//------------------------------// // Bonus Chapter: Going Back // Story: An Apple a Day // by The Blue EM2 //------------------------------// It seemed like an eternity of time passed before I made up my mind whether to put the bow back in or not. Should I, or should I not? The question floated in front of me, leaving me unsure what to do. But eventually I made up my mind. This time, I headed upstairs to my bedroom just to say goodbye, as I would probably never see it again after doing this. I looked around, taking it all in for the last time, and walked in, closing the door behind me, shutting the blinds, and opening my wardrobe, where there was a mirror. I intended to watch fully this time, and I was more prepared than at BronyCon, which now felt like it was thousands of years ago. I brought the bow up in my hand, running my other one through my short brown hair, which would shortly cease to exist. “Goodbye Tom,” I said quietly. “But there’s no going back now.” With those words, I unclipped the bow, ran it into my hair, and clipped it up again. Just then, I felt the electric jolt that was all too familiar to me from that day a few months back. And then it began. As I looked on my shirt, which was long sleeved and blue, suddenly changed shades to green, and the sleeves shrank back until they terminated about halfway above my upper arms. The collar shrank back into the shirt, and the buttons vanished as the V-neck stitched itself up, giving my shirt a high collar around my neck. My slacks changed, the new material brushing against my skin as the cotton morphed into denim. The button and zip stayed as they were, the only noticeable change was that they gained a silver finish compared to their previous black look. A belt suddenly appeared, threading itself through the belt hooks, and a buckle appeared right at the centre point of my waist, which was either copper in colour or golden, depending on what angle you were looking at it from. Then, my ‘jeans’, as they now were, changed again, the legs rolling themselves up for some odd reason. It became clear why a moment later. My slippers suddenly gained a much firmer heel, and closed around my feet, becoming firmer. As a result, I suddenly gained height briefly. The padding under my feet turned red, as the ‘shoes’, I suppose they now were, turned orange, before starting to grow up my leg. It was an incredibly strange sensation, feeling leather creeping up my legs, before they stopped at the halfway point between my ankles and my knee joints. On both of them, a metal buckle appeared, held in place with red straps. The legs of the jeans then dropped back over the boots, leaving the tops covered. That was the outfit completed. “Well, what now?” I asked, looking completely ridiculous. I knew what was coming next, but everything seemed to be happening in a different order to last time. I looked down briefly, and it was then I noticed something strange. The ground was suddenly beginning to get closer to my eyes, coming closer inch by inch. I looked in the mirror as my former height more or less melted away, until I reached a fraction of my former size. I had experienced it before, but it still felt bizarre nonetheless, and the reference point behind me told me that I had lost at least a foot of height, and the tallest I could possibly be was somewhere around 4 foot 5 inches. I then felt an odd sensation in my feet, realising that they were shrinking in size, alongside the boots which were shrinking too. It was like Alice in Wonderland, but only it was in reverse; I was getting smaller, not bigger. My toes felt absolutely tiny now, but somehow, I was more comfortable with them that way. It was what I’d got used to during my time on the farm, and it felt good to have them back. My legs had already decreased in width, becoming quite slim, yet defined and muscular, and I held my breath in anticipation for what was going to happen next. No matter how prepared I was, it never ceases to hurt. I yelled out in pain, my voice shooting up in pitch like a rocket, as I felt two certain parts of my body disappear, retreating to somewhere the sun doesn’t shine, with a sudden burst of...something else. Pleasure? Shock? It was hard to describe. To my surprise my hips barely changed shape, but then again, I already knew Apple Bloom had pretty narrow hips anyway. My face went red with embarrassment as I felt something else change under my jeans, and following that it was time for my chest area. That familiar tingling started up in my chest, and I looked down, knowing what was coming next. I felt my muscles shifted in my chest, again becoming much smoother and lighter, yet well defined. Shortly after, the skin under my nipples started to get softer. Not long after that, and I must say it felt strangely good, my upper chest area began growing, swelling into a pair of breasts that stopped growing a few seconds later. Upon taking a quick glance, they looked to be fairly small, which wasn’t hugely surprising given Apple Bloom is meant to be about 12 anyway, but they were still held in place by something else I wasn’t wanting to check that had appeared under my shirt. That just left my face, and I braced myself, as the bones started breaking apart in my face, shortening and coming together in a different variety of shapes and ways. By the time it was done, my cheekbones had moved higher up, to just under my eyes, and my entire complexion was somehow softer. My eyes changed colour to red, from brown, and I felt my cheeks purely to see how much softer the skin had become. On the topic of my skin, it suddenly changed colour, to the familiar yellow I knew so well. That left just one thing to change. My eyebrows changed to red, and, clearly desperate for the transformation to complete, my hair suddenly went into a growing frenzy. It suddenly increased in volume quite dramatically, before my fringe started growing forward and flopped downward over my forehead, coming to a stop a few inches above my eyebrows. Locks of hair suddenly cascaded down my back, stopping at my shoulders. My hair suddenly changed colour to red, and with that it seemed the transformation was complete. “Well,” I asked, my voice once again that of Apple Bloom, “how am Ah gonna get back?” That question answered itself as suddenly a portal opened up, and I fell straight through it, landing with a bang on the driveway right outside Sweet Apple Acres. I looked forward, to see Applejack getting into the family truck. She looked upset, as she probably thought I was dead. I immediately started running toward her, calling out her name.