//------------------------------//
// Day 7 + 8: Twins 
// Story: Pandemic: of Twins and Tails 
// by Seven Fates 
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The morning after his mental companion left him, Jacen—or at least, his left side—awoke in excruciating pain. When the nurses came running to investigate the scream that came out of him, one of them actually fainted at the sight of him. That in turn resulted in medical staff from outside the ward being brought in, and several more incidents. At least three others fainted, and a fourth vomited.
It wasn't until someone dosed him with an opioid-based painkiller that the pain of his body practically tearing itself apart became tolerable enough to function. Nobody wanted to provide the man with a mirror, and when he finally saw his reflection in the window, he couldn't rightly blame anyone for fainting or vomiting. He was truly a sight to behold.
Overnight, part of the process splitting him in two had sped up, resulting in a few big changes. His skull had stretched and deformed to the point that he was not unlike a two-headed snake. Two faces jutted out from his head at forty-five degree angles, complete with their own complete jaws. The masses that had been growing behind his eyes had shifted out to join their same-coloured siblings. Even the curvature at the top of his head was beginning to show a spot that could loosely have been considered a 'join'.
There were also further shifting of bones lower down his body. It was fairlyly noticeable at his pelvic region, where, much like his two faces, his hips had shifted out by forty-five degrees to either side. His feet—if they could even be called that any longer—were worse, and had started to split in two between the second and third metatarsal. They ended up looking less like the foot of a man and more like that of an emu.
The only 'beneficial' change that he could see was where the fur started coming in on his legs. Around his foot and left ankle, he could see the same near-white that made up the mane of white on his right side coming in like sock. Conversely, his right was growing that same blue-grey that was on his left head. So at least he could pretty much picture how both halves of him were going to look.
Unfortunately, the transformation seemed to be kicking in on Dr. Weintraub, as well—and a lot faster too. When she came in to visit with him after he'd been medicated, he noticed her hair had started to change. It even seemed to be moving somewhat quicker for her; whereas for him it'd taken about a week after he recovered from the flu to start showing symptoms, she said she'd gotten over it overnight and now she had green with streaks of teal going partway up her hair from the tips.
If not for the somewhat euphoric state the Oxycodone had inadvertently created, he'd probably have been fretting over the guilt he felt knowing that he was to blame for her infection. As it stood, he could barely focus on even reading for extended periods of time, never mind focus on complex emotions such as guilt. Instead, he found himself just zoning out watching the news and random survival videos on his phone.
If anything, he was grateful for someone else to be there with him. If his other half had a conscious mind as of yet, she—his mind was quick to assign the pronoun, despite not even knowing if they would identify differently—wasn't exactly making for the best conversational partner. It was a wonder she could sleep at all, given that she had to be feeling the same amount of pain he was in.
Tara, on the other hand, was very keen on keeping an eye on him. By keeping him engaged in conversation, not only was she able to determine what—if any—impact this twinning was having on his cognitive functions, but she felt sure that she was almost watching his right side changing in real-time. It was horrific, to be sure, but from a scientific perspective it was fascinating how this process was able to accelerate growth and conversion of mass. If the United States government hadn't already released a press statement all but calling the power fuelling this transformation magic, she could almost have drawn upon the word to describe it.
She'd also noticed some changes in his behaviour. Although some of it might've been attributable to being medicated, he didn't seem nearly as distressed about his transformation or even the cause of his meltdown the prior night. If anything, Jacen seemed colder—less expressive than he ought to be. Another thing that didn't even faze him was the fact that he had seemingly gone from right-handed to left-handed overnight.
It was well argued that the left and right hemispheres of the brain were responsible for different sorts of thought. The left side of the brain was said to be tied to analytical and rational thinking, mathematics, language, logic, and organization. Conversely, the right side was said to be linked to intuition, creativity, impulse, and imagination. Some even believed that the dominant hemisphere had a critical impact on personality.
Dr. Weintraub had never particularly given that last bit much thought in the past. Now, however, she was left to wonder if there wasn't some sort of credence to the idea, or if this transformation and the splitting—twinning?—of his brain wasn't exaggerating these attributes. Given that he just finished probing her as to which variant transformation she thought she'd become, he was definitely... changing. It didn't really make things any easier that he'd somehow come to the conclusion that the entire world would probably be ponies before June.
"Since everypony who has transformed down in Colorado still seems to be intelligent and capable of speech, I wonder," he commented as he placed his phone down beside the stack of tarot cards, which remained untouched since the previous night. His eyes actively tracked a nurse as she entered with his dinner, taking in the fact that she was currently looking a little under the weather and trying to hide a cough behind her surgical mask—just like the other one in the ward. "Do you think you'll continue practising medicine when you're ponies?"
That question was jarring, both for Tara and the nurse. Not only did it perfectly highlight a verbal tic that had been growing more prominent in him—a gradual change in pronouns that all afflicted exhibited—but it drew attention to another concerning matter. If it was as he believed, and all of mankind vanished, leaving only ponies behind, much of their technology would become useless, and whatever infrastructure there was would be harder to maintain without hands. Could they even practice medicine then?
Before either could overcome their shock or formulate a response, he'd nodded off. "Do you think he's right?" the nurse asked, setting down his tray of food on one of the tables. "Do you think we're all going to become like those poor people in Lazy Pines?"
Tara fidgeted with her hair as she stood up from the chair beside his bed. "I don't know," she replied, walking over to the window to look out at Halifax. "If he is, I worry that we may be on the precipice of a dark age. Maybe I should brush up on my herbal medicine." It had been meant as a joke, but the doctor realised that it was true. "I—"
There was commotion outside the room, and as the doctor and nurse both looked, several people in patient gowns were being led into the other rooms in the ward by the hospital director and several physicians who definitely weren't members of staff. Many of the patients were also sporting unusual hair and eyes, and it looked like there was even one with a tail. The other nurse assigned to the ward poked her head in through the door and said, "A whole bunch of patients in other wards, and even hospitals are being transferred in. Welcome to the ETS Plague Ward, ladies." Giving a glance to the sleeping Jacen, she added, "Might wanna pull the privacy curtain, otherwise a child's gonna end up traumatised."





Something was wrong, Jacen decided as he woke up. For one thing, it was well after sundown. He'd never slept through an entire day before, and it was kind of jarring to wake up with a tray of dinnertime foods set out for him. Strangely enough, he didn't feel as hungry as he thought he ought to after sleeping that long. Strange.
Then there was the fact that the ward was entirely too noisy. Last night, it was quiet enough that he could hear a pin drop—and with his new pony ears, that was quite an impressive silence—but now, he could make out the din of conversation. The other rooms are being used now? That definitely explained the privacy curtain, though.
Finally, there was something nagging at the back of his mind—something about his body that he felt was important to address. Whatever it was, however, he couldn't quite remember. It was clearly important, except... He caught sight of something to his left. He tried to turn his head to get a better look, but whatever it was moved with him. It wasn't until he looked at his reflection in the window that he saw the second, sleeping face.
"Oh," he whispered in a voice that was surprisingly high to his ears. It reminded him of Gage before he started doing vocal training... Just like a teenage filly, er, girl. "I'm the one on the right..."
There was the sound of someone moving on the other side of the curtain, followed by a sleepy voice. "Jacen?" That was Dr. Weintraub's voice. "What are you doing back up?"
He just stared at his reflection, rather than respond. She said back up, as if I'd been awake already today... It finally hit what was bothering him. If he was the one on the right side, then he was becoming a she... That was something that should've been distressing. So why wasn't it?
I can't be the original... I had to have been born of Jaina's cells. That was kind of disturbing, to think they might not be the original. Didn't the Mauler twins in that Invincible comic make sure neither knew which was the clone in order to prevent feelings of inferiority? I'm definitely Jacen... I have all of my memories, but I'm not the original. Maybe that's why I feel weird... My gender identity hasn't had time to develop, but the simple fact that I'm turning into a filly...
The familiar face of Tara stepped around the privacy curtain, a look of concern on her face. "Jacen, are you—" The moment she saw that this was the right face, rather than the left, she redirected, quickly moving to the bedside. "Do you know who you are, where you are, and who I am?"
"I'm still me, but I'm not the original, am I?" Jacen asked in a shaky voice. There were tears in his eyes as he finally turned to regard the doctor. "What do I even call myself, Dr. Weintraub?"
That wasn't something that she could definitively answer. She wasn't a mental health practitioner; it was one thing to provide healthcare to her trans patients, but she would never presume to give advice about the mental health side of things—only referrals. Jacen's—at least this half's—immediate default to crisis of identity was beyond her. What could she even say? They were in a very vulnerable mental state, and if she was right, their sense of self identity might be very malleable right now.
"What do you want to be called?" she instead asked. "I don't just mean your name, although calling both of you Jacen will get confusing. Take a moment to breathe, and then think about which upsets you more: the knowledge that you're turning into a female pony, or the thought of being referred to by male pronouns?"
He did as she suggested, and took in a deep breath. For several seconds, he held it, before forcing it out through his nostrils. While he did that, he turned his thoughts inwards. I'm Jacen Cadlow... Twenty-five years old. That much hasn't changed. What had changed was that he was slowly turning into two little ponies. And I'm apparently the half turning into a female pony—a mare or just a filly? A hand came up to wipe away the tears. I was perfectly fine being a guy before... so why does thinking of myself as male feel weirder than tuning into—?
"Um... I don't know... Male pronouns feel... wrong now... Yet..." They hadn't come to a decision on pronouns, as just realising that masculine pronouns felt alien to them was jarring enough. "I don't know what I want... but she or they will at least make it easier to differentiate me—" They pointed a finger up at the sleeping face on their left side. "—from him."
She nodded, and quickly redirected discussion when it became clear that line of thought was causing distress. "As you may have already heard with those ears of yours, there are a lot more people in our ward now," she explained. "More people exhibiting symptoms of ETS. Nobody quite as far along as you. Since I'm in quarantine as well—" She tousled her discoloured hair for emphasis. "—and I am still technically your primary caregiver, I figured I'd spare someone else the... experience of seeing you in this state."
Jacen surprisingly cracked a smile as they reached for their tarot deck and the guidebook. "I can only imagine how I look given how revolting I feel," they murmured, shuffling the cards as they turned their gaze to the window. A feeling of revulsion filled their belly as they caught sight of their reflection, and they quickly looked away. With a sniff, they asked, "Did someone throw up in here?"
The doctor couldn't help herself; she laughed. "Yes, and three nurses fainted," she answered after composing herself. "Your other half made quite the racket when he woke this morning." Her eyebrow quirked up and she regarded them with a cautious eye. "Aren't you in pain?"
With a shake of their head, they set three cards face down on their lap. "Not really," they answered, their hand drifting just below their navel. Beneath the hand and the gown, the doctor knew there was a scar where Jacen had needed an emergency hysterectomy as a youth—a reminder of how unique a patient they were. "I've had worse pain. Mind if I read your fortune to you?"
It was something that the doctor couldn't help but feel was unusual. When the left half woke, he was in crippling agony. Sure, the nurses had done a good job of keeping him medicated, it had still been several hours since any painkillers had been administered. If the two were still sharing control over their limbs, then much of the nerves were still shared between the two; any pain he felt, they should also have felt. Was it possible that the different archetypes possessed different levels of pain tolerance? Or was it simply a matter of bravado or not wanting to appear weak?
Not only that, but it felt like she clearly wasn't talking to the same person. It wasn't just the voice, although that would definitely make it easier to differentiate between the two. This Jacen was nowhere near as confident, nor as calm. It was also interesting how the left half seemed completely uninterested in the cards, instead favouring the science fiction without even an word of complaint. Meanwhile this one's first reaction was not to check the phone or grab a book for distraction, but to offer to do a reading like it was completely natural.
"If it makes you comfortable, but I need to go back to bed soon enough," she responded before yawning again. "If you're up long, could you keep the noise down? I know it's only quarter to nine now, but it's been a long day, and I'm volunteering to help out with the other patients while I'm still capable."
Right-side Jacen nodded, turning over the first card as they flipped open the guide book. "IV - the Emperor, Reversed," they announced. "There used to be a person in your life—perhaps a teacher, father-figure, or partner—who abused their power over you... they wanted to exert control over your life, and created an unhealthy power dynamic."
Tara raised an eyebrow, and pursed her lips, but otherwise didn't comment as the next card was flipped. "Queen of Cups, upright. In spite of everything you've been through, or perhaps because of it, you've become a person of compassion... a healer. Even in the throes of this virus, here you are, supporting us when you could have washed your hands of us."
A good-humoured snort escaped the doctor, and she just started shaking her head. "Last card is... Two of Pentacles, upright," they declared in a confident tone. "Pony or not, you're a doctor; you'll find ways to adapt the old in your life to whatever ETS brings you. It might mean you have to have to become flexible with the things at hoof, er, hand, but you'll continue to thrive." Sweeping up the cards, they commented, "I'm not very good, but I can see how it can be a tool for encouragement of others. How'd it sound?"
When Tara finally stopped slowly shaking her head, she gave her patient a soft smile. "Can't say I've ever had anyone exerting an unhealthy degree of power over me," she responded. "The physician supervising me back when I was but an medical intern in Hamburg was not a good person, but they never interfered. Everything else sounds exactly like what one of those phony psychics would say."
With only a little more conversation about what the other half was up to all day, Weintraub returned to her own bed and went to sleep, leaving them to their own devices. Although they would have liked to listen to some music, they had no earbuds that they thought might work with their new pony ears. Listening without was out of the question since it was a little past nine now. Besides, they didn't find any of the music they currently had loaded all that appealing.
It struck them as odd. They'd grown up with the punk rock, hard rock, glam rock, and pretty much any and all metal, courtesy of Jacen's father. Not long after, they'd developed a taste for EDM and Eurobeat, and for years those were all they had been they'd listened to. Now, however, none of those sounded appealing.
Instead, they reached for their phone, and frowned. Left Jacen had run it down pretty low, and though it was charging, they wouldn't be able to take it off the charger for quite a while. Oh well, they thought, as they brought it over as close as the could and then moved to sit at the edge of the bed. To their surprise, he also hadn't been in contact with either Gage or Pete. Just watching stuff on the phone or reading that sci-fi garbage.
PestilenceOfHorses: Hey, Gage? You there?

You know it, Jace. :HexsideHero


Haven't heard from you all day though. What's up with that? :HexsideHero

They paused, considering how best to phrase any of this. Their friend was about to find out that Jacen was two people already. Not only that, but the other half was apparently too busy watching the news and wilderness survival shit to say hi. They just couldn't get their head around what he was thinking.
PestilenceOfHorses: Sorry about that. Um... This is kinda hard to explain but bear with me, yeah?

Um... okay? :HexsideHero

PestilenceOfHorses: You already know how ETS is splitting us in two. Well, last night, it hit us super bad with the whole twinning thing. We look horrifying enough that three nurses fainted when the left half woke up screaming in pain this morning. We're literally two-faced right now, and our head looks super weird... I woke up only like an hour ago, and he apparently fell asleep just three hours ago.

I feel like asking for a picture right now would probably be super insensitive and gross... :HexsideHero


So what's up? Wait, what do I even call you, since calling you both Jacen is gonna get confusing fast. :HexsideHero

PestilenceOfHorses: I really don't know. The first thing I even did upon waking up was have an identity crisis. I know I'm not the original... and I don't feel comfortable with male pronouns for some reason, but I'm not sure if I identify the other way... My voice is different now... The only reason I'm not freaking out is because my doctor's my roommate now, and she managed to calm me down, but I'm scared, Gage.

Big oof there. Well, you certainly reached out to the right guy. I'm here if you wanna talk out your identity stuff. It's the least I could do when you were there for me. :HexsideHero


But before that, is there anything you can think of that you'd like to be called? :HexsideHero

They bit their lip as they considered his question. His first thought was to use something from one of his favourite books... but Gage wasn't exactly fond of being reminded that they had a Potter phase, even if he seemed to like Luna Lovegood's character. Jaina was still off the table too.
He remembered the last thing Jinx said before disappearing. "Remember, Jace; the parts of you that created me are still a part of you. So long as you remember me, I live on in you. Goodbye, Jacen."
PestilenceOfHorses: Jinx left us last night... Said ETS was doing something to our brain that was making it harder for her to exist... It feels like she was more interested in the tarot cards than we were, but I wonder if those parts didn't stick in my half of the brain, 'cause Doc Weintraub said the other me showed zero interest in them at all through the day. Plus, I kinda want to keep her memory alive. Is that weird?

Kinda. You said she tormented you for years, but now you don't want to let her go. Calling you by the name your mental illnesss gave itself is even weirder. :HexsideHero

There was a couple of minutes where nothing was said. The ellipses appeared a couple of times during that time, but they were ultimately left waiting for whatever their friend was planning saying. That was okay. It was better if he was considering whatever he said.

How about Jinxi? :HexsideHero


My mandarin's a bit rusty, but 今夕 reads Jīnxī, which means tonight or this evening. It's also visually and phonetically similar to Jinxi, while being distinct enough to not just be calling yourself Jinx. I figure since you're turning into one of those nocturnal ponies, why not have a feminine sounding name that was tied to the night? :HexsideHero

They blinked, reading the response, and whispering the name out loud to themselves. They weren't sure about wanting to sound feminine, but the name had an appeal to them, more than just plain Jinx did. It also had a youthful ring to it, the way some Alexandras went by Lexi.
PestilenceOfHorses: I love it, Gage.
In the next room over, they could hear a woman with a Western American accent arguing in an exasperated tone with what sounded like a child.  Apparently, the child wanted her Mom to sing her to sleep. It wasn't the most unusual argument they'd ever heard, but what was odd was the fact that the child wanted a non-lullaby. Eventually, she conceded, and started to sing.
"Almost heaven, West Virginia,
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River,
Life is old there, older than the trees,
Younger than the mountains, growin' like a breeze."
Jinxi knew the lyrics to the infamous John Denver song. They'd never much cared much for it in the past, but now, it didn't sound too bad to their ears. It did, however, make them feel a bit homesick. Who would keep Gage and Pete in line if they were small horses? Who would keep them safe? Softly, in their own quiet voice, they sang along. "Country roads, take me home, to the place I belong..."







The next morning was a bit of a shock to Jacen. The room's blinds were drawn, and his hands was already occupied with his phone, and when he looked down, he saw it was the day-trading app tied to his investments in the United States. The second thing he noticed was that he could actually turn his head slightly to see the other face. Curiously, she—his brain was having a hard time assigning any other pronoun to the other half—still awake, although they looked exhausted. It's only eleven in the morning, though.
"O-oh. Morning, Jacen," she said in a tired voice. She set the phone down and yawned. "I dunno if we still share a stomach, but I already ate our breakfast." As if considering something, she quickly added. "Call me Jinxi, by the way. It'll make things less confusing."
"Jinxi," he answered in a flat tone as he picked the fully-charged phone back up to look at what she'd been doing. "Isn't it a bit soon to steal her name?"
"Not steal," she defended, borrowing his left hand to rub her shoulder where her new webbed wings were already nearly finished growing in. "Honouring. Check the chat I had last night with Gage for the reasoning. Dunno if I think of myself as a filly, but I'm not gonna get mad at you if you're thinking of me with those terms already. Sorta feels inevitable."
He gave her the side-eye for a moment before rolling his eyes. "Uh-huh." He scrolled through all the new stocks she'd purchased and those she'd sold. There was a lot of new stocks in construction suppliers and forestry, and not just piddling shares, either. Most of them were big names like Vulcan, Trex, and UFP Industries, but one he'd never really noticed before also appeared: Westvaco. "Did you sleep at all last night?"
Jinxi tried to shake her head, only to jerk his aside as well. It seemed that although their heads had separated, they were mostly still sharing the same neck. "I'm clearly the nocturnal type." She reached up an flicked the little grey tufts at the ends of her ears. "I forced myself to stay up, even though I'd love nothing less than to have gone to sleep a little after sun-up." She gestured to the stack of tarot cards with her thumb, and then the phone. "I did a reading on myself after I stopped talking with Gage, and got a good feeling about those industries. So I started researching companies, and once the exchange opened, I started selling and buying up."
That made him scowl. Even if the world economy didn't just completely crash and never recover because of ETS, the thought of buying and selling stocks because of a feeling the cards gave her was ridiculous. Worse, it wasn't at all rational. "I see here you also sold a lot of our tech stocks," he grumbled. "The fuck did you go and do that for?"
She groaned, shutting off the screen and angling it so she could look him in the eyes. "You know tech's gonna take a huge hit if we all become ponies, Jace," she said in a tired voice. Okay, maybe she wasn't completely irrational. "Even assuming not every human in the world changes, there'll be significantly less demand in the short run, and assuming we even get treated like people, I doubt there'll be a huge rush to make tech for ponies..."
"Whereas there'll be more incentive for pony friendly homes?" he asked. He thought he had a better grasp on what she was thinking, but he considered something she hasn't. "How do you know they won't just try and move us all out in the sticks or into camps? Remember the Japanese internment during the second world war? That could be us."
It surprised him when she nodded. "All the more reason to assume money might still have value in the long run." Another yawn interrupted her. "We're no billionaires, but between our savings here and stateside, and our investments on both sides of the border, we could easily afford to pay to have several small buildings built. More if we just buy the supplies and the ponies construct everything themselves. Or maybe you're right, and we might need civil rights lawyers."
He couldn't help but chortle. "Listen to you, thinking about everypony's futures," Jacen said in a wistful voice. To be honest, she reminded him of Gage. Despite being one of the biggest targets for bullying and harassment in school, he always stood up for himself, but more so he stood up for his friends. Here she was already thinking about the other soon-to-be ponies in their ward. "You're undoubtedly the little sibling, but you've got those big sibling instincts, don't you?"
Her cheeks flushed, and she hijacked the hands to reach over to the table to grab an eye mask they didn't have before. "Yeah, well... somepony's gotta," she murmured. "By the way, I bribed an orderly to go and get us some ear buds. Also got this mask so the light doesn't interfere with my sleep. Mine are the pink ones." There was a paranoid look on her face as she pulled on the mask. "Feel free to listen to your music, but don't touch the songs in my playlist, okay? I didn't spend that money just to waste data."