There was only one face he could remember... his own...
... no... that wasn't his face... that was his curse.
Mark sat on the grass, idly twisting the wrist of his new paws and examining his claws with a look of wonder.
“… we’re alive.” The fully black bear breathed incredulously. For decades before, he knew he had been dead. His spirit had remained in the pizzeria though, his death being caused by a work related accident with a ‘new’ spring-lock suit.
Ever since then, he had only existed as a drifting spirit…
… only a shadow of what he had looked like the moment before he died.
A voice spoke beside the bear, “I know.” Mark glanced down to see a small, black bunny sitting down beside him. He was Mark’s co-worker, Bob.
Bob the bunny frowned as he stared at his own paws, flicking one of his new long ears once in a while to make sure they were actually his, “This is… strange. But how’d we end up like this?”
Mark held the same question, but had no answer with it. But another thought came to mind, “What about the kids?”
Bob blinked for a moment, his bunny whiskers twitching slightly, “I… don’t know.”
Mark glanced about at their surroundings, only finding empty fields of rolling hills, a few trees, and a small pond only a few yards away. “I could say the same about this place. I don’t recognize any place like this.”
“Me neither.” Bob replied.
A small pause rolled through the air as Mark scratched his head with his paw, “Sooo… you think we’re being repaid for a terrible afterlife as spirits in a pizzeria with a bunch of vengeful kids by being turned into the same stupid animals we both died dressed up as and have now been sent to live in the wild like real animals?”
Bob could only stare blankly at the black bear, “You do realize how strange that sounded, right?” Mark shrugged, nodding a bit, before Bob shook his head, “That seems really improbable.”
“What’s improbable?”
Both of the black-furred animals blinked in surprise as they realized that response hadn’t come from either of them, but rather from behind them. They turned around, only to find…
Bob gave a strange look of disbelief, “A… unicorn?”
Before them stood a mint green unicorn, who only stood at half Mark’s height. She had a short, white-teal mane and tail, and wore a completely oblivious smile as she glanced between the two animals.
She gave a small wave with her foreleg, “Hi, I’m Lyra!”
Mark blinked for a second more, before glancing back down at Bob, “So I’m not the only one tripping balls right now, right?”
Bob nodded slowly, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s a unicorn standing there.”
Lyra raised an eyebrow, obviously intrigued, “Yup, I’m a unicorn, but I didn’t think a bear and a bunny would know that. You both must be really smart if you can talk, too, but whatever, I’ve seen stranger.”
Mark stared blankly, “Er… right…”
Bob shared a similar expression, both noting that talking animals seemed to be uncommon to a talking horse and wondering if this… Lyra, was a few nails short of a horseshoe.
Lyra ignored both of their looks, “Anyways, what’s improbable?”
Mark was the first to regain his composure and speak, “Oh, um… nothing.” He gave a small wave with a paw, trying to smile, “I’m Mark, and this is my friend, Bob.”
Smiling wryly, Bob raised a paw to wave, “Hey.”
Lyra simply waved back, “Nice to meet ya guys.”
“Say, Lyra?” Bob asked, his bunny nose twitching slightly, “Can you tell us where we are?”
Lyra nodded, smiling a bit more. This certainly wasn't something she found every day, but the ridiculousness of two talking animals definitely beat the normal chaos that ran through Ponyville. It was actually relaxing, she found, as she told Mark and Bob where in Equestria they were, pointing them in the direction of town. They were cool about thanking her for the directions, but... Lyra noticed a few odd looks pass between the two animals while they talked to her.
Lyra shrugged it off. It wasn't her business. She was just glad to help. "Well, I've got to go," She replied to the duo, "If you ever come into town, try to look me up. I have a friend that'd love to meet you."
Bob blinked back to his senses, "Oh, okay. Catch you later."
"See ya." Mark and Bob waved as their unicorn acquaintance turned around and headed in the direction of Ponyville.
After she was gone, the two of them turned towards each other, panicked looks on their faces.
"Bob?" Mark pleaded, "Please tell me you know of any town in the world called Ponyville."
Bob shared his same look, "Uh uh, nope. There's now way a there's a unicorn who lives in a town full of sentient ponies... at least, not on Earth."
The next inevitable thought passed through their minds, and both bear and bunny fell backwards onto their backs in exasperation.
"F***!"
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Princess Twilight Sparkle hummed a happy little tune as she trotted down the halls of the Ponyville Castle (The castle being called this, as the phrase “Crystal Castle” or anything of the sort became often confused with the Crystal Palace located in the Crystal Empire). At the moment, 11:00 AM was starting to roll by, and with nothing to do, the purple alicorn decided it would be a good time to do a bit of light reading before lunch, and so she turned her course towards the castle’s library.
Of course, a pink party pony and a disregard of physics had been sent to put an end to such plans. Instantly, Pinkie Pie dropped down from the ceiling, landing upright and smack dab in front of Twilight, no more than two inches from her face.
”Twilight!”
“Waagh!” The purple alicorn stumbled back in surprise, “Pinkie! Where’d you-“
“-Come from? The ceiling,” Pinkie Pie replied, finishing and answering Twilight’s question, “No time for chit-chat!” Instantly, Twilight found herself lifted up into the air with a yelp as Pinkie picked her up and held her above her poofy mane, before proceeding to run towards the castle’s front doors bipedal style, “We’ve gotta go!”
Twilight, fidgeting in place as riding on top of Pinkie’s hooves proved to be a very bumpy ride, yelled at her pink friend in a worried way, “What?! Pinkie! Where are we going?!”
“To Fluttershy’s house!” Came Pinkie’s reply, as the duo approached the castle’s front doors, “She found some talking animals, but something seems ‘off’ about them, likethescarykindof’off’,andthenIrealizedyou’dknowwhattodo,soIcameandpickedyouupand-“
“What?” Twilight interrupted her with a curious look on her face, “Talking animals? How…” Shaking her head, she decided not to think too much about it, opting to just see it for herself.
Although, since she was literally being carried across Ponyville by Pinkie Pie, Twilight realized she didn’t know exactly when she’d be back to have lunch with Spike. I better let him know. She mused, conjuring a quill and parchment and quickly jotting down a note for the little dragon. With a flash of her magic, the note was sent, and thus continued Twilight’s trip through Ponyville on the Pinkie Express.
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Meanwhile, Spike worked at the kitchen counter inside the castle, standing on top of a stool in order to prepare lunch with decent ease. Today’s meal was going to be strawberry-saturated oats sandwiches, a new recipe for the young drake.
But while in the middle of preparing, he felt a familiar wrench in his gut.
Spike’s eyes widened and he quickly turned away from the food, just in time before, “B’raap!” Green dragon fire spewed out from his mouth, before the smoke from it formed a piece of parchment.
Curiously, Spike picked up the note, “Hm, let’s see here: “Dear Spike, Pinkie is dragging me through Ponyville right now, so I don’t know when I’ll be back. Feel free to eat lunch without me if I don’t get back in time. Love, Twilight.”
Shrugging, Spike set the note on the kitchen counter, so he’d remember to dispose of the used parchment later. He turned back to his cooking, though quietly mumbling, “Huh, wonder what Twilight’s doing with Pinkie. Seeing some new party supplies, maybe?”
Focusing back to his cooking, Spike stirred some oats in some crushed strawberries, humming the theme of his favorite action heroes, the Power Ponies. But suddenly, as he did, he felt… a cold tingle down his spine, as if someone had prodded him in the back with an icicle. Dropping his wooden spoon by accident, the drake quickly glanced around the kitchen.
But to his uneasiness, he saw the kitchen was empty of anyone except himself. “That was… weird.” He muttered, “That felt like someone was… watching me.”
But seeing as there was nobody in the room, hay, in the whole castle, besides him, Spike simply shrugged off the feeling. “It’s probably just a draft of wind somewhere,” He justified, before turning back to finishing preparations for lunch.
However, what he had failed to notice was the white head watching him from outside the kitchen doorway. It had hid behind the wall when the dragon had stopped to look around. But now that the little drake had his back turned, the figure peeked inside the kitchen again, watching with a pair of black eyes, white irises honing in on the dragon.
”…purple…”
Could this be Him? The figure wondered. He couldn’t be sure… but then again… his body had been changed as well… He could have undergone the same change.
The burning hatred, the result of years anger and bitterness gone unanswered, burned in his chest like fire. He couldn’t miss this chance. Slowly, he wrapped a claw around the corner, moving himself into the room.
Spike only heard the shuffle of claws against the crystal floor, before the black figure overcame him, screaming like a horror from a nightmare.
“AAAAAAAAAAGHWHHH!”
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