>“Honestly though, there’s no way you’re going to believe what I saw on the way in today, like, I just couldn’t resist coming over here to bother you about it”
“I’ve seen some truly crazy stuff in my day, let’s hear it”
>I settled into a relaxed stance, leaning against the doorframe – even if this were a half-assed story it would still be more exciting than most of what went on around here
>Crossing my arms, I tilt forward in calm anticipation
>“Okay, okay, it’s crazy, I’m actually not pullin’ your leg here, this happened just now”
“Go on man, you got my attention”
>“Alright, I was walking down the path by our neighbor’s window, you know, the two guys who live just down the hall?”
“Yeah, yeah, the two roommates - I don’t know their names but I think I know the folks you’re talking about”
>“Right - so I’m off a ways, and I can see one of them’s in his room on his phone. Reminds me that I’d been waiting for an alert on my own phone, so I look down for a minute-“
>*Clap*
>He was really going heavy on the dramatic emphasis here
>“Look up and there’s a horse in the room”
“A horse?”
>“Yeah, like this little pony, weirdest thing – right where the guy was a minute ago”
>He paused his story, unsure of what other descriptors to add; a moment later he drops his arms conclusively
>It took me a moment to process what he’d just said – it was certainly long on absurdity – I couldn’t help but chuckle at the silliness of such a punchline
>Gradually, the chuckle evolved into an exuberant laugh

“Ahaha, okay, wow, seriously? Don’t quit your day job to go moonlighting as a storyteller”
>“No, I’m absolutely serious, it was purple and –“
“I’m sure it had a horn and wings too!”
>“It… well, it did have wings…”
“Ah, that’s great, a little pony, just like in that TV show, honest”
>I tried to regain as much of my composure as I could muster, a deep cough helped do the trick
“How wonderfully magical”
>“Okay, but you follow me right, it… It was there, I saw this…”
>His thoughts trailed off as his gaze shifted to the floor
>One thing that all my neighbors seemed to have in common was a shared difficulty in laughing at their own jokes
>An unsteady silence hung heavy in the air for a few seconds
“Nah, I’m sorry man, it got a good laugh out of me”
>“No, but, I’m actually, very and truly serious here, this little purple horse was where he’d just been”
“And… the guy was gone?”
>“Yeah, far as I could tell – look, just… look at me and tell me you think I’m joking about this”
>With a strong undertone of solemnity, he made eye contact, breathing in before releasing a long, intentional exhale
>I could feel my own smile fading - whatever he’d seen, it may have been otherworldly, but he wasn’t seeking humor in describing it
>Poor guy… really thought he saw a… purple horse
>From what little I knew about him, maybe he’d gone back on his promise from last year to stay clean
>Or maybe the stress at the office that he’d been spending many sleepless nights escaping had finally caught up with him
>Whatever it was, it was serious
“Okay… Okay. I believe you. If it were anyone else I would have trouble doing so, but… I believe you”
>He kept his eyes locked, not saying anything for a few seconds to be certain I was finished speaking
>Slowly, his head started to bob in an affirmative nod
>“It… means a lot to hear that; you’re a good guy”

>I glanced behind him, if only to break eye contact – sounded as though a bunch of girls were visiting with the ‘proud new owners of the pony’ down the hall
>Well, if by some stretch of the imagination that was actually the case, good on them
>I wasn’t a particularly big fan of them, but who doesn’t love horses?
“Say, stories aside, are you doing anything this weekend? We could watch the playoffs, maybe swing by the neighbors’ place and say hello to Secretariat, Seabiscuit, whats-its-name…“
>“I’d love to do both actually, but I need to leave for the train station in a few hours”
“Oh?”
>“Yeah, going to be travelling this weekend with some-“

>“Friends!”

>His words got cut off as a chipper female voice piped up
>With both of us craning our necks into the hallway, we didn’t see anyone there
>At least, not while we were looking at eye level
>Standing just down the way, softly bathed in the light spilling out of an open doorway, was the unmistakable silhouette of a…
>A little pony
>Standing about three feet tall, I questioned how she’d gotten that door open in the first place
>As though that was the weirdest part of the whole situation appearing before us
>When I made eye contact with her, her grin became a brazen smile, a pair of wings on her back ruffling out and twitching with joy
>The late afternoon sun danced off of her glistening purple feathers
“I’ll be honest, I… I didn’t really believe you were telling the truth about that pony…”
>“You can see her too?”
>I paused, not sure whether this made the two of us crazy
“…I still can hardly believe my eyes”
>My neighbor, who was in a less paralyzing state of surprise, did his best to kick off an exchange of dialogue
>“Hi, uh… little pony… you’re a… cute friend, ain’t ya?”
>The feverish little Pegasus gasped, pausing just long enough to remind herself that sentences need spaces between words

>“Ohmigoshdoyouwant… you want to my friend too?! Just like Sky Meadows?!”
>Oh wow
>The pony can really talk too, just like a person
>She couldn’t possibly be any more adorable
>“Sky Meadows? Is that… another pony?”
>The Pegasus gave an animated nod and stepped into the hallway, followed closely by another pony
>This one was equally as small and colorful, with her lack of iridescent wings more than compensated by a brilliant blue coat
>She too sported a grin, her eyes lighting up when she saw us
>As if two ponies weren’t enough to inflict a heart attack on account of their adorableness, a third poked her head into the hallway
>This one flaunted a flawlessly pure white coat and a horn extending from her forehead – a unicorn
>I was still fawning over the adorable little ponies when the purple one spoke up again
>Gesturing with a hoof, she went down the line
>“These are my friends Daisy, Sky Meadows, and you’ve already met me, Storm Cloud!”
>I let my neighbor take the reins of the conversation – not only had he already mentally braced himself for meeting little ponies today, he seemed ecstatic about it
>Doubtful he’d expected to spend the afternoon conversing with one, but you never know what life’s going to throw your way
>“Well, Storm Cloud, I must say, it’s very nice to meet you and your friends”
>“You have no idea how happy we are to meet you! You’re going to be a great friend too – are you ready to cuddle right now?”
>“I… guess I could spare a few minutes…”
>He may have had a train to catch – later – how often did an opportunity like this come up?
>He dropped to his knees and settled into a seated position on his feet, putting himself at about eye level with the ponies
>I remained standing, crossing my arms and leaning against the doorframe again
>Even if the undeniable presence of these ponies signified the guy was indeed, not crazy, he still needed a relaxing cuddle time to himself

>The ponies, giggling excitedly, closed the distance at a brisk trot
>Storm Cloud pounced into his chest, wings flaring slightly, nearly knocking him over in the process
>She wrapped her forelegs around his neck, letting out a cute sigh as she rested her head against his shoulder
>He returned the embrace, propping up Storm Cloud’s barrel and flanks as her tail drooped over his thighs
>The other two ponies wrapped around his side, brushing their fine, soft fur against his exposed arms
>Here and there, the fine tickling would cause him to shiver
>It was an odd place for such a serene scene, and even if I couldn’t see his full expression, I could tell this was a rare instance in which the guy was genuinely smiling
>The way he was always on edge, quick, sharp breathing was often the norm… but right now? In this moment, he was at peace
>The building was quiet and calm, broken up by little more than the soft rustle of leaves beyond an open window, and the gentle flood of the late afternoon’s orange sunlight
>The orange light draped over his arms, growing more vibrant each time a pony brushed him
>Very, very vibrant…
>I shifted to get a closer look
>It was only when I stepped forward and blocked in the sun’s path that I realized the bright orange wasn’t coming from where I’d originally thought
>And in fact, it wasn’t just on his arms… his whole upper body was an unhealthy off-color
>I didn’t want to ruin the moment, but even more so, I didn’t want to stand idly by if something was wrong
“Are you feeling… alright, man? I didn’t… notice before… but your whole upper body looks… odd”
>“To be honest, my chest does feel a little… tight? Think if might be better to take off my shirt?”

“Are you sure you’re not allergic to the ponies or anything?”
>He continued to idly brush his hand along Storm Cloud’s back, refusing to give an answer
>Either he was far too caught up in cuddling with the ponies, or suddenly found some gumption and grudge to just ignore me
“I said, are you allergic to the ponies?”
>He continued to refuse an answer, nuzzling closer to Storm Cloud
>It couldn’t possibly be that he couldn’t hear me; I was right next to him
>Well, he said his shirt was bothering him and wanted it off, so if he’s going to play tough, then right here, right now in the hallway, I’ll just-
“What that HELL is that?!”
>Abruptly, I stopped reaching for the slack of his shirt, and recoiled at the sight before me
>Poking out from the top of his head and twitching around at different angles, was a pointed furry flap of skin – two of them, actually
>Ears
>Pony ears, just like those on Storm Cloud, Sky Meadows, and Daisy
>At my interjection, all three ponies flinched, falling away from him before regaining their composure
>He, on the other hand, didn’t retain his coolheadedness quite so well
>Whirling about to face me, his wings pressed against his the inside of his shirt, then flared outwards in alarm, tearing the cheap fabric along several lines
>A sharp report echoed throughout the hallway
>The tattered remains slid from his shoulders, revealing a chest dotted with small patches of orange fur in various stages of development
>Not to mention, well, his new wingspan

“What did those ponies do to you?!”
> “It’s okay, we were just cuddling – that’s what friends do! Goodness, you really startled me there with your shout, don’t do that again”
“Dude, we need to get you to a hospital! And get these ponies out of here! Can you not see what’s going on?”
>He looked down at his half-transformed body, the slightest hint of shame making itself apparent and quickly evaporating
>“I guess a part of me thought this change was like a dream or… something… it feels so indescribably nice… you don’t even know, just try cuddling for a little bit!”
“I’m not going to put up with this, we’re… we’re-“
>We’re what? We’re going to take you to a hospital and get you diagnosed with a terminal case of horse?
>Reverse the magic by getting three human girls to hug you instead?
>What was the typical plan for stopping your neighbor from being turned into a cuddly little pony that, more and more evidently, is about to meet the same fate at least one of the other neighbors did?
>Chances are one of these ponies has had experiences with at least two conversions
>I had none
>If I didn’t want to end up with hooves myself, I shouldn’t be anywhere near these ponies or anything they’d touched 
>Much as I wanted to be a hero, I was out of options and took a defensive step back… maybe after they claimed his humanity, they’d be appeased and would leave me alone
>Perfect logic - I hoped the two seasons running high school cross country were about to pay off
>I pointed a finger at nothing in particular, initially not sure who I wanted to address
“Storm Cloud, why- why are you doing this to him?”
>“We just want to be his friend, that’s all. Don’t you want to see what it’s like too? Don’t worry, you will soon!”

>With that, she giggled and gave him a peck on the cheek, as a new rash of orange fur cropped up across his face
>Overtaken by a new wave of bliss, he sighed, flopped back and rolled over, settling finally on his side with the wings tucked instinctively to his… barrel
>Daisy and Sky Meadow planted themselves on each side of him, brushing the soft fur of their faces against him as the front of his nose pressed outwards and broadened
>As his teeth flattened and lower jaw bowed outwards to match, he flared his nostrils and exhaled from his new pony muzzle
>Blinking rapidly, his eyes grew to adorable proportions, a dainty row of lashes embellishing the corners
>His hair, originally cut short to keep up with the style of the day, grew inches at a time until soft waves draped from the base of his pony ears, down past his shoulders
>Storm Cloud had walked around to his feet, where his shoes and pants were loosening more with each passing second
>She grasped a shoe and sock between her teeth, tearing them off and spitting away more archaic remnants of his humanity
>Doing so for each foot revealed... what could only loosely be described as a foot
>A hardened orange toenail engulfed the end of each, the other toes ceding dominance of the limb as each foot elongated
>Storm Cloud ran her hoof along their lengths, setting in motion a wave of fur than eclipsed all the skin within seconds, from his ankle to his fetlocks
>At the same time, it accelerated the morphing of bone and muscle into its new equine form
>Within moments, calling them anything other than “hooves” would have been simply wrong

>She tugged at the pants’ ankles, sliding them off with ease, and revealing legs that were further along towards ponydom than they were human
>With nothing separating his now-exposed skin from the ponies flanking his sides, a line of growing hair raced across uncovered regions, leaving him awash in soft orange fur
>A long tail flowed out from the base of his spine, making short work of the last of his ripping clothing
>With a smile, the orange Pegasus let out a soft, feminine laugh and rose to her hooves
>The other ponies had stood as well, each displaying a grin and admiring their work
>With a subtle nod, they wrapped their hooves around their new friend in a loving embrace, and all playfully toppled to the ground, giggling all the while
>She shivered with a newfound wave of bliss, a clear marker of the exact moment she would remember as when she joined their herd
>All four stood again, their attention now fixed on me
>Show’s over
>Promptly, I slammed the door to the hallway and locked it, saying a quick prayer that it would hold
>My prayers didn’t seem to do much
>I hadn’t even taken two steps backward before the first crash of hooves launched a small barrage of splinters from the area around the doorknob






>I shuddered as the first crash of hooves echoed throughout the house, near-certain that the latch wouldn’t hold
>Whether it were a burglar or a quartet of friendship-enamored ponies, the whole complex’s security theater never inspired much confidence
>Still, now that it was being put through its paces, it was actually holding up
>A second crash sent the door lurching inward – further than the first time – and a fresh wood chip tumbled to the ground
>Even if I’d bought some time, it would be measureable on the scale of a few seconds
“Purple Cloud! Or… whoever’s kicking the door- I’m trying to unlock it but I think you might be breaking it more with your kicking!”
>I hesitantly reached an arm forward and jostled the doorknob vigorously, remaining absolutely sure not to rotate it even a fraction
>The relatively thin construction of the door was apparent by how easily the ponies’ voices pierced through
>“I don’t think it’s such”
>“Clementine Breeze, would you-”
>“Stop kicking the door, dear”
>The faint tap of a hoof against the floor signaled the definitive reception of my message
>While they stood outside at their peak patience, I just needed to divert their attention
>My mind racing, heart beating fast, I settled against a wall adjacent to the door, eyes still fixed on the menacing damage already done
“Y’know, I think I heard a couple guys just down the hall earlier today who were feeling lonely and looking for friends, try to track them down”

>It just so happened that all the other residents in this particular hallway were either out of town or at work right now
>I think… I hope…
>It was a solid plan - if I could dupe these ponies into a wild goose chase for even 30 seconds, it would be enough time to call the cavalry
>“Really?!”
>“Thanks so much for letting us know!”
>“Oh, how wonderful! You can join us in meeting them!”
>“Yeah, everyone here can be friends! It’s a great idea!”
>I could hear their smiles through their voices; it was oddly sickening
>My stomach was upset enough just trying to cope with the fact that… at LEAST one of the ponies out there was a neighbor of mine
>A former neighbor, that is
“Of course, of course! In fact, why don’t you go meet them first – I’ll sort out the door lock in the meantime”
>I gave it another rattle to sell my imitated effort
>“Don’t worry, even if you can’t get it, the door’s not too strong for us to break it down – as friends!”
>These ponies were as corny as they were persistent
“No, I think you should focus on them first”
>They weren’t buying what I was selling
“I-I don’t want to be there when you meet those new friends, and trust me, it’s better that way”
>I absentmindedly shook my palms as they started to get sweaty
>The cracks in the armor were starting to make themselves known
“Really, I’m, uh, not very good with the… whole friendship thing, yeah! You don’t want ME to meet them!”
>Shoot, that line totally validated what they’re trying to do to me, didn’t it?
“Actually, I don’t have a good relationship with them, so it should definitely be just you while I get this door sorted out!”
>I wiped my brow and gave a forceful exhale
“In fact… I don’t think… I don’t think I want to be your friends either… It’s… it’s not meant to be”

>I paused, that was enough for them to turn over in their minds
>Surging up past waves of adrenaline, a tinge of sympathy made its way through to the surface
>I felt a bit bad telling it so bluntly when their core desire was evidently just to “make friends”, but it was worthy price to pay for my unscathed fingers
>Neither the ponies nor I said anything for a few seconds
>If my thoughts could’ve risen beyond reactionary humanity-preserving impulses, I’d have made a dash for the my phone on the kitchen table
>I could’ve called the police, animal control, hell, I could’ve justified calling my buddies in the National Guard with the potential threat these ponies posed
>Instead, I was frozen in place, a few inches and one door away from a militantly cuddly horde
>A soft voice, one I recognized as Purple Cloud, spoke up
>“I know you’re probably afraid right now… Afraid of us and the idea of being our friend… Afraid of friendship and what it’s meant to be”
>She breathed a long inhale
>“It’s okay. It’s not your fault, and we want you to know, we’re here for you. The ponies who don’t know about friendship are those who need it the most.”
>Please God, if you’re listening, please tell me she’s not talking about me
>“We’ll be there for you soon enough – we’re not going to let one… measly… LITTLE… barrier… STAND IN OUR W-
>Purple Cloud hadn’t even finished grunting out the end of her sentence before another crash shook the door
>“Come on girls, we can do this!”
>I stood straight upright – especially given the extra emotional motivation I just unearthed, that last kick was audibly the most powerful yet
>And in effect, the most worrying
>A couple seconds later, a pair of crashes echoed through the room in rapid succession
>“Sky Meadows, you gotta kick at the exact same time as me!”

>With my heart once again racing faster than I’d thought possible, I channeled my feverishness into scrambling toward my bedroom
>No phone
>Might not be time to call anyone
>No weapons around, knives - useless
>Too many ponies
>Too many
>Distance!
>I just needed to create distance between us
>My ears were overwhelmed by the cacophony of my heavy footfalls combined with the sharp – and progressively better coordinated – knocks at the door
>I slid into my bedroom, slamming the door behind me just as I heard the first door explode inwards, followed by the excited pattering of hooves
>Net count of the doors between us: still one
>But considering the ease with which my bedroom door swung closed, its mass wasn’t even in the same ballpark as the front door
>Two, three hits if I were lucky, and that’d fall too
>My eyes scanned the room in a fruitless search for anything good with which to defend myself, but I finally rested my gaze on the window
>It might take the ponies a few moments to ascertain what room I was even in; this was my chance… and I wouldn’t get another like it
>Lifting the glass, I gave a solid kick to the right half of the screen, snapping out a pair of plastic brackets, but not quite clearing the way
>My second kick to the other side came in unison with another crash of hooves from somewhere else in the apartment
>The screen popped and I exited out of that window faster than a porn popup at a church meeting, doing my best to shut the opening as much as possible on my way out
>Two of those ponies had wings
>I wanted to think that for the skewed proportions of a small horse, they aerodynamically wouldn’t work, but nothing up to this point seemed to scientifically make much sense either
>If they got airspace, I wasn’t getting away, and anyone else looking to avoid being their “friend” wasn’t getting away either
>And from there everything snowballs as there are more Pegasi befriending more Pegasi…
>…Better to just not think about it

>The cool, gentle breeze rustled my clothes as I aimed for a modest shrub, swiftly sliding off the window ledge and doing my best to stick the landing
>After rolling out into the mulch, I instinctively took off running
>…for about three steps
>Though putting barriers between myself and the ponies had worked great up until this point, windows and locked doors were unique in that I could get through them while creating a temporary >hassle for the equines 
>A tall, solid wood fence surrounding this back lot on all sides?
>Not good
>I looked around for a place in the yard to hide – did horses have really strong noses like dogs? Would they be able to home in on my scent?
>The pessimist in me said I was about to find out, but I did my best to shut down the thought
>I wasn’t going to be a pony
>I wasn’t going to be a pony
>I repeated it like a mantra – call it desperation or hyping myself up; I insistently wanted it to be true
>It’d been only a few seconds since I’d gotten out of the window, but I chanced a peek back
>If the ponies had caught sight of me by now, undoubtedly at least one of them would either be staring out the window or actively trying to turn it to shards the way they did with my door
>The coast was clear - for the moment - prompting my gaze back to the fence
>It was visibly well-built and sturdy, and stood about eight feet tall; it’d unquestionably be impassable for at least Daisy and Sky Meadows, maybe the Pegasi if luck turned my way… for once
>Dealing with two ponies was still better than four

>I was probably only going to have one shot here before tiring myself out, so I stepped up to a favorable spot on the fence, took a deep breath, and shook my arms to get the blood flowing
>3… 2… 1…
>Channeling all my strength downwards, I vaulted enough to get some momentum and a good grip on the top of the fence
>In a do-or-die scramble, my feet gradually clawed for enough purchase to get my center of mass the full seven feet in the air
>My muscles were shaking, teeth gritted and eyes pinched closed in agony
>After what felt like an eternity, I got there
>My pause at the top was brief, just enough to rest my stomach on the top plank and glance back at the window
>No ponies
>From the peak, a feeling of relief settled in as I relaxed and let gravity do its work
>Things were getting better; once I got behind the fence, I’d be able to cover my escape easily – the forest back here stretched out for what felt like miles
>Even though it was all in slow motion, the seven foot fall was a fraction of a second
>Probably just a very short fraction of a second
>The fence slipped further and further away, the horizon rolled past, and I found myself looking at the base of the fence on the forest side
>The base of the fence… where the ground should have been… where I was expecting it to be
>Fuck…
>With the sensation of freefall already gripping my body, a useless surge of adrenaline shot through my veins as the remaining eight feet of the drop came into focus
>My view was swallowed up, not by the lush bed of green grass I’d hoped would poetically conclude my ordeal, but a bed of dark grey rocks
>Dark, except for those spots where the sun glistened off their sharp edges
>In that moment it would have been fitting to think about the family and friends I’d be leaving behind, and their fate in the new pony-ravaged world; instead, only one thought made it through: “Huh. This is how I die.”

>My shoulder was the first part to hit the forest floor, accompanied by a sickening crunch and pop
>It harkened back to high school afternoons spent crushing empty soda cans underfoot, although the sound coming from inside me was a new, unwelcome experience
>Having never broken a bone, I wouldn’t have minded going my whole life without breaking any – or at the very least starting with the agony of a single bone before working up to a combo
>The shockwave became bored of ravaging that part of my body quite quickly, moving over to my chest next
>With a forced puff, my lungs were abruptly voided of air, and the rest of my organs reacted accordingly as they slammed against my ribcage
>My neck and legs were mercilessly whipped about, my head missing the worst of the rocks by inches
>It was all very loud for a split second, then eerily quiet
>A score of songbirds in the tree canopy went about their business, unknowing or uncaring of the scene unfolding below them
>I had a clear view of them, and was probably going to for a while
>I didn’t want to move, not now - not that I really had much choice in the matter
>Even as my breathing returned and a few of my nerves were overwhelmed by the subtle rise and fall of my chest, I begged simply to stop moving altogether
>Long, labored exhales were punctuated by sharp gasps, both fighting the nausea of shock
>The approaching dusk provided a gentle backdrop as a single drop of blood snaked its way off my face
>Meanwhile, a faint copper taste gradually made itself known in the back of my throat

>I wasn’t dead, and if that meant the ponies could still turn me into one of them, I should be moving, right?
>I should be running full speed, just like… that guy in the sports
>If I go off through the forest on a heading toward… the place… the uh…
>It’s got the blue thing, the…
>What were those questions that they asked… my friend… when he was in the… it’s the place with doctors
>The year’s… I know this one… and my name…
>I let my eyes slide closed


>It was dark… even for nighttime
>Anywhere else in town, the moon and stars might have illuminated a bit of the sky
>At the very least, on a cloudy night, scattered light from the dull yellow sodium glow of streetlamps downtown might have done some good
>A hellish and unnatural sight to be sure, but it was still some kind of sight
>Instead, the densely packed forest leaves greedily grabbed for every ray that tried to make its way through
>It would have been very useful cover in avoiding the Pegasi on my escape
>Would have, had I made it more than eight feet into the forest 
>And those eight feet weren’t even horizontal – what a joke
>Still, at the base of the shallow ditch in which I found myself, the darkness wasn’t absolute, and squinting allowed me to make out a few of my surroundings
>There were definitely more than the four of them that I’d encountered trying to kick down my door
>Maybe as many as seven or eight, and that was only in my field of view
>I could turn my head to the side, distressed nerves warning me that it wasn’t a healthy idea
>It was apparent my neck wasn’t fractured, as I could raise my head enough to look over my body, feet poking up just beyond the quickly rising and falling silhouette of my chest
>I settled my head back down, but not without a long, strained groan
>They hadn’t pounced on me yet, though they had to be well aware I wasn’t going anywhere in this state
>I felt the dried blood all over the side of my face; if that weren’t an indication of my vulnerability, I don’t know what would be
>Actually, that probably was the very reason they could show patience - a trait I hardly considered feasible after hearing their frantic effort to break down my door

>I stared up at the trees, thoughts swimming in a daze as I tried to get myself up to speed on what was going on
>Maybe I could talk my way out of this, maybe I could convince that me staying as a human was better for t-
>Two dark blurry masses stepped into my field of view
>A soft glow near one of them gently grew more intense, resolving the pointed unicorn horn from which it originated, then the facial features of the two ponies looking at me
>I found myself meeting the gaze of Daisy and Sky Meadows
>Their expressions were still cheerful, but they carried more subdued, serous undertones than the ponies giddily bounding down the hallway hours earlier
>Still trying to piece together the thoughts leading to the words, sentences, mouth movements, and sounds I’d hoped would buy my escape, my mouth hung uselessly ajar
>Daisy was the first to speak
>“Don’t be afraid, I can see you’re afraid but we’re not going to hurt you.”
>At that, my breathing audibly quickened as I tried imperfectly to keep myself calm between short, tormented breaths
>Hyperventilating would do me no good in getting out of this, and at worst I tried to avoid thinking about what would happen if I passed out again and their patience wavered
>I wanted to be awake for whatever they had in store for me; it might be the only way to try and keep a grasp on “me” – the real “me”
>I wasn’t afraid of being hurt by these ponies
>Not physically… not in the way Daisy was talking about
>I could tell she had much left to say, but instead she tenderly shushed me and signaled to Sky Meadows to take a step back
>She too gave me some more breathing room, though she wasn’t yet ready to abandon her speech

>After a few moments that seemed to drag on for an eternity, steady inhales through my nose met long exhales in a well-controlled rhythm
>This was my maximum attainable level of calmness given the circumstances, and Daisy was well-acquainted with this
>“Our herd is growing nicely here, but it could be so much more. There are so many people around here with whom friendship is still lost, and I think I know just the thing for it”
“Why aren’t you going after them? Why are you waiting around for me to wake up, to calm down, all those things?”
>Nothing about this made sense
>Three of them turned my neighbor into a pony in just a few moments; these seven or eight of them would make short work of groups of people…
>And then those groups would make short work of entire crowds…
>For all I knew, it could be just after twilight, or the hour before morning already; maybe there were already herds, hundreds of ponies strong, devastating the local area
>Mercilessly and hopelessly mobbing anyone brave enough to put up a fight

>Pegasi preying on those ambitious enough to make a run for it
>Wasting time on one incapacitated human didn’t make any sense, considering the transformational power they wielded
“What’s so special about me?”
>“Friend, in a way, it’s particularly advantageous to us that you’re not able to go anywhere. Most people, even the willing ones, are often surprised at first by friendship”
>“The change startles them because they’ve lived their whole lives differently; they grow to be so used to what they can see that they brush aside the benefits of what they can’t”
>“They get so caught up on the fact that they have feet, that they forget about the importance of forgiveness”
>“They get so caught up on having hands that they forget about the importance of helpfulness”
>“We’ve all found that modesty requires a mane, honesty requires hooves, and trustworthiness a tail – that’s where the unfriendly fall short”
>“Luckily, all it takes is a little bit of affection, one hug from a true friend, and they come to their senses soon enough, all the more excited to share friendship with others”
>The way Daisy spoke so eloquently, I had to wonder whether this was the first time she’d spoken of this topic
>I shuddered to think how many ponies standing around me were once helpless people meeting the same fate during their final moments in a human body

“Please, just… please get it overwith then… I… I’m ready to be a pony, honest. I’m ready to be your friend.”
>All this, after I’d explicitly told her the opposite through a locked door
>I was never a great liar – they saw right through my deception earlier, and with my facial expression betraying me as I lay there on the forest floor, a neon sign might as well have been pointing to my bluff
>Truly, with every passing moment I became more concerned – terrified – about what Daisy had planned for me
>I thought being a pony was one of the worst possible outcomes for the night, verily comparable in consequence to death, but I was beginning to reconsider
>I didn’t want to be a pony
>I didn’t want to be a pony
>And I didn’t want to be whatever Daisy had in mind
>From the far edge of my peripherals, the subtle movement of a blue pony caught my eye
>“How do you want to do this?” asked an uncharacteristically stern Sky Meadows
>“It’ll make it a lot easier if he’s lying on his stomach; that way the wings have space to grow”
>Sky Meadows gave a nod, walking over to the side of my body with my bad arm
>I didn’t sugar coat it for myself - if she was going to be pushing that particular side of my body, it was going to hurt
>Well, pushing prettymuch ANY side of my body was going to hurt in the state I was in
>I could at least give thanks that she wasn’t rolling me the other way, which would have crushed my bad arm into an even worse shape under my body weight
>I did my best to be cooperative; at the very least, submission might make this less painful now that my fate seemed pretty well sealed
>Doing my best to elevate my arm even an inch or two, Sky Meadows wedged her head underneath and gave as forceful of a shove as she could muster
>I yelped in pain as I began to roll, and found myself resettling on my stomach a moment later
>Thankfully I’d only needed to attempt that ordeal once

>My arms were still at my side, but without looking I could feel a faint tickling sensation as the first patches of pony fur pushed out where Sky Meadows had made contact
>I groaned at the thought that my humanity was already slipping from my grasp, but also at the still-pulsing pain coursing through much of my body
>Was it even necessary, really? Who’s to say I was going to get wings growing out of my back anyways?
“How is that you know I’m going to be a Pegasus? Is it because my neighbors ended up as Pegasi? Is it something about me?”
>“Well, normally, it’s prettymuch random, but well-versed unicorns have the ability to influence the process if they know the right spells.”
“And me in particular, being a Pegasus in particular, does what for you?”
>Daisy gave an intentional exhale and looked up to the forest, not so much in irritation as in hollow hope that the answer to my question was written in one of the trees
>Without attempting to establish eye contact, she racked her brain for an answer, opting to respond with a question of her own

>“You’re at least familiar with the television show My Little Pony, or maybe some of the toys, right?”
“I’ve seen some commercials for it and I could probably name the, like, five main characters…”
>“Okay, do you know of any of the princesses, Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Twilight Sparkle later on?”
“I just recognize the name Twilight Sparkle, what about these princesses?”
>“Of course you know about what we call ‘Earth ponies’, Pegasi, and unicorns. They’re, say for example, Sky Meadows, Storm Cloud, and myself”
>How could I forget about them…
>“The princesses are kind of like a combination of the traits of all three pony types – visibly, they have both wings and a horn”
>“I’ve made a lot of friends, but none are ever like those princesses – alicorns, we call them, when they have all those traits”
>I opted to stare unwaveringly at the ground, because Daisy undoubtedly would have commented on my expression if we’d locked eyes
>My blood was ice cold, and if the suppressed fear wasn’t evident in my face, my slight, uncontrollable shaking otherwise gave it away
>The pieces were all starting to come together, and if this meant what I thought it did, I could safely say I wasn’t ready to be a pretty pony princess in any capacity
>Not that my preparedness would make much difference to her or any of the other ponies around me
>After all, I presumed none of them had been prepared to end up as ponies
>Daisy has been wanting to do this for a while, and simply needed the right ingredient for her purposes… lucky me

>“I made friends with two other unicorns recently, both of which are also quite adept at their magic – Arctic Charge, Magnolia, if you’d be so kind?”
>I made out a steady of rhythm of clacks as two ponies’ worth of hoofsteps bounded over the rocks; they halted a few feet away from me
>“Just as the plan is supposed to go for alicorns: Arctic Charge, you take care of the Pegasus spell, Magnolia, you do the unicorn spell. Oh, and first…”
>I was a goner already; I didn’t bother to even look at what the ponies around me were doing or talking about, and I certainly didn’t have it in me to fight back
>I was only vaguely aware of them tugging around my clothing – it was mostly an acknowledgement of them doing so rather than any kind of response
>My shoes shifted off and a pair of unseen teeth grabbed my socks, sliding them easily off before also making short work of everything else on my lower body
>My chest was poked a couple times as I heard a unicorn trying to cut their way up the length of my shirt with their horn
>The method was crude in the absence of scissors, but nonetheless worked efficiently; after a slight tug, the torn fabric fell away
>The cool night breeze evaporated the last drops of sweat on my exposed back, even as a rising sense of dread had flushed my whole body
>In the distance, I heard an owl hooting – one of the few sounds cutting through the otherwise still night
>After a few moments, an ominous buzz from three separate sources rose up around me
>They didn’t quite sound like bugs – more like bug zappers to be honest
>Still, trying to describe them wasn’t necessary; I knew exactly what the sound was
>All my muscles tensed slightly, and my hands formed into loose fists in anticipation of what was to come

>I felt a faint heat drifting across my body, accompanied by a dull, electric charge that caused my fine arm & leg hairs to stand on end
>A few moments later, the sensation was compounded with the soft bristle of pony fur on my arms
>On each side, a Pegasus had had rolled up against me, making contact with as much of my chest as they could
>To get more complete coverage, they also fanned out their wings across my back
>Being brushed by feathers so large was a truly unique and alien feeling, but it was also quite nice
>It all felt very cozy with them functionally wrapping me in a pony blanket; a gentle warmth came off their bodies, and I could feel their mellow heartbeats thumping slowing in unison
>It didn’t take long until any slight shift I made stopped feeling like skin-on-fur and more like fur-on-fur
>It was accompanied by a ticking sensation spread across my entire torso, and a palpable rise in body temperature as the insulating fur spread
>I didn’t crane my neck around to look, but I could feel the frontiers of fur travelling down my thighs, accompanied by warm, blissful waves washing throughout the transformed regions
>Trying to move individual fingers, I found much of my hand had gone numb
>However, they were most certainly still there, as attempts to raise and tap my hand against the rocks were met with a sharp report – hooves
>The slightest twinge of discomfort made itself known on my back as my wings began to push out from the area around my shoulder blades
>The Pegasi at my sides weren’t blind to my predicament and shifted their own wings back to their sides, giving the bones and feathers more free reign to grow out
>Still though, the discomfort was intensifying, as though someone were pinching me under the skin in a hundred different places
>It wasn’t unbearable, but it was accompanied by an increasingly oppressive heat that had wrapped itself around my barrel

>With a bit of stiffness, I abandoned the Pegasi posted at my sides and slowly rose to my knees and forehooves
“Daisy, Clementine Breeze seemed to be having the time of her life when she got her wings…”
>Daisy looked at me, horn still brilliantly aglow as she and the two other unicorns kept up their respective spells
>“What do you mean?”
“This throbbing ache where the wings are coming in…”
>“That’s not supposed to happen, that’s never happened with anyone I’ve ever made friends with…”
“Huh, I guess it m- goddamn!”
>A pair of muscle spasms gripped my wings, muscles I didn’t think I had tightening beyond what I thought was possible
>My voice became increasingly strained as a pulsing pain began to manifest beyond just the wings
“So this is… part of the process… with alicorns?”
>I was trying to speak slowly; some words were coming out more as gasps between spasms
>It was a different kind of pain from what I’d experienced after falling from the fence, but I could tell it was rapidly becoming just as fierce
>The warmth had likened itself to fire in some places; I knew it was just in my head but a cold shower sounded wonderful
>My breathing had picked up and my pulse pounded in my ears
>After a few breaths, my eyes were beginning to blur at the corner of my vision, a dull pressure apparent from within the skull
>“Well, I guess so…”
“But ponies usually make it out of the process alright, right?”
>Daisy bit her lip, a dreadful expression of her own wiping away the fragile optimism
>If it were possible to see the blood drain from the face of a pure-white unicorn, this is what it’d look like

>“I… I’ve not… It’s never been done before… I’m the first one to try it and I don’t know what’s ‘supposed’ to happen…”
>If I weren’t groaning to the forest floor in agony, I’d have given her the nastiest of nasty expressions to question her sanity
>I’d have tackled any two of the three unicorns whose glowing horns were continuing unabated
>But as the fire burning in my veins coursed with a new wave of intensity, I was as much a passive audience as every other pony there
“Daisy… please… this… I can’t…”
>“No, it has to work! It’s for the good of the herd, this is all on you to pull through, friend!”
>Every muscle was screaming at this point, and my head felt as if it were preparing to explode
>My lungs were burning at every breath, even as it felt like they were getting a tenth of the necessary air
>My mind was going a million miles an hour yet getting nowhere as it tried to keep up with the sensory overload
>I took one last gulp and a deep inhale to make a final plea
“Daisy, if I already have the wings please just make me a Pegasus! I don’t want to die!”
>I could tell I was gasping hard after that, but there was no sensory information confirming it
>My hearing had gone blank as a high-pitched ringing took over, my body was numb from pain, and my vision blurred beyond being able to recognize anything or anypony
>Daisy manifested as a white blob against the dark forest background, which was a stark contrast to the pitch black flood engulfing the corners of my vision
>In seconds, the black encompassed more and more, until all but the white blob had been swallowed by black
>Then it faded to a dot, and went away

>I awoke with blurry eyes that steadily sharpened into a view of the forest canopy; the light was dim, so it must have been some point in the early morning
>I was expecting there to be ponies craning over me to see if I was alright… where did they all go?
>All told, I wasn’t in any particular pain right now, though there was an odd sensation on my torso and legs, something brushing up against me, like…
>Clothes? I lifted my head up and was greeted by the sight of my chest, followed by a raised arm turning over in amazement, fingers waggling slightly
>Compared to the intense pain from right after I fell off the fence, and especially compared to… whatever the hell I’d just imagined, it hurt a lot less to move my arm, and sitting up wasn’t too bad either
>I was still stiff all over and trying to move any part of my body too quickly – or moving my bad arm at all – was met with a vicious response from my nerves
>Still, I could avoid doing that on the way to a hospital
>Hesitantly, I pinched myself on the cheek – surely I was actually awake, right?
>Sure seemed like it
>When I drew my hand away, a bit of fresh blood that’d just recently come from my nose dripped down, so I couldn’t have been out for more than a few minutes
>It sure felt like an eventful few minutes; looking back at the sky, it must not have been early morning – more like twilight
>A brief glance at visible pockets of the sky’s gradient revealed that the sun was concealed below the horizon in the general direction of west… definitely twilight


>Things were good - I hadn’t lost much time and could still get away to warn the proper authorities to quell this pony outbreak
>And best of all for me, I was neither dead, nor turned into an alicorn by a psychotic unicorn mastermind
>I stood up and brushed the dirt off my pants, chuckling about my good fortune
“Ahaa, get fucked Daisy”
>“Hey Clementine Breeze, did you hear that?”
>“Yeah, it sounded like someone said your name”
>As a pair of feminine voices piped up from behind the fence, it dawned on me that the nightmare was far from over



>I froze, hoping that if I didn’t make any more sound, they wouldn’t be able to ascertain that I was right on the other side of the fence
>My silent prayers were answered by an audibly forceful gust of wind on the other side of the fence, punctuated by a few bumps against the thick wooden planks
>Bumps that sounded undeniably like the hoofsteps from earlier, though a bit more methodical, more calculated
>The kind of knocking you’d hear from an unexpected friend at the door who was wondering if anyone was home, beckoning you to answer
>Through the blood pounding in my ears, I picked up the sound of another staccato gust of wind beyond the fence, this one a few feet higher than the last 
>It wasn’t hard to guess what was about to peek over the top; I starting bumbling backwards as quickly as I could manage over the rocks, hoping to avoid any uneven terrain