Chapter One:
There was a ringing in her ears.
Explosion.
There'd been an explosion.
It has been too unstable, and it had blown up in her face.
The experiment had gone wrong somehow.
Opening her eyes was struggle. They seemed heavy, and gummed up. She pulled them open to nothing.
Either she was blind, or there was no light. Both options seemed viable.
Her body ached. Something brushed over her, not quite touching her skin. A cold breeze.
Unwisely, she reacted with a start. The ache bloomed into acute muscle pain. She spasmed, jerking her body into further pain.
A groan wheezed out as she tried to stop herself convulsing. It was no use.
For the next undefinable amount of time, her body automatically began to sort out its nervous system.
To be awake for this was a hell. This may be obscure vital biological function, but normally it would remain the reaction of unconsciousness.
However, the sensations did give her an impression of her circumstances.
The floor in her lab was soft and impermeable. The surface she was on was pitted stone, moist.
So, her environment had changed. And judging from what she could feel, her body had also been affected.
Scientific mental detachment at this stage was vital, it was very hard to otherwise cope.
When the fit was over, she found herself weary and breathless. Her eyes, nose and mouth had leaked.
Slowly, she went to lift her head. Her muscles panged. Whimpering, she relaxed.
"Oh god." she muttered thickly. "I can't move!"
Laughter echoed.
"Can't move?" Scoffed a voice somewhere. She couldn't be certain if she was hearing it in her head or not.
"My body is all weird." She replied, dubious. "I can barely lift my head. Even that hurts."
"Maybe you're doing it wrong." Replied the voice. "Maybe you're overthinking it."
Considering this, she proceeded to thrash around, trying to get another feel for herself.
It occurred to her that she may have actually changed shape. Her two sets of limbs felt...as if they were the same. Was she no longer bipedal?
She tried to lift her head again, this time taking into account she had to lift starting at the shoulder.
It worked.
Unsteadily, her head rose from the floor. She still couldn't see herself.
"It's dark." She complained, lowering her head. "I can't see myself.
"Oh." The voice sneered. "Do you think it do any good, seeing yourself? Do you think it would help?"
"Yeah." She snorted. "Some light."
"Hmm." The voice hummed, seeming to consider. "Oh very well."
Illumination slowly entered into the world. The walls of, unsurprisingly, a cave, began to light up with glowing crystals.
"Thanks." She grunted, lifting her head up and tucking her chin to take a look.
The body of a small grey horse was sprawled out over the floor. She gave an experimental twitch of her left lower limb and saw the corresponding leg move.
Things began to make more sense.
"I'm a pony." She stated, trying to breach her disbelief. "I've turned into a small horse like creature."
"Ah. Yes." The voice said, with little trepidation.
"I'm probably going to stay like this for a while." She continued.
"You seem to have gotten a grip on your situation quite quickly."
She groaned.
"I'm going to have to learn how to dance...ALL-OVER-AGAIN!" She lamented, thumping her head to the floor.
"Dance?" The voice chuckled, delighted. "Why worry about that when you can't even walk?"
"Why worrying about walking without being able to stand up?" She retorted. "That's my challenge. Walking is cake compared to that."
"Really?" The voice jeered. "You think so?"
"Yeah." She sneered back. "Standing up."
She waggled her limbs, working out which was which. Then she moved the two that were off the ground, the left side, scrambling to pull herself over.
When that failed, she pushed herself over, trying to roll onto her feet. It seemed to almost work. She tried again. Then again, this time, folding the legs on the ground side and pushing out. And then again, this time folding the upper set as she reached the furthest point of the roll.
This strategy panned out, leaving her upright on all four bent limbs. She decided to unbend the back set first.
She nearly fell over, much to her frustration, but succeeded. With a satisfied huff, she lifted one of her front legs, putting her…hoof, to the floor, and then followed with the other. Slowly she straightened those legs as well.
"UP." She stated triumphantly. Surprisingly, she felt quite stable.
"Well done." Chuckled the voice. "You stood up all by yourself!"
She nodded curtly. "Now. For walking."
She froze. 'How the hell do they walk again? It's not left side, right side.'
She confirmed this by trying to lift both left legs, tilting alarmingly.
'Nor would it be back, front.'
She bent her back legs and pushed up, lifting them from the ground. The movement nearly made her flip over, and she landed jarringly. Pain buzzed up her legs.
'It would be front leg, opposite back leg. 1 3, 2 4. I knew that from the start though, didn't I? This is going to suck.'