed above all others. The day that Americans celebrate their separation from Britain, and their liberation from tyrannical taxes (so stop throwing that tea in the harbour!).
You are right, dear reader. It was the 4th of July, that most American of days, one normally reserved for barbeques and fireworks displays and parades and speeches. Anybody fancy taking over the airports? Anywhoozle, this year would be rather different.
"Here I am, stuck in Britain on this most American of days!" Katrina said, as she finished a mug of coffee. "Thanks for the brew, by the way."
"No problem," Tom replied. "It is somewhat weird, I know, marking Independence Day in the country you were trying to break away from. I was in Bend, Oregon, a few years ago this very day, and many Americans were baffled at the sight of a British guy wishing them a 'Happy 4th of July'. I'm probably the only person here in Nottingham who marks it. I'll be doing a barbeque later today, just a little something to remind you of home."
"Thanks," Katrina smiled. "And thank you. I really do feel for some of my countrymen at home. The blighters need help."
"Blighters?" Tom asked. "If this lockdown doesn't end soon, you'll turn completely British!"
"God save the Queen and all that?" his friend joked, as she got up from her chair. "I see that work has cleared up for you, so isn't it time we did something together? As friends, of course."
"Naturally," Tom replied. "How about we take a stroll and see if anybody else is about? Life is slowly returning to normal around here. Campus is still shut, but there's plenty to see around town, where things happen with much frequency and speed. I imagine TV will be full of repeats of the usual things that pop up around this time of year like The Patriot and similar."
"Back home, mom and dad would get the entire clan together to celebrate together. The entire street turned out to celebrate Independence Day, and at the end of it all we'd watch a massive fireworks display put on by the city. Those were some fun days, and I look forward to returning home."
"I can imagine," Tom answered, putting some mugs in the dishwasher, now refitted to play music. "Vinyl suggested it once. Anyways, as nice as it's been having you around, this house is only meant to accomodate one person, and I've got the landlord breathing down my neck at the number of modifications and repairs needed. I only recently finished defrosting the living room from all the ice left over."
"You try controlling ice powers!"
"Touche." Tom walked over to another object to pick it up. "The most I ever had to deal with was shooting laser beams at Daybreaker. That was a fun challenge."
"Erm, Tom?" Katrina asked, pointing to his arm. "Why is there purple hair there?"
Tom glanced at it. Only to see the hair, which he clicked was fur, begin to spread. "Here we go again."
Sure enough, the purple or lavender fur spread across Tom's body, which was a very odd experience that eventually left him covered head to toe in fur, leaving him looking somewhat like a yeti. Moments after that happened, he began to shrink, descending and falling through his clothes, which of course no longer fitted him.
"I'm a bit stuck in these, so if I could have some helpOWWWW!"
Tom's male bits had decided to pull a vanishing act, and disappeared up his rear suddenly, his voice shooting up in pitch like a rocket until he sounded rather odd.
Or should I say, she sounded rather odd.
His feet shifted and changed in size, the toes shrinking into them and the foot compressing until it formed a stump at the bottom of the leg. Or perhaps, should I say, a pair of hooves. Indeed, Tom was destined to end up a horse today.
"This is so not fun," she groaned, as her legs cracked and reformed to form equine rear legs. Shortly after that, her hips reconfigured and changed shape to support a bipedal stance, as her chest suddenly grew in size to form an equine barrel. Her shoulders compressed to create a setup not dissimilar to a horse's forelegs, and as her arms distorted to create front legs, her fingers melted together to create a set of front hooves. As her neck lengthened at great speed, two blobs appeared between her legs, followed by a sense of discomfort under her forehead. Tom bit her lip as a horn burst out of her forehead, growing for about a second before stopping (it was very short). Her eyes turned purple, and her nose and mouth began to push their way out of her face to create a muzzle.
"These bigger nostrils go well with the bigger lungs," she sighed, feeling stuff rearranging inside her. Her hair turned dark blue and grew down her neck, with a purple and a pink streak appearing in it.
Katrina helped her out of the various garments lying about as the changes sped up, trying to finish themselves. A symbol of a pink star with a white one underneath, surrounded by more white stars, appeared on her flanks, before her rear began to tingle.
Seconds later, a tail, also blue with purple and pink streaks, popped out of her rear, floating above the ground.
The energies ceased. Tom shook her head. "Well, that was a new one, I have to say. I wonder wha-" She stopped. She touched her throat with her hoof. "I'm Twilight Sparkle? Where's half the other stuff?"
"What other stuff?"
"I don't have wings! Oh, wait, that's because I'm unicorn Twilight. Haven't read about one of these happening before."
"Maybe this one is the first."
"There so much to experiment with! What can be done with magic? What is the air speed velocity of an albatross? How many books are there left to read? What is the rationale of how the magic works? So much to learn! THIS IS SO AMAZING!"
"Perhaps calming down a bit first would help. Are you feeling any memory changes?"
"No, not really. I still have all my old memories, complete with an encyclopedic recollection of the contents of the Golden Oak Library, and stopping Nightmare Moon, and- oh no! Twilight and my memories are mashed together in there! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-"
Katrina put her hand over Twilight's mouth. "You'll be fine. I've been Twilight before, and it didn't mangle my old memories."
"Phew. But how will we eat? I need to do some research into what unicorns can eat, and-"
"Let me handle that. The last thing we need is a unicorn with incredibly powerful magic wrecking the kitchen."
"Erm, yeah. Good point. I'll go read."
Later in the day, as the evening sky rolled in, Twilight and Katrina sat outside and looked up at the sky. "The sky sure is beautiful now," Katrina smiled.
"It sure is," Twilight smiled. "But given the day, I somehow feel there's something missing. Where's the fireworks? I know most British people don't mark the event, but it somehow doesn't feel right not to have fireworks on Independence Day."
Suddenly, a portal opened, and a pink unicorn with an orange and yellow mane and tail popped through. "Twilight?" she asked. "What happened to your wings?"
"Earlier Twilight," Twilight replied. "Can you help with something? Remember that firework spell we worked on?"
"Sure thing! I'll have a set of fireworks put together in no time!"
"You won't," Twilight said.
"What do you mean?"
"WE will," the Lavender Unicorn (had to do it at least once) smiled, and looked up at the sky. "Ready?"
"Ready," Luster smiled, and the pair charged their horns. Once both had held in their respective positions for a few seconds, both grimacing with the energy produced and the level of concentration required, they let the spell go into the sky.
The sky over Nottingham erupted in a spectacular mixure of fireworks and bright lights. Red, white, and blue light scattered and zoomed across the field of the air, followed by rapid trails of smoke, whizzers, and loud noises. Catherine wheels spun midair, and flaming fires flew through the skies. The most spectacular display detonated all at once, producing a marvellous vision of the Stars and Stripes, in firework form that made even the most Anti American of British people awed and proud of the great nation across the pond.
As the smoke cleared, Katrina turned to the pair of unicorns who had made this possible. "Happy Independence Day, you two," she smiled.
"Happy Independence Day to you too," Twilight smiled in response.
"And a happy new year!" Luster added, before noticing the Lavender Unicorn looking at her. "What?"
Author's Note
"Happy Independence Day, everypony!"
"Always keep the spirit of liberty and freedom in your heart."
