Altered

by Graglithan The Greater


Chapter 5

In the castle library, six mares all were gathered around a crystalline table. While it may not have been the same table they usually gathered around, the smaller, and less critical tabletop still served its purpose as an excellent place to read, without having to deal with holographic buildings blocking the pages at random times.

The atmosphere, however, was less than ideal for such activities.

The six had spent the past few hours discussing what to do about the particular situation at hand. More specifically, how they should approach the new arrival wearing one of their faces, and going through the stuff that Twilight had found.

Looking through the wallet, Rainbow stared at some green papers that she’d found. “This isn’t even close to the money Gilda showed me once. It’s so bland and boring. At least griffon money has some color to it.“

Shaking her head, Applejack looked over from the broken electronics on the table. “That ain’t what we’re going through this for Dash.” Poking at the device a few times and getting no response, the farmer scratched behind her ear. “What the hay is going through all this gonna help us do anyway?”

Pulling something from the wallet in Rainbow’s hoof, Rarity brought a plastic card out of a pocket and into her magic, humming as it turned. “I believe this may be a license of some sort. Shame that her language does not match our own, but we do get a good picture at least.” Glancing at her side, the seamstress noticed her bookish friend’s hesitation in her examinations and placed a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Are you sure you’re alright with doing this now dear? You look positively beside yourself.”

Giving her friend a small smile in return, the princess’s eyes showed the truth of just how tired she was. “I’m fine. Its just...I’m not sure how we should do this.”

Pinkie tilted her head, a sock that somehow survived earlier events hanging off her curls. “What do you mean?”

Twilight’s attention moved to her party-centric friend. “Well for one, this mare is completely removed from her home, and I don’t think she even knows our language. She’s probably going to be scared, confused, and unable to talk to anyone when she finally wakes up.” She frowned as her gaze moved to the items salvaged. A feeling in her core twisted slightly as she looked over each item. “Secondly, it feels, wrong, going through her belongings like this. I know we need to learn more about them to be of any help, and gathering information of any kind is going to take a lot of time regardless, but...”

“Twilight, I think we should do this later.” All heads looked to Fluttershy, and she hid behind her hair a bit. “I mean....We can tell this is bothering you, but um, if you want to keep going-”

Twilight shook her head as a small smile let a sigh escape from her lips. “No, you’re right. We should probably stop for now. Besides, we’ll be able to learn more when, when she,” a yawn forced its way out of her as she attempted to blink herself awake again, “wakes up and can tell us what she knows herself.”

With a hoof hitting her face, Applejack sighed and stood up from her seat. “Alright, that’s it. You’re going to bed.“ Walking over to her friend, the farmer started gently pulling her away from the table.

The lavender princess protested weakly as she was moved from her chair. “Applejack, please I’m fine. I’m not that tired at all.”

The apple brand deadpan stare was the start of the farmer’s response ”Ya look like you’re about to fall right over any second now.” With a slightly firmer tug, Twilight found herself flopped across Applejack’s back. “Now help me find your room, so you can get some sleep.”

When the only response she heard was a gentle snore, the five friends all shared a small laugh at their sleeping princess’s expense.


As Christopher watched the stallion leave, he felt a straggling shudder crawl its way up his back after the door was closed, as if it was afraid to do so with the doctor in the room. “The hell was with that guy?”

The entire time the new doctor was trying to talk to him, something kept twisting in his gut. It was like just meeting the stallion put his nerves on edge, even though the way he was moving about painted him as a complete buffoon, including his repeated attempts at communication without any form of understanding between the two. Yet through it all, all Chris could feel was a bubbling pit of resentment from the doctor. It was a palpable taste in the air around him and had started making the poor man sick to his stomach until the stallion finally left.

Chris had to take several breaths once he was alone to shake the queasiness. Taking a quick look around, the bedridden pony quickly scooted himself to the edge of the bed and tried to roll off onto his feet. His back legs landed with a clop, sending a jolt up his spine that made him flop his face into the bedding. “Holy crap that feels weird.”

The sensation of hoof meeting crystal was... unique, to put lightly. It was almost like he was standing on his nails instead of his toes, only now his nails were growing from around his entire foot and were able to remain attached despite the sheer amount of weight his body was placed on them. He could still feel the ground below, and the echo of a chill from the minuscule amount of space that was left under his new limbs, but that did little to ease the feeling running up his legs. If anything, it made it worse.

There was another feeling however that made him worry a bit more. The space between his legs felt somewhat breezy. Like something was either incredibly shrunken or missing.

Both options were less than ideal in Christopher's opinion.

Gulping, Chris took a breath and looked between his forelegs to see the extent of the damage, and shortly after, regretted doing so.

Gone. A part of Christopher that he took for granted was wholly removed from his body. Only a pair of soft mounds could be seen on his underbelly, and neither were as far back as he would have liked them to be nor did they dangle. Any hint of a remnant of his former pride, the only part of him he wouldn’t have had any problems becoming a bit more equine if he wanted a size boost, was stripped away from him.

Not only did the world make him a horse, but it also made him a girl too.

Yet, Chris did not feel a panic attack as horrible as the last one coming on. Sure, this was the newest revelation of how utterly screwed over the world made him, but it was the latest in several that happened back to back. If anything, the panic attack decided to let an echo of the last one take the next shot, only accelerating his heart rate half as much instead. He paused for a moment to breathe like the mare from before showed him.

With a push, his forehooves landed on the ground, and Chris stood on four unsteady legs. He had a feeling that he wasn’t supposed to try and walk anytime soon, but he felt the need to get out of the lingering scent the stallion had left behind. Get out to where though? He wasn’t sure. As long as he wasn’t in that room anymore, he didn’t care.

He started his unsteady gait towards the doorway when he saw his reflection in the crystal. It was distorted slightly, but he tilted his head out of curiosity regardless as he started examining himself.

A horn, of all things, was protruding from his head. He stared at the protrusion, before shakily letting out a breath. “Unicorn... of all things to be turned into... a unicorn...” A gulp raced down his throat as he thought back to what myths and legends he knew about the legendary equines. “I hope none of those myths about their blood are true... I don’t want to be hunted.”

He then took a moment to look at his face. He already knew that he was purple now, but he didn’t realize how extensive the color was until now. Eyes, body, hair and tail, all of them were some shade of the color purple. The only exception he could see on his body was the streak of pink in his tail and hair. He refused to call it a mane if only to hold on to some shred of his former species.

It was then a thought occurred. “Wait... that stallion was a unicorn too. Was that uneasy feeling because we’re both...? He didn’t want to... did he?” A shudder ran up his spine. “No, not thinking about that. It’s fucking gross. Ew.”

He felt the tickle of something on his neck as he shuddered though, and leaned against the wall for a moment to orient himself properly, before taking a small step to the side and trying to get a good look at himself in the reflection. “There’s... something under the fur?” Try as he might, however, he couldn’t get a good look. Whatever was on his neck, he couldn’t see it under the lavender hairs.

He needed a mirror to get a better look. Not some heavily polished rocks.

Ending his self-examination, Chris stumbled out the door and down the halls. The farther away from the room he got, the fresher the air became.

Going down the halls, Christopher checked every door he could, pushing them open with his head and shoulders. It hurt and exhausted him, but how else was he going to open the doors with no hands? He was just happy that the doorknobs weren’t too troublesome to operate with his teeth.

It was further down the hall when he was finally reaching a T in his path that he heard the same sound his own limbs were making, only far more plentiful. Fear pierced through his mind as he looked over and darted into the nearest room, and pushed the door shut. He could hear them talking to each other as they passed, but the words were lost to him. Seeing no other options to understand what might be happening, he dared a glance, cracking open the door to peer out.

There were five of them. Pink, white, blue, orange, and yellow, moving past the doorway. On the orange one’s back, however, he saw another purple pony. She looked shockingly like he did, but had the addition of a pair of wings sprouting from her back.

And for a moment, he remembered the pain.

His mind was racing with possible reasons. Did they do this to him? Did they do this to her too? What were the bandages on her neck for? Why did she have wings? Why was his vision getting fuzzier?

Starting to gasp for air, he ducked back into the room and tried to shake the thoughts away. As he did, he could feel the weight in his stomach again, only this time it wasn’t a feeling of resentment he was overwhelmed by, but concern? It wafted off of the mares as they walked by, almost a literal cloud of tastes and scents, to the point that Chris could feel his eyes watering from how intense it was. It was too much, and he backed into the room further, getting as far from the door as possible.

He sat alone in that room, hugging himself as he scooted into a corner and cried silently.

Just what was happening to him?