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// 24: This is a joke... right? (Slight NSFW at one point, nothing too major just fair warning) 
// Story: Dawn of The Ice King 
// by KingdomBrony16 
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It was early morning, I would say around 4 maybe 4:30, and I was deep in the heart of the Everfree. Why am I in the Everfree you’re wondering? Well that’s simple, I’m training, I came out here to clear my head after talking to Luna and Ixis in my dreams, I needed something to distract myself. Normally I would be in a clearing relatively close to town but there were some sleeping hydras that I didn’t feel like chasing off so I made my way further in, avoiding certain areas for… reasons. Eventually I found an open clearing with just a large patch of  blue flowers, honestly the more I trained here the more i noticed that there wasn’t any life near by to this area, normally that would set off my logic sensors but it was early and I was tired and upset so i really didn’t pay it any mind. I really should have in hindsight but you know what they say, “Hindsight 20/20, foresight none.” After I was done blowing off steam I headed back home I would say it was about 7:30 when I did, I took a shower and got back in bed and passed right back out.

That’s what lead me to now, standing in my bathroom 3 hours later staring at myself like an idiot in the mirror, Shy and Goldy were still asleep and I felt horribly groggy, so i went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face to help wake me up. When I finally looked in the mirror guess what I saw? A woman looking back at me, I blinked and moved a hand up to touch my face, the reflection doing the same, I sighed, I knew this was me but I was really hoping i was hallucinating, apparently not. I took a closer look at myself, examining what changed.

I was shorter now, at what I would guess would be 5’5, putting me at Pinkie’s height, my hair now hung down past my shoulders and was very curly, my eye was more almond shaped and pulled tighter, my lips were fuller, my features over all were smoother and smaller. That included my draconic features as well, my horns were shorter and slightly more blunt, my teeth also weren’t as long as before, same with my tongue, my wings were also smaller in proportion to what they were before although they still looked oversized for my body, I had one less hook claw on the knuckle of my wings and my tail was slightly shorter and skinnier. I still retained the muscle that i gained but it was more toned, less defined, I was slimmer, I could probably fly faster like this, which made sense. My chest was a decent size, I’d say probably on par with Rarity’s which was in the middle ground of the group, Shy being at the largest end of the spectrum and Rainbow being at the small end. My hips, butt and thighs were also somewhere around the middle I’d say comparable to Shy’s actually, AJ well being at the large end and Twilight being at the small end, so basically I was a perfectly balanced hour glass, which is weird to me because even as a dude I have some pretty large thighs... muscular legs run in my family.

‘Hey Ixis you awake?’ I asked her only to get a male voice in response.

+Y-yes… I wait… what?+ She, or I guess he asked even stunned at what was going on, +What happened?+

‘Don’t you know? Aren’t you awake when I’m awake?’ I asked him.

+Not all the time, sometimes even I need a break you know?+ He retorted quickly.

‘Alright fair enough, but can’t you, I don’t know, look through my memories see what might have caused this?’

I felt him nod, +Give me one second… oh oh dear, that is not good.+

My face scrunched up at that statement, “What isn’t good?” I asked aloud.

+That patch of flowers you were training in last night? Yeah, that was poison joke, it plays tricks on anything that comes into contact with, mostly physical.+ He explained.

“Well is there a cure?” I asked, please say yes.

+I believe so, but I don’t recall it at the moment, it might be in one of the memory tomes in here, but it might take me a bit to find, I would just go ask Zecora, she should know.+ He said.

“Ok that is a good point, yeah I’ll do that.” I made my way quickly out of my house, avoiding Hedgy and Angel as they were also still sleeping downstairs. Once I was out of the house I took to the air, only to have the force of it send my shirt up in my face exposing my chest to which I quickly pulled back down over my chest and blushed heavily, hoping that if ANYONE was awake and out, which of course they were that no one saw anything. But seriously why did that happen? It’s never happened to me a a guy, was it just the effects of the poison joke fucking me? I really hope not because I do not need stuff like that happening all day.

As I flew closer to the Everfree Is aw Apple Bloom walking out from the entrance that had the safe path to Zecora’s house, I decided to land and see what that was about.

“Hey Apple Bloom, what are you doing in the Everfree?” I asked the filly as a I landed in front of her.

“Who’re… wait ya look familiar.” She took a closer look at me before gasping, “Chris is that you?” I nodded solemnly, “What happened?”

I sighed, “You ever hear of poison joke?” I asked the younger apple sibling.

Her eyes widened before quickly softening in understanding, “Yeah, mah sister and her friends were affected by it a couple years back, before ya showed up actually, due to a whole misunderstanding about Zecora.” She explained.

“Wait the girls got poison joked?” I asked, wondering what happened to them when they got assaulted by the blue flower.

Apple Bloom laughed, recalling those memories, “Yeah, they all did, My sis became super small and we called her Appleteenie.”

I laughed at that, “Oh my, that must have been hilarious.”

“It was but, normally if something like this happened you'd go to Zecora’s right? Well she isn’t there right now, I went to see if she would show me some more advanced potion making techniques buuuut.” She finished, rolling her hand in the air.

“Wait you make potions?” I asked her.

She nodded, “In mah spare time I do, I liked it when Twilight was teaching me and the other crusaders so I thought I’d  keep on practicing. Oh, actually Twilight should be able tah help ya.”

“Ok, thanks for letting me know, I'm guessing you’re gonna tag along for today?”

She shrugged, “Might as well, I don’t have any chores to do at the farm today and mah plans are cancelled.”

“Alright well off we go then.” I wrapped my wings back around me, mostly to hide myself and we made our way to Twilight’s Castle, on the way I noticed I was getting a few looks, mostly from Stallions, a few from mares too. I ignored them and kept on my way, with Apple Bloom following behind me, or at least I thought she was, I didn’t hear her footsteps behind me.

I looked back behind me and froze seeing why she stopped, she stopped because a very small yet distinct black and yellow creature landed on her nose, she moved a hand up to let it crawl on there, “Hey there little fella, what’re ya doin in the middle of Ponyville?” She asked the creature.

“Hey Chris, don’t ya think its weird that a bee is this far from everfree or mah farm?” She asked looking up at me, only to see me frozen in horror, “Ya ok Chris?”

I stared at the tiny monstrosity, not taking my eyes off it, the abomination of a creature turned and was looking dead at me, its little wings buzzing on and off, my brain was screaming at me to either run or curl up, I was NOT dealing with the today, nope no thank you.

“Wait, don’t tell me you’re afraid of bees?” Apple Bloom asked, I only nodded stiffly in response, trying to keep my presence as unknown as possible. “Why? They’re just bees, it's not like they’d attack you, and even if you didn’t can’t you just coat your body in ice to protect you or something?”

I blinked, wait she’s right I could do that couldn’t I?

+Actually no you can’t the whole Frozen Time thing you pulled, remember it drained your magic heavily, most you can do right now is make snowballs.+ Ixis said, reminding me.

FUCK!!!

+Ah well, that’s new, your entire existence just agreed on that.+ He said with a chuckle.

I shook my head slowly, indicating that i currently can’t do that.

“Oh… well it’s just one be right, what could it do?” She asked.

I heard her, oh I heard her alright and so did the universe and more specifically it’s brother Murphy as evident by the massive dark cloud in the distance quickly heading this way. I started backing away slowly, “B-Bloom… turn around if you would….”

She looked at me skeptically but did so only to shriek at what she saw, which is what I saw, a massive swarm of bees heading towards us, “I’m guessing we run?” She asked.

“Eeyup!” I said as I quickly picked her up, the bee on her hand fluttering away for a second, and then I looked for the nearest house that I recognized, THERE!

I ran over and knocked on the door in rapid succession, “Come on… come on…” I knocked on the door again.

“One second jeez!” I heard coming from behind the door.

I looked behind me, the swarm getting way too close for comfort, and it was getting closer and closer and closer until I was actually starting to hyperventilate and slowly scoot back against the door. They just kept getting closer, I could hear my heart beating in my ears it felt like I was about to vomit from just how scared I actually was and right when it I was about to pass out the door opened up and Apple Bloom and I tumbled backwards into the house on top of and over the pony who opened the door. Apple Bloom recovered first, quickly getting up and slamming the door closed.

I groaned, feeling a weight on top of me, specifically on my chest, I opened my eyes to see that Lyra was groping me, also very much in shock before she jumped off of me.

“I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to…. Uh who are you?” She asked.

“That’s Chris, Lyra.” Apple Bloom said.

Lyra looked at me and I mean really looked at me, “Chris? Oh my Faust, what happened to you?”

I sat up slowly, breathing  heavily, not really able to get my words out, and I just scooted as far away from the door and any windows as I could get and i just sat in that spot in the fetal position.

Apple Bloom sighed, “He got pranked by some poison joke and is now a she.”

Lyra snorted, “Oh, ok that explains the rockin bod but what about all the freaking out?”

Apple Bloom shrugged, “Apparently, he’s super scared of bees.”

“Huh, strange he never told us that, hold on let me get Bonnie, she can help.” Lyra walked to the stairs and looked up them, “Hey Bonnie, I could use your help here!” She called out.

“Ugghhh, fiiiine hold on.” Bon Bon said from upstairs. A few moments later she came down the stairs dressed in some pajamas, “What did you need my help with Lyra?” The mare in question pointed to my shaking form curled up in the corner, “Who is… Chris?” Lyra nodded, “Why is he a she, wait no let me guess Poison Joke?” Another nod from Lyra, “And why is he shaking in the corner like a wet leaf.”

That's when Apple Bloom spoke up, “He’s scared of bees and we were chased by a swarm of them.”

Bon Bon looked at the younger pony and back to me, “He’s this scared of bees and he never told us?”

“That’s what I said” Lyra said with a pout.

Bon Bon sighed, looked out the windows and then walked up to me and gently put a hand on my shoulder, “Chris they’re gone, you can relax.” I shook my head and pulled my legs in closer to myself whimpering a bit, “Ok, it’s ok take your time, I’m going to make some hot chocolate would you like any?” I nodded, “Ok, Lyra keep him… er, her, company, Apple Bloom would mind helping me?”

The apple mare nodded and quickly headed into the kitchen with the pregnant mare, “That is the worst case of Melissophobia I have ever seen.”

“What does that mean Miss Bon Bon?” Apple Bloom asked.

“It means fear of bees but really I’ve never seen it this bad before, i wonder what caused it…” Bon Bon wondered.

“Could always ask.”

Back out front with Lyra and I she was trying her best to comfort me, “Hey big guy… uh gal… Uh this is weird I don’t know what to call you.”

I just shuddered again, starting to cry, the thought of that many bees still just in my mind.

Lyra sighed and sat next to me, pressing her side next to mine, “You wanna know what I’m afraid of?” I nodded softly, “It’s a bit silly but I’m afraid of airships, i don’t like flying. Something about being in the sky with no ground beneath me is scary, it seems silly when I’m ok going to Cloudsdale and stuff like huh?”

That actually made me laugh, “Yeah it’s kinda silly.”

“Hey look at that got you to talk, so uh how's this whole being a mare thing treating you?” She asked.

“Woman, and it’s weird I miss my dick and all that ya know? And these things are heavier than I expected.” I said unfurling my wings from around me and gesturing to my chest.

Lyra looked at me, well more specifically my chest and blushed, “Can I… uh… nevermind.”

I looked at her and smirked, “What you wanted to cop a feel?” She squeaked and blushed shaking her head, “I don’t mind I don’t really see what the big deal is.” I said with a shrug.

She looked at me shocked, “Wait, seriously?”

“Yeah go ahead.” I said leaving my chest open for her, “Honestly if I wasn’t freaking out internally right now i’d probably be feeling myself up as well.”

Lyra audibly swallowed and reached out her hands slowly until she reached my chest at which she squeezed, “Wow, they’re bigger than mine and Bonnie’s but still soft and squishy. Honestly it makes me kind of jealous, not that I don’t love Bonnie’s body.”

“L-Lyra…” I breathed out.

“I-In fact Bonnie’s body is perfect, it’s actually what I refer in a mare.” She said quickly.

“Lyyyrraaaa…” I said again, his time it was halfway between a moan and a pant.

“Not saying that you don’t have a good body either Chris it just-” She looked at me and cut herself off realizing that she was just constantly squeezing and kneading my chest. I was panting heavily, my tongue was hanging out of my mouth, with my eye rolling into my head, a bit of drool dripping from my mouth, my legs twitching slightly and my tail was spasming uncontrollably. This caused Lyra to stop, “Oh oh my… did you?” I shook my head quickly, blushing heavily, “You know it’s nothing to be ashamed of, a lot of mares’ chests are super sensitive like that.” 

I nodded just as quickly and squeaked out, “C-can I use your bathroom please?”

Lyra blanched, clearly knowing why I needed to use it, “Yes, it upstairs first door on the right.”

A few minutes later Bon Bon and Apple Bloom came out of the kitchen with freshly made hot chocolate, “Where’s Chris?” Bon Bon asked Lyra.

Lyra blushed and looked away, “Bathroom.” Was all she said until a very certain sounding scream came from the bathroom upstairs to which Bon Bon gave a Lyra a suspicious look, “I-I’ll tell you later Bonnie, I promise.”

After an extra few minutes I came back downstairs to see  Everyone sitting on the couches in the house waiting for me, I took a seat on one of the couches next to Apple Bloom.

“Enjoy yourself?” Bon Bon asked with a smirk.

I looked away pouting, “No idea what you’re talking about.”

Apple Bloom looked between us, confused, but shrugged it off and took a drink from her mug of hot cocoa.

“So, you want to tell us why you’re so afraid of bees?” Bon Bon asked.

I sighed, picking up my mug of hot chocolate and took a sip, “Oh that’s good, but it’s not just bees it's any small flying insect, or any flying insect that’s too large and shouldn’t EVER fly. Really, the only exception is butterflies, moths, and flies and butterflies and moths were only a recent exception and by recent I mean like 6 years ago.” I took another sip from my mug, “But really it’s a dumb reason, I was about… 7 or 8 and I was roller skating down my driveway at night and a moth flew down my throat and as I was choking I rolled into the street and almost got hit by a car.”

Lyra cocked her head to the side, “So you’re blaming any flying bug for you almost dying?”

“Mmmm yeah pretty much.” I said drinking the rest my cocoa in one go, “Thanks for the cocoa Bonnie, and also for letting us rest here before we go on.” I said.

She shook her head and waved it off, “It’s fine, it’s the least we can do for what you did for us.”

I smiled, “Well still thank you, but we better be on our way, before the Bees come back.”

Bon Bon frowned, wanting to talk more, “Alright, well be careful and we’ll see you in a few days ok?”

I nodded and stood up, giving the two mares a hug, before leaving the house with Apple Bloom following, “Ok let’s get to the Castle before they come back.” I said to her, we made our way through town with little to no problem and then I heard the buzzing and I panicked, I once again grabbed Bloom and ran for the nearest building I could immediately get into, Sugarcube corner.

“Welcome to Sugarcube Corner, how may we help you?” Pinkie called out.

“H-Hey Pinks… Uh you mind if we hide out here?” I asked the Pink mare.

“Chrissy? Sure… wait is this the Poison Joke chapter? Aw come one, Kingy said I’d get more of a role soon, I was hoping it was this chapter.” She looked off somewhere, confusing me greatly, “Oh and his first chapter with something actually a little explicit to warrant the sex tag, hehe, Shy’s gonna be jeaaalllllooooouuuuusss,”

I blinked, not understanding any of that, other than the end bit, how shew knew about that I have no idea, “Pinkie, please don’t say anything to anyone about that, I didn’t expect that to happen.”

She giggled, “Of course I won’t, you will, eventually, but it looks like your bee problem is gone, do you want a snack before you go? We do have gem encrusted things for Spike.”

Oh, that piqued my interest, “Sure, let me get whatever you recommend and whatever Apple Bloom wants.”

Apple Bloom perked up at that, “Uhm, can I get the Quadruple Chocolatey Choco Cupcake?”

Pinkie smiled wider at that, “Sure thing one Q3C and an Sapphire Cupcake coming right up.” he said disappearing into the kitchen.

Ms. Cake Came from upstairs and saw us at the table, “Oh Apple Bloom dear, have you and your friend been helped?”

“Yep, Pinkie took our order Ms. Cake, oh and this is Chris.” She said casually.

“Christopher? Dear me, what happened to you?” The motherly mare asked.

“Poison Joke, It’s weird being the opposite gender.” I said with a small smile.

“I bet dearie, did you go to Zecora for help? That’s what Pinkie and the girl’s did last time.” Ms. Cake said.

“I was going to but Apple Bloom said that Zecora isn’t home so we’re trying to get to Twilight’s.” I explained.

“Oh of course, the Princess will definitely be able to help, well do you need anything in the meantime dearie?” She asked me, looking at me intently, the question implying several things.

“Oh… OH! No, nothing like that, I’ll be back to normal before the day is out so I can last a bit longer, thank you though Ms. Cake.”

She walked behind the counter and headed towards the kitchen, “Think nothing of it, but I best help out Pinkie while my husband is watching the Twins, we’ll have your order up in no time at all.” 

Apple Bloom and I sat down  we talked for a little bit catching up on things, it was nice to just sit and talk with someone again, I’ve been running around so much these past few days I just haven’t had time to actually connect with anyone again, outside of that first day, properly other than my family. Well hopefully I’ll be able to catch up with everyone properly once we get to my world. We got our orders and ate them with glasses of milk, mine was good, sapphires tasted a lot like blueberries so I was nowhere near complaining.

“Was it good?” Pinkie asked, bending over our table, resting her elbows upon it she was close to my face, she smelled like cotton candy and strawberries and it looked like she was glowing.

I blushed and looked away, “I-It was good Pinkie, thank you.”

She giggled and pulled away not before pushing us out of our seats, “Well that’s good, now shoo you two, Kingy is getting hungry and wants to finish the chapter.”

I shook my head, “Never change Pinkie, but you’re right we have to go.”

Apple Bloom and I left the store and once again made our way through town and once again the bees appeared and we were chased to Rarity’s Boutique where once again we hid out for a while and caught up with Sweetie Belle and Rarity while we waited for the bees to go away, I asked about her assistant and where he was and apparently he was on vacation so that explains that. Rarity wanted to make some outfits for my female form but I refused as I planned on being back to normal today, she was upset, as was expected but I promised I’d allow her to have me as a dummy to see if she could make clothes that would suit wings and tails like mine so she could expand to dragons.

Once they were gone we left again, this time Sweetie was tagging along to see if she could help with the bee problem. Of course they showed up and Sweetie couldn’t do anything about them either so we were chased into the market where we hid under a large stall when they went away we took some time to catch up with Apple Jack until the bees realized I was still in the market and came back. The next place Bloom, Sweetie and I hid was in an open scooter store where we ran into Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash, and like the girls before we caught up with them while the bees disappeared, Rainbow I could tell was a bit jealous that I was taller than her and had a bigger chest but she gloated that her butt was bigger, hey whatever helped her sleep at night. To be fair we jabbed each other back and forth though so all in good fun.
Once the coast was clear I now had the original CMC tagging along with me and we were closer to the Castle of Friendship than ever now and we decided to go for one last sprint.

As we neared the castle buzzing than louder than ever before I looked behind us to see that the swarm at least tripled in size. This only caused us to run faster, my innate magic still not working o I was going at a pretty slow speed, actually that was the reason why I didn’t just zip over to the castle in the first place really. But this only meant that the bees could catch up even faster and they did.

That’s when I finally lost it, “Ok I’ve had enough of this!” I yelled out as I turned around and stood my ground.

+Chris what do you think you’re doing? You don’t have enough magic to pull off what you want.+ Ixis said warning me, +If you do this you’ll have to wait even longer to use any real strenuous magic.+

I nodded, “I know that, I’m willing to take that risk and i was planning on my weakened magic anyways, Shy wouldn’t appreciate me killing the bees.” I took in a deep breath, a dark violet magic circle showed up in front of me, neat, “ICE DRAGON’S FROZEN BREATH!!” this spell is already a weaker than the roar but it’s also less concentrated, more widespread you would say, which is what I was hoping for and with my magic weakened it wasn’t anywhere near as powerful but it did what I wanted t to do, it knocked all the bees out. I, however, was beyond winded and shuffled over to the CMC, “Let's go girls before they wake up….” We made our way to to castle pretty slowly due to me but we made it without the bees waking up.

When we got into the castle Spike was already on the lower floor, “Spike can you get Twilight please, Chris needs help.” Sweetie said, he gave me a glance, immediately understanding and went to go get her.

We waited for a bit until Twilight showed up, “What does Chris need help with… Oh! Chris, did you get into some poison joke or is this a spell?” She asked,

I was breathing heavily, “Joke…” I wheezed out.

She raised an eyebrow, “Why is she?” At my nod she continued, “Why is she so winded?”

“We were being chased around by bees all day and she finally got fed up and used some strong looking magic.” Apple Bloom exposited for Twilight.

“You used strong magic even though your reserves were low, for bees, why?” 

“Miss Bon Bon said something about Messapomea or something like that.” Apple Bloom said, struggling to remember what the word was.

“Melissophobia.” Sweetie corrected.

“Dunno what that means but the guy, girl, whatever is scared of bees.” Scootaloo said, earning a groan and face palm from her two friends.

“And they’ve been chasing him around all day?” I nodded again, “That’s weird, Poison Joke wouldn’t do that unless…” Her horn lit up and I felt magic pass over me, “Ok I see, well let me get the potion ready, Spike can you go run a bath?”

“You got it Twilight.” And off Spike went to do just that.

I looked confused, “Why… bath?”

Twilight smiled and laughed, “The potion is a special kind of bubble bath, that’s why.”

I rolled my eyes and dropped to the floor face first passing out for a little bit, when I was woken up i could breathe properly and move better, “I’m guessing the bath is ready?”

“Yep, towels were already set up for you, take as much time as you need.” Twilight said.

I thanked her and made my way t the bathroom and  took the bath, after relaxing for a while I stepped out, happy to see all my proper bits were back, I got dressed and headed back down to meat with everyone, “And I’m back baby!” I announced as I kicked open the door.

Twilight rolled her eyes, “Good to see you back, now I can explain what was going on with you now that fear of bees chasing you is over.”

I rolled my eyes, that fear would never go away, “Please do so.” 

“So, the Poison Joke’s primary effect on you wasn’t actually turning you into a female it was actually infusing you with the pheromone signature of a queen bee so you’d attract bees. This also made you very uh… fertile, so really any contact towards any… feminine part would be extra sensitive, and just a slew of other side effects.”

I sighed, “That explains a lot actually, I’m guessing me turning into a girl was just due to those pheromones interacting with my transformation that’s already going on?”

“Yep, that’s exactly what happened.” She said with a smile, glad to talk too you knowing you’re one of the few people who could keep up with her train of thought.

I stretched, “Well, I guess I should head back home now, I was running around all day with the girls. Though I think they’d like to spend some time with you, they miss their ‘Twilight Time’, whatever that is.”

Twilight looked at the girls, surprised, “Is that true girls?”

They all nodded and gave their various reasons why. I bid them goodbye and headed home, I was greeted by Shy in the living room, “How was your day Chris? You were gone all day.”

I sat down next to her, “Where’s Goldy?” I asked looking for m daughter. “She’s out with Pinkie.” Well that’s convenient, “Well it’s a long story story but…” I told her everything that happened today and she laughed at pretty much all of it even told me that what happened at Bon Bon and Lyra’s house was ok as I didn’t know that would happen and it wasn’t my intention for it to happen at all.

“But other than all of that, did you enjoy your day?” She asked.

I thought about it, did I enjoy my day? You know what I did, even if it was due to impending bee sting doom, I got to catch up with the CMC more and I got Twilight her students back, it really was a good day, “Yeah, I did.” I said with a smile.