6 Universal Nights

by The Blue EM2

Night 6: Through the Fire and Flames

Around the opposite end of the Universal Studios lake, there are a scattering of buildings shaped like soundstages, relics of the area's past as a working film studio. That was the original idea; Universal were very keen to take advantage of tax breaks offered by the Florida government to film companies and start production there, as well as try to compete with Walt Disney World and get a slice of the lucrative tourist dollar.

The plan never really worked out, as most film production shifted northwards to Georgia and South Carolina (where, incidentally, The Walking Dead was filmed, though I can't think of anything filmed in North Carolina off the top of my head). As a result, given the industry had shifted, the focus of the park changed as well. It was no longer about seeing how movies were made, although elements of that survived in Hitchcock: the Art of Making Movies and The Funtastic World of Hannah-Barbera, both sadly long gone. But not today, as Jimmy spotted both suddenly reappearing in the park on his way around the lake to the soundstages not named after a phenomenon Celestia performs without fail day in day out. Good luck spotting the reference.

Today saw him single out an attraction that was one of the few good things to come out of a rather underwhelming film franchise.

---

When you ask someone to name famous Hasbro toylines, there is high probability that My Little Pony and Transformers will be amongst those mentioned in the top 10. The Robots in Disguise made their debut in 1984 and have gone through some rocky periods since, but has generally remained strong and stable, even somehow managing to survive the less than brilliant Michael Bay films released between 2007 and 2017. Oh well. At least we got War for Cybertron out of that era, which was good.

As a test, Universal got permission from Paramount, who had long since retired from the theme park business after selling King's Island in 2008, to build a ride based on the films, and opened the first version in Singapore in 2011 to coincide with Dark of the Moon being released. It was so succesful, and received so well, that versions popped up in Hollywood and Florida in less than a year, the latter case replacing Hercules and Xena: Wizards of the Screen and Murder she Wrote, although their former building, Soundstage 44, was somehow standing once more right next to the Transformers ride building.

He stepped forward, before suddenly hearing an odd voice whispering on the wind.

"Fire and fury shall cover the land..."

"Is somebody there?" Jimmy asked, confused. He couldn't see anybody speaking, but figured that it was his imagination playing tricks on him. Moments later, his app chimed to let him know that he was due to join the queue, so he did so, before going indoors and looping through a queue filled with artifacts from the films, such as the prop All Spark shard from Revenge of the Fallen, and Ironhide talking at length about Decepticons killed in the first film, such as Bonecrusher who never got so much as a single line of dialogue.

Jimmy's phone suddenly went wild, buzzing like crazy. He checked it, to see it was full of emails from a Principal Sombra.

Hi Celestia!

I know you're on holiday, but you wouldn't mind doing some remote marking for the music department? Bass Cleff is a bit swamped at the moment.

Many Happy Returns,

Principal Sombra.

"How am I getting emails from a character who doesn't even exist in Equestria Girls- OW! What is it with everyday objects electrocuting me?"

A yellow bolt had jumped from the phone case to his hand, setting today's mayhem into motion.

This he became aware of as suddenly hair of pink and blue shades flopped into his eyes as a fringe, looking like it had come out of an ice cream machine. His existing long hair (professor) was pulled up into a ponytail, tied at the back of his head, as it too shifted to that blue and pink effect. Soon after that, his face began to change, the bones shifting, changing, and contorting into new and strange shapes, until he had the appearance of a female. A considerable volume of poorly shaven facial hair fell onto the floor, the root hair cells disconnecting, no longer needed. His blue eyes were swapped for purple ones, followed by his skin going a very light pink. Shortly after that, he gained a few inches in height, all the while still trying to walk through the queue as elements on his body were growing and shifting faster than should have been biologically possible. Aggressive and violent forces violently pulled his shoulders in as his arms got slightly longer, his hands still shrinking a little.

His hips widened far more than he was used to (as he usually ended up as teenage (or preteen) girls, not women in their twenties, and as usual he lost his manhood. I had neglected to mention she suddenly had breasts, and as previously mentioned her legs had grown longer, to the point she was struggling to walk on them. Her feet had become a bit smaller, though, so there was that.

That bit seemed to be over, so she now had rather odd looking slacks, an ill fitting shirt, and ridiculous looking shoes on. But that was, of course, all about to change. Her shoes turned yellow, even the bottom plates, and heels pushed out of the bottom as the laces vanished and the top plates filled in to create a boot. Her socks grew with the boots and stopped just below her knees to prevent the material rubbing against them. Her slacks had shrunk back as well, now just above her knees, and the legs merged together and the previous zip and button vanished, elastic now holding the garment in place. The skirt then grew a bit longer, to just below her knees, and turned purple.

Her polo lost its collar and changed into a purple T shirt, before a yellow short sleeved jacket appeared on top, complete with two pockets and a belt to hold it in place.

She looked over herself in confusion. "These colours are familiar, but the outfit isn't. Is this Celestia when she was a younger teacher?"

She took her glasses off and put them in a case that had magically materialised. She had long since stopped questioning things like that. It wasn't as if this whole TFing lark was about to start making sense now.

---

Miss Celestia wasn't convinced she was the target audience for this attraction. True, she had a vague idea of what Transformers was as her cousin Noctis was into them, but that was about it. Most of the attraction consisted of rolling about a set in a motion vehicle whilst sliding between screens showing indistinguishable hulks of metal punching one another. In a sense, she was glad to get off. It was so loud! At least Disney understood the importance of reasonable volume levels.

"Not even Luna plays speed metal that loudly," Celestia sighed, as she walked through the shop, having no real desire to buy anything here. Money was tight, as the school budget had been squeezed yet again. Swansonites had taken control of local government again and this meant she had to pay for supplies out of her own pocket. She stepped out of the shop and onto the waterfront, her skirt gently billowing in the breeze. She wondered where Luna was. She missed her, and hoped they could spend some time together.

"Miss Celestia! Help!"

Celestia knew that voice. It was Scootaloo! She immediately sprinted in that direction to see a fiery red sprit floating before the terrified student.

"Get away from her!" the teacher barked. "You are nothing but a nuisance! I do not care why you act the way you do, or your reasoning, but terrorising my students is something I will not tolerate!"

The entity turned around, seemingly a creature made entirely of fire. "Hello Celestia!" it smiled.

"Who are you?" Celestia asked, confused. "And how do you know my name?"

"I'm Daybreaker, the better, prettier, and more powerful version of you," the entity replied. "Unfortunately, your counterpart from my world has decided not to listen to me, so your body will have to do."

"I would ne-"

The entity flew forward and turned into gas, flying into Celestia's mouth and somewhere else, before the light faded.

"Miss Celestia!" Scootaloo cried, and ran over to the teacher, who had collapsed on the ground.

Celestia sat up, breathing heavily. "That was bizarre," she said simply, before getting to her feet. "Scootaloo, are you O-"

She never finished her sentence as intense cramping took over. She staggered to the lake, and tried to stay upright.

The barrier melted to her touch, and a jet of flame roared from it and into the water like a flamethrower. Celestia regarded her hand in horror. "Get away!" she shouted to Scootaloo.

"But you-"

"NOW!"

Celestia collapsed to the floor, clutching her chest in pain, and closed her eyes as she began to change yet again.

Something was crawling under her back, building in intensity, and she howled in pain as a pair of wings erupted from her back, tearing her jacket to shreds and ripping open the back of her shirt, which soon closed up again as the sleeves shrank back, meaning it was now effectively a strapless shirt. Her skin turned pale white, followed by her eyes igniting as flames shot out of them, setting a nearby stand on fire.

"CLEAR THE AREA!" shouted a security guard.

Her eyes had changed to a solid red, with deep maroon irises behind them replacing the whites. Metal plating ran along the wings, as a top plate sat atop the shirt, helping to hold it in place. Flame like spikes appeared from the bottom of the shirt as her skirt turned red and shrank back to above her knees. Another skirt with an open front appeared on top of that.

"See? You're already one hundred times better! Time to complete the process!"

Elbow length fingerless gloves appeared on her arms, with similar plates appearing on her legs above a pair of red shoes. These plates looked like cheese grater components.

Celestia's body began to get up without her even prompting it as a horn exploded out of her forehead in a fountain of flames, her normally blue and pink hair turning an intense orange. A faceplate attached itself to her forehead, which had an orange gem set into it, which seemed to shimmer in the heat as structures began to burn. She screamed as Daybreaker forcefully invaded her mind, trying to shut her out, but it was no use. One moment she was a terrified schoolteacher trapped in the body of a monster, the next there was no trace of her left.

Daybreaker took to the skies and laughed. Fireballs and jets of flame roared from her and set things on fire, including the explosion of a propane tank.

"DESPAIR, FOR I AM THE END OF DAYS!"

Author's Note:

I found this version of a younger Celestia on dA, and thought it'd be perfect for Jimmy in this chapter. Of course, what you really want to see is;

Jimmy originally suggested a different design, but I thought it was too risque. The Daybreaker TF sequence is based upon a comic series on dA which features various MLP characters messily transforming into dragons, very much in the visual style of Canadian director David Cronenberg. As excessive blood and gore would not only render this story an M but also be not very effective when described, I have toned it down to PG-13 level.

Swansonism is a branch of libertarian thinking named after Ron Swanson, a character in the Sitcom Parks and Recreation who expresses anti-government views despite being a government employee. The states that have tried it have generally come a cropper.

Comments

[The Blue EM2]

10185827
As do I. Daybreaker is the bringer of the apocalypse.

[The Blue EM2]

10185831
And fire.

[The Blue EM2]

10185919
It does.

[The Blue EM2]

10185973
More or less. Isn't it just bonkers?

[The Blue EM2]

10185983
It's exactly how I like to keep these stories.

[JimmyHook19]

Problem with the EG Daybreaker image that you used: It's link is forbidden. :/

[The Blue EM2]

10186327
It is Link? Did Ganondorf infiltrate proceedings?

[Godslittleprincess]

Wait. Universal got rid of the Hanna-Barbera ride? Okay, one how did I not notice that the last time I went to Universal? (Granted my only two visits to the place were YEARS apart, and I might have forgotten where all the rides were.) Two, AWWWWW!

Holy crud! That went dark real fast.

[The Blue EM2]

10398171
What is the AWWWW in reference to?