The itch went away mostly. It was beautiful. I mean, I lost a few fingernails and a ton of skin too, but the blasted itch was gone. That really made it all worth it to me. If I had to go back, I'd do it the same way over again.
After that, I felt really tired, almost like I hadn't slept in a week sort of tired. The basement floor was as good a place as any to curl up, so I did. I don't remember what I dreamed about, if indeed I dreamed about anything at all, but I do know that I woke up to the sound of a piercing scream.
My eyes snapped open and I raised my head to see Twilight standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at me with an expression of pure horror on her face. I frowned at her and cocked my head. "What's wrong? It's just a little skin. Nothing too bad about that."
Twilight's lower jaw quivered, and I heard a quiet whimper from her as she shook her head. Her horn ignited, and she levitated what turned out to be a mirror in front of my face.
Huh.
One of my eyes was five times the size of the other one. About the same size as a pony's. My mouth was sticking out, and I knew that it was shaping into a muzzle already. I slowly raised a hand to my mouth and brushed it against the side of my face. Like before, more of my skin began peeling off, revealing the light red fur underneath. To top it off, a few of my fingers had begun fusing together. I idly poked at the fingers and tried to peel them apart by forcing my finger between the two, but I only succeeded in cracking one of my remaining fingernails in half. I clicked my tongue and tore it out with my teeth, spitting it onto the floor. No need for it, really.
I shrugged and looked up to Twilight, who had tears streaming down her face. I smiled at her and took a few steps towards her on my hands and knees. "What did you find?"
"Uh..." Twilight blinked a few times before slowly walking down the steps towards me. She reached the bottom and walked towards her workbench, being sure to give my discarded scraps a wide berth. "I... I didn't find anything."
I raised my eyebrow and cocked my head. "What do you mean? It was kind of hard to miss. Were the chicken tracks gone? You just had to follow those."
Twilight deeply exhaled and shook her head as she sat down. "No, the chicken tracks were there, but the pool you and Fluttershy claim you fell into isn't there anymore."
"So..." A frown slowly crossed my face. "So does that mean that you can't turn me completely back into a pony? That I'm going to continue turning back into a human until I'm one forever?"
Twilight's eyes widened again, and she spun her head to look at me like I had gone mad, which was kinda weird. I mean halting my transformation to a human and turning me back into a pony was the whole point of this thing, so...
Uh...
My own eyes widened, and my jaw dropped. My forelegs began shaking, and I started lightly hyperventilating. "T-Twilight? What the heck was that? Did I just say that I wanted to be turned back into a pony?"
Twilight solemnly nodded and looked down at one of her books. "Yeah. I think that whatever is turning your body is..." Twilight took a deep breath. "Also turning your mind. If what I just observed is true, you're going to start having the mentality of somepony who has lived in Equestria his entire life."
I groaned and leaned my head against the table. "Great. That's just freaking brilliant. No more TD then, I guess."
"You'll still be alive," Twilight pointed out.
I glanced up at her with a glare. "Not to get existential and all that, but if what makes me me is completely destroyed, am I still alive?"
Twilight went silent for a few moments, but quickly shook her head. "Let's not focus on that right now, TD. Right now let's figure out exactly what sort of tests we can run." Twilight bit her lip and looked over to a few scraps of my skin. "I... yeah, I'll run some tests to see if there's some residue of the water, or whatever it was, on your skin still, and if there is then we'll figure out how to cure it. I'll also get a hair and urine sample, okay?"
I nodded. "You got it." I walked to one of my skin scraps and took it in my mouth. Yeah, it was kinda gross, having my skin in my mouth, but I couldn't balance it on my hooves and walk at the same time, and we can't all be unicorns. That...
I sharpy inhaled and spit my skin out, not even bothering to look over at Twilight who was doubtlessly horrified by it. I heard her fire up her horn and pick up the skin scrap to take over to her workbench to begin testing on, and I saw a few other skin scraps float off of the floor, as well as one of my fingernails. I grimaced and sat down on my haunches. "Don't tell anypony about that, okay, Twilight? I..." I sighed. "That kind of thing is just between us, okay? Nopony else needs to know that happened."
Twilight sniffled as she levitated some beakers over to the workbench, but I saw her give a single nod.
* * * *
It got worse.
The itch returned, and both of my hands were fused together by this point. My right foot, where this had all started, was completely a hoof. As in, if I compared it to Twilight's it would look exactly the same. I had spent the past half-hour scratching the itch, not even bothering to try to resist, and more and more of my skin was coming off as a result.
Twilight glanced over to me as I was scratching some skin off of my back. "TD, stop doing that! We don't know if it can be reversed once it's permanent."
I returned her look with a glare. "Look, Twilight, it itches so bad that it freaking hurts, okay? I'm going to need a screwdriver to get rid of the worst of it at this rate, so unless you have a cure now, this is all I can do to stop it!" I scratched my neck and peeled off more skin. "Besides, I don't even know how I got this stuff on me in the first place. I mean, I go to bed a pony then wake up like..." I motioned to myself. "This. You'd think that you'd be glad that I have a way to get rid of the abnormalities."
"Oh, TD," Twilight whispered. She turned back to her work without saying anything else, but I could figure what was wrong.
"I did it again; went into "Pony Mode," didn't I?" Twilight gave a single nod, and I facehooved. It was something that was becoming more frequent over the past half hour. I would slip into Pony Mode for a few minutes, and in those few minutes... well, it's like I had never been TD at all. That kind of frightened me. I felt a tight feeling well up in my chest as I began to realize that I might not get out of this one. If Twilight couldn't find a cure, then I would be stuck as a pony not just in body, but in mind as well.
No. No, I wasn't going to let that happen.
I looked up to Twilight. "Anything yet?"
Twilight sighed and shook her head. "Nothing. As far as I can tell, this is just... skin. I can't detect anything abnormal about it. It's almost as if you shed it to make room for your new body."
I grimaced and pushed myself onto my hooves and knees. "Okay, I'm going to go to the spot in the Everfree Forest where that freaking puddle was. If it isn't there, then I'm going to dig where I knew it was to find it."
"TD, what do you think that will accomplish?" Twilight turned back to me, a grim expression on her face. "I know that you don't want to be stuck as a pony like this, but I'm not sure what to do, even if we do find a sample of whatever you stepped in." Twilight looked over to the door to the basement. "Right now I think all I can do is call Princess Celestia over. Maybe she knows something about it."
I bit my lip and scratched the back of my neck. "Eh... I don't know if I'm comfortable with that. I mean, she's Princess Celestia."
"TD, I know you and Princess Celestia haven't always gotten along, but she's our best bet for fixing you."
"It's not that, it's just..." I took a deep breath and began tapping on the ground. "I'd hate to bother her. I mean, she's a powerful princess and I'm just a lowly pony." A small, embarrassed smile crossed my face. "Besides, I think I'd get all tongue tied around her and not know the proper things to say or do. I'd hate to make a scene. She's my princess, and I want to show her proper respect."
Twilight bolted up the stairs and out of the basement.
3428068 Just... trust that I know what I'm doing with this one.
3428072
Hmm. This chapter changes things. He isn't just changing physically, but his whole mentality is changing as well. If he turns, he won't care to change back.
Unless, instead of physically mangled monster, he goes insane from 2 sets of memories and personalities.
I'll see where you go with this. I'll probably love it, even if it ends up having a *shudder* happy ending.
Actually, a happy ending could be acceptable if done properly.
And by properly, I mean turning TD into a pony. That's pretty horrifying. Not only does his body change, but he loses everything that makes him him.
Oh no, it's getting worse. I hope TD gets a cure in time.
I humbly request more at the fastest pace convenient to you.
Oh god... TD.
Damnit! Damnit all to hell!
Why must everyone be denied their happy ending?
Is this going to be a story of the blanks type TD story?
Is this canon with any of the other TD stories?
3428238 Very much not.
it would be weird if TD just unzips a zipper and his normal human self steps out and yells SURPRISE! at twilight. somewhat like this near the end
Holy shit...
...
Was...was TD being, ugh, respectful of Celestia?
This is bad. This is beyond bad.
Fix him Twilight! Use magic, or science, or something! Just bring back the old TD before he does something that he'll regret, like not punching Celestia in the face when he learns that this is somehow her fault.
3428295No normal science won't help, she needs...... APERATURE SCIENCE INNOVATORS!! to help!
3428387 That one was hit-and-miss for me, but it had some good ones.
Fascinating! Gotta ask: when do you think you will come out with the next chapter? No rush, just eager.
3428430 Hopefully later today.
3428448
Neat! Thanks.
As someoen who can't tell what movie this is based off, I'm really curious to how this is all gonna end.
3428456 It's not specifically based off of anything.
Dear god, TD is turning into a New Foal.
3428252
Really? Then what's he talking about when he says he's 'turning into a pony again' in chapter 1?
Since the only story with him turning into a pony is the Alicorn Princess one.
Or was that meant as the first, sign, of his changing mind?
You know things are going horribly wrong when....
3428532 Losing his mind.
It's funny that I find this fic in the feature box and read it right after I finish watching JonTron's Ghostbumps Halloween Special.
TD's a ghost, Twilight's a ghost, Everypony's ghosts!
DUN DUN DUN!!!!!!
Oh! His wet pants from yesterday. The strange liquid should be soaked into those! Twilight could analyze that. Seeing a possible happy end makes it more suspenseful to me.
3428565 why do you hate TD so much? did he kill your mother or something?
3428623 he, as far as I am aware, did not kill my mother.
I don't hate him, but this is a Halloween horror fic, and as such, it's not going to be sunshine and roses. However, I can promise happy things in Life of a Non Brony.
3428631 Oh, hey... I just had an awesome idea, what if another human showed up Equestria and he... or she was a brony unlike TD. TD would have to watch as this jackass had the time of his, or her life and it starts to drive TD bat shit insane, because he absolutely doesn't want to be there and this other person just seems to take it in stride. Anyway, the idea just popped in to my head and I thought I would put it down for you to maybe get a laugh at or you could use it if you want. Just thought I would share.
Huh, this reminds me of those TCB stories. I like how you're adding a horror twist to it. It's not scary because there's blood and murder, but because someone is losing what makes them them.
Ever since TD first punched Celestia in the face, he has been my favorite human in Equestria, so i feel kinda bad for my liking him losing his mind like he is.
This reminded me of The Fly for some reason?
3428869
The Fly crossed with Cabin Fever, perhaps. The whole 'water filled with something that makes your skin fall off' thing is possibly inspired by those films. Of course, in those it's flesh eating bacterial, and when they scratch their skin off there's no fur underneath.
Regardless: Jesus Christ on a bicycle built for two, BronyWriter you are seriously disturbing me with this one. This has all the uneasy feelings and contemplative horror of the best-written Conversion Bureau stories, and it is is GLORIOUS.
The transformation is reminiscent of a drawn out Five Score Divided by Four, along with the Pony Mode mentality, while the horror of losing his sense of self reminds me of some of the (anti?)TCB stories.
There should be some residue on his pants, Twilight. Also, maybe try and figure out who Pony Mode is supposed to be. That might clue you in if it happened to be somepony that went missing.
Can't wait for the Thanksgiving special: "TD and Celestia Have Dinner -- TD Doesn't Uppercut Her."
I'm having this weird District 9 feel, but I know it isn't
I haven't read this, but I think it would require a human tag...?
3429607 Huh, I didn't even think about that. Good catch.
Yay new story!!!! Can't wait to read it!!!
Will this be the one time TD doesn't punch Celestia? If that happens, I will leave in disgust.
Hey, I just realized something...
Is the puddle of water a reference to Ranma 1/2?
The whole cursed spring water is a pretty obvious parallel. Unless I'm wrong...
It's all fun and games until someone gets doused with conversion potion.
3429766 There was also that time he got exposed to poison joke.
3429827 You're wrong.
3428623
It's actually a good rule of writing to follow. When writing a character, always think to yourself "What is the worst possible thing that could happen to this character?"
Then make it happen.
3428623>>3430035 Be a Sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
Kurt Vonnegut.
3430069
Adding to that, coincidences to get your characters into trouble are good. Coincidences that get them out of trouble are bad.
Creepy Halloween story so far.
~Have a good one.
For some reason, I can't stop imagining a human Twilight standing in the library, left arm behind her back and right arm pointing towards the sky with a finger outstretched, ordering, "SUMMON THE PRIN-CESSS!" in a manly voice. Yeah, weird. I should write a Halloween fic!
3430377 I'M gonna be miserable until he gets out of those pants.
3428959 Fur or not its kinda the same thing right?
Okay, yeah. Something is seriously wrong here. It wasn't until the end of this chapter that I realized how bad this is turning into. TD...being bashful and respectful to Celestia?
He's dying, isn't he?
Dear TD,
It is with the most sincere regret that I must inform you of a very serious matter...
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/108/924/You-done-goofed.jpg
Please refrain from such "goofing" in the future, such as stepping in something you should not have stepped in. That is all.