A Pony a Day

by OfTheIronwilled

Chitin (1/19/2017)

Fluttershy's vision swam with tears as apple-green magic crawled across her body. It pricked and bubbled, popped against her skin and replaced it with a hard shell. It shined, a tar-black carapace gleaming with mucus, and sapphire blue wings which sparkled in their translucence. And all over her she felt the cramping, the devouring angry heat which pooled in her stomach; it wanted more, needed more, desperately demanded to be satisfied if only for a moment.

She blinked, and Rainbow Dash was in front of her, her eyes wide. She should have been panicking, she should have been apologizing for being such a horrible friend. It was just terrible to lie to your friends for so long, after all!

--But the craving tore up her throat, and all she could do was lick her fanged jaw, stalk forward, start to cast a spell...

---

Fluttershy opened her eyes with a quiet gasp. She was crying and shaking and her hooves felt more solid than she should have ever allowed them to be when she was so close to her animal friends or anypony or anything--

-- but then, with a relieved sigh, she saw a hint of her reflection in her mirror. A candy-colored shell of a body smiled back at her, looking cheery and harmless.

That was right.

With a twitch, Fluttershy turned back. But she didn't feel so guilty anymore.

After all, ever since Thorax came along and showed everychangeling a way to finish their transformation into these new friendly forms, she had nothing to fear. Surely even if her friends did find out, she didn't have anything to worry about and they'd understand. They wouldn't be so frightened if they saw the real her. Not anymore.

Fluttershy smiled and closed her eyes.