The Future Will Change

Indeed. It was someone that Applejack had dealt with before. An entertainment manager and agent that had nearly destroyed one of her childhood friends’ reputation…

“No…not him. Not again!”

Applejack raced down the streets with her thunderous ox legs causing quakes in the earth beneath her. It wasn’t long before she found herself in the big city of Vanhoover. As it turns out, her hearing was just that good.

But the question is, just what was she hearing?

It didn’t take her long to find out that it was coming from a nearby acting studio.

“Listen here, little missy,” a man in a blue business suit pushed a young woman up against her trailer. “You’re gonna take the part and perform that ad. You wouldn’t want to disappoint all of your adoring fans, would you?”

“N-no! But…please stop!” she begged as tears rolled down her cheeks. It was a young woman, no older than 17 who wore what appeared to be a schoolgirl’s uniform. Whatever she was advertising must have been related to her attire, given how embarrassed she was.

“Then you’re gonna do what you're told,” the man grit his teeth at her. “...or am I gonna have to take measures into my own hands…”

She could hear the sound of something unzipping, and panicked. “N-no! I’ll do it! Okay! I-I promise!”

“That’s a good little--”

THUMP!

“SVENGAL!” Applejack’s voice bellowed in an unrecognizable tone as she approached the parking lot. In her oxen form, neither of them could tell that this was the Element of Honesty they were dealing with.

“What the--?! Who in god’s name are you?!” he yelped, and started to back away. “Some kinda cow-demon, thing?! Someone call the police!”

“Ah!” the schoolgirl in question broke free and ran away, panicked at the sight of the cow beast, but mostly because she wanted to get away from Svengal.

Applejack stomped up to him and picked him up by his collar, causing him to panic as she snorted steam in his face from her nostrils. Her anger had caused her to grow in size, now standing at a monstrous 8 feet tall. “I saw what you was gonna do.”

“W-whatever do you mean?!” Svengal tried to nervously play it off by shaking his head. Being faced with what was essentially a monster bovine on two legs. “I-I didn’t--!”

“YOU LYIN’!”

Applejack roared as she slammed Svengal into the ground, but as soon as she did--!

“POLICE!” a policewoman cried out, the same woman who had been working the various investigations into mutants thus far. She held a handgun towards Applejack alongside her backup officers. “Hands in the air, monster! Let the man go!”

“HE WAS--!” Applejack looked down and noticed that Svengal had escaped her grasp and sighed to herself.

From their perspective, a giant cow-monster woman had just upped and attacked a random civilian for no reason. Context didn’t matter. Nuance didn’t matter. Applejack appeared guilty to everyone here, and she knew this.

“...enough!” the officer woman shouted, “Just calm down and come quietly or we will use lethal force!”

With no other option, Applejack simply took off! Her hefty footsteps shook the earth once more as the officers fired bullets at her. Bullets that merely bounced off of her body as she ran off.

“Dammit!” the officer stomped her foot, “The department needs to hurry up with those anti-magic bullets! Everyone, let’s hurry up and see if we can find any injured.”

Meanwhile, at Sci-Twi’s house…

“...Spike? Spike??” Twilight called out to her furry little friend, looking all over the house for any sign of him, but found nothing. The young raven-girl scientist dreaded what could have become of Spike since he had watched that film along with her.

“Oh no…” she muttered with a nervous chirp as a few feathers were expelled from her body, “I don’t have the proper data to understand what effects that film has on people, let alone actual animals! Spike, where are you?!”

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for her to find him. Eventually, once she reached the attic of her home, she’d find a young human man with purple skin that was about her age, hiding away in one of the corners of the attic.

“...no way, Spike is that you?”

“...go away,” he called out. His voice was so deep that it was like talking to someone completely different, “I’m…hideous Twilight.”

“...so it’s true,” she sighed as she called out to him, "You've been affected by the curse too, huh? Come on, I won't hurt you, Spike. You're my best friend. I promise I won't laugh. If anything, I look way worse right about now."

"You promise?"

"Promise."