Hopefully, nothing will be ruined...
Cold, wet rain. The nemesis of those wanting to have a good time outdoors. Whenever the silly wet stuff arrived, people were diving for cover and trying to get themselves dry under the awnings in the nearby locales, or alternatively seek refuge indoors with a hot drink or two (and possibly a biscuit. Sausage gravy, anybody?). It would always pass over, the rain would, but the other problem was perhaps a bit more immediate. This problem, dare I say, was that stuff got wet, and needed drying off. Thankfully, in Manteo, that wouldn't take very long thanks to the heat, but Jimmy knew otherwise and felt that the rain would often remain for far longer than it had done when it had not passed over.
And today, the rain merely served to emphasise what this pandemic had cost him. His freedom. Thanks to the virus all across the world, people were being required to stay indoors and follow medical advice to avoid all unnecessary contact (although the President was doing his best to contradict the advice of his own doctors in praising protesters who screamed abuse at doctors trying to do their job as 'defenders of American liberty' and suggesting people inject themselves with disinfectant). It was maddening. Only four months ago or so, he was with his friends in Universal Studios, enjoying the sun, and having a blast despite the obvious problem that they all had of spontaneous transformation. Now, it seemed, they would be lucky if they saw each other again at all. It was depressing, indeed, but thankfully Jimmy had the power of the internet to allow him to stay in touch with people, a luxury people lacked in the Spanish Flu a century earlier. So, he was frequently on Skype to chat with them, which was a nice feeling as it meant that people were still around and able to speak to him.
His wardrobe had expanded significantly too. Alongside his usual one, he had replicas of the outfits worn by various MLP characters, including one of Mage Meadowbrook which could be turned into either the pony or Equestria Girls versions of the garments that he (or she back then) had worn during the Louisiana adventure. There was also Luna's dress from the time he had been Princess Luna, and that magically enchanted garment was linked up to Canterlot. If he ever wanted to swap places with Luna again, all he needed to do was put the dress on, and Luna would initiate the transformation. Jimmy wondered if that was a way to get around the lockdown , but soon set that thought aside. There were bigger things to worry about, and getting around quarantine rules was not one of them. Jimmy sighed as he prepared to go to eat something, as was usually the case, as eating something usually cheered him up (and also contributed to his considerable girth). And so, the bearded man of Manteo opened his door and stepped into the hallway. The neighbour was being quiet as he headed over. That was nice. Very nice indeed.
The kitchen, the spacious, functional, marvellous, beautiful, well engineered, grand, glorious kitchen, was the ubject of having as many adjectives shoved into a single sentence as possible, the author trying to boost his vocabulary in the process. Jimmy stood in this nice room, very calm indeed, as he hunted through for food. Inside the fridge, his flatmate (for he shared this building with another person who was never seen as of yet) had still got some mouldy pizza he hadn't bothered to clear out. The amount of food that man wasted was unbelievable. Jimmy hauled the box out and threw it in the trash. At least he checked dates of food when he bought it. Tom had encouraged him to use lists, and it had helped him greatly. So, Jimmy looked closely in there, and shut the door. He then opened up a cupboard to see something familiar sitting in his sugar closet. It was a leather bound cream hairband with a yellow bow glued to the top. That seemed oddly familiar. "Oh dear."
Jimmy walked away from it. "Nope, I am NOT falling for that again!" he said. As he sat in his chair, he heard an odd whirring noise.
"Oh golly, how I'd love to get out of here!" it said.
Jimmy glanced about himself. "Who was that?" he said.
A loud whooshing and roaring noise started up, and the hairband took to the air. It flew along and lodged itself in Jimmy's hair. "No, not again!"
Keen not to be once again affected by strange magical objects, Jimmy tried to work round it as best he could. That was before one of the jars slipped and tilted forward, crashing into the hairband and knocking it onto Jimmy's head.
"Honestly. Time to duck for cover."
He went for the living room to try and get out of the way of any potential bystanders (although only five or so people actually knew of his circumstances). He didn't make it too far, however. About three steps in his footwear came flying off, and he crashed to the ground as the carpet seemed to be getting larger, the entire environment increasing in size as his clothes became too big for him. At least a foot of height must have melted off as his mass reduced and slimmed down inside several vast tents of clothing, his legs slimming down, all limbs shortening, his spine compressing. There was a sudden surge of pain as his hips popped inwards, which was a rarity-
"How did I end up in this story, darling?"
You didn't. Please go back to 6 Universal Nights.
"Bother!"
Where was I? Oh yes. Jimmy then lost the bits between his legs, getting sucked in and replaced by something else, before her shoulders were pulled inwards. Any trace of a rather big guy was gone now, and her neck shrank and reshaped into that of a young girl, followed by her skin turning pink. It made her look sunburnt.
Then, her face began to shift about, cheekbones rising and nose shrinking slightly, followed by her blue eyes being exchanged for red ones. Finally, her brown hair turned an icy blue, shrank back up her neck and head, and then proceeded to fold and roll itself over many times, producing curls of many shapes and sizes.
Her clothes then joined in on the game. Her socks shrank onto her legs and then grew up to her knees, followed by her brown shoes changing into a pair of black formal ones. Her pants merged together into a single garment, and then shrank up her legs and poofed out slightly, producing a green skirt. Her red polo shirt turned white and morphed into a formal shirt, complete with collar and done up top button, out of which was attached some red thing. Finally, more fabric grew out of the top of the skirt, looped over her shoulders, and attached itself at the front, creating a sleeveless dress, as a yellow belt like thing appeared around her waist.
The girl got unsteadily to her feet, and studied herself in a mirror. "I look like I escaped from a musical."
Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light, and she (might as well call her Cozy Glow now) was teleported into a room in another house where it was very dark outside, and a man and a blue horse were using a laptop.
"Cozy Glow?" said the man, whom Cozy now recognised as Tom, her old friend.
"Nay, the same version of Cozy Glow I was at Walt Disney World!"
Cozy looked at both of them in confusion. "This is awkward." She stepped forward. "Are you two OK with me being here? I fell through a portal."
"Another one who fell through a portal," Luna sighed. "Pray tell, art thou Jimmy?"
"I was," Cozy replied. "Wait, you're not going to-"
"Nobody's being turned to stone today," said Tom. "This is Katrina, she's just changed into a pony for the first time."
"Really?" Cozy asked. "That's interesting."
"Is the mic off?" Tom asked. "We really don't want Kat's parents hearing this."
"I took the precaution of powering it down beforehand."
"I'll just pass it off as technical difficulties," Tom grumbled. "Now then, I need to figure out how to care for three rather than two people tonight."