PONID-21 Day 10 · 12:20am May 20th, 2020
—private-message—
Lisa 1/15/2021 7:21 AM
Was there an "us"?
Bob 1/15/2021 7:33 AM
Kinda hard to type. Hands too big and worried I might break this phone. Want to chat in person?
Lisa 1/15/2021 7:36 AM
Sure. You in the vehicle shed?
Bob 1/15/2021 7:44 AM
Just outside now. Way too big to fit in there.
Lisa 1/15/2021 7:45 AM
OMW
#general
Karen 1/15/2021 8:20 AM
Anypony want to talk about anything today, or should I pick somepony out of a hat?
Devon 1/15/2021 8:21 AM
Pfft! You said "anypony" and "somepony"! Somepony's progressing.
Karen 1/15/2021 8:23 AM
So I did and so did you. Interesting. If I focus, I can write everyone and someone, but if I just relax and type it comes out everypony and somepony.@Lisa Would you be able to do an interview with me?
Lisa 1/15/2021 8:25 AM
Sure, doc. Any reason I'm getting a second run through?
Karen 1/15/2021 8:28 AM
A few reasons. I have a baseline for you and I'd like to expand upon that and see in what ways, if any, you've changed. I also wanted to try something else, and I think you can help me with it.
Lisa 1/15/2021 8:30 AM
Sounds good. Before or after morning exams?
Karen 1/15/2021 8:31 AM
Before. You're going to be busy coordinating the pegasi group and selecting who will be seeing a doctor.
Lisa 1/15/2021 8:32 AM
I what?
Karen 1/15/2021 8:35 AM
With the new groupings established, we're going to have the group leaders meet with their group in the morning, discuss what's happening, and forward the most significant changers on to talk with a team of doctors. They will then meet back with your group in the afternoon and explain what happened.
Lisa 1/15/2021 8:36 AM
Cool. You coming down for breakfast?
—private-message—
Lisa 1/15/2021 8:37 AM
I take it Howards is decreasing the size of his team?
Karen 1/15/2021 8:38 AM
Yeah. There's been a few who were making noises about just leaving, and he didn't want them to foment any further stupidity like that news station.
Lisa 1/15/2021 8:40 AM
Okay, as soon as I'm done with breakfast, I'll meet up at your office. Do you want me to bring anything?
Karen 1/15/2021 8:41 AM
An apple if there's any left.
Lisa 1/15/2021 8:43 AM
We got Howards to get some fresh fruit and other things for Suzy and Steven. They're planning some big meal tonight.
Interview with Lisa Trent
female
age 23
ID: 113822402021Transcript of conversation with notes added from my clipboard.
LT (Lisa Trent): I hope you don't mind me just wearing sweats. My shirts were feeling really itchy over my fur, and there's not much to show anymore.
Notes: Lisa wasn't just joking. Her breasts had migrated down to her crotch and had shrunk until they were almost indistinguishable from the rest of her. Most of her torso was now covered with a coat of gray hair.
KS (Dr. Karen Simpson): Whatever makes you the most comfortable. How's your eyesight?
LT: Abysmal in my right eye, still good in the left. I hate to think what would happen if both my eyes wound up like that.
Notes: Lisa is referring to her wandering eye right eye. We haven't treated it yet, at her request, but I do hope she attempts something once this mess is over.
KS: How are you doing mentally?
LT: Surprisingly well. Things with Bob are kinda down to just being friends. He's going through some stuff and it seems like Penny has him in hand. A little literally too. She insists its just for fun, but I think Bob might be… Why are you looking at me like that?
KS: Because I asked about you and the first thing you did was segue into talking about others. You, Lisa. I want to know about you.
Notes: Though, I will try to get Penny and/or Bob back in.
LT: I get annoyed at things a lot less. I thought having a bad eye would make me more prone to getting angry at mistakes, but it's like there's this… this feeling that just makes me realized how small an issue it is. I wasn't really a people person before all this, but apparently I'm a people pegasus.
KS: I have noticed that. You tend toward comforting and reassuring on a scale I've only seen first-year psych students attempt. Mind you, they normally come to learn that there aren't easy fixes for mental conditions.
LT: Not really what I'm going for. Here, let me demonstrate.
Notes: Lisa stood up and approached me. She stretched her arms (that now looked about as much like forelegs as anything) and wings out toward me. I felt compelled to stand up as well and hugged her. For a professional in my field, to be lost for words is quite a statement. I can't explain fully how that hug made me feel, but for the rest of the day things just seemed easier.
LT: See?
KS: Yeah. Hell, there should be prescriptions for those hugs. Is this some kind of magic like the unicorns and pegacorns are doing?
LT: Don't think so. It's just what comes naturally. Maybe it only works on others who are turning into something?
KS: Easy enough to test. Go and see one of Dr. Howards' people and tell them about it. If they don't take you seriously… Actually, I'll make sure they take you seriously.
LT: Thanks, I think. But the point I was trying to get at is these hugs are two-way. Everyone says they feel better after one of my hugs, but I do too. It almost feels like I'm cheating my own emotions in some way.
KS: I'd love to tell you this is fine or it needs to stop, but the truth is I don't know, Lisa. All of this is new ground. Let's try examining how the hugs make you feel and how you feel after them.
LT: How do you feel, Doc?
KS: Like the world is lighter. Things don't crowd in and worry me so much. Maybe it's just turning off some of the… I'm over-analyzing this, I think. Wait, I have an idea.
Post session notes: It's at this point that I realized Lisa explores her own emotions only through reflections of others. She constantly tries to compare herself to her peers to see how she should be acting.
—Doctor Simpson
Interview with Doctor Karen Simpson
female
age 46
Patient ID: 113829992021
Staff ID: 545347Transcript of conversation with notes added from my clipboard.
LT (Lisa Trent): Why are we doing this, Doc?
Notes: This was the best way I could see to get Lisa to truly explore another. Giving her control of an interview. All the notes after this will be her own.
KS (Dr. Karen Simpson): Just call me Karen. I guess after that hug I realized what I really wanted was to talk to someone. My normal target is not here, so you're the next best thing.
Notes: I know you're going to read this, Karen, but you wanted me to do this right.
LT: So, tell me about it. I can't say I'm not curious to work out what it feels like from the other side. You're smiling.
KS: Yeah! Okay, so what surprised me at first was that seeing you offer a hug made it… I wouldn't say impossible to resist, because I probably could, but I didn't see any reason not to hug you. When your forelegs and wings wrapped around me, it was like all the stress just boiled up and left me.
Notes: It's really weird to hear someone else talk about my hugs. Most of the others have kept quiet about how it made them feel, but Karen seems to be able to just say the things people normally hide.
LT: Do you regret the hug?
KS: Definitely not. I know what you mean about cheating emotions, however. Does wondering if I should be feeling nervous or angry sound right?
LT: Yeah. Though I guess for me nerves are the main one. I was never really outgoing, but with this I've been able to hug anyone and feel good about it too.
LT: That's why you set this up, wasn't it? You wanted me to look at myself by looking at you.
KS: Did it work?
LT: Yeah.
Post session notes: Okay, Karen is smarter than I gave her credit for. My hangup with all this was my natural introverted tendencies not working. I felt strange because I didn't feel like hiding.
—Lisa Trent
#day-10
Ass 1/15/2021 11:51 AM
So here we are, day 10. I've broken out in a case of feathers. From my belly up I have feathers, but from there down I have fur. Like with most of Team Freak (blame Penny for the name) I have hands to type with, though they have wicked-sharp claws on them. My mouth started feeling kinda strange, but then one of the docs mentioned that being as I have a bird top, I'll probably grow a beak at some stage. It's probably a beak. Anyway, I have 6 nipples now.
Penny 1/15/2021 11:53 AM
6?! I am soooo jelly. I don't know where my nipples went, but now I'm suspecting Ass is stealing them. Not much changed today, but I feel more noodly. I want to wiggle and squirm, and I want to have fun and play pranks. Situation normal. Hey, I learned how to swish my tail a lot more.
Bob 1/15/2021 11:58 AM
Can confirm. Penny's tail wiggles a lot.
I'm bigger and completely covered in scales. It doesn't feel cold outside anymore, but the one doctor who seemed to have any clue about what to do with me told me it was because my core body temp was now a bit over seven hundred degrees. At least that's what he thinks. He kinda freaks out a little when I move, but he's doing his best. My nipples are missing too.
Rex 1/15/2021 12:03 PM
I know everypony has been keeping up with this every day, but it's been hard to come to terms with being a girl now. It should feel wrong and messed up, but it doesn't. Anyway, got a horn, got hooves, don't want to leave my room. I'll see you when I see you.
Petra 1/15/2021 12:13 PM
It feels strange becoming a stallion. I guess all kinds of mix-ups are happening here. Mark down another unicorn here. The strangest thing is that my fur is patterned. I have these white socks around my hooves (all four) and a stripe down my nose. Is anyone else getting extra hair growth on their chin?
#day-3
Karen 1/15/2021 12:15 PM
Guess I should keep up with this too. Got looked at by one of the docs and they said I might be getting shorter already. My fingers and toes are really stiff today, but that's all in my head so far. Nothing physically has changed except my eye, and by the look of that I'm going to be a regular pony.
Yay me. First community infection.
#general
Penny 1/15/2021 12:16 PM
Somedoctor sounds like she needs noodle-hugs!
Karen 1/15/2021 12:18 PM
Somedoctor?
Penny 1/15/2021 12:18 PM
I'm working with what I got at hoof here. Come down to the caf and let's have lunch. I'm sure Lisa will hug you (just between you and me, she gives better hugs, but don't tell anyone that).
Lisa 1/15/2021 12:19 PM
Always watching, Wazowski!
Penny 1/15/2021 12:19 PM
Oh crap, she's onto me!
Lisa 1/15/2021 12:21 PM@here Lunch in Cafeteria 2. Free hugs while stocks last, and I'm sure Suzy and Steven have got something amazing for us!
Subject: Day 10 exam results
1/15/21
2:03 P.M.
Subject: PegasiTheir wings are developing to a startling degree. Our exemplary example, Devon Creed (113822522021), seems to be about a day ahead of the others of his group. He has actually managed to lift himself off the ground with repeated flapping, though admits it tires him quickly.
The subjects seem to be losing more weight than their height loss would imply, so I had their urine tested and found larger than normal amounts of calcium being lost. This would be deeply worrying if we didn't suspect that their bones were hollowing out like those of a bird.
All the pegasi have had some success replacing their existing hand/finger control with wing/feather movements. They seem to have a great amount of control of their feathers, and we're using more and more aptitude tests to measure such.
—Doctor Howards
Subject: Day 10 exam results
1/15/21
2:29 P.M.
Subject: UnicornsThe stand-outs in this group are less remarkable for their changes and more-so for their grasp of what they're able to do with this magic. Both Trent Copperfield (113822472021) and Sally Jeffers (113822512021) both show intrinsic understanding of this new physical force. It's uncanny to watch them push things around on a table with only that soft glow.
This ability has implications the likes of which are limited only by the question "how clean do you need it?" Any environment which is hazardous for a human could be manipulated at distance by these unicorns. Everything from microsurgery to handling radioactive materials.
Speculation aside, all unicorn subjects seem to be physically at the same point in their changes.
—Doctor Howards
Subject: Day 10 exam results
1/15/21
2:46 P.M.
Subject: BaselineThey stand out by not. I had thought these all quite ignorable, except they are anything but. Even my team have started eating in Cafeteria 2. The others have all been closed to let Steven Smith (113824732021) and Suzanne Timmons (113826992021) take over all our meals.
This isn't a medical trial anymore. It feels like some kind of survival show gone mad, where the contestants and the crew have banded together.
—Doctor Howards
Subject: Day 10 exam results
1/15/21
2:52 P.M.
Subject: PegacornI have a strange feeling about this group. Three members, but they all seem…
There aren't words. No words of science could describe the excitement and hope I feel when I talk with them.
Michael Cooper (113822412021) has an air of wonder about him. He's going through a lot, but the purple fur he's grown, combined with the sight of his wings and horn, just makes me smile every time I walk into the room with him. He's taken to spending all his spare time reading books on his phone.
John Devero (113822922021) is something else. Like Michael, he's undergone the strange sex auto-reassignment, but he's not shrinking as much as Michael, but like Michael just seeing his pink fur makes the oddness of this whole situation evaporate. I noticed he seems to hang on the periphery of couples.
Celine Baley (113826112021) is shrinking at a higher rate than any other. Her features seem to have softened, and there's a hint of… I wouldn't say wonder, but youthful energy seems best to describe her.
It's lunacy how much of my personal feelings I'm letting color these notes now. I'm no longer an impartial researcher.
—Doctor Howards
Subject: Day 10 exam results
1/15/21
4:22 P.M.
Subject: OutliersIf the pegacorns are akin to a religious experience, the outliers are the fey of old. Each of them has an air of potential that is undeniable. I've given up trying to describe each of them. Any words I could use would never capture what it's like to have a conversation with seven tons of dragon or to have someone actually start to hover off the ground (that's Penny DeSanto, btw, who has wings but has told me she is boycotting their use).
What surprised me of this entire group today was Katrina Hobbs (113823992021) rushed over to me, scales and all (she's the smaller of the two dragons), and hugged me. It took me the better part of an hour of research to find out why. She's a trans woman and this thing turned her into a female dragon. I don't think she even cares about the claws and teeth.
It's an incredible flow of emotions I see among this group. Robert Cowell (113823102021) had been becoming more detached from the group, but you wouldn't know it by seeing him now. In one day Robert has slipped into being a father figure. Katrina seems unwilling to leave his side, and I've noticed even Penny seems to be close with him.
—Doctor Howards
Peter Howards' Journal
More of them are hugging me and thanking me. They seem to be enjoying this somehow. I don't know what to think, but when Celine Baley came up and hugged me, it fixed something that I think I broke long ago. How long have I been viewing the people I work with as nothing but numbers and subjects? Even my own team were just problems waiting to be dealt with.
I don't deserve this. I…
—private-message—
Lisa 1/15/2021 8:21 PM
You need to talk to Howards. He looked like a wreck today.
Karen 1/15/2021 8:29 PM
I can't really do that. He's not just my boss, but I'm technically his patient.
Lisa 1/15/2021 8:32 PM
Then he's screwed. He needs to talk to someone because whatever he's been using to keep himself going is not doing it anymore. Please?
Karen 1/15/2021 8:40 PM
I can only do that as a friend. You… This is hard to explain, but in a way I'm also his boss. I might not even be able to be a friend to him.
Lisa 1/15/2021 8:41 PM
Then I will be.
To: Dr. Peter Howards
Subject: TalkI need to talk.
—Lisa
To: Lisa Trent
Subject: TalkMy office is always open, Lisa.
—Doctor Howards
Peter Howards' Journal
I don't deserve this. I…
I can't believe what just happened. Lisa asked me to chat and though it surprised me, I was hardly going to tell her no. Not after what she's done to help this place continue.
Everything. I told her everything. I haven't told a single soul everything, but now she knows. She should have been furious, but she hugged me and told me it would be okay.
Why do I believe her?
Holding up a randomly drawn card (the 8 of clubs) so it's visible to just one of the changelings, and asking the other three:
"What card do you think this is?"
"We're turning into another species and you're testing us for psychic powers? What kind of—You know what? Is it the ace of spades? I freakin' love that song," George Higgs said.
So I do this "Ask X" thing. X can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and they will definitely, hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories, and they will answer the best question in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer. Try to keep it to one question per post! They will pick one question per chapter.
Support me on Patreon or fuel my writing on Ko-Fi!
Join me on Discord. Please use your FimFic name as an alias. Warning, said chat may contain NSFW material and should be considered adult in nature.
Awesome ponies who are already helping to keep me in keyboards and rum:
A.P.O.N.I.
Canary in the Coal Mine
Daremo
Dio-Drogynous
Ender Voidwalker
KFS Crimson
Sirion123
Vi Watch
And special thanks to the following, for careful eyes and friendly words:
Lab
To Dr. Howard
Have you thought of just going out and telling everycreature the truth? If they all pinkie promise they're sure to keep it.
Its hard to keep the "Ask X" as an ask instead of a tell, its just so tempting to insert your own suggestions to a character. As always excited for the Doctor to finally start revealing this big secret of his...
Nobody should underestimate the magical power of Derpy Hug.
Ask Dr. Howards: What is the guideline in the facility to prevent the community infection?
5265645
Something tells me he will be community infection #2 ...
5265648
I believe those who eat at cafeteria#2 should be first to develop symptom since they direct eat Earth Ponies' cooking. And we know Earth Ponies make magical food.
i think we have at least one kirin int he unicorn group judging by that fur patern
That ling sooooo has good class in music
5265648
If anything? He needs to be buggy, that way he can feel others support
Then again, I a chirpmare
Derphug therapy best therapy.
Yeah, I can definitely see how that'd be bizarre.
He also says "How are you not roasting alive or crushing yourself under your own weight!?" a lot.
That's both hilarious and fascinating. Only the facial hair seen on the show is growing in, apparently. Though by that logic, Penny should be seeing some beard growth as well...
Oh, right, draconequus. Silly of me to think logic would apply.
Earth ponies in a nutshell.
Dr. Howards hasn't found religion. He's discovered it.
Oh. Oh. The three alicorn patients are only 33% the ones I thought they were. I have to wonder just how extreme Celine's age regression will be.
The double-edged sword of scientific detachment. You need to be able to view the data with as little bias as possible... but that runs headfirst into ethics when dealing with human experimentation.
Derphug therapy. Best therapy. Eagerly looking forward to more.
5265795
I believe you might be biased.
BTW, just finished reading one of your stories and I freakin' loved it. Thanks for putting a smile on my face!
- MLP: FiM
- Equestria Girls
- Romance
- Adventure
- Comedy
One small step for a girl, one giant leap for interdimensional relations. A leap backwards, but still.Can we rename Discord's race in the show to Supreme Noodle? XD
5265801
Nonsense. I base that statement off of repeated clinical trials.
Glad you enjoyed Floral Transplant! I always love getting the chance to work with multiple universes. EqG giving me a canon excuse to do so was one of the best gifts the show ever gave me.
he didn't want them to ferment - he didn't want them to foment
5265868 Ack! Fixed!
As much as I like this story, the number of characters and the disjointed nature of it makes it hard to keep track of who's who. I might have to start keeping notes for once.
5265665
Sounds more like Sunburst. I would expect there to be more significant differences if they were a kirin.
Observation 1: Very uncommon/unexpected selection for the three alicorns. Kudos for that.
Observation 2: Why am I now shipping TorchCord? This is all your fault!
So griffons apparently tend towards litters(?) of three. Interesting.
@Petra
Hi, Sunburst!
I hope Celine doesn’t change all the way to a yearling, or whatever infant age Flurry Heart is in-show.
Regarding personal headcanon, I don’t really subscribe to the hollow-boned pegasi thing, but I’d have to see Read It And Weep again to be sure. But I don’t think the weight decrease there would really be enough to get a horse off the ground. Even a small one. I tend towards maybe denser and/or more flexible bones, to increase survivability in event of crashes. Since magic’s already pulling 90% of the weight, why not make it pull a little more, right?