Kyle was entirely frozen, staring at a creature that certainly wasn’t her sister. The more she moved, the more the traces of how glassy and transparent she had looked faded. Her brain fought against what she’d seen, and already the memory of it seemed hazy. Someone changed into a horse—that was terrible, but it also wasn’t unexpected. Fay had already shown she had that power.
She shook her head once, and when she looked again, she couldn’t see through Kara anymore. Her hair had a strange sheen to it, and there was a glint to her eyes that she couldn’t quite place.
Kyle glanced back down at Fay, making sure she was still sleeping. It was probably the medication—but then she had fallen asleep soon after changing Kyle. Once she’d eaten, anyway.
Kyle hesitated in the hallway a moment, giving the mysterious doctor a chance to scurry away with his equipment. This should’ve been you. Or maybe your partner, since Mars was the one who wanted to start without me. Absolute morons, you already knew she could do this! And now Kara was the one who paid the price, instead of the ones who deserved it.
Kyle strode quickly into the bedroom prepared for her, settling Fay near the center of the bed. It wasn’t the safest—she could still roll too far to one side or the other and fall. But a naked mattress on the floor didn’t give her much height, particularly with how big she was to begin with. It would have to do.
She shut the door quietly behind her, finally turning back towards Kara. The horse-creature didn’t look anything like her, not from the yellow of her coat to the pastel blues of her mane. Oh my god now she’s going to be naked all the time too.
Kara looked up, her eyes the same hazel she remembered, only much larger. Tears streamed down her face, though she was obviously fighting them. “Bro?” she asked, watching her as she approached. Kara was still shorter than she was, now that she’d been changed. Almost like their original heights had somehow been restored.
Was I transparent like that when I first changed? But my hair doesn’t look like hers. Kyle stopped just beside her, reaching out and settling one foreleg on her shoulder. It didn’t feel the same as touching her own body. Kara was smooth and cool to the touch, but not quite like skin. She fought her instinct to shiver, just meeting her eyes. “Yeah, Kara?”
“I need you to tell me I’m dreaming,” she said. Kara shook out her head, prodding at herself with one hoof. “I need you to help me wake up from this. I dozed off, or that creepy doctor lady jabbed me instead of the baby. I need you to tell me that.”
Kyle was silent for a few seconds. She didn’t pull her leg away, and soon enough she found Kara leaning up against her chest. Those were her pajamas torn to ribbons on the floor. She should’ve been petrified with embarrassment, but somehow just… couldn’t feel it.
“I would if I could,” she began. “When it first happened to me, I… I didn’t believe it either. Still doesn’t seem fair, or real, or…”
“Why?” Kara whispered, her voice barely even loud enough for Kyle to overhear. “What did I do?”
You could’ve tried to get me once they started poking at Fay. But that wasn’t what her sister needed right now. It still wasn’t her fault; she’d just been the one to take the bullet. “Nothing. It shouldn’t have been you.”
“Yeah.” Kara closed her eyes, whimpering quietly. “It shouldn’t have been you either, though. What were you supposed to do, just leave it to die? That’s not what happens in the movies. Aren’t things supposed to get better for the ones who do the right thing?”
What does that even mean? Kyle nodded stupidly anyway, doing her best to reassure her. It had been years since she’d been the one to reassure Kara, instead of the other way around. High school had turned their lives upside-down.
“It’s real,” Kara said, her voice still heavy with disbelief. “Even though it… can’t be. People don’t turn into animals.”
Except that doctor seems to think they do. And there’s the person I’m emailing, who even has a name for it. “No, they don’t.”
Kara was silent for a long time. Kyle could try to reassure her, but it still rang hollow. There was no arguing with what patently had happened. Kara wiped the moisture away from her face, before finally rising to unsteady hooves.
Kyle had been through this process before, so she didn’t need to watch closely. She could still remember that disorientation, fighting the instinct to stand up properly every moment. But when Kara tried, all she could do was wobble on her hooves before flopping back down with a click of hooves on wood.
It’s not the same sound as mine make. You’re something different. Why? “What happened, Kara? I thought you were going to wait until my exam was done.”
“That was the plan,” she said, spinning a slow circle to try and look at her tail. Once she found a mirror, she wasn’t going to like what she found.
Though it probably won’t be as hard for you. It can’t be that different than what you’re used to.
“But then Mars showed up, and started making demands. Your baby was not happy with her in the room, and she started freaking out so much I couldn’t really control her. That’s when Mars decided she needed drugs.”
At least some of Kara’s original energy was still there. “I’m not sure if she was aiming for Mars, or maybe it was the same as last time.”
“She might’ve felt threatened,” Kyle agreed. “So, she reached for the first person she trusted, and changed you. But it doesn’t seem the same as what she did to me. That’s… strange. I wonder why.”
“We’re not the same?” Kara asked, settling back onto her haunches. There was a hint of embarrassment on her face as she did so, tail tucking between her legs. So, she’d recovered enough to realize she was naked. “I sure feel like a fucking horse, bro.”
And if I had my phone handy, I’d take a selfie. “You’re a horse, but… there are some differences.” She poked her side, then touched her forehead. Kyle was even more careful than she would’ve been with a human. What if I break her by accident? Can people shatter? “No horn, no wings. You’re something else. Something hard. And you’ve got a mark, I don’t.”
Kara glanced over her shoulder, staring at it. It might be made of something like stone, but it was apparently just as flexible as Kyle’s. “Is that a stork?”
Kyle nodded. “Looks like one to me. I… have no idea what it means, don’t ask. I don’t know what any of this means. I’m just glad Fay didn’t kill you.
“Oh, there’s still time for that.” She rose, puffing out her chest. “How the hell am I supposed to hide this at school, Kyle? Varsity soccer plays tonight at six, what are they supposed to do without a point guard? We’ve got a meet for swim on Saturday, and aca-deca has a qualifier a week from now…”
You don’t have to rub it in. I get it, you had a life. “I want to change back as much as you, Kara. I’ve been doing my own research. I put up with that gremlin of a doctor even though I knew it was a waste of time.”
Yet even as she said it, the words felt untrue. She hadn’t expected any family doctor working for her grandfather to know anything. But both of them had acted entirely calm around them, and responded to the supernatural with scientific curiosity instead of terror.
But I can’t ask what the hell’s going on, because now they’re hiding from us. How is this worse than last time? You already knew Fay could change people.
“How close are you to that?” Kara rose, prodding her on the shoulder. “Go on, Kyle. Let’s see this miracle. Only you get to test it on me first, because if you do yourself and I’m stuck, I get to trample you to death. Horse rules.”
We don’t really look like horses. “Yeah. I’ll work on it. Laptop is out back, I’ll grab it. I don’t know what Mom and Dad can do now, though. Maybe they really should call in the national guard and quarantine this whole place. Like… what if it gets worse? We don’t know how powerful Fay is. What if she’s a little push needed to eradicate all humanity out of a false vacuum of biostability. Maybe she’s going to end the human race, and we could’ve stopped it.”
“Sure.” Kara glared at her, with the same expression she always used when Kyle had said something dumb. “But if we’re going to greater good ourselves, why not just use gasoline? It’s not like the army will do differently. They’ll just feel a little bad about it first.”
She was probably right, but some part of Kyle couldn’t help but think they were being selfish. Ultimately she dismissed the thought—not because of fear for herself, but Fay asleep in the other room. That baby wasn’t evil, and it wasn’t her fault. She couldn’t expose her to something like that, to get attacked and destroyed for something that wasn’t her fault.
It wasn’t even her fault she changed Kara. Mars should’ve been the one to get blasted. Then they could take as many samples as they wanted without making me hate being alive.
“I’ll be right back,” Kyle promised. “Same thing as before, run if Fay wakes up. But I’m just grabbing some stuff from outside.”
Kara nodded, standing again. “Cool cool, I could… use the privacy for a sec. And if I hear her, my signal will be that I’m running away in terror. I’m not going to let the little monster finish the job.”
Guess the brainwashing didn’t work on you.
Kyle walked past her, opening the door and settling it shut behind her moments later.
Her parents were both feet away, watching from a window inside the house. Mom had somehow got her hands on a surgical mask, which she wore like it would make a difference. Dad didn’t bother, holding Mom with more strength than Kyle had for Kara.
In his eyes was all the disappointment and despair Kyle had thought to expect. Do you think it’s my fault? I should’ve just left the baby to die? But the man didn’t turn away, or start yelling. Instead he reached forward, opening the kitchen window a crack. Enough to talk.
“We have to stay away from you,” he said. “Tell your sister that we want to be there for her. Unless you… are Kara. Are you?”
“No,” Theresa answered. “She wasn’t as big. Looked different.”
“Right. Well, tell her then. My father’s people… they’ll try to help. But now both of you are missing. It’s going to… make this harder to deal with. Harder to hide.” He braced one hand on the wall, steadying himself. Somehow, he managed to sound calm through all of it, and didn’t look away in disgust. “We’ll leave food on the doorstep for you. Please don’t leave any more than you have to. If the baby infects anyone else, this could be impossible to control.”
As though it isn’t already. “I will,” Kyle promised. “But you don’t have to stay that far away. Fay doesn’t just attack things at random. She only did that because they were giving her a medical exam without me there. She freaked out. She won’t do that if I’m there.”
Maybe her dad could hear the uncertainty in her voice. “We can’t let this spread,” Dad said again. “Doctor Imset seemed sure he had an angle.”
“How?” Mom asked, not even looking at Kyle anymore. “What’s the goddamn angle, Alan? My children are farm animals, and we might be next.”
Kyle backed away, towards the stable. She barely had enough strength left for herself—if she started trying to help Mom too, she’d probably just melt into a pile and die.
But Alan only made an unhelpful expression, the same the unnamed doctor had made. Or… Imset, maybe that was it? He did seem old enough. “There’s nothing else we can do, Theresa. The time to run from this ended as soon as Kyle brought it in the house.”
Kyle felt the weight of those words all the way to the stable. She didn’t try to argue—Dad was right.
This isn’t Kara’s fault, it’s mine.
see what happens when you don't turn friendly fire off, well on the bright side the family is kinda sticking together.
I’d honestly feel the same, but beating myself up a bit more and a lot of fake curses about myself for letting myself get a completely different voice. VAing requires some stability in ones larynx, after all.
10180415
What, you want her to use non-friendly fire? Remember what happen to the Castle's roof?
The fuck? They know it's a baby, and Kyle has realized that it's Mars fault for likely threatening Flurry Heart. All she did was transform Kara too. She didn't blow up the surrounding acres or anything.
Next moment, they're talking about the end of humanity? Infections? GASOLINE TO KILL FLURRY HEART?! Like what the actual hell, someone needs to talk some sense into them.
10180449
hehe considering, they got lucky xD
Well, it was their idea to ask the doctor, not her, they convinced her to let the doctor do it, and this is what happen, and now they point at the baby for being scared when someone she didn't know tried to experiment on her.
10180454
to be fair some parents i have met would do alot to protect or get revenge for their children but the problem here is that they arnt certin that kyle and kara are their children or if they are mind controled or if killing flurry would fix this along with the shock its pretty understandable how they feel
After all that his parents are still made of dumb. Just can't admit almost half of this is their fault.
Welcome, to the Starscribe zone!
Interesting tidbit. What has happened to this family?
Curious. Kara's certainly shown some aptitude for caretaking, but I still have to wonder whether Flurry copied one of her own nannies.
To a degree, yes, but the blame for Kara falls firmly on Nurse Babydrugger.
Still, pointing fingers doesn't help, regardless of their accuracy. This got much more than twice as complicated. Not sure what the family's going to do now, and neither are they.
I'm wondering when the worlds meet. I figure it may be a case of Twilight seeing them first before being able to make contact. I'm excited to see it go down.
It will also be interesting when the humans learn that the baby is from another world, not some lab.
10180449
I was hoping she could teleport Kara to equestria by accidental beam teleport, seen what happened when she accidentally turned a human into an alicorn which was to help feed her, might as well go two for two. It would also help twilight and Cadance not turn evil while help establishing a link to earth so they can get Flurry heart.
Might have to get to the end of the story for that, not the middle.
That seems fair.
seriously they parents need help. COMMON BLOODY SENSE SAYS TO HAVE THE PARENT OR GUARDIAN WITH THE KID DURING EXAMS AND KYLE FILLS THAT ROLE AND YOU JUST LET THE DOC EXAM! IT'S NOT KYLE'S GODDAMN FAULT FOR DOING A GOOD THING! IT'S YOUR BLOODY FAULT FOR GETTING THE DOC'S IN THERE AND MAKING THINGS WORSE!
Does Kara now count as human with regards to the magical contract he signed with the guy on the internet?
She's not a flipping disease! Gah but we want to strangle the parents. They have been given very clear evidence to the contrary but their cognitive dissonance is so strong they're blinded almost irrevocably to the truth.
All this self hatred is getting annoying. Why isn't anyone pissed at the so-called doctors?! They're directly responsible for the latest event get everyone's head is cut off. Honestly their irrationality and stupidity has brought shame all around. The entire disfunctional family is in dire need of counseling.
Keep going! ;)
I was so confused reading this, "wtf is 'aca-deca'?"
Then I finally realized it's supposed to be Academic Decathlon. At my high school it was always called ac-dec.
Things didn't go smoothly as planned. Pretty sure the medical staff won't be getting anymore samples. Surprisingly reckless even if they're just there for the research. Where exactly did gramps get these guys? Guess Alan still can't chew whatever happened. People react very differently to stress, but for the mental health of his children he'll have to turn around eventually.
10180415
Sorta... they're certainly doing the most logical thing and distancing themselves from Kyle and the baby (possibly Kara as well). But that's also going to increase stress for everyone involved. Not to mention how much worse Kyle's self-blame will get.
10180490
Yeah but needles plus baby minus guardian will certainly lead to a bad time. And I guess their patience for Flurry is wearing thin. There's only so much one can deal with a non-malicious powerful creature before it's just considered too dangerous to continue caring for. Kyle could certainly appease her but only for so long. Terrible twos might make it literally impossible. Heck, there's no guarantee that once Flurry is reunited with mom this whole mess won't happen again.
10180855
They should know that a baby is going to want her mom, a baby is going to be a baby, only this is a overpowered baby, and they should think about what could happen with their decisions, just like the doctor, if they do something about mom and baby they could become some monster, and if they somehow throw the mom out of house, that increase the chance someone find her and the chance of someone getting 2 + 2 or information about what happened and the parents life could go worse
Twilight better hurty
Disclaimer
I often refrain from leaving comments, and I often think of specific stories I am a fan of, and know I can overexpose them.
With that in mind, this reminds me of several things, one of which is a story I mentioned time after time, but given the title of this post, it should be acceptable.
The Equestrians had no right to get involved then and there, either, but that didn't stop them from meddling in Earth's affairs with good intentions with some very nasty results. They thought Earth's population was worse off being blissfully ignorant of magic and lacking any magic abilities of their own, and triggered magical development on Earth, which would have inevitably happened anyway, but they accelerated it, which got thousands killed and millions more unjustly locked up.
This here's another case of good deeds being punished, and not being that much more pleasant for the one allegedly benefiting from them. If you have ever seen that old series The Twilight Zone, you may recall an ep that featured regular people who gave birth to an abomination who makes things happen by merely thinking about them. It's often stated when children aren't disciplined they become unpleasant brats. It's even worse when you cannot punish them as doing so could make you disappear.
This reminds me of that. The boy is the only one who for no known reason can make things happen by thinking about them, and he uses this power to isolate his hometown and all within it from the rest of the world, and no communication traffic comes or goes in or out. Whether he made the entire outside world beyond the townline disappear completely, or simply made an impenetrable barrier around his hometown isn't made clear, but it is clear everyone is at his mercy. He doesn't usually make a habit out of hurting people if he doesn't think it's necessary, but he can read the minds of those he pays attention to. Note mind reading is an active, not passive thing here. He does not punish nor get rid of people at random, but anyone who continuously engages in activities that anger him are almost always sent beyond the town line, what happens then is only known to those sent there. On rare occasions he will maim and mutilate those who intentionally impede him.
One such instance involved a neighbor who criticised his decision to cut their town off from the world and he spontaneously combusted when the abomination thought about burning him alive. Another involved a beloved relative of his who is one of the few people he listens to and respects. He usually did what she said, but one day wanted her to shut up, and her jaw wired itself shut like a psychological trick.
What we saw in The Twilight Zone was an SOL story specifically introducing us to that town and its chief resident, and the results of six years of isolation and being subject to the whims of a child no one could control even at his earliest stages. What we see here is the beginning of that kind of status quo. The utter chaos witnessed here is the unknown manifesting itself, but the readers here have more inside knowledge. The presence of an A and B plot as opposed to an SOL story to introduce us to the characters and their situation is the difference.
Onto the finer details
Petrol. What in the world would anypo- anybody want with petrol under these circumstances? What would you do with it?
You cannot go around burning animals alive, as that's cruel.
In many fantastical tales, killing somep- somebody who cursed you undoes their deeds. I don't think that would work here, and it may just doom the hapless victims. Where TTZ paints bashing the kid's head in when he's not paying attention as a good thing, this does the opposite. The child doesn't belong to them, and knowing there's a real parent worried sick about them would portray them as villainous.
Into the Woods has a song titled "Your Fault" which is specifically to demonstrate and explain the uselessness of pointing fingers, which doesn't accomplish anything other than making folks angry and wasting energy and time with what is almost certainly a useless riot. The practical thing would be to realise Jack has been persistently stealing stuff, and since that was the main cause of all disasters, axeing him would save so many more lives.
Keeping cool heads and not shifting blame in endless back and fourths would be best here. Wait it out, sooner or later the cavalry will come. Even without that knowledge, and being stuck without a resource or other facts, playing it safe and presuming every one of them is disease ridden and stay away from everyp- everybody is commendable. Even keeping away from one another would not hurt either, one meter or three would do. They have the sheer property size for it to be practical. And do so for twenty eight days, add more if the slightest complication shows up. They clearly have the influence. And the groceries to not go out for months if need be. It's the best anyone can do without better knowledge, play it safe.
I would like to point out everyone in this story are idiots. I explained this situation to a science buddy of mine, and his reaction was to actually do something smart.
Conclusion: Kyle be smart, rest be dumb.
Change my mind and I'll pay you two bits.
Still,
FANTASTIC STORY!!!
Hmm.
On the one hand, I cannot entirely blame the reactions of Kyle's family, or Kyle himself, to this situation. Firstly this is because emotions are not generally something under much conscious control -- is it fair or logical for Kyle's parents to actively resent Flurry for her part in this? No. Are parents going to start out profoundly ill-disposed towards an unknown quantity that came into their life and hurt their children? Yes, of course.
Secondly, while it is logically unsound and largely pointless to actively blame Flurry for her actions, a fair degree of nervousness is warranted and logical. She's an innocent child -- but she's also demonstrably dangerous. A... not entirely fitting but serviceable metaphor would a tiger caught in a trap. It's not something that can be engaged in rational discourse -- you can't calm it down to get the trap off -- and you can't really blame it for not doing something it's simply not able to do, but at the same time it's a very dangerous entity that you need to be careful about. It's not fair to blame it, but you should still walk on eggshells around it.
So with Flurry. Hatred is not the right response, but neither is treating her like any other child. It's not surprising that Kyle's family is afraid of her -- in fact, beyond basic maternal instincts wired into his brain, so is Kyle. It's pretty clear from his internal monologue that fear is a major part of his relationship with Flurry -- most of his attempts to care for her are rather deliberately couched in terms of "if I don't keep her happy, she'll do something terrible" rather than a desire to care for her as an end in itself.
Of course, the doctors' stunt here was amateurish. Human or whatever else, you obviously wait to work on a child if their parent isn't around to calm her down. That's Child Psychology 101. Monday better know what he's talking about, because if these clowns are supposed to be the experts... tch.
10180595
Cadence is probably gonna slap some humans around first though.
That line stood out to me as significant. This implies that the parents have known about the magical side of the world but tried to hide from it for at least a significant portion of their lives, and that the 'it' is as much magic and the supernatural as he specifically meant flurry
What is a "point guard" in soccer? I played for years and never heard that position.
10180814
There's a song in Friendship Games called Acadeca.
I'm no magic expert but kyle hs the right idea. It's probably best to nother piss of a creature of immense magical prowess. Even worse of an idea if that creature is an infant with little understanding of their surroundings
I'm pretty sure this is yours "worldgate" spell
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/cded9a48-86f1-44ce-b9a7-2248f372f1fe/d2d8hi1-7a67afee-b847-48ad-b9d0-ae6cf40befe6.jpg/v1/fill/w_887,h_901,q_75,strp/arcane_by_somesortaasian-d2d8hi1.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwic3ViIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl0sIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiIvZi9jZGVkOWE0OC04NmYxLTQ0Y2UtYjlhNy0yMjQ4ZjM3MmYxZmUvZDJkOGhpMS03YTY3YWZlZS1iODQ3LTQ4YWQtYjlkMC1hZTZjZjQwYmVmZTYuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTg4NyIsImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9OTAxIn1dXX0.tmVILVB89XZH5sDrRp-33IhnUsl582OW1ox70gitWAY
They had one job...... Don't piss off the fucking BABY!!!!!
The Mom and Dad, are pure dumbasses. Like wow.
They should blame the nurse Mars for their daughter Tranformation.
alright I'm calling BS on that, I get being freaked out but if you are treating your children like they are infectious even though it is clear that it has to be done with obvious intent by a certain thing then I don't know what to say it wouldn't have been so bad if the whole idea of being transformed being contagious had come about because of the event caused by Mars but they were acting like that before the second transformation I mean Kara and Kyle's parents(though maybe more their dad) care more about themselves than their children, look I understand the point of view that stress is a factor in the parent's reactions but the fact is that family doesn't stop being family just because some members look different I think the father take a lot more after the grandparents than he realises.
Gotta say this reads like a horror story a little. Having to dance to the whims of a child alien god.
10561083
Agreed, the dad makes it almost sound like Kyle chose for this to happen or like he wanted it to happen. How much more strain will his patience take before he does or says something rash? Insert a rant about No son of mine or something.
Your son needs you, your daughter needs you, but you sir (the dad not the commenter) seem more concerned about how your parents will take it, how it affects your image.
If I had a child and something like this happened my first thought would be "oh god are you okay" not "ugh filthy unnatural animal disease things could ruin my precious family image"
Wew, so now we know who father dearest blames for this mess.
Also... Mars. Imset. yeah, they ain't giving away their true names.