Part Two: The Great Escape >You get to your hooves, slipping a few times on the smooth tile. >Eventually, you shakily come to a standing position, still wobbling. >It's just occurred to you that you have no idea how to even walk. >An old jingle comes to mind. ... >Put one foot in front of the other, >And soon you'll be walkin cross the floor! >Put one foot in front of the other, >And soon you'll be walkin out the door! ... >After humming to yourself, the daunting task before you doesn't seem that bad. >So, like Mickey Rooney said, one hoof in front of the other. >You take a step. "Well, that wasn't-" >What "What-?" >That's not your voice. That's really not your voice. >Your previous somewhat bassy low voice had been sharpened into a somewhat squeaky high pitch with an almost musical quality to it, like the jingling of bells. "The..." >This was going to take some getting used to. "The quick red fox jumps over the lazy dog." >Okay, it wasn't so bad. It just felt wrong. >Your inner monologue still sounded the same, but the voice that came out of your mouth was- >"Hey, who's in there?" >Oh, shit. >You jump at the noise and lose your balance, falling over in a heap. >You quickly scrabble back up, your hooves making clip-cloppy noises on the tile as you attempt to hop onto the toilet. >You find yourself on the toilet seat, staring in the direction of the source of the noise. >...How did you get up here? >Your legs start shaking, and you do your best not to fall into the toilet. >During this process, your wings had shot out, rigid. >Apparently you can use them for balance, like sticking your arms out. >The voice lets out an exasperated grunt. >"What the hell... crazy kids. Whatever, keep on doing whatever it is you're doing in there if you're not gonna come out and admit to it. I'll give you five minutes to get out of there before I come back with another teacher." >You hear footsteps leaving, and sigh, relieved, the feminine sound still managing to surprise you. >Okay, time to get off the toilet... >Any second now. >Just hop down. >You tense and hop, tripping and managing to dip a hoof in the toilet water. >You let out a girly scream, waving the hoof frantically. "Eww! Ewewewew!" >It was still damp but it wasn't soaked, at least... >Guess you have to learn how to walk before they come back and see you, now a girl, in the boy's bathroom. >You get to your hooves once more, and take that step again, putting out your front left hoof. >Then you put out your front right hoof, and- >...Yeah that's not gonna work. Now you're just stretched slightly farther than before. >You carefully readjust your stance and try again. >Front left... back... right? >That feels right. >Now front right, then back left, then front left, then back right... >You've got it! >You walk around the handicapped stall slowly, then a little quicker, your hooves clopping on the tile. >Before long you can turn in circles and do laps around the stall. >Great. Now to bust out of this joint. >As you reach for the lock, you realize you almost forgot your phone, and your keys. >But where are you going to keep them? >You elect to try slinging your jeans over your haunches, but your phone just falls out of the pocket when you try to move. >Grumbling, you pick it up with your mouth off the floor (ew) and just put it in between your shoulder blades, right behind your neck. >Looks like you can kind of use that as a table, as long as you don't have to run. >Or fly. >Or even trot any faster than you're already going. >You'll have to figure out something later. >You slide the rest of your clothes over your flanks, pockets now emptied onto your back, including the caribiner your car and house keys are on, as well as some ear plugs that are probably too small for you, now. >You'll have to get a lanyard or something for those, later. >You place a hoof onto the slide, racking it back and giving yourself access to the rest of the bathroom. >Clip-clopping out of the stall, you walk past the mirror- >Hold on, you don't really know what you look like, yet. >...The mirror is too high. All you can see is the top of your hair- er, mane?- and the tips of your ears. >You sigh, knowing you'll have to stand up on the counter. >You do so, taking care to remove your phone first, as everything slides off of you. >Wow. >Two big adorable red-orange eyes stare back at you, wide with shock. >The white hooves placed on the counter shift a little- your hooves. >You blink, flicking your ears, and your reflection mimicks your actions. >Your eyes are drawn to the cute muzzle jutting out of your face, the new thing occupying your vision had mostly gone unnoticed until now. >You could barely see it, but it was definitely more noticeable than your nose when you were human. >You carefully bring a hoof up to your face, trying to feel over its features... >You soon realize you can't feel much, the hoof was not meant for exploratory activities. >...Exploratory activites. >A few other exploratory activites come to mind but you quickly push them out in favor of not being distracted. >You had bigger things to worry about, such as not even being human anymore. >Shaking your head, you lower yourself back down and pick up your things, poking your head out of the door. >From where you are now, the nearest exit would be the lunchroom exit, but if there're still students eating lunch that wouldn't be a great idea. >You're actually not sure how much time it's been since you left Katie at the table. >That way leads out the back of the school to the student parking lot, to your car, where you're trying to get to. >The next option that comes to mind is the door next to Chemistry that leads directly outside, past the car line, but, again, that presents the same problem as the last option. >The third option is the front office. You might be able to slink past unnoticed. Unfortunately, it gets a lot of traffic, so there's a higher chance of you being spotted. >It's also the most roundabout way of getting to your car, which is a ways back in the parking lot. >You could go out the front and around the back of the school, but you would be outside for a long time, increasing the chances of you being spotted by, god forbid, someone outside of the school. However, the nearest road was too far away for anyone to see you, really... >You make up your mind, electing to try taking the Chemistry route and start on >The coast had seemed clear but soon you hear footsteps approaching from around the corner, and you clumsily dash back into the bathroom, dropping the clothes on your back. >You lie in wait next to your discarded clothes, listening to the sound, your ears swiveling around to pick up the waves bouncing off the tiled walls. >Suddenly, as the footsteps reach their peak, somebody enters the bathroom. >You immediately press yourself into the wall, and they walk right by your clothes, almost brushing their leg against your muzzle. >They continue on, not noticing the clothes on the ground or the mare staring at them. >You take this opportunity to slink out of the bathroom, moving as slowly as possible as to not bring back those clip-cloppy noises. >Unfortunately you had to leave your clothes, but you still had your phone and keys. >You successfully make it out, and start walking down the hallway. >It's not too bad, but with every classroom you pass you start to grow more anxious. >All it would take would be some bored student glancing out of the door of the classroom to spot you. >And you're sure that you're on the cameras at this point. >You quicken your pace a little. >And what do you do then if someone tries to catch you? >Just explain yourself? >How do you explain this? >Ah, yes, Mr. Teacher I am Anon, and I have been turned into a horse within the course of this school day, despite being human hours ago. >No, I have no proof that I am who I say I am. No, I've never heard of this happening before either. >No, please don't call animal control! I swear I'll be a good mare! >You quicken your pace a little more. >Oh, no, I mean- I'll be fine! I'm not just an animal! Aren't you listening to me? No, I- >You trip up, eating shit onto the tile. >Of course, this happened in front of the open door of a class of bored sophomores. >You look over at one in particular, he's staring at you, his mouth hanging open a little. >You look at him. >He looks at you. >A number of others had noticed you, and looked like they were about to say something. >You quickly gather your things, setting them up on your back and getting out of there as fast as possible. >You turn your head around to see if any got up to follow you. >Looks like they were still dumbstruck, doesn't matter, you're out of there. >You realize that you've managed to work up to a trot now, which is a little faster than the plodding walk you were at, but it throws around your phone and keys a little. >You're almost to the exit! >You'll be free! >Suddenly, the door to Chemistry opens and you quickly dash into the alcove of the class next to it. >Luckily this one has paper up over the windows. >Peeking around the corner you see the entire class exiting the building, going outside for some experiment or other. >Whew, that was close, but it does rule out the Chemistry option. >Your only other option is the front office, now, you don't want to backtrack and risk being spotted again. >You groan quietly and start on your way after checking to make sure it was clear. >First door... closed, uncovered windows. You rush past. >Second door... open, it's the counselors' offices. >You covertly survey the interior. There's just one bored person scrolling on their phone. >They are facing you, though. You might be able to get away with it. >Screw it. You go for it, quietly dashing past the open doorway. >You keep moving, not bothering to stop to check if they had noticed you. >Soon you've rounded the corner into the main entranceway. >The front office is inside its own room, but has a ring of windows surrounding it to survey the outside. >Luckily for you, said windows are normally waist-high on a human, so you can easily slip undetected undearneath them. >You do so, scooting past the gap in the wall and successfully make it to the door. >You push on the bar with your head and manage to get the heavy door open. >Bursting outside, you take a breath of fresh air. >Now out from under the cover of the roof, you feel more at home. >The wind caresses your face and now extended feathers like a long lost friend, and you sigh contently. >What was this about? >You've never felt like this before... could this be part of your new condition? >It's gotta be. >Anyways, you've dillydallied enough, it's time to get moving. >You break into a light trot, and start on your way to the corner of the building. >Cars pass by on the highway about 600 feet from the front of the school. It's a ways, there's no way they would see you. >Luckily it seems like you're alone, there's no one in the front parking lot. >Just empty cars. >Before long, after passing under several windows, you round the corner. >Nobody greets you, and you continue on. >You'll be walking all the way around the school, passing through the complex of buildings at the back which included the field house and the arts building, which was separate. >There was a breezeway through the middle of the main building and the arts building, but that generally always has traffic. >As you come upon the back parking lot something you had been dreading happens. >A pitch rings out from the various exterior speakers- the bell. "Shit!" >You frantically look for a place to hide. >At the moment, you were in full view of anyone who would be using that breezeway momentarily. >Your only option was underneath a car. >You wiggle underneath a car, finding this much easier than the last time you did this. >It was nice to have a respite from the sun, it was kinda hot out here and the pavement was cool beneath your hooves and against your tummy, having been in the shade. >The smell of gasoline and oil assaults your senses, though, and you hunker down as students start coming. >It's easy to tell when they're coming, kids are never quiet when they're traversing the halls. >You listen in on some of their conversations. >They are making no effort to be quiet, and you find yourself able to pick them out quite easily, your ears swiveling to catch the conversations. >"Oh my god, Becky, I was, like, at Chad's place last night..." >"You going to the game tomorrow?" >"No, dude, I swear, it was real! Ask Nick, he was in class and he saw it too." >This sounds interesting. >"A horse in the hall? I don't know, Josh..." >Josh. That must be the one that was staring at you. >"Whatever. I know what I saw. It looked just like a po-" >At this point you think they went inside, because you couldn't pick up their voices anymore. >After five minutes, you don't hear anything, so you crawl out from under the car and dust yourself off, though not very well. >Looking at your reflection in the rims, your mane is all screwed up and your previously mostly pristine white coat has been made unkempt and is stained with a few fluids you think you rolled into while underneath the car. >You shake your head and continue on your way, circling around the building to where you came in this morning, the band room entrance. >The door's propped open by a music stand, and you poke your head in to see if anyone was looking that way. >You think this is fifth period, it's the first band's rehearsal time. >They're still getting their instruments out so you're pretty sure you can walk by. >Suddenly, some kid comes out with keys in his hand. >It's your drum major. >You stop and stare at each other. "Uh, hey, Dave." >"...Hey?" "See ya." >You just start walking away, hoping he'll buy it. >"Yeah, uh, you too." >As you calmly depart, he resumes unlocking the band truck, shaking his head and muttering something. >The second you round the corner you let out that breath you were holding. >You've reached the real home stretch now. >Before long, you're at your car, too far out to really be seen, and nobody was in the parking lot given that the lunch period was now over. >Fumbling with the keys in your mouth, you find yourself unable to hit the unlock button on the fob. >Instead, you elect to try to stick the key into the keyhole, turning it with your whole head. >You grasp the handle in your mouth, pulling on the door and, with some effort, managing to get it open. >Grabbing your phone and tossing it into the car, you hop up onto the seat, pretty easily since your car was so low to the ground in the first place. >You stick the keys in the ignition after maneuvering your head around the steering wheel. >You turn the battery on, though not the ignition. >The radio comes to life. >Shutting the door, you slump against the steering wheel, listening to Tom Petty. >You just try to breathe, and take this time to really consider what you've just gone through. >Like... >Wow. >You were some kind of pegasus horse thing, you had wings, four hooves, two ears, and a tail. >You give said tail a concerned flick. >You are certainly free falling, as it were, being thrust into this situation with no real idea what to do. >All you had to do now was drive home, and talk to your dad, and you'd figure it out together. >A thought occurs to you during the chorus. "How am I going to drive this car?" >You hadn't really thought this through all the way, had you? >You can't reach the pedals, even when leaning down to press them with your forehooves, much less be capable of operating a steering wheel at the same time. >You groan, slamming a hoof onto the dash in frustration. >Here you were, forty miles from home... though, maybe only 30 as the crow flies, and- >...As the crow flies. >You look back at your wings, ruffling them a little. >No way. There is no way. >What are you other options? >Bum a ride off someone? >Walk? >You're stuck. Your only real option is to try to fly, if you even can, that is. >Well, you guess you know what you're doing for the next hour. >Learning to fly.