Ending a Day
“And the purpose of your visit to the United States?” the Border Officer asked, her eyes roving across the passports they handed her , flicking from the documents to the three in the car.
“Heading to a convention in Chicago,” I said promptly. If there was one thing I was fearful of doing, it was lying to a Border Officer. They literally had all the power when it came to letting something through, and we needed to get across. We had made good time, even with the traffic in the Toronto area, and Celestia hadn’t lo- the sun was just still dipping past the horizon, so the shades I on weren’t too much of an eye raising factor.
My eyes had grown in size and a tail had joined my collection of aberrant pony anatomical features, now awkwardly wedged beneath my rump. Its appearance also marked the point were pretty much my entire lower body had shifted over to the equine than human. Thankfully, the steering wheel hid the hooves for me. Fur itched a bit though, under my pants.
Roy was doing his best to keep the wings out of sight, having struggled into his coat once more, counting on it to keep them down. So far, his changes had been easy to hide, compared to mine. Aside from his wings increasing in size and getting a tail of his own, and the faint traces of colour change in his hair and the ears that started it all, he was still unremarkable.
The officer spent a few more moments looking over their passports before handing them back. “Okay then. Have a good trip!”
Making the appropriate sounds, I handed them to Brenda before pulling away from the major hurdle. In the rear view, I could see Roy craning his neck as the border station was left behind. “You know, for all the fuss you were making, I expected that to be much more… challenging.”
“We could let you off and you could try on your own,” I commented. “Luna knows I could use a laugh about now.”
“Ha, ha,” Roy said, kicking the back of my chair lightly. “So, how far now?”
“Maybe half an hour with the speed Trevor’s been hitting,” Brenda commented slyly.
“Yeah, yeah, more like 40 to 45 though,” I muttered. “Jace should be landed and waiting by then. Then we can hoof it to Chicago proper.”
“You do realize you’re using ponyisms, right?” Roy asked from the back seat. “You’ve been for a while.”
“Yeah, I realized. I’ve just been focusing on other things,” I muttered. I was pretty much certain it started after the dream encounter with Silver. I still hadn’t mentioned it to them, even though we had spent a large part of the trip thus far bouncing ideas back and forth.
That was actually what really opened my eyes to it. When terms like ‘Thaumatic Impressions across sub-dimensional barriers’ popped up. Not in the typical ‘regurgitating technobabble from shows’ manner, but into the same way you would comment about a crossed wire blowing out a fuse. It was something Silver might have learned in his time in CSGU. So apparently not only was Silver in my head, he was in my head, doing stuff up there.
“Trevor, you’re speeding again,” Brenda observed.
I carefully unclenched my hands from the wheel, taking a few calming breaths. In. And out. “Sorry… I’m… just not liking this… at all…”
“You’re turning into a pony,” Brenda commented. I could feel the look she was giving me. “A little magical talking one. You’ll be adorable, but I don’t think it’s something you should really ‘like’ right out the gates like that.”
“I still don’t get why you insisted on coming,” Roy grumbled half-heartedly. Brenda didn’t say or do anything aside from give a small smile. We all fell slight, caught up in our own thoughts and motivations, the car was silent save for the music I had playing.
I don’t know what the others were thinking about, but I was trying to sort through and identify changes in my head. Considering most of what Silver was I made up, I wasn’t sure where ‘OoC’ or Creator knowledge ended and Creation knowledge started. Basically, I concluded I was stuck with picking them out when they came up. Like the Equestria flavoured swears and terms.
I realized Brenda was humming along to some of the songs playing. I glanced her way. “You know this song?” I asked, breaking the silence. “It’s one of the fandom songs.”
“I might have a stumbled across a few I liked when I first checked out the show when Roy started watching it,” Brenda admitted.
I looked back at Roy, who was dozing, sprawled somewhat uncomfortably on the bench, wings twitching in whatever dream he was having, drooling slightly. I grimaced at that. He was so cleaning that up when he woke up. Beside me, Brenda fiddled with a lock of her hair self-consciously.
“Cool, I guess,” I murmured. So Brenda liked the fandom music. I never knew that. Admittedly, we didn’t hang out that much, so most of what I knew about her hobbies was basic. “Any favourites?”
“… Lost on the Moon,” she admitted with a little smile. We talked after that. Just talked. Honestly, I wasn’t sure what we talked out entirely, everything from the allure of My Little Pony to her latest exercise plans, but we talked all the way to the airport. It was pretty nice, to be honest. And it helped pass the time and keep me from stressing too much about what was going on.
Roy woke shortly after I found a spot to park and sent off the message to Jason to let him know where I parked. He was less interested in that the fact that we reached than he was in telling us all about the dream he had had though. To be fair, I was pretty interested in it too.
----------
He was in a forest and at first was confused as to how he got there, but when he felt the odd sense of unreality, he accepted it. Sure, why not? This was how they worked. Just show up in the middle of somewhere. Still... It was incredably vivid. "Hello?" He called out experimentally, the sound echoing as though in a deep cave.
“Echo!” A higher voice called back, sounding close. “Wooooooo! I'm the ghost of Christmas!”
Roy rolled his eyes. “Past, present or future?”
The other voice was silent for a moment before replying. “Yes!”
Roy facepalmed and the other voice broke out laughing. “So, Lyra wasn't crazy... You know... You're kinda funny looking.” A twig broke behind Roy and he turned, coming face to muzzle with a fanged grin. He jumped back in fright. “Geah! Don't do that!”
“I thought you were more observant then this...? Usually it's hard for people to sneak up on ya.”
“Trevor says otherwise. As always. About everything.”
~~~~~~
“You realize that proves me right, right?” I interrupted his retelling. “Even your dreams are telling you that you aren’t very observant.”
“Who’s telling this story?” Roy said irritably.
“Fine, go on, story teller,” I puffed. “Just let the records show, even Roy’s subconscious points out that he’s unobservant.”
“Aaaaannnnnywaaay…” Roy said, scowling at me.
~~~~~~
“Meh, Trevor's a bit of a twit at times too. Or at least, Silver is and he's an extension of him. I... think. It's kinda confusing. And Twilight isn't here to help make sense of it all. Or would that just make things worse?”
“Probbaly worse. So, you're Star?”
“The one and only!” The batpony said proudly. “Most agile flier in the Night Guard at your service!”
“You're...” Roy looked down as he got up to his feet, Star in turn dropping back to all fours. “Shorter than I expected.”
“I thought you'd be closer to my size, personally. Still, I could do worse for a creator. Though I have to ask, did you really have to give me a dang concussion?”
Roy shrugged and Star pushed him over in much the same way an overeating panda/kirby hybrid often did when Roy made a smartass remark in the chatroom he and Trevor frequented. “That really hurt! Even if it DID help me to be friends with Silver.”
Roy couldn't resist and smirked. “Spoon or Stroke?” Star pushed again, sending Roy flat on his ass, his wings flailing uselessly. “Hey! Ow! Get off! No stop! I--!”
Star began mercilessly tickling Roy until he was able to push the Batpony off. Roy, still gasping for air, japed a finger at Star. “No! Off! Bad... Fanfic creation that spawned from my imagination... And there's a sentence I never thought I'd say...”
Star smiled and Roy went on. “So... Is this just a social call or...?”
~~~~~~
“Booty call?” I asked. Brenda burst out laughing and Roy kicked my chair again.
~~~~~~
Star smiled and Roy went on. “So... Is this just a social call or...?”
“Wish I could say. Spoilers, I'm afraid. I'd tell you if I could.”
~~~~~~
“I don’t believe you.” Weird encounter with your pony OC? Sure. But said OC making Doctor Who references? Come on, give me a break.
“Just listen!” Roy said.
~~~~~~
“Any idea why this is happening?”
“Spoilers.”
“When it will stop?”
“Spoilers.”
Roy made a face. "Any useful advice at all?"
“Yes. DO NOT attempt to fly until you completely look like me. Your bones are too heavy until that happens. And the magic isn't fully developed. Also," he pulled a rather stylish pair of sunglasses out from... Somewhere and put them on. "Get yourself a pair of these babies. And earmuffs or something.”
“Thanks. So what happens now?”
“Spoilers. Though I suppose waking up would be the first step. Still, no reason not to enjoy this. Want to see the world how I see it?”
Roy smiled and looked up, wondering if he could in this dreamscape. As an experiment, he jumped up and slowly tried to flap his arms, wondering if it'd help. Surprisingly enough it did and the two began a low flight over the trees.
----------
“Well… I’d say you were delusional,” Brenda commented, “But your wings are a bit bigger… and look more… developed.”
“And I can move them better!” Roy said. He demonstrated by manipulating and waving them for our purposes. For some reason, it made me nervous and I licked my lips, chewing on the inside of my cheek at the display. Now what’s that all about? I distractedly tapped out a beat against the car door with my hoof as Roy continued. “Star warned me not to try flying yet, though.”
“Yes, because that’s what’s important here,” I said blandly.
“He has a point though,” Brenda shrugged. “It would be pretty horrible if he tried to fly and ended up falling from the sky. Fatally horrible.”
Great. Even Brenda. I scratched at my forehead wearily. “You’re taking this pretty well,” I said to her. “Normally something talking about meeting someone in a dream is met with more skepticism.”
“You turned into a satyr. Roy grew wings. The pair of you look like classic demons. I’d have to be pretty damn stubborn to be skeptical at this point,” Brenda snorted. She fished a granola bar from her handbag and tore into it. “Besides, I pretty much forced you to take me with you. Doubting you would make me more of a hassle than an aid.”
“Batponies aren't demons,” Roy protested.
“Fine, fine,” I assented. “Roy, maybe you should try and fly. I could still use a laugh.” I ducked the hand and wing that attempted to swat me.
“So, did you have a dream about Silver?” Brenda asked.
“Well, now that you mentioned it…”
----------
While Trevor, Brenda and Roy attempted to puzzle out the matter of the dreams, Jason was on the last leg of his journey, and extremely nervous about it. The plane had pulled into the terminal, but they hadn’t started the process of disembarking yet. People’s emotions ranged from excitement to irritation as they pulled their belongings together and prepared for the finally permission to get on with their lives. The older gentleman he had been sitting beside was on the irritated side, radiating it driving Jason to distraction.
The changeling emotion sensing abilities had kicked in. With it, a slow, but steadily increasing throbbing pain in the middle of his skull.
In the crowd metal tube of the airplane, with its load of passengers, the slowly building sensations from his new abilities had been fuelling a massive headache that didn’t show promise of fading any time soon. He wanted out, away from the crowds so he could begin trying to work out what it meant.
On top of that issue, his carapace had begun forming; patches of thick dark blue, almost black spreading on his limbs, starting from the holes and inching outwards. With the gloves on and his sleeves down, he hadn’t been able to truly watch it, but he had carefully checked on it through his clothing. Oh, and his wings grew. That happened back during the layover.
He looked up when a minor commotion started. People were moving.
“Finally!” the man beside him said, his frustration both heard in his tone and… smelt? Smell seemed to be the best analog. Jason couldn’t help but agree, but kept silence, his head low, eyes downcast, gathering his things and waiting his turn to join the flow of bodies.
Being a domestic flight, there wasn’t much in terms of security and customs they had to go through, so that was a small blessing. He kept his eyes on the ground and tried to walk as quickly as he could without seeming out of place, which wasn’t hard in an airport. Everyone was rushing. He was just another face in the crowd. Admittedly one wearing a pair of gloves.
“Please put your bag on the conveyer, and empty the contents of your pockets into the basket, as well as anything that would set off the alarm.” the officer said plainly enough. “Then walk through the metal detector and retrieve your items on the other end. Shoes as well.”
“S-sure,” Jason said, quickly putting his cellphone, wallet, keys and pocket lint in the blue basket provided, depositing them on the convey ever the bags. His shoes followed before he approached the metal frame.
Crap… these just detect metal, right? Not full X-Ray like the machine. So the hole wouldn’t show up. And I’m pretty sure I-
“Sir? Your gloves as well.” Jason swore inwardly. Carefully, he pulled off the gloves, revealing a bandage wrapped around his right hand, were the worst of the holes were. He gave the officer a sheepish grin, but he didn’t seem to care about the bandages.
Thank the queens that worked, Jason through to himself as he headed for the arch again. I’m so glad I bought these in the airport shop in Fillydelphia. No one really asks about bandages unless they are concerned for your health. They definitely don’t ask you to take them off.
The metal detector beeped once and the officer made a notation on his clipboard. “All good! Have a great day in Detroit,” he said cheerfully as Jason grabbed his belongings.
“You too!” Jason said, still a trace nervous. Finally the airport was behind him. He turned his phone back on as soon as he was out in the general area and quickly downloaded all his messages. There were quite a few. He grabbed the most recent one from Trevor. Directions to where he parked. There were times he loved that guy.
Thankfully, his headaches had started to recede once he got out of the flying metal death trap, and heading out to the open and mostly empty parking lot was practically therapeutic. He checked the labelling on the signs as he walked, looking for the lot Trevor said they were in, and when he found that, looking for the mazda named Mordecai.
Someone tooted their horn, and he whirled, only to break out into a grin, his wings trying to buzz with elation, but held down by his shirt. Trevor! Finally. He jogged over and headed for the door that opened, only to hesitate.
Trevor’s eyes had worsened. There was a female, Brenda he was sure, he knew even less about her, only hearing about her second and third hand. Oh, and Trevor had hooves, visible since he was stretching them, letting them hang out his open door.
“Okay… what did I miss?”
The question of ‘what did I miss’ burned through a lot of the remaining portion of the journey. Comparing notes took up a bit more time. Roy’s insistence on comparing wings was a bit odd. He only stopped after Brenda asked if it was like comparing dick lengths, which got Jason blushing so much he looked like a beetroot.
Chicago was a welcome site. I had finally caved into logic and reason and tuned to local news stations. It wasn’t a pretty picture. True, we had all known that that flash would have affecting people across the continent, or at least across a few states and provinces, but it had just been knowledge without true realization or understanding.
Ten minutes of flipping through the stations remedied that. It might have been less than a day since it all started, but it was still in the news streams. With the expected panic and confusion. Getting into the city was far more trouble that Trevor had foreseen as well, several accidents on the highways adding to traffic that he honestly hadn’t expected that time of the night.
It was near twelve when Mordecai finally crawled into one of the parking spots in the hotel’s lot. By then, I wanted nothing more than to crawl into a bed and pass out. In fact, I was looking forward to it. The day had been far too much of a headache. I mumbled out a few lines of ‘This Day Aria’ to get the song out of my head. Every time the term ‘this day’ came up and was followed by a copula in my thoughts, the song popped up with it.
Not that it was a bad thing. It was an amazing song, and Britt McKillip was a singer worthy of the same.
Back on topic; the weirdness had quite literally woken me up that morning and hadn’t left since. Maybe I should consider charging it rent. Bah. If only you could charge an abstract concept rent. We’d be rich. It would end world poverty as the people with the most challenges and difficulties in life would have the most money!
… What the hay was I thinking about?
“You okay, Trevor?” Jason asked as we all got out of the car and mustered up the will power to actually go inside the building.
We weren’t the most unnoticeable bunch in this situation. Jason’s limbs might be covered by his sleeves and gloves and his delicate wings easy enough to keep under the shirt, but a good portion of my new legs were exposed at the end of my pants, hooves in addition to that. On a tangent; hooves were odd to walk on when it came to asphalt. I could see why horses had shoes. It wasn’t as bad as regular bare feet, but I could still feel the hard tarmac under them, and it was pretty noisy.
Roy might have made a joke about clopping somewhere in there, but he held himself back.
Back on topic; Roy’s wings didn’t fold up the best against his human anatomy, needing the comparatively broader equine barrel they were made for and not the flat human back. Brenda shrugged, comfortable in her retained humanity. “You might as well just admit it when you go it. Would make it far easier than if you guys go full pony overnight.”
“And now I have that image in my head,” Roy groaned, shooting Brenda a glare.
“It’s a possibility,” Brenda said, shouldering her bag and heading towards the hotel, smothering a yawn. “Just standing out here isn’t going to help solve anything. It’s late and I stayed up the whole drive. I need to get some sleep.”
“Who died and made you queen?” I snarked, grabbing my own bag.
“Silence, knave! Thy princess desires a padded sleeping platform and she was told this humble facility hath a room prepared for her!” Brenda said in a pretty decent royal accent. “Now honour your princess and attain access to her royal bedchambers!”
“Keep it up and you’ll find yourself the target of a revolution,” I teased as Jason laughed.
“Hey, can I be your royal guard?” Roy asked.
“Your princess allows this!” Brenda said grandly. “It shall be your duty to punish my personal attendant if he fails in his duty.”
“If Trev’s the attendant, I’ll settle for court scribe,” Jason said. “So don’t mind me.”
I think I just attracted the craziest friends. Of course, I was behooved to be the craziest of the lot, so I trotted ahead of them. I had a reputation to uphold, after all.
… No, that was not a hoof pun. Not on purpose anyway.
Anyway, I trotted ahead of them and hit the handicapped buttons before clearing my throat and adopting an accent of my own as the male clerk looked up with a welcoming smile and what might either be a curious expression, or a peeved one for me using the handicapped button. “Hark, fair tender of this establishment! I have come to claim the chambers I did doth reserve this morn passed, for Princess Brenda of Reid and her entourage have arrived! I believe our footman preceded us and attained early access in anticipation of our arrival?”
The clerk blinked in confusion as Brenda strutted into the lobby, haughty as a peacock, Roy trying to look stoic and processional behind her, carrying the bags and Jason, who had pointed out it wasn’t the scribe’s job to be porter, trying not to laugh behind him. “I’m… sorry, what?”
Some people just couldn’t keep up. “Sorry. I’m Trevor Shaw. I had a reservation. A Sam Voxle was supposed to swing by earlier to get in, but we need a few more keys…”
Honestly, you’d think a night clerk could handle a few crazy people coming in. We weren’t even drunk! (Admittedly, I’m not sure that was a point in our favour.) Our room was on the third floor, and once the elevator doors closed, we all broke down laughing at the poor clerk’s expense. No, we weren’t the best of pon-people. I had to steer the conversation back to serious topics eventually though, and managed to get it there as I fiddled with the key card.
“Okay… this room only has two beds. Both double,” I explained. I was cheeconomical. I couldn’t exactly afford to get a massive room on such short notice. “Unfortunately, they don’t have any extra cots either.” That cost extra. See the proceeding cheeconomical comment.
“So either we share or somepony sleeps on the ground, huh?” Brenda sighed.
“Depending on where Sam is as well. Sorry, didn’t count on five people…” I sighed as well. The room was as I expected; average with somewhat dated decor. It was a fairly cheap place. There was a bag tossed against the wall. Sam’s, I presumed, though the teen wasn’t around.
Roy gave Jason big hug. “I wanna bunk with Jason!” He grinned at our expressions. “Changelings are adorable. Besides, do you want to be the one around if his emotion eating kicks in?”
“Um… maybe I should take the chair or the ground,” Jason said, shuddering at the thought.
“Nope! I dipsied it!” Roy insisted.
“You… dipsied it…” I repeated slowly, wondering where Sam got to. Maybe he stepped out?
“It’s a bit… strange that you’re calling dips on an actual person,” Brenda admitted. I had to agree with her on that. I headed to the bathroom to wash up a bit.
“I don’t want him to be sleeping on the ground. He’s a good friend. I can spare a bit of love,” Roy said. His choice of words made both Jason and I flinch, though likely for different reasons. I hit the light switch and stepped into the bathroom as they talked, but froze in the doorway at what I saw.
“Not in that way,” he continued, shooting glares around. “Get your minds out of the gutter, you pervs.”
“Fine. I’ll double with Trevor then,” Brenda said. “I don’t exactly want to sleep in the ground, and I’m not letting him do it when he drove most of the way and actually got the room.”
Roy gave her a coy smile. “Really? What do you think about that, Trev?” I was too busy being shell shocked. Roy frowned. “Trev?”
They all came over to see what was up. In retrospect, I probably should have slowly backed away and closed the door. But really, I never expected to see Sam, scales covering a good portion of his body, hair one of the weirder shades of blue, somewhere in the turquoise or cyan range, buck naked and sleeping in the bath tub filled with water.
“The buck..?”
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AND FISH! This chapter made me laugh.
ok... that reminds me...
oh come on.... you beat me to it...
or did you?
I find it amusing that all the side stories are so much longer than the main story it is based off of.
I'm actually enjoying this quite a bit, as the main characters are all quite varied and interesting personality wise. Curious if Brenda has a role to play that is being hidden from us thus far, since she is a bigger fan of MLP than we were initially led to believe (and fans were the target of the transformation).
I'm looking forward to the next chapter, especially since we are going to be entering the almost or fully transformed territory soon complete with their OC personalities I imagine.
That ending XD
Damn it, I gotta get back to work. My misfits ain't gunna get to Chicago without me
5504662 Agreed. As for the second part... Wait up, Partner!!
5506053
They're already halfway through Illinois
5506074 Great... I start from Southern California...
5506087
Just have them take a flight ^^
5506087 5506099 It might be expensive, but they are turning into ponies! They can use their wardrobe budget for it!
5506128
And sage has a lotta dough
5506139 Now Bluey, not everyone has rich friends. Most of us have to be
chea-economical.5506141
They're from rural Texas... They are the epitome of cheap!
5483654 5484982 5504646
Glad you all are enjoying it. Honestly, it's also been pretty fun to write this, too. And yes, Brenda does have a role to play
5506099 Let's see how that goes...
5506172
Least you would have up deal with someone screaming Ebola like Johnny would
5506178 What about blackout dates or cancelled flights?
5506186
Touché
5506190
gotcha
5506196
And don't forget an adorible filly or colt ^^
5506201 Or something unexpected
5506214 5506201 Oi! Two are enough!
5506231
Nu! Kiddies are adorable!
5506231 Wait til you see what I have in store
this universe is kind of... eh......
it's got potential.