//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Five Score Divided by Four - A Mother and Daughter's Paths // by Autum Breeze //------------------------------// Chapter 3 ___________________________________________________________ I stop, looking around the village in fear. Everypony is gone. None of them are left. I am the only one who remains. My only comforting thought is that Discord only got a few of us. Night Glider had gotten most of the villagers away, while the rest of us, the stallions mostly, tried to do our best to avoid the monster while the other mares and foals tried to get away. I have no idea where Night Glider is now, she's probably miles away. “I’ve gotta get to Ponyville,” I say, shaking my head. “If I can get to Princess Twilight, maybe she’ll know what to do.” I also have to see if Derpy and her daughters are alright. A boisterous laugh comes from behind me and I whirl around to see Discord standing over me, grinning. “Oh, I’m afraid Princess Twilight can’t help you now, my little pony,” he leers. “She and her friends were some of the first I sent and now it’s your turn.” I try to run, turn to get away, when I felt a finger suddenly press down on my forehead, right below my horn. I scream in pain as a white mist surrounds me and feel myself seeming to disappear within it. As everything faded away, I hear Discord’s voice. “Five score divided by four, Your memories removed, your body confused! For your insolence you must pay, Cast off to a land far, far away! I've scattered the six, and that's just the start of my tricks, Your mind shall be weak, your outlook bleak! Forgetting everything and living like a fool, You have all lost, now no one can stop my rule!” ___________________________________________________________ I stared at Ashley as she twiddled with the mug of coffee Ashley had made her. We were sitting in her living room, a small area, but comfy, with beanbags around and a TV in the corner that you could even watch from the kitchen if you wanted. While from another pony’s perspective than the one from my own dream, hers had sounded so similar, though she seemed to remember the whole thing, whilst I only had bits and pieces of mine. This Discord, whoever he was, was in my dream too, of that I do remember, and had clearly been doing the same thing to those living in that village before doing so to whomever Ashley had seen from the perspective off. “Sound familiar?” she asks, her voice crooked and deeper than when we’d arrived. She started crying the moment she’d woken up in her room (we’d pulled her pants back up when we’d laid her down, to be polite) and Ashley had spent several minutes trying to comfort her, before she’d finally come out and, after some discussion, told us her dream, right after I told her and Seth mine. Her voice had changed since we’d arrived. It was now more masculine, though it wasn’t until we told her this that she’d noticed herself, oddly enough. I nod, back. This couldn’t be a coincidence. Two people having dreams involving them seeing from someone else’s perspective, involving someone with the same name being the cause of fear and panic? They had to be connected somehow. When asked how she remembered the whole dream when I only had pieces to work with, she told me she'd been having these dreams for a lot longer than after the changes had started. She'd been having them for months and had decided to start writing down everything she could remember whenever she woke up, eventually leading to her having the whole dream. “It’s clearly happening to both of us,” she said, indicating to me. I nod, taking note of my now longer hair swishing as I do so. Whilst we’d waited for Ashley to wake up, Ashley had told me my hair was getting longer and I had some blonde streaks that hadn’t been there before. A quick look in the bathroom mirror had confirmed it, among the mousy-blonde hair I’d had for years now had streaks of pure blonde through it. Not only that, but my eyes had changed colour. Now, instead of the bluish-green eyes I’d been born with, I had golden eyes. Like with the Ashley asleep in her room right now, I knew damn well a human eye should not be able to be that colour naturally. While waiting, we’d also taken note of the many balloon things Ashley had lying around the house for whatever reason, including a balloon remote, coffee maker and phone. It had taken some convincing from Ashley for the girl to trust us, but after I showed her my markings and Ashley confirmed to her that she'd actually seen my eyes change colour, right before her own, she had decided given us the benefit of the doubt. Now, after telling her everything that had happened to me since yesterday, she trusted me enough. Aside from the change Ashley had shown as down below, she also showed that her feet had changed. Now, instead of feet, she had what were clearly hooves, covered in a fur the same colour as her ears. The fur from her hooves reached all the way up her legs and it seemed her pelvis and legs had taken on a more equine look. She’d then gone into her kitchen at one point before telling her dream and fixed things I couldn’t help noticing was stuff you’d feed a horse. A quick glance at Ashley and he’d told me she’d shrugged, suggesting maybe Ashley had been planning on taking up horse riding in her spare time and had bought some food for them to have as treats, like alfalfa pellets. However, the changing Ashley had poured some for herself, causing all of us to raise an eyebrow, which she’d quietly admitted she couldn’t explain, but had started craving something like them, even going so far as to say in a voice she must’ve thought too quiet for us to hear, “Wish we had some hay, too.” Despite all the equine food she was eating, none of us could help noticing she was a lot slimmer than when the three of us had arrived. Her body was curving. She'd always had a bit of a rotund body when she'd first been employed and brought onto the show, but her body had slimmed down alarmingly fast since we'd arrived. It was also clearly harder for her to walk and the thing I’d thought was a horn was a lot bigger and was proving to definitely be a horn. What shocked all of us, though none more so than Ashley herself, was when her horn had lit with a purplish-blue light, the same colour as her new eyes, followed by a glass being shrouded in a similar light and floating into the air as she’d come back. The moment she’d noticed it the glow faded and the glass smash to the floor. When she tried to pick it up, it seemed her fingers were stiff and she confessed it felt harder to use them. Sadly, aside from the ponies, fear of a creature named Discord and fading away into a white mist-like thing whilst hearing Discord saying some kind of rhyme, we couldn’t see anything that connected or explained our dreams and the only other connection was that we'd both recently turned twenty-five. After concluding that we wouldn’t be getting very far today, and after noticing it was 3pm, Kelly and I decided we should had back to her sister’s house. We gave Ashley and Ashley our names and Jenny’s address, telling them if anything else happens to come over as soon as possible. They thank us for taking the time to come over, Ashley thanking me for letting her know this wasn’t just her it was happening to, and we took our leave. When we get back it’s almost 4pm. The kids were still sitting in front of the TV and when I ask what’s on, they tell me it’s the show they told me about the other day, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I turn to the screen, and I my eyes widen in shock. A Pegasus had just flown onto the screen, asking what was she going to do. She was grey, with a blonde mane and tail and mismatched golden eyes. However, it’s the bubbles on her flank that look just like the marks on my thighs that pull my attention. I focus on her, watching carefully. She was a bit of a klutz, but seemed like a sweet character, all the same. Sally, seeing I’m watching, suddenly starts explaining the character, Derpy Hooves is her name, (apparently her official name is Muffins, but none called her that, despite this) to me as we watch, explaining her origins straight from her first episode where she spoke, which she mentions was back in season two. Apparently she’d been born from the fandom. She’d been an animation error, her eyes weren’t meant to be the way they were, but the bronies had created a whole character for her from that one error. Derpy, along with being a bit of a sweet hearted klutz, was a single mother, with two unicorn daughters, one a pink one who already had her Cutie Mark, as I found the marks on their flanks was called, the other being a filly that looked sort of like Derpy, with a grey coat with a slightly purple tinge to it, though sharing her mother’s mane, tail and eye colour, who didn’t have a Cutie Mark yet. It was as she explained this, while I still stood, my eyes fixed on the screen despite Derpy having left it already and several episodes having gone by, then Jenny asked something I didn’t expect. “Uncle Ben, why’re you standing like that?” I’m snapped out of my stupor by the odd question and look down, only to frown. She had a right to ask. For some reason I’ve lifted my heels off the floor. I force myself to put them back down, but for some odd reason my brain tells me that’s wrong, despite it being how I’d always stood. It’s clear I can’t stop it, however, for as soon as I stopped focusing on it, my heels went right back up. Sally blinks, then cheers. “Uncle Ben, your hairs even longer and it’s almost all blonde!” I frown, lifting my hands to my head and feeling down it. She’s right. My hair has grown longer, much longer. It’s near my shoulders now and I can feel it’s grown on my neck too, almost like a mane. “Oh,” Mark said, sounding unenthused as he looks at the screen. “It’s the finale.” Jenny’s happy demeanor drops as her shoulder sag. “Yeah. But I guess we should watch it.” I raise an eyebrow. This two had talked this show up so much. Why were they so not looking forward to the finale? Then again, who doesn’t no look forward to when a show they enjoy reaches its end? Since dinner won’t be for a few more minutes, I decide to watch the finale with them, maybe see just why they like the show so much. However, my gut turned in my stomach shortly after the season finale starts. Discord, who’d been reformed back in season three and then more so in the season four finale (Sally and Mark briefly explained), suddenly turned around, revealing himself as having fooled them all and banishes all the ponies using some white mist. While the analytical part of my brain is trying to tell me, from the point of a regular viewer, it did suck for a finale, there was no reasonable explanation as to why Discord stopped being good and turned his back on everyone he cared about and banished everyone away, it really tried, I was holding myself because the white mist reminded me of my dream and what Ashley had told me of hers, causing shivers down my spine. The similarities were too eerie. “Was it really that scary?” I jump at the voice, turning around to see Kelly and Jenny giving me odd looks. I get up, shaking my head. “Not the show itself, no. The similarities it had with mine and Ashley’s dreams, however, hell yeah.” Both their expressions change as they glance at each other. “We’ll talk after dinner,” Kelly says, Jenny ushering her kids into the kitchen. I nod as I follow her, trying to ignore the weirdness of walking on the front of my feet, despite my brain telling me, for whatever reason, that it was normal. ___________________________________________________________ “So, you’re saying you think there’s a connection between a kids’ show and what’s happening to you and Ashley?” Jenny asked, the skepticism clear in her voice. I nod, my expression firm. “After seeing what state Ashley was in and comparing our dreams and their similarities, along with what happened in the season five finale, I’m thinking there’s some kind of connection.” “He has a point, Jenny,” Kelly backs me up. “We saw Ashley. After comparing everything, and how Ben is now, it’s hard not to notice the similarities.” I swish my tail and flick my ears for emphasis. Around eight I’d felt something pocking hard inside my trousers. Standing up and glancing back it had looked like I had a huge case of hemorrhoids. Upon pulling my pants back a bit, however, a long blonde tail had fallen out, the same colour my hair had now completely become. Along with my tail my ears had changed to the same as Ashley’s, only the fur on mine were a light grey as opposed to very light-blue, almost teal. It was odd, feeling bare skin where my human ears used to be. I look down at the table, my expression grim. “If I hadn’t even seen that season finale, I never would’ve connected them, but the way it ends is very similar to what both of us felt and experienced in our dreams. And neither Ashley, as far as I know, or I, had even heard of Friendship is Magic before those dreams started.” “I... well...” Jenny looked away, scratching her neck. She was clearly trying to think of an argument against what I’d said. I lean back, running my hair through my mane. What else am I gonna call it? It’s more than just hair now, so mane will have to do. I was so tired. Kelly had looked up the Cutie Mark Ashley had and it turned out it was from, as was sort of expected with what she’d shown us, a stallion. He was a unicorn by the name of Party Favor. He’d only appeared in the first two episodes of season five, and only in the last few minutes of the second half of the second episode had he gotten his Cutie Mark and revealed his special talent was in making anything out of balloons, demonstrating it in the show by first making a pair of binoculars and then a whole bridge. Upon learning this, I’d remembered all the balloon things we’d seen at Ashley’s place when we’d been looking around. Seemed she’d tried a hand at Party’s special talent. “So, are you worried?” I glanced at Jenny, eyebrow raised. “About what?” She sighed. “Think about it. Ashley was a woman and Party Favor was a stallion. After getting his Cutie Mark, she got his equipment.” I cock my eyebrow a bit higher, not getting her meaning. She sighs again. “Well, if Ashley was a woman, then, after getting Party Favor’s Cutie Mark, got a man’s works down there, what about you?” I still don’t follow. She rolls her eyes. “You’re a dude and you have Derpy Hooves Cutie Mark and she’s a mare, as in female. If Ashley went from a girl to a guy because the Cutie Mark she got came from a stallion and you’re a guy who got the Cutie Mark of a mare, what do you think that means for you?” I blink as I go over what she’s just said— before my face whitens as my hands fly down to my crotch and I squeeze my legs together. She nods. “Yeah. And, since Ashley started her transformation a day before you, this being her third day since it started, and you’re third day is gonna be tomorrow...” “It’ll be gone by tomorrow,” I say quietly. I’m not exactly panicked by the idea, when I was a little boy, I’d always wanted to be a girl, but had grown out of the idea as I grew up. Still, the idea that something I’d had since I was a child was going to vanish made me uneasy. It would any guy... aside from a transgender, I guess. I sigh, pulling my hands back and getting up. “I’m going to bed.”