Sweetie Belle was having trouble falling asleep.
She didn't know why, and she didn't know if there was anything she could do to get around it, but for whatever reason, her body just simply refused to go to sleep. She tried everything she could think of to fall asleep, from reading a book to throwing off her covers to meditation. Nothing was working. She didn't know if it was because she was too busy thinking about Storm Spark, but he was definitely running through her mind that night.
What was it about him that drew her to him so much? He wasn't much different from any other colt she's met, and yet she found herself strangely attracted to him. He was strong and cool and probably even smart. And the best part of all was that he was just like her! A blank flank! He didn't have his cutie mark either!
Sweetie Belle sighed as she remembered his face. She just couldn't get the image of those eyes out of her mind. They were so bright and so deep, she could just lose herself in them is she stared long enough. She hadn't had a chance to ask about that chewed up ear, though. It hadn't looked like an old wound, either. In fact, if she had to guess, she figured that Storm Spark had gotten it the night before coming to school.
Sweetie Belle sighed and hugged her pillow close to her chest. Her covers had long ago been tossed onto the floor of her room, yet nothing could stop the onslaught of sleeplessness from invading her head. "At this rate, I'm going to stop being Sweetie Belle and start being Sweaty Belle," she grumbled, as the peculiar heat refused to leave her alone.
Sitting up in bed, Sweetie Belle tried to telekinesis her pillow across the room. She closed her eyes and tried to summon up the power within herself, as she had done many times while Rarity and Twilight were teaching her. She could feel the pressure building up at the base of her horn, could see the faint light of her magic as it built up, getting ready to cast the spell.
And then it didn't.
Just as Sweetie Belle was getting ready to cast the Telekinesis spell, all the magic she had been charging up to do it suddenly vanished. It was as if somebody had cut her off from the flow of her magic. As if on queue, she suddenly felt a heavy pain at the base of her horn, in the exact place she would usually feel her magic.
"Ow ow ow ow!" Sweetie Belle squealed, writhing on her bed. "Ow it hurts! What is this!?"
As her eyes began to fill with sudden tears, Sweetie Belle put her hooves to her forehead, and she felt something that, to this day, still terrifies her. Her horn, much to her chagrin, was growing inward, its length shrinking away. Within seconds, despite the horrible pain in her forehead, Sweetie Belle's horn was gone.
Now, tears streaming down her face, Sweetie Belle hopped to her hooves, and ran to the mirror that was hanging on the wall beside her bed. Her horn was gone, all right, and there was something else that was very, VERY, wrong with her reflection.
Sweetie Belle's eyes, which were normally green on top of the typical white back one would see in an eyeball, were instead a solid green colour, with dark green slits for pupils. Her eyes were tugging up slightly at the corners, becoming sharper and more menacing than they used to be, and she could feel her jaw shift and grow along with the changes.
"What's happening to me?" Sweetie Belle squealed, immediately clapping her hooves over her mouth. Her voice had come out wrong. It had been too low and growly. It didn't sound anything like her! "What's happening to my voice!?"
Something was wrong.
And it was about to get so much worse.
Sweetie Belle paced around her room at a running pace, unable to contain the terror that was surging within her. She didn't know what was happening to her, but she definitely did not like it, not one bit. Even as she moved, she could feel the changes surging through her body, changing her even more, and there was absolutely nothing she could do to stop it! Her horn was gone! She was left without her magic, as miniscule as it was, and now she was turning into a monster!
How could this night get any worse?
As it turns out, it could get very much worse. As Sweetie Belle crossed in front of the window, the curtain suddenly blew open, and she found herself drowning in silver moonlight. As soon as the pale glow of the moon touched her coat, Sweetie Belle felt an entirely new and different surge of pain flow through her body, as another onslaught of transformations took place.
Sweetie Belle fell on her rump as, rather suddenly, her center of gravity completely vanished. She watched in horror as her hind hooves began to melt away, replaced by a pair of three-toed canine paws. Her legs cracked and locked into place, becoming stubbier and shaggier as her fur grew out and changed to a pale shade of grey, replacing her once pristine white coat.
Sweetie Belle whimpered, just like a dog, as she wiggled her new toes. She had never had toes, or paws, before, and she could definitely say, after having the experience, that she really didn't like it. More tears streamed out of her inpony eyes as the changes started creeping up her body.
Her tail was the next thing to change. Like her horn, the pink and purple hairs that made up her tail were sucked into her spine, and she could feel her tail growing in length. Like her hind legs, her tail was also covered in shaggy grey fur. It was stubbier, too, its length stopping at her crooked knees. At the tip of her tail, the shaggy fur seemed to arrange itself into a club-like pattern, as the knots and split ends combined to create something solid enough to hurt if it hit something.
"Oh Celestia, oh Luna," Sweetie Bell prayed, "please stop this! Please make this stop! I don't wanna be a dog! I'm a pony! I'm a pony!"
She couldn't stop the tears now. They were coming without halt, streaming down her face and rolling down her body. And still, the transformations would not stop. The darker fur crept up her body, changing the shape of her hips and torso, realigning her bones into a more canine posture.
When it finally got to her front pair of hooves, the pain started becoming unbearable. It wasn't just muscle or fur that was growing now. Her arms were lengthening, becoming longer and thicker until they were longer than she was tall. Then, just like before, her hooves melted away, as they were replaced by massive canine hands, with three fingers and a thumb on each. On the underside of her all four of her paws were thick pads, perfect for running over rough terrain, and at the tips of each toe and finger was a long and thick claw, shaped like a spade to make digging through rough soil easier.
Sweetie Belle sniffled as she attempted to move her new hands. The sensation was so alien, so unnatural, that the instant her thumbs started twitching, she couldn't help but scream in pain and horror.
"I'm a dog," she whimpered, realizing that the only thing left to change now was her head.
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, her jaw started aching. It was stretching out, elongating, becoming a vicious underbite common to all Diamond Dogs. As the tears cleared out of her eyes for a second, Sweetie Belle caught a glimpse of her reflection in her bedroom mirror.
She was almost completely a Diamond Dog now.
Sweetie Belle cried and whimpered as her mane, much like the rest of her of her fur, darkened in colour. It became shaggier and messier as the grey fur continued creeping up her body, covering her neck and jaw and finally her nose, which turned black and wet like that of a dog. As the grey fur finally finished covering her face, her tongue turned blue as the final changes ended.
Sweetie Belle was a Diamond Dog. Tears streaming down her face, Sweetie Belle let loose a howl that shook the very foundations of Carousel Boutique. If Rarity hadn't been awake from her cries before, she would most certainly be awake now.
"I have to get out of here!" Sweetie Belle growled to herself, her voice scratchy and low. "I can't let Rarity see me like this!"
Sweetie Belle struggled to pull herself to her paws, and was quite happy to find that she could still walk on four legs nearly as easily as she could before. There was still the challenge of the fact that her eye level was higher, and her depth perception was off, but it didn't hinder her movement so much that she could make her way to the door. She was about to use her mouth to grab the door knob, when she realized that she had a set of razor sharp teeth. Growling in anger, she grabbed the uncanny strength of a Diamond Dog, she ripped the door clean off its hinges.
Sweetie Belle whimpered. Everything was getting worse and worse by the second.
And as a light turned on down the hall, Sweetie Bell realized that the worst possible thing had just occurred.
Standing in the hall, bathrobe on and mouth hanging open in fear, was Rarity, her stunning purple mane and tail done up in curlers for the evening.
Rarity's lip began to quiver, and her breathing became quick and sharp. Sweetie Belle had seen this look before, and knew immediately that her older sister was about to scream.
"Rarity! Wait! Please! It's me, Sweetie Belle!" She growled, but her voice came out all wrong.
"What have you done with my sister!?" Rarity screamed, as she began throwing objects at Sweetie Belle with her telekinesis.
Once again, Sweetie Belle's eyes were blinded by tears. No longer did she try to walk on all fours, instead, she hopped onto her hind legs, as stubby and under-developed as they were, and made a break for the stairs, running as fast as she could, all the while dodging Rarity's fabulous projectiles. She wanted to plead with her sister, but part of her knew she would never get the chance. She would be handed over to Princess Twilight or the Mayor to be sent to some prison camp for Diamond Dogs, and she would never see her friends or family again, and she would most definitely never get her cutie mark!
Wait a moment, she thought, do Diamond Dogs even get cutie marks?
Sweetie Belle didn't get a moment to think of an answer. As she made it to the store front of Carousel Boutique, Sweetie Belle risked looking over her shoulder, and what she saw was enough to give her nightmares for the rest of her canine life.
Rarity's eyes were crackling with power, and every object within her reach was floating around her. Sweetie Belle had never seen her sister use such power. It was unheard of!
"If I find out you have harmed my sister in any way," Rarity began, her voice growing louder as her magical power surged, "you will wish that I have not given you the chance to leave."
Sweetie Belle wondered what she meant, when suddenly the front entrance of the store was thrown open, as the doors were ripped off their hinges and thrown against the wall, where they shattered into dozens of pieces of wooden shrapnel.
"Leave," Rarity ordered, "now! AND NEVER COME BACK!"
Sweetie Belle pressed her ears against her head, and ran out the door as fast as her little legs could carry her. A voice at the back of her head was telling her to get underground, as she would be safe there. Without taking a second to think about it, Sweetie Belle dove towards the ground, and began shoveling away the dirt.
"Dig down," she muttered to herself, "dig down to safety."
"Just keep digging."