It was a beautiful day—the sun was shining magnificently in the cloudless sky, warming the land with its incandescent radiance. Despite the wonderful weather, Flash Point had preferred to spend the day indoors doing some housework. Most ponies likely would go out on such a nice day, and that was exactly why he did not want to show himself in public. Suddenly, he heard someone knocking on his front door.
The unicorn opened the door and was greeted by his friend Turnip Seed, who was wearing a long burlap cloak that covered most of their body. "Oh, hello, Turnip," he said surprisedly. "Haven't seen you in a while... Would you like to come in?" The earth pony mumbled something inaudible as they stepped inside.
Turnip sat down on the living room couch and examined the silly stripes swirling around his purple legs. "So, nearly three months have passed and we still look like this," he said wistfully. "We're never going to be back to our normal selves, are we?"
Sunlight made Flash's yellow coat glow brightly when he walked past a window. He sat down next to Turnip and gazed at their rumps, both of which bore the emblem of the water park. "Your tail has grown back, at least," the unicorn said in an attempt to cheer up his friend.
"That's not much of a consolation. I still haven't found a new job, and I'm running out of money. No one is going to hire a pony who looks like this, other than maybe the water park. Speaking of which... I'm worried they might come after us any day now for breaching the contract. I can already see us being sentenced to years of servitude as their mascots."
"No, I don't think they will come after us. They were the ones to break the contract first by failing to keep us safe from harm, so we're in the clear. That mascot business on the other hoof... what's done is done. Just forget about them."
"It's pretty hard to forget when we're both walking advertisements for them," the earth pony said, fiddling with the laces of his heavy cloak. "I can't wear this thing on hot summer days without looking like an idiot. Then again, looking like an action figure isn't any less embarrassing. Aren't there any potions that could turn us back to normal? Or some kind of spell? You're a unicorn, aren't you?"
"Do I look like a wizard to you?" Flash retorted, rolling his eyes. "And if I knew about a potion like that, I obviously would have already made one. There's only one way to turn ourselves back to how we used to be and you know full well what it is. Windy Vale can probably help us with—"
"No!" Turnip interjected. "There's absolutely no way I'm going back into that scorching hot steam press! You can't be serious about doing that by choice! There has to be another option."
"Well, if you'd prefer going to the water park with your tail between your legs and begging them to take you back..."
The earth pony was silent for a moment. "What if the ponies at the factory just send us back there anyway?" he asked with a worried look on his face. "The factory took the blame for losing us, so they might be inclined to remedy that mistake."
"We can trust Windy," the unicorn assured. "Don't worry, this time everything will go just fine."
A few days later, Flash Point and Turnip Seed were sitting in Windy Vale's living room. The muted colors of her home made the stallions stand out like a pair of yellow and purple beacons. They had just finished explaining to her what they were planning to do. The pegasus mare got up from the chair and looked at them compassionately.
"Of course I will help you guys out," she said. "I feel I'm partly responsible for what happened to you."
"You didn't know," Turnip said plainly. "And without you we wouldn't even be here right now. You saved us."
A hint of red appeared on Windy's cheeks. "If you have some photos of your old selves, I'm sure I can restore the original colors of your coats and manes. And your cutie marks too, of course. The magic in that potion of yours must be mighty indeed since it allows one to permanently alter their appearance."
"It does produce very interesting results," Flash concurred, glancing at the splotches on his back that used to be warning labels. "I wonder what would happen if the form of our bodies was changed before turning us back. Like, for instance, adding wings on our backs or making us into those donut-shaped pool—"
"Don't even think about stuff like that!" Turnip yelled. "We're trying to turn ourselves back into normal ponies—not even more of the freaks that we already are!"
"Sorry," the unicorn said sheepishly. "Some questions are best left unanswered, I suppose. Anyway, I have all the potions already prepared in advance. We're ready to begin when you are, Windy."
"Come meet me at the factory tomorrow after the last shift ends," the mare said. "I'll get you guys repainted and then leave you in the press for the night. If it makes you feel any better, I could use a lower temperature than last time. It will take a few hours longer, though."
"That's good to hear," the earth pony sighed in relief. "At least I don't have to be afraid of melting this time!"
The sun was already setting when Flash Point and Turnip Seed arrived at the factory near the edge of the town. All sorts of inflatable things were produced there—not only pool toys. Windy Vale let them in through the back door and led them to the painting room. The unicorn took the saddlebag off his back and double checked its contents.
"I have all the potions right here," Flash explained, giving the saddlebag to the mare. "Everything you need for turning us back is in there. I even brewed an extra dose of both potions just in case."
"Got it," Windy replied. "I'll keep them stored safely in my locker. So, are you guys ready to begin?"
"I guess so," the unicorn said as he uncorked the tiny glass vials, giving one of them to the earth pony. They both looked at each other and gulped down the glowing liquid. "Well, here we go again..."
Windy watched with wonder as Flash and Turnip started to turn into inflatable pool toys. The hairs on their manes and tails seemed to dissolve together as glossy plastic covered them completely. Their joints creaked as their legs stiffened and the labels on their backs became readable again on their smooth and shiny skin. The stallions started to feel lightheaded when their innards were replaced by the air that filled their vinyl bodies. Valves popped out of their belly buttons, completing their transformation.
"Aww, you guys look so happy," Windy said while admiring the wide grins they both had on their faces. "It's not easy to tell the difference between you and ordinary pool toys. Now I'll take a closer look at the photos you gave me and get all the colors mixed. I'll be right back." The pegasus soon returned with several cans of paint and started to cut some stencils out of paper. "Your cutie marks have pretty simple shapes. I can make them look exactly the same as the day you got them, no problem."
Windy covered the stallions' eyes with masking tape and set to work. Having been suspended from the ceiling with strings, the paint being sprayed on them was the only thing the pool toys could feel. They had become two rubbery canvases for an artist to work with. As soon as their flanks had dried, the mare taped the stencils on them and skillfully restored their cutie marks.
Once their eyes had been uncovered, Flash and Turnip were overjoyed to see each other in their true colors again, even as silly-looking inflatable toys. The pegasus took them down and carried them on her wings to the pressing room. She opened their valves and deflated the stallions carefully, after which they were both laid down under a steam press.
"I set the temperature to 100 degrees," the mare said. "Hopefully that will be a bit more bearable for you guys, although it will now take longer for the paint to adhere to you properly. Don't worry, you'll be fine. See you tomorrow, guys!" Windy pulled a lever to lower the presses, squishing the pool toys between the metal plates, and left for home.
"That still sounds pretty hot," Turnip thought. "I'm having second thoughts about this, but it's too late to turn back now, I guess. I had already forgotten how utterly helpless I am as an inflatable pony. It's just so terrifying to think that there's absolutely nothing I can do if this thing suddenly decides to melt me down to a flat sheet of plastic."
The temperature was slowly but steadily increasing. About half an hour later, the boilers had created the conditions required for the paint to dissolve into their surface permanently. The rising heat had made the stallions somewhat frightened at first, but once the temperature had become stable, they quickly began to get used to it.
"This feels surprisingly relaxing this time," Flash wondered. "Sure, it's hot, but not uncomfortably so. The soothing warmth has released all tension from my body. Who knew being pressed flat like this could be so enjoyable? It almost makes me envy clothes that get ironed regularly."
The earth pony had started to enjoy himself as well. "Mmhm... This feels great," Turnip hummed. "I can actually feel individual wrinkles disappear one by one as the hot press irons them out, making my surface perfectly smooth. You can't experience anything like this as a normal pony."
Both of them soon became blissfully unaware of the passing of time. The layer of paint melded into their shiny skin, erasing all evidence that they had ever been the official mascots of the water park. Flash Point and Turnip Seed spent the rest of the night quietly enjoying themselves inside the warm embrace of the steam press.
Eventually, the pressing room door flung open. "Oh, she's already back?" Flash wondered when he heard the sound of approaching hoofsteps. "I've been so relaxed that I hardly even noticed the time pass. Have I really been here longer than last time?" The press plate was lifted up and an unknown pony looked down at the unicorn. "That's not Windy," he thought. "What's going on?"
"Somepony forgot a pool toy in the press again," they muttered. "Whatever, I'll just get it finished up real quick."
"No, wait! I'm not one of your products!" Flash cried inside his head as the pony laid new warning labels on him and brought the press back down. To his dismay, the heat had been greatly cranked up. "Ahh! Not this again!" he whimpered as the labels fused into his plastic skin, making him a certified foal-safe pool toy. "All that trouble, for nothing!"
A few minutes later, Flash was taken out of the press and laid on the conveyor belt to cool down. The machine folded the unicorn into a compact package before depositing him in the tray of finished products. A package of familiar color was placed next to him shortly after.
"They must have found Turnip Seed, too," he thought. "Where the hay are you, Windy? Please come out and tell me you're just pulling a prank on us!"
The unicorn was picked up from the tray and placed into a small box. The box had a transparent window on the front, through which Flash could just barely see a glimpse of his surroundings. He was then placed in a large crate among other identical boxes. Turnip was stored inside it as well, his box filling up the last remaining space. Everything went dark when the crate was sealed up.
The crate began to shake. It was loaded onto something, or so the pool toys inside thought. Being tightly packed inside a box made it difficult for them to get a proper sense of what was happening. With their bodies contorted to such unnatural positions, it was impossible for the stallions to even tell which way was up. The crate seemingly arrived at its destination less than an hour later, light seeping in through the gaps when the lid was taken off.
The brand new pool toys were taken out of the crate. Instead of Windy Vale, an unknown pony was holding them in their hooves. The pony attached price tags to them and placed them side by side on a shelf. Flash and Turnip realized that they had ended up for sale at a local toy store.
"This is exactly what I was afraid of," Flash fretted. "Come on, Windy! I know you must be able to find out where we were sent to... You have to come get us before somepony else does!"
The stallions sat silently on the shelf, dreading the moment someone would purchase them. Ponies kept walking past them on the aisle constantly. Every once in a while, a pony would stop to look at the pool toys, sometimes even picking one up to view them up close. Thus far, Flash and Turnip had been left alone.
At some point, a mare walked by and took the box of the inflatable unicorn in her hooves. Flash waited anxiously for her to make her decision as she flipped him around to read the back side. After a brief consideration, she placed him in the shopping cart and moved along.
Turnip watched the mare leave with the box. "Oh, no... that must have been Flash! The toy inside was exactly the same color as him." The earth pony began to wonder if he would see his friend ever again. "I knew this wouldn't end well..."
"Come on, they must be around here somewhere!" Windy Vale was frantically checking every crate inside the factory warehouse, but the inflatable stallions were nowhere to be found. "Who the hay took them? It better not have been that one lazy idiot..."
The pegasus searched through the entire building only to find the prime suspect drinking coffee in the break room. "You!" Windy called. "There were two pool toys in the pressing room last night and now they're gone! Don't tell me you've sent them out somewhere!"
"Yeah, so?" the pony said indifferently. "One of the crates was short of two pool toys, so I used them to fill it up. What's the big deal?"
"Those toys belonged to me! You can't just pack up and ship out stuff you don't even recognize!"
"Maybe you shouldn't have left your own stuff there in the first place."
"Clearly not, but that doesn't justify you sending them off!" Windy huffed. "Can't you at least tell me which crate you put them in?"
"Don't remember," the pony replied bluntly. "Just shove off already, I'm trying to enjoy my coffee."
The pegasus swallowed her anger and ran off. "I don't have time for this," she grumbled. "He'll get what's coming to him later, but first I must find Flash and Turnip. I guess I'll have to start going through the delivery logs to see where they might have ended up and visit each of those places one by one. I just hope it's not too late!"
Meanwhile, the unicorn had arrived at his new home. The mare had taken him out of the box and laid him out on the living room floor. She attached a small hoof pump to the valve on his belly and began filling him up. The little puffs of air felt a lot more pleasurable than a forceful filling with a mechanical pump. Each stroke made Flash squeak softly as air found its way into every nook and cranny inside his body.
A stallion appeared in the doorway. "What's that, dear?" he asked. "Did you get it for us?"
"No, this is a present for my friend's kid," the mare replied. "Their birthday is tomorrow. I just wanted to know how large this thing is when it's full."
"I didn't know they made pony-shaped pool toys," the stallion remarked when the unicorn began to take shape. "Looks like it's life-size, too."
"Huh? It was supposed to be a dinosaur—that's what it says on the box."
"Well, somepony must have messed something up, it seems. Are you going to return it?"
The mare looked at Flash for a while. "Hmm... It does look kinda cute, though. I'm sure the foal won't mind getting a unicorn pool toy instead of a dinosaur one."
At that moment, a curious dog walked into the living room. The brown beagle sniffed the fully inflated unicorn and began barking at it. "Calm down, Hoppy, it's just a toy," the mare said while closing the valve on Flash's belly. "It will be out of here by tomorrow."
Flash desperately tried to move but his limbs wouldn't budge. "Why am I always so stiff at first?" he thought frustratedly. "I have to make them aware that I'm a real pony and not a toy. Hopefully I will be able to move again soon. At least she didn't overfill me..."
"Oh, right!" the stallion exclaimed. "I almost forgot—our neighbor invited us for tea this afternoon. You wanna go?"
"Sure!" the mare replied cheerfully. "I'll just feed the dog first, then we can go." She went to the kitchen and filled the dog bowl with food. Then the couple went out to visit their neighbor, leaving the unicorn standing by himself in the middle of the living room. The afternoon sun shined in through the windows, reflecting off his glossy surface and making the entire room bathe in sunlight.
As Flash warmed up, he felt his body beginning to loosen up a little. "This is my chance to get out of here," he suddenly realized, gathering all his might to move his legs. "It feels like my hooves weigh a ton! Come on..." Creaking like a rusty hinge, he managed to raise his hooves off the floor and begin walking clumsily. With every step he took, his legs became more flexible and soon he was able to walk normally again.
The unicorn reached the front door and grabbed the doorknob. Frustratingly, his smooth and shiny hooves only slipped when he tried to rotate it. "It's no use," he sighed while looking down at his legs. "My stupid plastic hooves can't get a good enough grip. What do I do now?"
Flash strolled casually around the house, searching for anything that could help him escape. As he walked into the kitchen, his leg accidentally hit the dog bowl and knocked it over. When he turned around, he saw an angry beagle snarling at him in the doorway with a furious look in its eyes.
The dog pounced on Flash and sunk its teeth into his leg, dragging him all the way back to the living room. "Ahh! Stop it!" he yelled mentally. "I didn't mean to spread your food all across the floor!" Surprisingly, his soft air-filled hoof just squeaked harmlessly between the jaws, making the bites ineffective. Defeated, the dog let go of his leg.
"What are you gonna do now, pupper?" Flash gloated, booping the beagle's nose. "It looks like your teeth have no effect on me. You'll have to do better than that." That angered the dog even more, making it growl and jump towards his belly. Its teeth got hold of his valve, pulling it open with a pop. "Just great... I didn't think it would be smart enough to do that."
Biting had become more effective all of a sudden. The dog made the unicorn hiss loudly when it squeezed his tail. "Let go of me!" Flash cried. "I'm not your chew toy!" He felt his legs give way and he flopped down on his belly. The dog climbed onto his back and laid down on its new inflatable mattress. "What, you're gonna take a nap on me now?" he muttered. "Well, go ahead then, I don't care."
Air continued to fizzle out of Flash while the dog slept on his back, reducing the pool toy to a crinkled pile of plastic on the floor. Since its bed was no longer soft, the dog woke up and began to gnaw on Flash's ear. "Fine, you win," he sighed defeatedly. "It seems I am your chew toy after all."
The dog soon lost interest in chewing and started walking around the unicorn. It barked and snickered at him, patting his muzzle with its paw. "You don't have to rub it in," he grumbled. "You won, alright? Just leave me alone already, you stupid mutt." Suddenly, Flash felt something warm fall on his head. "Oh, no... Please don't do that!" he whimpered. "I'm sorry I teased you, okay?"
The beagle walked proudly out of the room, having left a tightly coiled parting gift right on the unicorn's face. "Ugh, can this day get any worse?" Flash groaned, feeling utterly humiliated. "I guess I should be grateful that my mouth and nostrils are just painted on..."
Flash eventually heard the front door open when the residents of the house came back. One of them entered the living room and burst out laughing. "Come here, you have to see this!" the stallion yelled. "Looks like the dog didn't... Haha! It really didn't like your present!"
"I've never felt more embarrassed in all my life," Flash thought timidly. Although unable to blush visibly in his current form, he felt like his face was turning red out of shame nonetheless. "What a sight I must be right now..."
The mare was less than amused when she saw the unicorn on the floor. "Hoppy! What have you done? Bad dog!" she shouted. "Well, at least you didn't leave your mess on the carpet."
The unicorn was carefully scooped up from the floor and carried to the bathroom. The mare stuck Flash's head in the toilet bowl and closed the cover. "Is it really too much to ask to be treated with some respect?" he asked as he was doused with cold water. "I know I'm just a toy, but still..." After a few flushes, the water had rinsed the muck off his face.
"Look on the bright side—you're so easy to clean!" the mare said, as if she somehow knew how Flash felt. Sniffing the unicorn made her frown a little. "Well, maybe not that easy. Better get the stink out of you as well." The pool toy was promptly stuffed into a washing machine. With his face pressed against the window, he watched her turn on the machine and leave.
The entire bathroom started to spin around the unicorn. "This is making me dizzier than ever," Flash thought when the room appeared to be sucked into a vortex. He couldn't close his unmoving eyes and was forced to stare at the hypnotically revolving bathroom wall. "All those times I was washed at the water park did not prepare me for something like this! Make it stop!"
The ceaseless spinning made the unicorn's mind slip into a suggestive state. Shortly after, he happened to overhear the mare talking with her spouse outside the bathroom, saying: "Of course I will, it's such a cute toy! Foals love to play with toys like that."
"I am... a cute toy," Flash repeated to himself. "Foals love... to play with me."
The stallion's voice was too muffled to make out the words. "Oh, that's nothing," the mare chuckled. "The kid won't have to know about that. Besides, it's made of plastic so it's very easy to clean. After the wash it's gonna be all shiny again."
The speech was covered by the whirring noise when the machine started to speed up. "I'm made out of plastic... I'm easy to clean... and I'm shiny..." Flash chanted, unable to think about anything else. Repeating the words made the relentless revolving just slightly more bearable. "I'm a cute toy... Foals love me... Shiny plastic..."
One hour later, the washing machine finally slowed down. The words still echoed within Flash's mind, having convinced him that he was destined to be an inflatable toy. "It's all so clear now," the woozy unicorn wondered when he stopped spinning. "I am shiny and squeaky, and that's all I ever need to be. Any foal would be glad to have me as a present."
Flash snapped out of the hypnosis when the mare hung him up to dry. "Ow, ow, ow... Ow!" he grunted repeatedly as he was pinched in place with clothespins all along his rubbery spine. Hanging helplessly on the drying rack, all the unicorn could do was to listen to the sound of water dripping off him. Suddenly, he heard scratching on the other side of the door.
The door had been left ajar, and the dog managed to slip into the bathroom. The brown beagle sat down in front of Flash and tilted its head. "Oh, it's you again," he thought gloomily. "I hope you're happy for making me hang here like a curtain." The dog could seemingly sense his sadness and started licking his cheek. "Oh, so now you like me? I guess you just had to put me in my place..."
The unicorn spent the rest of the day hanging on the rack. Once he had dried, the mare took him out and laid him on the floor, carefully folding him up into a neat bundle. "I suppose she'll wrap me up in some nice decorative paper and give me to that kid tomorrow." Flash felt a strange sense of pride in knowing that he was considered worthy of being a birthday present. "I'm pretty excited, to be honest—tomorrow is going to be my big day. I really hope they like me."
The stallion came to see if his spouse needed help with anything. "I think you should make sure that it's still intact," he said when the mare was about to put the inflatable unicorn back into the box. "It could have been damaged when Hoppy had his way with it." Flash was unfolded again and the nozzle of the hoof pump was inserted into his valve.
"Make up your mind already..." the unicorn muttered. "I'm a pool toy, not an origami! I don't like being folded!"
While filling him up, the mare noticed a faint hissing sound. "Don't tell me it's broken already," she huffed, taking a closer look at the tear in the pool toy's left ear. "Dangit, Hoppy—you've got your own chew toys!" the mare sighed. Flash couldn't help but take some pleasure in seeing the dog whimper as it was scolded and put outside for the night.
The mare soon returned to Flash and picked him up from the floor. "Wait, where are you taking me?" he asked bewilderedly as she carried him out of the front door and towards the street. "Uh-oh..." The mare threw the broken pool toy into a recycle bin and slammed the lid down.
"So much for being a birthday present," Flash mused miserably. "It's so easy to forget how little value I have for normal ponies. Who could really blame them? I'm nothing but a cheap plastic toy, after all. And now I'm just a useless piece of trash..."
All of a sudden, the bin started to shake and a few seconds later, it turned upside down. "I take it back!" Flash screamed inside his head. "I'm not trash!" The lid flung open and the unicorn fell into the gaping maw of the garbage truck. The only way out quickly narrowed down to nothing, trapping him in the dark belly of the steel beast.
Once the tailgate had closed, the mechanism began to compress the contents of the container. Every last bit of air was squeezed out of Flash as he became more compact than ever before. The unicorn was crushed over and over again in the course of the day as the truck filled up with garbage. "I don't even know where the trash ends and I begin," he groaned. "As if there's a difference anymore..."
At the end of the day, the contents of the truck were dumped out. The compacted plastic cube came apart when it hit the ground, revealing that Flash had arrived at a recycling plant. "Where are you, Windy?" he asked anxiously while watching dark clouds gather in the sky. The crumpled unicorn lay half-buried in a heap of waste, raindrops drumming on his face throughout the night.
Turnip Seed was still sitting on the shelf of the toy store, which had now been closed for the night. Staring at the opposite side of the aisle all day had made him bored. "I guess I had better start getting used to boredom," the earth pony sighed. "Most likely whoever buys me only uses me a few times before stowing me away in their closet for years. Such is the fate of toys like me, I suppose."
Eventually, the lights were turned back on. A few ponies had already appeared outside the store, waiting to get in as soon as it opened. "If Windy hasn't found out where I am by now, she probably never will," Turnip thought. "Not until I've been sold, anyway." The customers started to walk in, among them a familiar looking pegasus. "She's here! I'm saved!"
The pool toy was grabbed from the shelf and taken straight to the checkout. But the mare whose property he was about to become turned out not to be Windy. Instead, it was the same mare that had purchased his unicorn friend the day before. Turnip watched in dismay as his supposed savior searched the shelf he had been sitting on only a moment earlier. His new owner put him in their saddlebag and turned towards the exit.
"Excuse me, ma'am," a voice said. "I happened to notice that you just bought a dinosaur pool toy. It's not actually a dinosaur—there's an inflatable pony in the box instead."
"How do you know that?" the mare asked, raising her brow in surprise. "It says on the box that it's a dinosaur toy. And who are you?"
"My name is Windy Vale, and I work at the factory that makes those toys. There was a little mix-up and a few items were packed in the wrong boxes. I know that's not a dinosaur toy because it's not the right color. I'm trying to get them back to make sure there won't be any accidents."
"Accidents? Why, what's wrong with them?"
"It's because..." Windy desperately tried to come up with a good excuse. "It's just that those inflatable ponies are meant for decorative use only. It's not safe for foals to use them as pool toys. Can I please have it? I'll pay you back a little extra for the inconvenience."
The mare had a skeptical look on her face. "Well... alright then," she said, giving the box to the pegasus. "I suppose that explains why the one I got yesterday wasn't a dinosaur, either."
"You bought two of them? May I have the other one as well? I'll reimburse you for that one too, of course."
"Actually, I came here to buy another pool toy because my dog broke the first one. It started leaking air, so I had to throw it away."
"Where is it now? I'd like to retrieve it just in case."
"Oh, you don't need to worry about that," the mare said with a smile. "The recycle bin has already been emptied."
Without delay, Windy gave the mare a generous amount of bits for the pool toy and ran off. She quickly flew back home and set the box down on the table. "I'm sorry, Turnip," the pegasus panted, "but I don't have time to change you back just yet. I have to find Flash before it's too late!"
The earth pony watched her storm out of the room. "You could've at least taken me out of this box," he sighed. "Oh well—I hope Flash is alright."
"I never imagined my life would end like this," Flash Point lamented when a large steel claw dug into the trash pile and picked him up. "On the other hoof, it's always possible that I end up becoming a sentient shopping bag or something. I'm not sure which is worse..." The claw let go of him above a conveyor belt that carried the waste material into the facility.
Inside the building there were several ponies sorting the incoming refuse. "Somepony please notice me!" the unicorn begged as he moved past them. "I may be plastic, but I'm not supposed to be here!" One of them suddenly pulled him aside for closer inspection. Flash felt relieved for a brief moment when the pony looked him in the eye and smiled, before flipping him over and checking the label on his back. The unicorn's heart sank as he was dropped down into a chute that had the words "recyclable vinyl" on it.
Sliding out of the chute, Flash found himself on another conveyor belt. "The end of the line, I guess," he thought dejectedly. "Just put me to good use..." The items in front of him seemingly started to disappear one by one as they were flattened by the large rollers ahead. Flash futilely tried to close his eyes when he was about to go in.
"Hnngh!" the unicorn groaned when his body passed between the rollers, coming out flat as a pancake on the other side. "Nnnnghh!" The second pair pressed him into an even thinner sheet. "M-mmmph!" Flash emerged from the third set of rollers as a misshapen piece of plastic vaguely shaped like a pony. Coming back to his senses after the intense massage, the unicorn noticed that he was now heading towards a huge shredder.
Flash began to panic at the sight of the enormous rotating blades ahead. His cries for help manifested themselves as distressed squeaking. Not willing to give up, he exerted himself as much as he could trying to move his limp legs. Against all expectations, the unicorn managed to start crawling like a caterpillar, pulling his rump closer and then pushing the front of his body forward.
The shredder was slowly getting closer, voraciously gobbling up everything that was fed into it. Gathering all of his strength, Flash was able to pull himself up. The flimsy unicorn dragged himself towards the edge of the conveyor belt and fell off the side, flopping down on the floor next to the machine. "I made it!" he cried in relief. "I don't know how, but I made it."
Flash knew that he was still in great danger. Any of the workers passing by might toss him back into the shredder without giving it a second thought. He managed to flip himself over on his belly and crawl underneath the conveyor belt. "I'm starting to get the hang of this," he thought. "It takes a lot of concentration, but I actually can move a little without air."
Slowly but surely, the flattened unicorn kept moving forward. "I must find a way to get out of here!" He noticed a large door on the other side of the building. Flash found it quite difficult to see around with his eyes pointing straight up. "The way looks clear, there's nopony nearby." He crawled across the floor, hiding under the machines and conveyor belts.
Suddenly, Flash saw a pony walking towards him. They had a pole with a spike on the end that they used to impale pieces that had fallen off the conveyor belts, putting them in a garbage bag hanging on their back. "Just leave me be," the unicorn pleaded. "I will clear myself out." He retreated into the shadows in order to remain unseen.
As soon as the pony had walked past, the unicorn continued moving towards the door. "I'm almost there, just a few more—ack!" Flash felt something sharp pierce his flank. The pool toy was pulled up from the floor and stuffed swiftly into the bag. Once full, the pony took it off their back and left it leaning against a wall. "This is it... I give up."
Beating her wings like she never had before, Windy Vale flew as fast as she could towards the recycling plant located at the far edge of the city. She hoped to get there in time before Flash would meet the fate that things made out of plastic usually met in such a place. The pegasus landed hastily at the front gate and approached the facility.
"Um, excuse me?" the mare asked a pony who was working outside the building. "An item of mine got thrown away by accident—is there any chance I could find it here? I think it was brought here yesterday."
"All of that has been delivered here since then, miss," the pony replied, pointing their hoof at a large pile of refuse behind her. "Some of it has already been processed, but feel free to look around what's left. What did you lose?"
"A unicorn pool toy that's my friend... I mean, it's modeled after one of my friends." She showed them a picture of Flash. "I know it's a lot to ask, but could you please help me find it?"
"As a matter of fact, I already have! I was cleaning the floor earlier and happened to find a pool toy exactly like that. Come to think of it, it almost seemed like that thing was trying to run away. But no piece of trash gets out of here on my watch!" The pony let out a hearty laugh and went on: "Anyway, I bagged it just before I left for a lunch break. The others have probably taken care of it by now."
"Taken care of it?" Windy's voice began to tremble. "W-where is he now?"
"Right over there," the pony chuckled, glancing at a forklift carrying rolls of recycled plastic fresh from the machine. "I'm afraid your inflatable friend is currently being made into something a little different. He will soon have an exciting new life as dog food packaging."
The pegasus turned pale and couldn't get a single word out of her mouth. She was trying to hold back the tears.
"Bad luck, miss," the pony said, switching to a more serious tone. "I'm sorry—clearly that toy was very important to you."
"Yeah," she sniffled. "It really was..."
Little did Windy know, the pool toy still remained inside the trash bag. "There's no hope anymore," Flash fretted. "If the rollers flatten the bag with me in it, I'm never coming out in one piece. Just how am I supposed to open this thing from the inside?" As he lifted his head, he suddenly realized that the bag had not been tied up. "Maybe I don't have to..."
The unicorn tried to move his floppy legs around as much as he could. The bag began to shift, and after a lot of squirming around, it finally fell over. It took a while for Flash to unfold his body and wriggle out of the garbage bag. Once he had, he noticed that the door outside was right next to him. He crept through a small gap under the door and was relieved to see the sky again.
An abrupt beeping sound alerted the unicorn. "What's that?" he thought, trying to raise his head to improve his limited field of view. "It sounds almost like—" Before Flash could finish his thought, a forklift ran over him, printing tread marks across his body. "Ugh, always look both ways before crossing the road," he moaned. "That does not help much if you're slower than a snail."
Flash pushed ahead to get across the yard, trying to avoid getting run over by any more vehicles. "Wait a second, is that..." He spotted a familiar looking pegasus flying above him. "It is! Windy! I'm right here! Win—nnnghh!" His face was plastered to the ground when wheels of a garbage truck suddenly rolled over him. The truck was parked on the unicorn, pinning his head between tarmac and the tire.
"Just my luck," Flash sighed, unable to free himself. "What am I gonna do? It'll take me weeks to reach Windy's house crawling around like this. And anypony I come across could just pick me up and put me in the nearest trash can, making all my efforts go to waste."
Someone climbed into the truck after a while and started the engine. "Finally! Get this thing off me so I can—wait, what's happening?" The pool toy was pulled off the ground when the wheel started to turn. "Stop! I... hnnngh... got stuck... hnng... to the tire... hnnnghh..." the unicorn groaned as he rolled along. "At least I'm going in the right direction," he noted when the truck stopped at a junction. "Maybe this was... ugh... a blessing... hnngh... in disguise!"
Spinning at high speed made Flash dizzier than any washing machine ever had. Getting repeatedly flattened didn't make things any easier for him. The unicorn was almost at his wits' end. "I can't take this anymore! I have to get myself off this thing as soon as possible or I'll wear out to the point where even Windy won't recognize me!"
Flash suddenly felt his body starting to heat up. "Ah! What's going on? Why am I getting so hot all of a sudden?" When the truck slowed down for a moment, he noticed that it was driving through some roadworks. Ponies around him were laying fresh asphalt on the road and leveling it out with steamrollers. The sticky surface under him was trying to overcome the stickiness of the tire.
"No, please! Not here!" Flash cried as his body began to peel off the tire bit by bit. "If I stick to the asphalt and one of those steamrollers runs over me, it'll make me part of the pavement permanently!"
Miraculously, the unicorn stayed on the tire until the truck had left the roadworks behind. It was now traveling around the suburbs on the outskirts of the city. "This place looks familiar," he thought tiredly. "Wait a minute... this is the street she lives on!"
Flash tried to pry himself off as soon as he stopped spinning. He was able to get his front legs loose, but the rest of his body was still stuck to the surface. No matter how hard Flash tried, he could not get himself free. Every time the truck pulled away, he got firmly pressed on the tire once again, denying him any progress. The unicorn worriedly watched Windy's house go past him.
Next time the truck came to a halt, Flash saw a sewer grate right in front of him. "Maybe this will work," he thought, wrapping his floppy hooves around its sturdy metal bars. His legs were pulled taut when the truck started to roll forward, tightening their grip around the bars. "Hnnarrgh! This had better work or my legs will be ripped off!"
The unicorn peeled off the rubber tire like a sticker, finally becoming free. He let go of the grate and climbed hastily onto the sidewalk. The mare's house was only a stone's throw away. Flash crawled onto the porch and collapsed in front of her door, completely exhausted. "I'm saved," he sighed in relief. "I'll just wait right here until she finds me." The sun set not so long after.
A sound of approaching hoofsteps emanated from the darkness. Somepony walked up to the door and stepped on the unicorn, wiping their dusty hooves on his flank. Compared to everything else Flash Point had endured that day, serving as a doormat was positively pleasurable. When the pony opened the door, the light coming from inside made them finally notice him.
"Flash!" Windy Vale gasped. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there... How in Equestria did you get back here?"
The unicorn stared silently at the pegasus. "Oh, right... I forgot you can't talk," she said, carefully picking Flash up and carrying him inside. "I thought I had lost you forever. I'm so sorry for everything..."
Windy lowered the pool toy into the bathroom sink and filled it up with warm, soapy water. Flash began to relax as the mare scrubbed him delicately. "This sink is the closest thing to a pool I've been to so far," he thought amusedly. "I haven't been much of a pool toy this time around."
"I'll leave you there to soak for a while," she said. "I have a little surprise for you that is bound to cheer you up. I'll get you out of there in a moment."
"A surprise? What could that be? I sincerely hope it doesn't involve a spin-dryer or anything like that. I've had more than enough spinning for one day." The unicorn soon felt himself being pulled out of the bubbly water. Once his head raised above the surface, he saw the goofily smiling face of his inflatable friend right in front of him. "Turnip! Thank goodness you're alright! Unlike me..."
Flash was taken out of the sink and patted dry with a towel. Water was still leaking out of the dozens of holes and tears scattered all over his body. After seeing the full extent of the damage, the pegasus suddenly looked dismayed. "So, it's that bad, huh?" he thought after seeing the mare's reaction. "Maybe it would have been best to just let them recycle me."
Windy exhaled deeply. "You're in pretty bad shape, Flash. But I still have a few tricks up my sleeve, so to speak. Don't worry, tomorrow you'll be as good as new."
Next morning, Windy Vale packed the stallions into her saddlebag and took them to the factory. "I'm afraid you guys have to spend the day here," she said, cramming them into her locker. "I'll get you as soon as my shift ends, and then we can start fixing you, Flash. I won't let you out of my sight this time, I swear."
As promised, the mare released them at the end of the day after the other workers had left. Once inflated, Turnip pointed at the potions inside the locker and then at himself. "You want me to turn you back right away?" she asked. "What about the labels on your back? Don't you want them painted over first?"
The earth pony shook his head. Windy applied the potion obediently and a few minutes later, Turnip Seep had once again become an ordinary pony. "It feels great to finally be back to my old self," he said while stretching his legs. "I don't really mind the labels, to be honest. The important thing is that I'm not a water park mascot any longer. That, and repairing Flash, of course."
The pegasus nodded and started to work on Flash's valve, which at the moment was nothing more than a flat disk on his stomach. She carefully cut it out with scissors and taped a hose in its place. Lastly, she turned on the pump the hose had been attached to. Air whooshed out of the unicorn's many leaks as the mare started sealing them one by one with some kind of sticky paste.
"Well, that was easy," Turnip remarked as soon as the pool toy was standing up again. "I don't see why you were so worried last night."
"It's not that simple," Windy replied, turning the pump off for a while. Faint hissing sound filled the room and Flash slowly started to deflate. "He still has countless tiny leaks and will not stay inflated without pumping air into him constantly. Help me out here, will you? We're going to create a mold."
"A mold? Why don't we just pour the magic potion on him right away?"
"Are you willing to take that risk? Look at him—he has holes all over his body. Who knows what will happen if we try to turn him back in that state. But even if we don't understand how the magic works, we know that it should be safe to turn him back when he's intact."
Turnip helped Windy to cover the rest of Flash's body with the black paste, leaving only a small patch on his belly, where the hose was attached to, exposed. The paste hardened after a while, forming a solid shell around the unicorn. No more air was leaking out of him, and the pump could be turned off.
"So, what happens next?" the earth pony asked. "What exactly are you planning to do to him?"
"Nothing much," the pegasus said quietly, hoping that Flash would not hear her. "I'm just going to heat up the mold in an oven, to somewhere around 200 degrees."
"Are you crazy? That'll turn him into liquid!"
"You're right, it will... but not all the way. Just enough for the leaks in his body to become sealed. The pressurized air should keep him in shape inside the mold. We'll take him out of it once he has cooled down completely."
"Is it going to hurt?"
The question caught Windy off guard. "N-no," she stammered as she placed the mold into a large industrial oven and closed the door. "At least, I hope not."
"You hope?" Flash fretted, having heard everything. "Well, that's reassuring... I just hope you know what you're doing. But then again, you will never hear any complaints from the items you usually work with. And neither from me, even though I'd really like to voice one right now." The rapidly rising temperature tingled all around the unicorn's body, and the increasing pressure felt like he was being crushed. "I don't know if I can take this..."
The two ponies kept a close eye on the oven throughout the grueling process. "You're doing great, Flash, hang in there!" Turnip yelled in encouragement before lowering his voice, asking: "How long do we have to keep him there, Windy? I'm worried sick."
"I've already turned off the oven," the pegasus said, "but the temperature needs to decrease slowly in order to make sure he won't develop any imperfections. It'll take half an hour, at least, until we can take him out. I'm sorry, but that's just how the material behaves. As with other products, he too must—"
"Stop talking about my friend like he's just some plastic product made in this factory!"
"Sorry... I don't mean to sound insensitive, but your friend is a plastic product, albeit one of his own creation. As such, he will be treated according to a different set of rules, as I'm sure you know. Sentient or not, to an average pony he's just as disposable as any other plastic item."
"I suppose you're right about that, whether I like it or not," Turnip admitted. "After all, we both became marketable products the other day, just like that. Nopony asked for our opinion, they just put us up for sale. Who knows what would have happened to us if you hadn't found us in time. You barely did..."
"Best not to think about it," Windy muttered. "Yesterday, I was shocked when I learned that Flash had been made into a... uh, never mind. I'm just glad it turned out not to be true."
Half an hour later, the mare carefully cracked the mold open and removed the refurbished unicorn from his shell. She laid him out on the table and inspected him. The earth pony stood behind her, watching curiously as the pegasus attached a new valve to the circular hole in Flash's belly.
Turnip inserted a hose into the valve and turned on the pump. Flash squeaked faintly as fresh air slowly started to puff up his soft, yielding form. A few moments later, the vinyl unicorn was once again standing upright all hard and bouncy. The earth pony gave him a heartfelt hug, ensuring that he was airtight.
"Wow, he looks brand new," Turnip remarked when he saw his own reflection on the unicorn's perfectly glossy flank, untainted by wear. All the scuffs and scratches had completely disappeared during the heating. "I'm a little jealous of how shiny he is, to be honest."
"That's what worries me," Windy sighed. "Let's just hope he hasn't become an ordinary pool toy. Flash, if you can hear us, show us a sign that you're alright. Any sign..." Minutes passed, but the pool toy just stared at them with a silly grin on its face. "Please, you can't be—" The pegasus choked up a little.
"Don't lose your hope just yet," Turnip said. "I think he's just a bit stiff after all that. Let's pour the potion on him and see what happens."
Having done all she could, Windy spread the magic potion on Flash. To her great relief, hairs soon started growing on his skin. In a moment, the unicorn had once again become a living stallion made of flesh and blood. The pegasus and the earth pony waited eagerly for Flash to open his mouth. After taking a deep breath, he uttered the words: "Thank you, Windy."
"I'm so sorry about everything," she said regretfully. "I never should have left you unguarded."
"All's well that ends well," Flash replied calmly. While checking over his body, he noticed the colorful smudges on his back. "All except for that... Well, at least we already have all the safety markings in case we ever become pool toys again. I really didn't expect our simple plan would be foiled by just one thoughtless pony."
"Oh, that reminds me..." Windy took a small cardboard box out of her locker. "I have something here that might cheer you up." She opened the box and placed it in front of Flash. "Can you tell what it is?"
"It's... a regular pool toy, I guess," the unicorn said confusedly. "I don't understand."
"Take a closer look."
Flash took the neatly folded pool toy out of the box and spread it out. "What? How?" he exclaimed, instantly recognizing what it was. He was holding in his hooves the same pony that had taken Turnip and him out of the press the other day—now in shiny plastic form.
"He was, let's just say, less than helpful with finding you guys," Windy explained, "so I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. I poured the spare potion you gave me into his coffee cup when he wasn't looking. You should've seen his face when he realized what was happening to him! Anyway, he's all yours now. Have some fun with him or change him back right away—your choice."
"Maybe we should donate him to that nearby public pool," Turnip chuckled. "I'm sure he'd feel right at home with the other toys in the kiddie pool. Or maybe—"
"I have a better idea," Flash interrupted. "We'll just leave him in the steam press and let things work themselves out." He lifted the pony in front of his face and said earnestly: "You'd better hope the other workers will be a little more considerate than you were."
Fearful squeaking emanated from the plastic pony when Windy laid him out under the press. She turned on the boilers and pulled a lever to lower the top plate. The pool toy wheezed wistfully as the press squeezed the air out of him, detaining him between its heavy steel plates. "Are you sure about this, Flash?" the pegasus said quietly. "I know he put you through a lot, but this just seems a bit cruel."
"I'm sure," the unicorn answered once they had left the room. "It's not as bad as you think, trust me. You can let him out of there tomorrow, he should have learned his lesson by then."
"I should hope so... Wait, I know! I'll have him selected for a stress test. That'll scare him straight!"
"A stress test? What does that involve?"
"He will have to pass a series of tests without breaking. They'll probably pump him full of air and use him as a punching bag or stretch him out like a rubber band. I'm not changing him back until they've slapped a seal of approval on his sorry flank!"
"Just try not to traumatize him... I hope you won't get in trouble for doing that."
"As if anypony would ever believe his story!" Windy Vale laughed, letting the stallions out of the back door. "Don't worry, I'll make sure he gets through unscathed. See you later, guys!"
"Goodbye!" Flash Point and Turnip Seed said in unison and headed for home.