//------------------------------//
// Unknown Ponies 
// Story: Dancing in the Starlight 
// by The Blue EM2 
//------------------------------//

Lockdown had somewhat begun to take its toll on Tom. As he sat in his room, working on something or other (university work was close to drying up, so there was that lot of weight off his shoulders), it became apparent to him that he needed a change of scenery. Aware he wasn't really getting anywhere, he put his PC into sleep mode and headed downstairs, hearing the familiar sound of the TV running. He figured that Katrina was back from her walk and had decided to take some time off and relax. Something he needed to do. Her job wasn't exactly the sort of employment that could be done remotely, as he recalled, and as such she had relatively little to do. He knocked on the door.

"Yes?"

Ever since the pair had started living together thanks to COVID-19, they had quickly laid down some house rules. These included knocking before entering a room (and waiting for an audible confirmation from the other person before stepping through the door), not going into each other's bedrooms (which is basic human decency), and watching their language (easy enough for Kat, but Tom was finding that hard given his tendancy to drop expletives into his sentences).

"May I come in?"

"Sure! Milo Murphy's Law has just ended!"

Tom knew very little about Disney Channel programming, but was fully aware of the concept of Murphy's Law and how it worked, and how it applied to him and his friends in very odd ways, as 'going wrong' in their case comprised changing into fictional characters at the drop of a hat (he'd been 25 different characters over the course of the last few years). He entered through the door and sat down. "I was thinking of going for a stroll. As you're probably aware, the regulations are a little more relaxed now, and the number of lerts has increased noticably. Besides, I need to clear my head a bit. Things recently have been taking their toll somewhat, and multiple TFs in a row tends to burn you out."

"You're telling me," Katrina replied, freshly returned from being Mal of Descendants fame, and Ghost Spider, Rapunzel, GoGo, and Belle before that. "It's exhausting, and has no rhyme or reason to any of it!"

"At least Celestia and Luna are keeping an eye on us. Luna participated in a skype call Jimmy and I had a few days ago. She happened to be visiting whilst we were talking, and she proved to be an interesting host. Her manner of speaking was a bit odd though."

"Why?"

"She doesn't use contractions. Should not, as opposed to shouldn't. It made her sentences very long, but she may just be very formal naturally. At least she had dropped archaic words. I would have hated to hear her debating how to 'ejaculate in the correct manner'."

Katrina spat out her drink.



Ejaculate

Old meaning; to speak suddenly and forcefully.



Thank you, dictionary. Tom, totally unware of these upward shenanigans, spoke again. "You'd know more about that than me."

"We've both been Luna, remember," Katrina corrected him. "And you were Nightmare Moon for a bit."

"Although that was her EqG counterpart." Tom stood up. "Well, I'll be on my way. See you later, I hope!"

"Bye!" Katrina replied, as Tom shut the door behind him.





Tom was soon on his way down the street as he headed for his local park. He lived down Gregory Street, so his local park was Highfields Parks, which also adjoined onto his university. Tom often enjoyed going there if he needed to get away from the world, especially during stressful work periods. So he strolled down the street, missing the sounds of the trams rattling up and down the streets as they had done for years before he had started living down here. He had been in Halls before then, which had been fun, but the problem was that he was stuck in with lots of annoying first years, who only ever seemed to want to party instead of doing work. And this, unfortunately, led to those students making a lot of noise rather than going to bed at normal times. Tom had spoken to them and raised noise complaints, but students show a supernatural skill in being quiet as mice when supervisers are around. That, and they (the students) had rudely told Tom to 'go home to your posh manor house and bang some girls'. The sexist attitudes nonwithstanding, Tom was infuriated by the idea they thought he was a posh southerner. He was a Midlander, born and bred. A fact he would stay proud of until his dying day. He finished the street at last, and after walking past the bridge for the Queen's Medical Centre (off limits to humans) he walked further until he had, at last, reached the entrance to the University. The buildings were still a fair way off, so Tom had that, I suppose. He turned into the driveway and took a left partway up through the car park, strolling across a muddy field that no doubt would have had Rarity in a screaming fit over getting her shoes muddy. Tom didn't mind. He'd never been Rarity, so that wasn't a concern to him. Katrina had been Rarity, though, so it would probably be of concern to her. Why was he even thinking this?

He shook the thought from his mind and proceeded deeper into Highfields Park. He liked this park, as previously discussed here, and he went onwards into the place of beauty, walking past the dragons which had so enraptured Fred all those weeks ago. He continued onwards into the woods (Into the Woods!) and then went in through a door to a structure designed to look like an old ruin. He liked sitting in here and walking by the trees and lake. He found that long walks helped to clear his head, and he often got great ideas along the way as he did so. He proceeded deeper into the ruin, until he saw something odd lying on the floor. Something that somebody had presumably left. It was a silver pocket watch with a Swiss Railway clock face set into it. Whoever owned this was either a former SBB employee, or was a railway enthusiast who had managed to misplace a valuable item indeed.

"I suppose I'd better hand this into lost property," Tom said, and went to pick the watch up. As soon as he touched it, it produced a white flash and a piercingly loud bang, like an electrical discharge. Tom was hurled through the air and collided with the back wall with a bang.

"Ouch! I need to ge-" He stopped as his face began to feel oddly numb. He brought his hands up to his face to suddenly realise something was wrong with his mouth and nose. They had begun to merge together into one entity, forming a box like shape before pushing forward into a horse's muzzle. His eyes ached as they grew in size, his brown eyes replaced by green ones that glowed intensely in the dark. His neck began to crack and lengthen as his hair turned bright blue, followed by his eyebrows (I would like to clarify that Tom has always had eyebrows). As his hair flipped over and folded to one side like a horse's mane, more of the hair grew out of the back of his neck until it almost reached the base of his neck. Not long after, his body started to behave strangely.

It felt like he was swelling up all over, every limb thickening and his gut expanding in size. Before long, his clothing became too tight for him, attached so tight, and yet his body continued to swell. Moments later, they could take no more. His clothing tore down the seams, fabric landing on the ground in a tattered heap as his shoes blew out all over the place. He pulled his rear limbs out to see what was now there.

Horse's hooves.

Before long, another loud bang knocked him back as his knees snapped backwards, obliterating his kneecaps in the process. He howled in agony at this, as the process repeated itself in his arms, now changed into front legs. Though the hands weren't exactly playing ball...

As if to tempt fate, his fingers began to melt into each other like running wax as his hands balled up and closed, never to reopen as he suddenly had gained a pair of front hooves. His ears migrated up his head and grew taller, standing out like giant radio masts ready to receive a message. The other clue as to his new addition was the increase in quality and volume of sound. Everything was deafeningly loud. The students talking about stupid, vapid stuff, the birdsong, the machines and cars- all of it was very loud and crystal clear.

One last thing needed to be done. His skin began to itch, and seconds later blue fur sprouted from his rear and spread across his entire body, covering him in dark blue fur that made him look less like a horror movie monster. This was followed by a short, light blue tail erupting from his butt as a symbol of a pocket watch with a Swiss Railway clockface appeared on his flanks.

Tom checked over himself. "Well, I still have those," he said, looking between his legs. "And my voice is exactly the same. But dark blue fur and light blue mane and tail? Who is this?"

Moments later, it hit him. "Well, stone the crows! I'm my original character!"

Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and he found himself aboard a train.





As Tom regained his awareness, he was also aware of the fact the train was slowing to a stop in a big station. Manehattan, to be precise. Instinctively, he trotted over to the doors as the train stopped. Moments later, the compressors sounded as the doors slid open. Quite how a steam locomotive could power pneumatic doors was a mystery to him. Perhaps just another marvel those egghead unicorns had cooked up.

He hopped off onto the platform and headed for the ticket barrier. "See you tomorrow!" he called.

"See ya!" the driver replied. "Great working with you, Starry! And right on time too!"

Starry chose to trot home, as he usually did. He liked trotting through the rain. Manehattan may have been a great city, but it was a lot more humid than Trottingham had ever been. As he trotted along, cabs rolled through the streets, periodically splashing people, whilst sirens blared as a police carriage flew past.

On his way home, he bought a take away coffee from Suri Polomare's new establishment and went on his way. It wasn't far to the upscale apartment he shared with the love of his life. He opened the door with his key and stepped in, calling out. "Coco? I'm home!"

He made his way up the stairs to his floor, and stepped in through said door to see his wife sitting in a chair reading a book. "How was your day, honey?" she asked, putting it down and looking over.

"Eh, same old, same old," Starry replied. "We had the usual delays to deal with. The track blockages could easily be avoided if they just put in that loop line I've been suggesting for weeks. How about you?"

"The new thread Rarity sent has been really popular! Demand's been so high for the new dresses that me and the team have been barely able to keep up with demand." She glanced at the reusable mug that Starry had in his hoof. "Suri's brew is also very popular, I see."

"It's great for staying awake on the job. Maybe I could pull some strings and get her a supply contract with the railroad."

Coco nodded. "It's great she turned her life around. I harbour no hard feelings for her. That's just a waste of time." There was a pause before she suddenly changed the topic. "Would you like to go out for dinner tonight?"

"My dear, I would be honoured." As the pair shared a kiss, Starry's heart couldn't help but soar. After all, he was married to the mare of his dreams, and they were both blissfully happy. What more could a couple want?