Set in the Pandemic Universe
Although the Southern and Central United States were some of the areas hardest hit by 2023's ETS pandemic, its reach extended beyond international borders. Carried on metal wings, people returning home from trips spread the virus to many whom they crossed. From there, wild spread was inevitable.
In Atlantic Canada, many such cases could be traced to arrivals or connecting flights out of Halifax Stanfield International Airport. The alleged primary case for the region was traveller and gambler, Jacen Cadlow, who returned home after an extended stay in Denver to recover from the flu. What made his case so bizarre wasn't just the unusual progression of his transformation, but also the conditions of his birth—so rare that no statistic existed to accurately quantify it.
Notes:
This story is set in the Pandemic universe brought to life by ASGeek2012. There will be no specific crossover, so prior knowledge isn't strictly necessary, but it would certainly be helpful. It is worth noting that the original Pandemic was penned prior to the Coronavirus pandemic that locked down much of the world from 2020 to late 2022. As such, this story is definitely considered an AU to Earth, a world where Covid-19 never occurred.
Rating notes: Profanity tag is self-explanatory. Sex tag for references to dalliances. Narcotics tag is present for smoking, as well as heavy use of painkillers late in transformation.
Ooh, another Pandemic Story! Can't wait to see where this one goes!
EU reference, your after my own heart!
Edit: I read some more, you went all in. Definitely one of my favorite books series.
Definitely interesting so far
It's 'the province of Nova Scotia' not 'the Nova Scotia province', also Canada's health authority is Health Canada
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Those two are actually intentionally written that way.
In the case of 'the Nova Scotia province', I've noticed that it seems rather flexible, and may or may not be a stylistic approach more than a solid rule. For example, if you look at newspaper articles referring to China's provinces and features in them, you may often see "... in Shanxi province..." or "Yangquan is the gateway of the Shanxi province." Heck, I've seen that same structuring referring to this province that I live in on World Atlas—"The Nova Scotia province is bounded by the Bay of Fundy..." We typically only use "the province of" in Canada because that's what we're used to seeing/hearing and likely what we're taught. Just a fun little jab at the oddities of this beautiful mutt of a language we speak. I'd think that, even with a translation spell, some things might stick out or come out not quite right simply because of how inconsistent English is.
As for "Canada's health authority," it can get confusing with so many separate branches, levels and organizational names. You've got Health Canada, you've got our CDC Equivalent, PHAC, or the Public Health Agency of Canada on the federal level, and then there's each province's individual myriad of health authorities. In the Atlantic region alone you've got the Horizon Health Network, Nova Scotia Health Authority, Eastern Health, Health PEI, Shannex, Medavie, IWK Health, and Vitalitè, without getting into those outside the region. I think I still have my Trillium health card somewhere from when I lived in Ontario. Even if the Equestria data analysts remained 100% professional, even they can't be faulted for collating it all under classification for simplicity when it's only being mentioned in passing. Actually, come to think of it, would it be Health Canada or PHAC contacting the CDC?
It's nice to see more regions outside the USA explored in the universe. While the USA and China are well documented, and Mexico and the Caribbean nations get some passing mentions, most other countries are largely question marks.
interesting story so far, keep it up.
Time to be split in twain
Not sure if I follow it right, transgender stuff tend to make it a bit confusing for me at times when reading it in a story. is it Jacen who is trans man or his friend? Looks like Jacen parasite twin, Lalla, is going to have her own body very soon, and looked like their are going with the cellular division route. I wonder what are the particular properties of Crystal pony that sets them apart from the other tribes?
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It's Gage that is trans-male.
It's not exactly a case of a parasitic twin, although it comes from the same process that can result in parasitic or conjoined twins. It's what is known as a vanishing twin, where one embryo is reabsorbed by the mother during development, or sometimes absorbed by the other embryo. Any number of things can cause it.
In the case of Jacen and his would-be twin, 'Jaina', the former absorbed the latter in utero a few months into the pregnancy. It's entirely possible that there may have been some of her brain tissue mixed up with his own, but it likely wouldn't have been enough to ever develop its own consciousness or personality.
'She', Not-Jaina, or whatever one might choose to refer to the 'manifestation', won't necessarily get a body. Conceptually, this entity is probably not dissimilar to what one might describe as a Tulpa, but for the fact that she is described as only ever manifesting when extremely stressed or during mental health crises, like the ongoing ETS crisis. Like a rogue AI transcending its purpose and simply desiring to live. Even if she's not considered entirely malicious—his attitude towards her isn't exactly a positive one—her conceptual existence is still entirely dependent on his continued survival. It seems entirely likely that, as ETS progresses, she'll cease to exist. Might be that ETS helps him get over his survivor's guilt, and he'll have no need for her. Might be that whatever part of his brain responsible for her existence is packed up in one half of the split, and 'merge' with that half of his consciousness and become something new.
(Lalla? What? When did Crystal pony come up? Pardon the pun but are you perhaps a bit mixed up?)
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Sorry, I thought it was implied that Jason/Jana were going to become crystal ponies. As for the name it was mix-up on my part it slipped my mind that his/their names where of the Sola Twins and not the the Anakin twines.
Well looks like it's going as expected, I wonder if they will both be pegasis once they become apart? I wonder what will be the major plot in this story and when it will come in.
I was thinking that Jacen was splitting into a Earth Pony and a Night Pony, so I was right on that. I can't wait to see how the two ponies are like after their transformation.
well [EXPLATIVE REDACTED] who ever has done this i am putting on keter duty for a week
🤔🤔🤔🤔
At some point, I would love to see what Jacen's pony forms look like.
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cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/835213848872615947/1153174119630766150/image.png
That's about as best I can get for Jinxi. Their new bodies will be closer to pony adolescents in size and shape, than adults, mind.
cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/835213848872615947/1153174119895023726/image.png
This was an earlier prototype for Lucky Streak, but I figured it'd make more sense if Jinxi and Lucky's coat an manes looked colour-swapped, so just imagine this young man to have her coat colour for a mane instead of straw-coloured.
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Cool! Thanks for sharing that.
Oops. Forgot the date counting in chapter titles was based on "How many days since first ETS symptoms in Jacen, minus two."
Jinxi love them scratchies
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A little too much.
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Dunno why, but I'm quite fond of ponies displaying catlike behaviour, especially our more protective night ponies.
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mhm, same as changelings from me, I love that
have fangs, will bite~
If a cute cat makes a bite, then I won’t be offended by him.
It would work just as well with a Batpony.
Thanks for the new chapter 👍
The other bat is one of those transformed by the virus, but how does the Moon connect with this world? Interesting.
It lives!
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Been a bit sidetracked by fic binging, and my other projects. ^.^;