A rain drop was the first thing Izumi felt when she woke up. It was amazing to feel such a simple thing. She opened her eyes and saw the potion sitting right in front of her. The cup that went with it was missing though. She struggled to her hooves and looked around. She was in one of Tokyo’s many alleys. On either end of the alley, the dark corridor gave way to a sea of lights and people. There was also something in the air, like a heavy buzzing. It annoyed Izumi a little.
Izumi couldn’t wait to see the city. But she remembered she also had a duty to her goddess. She had to tell everypony else that the end was coming, that their salvation was only a drink away.
Darn, how am I going to move mother though? Izumi looked around but saw nopony or no one. “Mother?” she called out. Silence responded. “Oh no, mother?” Izumi cried out louder this time. Still no response. “Oh no! Mother! She must be back at the hospital! I...I have to get her!” She poured all her effort into teleporting back to the hospital, but her horn wouldn’t listen. “C’mon! Work damn it!” Her horn was unresponsive.
“No... mother...” Izumi started to cry. She’d left her mother in that horrible place, surrounded by the horrible people. Who knows what they’d do to her! “I...I’ll walk back then.” But I don’t know the streets. “I’ll ask somepony, then I can go to the hospital and save mother.”
Having made up her mind, Izumi got ready to walk toward the streets. She called for the potion to follow her, but it was unresponsive. “Come on! Move!” She focused all her attention on the potion trying to make it move, but it only shifted to the left slightly. Why isn’t it working? Shouldn’t I be able to do all sorts of pony magic now? Then it hit her: pony magic. Darn it, of course a human wouldn’t know how to use unicorn magic. She’d seen Twilight Sparkle and Rarity use magic all the time on the show. But seeing magic was completely different from using it. Ok, you were able to move stuff in the hospital, just remember the feeling.
Izumi focused and tried to remember the slight shock she felt in her horn when she’d used it at the hospital. For a second, she grasped the sensation, but then a trash can behind her fell down. “Eep!” She jumped up in fright. She just barely saw the trashcan lose an electric blue aura. “Shoot! I wanted to move the potion not the trash can!” Then Izumi remembered Celestia’s words to guard the potion at any cost. “I shouldn’t risk spilling it.” Izumi now grabbed the potion with her mouth. Her teeth seemed to grip things better now.
That didn’t help much with walking though. She nearly dropped the potion when she stumbled after taking her first few steps. She then set the potion down again and began trying to learn the basics of walking. “Hmm, ok, so I have four legs now not two.” She wiggled her front left hoof, her front right hoof, her back right hoof, and then her back left hoof. “Woah, that’s new.” Her hindlegs felt the most like human legs, but her forelegs were strange. She tested out how much she could move them and found they were much more flexible than her hindlegs. Her forelegs seemed to have a few different muscles than her hind legs as well. The overall feeling was that her forelegs were sort of a fusion of an arm and a leg.
Fifteen minutes later and Izumi could walk pretty stably, with a stumble here and there. The alley was too short to try galloping. “Ok, let’s try this again.” She grabbed the potion in her mouth and walked into the street. But the buzzing feeling in the air grew as she trotted closer to the lights, now it was like a pounding in Izumi’s head. Ugh! That is so annoying what...
“Oh wow!” A voice called out, “That’s an amazing cosplay!” It was a girl dressed up in an anime costume. “Wait,” she turned to her two friends who were also dressed up, “is this a mascot or a cosplay?”
“It’s too well-crafted to be a cosplay,” a friend responded.
“Yeah, maybe it’s some new ploy by a company,” said another friend.
Izumi set down the bottle and smiled. I'm actually talking with real people. Thank you Celestia, thank you so much! “I’m not a ploy or a cosplay, I’m a pony! Nice to meet you.” She held out a hoof for the cosplayers to shake.
“Wow, whoever designed this really went all out.”
“Yeah, can’t wait to see what show this is for.”
“Wonder if we can buy our own, this mascot is pretty cute.”
Why? Why don’t they believe me? Hmm, maybe if I... “If you want, you can get a pony right now. All you have to do is try this drink.
“Sweet! An awesome new toy and free sake?”
“Rika, won’t your mom get mad if you drink?”
Rika turned to her two other friends, “Who cares? We’re in Akihabara, a child’s land. Our parents have no sway here.”
“Well, I did want to break in the new glasses we bought.”
“That’s the spirit Kasumi! Now lets have a drink!” As Rika talked to Kasumi and her other friend, Kasumi pulled out three glasses that are adorned with anime characters.
Heh, Madoka Magica glasses, kinda fitting. Izumi measured out the glasses evenly and then put the now empty sake jug down. She’d done her duty to her princess.
“Hey this ain’t sake.” Rika looked at the shimmering purple drink.
“It’s probably some stuff the mascot’s company is selling,” the third girl replied.
“Eh whatever, I still want one! Kampai!” They clinked their glasses together and drank.
“Ugh, no wonder they have such a cute mascot, that drink is te-” Rika fell to the ground.
“Rika? You o-” Kasumi followed.
“Guys? What the he-” the third girl was the last to fall down.
Princess, I did it! Oh, Celestia will be so happy when she sees how fast I worked. Izumi’s celebrating was broken by a scream. Someone had seen the girls turning into ponies. The scream was joined by another and another. Soon Akihabara was ablaze with panic. The screaming didn't help the pounding in Izumi’s head. Stop it, why are you all screaming? Ponies are great, can’t they see that? Izumi wasn’t appalled at all by the transformation the girls are undergoing. Their now-white doughy skin rippled and shifted, their bones crunched and changed shape, their skulls swelled: their humanity was slowly slipping away.
Then something hit Izumi in the back of the head. It was a policeman, brandishing his night stick. But he was shaking, he looked like he was about to throw up. “Y-you are disturbing the p-peace, I ask that you s-stop immediately.”
Izumi shook off the blow and stood up again. Stupid human! Maybe if I explain it to him he’ll calm down. “Mr. Policeman, I’m here on a mission t-” the stick struck her again.
“S-s-stay back and leave those girls alone!”
“It’s too late you fool! Don’t you know I’m trying to save you all!” Izumi yelled back. The policeman prepared to strike her again. The pounding in her head was getting even worse. “Stop it!” The policeman’s stick stopped midair, held in place by an electric blue aura. But my now, more people were looking, some had their phones out and were recording the scene. “All of you!” Izumi yelled out to the crowd. “Stop it!!!” There was a bright flash and then...
The buzzing has stopped. It was dark now. Akihabara, Tokyo’s electric town, has been plunged into darkness. Izumi looked around; the people were fumbling around, trying to find a light source. They tried to use their phones as lights, but they were also sapped of energy. Izumi was still able to see though, it was a little darker, but the she could easily make out shapes. She could also see that other parts of the city were still illuminated by neon. What did I do?
Off in the distance, there was a part of the rain storm that was a bit more violent. Lightning crashed down on some far-off plane. But the lightning strike was enough to illuminate Akihabara for a flash of a second. To Izumi, the people’s faces looked contorted and monstrous in the storm. I need to leave!
She ran. She galloped through the darkened streets, away from all the people. It’s not fair! I only wanted to help! She began to cry as she ran, instincts helped her keep her balance. Then she remembered the girls. What have I done? They’ll be just as cruel to them as they were to me. Forgive me!
She moved out from the darkness and back into the light. The pounding returned again. Stupid electricity it’s so noisy! As she thought this, some bulbs from nearby stores popped. People were now staring at her again. Go out! All of the lights! Go out! The lights stayed on this time.
“What the hell is that?” someone called out.
Izumi was now in a mad dash. She didn’t know which direction was out of the city, but she had to get out. Block after block passed by, she barely avoided getting hit by some cars. The people just continued to look at her as she ran past them. Then she saw it: a freeway, the quickest way out the city. Izumi ran for it.
~~~
She didn’t know how long she galloped for. The city eventually gave way to suburbs and then the suburbs gave way to rice fields. Then her right forleg cramped. “Oww!” She fell down by the side of the freeway. Her hoof, instead of being electric blue, now looked a little purple and slightly swollen. “Darn it! I need to rest, gotta find some water.” She got back up and tried to put as little pressure on the hoof as possible. But by now, all her legs were aching. She hobbled over to the closest rice paddy and pludged her hoof into the muddy water. It stung, but at least it was cool.
“Who’s out there?” Someone with a flashlight was prowling the fields. Izumi ducked down and tried to hide as much as she could. “I don’t want any trouble!”
Izumi tried to crawl back to the free way, but she accidentally put pressure on her hoof as she tried to crawl. “Arg!” she cried out in pain. Then the flashlight was on her.
“My god!”
“Please mister! I wasn’t doing anything wrong, my hoof just hurt an-” Izumi stopped. The old farmer was bowing to her.
“In this day and age, I never thought I’d see a spirit, will you please bless my crops?” he said as he bowed before Izumi.
“I... I’m not a spirit.”
“Ah, you spirits are always tricky that way, trying to fool us common humans.” The old farmer had a wry voice. “I’ll cut you a deal spirit, you bless my crops and I’ll give you a grand offering.”
He thinks I’m a nature spirit. Shinto must be a big part of farm life. Ok, Izumi, he’s offering you anything. You just need to show him something. Izumi then spotted a nearby rock. It looked pretty smooth and circular. Bingo. She poured all her thoughts into moving the rock. Now that she was out of the city, without the feeling of electricity pounding in her head, magic came much easier.
After about a minute of hard concentration, she got the shocking feeling in her horn again. Then a blue aura began to surround the rock. Izumi was beginning to sweat from the exertion of moving the rock. But she was able to get it an inch off the ground and then moved it directly in front of the rice paddy. “*Huff-huff* done.”
“Oh thank you spirit, how can I ever repay you?” The old farmer was absolutely ecstatic.
“A futon would be nice,” Izumi said. Then she was out like all the lights she’d broken in Tokyo.
End Part 2