//------------------------------//
// Time to Pony Up 
// Story: A Twist in the Tail 
// by Midnightshadow 
//------------------------------//

A Twist in the Tail
Part 8


Time to Pony Up



Note: The first paragraph was actually partly written by AHX2790, I've changed it a little bit, but not very much. This is a big chapter, and I may have some mistakes left over. It could also be more polished. I think it also needs an epilogue or two.

***

Security Chief Leonard Morris sat in front of the Central Control Console in the command center of the Hackensack Conversion Bureau. He was smoking a Safety-Cig as he watched the events unfold on the nine television screens that made up the CCC, gritting his teeth and chewing it, rolling it around in his mouth before pulling it out and idly puffing.
Three windows on the giant vidscreen were tuned into news stations reporting the expanding bubbles around the world whilst another nine were focused on various parts of the Bureau. One showed the entrance hall, two more the cafeteria where the majority of convertees, staff, and personnel were retreating to. Three more windows showed what was happening right outside the building; a growing mob of angry protesters was gathering in front of the building and was expanding as fast as those bubbles were.
A veteran cop of Old New York whose specialty had been riot control, Morris was specially selected to head security of the Bureau when the old chief, a fellow by the name of Joseph Kessler, had gone pony as one of the first applicants. Morris, after his long and dangerous career as a riot cop, had signed on in hopes of finally settling down with a cushy job without any risks until retirement. Head of security for a bunch of talking ponies had seemed the dream job, even garnering a visit by the royal pony sisters on one of their tours of the human world. Now though... he grit his teeth hard, feeling the polycarbonate crack.
Morris was well liked by the staff, both ponies and humans, so he’d never had any trouble getting their cooperation for drills. This, however, was no drill. He sighed and went to snub out the cigarette. As it clinked on the table, he chuckled. Old habits die hard, he thought.
There was a mechanical *swish* sound that told him someone was coming in. He turned around, expecting his second in command and saw it was the receptionist pony, Elegance Flare. She looked scared and out of breath.
"M-Mr. M-Morris?" Elegance stammered.
"Yes Miss Flare?" Morris replied, getting to his feet.
"Star Shield said that the police will be here in a few minutes, but he doesn’t know how long that door will last."
"Thank you Miss Flare, I’ve already set things in motion. You might want to head to the cafeteria now whilst you can. If they get through those doors, things could turn real ugly, real fast. Those guys’re probably just blowing off steam, but better safe than sorry." Morris waved at the vidscreen.
Instead of turning to leave, Elegance trotted slowly up to the CCC and stared at the pictures. Her gaze moved across the ugly scenes outside, where the safety glass was being repeatedly hammered with blunt objects. It had cracked, but hadn’t yet given. It was surely only a matter of time. Minutes, if that.
Then Elegance saw the news reports, and her mouth fell open. She seemed to forget that Morris was there as she watched the events unfold on the screens. When she spoke a few moments later, it was in a voice filled with sadness and fear. "What's happening... what's happening to your world, your home?"
The news reports were showing the expanding, multiplying bubble-shields. Another one had appeared off the coast of Russia in the Barents Sea, whilst more were appearing in the North Pacific, the South Pacific... then the news reports flooded in of a few bubbles appearing on land. There had been surprisingly few casualties, so far, but massive displacement was causing riots and border scuffles across the planet.
"I wish I knew, Elegance." He placed a comforting hand on top of the unicorn’s head. "Don't worry. Just be brave. We'll figure this out.”
Elegance Flare still looked worried but she stood a little straighter, and nodded. This got Morris to smile and seeing him smile made Elegance smile too. "Yes sir."
"Now get down to the cafeteria and hold there until-”
The sudden bellow of sirens cut off the conversation. Morris swore under his breath and threw on his flack jacket, “Too late for the cafeteria, Ella. You stay here, help keep an eye on things! Second best room in the complex, nothing gets in without you pressing that button.” he pointed to a large green button on the desk.
“Wait here until I give the all clear, and remember not to panic no matter what happens. We've already got a mob outside, we don't need one in here too."
"Yes sir." Elegance said again, eyes fixated on where several groups of people were forcing their way through the breach into the building. She turned around suddenly and ran at Morris, taking him by surprise. She wrapped her hooves around him in a big hug and nuzzled his armor vest. "Please be careful Mr. Morris!" Elegance sobbed as she nuzzled his chest.
Morris hugged the surprisingly soft unicorn to him before gently pushing her away. With that, he walked out of the Command Center.

***

Vertigo? Pointe Vertigo, i-is that really you?” Summer asked, as he got over his shock.
“Sure is, Midnight... I... I had to find you. I had to talk to you.”
“Midnight?” asked Liz, “Thought you said your name was Summer?”
“It’s complicated,” Summer said, “I just... wanted to get away from it all.”
“From me.”
“You two... an item?” asked Alice.
“Yes.” said Summer, surprising himself, before Vertigo could speak.
Vertigo fluttered his wings and looked at the ground, “It’s complicated.”
“V, if you and he are like... together, s’no big deal.”
“I’m not into colts.” whispered Vertigo.
“Then why..?”
“I told you it’s complicated, okay?”
“Miss, we don’t really have time for this. I’ll explain later, I just... left in a hurry. We kinda have unfinished business.”
“That’s gotta be some business, Summer. Vertigo almost got himself drowned chasing you through a storm. He’s been looking for you for what, a month?”
“And I’ve missed him too. Every. Single. Day.” Summer said, stomping a hoof to accentuate each word, “But now still isn’t the time, we’ve got to get to safety before--”
There was a sudden loud klaxon that rang out three times, and Summer started swearing under his breath, “A breach. Fuck, this could turn ugly. This was never supposed to happen! What the hell has been happening today?”
“Remember when you said it was complicated?” asked Alice, “Well bud, you don’t know the half of it.”
“Well fine, great. Let’s all have a fucking lovely complicated day. Now what?”
“You’re asking me?” Alice punched the chestnut pony in the withers, “That’s your job, Summer. A few minutes ago we were dodging protesters outside, trying to smash down the front doors. By the way, I’m Alice, pleased to meet you.”
“Right. That was the second emergency lockdown signal, there’s been a breach. That means that whoever was outside isn’t just demonstrating and waving cards and shit, they’ve broken through the doors and they’re in the building. That makes them dangerous. The system’s done with the ten minute limit and is cutting losses. We’re cut off.”
“Fuck.” said Alice, “Now what do we do?”
“I’m thinking, I’m thinking!” Summer paced backwards and forwards in the small hallway, “We won’t be able to get back into the park, the cafeteria is blocked off from all normal entrances. We can’t get out the front door, least not without a fight... The dorms for the newfoals are on the first floor, most can’t handle stairs and some don’t like the elevators so a lot of the staff use the upstairs. Vertigo, you can get out that way, if we can force our ways in.”
Vertigo shook his head, “They shot at me this morning, Midnight. We found out the shield’s gone crazy or something. There’s another big one on the West coast, several around Europe, Russia...”
“Are we talking end of the world, here?”
“I don’t know! Maybe!”
“Crap. Plan B then. We’ve got to get the ponification potion to the cafeteria! I won’t be responsible for everyone dying if that bubble hits!”
“I thought you said we can’t get to the cafeteria?”
“Not above ground, no, but as usual this building was renovated by the lowest bidders. I’ve got the keys to the basement tunnels. Follow me.”

***

“So, Liz, birthday yesterday, huh?”
“Yeah. We snuck out last night whilst my parents were sleeping...”
“They don’t know you’re here?” Alice asked as the girls followed the two stallions.
Liz shook her head, biting her lip, “We’ve been planning it since ponification’s been offered. Daddy wouldn’t buy me a pony, so I decided to become one.”
“Really?” Alice stopped in the middle of the corridor so sharply than Debs and Trish collided with her. “This isn’t some game, you know. This is your life. You can’t just... ugh!”
“So what, you think I should just run home to Daddy, yeah? You don’t get it. I’m an adult over there! I can live off grass, maybe fly about in the sky or cast magic. They give you a job, Alice. You know what that means? Sure I can live off my dad’s savings, he’s one of the few doing well, for now. It’s only a matter of time though. There’s nothing for me. Nothing.”
“So you thought you’d just up and run away, huh?”
“Isn’t that what you’re doing?”
The two women stared at each other for a moment, one defiant, the other refusing to budge.
Vertigo turned around, “You two stop it? The way things are going, they might not have a choice. Now follow Summer here and keep quiet. No telling who could be around the next corner.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” said Summer, fishing about in his neck-pack and pulling out a large key on a chain. “We’ll be out of these corridors and down below soon enough. It’s just around the next corner.”

***

Stewie waved his signs with the rest of them. He’d seen the news, heard the dire predictions. Those damned ponies had just been waiting for this, waiting. Well, he wasn’t going to stand for it. “Let’s send those four-legged fuckers home! And the pony-lovers with ‘em! Yeah!” he shouted, not that he could be heard amongst the other catcalls and jeers. He saw his brothers and sisters beating on the doors to the bureau, which remained resolutely locked. Cowards, he thought. He sneered, forced his way through and slammed his sign into the doors. With a whoop, the crowd saw the plexiglass crack. It was tough, very tough, but not invulnerable. The crowd redoubled it’s efforts, and soon bricks and metal poles and steel-toecapped boots were hammering on the barrier. Soon enough, it gave way. The crowd roared and jeered, smashing and hacking until the doors could be prized open. When there was room enough, Stewie was one of the first to squeeze himself through. He discarded his sign, the plank had split and it was heavy. Besides, he didn’t need it. He had a backup.
Matilda took a small bottle out of her jacket pocket as she looked around the foyer. With a flick of her wrist, the lighter opened and sparked. She lit the small rag in the end of the bottle and threw it at a door. When it impacted, it burst into flames. “Wicked.”
“Girl after my own heart.” said Stewie.
“Yeah? Didn’t come prepared for a barbeque, did ya though?”
“Na, I came with fireworks.” he patted his jacket pocket and smiled toothily.
Matilda lit another one and tossed it to Stewie, “Catch.”
“Fuck, bitch, you’re crazy!”
“Can’t take the heat, get outta the kitchen.”
Stewie threw the bottle at the front desk, it burst into flames as the computer shorted out. “Come on, we’d better go give those ponies a proper welcome before the fire suppression system fires.”
“Fuck, man, I wanted that deck.”
“There’ll be more. Let’s go shopping. Name’s Stewie, to my friends.”
“Matilda,” she grimaced, “Fuckin’ hate it. Call me ‘M’.”

Ben found himself pushed into the building. If he’d stopped for a moment and thought, he’d have realised he didn’t really want to be there, but when your gang moves on a target, you go with it. He was committed now. He picked up a discarded sign and started wailing on the furnishings. It was at least a lot of fun. As more people streamed in, he sloped off down some corridors to get away from the worst of it. If the worst came to the worst, he could probably pretend to be a client, at least until the cops isolated his picture. That was, he reasoned, if there were going to be cops any more.

“Yeah, they scoop out your brains and eat them. I heard, my cousin knows someone who knows someone who saw ‘em do it. This whole thing’s a fake. They’re goddamn murderers. They’re not veggies at all, they eat meat!”
“Ya what? The little fuckers don’t eat meat! That’s bullshit.”
“Explain the cakes they make then? That needs eggs. Their clothes use leather. They eat each other. That’s why they’re here. They eat humans, they only pretend to change humans into ponies.”
“Edge, you’re so full of shit.”
“I’m gonna prove it, Simone, just you fuckin’ wait and see.”
“Either way, I’m gonna see what makes ‘em tick, see if they bleed red or green.”

***

Stewie heard voices. He’d dodged the police, somehow - either that, or the coppers weren’t interested in lone intruders when there was a war on. The voices were unmistakably pony and human. Ponies had this... surprisingly high-pitched sound, but you could always tell. He readied a billy-club he had hidden in his jacket. It wasn’t time yet for the main act. He patted the gun in the pouch in the back of his jacket as he pulled out the length of weighted plasteel. A weapon, a human invention. Maybe one of the first. Some dumb beast wouldn’t be able to wield something as sophisticated as a club. Man had fingers, hands, brains. Goddamn ponies had nothing.
“Good morning, gentlemen, ladies.” sneered Stewie as he stepped around the corner. “You girls can go, it’s just the ponies I want.”
Stewie watched as the two ponies glanced at each other before falling into position. They blocked the corridor between the girls and him. One was a bright green pegasus, the other a chestnut pony. No horn, good. That meant less trouble.
“Get away from them.” said the green pegasus.
“Make me.”
“I don’t have to. Whatever you do, don’t look behind you.”
Stewie sneered, “Like I’m going to fall for that one.”
Summer watched with great satisfaction as the form of an old man, wearing a very dirty pair of overalls, lifted the heavy spanner and slammed it into the back of the intruder’s head. The man went down, crumpling like an old piece of paper.
“Gumby don’t take kindly none to thems as would hurt mah pony.” the old man said.
“Gumby, I am so glad to see you!” Summer leaped forwards and embraced Gumby in a crushing pony-hug.
“Old Gumby’s glad he found you, Pony. What’ve you been up to, huh? I let you go up top for one day, and you start a fightin’?”
“Vertigo, Alice, girls, this is Gumby. My boss.”
“Pleased to make yer acquaintances,” Gumby saluted with the spanner before putting it back into his harness, “you’d better come this way, trouble’s afoot. Pleased to meetcha, Vertigo. I heard a lot about you.”
“What? I never...”
“Ya talk in yer sleep, Pony.”
“And how come he gets a name, and I don’t?”
“He don’t work for ol’ Gumby now, does he?” Gumby smiled toothily and ruffled the mane on the chestnut stallion, “Ol’ Gumby knows when to keep his yap shut, so come on.”
“Where’s he gonna take us?” asked Alice.
“Gumby, have you seen the news? The barrier shield... it’s gone crazy or something. We need to get the backup potion to the cafeteria.”
The old man thought for a second, before nodding, “Sounds like a right good idea if’n you think it’s necessary.”
“Can’t hurt. You... you should take some, too.”
“If it comes to it, I’ll make ma decision then, not now.”
“But...”
“No buts. Follow ol’ Gumby now, and make sure to close the door after ye’s.”

***

Eclaire sobbed. He was lost. He’d been in the facilities when the alarms had hit. He’d hid, until the second alarm went off, and by then it was too late. He was relatively new, having arrived from Equestria only the last week. He was a chocolate-coloured earth-pony with a striking white mane and tail, perhaps understandably he loved baking.
He looked up as he heard footsteps, cowering back as a human clad in a leatherjacket rounded the corner. “Please,” he said, “don’t hurt me... I don’t want to hurt anyone...”
The figure brandished the piece of wood, holding it high. Eclaire whimpered and screwed up his eyes, cowering even lower. The touch, when it came, was gentle. Fingers brushed his ears.
“I... I’m sorry.” said a small voice. Eclaire opened his eyes, looking up at the human.
“You’re not going to hurt me?”
“I... I was. I guess. I don’t know.”
“Please don’t. I-I’ll do anything, anything you say.”
The strange human reached out a hand, “Can... can I touch you?”
“I-if you w-want...” Eclaire trembled as the hand reached closer. It touched his muzzle, just below his left eye. The human sat down and put his hand instead on the pony’s head, between his large, expressive eyes.
“You’re warm.”
“You’ve got cold hands.”
“I was... outside. It’s cold out there in the mornings.”
After a few moments of silence, the pony spoke up nervously, “I’m Eclaire, from Equestria. I live in Neighsby, I cook. I came here because I kinda wanted to see humans.”
“Ben. I live in Manhatten, kinda. I don’t have a home. I... live with my gang. I ran away from home, my papa used to beat me and my momma drank. I ain’t down with that, so I left. Got me... got me some real friends. Least I thought I had.”
“A gang’s like a herd, isn’t it?”
“Kinda.”
“What do you do?”
Ben sighed, “Bad stuff, mostly. I don’t know how to do anything else.”
“You... could come with me? If you want. Misses Trifle has a room a-and could use some help.”
“Me, a pony? Why would you want me?”
“Why not?”

***

Vertigo blew his mane out of his eyes as he trotted through the underbelly of the complex. He kept his eyes on the old man and the pony in front of him. Every so often he caught Summer looking back at him. He nipped the earth pony in the butt, which cause Summer to raise and flick his tail. A warm shiver ran through his body as he peered at that backside. He... he didn’t like colts, did he? He was a stallion’s stallion, but not in that way... but he cared for this earth pony, very much. He couldn’t ignore it. This Summer was... different. The same, but different. More sure of himself, bossier, more... more like a stallion, he guessed. It didn’t matter, he found he liked... no, he loved this stallion all the same. He hung his head.

It was the flicking of Summer’s tail that snapped him back to reality. He looked up again as Summer had slowed his walk every so slightly, his tail lifted just up and to the right. The bloody stallion was swaggering. Vertigo felt a stirring in his loins and his wings shot half-out before he managed to shake himself and force them back into position. Damn that mar-... him, he thought, as his nose was all but buried in the base of Summer’s tail. He fought the urge to nip and snort as hard as he could. Rainclouds, he told himself. Boring rainclouds. Fixing the weather maker. Snow. That evening on the clouds above Ponyville whilst the light drizzle made a perfect rainbow as the sun set... Dammit.

***

“Fuck! The cops!” hissed Simone, “Get over here, I think I can get this open... yeah, purely mechanical, no smarts at all. I think I’ve got a suitable bump-key...”
“A what?” hissed Edge.
“Fuck, Edge, don’t they teach you anything? Bump key, bump key!” the girl produced what appeared to be an ordinary set of keys. She sorted through them quickly before exclaiming loudly and inserting one of the keys into the lock on the door. She took out what looked like a hammer with the shaft removed and started hitting the key and jiggling it as she did so. After a few seconds, the key turned all the way and the door opened.
“Woah, Simone, you rock!”
“Yeah, I know. Get your ass in here!”

Through the door was a stairway leading down. The lights here were a strange reddish orange, and it was musty and warm. Edge and Simone walked carefully, they could hear talking not far off.
“Ponies! Let’s follow ‘em!”
“Ponies and humans. Bet they work here. These guys’ll know where some serious shit is. You help me carry, Edge, I’ll give you a cut. Thirty percent.”
“Thirty?”
“Thirty or nothing.”
Edge scowled. He was getting bored. Bunking off school had sounded like fun, and breaking in to the Bureau had been mega-awesome. Sneaking around with a cute chick was sweet, but he wanted to... he wanted to prove himself. Or something. Yeah.
“Thirty it is then. Come on, Edge.”

The pair stepped quietly and carefully. They watched silently as a tubby old man took some sort of special key out of his suit and opened another door. Inside, halogen lights flickered on brightly. The room beyond was bare, apart from what looked like two kegs, some empty beakers and a few flasks filled with varying shades of liquids. The brown pony took, with the help of the humans, both kegs on his back and a couple of flasks into a bag around his neck. Then, the group moved on.

Simone and Edge waited for a few minutes before moving.
“Let’s get ‘em!”
“Edge, you so dumb. This is it, the motherload. Ponification potion! We can be in and out with all of this and nobody will know until it’s too late. Do you know what this stuff is worth on the black market? I’ll be rich!”
“Hey, what about me?”
“Fuck you, that’s what about you. I can carry all this myself!”
“No you fuckin’ don’t!” Edge jumped and grabbed a cherry-coloured flask, “This one’s mine!”
“Keep it.” spat Simone, before she started loading the rest up into her voluminous coat. Within minutes, she’d cleared the lot, and had done a runner. Edge was left holding the smallish flask of cherry-red potion. He sighed. Now what?

***

Summer trotted along through the warren of corridors. He found he was enjoying himself, despite everything. He flicked his tail again, it made him feel warm inside as Vertigo’s wings flared almost in time to his trot. It really was the motion of the ocean more than the size of the wave, he thought to himself. His mind wandered back to Ponyville. That night, on the clouds, snuggled up to Vertigo, covered by his wings to keep the chill out. He still loved the pegasus, it still hurt. He sobered, what was he going to do? Did he... did he really want Vertigo? Did the pegasus want him? Vertigo had come all this way to find him, if what Alice had said was true he’d almost died trying... everything would have been so much easier if he’d just stayed a mare, if he hadn’t told Vertigo anything.
Summer mentally kicked himself, a second thought reminded him that everything would have been so much easier if he’d never been a mare in the first place, but... that felt wrong, somehow. He’d gone from human to mare as much as from human to pony. That vial of... whatever it was that Twilight had cooked up. That had changed him from... what he’d become, into this. It was almost as if he hadn’t been supposed to be a stallion, but that was crazy talk! It didn’t make sense! None of it did! He’d been a man all his life! He’d never liked other men, had he? Vertigo wasn’t even a man, he was a stallion! ...Then again, he didn’t like girls now. Was he gay, as a stallion? Could that even happen? Did ponies have ‘gay’ as a concept? Did ponies have same-sex relations? Could Vertigo have... Summer shook his head to try to clear the insistent ‘what if’s’. He focused instead on two facts: he loved Vertigo, and for better or worse, Vertigo clearly felt something for him. Things would work out, somehow.

“Now girls and ponies, if’n old Gumby hasn’t quite lost it, this’ll be the cafeteria. Stay with me now, we don’t know what’s going on up top proper, like.”
Gumby took out his collection of keys, and opened the door. The lock was stiff, they didn’t usually use the warrens to enter the common areas, but it opened. It was Pudding who noticed them first. She shrieked and almost dropped the sandwiches she’d been making. Almost, and for Pudding, that was quite a thing.
“Summer! You’re okay! I was so worried.”
Vertigo sniffed, “Oh, I see. Gone a month and already chasing the fillies.”
Pudding blinked, “Who are you, then? You’re not from around here. Convert? No, no, you’ve got your cutie-mark... Summer hon, who’s that?”
“This is... my coltfriend, Vertigo.”
“Eeeeh!” squealed Pudding, “I knew it! He’s gorgeous. I knew you had somepony back home, and I just knew he wasn’t a filly. Just wait ‘til I tell Barcode, that mule’ll be braying for weeks that I won the pot!” the bright yellow unicorn danced away laughing, leaving both Vertigo and Summer blushing.
“Coltfriend?”
“I... you are.” said Summer, “I’m sorry, Vertigo. I should ne-never have told you! I should have just kept my stupid muzzle shut. We’d have been s-so happy!” tears rolled down Summer’s face.
“Shh, Summer Glenn, if you loved me, how could you go on not telling me? I’m sorry I took it the way I did, but do you blame me? Hearing that my fillyfriend is a stallion?”
“B-but I wasn’t! I was a mare, through and through!”
“Rarity explained, badly. What did she mean?”
“There’s this... other version of the potion.” Summer turned his flank towards Vertigo, “It’s right here, in fact. They started manufacturing it again after... well, after me. For those males who want... to be female when they go pony.”
“That happens?” asked Vertigo.
Alice spoke up, “It does. I had a friend, years ago. He... didn’t feel right as a man. I lost touch with him, but he was heading to get some serious surgery. It wasn’t cheap, I worry about him sometimes.”
“Twilight’s stuff... the potion she cooked up that I took, they have that here, too. It’s in very short supply, because it’s dangerous for newfoals. If you take it too quickly, it could prove fatal. I... I have some.”
“If you take it, you’ll be a mare?”
Summer nodded, “It’s very quick.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.” said Vertigo, softly.
“I know. If you did, I don’t think I could be with you.”
“I know. I won’t. I don’t think I could take it, and if you tried to make me...”
Summer nodded, tears in his eyes again, “I’d be a monster. You can’t be asked to change what you are for somepony else, even if the price is... happiness.”
Vertigo shuddered with tears, nodding. He turned away to face the door, and froze.

“My little fucking ponies.” said a new voice.
Summer, Alice and the girls spun from where they were talking. The figure in the doorway to the underground warrens held one hand to the back of his head, and the other held a gun.
Gumby’s hand went to the spanner in his utility belt. He snatched it up and swung, but a single shot from the gun felled him. There was screaming from some of the girls. Alice went to the man. He was breathing heavily, blood pooling on his overalls.
“Gumby! You’ll be okay... shit, shit, I don’t know anything about gunshot wounds!”
“Backoff, sister!”
“He’s dying, you bastard! You shot him!”
“And? So fall all who oppose the greater glory of Man. Now get back, all of you! All of you!” Stewie brandished his gun, waving it about, “If anyone else wants a bullet in the brain, just let me know.”
“Gumby!” hissed Summer, under his breath, trotting over.
“I told you to stay still! We’re all going to sit pretty until I get my demands seen to...”
“And you’ll have a lot more luck with them if this man doesn’t die!” shouted Alice.
“Gumby, it’s... it’s going to be alright.” said Summer, his voice wavering as he shrugged himself out of one of the kegs.
“What are you doing?”
“This is potion, it’ll ponify him, and save his life.” said Summer, watching as the keg rolled away from him, “If you let me, I’ll give some to him, he’ll turn into a pony and he won’t die, and you won’t be charged with murder.”
“Shit!” swore Stewie. He pointed the gun at Summer, “Get it then! Get it! Give the old bastard some potion!”
Summer nodded and walked, very slowly, towards the keg, not taking his eyes off the man with the gun. Suddenly, he whirled, and lashed out with his hind legs.

An earth pony is considered the least desirable pony, by plenty of newfoals. They don’t fly, they don’t have obvious magic... so what good are they? Well, ask any earth pony and he or she will tell you. They are strong. Their bodies can withstand enormous amounts of pressure. They are phenomenally powerful and very, very dextrous.

Summer’s hind legs connected with the keg, in a split second accelerating it seemingly faster than sound. Stewie had no chance. He raised his arm and pulled the trigger, but the metal barrel was already slamming itself into his body. He was thrown back against the wall, where his body, his head and the barrel all came to rest with a very final-sounding crack. Stewie’s nose bled, a small trickle of crimson, as his eyes stared sightlessly off into space. He crumpled to the ground, dead.
“I’d get away from the potion in case it leaks, if I were you. Those kegs aren’t pressurized, but if you get it on your skin, you could be in for a very uncomfortable time, if you even survive the transformation.” Summer’s voice was flat, emotionless, as he warned the approaching onlookers back. He turned back to Gumby, “I can get you some of that potion, now, Gumby.”
The old man coughed, but shook his head, “No, no, Summer. Old Gumby won’t take none.”
“Please! Please, you gotta!”
“I ain’t gotta be doin’ nothing, young pony.” he coughed again, “Ain’t I taught you nothin’? Ol’ Gumby’s been waitin’ to go home.”
“Please! You can come home with me!”
“You find...” Gumby coughed and wheezed, “you find your home... first.” The old man slumped. Alice let a little sob escape her lips as she felt for a pulse, but found none. She closed his eyes and lay him down on the ground, and wept.

As if in answer, the fire suppression system finally burst from the stray bullet, showering the canteen with water. The doors, since the system was intelligent enough to not trap anyone inside to face a fiery death, unlocked. The cafeteria exploded with noise as a whole host of armed guards, rioters and policemen fell in, the battle for the bureau very much still underway.

***

Pudding had been giving sandwiches to the newfoals, Equestrians and humans alike, when the strange man had burst in through the warrens. She watched with horror as the gun barked once, hitting Gumby. She liked Gumby. She was scared, what in Celestia’s name should she do?
She stood riveted to the spot as the keg was bucked and the man went down, it was only when the water poured form the ceiling and the mob poured in through the doors that time returned to normal. Things had gone from bad to worse!
She leaped into her kitchen, hiding behind the lunch service, as shouting and screaming spread across the cafeteria. Peering above the counter, she saw human and pony alike protecting each other, with the police and swat teams doing their best to keep them separate from the intruders.
“He-hello, can anypony hear me? This is Elegance, Elegance Flare... I’m in the CCC!” came a voice over the intercom, amplified by the computer systems to make the unicorn audible over the din.
“Ella?” shouted Pudding, looking around.
“Pudding! I see you! Hold tight, the army is coming! Oh, cornsarnit, the stupid monitors changed... go back to the cafeteria! Back! Yes! Pudding! I see you! Oh, you’re in quite a stew, dear!”
“The army!?” squeaked Pudding.
“Yes! All those nasty humans... oh that sounds terrible of me... there are good humans too but... oh!”
“Ella! You’re not helping!”
“I’m trying to!”

The unicorn behind the intercom rattled off a list of building-sections where intruders were battling newfoals, directing police and swat teams to various locations, along with a running commentary to Pudding about everything. The yellow unicorn was cowering behind the service as Summer, some other lime-green pegasus and the three young girls with some other woman fended off protesters with frying pans, rolling pins, as well as hooves and teeth. She felt so useless! She hated being in such a stew!

“Stew! That’s it!” Pudding cried, her gaze turning to the kitchen racks full of knives, lades, pots, pans and other cooking implements. Her horn started to glow.

***

“Bastard! Bastard! Bastard! Fucking bastard! Fuck you! Eat it you shit!” screamed Summer. He was mad, livid, frothing at the mouth even, as he turned and spun, hooves flashing out every which way. Slowly he cleared a circle around himself, snarling in a most un-ponylike way. When the combatants backed off, he reared up, “Yeah, you want some? Come and get some! Come and...”
“Summer,” barked Vertigo, “Duck!”

Summer turned, and flinched. Through the air, weaving around him so close he could hear it, sped a veritable hurricane of knives. He flinched, cowering to the ground, as he spied Pudding, the small and demure unicorn chef, with an unearthly look of pure calm on her muzzle and a bright glow about her horn. He turned back to the battle, as the tide very definitely turned in favour of the bureau. Shouts of fighting and anger turned to screams of pain and shock as the flying blades nicked ears, shaved heads, sliced off fingers and filetted clothing. There is nothing quite so demoralizing as having an army of silverware deciding it wants to turn you into shish-kabob.
Effortlessly, Pudding herded the entire group of attackers into the middle of the cafeteria, where the police and swat teams surrounded them. The glow from her horn faded and the knives, which had been circling like sharks, dropped to the floor. Not a single attacker dared cross the line.

A ragged cheer went up amongst the denizens of the Hackensack Bureau as their security chief saluted their chef, smiling, before running to the double doors to hug a soft-white unicorn with a perfectly placed fiery red and orange mane and tail. Elegance Flare nuzzled the head of security, “I was so worried about you, Mister Morris!”
“Please, Ella, call me Leonard, or Lenny.”
“Alright, Lenny.” she laughed, blushing.

Summer slumped to the ground, exhausted. He breathed heavily and yawned. A shape slumped next to him. He opened his eyes to see it was Vertigo.
“How’re you doing, hon?” the pegasus asked
“Could be better, could be worse. Lost a friend, today.”
“Found an old one?”
Summer nuzzled Vertigo, “I think so.”

It was then that the door to the warrens slammed open again, and a young man stepped out, brandishing a small vial. Immediately several sets of stun guns, pepper sprays and nightsticks were brandished in his direction.
“That’s it, ponies! Just watch me! I’ve got your secret, here! I know what you’re up to! This... ponification, it’s bullshit! It’s all a lie! They drug you, then they scoop your brains out, and then they replace you with a pony double! Tell them! You there! Tell them this potion won’t change me into a pony!”
Summer blinked, the crazy... “Kid, stop.”
“No! Tell them!” he shrieked
Summer shook his head, “Officers, it’s okay, he’s not dangerous. Kid,”
“Edge! It’s Edge!”
“Edge, that potion won’t turn you into a pony, not the same way they all think it will.” said Summer, with a smirk.
“I know! See! I told you! Now the truth unfolds! I want everyone to see this! Everyone!”

Edge would be famous. He knew that now. He’d go down in history as the one to make the ugly truth of hte ponification bureaus mainstream news. He flipped open the vial and tossed back it’s contents. Strange, he thought to himself, I thought this was supposed to taste of grape, not cherry?
Very slowly, he crumpled to the floor.

Edge opened his eyes again. He’d had such a strange dream, and the two strange winged ponies in it had had horns! And they’d... they’d told him off!
“How do you feel, Edge?”
Edge yawned, stretching. He felt good! “I’m... I’m alright, I guess.”
“Okay then, just lay still, this is going to be a bit uncomfortable.” said the same female voice.
“Why? Are you going to scoop out my brains now?”
“Hardly, I need to check something. I’m giving you a physical,” the woman pulled on a pair of latex gloves with an audible snap, “and it’s going to feel more than a little uncomfortable. You’re lucky you’re officially in a legal grey area, now, since you’re a pony.”
“Why? What?”
The woman, Edge watched her get up from where she’d had a stethoscope to his chest, walked to his hind-quarters and lifted his tail, “Well, if you were still human you’d be charged with all manner of crimes. As it is, you’ll have to throw yourself on the mercy of the princesses... but not before I’ve finished your physical.”
“With the gloves?” Edge gulped.
“Oh yes, I’ve got to make sure you made the transition alright.”
Edge yelped as the woman’s cold hands went somewhere under his tail... not just under, but in. “Hang on... what’re you..?”
“Yes, yes, this seems to be okay, no deformities.”
“Whoo-hooo-what’re you doing?”
“Nice shape, colour’s okay... Oh my, stay away from the stallions for a while or you could have a lot more to explain to your family.”
“Will you get your hands off me!”
“No, you little creep, I won’t. I’m a fully trained vet and I believe your exact words were ‘I want everyone to see this’, so no. You get no privacy. So sue me, and I remind you, you’ll have to talk to your new heads of state, if they’ll even pay you the courtesy. I’ve got their medical branch on speed-dial, they’ll verify the necessity of an internal examination in cross-gender conversions like this.” the woman felt between Edge’s legs, and he couldn’t help but note that whilst the woman was gentle enough, she was very thorough. She gently massaged two outcroppings that hadn’t been there before... and his heart sank as he noticed three more vitally important biological pieces of equipment were entirely absent.
Her words sunk in.
"I’m a mare?”
“Quite, and a completely healthy one, at that. It seems that potion R63 has once again led to a subject ‘flashing pink’, but other than that you’re in top shape.”
“Flashing pink?”
“You’re in season, dear, hence I advise you to keep your tail down and stay away from the stallions for a while. One or two may get a bit frisky, and your own hormones may get you into a situation you might just regret eleven months or so down the road.”

***

Alice lay back on the bed, three foals scattered around her. They were sixteen, so technically they weren’t foals, but still. They were kids, so that kinda made them foals. She guessed they were hers, now, if she wanted. Ponies were a very gregarious lot, and when they formed bonds, they were hard to break. She had turned out to be an earth pony, like Summer, her coat a glowing aquamarine and her mane sea-blue and white. The three girls had transformed into one of each, with the scheming Liz becoming an earth pony too, much to her chagrin. The quiet Debs was a pegasus, Trish was a unicorn.

They hadn’t had to change, but they’d wanted to. The expansion phase, or whatever it was, had stopped. For now. Many had gone pony anyway, others had sloped off back to their dorms to wait their turn. Some, expectedly, had gone home. It was all a bit crazy, really. The craziest was a piebald pony that had sneaked in with a little chocolate-and-white coloured beauty apparently called Eclaire. Everyone knew he’d come in with the rioters, but the two stallions seemed quite happy together.
“Takes all sorts.” she said, under her breath.
“Hmm?” asked Vertigo.
“Oh, nothing, V. How’re you holding up?”
“I dunno, Alice.”
Alice smiled, “Do you love him?”
“I do.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“None, I guess.”
“Then go be a... a colt-cuddler, is that what you call it? I won’t think any less of you.”
“What’ll all my buddies say?”
“Won’t they be happy for you? You go flying through a storm and fight in a battle for the one you love, that’s gotta mean something. There was a famous man said, once; thems as matter don’t mind, and thems as mind don’t matter.”
“I wish it were that easy.” Vertigo nuzzled the form next to him softly.
“It is.” said a small voice, “Vertigo, I love you.”
“I... I love you too.”
“I still have some of Twilight’s stuff, you know.”
“You don’t have to drink it.” Vertigo wriggled until he stood up, “I know you’ve got a coin or two. Let’s flip one.”
“You what?”
“A coin. A bit.” Vertigo dug out a coin from Summer’s bag, holding it in his teeth.
“Okay, let me just get the potion. So, V, heads I win, right? I’m calling it, heads.”
“Uh-huh!” Vertigo flipped the coin into the air and watched it spin intently.
“Heads I win, tails I win.” said Summer, flicking open the top of the vial and downing it in one.

***

The day was bright and hard. The police were still clearing up the detritus from the riot, plenty of people had been arrested, but few had died.
Summer Glenn, she had kept the name change, trotted next to Pointe Vertigo as the group of ponies moved down the road towards the docks. Summer ‘accidentally’ leaned against the lime-green pegasus next to her, his wings splayed out uncontrollably. Summer laughed.
“You didn’t have to do that!”
“I know, but I wanted to. I... I guess I got used to being a mare. It felt weird, being a stallion.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.” Summer kissed Vertigo on the cheek, “I just wanted you to know that. I would never accept it if you’d demanded I change myself, but I think I’m allowed to change myself if I want.”
“I still feel bad.”
“Then maybe we can talk to Twilight, see how many times this can be used, huh?”
“Kinky!”
“Ugh!” said Alice, forcing her way between the two, “You are awful. Setting a bad example for the girls.”
“Sorry Alice!” the pair cried, as the aquamarine pony bounced easily up the gangplank and onto ‘The Pride of Lyons’. Somehow, the pony had taken to her new legs as if she’d been born with them. The three girls had found a gait that let them be mobile, at least, and were eagerly following Alice.
After a good degree of swearing, they moved off and out into the ocean, towards Equestria.

***

Passing through the shield is a different experience for everypony, same as taking the potion is. Alice noted with interest how she tingled all over, like being dusted with a thousand feathers, and how the world seemed momentarily to turn upside down and inside out. Moments later, she felt a rush as her little boat crossed the threshold, and then they were through.
It was easy, in a way, to tell they were through to Equestria. Firstly, the sun was different. It was warmer, brighter, yet friendlier. The air was sweet and tangy, mixing with the salt in a pleasant melange. The clouds looked different, too, almost like cotton candy.
The biggest difference, though, the absolute biggest difference, was that the engine on their boat stopped working.
“Well shit.” said Alice, “Anyone got a... er... V? You ponies got cellphones?”
Vertigo laughed, “I can do better than that. There’re some pegasi I can hail, I’m sure, they’ll find a ship that can help us.

“Ahoy there, strangers!” called the voice. It belonged to a white-coated earth pony with a light blue mane.
“Ahoy there, Anchor!” called Summer.
“As I live and breathe, young Summer the newfoal. You look a mite different than when we last met.”
Summer and Vertigo looked at each other, and laughed.  “It’s complicated!” they both called.