> What was Missing
>  by Grate
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lawers Office
2:30pm

Stuart Middlemis sat patiently facing a large, gray suited man as he fussed over the documents piled neatly in front of him.  The downtown firm was used locally by head office, and they specialized in Conveyancing and Contracts.

The office was overfurnished and cluttered, with a haze of dust filtering the yellowish sunlight as made its way through the pebbled and dirty window situated high against the wall.

“And we are all done!” the gray suited man said, shuffling the last of the paperwork together.  The man’s eyes flicked beadily up at him as he reached a meaty paw across to shake Stuart’s.

He firmly grasped the offered hand and the man’s jowls wobbled as he nodded his head in affirmation.  “Thank you for making this easy Mr. Middlemis, it was a pleasure doing business with you…”


***


Middlemis Holdings 
5pm

“…will not believe what this chick can do, man!” ranted Matt. The shorter man pulled him along as he held his neck in a loose and brotherly lock. Half dragging Stuart through the office, he continued his rant, “I mean, dude, the ping pong balls literally hit the back of the room!” He gestured, imitating the ball’s progress.

Stuart managed a small smile as he unhooked Matt’s arm from around his neck and stood up straight once again.

“As awesome as that sounds…” he replied, raising his hands defensively as his friend gave him a mocking look of disapproval. “I’m afraid I’ll have to forgo the pleasures of Madam Lin for another night...” He grinned as Matt’s scowl deepened. “But please, don’t let me stop you.”

“Man, you always do this!  Every time you score a deal, it’s ‘Oh no, I need to do this’ or ‘I’d like to, but I have to do that'.  I swear dude, you need to cut loose when you win like this!  It’s like you don’t even care!” Matt sighs, throwing his hands dramatically in the air leaning back, as if appealing to a higher entity.

“Why, oh why can’t you at least go out and get blind drunk!?!”

Stuart gave a chuckle at his friend’s antics, opening the glass door leading to the lobby.

“I’ll see you on Monday, we have to go over the payroll for the new employees and audit their time sheets.  I’ll catch you then.” he replied, giving another chuckle as he exited the door, his friend remaining in his comical position, but rotating his hands to give him twin single fingered salutes before slumping back down defeated.


***


Southbound
5:30pm

Rain pattered against the windscreen, starring the yellow streetlights as they flicked by in an even pattern overhead.  The traffic was light at this hour, and ‘Hits from the ’90’s, Yesterday and Today’ were drifting by on the radio as Stuart smiled and tapped out the beat on the steering wheel.  It had taken all week, but he had just closed the deal on the last of the franchises in the area, achieving the goal he had set for himself when he decided to go out on his own.

Working his way up from the bottom, Stuart Middlemis, age 31, had gone from an out of work mechanic, to working in the Parts and Advice section of one of the biggest auto parts franchises in the country.  Not content to sit idle, he soon made Deputy Manager and then Store Manager. Even then, the thought of lining someone else’s pockets was too much for him, so he scrimped and saved until the opportunity arrived and he was able to buy into the business for himself.

Whilst Matt had insisted that they go out and enjoy themselves, Stuart decided that a weekend not recovering from a hangover could be better spent going over the financials of his new acquisition.

The man whom he had just met with (he had never bothered to remember his name…) was a Contract Lawyer.  He had dealt with him in the past, but today was his day!  After five years of wheeling and dealing, he had closed the deal and now owned all the stores in the area.  He now owned five stores.  Well, the bank owned two; he still had business loans out on this one and the Smithfield store, but damn it felt good to finally look back and see all that he had achieved.

He was still smiling as he took the off ramp, heading away from the motorway and through a scant few outlying suburbs before the road snaked its way down through a steep gorge and up out the other side.  The road itself was a narrow and twisting blacktop, well maintained for seasonal tourists and the more affluent local residents.  The drizzling rain hardly bothered his car as he made good time through the winding bends.  Stuart had grown up on these roads, and knew every twist and turn intimately.

Unfortunately, intimacy had always been an issue for him.  He’d had girlfriends and ‘acquaintances’ in the past, but recently it seemed his relationships were more one sided.  It wasn’t as if he disinterested in a relationship, it was just… he didn’t want one with any of the girls that he had met.

Sure, he had a few close friends.  Matt, for example.  His Personnel Manager at Middlemis Holdings had bought him on as an office lackey, but he had quickly shown he had merit, so Stuart had put him on as the Payroll Manager.  He was a great guy, a little full-on sometimes, but good for a laugh and a lighter perspective on things.

And… well, a few of the folks that he went to school with still waved back when he saw them on the street… mostly.

He lived in Glenmour, a holiday community and quiet little town where not much really happened, and old people came to spend their children’s inheritance before they no longer had use for it.  It got busy in the Summer and the holiday seasons, but other than that it was a sleepy village with a small and private population.

The small town had made its home in the nook between the steep Glenmour Gorge, and the lake that it backed on to, the not so surprisingly named Lake Glenmour.  It had been formed by a hydroelectric dam that had been constructed almost a century ago, but it still drew a crowd of avid water-skiers and fisherman in the summer months.

Its streets were deserted as the beams of his small white sports car swept over the Ma and Pa shops, gardens, and homes of its residents.  The still lake took on a shimmering quality as the drizzle eased and the moon broke through the cloud cover, lighting the scene in an eerie glow.

Stuart guided the low-slung car into the short drive that led to his front gate on the far side of town.  The gravel crunched wetly under his tyres as he slid down the driver’s window and swiped an RFID card on the small black box positioned on a post outside his gate, and waited as it rattled its way across before driving in.

Similarly, his garage door rose automatically to welcome the car into the three-bay workshop, lights flickering on so he could see once he alighted from the vehicle.  Popping the trunk from a button on the dash, he climbed out of the car and walked around to the garage door.  Pressing a large button inlaid between the bay doors activated the gate and garage door again, the latter shaking its way down and slowly blocking the floodlit gravel courtyard as it lowered.

Stuart flipped the trunk open to retrieve his leather attaché case, before closing the lid with a heavy ‘thunk’.  Squeezing past a cloth covered shell that resembled the outline of a sedan, he ducked under a truck still up on the hoist and made his way to the door that led to the inside of the four bedroom, two bathroom modern stilt-house he had lived in most of his life.

It had been his parents’ dream home, and it was quite large and spacious.  It was Stuart’s now, his father passing away from a sudden heart attack the year before, and his mother having gone missing shortly after his birth.  Her disappearance was part of local legend.  A new mother disappearing without a trace from her very home.  There were stories about her drowning in the lake, throwing herself from a cliff, and even some involving UFO’s.

All baseless and things of gossip and speculation.  The police had searched all these places, naturally, but after seven years missing she was legally declared deceased and the search ended.  His father though, had never stopped searching for her.  His tireless endeavors adding to the legend.  It also left him broke, alone and in failing health.  However, he had refused to sell the house in the belief that she would someday come home… a faith that was never rewarded.

Lights flicked on as he ambled his way through the house.  Making his way to his study, he placed the leather case down and switched on his office computer.  Noting the flashing red light on the office phone, he tapped in a code on the pad and waited for machine to replay its messages.

The first was from his old boss congratulating him on the deal.  He gave a short laugh.  Stuart got along well with Andy, who still ran one of the stores he now owned. The message read as much about Andy’s part in his success as it did his own.  As it played on, he parted the blinds and opened the sliding door of the study that led out onto the timber deck outside.

He let the damp air in, still smelling of rain and wet earth.  He breathed it in deeply as he stood facing out over the gorge.

Next message was from a girl… ‘Maree? Marly…?  Something like that…’  He thought to himself.  She didn’t sound pleased.  They had met at a bar, had a few drinks, and he had brought her home.  They’d had fun.  And that was it.  Sure, he hadn’t called her back; he didn’t even have her number, having never asked.  However, she had called back a few times, and he had for the most part ignored her.

Something out in the darkened slope out caught his eye, and he squinted in a vain attempt to see further out into the dark.  He wasn’t sure what it was, so he stepped out onto the deck to see if he could get a closer look.

He owned a good portion of the land below the residence, having never been any good for farming or building upon.

‘No good for anything else, either,’ he thought to himself, remembering his father telling him how he and his mother had got the land relatively cheap.

‘The two of them being in real estate had to have of helped,’ he smirked.

Whilst the steep block was no good for construction or cultivation, it was fantastic for small game.  Unfortunately, others also liked to take advantage of the forested block, and on numerous occasions his father was forced to call the police after hunters had made their way onto the property.  Not that he had minded overly, all they’d need to do was ask.  But it was the ones who neglected to do so and didn’t care where their shots fell that were the issue.

Looking out over the railing, he could make out a faint bluish white glow about halfway down the sloping rocky block as it fell away from the house.  He couldn’t make out the source of the light, but it was faint enough that it was barely visible. Stuart walked back through the hall and to the kitchen where he retrieved a flashlight from the pantry.

Returning to the railing, he checked that the glow hadn’t moved.  Seeing it still in place, he flashed his light in its direction to see if he got a response.  There was no reply.  It didn’t move or flash back and Stuart furrowed his brow.  There was nothing down there that would warrant the presence of a light, nor would there be any reason that someone would be down there given the weather.

He knew the area well, and worry started to form in the pit of his stomach.  The rock shelf that formed most of his property was quite close to the ground's surface.  It wouldn’t be the first time that the soil had slipped in the rain, and if some kid had been out adventuring in the scrubby land below his house, they could easily have been swept up in it.

His decision made, he quickly headed down the hall to his bedroom where he removed his expensive business suit. Grabbing a pair of jeans, he pulled them on and slipped an old t-shirt and hoodie over his upper body.  A pair of sturdy boots finished the hasty ensemble as he shrugged his way into a woolen jacket, grabbing his torch and phone before making his way outside.

Rounding the back corner of the house, he leapt the cattle fence at a corner stay and made his way precariously down the slope in the general direction of where he had seen the light.  About a hundred or so meters down, his fears were realized when he saw a barren scar where low scrub and leaf matted soil should have been.

Swearing to himself, he scampered down, sliding parallel to the slip until he could make out the base.  Wary of any additional slips from the unstable earth, he made his way onto the mounded soil and debris looking for any sign of the glowing light.

Looking about, he couldn’t find any trace of the glow until he turned around and looked back up the hill.  He couldn’t make it out at first, but the light glowed faintly against the dark backdrop of the freshly turned soil, and he had likely missed it on the way down due to focusing too much on where he was going.

Stuart cursed, and cautiously made his way back up the hill.  The glow seemed shielded from view due to his angle, like it was contained within something.  Getting closer, it became evident that that something was a shallow cave.  There was a small earth and stone shelf at the entrance and something inside was glowing softly blue.

The landslide had uncovered it and although it was quite low and narrow, Stuart could squat down on his haunches and peer inside.  The entrance was shallow, the cave turning left almost immediately. The glow beyond the corner seemed bright, and the change of direction was only a meter at most into the cave.  He wouldn’t even have to go all the way in, just lean in and look around to see what the mysterious glow was all about…

Common sense was to not go cave exploring at night in a landslide when no one knew where you were, but something seemed to be drawing him to it.  It was a feeling deep within his very being, and he couldn’t have stopped himself even if he wanted to.  And let’s face it, it was a mysterious glowing thing unearthed by a landslide, who wouldn’t have wanted to check it out.

Leaning in, he poked the flashlight around the corner and saw a passage that led down a rocky incline made of boulders and the roots of the larger trees that had once inhabited the hillside.  Deciding it looked sturdy enough, Stuart shuffled his way in and swiveled about so his legs were facing down the incline and stepped onto the first of the small boulders.

It held his weight easily, so he cautiously made his way stooped and hunched towards the source of the light.  A few meters in, he could make out a much larger area beyond the small slit he found himself in.  It seemed formed of natural Granite, but smoothed seemingly by the passage of time.  Rounding the corner, Stuart had to squint, momentarily blinded by the intense light seemingly coming from a small pool that had formed at the base of the cave.

As his eyes adjusted, he stared wide eyed at what he had found.  The cave was small but well-lit by the pool, tall enough to stand in though not by much.  It contained a pool of iridescently glowing water about two meters across, and in the center of the pool was a… tree?  No, not a tree, it looked like the roots of a tree coming straight up out of the very center of the glowing blue pool and forming a cradle of sorts.

And upon that cradle sat something that drew his attention like a moth to a flame.  A ball of incandescent energy, with motes randomly spinning and flickering about it, shone in the same iridescent blue as the pool in which its host sat.  It seemed to float of its own volition, suspended just above its living cradle.  Careful not to touch the glowing pond, Stuart reached across and let his hand hover near the orb.

Despite its glowing energy, it was as almost as if heat was drawn into it, as opposed to being generated by the light.  Letting his hand get closer, he could see that that the ball was slightly repelled by his proximity.  He hovered his hand about the orb, lightly pushing it about its perch.  He continued to do this until his hand made its way underneath, at which point it came away from the pedestal and sat hovering in his palm.

Leaning back away from the pool, Stuart straitened and bought the orb with him.  Blinking owlishly at his discovery, he held it closer for a better look.  Suddenly, the orb shot straight from his hand and hit him in the chest, and the last thing Stuart felt before passing out was the force of the impact throwing him backwards into the rear wall with a ‘Thump’ that forced the air from his lungs.
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Strange Cave
6am

Everything hurt.  Things were sore that should not have been sore.  It was like he had run a marathon the day before and not bothered to cool down.  He was cold, uncomfortable and most definitely not his bed.

‘Christ, what did I get up to last night?  This is the worst hangover I’ve had since I was a teenager…’ Stuart thought to himself.

Last night came back in spics and spates.  Him driving home still completely sober.  The landslide.  The cave.

‘The cave!’ He started, his eyes snapping open, wincing as he discovered a headache that hovered just below his conscience.  He looked about, expecting the glow of the pool… only to find that it was no longer lit.  It was dark in the cave, save a small sliver of morning sunlight that was making its way in from the entrance above.  ‘Just how long was I out?’ he wondered, glancing around his immediate vicinity.

The cave looked as it did last night, save the shallow pool was now just that, nothing more than a dirty leaf filled pool with a root strangely growing from its centre.  There was no glowing orb, and no mystic light whatsoever.

‘Yeah, because that bloody thing decided to cave my chest in,' he thought absently, reaching for the point where it had struck him last night.  Only something stopped him from reaching it.

A soft something which felt like it was attached to chest.

“What the fuck!” he exclaimed, his eyes widening at the sound of his now softer and feminine voice.

On instinct, his hands flew to his mouth to cover it, once again coming up short as they met his face much sooner than they should have.  It was like his face was longer… and covered in fur.  Remembering his earlier discovery, he slowly looked down.  His eyes crossed, first landing on an orange… nose?

‘Nope, waaay too big for that…’  Before shifting his gaze down to his chest.

‘Preeeetty sure I didn’t have those last night,’ he groused, his hands coming up and cupping the large mounds on his chest.

Flinching away almost immediately, his cheeks burned as his eyes widened in realisation.

“Yep… they’re real,” he commented in a lilting voice.  Stuarts protruding snout scrunched up at the sound of his voice, triggering another discovery as he felt his sensitive new ears flick around atop his head.

He reached up to touch them and found they were long and downy soft, and able to swivel in almost any direction.  Letting his hands fall, they knocked softly on a hard protrusion on the way down, causing a brief stab of pain.

His first thoughts were ‘Holy crap, I’ve got something lodged in my skull!’as he gently probed around its base to see what the damage was.

His initial worry soon proved false as the soft skin and light hair around it transitioned flawlessly from furred flesh to… horn?

“I have a friggin’ horn!?!” he panicked, coming out in a feminine squeal.  And hair!  A lot more that he was used to having… and for some reason it was blue…?

“Nooooo…” came an icy gasp, his every other thought coming to a complete standstill.

Stuart squirmed up in a seated position, fumbling with his jeans.  They were much tighter than he remembered, adding to his rapidly increasing panic attack.  Finally releasing the button, his hand was thrust down the front of his pants before he froze still.

Letting out a less than masculine ‘Eep,’ Stuart slowly drew out his hand and looked in his palm as if it would hold the answer to his missing genitalia.  His hand too was orange and covered in fur, but that meant little to him as he tried to process what had happened to him.

He had been blasted in the chest by a weird glowing thing, had passed out, and was now covered in fur.  He had some sort of horn, animal ears, and a… muzzle.

'Oh, and tits and a vagina.  Can’t forget that…'

His emotions began to build up, overflowing in a way that was completely foreign to him. Pressure built up behind his eyes and he let out a choking sob.  Stuart’s vision began to blur, his new muzzle scrunching once again as his eyes squeezed shut. and he let out a desperate cry.

“I don’ wanna be a girly freak...!” he sobbed childishly, throwing his head back and letting the tears run freely.

Suddenly, he could feel a pressure in his forehead, right below the horn that jutted forward from it.  His tightly closed eyes blinked open and his tears were briefly put on hold as he glanced up at the bright glow of his new horn.

Letting out a sniff, he blinked up at the blue glow a second time.  The light continued to glow brighter, the force of it beginning to create a dull ache at the base of his horn.  It suddenly flashed blindingly, engulfing his whole body and making him feel lighter than he ever thought possible.

Just as soon as the light appeared, it was gone again; save a single glowing mote hovering at face level.  The glowing light drifted its way back over to its living pedestal, hovered for a moment, and drew itself into the roots.

Stuart blinked once or twice at the empty vessel, before patting himself down to make sure that no other changes had taken place.  Thankfully, they had, and he was himself again!  With a triumphant cry his hands made their way over his body once more, before reaching back down to reconfirm his masculinity.  Never before had he felt so happy to be touching himself in private.

Still quite stiff and sore, Stuart refastened his pants and fetched his flashlight from where it fell, its batteries now drained.  Awkwardly crawling from where he sat, he couldn’t clamber out of the small cave fast enough.  Scrambling up the slope, he tried to make as much distance between the cave and himself as he could.  He was exhausted by the time he made the fence, and laboured his way over.

Finally feeling a sense of security with an albeit somewhat notional barrier between himself and the small cave, he sighed and made his way stiffly around the side of the house and let himself in.  His first stop was his en-suite bathroom, where he could confirm that he was still himself.

Happy to be free from additional features, Stuart took note of his dishevelled appearance.  He was cold to the bone, hungry, and still in a mild state of shock.  Hungry he could deal with later, but for now, a shower was in order.  He turned on the water and let it warm.  Slowly stripping his sodden clothing, Stuarts mind was full of doubt.

‘Was it real?  Did it really just happen or was it all just some shock induced hallucination?’  Stuart thought, and shook his head.

No.  Shower first, self-doubt later.  Adjusting the flow, he stepped into the stream and let the hot water do its thing.  He scrubbed the dirt from his hands and out of his hair, before just standing in the stream and letting his mind wander.  The logical part of his brain kicked in and he started to examine the facts.  No, he really had been a girl.  With fur.  And a horn.

That wasn’t something that should just happen out of the blue.  The obvious conclusion was it had something to do with the magical ball of energy that decided to thump him in the chest.  He massaged the spot it hit, a small smile forming from the memory of what happened last time he had tried to trace that spot.

Strangely, and in hindsight, it really didn’t seem to bother him as much as he thought it would.  In fact, it was kinda nice.  Stuart smirked.  In fact, now that he thought about it, it could have been kind of fun.  The longer he thought about it, the more it seemed to appeal to him.

Without the shock of having been blasted in chest and waking up in a strange place, and not to mention being in a completely new body, experiencing something like that again didn’t sound so bad.  If he could change back again, of course.

He then felt it, that pressure in his forehead again.  He startled in shock, almost slipping on the wet tile before the sensation just as suddenly ceased.  He stood there panting as he braced himself within the glass confines of the shower and let his rapid breathing and heart rate calm.

He leaned back against the tiled wall of the stall and tilted his head back as the shower continued to stream above.

‘Could he do it again?’ he pondered.  ‘SHOULD he...?’

Regarding his faint reflection on the steamy glass door opposite, Stuart felt his skin blush at the thought.  Closing his eyes, he once again concentrated on the feeling at the front of his skull.  It began again, and this time he let it run its course.

A sparkling blue light washed over him, causing his skin to tingle pleasantly.  Opening his eyes, he held up his hand and watched as it became more refined and supple, silky soft orange fur making its way across his arms and onto his hands.  It began to creep up his neck and he let out a low moan.

‘God, why does this feel so… GOOD!?!’ came the thought unbidden, as the hair on his head began to grow out, light blue overtaking his natural brown, with much lighter blue streaks making their way through it.

His ears began to tingle softly, sending a shiver down his spine as they started grow longer and gain a velvety orange coat. His pointed ears slowly began to creep their way up his scalp, through his lengthening hair.

A similar sensation suddenly came from his nipples, the warm water pelting against them causing his back to arch as he gasped and quickly crossed his hands over them.  He could feel them becoming plump and soft as the fur made its way down and began to cover them, somehow making them even softer to the touch.

Letting out another pleasurable moan, the pressure in his forehead moved out and away from his scalp as an orange horn peeked out from between his blue locks.  As it began to gain length, so too did his face, stretching into a short blunt muzzle.

He glanced down over his new face to his soft furred breasts, arms now crossed below them making them look larger than they first appeared.  Stuart felt his organs begin to shift as his waist slimmed, creating the illusion of an hour-glass.  A sliding sensation from his rear caused his smile to increase as he felt his hips widen against the slick tiled wall of the shower.

Stuart began to feel that she should be a little more concerned about these changes as they slowly progressed, but concern was far from what she was feeling right now.  With a gasp, Stuart’s eyes widened as her spine felt like it was stretching, lengthening in a way that should have been impossible.

“Mmmmn…” came the husky sound from deep within her throat as she leaned forward, placing her hands on her knees and letting the protrusion grow out.  She hadn’t noticed it last time, but she had a tail; and it was growing in long strands that were the same colours as her hair.  It began to fill out before becoming soaked by the warm water.  Despite the water, it still appeared full bodied, like that of a horse?

Stuart’s current train of thought was derailed by the fact she now had a clear view between her legs.  She gave a giggle when she noticed she had missed one of the most dramatic changes of all.  Where her penis had been was now a narrow cleft in her fur, a small tuft of orange marking its position and a slight parting of the fur where her new sex lay.

The new discovery was once again waylaid as she gave a short hitching intake of breath before almost toppling forward, her legs giving a crack as her bones reformed and her feet began to change, becoming something else entirely.  It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, more like cracking her joints when she felt stiff or cramped.

Standing upright she gave a small sigh.  ‘Finally…’ she thought, ‘Am I… done...?’.

The pressure had stopped from her horn, so it was safe to assume so.  Turning off the shower, she stepped out of the glass doors and onto the mat, leaning forward and using a furred forearm to wipe the mirror free of the steam that the fans had yet to ventilate from room.

The creature that looked back at her was definitely female.  Aside from the obvious, she had a slight frame and delicate features, with large expressive teal eyes that, while much bigger than her previous ones, matched her new visage perfectly.  Her hair was light blue with lighter streaks that ended just past her shoulders, and a short spiralling horn peeked out of her forehead.

And her figure was… amazing!  Stuart considered himself a bit of a hit with the ladies.  He had never met the right girl, but the eligibility of his bachelorhood was well known.  He felt some pride in knowing he had some smoking hot girls come his way, but damn, if she was reading the slack jaw and somewhat tingling red cheeks of her reflection right, she was HOT!  You know, for an orange horse thing…

She had a long blue tail in the same shades as her hair, and her legs ended in… stumps? ~Hooves~. Right… hooves.  Stuart shook her head.  Of course they were hooves.

Grabbing a towel from the hanger, Stuart began to try and dry off.  She quickly discovered that one towel wasn’t going to cut it, the first becoming soaked quite rapidly.  She reached for another getting more of the dripping water from her fur but quickly soaking that towel as well.  Realising that she was fighting a battle of attrition, she leaned down and opened the doors of the cabinet under the basin.

A cheap hair dryer was left here by one of his former girlfriends that had decided that two weeks together meant that she could basically move in.  It hadn’t worked out…

On the bright side, she could now put it to good use.  Plugging it into the wall, Stuart began to run it over her hair ~Mane~ …mane, fluffing it up from the inside out.  She let the warm air add volume to her striped blue mane before turning it on her fur.  Somewhat happy with her efforts, she sat on the closed toilet seat and applied the same technique to her tail, letting it fluff out.

Once she was satisfied, she stood and regarded herself in the mirror.  She was some kind of… Horse?  ~Pony~.  Pony, she was a pony.  With a horn, sooo… ~Unicorn~.  She was a… Unicorn?

‘Huh.  Well that made… sense?’ she thought with a tilt of her head.  She was a unicorn pony… thing.  She was sure there was a better term for a half human / half pony, but the correct terminology escaped her.

Her stomach took the opportunity to made its protests known by growling loudly, bringing an end to her internal reflection and reminding her that she was starving!

She smiled one last time at her reflection and turned with a flick of her tail at the departing image.  Walking out of the en-suite bathroom and into the bedroom, she opened the top drawer of her wooden chest only to realise that she no longer had the gear to go with the tackle.

A sly smile made its way across her face as she turned and went over to the closet off to her right.  Inside at the bottom was a calico bag that contained other miscellaneous items that had been left behind by some of his ex-partners.  Collecting the bag by its handles, she tipped the contents over the bed and began to sort through them.

Most of the underwear looked too small, so she settled on the largest set and slid them over her thighs.  They were a little tight around the hips, but settled nicely against her crotch.  They did seem kind of flimsy, ‘But then they didn’t have to hold much,’ she thought to herself, glancing down at the smooth line made by the underwear.

The one or two bras amongst the bunch were never going to fit.  It wasn’t that her breasts were that large, probably a C at best, but the fur made a big difference.  They would never get around her chest, so they were tossed aside.  Left without much option, she shrugged and went and picked out a plain black t-shirt from the second draw down, pulling it down over her head.

The tight black fabric accentuated her nipples in a way that her fur hid, and with a small smile she lifted her arms up and stretched.  Taking in the sight in the full-length mirror off the side of the closet, she lidded her eyes and posed a few different angles with her arms still above her head, causing the shirt to ride high and expose her tight black underwear.

“Damn girl, you are one sexy filly,” she breathed huskily, before breaking into laughter.  It had a ringing quality to it she liked, and she gave a grin at the thought of hearing it again.

A quick and cursory measure holding a set of pants against her hips was enough to confirm her old pants were never going to fit over her thighs and much rounder ass.  This somehow garnered a sense of pride and self-assurance as she returned the pants to the hanger and resolved she would just have to go pantless for the time being.

With a twirl of her hooves she headed back down the hall to the kitchen, her thighs swaying a little extra and letting her tail join in.

~If you’ve got it, filly, flaunt it~.

Stuart blinked as she came to a halt.  Huh, that was weird.  She shook her head as she entered the kitchen.  ‘Now, what do orange unicorn ponies eat for breakfast…?’
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Small Suburban Terrace
9:30am

Marcy glared at her phone.  ‘He still hasn’t returned my calls.  That prick!  I’m not some cheap one night stand!’ she huffed to herself, frowning as she did so.  ‘I'm not my mother…’  

Standing up, she strode out of her lounge.  Well, hers and her flat mate Julie…  who may have been around?  Marcy hardly saw her, as she seemed to spend all her time locked up in her room by herself.

She was going over there!  She’d bitch him out right to his smug jerk face, and, if there was another woman there, she would burn his house right to the fucking ground!!!  The window panes rattled as she slammed the front door, and she jumped into her aging hatchback, backing down the drive.

Marcy George was many things, but not a fool.  A part-time teacher's assistant at the local primary school, she was studying for her diploma and was just six months from becoming fully qualified as a teacher.  She had met Stuart fucking whatever his name was at a bar with a few college friends.  He had been charming, rich, and full of promises,  which did not include making her look like a naïve little girl to her friends!

Marcy fumed as she made her way through the early morning Saturday traffic, dodging cyclists and cars alike.  She headed out of the suburban sprawl and onto roads that steadily became narrower, and the houses fewer.

He had even driven her home about this time last week, and he had promised to call!  ‘Oh, she was making sure she got her call all right!  Ignore her will he!?!’  Her knuckles strained white as she gripped the steering wheel.  His place was pretty easy to find, getting in would be the only issue.

From memory, his property had a high front wall with a large gate, but the fences to the sides were rural cattle fences.  She gave a wicked grin.  ‘Ol’ Stewie boy didn’t bet on her being a country girl.  Cattle fences wouldn’t spare him her wrath!’  Marcy tapped the small stylised pink toy horse that hung from under her rear vision mirror.

“You and me, Pinky, we’ll show that jerk not to screw with us!” she declared, hunching over her steering wheel and increasing her speed.  Suddenly a ‘Whoop’ sounded from behind her as red and blue lights flashed in her rear mirror.

“Dammit, Dammit, DAMMIT!!!” she cried, slamming the heel of her hand into the steering wheel.  She indicated off and pulled into the shoulder.  Looking across at the passenger seat, she noted the distinct absence of a handbag, and with it her purse.  Marcy groaned and slumped forward with her arms resting on top of the wheel and buried her forehead into them.

The police officer tapped against the driver’s window, and with a slow exaggerated movement she pressed the button to lower the window without interrupting her position.

“Ma’am, can I see your driver’s license please?” asked the officer in a businesslike manner.

“Don’ got it…” she moaned into her arms, leaning back and staring at the roof of the car.  “I left it at home.”

The police officer took out a pad and pen and began writing.  “Ok Ma’am, we’ll get to that later, do you have a name or any other forms of ID?”

“Marcy George, and no, sorry officer, none…” she replied numbly.  ‘Oh God, why me!?!’

“Right.  Are you the owner of the vehicle?”

“Yes.  Look, I’m really sorry, I just left my house this morning in a hurry, and I forgot my handbag…”

The radio on the officer’s shoulder began to crackle as his partner in the car behind her fed him information, and he tilted it to listen in.

“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to exit the vehicle for me please.”

The officer ushered her off to the safe side of the car and went back to his partner as they addressed the cars database.  After a few nods and shakes of the head, the officer walked over and spoke to Marcy.

“Ma’am, can you please give me your name, date of birth and current address as per your driver’s license please?”

Marcy rattled off the required information as the policeman nodded along.

“Ok Miss George, are you aware that your registration expired two days ago?”

‘Oh, god dammit…’

“No, sorry, I mean I knew it was coming up, and I have the cash set aside, I just forgot that it was due now and…”  she sighed, “…and now I’m driving it unregistered, right…” she moaned, her posture falling as her eyes met the ground.

“Well…” the policeman replied “You have 48 hours to present yourself to a police station with your driver’s license, and if you go straight home from here, I’ll give you the same amount of time to get your registration renewed so long as you don’t drive it before you're all paid up.  Just be aware, if you have an accident in the meantime your insurance won’t cover you.”

‘Wait, what…?  No going to jail, or her car been hauled off to impound?’

“Oh!  Ah, thanks heaps!  I’m sooo sorry about this, and I promise it’ll never happen again!”

The officer just nodded and snapped his book shut.  “All right, you have a good day now, and straight home!  And remember, 48 hours!”

“Yep!  Got it, and thanks again officer…” She let her sentence hang.

“Richter.  Senior Constable Richter,” he said with a wave.  “Be careful on your way home now.”

“I will, thanks, bye!!!” she waved back before circling around her car and jumping in the driver’s seat.  Letting out a nervous sigh, she once again slumped forward, resting her chin in the wheel.  She absentmindedly batted at her Pinky Pie figure hanging from her mirror before letting out a gasp.

“My revenge!!!” she exclaimed, her head shooting up as she remembered her original plan.  But she had just been given a ‘get out of jail free’ card, and if she was seen again not going home…  Marcy’s eyes narrowed as she scrunched up her face into a scowl.

“You get out of this one Stewie boy, but I’m coming for you…” she muttered to herself, “And when I do…  oh boy, you better watch out!!!”

She swung the car around and drove back the way she came, the two police officers watching on having heard everything from through her open window.

“Hey Gary, why do the cute ones always have to be crazy?” he asked.

His partner gave a gruff laugh.  “Let me introduce you to something I like to call ‘The Dating Triangle’…”


***


Middlemis Household
10:30am

Apparently, eating cereal took some getting used to when your mouth was further out than you were used to, as did drinking from a mug.  This was evidenced by the numerous crumbs and drips down the front of her t-shirt.  She could do it with a little more grace now than when she started, but it was all in the way you held your tongue.  Literally.

Stuart sat at the kitchen’s breakfast nook on a stool trying to make her way through a light breakfast, or brunch as it were.  Late morning sunlight was making its way slowly across the open-plan space through the large bay windows and sliding doors that looked out over the Glenmour Gorge.

‘I’m going to have to buy more clothes if this is going to remain a trend,’ she absently thought to herself brushing the crumbs off her chest.  She blinked her eyes, momentarily confused at the direction her mind just took.  

‘Remain a trend…?  Did shhhh… HE!  Did HE intend on making this a common occurrence!?!  One that warranted the purchase of an additional wardrobe?’  Stuart shook his head.

What was he doing!?!  Sitting here with his legs crossed at his breakfast nook, dressed in a t-shirt and a pair of women’s underwear, considering buying even more of the same!?!  ‘Oh, and as and orange unicorn girl ~Mare~…mare,’ Stuart furrowed his brow.  Something in there wasn’t right, but he couldn’t quite put a finger on just what it was.

He was also beginning to think of himself in feminine terms.  When did that start?  Sure, he was a mare now, but what if it flowed over to his masculine side?  And why exactly did he decide to go ahead with it in the first place?

‘Well it felt amazing!’ she thought with a sleazy smile, 'I really wouldn’t mind doing THAT again…’  her mind said with a purr.  Stuart stretched out her topmost leg, keeping it folded across the other.

“And I’ll be damned if I’m not one sexy slice of ass,” she said with a hooded grin, admiring the shapeliness of the limb.  Stuart balled her fists and began to screw them into the side of her head.

“No, dammit!  NOT sexy!  Not OK!!!” she growled, flicking her leg off the other and standing up straight.

“That’s it, pony time is over!” she declared to the empty house.  Stuart strode purposefully out of the living space and into the hall, the lit screen of the office computer catching her eye on the way past.

“Well… these do cut in a bit, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to wreck them soon…” she mused, one hand going to her thigh where the tight black panties pinched a line in on her hips.  “And I bet it’s going to start to get a little sore for these girls if I keep walking around without support…”  she sounded out, justifying her thoughts to herself.

A short pause for consideration later, and she slid into her office chair before wincing as she sat on her tail.  ‘Yep, tail now…  gotta keep that in mind.’  

She bought up a search engine with a few clicks of the mouse and entered a search for women’s clothing.   She wouldn’t need anything fancy, just something practical to cover herself with and support her breasts.

Oh, and clothes that fit her better than guy’s clothes.  She didn’t know if her ass would even fit in a pair of her old jeans, and it would be nice to have something cut correctly for her new shape that she could wear around the house and not be half naked…

She clicked through a few items before running into a fatal flaw in her plan.  She had no idea what her size was.  Or, as the sizing charts indicated, if they were even calculated the same way guys were!  Clicking open a few new tabs, she entered searches for sizing charts, how to measure said sizes, and how the hell the cup sizing system actually worked.  She was pretty sure the ‘ratings system’ she was used to using wasn’t entirely mathematically correct.

Stuart pulled out a yellow legal pad and began to take notes.  She didn’t have anything like a dressmaker’s tape, so she’d have to improvise with a piece of rope or string.  Did she need an ‘underwire’?  She clicked open another tab and began to type.  Leaning back reminded her of another point.  She had a tail, would her clothes even fit?  The pair of underwear she was wearing were starched taut and rode below where her tail was, but if she got a set that fit…

The pen scratched out a steady cadence as her eyes flicked between the screen and the pad, researching the finer points of sizing and what was available.  Styles, features and matching capability with function, style with substance, she took it all in as she tapped away at her keyboard and filled pages with notes.  It wasn’t until she noticed that she was moving the pad ever closer to the screen, and the area’s outside its borders were becoming increasingly dark, that the day had slipped away from her.

With a start, she realised that she hadn’t even started on the deep dive she was meant to be doing into the finances and holdings of the new store.  Finalising a few of her notes, she flipped the written pages over and pulled out another yellow lined pad and placed it over top.  Stuart closed the searches (not before flagging a few of the sites), and opened an email browser to access the business files within the shared work space.

Flipping open the previously discarded attaché case, she pulled out a small collection of thick folders and placed them in front of her.  At a cursory glance, it looked much like every other store Stuart owned.  They pretty much all ran the same, but on a closer inspection, she could start to see significant inefficiencies in the way the business ran.  Worst of all, they were the same practices that were already in place, and that had been in place in all the other stores the whole time.

With a scowl, she leaned over to her filing cabinet and removed other similar folders.  There was no doubt.  Stuart had been running these stores the same way the whole time.  Why it hadn’t been picked up on earlier had her stumped, but now they stood out as clear as day.

Pages flipped up in front of her as she compared practices, stock levels and pricing while she scribbled on the pad to her front.  Squinting at some of the fine print on one page, she plucked it from the air and held it alongside another document to compare notes.  As it was floating.  In the air.

Stuart paused like a deer caught in a car’s headlights.  Shifting her eyes around, several pieces of paper were also floating about her, surrounded by a faint sparkling blue aura.  She slowly turned her head to see if there was anyone else in the room before noticing another glow just out of her vision above her.  Slowly rolling her eyes up, she found a similar glow was coming from her horn.

The shock of the discovery caused the light to go out, followed immediately by the glow holding documents floating around her as they dropped to the floor.

‘H-holy shit!!!  I can move things with my mind!?!’  Stuart blinked in astonishment, looking about the office.  Now that it had stopped, she could feel the absence of the tingling sensation that had gone unnoticed from her horn.  Looking between the papers and her horn, she let out a breath and concentrated on the feeling that had vanished when she’d dropped the papers.

Her horn began to glow with a sparkling blue aura and she drew in a breath.  Ever so slowly, she looked from her horn and to the pages, and imagined picking one of them up from the floor.  The page lifted effortlessly, and made it’s way over to her just as she had pictured.  Looking about the room, she swept her gaze over the rest and they followed suit.

“Well… this’ll save time?” she half asked herself, shuffling them about in order as they floated in front of her.  ‘So, I’m a MAGICAL transforming unicorn,’ she giggled to herself.

‘Alright princess, we have some serious corporate management to amend, and not a lot of time to do it,’ she thought, a determined look come upon her furred visage.  ‘Time to make some changes around here…’
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Glenmour wellspring had not always resided where it currently sat.  Its Protector at the time was forced into action when plans were revealed to flood the valley, creating a lake that would feed the planned Greater Valley Hydroelectric Dam.  This meant that a new wellspring would need to be located on the other side of the leyline that followed a large spur, bordered by the valley on one side, and a large gorge on the other.

It is no small feat to move a wellspring.  They were placed where they were due to providing an optimal zero point for the formation of a dimensional leyline transfer.  Any variation or miscalculation and the transfer point was no longer at a correct zero, and became unstable and unpredictable.  In this case, the wellspring was formed on the final ley node of the line and terminated the leyline cleanly, allowing for a predictable and even flow of magic.

The new location was to be on a branch line, one that formed off an earlier node but was still theoretically capable of conducting a parallel transfer protocol so long as it was terminated more thoroughly than the rest of the ley.  This, in theory, would make it the new final termination point and re-route the flow through this branch line rather than the previous route into the valley, much like a river changing course over time.

It had taken a team of mages from Celestia’s Academy months of planning and weeks of preparation before they were ready to move the Scion, and then almost three months of hard work by their archano-mathematics division to predict the variables they theoretically required to even attempt a safe dimensional transfer.

It had worked, but stability and surge issues were generated by the still quite strong flow along the previous line, and the new terminal node only drew on the flow periodically whilst the gate was being used.  This meant unpredictable mana surges that were destructive to the line and caused micro-fissures along the Ley.

This was usually a natural occurrence that happened over time, however, the accelerated deterioration also meant that continuous revisions had to be created for the formula to keep the Ley stable.  Eventually it was such a mess of corrections and counter-corrections that it became no longer viable as a long term solution.

In the end, it was decided that if the Glenmour wellspring was ever going to remain stable it would need two unicorn attendants, one each side to bridge the gap.  This ultimately proved successful; so much so that over the generations it became the most sought-after position within the guard.

The human side’s protector took on a local form and integrated into the population, learning much about the human world and passing it on to those who would come after them.  It was seen as a very prestigious position, and competition for the placement led to similar positions being raised for the other wellsprings across Equestria and the rest of the human world.

Strictly speaking, the human side protectors were not needed in any other location other than the Glenmour site, but the opportunity to learn the differing cultures around the alien world was too promising a prospect to let go to waste, so they were deployed into the population where they served as stewards on the far side.

Operation of a wellspring was a simple matter, but it was governed by one of the most powerful magics known to ponydom.  A wish.  One would stand before the wellspring with a wish in their heart that they could see the other side.  The magic that was formed linked the two worlds via their leylines and created a small portal through which the wisher could view the far side.

Equestria’s mages had taken the concept further, empowering the wish via the use of scions, plants with the ability to draw on the ambient magic in the area, transfer it via the portal if required, and store it almost indefinitely.  The scion could then be coaxed and manipulated to modify the portal to allow matter to pass from one dimension to the other.

It worked (in theory) for any of the three tribes of pony, however, the Glenmour scion and its Equestrian counterpart required two unicorns to activate the rift.  They needed to power the transfer by feeding magic into an artificial singularity, a fancy term for a small ball of magic that provided a focal point for the leylines to bridge.

This had to occur on both sides of the portal simultaneously.  Unless both singularities were actively being fed, the leylines would not synchronise and a stable connection could not be made.  This was how they got around the constantly changing ebb and flow of Mana from the unstable Ley node, and were able to maintain a portal close to the Glenmour district.

This opened a portal through the pool at the base of the scion, that would remain open for a short period of time.  From there, the portal operated just as any of the other portals to the world.  No additional input was required once it was open, as the Scion took care of the rest.  How long it remained open varied from site to site due to the strength of the leyline and the amount of magic stored within the Scion.

Still, all that was required of the Glenmour protectors was to feed a little magic into the scion, and for the one of the unicorns to make their wish.  Without an active local link between the worlds, a schedule was set up for weekly links to be carried out so that updates could be sent back and forth, researchers could come and go, and experiments could be tracked and worked upon.

Time and progress was going to leave its mark upon the project however, and the burgeoning small town of Glenmour began to expand as it grew in popularity with local tourists once the lake was established.  The town was encroaching a little too close towards the hidden portal for comfort, and the young local protector shared her grievances with command, suggesting a plan to protect the wellspring.

Velvet Touch was an interesting case when it came to protectors.  She was a royal guard and had proven to be one of the best at a young age.  Even though her talent was not one that was usually associated with Celestia’s elite, she scored top marks all the way through training, and had risen up the ranks quickly.  She had applied for the Glenmour position on a whim, and was rapt when she was accepted as the human side protector.

Upon induction, she had taken on the role of a student at a local high school, and then a junior real estate secretary in town when she ‘graduated’.  Her plan was simple.  Have the real estate she worked at purchase the land that the wellspring sat upon, subdivide the title and ensure that she took possession of the block on which it sat.  It involved quite a bit of risk on her part, but if anypony had the talent for what was required to pull it off, it was her.

She selected her target carefully, confident in her talent and her ability to make the most of it.  Velvet selected one of the up and coming junior partners, a young man who had shown promise and was offered a partnership based on a few key deals going his way.  She slowly seduced him over a matter of weeks, dates out of work hours leading to an inevitable and ‘healthy’ sexual relationship.

During pillow talk one night she laid out the beginnings of her plan.  It started with an offhand comment which he made note of and she dismissed as a whim, only for him to draw upon the concept to show that he was interested and receptive to her ‘needs’.  She had made sure that the concept held water, obviously, and the more the young man thought it through, the more it sounded like a good idea.

Sensing an opportunity to make a lot of money, not to mention looking like the perfect boyfriend to his hot new girlfriend, he took the idea to the other partners and sold them a proposal of premium residential blocks just out of town with views out over the gorge.  The partners ate it up, cash registers ringing for them at the possibility of making their small town into a popular and affluent prime real estate venue.  They went ahead with negotiations with developers and convinced the current owner to part with an otherwise unproductive parcel of land.

The senior partners were none too surprised when he asked for his (quite sizeable) commission on the deal to be a part payment on one of the blocks.  He’d asked for one of less desirable portions, but who were they to argue?  They got to flip the block for a profit, which was better than letting it sit there and be sold under estimation.  It further helped his case that he was financially backed by his new girlfriend, who had quite a bit of capital from a family trust fund she seemed to have free access to.

During the negotiation process with the developers and over the time that followed, what started out as a means to secure the safety of the Glenmour Wellspring site become a fully-fledged romance for Velvet Touch.  Shortly after they had taken possession of their lavishly appointed new home, she was made Mrs. Vanessa Middlemis in front of a smattering of close friends who wished the new couple well.


***


Middlemis Household
5pm

Stuart awoke with a snort.  Her back ached and her tail was numb from falling asleep in her office chair.  The fur on her face was matted and damp from where she had lain her head on her arms, and a string of drool hung from her bottom lip until she wiped her muzzle with the back of her arm.

The last she remembered was the shallow light of dawn making way for mid-morning through the large windows facing out over the gorge.  She had been in the final stages of finishing up her new proposal when she’d laid her head down for a few seconds after spending all night in her research.  The long shadows that loomed across the room suggested she had made the short rest into a much longer nap.

Slapping her face about to help get rid of the drowsiness, she slowly replaced the last of the scattered paperwork and put it back into order.  Stuart quickly flipped through the proposal to confirm that she had it mostly covered.  It was quite simple in its concept, as all good plans were.  Where this one shone was in the ease of execution and minimal outlay of expense.

For the initial phase, there wasn’t going to be any sweeping changes, although privately she had taken note of where they were needed.  The majority of what she was proposing could be implemented locally at Stuart’s own stores without approval from the body corporate.  She fully intended to implement them as soon as it was viable to do so and let them run for at least a quarter as proof of concept.

The rest of the document covered a few flaws in the corporate business model and stock practices that would be easy and trouble free for them to implement should she successfully sell the idea to them.

These of course set the basis for some major shake-ups that Stuart would keep under wraps for the time being.  No need to show all her cards at once.  Once the changes had been implemented and proven successful, the next proposal would almost be a natural progression for the company to make, including changes to warehousing practices and logistics.  And so long as no one else saw the how obvious the progression was and beat her to the punch, Stuart Middlemis stood to make quite a bit on efficiency gains by being first to implement them.

The odds of been beaten seemed low, seeing as no one else had seen the seemingly obvious holes in the way the business was run—herself included.  Something had just ‘clicked’ for her, making it seem all so easy.  She picked up the whole stack and dropped it into her leather attaché before standing and stretching until her back popped.

She slapped her tongue against the top of her mouth a few times, rubbing her aching jaw and shaking out her stiff limbs.  She absently noted that the last time she had eaten was a late breakfast the day before, and ambled her way back out to the kitchen.  The dishes from the day before still stood in the sink, so she began to run some water to wash them.

While the water warmed up, she opened the fridge to see what she had.  Nothing really appealed to her until she opened the vegetable crisper.  A salad had never sounded so inviting.  She guessed it made sense, fitting in with what she supposed were her new dietary requirements.

Dropping the plug into the sink and adding detergent, she took out a chopping board and began making a garden salad.  She was done by the time the sink filled, and turned off the tap.  Leaving the dishes to soak, she tossed the salad into a large bowl, drizzling a French dressing over the top.

Stuart settled in at the breakfast nook on a stool and stabbed into the salad with a fork.  Eating this way was much easier than with breakfast cereal, and she munched away happily on the meal.  Pausing after a few bites, she stopped and looked at the fork.  With a mischievous grin, she placed it back down on the counter and levitated it up with her magic.

Stabbing it back down into the salad, she leaned forward as she fed herself with the fork.  Humming happily whilst she chewed, she thought to herself, ‘This unicorn gig isn’t half bad’.


***


Rotary Park, Glenmour
5:30pm

Marcy’s hatchback pulled into a vacant car park on the foreshore of Lake Glenmour on the far side of town.  The staff at her local police station had been pleasant enough when she had fronted earlier that day, and she had provided her license and a receipt for her registration and insurance.  It had cost her close to everything she had to re-register and insure her car, and it meant that she would miss a repayment for a second month in a row.  Not much she could do about it now.

What she could do something about was that jerk Stuart!  She stepped out of her car, and was in the process of locking her door when she heard a voice behind her.

“Oh my, you look just like my Sandra when she was your age…” said an elderly woman with a walking frame.  “She had hair done up just like yours.  She could be a real bother sometimes, and the things she used to do made me worry so,” the old woman continued.

“Oh, I’m sure all daughters make their mothers worry,” Marcy replied, giving a placating smile.  “I guess my mother probably feels the same.” She finished with a soft laugh.  That was a lie.  She hadn’t spoken to her mother in quite some time.  They had fallen out several years ago, and she really couldn’t say what she thought of her.

“Now that can’t be true, you look like such a sweet girl, dear.  Why, back when I was your age, I used to be a school teacher.  I could always tell which of the students were going to be trouble.  They would go around school, always pretending to be nice when the teachers were around, but we knew what they were up to.  They would always think that we didn’t see the things that they got up to, but we saw the things they did…” the elderly matron went on, recounting how students were back when she was a teacher.

“That’s amazing, I’m studying to be a teacher myself,” answered Marcy in a conversational tone once the blue haired lady came to a natural pause in her story.  “I’m almost finished with my diploma, and I’ll be looking for a placement sometime next year.”

“Oh!  Well, congratulations are in order for you then!  You’ll love being a teacher dear, but mind you, it isn’t easy work.  Back in my day, Glenmour didn’t have a school so you had to go all the way into town to get to the school.”  The old lady gestured off towards the city.

“Back then the roads were all dirt, and on a day that the weather was poor it was a struggle to get to work.  This one time my car got bogged down on the road and I had no way to get into the school, so I had to walk the rest of the way.” she continued.

“There were no cuttings in the gorge back then, so the road was steeper…” she meandered on, the shadows growing longer and longer as she kept regaling Marcy with her stories of yesteryear.

Marcy fidgeted in place as she tried not to be rude to the elderly lady as she went on and on.  In time the old woman also began to notice the passage of time and looked about herself worryingly.

“I can walk you home if you would like,” offered Marcy.  “I’d hate to see anything happen to you on the way.”

The woman beamed at her.  “Oh, thank you, you are such a thoughtful girl.  If it wouldn’t be too much trouble…?”

“Of course not.  Please, after you,” Marcy offered, following on alongside while the older lady continued on about days’ past.

Arriving outside of a pleasant looking weatherboard house, the elderly lady turned to her.  “Dear, would you like to come in for some tea?  Or if you like, I could cook you dinner as a thank you for taking the time to listen to an old woman.  It wouldn’t be a bother…” she said, looking up at her hopefully.

Marcy felt awkward as she found herself in a tough spot.  The elderly lady looked desperately lonely, and she couldn’t bring herself to break her heart.  With an internal sigh, she nodded and gave her best smile.

“I would love to, thank you very much.”


***


Middlemis Household
6pm

Towelling her forearms with a dishcloth, Stuart left the dishes to drain and cleaned up the last of her mess.  She had put it off long enough, and had run out of excuses to remain in her pony form.  She had decided enough was enough, and that she would at least spend the night as a human male before returning to work the next day.

Hooking the towel over the drying rack off the side of the granite topped bench, she turned about and headed down the hall to finally achieve what she had failed to do the night before.  Entering her room, she struggled out of the tight-fitting shirt and threw it into the laundry basket conveniently located near the ensuite door.  She paused for a second before wiggling her way out of her underwear and tossing them in after the shirt.

She stood there naked, a light blush on her cheeks as she stared at the reflection in the mirror.  Her mouth made an ‘o’ as she looked herself up and down, subconsciously covering her breasts and crotch as she took in her pony form.  It was her… him.  The reflection was something that at the same time was Stuart Middlemis, and conversely was not.  She felt remarkably comfortable like this, as if it were a second skin; as much a part of herself as not.

She closed her eyes and gently shook her head.  No, she would investigate all this another time.  There was too much to go through, and she had to get ready for work tomorrow, as well as get in a proper night’s rest before tackling the working week.

The cave down the hill also warranted further investigation, to see if she could decipher what had gone on the previous night that had led to her wearing a body other than the one she was used to.  But the time for that was not now.  It was time she once again became Stuart Middlemis, male entrepreneur, instead of Stuart Middlemis, unicorn mare.

She gave an amused snort.  ‘Calling yourself ‘Stuart’ when you’re female sounds weird.  I’ll need another name for when…’  Stuart smacked herself on the side of her face.  She was getting off track again.  Pony time was well and truly over, and it was time for her to become a him again.  She frowned at her reflection and gave a resolute nod.

It was time.


***


Glenmour
7:30pm

Marcy waved goodbye to the blue haired old lady as the made her way back down the dark and quiet street, lit occasionally by the sparse street lights.  She hadn’t wanted to spend so long away from her task, but at the same time she felt a warm feeling in her chest from taking the time to make a little old lady’s life that little less gray.  She had a skip in her step as she rounded the corner and made her way back to her car.

As she got closer, she noticed something didn’t look quite right with the profile of the vehicle.  On closer inspection, it looked as if something was wrong with one of her front wheels…

An icy shiver ran down her spine as she felt her stomach plunge.  She ran the rest of the way over and stopped short as she recognised the clamp on her front wheel, a paper slip fluttering under her windscreen wiper.

She swore loudly and kicked the yellow clamp, instantly regretting her action as she let out a yelp and hopped in place holding her stinging foot, swearing and muttering to herself as she limped in a circle cursing her luck.  She looked back and forward desperately trying to find the marshal that had clamped her car, but the parking lot was deserted.

Her shoulders sagged as she made her way over and snatched up the ticket.  She had violated a two hour parking limit, and now owed $60 to the local council, plus a $20 fee to have the clamp removed.  Marcy almost tore the ticket up on the spot, but managed to keep some semblance of calm by breathing in deeply and exhaling through her mouth a few times, drawing her arms in and out as she did so.

Right, first thing, she needed a ride home.  It seemed as though Stuart the jerkfaced jerk had avoided his fate for a second time, but it didn’t mean he was off the hook.  She’d be back, and nothing would stop her next time!

She whipped out her phone and dialled her home number.  After about a dozen or so rings, her housemate finally made it out of her room and answered with a soft “Hello…?”

“Julie!  Hi, it’s Marcy.  Hey, HUGE favour, I’m stuck out at Glenmour because some jerk marshal clamped my car, could I please get a ride back home?” she begged.  Julie almost never left her room for anything, and asking her to drive out in the middle of the night to an out of the way place was kind of a big ask.

“Oh…  I-I don’t know…”

“Awww, Come on!  I’m in the lurch here!  Please?” she pleaded.

“Oh.  Um… isn’t there someone else that could come get you?  I mean, I don’t really see that well at night, and, um, I don’t know the way…”

Marcy grit her teeth.  “No, that’s fine, I’ll find another way,” she snapped, shutting down her phone abruptly.

Dammit!  Now what was she going to do!?!  She didn’t know anyone here other than stupid Stuart…  her eyes narrowed as her mouth turned up into a wicked grin.

She could still sort that miserable jerk out by having him drive her home, where he would be a captive audience and completely unable to ignore her.  She would still need to get a cab out to Glenmour in the morning to sort out the fine and get her car back, but that would be tomorrow Marcy’s problem.

She turned on her heel and strode purposely towards Stuart’s place.  He’d listen to her, one way or the other!
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Middlemis Household
7:30pm

Stuart stood in front of the mirror with determination written across her furry face.  She needed to transform herself back into her human male self, but was unsure how exactly it was done.  Last time, it just sort of happened when she broke down in tears, finding herself transformed into a fluffy female.

She thought back to the feelings she had when she had transformed back in the cave.  It seemed that it was an emotional response that caused her magic to ignite, flashing her back into a human male.  It felt wholly different from when she transformed into a pony.  The thought made her blush.

‘Yeah, different doesn’t even come close.’

What would it take this time?  It wasn’t as if she could just break down again and expect it to work, could she?  Each time she had used her magic, it felt subtly different in her horn.  It was therefore logical to assume that each different type of magic had its own feeling associated with it.  Stuart could kind of remember what it had felt like last time, so that was the logical place to start.

Glancing up, she gently shifted her awareness into her horn.  For good reason, it seemed to make sense to not force it.  When had forcing something you didn’t truly understand help anyone?  And this was some sort of magic, using force could only ever end poorly.  She could once again feel a slight pressure at the base of her horn, before it began to leach gently forward and along its orange length.

A soft blue shimmer appeared as she felt her magic come to life. ‘Right, well that’s step one, I guess,’ she thought, looking up at the glow.  ‘Now, what do I do with you…?’

It was a feeling unlike any other.  She could feel it building, like trying to hold back a tide with a garden trowel, but at the same time knowing that she could.  It was a force of potential, a tsunami of infinite mass that whispered to her heart in the faintest voice, yet screamed to be heard.

It felt as if it was measuring her wants with her needs, and this was where she was sure she could talk to it, to shape it into whatever she wanted so long as it satisfied her magics call.  She whispered to it in the same way it spoke to her, from her heart.  She wanted to look as she once did, and needed it to be so.

Her magic seemed to measure her request on a scale truth as she slowly closed her eyes and let it engulf her.  She found she could not lie to her magic in the same way she could not lie to her heart, it was a part of her as much as it was a part of everything and the nothing in-between.

Her magic found her want lacking, latching on to a faint pang of disappointment and a feeling of regret at losing her unicorn body.  However, her needs outweighed them by a greater amount as it was what was required to fit in; in a world where her kind were not known and even less understood.  Her magic felt almost begrudging in its acceptance, but the flow of her magic increased and she felt a familiar lightness as her body became diffused with light.


***


Not everypony knew about the wellsprings.  Celestia had kept them secret for good reason, and knowledge of their existence was spread only as far as the Royal Guard, and the ‘Academy’, or more correctly, Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.  This was by no means a tight or select group, so the security of this ‘secret’ was far from watertight.

So, it was somewhat of a surprise for her when she found that the core of a group opposed to their existence came from within, rather than outsiders that knew precious little of the project’s goals.

A core group of scientists, academics, and guards formed, harshly opposed the existence of a series of portals between Equestria and an alien world.  They were quite vocal in their opinions when they bought them to her however, she dismissed them out of hoof, citing the benefits and the cultural boon that came from forming ties with the human world.

This angered the group, and they began to protest the project by refusing to co-operate in the case of the academics, or participate in the case of the guards.  This led to clashes within the organization and things took a nasty turn for the worse when some of the participants began to sabotage operations, leading to dangerous occurrences or ruining data past the point that it was useless.

Seeing no other option, Celestia stepped in and weeded out those who opposed the wellsprings so the project could continue on unabated.  This proved to be effective in the short term, but was seen as cleaning house of some of the more extreme or vocal elements within both organizations, and was for the most part greeted with animosity and distrust.

Further, it also meant that she no longer had a means to watch or control those who plotted against the project, or in recent cases, protested her rule.

The angry and disenfranchised opponents eventually formed a tight knit and private group, and set about finding funding.  This proved difficult to do without triggering her interest in them, so they turned to less savory means to fund their operations.

As their desperation grew, they became increasingly radicalized, and many who had started the organization were replaced by those with more extreme agendas.

The aim of the group shifted from merely shutting down operation of the Wellsprings, to destroying them and using the fallout to implicate the crown in wrongdoing.  They planned to depose Celestia for her role in their creation and began to recruit from the more dangerous organizations those opposed her.  In doing so, they became one of the most organized and potentially deadly terrorist groups in Equestria without even committing a single act.

The fact that they were able to do so in almost total secrecy was also the means they had to formulate their plan.  Their triumphant opening salvo upon Equestria would bring to them the means bring an end to the wellsprings, and once and for all bring the fall of the ‘Deceitful Sun’ as they had named her.

They believed that the ponies of Equestria would praise their names as those who served to right their wrongs, and give thanks to the group for their new-found freedom, elevating them to hero status and allowing them primacy in the new regime under the collective name of ‘Spriggan’.


***


Outside the Middlemis household
7:45pm

Marcy stood by the side of the deserted road with her hand on her hips as she assessed her options.  Whilst walking down the hill on the other side of the wall and jumping the lower cattle fence was an option, she wanted to avoid the barbed wire if at all possible, and if she was honest, the wall at the front of the property wasn’t that tall.  She could scale it easily.  Probably.

As she made her way down from the road and towards the fence, she could see how viewing it from the road higher up the slope made it look lower than she first expected.  ‘No worries, I’ve got this,’ she thought confidently, ‘How hard can it be…?’

After three aborted attempts to statically pounce up the wall using her cat-like reflexes, she strode back up the hill a few meters and launched herself from a running jump.  Whilst she managed to grasp the top of the wall with her fingers, she failed to maintain any sort of grip with her feet, and ended up hanging from the top of the wall with the rest of her body hanging flat against its surface.

She considered letting herself drop, but with her breasts squished hard up against the wall the likelihood of a nasty rash from the rendered surface did not appeal to her in the slightest.  She figured that she could try and kick away from the wall, but doubted that her straining fingers could take it and she would lose control of the fall and end up on her butt.

As she was considering her options, she could hear a car approaching along the road above.  ‘If I just hang here, and stay still, they shouldn’t see me… right?' she thought, crossing her everything in hope.

That hope was quickly dashed as she heard the gravel on the road protest as the vehicle came to an abrupt halt.  Suddenly, she was surrounded by a spotlight as she heard the sound of a car door opening and closing.

“You there, on the wall!  Police!  What are you doing!?!”

‘Oh, bugger me with a cheese grater…’ Marcy thought to herself, lightly thumping her head against the wall.

“Umm… a little help?  I’m kind of stuck…” she replied sheepishly, still hanging from the wall.

After a short pause, she heard the police officer’s sliding footsteps as he made his way down the hill towards her perch.

“Ma’am, how did you get up there in the first place?” asked the officer as he placed a shoulder under her left foot so she could take the strain off her arms.

“Ahhh… I jumped?” she replied sheepishly.

“I see…  let’s get you down now shall we?  Can you make it if I catch you?”

“Um… I guess?” replied Macie, biting her bottom lip.

“Whenever you’re ready…”

Lifting her foot from his shoulder she sprung out from the wall letting herself drop.  The slope of the ground made it a hard landing, and her tailbone would have borne the brunt had she not been caught before her rear hit the ground.

“… Ah, we meet again…”

Now she was off the wall and the spotlight was behind her, she could make out the features of the officer that had saved her.

“O-oh, hello again,” she replied in a small voice, recognizing the police officer that had pulled her over the day before.

“Mind telling me why I just rescued you from a wall in the dark when I know you don’t live around here?” asked Senior Constable Richter as he helped her fully to her feet.

“Well… it’s kinda a long story?” she replied sheepishly.  “My car got clamped and now I can’t get home, so I thought I’d get… my boyfriend to give me a lift home!” she grinned up at the officer.  ‘Ha!  The perfect cover story!’

“And you were climbing his front fence because…?”

‘Dammit!’  “Oh!  Because I wanted it to be a surprise!”

Richter looked at her dubiously.  “OK then, let’s just go on inside and see your boyfriend then shall we, and sort out getting you a ride home.”

“NO!”  Marcy all but shouted.  “I mean, no, I’m sure that he is busy and all, no need to worry him…” she sweated looking down from his gaze and off to the side.

“Ah ha, I figured,” he replied in a deadpan voice, “Would you like a lift home?”  It was more a statement then a question.

“Yes please…” came her timid response.  He had seen right through her, and she wasn’t going to argue.

“Can we please just stop by my car so I can get my things?”

“Sure thing, and next time ma’am, consider not breaking into your ‘boyfriends’ place to ‘surprise’ him.  I tend to find the front door works better.”

“Yes sir,” she answered softly, like a student caught doing the wrong thing.

‘Dammit!  Next time Stuart, next time!!!’


***


Inside the Middlemis Household
7:45pm

‘Well, that was different…’ Stuart mused, flipping his hand back and forth in front of his face.

Unlike when he changed from a human into a pony, it was all done in a flash.  It felt different, like he had been packed into this form.  It was a feeling completely at odds with when he went the other way, which felt as though he was… being released from his bindings.

Stuart frowned at the implications of this.  Was it somehow related to mass?  Or because he was proportioned differently?  Either way, he wasn’t going to find the answers to these questions tonight.  That didn’t stop them from occupying his thoughts.  He also felt tired, like all his energy had just been drained from him.

Knowing he would likely not sleep tonight with these questions plaguing him, despite his drowsiness, he fell back on a method that had worked in the past.  Retrieving a fresh pad and a pen from his home office, he slumped down on his bed and transferred his questions onto the pad.

What was the strange tree that grew out of the pond?  Why did the pond glow?  Why did it stop?  What was the glowing ball of energy and why had it suddenly decide that his chest was a target, and that gender flipping him into mythical magical unicorn girl ~Mare~ ...mare was a recipe for a ‘good Friday night’?

Stuart continued to scratch down questions on the pad as his eyelids grew heavier and the list longer.  Placing it by his nightstand, he flicked off the lights and slept in his bed for the first night in what seemed like a long time.


***


Middlemis Holdings
Morning

The next day found him surprisingly spry and well rested, and he made it to the office early and ahead of the rest of his staff.  Stuart answered a few emails as the rest of the office drifted in, seeing the boss hard at work before many of them had even had their morning coffee.

He called Matt over as he saw him enter and the two of them stood at the door to his office to chat.

“Hey boss, get all that ‘work’ out of your system over the weekend?”

“More than you would know...” he replied with a grin, “I’ve got a whole stack of new proposals that I’ll need you help with, I intend to shake things up a little now that we control all the stores in the region.”

“OK, that sounds promising, I’m always ready to give you a hand whenever you need me”

“Good, I’ll look forward to it then.” he finished, looking over Matt’s shoulder just in time to see the girls in the office bullring duck back down from where they were watching the two.  He gave them a quizzical glare and looked back to Matt.

“I’ll cover what I’m planning at the 10 o’clock KPI meeting, but I need you to get a head start on those pay audits.  I want the last three years audited so I know if we owe any of our new staff back pay, or if they have been scamming the system.”  he said with a nod.

“We are going to be busy over the next few weeks, so as soon as we can get all the ‘i’s dotted and the ‘t’s crossed the sooner we can get started on my new proposals and have them ready for end of year stock-take.”

“Isn’t that a little tight?  Stock-take starts in two weeks and the boxing day sales the week after.  It seems you're cutting it kind of fine,” replied Matt,  “Are you sure you want to go re-inventing the wheel this close to the end of the year?”

Stuart gave a predatory smile. “Surer than ever.”
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Middlemis Holdings
10am

The 10 am conference usually covered key points of interest, and occurred every Monday morning.  It allowed Stuart to get together with his store managers and his office staff, where he would receive updates from his stores and figures from his managers, and he would have the opportunity to pass on anything that had come up in the last week from corporate and give out tasks as required.

They were all seated at the long table in the sparse but modern conference room with their spreadsheets and reports in front of them, with the exception of the new store manager, whom he had a personal visit scheduled with the next day.  Stuart took his seat and opened with the briefs from the stores as he always did.  He then moved on to his business managers for their briefs and points for the store managers.

He nodded along with speakers, asking questions where they were needed and noting down their responses.  Once they were finished, he folded his fingers together and placed his chin on them as he took a moment to figure out how he was going to approach his new proposal.  He opened with the obvious first, reminding all - in case they had missed it - that they were taking on another store and that it would impact all of them as they had to share an additional load.

“However, we are going to have to really earn our paychecks in the next two weeks,” he smiled, trying to frame it in a positive light.  “What this opens us up to is an opportunity that will knock only once.  We now have a small window in which we can exploit to make some real productivity gains and reduce our stock-on-hand burden significantly.

“Currently, we don’t hold the same stock levels uniformly across our stores.  This makes forecasting a nightmare,” he added with a nod to his stock manager, who returned the nod in concession, “and we tend to hold specialist items at different stores across our network.

“What we are going to do, starting today, is start our Christmas stock take early.  We will then cross level across all our stores so that we hold the same stock across the board, and hold surplus at the warehouse.” Stuart paused, letting the manages catch up with their furious scribbling.

“That sounds good from my end, but what about the warehouse?  They aren’t just going to…”

“They will now that we are their sole customer.  I plan on heading out over there on Wednesday,” Stuart said, pre-empting Brian, his stock manager.

“And I know about their issues with the inventory software, I’ll address it when I’m there.  Like I said, this opportunity wasn’t available to us before, but now we have the period between now and the Boxing Day sales to make some significant changes without it hurting the business or our stock levels.”

Brian thought it through and bobbed his head evidently surprised, returning to his notes.

“All specialist parts will be reduced to floor stock only, the same with performance parts.  Historically, the customers that want them will either buy them online, or wait a day or two until we get them in.  We won’t lose them as customers on this, and we won’t have expensive stock on hand that is difficult to move.

“Any remaining and NOS surplus can go as Boxing Day bargains below cost.  We’ll make up the difference with the rest of the parts and tools we sell once we get feet through the door.  Like I said earlier, we stand to benefit from the ease of forecasting and lack of backlog, and we can still test and adjust stock level as we go.”

Stuart finalised his proposal and asked for questions.  After clarification on a few points, he dismissed the meeting and returned to his office.  He looked up as he heard a rap on the door and saw Matt leaning casually against the frame.

“You know, just from preliminary estimates and off the top of my head, you stand to save quite a bit from just moving forward the stock take alone.  I bet you save at least 35% in wages seeing as they aren’t working overtime and over the holiday period, and if we time this right, you will be spot on for holdings come 26 December and STILL be able to forecast the first quarter, when everyone else is running about trying to balance stock sheets.’ He grinned. “Impressive.”

Stuart leaned back in his chair, “That savings is going into the Christmas bonuses this year, so make sure you’re tracking it,” he said as he meshed his fingers behind his head.  “It’s an incidental gain, I’m thinking big picture.  Once we go online and do proof of concept, I’m going all in on this.  We’ll beat the other franchises to the punch, and it’ll look good next time we front the board for review.”

“Good point I guess.  Corporate is a sucker for good returns; sales or savings.  This’ll make them look good in front of the stockholders and you’ll get a nice little bonus.  Remember us little guys when you’re hobnobbing it with the big boys,” Matt joked, making a lewd gesture indicating sodomy.

This seemed to once again garner the attention of the girls in the centre of the office, who seemed more interested in their conversation than was warranted.  He moved his head to the side to see how many there were, causing them all to disappear from view as soon as he seemed to notice them.  Shrugging his shoulders, he turned his attention back to his friend.

“Could be a worthwhile investment opportunity, it’ll be worth following up.”

“Yeah, I’ll leave all that to you, I don’t like to shit in my own nest.”

“Fair call,” Stuart used the opportunity to change the topic.  “I’ll need you tomorrow when we go over to the new store, it’ll give you an opportunity to get some face time with the manager and the store clerks, so they have a face to pin to their dartboard when they don’t get paid.”

“We wouldn’t want that now, would we,” he replied.  “Sure, I’m free, let’s call it a date.” He mocked.

“Ok, but only if you’re paying, and you better know how to treat a girl,” Stuart laughed in reply, dismissing Matt to get on with his tasks.


***


Middlemis Holdings
11am

Tracy Wilson was never one for office politics, but when it was this juicy, she couldn’t resist.  She wheeled her chair back so she could see around the divider in the bullring and talk to the assistant stock manager, Bree.

“Did you see that?  What do you think all that was about?” she asked with a mischievous grin.

“I’m not sure, but it sounds like those two are planning something for tonight,” Bree giggled behind her hand.

“A sexy something,” came a voice from over the divider, as the assistant sales girl chimed in.

“Elle’s just jealous she can’t watch,” came a giggle from the other side of the four-way divider.

“And who wouldn’t want to watch when it comes to those two,” Bree replied with a mock growl, causing a giggle to break out across the bullring.

“Which of the two do you reckon… you know…” asked the advertising assistant, Becky.

This caused a muffled snort from Tracy and a titter of laughter from the other girls.

“You work with him Tracy, which one do you think Matt is?” joked Bree, wearing a large grin as she leant back and addressed her with the challenge.

“Well, I just work for the guy, I’m not his mother, but if I had to guess,” she said, holding up her pinky finger, “Little spoon?”

This was met by a chorus of muffled laughter as the four girls tried to hold back their glee.


***


Stuarts Office
Just prior to lunch

The problem with management was that sometimes you just had to let the cogs turn before you can go on with what you need to do.  There were things that just took time, and you had to wait until they were done by the workers that you hire to do them.  All he needed to do was make sure that he was ready when the tasks and returns came across his desk for action.

It didn’t take Stuart long to get all his ducks lined up in a row so that when the ‘cogs’ caught up, he could just sign off on whatever it was and get the next part of the plan on its way.  His time was usually spent doing busy work like this, but the last few weeks had seen him have everything in order so that there would be no interruptions in the negotiations for the new store.

In other words, he was bored and had nothing to do.

On other occasions when he found himself with little work to do, he’d spend time researching things of interest.  Usually it was parts for his Dad’s truck, or the impossible search for bits and pieces for the old 2002 Turbo that sat under wraps in his garage.  Today, it was women’s clothing.

Ensuring he had legitimate work sitting in the background should the need arise, he opened a few of the tabs he had saved the weekend before on his home computer and began to browse.  According to his notes, there was a whole range of different cuts and sizes for various items of clothing.  Take panties for example.  bikini cut, brazilian, boy leg, full brief, g-string, all of them different, and yet very similar.

Keeping his tail in mind, it narrowed down the choice significantly.  Most tended to ride high at the back, and were quite lacy or made with elastic waist bands, so modifying them would either be a technical challenge or impossible.  With the exception of a few, it only really left g-string as a viable option.

‘Great,’ Stuart thought to himself, ‘so much for non-sexy around the house wear.’

Bras were a little easier; whilst the range could boggle your mind if you let it, it came down to what you wanted it to do.  Approaching the issue with an engineering mindset, he was able to dismiss features like wires, push up and plunge bras, as well as strapless, demi and ¾ cup.  It left a range of modest and practical bras that he could mix and match as required.

Tops were not an issue, there was no limit as to what you could get.  It beat shopping as a guy where your choices were limited to if you wanted a collar or not.

Pants were going to be the logistical issue.  Zips and fur were not good bedfellows, and the makeup of hooved legs meant that either flexibility or length would be a deciding factor.  There was no doubt as to whether or not they needed to be modified, he just needed the tools and know how to achieve the task.

Skirts and dresses were right out.

Stuart remembered seeing some books on sewing stacked up in some old boxes that contained things of his mother’s that his father had kept, likely because they either held irreplaceable memories or no monetary value.  They should suffice for some light reading on the topic, but he would need the right tools to get the job done.  He ran a search on haberdashery stores and scrolled through the list until he found one close to his route home.

He should be able to get a dress makers tape, thread and a sewing machine all from the same place, and it would give him an opportunity to see what else they sold, should he need it at a later date.  He did his shopping about online, as the store closed for the day at the same time his office did.  If he let early, he could still make the pickup time for the goods he ordered now, instead of having to shop for items as the store was closing.

He picked out a mid-range sewing machine that seemed to be good quality, but didn’t have things like programmable embroidery or other things he thought he wouldn’t need, while still retaining useful features like button hole and different stitch presets.  He ordered the other odds and ends and chose the pickup in store option on checkout.

Too bad he couldn’t do the same for the clothing.  He needed his female sizes before ordering anything.  The internet made things a whole lot easier, but there were just some things that needed to be done manually.  It also helped keep his anonymity, not having to go into retail stores and justify his patronage, not to mention it was outright less embarrassing than being seen buying women’s clothes.

Lunch came and with it Stuart’s customary out-of-the-office time.  He had learnt the hard way that if you stay at work over lunch time, you end up working over your break.  It was inevitable and something to be discouraged in his workers, so he led by example and tried to make a habit of eating outside the workplace.

He made his way down to his favourite cafe and found a seat with a good view of the footpaths outside.  Ordering a coffee and a light lunch, he settled in looking out over the hustle and bustle of the lunchtime crowd.  People watching was a guilty habit of his, but it now took on a different meaning for him.  He found his eye drawn more to what the women were wearing more than the women themselves.  One thing that surprised him was the number of women wearing business attire.

They were a staple of this part of town, but he had never really taken much notice until today.  Some of them came off as mousy and dull, but others really spoke a lot for the woman wearing it.  It wasn’t just the suit, either.  Their hair, accessories and even their shoes were coordinated to achieve either a strong message or a no-nonsense attitude.

Stuart took mental notes on what worked and what didn’t as he watched the world go by, and almost missed the waiter as he delivered his lunch.  The effect also carried over to men to a lesser degree, who were primarily set apart by the quality of the cut and price of the fabric.

The women had the advantage of accessorising and uses of splashes of colour.  They seemed to work more towards highlighting their supple necklines than their breasts, drawing the eye up to their faces so they could use their more potent weapons for negotiation and pressing their point.

It was a subtle thing he hadn’t noticed before, but now that he was looking for it, it stood out all the more.  There was merit to the technique, and it was worth learning, if for no other reason than to add to his knowledge base of tips and tricks in the business world.

Lunch ended and Stuart went back to work, finishing his day and signing off on the few things that came across his desk that afternoon. He waved off his office staff as he left early for the day to pick up his purchases from the sewing centre he had ordered online.  They had them boxed up and ready waiting for him, so he was able to sign for them and was once again on his way home.

As the garage door rattled its way down, he turned and began to unload the boxes from his car.  They went into the old guest room.  It was now mostly unused as family and friends had gravitated away from them as his father’s search for his mother had become all consuming.

He changed out of his suit and put a new load of washing on, placing the load that was hanging to dry into the dryer to soften it up.  Changing into track pants and a shirt, he made his way back out to the garage to sort through a few of the boxes that took up the back wall.

The ones on top contained materials of his fathers that mostly consisted of keepsakes and materials he had used when trying to track down his mother.  There were folders upon folders of material amongst it which he had never read.  Stuart had left his father to do the searching for the most part.  It wasn’t his crusade, and he had never really met his mother, so he stayed right away from it.  She was gone, and that was all there was to it.

He hefted them down and began to rummage through the older boxes that retained the memories of the woman he had never known.  He found the yellowed and fox eared books below an old photo album and retrieved them, quickly flipping through the covers before returning a few that didn’t cover the topic he was searching for.

He moved to return the photo album, but paused, flipping the cover open.   She was a real beauty, but he already knew that.  It was a wonder how his awkward and skinny father had managed to score a bird like that, but he had.  A nostalgic smile made its way across his face as he browsed through some of the couple’s happy moments, including some towards the end where his mother cradled a wrapped bundle that could only have been him in his infancy.  He was barely 8 months old when she had disappeared, so he held no real memories of her for himself.

He stacked the album with the sewing books and closed up the carton, pushing the rest of the boxes up out of the way.  Grabbing his stack of books, he made his way back inside and flopped down on the couch, placing the stack on the coffee table.  He flicked on a news channel for background noise as he picked up the first of the glossy covered sewing books and began leafing through the pages.

They were old, but then again, the basics never change.
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ponyville
Morning

Quick Break was a serious pony.  She was serious about the guard, she was serious about her job, and she was just as serious about this latest posting.  Some other ponies thought it a pointless task, but what others saw as pointless, she saw as ‘enduring in its importance’.

The Wellspring was a part of an abandoned project from about thirty years ago, but unlike the other sites from the failed mission, this one still held a potentially active link to whatever was on the other side.  The details were classified, but her job was to maintain security of the site and monitor the Scion to see if it varied in any way.

There was a series of observations that had to be made using sensitive equipment supplied by the Academy, but other than that, her main task was site security.

Previous guards had shirked their duty in many respects.  It came with a cottage outside the small hamlet of Ponyville, and due to the secret nature of the task it required the guard to not openly wear a uniform, or disclose that they were a member of the guard.

Everypony in town knew it was the case however, as she was welcomed into town with a party naming her as the ‘new guard in town.’  When she had reported this grievous miscarriage of operational security to her chain of command, they dismissed the allegations and told her to enjoy her stay.

She also suspected that the reports that were returned to command three times a week were mostly fabricated, as the output and size of the Scions singularity hadn’t changed in the entire time it had been monitored since the project was shut down.

She had set about ensuring that wasn’t the case whilst she was in charge.  Quick made her way into a green painted garden shed at the back of the cottage’s garden and opened its wooden door.  She lit the crystal lantern by tapping it twice with a hoof and closed the door behind her.

Before her stood a steel door that rivaled that of the guard’s most secure armories.  It was a cumbersome effort for a pegasus to open, but she set about twirling dials and shifting wheels with practiced ease. Eventually the bolts retracted with a ‘Clang’ and she flapped her grey wings to aid her in opening the heavy door.

She trotted into the heavily fortified cavern, hidden from the outside by shrubs and the natural rock that backed on to the property.  It only took a glance at the somewhat smaller glowing ball of magic to know that something was wrong.

A chill ran down her spine as she quickly checked the access counter on the wall by the side of the door.  Nopony had been into the cavern since she had last left, leaving local interference out of the equation.  She flicked her wings and hovered over to the equipment against the right side of the room.

All systems seemed to be functioning correctly, so she began to rummage through the paper scrolls that now lined the floor.

“No, no, no, no!  This isn’t right, it can’t be!” she exclaimed, running the paper through her hooves.

The singularity wasn’t drained from this side, but the other side of the portal.  Something she understood could only happen if a unicorn was drawing on it from the other side.  She was also led to believe that this was almost entirely impossible.

She looked across at the portal and frowned. ‘Well, unlikely just became worst case scenario, because guess what…’ she thought, ‘Somepony is knocking on my door, and this little pony needs to let command know the big bad wolf is on its way.’


***


Middlemis Household
6pm

Stuart stood squinting at her monitor, framed by its light in the darkened office.  She watched the video play out on how to measure bust size and then looked down at her furred breasts and the fiberglass tape wrapped around them.  She seemed to be doing it right, but fiddled about with the tape again to measure it a second time.

Under bust was easy, it made sense, but measuring her bust was fraught with inconsistencies.  She wasn’t a hundred percent on how exactly it was meant to go around her back, and what she was supposed to be doing when she measured them.  Arms up or down?  Should she be supporting them?  Pressing them together to get the maximum volume, or letting them just hang and measuring the widest point?

In the end, she measured them all and took a mean average.  It seemed to fall into a predictable range on the sizing chart, so she logically decided to go with that.  Sitting back down at the computer, Stuart inputted the sizes for the items already picked out on the screen, and filtered through checkout.  They were all being delivered to her PO Box in town, so it kept things nice and easy.

It took all of about five minutes.

She stood and walked over to the sliding glass door and stared out over the back of the house.  The computers glow behind her reflected enough light to prevent a clear view, but the clear night and waxing moon lit the gorge in silvery hues and washed out gray’s.  She couldn’t make out any glow from the cave below, which she decided made sense.

Whatever had happened had caused the light to extinguish, but still…  but the cave was still there, and if anyone else found it, it could cause issues.

While there was no longer any risk from the magic that used to reside in the cave, she couldn’t really explain away the strange cave and the weird well that was at its core.

She stepped away from the mirror and flicked on a cheap A4 laminator that sat neglected in one corner of her desk.  While it warmed up, she opened a word-processing program and made a rudimentary ‘Danger, Keep Out’ sign.  She played with it a bit to make it look a little more legitimate with borders and a fine ‘Glenmour City Council’ textbox outside the margins to add to its authenticity.

Figuring that it should keep most orderly people from investigating too far, Stuart fished out some laminating sheets and ran the makeshift warning sign through the machine.

She wandered into her bedroom and took out an old set of track pants that fit around her rounder posterior, and a quick snip with the scissors below the elastic meant she could slide them on over the boxer briefs she was wearing backwards to fit.

A loose T-shirt and the hoody from the other night followed, and she made her way back down to the office to pick up the sign and shut down the laminator.

After a quick reflection on the task at hand, Stuart grabbed an old blanket from the spare room and his torch, new batteries replacing the old ones that had seen better days.

With that, she flipped her top’s hood over her distinctive mane and made her way back down the block, taking extra care at the fence, as hooves do not make climbing a fence easier, nor a tail any less perilous.

Making her way down, she managed to find the cave again with little trouble.  Stuart began to feel a little apprehensive standing so close its mouth.  She’d just come down to cover it up in case it began to glow again, but just being near it gave her a shiver down her spine.

It was stupid.  She’d go down there and prove to herself that there was no point fearing the unknown… right?  With a gulp, she set down the blanket and makeshift sign and ducking down, shuffled forward into the cave entrance.

Shining her torch down the rocky slope, Stuart clambered down to the chamber below.  It was much as she had left it.  However, the mote of energy that had returned to the strange tree when she made the change back now hovered where the much larger ball once did.  The pool at its base however, still remained wholly unremarkable.

Stuart moved closer to get a better view of the small glowing light, avoiding the water in the pond.  As she got closer, she could feel a distinct pull at her horn.  Curious, she looked up at her orange horn and lit her magic.

Almost right away, she could make out a tiny thread of magic connecting her horn and the small blue speck.  As she watched, she could visually tell that the orb was growing as it increased in brightness.  Despite it not really drawing too much, she thought it prudent not to mess with it and shut off her magic.


***


Ponyville
Evening

Things advanced quickly since Quick had made her report.  Her Lieutenant had bought in more guards, and even the Academy had got involved, all moving into her house and setting it up as a base of operations in case anything came of the attempted transfer.

She now sat in the main chamber of the Vault with alongside an Academy egg-head.  Most would have begrudged such a task, but when Quick was ordered to babysit while the Lieutenant stayed in comfort in her house, she was secretly thrilled.

A real opportunity to do the task she had been assigned, guarding against a real threat and making observations that mattered.  She sat in front of an array of machines that measured all sorts of data coming from the Scion.  It was her shift, and the academic was snoozing on a cot in the corner.

Quick was busy considering all the likely outcomes of this scenario when the machine she was seated at gave a beep as paper began to feed out.

“Contact!” she barked, causing the unicorn in the corner to give a squeak as she tumbled from the makeshift cot.

Quick Break whirled about and stood in front of the pool, her hooves splayed and her head low, with her wings at the high ready.

“Get the L.T, we have an attempted bridge!” she shouted over her shoulder as the dusty brown unicorn found her hooves.

She could hear the clatter of hooves and distant shouting as the other mare left.  Just as soon as it had started, the machine shut itself off.  Quick relaxed her posture, but remained at the ready despite the machine indicating the threat had passed.

A pair of hoofbeats made their way through the entrance before the Lieutenant’s voice barked “Report!”

“Machine recorded an access attempt from the far side, Sir, but it stopped shortly after.  Longer duration than last contact, but Scion and pool remain unchanged and the port key doesn’t seem to have been affected.”

The Lieutenant remained silent, considering his next move.

“Alright, all this equipment bar the phase transfer reader I want out.  This facility is to go into lockdown.  Two at a time minimum in this room, and the door will remain locked at all times.”

“For now, once this equipment is out, we are waiting for backup.  No one in or out.  I have to go face to face with command on this one, and I’ve got to go find a specialist.  We have a protocol for this,” he finished, “Now get to work, and remember, lock it down once you’re done.”


***


Glowing pool
7pm

Stuart stepped back away, and almost instantly the pull on her horn stopped.  She stood staring at the ball of magic to see if it did anything, but ended up shrugging and turning back and returning to the surface.

Flapping out the blanket from before, it became obvious it wouldn’t remain there unsupported.  Stuart fetched some saplings and branches from the edge of the slip and stacked them up over the entrance.  Draping the blanket over top, she secured the edges with some stones, and used the last of the branches to help support the structure.

Securing the makeshift sign on one of the branches, Stuart was satisfied that it should help block any light.   Her task done for the night, she headed back up to the house.  A shower and then bed time.  She had work in the morning, and it was going to be a full day.
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot
Morning

No matter how many times she looked at the figures, there was no way they were going to have enough orders to profit off of Winter Wrap-Up stock.  Hearth's Warming was approaching and as it was she was struggling to find girls to work on new stock, even if the demand wasn’t there.

           Velvet ran a hoof down her face, then used it to prop her head.  They just didn’t have the market visibility they needed to sell their lingerie.  The ‘escort’ side of business was doing fine, but come the Spring the girls wouldn’t be working turning tricks, and if she didn’t have work for them filling orders and making bedroom wear for the mares that were active during the ‘mating season’, they wouldn’t get paid.

           If they weren’t getting paid, they would go somewhere they would get paid and she would lose market share.  Again.

           Adult novelties and marital aids were still only doing as well as they always did.  Whilst it was perfectly acceptable to be seen making a call to one of the Houses, or (to a lesser extent) buying her bedroom wear, it was mostly frowned upon to be seen buying toys.

           ‘Sitting here worrying about what you can’t change is going to give you wrinkles,’ she thought to herself.  ‘Time to take care of what you can do something about.’

           Velvet Touch slid from her office chair and trotted over to her door.  As she opened it an argument could be heard from further down the hall, and by the sound of the voices, a guard was arguing with her receptionist.  Again.

           “An’ I said I don’ care none if’n you’re Celestia herself.  Mrs Touch ain’t receivin’ no pony that don’t have an appointment, an’, sweety, I ain’t seein’ your name on this here appointment list,” drawled Quill, her receptionist.  “Now why don’t you go on back to where ever it was you came from, an’ tell ‘em if’n ya’ want to see Velvet, ya’ got to make an appointment.”

           “And I keep telling you, I am under strict instructions to…”

           “Problem with one of my girls...?” Velvet interrupted, wandering her way down the hall.  She checked his breastplate. “…Lieutenant?  You had best hope no harm comes to her…”

           “N-no ma’am,” the stallion stuttered, “Missive from Ponyville.  I’m to relay that ‘It’ has become active again.”

           Velvet stared hard at the armored pegasus.  “Quill, honey?” she said, not breaking eye contact.  “Be a dear and cancel all my appointments.  And get on to Stamp down at Manehattan Central.  Tell him I need to be on the next train to Ponyville.”

“And Quill..?” she asked, turning to face her receptionist.  “Make sure nopony hears about this. As far as they know, I have a family emergency.”

The russet-maned mare just nodded, and watched as her boss turned tail and returned to her office.

“Well, ya’ heard th’ lady.” she said, turning to the guard, “Make yerself scarce, an’ use th’ back door, don’t want nopony askin’ on whatcha’ doin’ leavin’ after jus’ gettin’ in here, it’s bad fer business. Now skedaddle!  I gots me a whole lotta work cos’a you”


***


Westbound
Noon

           The meeting with the manager of the new store had gone well.  It was previously an owner/operator franchise, but the owner needed cash for his daughter’s wedding and had decided to sell his business.

           He had run a tight ship, and Stuart was more than happy to let him continue as the store manager.  The big bonus was that a 100% stocktake had just been completed for the hand over, which put him in a good position to carry out his plan.

           “This guy sure keeps his books in good order,” commented Matt from the passenger’s seat as they sat idle in the afternoon traffic.  “All his staff are on the company recommended award wage and he keeps ‘em happy with a good rotation on the overtime.”  Matt nodded approvingly. “I always like it when it’s simple.”

           “I can only hope that it’s this simple when we drop by the warehouse tomorrow.  Everyone else is holding out on updating their systems so that they can stay online with the old system,” replied Stuart.

“No one wants to be first in case they screw over everyone else.  Not that is going to be an issue for us, we own all the stores serviced by our warehouse.  We won’t have to worry about other franchises going off line when the warehouse goes over to the new system,”  he said, moving the car off with the rest of the traffic.

“And we’ll be the only shopfronts with full access to the storage network and what warehouse is stocking what,” Matt chimed in, “and just in time for the Christmas rush.”

More so than just that, Stuart knew that even if, no, when the other stores figured out what he was up to, no one in their right mind would switch systems this close to the busiest time of the year.  They were set for a massive advantage over the other stores, and were a shoe-in for raking in a good portion of the sales estimates over the next quarter.

“You still going on leave at the end of the week?” asked Matt.

Stuart nodded and a gave a small smile.  “Always do.  You guys can hold down the fort without me for two weeks at least, right?”

“Sure, sure.” Matt waved him off, “Wouldn’t want to ruin the only break you ever take for yourself.”

No matter what, Stuart had always taken the holidays off to spend with his father.  It was the only time they could ever agree to be in the same place at the same time.  His father would always be off chasing some minor lead to do with his mother, and he would always either be working or too busy when he was around.

They would take this time to reconnect with each other, even if just a little.  There would be no talk about work, or the increasingly weird and farfetched clues to his mother’s whereabouts.  And wow, towards the end, they were out there…

‘More out there than magical transforming unicorn mares…?’ he thought to himself, shaking his head.

“Anywhere in particular you want to stop off for lunch?” he asked, switching gears in his head to keep himself on track.  “I figure whilst we’re out we may as well eat.”

“Nah, I’m good, I just want to get back and file this stuff,” Matt replied, not looking back up from the notes.

“You sure?” he asked, looking back over at Matt as he continued to stare at the paperwork in front of him.

“Yep, I’m good,” he replied, looking back up at Stuart.  “But hey, do you need me at the warehouse tomorrow?  I’m playing catch up as it is and you really don’t need me there, so…”

“Nah, it’s fine, I’ll take Brian, he and the warehouse manager can talk shop and switch over to the new program.  The warehouses already run it to talk to each other, but the shopfronts are riding piggyback off the old system.  We just have to upload our recent stock takes to the new in-store systems and adjust for the interim takings, and we’re golden.”

“Ok, sweet.  Anything else you need to pass on before you hand over and go on leave?”

Stuart pondered this for a bit.  “Shouldn’t be, I’ll get everyone together before I leave for final points, and make sure I’ve signed off on everyone’s bonuses.  That should be it.”  Stuart nodded, making his way through traffic back towards the office.

‘It’ll be good to get away for a while after all this’


***


Terrace Rental
3pm

She’d been seething when the police had dropped her off at home, and decided that the last thing she wanted to see was Julie’s stupid face, and had gone straight to bed.  Marcy had rung the council offices in Glenmour and put the payment to rest, and by the time she had made it back out there by taxi, the clamps were removed.

And now she was officially broke.  This did little to fix her sour mood as she waited for Julie to came home from her classes.   I mean, seriously, how hard was it to come out and pick her up!?!  Marcy continued to stew until she heard a rattle of keys in the door and said roommate made her way in through the front door.

“Hello… Judas.”  Marcy scowled as Julie look up, adjusting her glasses that had slipped to the end of her nose.

“Oh.  Hello,” Julie replied, shying away slightly from Marcy’s aggressive tone.

Marcy growled, standing from the couch.  “You just left me stranded in Glenmour, at night, with no way home!”

“Oh, yes, well, you seem to have gotten home ok, and your car is out front so I guess everything turned out alright,” she replied meekly, turning to make her way to her room.

“Only because I got a lift from the cops!”

Julie blinked owlishly back at her, “Oh, did they find you standing on a street corner?”

Marcy’s blood ran cold.  “What…” she replied, barely above a whisper, “What did you just say…?”

“W-well, you had to be doing something illegal for the police to bring you home, so I just thought…”

“That I was selling myself…?!”  Marcy yelled.  “Spreading my legs for money, is that what you thought?”

“Loitering…” Julie squeaked, “I-I thought they picked you up for loitering…” She flinched as Marcy loomed over her.

Marcy blinked down at Julie’s cringing figure and stepped back, swallowing thickly.

“O-oh, ok, I guess… that makes sense…” she replied, blinking owlishly back at her, feeling the uncomfortable heat of embarrassment rising in her cheeks.

“Ok, so I’m just gonna…”  Julie squeaked, backing away towards the door to her room, looking up at her in fear.

“Oh?  Umm, yeah.  S-sure.  You go…”  Marcy waved her off, looking down and ashamed, the door closing with a soft ‘click’.

Slumping back down on the couch, Marcy covered her face with her hands.  She’d let something like that get under her skin again!  She hated being called, or even implied that she had loose morals.

Marcy’s issue was she found herself constantly reminded of the one thing she hated most.  Her mother was left a penniless single parent with no idea where Marcy’s biological father had gone, and if she was to be believed, even who he was.  Her relationship with her mother had suffered substantially on the subject of her father alone, and that was without the usual falling outs that happened between mothers and their daughters.

It was something she had tried to distance herself from by ensuring she had good job prospects and committed relationships.  Which was one of the main reasons that she was was so pissed at that smug not-returning-her-phonecalls jerk up in Glenmour.

Marcy sighed and stood back up again, pacing the room.  She was still too worked up to sit still, she had to do… something!  But what?

The answer always came down the same question.  What would Pinkie Pie do?  She had fallen in love with that character, more so as the seasons of My Little Pony continued.  There was just… something that reached out to her.  Made her feel… normal?  ‘After all, if someone as crazy as her could, even fictionally, live a relatively normal life, then why can’t I?’

‘Well, the obvious choice is a party, but that would get me nowhere, and using it for an excuse to apologise to Julie…  Crap!  I need to apologise to Julie!!!’ She facepalmed at the obvious faux pas.  ‘I guess… a cake?  Yeah, that should do it.’ She smiled to herself.  ‘Everybody loves cake!’


***


Middlemis Holdings
Midafternoon

“Psst!  Hey Trace, what do you think about the boss and lover boy coming back from the new place so early?”

            Tracy raised an eyebrow and leaned back in her seat.  Bree was poking her head around the divider, a mischievous smirk all over her face.

“I’m sure it’s nothing, they’ve got plenty to do before the big sales and not much time to do it, is all,” she mumbled dismissively.

           “But they’re back right on lunch break, you would have thought that they would have at least had lunch together…” shot back Elle from the other side of the four-way divider.

           A dreamy sigh came from Bree’s side, “A romantic lunchtime rendezvous, just the two of them…” she tittered, her face flushing at the thought.

“Seriously, you girls need another hobby.  Shipping our bosses is going to get us into trouble one of these day.” retorted Tracy, looking to make sure that no one else was in earshot.

“Besides, who said they didn’t finish early and stopped off at a hotel and went at it like a pair of wild buck stallions.” she finished with a mischievous grin.

This caused a tide of barely restrained laughter between the girls that led to a string of like-minded quips between them, until they were shot an annoyed look from out of Tracy’s bosses office.

“It sounds like I’m missing out on something entertaining out there ladies, is it something you’d like to share, or are you going to let the rest of us work in peace?”  asked Brian through his open door, in a none too subtle hint to keep the chatter down.

“Nope, sorry, the girls were just being… themselves, I’ll get them to keep a lid on it!” she called back, as the other three ducked back behind their respective partitions and held their hands over their mouths and to suppress another round of giggles.


***


Glenmour Post office
5:30pm

Stuart was on the receiving end of a rather pointed stare from the elderly female postmaster as he signed for the two parcels that were too large to fit in his small post office box.  ‘Never believe what they tell you, post office staff know what’s in your mail.’ he thought to himself as he returned the small electronic signature device back to it’s owner.

As he walked away, he turned one of the non-descript parcels over in his hand.  Sure enough, it only had the corporate return address, but seeing that increasingly people tended to shop online for things like what was in his hands, it was no surprise that she recognised who it was from.

He tucked the parcel under his arm alongside its counterpart and set off for home, on the outskirts of town.  He enjoyed the walk and tried to do it as often as the weather allowed, as it gave him time to think.

On this occasion, his mind drifted back to his mother and the strange magic that was sitting in his backyard.  The more he thought about it, the more certain he was that her disappearance and the cave were connected.  He also suspected that his father likely thought something along the same lines, which would explain some of the more bizarre conclusions he seemed to make towards the end of his search, and the lonely days he sometimes spent just sitting out in scrub behind the house apparently staring at nothing.

‘Well, not so much nothing as something that no one else seemed to know was there,’ he thought to himself.

But it begged the question; if he knew about the cave, why didn’t he just dig it up?  The logical conclusion was it had been covered by a earlier landslide, but if that was the case, it would have been one of the first places a search would have been carried out, wouldn’t it?

And surely he would have heard of it, at least from the people in town.  He had heard pretty much all the rumors about her death, mostly from the other kids at school when it seemed pertinent to tease him, but also as he grew older.  But none of them mentioned a landslide, or a cave.

Stuart frowned as he stood at the front of his gravel drive overlooking his house and gorge behind.  He definitely needed to go back down there, but first, he had a few things that needed doing.

He made his way through the house and down to his room at the end of the hall.  Plonking unceremoniously on his bed, he tore open the plastic shipping bag to see what had arrived.  Being the heavier of the two, it contained two sets of female jeans and some basic girls t-shirts, which he shook out and had a quick look at.

The shirts had a v-neck and were shorter in the arms than he was used to, but other than that, they looked the same to his untrained eye.  The same with the jeans, he could tell they wouldn’t fit him as he was just by looking at them, but there was not much else other than the size to tell them apart from a male set.

He placed them aside as he reached for the second package.  This one was much smaller and tearing it open revealed three bras and a five-pack of panties.  The bras were fairly simple affairs, one white, one naked beige (which, thinking back, made little sense as a purchase on his part…).  The final bra was a little more lacy than the other two. It was a darker orange than his coat when transformed just to add a nice contrast, because, you know, why not, right..?

The panties were inexpensive cotton g-strings in basic primary colours.  Stuart rolled them out of the plastic packaging and held one up to see how they looked.  There… wasn’t that much to them.  At all.

‘Well, at least they should fit under my tail, and it beats having to figure out a comfortable way to clip and unclip them all the time…’ he thought to himself.  ‘But first off, will they fit?’

Stuart gave a sly smile as he mentally reached for the tingling sensation behind his forehead.  He had it down enough now he could even manifest a little control over his transformation, and tried to make it a personal challenge to do so as nonchalantly as possible.  Double transformation points if he could do so whilst multi-tasking.

He slipped his shoes off as his horn made it’s way forward from his brow, and stood as he unbuttoned his jacket and hung it from a hanger on his wardrobe door.  He figured that if he could get the most distracting parts done first, then the rest should follow easily enough.

Stuart flinched at the metallic taste filling his mouth as his muzzle formed, and noticed several odors that were previously masked as his senses improved. Static filled his ears as they migrated their way up the sides of his head and stretched out, forming the blunt point of those belonging to a pony.  These were the worst parts of the transformation, so he just closed his eyes and distracted himself unbuckling his belt and unbuttoning his shirt until they all played out.

A brief prickly sensation across his face signaled the growth of soft orange fur, and he opened his now much larger eyes as he gave his wide ears a flick, gazing out over his short orange snout.  He finished removing his business shirt, and disposed of it into the laundry basket as the prickle of his ever-growing fur spread down his neck and over his slimming shoulders.

As he lifted his arms to remove his singlet, they brushed lightly against his small but slowly growing, breasts; they tingled slightly as a light coat of fur spread across his body and and made it’s way down his now more slender arms.

By the time the singlet had followed the shirt, his breasts were full and round.  He took a moment to give them a quick nod of approval before unbuttoning his pants as his hips began to widen.  Slipping his pants over his feet, with his boxes quickly following, he got to watch as his favorite part of the process began.

His organs began to shift as his hips continued to slowly grow, making room for what was yet to come.  As his genitals withdrew, a sharp tingle behind them announced the arrival of his new sex, quickly followed by his crotch becoming covered in downy orange fur.  There was almost nothing as satisfying as this point in the change for him.

It was the point where he became her, the Stuart Middlemis that all this magic wanted her to be.  She bought her knees together and rubbed her inner thighs against each other, revelling in the sensation of not having anything out front, and confirming to herself she was complete.

However, whilst her favorite part was over, the most satisfying part had just begun.  She reached down and balanced on one leg as she removed one sock at a time, watching between her legs as her tail lengthened and filled out.

Now this was something to be proud of.  She gave her multi-toned blue tail a swish in time with her hips, eliciting a girlish giggle, another thing she was getting used to.  Stuart loved her tail, and found it’s presence comforting, missing it when it was gone.  She had even caught herself trying not to sit on it when it was hidden away in her male form.

She steadied her stance as she was forced onto her toes and her feet swelled out and hardened at the end, becoming marshmallow-like orange hooves.  Giving them an experimental tap against the floor, she turned to the mirror against the wall and placed a hand on her hips as they jutted to one side.

“Well hello, sexy, welcome back,” she purred, taking in her naked form.  Her two-tone blue mane spilled down past her slender shoulders.  Her large expressive eyes were now a light turquoise colour and lidded with long dark lashes.  She wore a confident smirk on her muzzle as her eyes traced down to her round breasts and trim midriff.

Her thighs flared out and were cocked to one side, leaving plenty of room to rest her orange-furred hand upon.  There was a small tuft just above her crotch, and her tail spilled gracefully towards the floor behind her, in the same tones as her mane.

She stood on long supple legs ending in hooves, making her feel as though she were standing in heels.  With a nod, she turned back to the bed and selected a white set of the panties.  Stepping through the holes, she wiggled her way into them, adjusting them so they rode high on her hips and sat so that they were not bunching up her fur.

They came a little higher than she would have liked up under her tail, but she found that if she lowered them on her hips a little, it was more tolerable.  They caused her tail to perk up a little more, but other than that, they seemed to fit pretty well, even if the ‘floss-like’ feel of the string up her butt crack was a little… different.

Now it was time to tackle the bra.  She had watched plenty of online video guides, and even practiced a little with the smaller bras left by some of her ex-girlfriends, but it had been a painful and uncomfortable experience of pulled fur and pin-bending tightness.

Stuart adjusted the straps out before shrugging her way into the bra.  Flipping her mane over her shoulder to keep it out of the way, she reached behind her to clip the hooks into the rings.  Thankfully, the two met halfway and mated without effort.  The fit still felt a little loose, so she tightened the clip positions until the bra hugged her firmly but without pulling at her fur.

She tucked her breasts into the cups as the videos had shown her, and then re-tightened the straps at the side and… ‘Holy freakin’ crap that feels amazing!’  Stuart thought to herself.

Suddenly bras actually made sense to her.  Her breasts were cupped comfortably in the bra, and were supported by the straps, making them feel weightless and secure.  ‘And that cleavage, would you look at that, it’s freakin’ awesome!  Holy crap, bras rock!!!’  she thought as her smile made its way to a toothy grin.

 	“Annnnd now I’m standing here wearing women’s underwear and ogling myself.  Good thing that’s not creepy…” she said out loud, spinning on the spot and taking up one of the shirts.  It was a light turquoise blue to match her mane but still lighter than her eyes, and after a quick pat down to smooth out any ruffled fur, fit her well.  The v-neck plunged down far enough to show off her cleavage, but not her bra.

As she suspected, the sleeves didn’t go as far down as she was used to, but then, they did show off more of her arms and accentuated her svelte shoulders.  The shirt also didn’t go down around her waist as far as a male shirt would have, leaving her panties still exposed.  With a dismissive shrug, she fetched the jeans from off the bed and turned them to the rear.

“Alright, jeans, surgery time.  Time to see if my cunning and devious plan for you bears fruit, or if I’m about to irreparably demolish a $100 pair of jeans.”