//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Outburst // Story: Five Score: A New Hive // by bossfight1 //------------------------------// Chapter 6: Outburst “Um…” I said, continuing my streak of intelligent responses. “If you don’t change me back, I swear to god, I will…” Trixie suddenly stumbled, her arms(?) spinning forward to find balance. Managing to stand straight again, Trixie continued to glare at me without missing a beat. “Okay, listen…” I said. “I can’t change you back…” I probably should have mentioned that we were in the same boat first; Trixie’s face contorted into one of blind fury. “You WITCH!!” She charged forward, waddling like she was knee-deep in muck. Raising an eyebrow I casually stepped to the side and, feeling like making a dick-move, held a hind leg out to trip my assailant. Trixie fell spectacularly to the floor with a loud crash, but she quickly rolled onto her back and swung a leg at me. The leg connected with my left foreleg, causing me to yell in pain and stumble back. “Jesus, lady, I didn’t do--” I began, but Trixie’s rage only intensified. She stood up and tackled me, sending us both crashing to the floor. She pressed her hoof to my throat, choking me with a wild look in her eyes. With no option left I lit up my horn. A green aura surrounded Trixie and lifted her off of me, allowing me to scurry back and get back on my hooves. “Calm down!!” I yelled. Trixie madly flailed in my magic. “Change me back, right now!!” “I can’t change you back because I didn’t do this to you!!” I yelled. Trixie’s flailing ceased. “I turned into Chrysalis two days ago. I don’t know why you’re still changing, but whatever’s happening to us isn’t completely different. We’re both turning into ponies, okay? And, as far as I can see, we have no way to change into humans. Attacking me won’t do us any favors.” Trixie stared at me in utter shock; it was clear she would have preferred me being the cause of all this. Then she could have, at the very least, been close to becoming human again. “B-But you… You have to have done this…” She said, her voice quivering. “You were gonna change me back! You were gonna make me normal again… You were…” She stopped and looked at her hooves. The pain in her eyes was clear; she was stuck like this. Carefully I lowered her to the floor, though she didn’t appear to notice. “...I’m sorry…” I said. Trixie looked up at me, her eyes full of tears. Silently, she curled into a ball and her shoulders heaved with quiet sobs. I gazed at her sadly for a moment before picking her back up in my magic and carefully carrying her into the guest room. I laid her on the bed where she continued to weep. I left the room, slowly closing the door behind me and heading into the living room. I sat on the couch, laying my head on the throw pillow. Somehow I preferred being alone; now I had to comfort a girl (or former boy) who was dealing with the fact that their body may have made an irreversible transformation. I began to realize just how lucky I was, being a changeling. At least I had the perk of choosing whatever form I wanted; they probably had to stay indoors for the past couple days. When I got a chance, I’d have to ask them what it must have been like for them. The night’s events seemed to catch up with me. I fell asleep before I realized just how exhausted I was.                 -                -                -                -                - I sat next to Liz on the park bench, my arm around her shoulder. I drank in her warm, content smile and felt her long brown hair in my fingers. A wide, permanent smile lined my face. “I’m ludicrously lucky, you know that?” I asked her. “So you’ve said…” Liz said, rolling her eyes but smiling nonetheless. “I’m serious,” I attested. “I’ve never been happy like this.” Liz opened her mouth to respond, but her eyes trailed up to my forehead and she frowned. I frowned as well, raising a hand and feeling my brow. A small lump was right in the center of my forehead, growing longer and longer. My breathing became heavy as I tried to press the growth, trying to keep it from growing any more, to no avail. I felt something drop down the sides of my head. Hair- long, sickly green hair. I fell off the bench. Liz was yelling something but I couldn’t hear her. My hands and feet were enveloped in green flame and replaced with ebon hooves. My body twisted and distorted until, within seconds of having started, it resembled that of a horse. “Chris?” I turned to look at Liz, who looked terrified, and with good reason. The sounds of tires squealing against pavement made us look to the road. A large black van had parked on the curb. Several men in hazmat suits climbed out of the car, armed with nets, cattle prods and other means of restraint. They tentatively surrounded me, meaning to take me away, to experiment on me, or god knows what. “Get back!” I snapped, dropping into a defensive stance. One of the goons, startled, jabbed me with the prod. The pain was small, but noticeable. I turned my head to scowl at him. My vision turned green, and my horn glowed. The windows in the surrounding buildings all shattered. Out of each of them flew hundreds of changelings- my children. They descended upon the agents, smothering their terrified screams and obscuring them from sight. The swarm carried the poor saps into the air, encasing them in the preserving nectar. I smiled. “Such is the fate of those who challenge my rule.” I turned to see Liz, having fallen on the ground and scurrying away from me. I slowly approached her and carefully extended a hoof towards her. She flinched away with a whimper, tears streaming from her eyes. I looked at her with a mix of sadness and confusion. Then I narrowed my eyes. “You will feed your queen.” My vision flashed green and I heard myself snarl. Liz screamed.                 -                -                -                -                - With an incoherent babble I woke, rolling off the couch. I fell to the floor with a painful crash, landing painfully on my left wing. Judging by the sunlight shining through the window I guessed it was morning or early afternoon. Shaking my head I stood up, getting my breathing under control. My thoughts remained stubbornly on the dream. What’s happening to me? A bump from the guest room drew me out of my trance. I climbed off the couch, hurried down the hall and swung the guest room door open. Trixie had fallen off the bed and was sprawled on the floor, moving her legs in a desperate attempt to get back on her hooves. What little signs of humanity I’d seen in her hours ago was gone; the “ponyfication” was complete. Standing like a biped was completely off the table for her now. She actually looked kinda cute wearing the hoodie and jeans, though she had somehow managed to get her wool cap off and tossed it on the floor. Trixie looked up at me with a hint of embarrassment. Rolling my eyes I trotted into the room and helped her up. Trixie had some trouble finding her center of balance, but she got the hang of pony-standing. “Okay, so long as I don’t move from this spot, I shouldn’t fall over again…” Trixie said, bitterly. “Just imagine you’re crawling on all fours,” I suggested. “It’ll come to you. Let’s go sit in the living room and we can chat, all right?” Trixie nodded and I led her out of the guest room. My little ‘on all fours’ strategy seemed to do the trick, as she, however clumsily, managed to get down the hall and into the living room without tripping again. She collapsed into the chair and ‘Lyra-sat’ while I sat in the couch opposite her. “So…” she said. “So.” I said in reply. “You didn’t cause this?” She asked, cocking an eyebrow. “Pretty sure I didn’t, yeah,” I said. “My name’s Chris Barton.” “Ray Bassett,” Trixie said. I bit my lip. “...Don’t suppose ‘Ray’ was short for, I dunno, ‘Rachel’?” The Trixie lookalike glared at me. “No.” “Didn’t think so.” That explained why she-- he, whatever, got so pissed when I called him ‘lady’ hours ago. “Well, we’re in the same boat; both dudes who turned into ponies of the opposite gender.” “Ponies?” Ray asked. I stared at him. “...Yeah. Ponies.” Ray stared at me skeptically. It actually took me a good thirty awkward seconds to figure out why. “...non-brony?” I asked. “Non-what?” Oh, fuck me. I put my head in my hooves; I always hated explaining the fandom to someone I didn’t think would at least give it a try. I leaned back and took a breath. “Okay. So, back in 2010, the My Little Pony franchise got a new TV series, helmed by renowned cartoonist Lauren Faust. Basically, her intent was to make a show that, if a father, older brother, etcetera got stuck watching the show with a member of the intended little girl demographic, they wouldn’t be ripping their hair out in bloody clumps. Well, she overshot that ambition and the show got a fanbase, in the millions, of dudes of all ages, called ‘bronies’, who enjoyed the story, writing, animation, characters, songs… you get the idea. The show was amazing.” I took a breath. “And we have, somehow, turned into characters from the show. You’re Trixie Lulamoon, a unicorn with a deal of talent in magic, and fan favorite.” The look on Ray’s face wasn’t exactly one of exuberance. I smiled nervously. “Congrats?” I said with a shrug. “So what about you?” Ray asked after a long period of silence. “What about me?” “When I got here last night you seemed to be fully ‘committed’ to this… pony thing, but I was still in my last stages,” Ray said. I rested my chin on my hoof in thought, then looked at the hoof. Tilting my head, I changed it to look like my human hand. “Well, I’m not sure, but maybe what’s happening to us happened to me faster since I was turning into a changeling.” “A what?” “Oh, right. A changeling is a creature that can transform into anything it wishes, and feeds off of love. They usually disguise themselves as somepony else…” I ignored, yet understood, Ray’s exasperated “ugh” and continued. “...and feed off of the affection of their loved ones. Like disguising themselves as a bride at her wedding and feeding off of the groom’s love… which is how they were introduced. So whatever’s happening to us, happened to me faster since transformation isn’t so laborious for a changeling.” “Right…” Ray said, leaning back in the chair. “So you’re no closer to finding out how to fix this than I am.” I looked at Ray sadly. “Yeah… I’m sorry.” Ray let out a soft laugh. “I kinda figured you were the source ‘cause I saw you at the park last night… You sped around the park across the street from my apartment and pissed off the cops to no end…” He laughed. “Then I saw you change into… that and fly off into the night. I figured, if you could change forms, you could probably change the forms of others, and you had done it to me for whatever reasons.” “How’d you find me?” I asked. “I can’t imagine you being able to follow me discretely, even in the dead of night.” “Wasn’t so hard,” Ray said with a smirk. “I just looked out to where you flew and headed out that way. By the time I got here I saw you change back from a cat in your backyard, carrying something round inside.” I mentally slapped myself; I needed to be more careful with my changes of ‘ensemble’. “And here I am.” “Okay…” I said. “And you’re sure no one saw you? ...At least, no one who would bother to investigate?” “Please,” Ray scoffed. “If I want to stay hidden, I stay hidden. Plain and simple.” “Right,” I said, rolling my eyes. “So, it’s great that we found each other, you know, problem shared and all, but what do we do now?” “Well, you can change forms, right?” Ray asked, as though the solution was obvious. “Just change us both into humans and we’ll be all set!” I shook my head. “Not that simple. I can only change my form, and even then it drains the love I’ve fed off of. That’s why you saw me as a cat in my yard- I was feeding off of my bitch old lady neighbor’s love for her cat. So while I can look human, you pretty much got the short end of the stick here.” A frown spread across Ray’s face- or, muzzle- as I explained the flaw in his plan. “So what you’re telling me…” He said, his voice wavering. “Is that I’m stuck like this while you get to keep some semblance of a normal life?” I nodded solemnly. Ray gaped at me for a few moments before jumping off the chair. “I’m out of here.” He made for the screen door. “Whoa, NUH-UH!” I yelled, jumping off the couch and standing in front of him. “You can’t leave here like this, especially not in broad daylight!” “Get out of the way!” Ray snapped, annoyed. “Give me a reason to,” I said darkly. “Get outta my way…” Trixie growled. “Or I’m gonna… I’m gonna…” “What?” I asked, taking a step forward. “What are you gonna do to me? Better yet, what are you gonna do if I let you pass? Walk home? Wave ‘hi’ to everyone you see? You won’t make it five blocks before a cop pulls over to ask why an azure unicorn is strutting down the sidewalk.” “I’ll take my chances,” Ray set, lifting his nose into the air; I didn’t know him personally, but I got the vibe this wasn’t entirely Ray talking. “If you can’t help me, I have no reason to stay here. Good luck, change-thing…” A foreign, yet disturbingly familiar anger filled me. “It’s changeling…” I said, my vision flashing green. “And I said you’re not leaving this house.” I lifted the unicorn into the air with my magic. “Put me down!!” Ray yelled, flailing his little pony legs madly as I carried him towards the door to the basement. I opened the door and brought him downstairs into the dark cellar that made Gollum’s cave look cozy. I flicked the light on and placed the flailing Ray in the far corner before hurrying up the stairs and slamming the door shut behind me. As I heard clumsy hoof-falls climbing the stairs I grabbed a chair from the kitchen and propped it beneath the basement door’s handle, since I couldn’t lock it. Ray banged on the door; I worried he’d be able to break it down with his new hooves. “Let me out of here!!” Ray screamed through the door. “I will, once you calm down,” I called. “Trust me, I’m doing you a favor.” “When I get out of here, you’re gonna regret making a fool of the Great and Powerful TRIXIE!!!” The banging stopped. My jaw dropped; I was fairly certain Ray’s did the same. Slowly I removed the chair from the door, stepped back and opened it. Ray was standing stock-still, his face a perfect imitation of the Surprised Patrick meme. After a few moments he slowly glanced up at me. “What did I just say?”