//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Physical Education // Story: Lost Marbles // by Beta Breakout //------------------------------// I told her everything from beginning to end as best I could. From Marble's dad saying goodbye for the last time to her death. Most of this was the same in her dream, but with subtle differences due to alternate thinking processes. It ended the same way though; with Discord winning. Also, for some reason, we both realized that we shouldn't have been so scared about it. I mean, we were watching as those characters, but we don't even know them. Although, we do seem to be looking more like them. By the end of our talk, my hair had grown about four inches. That talk was, like, a half hour! Now I'm getting concerned about this change. Could it be that these tattoos could be in control of this? "So do you think our hair changing has anything to do with our random tattoos?" I asked. "Well, I think from what you said, your tattoo was of three marbles, right?" I nodded. "Well, Marble in the dream had the same ones in her thigh area. She also had long grey hair, so it's a likely guess." She just acted like it was a normal thing for us to have random tattoos and our hair changing color and lengths. "How are you so calm about this whole thing?" She thought for a second. "Well, it doesn't affect me in a way that could hurt me, so I'm pretty much fine with it. I can still manage Olive Garden with purple hair. One person even has a pastel rainbow hairstyle!" She had a good point. It hasn't hurt us yet, so why be scared about it? "Huh, fair point." But then again, I don't know how to feel with long hair. It's just... Weird. I can't say it's hurt me yet, but it's certainly difficult to deal with. Also, emphasis on yet. I let that thought slide and decided to try to make progress on trying to figure out what's going on. "Hey, try to look up anything you can about Marble since you know what she looks like better than me. I'll try to find stuff about Limestone." I figure this might be something we can find out more about through the internet. "Who gave you the right to control me?" she teased. "Alright, I'll take a look." She got on her phone while I got on my laptop. Something about what she said seemed a little weird though, I just couldn't put my finger on it. I ran a search along the lines of 'purple horse named Limestone' in images and found her immediately, leading me to a wikia site for My Little Pony. I smacked my lips. "Huh." It also came up with Marble. Turns out they're sisters, also related to one of the main characters. Well, I didn't see a bright pink pony in my dream, so I don't think I have to worry about her for now. I slipped back to the living room with my new information and saw Maddy still looking. "So," I started. "are you fond of a show about multi-colored magical horses called My Little Pony?" She stopped to stare at me as if I said two plus two was seven. "No, why would I..." She let that sink in for a second. "... Ah. That would make sense why we were horses, huh?" "Mm hm. So apparently you share a bunch of the same traits as this character. Wanna take a look?" Maddy stood up and started walking. "Sure. Let's try to find Marble too." "Done; they're on the same page due to them being sisters, I guess." "Well that makes things easier." We walked in my room and started looking through the page. "'Aggressive and obsessive over a rock? I don't know if I even had a pet rock when I was younger." "I don't know, but you are obsessive over that broken, untuneable guitar. You wouldn't even let me touch it." "Shut up, I wouldn't let you touch it because it's mine." She scrolled down a bit and pointed. "Apparently you're shy and only say 'mm hm' while others have to talk for you, like when we go to any family gatherings." I have to say, that is true; I tend to have others talk for me when we're around a lot of people. I shut the laptop. "Okay, fine. Well, now that we know where they're from, I guess we still have no lead on what's happening to us. How fun." "Well, we do know one person that likes the show and would probably be willing to prank us with... Whatever is happening." True. Our friend David had always been a fan of the show and if he wasn't the one who did this to us, we could probably get a better lead. "Alright, let's go find him. Maybe he can get us some more information on our characters from a fan's position. How should we pull off..." I gestured to our heads. "... this?" "Simple" she said. "Just put on a hoodie. It's still kinda chilly out here." "Well that'll work for walking past others, but we're going to a person who knows ponies a little too well, to say the least. If he wasn't the one who did this, he might think we did this to ourselves. If he sees my hair's grown, he'll want to get a closer look. By then, he'd probably know that this is show based and think we know it inside-out." "We've gotta take risks if we wanna get anywhere with this." I hated it, but it's true. We need to find out how this happened 'cause I don't think hair lengths fluctuating and getting new iris colors is normal. Wait a sec. What. Wait. What? "Hey, sis?" I asked. "Before we go, let's take a look in the mirror. You might wanna see something." With that, her eyes went a little wider. She looked herself over, just to check, then ran to the bathroom with me following. I wanna check if anything else's changed for me. We got to the bathroom and checked the mirror for any other changes. My eyes were still their normal dark brown, but Maddy's were a bright yellow-green--opposed to her normally blue eyes. My hair had grown past my chest area while hers had grown shorter to her chest area instead. She smacked her lips. "I don't think I put contacts on in the last five minutes. And is this shade of green even humanly possible?" I took another look at her eyes and finally concluded: her eyes have changed to green in the last five minutes. "Well apparently it's possible if it happened to you." I said matter-of-factly. "I mean, it did just happen, didn't it?" She got frustrated as she picked at her eye for the tenth time. "You've always gotta be the rocket scientist, huh Marble?" I was gonna comment on how she just called me Marble, but this time it might be just teasing. I'll let it slide for now. I looked in the mirror again and saw something, once again, was definitely off. Now I had different eyes. "Holy crap, it just happened to me too." She looked at my irides to see them at a light purple hue and just got even more upset. "Why." was all that came out of her mouth. She headed out into the hall to get a hoodie. "We've gotta go. Like, now." She was obviously angry now and there wasn't anything I could do to help her other than to get myself a jacket and get to the car. "M'kay." I pulled up my hoodie and keys and headed out the door while Maddy was heading down the steps already. I shut the door and got to the car. "So where exactly does David live?" "We'll know soon enough. I just texted him." I was a little scared at what she said to him with this anger, but I didn't really care for the time being. Her phone buzzed as she said "Got it. I'll get the directions." "Cool beans." Soon enough, we'll find out what's up with these changes. We stood outside the driveway to David's house, which just happened to be a few miles away. His house was pretty small and had some damage done to it. He probably got it because of how cheap it was. We headed to the door and knocked. It was around 7:00, so he'd probably have food, which sounded amazing right now. The door opened to a slightly chubby man in his mid twenties with a stubble and a beer. "Hey dudes, happy birthday! Come on in!" He let us into his abode as he went to the fridge to get us some drinks. As we looked around, we could see this place hadn't been cleaned out in a few weeks: it was smelly, there was dust all over and his floor had a few stains. It didn't help that his walls were a kind of puke green. The only clean thing in this house was his GameCube. It's been a while since I'd seen one of those. David came back to the living room and handed us some beers. "So, what's going on guys?" "Not too much." I said before my sister could start interrogating him. "We've just been hanging out at home watching some videos and-" "Whoa, those are some cool contacts bro!" He looked in amazement at my eyes and moved to Maddy's. "You too sister!" Her face hadn't moved a muscle at that sentence. "Oh yeah, thanks. We just got them today." she said. "I think I know the guy that did it too." He chuckled. "Well duh, you got them from him." He took a big gulp from his bottle. "So, what's up you hoodlums?" He gestured at our hoods. Heh, nice puns as always, David. "Oh nothing. Just a bad hair day, you know?" she said as sarcastically as she could. "Ah, yeah. I totes get that." he said, still completely oblivious. "Dudes, you can take 'em off here. I don't care if you came from a robbery; I trust you guys." "Trust us enough to guess that we'd be fine with a prank?" She was getting a little too close to revealing our secret. "Haha, totally Mad Dog!" "First off, don't call me that. Second, I'm not okay with it." She threw back her hood and grabbed mine off. Friggin' dang it Lime. We were- wait. Dang it brain. Calling her Lime? Really? "Whoa." he commented. "Your hair is crazy mad dudes." "Does it seem familiar pal?" I put my hood back on as she ripped it back down. Okay then, I'll keep it down. "Umm..." he thought. He took another sip from his beer. "Well, I dunno man. I didn't do it. But it does look familiar..." He pondered for a bit before snapping his fingers. "I still have no clue bros!" Maddy groaned as I told him the story of what's been happening. "I'll tell you now, I swear we aren't high." He laughed at that a bit harder than he probably should have. "So earlier today, we found tattoos on our thighs: mine being three marbles while her's is a lime above rocks. After finding those, our hair started changing. Then our eyes changed colors. We came to you because we know that you have basic knowledge over these characters we found." I showed him an image of Marble and Limestone. "You're turning into ponies?" he laughed. "Where do I sign up?" "That isn't what we're here for David. Mostly because we didn't sign up for this. We're here to find out more about them." He got up, heading to his TV. "Well, you came to the right place dudes!" He got a disc out and put it in his DVD player. "Welcome to my world!" The main title to the DVD popped up and I didn't know how to feel. "Man, I haven't watched this since, like, three weeks ago!" he chuckled. Maddy just flopped onto the couch, groaning once again. "We just wanna know who they are, not watch a cartoon." "Well these dudes will explain it better than I can, okay?" He started an episode called Hearthbreakers. Then we just watched. -=8=- "So, that's them! How'd you like the pony world dudes?" We'd finished watching this really awkwardly different episode than what I expected from what I saw in my dream. Marble had been launched into a shipping between another character that apparently might be part of her family while Lime was just a jerk the whole time. I do have to say though, he did seem like a nice guy. "Well," Maddy started. "It was certainly a thing." "Wasn't too bad, I must say. It wasn't as girly as I thought it'd be." "TRUE, RIGHT?" David agreed. "It's crazy when you first see it, right bros?" "Meh, I'm not really a fan of it. It was kinda cheesy and predictable. You knew that their families would get along at the end." she debated. "It is a kids' show, after all-" she paused and got up. David laughed. "Ya see, we all have our opinions," He looked at me. " but some of ours are right! Up top!" Maddy slapped his hand down in annoyance. "Wow, what a downer bro." "Shut up David. Where's your bathroom?" He pointed down the hall as she left us. "So dude, how's life other than the weird hair and eye things? We haven't talked in, like, a whole day bro." he exaggerated. "Well, to be frank, it's quite crappy. I'm behind in my main classes and I was lucky to have Thursdays off; but with this stuff going on, I can't really catch up easily." It really was a pretty bad week. I missed a couple days and now I'm horribly behind. He thought. "I dunno what to tell you, but pizza's on the way. Maybe that'll cheer you up bro." He wasn't the greatest at taking care of himself, but he sure did know how to bring happiness back into other's lives if they aren't butts like Maddy; they just get annoyed by him. "Hey, thanks for having us over, by the way. I really appreciate it." "No problemo mi amigo. Glad I could help you dudes out." he smiled. "So how'd you like Marble, Marble wannabe?" he teased. "She was an interesting character. There wasn't much said about her, but I think I can work things out from that episode." I said. At this, I realized my hair had grown almost to my belly button area and had become completely grey, with the exception of the stripes of other greys. "Any other episodes with her in it?" "Sorry bro, but that was season five, the last of them. The show ended after a horrible ending of one of the main protagonists betraying everyone and winning. Just like that, it was over dude. I couldn't believe they were even allowed to air that episode." He was obviously upset by the show ending. I think it ended a few years ago when he was a fan since, I believe, second season. "Oh yeah, I think I saw the end at one point. It was Discord, right?" I remember it replaying my dream in third person on the screen, still quite terrifying. "Yeah, man. Do you know much about him?" I silently shuddered. "A little too much. He's a dragon-lion-gryphon thing that can pretty much use the powers of Gmod at any time; not to mention he can teleport and can be a real crap-load to anyone." David just stared in confusion. "Umm, are you sure you haven't watched the show other than that part dude?" "Yup, that's all I know." I replied. By then, Maddy left the bathroom to meet us again. She seemed to be focused pretty hard on the end of my hair for whatever reason. I checked to see if there was some lint or something, but I just saw hair. She let her eyes look back to David who was still dumbfounded after hearing my knowledge of Discord. Once again, her eyes laid themselves on me as she spoke. "So," she started. "I heard pizza's coming. When's it getting here?" "Uh- umm..." David stuttered, as he left the Discord stuff. "Like, a few minutes. I got a pepperoni." "Cool" She looked at the time. "It's 8:00 and we're finally having dinner, huh?" "Don't judge, Lime; It's pizza!" I rolled my eyes. How could she, of all people be judgmental of food? David was about to speak up when we heard a doorbell, completely overlapping that thought. "I'll be back dudes." He moseyed over to the door as Maddy sat a little closer to me to whisper with an anxious look. "Bro, did you get yours yet?" she asked, giving absolutely no context as to what she was talking about. "Get what? The pizza just got here so if that's what you're referring to-" "Just be ready. It's pretty crazy to see it. For me, it was a mix of confusion, frustration and more confusion." Still no context, dang it! I started getting nervous, guessing it had to be something with the changes. David walked in with the pizza in-hand. "Deenair, es sairved." he said, trying to pull off a French accent and ultimately failing. As I got up, I felt Maddy poke my lower back, a little close to my butt. "Yo, what're you doing back there?" She looked up at me, confused as she rose from the couch. "Hm? I didn't do anything." she said, sounding pretty serious. Huh, I must be feeling stuff I guess. Then, I felt it again; but she had gotten in front of me to get to the food. I felt back where I felt it and I couldn't think as time froze around me for a second. Wait, that's a paradox. Wait, I need to figure this out. "David, where's your bathroom again?" He pointed and I virtually sprinted. I shut and locked the door and pretty much ripped my pants down. My hair ended at my waist, so why was it down at my feet? I turned to see as hair extruded from my tailbone, which ultimately meant one thing: I have a tail Now hair dyeing? That's humanly possible. Eye color changing? Contacts are available. But getting a freaking tail? You could slap one on someone's belt loop or something, but I don't think it's too easy to get it on someone's tailbone. I tugged lightly on it to check if it was fake, which it definitely wasn't after feeling the strangeness of being pulled from my lower back. Well crap. I can't really do much about this now can I? This was an attachment to my freaking spine, meaning it's a bone. That's difficult. I tried finding the muscle to move it to do a final check on if it was real. Sure enough, it was half way between clenching my butt cheeks and turning when I found out, yes, it does move on its own. "Huh." I said to myself as I stuffed it back into my pants. It was really... strange, to say the least. It just felt awkward as I walked around. I flushed the toilet and washed my hands to make it seem like I was using the bathroom for its intended purpose and left it to go get some food. I sat next to Maddy after getting a slice of pizza. "I wasn't ready. I wasn't ready at all." I whispered to her. She just chuckled as she spoke up. "So David?" "Yeah?" he said between bites. "Ask away dude." "If we ended up as these ponies in the cartoon, how would you react?" She had a good point; we wouldn't want him to be a crazy guy who'll just be hugging us for all eternity. If we need human help, we could use him if that's the case. "Aww, man! That'd be pretty radical. I'd probably need a few minutes to freak out, but I'd be fine afterwards. You could trust me dudes." Sounds reasonable. We could probably use him as a resource for if we end up going all the way into being these mares. Something about that thought made me think for a minute. Specifically the word mares. Will I just end up as a male version of Marble or will I look like her with my... stuff... or will I end up being completely her? I cringed thinking about that and pushed it to the back of my mind; no need to worry about that. We're not actually gonna end up as ponies, right? Right? -=*=- "Alright, see you later dudes! Happy birthday!" We ended up leaving after eating about ten minutes later and headed home. Something once again didn't feel right, only this time, it was in my feet. I looked down to see my heels are off the ground; along with Maddy's. I have no clue why, but that's the least of my worries right now; I have a tail that I need to drive with. Speaking of which, we somehow didn't get spotted with our tails at his house. It could've been that he was drunk and oblivious or that we just hid them really well. We got back to the apartment around 8:00 and started getting ready for school the next day; I don't think "growing tails" and "hair growth" would qualify as a sick day. By then, I'd cut a hole in my pants to let my tail out due to it being really annoying to keep under denim. Maddy was the first one to start talking again. "So," she started. "how do you like your tail?" "Meh, that question implies that I like it." She scoffed. "Shut up; you know what I mean you butt." I shrugged. "I guess I'm okay with it. I just want it out of my pants becau-" "What?" she asked. "Just a sec, I can't hear you." I thought I said it in my normal tone. After all, she's right next to me. She should've heard me just fine. "Okay, go. I dunno what that was." "I just want it out of my pants due to it being really uncomfortable." I looked back at her, seeing something that probably shouldn't be on a human; other than a tail, which she just cut a hole for. I decided against making her possibly panic "Yo, you got something... in your hair." "Huh?" She checked some of her hair, which was now completely grey also. "What?" "On top of your head." She started checking for lint in her hair, when her hand tapped something that definitely wasn't hair. Her hand, face--everything, just froze as she felt fur on her head. She slowly touched the thing on her head and realized there were two of them. She gripped them and came to realize what they were. "Are these serious?" "Mm hm." She went to the bathroom to examine them as I checked my Skype and e-mail, seeing a few 'Happy birthday!'s here and there. Looked like someone else needed their video edited that I'd get to after school tomorrow. I packed up my laptop and charger as Maddy tripped into the room. "You alright?" I asked, slightly teasing her. "I-umm..." she stammered. "I think so? I mean, I lost my ears and got new ones. I don't think that's normal--plus, I can't touch my heels to the ground, making me clumsy, as you just heard." "Wait, what?" I got up, seeing my feet automatically going into tip-toe position. I tried to force them down, but it was really difficult for some weird reason. "Uh... Why?" "I dunno dude. I don't think we could easily miss school--even by getting purple pony ears." I frowned. "We could probably see what happens in the morning and check if it's okay to miss lecture. After all, these changes are happening pretty quickly." She thought for a second. "Sure. If we have hooves in the morning, we're not going. Sound good?" "Mm hm. Fine by me." She finished getting her backpack ready. "Alright, good night bro!" "I'll try!" I got everything ready for tomorrow and got my pajamas on, which I once again cut a hole for my tail in. I went to bed as I felt my hearing go numb. I knew what that meant. "Well crap."