He had to move! He got his avatar into motion, a pony. Not every game was sporting a wide variety of species to play as. He was playing Rough Draft, or a mock simulation of the earth-brown earth pony that was his creation. Down that path, take a right, Oh! David squeaked in surprise as a big flashing banner popped on his screen. He'd been tagged!
"You win!" called out Joypad to the cheering room. "Great job, everypony. Next game!" And the event continued without David.
Which was just as fine, the way he saw it. He scampered off to the little foal's room and slapped the door shut behind himself. The itching was gone, but something felt... wrong. He reached down to pat around the area and it became clear quickly. No fur. He had no fur. The basic shape was right, but there was no fur, not even a human level of fuzz. "What...?" How had he not even left a trail of dropped fur on the way?
He didn't remember any mess on the chair when he left it. Where else could the fur have gone? Either way, he was a plucked chicken, er, pony, at least from the hips down. "Damn it..." He wasn't much for cursing, especially where anyone else could hear him, but in that moment, in the privacy of the bathroom, it felt proper. "What even...?" He still had a tail, but barely a tail, a little short limb with no hair, it barely qualified. Ponies didn't have big tails, if one discounted the fur additions.
None of that helped him. A clop came from the door. Crap! "Sec."
"I was hoping I saw you come this way." It was Joypad. "Everything alright?"
No! But would he say that? She had enough on her plate. She didn't have room for his nonsense.
But that was... That was his programmed state talking. She was a pony, a wonderful and kind one. Maybe just... saying what was wrong, like an adult, was best. He reached for the doorknob and opened it a crack, drawing her in the moment some of her snout appeared.
"Woah hey!" Joypad didn't fight that hard to avoid being pulled in. "This is an emergency, right? Nopony's out there right now."
"No fur." He gestured at his bare legs, covered in nothing but his shorts.
It was like only then did she see it, as if she just couldn't see it before. "Woah! What happened!" She waved dramatically at his shorn legs. "Is his medicine wearing off or what? Does it hurt?! Should I call it off?"
"Call wha--" It hit him. "No! We're gonna have a great day, bad hair day or not. It doesn't hurt, just confusing as hell. Let's get back out there and get back to things."
"If you're sure..." She nudged the door open. "But if you start to feel any worse, even a little, go relax. Go sleep. Go do anything that isn't working!" She burst from the bathroom. "Time for the next game!"
David emerged a short time after her, when the eyes would be on her. However odd things were going, he could only feel... good, at least about Joy. She cared. She kept showing it by offering it. Not by saying it, that was easy, too easy. Anyone could say nice things, but she was ready to throw away her assistant when she needed them most, if it kept them safe. She was ready to just call the whole thing off, bits be damned.
She cared, and she was ready to show it.
And it was about him. He sat with a bit of a silly smile. To have that kind of emotion tossed in his direction was just... Well, it was great. He looked to the panel behind her to get a gauge of what game was being played and, with that, where they were in the schedule. They were making great progress! Pony Karts was coming up. He went to take his place, and none of the ponies seemed to notice or care about his odd state.
It was time to play some karts! He was a bit of an oddball. He had multiple contact points, like the pegasi weren't allowed to do and the unicorns were forbidden. He had an unfair advantage. Good thing he was also a middle-aged guy that didn't play racing games too much. They stomped him flat, but he put in a decent showing, with Pipster's guidance allowing him to not be entirely shameful.
"Nice try," gushed the little colt, practically vibrating with excitement. "You took that second turn so well! You did everything I said. Aw, shoulda won." He kicked at nothing. "But you tried really hard, I'm proud of you!" As if he were in a position to claim any ownership of David. "Keep practicing and I bet you'll be a pro. Maybe, one day, you'll be a challenge for me."
David reached to ruffle Pipster's mane. "Don't you want to be in the next game?"
"Nah. It's a first person game, not my favorite. Let them have fun." His tail was wagging excitedly despite that. "Hey, wanna go see what else they're doing for Bay Day?"
Tempting! "I really shouldn't. Joy's relying on me to help keep all the machines humming until the big day's over. You could take some pictures for me?" David wasn't much of a picture person, but the idea of Pipster taking some and being mindful of his experience seemed nice. "Got a camera?"
Pipster produced his phone with a video game effect.
One echoed by David into a victorious fanfare. "Perfect! In fact, what's your number?" He dug out his and soon sent a text over to Pipster. "Now you can send me pictures as you take them."
"Yay!" He ran right out of the computer room. Apparently the pony kart game was all he had been waiting for. A chime alerted David to a new message, showing a huge puffy cotton candy. An emoji showed after that of a pony with hearts for eyes.
"Don't spoil your appetite," David typed. "But have fun!"
A new picture appeared of... Was that a hole in... the road? In reality? There were panicking ponies, caught mid-shot. David sat up sharply. He slapped the call button and pressed the phone to his head. "Pip?"
"David, sir. It's kinda scary out here! Ponies are screaming." He could hear them in the background. "What should I do?"
Crap, he'd just sent the colt out there. "Leave that area, get away from--"
"I can't! My hooves are stuck!"
"What?" David tried to stand up, and failed spectacularly. His hooves were also stuck to the ground, glued there by glowing magic as were all the other earth ponies there. Any joy in gaming was being rapidly replaced with panicked shouts. Crap... "Don't panic." He still had Pip on the phone. "How far away is that hole I saw?"
"About half a block, sir." He sniffed sadly. "Can you use your human magic, sir?"
Did he have a spell that'd help? Not while he was glued to the floor. "You'll have to use your awesome colt magic."
"I don't have colt magic!"
"Yes you do," assured David, the world around him becoming panic about as much as the noises through his phone. "Take deep breathes and stay calm. I'm still here. I'm here."
"Y-you're here," came his little frightened voice. "The hole's coming closer, Sir..."
"Deep breathes. You're not alone." That seemed clear, he could hear a lot of ponies with both Pip and himself. Speaking of... He looked around quickly. All the earth ponies were stuck to the ground, Joy included. What was going on? "Everyone, chill," he thundered at the room as a whole. "This is annoying, but not dangerous. We're here to play games, and we still can."
Joy peered at him with confusion, but there was a point there. "Game time is now free until you can leave. Only fair! For all ponies, earth or not!" She tried to move to the front, to actually do that, but she was still glued, huffing as she pulled and tugged. "I'll backdate that when I get up there, promise."
Two pegasi came in at Joy from the left and right, pulling her up between them with a pop. Liberated, they carrried her on swift wings to the front. Sure, she got stuck the moment they put her down, but she could type, with her nose, making the games properly free. "Thanks for the assist! Free game time is now officially begun! Let's have some fun and not let this little thing get in the way."
"Sir?"
David perked at the voice on the phone, too small. "I'm here! You alright, Pip?"
"It's getting closer... It's getting closer and I can't move. I keep trying and it's not working. I'm... I'm trying..." His attempts to keep his breathing regulated were entirely lost in favor of frantic gulps of air. "Sir? Please help!"
David wanted to! He wanted to just teleport to the foal's side and keep him safe, but that wasn't a talent he had. "Be strong, Pip! I'm here with you, I promise."
"It's here, oh no, it's here!" The voice turned into a panicked wailing. "Help!" he cried, wind rushing past. Pip was falling... Into that hole?
David slammed a fist against the desk of the computer he was seated at. "God damnit..."
The screaming was getting quieter? Had something happened? Was pipster hurt?! He couldn't know. He had to know! David's heart thumped wildly in his chest. "Pip?!" But no reply was coming, just the sound of rushing wind, then nothing at all. His phone reported the call had ended.
He pulled at his captured hoof, but it refused to come free, no matter which he struggled against. "You alright?" asked a pony sitting next to him. "It's not so bad, oh!" Their hooves came loose, and so did David's. All of them were free with no reason given, just... it happened.
David scrambled to his hoo-- What? He didn't have hooves. Freed of the clinging gunk, he had his feet back, and his legs, for that matter. He reached for his head to... nope, horn gone too. He was a human, a perfectly regular male human. On the positive, his back remained pain free. "Joy!"
Joy looked over at him from her conversation. "Wha--" She saw what had happened to him, her eyes wide. "Does it hurt?"
"No, but I gotta go. You'll be alright?" He took a step for the door. When she nodded, he sprinted, without shoes, onto the road and just ran. He ran to where that first camera photo was taken, where the scenery matched. But Pipster wasn't there, just a bunch of relived ponies milling around.
"Pip! Pipster, where are you," he called, hands at his mouth to funnel his voice as best he could. "Tell me you're okay!"
He almost fell over, something crashing into him,and hugging one of his re-humanized legs. He looked towards it and gasped with surprised joy. "Pip!" He put a hand on the colt's head, laughing a little hysterically. "You're alright... What happened? Tell me!"
"I fell... I fell... And I was so scared... I knew you were there. That was the only thing I had..." Pipster squeezed David's leg all the tighter. "But then pegasi... They caught me and brought me to a safe place... And the hole closed up. I dropped my phone! I dropped it and I couldn't hear you anymore... You were still with me, right?"
David dropped to a knee as quickly as he could get enough space from the clinging Pipster. "Of course, that's why I'm here. I had to see you, safe. I'm so..." He had been ready to cry, but that was gone. The emergency was over, and Pipster was safe. A happy ending. "Thank goodness..."
"David!" Sunny had spotted him and was walking over. "Wow, crazy huh? Uh..." She noticed he was looking a bit different. "Huh... This day's left a mark on more than one of us."