You and your friends were at the nearby ZiNG, a pop culture store you all loved, and you and your non-binary partner Frances were both looking at the MLP figurines;
"Hey, look at this awesome vinyl figurine of Celestia!" You held up the box, "Hasbro actually made show-style 3D figures without them being in the uncanny valley for once" You joked,
"Oh my goodness, that's so amazing, I wonder if they have a Derpy one?" Frances replied softly, yet you could hear the excitement in their voice as they gently moved the boxes aside, finding the one they wanted, and you put it in your shopping bag when someone crept up behind you,
"Boo!" A dark-skinned female grabbed your shoulders, causing both you and Frances to scream,
"Raelyn!" You yelled at your friend, "That wasn't funny!" You added,
"It was, like, objectively funny" She choked out through laughter,
"Please don't do that again" Frances requested, still shaking slightly from the shock, as you hugged them in reassurance,
"What was all tha' noise ah heard o'er here?" A blond looked around the aisles, before sighing and rolling her eyes, "Ah shoulda guessed, Raelyn, ya know Frances scares easily" She told off her girlfriend,
"Sorry Amy" Raelyn blushed slightly,
"Alright, jus' be more mindful next time babe" Amy pecked her on the cheek, causing her blush to deepen.
"Hey guys, check this out!" Another one of your friends rushed down the aisle, pulling your arm as her messy brown pigtails trailed behind her,
"Penny!" You complained, "Slow down!"
"Here we are!" the Brunette skidded to a stop, next to two others, a platinum-blond female and orange-brown haired male, who were holding a large box of DVDs.
"Is that" Raelyn began,
"A box set of the entire My Little Pony series! I didn't even know it had been released yet!" Another voice spoke from behind you, which belonged to a black-haired female,
"I was wondering where you were Tina" The male holding the box replied to his adoptive sister,
"Just reading the latest MLP annual" Tina held up a thick book,
"I wish I could say I was surprised" The platinum blonde next to the male rolled her eyes with a smile on her face,
"Anyway," Penny began, "I was just looking through a box of discount items, and I found this! It's unopened too, so it should be top quality!" She motioned to the box the male was holding,
"Sounds like a plan" Amy replied, "but who's gonna buy it?" She asked as everyone averted their eyes,
"I'll cover it darlings" the platinum-blonde pulled out her purse,
"Oh thank you, Regina, you're a saint" your partner replied.
"Oh pfft, it's nothing" She replied waving her hand nonchalantly, as the eight of you made your way to the counter, placing the boxset on it,
"Yeah, I wouldn't buy that if I was you" The cashier looked at the box-set,
"Hey! Just because we're adults doesn't mean we can't watch whatever we want!" Raelyn exclaimed, slamming a fist on the counter,
"Oh, that's not what I meant" The cashier reassured her quickly, "I'm a fan of the show myself, no this boxset is rumoured to be cursed" She admitted.
"C-cursed?" Frances hid behind you,
"That just makes me want it more!" The male of your group added,
"Sam is right, this could be exciting!" Penny jumped up and down,
"Or extremely dangerous" Tina cut in,
"Oh don't be such a stick in the mud Tina" You flicked her playfully,
"I wonder what the curse might be?" Regina thought aloud,
"Maybe it's haunted" Raelyn wiggled her fingers playfully,
"Or perhaps it'll transport us into the show" Amy added jokingly, nudging her girlfriend,
"There's no talking you out of this is there?" The cashier deadpanned,
"Nope!" Penny replied as Regina pulled out her cash, after which you bought the vinyl figures that you and Frances had collected and the eight of you made you made your way back to your shared house.
"So, who here wants to watch a so-called 'cursed' edition of the My Little Pony series?" Regina asked rhetorically, as you all piled into the living room, dressed in your pyjamas.
"I'm still on the fence about this, but as long as we don't do anything too silly, we should hopefully be able to deal with this, knock on wood" Tina sat down on one of the armchairs,
"I guess we better be prepared for a possible storm of chaos!" You quoted jokingly as you and Frances sunk into a beanbag, Raelyn and Amy sat down on the couch, and Penny laid down on the rug in front of the TV as Regina inserted the first disk into the player, before snuggling next to Sam, who was leaning against the foot of the couch. The TV turned on in response to the disk being inserted and seemed to be displaying a normal menu screen, and Regina pressed play on the first episode, which appeared to start normally, displaying the prophecy of Nightmare moon.
"Is it just me, or is nothing happening?" Raelyn blurted after a few seconds,
"it's only jus' begun, hold ya horses" Amy shushed her,
"hehe, horses" Penny giggled before going silent again as the introduction continued;
"Elements of Harmony. I know I've heard of those before... but where?" the TV cut to black, but instead of the theme song or next scene playing, the centre of the screen seemed to elicit a glow,
"Somethings actually happening!" Sam exclaimed as the orb of light came out from the screen, and wavered for a second, before splitting into eight different colours; one in each colour of the rainbow, and one in brown, each made a beeline for a different person in the room, seemingly disappearing into their chests, the red went to Realyn, the orange to Amy, yellow to Frances, green to Sam, blue to Regina, indigo to Tina, violet to Penny and brown to you.
"umm, what was that?" Frances asked,
"Ah’m not quite sure" Amy replied, instinctively holding her hand to where the light entered her,
"Why did I get the brown one?" You asked nobody in particular, "it had better not make me evil, I swear" You huffed,
"Do you think it's safe to keep watching?" Regina asked,
"If it gives us answers to whatever the heck that was, then yes" Realyn replied, crossing her arms over her chest, as the next scene played. The group of you watched suspiciously at first, but relaxed when nothing else happened. When the next episode began, you collectively held your breath as the recap finished, but it just went to the theme song like normal,
"Do you think that, whatever happened, was a one-off?" Tina asked during the theme,
"Sure seems that way, but I wanna see how Twilight defeats Nightmare moon!" Penny smiled
"Haven't you watched this enough times to know what happens by now?" Sam raised an eyebrow,
"No such thing!" Penny replied as the theme song ended. For several hours the eight of you watched the series, and eventually, everyone had all but fallen asleep, You and Frances were curled together, Amy lay half-on Realyn on the couch as the pair snored softly, Tina's head had lolled to the side, Regina and Sam leant against each other, and Penny was struggling to hold her head up. "Do you, *yawn* think we should turn the TV off now?" Penny drawled as those of you who were still somewhat awake murmured in agreement, and Penny did so, before laying down on the rug, falling asleep the moment her head touched the floor. None of you noticed the minor changes affecting you overnight, such as some of you gaining protrusions on your back, waist, or forehead.
It was mid-morning when you were all woken by a scream, and turned to the perpetrator,
"What is it Raelyn?" You asked the African-American who was sitting bolt upright,
"This" she held out her hands, and you saw that some of her fingers seemed to be merged together, and the tips seemed to be covered in light blue fur,
"Holy mother of god" Regina looked at the strange change,
"Regina, your hair, it's turning purple" Tina pointed out, and Regina grabbed said hair and saw that indeed it was,
"You two ain't the only ones who 'ave changed" Amy added, pulling the blanket off of her legs, revealing her toes to have joined together too, and the tips of them were covered in orange fur.
"I think something happened to me too" Penny turned and the rest of you saw a short hot-pink tail-like protrusion poking out between her pants and top,
"It kinda looks like the beginning of a tail" Sam remarked,
"Oh really, I didn't notice," You said sarcastically, before holding your forehead, "Is anyone else's head feeling odd?" You added,
"Mine kinda is" Tina admitted,
"Not my head, but my back feels strange," Frances remarked, as Tina put a hand to her forehead and then withdrew it with a gasp, before opening the camera app on her phone, and using it as a mirror, seeing a purple protrusion in the middle of her forehead, and the pieces clicked into position in her mind;
"I think I know what's going on" she stated "If you consider what likely caused this, and what the transformations are, it seems to make sense" She explained, as the rest of you figured it out.
"Oh. My. God!" Raelyn exclaimed, "I'm becoming Rainbow Dash! So cool!" She pumped her fist.
"Ah guess that means I'm goin' ta be Applejack then" Amy added,
"The characters we are becoming seem to fit with our personalities" Regina observed as you felt your head and found not one, but two small protrusions,
"Two horns? That's strange" You thought aloud as a shout of excitement cut through your thoughts;
"Sam, look at your ears!" Penny pointed to the ears which were slightly showing through Sam's messy bed hair, before holding up her phone for him to see what she was referring to; his ears had become slightly frilled and were a translucent green. After a second realisation hit him;
"I'm becoming Spike. God Dammit!" He stomped his foot in irritation at becoming the baby dragon who was always pushed around in the series,
"I guess that means I can call you Spikey-Wikey then?" Regina asked with a sultry smile,
"I'd prefer if you just used my real name if that's okay" Sam blushed,
"Alright" Regina hugged him as Frances walked up to you,
"Do you know who you're turning into yet Y/N?" they asked,
"No, but I think I have two horns, you're becoming Fluttershy, right?" You asked your partner, who nodded, "How do you feel about that, I mean, you may identify as non-binary, but you're biologically male though, so..."
"I'm more or less okay with it, do you mind if I check your horns, it may help you," They suggested,
"Yes thanks," You replied, as Frances carefully parted your hair,
"Hmm, one of your horns is a light blue, and the other is a cream white" they responded,
"Blue and cream whi- oh, ooohhh shit" You realised who you got "I'm becoming freaking Discord"