Riding on the Storm


                                            >Sure, You could and would be willing to be tested on for a little bit of money afterwards.

                                            >What else are you going to do?

                                            >Scratch that, no one needs to hear about your non-adventures in love and matchmaking...

                                            >'Just stand on ze spot indicated' The doctor said as he adjusted his goggles.

                                            "You sure about this, doc? I'm not one to judge, but those tesla coils and the thunderstorm outside are making me just a *teensy* bit uncomfortable." You say, almost pinching your fingers together to empathise it

                                            >You recoil back as the lightning lands a direct hit on the house, filling the cob-web lined lab with the mighty reverberating sound of thunder

                                            >"Pah, fear always gets in ze way of great science!" The Doc boisterously proclaimed, putting his hands on his hips and striking a pose

                                            >"...And besides, from ze looks of you, I can tell zat you need ze money... and a shower!" he chuckled as he was checking his machinery

                                            >As he flipped the switch, you can see the electricity crackling around the coils, and start to feel the hair on your skin stand up on their ends

                                            >"Don't worry, Zis is normal, for now at least" The doctor reassured

                                            "What do you mean, for no-" You were saying, until you noticed that you were at least a solid metre and a half off the floor

                                            >"Vunderful! Vunderful! Zis is going exactly to procedure! Laugh at me now, untermensch!" He giddly exclaimed as he scribbled down notes on the clipboard

                                            >You wail as you toss and turn as it feels like your hands and feet are collapsing in on themselves, feeling as though your bones were pushing through your skin

                                            >With every bolt of energy connecting with your skin, you see dark blue fur ripple out and stand up where it makes contact

                                            >The doctor seems to be shouting something, but you can't quite hear him with all the noise the machines and the storm outside, plus with him frothing at the mouth like a rabid dog and flapping his lips like a deranged lunatic, you're not sure if you'd be able to understand him anyway

                                            >You feel your face deforming, as though someone or something had grabbed a hold of it and started pulling HARD

                                            >You look over to the doctor, with tears streaming down and dropping to the floor, and all you see is him in sheer ecstasy at your "transformation"

                                            >You kick about with your hooves flying and flailing aimlessly, your ears twitching all around with every crackle and jolt of electricity

                                            >You try to talk to the madman, but your tongue flops about, and all you let out is a long whinny as your hair grows into your sight, a lighter blue than the thicker hair on your body

                                            >You could've sworn that your ribs and spine were bubbling, cracking and pushing outwards as you look over your shoulder to see a tail growing rapidly, sharing it's colour with your hair

                                            >Just as the pain was growing too intense for you to handle with you being able to comprehend it, another lightning strike hit the house, overloading the powered on machines, frying them to uselessness

                                            >You fall to the floor, thumping against the tear-stained steel on your upper chest, your bottom half hitting it moments later

                                            >Wasting no time at all, you get up and run for it as the doctor rushes over, flashlight in mouth, clipboard in hand, and legs in a lunatic fringe

                                            >Hooves skidding on the ceramic tile outside of the darkened lab, you drift into the main halls of the house and feel your bottom hit the ground as the mad scientist tackles you from behind!

                                            >"Just hold still, you small pferd!" He growled out as his body slid towards the wall

                                            >You slide your left hindleg out, and give the fucker a good ol' buck to the face!

                                            >He screams in anguish, holding his head with his hands, blood and glass dropping onto the floor as you make your getaway

                                            >Your heart pounding like a war drum, you charge towards the entrance, slipping and breaking vases, tables and busts as you stampede through the victorian mansion

                                            >You get to the main foyer, but the door's tightly closed!

                                            >"Nothing can change you back, but I can change everything!" The doctor gloated as he stumbled in, his goggles busted, his lab coat stained with the blood raining down for his face like the storm raging outside

                                            >"...and besides anyways, I wasn't going to pay you at all" he snarks as he spits out a tooth

                                            >You needed to end him before he does *this* to anybody else!

                                            >You turn around to face him, bunching up the rugs as you quickly spring towards the stairs as you form a plan

                                            >He pulls an antique musket off the wall, aiming it at you as you gallop and jump from the second floor, hurdling over the hand rail like an olympian equestrian towards the chandelier

                                            >The musketball tears the chain of the chandelier apart, causing it to fall as you make contact with it

                                            >The doctor was brought down to the ground as the lights came down on him, spraying him with glass and breaking him even more

                                            >The windows exploded, letting the wind and rain flow in when the chandelier hit the floor

                                            >You squeeze yourself through the hole, a sharp pain bolting up your leg as you do

                                            >You leave a bloody trail as you race towards the nearby woods, never looking back to that forsaken place

                                            >You canter over the dead underbrush and leaves, darkness surrounding the edges of your vision, the fur on your right leg matted with blood from the shot

                                            >You slip and tumble as you reach the shores of a quiet lake, the storm ending, letting the moon shine through the clouds

                                            >You could've sworn that there was a horse on the face of the moon and that it winked at you as you passed out, the strain on your foreign muscles catching up to you

                                            >"So let me get this straight, you two." the veterinarian sighed out as she raised her hand to her head

                                            >"While you guys were out camping, you woke up, gone out to fish, and found this, for lack of a better word, 'pony'?"

                                            >"It's a good thing we did, doc! You seen it's leg, that was some fucked up shit, man!" the bearded man replied, clapping his hands together and rubbing them

                                            >"Like, who goes and shoots a perfectly healthy thing like *that*?" the chick pointed at you

                                            >"I don't even think horses of any kind are 'in season' for hunting at any time of the year!" she quickly adds

                                            >You are Arianne, and this has to be *the* craziest case that you've worked on, minus that one time where you got a fully grown cat out of a python!

                                            >"Well, while that maybe true, let's get to the facts." You state bluntly

                                            >"This pony is literally one of a kind, and it doesn't match any other species of horse on earth! At all!" You fume

                                            >"And to make matters even more convoluted, it wasn't shot with a bullet, but a musket!" You exclaim, holding up the small lead ball with your tweezers in a death grip to show these two hippie campers

                                            >"Hey, doc! Simmer down, man, You're scaring both of us" the bearded man said as he took a step back towards the door

                                            >He's right, so you close your eyes, take a long deep breath, and let it out

                                            >"Sorry, sorry. I got ahead of myself in this" you sigh as you look to the door for a camera crew to burst in at any moment

                                            >"Umm, Dr. Arianne? It seems like our pony buddy is waking up!" the chick squeals out as the small horse on the operating table shifts about

                                            >"Proper term is veterinarian, miss; and I concur" You say as slide over to the table on your stool, clicking on the penlight as you do

                                            >You are anonymous, again

                                            >You shift and stretch your body out

                                            >You catch a whiff of medicinal supplies, lavender, fallen timber and ...cat pee?

                                            >Wait, why can't you feel your finger or toes?

                                            >"Umm, Dr. Arianne? It seems like our pony buddy is waking up!" Some chick calls out

                                            >"Proper term is veterinarian, miss; and I concur" The vet mused

                                            >You open your eyes to see the good doctor quickly approaching you

                                            >Go figure, You're waking up, and you're still a horse!

                                            >Your ears flick to the sound of the stool rolling across the floor, and perk up at the crisp sharp *click*

                                            >You're practically blinded by the light shining into your huge eyes, and you back away from it

                                            "Jesus christ, that's bright!" you bark out as you feel a hand hold your back, pulling you in

                                            >"WHAT THE HECK! He talks?!" You hear the Vet call out to the other two people in the room

                                            >"Hey dude, we're just as surprised as you are" The bro with the beard remarked

                                            "Of course I can talk, I'm just like you! Minus the whole being a horse part, of course." You call back

                                            >"All right, since he can hold a conversation, can you two leave? I need to ask him some questions"

                                            >"Oh, come off it! We helped save his life!" the chick yelled

                                            "It's okay, Doc. They can stay if they want to." You say calmly

                                            "Also thanks for the save, guys" you gratefully reply

                                            >"No problem, mini horse. My name's Justin" He said, "and over there's Ashley" he called as he pointed her out

                                            >"And your name is..." Dr. Arianne asked while she spun her hand around

                                            "I wish I could tell you doc, but I'm drawing a blank" You sadly reply, your ears flopping down to the sides

                                            >"Wait, why aren't you giving him trouble for mis-titling you?" Ashley questioned

                                            "Because, A) He's a talking horse, and B) In this scenario, It's simpler that way" Arianne replied

                                            >"Let's take it from the top, then" She said coolly to you

                                            >"How'd you get shot in the leg?" She questioned

                                            >You take a deep breath in

                                            "Wew, mama, I've got a story for you all, and it's a big one"

                                            >"Wait, wait, wait, you used to be human?" Ashley interrupted

                                            "I don't know what the fuck that quack did for me to end up like *this*" You say as you wave your hooves downward, showing off your body

                                            "Besides, he's dead now, I hope" You remark

                                            >"What?!" Everyone else gasped

                                            >"How'd he die?" Arianne questioned, looking at you quizzically

                                            >"Well when I was making my getaway, I kicked him in the face, ran up the stairs, jumped towards the chandelier, he shot at me and brought it down on him. If he ain't dead, I'll be surprised" You drawl out

                                            >"And after that, you ran to the beach and passed out?" Arianne responded, writing down what you said in her notes

                                            "You got it, chief" You affirm

                                            >"Dude, that's badass!" Justin holds a hand out stretched in front of you

                                            >You give him the best high hoof you could

                                            >"Sorry for ruin your bro-mance, but I do have to see other patients" Arianne said sternly

                                            >"We don't even know how to take care of a horse and we don't even have the room for him!" Ashley cried out

                                            >"Yeah, we were kinda hoping that you could take care of him, doc" Justin nervously said, rubbing his head

                                            >"I'll make no promises what'll happen to him, but you'll still have to pay for my time and supplies" Dr. Arianne stated, then turned to you

                                            >"You'll be okay in here, for now at least. Get some rest, little guy" She said gently to you as she opened the door to the kennels

                                            >You trot in, looking around at the beat-up beds laying around the room and take a nap under the breeze of the fan and the light coming from the operating room

                                            >You wake up lying on the bed, and goddamn it, blinded again!

                                            >Oh wait, that's the summer sun and not a stupidly bright flashlight this time

                                            >It's pretty quiet, and you hear the whine of the fluorescent lights in the operating room and a light rhythmic tapping coming from the other side of the wall

                                            >Sticking your ear to the wall inquisitively, you listen in...

                                            >Looks like Arianne is having a little fun in being bored

                                            >After running it through your head in how it goes again, you give the connecting wall three swift taps, three slower ones then three swift ones again

                                            >You hear her get out of her seat, walk out of the room and open the door

                                            >"Welcome back to the land of the living" Arianne says with a smug grin on her face

                                            >You shoot her a silly smile back

                                            "What time is it anyways?"

                                            >"It's about quarter to five, and almost time for me to head on home" she says wistfully

                                            >"I guess I should get going, huh?" You ask, looking to her with a ear perked up

                                            >"If you weren't a talking technicolour horse the size of a golden retriever, I'd have to agree with you" she replies

                                            >"But I told the people you came in with that I'd take care of you, and I'm not leaving you with the animal shelter"

                                            "You make that sound like you don't live here, for the most part"

                                            >"That's because I don't. I'm only in town for one day a week and home for me is a couple hours north of this place, and plus, I don't really know where your home is at all" She states

                                            "So I guess it's time for a road trip then, eh?" You respond

                                            >"That's one way of putting it, I've got my workplace essentials all packed up and ready to go" she gleams

                                            "Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's ride!" You yell excitedly as the two of you walk and trot respectively out of the veterinarian's office into the summer heat

                                            >She opens the door and you hop into the SUV's back seat

                                            >"Before we go, are you sure about this? I'd be  scared about what happened to me if I were you" Arianne asks, looking at you in the rear-view mirror with concern

                                            "I'll be fine, let's go" You mumble

                                            >You scoot yourself over to the window as she drives down the small town's main street, which doubled as a link to the major highway

                                            >You watch as the trees roll by, pondering if what that madman said was true, and a tear rolls down

                                            >You wipe it off with your fuzzy hoof, and keep watching wistfully

                                            >After a short while, you spot a landmark

                                            >It's a group offering goat rides to the higher mountains in the area

                                            "Hey, would you mind if we took a detour? I kind of want to see if I can grab my things, if they're still there, that is" You ask

                                            >"Sure, but let's not take too long. I want to get home before all the stores close" Arianne answers

                                            >As you turn onto the back roads, You guide her to the old creaky mansion that you escaped from earlier

                                            >She kills the engine, gets out, and opens the door so you can do the same

                                            >You feel the lightning of anxiety fill you up inside

                                            "Would you mind coming in with me? I don't feel comfortable going in there alone" You shakily say

                                            >"If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't want to either. It looks like you did a whole lot of damage on your way out" She affirms

                                            >She walks up to the door, and tries the knob, but it's locked from the inside

                                            >"Hey, would you mind going in and unlocking the door for me? The broken windows are too small for me to get in through them" Arianne asks

                                            >You swallow a gulp and nod to her as you slip back into the mansion

                                            >You didn't really pay attention to the decor of the room as you walked in the first time, but the place would've looked lovely if it was took care of a little better

                                            >You trot over the broken, bent chandelier to see if he really did pass away but once you get over there, you freak out

                                            >Underneath the wreckage of the glided chandelier, you notice the madman's blood splattered everywhere and the smell of burning sulfur in the air

                                            >But his body is nowhere to be seen! That fucker was pinned down, and there was no way he could've moved it by himself!

                                            >Rapidly looking around, you try to find something that could unlock the door

                                            >Picking up a piece of the broken handrail, you use that to flip the lock upwards

                                            "He's Gone! He was right *there*, but now he isn't! Ohgodohgodohgod, this is so fucked!" You rapidly pointed and ramble hysterically

                                            >"Freaking out is going to get us nowhere! Let's get your things and get the hell out!" Arianne snaps back

                                            >Following the wreckage from your hasty getaway, you wind up at the lab

                                            >Looking around, You and Arianne noticed that it was ransacked, and any of the machines that could be moved easily were gone!

                                            >You grab your coat, and feel the heft of your stuff in it

                                            >Arianne's looking around, and she finds some errant notes, and a small, locked, and beat-up toolbox

                                            "What's that?" You ask

                                            >"Frankly, I don't know, but there's definitely something in it, and it isn't tools" she answers

                                            "Hold up, put it on the ground" You say

                                            >Arianne does, and you give it a swift buck, and the lock comes off easily, clinking a few feet away on the floor

                                            >A see-through orange bottle with pills rolls out along with a faded, yellowing piece of paper with some writing you can't understand

                                            >"Seems like this is a recipe of some sort of drug, probably whatever's in that bottle" She says with interest

                                            "Wait, how the hell could you read that? I couldn't write that badly, even if i tried to use my mouth!" You ask

                                            >Arianne flicks her wrist about, and says "After a long while of reading over chicken-scratched notes in class, you can find it pretty easy"

                                            >As you walk out of the house with your loot in tow and get back into the SUV, you and her look to the skies

                                            >Large black anvil shaped clouds had rolled in during the short time you were investigating

                                            >"We gotta get moving, that storm isn't gonna hold our hands while we go through the pass" Arianne says worriedly

                                            "It's a damn shame we couldn't find out more about what the hell happened to me, but this'll do for now." You sigh, your ears folding down to your head

                                            >"Look on the bright side, you got your stuff back, now we can find out who you were." She nervously smiles as she pulls away from the mansion

                                            >After fueling up at the gas station connecting the capillary highway to one of the more major ones, You and Arianne travel north along the long and lonesome road, with a slight drizzle slicking the roads

                                            >With her focusing on the road, and the radio cutting out every time the terrain got even slightly more rocky, you were simply bored

                                            >You decide to pull out your wallet out of your coat, which was easier said than done with how you happened to be a pony now

                                            >After a short while, you undo the velcro that was holding it closed with a satisfying *RIIIIP*

                                            >You see your admittedly handsome mug on the driver's licence and smile even though your current face isn't on there

                                            >Anon Y. Mous, gentleman extraordinare

                                            >That's who you were, now you're anonymous in name

                                            >Your ears start hurting as the rain pelting the SUV pound it like a metal drummer with an anger unknown to man

                                            >Arianne notices it too, as the windshield wipers take off a solid sheet of water every time they sweep outwards

                                            >"With the way the rain is going, they're going to close the highway for sure, and we don't have the food for the both of us to wait around until it does" Arianne guarantees

                                            >"In about 15 minutes, we're coming up on a couple of bridges running over some seriously shaky land, so I need you to keep calm, okay?" she says with a pleading tone

                                            "I'll try, but this rain is killing my head" You say as you bury your head into the jacket, trying to silence the roar

                                            >With every turn of the mountainous road, You learned what made it so dangerous

                                            >It wasn't just the fact that the grade of the road was steep, making every little bit of torque count, it was also that the weather and the mountains themselves could make this into a dire journey at any moment

                                            >Arianne had a grim,determined look on her face as she gunned it across the first bridge, spraying the water into the air up high

                                            >You watched in awe of this battle of woman versus nature with a lot of the blanket on the seat wrapped around your head to kill the noise from the rain

                                            >Then everything went white and the loud KA-THOOM of thunder exploded throughout the vehicle as the storm scored a direct hit on it

                                            >You did not take it well, at all, as you brayed and bucked about in a panicked frenzy

                                            >The engine had stalled out, but you were on solid land

                                            >Arianne had taken off her seat belt, and embraced you in her arms

                                            >"I used to be scared of thunderstorms, too" She admits as she stroked your light blue mane and scratched behind your ears

                                            >You catch your breathing as the pleasure of the veterinarian's soothing touch brings you back to reality

                                            >She moves back to the steering wheel, and revives the car with a little luck and a mighty Vroom!

                                            >You move up to the shotgun seat, wrapped in the blanket like a little pony burrito, and watch the raindrops fall and be illuminated by the red nightlights of the console

                                            >The second bridge was being flooded over, but time was short

                                            >As the two of you crossed it, you could hear the strain on the engine as it worked, revving up and down like a rower on the rapids, pushing you slowly across it

                                            >When it touched solid land and caught the ground, kicking up mud that'd washed up, the two of you cheered

                                            >You point out the flashing red and blue lights over the hill

                                            >Arianne tells you to hide in the back as she crests the hill behind the police barricade that had formed to keep the roads closed

                                            >After a brief moment of parting the thin blue line to let the two of you through, and a bit of congratulations on getting through the pass with the hell-storm raging, Arianne and you drove through the small city, not as casual tourists, but champions

                                            >The rain had let up once you reached the city proper, so when you reached Arianne's house, it was a slight drizzle, just enough to dampen the roads

                                            >Turns out her place was quite simple for someone who had a doctorate, it was a small house, with what looked to be two bedrooms

                                            >You unravel yourself from the blanket and grab your jacket, as Arianne opens the door to let you out

                                            >You make a small splash jumping out of the SUV and into a puddle that'd formed

                                            >You're a little shocked when the cold water hit your belly, but you tough it out

                                            >You trot into the house, and it's a comfy sight

                                            >Hardwood floors and warm lighting welcome you in from the cold, dark and rainy streets