"What is it with cultists and portals?" Slaytor groans as he pushes a shatterred slab of stone from his chest, rolling off Taurence's back and standing up with a painful sounding series of pops and cracks coming from his chest and back. After a moment, he continues "Seriously, the last three times, It's been cultists or mad scientists, How about something new for a change?!"
Zed groans, rolling to his side, then sitting up and taking a zen position. "Agghh... My joints are on fire."
Slaytor drops to his knees next to Zed, "Me too, what is it?"
Dawn crawls close to the other two, "I think we're being translated into the local frequency... Rewritten.... "
"The magic here runs rampant... I felt it changing me..." He grimaces and pushes his mane out of his face, "Ahh I understand. This dimension has a differrent morphogenic field.... We need to synch up, and that may be painful. Taurence! We need a regen bath, right here, I want to be numb for this."
Taurence nods and settles in next to them forming a rough square, which sinks down into the stone of the floor, till his chest is even with the floor. a soft rumbling and thick rich brown mud begins seeping through the cracks of the stones, filling the newly formed basin with hot, soothing mud.
Dawn sighs and leans back against the wall of the tub, "Oh that's better, I -oh!"
Already the changes are starting as Slaytor, Dawn and Zed's bodies are reformed according to the patterns of the world.
Bones shift and reshape under the mud, even Taurence seems to be shrinking somewhat from his ten foot stature to around six feet tall.
Slaytor growls as he feels his jaw moving and he dunks his head under the mud surface as the changes continue, the hot dense mud numbing the pain of transition....
Zed looks up, eyes glowing a bright blue-white and reaches for his forehead, feeling a bump growing and increasing in length, a spike of pain driving straight through his skull, He takes a deep breath and submerges his head.
Shorlty afterward, Dawn does the same, wincing in pain.
Taurence grimaces as his features shift, a lot slimmer and less bulky but still a minotaur.
The duration of the healing mud effect ends, and it receeds, leaving the four of them coated in a rapidly drying shell of mud, Taurence twists back and forth and then stands, pieces of the mud shell breaking away from his brown fur. "Ahh I feel much better."
Slaytor, Zed and Dawn sit up, shaking themselves bodily as they break out of their mud shells... and pause to stare at each other.....
Slaytor cackles and points at Zed, "Ya look like a little kid wearin' hand me downs!'
Indeed, Zed's robe now hangs from him, not seeming to fit anymore.
Zed smirks, "I could say the same for you Slay" ans he begins to squirm his way out of his robes, actually comfortable with the new shape he has taken, except for the new protrusion at the base of his forehead, which hangs up on his sodden clothing.
Slaytor looks down at himself, "What the buck!"
He pauses,"What the buck?.... What the buck!? Zed! Why the Hay cant I curse?!.... the Hay? Oh just kill me now" Slaytor got up on his feet, all four of them.
Dawn blinks huge silver eyes at Slaytor and giggles, "You've got wings!" pointing with a hoof.
Slaytor stands up, shaking his armored vest off his head. "I've got wings?"
She glances down "I've got hooves?"
Slaytor chuckles at Dawn "You've got a horn."
Dawn shakes again cracking off the rest of her mud shell. " I've got a horn?" She Squees. "Sarge! Can you make us a mirror?"
A sphere pops off her back, landing on the ground, It rolls around in front of her, the bottom half unfolded four legs, a wide head and a stubby tail behind it. the upper hemisphere seems to melt into a greenish hex pattern, and the drone blinks a tiny pair of eyes at it's mistress, before the shell stretches upward,becoming flat, smooth, and mirror reflective.
"You're a turtle now?" Dawn's jaw drops. "Pets! come out!
The other three spheres detach, two of them now from her flanks and one from the back of her neck. the smaller of the four floats over her head into view and it unfolds slowly into a beautiful bird with a long flowing tail and silvery red and pink feathers. She perches in Dawn's hair, who smiles, "Fifi you look fabulous!"
Fifi chirrups and stretches out her wings.
The other two drones take places on either side of Sarge and unfold as well, their size expanding as the nanites change in density, when the transformation process is complete The two drones resemble wickedly toothed and sharp edged wolves composed of wood, one being bluish silver, the other reddish silver, both of whom are wagging their tails as they pant up at Dawn.
Slaytor pushes up to the mirror turtle and takes a look, "I'm a... pony? with wings, claws and a dragons tail...." he blinks, 'At least I still have my 'do'" He turns his head back and forth as he checks out his purple and black striped mowhawk and the webbed headfrills framing it.
Sarge tilts his head at Slaytor, giving a slow blink, then turning back to Dawn, Who's taking in her appearrance, the horn is distinctly metallic, as if it were chromed. there are other patches of her that are metallic, including a silver triangle on her forehead and angular patches on her legs. She turns for a side view and blinks, "What's that?" She moves a bit to see it, "I have a tattoo now? A heart shaped fractal? OOh neat! it moves!" There are little blue and green ripples of energy seeming to flow from the center to the edges.
Slaytor is also looking back at his new, oversized bat wings, "wait, I have one too." He turns around in a small circle trying to get a better view of it.... "Crossed rapiers.... I can dig it."
Zed finally frees his head and joins the other two, " I remember this form from somwehere..." He actually looks like a grey Mini Clydesdale with a unicorn horn. His eyes are a pale blue that seem to shimmer with light of their own accord. He stands just a bit taller than both Slaytor and Dawn. His mark is a pair of alicorn silhouettes, one black and one white, brought together in the shape of a yin yang.
Taurence has been watching all this and he chuckles, "Yall look like ya belong in the 'pink' aisle at Toy's R Us!"
Slaytor examines his front feet, stubby fingers ending in sharp claws, "Yeah Moo Man, At least you still got hands."
He reaches back and fumbles for one of his stun batons, Dropping it, "Faust!... Zed, Why cant I swear?" He looks at Zed with a blank expression.
Zed shakes his head, his purple and white mane flowing, "Evidently This universe's morphogenic field has a language filter? I don't know all the answers"
"Morph-a-who-sic? Slaytor fumbles with the baton before finding a position where he can get it between two fingers, lifting it up.
Zed grins, "Ok you remember, about eight jumps back, We were all human. Taury hated it because he looked like he did before his change? It's like that now, but we're ponies..."
"And you're under arrest in the name of Princess Luna!" a phalanx of dark ponies in darker armor charge into the room, surrounding them
Slaytor grumbles, "Ah Horseapples!"