//------------------------------//
// Chapter Three: A Morning Meeting 
// Story: The Cowpocalypse 
// by Foal Star 
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"I don't know if I can do this?"

The once powerful-looking alicorn who once spoke those words had transformed into a bloated cow with massive pink udders that were more visible than ever and now swollen with milk. She was sitting in her room chewing on some grass, unable to contain her anxiety about exposing her form to the public. It was no secret that she was a cow, having been seen by her castle staff. But right now, no pony outside the guards and castle staff knew what she exactly looked like. She heard a knock on the door and Princess Luna's voice.

"Sister, are you alright?"

Celestia swallowed a mouthful of grass and responded, "Of course not! I'm still a cow!"

"May I come in?"

"It's fine,"

Luna then slowly trotted through the door, affectionately nuzzling her sister as she tried to reassure her doubts. She whispered, "I understand that this is hard for you, but you have to do this to show your subjects that this change will not affect your performance of your duties. It'll also reassure our subjects that they can live their own lives."

"My face!"

"Is beautiful and kind."

"My body."

"Fat and plump as a cow should be."

"But my udders."

"Are full bouncy and are gorgeous,"

Celestia eyed her sister as she was growing suspicious of her being so lovely and said, "I believe you are making fun of me."

Luna nuzzled her, then whispered, "Of course not; I am just trying to make you feel better…also you forgot to get milked."

The princess groaned, being reminded of the pressure in her udders. "Thanks for reminding me!"

She then mashed some grass angrily and let out a "moo!" of frustration. Then she groaned, "Fine! I'll leap into the air and see what happens!"

The princess finished her breakfast as fast as possible, and two maids came over to help scrub her down in her tub, taking special care to fasten her new oversized regalia to fit her new body. The maids kindly and gently placed a tiara on her sister's head and summoned a maid to help milk her udders. Celestia winced at the sensitive teats being pinched but felt much more relieved when the milk. The princess of the night then stepped back to admire her sister.

"Sister, you ready?"

Celestia turned to face a mirror. The big bloated cow was still there, but her coat was shinier. Seeing how beautiful her yellow spots were, she seemed more at ease. She even had this cute spot over her left eye, and her udders were less visible. She said, "Ready as I'll ever be."

"Alright, let's get a mooo! On!"

Celestia laughed and followed her sister down the castle halls with the guard, both pony and cow, saluting her as she went on. She did her best to keep her composure, but she was self-conscious about her udders slapping about and the small burps and farts. She couldn't help herself despite trying her best to keep control. The princess eventually made it down the halls and to the courtyard. Once there, she saw, to her astonishment, there were dozens of cows and ponies all lining up to witness it was a massive crowd, more than usual, as this whole thing had become quite a spectacle seeing so many of her citizens now as cows amongst them looking somewhat worried or ashamed. She wanted to help show them that they could still live an everyday life, even in their new forms. They watched as she entered the group's center, flexed her wings, rose in the air, and raised up, blushing as her udders were fully exposed to the crowd below and the sun rose behind her. She then flew down with a group of cows all mooing together!

Celestia smiled as she looked around and saw the many cows cheering and clopping their hooves among the ponies. She felt much braver and much more comfortable in her new body than she had this morning.





Pinkie Pie bounced across the town without a care as the sun rose into the sky. Despite being a cow, it didn't diminish her cheerful demeanor. The pink party pony then jumped towards Rarity's boutique, where she found her friend busy at work. She was going over her sowing machine, sewing away as if trying to forget what she looked like. So Pinkie Pie did the one thing to make her friend feel better: she threw her hooves over her and hugged the unicorn tightly, "Hello, Rarity!"

Rarity cried out, feeling Pinkie Pie press up against her, but relaxed a little as she turned to face her and sighed, "Oh, it's just you, Pinkie Pie." 

"Hey, how are you dealing with being a cow?"

"Oh darling, it's exhausting. I had to eat more and found myself eating grass! Grass! Can you believe that!?"

Pinkie Pie munched on some and then asked, "What's wrong with that? Hay isn't much different."

"Well, it's just something I must get used to." She then 
Shivered and groaned. "I had Sweetie Belle milk me this morning, and it was so weird."

"Yeah, Mr. and Mrs. Cake milked me, and it was awkward, but I feel sooo relieved. Also, they're using my milk in some recipes as it's super duper sweet!"

Rarity's eyes widened as Pinkie Pie revealed she was letting her milk be used, and she cried, "Is that safe or even hygienic!?"

"Of course it is; we drink milk all the time! The Cakes know what they're doing, and the food, milkshakes, and ice cream all come out perfectly."

Rarity was going to say something else, but Pinkie Pie held up a hoof and added, "And no, my milk doesn't turn other ponies into cows. You asked me to come by, so what's up?"

The unicorn cleared her throat and then said, "Yes, well, before I was sidetracked, I called you over here; as you know, we will meet with Princess Celestia."

"Yeah! I can't wait! I'm going to propose we have a super cow party!"

Rarity gave a few nods, then added, "Yes, well, I hope you can make that possible, but back to why we're here," she then presented a half-a-dozen bonnets and said, "I think these bonnets would make us look presentable. Also, we need to make sure everypony is milked."

"Don't worry! The Cakes have already set up Sugarcube Corner, which has troughs full of grass and buckets for emergency milking."

"Well, it seems you have everything ready to go. Thank you, Pinkie. I'm sure this meeting with the princesses will go well."

"I'm sure it will see you there!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she bounced off and went straight to Sweet Apple Acres. There, she spotted Applejack and Rainbow Dash, both getting milked by Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, who were giggling and talking. Applejack yawned as the pink party pony approached and asked, "Hey, Pinkie, how are you?"

"Doing great!" She then tied bonnets around her and Rainbow's head, who bucked and whined. "Hey, what gives!?"

"Rarity made these for us for the meeting; it was something about making us look presentable. Also, you're already getting milked, and that's great!"

"Yeah, yay for me," Rainbow Dash mumbled.

Applejack nuzzled the rainbow-spotted cow and mooed, "Oh, don't sweat it, Rainbow. I'm sure it'll be fine also; you look great."

The winged bovine's cheeks flushed as she went back to munching on grass. 

Pinkie pulled out a camera and  snapped a picture as she snickered, "awww, you're so cute."

Rainbow mooed angrily, then shouted, "Stop taking pictures!"

"Of course, I'm taking pictures! We'll probably get curred soon, so I want to make these moments last!"

"No, you're not giving me that camera!" Rainbow snapped. She then chased after Pinkie, who bounced away, snickering as she continued to bounce off through Ponyville.





Pinkie Pie bounced for some time until she lost Rainbow Dash and found herself near Fluttershy's cottage. There, she spotted Fluttershy lying out in an open field, letting a group of baby bunnies suckle from her teats. 

Pinkie Pie gave a loud dawn and snapped another photo as she chirped, "Hello, Fluttershy."

"Oh Pinkie! I'm surprised to see you here!"

"Of course, I'm here to let you know about the big meeting with the princesses! And Rarity gave us something to wear," she then gave her a cute pink bonnet with bunnies embroidered on it. After tying it around her friend's head, she stepped back to admire her handiwork and giggled, "You look so cute, Fluttershy."

Fluttershy patted her bonnet a few times, looked at herself in a puddle nearby, admiring her reflection, and said, "This is cute. Thank you, Pinkie." 

"Thank Rarity! She's making them, and you look absolutely adorable!"

"Well, please thank her for me it's quite lovely,"

"You can thank her yourself; we need to get a mooo! On!"

Fluttershy couldn't help but giggle at Pinkie's pun as she was helped onto all fours and trotted off together. 





Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy made their way to Golden Oaks Library. Upon opening the front door, they found Twilight Sparkle looking out about the meeting instead and starting to stress out by eating a bucket of random pages.

Pinkie Pie was somewhat surprised when she snapped a picture and then cried, "Wow, Twilight, I can't believe you were eating a book!"

The unicorn swallowed a mouthful of paper and said, "First of all, this is just scrap paper, so I don't accidentally eat any books. Secondly, I'm stess eating because don't know if I can handle this! The princesses are coming today, and I don't have any idea or plans on how to fix this!"

Pie Pie was going to say something, but Fluttershy slowly trotted over and tied a bonnet around her head as she said. "It's alright. We're just going to talk about this together. You're just dealing with a lot of stress. Relax. You're a cow. Maybe go out, eat some grass, get milked, and maybe take a long nap. That's what Rainbow Dash has been doing."

Twilight then squeaked as she felt a tug under her belly. Spike snapped, "Yeah, thanks. Now I can at least get her milked."

Twilight gave a relaxing sigh, seeming to relax a little as she said, "Maybe you're right, but do we have any plans or ideas?'

Fluttershy shrugged as Pinkie spoke up and exclaimed, "Of course we do! We know this weird stripped cow may be able to help us! We'll discuss it with the princesses and see if we can locate her."

Twilight gave a sigh. "Okay, Fluttershy, I guess you're right. I'll give being a cow a chance. Who knows what we can learn from being like this. Speaking of which at least have a actual cow coming to the meeting too."

The pink party pony then bounced over, nudged her, and said, "Come on, where's that smile? We have the princesses coming!"

Twilight looked over her big, bloated body and mumbled under her breath, "As cows," as Spike rolled his eyes and carried away a milk bucket. 

"So what!? We're cows, and like Fluttershy said, it's time we got used to it!" Pinkie Pie squealed. She then bumped Twilight and led her and Fluttershy out of the library and into Ponyville's streets. 





At Sugarcube Corner, the mane six were all sitting around troughs filled with grass or drinking from troughs filled with water, all trying to be as casual as possible despite their appearances. Then, almost suddenly, a massive pure white cow trotted in covered in blue spots, trying to look as stoic as possible, and strolled into the cafe. He blushed and cried out as he spotted Twilight and said, "T..Twilight…"

The violet-colored cow blinked, and then her eyes went wide as she somehow recognized who this cow was and shouted, "Shining!? You're a cow, too!"

Pinkie Pie bounced over and asked, "Oh, you know Twilight?"

Shining rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Know her!? She's my sister, of course, I know her."

Pinkie Pie paused, then turned to Twilight and asked, "Hey, you never told us you had a sister?"

Twilight let out a frustrated moo! then said, "First, he's my brother; second, I didn't see a reason to bring him up. He's quite busy being the captain of the guard, and we're still getting to know each other."

Pinkie couldn't help but laugh, "Oh my!? So that enchanted milk turned your brother into a cow?"

"Pinkie!" Rarity snapped as she trotted over and bowed. "Please excuse my friend's behavior. She's been more excited about being cow than most, and we are most pleased to meet Twilight's si—I mean brother."

The blue-spotted cow's face turned red as she said, "Yes, well, it's nice to meet all of Twilight's friends now. I came abit early to ensure everything was ready for the princess' arrival."

"And is there anything missing!? We did our best to prepare!" Twilight asked in a panic.

Shining looked around and shook his head. "No," he said, "No, no, everything looks fine."

He then opened the doors and stood aside as a massive white cow with yellow spots, followed by a dark purple cow with dark blue spots, trotted inside. As the two strode in the mane, six stared in disbelief that these cows were alicorns. They all bow, but the two stopped and threw their hooves, and they all quickly told each other to stand back up, with the two somewhat embarrassed by their own appearances. Once they were seated comfortably around their troughs, there was an awkward silence as it felt like nopony knew who should talk first. Twilight cleared her throat and started, "Now, um, I know we're all here to discuss our current condition, how we will fix this, and what we will do in the meantime. As of this morning about forty-five percent of ponies in Equestria have been turned into female cows, yes female…even if the pony that drank the enchanted milk were a stallion, it would turn them into female cows."

Everypony then stared at Shining Armor, whose face turned into a bright shade of crimson as he lowered it and whined, "Yes, this is well known. Thanks, Twilight. Now, can we please move this along?"

"Right, sorry, Shining," Twilight squeaked. She cleared her throat and continued, "also it seems no foal past puberty reamins unaffected. Now, the only lead to the reason we were turned into cows is a zebra named Zecora. I will let Applejack continue from here." 

Applejack got up and said, "Now Rarity, Fluttershy, and I ventured into the Everfree Forest as we heard of a skinny, stripped cow from the other cows. There, we discovered she had left for Appleloosa. Upon finding her, we found a bunch of weird potions and a cauldron; she might be the one who did this to us."

Everypony gasped, and then Shining asked, "Do we have any proof? This all seems circumstantial."

Rarity spoke up next. "I agree with Shining on this. Applejack here is merely jumping to conclusions. The truth is we don't know if she did this or even if it was on purpose. We should find and talk to her to see if we can reverse our condition."

There was some murmuring and back and forth on whether this Zecora was the culprit; Twilight then let out a loud "mooo!" to get everypony to stop as she continued, "So Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity have agreed to go out to find this Zecora. Now, to the more difficult part of our conversation: what are we to do with trying to keep ponies calm?"

Twilight looked abit sheepish as she continued, "Well, as you know, Ponyville has many cows living nearby, and so I invited their leader to come, but she seems to-" Before she could finish, a cow with brown spots trotted through the front door as she mooed, "Good morning, ponies. Sorry, I'm late. Had a chat with a few other ponies who got turned to cows, don't ya know."

"Please, it's quite alright; we're so glad you could make it," Princess Celestia replied. 

"No need princess it' my honor to come met y'all," Bessie replied as she made her way to the front of the rows of troughs, cleared her throat, and said, "Morning dearies, I've been invited to help y'all with you being cows. First, here's a quick history lesson: We cows have been living alongside your kind for generations and are more than willing to help you all in your current conditions. Cheerilee has graciously offered to lend us her schoolhouse in the evenings for cow class, as we will talk about the biology of cows to anypony and everypony who wants to learn about what being a cow is all about."

Twilight indeed, "Yes, we talked intensively about these classes and have them copied throughout Equestria; we'll provide much-needed education to the ponies until this curse is reversed."

Bessie nodded along and continued, "That's right, deary. We will need more milking stations and ponies who know how to milk and train them to make sure they're not hurting their friends or loved ones."

Pinkie Pie started to get excited as she shouted, "Precisely! And I'll be having fun making ice cream, cake milkshakes, and all kinds of treats from their milk!"

Everypony looked to Pinkie Pie, somewhat surprised at what they had just heard. Twilight blinked, then rubbed her eyes and said, "Wait, you're saying our milk is safe to drink!?"

The pink-coated cow slammed a hoof into her face, then shouted, "Of course its safe to drink! I've been helping ponies get milked since yesterday and drinking all of it, and I noticed everypony has different flavors! It's perfectly fine!"

Twilight paused, as did the others, and then Rainbow Dash  scoffed, "Well, I'm not letting anypony drink my milk; that's so gross!"

Bessie held up a hoof and said, "Listen, I know it's weird, but your milk can help abit as there ain't alot of cows in Equestria, and we can use the help with getting milk to everypony who needs it don't ya know. If this milk doesn't change other ponies into cows, we might as well use it."

Many ponies in the room mumbled, unsure of this, but Princess Celestia spoke up for the first time: "I hate to admit it, but Pinkie Pie is right; the milk we secrete is safe. Our scientists and mages did research, and it seems whatever turned us into cows doesn't apply to our milk. It seems the magic dissipated when it entered us."

Luna nodded and sighed, "Yes, that's true. I did my own research as well."

Celestia eyed her sister but did not investigate further what she meant. Twilight stood up again and said, "Well, it seems we have a plan! Bessie and I will help educate ponies about being cows; Pinkie Pie, you'll lead the ambassador and help and try to help ponies get used to being cows."

Pinkie Pie then exclaimed, "Okay, so I know I'm reaching, but I want to host a super fun cow party in a few weeks! I want to help ponies get used to being cows, and I think it'll be super duper fun!"

Many of her friends nodded in agreement as the princesses whispered to each other. Then Celestia spoke up, "Yes, Pinkie, that sounds like a wonderful idea; we can discuss further details at a later time."

“Okey dokey!” Pinkie chimed. 

She then turned to Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack and said, "You three will have to go find this Zecora and see if she can fix this."

They all saluted and said, "Yes, Twilight."

Princess Celestia added, "I'll mainly continue helping ponies adjust to their new lives during the day. I'm working on something to help with the milking problem."

Luna added, "I'll continue to help those afflicted with this cow curse during the night and keep them calm."

Everypony started to look more cheerful and determined as Rainbow Dash shouted, "Hey, what about me!?"

Twilight paused, not knowing what to say, and then Celestia spoke up, "Rainbow Dash, I have an important job. Help the Wonderbolts. They have canceled all their future performances, and we need them now more than ever."

"Yes, princess!" Rainbow chimed as she gave a salute. Then, everypony got up and started to file out of Sugarcube Corner, all talking casually and mooing without care, being much more light-hearted. Eventually, they all started going off in different directions, Pinkie Pie bouncing back to Sugarcube Corner while letting guests come in both cow and pony, Rainbow Dash flying off to Cloudesdale, the princesses being escorted by Shining Armor back to Canterlot, Twilight and Bessie heading to the Schoolhouse as Rarity, Fluttershy and Applejack set off down the road south of Ponyville setting off on their journey to find Zecora.