//------------------------------// // Changes // Story: Falling Through // by CodenameTobias //------------------------------// The next morning Twilight made her way through the hospital halls to Draco's room. Having sent a letter to the Princess detailing the arrival of the humans along with the notes she took from what Shontia had told her, Twilight was awaiting her response. Standing before the door, she couldn't wait to introduce the group to the rest of her friends. As Twilight took the doorknob in her magic, a pair of screams erupted from the other side. Recognizing the voices as Roman and Shontia, a sense of urgency swept over Twilight as she swung the door open, almost ripping the door from it's hinges. “Are you two oka-.” She stopped short. Sitting on the floor before Twilight was Roman and Shontia, or at least she thought it was them. Their faces had become malformed, their mouths and noses had protruded from their faces. There was a bump forming in the center of Shontia's forehead while two separate bumps were visible on Roman's back through his shirt. Shontia's body had begun to take on a lime green tint and her hair had a red-purple shine to it. Roman's body began to take on a dark red colouring, however his hair remained the same, albeit a bit darker. As Twilight looked over to the unconscious Draco on the bed, she noticed that his face had also deformed, his body was beginning to turn a silver, and most of his hair had begun to turn much darker. Shontia looked over to Twilight, her eyes had turned to a colour between dark brown and purple. “What's happening to us!?” she screamed with tears of agony in her eyes. Twilight took a step back. “I-I don't know.” “I have an idea!” Roman cried as he hunched over, a series of snaps and cracks came from his back. Twilight looked over to Roman as he put his hand to his chest. “I think that our bodies are adjusting to the magical pressure of this universe initiated by contact with the denizens.” Shontia looked over to her friend with a look of annoyance. “Roman, English!” “Argh!” Roman winced as another snap resounded before looking Shontia dead in the eyes, “We're turning into the species of pony we first made contact with.” “T-this is impossible!” Twilight said. Roman cocked his head and raised his eyebrow. “Um... Nevermind. Maybe the doctor will be able to do something.” As she turned to the door Shontia raised her hand, “NO!” It flashed with a faint, lavender light causing the door to slam shut in Twilight's face. Twilight turned to Shontia with astonishment on her face, “How?” “Don't bring the doctors in here,” Roman moaned. “Why?” “Because the last thing I want is to cause panic across the ward!” he shouted. Shontia looked over at the unicorn, “You have to do something Twilight!” “What am I supposed to do?” Twilight asked, “I've never had to deal with this.” Roman looked her in the eyes. “Twilight,” his voice had taken a slight British accent, “if there's something that I know about you is that you're extremely clever. You're the personal protégé of Princess Celestia, you excel in the subject of magic, you're the bearer of the Element of Magic and have defeated beings that were way out your league! If there's anypony that can figure it out it's you!” Twilight closed her eyes in thought, focusing on anything she had learned that could help. After a minute she opened her eyes which were lit with determination. “Okay, I know what to do.” Lighting her horn, she lowered her head and pointed at Roman. “Nononononononono!” His protests were in vain as Twilight fired her spell at him. For a second Roman's body was covered in a magenta light before it faded, except for a branching line over his heart. He looked at the spot through his shirt, “The hell? What was that?” Twilight walked over to the teen and poked the spot. “It was a spell designed for medical purposes to detect foreign objects in a body.” Turning, she fired the spell once more at Shontia. As the light faded, a similar line was visible on the same spot on her chest as Roman's. “It appears that you both have magic within your bodies, and since they aren't used to it, they are adapting.” “Okay,” Shontia said, “but how does this help AGH!” She stopped short as another series of pops and snaps rang out from her body. Twilight looked over to Roman as his body arched to an odd angle, similar sounds echoing as it did. “I'm going to extract the magic from your bodies,” Twilight explained shooting the spell at Draco, whose body was also resounding from the change, albeit less painfully due to the medications. “If I do, it will either accelerate the process, cease it as is, reverse it or...” Roman and Shontia looked over at her. “Or?” they asked simultaneously. “...it could kill you.” Roman looked over to Shontia and smiled, “Fifty-fifty for good against bad, I like those odds.” She looked over to him and nodded. “It beats this,” she agreed as another pop came from her arm. With their decision mutual, the teens looked to Twilight and spoke two simple words, “Do it.” Twilight bowed her head and closed her eyes. Her horn glowed brightly as three tendrils of magic extended from it and made contact with the glowing points on the trio. The tendrils pressed into the points as Twilight concentrated, grabbing hold of the foreign magic. “Okay, you may feel a slight pulling.” Roman and Shontia nodded, causing Twilight to pull the tendrils back as hard as she could. For them it was a pain unlike any other. As the magic was ripped from their bodies, it emerged with a with a blinding light as their very beings were pulled inside-out. And then darkness. X Time Later... Roman's body felt completely numb. His eyes were squeezed shut at the very thought of light. Out of the ringing in his ears, he could make out a faint sound. “Roman? Shontia?” Would you like to restart Roman.exe? Y/N “Y.” Activation plus six minutes. Pulse is 45, respiration 10. Lookin' good, Rome. Taking what felt like a few more minutes to allow his body to regain sensation, Roman opened his eyes to a blurry, but concerned looking Twilight standing over him. “Hey Twi'. Did it work?” As his vision adjusted, Roman closed his eyes and sat up with his arms behind his back. Finding the position awkward, he leaned forward and put them in front of his body, finding the new position much more comfortable. “So, did it...” “Roman?” Shontia saw a dark red pegasus stallion with a dark brown mane that was spiked back and forest green eyes sitting across from her. Roman opened his eyes to see a lime green unicorn mare with lavender eyes and a long, dark fuchsia mane with some bangs draped over the left side of her face sitting across from him. “Shontia?” They stared at each other for a moment before their faces were taken over with large, goofy smiles as they spoke in unison. “YOU'RE A PONY! I'M A PONY! YOU HAVE WINGS/A HORN! I HAVE WINGS/A HORN! YOU'RE A UNICORN/PEGASUS! I'M A UNICORN/PEGASUS!” “This is so cool!” Shontia squealed as she took a look at her new body, “Where'd our clothes go?” “Probably burned up in the transformation,” Roman replied, looking over his new form as well before pointing, “or at least, not all of it.” Shontia looked to where he was pointing. Roman's coat and her jacket were still sitting on the floor from when they had woken up in a panic earlier. “By the way Twilight, how long were we out?” Twilight regained her composure after the pair's outburst and replied, “About twenty minutes.” “Huh, alright then,” Roman replied. He looked down his back to see his wings, mark and tail. Roman's mark was a blue, four point star with a similarly coloured lightning bolt on the left and right points, and his tail was dark brown, long and shaggy. Damn, not a ginger... Shontia also looked down her back to see that she had a long tail, coloured the same as her mane and a cutie mark of a paintbrush that was tipped with red paint. “Well you two look good,” Twilight complemented. “Why thank you Twilight,” Shontia said in a bubbly voice. “Yeah,” Roman agreed as he attempted to stand on all fours, but ended up flat on his face. Shontia got up and walked over to Roman, offering a hoof to help him up. “How did you do that?” he asked in disbelief. He took the hoof and Shontia helped him up, “It's easy, just don't over think it.” Roman tried again, this time allowing his body to go naturally as Shontia led him. “Ha! Look, I'm doing it!” he exclaimed. Twilight smiled, “It's good to see you two adjusting, but what about Dra-” She was cut off by a loud moan from the bed. They three looked over to see a silver stallion stirring from his sleep. “NOPE!” Roman sprang into action, grabbing a pillow off the floor his teeth and stood on his hind legs to hold it down over his friend's eyes. After a yawn, Draco spoke, “Roman? I had the craziest dre... Roman, why is there a pillow over my head?” The pegasus looked over to Shontia and Twilight before looking back down to Draco. “Because...” “Get it off. And why is my body numb?” “You had an... accident and are on some painkillers.” “Yeah, what happened, did I get kicked in the ribs by a pony?” Draco joked. No one laughed. No one even breathed. After some silence, Draco spoke again, “Roman. Lift the pillow.” Roman blinked, “Okay, I'm going to lift the pillow and you have to promise not to yell, okay?” “Okay.” With that Roman took his hooves off the pillow and stepped back as Draco sat straight up, causing the pillow to fall onto his lap. He opened his eyes and stared. Standing before him were three ponies, one he recognized, two he didn't. Draco could manage the fact that three ponies were standing in front of him, but when he looked down at what was once his hands, his pupils turned to pinpricks. For his hands were no longer hands, they were hooves. Roman took a step back from the bed as his friend's eye twitched. “Here we go...” “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-” Sweet Apple Acres Applejack kicked another tree causing a cascade of apples to fall into the baskets. Having talked it over with Big Mac and Granny Smith, she was confident that she had the perfect way of apologizing to Drake for hurting him. As AJ lined up her next strike, she heard a sound from far off in the distance. “-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Ponyville General Hospital “-AAAH!” Draco finally ran out of breath as Roman looked at him in annoyance, his ears pinned against his skull. “You promised you wouldn't yell!” Drake's response was a death glare at Roman before shooting out of the bed at his friend. His speed caught Roman off guard as Draco tackled him to the floor. “YOU! YOU DID THIS!” “Me!? What did I do?” Roman retaliated. "EVERYTHING!" Draco yelled. Roman gave him a look, “Everything?” "Okay well not everything but... ALL OF THIS! YOU JUMPED IN CAUSING ME TO SLIP AS I CHECKED TO SEE IF YOU WERE THERE! YOU STOLE FIZZY LIFTING DRINKS! YOU BUMPED INTO THE CEILING WHICH NOW HAS TO BE WASHED AND SETERILIZED! SO YOU GET NOTHING! SO GOOD DAY SIR!" he screamed started to pound Roman's face in. Roman put his arms (forelegs?) up to block the strikes. Luckily for him, Draco's mind and body were still weakened from the medications, but it didn't change the fact that his friend's strength had improved with the change. Picking his moment, Roman found an opening in Draco's assault and delivered a quick punch. With Draco momentarily stunned, Roman repositioned himself so his hind hooves were against Drake's stomach. With all his strength, Roman pushed Draco airborne, causing him to land a few feet away. Now free from Drake's assault, Roman stood back up and flared his wings. Draco wasn't done quite yet. With the IV pulled from his arm, he shakily stood and glowered at the pegasus. “He did this to me...” In a second they were at each other again in a flurry of strikes, headbutts and chokeholds, with neither side giving in. Twilight, who had been watching the pair fight, looked over to Shontia. The mare had her head down with a bright blush of embarrassment visible through her fur. As she looked up, Twilight saw a look of anger in Shontia's eyes. “Both of you...” she said in a voice that was just under a whisper, her horn glowing with a lavender aura. Shontia glared at her friends, “KNOCK IT OFF!” With that a beam shot out of her horn at Roman and Draco. The pair quickly separated at her outburst, causing the magic to miss them and strike the wall, leaving a scorch mark. Seeing the look of rage in her eyes, they quickly sat at attention. Twilight had not seen such obedience since Shining Armour's academy days. With Roman and Draco no longer fighting, Shontia trotted up to Draco and got a better look at him. His coat was a silver-gray, eyes were a light brown, and his mane was black and messy, with a lock of golden brown over his left eye. Draco's tail was also black and messy, and his mark was a book with a minimalist, jade green dragon behind it. She also noticed the Drake was slightly taller than her, Roman was noticeably taller than both of them and Draco lacked wings or a horn, making him a simple earth pony. Shontia's gaze softened as she brought her longtime friend into a hug. “It's okay,” she comforted. For a moment Draco hesitated, before returning the embrace. Roman walked over to Twilight to let his friends have their moment. After a few minutes the embrace was broken. “So you must be Drake,” Twilight said. Draco turned to her and nodded, “Yeah and you must be...” He stopped, having forgotten the lavender unicorn's name. “Twilight,” Shontia whispered into his ear. “Right, Twilight.” “So Twilight what's to become of us now that, well we're not ourselves anymore?” Roman asked, walking over to his trenchcoat and picking it up. “What do you mean?” Shontia asked. “Well isn't it obvious? We have changed.” “Don't remind me,” Draco mumbled, "Which reminds me, Twilight where's the nearest bar for I need a drink, or you know 20..." Roman looked over at his earth pony friend, “Dude, it's like ten o'clock.” “It's five o'clock somewhere, don't nitpick!” Twilight shook her head, “There is a bar in town, but it's only open at night and you have to be at least seventeen.” “Good, I just turned seventeen,” Draco grinned. Twilight looked at him, then to Shontia and Roman, “And you two?” “Seventeen,” Shontia replied. “Sixteen, seventeen in a month,” Roman added. “What about you?” “Seventeen,” Twilight replied, “you guys are going to need some documentation though.” “And let me guess, we need to change our names, find jobs and take up residence?” Roman asked. “Well, yes. Seeing as you all aren't well known, it would be best to get all that sorted out. I can send a letter to the Princess requesting documents, but you will need new aliases.” The three thought it over. After a few minutes, Drake spoke, “Call me 'The Silver Reaper'!” Roman looked over at him, “Aim a little lower.” Draco put a hoof to his chin, “Silver... Scythe?” “Better,” Shontia commented, “I'll be Brush Stroke.” “Blitz, Karmesin Blitz, at your service.” “Alright, Blitz, Scythe and Stroke,” Twilight recited, pointing to each of them as she listed their names. “So does that have any relation to your cutie marks?” “Well, I am an artist,” Stroke explained. “And I'm an awesome storyteller!” Scythe boasted. “How does that relate to...” Twilight started. “Silver as in silver tongue, that makes sense right?” Twilight nodded. “Then it works!” “As for me, I'm a thinker,” Blitz elaborated, “the star represents my versatility; memory, creation, observation and intuition.” “And the bolts?” Twilight asked. “I'd prefer not to talk about it,” he sighed. “Okay, with this little interrogation over, let's get out of here,” Scythe commented, walking over to the nightstand and retrieving his hoodie. “Are you sure?” Twilight asked, “you're just coming off of medication and surgery. Maybe you should wait for the doc-” The stallion shook his head, “I'm fine Twilight. Besides the sooner I'm out of here, the better.” “He's a little sheepish about hospitals,” Stroke whispered to Twilight. “Hey, I'm not afraid of hospitals. I just really hate being in a place where people, or ponies in this case, are on their deathbed.” With that Scythe slipped on his hoodie, only to find that it extended far past his hooves. “OH COME ON!” Blitz whipped on his trenchcoat as well to find that it was too large for him as well, and lacked wing holes. Should have seen that one, genius. Stroke levitated the jackets off of her friends and picked up her own as well. “Maybe we should have these tailored,” she suggested. “How are you doing that!?” Twilight asked. “Doing what?” “Magic! You've only been a unicorn for what? Half an hour? And you've already used a concussion blast and now you're doing levitation!” Twilight said with amazement in her voice. Scythe shrugged as Stroke folded the jackets with her magic, “She's always has been a fast learner. That and she's absolutely brilliant.” Stroke shook her head as she placed the folded clothes onto the respective owners back, “No Scythe, it feels like I've always known how to do this. Like I've learned it through years of regular practice.” “I wonder,” Blitz thought to himself. “Okay then. I'm leaving if you guys would like to follow, it would be appreciated,” Scythe called over his shoulder as he opened the door. “We should follow him considering what happened last time,” Twilight said as she started to walk towards the door. With that the four ponies left the room, making their way through the halls and down to the main floor. As they came up to the reception desk, the mare behind it was the same one from the night before, but she had put away her puzzle and now looked like she was struggling to stay awake. Blitz trotted up to the desk and knocked on it to get her attention. “Hi, here to check out a weird ape looking thing that showed up yesterday.” The receptionist looked at Roman skeptically, then over to his friends. “Do you have any proof that you know the patient.” “Oddity,” he grinned before turning away, leaving the mare slack jawed. Blitz rejoined his friends as they left the hospital. “Good riddance,” Scythe muttered under his breath. Making their way down the path into town, Blitz decided to attempt flight. Slowing his pace, he focused on extending his wings. After a minute of struggling with the muscle memory, he managed to bring the extremities to full length. Closing his eyes, he looked deep down and found an urge. As if he was born to fly. As if he yearned to fly. Blitz continued walking as his wings flapped and he slowly found himself leaving the ground. Opening his eyes and looking down, Blitz found that he was above his friends, none of them had noticed that he had become airborne. “Guys!” The others looked up to see Blitz overhead. “Oh Ro... Blitz you look as majestic as an eagle,” Scythe joked, “piloting a blimp.” “Would you cut it out Scythe?” Stroke sighed. "Okay fine," Scythe moped. Looking at the ground, he spotted a decently sized rock and smirked, “Hey Blitz, think fast!” In one swift motion he picked it up and chucked it at Blitz, who swiftly dodged the rock. Stroke trotted over to Scythe and hit him in the back of the head with her hoof. “WHAT THE HELL SILVER! You could have really hurt him!” “Doesn't help that his aim's as bad as a Stormtrooper!” Blitz called down. At this Scythe looked at Stroke with the best puppy-dog eyes he could muster. “Come ooooooooon,” he whined. Stroke rolled her eyes at this, “Fine, you can throw three more.” “Yes!” “WHAT!?” Scythe grinned evilly at Blitz. He raised his hooves, “Scythe, be cool man. Just be WHOA!” His friend didn't listen as another stone flew past Blitz' head. It had missed by inches as Silver found another and took aim. He launched it again, but Blitz quickly dodged to the side, somehow managing to keep his jacket on his back. As Scythe readied his next shot, Blitz looked to the distance to see a cyan pegasus flying his way, “Not again...” On the ground, Scythe found his ammo and used the moment that his friend was distracted to throw it. He launched it with all his might, landing the stone right underneath Blitz' jaw, knocking his head to the sky, only for the rock to keep going on a new angle... Hitting the passing pegasus as well. The two fell out of the sky and landed in a heap. “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!” Scythe swore. Laying on top of Blitz was Rainbow Dash, somewhat dazed from the impact. “Rainbow!” Stroke and Twilight exclaimed, hurrying over to the pair. Dash quickly regained herself and got up off of Blitz, “Oops, sorry.” “No problem,” he grunted. Dash stood and helped Blitz up before looking over at Scythe with anger in her eyes. "YOU! What were you doing throwing rocks like that? I could have you arrested if I had half a mind to do so!” Scythe returned the glare as something within him snapped. “Oh good maybe if I hurt someone they'll arrest me, maybe even give me the death sentence and I can get out of this fucking nightmare!” “Drake...” Scythe looked behind him to see Stroke standing there, tears in her eyes. “You can't mean that.” “Nonono, I didn't, I just-” “Just what?” Her entire body was shaking. “You think if you get yourself killed it will make everything better? You think that when we find a way home that I will just be able to deal with the fact I lost my best friend? YOU THINK THIS IS JUST ABOUT YOU!?” Dash looked as if she was about to say something, but Blitz raised his foreleg to her as if saying “Leave it.” Stroke began to break down as Scythe looked at his oldest friend sobbing. His ears dropped, “You're right. I am an idiot.” He trotted over to Stroke and took her into an embrace. “I'm sorry that I've been so self centered... But,” He was fighting the urge to cry himself, “can you forgive me. Maybe?” “Maybe,” she returned the hug, “you big idiot.” Scythe smiled slightly and looked over to Blitz, who had watched the scene beside a wide eyed Rainbow. “Roman, we cool?” Blitz nodded, “Yeah, no pro-” “ROMAN!?” He looked over to see Dash staring at him in disbelief, “Right, how's it going Dash?” “What happened to you? You're a...” “Pegasus? Yeah, to put a long, complicated story short: magic.” “Wait, how long have you been a pegasus?” Dash asked. Blitz shrugged, “About an hour, give or take. Why?” “Roman, it takes months for a pegasus just to learn how to get off the ground,” Dash explained. Interesting. “Theory time?” Theory time. Blitz sat and put a hoof to his chin. “Well by that logic and the fact that Shontia has been using levitation magic, it would be safe to assume that when we became ponies, we were given the skills that we would have had we grown up with them, albeit minimal,” he explained, his voice taking on a British tone once again, “also, my name's Karmesin Blitz now, or Blitz for short.” “Okay... Blitz, that makes sense,” Dash nodded before looking at the mare and stallion coming up to them beside Twilight. “So they're Shontia and that Drake guy?” “Yes Dash, it's me,” Stroke said, “but my name's Brush Stroke now.” “And I'm Silver Scythe,” he added. “We were just on our way to Rarity's to have their jackets looked at,” Twilight explained. Dash made a gagging sound at the mention of spending time at the boutique, eliciting a laugh from Blitz as he retrieved his coat from where it landed. “Well you guys do that,” Dash turned to Blitz, “come find me if you ever want to hang out and learn a thing or two from the best flier in all of Equestria." With that Dash took off leaving a rainbow trail as she flew. “She is as cocky in real life,” Scythe thought to himself. “Should we get going?” Stroke asked. “Let's,” Blitz agreed, putting his coat on and allowing it to hang freely. With that Twilight continued to lead them into town.