Adventures of a Man turned Beastly

Disclaimer's already been typed three or four times, do I really need to restate that I don't own the show or anything affiliated with it? All I own is this storyline and Jack/Mundo.

<><><><><><><>

Ah, morning. I love the morning, especially Tuesday mornings, like this one. So peaceful compared to the afternoon rush of people/ponies rushing home. It also helps that bakers are usually up early and delicious smells are wafting throughout a large area near the shops where they work.

I'd decided not to empty the box of pastries just to sate my enormous appetite, as Scoots will need to eat later when she gets home from school. I squeeze through the door and try to remember what my little orange friend had said before she left for school...

Don't go into the Everfree Forest, you may be big, but there are bigger things out there.

/I doubt there could be much bigger than me out there, but I'll take her word for it. She's the natural citizen of Equestria here, not me./

Even though I'm probably the biggest creature to actually live in this town, quietly trundling my way through the alleys and keeping out of sight was surprisingly easy this early in the morning. Ponies don't seem to be morning creatures, except for a select few, like that purple librarian Scoots told me about. I could be here for an hour talking about what Scoots told me, but I'll just get to the point and say that she told me what I'd most likely be able to do today, what places I should avoid, yadda yadda yadda, so on and so forth. Anyway, I take the time to haul myself up the nearest sturdy building as quietly as I possibly can and tried to spot the roof of the pastry shop called Sugarcube Corner, where I'd been yesterday. Supposedly a pink pony aptly named Pinkie Pie would be there, and I could knock on the back door to get her to say hi.

I dropped back down with a muffled thud and head in the general direction of the gingerbread building that I dropped Scoots and her friends off at yesterday. Luckily, it isn't that far from Scoot's place, from what I saw.

<><><><><><><>

Crickrak!

/Note to self, you have a tail. Be careful where you swish it. You might just accidentally break something, like that window shutter. Now then, where's that bakery? I can smell it, it's close.... hey, there it is! And this is the back side, too./ Time to introduce myself as best I can, I guess. Just gotta be careful with the door....

<><><><><><><><>

knock knock

“Coming!” the ever-cheerful pink party pony called from where she was mixing more dough for some cookies. Zipping over to the door, she opened it and immediately started her greeting.

“HiI'mPinkiePieandIworkherewhatisyour...name....” Pinkie trails off, noticing the large, possibly hungry animal standing before her.

“Um.... I'll be right back...” Pinkie finished, as she slowly closed the door.

Only to promptly zip out to the main counter to let the Cakes know she has to go tell her friend something really fast, then zip off again to the library.

...only to zip back again about two minutes later, while her employers were still blinking at her sudden disappearance, and disappear into the kitchen again.

Shrugging it off as Pinkie being Pinkie, the Cakes continue working the counter, preparing for the breakfast rush.

<><><><><><><><>

Twilight was busy revising a new spell matrix that could improve magical energy efficiency by ten percent when Pinkie bursts in, knocking over Spike, who had been carrying a sizable pile of reference materials to be reshelved, and thus burying him in them. Twilight facehooves and says, “Pinkie, what's the problem this time?”

The excited pink pony replies as fast as she possibly can, she is just that excited.   “Rememberthatbiganimalfromyesterdayitwasatthebackdoorandyoutoldmetotellyouifitshowedupagain!”

Twilight blinks, and takes a moment to digest the information (and dig Spike out). “Well Pinkie, I'm going to need samples, and I doubt it will give them willingly.” Walking over to a small box, the librarian opened it with a twist of her magic and pulls out a small blue pill. Passing the pill over to Pinkie, Twilight explains. “It's a tranquilizer, supposedly powerful enough to knock out even fully grown dragons in a minute or so. Fluttershy gave me a few of these for when Spike has another greed growth spurt or I have a panic attack. It's perfectly safe. Put it into a pastry and feed it to the animal, and I'll be there as quickly as I can.”

Nodding quickly, Pinkie puts the small pill into her mane and zips off again after thanking her purple friend.

<><><><><><><>

And now we return to our regularly scheduled dose of Mundo!

Pinkie pops out of the door again and sets down a small plate of assorted pastries. Small for me, anyway, it's probably the biggest plate they had. Not wanting to be rude, I wait until the door had fully shut before I start eating. The pastries were small enough that I could swallow them whole without any problems. /They're pretty filling, so I think I'll take a short nap while they settle, then go find some food besides pastries, can't live entirely off of sugary treats and all... that..../

THWACK

-snore-

<><><><><><><>

some time later

I blearily wake up and crack my eyes open to see a purple pony taking snot out of my nose with what looks like a cloud of light -probably magic or something- and sealing it in a small vial. A small purple lizard with a bright green crest leans into view and squints at me.

/There's something you don't see every day, I guess./

“Twilight....” Spike begins.

“Not now, Spike, I'm busy taking samples.”

“No, seriously-” Spike tries again.

“Spike. Not now. Busy.” Twilight interrupts him again, peering into my ears. I decide to make what would be considered a funny to my sleep-addled mind by lazily reaching up and knocking this “Twilight” over. She tips off of the seat she's been using to help her reach higher with a shriek, waking me up a little better.

“Twilight, it's awake.” Spike deadpans. Twilight huffs and gets back onto her hooves.

“Thank you Spike. Make sure the rope around his muzzle is secure, would you? We don't want him trying to bite us.” Twilight has gotten up again and is checking other ropes, from what I can hear. I can't exactly turn my head, it feels like there's a chain holding down my neck. I could probably snap it but knowing chains and ropes, the end will probably flick out and break something or someone. The lavender pony levitates my arm back into place next to me -almost effortlessly, I notice, despite it being nearly twice her size- and secures the rope once again. Well, since I seem to be tied down and somewhat awake again, time to take stock of my surroundings.

/Let's see, I'm laying on my stomach, indoors in a basement of some sort, bound to a low, solidly built wooden cart or table that's groaning slightly under my weight. There's a folded blanket under my chin, to keep me semi-comfortable, I guess. My muzzle is bound lightly, just enough to open my mouth slightly and possibly allow food and drink in, but at the same time disallow biting. Everything behind my head is secured with decently sized rope, about as thick as one of my claws, except for a chain around my neck, secured to the cart at both ends, and my tail. No match for my strength, I'm sure. My tail is hanging off the back end of the table and dragging slightly on the floor, and I can swish it somewhat. My spines can still be moved and flicked about freely. The room I'm in is clean, almost sterile, and there are various other tables with unknown devices and tools, some covered, some not, with some well-polished roots dangling from the ceiling, but not so low that they interfere with Twilight's work. Oh, and I can hear a kettle whistling upstairs./

“Spike, would you go finish up the tea, and send that letter, please?” At Twilight's request, Spike dashes up the stairs to go do her bidding. I continue looking around the room and waiting for Twilight to do something interesting. She does, in the form of a thermometer between my teeth, which she takes a moment to examine.

“Odd sort of teeth, I have never seen this pattern before...” /You and me both, Twilight./ Pulling the thermometer out of my mouth, she examines the liquid inside and turns away to write down something on a nearby clipboard. I slip my insectoid mandibles -I should start using them more often, they seem to be pretty flexible- under the rope while she's busy and pop it loose, laying them still again when she turns back.

Noticing that the ropes were loose, she quickly resecures them, muttering about how Spike doesn't double check as often as he should. Said dragon came back downstairs with another pony in tow, a blue one with wings, along with a rainbow mane and tail.

The pony starts talking before she's fully in view. “Hey Twi, I heard you have a new spesif- speni-” -she sighs here- “animal in your basement, shouldn't you leave the animals to Flutter-” She cuts herself off upon seeing me on the table. A concerned look appears on her face, and it doesn't seem to fit her for some reason. “Twi, are you sure those ropes are thick enough?” Twilight nods an affirmative.

I decide to prove her wrong as Twilight walks a safe enough distance away from me so that the ropes and chain won't hurt her or anyone else in the room. One flex of my back later and...

Snapcracktingtingcrackcrackwhackping!

/Ta-da! Near-instant freedom./ I ease myself off the table and shift the shell-shocked rainbow-maned pony aside, closer to Twilight and Spike, and heave myself awkwardly up the stairs, trying not to leave claw marks. I squeeze through the door at the top, just barely big enough to fit me lying on my side, and cross the library I found myself in, to what I assume is the front door and open it...

Only to see a butter-colored pony with wings and a long pink mane standing there, hoof raised to knock. With an “eep!” from said pony, I carefully shift her into the library and set her /Just how am I telling these ponies' genders so easily anyway? It's weird./ on the couch, before carefully edging myself out the front door. Oh hey, apparently these ponies work fast, the busted cobbles I left behind yesterday after my short flight are already repaired and/or replaced.

Only while I'm looking downwards do I discover the chain that was 'holding' my neck down is still there, seems the busted ends fused together somehow. /Looks nifty, I think I'll keep it. Back homeward then, I guess. It's going to be dark within a few hours, and I've had enough shenanigans for one day./

<><><><><><><><>

Twilight and Rainbow Dash were still in shock. Spike recovered quickly enough to hear the front door shut and turned to snap the ponies out of their stupor.

“Twilight, your books are burning!” Spike called into her ear. Twilight jumps and starts dashing upstairs to check, but got stopped by Spike. “Just kidding!” Twilight sighs in aggravation.

“Spike, please don't say that again unless they're actually burning,” she said wearily. Spike merely shrugs and walks over to Rainbow Dash, whispering into her ear,

“Wake up, the Wonderbolts are here,” causing the multichromatically-maned mare to leap into the air and start hovering, shouting “What?! Where?!”

Spike doubles over laughing and gasping for air as Rainbow Dash turned a light shade of red in embarrassment. Twilight went upstairs to get a calming mug of tea after all the excitement, only to trot back downstairs and say, “Did either of you let Fluttershy in?”

Glancing at each other, Spike and Rainbow Dash shake their heads in unison, before turning and heading up the stairs after Twilight.

<><><><><><><><>

/Blegh, I'm tired... Can't sleep for whatever reason, I normally fall asleep fast when laying on my stomach./ Probably that nap I had earlier, that and it's only about four in the afternoon.

ACHOO!

-grehk-KAHbzrrrt-

/Well, snap. Apparently I can burp up expanding balls of condensed electricity./ Why this didn't happen in the lab after that sneezefest I'll never know.

/At least I have something to do now, while waiting for Scoots to get home./

<><><><><><><>

-grehk-KAH!....bzzrrrt!-

/Note to self, use this crap in self-defense or only when REALLY angry./

I'm just outside the Everfree Forest, practicing with my new ability. The balls of energy that I can spray out buzz like you'd expect electricity to. Here's what I found out during the first twenty minutes of fiddling around with them:

/One, these things are like firing explosives around, but without the scorch marks. Two, I seem to be highly resistant to the expanding energy, both the electrical charge and the force produced by the expansion. Three, these would probably send small creatures flying, so don't use them on ponies unless necessary./

/Why am I monologuing to myself again? Oh yeah, so I can remember these things better. I memorize some things better when I do that, for whatever reason./

-yawn-

/Well, there's the organic sleep alarm. Time for bed, the sun's setting anyway./

-thwipcrunch-

/Snap, Scoots is not going to be happy about that. I should probably find a replacement table as soon as I can..../