> A New Life, or an Old Strife?
>  by Chrome Masquerade
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Birthday Bash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before i start, i would like to note that any reference to real people or places are completely fictional and either permitted or coincidental. That said, let's get started, shall we?

Chapter 1: Birthday Bash!

It started so long ago, now. Yet I remember it like it was yesterday. My name is Winter Fields. You might have guessed this already, but, surprise surprise, I am a pony. 
But I wasn't always that way. Oh no.
It all started with my 29th birthday, as well as that of some of my friends....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was late. I had just gotten off of work. I had a job as an actuary. In other words, I calculated possibilities of damage so the guys slightly higher up could set a “““proper””” insurance rate.  Everything was typically okay, except for ONE of the other employees who would take every possible chance to troll the others. I HATED that guy. He really-
I digress.

For $20 an hour it was a pretty sweet deal. it wasn't BAD, just... tedious.

My one escape at night was the Brony community. Oh yeah. I was a die-hard fan of MLP, even though it had ended in season 5, 'round about five years ago, I still watched it. And when I found out that some of my childhood friends were Bronies too AND looking for a house, well, in the words of Princess Luna, “Ha ha! The fun has been DOUBLED!” Twice! Universe's funny like that, isn't it?

Anyway, like I was saying, I had plans with my friends/new housemates Aaron, Laurel, Zack, Ralph and Ashlyn.
Perhaps I should mention what they did for a living. 
Aaron was an employee in a knife store, but often made his own in his spare time.
Zack was an actor of sorts, but loved the arts in general (he also had a side job as a bartender every Wednesday, but that's not important). 
Laurel was a professional therapist, who wanted to be a singer, but never got on with the masses. And like they say, if you don't sell the merchandise...
Ralph was a martial arts instructor, but also enjoyed inventing things. Of the lot of us he was the closest to having his dream job. 
Ashlyn was studying to be a chef, but that left her JUST enough money to pay the bills and... etcetera. She had to call on Aaron for help, which she HATED doing. It should also be noted that Ashlyn once was a vegan, but, when she found that the carbohydrate-laden diet was not only unhealthy, but also packing on the pounds, she stopped. She now WOULD eat meat, but wouldn't cook it herself, usually. Seriously, veggies are usually lacking in protein or fat. What do you THINK such a high carb diet would do?
Anyway, we had been the best of friends, way back, and were overjoyed to see each other again. And when we found that we were all born on May 5th, it was so much the better! Again, the universe is funny like that.

A year had passed since then. I entered my house, took my shoes off and walked into the living room. I turned on the lights and my friends yelled “SURPRISE!!”

I rolled my eyes and said, “Oh, come on, it's your birthdays too.”

Aaron piped up “Yeah, but remember, this is also the day that you united us. So you could say it's our... our...” with that he sat down in the Thinker position.

“Birth-iversary?” I suggested.

“YEAH!” 

Ralph said, “Really? A reference to Pinkie Pride?”

“And to celebrate...” Aaron motioned to Zack, who went into the kitchen and brought out a wrapped bottle.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no!” I objected “You guys KNOW I don't do that kind of stuff!”

Ralph calmed me down, “Relax, man. It's cider.”

Ashlyn threw her hands in the air. “Dude! Spoilers!”

“Well, now that I know what it is...” I said, unwrapping the bottle and pouring us each a glass. Then I raised mine and started what had become our cheer. “Friendship?”

“Is magic!” my friends chorused, as we clinked our glasses.
Yeah, we liked the show that much.
Later, we handed out the presents. We each received the following

Aaron gave us each a customized replica of one of the “Swords of the Ancients” collection, recently expanded. Ashlyn got Valernos, (sword of fire) which fit her fiery spirit. It was tinted silvery blue and red-gold, like it could actually be frozen fire. 
Zack got Ventas (sword of wind), since he was a quick thinker and always landed on his feet, figuratively, and almost always had a dream of flying. It was orange-y and light green, to show both sides of Wind itself. 
He gave Ralph a reformed version of Kilgorin 2 (sword of darkness, now turned to life.) It was jet black for the most part, like the previous versions, but when you brought it into the sunlight it became a vibrant green, like dead fall in the forest and the new life that comes from it. Profound!
Laurel (being cheery and bright) got the dagger Ciaela (sword of the sky), which was sky blue and white gold, like the sun shining in the sky.
Since I was the one who brought them together, their.... Light bringer if you will, I received Luciendar (sword of light.)                                   
Aaron himself (being flexible in both mind and body) bought Aquavar (dagger of water).
The bottle of cider was a shared present from Laurel, there was a chocolate cake (which, again, we all shared, of course) from Ashlyn, Ralph gave us each working shield bracelets (I told you he was good at this stuff, didn't I?) which when activated became isomorphic. (for those of you who don't know, that meant that now only we could use them.) and from Zack we got a beautiful painting of the lot of us doing a group bro-fist.

That was an awesome night. Little did we know that things were about to get... interesting.

The next morning I woke up with a slight headache. Was the cider aged? Nevertheless, I got up to have a shower. 
As the warm water washed over me I had visions of tropical locations, waterfalls flowing, and sweet scents of flowers. Overactive imagination, I know.
As I scrubbed, cleaning every inch of myself, I noticed something. My leg was warmer than it should be. Looking down I saw an image of a blueberry laid over a snowflake. I tried scrubbing at it, to no effect. With that, I turned off the shower, dried off and dressed, then I got out of the bathroom and shouted, “Okay, who's the wise guy?”

My friends got up slowly. They each came out of the guest rooms and to the hall. I had my shorts pulled up enough to show the mark and I made sure to look displeased. Ashlyn was the first to speak.

“Dude, when did you get that tattoo?”

“I have no idea. So I reiterate, WHO'S THE WISE GUY? You might want to check yourselves too, by the way.”

One by one, my friends checked their thighs. Sure enough, on each of their thighs was a mark. Ashlyn had one of some kind of chocolate, Aaron had one of a rounded grey cloud with a thunderbolt. Ralph had one of a shuriken with a pair of nunchaku on them. Zack had one of a jewel that sparkled as if it reflected the sunlight juuuust right with a light blue swirl on one side and a darker swirl on the other. Laurel had one of a treble clef with wings on it.

Zack said, “Uh... What's going on? This is beginning to remind me of a fic I read once...”

Aaron silenced him. “Ssshh! You leave the fourth wall alone, you.”

Ignoring that, i said, “Maybe it's nothing?”

They all gave me a deadpan look.

“Well after all, there's a chance that you'll roll a seven on a six sided die. It's an astronomically low chance, (we're talking 11, maybe 12 decimal places at the very least) but it will happen eventually to someone.” I finished with a joke. “But it's still a hundred times more likely than winning the lottery.” Man, I love logic. 

My friends guffawed at my joke. 

“How can you even figure that stuff out?””

“I'm an actuary. It's my job. Anyway, even if it isn't a coincidence, we won't know what it is today.”

My friends nodding in agreement, we all went our separate ways for the day.

After a relatively slow day I returned, to find the house empty still. This was not unusual, because barring unforeseen circumstances, I was usually home first. But I knew that everyone would be home soon, so I started on dinner. Soon they all would come to taste the fine cuisine.

I made a simple dinner of sausages, potatoes, mixed vegetables and ramen noodles. Easy-peasy, but delicious!

Ever notice that they have shrimp flavour, beef flavour, chicken flavour, but no pork flavour, usually?

Anyway...
When everyone came home they could immediately smell the delicious dinner I prepared.
Aaron responded first, drooling slightly, “(sniff) Mmm! That smells great! Since when could you cook so well?”

I rolled my eyes, “Duh! Since always? Remember Home Ec?” 

“Oh yeaaaah... Like that one time you accurately measured a cup of sugar.”

“I never heard about that one!” Laurel said.

“I was pretty much the king of the kitchen.” I thumped my chest proudly. “You guys just never leave me the chance to cook for you because you nearly always come home with fast food or something. Now come on, while it's still warm!”
> Chapter 2: Ch-ch-ch-changes!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning I went to shower, only to notice my eyes had changed colour. This wasn't unusual for me. My eye colour changed with everything I wore, so I said, “Hmm. Blue today.” and passed it off as nothing.

One shower later I went down, to the smell of breakfast. By the smell of it, a hearty one! Bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes, apple juice... wait, I could never smell apple juice from a distance like this before. Meh.

It turned out that Ashlyn, the ex-vegan, was cooking. When I asked she said, “It's the least I could do since you took the trouble to make supper.”

I was about to argue, but stopped. Ashlyn was one of 'those' women. You know, the kind that won't change their mind on matters. If you let her sit with an idea, she'd never let go of it. So I simply nodded and said, “Appreciated.”

“By the way, since when did you have blue eyes?”

“Since I put on this shirt? Why?”

“No real reason. I just noticed that mine seem to be cyan today.”

That stopped me. “That's... not a naturally occurring eye colour, Ash.”

She dropped the spatula she was holding. “What?”

“Blue yes, green yes, but not cyan!”
She was silent for a long moment.

“Uh... Ash? Pancakes?”
That snapped her out of it in time for the pancakes in the pan to avoid being burnt.

“Sorry Zenith. It's just... something seems... wrong here.”

As if on cue, Zack came down. “Okay, who dyed my hair?”

Sure enough, there he was, his usually blonde hair now mostly a light gold, slowly becoming blue with purplish highlights. 
Ashlyn and I looked at each other and checked ours. Sure enough, I had blue streaks in mine. Ashlyn's was now chestnut browns.
“Think it's a coincidence NOW, Z?” she sneered at me.

I defended myself, “Hey, I didn't hear a more logical explanation from any of you.”

Suddenly we noticed Aaron sitting in one chair, smiling smugly, his usually hazel eyes now a shade of hunter green. We just shrugged. That was Aaron for you. If he wanted you to see him he was as obvious as a tree in a townhouse. If not, you would never find him.

“If the over-reacting is done for now, shall we eat?”

He was also kind of a troll sometimes.

Either way, breakfast was served. When we were all eating we simultaneously heard a ripping sound. We paused in our eating, eyes wide. We excused ourselves and went to our respective rooms. I discovered that I had grown a tail and hadn't noticed! It was a two toned blue.

When we ran back out, we were all looking incredulous. (partially because our eyes were 30% larger than they were before, not that we noticed.) Aaron and Ralph had furry ears on top of their heads. Zack, Ashlyn, Laurel and I all had tails the same colour as our hair was quickly becoming.

Ashlyn most of all seemed like she was about to have a nervous breakdown. “This. Is. Not. RIIIIIIIGHT!!!” she shouted. On an impulse I hugged her and she noticeably calmed down.

“I'm okay. (pant) I'm okay.” she said, more calmly. I hugged her a little more, just in case.

“We're turnin' inta horses, man!” Ralph said, his hands on his head.

“Ponies.” I reflexively corrected, then put my hand on my mouth. I had just spoken in a girl's voice!

“Eek?” was all I could say, my friends staring at me.

Laurel, however, seemed overjoyed. “To quote a particular poly-chromatic pegasus, “Ooooohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” This is, like, every Brony's wet dream!” she exclaimed, proceeding to do the Caramelldansen around us.

Zack said, “To once again paraphrase the previously penned polychromatic pegasus, “I... don't know if it's EVERY Brony's dream.””

“Look.” I said reasonably, straining to keep to my regular voice, “We're gonna need to get outta here right quick! My grandparents left an estate for me in the will. We should pack up, leave and go on a shopping spree.” Suddenly we completed the inverse changes, Aaron and Zack's pants ripping. “Before it's too late!” I finished.

A quick packing up later, we had a list and some idea of what we wanted to get. I noted that something was missing.
“Protein.”

“Uh... dude, we're turning into equine creatures. You know, vegetarians?”

Without my bidding not one, but two video clips appeared beside me. 



With that the second clip closed. “Uh... well.... there you have it. As long as it's nothing that was sentient in Equestria, we should be fine.” I finished awkwardly as meat was added to the list, a couple of my buds gulping.
As I was walking out, I went over to Ashlyn and said, “Vegetarianism. Busted.” and went out the door.

A short drive later we were at the mall nearby. I gave directions. “Okay, accounts pooled we have a $5000 budget. Each group.” their eyes widened. “I'm not sure if you noticed but soon we won't even be able to show ourselves in public. We need to do this NOW, get as much as we can. NOW. Aaron, Ashlyn, you're on food. Laurel, Zack, you're on essentials. I'm talking hygiene, pony friendly tools, anything we could really use. Laurel and I will be looking for medicine and such.”

“Who put you in charge?” Ashlyn queried.

“Have any better ideas? Didn't think so. This is a race against the clock, as well as our own bodies, everypony!” I put a hand to my mouth. “I mean, everybody. We reconvene in one hour. Remember. Hoods up. Okay? Break!”
> Chapter 3: Race Against Time
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As we quickly walked to various stores, Laurel and I grabbed some of the items we would need. At one point we stopped at a grocery store to get some things that we were surely going to need. Hairbrush, shampoo (four bottles), wrist containers (they would store pencils, coins, tacks or anything else we needed them to in general.) and various other little gems. By this time our changes were coming out of mode 2 (Hybrid) and nearly into mode 3 (Anthro)
At one point a little girl stopped by and looked at us with wide eyes. “Winter Fields? Whisper Wishes? You... you're supposed to be in Equestria! Discord, he...”

In a voice not my own, I said, “Yes. He banished us. For the last several years we have been human. But now...” I lifted my hood enough that she could see my ears, which I wiggled at her, eliciting giggles. “Shh.” I finished, standing up.

She looked around and then said, “Could I be a pony too?”

Whoever was in control closed my eyes and thought for a bit. ““I”” took a few candy drops I had somewhere and laced them with all the magic I had available, causing them to glow just a bit. “I” said “Eating one of these should put you through the changes that we are.” she stood up to bite one. “BUT” ““I”” said, “this is not a decision to take lightly, there are some for the rest of your family as well. Ask them if they're okay with it before deciding, okay?”

“Okay. When you get back to Equestria, beat him good!”

Snapping out of the trance I was in, I said to Laurel, “Things seem to be accelerating. It's time we left.” Laurel grabbed two cases of ginger ale and then we left.

A little later, in the restroom section there were some nasty looking characters. Four of them. They appeared to be charging for access to the restrooms.. when the nearest one noticed us he said, “Five bucks each, sweethearts.” 

“Oh he did NOT just hit on AND threaten us!” I thought. We didn't have TIME for stuff like this!

Suddenly, a few memories of another life came to mind. I came closer, replying “Five bucks each? That seems reasonable. (*Legendary Strike*)” with that I moved at lightning speed, kicked the first one in the face (X3) and gut (X2) and the one beside him got kicked once in each limb and one to the side of his head. The other two guys hardly even knew what hit them.
Having knocked them all out I said “Laurel? Get the staff, would you?” she went to do so.
Looking back at my handiwork, I said “Sorry boys, but in the future, don't get between somepo- er, somebody and their toilet time. Well, you got what you asked for; five bucks each.” 
A new clip appeared beside me. 


-----------------------------------

As I took a moment to reflect on what just happened, I discovered that I have had multiple incarnations before this. The whole deal? I come to a world because it needs me for one reason or other. When I am no longer necessary I can live in relative peace until it’s time to.... pass on, thus sending me to the next place. In every one of my lives I learn some abilities.

in one of my past lives I was in the universe of Jade Empire (Yes, the game.) For those who don't know, Legendary Strike is one of the various martial arts therein. It focuses mainly on one's *ahem* footwork, so that makes it PERFECT for a fighter who has hooves. Trick is, I don't start to remember this until I'm 30 or more, AND can only use thoose abilities at base level. At first.

Meeting back in the lobby with our purchases, we had enough supplies to survive the apocalypse, much less whatever was happening.
We drove for a while, me explaining what happened by the restrooms at one point, when suddenly Zack (who was driving) said “Whoa!” and pulled over. 

I queried “What the-?”
Then I saw them on his feet. Hooves.

“We have REALLY got to motor! How far away is this place of yours?”

“About another 20 minutes up. First dirt path on the right. Ten if you speed.”
And then we were moving again.

A while later we were in the driveway of this 'estate' that I had never seen. Only to find... a veritable MANSION!!! 

“I think i speak for us all when i say: WHOA!” Ashlyn said. “Why didn't you ever tell us about this?”

i replied, ears drooping, “I never wanted to come here before because it reminded me of the death of my grandparents, so I never saw the place at all.”

“So..... what made you change your mind?” Ralph queried.

“Necessity can make you remember funny things.” i told him. “Also, i realized just recently that the more i rejected this gift, the more i was....... disrespecting the memory of them. I suppose to look toward the future... you have to come to terms with the past, am i right?”

My friends nodded in agreement.

“Did i ever tell you about my grandparents?”

“No, i don't think so.” Ashlyn said, at the same time as Laurel.

“JINX!” they said in unison, pointing a hoof at each other.

I smiled and shook my head at the antics of my friends. “Laurel, Ashlyn, you are un-jinxed. Let's unpack and then i'll tell you about them.”

Quickly we brought the groceries (etcetera) in and put those away, Zack going to find the switch box. A minute or so later lights came on. Then we got a good look at the place. It had to be over 6000 square feet for the house alone! The land went on for twelve acres, I could tell for... some... reason. The house had:

12 bedrooms
3 bathrooms
1 LARGE kitchen, with 1 now stocked fridge and freezer
1 entertainment room
1 dining room
2 sun-rooms
and much, much more!

Ralph squeed and bolted over to one room. “This one here; mine!” he then ran over to another room. “And this one here? Also mine! Okay, not really.” He kidded.

“ANYWAY,” i said, “I promised you all a story, huh?”

Everyone sat down, Laurel producing a bucket of popcorn from nowhere. We all looked quizzically at her. She shrugged and just continued eating.

A clip popped into existence beside me. 



“Pinkie Pie, you are-” that was as far as it got before i threw it through an open window.

“ANYWAY,” i said, coming back to the subject at hoo- i mean, hand, “My Grandparents. For most of my life they owned and operated a variety farm. They had, among other things, apples, currants, blackberries, plums and six varieties of blueberries that capped out at the size of two dollar coins. Every year we would have lots of blueberry based products like blueberry jam, blueberry syrup, blueberry pie...” my ears lowered at the memories of sweet flavours and good times. “Anyway, grandma and grandpa were kind, generous people. They were kind to almost everyone they met, they went to church every Sunday...” i looked skyward, “Wherever they are, may Luna watch over them. Wait, what did i just say?”

Suddenly a flash of white hot pain hit me. I doubled over, my friends coming to me.

“What's wrong?!”

“What happened?”

Zack likewise fell over, grunting in pain. I said “Internal... changes!” There was nothing my friends could do.

Hormones rampaged through the systems of Zack and myself, reshaping all that was masculine within and without. My (*cough*) equipment was replaced with a different set. I had to unbutton my pants as my hips widened. Fit for bearing kids (foals, that is), I realized with a shudder, my backside becoming larger and more equine simultaneously. I shuddered as a brief thought occurred to me about having foals. 

Only a moment later did I figure out what kind of shudder that was.

Aaron commented “Well, this brings a whole new meaning to the term 'the plot thickens'.” Ashlyn swatted him for the joke.
“What?”

“Our friends are in pain! There's nothing we can do about it either and you start making fun of them?!”

“Well, somepony has to lighten the mood.”

“And what do you imply by that?”

I couldn't hear their argument as the changes began to finalize. Within the span of minutes I was covered in a coat of bright white fur, my mane and tail becoming pure white with a few silvery blue streaks.

Similar changes were taking place in Zack. He was being quickly enfolded by a golden coloured fur, much like the colours in his -her- mane, which was by then down to the small of his -her!- back. Zack's back suddenly sprouted wings with a sickening crunch of bone, bleeding all over as feathers came in. Her hips and backside also expanded. 

As this went on a lot of our fat stores were burning off, becoming ambient magic in the air around us, triggering similar changes in the others, if to a lesser extent. All of a sudden, the pain stopped, bestowing Zack and I with teats as a finality.
I stood up, shakily, trying to stay conscious.

“Nope. Not gonna happen.” I said, and promptly fainted.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I awoke early the next morning, only to discover that everypony was sleeping together. “Wait, did I just think a ponyism?” I wiggled out of the pony-pile and headed to the washroom. I then looked in the mirror and tried to experiment with swear words. 

This... didn't go as planned.

“*ahem* (Fuck!) Buck! I said f-f-f-buck!" 

Then I glared at the mirror and tried harder.

"(Hell!) Tartarus! (Bitch!) Jenny! (Assole!) Plot-hole! (Shit!) Horseapples! (Motherfucker!) Motherbucker!” My speech was TV-Y'd! I could hardly think of the proper words any more.

Only then did I realize that I was now 100% Earth Pony. Yet, this body felt... right. Like I was in a favoured outfit. Whereas when I was human I felt like I didn't belong. This was different! I felt alive; I felt... right! Like this was how I was meant to be.
Curious, I closed my eyes, feeling my natural Earth Pony connection to the... well, earth. I could feel the power surging through the dirt still at least a couple of feet below me.
With just a touch of this power I could make an apple the size of a mango, or make grass grow wherever I stepped. And so much more. All the power of the earth was right beneath my hooves, ready for me to use however I wanted. It was more power than I had ever felt.

I liked it.

With this power I could possibly cause some kinda plant to grow that would spread a gas that would ponify the populace all over, and then i could take over the world in a cuddly invasion! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

I smirked at the thought before squashing it. I play Neutral Good; Not going to happen.

Eager to experiment, though, I left the house, a bunch of seed packets clutched in my tail. (Did I mention that Earth Pony hair is prehensile?) Which seeds would I begin with, I wondered.

“Eeny meenie miney moof, catch a filly by th- BLUEBERRIES! Perfect!” I snatched the packet.

My Earth Pony senses told me that I had to bury the seeds about 1, maybe 1.5 feet deep. As eager as I was to test my powers, I made short work of the task. When I finished burying them, I pulled a little of the earth's power into them. Then I thought “Hmm. If I remember correctly, singing to plants helps them to grow.” I then, since we were in Canada, figured I'd go with part of the national anthem.
“Grandma, grandpa.... this is for you.” i projected to the sky.


“(Mi-mi-mi-mi-miiii...) *ahem*

Oh, Canada,
Where pines and maples grow,
Great prairies sprawl,
And lordly rivers flow!
How dear to us thy broad domain,
From east to western sea.
The land of hope for all who toil,
We stand on guard for thee-eee-EEE-EEE!
God keep our land,
Glorious and free.
Oh Canada we stand on guard for thee.
Oh Canada we stand on guaaaaaard... foooor theeeeeee!!!”

I could hear clapping sounds. Apparently my singing had awakened my friends. Oops. Immediately they ran over to me, CLEARLY pleased with my performance.

“That was awesome!”

“You have a wonderful singing voice!”

“Yeah!”

“That puts even MY singing to shame!”

“When did you learn to sing like that?”

I finally got a word in. “Thank you, thank you all. You've been a wonderful audience. I just... felt the need to sing, and since we were here...” I indicated the area, “I thought that the national anthem would be... apropos.”

“Apropos?”

“You know, appropriate, fitting, you might even say, harmonious?”

Suddenly Laurel exclaimed, “WOW! Would ya look at THAT?!”
We all turned and noticed that the plants I sang for were fully grown, with blueberries the size of strawberries!

I smiled and thought “Hmm... I wonder...” 

A video clip appeared next to me.

My friends looked at me quizzically.

“I'm sorry. I can't control when those come up. Would you guys get some buckets? As many as you can?”
Without questioning it, my friends dashed off to retrieve those. A little later we had 30 buckets, three under each tree.
I chuckled, “I've always wanted to try this!” I came up to the first plant and, concentrating, slammed a hoof to the ground, hard as i could. A sort of shockwave went through the trees, shaking them. Every single berry on the bushes fell into the buckets!

“Woohoo! I got a strike!”

Ashlyn picked one up with her magic (yep, she was a unicorn) and tried it.
“MMM! Delicious!!”

I said “Well come on, everypony! The rest of these plants won't, well, plant themselves. You in for it?”

Zack said, “If that means more fruit like these, then buck yeah!” a sound effect went off as Zack realized two things. “Wait...”

Not only had he just used 'buck' as a swear word, 'he' was no longer a he.

Aaron rolled his eyes. “Oh boy. Here it comes.”

As if on cue, a video clip appeared beside me and floated over to Zack, 

Who said, in perfect sync with the video, “Wha? Huh? I- I- m-m-m-m- m-m-m -muh-muh... muh. Aaa-ugh!”

And both promptly fainted, Zack's eyes still rolling around in her head.
> Chapter 4: Acceptance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Well.... okay, she's exempt for now.” I said. “Also, we should start using pony names. As far as I can tell, my name is now Winter Fields.”

Aaron raised a hoof. “Uh... why?”

I pointed back to Zack “Her name doesn't seem appropriate anymore, does it?”

“Touche. In that case, I’m...” Aaron closed his eyes for a moment. 

---Aaron's POV---

When I opened my eyes I was in a forest of bamboo in my human form. A voice caught my attention

“Aaaaaron. Come and plaaay.”

“Who are you?!” I drew the sword at my side.

A shape came into view. A grayish pegasus.

“Why, I’m YOU of course. Always have been. I am who you used to be, who you are now. All you need do is make peace with that fact.”

“How can this be?”

“Allow me to refresh your memory. Does the phrase Five score Divided by Four ring any bells?”

unbidden to me memories started flooding in.

“Help!”
“Discord's gone evil again!”
“-knew this would happen!”
“For Equestria; Attack!”
“You BASTARD!”
“-get away with this. We will stop you-”
“-extra! For five score divided by four...”


I bared my teeth in anger. “Discord. He... he made me into a human... all those years... I was a pony and didn't know it? I was living a LIE.”

“Yes. And now you are a pony once again. Merge with me, Aaron. Become the pony you were meant to be once more.”

“I...”

“You're still floored by all this, aren't you?”

“Can you blame me? I mean... the last 29 years have been a lie... Wait, why 29?”

“He was going to curse you and several others to 25 years, but you came in and cut him across his face with an orihalcum blade.”

“Orihalcum...”

“Yes. It's especially effective against dragons.” the ninja pony smiled wickedly. “Take comfort in that it's a wound he'll never heal.”

I smiled just as wickedly. “That in and of itself would be worth doing this. I'm in. Or should I say...”
the two of us said in unison, shaking hooves “WE are...”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When Aaron opened them again, his eyes flashed and his cutie mark had changed. Now the thunderbolt was blue instead, and the cloud had a silver lining. He spoke, now aware of his surroundings again, “No longer am I Aaron Laud. I... am Thunder Roller.”

“Welcome to the ponyhood, Thunder.”

Ashlyn went next. “Then I'm...” she likewise closed her eyes. 


---Ashlyn's POV---
Opening my eyes, I found myself in a bakery, in human form.

“Ashlyn. Ashlyn!” a voice said.

A pony appeared before me. This pony had a dark gold coat, a deep red mane and eyes the colour of honey.

“Who- who ARE you?”

“I'm you, Ashlyn.”

“But how?”

“You've seen the show. I know that you know what happened.”

“Discord.”

“Yes.”

“He... banished us to this realm...”

“Yes. And now his curse is broken.”

“I... I...”

“What are you afraid of?”

“Of forgetting who I am. I've noticed some... mental changes, along with the physical ones. What if I lose myself? What if-”

The pony put a hoof to my shoulder. “Listen. You value your friends, your human family, right?”
I nodded.

“Then you will never forget.”

“So... what must I do?”

“Accept who you were and what you are.”

I began to shrink in size as I made my oath. “So be it! For the princesses and for Equestria itself, I swear that no matter what, Discord WILL pay for what he did.” By this time I had grown fur exactly like that of the pony before me.

“But you will not be alone. You have something that Discord doesn't.”

“What's that?”

The pony smiled at me, her double. “Friends.”
___________________________________________________________________________________

When her eyes opened once more, the pony previously named Ashlyn said, with a slight southern accent, “Y'all can call me... Caramel Cream.” her cutie mark was now a caramel ice cream sundae with chocolate sauce.

“My turn.” Ralph said, closing his eyes like the rest.

---Ralph's POV---

I awakened in a dojo, like the one I used to go to for my martiak arts sessions. It was large, beige, and uncannily clean! It smelled of... sweat, hope (which smells like blueberries, btw) and potential. Just the way I remembered it!
“Is anyone here?” I said

“I've always been here for you, Ralph. For I am you.”

A pony stepped into view. He was a Pegasus with a coat the colour of just-burnt sugar. He wore a white gi with a black and gold belt, and a similar headband, just like an instructor usually has.

“How are you... me?”

“I am the you that you need to accept. Even before you started transforming I was here, waiting for the chance to speak to you. Do you remember, all those years ago?”

“...”

“Discord banished us here, entrapping us and thousands, if not tens of thousands of others in human bodies.”

“Say I believe you... what happens next?”

“You accept your destiny.” The pony stood on his hind legs. “Remember the promise you made to yourself, thirty years ago?”

“Oh! I'm starting to remember!” I got up and began to go through a sort of kata with the pony, saying in unison.

“To be honest to others.” Kick... “To protect my friends and my herd.” Punch... “To be loyal to the princesses.” Punch, chop.... “To show compassion to those who need it.” Kick, punch, roundhouse.... “To bring joy to others, and through them, myself.” Punch, kick, high kick, spin... “To be generous to others.” Kick, double punch, High kick, punch combo... “AND TO HOLD FRIENDSHIP IN MY HEART!” moonsault, ground pound! 
After that ended, there was only one pony standing, me, bowing to my nonexistent sensei.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Say goodbye to Ralph Benoitte. Say hello... to Kendo Rein.”
Ralph's cutie mark was now a black belt and a black karate gi, both with golden highlights.

Laurel gulped. “I guess I'm next.” With that, she shut her eyes.

---Laurel's POV---

When I awoke I was in a grassland type area. I was lying down, my face being tickled by the medium sized grass.
Suddenly a face appeared over me. I shrieked in surprise!

“Sorry! Sorry! I was just wanting to talk to you.”

“Why?”

“Because of all your friends, you've been resisting the most.”
The pony standing before me was a pegasus. She had pink fur, fuchsia hair and pink eyes.

“Resisting?”

“Yes. To become the pony you were meant to be, you must accept it.”

“But... I'm afraid.”

“Understandably. This is going really fast for you.”

“No, no. I'm afraid of losing myself, of losing my identity. Most of all two things keep running through my mind. My friends... and Discord.”

“It won't be easy, I won't lie. But for the good of all the ponies he banished here, it MUST be done. And we can help them. What do you say?” said the mare, putting out a hoof.

I had to think about that for a moment. But she was right. No, I was right. Taking the proffered hoof, I said, “Yes. I agree. Henceforth, no longer am I Laurel DeMoore, I am-”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Whisper Wishes.”

Laurel's cutie mark had changed. It now had both treble and bass clefs with a winged heart behind them. And her eyes were now pink.

“Excellent! You've all come to terms with yourself?”

“Did you have to do that?”

“What? No! I resigned myself to this as soon as the tail grew in. So when I woke up today, I was perfectly at home in this body. I think.” looking over at the fainted mare, I thought aloud, “I just hope that she can do likewise.”

---Zack's POV---

I opened my eyes. I was in an auditorium of sorts. I was up on the stage, looking out over the seats.

“Where am I?” I queried, figuring that I would get no answer.

“Why, we're where we used to feel the most alive: the stage!”

“Who... who are you?”

A dark steel grey coloured pony with a silver and white mane walked into view. “Don't you recognize me? I'm YOU.”

“You don't look like me at all.”

The mare lowered her head slightly, sighing. “Yes, well, chaos magic has it's own sense of humour.”

“Huh?”

“Allow me to refresh your memory. Five score divided by four.”
memories started flashing by me.

“-We need HELP!!!”
“that creature's gone craaaazy!”
“-won't let you hurt my friends!”
“GAAAH! Just for that, I'm adding extra!”

“I was... a mare?”

“Yes. We were banished to this plane. Forced to live life in an unfamiliar shape.”

“Incroyable.”

“Indeed. But if you think about it, you were always like me.”

“Explain.”

“I'll do much better than that! Since we're here, I thought I'd do a little number for you.”
I sat down in one of the nearby seats, and to (in part) the tune of Pinkie Pie's song from Over a Barrel, she started singing.



“

You know that were are both the same
I'm you and you are meee.
But let's just take a moment to see your pony-sonalityyyyy!!!

“Weeee both have degrees in acting,
And gemology and aaaart
We both like spicy peppers,
We both have a gentle heaaart!
When we grin real wide we both (*squee!*)
We both have a bunch of friends who care about us, don'tcha see?”



I folded my arms, unconvinced.



Got a pony's sooooul.
A pony's heaaaart.
But you have a human's body here, so here's our common part!”



I leaned forward, now listening intently.



Weeee both have a huge sweet tooth
'Specially for saltwater taffyyyyy
We both have mild claustrophobia
So open up! Let's be freeeeee!
And we both know what has happened, 
And who you need to beeee
You know that I am you and right now you gotta be meeee!”



At this she slid forward on her knees. I had a smile on my face as it came too me-



“Got a pony's sooooul.
A pony's heaaaart.
But you'll keep your human mind, so let's not be apaaaart!”
You have a pony's sooooul.
A pony's heaaaart.
And now you've got a pony's body here, and that's a very good staaaaaaart!”



We really did have a lot in common! I stood up and clopped my new hooves in approval.

“Soooo? How did you like it? Are you convinced?”

“I am! From now on, I will be known as-”
_________________________________



“Crystal Charmer!”

Crystal's exclamation startled us all. She got up, dusted herself off and pulled us all into a group hug. “I understand!”

“Well, that makes one'a us.” Caramel said dryly.

“You were all my best friends back in Equestria, as you are now!” she released us all. “But the one who brought us all together... was Winter over here!”

“Wait, you only just woke up. How do you know my name?”

“Let's just say that I had some... introspection time.”

“Really.” I deadpanned.

“Yeah! And in light of recent and not-so-recent events, I wish to make an oath.”

I exclaimed “WHAT? That's not necce-”

“I, Crystal Charmer, do make this solemn pledge. I dost hereby pledge mine undying loyalty to this mare, Winter Fields. Her friends shalt be mine and likewise of enemies. And should'st death bring it's sword to bear against her, I shalt be there to block it if at all possible, even if it be at the cost of mine own life, for without her in either world, mine would'st be empty.”

“Seconded!” Kendo cried.

“Thirded” exclaimed Caramel.

“Fourthed!” said Thunder

“Fifthed!” Whisper put in.

“Then 'tis unanimous!” Crystal turned to me, “Henceforth, thou shalt be our leader!”

I sighed, finally just accepting it, I said, “Thank you. All of you. I shall endeavour to be a leader who you can look up to, though I'd rather not be put on a pedestal, so to speak.”

Crystal spoke up. “Winter, I’m not sure if you noticed, but you seem to have this.... aura of leadership around you. I can only speak for myself, but when I’m around you I feel strong. I feel like I can take on the world... and win.”
There were nods all around.

“Winter, Zenith, by whatever name, you are destined to lead us, and, who knows? Maybe others will join our little family. Our... herd.”

Knowing that they wouldn't take no for an answer anymore, I shook my head and said, “Thank you. All of you. Listen, can you... finish planting those seeds? I... need to have some time to think about all of this.”

With that I walked off. Caramel was about to go after me, but Thunder stopped her and said, “No. She needs this time to herself.”

“Will she... be okay?” Caramel queried.

“When she comes to grips with the role she just accepted and its weight, I think she'll be okay.”

“Well... then what?”

“Then? We'll... just have to find out.”
> Chapter 5: Perspective
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I walked through the woods, many thoughts swirled around in my mind. Like, “Is this really my destiny?” “How many ponies can this place support?” “Can we truly beat Discord?” “Are the Mane Six here too?” and “What must I do to help everypony?”
I was beyond being confused. I was  completely clueless as to the answer to any of those.
Flummoxed would be closer to the proper term. I was confused to the point of frustration. Why was I the one chosen? What made me so special? Maybe...
“Maybe I should ask myself!” I thought aloud. Stepping to the side I sat down on the pony approximation of a meditation state.
___________________________________________________________________________________

Immediately I saw a manifestation of my spirit before me.

“Well, hello there. A rather lovely looking she-devil, if I do say so myself. But since you ARE myself, I suppose it's only to be expected.”

“(sigh) I thought I'd made peace with this situation. I'll be honest here. I have no idea where to go from here.”

The pony before me gave me a deadpan expression. “You know what you must do already.”

“Maybe, but I'm not sure if it's something I... SHOULD do, you know?”

“Listen. You want to help others, right?”

“Well, yeah...”

“And you know that other ponies will be out there, lost and alone, right?”

“Well yeah, but-”

“AND you know that with our natural aura, they’ll be looking up to YOU, right?”

“What's your point?!” I snapped.

“My point is that we should be ready to welcome them, to accept them. To BE the leader that they need. My point is that we need to be in this together. My point is that instead of being you and I, we need to be... US.”
I thought about it for a moment. Did I really want this?
"and for that you need to remember. Just look back."
I thought about it and i did remember something. that the rhyme Discord used on me was different from the others. Focusing on that, i started to remember.



Discord had just sent my friends away.
"No! My friends!" i cried out.
"Don't worry." the draconequus said. "you'll be with them soon. I have something special planned for you."

So saying, he intoned,

"For five score, divided by four
To see your homeland nevermore.
Your memories removed, your body confused
For your insolence you shall pay,
Cast off to a new land, far away
Though power you'll have, 'twill come at cost.
Should you live long enough, the familiar lost!
Ever growing the range, ever quickening change
Within few years more, the magic and chaos shall soar!
So i send you off! let's not be a  bore! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"



My mind was blown, but i still wasn't sure.
“The world is becoming ponified, you know.” my 'guest' said.

“WHAT?”

“You heard me. A person's body mass can't just... disappear. That's against the laws of conservation of matter. Maybe Discord didn't intend it to be this way, but when a pony transforms their excess body mass becomes pure magical energy that fills- nay, saturates the air with the stuff. Us especially, as you might recall.”

“That... sounds bad.”

“No kidding. As more and more of the stuff spreads, more and more people will become ponies or other such creatures. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. By the end of all this, we won't be looking at Earth anymore. We'll be looking at Equis 2.”

“Is... there any way to stop it?” I queried.

The pony before me bowed her head, eyes closed, ears drooping. “Short answer: No. It WILL happen. It's... just a matter of time.”

I looked to the side. This was bad. This was terrible! Teotwawki (The End Of The World As We Know It) was happening right before our eyes and there was nothing anypony could do to stop it. In short, the human race as we know it was bucked nine ways from next Tuesday.

“You're right. They need a leader.” I said, standing suddenly.

The pony looked up.
“If I need to be you to do this, then so be it!” the “air” around us filled with the power of the oath I was about to give.
“For the whole of this planet and all sentient creatures upon it, I do pledge myself to this cause! I will help others out there! I will lead them myself if I have to!!!” 

“That's the spirit! You go, girl!”

“And with or without Celestia as my witness I will succeed!!!”

“Yeah!”

“Even if this means I must give myself for the greater good, to quote a phrase, “sister, you got yourself a deal.””
the two of us brohoofed and-
___________________________________________________________________________________

I awoke. No longer Zenith, but Winter Fields, in earnest. I knew who I was. I knew what I had to do. I wasn't just different. I was... reborn. I felt the power beneath me even more, now. And for some reason wherever I stepped flowers sprouted. I was so energized and happy I did something unexpected.

I reared back and... whinnied.

Not even noticing at the time I galloped back to the house.

---2 minutes later---

“Hey... do you guys hear that sound?” Caramel said.

“Hey, yeah!” Crystal responded, noticing the loud noise coming toward them.

They looked down the path and saw me galloping toward them, flowers following behind. 

“The GL is back!” Whisper exclaimed.

“Why are there flowers sprouting up behind her?” queried Thunder, cocking his head slightly.

I came to a screeching halt before them and said, “BOY do I have a story to tell YOU guys!”

---One explanation later---

“So... let me get this straight:” Kendo started, after I had finished my story, “ponies all over the world are awakening from this Five Score curse.”

“Yup” I affirmed

“And while they're being ponified a lot of their body mass becomes ambient magical energy.”

“That's right.”

“And that in turn ponifies more people.”

“Uh huh.”

“So... even if we beat Discord, humanity as a whole is screwed over.”

“That's about the size of it.”

“And since you just now had Whisper send a message to any ponies in the area to come here.... we should prepare for an influx of them.”

“That is correct.”

“How does one prepare for that?”

“Aaaaah, and therein lies the genius...”

“How so?”

“I figure, a few rudimentary houses (look at all this unused land, here!), some crops, build some furniture.... I figure we've got it made.”

“Problem: we don't know the first thing about building.”

Caramel spoke up, “True, but at leas' one'a us DOES know 'bout Alchemy. Gather the in-gredients ya need and y'can build a house in seconds."

Crystal said, "Aw yeah! We're about to get Fullmetal Alchemist up'n here!”

“Great idea!” I commented.

“But... that's not possible. That only works on TV.” Kendo argued.

I gestured to everypony there in general, “And this is? I think that to function with this you need to let go of a lot of your opinions on what's possible and what isn't.”

“You... have a point.” Kendo said, giving up the argument.

“That said... Listen up! Whisper Wishes, I want you to get on Equestria Daily, Facebok, Twitter, Tumblr, any site you can and put up an ad for a home for revived ponies.”

“On it, GL!” she said.

“Kendo Rein, you're with me. We'll knock down some trees and bring them to...”, I turned to- “Caramel Cream, when you have the ingredients, you will stack them and transmute them into houses.”

“Understood, honoured matriarch.” she said.

“Been working on that have you? PLEASE don't call me that.”

“S.I.G., Winter!” she amended.

I paused. “You used to watch Captain Scarlet too?”

“Yup.”

“Huh. Anyway, Crystal Charmer, Thunder Roller. I want you two to search for metal deposits and/or semiprecious gems, since that's part of Crystal's talent. Preferably iron or better. Then, Thunder, you bring them AFAP.”

“AFAP?”

“As Fast...?”

“Okay. On it.”

“We all set? Any questions?”

Whisper said, “I can't type very well with hooves, y'know.” waving her front hooves for emphasis.

I rolled my eyes. “You're a buckin' unicorn. If you can't type using your magic, Use a pencil or somethin'.”

“Oh.”

“Any other questions? No? Good. You all know your duties.”

_____________________________________________________________________
I was with Kendo, knocking over trees. In Equestria an earth pony can buck an apple tree and shake off all the apples. On EARTH, however, one can buck a tree and it will snap.

“Another one coming up, Kendo!” i shouted as i bucked another tree.

“On it, GL!” He caught it in his hooves and rolled it down the path we'd made for the purpose. He was going back and forth at incredible 
speeds. He'd make Pinkie Pie proud! He was transporting the things nearly as fast as i could buck 'em!
After a while we had enough wood to create several houses.

“Now we just need to get the other materials from Thunder and Crystal.”
Speak of the devils, here they came, rolling along a huge ball of iron.
There was a blue flash as Crystal conjured a magical field like a soccer net.

“GOAL!” she shouted triumphantly. A smaller, yellow ball followed shortly. “D!” she finished.

It took five straight hours of ““cutting””, searching, and transmuting, but after all of that we had ten  houses ready. They all had rudimentary pony-friendly amenities. (Until we could find some porcelain, only crude toilets were possible, however.) Our unicorn hooked each house to a pocket dimension for the purpose of water and electricity, bacteria much like that in the water treatment plants would consume wastes. In all, crude but efficient and relatively clean. You know what they say, “There is no affluence without effluence.”

“Phew! Good job, everypony.” I said, wiping off my brow. “We accomplished a lot today!” 

Thunder commented, “I dunno. They... kind of look like plot, to me.”

“Perhaps, but it's plot with silver dollar potential. Now all we need to do is see if the adverts Whisper is putting up pay off. Who knows? Maybe if we're lucky we can have a community here in fairly short order.”
My friends all nodded in agreement.

“Now,” I said, cloppng my hooves together briefly, “Who's up for some FOOD? This is cause for celebration!”

In short order we had a full spread set out. Mixed vegetables, chicken, corn on the cob, ham, salad, and many other delicious things, even more so with our enhanced tastebuds. A great time was had by all. While we ate, Whisper explained the situation online. It turned out that the government was cracking down on pony related articles on Facebook and Twitter, but they were up long enough to get the message out. Other sites like Tumblr and YouTube really didn't care as longh as they got their hits.

“And now... all we need to do is wait.” she concluded.

“A great job, Whisper.” I said, munching on some corn.

“I try, I try.” she replied proudly.

“Either way, we all deserve a good rest.”

“Agreed.” they all said in unison

“Guys?” Whisper said nervously, “There's something that you should see, here.”

We gathered around the laptop. “What is this, Whisper?”

As she zoomed in she said “Enhancing image 75%” It seemed that there was... something going incredibly quickly.

“How fast is that going?”

“It's hard to get a reading, but I’d say... impossibly fast.”

Suddenly, a mach cone formed around it. It accelerated further!

“Now it's bone-crunchingly fast. At least mach 4!”
The mach cone became more of a triangle, and then... BOOM!

“Rainbow Dash...” Thunder Roller said

“What?” 

“Do you know anypo- anyp- p-” he sighed and continued, “Fine. Anypony else who can do that?”

We all looked back at the screen, a full spectrum shockwave spreading from the point that we lost the object.

“Checking..... Confirmed. The level of magical energy there, within a 50 mile radius has increased tenfold! And ley lines have increased fivefold! If that isn't the Sonic Rainboom, i don't know what is.”

“You made an app for tracking magical energy?” i deadpanned at her.

“Yeah?” Whisper said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “As it spreads it might be nice to know how much magical energy is where. Raw magic is white, Evil magic shows up as blood red, dark magic as smoky grey, unicorn and earth pony magic showing up as shades of pink or green, respectively. But that's not the point. The point is that the signature we have here is pegasus magic, the teal colour you see. And the ley lines are raw magic. Raw Equestrian magic, the pearlescent purple you perceive. The populace in that position are put in a perilous predicament; they'll be ponified pretty muchpresently.”
Nice alliteration!

“How long?” Kendo asked

Whisper shrugged. “Soon?”

The sound of faces meeting hooves was resounding.

“Two days, five days, less than a week, certainly. I don't know.” she amended.

“What's worse is that these Equestrian ley lines are extending at an alarming rate.”

“Quickly?” Caramel queried.

“About 50 clicks per hour.”

“That's not so fast.” Thunder Roller said.

“Says the pegasus. It means that within ten hours it'll have gone 500 miles. 1200 in a day.”

“How far do you think it'll go?” i asked.

“As far as the Rainboom's shockwave does, i think.”

“Did you catch a signature for the sky blue blur?” Thunder asked.

“As a matter of fact, yes. She seems to be going to... Iowa? Muscatine, specifically.” 

“Where?”

“Enhancing image 120%... Well, well. It seems that we aren't the only ones with the idea of starting a pony farm.”
We all took a closer look at the screen.

“The Mane Six are there, as well as Shining Armor, Cadence and Big Macintosh. And the cutie mark crusaders.”

“What's the EMS on there?” I asked.

“EMS?”

“Equestrian Magic Signature?” I clarified.

“Oh, okay. Entirely purple. A massive amount of it.”

“Massive?”

“Remember the Twinkie analogy from Ghostbusters? Say that a regular size one represents an earth pony foal's signature. The size of a desk, perhaps, for a grown unicorn. An alicorn's signature would be about the size of one of our bedrooms. Well... this would be a Twinkie about the size of this house.”

We whistled in unison. “That's one BIG twinkie!”

“Indeed. Which means that there must be more than just Cadence and Twilight there. For a signature like this, the whole of the Mane Six would have to be alicorns, at least!” Whisper gasped. “Unless...”

“Unless what?” Caramel asked

“Unless ponies don't STOP producing magical energy when they're done changing, like we thought.” She turned to me. “Hold on, here.” her horn shone with the familiar blue sheen. She scanned me up and down, then put her horn to the headphone port of the computer. A spark briefly arced between the two.

“As i thought. You're not only emitting magic, you're practically sweating the stuff! This changes everything!” Whisper tapped away at the keyboard for a moment.

“Let's see... cast of ponies for people to change into.... plus constant magical radiation... plus effects of sonic Rainboom... plus environmental transformation.... oh no.”

“Whisper Wishes, what do you see?”
She turned to us all, then moved from the computer.
On the monitor was: Estimated time to pon-pocalypse: < 7 years.

Another clip appeared next to me. 



“Dun dun duuuuuunn!” said Rainbow Dash dramatically.
> Chapter 6: The Big Reveal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh, bad! Oh, bad! Oh bad bad BAD!” said Caramel.

“Wrong show.” Thunder commented dryly.

Nearly everypony glared at him, but i chuckled. “Wouldn't that be an interesting crossover?” on cue a picture appeared next to me. It had the main six in a flying bus driven by Princess Celestia, saying various lines from some of the students in The Magic School bus.
“Never mind.” i sighed. “Already been done.”

Everypony laughed at my unintentional antics. But then they began squabbling.

“We HAVE to get this out. People need to know this!” Whisper said, frantic

“That would only make people resent us!” Thunder countered.

“The mare has a point. We have to do something.” Kendo defended.

“What?”

“Go on a radio station?”

“Not obvious enough”

“Call the national guard?”

(deadpan looks)

“Maybe call on Jerry Springer?”

“I don't see how THAT would help."

“Point taken. His counterpart, Ellen DeGeneres, then?”

“That could work.”

“Okay. How do we get there?”

Crystal closed her eyes for a moment. “I think i have a spell for that.”

“Oh?”

“All we'd need to do is call them and use the spell. It would send us through the lines to their station.”

“That could work.”

“Thing is, one of us would have to stay here so we could come back.”

“Who, then?”

“Well, Winter is exempt because we need to have our leader there. I'm off because i need to cast the spell on both ends.”
i thought for a moment. “Kendo Rein, i'm counting on you to guard the house until we can get back.”

“Got it, GL.”

“Now somepony get me a phone.”

Moments later i got the number in.

“Hello?”

“Uh, hi. We would like to schedule an interview with miss DeGeneres?”

“Okay, what about?”

“No doubt you've head about that shockwave near Iowa? We have news about that.”

“That would be interesting! How soon can you get here?”

“How much space is there where you are?”

“About 15 feet, either direction.”

“Put the phone on the floor, face up. And stand back.”

“How far back?”

“Back. Way back.”

I turned to my team “Crystal, do it.”

“Before we go....” Crystal's horn glowed, blue light illuminating the room. “There. This should limit the amount of magic we exude. And now...” Moments later we were heading along the wires, going faster than the speed of sound! We were living lightning, it was Glorious!
Eventually we came out on the other side, inadvertently bowling the one who answered over.

“OOF!” he exclaimed.

“I did say 'way back'. Whoo! What a rush!”

“WHOA! You guys are PONIES! Awesome!”

I swear to Celestia, right then he squeed. We have a Brony here.

“Uh... Names?”

Pointing at each of my friends in turn, “Okay, these ponies are Thunder Roller, Caramel Cream, Crystal Charmer and Whisper Wishes. I'm Winter Fields.”
I turned and addressed the phone still on the floor.

“You can hang up now, Kendo.”

“Good luck, guys!” he said, before we simultaneously hung up.

“So... you guys really have information on that... thing?”

Crystal replied “Yes, but you're not going to like most of it.”

“So why did you come?” he queried.

I said, a little forcefully, “Because people need to know this. Because this is one of the more popular shows this side of Oprah. Because going to Jerry Springer probably wouldn't benefit us in the long run.”

Just then, the main lady herself came to the back. “I heard that we have some special gue- (gasp!)”

Thunder rolled his eyes and said, “Five. Four. Three. Two...”

Ellen excitedly exclaimed, “ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! Real little ponies!” with that she hugged the five of us.”
Then she squeed too.

“Uh... Miss DeGeneres?”

“Just call me Ellen, please.”

“Alright. Ellen, we have vital information regarding that event.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. People will really need to know these things.”

“Hmm... I think i got it.”

“Huh?”

“I can fit you in this time tomorrow, should you desire.”

“So soon?”

“I'm a Pegasister. What can i say?” just then i noticed that Ellen was scratching her leg for like the fourth time since this conversation began.

“Uh, speaking of which... Crystal, would you check Ellen here?”

“For what?”

I looked back at her worriedly.

“Oh. OH! That. Right” she stepped over and scanned Ellen with her magic. “Well, Ellen, it seems that you're one of the next ones.”

“Huh?” she said, puzzled.

“You appear... to have a cutie mark.”

“Really?” she lifted the side of her skirt to reveal a pair of dolphins, leaping in opposite directions.

“That's where the changes began for the rest of us.”

“Whoa. Really?”

“Truly.” i said. “We were all human once. If I'm correct, you have the mark of Sapphire Shores.”

“My favourite pony! That said, i think it might be best if i fit you in today, before these changes accelerate.”

“If you don't mind. People need to know this.”

She turned to one of her assistants. “Alright, Randy, you know what to do.”

“Yes Ma'am!” he said, saluting before dashing off.

“Okay, prepare yourselves, people! We're on in 40, don't forget!”


Slightly later we were in the in-studio spa.
“So this is why you look so young.” i said, the lot of us getting a bath with several spa types of chemicals. Sorry, trade secret.

“Oh, yeah.” Ellen said, towelling off. Nothing like it.” She got into the outfit that she had picked. Her usual jacket, black pants and a white T-shirt captioned “Brony and proud of it!”.

“If i knew that this would feel so nice i'd come here every day.” Crystal said.

“I'm flattered. But now we have ten minutes to prepare.”

We jumped out of the tub and got towelled down by nearby assistants. “Okay, let's go for it.”

“You stay in the back, I'll call when you should come in.”

When she got on stage she had her jacket closed. The crowd cheered, happy to see their favourite host. 

“Hello, everyone! Welcome to my show. Today i am going to reveal a couple of secrets to you. Firstly...” She opened her jacket, “I'm a Pegasister. Yeah, i, like a lot of ladies, loved My Little Pony when i was young. How many of you thought the same?”
Several hands in the audience shot up.

“Ah. Any haters in here?”

No hands at all.

“Great. I always wished that i would be able to meet some. And here's where the second secret comes in. Everyone, say hello to our special guests today! Winter Fields, Thunder Roller, Caramel Cream, Whisper Wishes and Crystal Charmer!”
We trotted in in order, the crowd cheering, and sat on the couches conveniently placed nearby.

“So, welcome to the show!” Ellen started.

I said, “Glad to be here, Ellen.”

“So... if i may ask, how did you even get here?” she queried

“Well.... the show was mostly accurate. In season 5 you know what happened at the end. Discord banished us from Equestria, each and everypony he could find. This curse would have broken when we became 25, but Thunder Roller here scored a hit on him back in Equestria... with an Orihalcon blade. So he decided to add a few extra and sent us back in time an extra four years.”

“Wow. On to the next subject, you had something important to tell the world?”

“Yes, we do. Crystal, would you please?”

Crystal trotted up and used her magic to project a diagram she had before.

“As you can see from this picture and the key on it, the shockwave here has all the indications of being... the Sonic Rainboom.”
a few people gasped.

“If you like that, get a load of this.” Crystal responded, going to the next diagram.

“This shows the ley line network around the area. As you can see, the pegasus magic turned the ley lines to Equestrian magic.”

“And what does that mean?” Ellen asked.

“It means that the area just saw a 100% increase in pony population.”

“But... there weren't any before.”

“Exactly. By now the city has been ponified.”
More people gasped.

“Unfortunately, though no fault of the ponies, i might add, before you jump to conclusions, it gets worse.”

“How much worse?” Ellen asked.

“As a person changes to a pony, their excess body mass doesn't simply... vanish. That would violate the laws of thermodynamics. Instead it becomes excess magical energy. This spreads through the air, in turn changing the environment and ponifying more people. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. In other words, start making your OCs, people, because within 5 years we won't be looking at earth. We'll be looking at Equis 2.”
At this people started panicking. The crowd was beginning to get rather loud. Using some of my inherent power, i channelled it into my voice for a single word.
“QUIET!”

At this the crowd became hushed. Panting with exertion, i said, dryly, “That's. Better.”

Ellen commented, “Whoa. That sounded like the Royal Canterlot Voice. Like Luna used during Nightmare Night.” then her eyes went wide. “Wait, how do i know that? I never saw that episode.”

As if on cue a pair of buttery yellow pony ears appeared on Ellen's head. “Oh dear.” she commented.

A hand was raised in the audience. 

“Yes, you?”

“Yeah... is there any way to stop this?”

“The short answer... No. It WILL happen, it's... just a matter of time.”

Another voice was raised. “I knew it! These ponies are gonna take over-”

“HEY!” i stopped him, “We didn't ask for this! We were human once, just like you. Do you think we WANTED to become these ponies?!?! This isn't our fault. If you want to blame anypony, blame Discord. And i assure you, he WILL pay dearly for what he did.”
I turned to my herd. “Let's leave it at that.”

Crystal said “I have Kendo Rein on the line.”

She cast the spell and suddenly Caramel, Whisper and Thunder were through.

I turned to the crowd. “Before i go, if any of you find yourselves transforming, you can come to our home about 20 miles from Oshawa. It's set up for over 50 ponies right now. If you want to come, you'll find that you know the address.”
I turned to Crystal. “Let's go.”

As we left a clip of Twilight Sparkle next to the My Little Pony logo.



With that it disappeared as suddenly as it came.


> Chapter 7: Trees That Bark?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7: Trees That Bark?

The next morning, we were cleaning up, preparing for when others came. At one point, Crystal came running through the door.

“Issue! Issue! MAAAAJOR PROBLEM!!!”

She slammed the door behind her, panting for breath. By this time the lot of us had heart the warning and came downstairs.

“What seems to be the problem, Crystal?” i askrd

“I'll give you three hints: What's big, wooden and howls at the moon?”

As if on cue, a howl pierced the air. We could distinctly hear the creak of wood.

“Timberwolves.” i said under my breath. I quickly took command. “Alright everypony, this is a huge issue! Look around, find anything that  could be used as a weapon!” 

Everypony went off to do just that. Suddenly, I heard a voice.

“Grandso- er, Granddaughter. Heed me!”

“Grandpa?” i queried.

“I don't have much time. There's a cache of weapons in the basement, behind the bookshelf and some armour behind the workbench there. I hoped that you would never have to use them, but drastic times and all.... So give those snaggle-toothed varmints what for!”

With that the contact dissipated. I paused for a moment. “Thanks grandpa. I won't let you down.” Then I turned and called, “Thunder Roller! Something just fell into my lap, here! I'll need your help.”

“I don't think we have laps.”

“You know what i mean.”

Thunder came down and we went to the basement. In the cache grandpa mentioned were 8 high caliber pistols and  8 sub-machine guns. Oh, and lots of ammo. Enough for all of us. HUNDREDS of rounds. Each and every gun was lovingly crafted, each with a name. The inventory went as follows.

-2 50 cal pistols, “twins”, aptly named Hellraisers. Twelve round clips, enchanted to cause incendiary damage to their target.
-2 45 cal pistols were named Cold Steel and Killing Frost. 14 rounds, ice enchanted.
-3 40 cal pistols, “Tri-Disaster.” Meant to be used together. Could be straightened (to look much like pump action shotguns) and linked together in a circle to form a revolving wearable item. 10 round clips.
-1 60 cal gauss gun, “Devastator”. Fuelled with blood, preferably that of one's opponents. If no ammo is found, will draw it from host. NOT to be trifled with.
-2 30 cal SMGs . “Wolfsbane”. Appropriately Silver enchanted. 30 rounds each
-2 20 cal SMGs. No names, but i could TELL that they were twins.
-4 40 cal SMGs. auto fire. could be linked much like Tri-Disaster. 20 rounds each. I named them Quadratix.

In the armour cache there was a set of six suits of pony armour. Odd. It was like grandpa had known..... had expected... Nah, it couldn't be... could it?

Anyway, there were two Pegasus sets, two Earth Pony sets and two for Unicorns. All of them were capable of holding several clips of ammunition, but they all differed from each other beyond that. Being fit for close combat, the armour for Earth Ponies was heavy, built for durability and had several built in weapons. Kind of like being a living Swiss army knife. Still, despite being “heavy” armour it was deceptively light and allowed a lot of freedom of movement. Holds two guns. 

Being good for hit and run tactics, the Pegasus sets came complete with wing-blades. One had holsters for two guns, one for three. Then there were the Unicorn suits, which were lighter and included holsters for holding up to 4 guns.

I looked at one of the Earth Pony ones. On one side was an inscription. “For the honour of Celestia.”

“Is there something my grandparents haven't told me?” i wondered.
Either way, i put my hoof to my mouth, “Phhht! Oh. So that's why Ponies can't whistle.” i instead shouted “HEY, EVERYPONY! I STRUCK GOLD!” 
A few moments later, my herd was downstairs.

“Check these out!” i said as they came in.

“Whoa!” said Kendo, examining the guns. “These are master-craft level!”

Thunder examined one of the Pegasus suits. It was as blue as the night sky, with lightning like highlights. “WOW! These are gonna be difficult to get on. What's this?” he saw the inscription. “By the power of Luna?”

Suddenly the suit pretty much came to life, forcing its way onto him. As the change completed, he shouted “I have the Power!!!”

After that, he gave himself the once over. “Whoa! Awesome! So THAT's how you get these on!” 

Eager to try ours on, we each said the code phrases embossed in our respective suits, effectively donning them. As I put mine on, I felt a surge of power. I felt... dangerous!

“Okay, Ponies, Here's how this will go. Kendo Rein, do we still have those swords you got for us? I think we'll need them. Take the Hellraisers, too.”
He did so and the guns shone, as if... imprinting on him. “On it GL!” he exclaimed, holstering the guns and running up the stairs.
“Thunder Roller, take Tri-Disaster.” He did so, experiencing the same effect.
“Crystal Charmer, take Quadratix. Caramel Cream, take the Wolfsbane twins. Whisper Wishes, i'm entrusting you with Cold Steel and Killing Frost. Also take Devastator, but BE. CAREFUL. With it. It runs on blood.”

I took the two nameless guns. I didn't know their names, but I could tell that we were going to have fun.

We all took several clips of ammunition and attached them to our armour. I was about to load up the nameless ones. “Okay, everypony.” I said, finishing the loading with an audible “ch-ch'k” sound. “In the words of a certain superhero duck, *ahem* Let's. Get. Dangerous.” I said, making my voice go really low.

“Wow. With a voice like that, you make him sound like a pussy!”

Anyway, we first scoped out the playing field. There were twelve timber wolves, two for each of us. I said l, “On my mark.” When the wolves were more or less in a good position I counted. One, two..
“Three!!!”

We all dashed out the door, into the fray. I saw Whisper stab one wolf with Devastator, drawing in some of its blood. The weapon started glowing, showing it's readiness to be fired. I lost track as I neared my targets. Drawing Luciendar, I racked my brain for a war cry. “Princeeeeeeess Celestiaaaaa!!!” i shouted. Rushing toward the ligneous lupines. 

Drawing one of the nameless ones with my tail and the other with my off hand, i fired five rounds into each wolf, to... little effect. Slashing with Luciendar i caught the ear of one wolf, drawing amber coloured fluid. A sound effect came up. “First blood!” then disappeared.
The other wooden canid howled in pain, trying to swipe at me, to no avail. I dodged that attack by sliding under it, pummelling it's underbelly with my hooves as i went past, causing it to cry out in understandable agony. However the first brought the severed ear to it's former place and, to my surprise, it reattached itself.

I tried shooting it again. Nothing happened.... until one of the bullets from the second gun struck the first's. The bullets exploded in a fiery display, practically melting part of the wolf. I tried the same with the other wolf, but in reverse. This time the two exploded in an icy effect, which traced its way across the wolf, freezing it entirely. A swipe from Luciendar cleaved the frozen beast in two. “Try healing THAT!” i exclaimed.
Landing nearby, i brought up the two guns. One now glowed golden yellow, the other icy blue. I said to them, “I think i'll call you... Fusion and Chiller.”

The names i had given the guns appeared on their sides, and i felt the two attuning to me. It felt really odd.
A voice inside my head said, “And so the deed is done.”
“Huh? Who's there?”
“Us, master. You have named us, and so have tamed us.”
“Any particular perks to that?”
“Well, you can summon us at will, you can have us act independently of you, while, say, you go attack the enemy. 
You can also have us assume other forms. For example our vehicular form, which is a pony friendly motorcycle. 
Yes, much like a regular one, but much cooler.”
“Oh. Sweet!”
“That isn't even the good stuff. However, master, i suggest that you dwell on that later, AFTER the battle?”

I looked to my right. The remaining wooden wolf was taking large bites out of a tree. It was using the wood to heal itself!
“I don't think so!” i shouted at it as i fired four rounds off. The bullets hit their mark, burning and subsequently... FREEZING the inflamed wolf.... some... how.....
New technique: Frozen Flame

Either way, the whole structure collapsed, leaving little but cold, burnt pieces of wood. One especially caught my eye. A perfectly cylindrical log of it. Timberwolf heartwood. My mind supplied. Many uses, very durable, nigh on fireproof, very valuable, extremely dangerous to acquire.
I noticed another such log in the remains of the other Timberwolf.
“Chiller. Fusion.”
“Yes Master?” the two queried in chorus.
“Can you relay a message to my friends to save those logs? I have an idea.”
“Your will be done.” they answered, zooming off to do so.

Returning inside i removed my armour and placed it back where i got it. I thanked Princess Celestia for this providence.

“Celestia be praised.”
So saying, a paned opened up nearby. it had a notebook in it. On the book was the title. 

“Journal of Flare Rider and Peach Fields.”

What?

I flipped to the first page and read aloud.

“Log 1. Ponified. 
I must say that on the list of things that we might have expected to happen at any point in our lives, turning into candy coloured horses wasn't one of them. Surprisingly, though, i seem to be able to use the hairs of my tail like extra hands and Linen seems to be able to use some kind of magic to manipulate things, so no trouble there. 
Anyway, when i was fully changed, my first reflex was to smith something. So i made this sword, putting a bit of myself into it, i guess.”

--ten minutes of reading later--

“Log 15. Peach just remembered a spell that will allow us to use our magic to appear human. That's good, because people were wondering why they hadn't seen us for a while. Dodged a butllet there, thank Celestia.”

So that explains how nobody ever noticed!

“Log 16. Memories fully restored. That Son of a jenny, Discord will PAY for what he did.”

--half an hour of reading later--

“Final log. This will be our last entry. Our lives are becoming short and the magic we use to appear human was putting a lot of strain on our bodies, shortening our lifespan. In this we give our best wishes to our son, Zenith. This house will be his inheritance, and here's hoping that he'll leave a legacy that will do us proud. If you're reading this, send Discord to Tartarus, child.”

“Grandma... Grandpa... i swear i will do you proud.” i said, tears streaming down my face. And sobs wracking my body.

I felt a hoof on my... shoulder? Is that the right word? Irrelevant. Either way, i tured to see Crystal Charmer, with a sad smile on her face, trying to comfort me. She had tears of her own, as did everypony else.

Then i noticed that Whisper Wishes wasn't among the assembled. 

We went back upstairs, to see Whisper tapping furiously at the computer's keyboard, mumbling something, several strands of her mane out of place.
“Uh... Whisper?” i ventured.
“Shhh!!!” she said. “Do you want to break my concentration!?!?”
“On what?”
she sighed and said “Let's put it this way, while we were fighting i narrowly avoided stepping in a patch of Poison Joke!”
“WHAT?!?!?!” we all exclaimed.
“SHHH!!!” Whisper shush-outed at us. “Your grandparents being ponies as well proves that that this didn't just start happening this year. It's been going on for years! And nopony noticed!! so, let's see, add this, plus.. factor in... aaaand.. there!” she finished, looking at the results. “Oh my.” she finished.

Re-estimated time to a-pony-ocalypse, 2 years

Oh my, indeed!
> Chapter 8: Escalating Situations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 8: Escalating Situations 

Whisper wishes continued with what she was saying. “Yes, things are already changing. We already have ponies, timberwolves and poison joke, as far as we've seen. Things are getting worse. We need to prepare further. We need to help the ponies in need. We need to get this out, before something else happens.”

At that moment we heard a scream.

“HEEEEELP!!!!! Somepony HELP ME!!!”

“Like that?” asked Thunder Roller.

“Not what i meant, but...” Whisper replied.

I took the initiative and started galloping out the door, saying, “I'll take care of it.” as i went.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When i made it to the source of the scream, i saw a human in black clothes having just chased down a pony and tackled her, trying now to stuff the pony, a pegasus into a bag of some kind.
“Stop squirming, you!” the man said.

“Oh, yeah, like i'm gonna do that!!” the pony retorted, redoubling her efforts to get free.
I stepped up and said, in my best intimidating “Stop right there, criminal scum!!!” 
Man i always wanted to say that!

“Huh?! Who do you think you are?” the man said, addressing me.

“Allow me to introduce myself. For the honour of Celestia!” i exclaimed, my armour appearing and attaching to me. I immediately felt the rush of power that came with the suit.
I reflexively took out a badge from... somewhere... or... other, stating that i was a member of the Canterlot law enforcement division. “Winter Fields, Royal Law Enforcer, First Class.”

“Oh, thank Celestia! Help me out here! I have a bunch of-” the pony quickly zipped her lips, cutting off what she was saying.

“Oh, so there's more of you, eh? It turns out that you ponies go for a pretty penny. A few hundred thousand o' them apiece. People want you and we're gonna be rich if we can supply that demand.”
Enough reason for me.
“I think not.” i said, readying to charge. As i galloped toward the man, two more stepped from the shadows, raising pistols.

“Fusion! Chiller!” I ordered my guns sub-vocally “Low power, tranq rounds. We don't want to kill them.”

“Yes Master.” they said.
With my tail, i grabbed my two weapons and fired four rounds at them but not before they returned fire at me. Fortunately my armour protected me, but they were packing some serious heat! .45's at least.
The two men went down, but not without putting some dents in my protection.
The last man had succeeded in stuffing the pegasus into the bag and was making tracks.
“Halt!” i said, to no avail. (sigh) That never works.
Accelerating, I had to fire eight rounds, the extra speed affecting my accuracy, but i tranq'd him as well, and caught up to him, releasing the pony from the bag. Burlap, as it turned out.

“Oh, THANK you, miss. It was REALLY stuffy in there.”

“Get to safety.” i said.
I didn't have to tell her twice! She booked it toward the house, but took an abrupt left turn.

I turned back toward the downed man.
“You ponies are more dangerous than i thought. You don't belong in this world.”

Pouring some of my earth pony magic into my teeth, i bit the man. I then said “Yeah, but we all used to be human, you know. Possibly more human than people like you. None of us really “asked” for this, and here you are, oppressing us just because you can, just because you're bigger.”
As with the previous guy, i bit the other two as well. “Let's see how YOU like it. Welcome to the herd, ya plot-holes.”

i raised one hoof and stomped the ground, causing vines to ensnare the men.
With that, i went off, searching for the pony.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even if you had no tracking skills at all, you could clearly see the trail she left. Chearly she was in a hurry. I followed her trail, which led me to a large tree, under which were the mystery pegasus and six foals of varying ages and races. I didn't notice before, but she had a busted wing (very large, by the way) and a few bullet holes in her underside.

She smiled sadly and said “These aren't my foals, but i found them along the way. My name is Sunny Flutter. I'm Fluttershy's daughter. I used to be... to... be...” She was struggling to remember, but was having trouble. The transformation had made her forget her name.

“I'm Winter Fields. Come with me, we'll get you fixed up.”
“Wait!” she said. “What of these little ones? I can't feed them anymore and they'll die alone if they stay here.” Sunny rolled further to one side and i saw that her teats had been shot. As it was, she wouldn't be able to produce much milk. And what she could... ugh. Who knows?
Mewling and babbling, the little ones climbed onto Sunny's back. I responded by lifting her onto my back, careful not to knock the little ones off.
“Comfy?” i joked

“Yeah. Comfy like a sack of flour.” she responded hoarsely.
I chuckled as i brought her toward the house.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunny Flutter's POV

When i awoke i was on a comfortable bed. I tried to get to my belly,feeling something squish against me. My eyes opened i shock! I hadn't felt that since...

i looked at my underside and saw my filled teats, repaired, good as new! 
There were little sucking noises as i also saw the little foals i was protecting suckling at me, taking turns politely, quite unlike children. 
A bit of motherly love bloomed within me. Whether these were really my foals or not, they clearly thought they were. They had imprinted on me as if i was their mother, so....

I smiled and tried to get some sleep.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“How is she?” I asked Caramel Cream.

“Weak, but she's okay. Her wounds are healed, so she just needs to rest.”

“I'm glad.” I said. “If she was hurt, or captured, those little foals....”

“That's in the past. You saved her and she can protect and feed them now.”

Kendo Rein said “You did well, Winter. Be proud of yourself. Get some rest.”

“Thanks. I'll do that.” i replied.
“By the way,” i said before walking away to my room, “here may or may not be three more ponies coming soon. Watch out for 'em. They may be a little confused and/or.... upset.”
i chuckled as i went to my room. It was a productive day. Seven ponies saved. Things were getting interesting, and i didn't doubt that this was juuuuust beginning.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Sunny Flutter)

Later on, i awoke once more. I felt refreshed and healed. Whatever my “doctor” had done, they were truly miracle workers!

“Ah, so you're awake.” a voice said. “feeling better?”
“Much, thanks.” i said.
“I'm Caramel Cream, your nurse for today. Just roll over, i need to check your wounds, real quick.”

i obliged and she poked and prodded, asking if any of it hurt at all.
At length she finished and said “Good news! You look to be completely healed. Just a little scarring, but besides that, you'll be just fine.”
“Thank you so much! I'm not even sure what I’d do if my little ones were to come to harm, or would go hungry if i-”
“You can stay as long as you want. Don't worry. We'll keep you -and your little ones- safe.”
Then i did something reflexive. Something i never thought i would just.... do.
I nuzzled her. I actually reached over, pulled her in for a hug, and nuzzled her.
“Thank you! Thank you SO much!!” i exclaimed, tears of joy springing to my eyes. 

Gah! This pony personality of mine was a LOT more emotional than i was used to. And three times too touchy-feely. At any moment i was liable to hug someone or burst into tears!

Okay, maybe i'm exaggerating a bit.

Anyway, miss Cream left me to rest. She gave me a clean bill of health (figuratively) and said that i was free to go or stay as i wished. After much consideration, i decided to live in one of the houses nearby.

Later on, i was lying down on one of the couches. One of my foals (i named him Spring Zest, for his limey colouration) trotted up to me and tugged on my hoof, which was dangling over the side of the couch. “Mama? Where are we?”
He called me mama. HE CALLED ME MAMA!
I barely contained a squeal of joy, but answered his question.
“Home, Spring. We are Home.”
....
Celestia damn it, i'm crying again!

> Chapter 9: Unexpected Visitors
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was fairly late in the day and we were all relaxing, waiting for new arrivals to come. Then some people we DIDN'T expect to-in fact, that we hoped wouldn't- come. There was a knock at the door. I looked out an upstairs window. There were several members of my family. My cousins Robin, Alan, Sarah, Brynn and Sharen, my brother Jaden... they were all here!

“Zenith? Come on, i know you're here.” Jaden said.

Oh horseapples! I couldn't just not let him in.

I came downstairs, head hanging. “Okay,” i said, “but two things: don't laugh, don't come in just yet.”
Agreeing to that, my family members backed up. When i opened the door and stepped out, there were mixed reactions, mostly confusion. My brother was smiling.
“Ah! Ah! What was the first?” i said, glaring. 

He swallowed his laugh.

“Okay, here's the story. You may want to sit down.”
Caramel Cream brought some Chairs, waving before trotting back inside. At the confusion of my guests i said, “Essentially, it's Pinkie Pie, don't question it.”
Anyway, i told them the whole story, from the party to the shopping spree, to the realizations we had come to, to our appearance on Ellen's show.

“So, that's why you can't come in, unless you want to be ponified. I wouldn't suggest staying long, either. I can't guarantee that your.... transition will be as painless as ours.” i turned my head away, ears drooping. It hurt me to deny my family, but that's the way it is.
I felt arms around me. Sharen had come over and hugged me.
“I don't care. I just wanna be with my cousin!”
The rest echoed her sentiment.
I was crying as i smiled at them. “Thanks everyone. Or, soon to be everypony.”
With that we strode in.
Almost immediately they were hit by the miasma of magical energy. Brynn being the youngest was affected first.
“Ugh... i don't feel so good, suddenly.” she said. Immediately afterwards there was a burst from either side of her legs, making a hole in her pants on both. If you looked, you would see a camera and a couple of rolls of film adorning her soon-to-be flanks. Suddenly, Alan and Robin's marks appeared, a small pile of candy-coloured crystals, -all cut in differing ways-, and a hammer with wings beside an anvil, respectively.
“Phase 1: the cutie mark.” i explained.
“Cutie... what?” my brother asked.
“Does sound kind of girly doesn't it? Anyway, a cutie mark represents a pony's talent/calling in life. As Brynn's represents her talent with photography, Robin's talent in gem crafting and so forth. It's usually also related to the name, but not always.” i turned to the side, revealing my mark. “My talent is mostly plant related, especially the ability to grow them in Winter. Hence my new name, Winter... Fields. .”
“Oh. That's... actually kind of cool.” Jaden said.

Moments later, the cutie marks of the rest appeared, Sarah's being one of a white karate gi with a black belt, Sharen being that of one of the swords of power from Masters of the Universe, with, oddly, a pair of running shoes. Jaden had one that looked like a ponified jack of hearts with several different tools around the frame, clearly a “jack of all trades”, with flaming wings.

“And you've only just entered the house. It will get no easier on you. Your cutie marks have appeared, so for all intents and purposes, you're ponified. You just need to go through the other changes. While we're at it, you may as well pick new names for yourselves.” 
They said without hesitation;
“Shutter Bug!”
“Dapple Fields!”
“Crystal Jewel! Wait...”
“Solar Darling!”
“Summer Darling!”
“Flame Runner.”

Wow. They found their names quickly.

“I should also warn you that one or more of you might... lose or... gain something?” i grinned awkwardly, but next to me appeared a picture with Twilight Sparkle grinning in a similar fashion with the caption “Awk-ward”. I punched it and it disappeared.
Ignoring what happened, 'Shutter Bug' said, “What do you mean?”
“I used to be a dude. Think about it.”
They did.
“Look, in pony society mares outnumber stallions at LEAST 3 to 1, if not more.” i continued. “it's just as likely that there'll only be one or two males among your number when your changes are done. Jaden- i mean, 'Flame Runner', I'm betting it'll be you.”

There was a little mumbling among them as they discussed what this might mean.

“Don't worry about it too much. At least, not just yet. There are plenty of advantages to being a pony.” i tried to assuage them.
“Oh?” Summer Darling queried
“Yeah.” i said, bringing a chart out of nowhere. “Now, you see, all Ponies have a few things in common. Things that would usually set them right above humanity at the top of the food chain, if we were that way.”
“Like what?”
“Oh, like sharper senses, for example. Our hearing is far beyond a human's, our sense of smell can rival drug sniffing dogs, our sight is greatly improved, our sense of taste, exquisite. The only disadvantage there....” i clopped my hooves on the floor for emphasis. “Is our sense of touch, which we can circumvent in a few ways. Anyway, we also have increased stamina, an infectious bite (if you can draw blood, as I've recently discovered), ability to hold things in your hooves,” i demonstrated with a coin that i coincidentally saw, “a body that can take a beating, and, if you play your cards right, you can live HUNDREDS of years. And that's just for starters. There are fringe benefits for each tribe.”

“I'm beginning to like where this is going....” Dapple Fields said, in a sing-songy tone.

Ignoring that, i continued. “Now, see, I’m an Earth Pony. We're stronger and tougher than the other tribes, we have fine manipulation of our hair,” i said, making several strands of my tail grab several objects, moving them around for a moment, before putting them back.
“Which is why a lot of earth ponies you'll see in the show have their manes -and sometimes tails- tied in some way until they need it. Also, we have a strong connection to the earth beneath our hooves, so we can influence nature in that manner. We're the druids of the triad.”

My audience was nodding at this, clearly interested, now.

“Most notable among us Earth Ponies is Big Macintosh. He has more power in a twitch of his tail than a standard Earth Pony. He can lift an entire stove/oven set with one hoof and carries massive cartloads of apples here and there! Also, the Apple family's trees are almost always fit to burst with fruit.
“Next, Pegasi. Pegasi can fly (also having fine manipulation of their wings, like earth ponies with their manes and tails), and walk on clouds, which is amazing in and of itself, but they can also manipulate weather, like stomping on a cloud will cause rain to fall. Kicking it with intent to make lightning will cause that. Some Speedsters can even go around in a wide circle and make a tornado!
Most notable among them is Rainbow Dash.”

At this point a clip appeared.

“Rainbow says that she's the fastest in the world. And you know what? She's right! From calculations according to.... this guy,”
A few snickers were heard at that.
“Rainbow can fly around 5 times the speed of sound with ease, the mach cone that often forms around her while she's flying proves that she can break the sound barrier and the angle of which proves that she can reach up to mach 5 speeds.
Upon breaching mach 5 she enters hyper sonic speeds to create the Sonic Rainboom, which doubles her speed INSTANTANEOUSLY to mach 10!”

“Whoa!” the collected gasped.

“Anyway,” i said as the clip disappeared, “You might say that Pegasi are the Scouts of Equestria.”

A picture appeared of Rainbow Dash in a cub-scouts uniform.

“I said SCOUTS.” i said, tapping the picture with a hoof and thus changing it

it changed to one of RD in an army uniform, carrying light arms.

“Let's try that again.” i said, slightly more insistent, tapping again.

It FINALLY changed to one of RD as a Scout from Team Fortress 2. My audience was chuckling at my antics.


“Sorry. Those can be convenient when they show what i want them to, but..... Anyway, Unicorns are next. They're the most versatile with their magic, as you can surely imagine. Theirs is the more....” i paused to think of a proper word, ““classical” kind of magic. Be it levitation or teleportation, Unicorns are the mages of the pony-verse. There's a nearly unlimited number of applications for their magic.”

There were varied reactions to this about how cool all of that was.

“So....” Flame Runner started, “is... there any way to tell which kind we'll become?”
I sighed at this, my ears drooping to reflect my mood shift. “If there is, i don't know it.”
To change the subject, i said, “Well, since the process has already started, you might as well come in and meet my friends. Again.”

I led my guests into the house proper, and they marvelled at what we'd done with the place. It was much cleaner than it was before we came, there were even a few decorations around the place, to enhance the feng shui effect. This was the living room, the main thoroughfare for most of the house. It was a wide, expansive area, nearly as big as a hotel room -possibly bigger, depending on the hotel- by itself. It led to the kitchen, the bathroom, the dining room, the sun room, the rec-room, the- well, you get the idea. It was also where we had completed our changes. As if to accentuate that last point, the next change suddenly happened in my family guests. The ears. When it happened, they all went deaf for a quarter-moment, but then their new ears appeared a couple of seconds later.

“Phase two.” i said, “The tails/ears.”

“That kinda hurts.” Shutter Bug commented, to the agreement of the others.

"That's because of the magical energy saturating this place. Ponies emit it at different rates, depending on the pony, but all of them do. Anyway, that means that the changes will happen faster, more abruptly than ours did. This was where our changes... finalized, so of course there's still lots. By the way, the fact that you all grew tails before ears means that you're ALL going to be mares.”

"WHAT?!?!" they exclaimed in unison

At this point Crystal appeared at the top of the stairs and said "Yo! Winter! who do you have here?"
"Ah, Crystal Charmer! you're just in time! come and meet my family members, here, soon to be our newest... Guests." i said.

After quick introductions were made, i got everyone else introduced to... well, everyone else.
"Come. Let's get you all settled in."
Everyone went to claim their own rooms, bringing in what they had, for, come the morning, they might not have hands to bring it in with!

Once we knew the types of ponies they would become, we would better be able to gauge what they could do, and what kind of training they would require, thus the sooner we would be able to put them to work.. Until then, all we could do was wait.
> Chapter 10: Training Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10: Training Day

The next day, more changes had occurred.. Now they were all sporting pony ears. Further, Solar Darling and Flare Rider had wings, Shutter Bug and Crystal Jewel had horns, Dapple Fields and Summer Darling had neither.

As such, Thunder Roller was to train our soon-to-be Pegasi, Crystal Charmer was to train our soon-to-be Unicorns, and i would train the soon-to-be Earth Ponies.

---Later---

“Okay, Summer? Dapple?” i called out.

“Yes ma'am!” they replied in unison, saluting.

“Okay. Now, to learn Earth Pony magic, you must first unlearn what you have learned.” i said in a meditative/philosophical/mentor-ish tone.

Summer Darling bonked herself on the head (lightly) “Done!” she said, causing Dapple Fields to burst into giggles, and me to roll my eyes.

“Just sit down and close your eyes for a minute.” i said, slightly exasperated.

They did so and i continued. “Now, search for a power within you that wasn't there before.”

They squinted for a moment in concentration.

“Not so hard! Don't force it. Just FIND it.” i cautioned.

They lightened their mental probing when Summer said “I think i've got it! It feels kind of... green-y.”

“Good! Excellent! Now, feel along that connection, find where it ends.”

She did so and immediately her eyes flew open. “WHOA!! The very earth beneath me... it's practically EXUDING power!”

I grinned. “Yes! And THAT is your first lesson. The Earth holds great power. The second, well, in the words of Uncle Ben...”

“With great power, yadda yadda?”

“Precisely.”

At that moment, Dapple Fields gasped and exclaimed excitedly, “i feel it! I feel it!” her eyes snapped open, I noticed that that they were completely green, similar to when, in the show, Twilight uses her god-mode powers. 

“Oh no. Not good.”

Using my magical sense, i found that she was standing over a lesser Ley line. That was TWICE as not good!

“What is it?” Summer asked.

“Oh, she's having a magical surge. And right over a Ley line too.” i replied matter-of-factually.

“And... what does that mean?”

“Essentially it means GALLOP- er, RUN LIKE YOU'VE NEVER RUN BEFORE!!!!!”

We started running as all Tartarus broke loose. Being an Earth Pony, primarily, the first thing that happened was that an explosion rocked the earth beneath her, creating a spherical wall of rock and dirt around her, (Again, much like Twilight's magic  created a sphere of energy around her.)

We ran like the wind as spikes of various forms of rock began to shoot up from around us. One formed up right before Summer.
“Look out!” i warned, too late. She ran into that spike of magically charged earth, falling to the ground, dazed. A moment later a cloud of white dust was heading toward her. Something registered in my mind about that particular brand of dust, but i couldn't tell what. I was caught up in an overpowering compulsion to save her from it,.

“NO! I won't let it happen again!!!” i shouted, running toward Summer and the ever-encroaching cloud.
At the last moment i put myself over Summer, protecting her from the dust, but taking the brunt of it myself. I began to feel numb all over, could feel the world slipping away, darkening slowly as Dapple Fields' surge ended. It then occurred to me was what kind of dust that was.

Petrification.

---Dapple Fields---

I awoke in serious pain.

"Ugh, did somepony catch the number on that truck?"

Then i saw the landscape around me.

“Oh... What have i done?!”

I put a hoof to my- wait, hoof?
Yes, indeed, my surge had caused me to become fully pony. I decided that that wasn't as important as the first thing i saw. Devastation.

I galloped over to where my friends were, only to see that Summer was crying. A moment later, i saw why.

Winter Fields, my cousin on Earth, my... Sister in Equestria? I knew that wasn't right for some reason, but couldn't place how anymore. Rither way, she was just... standing there. Literally turned to stone.

“NO!!!” i shouted. “Winter, no!!!” i began to cry over her, as Summer made room.

“This is all my fault! She warned me... she TOLD me not to force the magic... BUT I DIDN'T LISTEEEEN!!!”

Summer came over and hugged me. “It wasn't your fault. You had no idea that this would happen. Come on, let's get her back to the house. Carefully.” 

With that we began to carry the statue of my sister back to the house. It was much harder doing so on four legs, but we managed. When we got back, the others were curious as to what happened. 

“I had a magical surge during training. I don't know what happened, but...” we set down the statue of Winter Fields.

Everypony started to cry, to mourn for her, or to comfort me, but then we heard a crack. Then another. And another! Looking to Winter's petrified position, more and more cracks appeared on her! Then all at once stone shattered and rained all over! In the center of it, dusting herself off, was Winter Fields, back in the flesh!

“Whoo! THAT was interesting. Now i know how the Thinker feels.” she said, brushing herself off. “I'll be the one who decides when it's time for tears, thank you very much.” she continued, puffing out her chest proudly.

As one we all hugged her. “How did you do that?!” i cried. “I thought you were a goner, for sure!”
“Well...”  she started.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Winter Fields-

As the dust began to coat me, i had little time to spare! I concentrated some energy into making a thin coating of plain ol' dirt around me, thereby mitigating most of the effect of the petrification dust. It would still get me stuck and would dull my senses, but if i made the effort, hopefully i'd be able to break out before i asphyxiated.

The world faded to black, but i still retained some sense of consciousness. I could hold my breath for a fairly long time, but i was still running out of it. So, i began to strain at the thick rocky barrier, trying my possible to break free of it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“WOW!” Summer Darling said, eyes wide and sparkling. “How did it feel being a temporary statue?”

“Well, let's just say that i felt like i had gained some weight. I think i'll be a mite stiff for a while, but not NEARLY as stiff as i could've been!”

Everybody/pony laughed, glad for her safety.

"Oh, and Dapple?"
"Yes si- I mean, Winter?"
"Tomorrow your training intensifies!"
"Wha?"
"An Earth Pony who can discover their power, unlock it and have a magical surge of THAT scale? Is somepony i want to have on MY side!"
> Chapter 11: The Difference Between Visitors and Guests
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 11:  The Difference Between Visitors and Guests

It was right around 6:00 pm when i heard a knock at the door. I heard a voice say “HEY! Open up!”
Another voice, this one with a British accent said “Dante! How often have i told you that you have to be POLITE when you do that?”
“Enough that i stopped really caring?”
A sigh came from the second.

I looked out the nearest window and sure enough, i saw one stallion with a coat the colour of a perfectly cooked  marshmallow. He had a white mane and tail accentuated with a silver stripe. He was also wearing a red jacket.. There was another one with an hourglass on his flank. Any Brony worth his moon pies would know that to be Time Turner... However, i was not a Whovian and at the time had no clue about the origins of some of the background ponies, so i never got the joke. So, anyway, i said the most sensible thing i could think of at the moment.

“Ain't nopony gettin' in to see the Wizard, no way, no how!” this caused one to burst into laughter and one to facehoof.

“Sorry, couldn't resist.” i apologized.

“Quite alright. Allow me to introduce myself. I am often called Time Turner or “The Doctor”” he said, proudly.

“Doctor.... who?” i queried, tilting my head slightly in confusion.

He looked smug and said, “Precisely. But 'The Doctor' will do. And anyway, this is Dante. My associate.”

Dante stepped forward and added proudly, “Son of Sparda, slayer of demons, cracker of wise....”

“Yes, yes. My impromptu apprentice. He followed me to this realm after entering the Tardis.”

“I was TRYING to find a phone.” Dante said defensively. “I was about to leave when you teleported the whole thing!”

“Well, if you hadn't entered and thrown off my calculations, it wouldn't have BROUGHT US HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!” Time Turner shouted. He was clearly quite sore about it; there was actual steam coming from his ears and nose. He must have been bottling that up for quite some time.

Sensing that things were escalating, i came over to him and said, “Whoa! Relaaaaax. Take a deep breath.” he obliged. “Now, how about i bring you guys inside and show you around?”

The two of them looked at each other, said a quick “Sorry” and entered.

We could hear the others in a conversation.
“-so then she said “No! I won't let it happen again!” and threw herself in front of me!” That was Dapple Fields, relating her story.

“Huh.” the rest said as one.

“I know, right? It was like she-”

“Remembered something from a past life?” I inserted.

“Winter!” Dapple said, leaping over and tackle-hugging me. “I can't thank you ENOUGH for saving my life!”

“You could... start by.... letting... me... breathe!” i gasped out.

“Oh! Sorry!” she said.

“Anyway,” i said, indicating our new guests. “Dante, and Time Turner.”

For their part, the two bowed respectfully.

“Oh.” Kendo said. “Well, if Winter's okay with you guys, then i am as well.” So saying, he turned and went further into the house before there could be any argument.

“Hey! Where are you goin'?” Crystal asked from a distance.

Kendo replied “To get our guests a berth. Help me out, here!”

i turned to the aforementioned pair. “Any bags?”

“We.... travelled light.” Time Turner said flatly.

“To say the least.” Dante finished.

“Suffice it to say that it's rather difficult carrying luggage with hooves..” 

Thunder chuckled and said “Yeah. I can see how it might be.”


As the two of them went upstairs, Dante looked over to his mentor, noticing a worries expression on his face. “Doc, i can tell when something's wrong. You're worried about something.”

“It's true. I just can't shake the feeling that i'm forgetting something.”

Suddenly a boom occurred outside.

“Oh, right. I was supposed to tell them that the people who they sent packing went right back to their leader, who is ever so slightly peeved.”

“You could have told us before, Doc.” Thunder Roller said, facehoofing.

“Well,” i said, “You know what to do, everypony! For the honour of Celestia!” I donned my armour and swiftly ran outside.

---------------------------

Just then, the leader of the attackers (along with his personal guard, 30 strong) was using heavy ordinance (namely a tank, specifically an M1A2 Abrams) to blow the grounds apart, . “Alright, smoke 'em out, men! Kill the white one, but try to capture the rest! They'll make fine merchandise. But if it so happens that you forgot to load tranq rounds... oops.”

“Yes sir!” his men said in unison.

“HEY!” i yelled, causing the men to turn. 

“This probably won't stop you, but I'm obligated to do so anyway.” I flashed my badge at them. "*Ahem* I am Winter Fields, Royal Law Enforcer, First Class. You're trespassing on private property and if you don't cease your careless destruction, you WILL be dealt with. With excessive force if necessary.”

“Ah, so YOU'RE the one who ponified my men. Good to know. They didn't have any fight left in 'em anymore, for some reason, so i just sold 'em. Have to recoup my losses somehow. I must say, you ponies do go for a pre-tty penny.” 

As he said that, i could see a silhouette behind him. If i wasn't concentrating on him, i might have noticed sooner.

“They were plotholes, but that... that's a breach of their rights.”

“Can't help that!” the man laughed. “I just find a need and supply it. As for who i sold 'em to? Confidential. Professional ethics and all, i'm sure you understand. Oh, and allow me to introduce myself. I am Antonio Santiago.” he turned to his employees. “MEN! Whoever downs this bitch will get paid triple this next month!” as he said this, the shadow behind him grew a little.

Needing no further invitation, the men started firing at me. Time slowed down as adrenaline rushed into my system. I rolled, avoiding a volley of fire. Then, getting to my hooves quickly, i leaped toward the first man, biting him on the shoulder and clocking him in the face. He flew back, taking out four other men in his path.

“For home and country!” i shouted, as my friends dashed out. “About time you guys showed up.” i said in a deadpan tone.

“Sorry GL,” Caramel said. “We had to get our “guests” squared away. Also, Crystal Charmer just finished a new invention of hers. Show 'em, Crystal!”

Crystal Charmer turned back and yelled “All Houses to Defcon 1!!!” With that, spell arrays appeared over all of the houses and metal plates began sliding over them, effectively protecting them from anything that our adversaries could throw at them.

“That's 8” thick steel plating, mind you. Also has a gas filtration system and acts as a semi-one-way screen. Pure air goes in, bad air comes out. The inhabitants could stay there for weeks and you still wouldn't get in.”

“Nice work, Crystal! How did you manage that?” i asked, quite impressed.

"I, uh... charmed some crystals? It just seemed to come naturally." she replied, looking briefly at her Cutie Mark, shaking her rear end slightly for emphasis.

“Oh. Well, the important thing is that now we can focus on the task at hoof. See if you can give them a bite (just enough to draw blood) and take them down without killing them. We don't want casualties. I'll tell you why later.”

We all split up, taking on a few of the men each. My friends were more than adequately equipped to deal with whatever came their way. 
I knew that that meant that i didn't have to look out for them.

Which also meant that i didn't have to hold back. Too much.

Looking toward my targets, who had fallen into a Continuous Fire formation (one fires, one ejects, one reloads) using shotguns. I knew that i had to time this correctly.

Time seemed to slow down for me again, signifying that this was my chance to strike. I leapt from my hiding spot, doing a flip in midair. I fired off a few rounds, which struck home inside my targets' weapons, quickly and effectively jamming them. Hitting the ground as time resumed its proper course, i rolled to the side.

I watched as the three pulled out machetes, charging toward me. Recovering, i sprang forward, shouting "Thousand Cuts!" i struck the first one eight times in sequence before dodging the sword of another. Sliding forward, i tripped the second and bit him on the leg as he went down.

I was slightly careless and left myself open for the third one's attack, just barely having time to have my armour take the brunt of the blow, still causing a small gash on my side. I stamped on the ground, causing a vine to trip the man, allowing me to get a nip in. The first was still out cold, so i got it over with and nipped him as well.

Looking back and seeing my friends mopping up, i nodded, galloping back toward them.

At length, Santiago said, “That's it! I've had enough!” he then fired an explosive that knocked us all back, shattering our defences and then some.

Battered, but not badly wounded, we were all struggling to our hooves, only to be hit with another blast. This one really stung, and had us all oozing blood from several places, myself being nearly knocked unconscious. 

Focusing hard, Crystal threw up a protective shield. “Guys,” she said, struggling to speak, “I... have an... idea. Follow.... my lead.” slowly she began to crawl toward me, the rest of them following suit. When they reached me, Crystal put a hoof on me and said, “From one... to another...” She started to glow with a light blue sheen.

Caramel seemed to know what was going on and said, “Another to... one...” as she started to glow as well, an orange colour.

I was rather confused. "What are you guys doing?" I queried.

Thunder nodded and joined in, “The mark.... of one's destiny,” glowing pink.

Kendo said, “Ah. Singled out alone, unfulfilled...” himself a red colour.

Whisper, now glowing dark blue, wheezed, “From all of us.... together...”

they began to speak in unison, their colours flowing into me, (and through me, each other) causing me to glow a bright violet “Together... we're friends. With the marks of our... destinies made one, there... is magic without end!!!”

There was a bright flash as Crystal's shield shattered from another barrage of explosive force.

“What the hell?!?” Santiago shouted as he covered his eyes, a blinding flash emanating from us..

---------------
Briefly i could feel myself taken to a rather empty realm, looking like the skies were clouded and the floor made of stars. As i walked forward i saw pictures fly by, of all the good times, both as humans and ponies, in both lives. I could see us using our heads to get free of a quarry-like area. Me helping some reindeer raise crops, us building houses together; a more recent memory, and many more! As i looked around, i could feel something building within my heart. I could see a spark of energy come out from my chest and re-enter, causing me to rise into the air, magic surrounding me. And then--
----------------

Revitalized, i stood (or rather, flapped my wings subconsciously, some distance in the air), feeling more alive than i ever had. I could feel magic coursing through me, an unfinished spell begging to be released. I looked down at my battered friends, still glowing. 

Understanding, i said, “From one to another, another to one, A mark of one's destiny, singled out alone, unfulfilled. From all of us together, we're family, we're friends. With the marks of our destinies made one and shared by each other, let there be magic without end!” a spell flowed from me back to them, uniting us, somehow.

It was said that at that moment, stallions around the world bowed as one. When later asked why, they would answer "It was the proper thing to do."

We all instinctively shouted out, respectively,

“Sincerity!”

“Respect!”

“Charity!”

“Diligence!”

“Ingenuity!”

“Kinship!”

We all rose into the air, magic linking us together. 

Suddenly, coloured streaks appeared in our manes and tails, images of our cutie marks appearing on- aw, buck it. You know what Rainbow Power looks like, don't you?

“What the hell is going on?!?” Santiago shouted, incredulous.

Now that we were so linked, there was obviously a dark shadow over the man, controlling his actions to some extent while still giving the illusion of free will.

“It's quite simple.” i said, “We each represent an Element of Harmony.”

“Bullshit! I watched some of that show for reference! There are only six!”

“That's where you're wrong.” Thunder said. “This only confirms my headcanon that there aren't just six elements. There are HUNDREDS!”

“WHAT?!?”

Whisper continued, “You see, mister Santiago, -or rather, whatever you are that's controlling him- every one of us has something that makes harmony work. We all have virtues. When united, they're more powerful than a small-spirited being like you could ever imagine.”

I nodded. "Something that purges the darkness within us all and unites us as.... family, of a sort.” 

“Something especially strong in us ponies. Which you will understand sooner, rather than later.” Kendo put in.

“Meaning?” Santiago queried.

“Look around!” Caramel said. “Your men that we took down. They're beginning to understand what it means.”

He did indeed look around. His men were quickly absorbing the magical energy in the air that we were exuding, getting to their hooves and bowing to us in respect. They were beginning to understand that some things re more valuable than money. And since most o them had their Cutie Marks, it could be inferred that they all were starting to realize/understand their place in the world.

“Also, look at yourself!” Crystal said.

Santiago looked at himself, his hair was beginning to grow into a mane. “No! This can't be!”

"Furthermore, we have five final words for you." we said in unison.

“Which are?”

“TASTE THE RAINBOW MOTHER BUCKER!!!”

The magic between us became a beam of prismatic light and fired forth, consuming the man that was Antonio Santiago. It purged all evil from him, leaving behind a small colt. 

“I... understand now.” he said quietly. “Thank you.” and he fell asleep.

The dark presence rose into the air and was ripped to shreds by an invisible force.

"I wonder if Sunny Flutter has room for one more?" i half joked, as the harmonic energy dissipated. and we reverted to previous forms. Or so we thought.

“But, your majesties," One of the new stallions spoke up. “What about us?”

“”Your majesties”?!“ we shouted in unison. Then we looked at each other. We were ALL Alicorns now AND accessed Rainbow Power, and we hardly thought about it until now! At this we all laughed.

“Come on, let's get these folks squared away.”

“Speaking of.” Crystal said, “All houses, Defcon 5!” she shouted.

As we walked back and the defences deactivated, I said “You know, everypony? I'm glad to have you as my.... family. I love you all.” I said, embracing them all.

“Ow! My ribs still hurt from that last blast.” Kendo said, wincing.

“Sorry!”
> Chapter 12: Dealing With It
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, if i'm understanding this correctly," I said, skeptically, "That little device is supposed to be able to tell you what changes we've gone through aside from the obvious."

"The sonic screwdriver has a multitude of uses, actually." Time Turner said, smugly. "Offensive, defensive, supportive and, yes, scientific as well. Don't sass it. Now, let's see..." 

He activated the small object and a small scanning field appeared briefly, passing over each of us for but a couple of seconds. After checking its readings, he said, "Ah. I see. Firstly, youi're all taller, have both wings and a horn, and... harder, better, faster, stronger. You already know these things. Moving on. Ah. Here we  go. Each of you are now inextricably linked to your Element, your virtue. For example, Miss Cream. Try telling a lie."

"Um... Okay." Caramel said. "My name is La- is Llll-ll-ll.... Is Lah...(1)"

I thought for a moment. "What do you think of myself and Kendo?"

Caramel immediately replied, "I totally ship it." then an instant later, she put her hooves to her muzzle, eyes wide in surprise. "I totally didn't not mean that! I mean, i did mean that! I mean- Oh, cinnamon sticks!" she finished, defeated.

"As you can see, miss Cream, being related to the element of Sincerity, can no longer lie." Time Turner confirmed. "And miss Fields, you treat everyone here with love."

"Of course." I said. "You all are like family to me." I then realized what i had just said.

"And our... new arrivals?"

"Misguided black sheep. Every family has a few." I replied istinctively.

"As you can see, miss Fields, reepresenting the element of Kinship, connects strongly to everypony she comes to know in a familial way."

There were assorted reactions around the room.

"Moving on," Time Turner said, befor stopping cold, a blush appearing on his face. "Oh, my." he muttered.

"What? What is it?"

"Well, you aren't going to like it, but if you'll all kindly check your undersides, you'll notice soon enough."

We did as asked. Sure enough, i could see that my teats were slowly swelling and i also had... a n unidentified spot. I poked it and felt a jolt of pleasure. My eyes shot wide open. as what that was made itself known, slowly beginning to poke outward. Yep. This is a stallion's cock. 

Around the room, there was a chorus of "WHAT THE BUCK?!"

And just when i'd gotten used to identifying myself as a mare.

(one explanation later,)

"So if i'm to understand," Kendo said, "we're all hermaphrodies, all constantly producing milk..."

"Yes, and if your semen so much as touches the entrance of a mortal mare, she'll become pregnant. No questions asked. Also, stallions and mares alike will find your scent intoxicating when you're aroused. Which will happen more often than you might think."

"So it won't be long until we're bucked in every sense of the word i actually mean." Thunder Roller summarized.

"That's about the size of it. You're supposed to represent all of ponykind. That implies masculine and feminine alike." Time turner confirmed. "Celestia and Luna had centuries of practice with suppressing their... desires. You won't be so lucky. Uh... back to the topic of your changes, if you check the inside of your right hind leg...

Looking there, i saw a symbol like an Egyptian ankh.

"Your particular brand of immortality. No, don't tell me what it is. It'll only be a liability if anything happens. Though, as a bit of slight trivia, Princess Celestia's was shaped like a phoenix.(2)" 

We all exchanged glances, considering the implications. Could it be...?

"I'll say no more about that. Anyway..." he wisely decided to move on.

"Let's see... you'll have more muscle, but also more pudge."

I checked by pressing on my thigh. It did indeed indicate tightly corded muscle, but also had a fair bit of give.

"This is meant to generally make your forms more attractive. Successfully so, might i add. You're supposed to represent the best of all three races, so...." We all blushed at this.


"You might also notice that you're more than a bit hungry."

Now that he mentioned it...

"An alicorn's body is, in essence, mostly one big mana battery. Ergo, their stomach is like a furnace. Anything you eat -up to a certain point- becomes magical energy in your body. This is why Celestia was so fond of sweets. Cake was one of the few things that could be even remotely filling."

That made a lot of sense, when you think about it.

"To wit, i've arranged to have a celebratory feast made. Fortunately, this house's dining room is as generously proportioned as the rest."

"There's food?" Crystal queried.

As if on cue, a very large trolley was pushed into the room, with an assortment of things on it, from apple pie to shortbread.

"It's the least we can do for you, your majesties." The pony havong pushed the cart in said, before leaving.

"I'll leave you all to it." Time Turner said, snagging a piece for himself before leaving as well.

"Alright, everypony. Dig in!" i said.
> Chapter 13: Observations and Visitations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shortly after the intermission, the Doctor came back in.

"Shall we continue?" he asked rhetorically.

Waving that strange devide at us and fiddling with it, he found several things before, apparently, but hadn't the time to explain more.

"Now, let's recap: You're all more intrinsically linked to your elements, you're representative of all of the pony races-"

"Both genders." Thunder half-growled.

"Yyyyyes. And you all have your own brand of immortality. Now, as Alicorns, you will all have a few Domains that you have control of. Certain purviews under your power. For example, Thunder Roller here is the prince of the Skies. Try unfurling your wings, as much as you can."

Thunder got up and came to around the center of the room, where nothing would be knocked over. "I haven't fully explained to you guys about my wings. You see... I've been hioing their true form. It's one of my other... purviews? Clouds and clouding." With that, he concentrated and flared his wings... which were frankly ENORMOUS when he fully unleashed them! CONDORS don't have a wingspan like that! 

Outside, we could hear thunder reporting in the distance.

Inside, there was a round of applause.

Thunder bowed, refurled his wings and sat back down.

"Miss Fields naturally has the magics of Life and Love. Being the element of Kinship and all. But also the elemen of Video, as we've seen."

I said, "While we seem to be revealing secrets, i have something to tell you all as well." This got their attention right quick. "This isn't my first, second, third or even tenth life. I only started getting this recently, but as I understand, i possess a world hopping soul. When a world no longer needs me, i move on to the next, retaining what i've learned... but only get it in snippets after my 30th birthday. I'm supposed to find others to give a certain boon to, but..." I looked around at the assembled alicorns. "I think that destiny beat me to the punch on that."

"It's a good thing that we're getting this out of the way now." Time Turner said. "Less baggage for later."

Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. "Hello?" a familiar voice asked, before something else crashed through the door. 

"Okay. There are other Alicorns in here. I can smell 'em! Where are they?!"

"Rainbow Dash!" the first voice admonished. "The door was unlocked."

"So I'll buy them a new one. This leaves more of an impression than just walking through the door."

There was then the sound of hoof meeting face. "Ow." the other voice said bluntly, not sounding pained at all.

The door to the room was opened and sure enough, Princess Rainbow Dash hopped through. She took one look at the lot of us giving her a synchronized deadpan glare. Slowly, I arched one eyebrow.

"I think your first impression is officially ruined, Dash. Allow me?"

Next strode in Princess Twilight Sparkle herself. "Forgive my associate's brash behaviour. It is one of her defining flaws. As you likely well know, I am Twiliht Sparkle. We felt a vast amount of Alicorn magic from this direction just the other night."

"My wings started glowing. It was way weird." Rainboww interrupted.

Twilight rolled her eyes and continued. "So we came to investigate, hoping that we would find new allies. And -my friend here breaking your front door aside-" she half-snarled at the end, glaring at the cyan mare, "we hope that we can facilitate communications."

A clip appeared beside me. "Unnecessary addendum: And put an end... to hostilities"

The two of them were understandably shocked. In unison, they blinked twice, shook their heads, and Twilight went on. "Yeah. That."

Whisper said, raising both eyebrows, "Well, this should be interesting. How about we give you the five cent tour?" she asked our guests with that last bit.

Twilight said, excitedly, "I would likee that. Lead the way."

Rainbow said, "I'll see about fixing your door. Sorry about that."

"Intermission two." Time turner sighed. "More like intrruption two." he growled under his breath.
> Chapter 14: Odd Mornings (working title)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Caramel Cream]

I woke up feeling kind of bloated, and a bit nauseous. I dashed to the nearest toilet and was immediately losing whatever was left in my stomach. Ugh.

With that, I pussy-hoofed my way downstairs; carefully, as usual.

I found that Thunder Roller was making breakfast for the lot of us. Nearby there were several plates piled high with pancakes. By all appearances, he was fully intent on making breakfast for everypony!

I ambled over to a nearby couch and laid down, resting my head on a cushion.

Thunder, noticing my presence, said, "You okay, Caramel?"

"Nope." I said flatly, shifting to one side. "Let's just say I had to take care of something... a tad more unpleasant than usual."

Pointing at my exposed side, he commented "If those are what I think they are, then that won't be the only thing you'll have to take care of, pretty soon."

I looked confused, but then looked down at my side.

Emblazoned there, on either side, were symbols of an apple beside two cinnamon sticks(1).

Paternity marks; the cutie mark of... the one responsible(2). That could only mean one thing:

I was pregnant when Discord cursed us and it only just now came into effect.

My left eyelid twitched a few times.

"DISCORD, YOU F-"





I swore as much as my ponyisms would let me for the next solid minute. I was positive that somepony woke up.

"Feel better?" Thunder Roller asked.

I sighed. "Kinda? It felt good, but I  need to channel the rest of that emotion. If you need me, I'm going to the weight room. I have an appointment with the heavy bag."

As I walked off, Thunder Roller paused a moment, then said, "Wait, wait, wait... this place has a weight room?"

So saying, he started following me.




(Back to Winter Fields)

I yawned, sitting up in bed. I was feeling kinda off. A touch dizzy. And REALLY hungry, specifically for something sweet and sour.

Still not entirely awake, my magic poofed a large package of sour gummy bears into existence, the contents of the bag (once opened) floating into my mouth, more or less Higitus Figitus style(3). Minus the music.

After that, as the flavor hit me I noticed that I was using my magic unconsciously. And that it was still holding the now-empty package. I blinked twice; that was all the surprise I showed as I chewed silently.

I also noticed that one of my pillows was half the size it was previously.

Swallowing, I muttered, "I just know this is going to go to my flanks. In the... short term, anyway."

My stomach gurgled. Looking down, I noticed...

Marks of three apples, cut widthwise part of the way on one side... and a fireball on the other(4).

That was FAR more surprising. Perhaps the calories wouldn't be going to my flanks after all

My face flushed, the colour slowly spreading down my body until my whole coat was cherry red. My wings also spread wide.

Yep. Apparently, my transformation was officially complete, now. And I'd been in a threesome some time before being banished.

Suddenly, a video clip appeared beside me.


Now was a good time to go back to sleep.

I fainted. At least I was in the right place.
Another clip appeared.





(Kendo Rein)

I awoke to the sound of an angry shout.

"-BAREBACKING, BOTTOM WHORE, NAGGER DRAGOOON!"

There was the sound of heavy breathing.

"Feel better?"

"Kinda?"

I was still out of range for the rest of what the second said.

"Wait, wait, wait... this place has a weight room?"

My eyes widened; this I had to see!

"Hey! Wait for me!" I called.