//------------------------------// // Metamorphosis // Story: The Invisible Brony Defense Force // by SoullessDCLXVI //------------------------------// The Mane6 panel concluded. And I wasn't sure if I liked the planned updates. Except of course for the addition of Derpy! That was awesome. As we left the room I caught up with Mandy and Tony and introduced them to Snake and Arrow. Noting Snake's name penchant I used Mandy and Tony's alts. "Snake, Arrow, this is Tragedia, or Tragedy," I pointed to Mandy "And her big brother PinkDeath, or Pink" pointed to Tony. I had thought about it and I wondered why I had stopped that practice myself. Referring to someone by their chosen name instead of their given name. I figured it's not too late to start showing that respect again. "Pink, huh?" asked Arrow sniffling, eyes still half lidded despite it being a good 15 minutes since Snake woke him up "Pinkie Pie your favorite?" Pink glared at Arrow. "No, actually. I came up with my name in 2009. You know, before the first season even aired?" "Chill brah, it's cool." I could tell Pink was annoyed, he was a no nonsense kinda guy, and I was beginning to suspect Arrow was a total stoner. But Pink was a reasonable enough man, and knew the guy didn't know about Pink's rather odd dislike for Pinkie, which, now that I think about it, I guess I understand. Everyone suddenly thinking you like Pinkie Pie because of your name. "Whatever, hey, we're going over to Tara Strong's spot. Gonna get a couple of things signed. You guys wanna come with?" Tragedy asked Snake and Arrow. "Yeah, sure" as we walked through the massive building holding the convention I noticed it begin to shake a little with the storm that had been building. A sudden gust rocked the building a little, causing a few lights to flicker and some plaster dust to fall from the ceiling. Some people let out a startled gasp followed by nervous laughter. "That was something." I said. "It's just the New York layout. The tall buildings making narrow pathways, funnel and enhance the wind." informed Snake. "That makes sense" Tragedy said. Another gust of wind and the building actually shook. One of the lights didn't come back on and Arrow was picking himself up. The only one to lose his footing. A lot of the people milling about were becoming animated in their movements. That had me on edge. I was sure most of these people were locals. "That is A LOT of lightning" I heard someone shout. I moved towards a window, where a small crowd had gathered. Looking up I saw one of the most spectacular lightning shows I'd seen in a long time. Bang! "What was that?" I whirled around and saw one of the exits that had been opened, was now closed. No big deal, except that all the exits had followed suit. In order. Including the windows. 'Huh,' I thought '...odd.' I no longer saw the outside world. But I really wanted see that storm. So I attempted to open a window. To no avail. I saw a mass of people trying to get out of every exit. Not that everyone was trying to get out. Most were content. But the locked doors made the occasional leaving brony group up with the other occasional leaving brony. "It looks like we're locked in!" someone called out. I looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was... Overture! Overture was one of the latest YouTube MLP stars. Noted for creating one of the greatest fanfics since My Little Dashie in early 2013. And then it was discovered his musical talent was even better than his writing. And I had favorited probably half of his videos. "So I suggest you sit your flanks and wait out the storm" Those of us piled at the door turned and began milling about. I tried to find my friends but I had apparently lost them in the sea of people when I went to look at the lightning. "Buck me.." Another shaking of the building, There were a few screams and a lot of people lost their footing, some falling outright. A lot more dust fell this time. "Is everyone alright?" Overture again. There was some grumbling but most voiced their overall well-being. "Some storm, eh?" The building shook again. This time everyone fell. I hit my head pretty hard the floor. "Ow" I held the back of my head and rolled onto my back slowly "That... really freaking hurt!" Satisfied that the universe was thoroughly chastised and it had learned it's lesson, I looked around: It was mostly silent. Only one of the lights had returned and it was in a hallway off to the side and as such it didn't provide as much light as it probably could have. Some wires had come loose in the ceiling and were dangling through the tiles, sparks dancing off the linoleum and causing the occasional flash. It was like a broken rave. The strobe light was bought at flea market set up suspiciously next to a junkyard and the E made everyone sick. The makeshift walls and other stands that had not been properly secured were strewn about the room. I called out Pink's name, hoping to regroup with the others. As I do it starts a cacophony of others calling out. I begin to stand and a brilliant white flash of light and warmth flows over me. I feel myself.... changing. My arms lengthen, my legs lengthen, my eyes feel dry and my vision blurs. My back itches like crazy. I look down and see my clothes changing. Shrinking in some ways, lengthening in others. It hurts my stomach, and then, my stomach recedes. I see the weirdest thing.... my toes. I look around and see nothing but a field of white. White above, white below, featureless white everywhere. I'm just waiting for a weapon rack to come zooming at of nowhere at 80 miles per hour. The only thing I see that's not white is everyone from the convention. A few were just lying still, but most were twisting and changing. I see someone fall down on all fours as he starts screaming. I watch as his arms shorten, his skin grows red, his hair lengthens to his back... I don't know what's going on, the sight is revolting. Looking away I spot a larger female as she thins out, her breasts engorge, her hair becomes silkier looking. Her face transforms, her mono brow tweezed and separated. Her acne vanishes, her facial hair disappears. I'm glad she's unconscious because I get the feeling I'm watching a private moment. Everywhere I look I see people changing. Some into merely attractive versions of themselves. Some into something wholly unrecognizable. The itch in my back suddenly grows out of nowhere into an unbearable pain, I scream out and vomit. Then, the light vanishes as quickly as it had come. Feeling very weak, I collapse into my own vomit, to weak to move, but aware enough to think 'Eeeew' The last thing I see before slipping into unconsciousness is the world around me splitting apart. Like everything was actually made up of tiny particles and the slightest movement would potentially ripple those particles. And someone threw a freaking boulder into that sea of particles. ***** Birds. I hear birds. Many species of songbirds. It must be morning already. I sit up, groggy. "Ow my head" I moan as I rub said head. "Eeew, my face" I cringe as my hand becomes covered in vomit. I wipe my hand on the grass, and, remembering where that hand was when it got covered, I wipe my face on the grass. Careful not to rub the same place twice. I look around me and see a mass of people. And creatures. All moaning and waking just as I had done. The phrases "Ow my head" and "What happened last night?" were uttered more than the entirety of a single hotel in Vegas on New Years morning. I looked at my surroundings. We were in no hotel. Nor, for that matter, were we even inside a building. Guess I should have figured that with the grass and all. But hey! I was disorientated, alright? Wherever we were we were in.. a jungle? What? Last I checked the nearest jungle was.... South America? And the fresh vomit suggests I wasn't out long. Unless.... did someone puke on me to confuse me? Eeew. Those bastards. I think I might break my no killing rule. "Hey man, you alright?" A man in what appeared to be the best Green Arrow cosplay I'd ever seen asked me. "Yeah, I'm fine" I noticed the pot leaf emblem on his chest..... "Arrow?" "Yeah man, how'd you know?" "I just... you look very different." Which is saying something. Arrow was kind of a fat man. Not quite fluffy, but getting there. Now he was fit.... and blonde. How do you do that in the span of a minute? How the hell did I recognize him? Obviously someone puked on me. Yup, definitely gonna have kill someone. "You do too man" he produced a joint out of his utility belt, he lit up, breathing in the smoke "Nice wings, man" he said, obviously holding it in. "I'm sorry, what? I thought you said 'wings'" "I did man. Here, look." He put the joint in his lips, squinting against the smoke as he reached behind me. And he grabbed my wing, hard "Ow, motherfucker....." I trailed off and looked behind me. Wings. MY wings. The ones I always imagined myself having. Not avian, like an angels or a pegasus' but mammalian, or reptilian. Like a bat, or dragon's. Mostly a deep black with some beautiful brick red pattering on the 'fingers' of the wings. The membrane had holes in it. Like I had escaped a fire. I felt them connect to my back. Right between my shoulder blades. I found I could move them with ease. However, I wanted to know more about our situation, so I disappointingly folded them on my back. The tips poking above my shoulders, the bottom most part ended just above my ankles. Even folded they were pretty as hell. Oh, I really wanted to test them out. I turned to continue my conversation with Arrow but he apparently had other places to be. There were a lot of strange things going on. I went around the crowd, as it would seem everyone was doing so too. Everyone eyeing each other up. People calling out random names, Most of which were obviously screen names and the like. I saw a short green kid with monkey tail. I was about to talk to him when he changed into a green cheetah and went after someone. In a corner of the group I saw a trio of look alikes. Each built like a brick shit house and wearing the same red and blue outfit. I went up to them, mouth agape. "S-s-superman?" "Yeah?" All three of 'em looked at me with the same face. And spoke in the same voice. The middle superman, seemingly annoyed, glared at me, and shot me with freaking heat vision! "Holy shit dude, I didn't mean to do that! Sorry! Good thing I missed." I looked at my feet. right in front of them was a spot of steaming, scorched earth. I looked back up at the trio. Middle Superman's face seemed to reflect his change in mood. Accepting his apology and not wanting to be around a freaking Kryptonian, let alone three, I continued to mill about the crowd. As I looked around I saw more famous superheroes. as well as some superheroes I had never seen before, If my own body was any indication, these were probably made up heroes or mutants or what have you. I saw humans. Just regular, but attractive, humans forming a group together. I saw ponies... wait what? Ponies. A large herd of 'em. OC's. I could tell they were OC's because their coloring was more commonly darker than those of the show. In a group it was kind of unnerving actually. Like Rainbow Dash covered in blood. It was dark and unnatural. "Everypony! Everyone could I get your attention please?" The voice was Overture's. It was coming from.... Discord?! What the hell? He was standing on a fallen tree on the edge of the crowd, forming a kind of impromptu stage. As I looked around I noticed there were a lot of fallen trees around. All of them seeming to have fallen away from us. "It seems we're no longer in New York City" "Duh!" Someone yelled from the crowd. This was greeted with light laughter. I guess with everyone changing into something, seeing Discord talk to us, with Overture's voice, wasn't enough to freak people out. Although my jaw was having a hard time getting off the forest floor. "Unless of course we are still in New York" His yellow eyes scanned the crowd. There was murmuring throughout at that ridiculous comment. "To be honest, I'm not ruling out time travel. This could very well be a prehistoric, or a vastly advanced New York." Someone shouted back "We in the fucking JUNGLE man, how is that advanced?" "I don't mean technologically advanced, but the animals could be highly evolved forms of animals we know" That same voice spoke up again "I don't believe in that evolution shit, I am not the offspring of a monkey that had sex with a retarded fish-frog" His friend spoke up next, and I silently vowed to one day end their lives "You mean to tell me my cat might've banged my pet scorpion, and now we have to deal with a Manticore?" This brought a lot of laughter that was very quickly silenced as everyone's head began twisting, trying to get a better look at their environment. ........... "Anypony see any blue flowers?" someone asked quietly.