How long can a man turn into a pony and keep his sanity intact?
Adam Braun a quiet, sarcastic, gentlemanly cellist. His Roomate Rachael Banks a loud, alcoholic, DJ.
As they both celebrate their 25th birthday, they embark on an adventure that makes them question themselves and there place in the world around them. Which begs the question, how long before Adam loses it? Place yer bets.
I do not own Hasbro or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Chapter 1: That Wasn’t Here this Morning
Ah, Birthdays. One of the few days I always wake up before my alarm goes off. My name is Adam Braun and today is my Twenty-Fifth. Nearly a quarter of a century has passed since my birth and I always wake up early to get a birthday breakfast ready for my roommate and I. it was her birthday as well. I cracked the eggs as I pondered how I would celebrate. A quarter of a century, now that I think about it, it’s a fairly monumental achievement to have lived so long. I needed to do something special today. Unfortunately, my thoughts were soon interrupted by the blaring, tinnitus inducing electronic music from my roommate’s alarm.
The music kept playing until Rachael came out of her bedroom in her tattered pajamas, her feet dragging on the ground, her blond hair was a mess. Rachael was always like this in the morning, she wouldn’t be able to properly communicate until she had caffeine in her system. I already had a mug ready for her when she reached the counter.
“Happy Birthday” I said cheerfully.
She gave me a funny look and sipped her coffee before mumbling something that sounded somewhat like “Happy Birthday to you too.” She placed her face against the countertop clearly she was tired from her shift as the DJ at her job last night.
Rachael Banks had been my friend since my freshman year of college. She began living with me when I got a job as a cellist in the local Performing Orchestra. She was having trouble finding work at the time and decided to found me. I decided to allow her to live with me until she saw fit to leave. She got her current job and has more than once attempted to start a relationship with me. I didn’t want to spoil our friendship so I refused, she eventually stopped trying.
Breakfast was ready and I served the food, I had prepared omelets. Mine had sautéed mushrooms, cheese and chives while Rachael’s had cheese, bacon and ham. We discussed ways in which to celebrate our shared birthday, she wasn’t fond of any of my suggestions, nor was I fond of any of hers. We decided that we might as well try to compromise. Rachael mentioned that she wanted to make a song that mixed classical and electronic music, she wanted to see if she could get a record deal by selling the song. I agreed simply because it meant I could play my cello.
We both decided to turn on the television and watch a few episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. We were both quite fond of it; I had in fact been a closet brony since the second season until I realized so many of my friends liked the show as well. Rachael fell asleep after the episode Vinyl Scratch first appeared; she was Rachael’s favorite pony. I kept watching and trying to find the times where my favorite pony Octavia appeared. I loved her even if she was a, background character with no speaking parts. I have read many a fanfiction involving her and Vinyl Scratch, they remind me so much of Rachael and I. After the season 3 finale I turned off the set and went about my usual tasks on my days off. Usually this meant I would clean the apartment and do some shopping, with the added expense of purchasing a birthday present for Rachael.
Later that night Rachael had her head beneath her desk. She was setting up her equipment, to this day I have no idea how any of it worked.
“You know Adam; I’ve always wanted to ask you something.” She said as she donned her headphones and hooked up the speakers.
“What’s that?” I asked, needless to say I was curious, she knew more about my habits than my own twin brother.
“You’re American born and raised, right?” she said.
“That’s Correct.” I answered.
She tilted her head to the side and asked “Then why do you speak with a British accent?”
“It sounds classier than an American accent” I responded, I really didn’t see where she was going with this.
“I knew it was forced!” she exclaimed, failing to contain her laughter
“Are we going to play music or what?” I said, thoroughly annoyed. She started her turntables as I began to play my cello.
I don’t know how it happened but I completely lost focus. The music sounded wonderful, almost ethereal. It seemed to be flowing through the cello rather than out of it. The song seemed almost familiar as though it was from a memory rather than pure improvisation. I saw a familiar white pony with a grey one next to her. They seemed frightened by something I couldn’t see. Then as suddenly, as they had appeared, they vanished.
I think I may have fallen asleep while we were working. I was still standing, which was fairly confusing. Rachael had fallen asleep with her face on her turntables.
They were still on. I gently nudged her and she awoke with a start looked at me and said “Tavi, what happened?” I hadn’t realized what she said and responded “I think we fell asleep while playing, Vinyl.”
She gave me a curious look for a moment and said “what?”
“We fell asleep while playing, Rachael.” I repeated
“Oh, sorry, your accent sounded different for a moment” she said a grin starting to spread over her face. “I think we both need to call it a night.”
Given the annoyances she was giving me regarding my accent, I agreed wholeheartedly.
Rachael resumed resting her head on her turntables and began to snore. She did it so often that I no longer questioned it. I decided to take a shower before going to bed. I got a fresh pair of pajamas out of my dresser and went to the bathroom.
I washed my upper body and thought in my head “All in all this was one of my better birthdays”
As I began washing my lower body I noticed something that was very jarring and most certainly wasn’t there this morning. There was a purple treble clef on my thigh. I looked at the other leg and sure enough it was there to. I was a teetotaler so I most certainly didn’t get it while drunk. Rachael must have pulled a practical joke on me while I was sleeping. I immediately dismissed it. I’ve made it very clear that our relationship is purely platonic and that I do not appreciate pranks. She wouldn’t do something like that...
Then again maybe she would. I would have to find out tomorrow, if she starts giggling tomorrow, I’ll know it was her. I know for a fact that if she is pulling a prank, she will not be able to keep a strait face.
Have I ever mentioned how much I loathe my alarm clock? The blaring noise sounds like a naval claxon. Nevertheless it woke me up. Gravity seemed to have a profound effect on me this morning because typically, I don’t slouch. Sleep hadn’t come easy the previous night, I was concerned. I changed out of my pajamas and looked at my thighs again. The marks were still there, as they had been the night before. The clarity of the mark was astounding. While I disapprove of tattoos, I did have to give Rachael credit where it was due.
I put on my day clothes, all of my clothing could be considered formal attire to the average person, but I liked how I looked in them. My typical everyday outfit consisted of a pair of slacks, a white dress shirt, an argyle sweater vest and a bowtie. I splashed some water on my face to get rid of my tiredness. I was aware but there were still bags under my eyes, I would need to take a nap later.
I marched into the kitchen to find Rachael already out of bed and fully dressed. I marched over to the counter, ready to confront her when she said something that greatly surprised me. “You want to fess up to what you did last night?”
“What?” I said thoroughly dumbfounded, I was about to ask her the same question.
“Don’t play dumb with me! You know what you did!” She said her voice rising.
“What are you talking about?” I said, beginning to raise my own voice. I was annoyed at her accusations. I wasn’t even sure what I was being accused of. Rachael was quickly growing angry and when she was angry she would break thing.
“I’M TALKING ABOUT THIS!” She said pulling up the leg of her shorts until a double eighth-note became visible. “You said you didn’t want to ruin our friendship and then you pull this crap!”
My previous indignation was quickly evaporating. Rachael, despite her party girl nature, disapproved of tattoos as much as I did, she wouldn’t do this to herself. I realized that I had made a very rash judgment.
“So you’re not responsible for this?” I said as I pulled down my pant leg, just enough so that the treble clef became visible.
It was her turn to be tongue-tied, she just stared. I quickly pulled my pants up again. She started to smirk. It slowly grew until she was grinning. Then I heard it, a snicker then she was giggling. She was trying desperately to hold in her laughter and failing miserably. She eventually just gave in to it. I didn’t share her mirth.
“And just what are you finding so funny?” I said, my suspicions beginning to rise again.
She was attempting to speak through her laughter “It’s just that the mark is so perfect for you!” she said, “You’re always mister grumpy, serious, proper, classy guy.”
“Your vocabulary always amazes me, do you know that?” I said sarcastically as I got breakfast ready.
After breakfast Rachael washed the dishes, she may be a bit sloppy, but she always washed the dishes.
...
I had the day off again today, however Rachael wasn’t so lucky, she still had to be DJ at the club that day. I decided to take the time she was gone to nap, I’d never felt more tired before.
My dream was filled with dreams about Vinyl Scratch and Octavia spending time together in certain episodes of the show’s later seasons. I was seeing it from Octavia’s point of view. Most of the scenes involved a radio station. The only thing missing from my dreams was the scene from the series finally. It had been too long since I’d watched it. I merely remember that the ending didn’t go well for those two.
I woke up that afternoon feeling fully awake for the first time that day. I walked to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I looked in the mirror to find that something was looked very different about me. I couldn’t put my finger on it until I saw a framed photo on the bedroom wall. My facial features had become less defined. Every edge on my face had become softer and less definitively masculine. Then I noticed the hair. My hair had always been naturally black, but it never had that much of a sheen to it, nor was it ever this long, I made a point to keep it that way. Hair doesn’t normally grow that fast unless one is a Sasquatch or a Werewolf, but neither of those exist, so that theory was out. I had to call Rachael
I dialed her number and she picked up after a few rings.
“Hey Tavi, what’s up?” She greeted There was loud music in the background and she sounded like she had been drinking, so I knew where she was.
“Vinyl I’m coming to get you. We need to talk, now.” I said as I hung up the phone. I was worried about what I might find when I get to the club.
I drove my car to the club, given Rachael’s inebriated state she wasn’t fit to drive. My suspicions regarding her appearance were soon confirmed, her hair had changed a little since I last saw her. It was slightly shorter and spikier. The color had gone from straight blond to a faint blue.
“We’re going home” I said, hoping to get out of there without making a scene.
“But I was having fun” She giggled as I took her out the door by the arm.
In the car Rachael stayed quiet, giggling every now and then. As we entered the apartment she said “I like your hair like that.”
“You may like it but I don’t” I stated flatly
“It looks good on you” she said, pulling off the sunglasses she was wearing. It was then that I noticed her eyes weren’t their original color, they had become magenta. I immediately looked at the fridge, the stainless steel finish allowing me to see my eyes. They had gone from their natural grey to a shade of lavender.
“We should enter a cosplay contest. We’d win hooves down Tavi” said Rachael.
“We aren’t entering a contest like this! We look ridiculous!” I shouted in disbelief, though I couldn’t say that the idea wasn’t entering my head, but I quickly shunned the thought. Now was not the time for games. If anything we needed a plan, we had no idea how much was going to change or how quickly the changes would occur, but we needed to be prepared.
“Hey Adam! Why are you on your sneaking around? It’s just us here?” Rachael asked. Pulling me away from my thoughts. Her drunken observation made me look down at my feet. I was standing on my toes like a ballerina with surprisingly little discomfort. I tried to lower them but it was painful to walk with my ankles down.
I needed Rachael to be sober, she wasn’t thinking straight. Luckily, this has happened before so I knew exactly what to do. I took a bucket, filled it with cold water and dunked Rachael’s head in it. She quickly regained coherence.
“Do you feel better?” I asked.
“Y-Yeah?” She said, stuttering slightly.
“Good, I have a plan and I need you not to be drunk to hear it” I said
I cleared my throat and began
“Clearly, we don’t know how far these changes are going to go. To the best of our knowledge, we’ve passed all points in which these changes can be explained scientifically.” I paused “My brother is a farmhand in a small ranch out in the countryside. We should be fairly safe there”
“Agreed” Rachael said.
“Before we go to the ranch we will need tomorrow to pick up supplies such as food, horse care and music supplies.” I said “Finally, we will make a complete list tonight so that shopping tomorrow will by much easier, any questions?”
I woke up and got out of bed. I immediately noticed that something seemed off. My pajamas weren’t exactly tight to begin with, but they were never this loose on me. I shrugged and attributed that to the stress of the past two days. I also felt some pain around my lower back, as though something was bending it. I pulled something out of the back of my pants and walked to the door.
Hold on a moment! Something didn’t seem right, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I walked into the common area of the apartment. I scratched my head, wondering what was wrong. As I sat on our couch I felt the pain in my lower back again.
“Was our couch always this uncomfortable?” I thought as I put my hand the affected area. I jerked my hand back immediately when my hand came across something that felt suspiciously like hair. I looked back and behind me there was a tail, the exact shade and texture as the hair on my head.
Rachael’s alarm went off in the other bedroom and my ears turned toward the source of the sound... If I recall my health class correctly, human ears don’t swivel, at least, not to the degree me just had. I felt the top of my head and felt my ear, it didn’t feel human. No, it felt like a horse’s ear. My ears decided to grow fur move to the top of my head during the night.
This would be the point at which most people would panic when they inexplicably find themselves slowly changing species, but I am more logical than that. I did the only thing any rational person would do... I fainted.
...
I awoke to the sight of Rachael standing over me, furry white pony ears poking out of her hair, which now looked entirely like that a certain equine DJ.
“Good morning sleepyhead. Noticed the changes huh?” Rachael said.
“Yes, and I don’t understand you can act so calm about all this.” I replied
She didn’t say anything, but her face made is very clear she was thinking long and hard about something.
“What’s on your mind Vinyl” I said, only realizing what I said after I said it and promptly putting my hands over my mouth. She turned her head and stared at me for a moment.
“You’ve called me that before” she said slowly.
I thought I hadn’t but after recalling the events of the past two day, I soon realized that I had called her Vinyl twice before. Once around the time the mark had appeared, and a second time when I called her at the club. I also came to the realization that she had called my “Tavi” many times after our birthday. I was becoming concerned that we may be losing more than our humanity while going through these changes. I also stumbled upon an unsettling realization.
“I think we need to get the shopping done...now!” I said.
“What’s the rush?” Rachael asked
“These changes are slowly getting faster. The marks appeared two days ago, our hair slowly changed in length and color yesterday and today we wake up with ears and tail. We need to get the supplies while we still have hands!” I said
I ran into my bedroom and tried to find clothes to put on. I had nothing that could hide my ears. I needed something that wouldn’t draw attention. My eyes fell on a grey suit and purple bow tie. No, that wouldn’t work. A grey suit, what was I thinking? We’re going shopping not to Comic Con!
I found a grey trillby on the top shelf of my closet. Normally I wouldn’t wear hats but I needed something to hide my ears, even if it would draw a bit of attention. I decided to wear a grey argyle sweater vest and slacks. Even if I wasn’t wearing the suit, I still found myself wanting to wear the purple bowtie. I came out of my bedroom ready to leave, my new equine features safely hidden. Even though it was hidden, driving would be a tad uncomfortable with the tail, but I would simply have to make do.
Rachael came out of her room a few minutes later in a white hooded jacket and some faded blue jeans.
“Are you ready to go?” I asked
She nodded and we left the apartment, with the understanding that most of our money would be gone by the time we get back
Our first stop was music store. Given the fact that both of the ponies we were turning into played music; it was a safe assumption that we would retain our respective musical skills, granted playing them with hooves would take time. The owner of the store appeared to be a little suspicious of us, probably thought it was strange that out heels weren’t touching the ground. The list of things we bought included blank sheet music, spare bows for my cello and nearly one thousand-dollars worth of spare arts for Rachael’s DJ equipment. The good news is that I finally discovered where most of her income went after paying half of the rent.
There was a farm supply store near the edge of town that would sell us most of the horse care supplies. We got a good amount of various horse feed, not knowing whether or not we could still eat human food when the transformation is complete, and a few various horse medications and vaccines. It was rather unsettling to think that in a day or two we might need to use them on ourselves to prevent disease. We also bought many grooming supplies such as shampoo and brushes. I didn’t know about Rachael but I still wanted to look my very best.
We decided to purchase some other supplies at a nearby Target. Apparently our disguises weren’t as foolproof as we had hoped.
“Look Mommy its Octavia and Vinyl Scratch!”
I quickly turned around to see a young boy, I would probably guess around seven or eight years old, dragging his mother towards us.
“Can I have your autograph?” the little boy asked holding a piece of paper.
“Yes, of course!” I said, trying my absolute best to sound like Octavia. I knew that if we didn’t, the boy might cry, and that would only draw unwanted attention. Rachael and I both signed the paper. The boy and his mother walked away, and the mother started scolding her sun the minute she thought we were out of earshot. He was probably in a lot of trouble.
We bought mostly greens and other vegetables from the grocery aisle. I of course picked up something that I was always fond of. Rachael always made fun of my love for tea.
We passed by the accessories section. Rachael put a pair of purple sunglasses in the cart. I looked at her and raised my eyebrows.
“If you want them, you’re the one paying for them” I said flatly. Personally I didn’t see why she wanted them, but I didn’t want to argue. After we made absolutely sure we had everything we bought a few odds and ends that seemed useful such as camping equipment and walkie-talkies.
The bill ended up completely emptying Rachael’s checking account and leaving me with only $56.40 in mine. That was a little more than enough money to get us to my brother’s ranch tomorrow.
We were exhausted by the time we got home. The only things we got out of the car were items that needed to be kept cold. Everything else was staying in the car until we reached the ranch.
I changed into my pajamas and plopped onto my bed. Tomorrow we would drive out to my brother Jebidiah's ranch, would he be very happy to see me? I didn’t know, I hadn’t seen him in years. He was my brother, a twin in fact. My concerns soon left my mind as sleep overtook me.
Didn’t sleep well last night. I had nightmares involving Octavia, Vinyl and Discord, and I just laid there on the bed thinking about it. My memory of exactly what went on during the dream was hazy at best… all I remember clearly was that Vinyl Scratch and Octavia had both disappeared, and then the dream stopped.
I didn’t want to get up, but we needed to drive to Jed’s ranch. I went to the restroom to brush my teeth, and use the toiletries, but my feet were making a clopping sound against the hardwood floor every time I took a step. I pondered looking in the mirror. Something seemed off but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
Remembering why I came in the first place, I walked over to the sink and brushed my teeth in the same way that I did every day. I then turned to face the toilet, pulled down the tip of my pants, and got to work. To my surprise, I heard a splash, looked down, and… The puddle on the ground grew until I realized what happened and stopped myself. I peered between my legs… and stopped myself, cleaned up the mess I had made, and silently walked back into my room. I proceeded to put on the only clothes that would fit me, which were the clothes that I had saved in memory for me and Rachel from last year. Dropping all facades, stoicism and all, I began to panic.
Rachael heard my scream and came bursting through the door. She saw me running about my room knocking, kicking, and flipping things over and hearing me rant to myself about my most recent change. She ducked as my nightstand flew over her head and into the wall.
“I lived my whole life as a guy, why did that have to change, how does that even happen?!?”
“Women have different needs! How in God’s name am I supposed to know what they are?”
“Maybe men will hold doors open for me. Wait, why am I worried about men holding the bloody doors open for me? I wasn’t meant to be a girl!”
I continued for nearly half an hour before Rachael was able to calm me down.
“Adam!” She shouted, finally drawing my attention away from my insane panic attack.
I stared at her. She’s rarely, if ever, serious. But, when she is… you better not do anything to tick her off!
“Look, I know you’re scared right now, you’ve just gone through a very big change.” She said pausing for a moment. She gazed across the room, staring at the wreckage I caused. “I need you to pull yourself together, I know that this is the biggest deal in the world for you right now, but before we address it entirely, we need to get somewhere less, hazardous." She said, taking a few steps forward opening her arms for a hug.
As she stepped towards me I heard a clopping sound again. My gaze fell to her feet, or, what used to be feet. What stared back at me where a pair of white hooves. My mind wandered. Then I looked at my own feet, which had become hooves as well, only grey.
I began to think to myself “is this normal, are we the only ones experiencing this, WHAT DO I DO ABOUT THESE HUGE HOOVES!?” to which I blacked out, my head falling to the floor
ooOOoo
When I regained consciousness I was in the passenger seat of a car, and It took me a few minutes to realize it was my car. I looked out the window and saw only wide open fields. I looked to my left and saw Rachael in the driver’s seat. She looked at me and grinned.
“Sooo… Sleeping Beauty is finally woken up. I have to admit, I’m kinda sad, I was gonna kiss you when we got to the ranch to see if you would wake up.” Rachael frowned though it didn’t stay that way for long.
“What time is it?” I asked
“About 2:30” she replied “You were out for a while”
I felt very hungry. I hadn’t eaten anything since I had gotten out of bed that morning.
“Do we have any food?” I asked
“Stopped at a fast food place on our way out of the city” she said “I ate all the fries, but the burger’s still there.”
There was a fast food bag at my feet, oh right…hooves. I looked at the sandwich sitting in the bag, and immediately dismissed the thought of eating it. I grabbed the bag and chucked it in the back seat, where I found a bag of lettuce sitting all by its lonesome. I grabbed the bag and pulled it to the front seat and started to chow down.
Rachel looked at me, but when I looked at her, she hastily looked back to the road. I saw a grin cross her face, then she let go of the wheel and propped herself back. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING, WHY’D YOU LET GO OF THE WHEEL!?” I screamed, wanting to grab it, but she stopped me before I could.
“Chill Octy, I got this.” She said as she pulled back her bright cobalt blue with a few stripes of a very bright cyan, to reveal a horn. I looked back at the wheel and for the first rime noticed that it was glowing with the same aura that covered her horn.
“Very funny, Vinyl” I said and tried grin the most realistic grin that I could, but I couldn’t. I looked back down at the bag of lettuce and harrumphed, tossing it to the back seat again. I’m not hungry any more.
ooOOoo
The sun had begun to set when we reached the house. The lights in the windows told me Jed was home. We left the car walking had become difficult. It wouldn’t be long before we would need to walk on all fours. I knocked on the door. I waited a few seconds and knocked again. The door opened and I was greeted by the barrel of a shotgun.
“Who’re you?” Shotgun asked.
I took a moment to take in the woman’s appearance. She had a cowboy hat on with long navy blue hair flowing out behind it, her eyes were a little lighter than her hair and she were wearing cowboy boots that looked like they didn’t fit right. from the voice I realized that the speaker was a woman. I would look more closely, but first I needed to address the shotgun assulting my face.
“Is Jedidiah Braun home?” I asked
“Who wants to know?” she replied brandishing the shotgun, she looked angry, but the features looked very familiar.
With my nervousness mounting and the risk of getting my face blown off increasing by the second, I had nothing to lose so I went for the Hail Mary.
“Don’t shoot! I’m Adam, his brother.” I said nervously.
The shotgun was lowered but the woman said “Ya’ll don’t look like Adam. Prove it.”
I thought about it, I needed to tell her something that only I would know about Jed.
“When we started taking music lessons Jed said that my cello was “big like my head.” I told her, hoping that it was enough.
I whispered, trying to prevent Rachael from hearing, but both of them started snickering. Then the woman wrapped her arms around me in a hug.
“Boy am I glad to see you, brother.” She said
“Sister now, but Wait, Jed?” I said completely perplexed, half from talking about myself as a girl so easily.
“Who’d you think it was? And if you’re now mah sister, then that means that you went through the changes too.” She said, taking off her hat, revealing a pair of yellow ears and a hairstyle identical to my own, along with ears and grin.
“Oh my God! There’s two of you.” said Rachael, pointing at both of us, before what little color was left in her face vanished, and collapsed to the ground.
“Who’s that?” Asked Jed, pointing to the now unconscious form of Rachel.
“And that’s how we got here. Like I said it was a long story” I said.
Jed and I had put Rachael in the guest bedroom and brought all of the supplies we had purchased yesterday into the house. Jed hadn’t changed at all...well, aside from the obvious. She was still the same boisterous, fiddle-playing ranch-hand I’d grown up with.
We were now sitting in his living room catching up.
“That’s quite a story you have there. If I wasn’t seeing it myself I’d of thought you were telling tall tales.” said Jed.
“Yeah, You and me both” I muttered under my breath.
Jed waited a few seconds before asking the question she always asked when he saw me with a filly “So...anything going on between you and Rachael?”
Of course she would ask that, it was just too easy not to pass by, wasn’t it. Grrr. I was very dodgy on the subject though, having tried to avoid talking about the two of us, together. However, he just bluntly laid it out, so I couldn’t avoid it any longer.
“No, we’re just friends…” I said, hesitance plainly obvious in my trembling voice.
She gave me a curious look for a few moments before a big grin spread across her face and she said “If you say so” My thought went rampant trying to understand that she just let me off the hook, unless he already knew. I had to stop myself from gasping. Having tried to come up with a story as to how he “knew”, I also had the thought of collapsing on my bed pass through my head.
Jed sensed my exhaustion and said “You can take my room if you’re tired. I’ll just sleep on the couch.”
“I can’t let you do that, it’s your bed!” I said “Besides, I would feel like a mooch if I did take it”
“Well, I’m the one who offered, so don’t go feeling like you’re a mooch.” She said. I tried to respond with a clever comeback but… “And before you come up with anything, I won’t take no for an answer”
“Fine” I said “Hey, Jed?”
“Yeah?” she said
I paused a few seconds, then said “Thank you, for letting us stay here.” “No sweat. You’re family. It’s the least I can do.” She said. She walked back from the closet carrying an armful of blankets and tossed them on the couch. “G’Night”
“Good Night” I whispered as I slowly ascended the staircase to the bedroom.
Climbing stairs with hooves was a bit of a challenge. I slipped a few times, but eventually made it to the top. No staircase was going to make a fool of me. The master bedroom was at the end of the hall, and though it was the master it was kind of a small, but cozy, room. It had a queen sized bed, a nightstand with an alarm clock, a full length mirror and its own bathroom. I started to take my clothes off and took a moment to look at myself in the mirror. My face definitely had an equine shape to it now. My nose and mouth were an inch or two off my face, forming a definite muzzle. Eyes, definitely larger. Grey fur was now covering my entire lower body and streaks of it had grown on my upper body and arms. My hooves were oddly shaped and it had become difficult to manipulate them. My middle finger had grown larger, and it became very hard to move the hand in general. My fingernail had become very thick and discolored; to the point where it was not something I wanted to look at. I turned my head away.
I would have been more concerned about these things, but my exhaustion from “recent events” had left me feeling very enervated. The bed was soft and I fell asleep within moments.
ooOOoo
I awoke to the sound of my brother’s alarm clock.
Curse that annoying device and the crazy psychopath that invented it! I didn’t want to open my eyes yet, so I felt around for it. My arm brushed plastic it slammed down on it with a very noisy crunch. At least it isn’t ringing anymore. Intending to see if anything changed last night, I tried to sit up, but it backfired and I ended up tasting carpet.
I tried standing up, but it didn’t work. I looked down, and saw that my hands had become hooves as well. I oriented myself properly this time, and got myself on all fours. It felt quite awkward, but at least I could stand. I turned to the mirror, and it showed a figure that was all too familiar yet, not my own. The face that stared back at me belonged to Octavia. The only thing missing was the bowtie. I stared at my reflection for the longest time. My mind was having a hard time issuing the command to recognize this body as my own. Two questions entered my head, and though not the most prevalent, I still found them very important. “Is the transformation over?” I checked myself from head to hoof “How on earth am I going to play my cello?”
The former would answer itself in time. To answer the latter I had no answer. I got up and turned to leave, but once again fell flat on my face. Standing back up, I cautiously took a step with my front-left hoof, then another with my back-right hoof. I began to see the pattern and began to count to four in my head. It was almost like learning the rhythm of a song. Start slow then gradually get faster until eventually you can do it without a thought. Soon I was walking at my normal pace, at least until I reached the stairs. My hoof missed a step and fell.
My cello was sitting in the living room in its case. The latches wouldn’t be easy to open without fingers. The first option that came to mind was to use my mouth, but that seemed rather unsanitary. I pushed on the bottom of the latch with my hoof. The first latch was open, now for the other one. Once the lid of the case was lifted I liberated the instrument from its padded, plastic prison.
I tried to stand upright using the cello as a support. It was surprisingly stable given that moments ago I had trouble with the simple act of walking. I couldn’t grip the bow with my hooves it seemed impossible. Wait, Octavia used her wrists, or whatever the proper term was, was it fetlock? To play her contrabass. Surely I could manage that. It looked awkward, but at the same time it also felt strangely… right, though it was a bit awkward, because I was about the same size as it. I drew the bow across the strings and my mind began to drift, and soon I was playing a slow melody, and the low sound of the cello echoed in all directions throughout the house. I closed my eyes and went into my own little world. Nothing mattered, there was no distraction...there was only me and my music.
“GOOD MORNING ADAM!”
Clearly I had done something to offend gravity; it wasn’t my friend this morning. The loud noise behind me broke my concentration and I fell over. Rachael stood there looking exactly like Vinyl Scratch and grinning like the Cheshire Cat. I glared at her, she knew very well how easily startled I can get while playing.
“What are you so happy about?” I intoned.
“You’re so predictable Octavia, it makes pranking you almost too easy” she said her grin widening.
“Don’t call me that” I said
“Hey, I got a present for you.” She said as a magenta aura manifested around her horn, and a very familiar bowtie floated down the stairs. I knew exactly where this was going.
“No, absolutely not!” I said
“C’mon!” she said, pressing the bowtie at me with magic
“No!” I said as I swatted the bowtie away
She gave me the puppy dog eyes. She knew I couldn’t resist her puppy dog eyes, even as a pony they were still working. I tried to resist the onslaught but my will was weak, I had to give in. “Fine, but that’s still cheating” I groaned as she tied the bow around my neck
ooOOoo
Jed woke up, and we finally had breakfast. I guess turning into a pony is tiring work! We had salad, because neither I nor my new sister wanted to cook, seeing as how we had hooves, and neither of us trusted Rachael with a stove. We sat at the table and discussed our next course of action.
“So what now?” asked Rachael, sitting back in a very Vinyl-esque sort of way
“We’re staying here and hoping this as far as it goes” I stated matter-of-factly
“I don’t see how it could get any worse, were already 100% pony, and besides, that’s boring, we should go on an adventure! Oooh, maybe we’ll even find more ponies like us.” She said, and became very giddy at the thought.
“Tavi’s right Vinyl, we can’t go anywhere, humans might see us. This is the only place that’s safe for us right now.” Said Jed.
I looked at both of them.“You’re going to keep calling me that, even if I tell you to stop, won’t you?” I asked.
“Nope” they both said in unison, and collapsed in laughter.
After they had finished laughing, the debate continued.
“There’s got to be more like us.” Rachael said “Do you really think we’re the only ones going through this?”
I stared at her “No I don’t; but we wouldn’t even know where to start, we could end up getting lost, or worse we could get spotted.”
“But Tavi, they’re all alone and scared.” pouted Rachael
Jed looked at Rachael for a moment then glared at me.
“What?” I said, swallowing a bite of salad.
“You know darn well what! You remember what momma taught us bout’ helping those in need?” she said
“Fiddlesticks, how can we help them?” I asked, pausing for a moment, realizing that I instinctively called Jed fiddlesticks, before continuing “We had to re-learn how to walk this morning. I don’t think we’re in any state to be able to provide assisstance."
“That’s fine.” said Jed matter-of-factly “I can help more people than you could anyway”.
Oh really? I found my eyebrow raised into the most challenging stare I could.
“You’re on!” I said and trotted out of the kitchen.
I heard Jed whisper something almost inaudible to Rachael, and she grinned. It sounded something like “She’s so easy to manipulate”
ooOOoo
After breakfast Rachel went to her room to set up her DJ equipment, and Jed was fiddling-around with her violin in the living room. We were going to wait a couple of days before leaving so that we could adjust to our new equine forms. I decided to try and run laps outside to figure out how to run. If we were ever spotted, we would need it. After tripping on a rock for a third time gave up and walked inside.
I went to check on Rachael, to see how she was handling the transformation. I thought she might just be putting on a brave face. I knew I’d have to sneak up on her to get the truth. Not an easy feat with hooves, no matter how lightly I stepped it was never completely silent.
I was just outside her door. I put my ear to it, but didn’t hear anything. I used my mouth to slowly turn the doorknob. It tasted like copper. Pulling the door back ever so lightly, I looked inside expecting to see anything from Rachael crying into her pillow to finding a note saying that she’d run away, I certainly wasn’t expecting this. She was posing in the mirror like a little girl with a new dress. She was currently attempting to mimic a very old, but popular fan-video. She was on her hind legs and had a large speaker on wheels in front of her. I felt a slight tickle in my nose, rising.
“Alright everypony take a seat, I got this.” She stated to the room
You win this round sneeze. “Achoo!”
Rachael immediately turned around and stared at me for a few seconds, a grin slowly spreading larger every second. I swear that grin gets wider every time I see it.
“Hey Octavia, you’ve gotta try this, it’s awesome.” She said gesturing to the mirror. “I think I’ll pass” I said
“Tavi!” Her face became serious “You’ve been given a wonderful gift. You’re a pony now. There are bronies everywhere, wishing they could be you right now. You owe it to them to live their dream.” I knew she wasn’t going to drop it so I stood in front of the mirror, thinking. I went with what was the most common screenshot of Octavia from the show. I stood on my hind legs with my eyes half lidded, a dignified frown on my face and cello in hoof.
ooOOoo
This went on for almost an hour. I’ll admit I was having more fun than I’d had in a long time. Unfortunately a crack of thunder brought us back into the real world. We went down stairs to check on Jed, since she hated thunder more than anything else. She was standing in the living room looking out the window with a grim expression on her face. “Nature thinks this is the best it can do” Jed turned around “but this farm house has stood for generations. Through all kinds of weather”
The storm raged on outside for hours and well into the evening, it wasn’t far from being a full blown hurricane. The wind howled and the rain was pouring down from the clouds above. Eventually the rain turned into hail, and sounded like machine gun fire as it rattled against the tin roof. Thunder and lightning bringing the shadows into sharp relief. One crash of thunder was particularly loud. My ears were ringing and I smelled smoke! Something was burning! Then I noticed the orange glow from the stairwell.
“FIRE! FIRE!” screamed Rachael.
My body went into autopilot. I strapped the large instrument to my back and ran for the door, with Jed and Rachael in hot pursuit. The front door was closed and the fire was advancing on us. There wouldn’t be enough time to open it with my mouth so I used my hind legs to buck the front door down. We all ran inside the old barn across the field. Everyone looked back at the house. The second floor was completely ablaze, the glass from the shattered windows littering the immediate area and the fire was slowly consuming the bottom floor. The hail was battering the ever weakening structure. There was a loud crack and the entire house collapsed on itself, crumbling like burnt toast. The only thing still standing was the chimney.
For a long time everyone was silent. There was only the sound of the storm outside. We were all tired but we were too scared to sleep. The storm raged on for another twenty minutes before it eventually died down. Perhaps now that the dangerous storm was over, we might get some shut eye.
ooOOoo
. I had to find her. She sent me away to protect me. Sacrificing herself would only buy me time and I wanted to spend my last minutes in Equestria with her whether she wanted it or not. She was at the night club trying desperately to fend off the draqonequus before her. He was merely toying with her. That traitor, he would pay for his crimes once the princesses found out. I ran up to her only to draw the attention of the deity she was fighting. “Tavi, I told you to run!” screamed Vinyl, being backed into a wall. “How precious!” said Discord “what a pity to break up such good friends” I dashed over and hugged her with all my might. Then there was a white flash and everything went dark...
I woke up covered in cold sweat. It took me a moment to remember where I was and, more importantly what happened last night. I’ve had that nightmare before. The problem is I don’t remember when. I don’t think I’ve ever had a more vivid dream, something was telling me it was something more. I probably shouldn’t be dwelling on it. There are bigger things to worry about right now.
I decided to look outside to see if we were in for another storm. The sky was clear leaving no sign of last night’s gale. The farmhouse was now nothing more than charcoal, broken glass and the twisted remains of Rachael’s DJ equipment. The cellar was the only place left relatively untouched by the inferno. However, there might be something in there that could be salvaged.
I opened the door and walked in. It was very dark in the cellar, the only source of light are beams of sunlight flowing through holes in the ceiling. There were some old camping supplies, sitting in a corner. They had been spared from the flames. Unfortunately there wasn’t all that much. All I found were 2 army-tents, an old propane lantern and a bottle of water filtration tablets. Our future became increasingly grim.
As I was pulling our now meager supplies out of the cellar, my ears picked up a sound coming from the barn.
“Hay Tavi, Where’d you go?” Asked Rachael
“I’m out here.” I said glumly, though loud enough for her to hear
She poked her head out of the barn and started prancing towards me. I swear I will never understand how she’s been able to remain so chipper through all of this.
She looked at me and mimicked the grimace I had on my face. I cocked an eyebrow, and she did the same, Though it was hard to tell with her sunglasses on.
“Stop it.” I said
“Stop it.” She repeated.
I knew she wasn’t going to stop this until I tried to trick her into saying something ridiculous I figured I might as well get it over with.
“My face looks like death warmed-over” I said.
“Well at least you have the courage to admit it” she replied smugly.
“I hate you” I muttered, glaring at her.
“I love you too Octavia.” She said smiling.
ooOOoo
When Jed woke up I told him about our situation. He shared my grim expression. “You know, you guys really need to cheer up.” Said Rachael
“Our only safe haven got burned to the ground Vinyl! We have no food, no water, and no place to stay.” I said, not noticing that I was raising my voice, or that I had yet again called her Vinyl “How are we supposed to act?”
Her face looked shocked. She didn’t say anything else to us as we prepared to leave. I think I might have I overdid it with the yelling. I tried to console her but she stuck pair of headphones over her ears. I hope she came around soon… She wouldn’t listen to me but Jed was able to tell her our plan.
Our plan was simple enough. We were going to head to the nearest town which was about 50 miles away, about a day’s journey on hoof. The town was mostly abandoned with nothing but a few small corporate outlets, gas stations and families who were too stubborn to leave town after everyone left. Most of the empty buildings were still standing and would allow us to hide during the day. At night we would raid what we could from the stores, but we would only stay in the town for a few days before moving on. Jed and Rachael talked for a few moments. I couldn’t make out what was being said but when they were finished Rachael was sobbing and Jed wasn’t speaking to me either. I felt truly horrible. I had let my temper get the better of me and I hurt my best friend. She had merely been trying to keep our spirits up and I had shouted at her. I knew how to make it up to her but we would have to reach town first.
We left the ranch in a very dismal mood. We had divided up the supplies between us so that everypony was carrying almost an equal amount of weight. As we traveled, every now and then I received a glare from the two ponies walking next to me. We had to stay on the road because there were canyon walls on either side of us. Fortunately, hardly anypony ever travels along this route.
We got about 35 miles out by the time the sun had begun to set. We dropped our packs on the side of the road, and Rachael used her magic to set up the tents. She immediately claimed one and Jed took the other. I was left to sleep outside that night, alone with my thoughts. I lit the lantern to stave off the cold. It wasn’t much but it would be enough.
ooOOoo
I saw nothing but darkness. I heard laughing, but it wasn’t cheerful. It was a cold, mocking laugh that chilled me to the bone.
“Who’s there?” I asked
“Poor, poor Octavia” Said an ethereal voice “She doesn’t even remember our names”
The darkness lifted and I was in a white room strapped to a table, Fiddlesticks and Vinyl Scratch appeared on a TV monitor. They looked different from when I’d last seen them. Their colors had washed out to shades of grey.
“What happened to you?” I asked
“This is what we became when you drove us away.” Growled Vinyl “This is the result of your plan because you only thought of yourself”
“You let this happen to us and now it’s what’s gonna happen to you” said Fiddlesticks in sadistic glee
Tendrils of darkness began to wrap around my limbs, I felt a chill start to spread from my limbs to my body. A mirror appeared on the wall. What little color my gray body had was fading. My eyes, cutie mark and even my bowtie were now a only slightly darker shade of gray than my fur. Then the tendrils that bound me had disappeared and my color was restored. I looked around quizzically.
Everything around me was fading and the last thing I heard was a voice saying “Now now… it’s too early to put you under my influence Octavia. I want to see how far I can bend you before you break."
I woke up feeling extremely cold. The lantern I lit had run out of fuel during the night. Thankfully, the first few beams of sunlight had begun to break over the horizon so I wouldn’t be cold for long. I hate these nightmares! They prevent me from ever feeling truly rested. However, Tired as I was, I needed to wake everyone up so that we could reach the town by sundown.
Jed woke up without complaint, but Rachael had a few more…um, issues with it. She lay spread eagle on her sleeping bag. I prodded her and she, in turn, swatted at my hoof.
“Five more minutes, mom!” she mumbled
“We need to go! We have a long walk ahead of us.” I said
She slowly got up, looked at me and gave me a glare that could have incinerated any nearby plants then stormed out. Clearly she’s still mad. Hopefully it won’t last much longer.
Rachael folded up the tents and we left. We walked, avoiding conversation with each other; the only sound was that of our hooves clip-clopping on the road.
After a few hours of the near silence, the town finally came into view. The closer we got the more it looked like a ghost town. The sign read “Welcome to Cold Grove, population: 29”, though it might be more, considering how rusted the thing looked. Windows of all but a few building were shielded by wood, and the paint slowly chipping off the worn walls. We did, however, manage to find a little shop that seemed in at least decent repair.
“I don’t like it here” I said, my voice trembling "I feel like we just walked into a scene from a horror movie”.
Jed and Rachael merely nodded.
We walked out of sight down the alley ways searching for a place of refuge. One building, far from any of the others caught my eyes. When we walked up to the door, it just opened up, like one of those scary movies where the bad guy is waiting inside. At least we would have somewhere to spend the day, though the condition of the interior did nothing to ease my nerves. Dirt? Check. Grime? Check. Lights? NOPE. Drawers were missing from the small kitchen and fragmented wood rested in every nook and cranny. The people who had lived here obviously left in a hurry, though what caused the damage eludes even me.
Jed decided to search the house for supplies, and we joined in. After about an hour of sorting through the rubble of the broken down house, and permanently getting the taste of dust in my mouth, we found some flashlights, batteries and some canned veggies. I was a bit surprised that they had left what would have been such useful materials. Unfortunately it wouldn’t be enough to make it to the next town, but it would be enough for lunch. Tonight we would be raiding the stores. We waited until it was completely dark to start wandering the streets. I told Jed and Rachael to go on ahead without me. I didn’t like lying to them but I had to fix things between Rachael and I. as soon as they were out of sight I wandered the streets, the town was being creepier at night. Lone tumbleweed rolled down the street. 5 minutes later I found a little store that sold the liquor I was looking for…perfect.
The lights were off, so hopefully there would be no one inside. No inhabited houses were nearby, just the crickets. The ‘Citizens’ of the city hopefully wouldn’t notice a broken window until morning. I looked around just to be sure no one was nearby. I pushed the front door and found it locked. I reared my hooves for a kick. They say when you’re nervous every sound is magnified. To me the glass shattering sounded about the same as a shotgun blast. I held my breath waiting for angry villagers to come at me with pitchforks, but when none came I breathed a sigh of relief. I stepped inside through the shattered door. The inside of the store was as one would expect a liquor store to be, with shelves upon shelves of the stuff lining the walls and aisles. The best, however, were kept in a locked cabinet in the back. I walked behind the counter at the front and fumbled through the contents of the drawers until I found the key that opened it. I walked back to the cabinet and unlocked it, pulling out a bottle of 1978 Dom Perignon. Rachael would start talking to me again after just one sip of this stuff. I put it in a bag I found near the register and went back to the house.
Jed and Rachael had already gotten back when I got returned from my little errand. They had found some non-perishable greens and some bottled water in an old general store. Rachael decided to sleep in one of the rooms upstairs, and Jed was already asleep on the floor. I crept into Rachael’s room, but she wasn’t asleep, she was looking out the window at the starry sky. I set the bag down beside her bed. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. What I said was rude and I hope this will make it up to you.” I said
As I was about to leave the room Rachael finally spoke “Do you think they’re real?”
“What?” I asked
“Celestia and Luna, do you think they’re real?” she asked again
I pondered her question for a moment. Granted we had turned into ponies, but did that mean that the world they came form was real?
“I don’t know” I answered. “But recent events have made it hard to doubt.”
“I Good night, Rachael.” I said
“Good night Octavia!” she replied
I looked back and she was grinning, and everything appeared as it was back to normal I found another bedroom, with a moldy bed lying in the corner. There were no sheets or covers, but at this point, I didn’t care, and flopped onto the bed as a nightmare-less sleep came.
Visions of Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, out together in a park in an apartment and eating at a restaurant flooded my vision. I was strangely lucid, I knew I was dreaming.
“Why am I having these visions?” I thought “These aren’t scenes from the show, so what are they?” It seemed odd how the scenes looked nearly identical to moments in my life, before becoming a pony. Then I saw a memory involving Octavia and Vinyl hugging as they vanished in a white flash.
The dream had ended very abruptly and my mind was reeling from the importance of what I’d just learned. Adam Braun, Jebidiah Braun and Rachael Banks were never real. They were merely names given to those ponies that had been taken from their world, and changed to suit the world they were in. I realized that going back to the our old lives is impossible.
I wanted to tell the others, but I also wanted to sob into my bed. My entire life was a lie; everything I had done was worthless, my accomplishments in life now held no meaning. A single thought pulled me out of the dark and depressing hole that had become my mind. It did nothing to lift my spirits, but it prevented me from falling into despair. In all of the fan fictions I’d ever read, Tavi was always the one to worry, yet she always overcame her problems… eventually. If that was the real Octavia, then I must hold myself to that same standard, being as I actually AM Octavia.
A new thought filled my mind, one of success. Yes, Vinyl, Fiddlesticks, and I will make it out of this. I’ll make sure we do
I leapt off of the bed eager to tell the others my epiphany. Unfortunately my mind, no longer burdened with sorrow, realized just how filthy the room I’d been sleeping in was. I reeled back in utter disgust at the state of the room.
The mattress was stained a musty yellow, with mold running its length. The walls, or at least the wallpaper, piled on the ground in flakes, the wall behind showing through. Let me tell you, there is a reason why drywall needs wallpaper, it is UGLY. The curtains hanging from the window had obvious wear and tear, and the fabric was patched with non-matching fabric in several places. For me this was the equivalent of a lovecraftian horror. I felt my eye twitch.
“House. Clean. Today. Now. All of us. Top priority.” I thought with a facehoof.
I decided to look in the mirror before waking the others and finding something to eat. The effect these past few days might have really ruined me. I peered in and… I couldn’t recognize the mare looking back at me. My fur was riddled with dirt, adding a darker hue to my coat. My mane and tail in shambles too, hair not sticking up in the normal manner that it did when it first changed, and tail all knotted and tangled. Now it just looked uncouth. Not much food had come our way since the ranch, and as a result, I looked very thin, but not in a good way. My eyes had bags under them, showing my exhaustion. It would be obvious to anyone that saw me, I have definitly seen better days.
I went to the bathroom hoping to use the shower. The least I could do was wash the dust out of my coat, even if I had to stand in the shower for hours. That probably would happen too, since the shower was nearly as dirty as I was. I turned the knob with my mouth, but no water escaped. I went over and turned the knob of the sink, also nothing. There was no running water, and now I had rust in my mouth for no good reason. I left the bathroom to wake the others wondering how in God’s name we missed that yesterday.
Sticks was already up, as per her usual, and yet again Vinyl was the last to rise. She looked tired; she had bags under her eyes as big as mine, and she was rubbing her head with a hoof and her hair was a mess, but for her, messy hair WAS normal. I wondered how much of the wine she drank last night.
“Having a bit of a hangover, are we?” I asked
“I…regret…nothing.” She groaned and rested her head on the table
Fiddlesticks looked at her, then at me. “You two talkin’ ‘t each other again?” She asked
“Yes, but there are more pressing matters to deal with right now and I need to discuss them with both of you.” I replied
Vinyl lifted a hoof and waved it, signaling that she would probably listen as best she could.
“Fiddlesticks, you remember how I told you that we were turning into characters from a cartoon I like?” I asked
She nodded.
“What if I told you that our whole lives weren’t real? That the reason we are so similar to the characters is because we actually are those characters?” I asked
Vinyl wasn’t resting her head on the table anymore. She was staring at me intently.
“I would tell you that you’re hallucinating and obviously belong in a mental institute” she replied
“Rachael, at the beginning of the transformation we started accidentally calling each other Vinyl and Tavi and answering to those names, even as the changes wore on.” I said
“Get to the point Tavi.” Prodded Fiddlesticks
“What I’m saying is that there we must have some sort of subconscious connection with those names, that’s why we’re still answered to them. Subconsciously, we know those are our real names.” I explained.
“Did you drink some of my fancy new liquor this morning?” asked Vinyl, with a subtle hint of hostility
“Vinyl, I’m not drunk!” I shouted. I was getting agitated.
"The transformation started on May 1st, each of us turned 25 on that date, since then I’ve been having dreams about Octavia. All of that can’t be a coincidence, it makes too much sense.” I slammed a hoof down on the table for emphasis. “And even NOW we’re calling each other by show names… Tavi, Vinyl, Fiddle.”
Fiddlesticks and Vinyl looked at me a moment, seeing how sad I was, And they both wrapped their hooves around me in a group hug.
ooOOoo
After breakfast I was able to convince Vinyl and Fiddlesticks to help me clean the house. In the end had to bribe them with fresh greens. I didn’t know where I would find them but I knew I’d have to hold up my end of the bargain. I’m still surprised that that’s what they wanted.
The cleaning was a long and monotonous process. We found garbage and dust everywhere while clearing everything out. Every now and again we would find something useful such as batteries or a stray can of corn or green beans. We even found a working electric lantern. But the house was still filthy and we just got rid of the big stuff. We finished moving the furniture and began dusting and really getting the place CLEAN.
I was beginning to get suspicious of our finds. I remembered checking these places yesterday and finding nothing of the sort. Paranoia was settling in and I began to jump whenever Fiddlesticks or Vinyl closed a door to sweep behind it, they were mean though, and caught on, making sure to stalk me and mysteriously close the doors behind me, snickering to themselves as I had a mini heart attack each time. Eventually all that was left was the basement. The only room we hadn’t checked.
I led the group down, carrying the lantern in my mouth. It was much larger, darker and more ominous than the cellar back at the ranch, but the most unnerving part was that it was much cleaner than the rest of the house.
The construction was overall very simple, a hallway connecting four rooms, I wasn’t eager to separate from the others, but they insisted we would be able to clean faster if we did. Fiddlesticks took the flashlight we found yesterday and Vinyl used her horn for light, leaving me with the lantern. Stupid unicorns and their magic… I decided to check first room to the left, a storage closet. Most of its content was tools and cleaning implements, so no use cleaning in here. I heard a cough and turned around as fast as I could. “Show your—“
Is this real, or am I dreaming again? I swear someone is calling my name.
“Tavi!”
I slowly opened my eyes. There was a white blob standing over me.
“Tavi! Can you hear me?”
I blinked. Vinyl was staring at me, a concerned look in her eyes. I found my footing and stood up. I quickly grasped my head, where did this headache come from? Oh, that’s right! Someone hit me over the head in the basement.
I stretched my legs and my neck, but Vinyl still looked worried
.“How many fingers am I holding up?” asked Vinyl raising her hoof
“You don’t have fingers anymore Vinyl” I facehoofed.
Around us were 3 walls, probably cast iron by the look of it, and a set of bars making up the fourth. A toilet sat in the corner, also metal, and 4 bunks horizontal to the wall.
“So... a jail?” I inquired, asking the obvious question.
“Ah have no idea sis.” Replied Fiddlesticks, who was lying on the bottom bunk. “One moment ah was cleaning the basement and I went to investigate. When I walked in the room, someone hit me in the head, and everything went dark. You got anything Vinyl?”
“According to the sheriff, someone broke into a liquor store last night and stole one of their most expensive liquors, and left the store in shambles. Apparently we’re the prime suspects; they found the bottle in our--the house, completely drained.” explained Vinyl.
“You just downed the whole bottle didn’t you?” I asked dryly.
“Maybe...” answered Vinyl, sheepishly.
“We’re going to have a talk about your little drinking problem later.” I said matter-of-factly.
“I have drinking problem? That’s like saying Rainbow Dash has a flying problem.” Vinyl said dryly. She huffed and folded her arms, pouting on the bed.
“Vinyl, we don’t have time for jokes we need to figure out a way out of here.” I whispered. The guard could be right outside after all.
“Oh that’s easy!” chirped Vinyl
“Oh really, how so?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.
Fiddlesticks lifted her head and looked at Vinyl, who flopped off the bed not as gracefully as she probably thought she could have.
“They left the keys on a hook just outside the cell. This would be fine for a normal person, much less a pony, but they didn’t account for my magic.” Vinyl smirked.
I looked outside of the bars and sure enough, there was a small key ring hanging from a hook.
“Can it really be that easy? There must be some sort of… of, something!” I mumbled
Then the much less reserved part of my mind shouted “No, you shut up, you’re gonna jinx us!” I swear it sounded exactly like Vinyl.
For once, I listened to that voice.
“Vinyl, do it.” I commanded.
She nodded as her horn lit up with a magenta glow. The keys began to levitate towards the cell door. It gently slid into the lock.
Fiddlesticks and I watched with baited breath as the key slowly turned. We heard a click. I pushed on the door with a hoof. It swung open until it clanged against the bars of the cell.
“Let’s get out of her while the coast is clear.” Whispered Fiddlesticks.
Vinyl and I nodded as we exited the cell. There was a long hallway with empty cells on one side and bare concrete wall on the other. We didn’t say a word as we crept down the hallway, stealth was critical and our hoof steps against the tile floor were already annoyingly loud as it was.
Outside of the hallway was a room with an empty reception desk and the next room was a small office with a nameplate on the desk. Just as we were about to open the front door it opened on its own.
The man on the other side of the door was the last thing you wanted to see when escaping from jail. A six foot four, overweight middle-aged man with a sheriff’s badge. He looked surprised, at least from what I could tell with the mirrored sunglasses over his eyes. We stood there staring at each other for a few silent moments.
But everything changed when Fiddlesticks attacked. “YOU’LL NEVER TAKE US ALIVE!” Fiddlesticks tackled the man and ran out the door with Vinyl and I following close behind. It was sunset outside, the sheriff’s office being on the other end of town with a thick forest not too far off in the distance and we were sprinting towards it as fast as our hooves could carry us.
The sheriff wasn’t far behind. He was chasing us in his car, the lights and siren blaring. He was gaining ground, but the woods weren’t too far off. We made a B-line for the tree line, and made it just in time.
We heard the car come to a screeching halt and heard the door slam. We hid behind a large tree. The sound of his boots stomping against the forest floor berated our ears. We held our breaths until we heard him pass.
We released a sigh. “Found ya!” we heard a deep voice say.
We heard the pump of a shotgun and took that as cue to start running again. The first few shots were near misses. After a particularly loud shot, I heard a cry of pain next to me and I looked over too see Fiddlesticks limping.
Without the aid of his car, the sheriff couldn’t keep up with us. As the sun set we eventually lost him in the darkness. We ran for a few more minutes just to be certain.
When we finally stopped, all three of us were gasping for breath. I don’t think I’ve ever run so far or fast in my life.
It was then that we noticed Fiddlesticks was bleeding, excessively. I asked Vinyl to look at the wound, but she refused, saying that if the sheriff found us we would need to run again, and removing the bullet would make that impossible.
The situation looked bad. Fiddlesticks was injured, our supplies were still at the house, and worst of all we had a crazy sheriff out to get us.
One thing was clear. Nopony would be sleeping tonight.
Things had definitely taken a turn for the worse. Though, given how things had been going for us lately, I really shouldn’t have been so surprised.
Fiddlesticks told Vinyl and I where the next nearest town was, about 20 miles to the north. The trees in the forest kept the stars mostly hidden, though a few kept on shining through the canopy. Vinyl did her best to navigate us north by using the moon as a reference point.
After a few minutes of walking Fiddlesticks’ limp was becoming more and more obvious, and her pace became much slower. Every few minutes she stopped us to rub her injured leg.
At one such stop, after a short discussion with Vinyl, we got irritated and tried to pick her up.
“Ain’t no buckin’ way I’m lettin’ you carry me!” she Shouted and flailed, falling back on the ground.
“Fiddlesticks, be reasonable!” I insisted.
“I am being reasonable.” She replied “You just picked me up out of nowhere. I’m walking, period!”
“Fiddlesticks, we need to make it to town quickly. We don’t even know how bad your wound is, for all we know you could be bleeding to death” Vinyl said.
“I don’t care” said Fiddlesticks
“Fiddlesticks, which is it better to lose, your life or your pride?” I asked.
She looked at her leg, let out a sigh, then glared at me a few moments before finally muttering “Fine” And she climbed onto our backs
“I hope you know I ain’t happy ‘bout this.” She added, wobbling ever so slightly on our backs, trying to get comfortable.
“If it’ll make you happy, we’ll mention that every time we tell this story.” smirked Vinyl.
We started jogging; we couldn’t all out run without accidentally knocking Fiddlesticks off of our backs. Maneuvering through the trunks became much more difficult, but it still was much faster than letting her walk.
Every now and then we would hear noises that came from beyond our field of vision such as a twig snapping or leaves rustling. I dearly hoped it wasn’t that sheriff...or wolves, I would take the sheriff over wolves any day.
A light was beginning to break over the horizon; we were running out of time. We won't make it in time! I thought to myself.
I saw a few lights in the distance, and what looked like buildings. My first thought was to look for shelter, but I didn’t want to risk it, we needed to find someone who could treat Fiddlestick’s leg.
Vinyl and I slowed our pace to a walk as we entered the town, we didn’t want to make any more humans aware of us than we needed to. The town definitely was bigger than Cold Grove, but it wasn’t large enough to be called a city. We examined signs as we passed. Eventually finding what we were looking for. The sign read “Pet Emergency Clinic”. Lights were coming from the window so it was safe to assume it was open.
Vinyl opened the door using her magic. It wasn’t wide enough to fit us if all if we went in at the same time, so I was relegated to carrying Fiddlesticks myself while Vinyl followed.
A bell rang as we entered; the bespectacled woman behind the reception desk looked like she had been struck dumb. “M-May, I...help you?” she stammered.
“Yes, can you treat ponies?” asked Vinyl
“...Yes, because of the local farms, all our vets are licensed to treat equines.” She answered after a moment, her expression still stuck on surprise.
“Then treat my sister!” I commanded.
The receptionist looked at me and then at Fiddlesticks on my back. Then at her injured leg.
“Oh my god! What happened to her?” she asked.
“She got shot running from a crazed sheriff! Treat her, treat her now!” I shouted. By that point, exhaustion, adrenaline and worry had nearly driven me into hysterics. Vinyl put a hoof in my mouth.
“Tavi, I think I should do the talking right now, okay?” she asked.
“Mm-hmm.” I nodded; tears were starting to form in my eyes. I looked hopefully to my back where sticks now lie.
“Excuse my friend please. She’s been going through some things, and some stuff…” said Vinyl
“Now, can you fix up my friend and give us a place to stay for the day?” asked Vinyl.
“I’ll see what we can do.” said the receptionist. “In the mean time I’ll take your friend to a room.”
She took Fiddlesticks off my back. Due to our diminutive stature, she was able to take her to the room single handedly.
“Wow, you ponies are light.” She said as she walked through the double doors.
Vinyl and I sat down on the seats in the waiting room.
“Octavia, Fiddlesticks is going to be fine. You need to calm down.” She insisted. “You’re acting like you’re three seconds from having an episode.”
“I’m not sure how I can’t Vinyl. Everything’s been going wrong, our supplies are gone, one of us got shot and worst of all I lost my Bass.” I sobbed.
Vinyl smiled and put a hoof on my shoulder “I guess you could say that we…dropped… the bass! Hahaha-no . We survived, Fiddlesticks is going to be fine and we can get our supplies back while we’re here in town. We can still make this work, I promise.”
I sniffed. Roughly an hour passed before the receptionist came back and said “Good news, your friend is going to be fine. We have some spare rooms you two can stay in, at least for today, I’m sorry though, but those rooms are actually stables. We’re not exactly used to having Intellegent animals around."
All at once my worries were gone, albeit hesitance remained. My sister was alright. I Reared up on my hind legs and wrapped my front hooves around the receptionist, knocking her glasses askew.
“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.” I cheered.
“umm… anytime?” she replied casting a questioning look to Vinyl.
“Just let her have this one, she needs it.” Said Vinyl, grinning.
I let go, eventually.
“Now then, let me lead you to your ‘room’.” Said the very nice lady after readjusting her glasses.
She led us down the hallway, were we ended up in a barn-esque room, complete with two rows of stables, one on either side. There were animals in them too, from horses to ponies. None like us though. I’ve always had an issue with hospitals, but the atmosphere around me made me feel so comfortable. She opened one of the gates and let vinyl and myself in, then shut it behind us. Fiddle lay on the ground, still passed out from the drugs she was given to be able to have the slug removed. Her leg was bandaged, and she looked oddly…peaceful. I lied down beside her and Vinyl just slouched against the wall. The last thing I heard before falling asleep was the sound of her trying to get the horse on the other side to let go of her tail.
We spent a couple of fairly uneventful days in the stables. They were strangely comfortable in a way I can’t quite put my hoof on. We didn’t have anywhere else to go, though, and we couldn’t find an alternate shelter until Fiddlesticks’ leg healed enough to allow us to continue our journey.
Vinyl spent the time keeping her tail as far away from the other stalls as possible. The stallions kept biting her tail, and it was driving her crazy. One time, he didn’t let go until Janice (we finally learned the receptionist’s name) came in. Fiddlesticks spent most of the time sleeping, the medication the vet gave her left her very drowsy and a little ‘off’ when she was awake. I spent the time trying to come up with a plan, failing miserably. I couldn’t concentrate; but something in my mind was telling me to worry about it later.
On the second day Janice bathed us. I was reluctant at first but it felt surprisingly good, especially when she brushed my mane and tail. I actually didn’t realize just how filthy we’d gotten until I looked back at the purely brown water I had been cleaned in. It’s hard to worry about that kind of stuff when you’re on the run. It was the best I’d felt in days though, leaving my coat grey again and my hair smooth as silk.
On the third night Janice told us that Fiddlesticks should be well enough to walk and that we could leave whenever we felt like it, and to come back to her if anything else happened. We were all a little reluctant to leave but we ignored the urge to stay longer.
“Keep an eye on her. She’ll still be weak for a while” Janice called after us as we left.
Truthfully, I was glad to be out of there. For some reason the comfort was beginning to get a little unsettling. Something just didn’t feel right in there. Maybe I was just being paranoid, or the lack of action had left me with my guard up 24/7 or something. We had to navigate very carefully. Fiddlesticks was still, for lack of a better word, drunk on the painkillers. Lucky for us though, she didn’t complain when she was hoisted onto our backs
“I love you guys so much!” She slurred, before falling back asleep becoming dead weight on our backs.
Vinyl had to stifle a laugh. It was hard for to believe but I was actually in a good mood.
Unlike Cold Grove there weren’t many derelict buildings. By comparison, this town was thriving. Unfortunately this would make getting supplies and staying secret much more of a problem. I also worried Janice might tell somebody about us. If that happens our cover might already be blown.
This time we found an old farmhouse near the outskirts, that way if we need to run for it, we can sprint into the forest. This house was a shack compared to the one in Cold Grove, one floor, no power, two bedrooms, one bath and a very tiny kitchen. Lucky for us though, it was much cleaner and there was running water. Personally, I thought the best part was that there wasn’t a basement that a sheriff could hide in to ambush us… again, but just to be safe I gave every curtain and open door a good kick.
We laid Fiddlesticks in one of the beds, making sure to lock all outside doors and windows; we didn’t want her wandering out in her condition.
Vinyl came up with a plan. It went something like this: 1. Get supplies 2. Find other ponies 3. Find a way back to Equestria 4.? 5. Profit
Needless to say I was less than impressed.
“Vinyl, could you please explain why step four is a question mark?” I queried.
“Because, no one ever knows the step before profit.” quipped Vinyl
“Which brings me to my next question...Why do we need to make a profit from it?” I asked, though I already knew what she would say.
“Because profit is always the last step Tavi… always” Said Vinyl, rolling her eyes and snorting like I was the one not making any sense. It was then that I noticed a half empty whiskey bottle lying on its side
“You’ve been drinking again haven’t you?” I asked
“You’d do the same thing if somepony left a chocolate cake on the counter.” Retorted Vinyl
I had to admit, she had me there.
I gave up and decide to go to sleep. We wouldn’t be able to get any ‘serious’ planning done until Vinyl and Fiddlesticks were sober, which would hopefully be the following morning.
I really wasn’t tired at all; the past two days had been very restful. I had a lot of energy I hadn’t burned. Questions ran through my mind for a few hours.
How do we get supplies if we’re ponies?
What do we do next?
Where do we find other ponies?
What happened to my bowtie?
Eventually, sleep overtook me.
My dreams were filled with images of having my bass back and playing it with three other ponies on their instruments for what appeared to be very upper-class ponies, if there taste in classical music was anything to go by. One inside a ballroom, another in a garden. I couldn’t help but think of the others in my quartet, where were they now? What were they doing? Were they alright? I hoped that they were at least safe, and not suffering the same fate as Vinyl, Fiddlesticks and I.