The next morning I snapped awake initially confused as to how I'd woken up until I heard my cellphone's ringtone. Still a little bleary with sleep, I reached over and somehow answered. I then placed the device against my ear and muttered a sleep slurred hello. Immediately, I was assailed by my mother's frantic voice.
"Olivia!! Is that you?!" She asked and I blinked a little.
"Mom?" I moaned sleepily and she sighed in relief.
"Oh thank goodness I managed to get a hold of you." She sighed in relief. "Your father and I have been trying to call you all night."
"All night?" I was still slightly murky from sleep, but clearing up. There was a sound of movement and then I heard my dad on the phone.
"Technically not all night, I did insist that we get some rest considering all that happened, but yes we have been trying to touch base with you. However, it was much harder then it sounds, hooves aren't exactly built for typing in phone numbers."
In an instant, I snapped awake fully. "Wait, hooves?" I asked. More movement and mom was back.
"Yes, hooves. Somehow, I don't know how, we've turned into ponies like in that show you love to watch." She said. "Of course one of the first things we tried to do was get in contact with you and since we couldn't use our cellphones we tried using the landline. Even then we got the numbers wrong and called other people or rather ponies instead."
"Sounds like this isn't isolated, I've been transformed as well." I said then paused before continuing. "How are the others?" I asked, concerned for my siblings.
Mom sighed. "It all depends on who you ask. For the most part we're handling it rather well, though I did have to stop Willy from jumping off the second floor to test her new wings."
I chortled a little at that as I pictured my thirteen year old sister Wilhelmina, or Willy for short, trying to fly by jumping from upstairs landing towards the living room. It wasn't a hard picture to bring to mind. Willy had always been the more rambunctious and adventurous of my siblings, yet despite her tomboyish attitude, she still enjoyed some girly things like MLP. Matter of fact, she was as big a fan as I was and had desperately wanted to come to the con, but I couldn't afford another ticket and there was school stuff here. As I thought about my siblings, there was one in particular that came to mind. My sixteen year old brother, Logan. Logan was a good kid no doubt, but he wasn't an MLP fan to say the least. He respected that there were people who like the show including some family members, but otherwise he didn't want anything to do with the show and fandom. I wondered how he was taking all this.
"Hey mom, how's Logan?" I asked with concern. "How did he react to all this?"
Mom hesitated a minute before answering. "He didn't take it too well." She admitted. "At first he was in denial, but when he figured out that it wasn't a dream or hallucination, he threw a fit and stormed off to his room. Which brings me to the second unbelievable thing that happened. After Logan made such a fuss, you'll never guess who came to check and see if we were alright. Lizzy and Jane."
My jaw dropped. You see my family lives in a semi rural area and like a lot of our neighbors, we own livestock. Like horses. I pretty much grew up riding horses. Two of these horses being a pair of mares we'd named Lizzy and Jane. Based on the Pride and Prejudice characters of the same names, Lizzy and Jane were sisters and total opposites yet very close. Jane was more shy and reserved while Lizzy was friendly and outgoing. And according to my mother, they came to check in on my family.
"You're kidding." I finally said when I found my voice.
"No! Shortly after Logan slammed his door, there was a knock and when I went to answer, there they were asking us if we were okay." My mom elaborated and I swear my jaw defied the laws of physics. "They told us that they'd heard a ruckus and came to investigate and see if we were okay."
"Told as in talking to you with people speak not horse speak?" I asked, my head reeling.
"People speak." My mom answered and after I was silent for a beat, she continued. "I know, I had a similar reaction. And it seems as though it isn't limited to just Lizzy and Jane. But enough about us, I've been trying to get a hold of you to see if you were okay. How are things going on your end?"
I paused and took in my appearance once more. I suppose it was too much to hope it was a dream. "Same as you, I am no longer human." I replied. "But I'm not a pony either. I ended up turning into a changeling. Possibly one of the only changelings in the world."
"Are you okay honey?" My mom asked worriedly.
"I'm fine." I said, waving off her concern. "Nothing to worry about. I met someone else who got turned into a changeling and she invited me to her place."
"And your sure you're safe?" Mom asked, concern still evident in her voice.
"I'm talking to you right now aren't I?" I joked gently before continuing more seriously. "I can take care of myself if need be and besides, in a situation like this, it makes sense to pull together and help each other out. I promise you I'm safe."
Mom hummed and I could practically hear her hesitation but before she could voice any other concerns, there was a sharp intake of breath like she'd seen something. This was confirmed when she instantly started scolding someone on her end.
"Wilhelmina Faye Beckett, you get down from the railing right this instant young lady!!" She shouted. "And don't you even think of jumping!!"
That was all I caught before mom promptly hung up so she could deal with my sister. I chuckled at the thoughts of my sister's antics. She'd already made a habit out of driving mom up the wall before, one could only imagine how frazzled my mom would be now that she had wings.
"Mom in mother hen mode?" The sudden voice made me jump and I whirled around to see Ivy standing in the hallway leading to the living room.
"Um, pretty much. How long have you been there?" I asked.
"Roughly around when the phone rang." She said with a shrug before continuing towards the kitchen. "So, how are things at home?" She started conversationally as she looked around her fridge and cupboards.
"They seem to be okay." I said as I climbed out of bed and stretched as best I could. "One of my sisters seems eager to test her wings and a brother of mine may be having troubles with this change. Also, it seems as though the horses can talk now."
"Really? Wow, everything's really gone crazy." Ivy hummed thoughtfully as she pulled out potatoes and started chopping.
"I couldn't agree more." I said with a nod. "Sorry if my phone woke you up."
"Oh it did no such thing, I was already awake when your phone rang." Ivy said. "My mom called me too, only her call came in at around six or seven in the morning and after talking and hanging up, I just didn't feel sleepy anymore, so I hung out in my room. In hindsight though, I probably should've called her before. She tends to fuss and dote on me a lot, but then again I've kinda been her only child for a while so, yeah."
"Sounds a little exhausting." I said.
"It can be at times, but I wouldn't trade it for anything." Ivy sighed. "We've both gone through some hard times when I was a kid, it isn't easy being a single parent but we managed thanks to love, perseverance and family."
"What about your dad?" I asked in curiosity.
"To be honest, I don't really know him that much." Ivy said with a shrug. "When I was old enough, my mom told me that she made some poor choices when she was younger and ended up pregnant and dumped by the guy who impregnated her. Looking back, even if the situation wasn't ideal, she says she's glad she had me. After she told me that story, she made me swear that I would get married before having sex or kids. When she was raising me, she would've given anything for the loving support of a husband but she still had her family willing to stand by her and support her. And now, she has my stepdad."
"That sounds nice." I said with a smile.
"It is. Max is an awesome guy and he genuinely loves my mom and makes her happy." Ivy said with a grin. "I couldn't ask for a better stepdad. Heaven knows my mom's dated some not so great guys. I vaguely remember this one guy from when I was about seven or eight who was downright mean to my mom, even abusive. Thank goodness mom broke up with him before anything could get too bad."
I only nodded. What do you say when you hear something like that? I knew that I was pretty lucky to have such loving and understanding parents compared to some people but it's one thing to know about it. It's another thing entirely to know someone who was in that situation. As though sensing my thoughts, Ivy piped up.
"Hey, there's nothing you need to worry about." She said. "It was a long time ago and like I said, he wasn't around long enough to do anything too bad. Just delivered some major blows to my mom's self esteem and smacked her around some. But my mom's smart and a fighter so it didn't take long for her to figure out this wasn't a healthy relationship and she dumped the guy. We're both over it by now so you shouldn't feel the need to tiptoe around me."
"Right, sorry." I said with a slight blush.
"No need to be sorry. You aren't the first person to have such a reaction when I tell them that story. I've gotten used to it by now." Ivy set her knife down, bringing me back to the present. "Anyways, enough back story, let's just get some breakfast then take a trip to the nearest hospital to try and figure out what's going on."
Cindy POV
There was one word to describe the hospital at this time. Technically several, but they all boiled down to one word. Chaotic. Ever since the sudden species change, the hospital had been flooded with hundreds of transformed humans looking for answers that nobody had. I hadn't even had the chance to really think about my own transformation until now. Thankfully things had slowed down after a while, giving me a chance to take in my own appearance.
My new form was equine in shape but I was taller and more slender than the ponies I'd seen thus far and more insecticide in appearance. Large parts of my chitin were light grey with some parts pink in color. The plate on my back was flamingo pink and mounted on it were three pairs of cicada wings that were a pink blush. My mane and tail were longer than it had been before, reaching my knees, and were Persian rose pink and when I'd gotten the chance to look in a mirror, I'd seen that my eyes were rosy in color while my horn had a little curl at the end like a hook.
I wasn't really a fan of My Little Pony, but I had friend who was and we'd watch episodes together so while I wouldn't call myself a fan, I certainly knew enough to recognize a changeling when I saw it. Granted, I looked much different from the changelings in the show, like a combination of the ones seen in the wedding and the ones in the season six finale, but I was still recognizable as a changeling.
"Cindy!!" The cry broke me from my thoughts and I braced myself for the swiftly approaching impact.
'And speaking of friends.' I thought before I was tackled by my best friend. I held my ground, but still leaned back a little. Wrapping her hooves around me was a second changeling similar to me but with a green coloring instead of pink. Emerald green eyes peeked up at me through spring green curls that formed a shorter mane and poking out of that mane was a horn as bent and gnarled as a tree branch. The darker parts of the body were dark brown or forest green and mounted on her back were three pairs of pale green wings shaped like termite wings.
"Hey Sophia. What do you need?" I said calmly as I wiggled out of her grasp and dusted myself off. While normally the nurse was a little calmer, her new form was a dream come true for her and she'd been more hyper than she usually was which was a bit of a mixed blessing in this situation. Sophia bounced on her hooves for a moment before speaking.
"There are a couple of patients waiting for you in room 109 and I think you're going to like them." She informed me.
I raised a brow before making my way through the crowded hospital with Sophia following behind. As soon as I entered the room in question and took in the occupants, I froze. Sitting in the room were two more changelings, one almost completely black and the other grey and yellow. My mind idly noted the two breezies nestled in the yellow one's mane, but otherwise my focus was entirely on the two other changelings who also froze in shock when they saw me. Everything was silent for a few beats before Sophia bounced in and broke the silence.
"Look, we aren't the only ones!" She announced.
The next couple of hours were spent discussing the new situation we'd found ourselves in. At first it started as a basic examination, but eventually we began comparing notes and forming theories about our new forms and reached the conclusion that this required extensive testing and research. A sudden knock at the door broke me from our musings and I opened the door to admit a flustered earthpony that I now knew as Doctor Smith.
"Doctor Taylor, have you seen the broadcast?" He huffed and I raised a brow.
"What broadcast?" I asked and Doctor Smith sighed.
"It's been playing on all the channels for the past fifteen minutes." He explained. "Something about gnomes, magic and a ritual of some sort. You should come see, they're kind of explaining what's going on."
We all paused as we took that in then almost trampled poor Doctor Smith in our rush out the door to find the nearest tv. Once we did, we watched the broadcast in question and afterwards it really sank in. We were changelings and were always going to be changelings. Once that sank in, everything became numb and I can't remember what else happened that day.