He stood there, laughing like an insane idiot. Of course I expected nothing less but it was still some-what weird. I looked back down at my feet. They had forced their way up onto the balls of my feet again. I mentally forced them down, grimacing as I felt pain shoot up my legs as muscles that were bent in ways they weren’t meant to.

“So Mr. Doubter, can you deny it now? I hate to admit it myself but I can find no evidence to prove otherwise. We, me and you if it wasn't specified, are turning into ponies from a little girl's TV show.” He stopped for a second, looking confused. “And you know what? I'm actually okay with it. I don't know why but it seems as if it is 'right'.” He walks, or tippy toes, I will not consider that walking, yet, out of the living room.

“Where the hay you going?” Great, I can no longer curse correctly, fun. I start after him.

“To the living room…? Where else?”

“Well for one, here, helping me figure out what the hay is going on and how to fix it.” I glared at him.

“Well maybe I'm cool with turning into a pony. Ever thought of that?”

I gaped at him. “How can you be cool with looking like a HORSE?”

“Pony, actually. And to be frank I don’t think we have a choice so just roll with it.” He picks up the controller. “Now I'm going to play some video games, and you aren’t going to fuss about it. Right?”

I opened my mouth to argue but he just glared at me. “Fine.”

He smiled and went back to preparing the game. I decided to do a little research on the ‘ponies’.

Several hours later Fireball finally got bored of video games and looked over to see what I was doing. I shifted in the opposite direction to avoid letting him see what I was up to. “Oh come on! Let me see. It can’t be that bad. Unless… you’re searching ponies aren’t you. My hesitation in answering said it all. “I knew it, I knew it! Welcome to the herd bro.” He put up his fist and looked at me expectantly. “Dude come on, brohoof.” I looked at the fist in confusion.

Succumbing to the fact that he wasn’t about to let me out of this I met his fist with mine. “YEAH!” I don’t know why he was so excited, or what ‘Welcome to the herd’ means but if it made him happy and made me forget about all this shit then I'm cool with it.

“Wanna go for a walk?” He asked. I looked out the window, it was getting darker but still fairly light outdoors.

“Isn’t it a bit light outside for that?”

“Naw, if we wear hooded shirts and if we just redirect any conversations about our style of walking we should be fine.”

I sigh and acknowledge his logic. “Alright if you wanna go for a walk then sure we can.”

We get outside and smell the warm Texas air. I lived in the small town of Pampa, which was situated near the right side of that rectangle on the top of the oddly shaped state. It was out of the way and not much traffic came through here, which was nice. It wasn’t one of those towns where everyone knew everyone. That was a plus in our situation. In this day and age everyone minded his or her own business and that was how I liked it.

We start off down the road and just enjoy the afternoon air. Not many people are out at this hour. Most were either getting home from work or preparing for dinner. We continued our walk for about 10 minutes or so before Fireball started up a conversation. “This is nice. Walking together like we used too.” Whoa he just slipped up there. Except he either doesn’t care or doesn’t realize it. “The memories are coming back you know. We used to take walks like this through the square when we off duty.” He giggled somewhat girlishly. “You would always be looking around as if someone was going to come out and snatch me. I would always gaze up at the clouds and imagine shapes in them.” He tilted his head up. “See that one looks like a bunny and that one looks like a pony. Ha! It’s Fluttershy and angel!” He looked expectantly at me, but I just shot a quick glance up at the forms in the clouds. They kind of resembled the element of kindness and her demon of a rabbit. I shook my head. What was I thinking; I had never met the element of kindness. I didn’t even know what the elements were.

My mind drifted back to Discord, what the hay was that demonic creature up to. If he sent all the ponies to earth wouldn’t we, I mean they start a whole new colony of sorts. Especially if Celestia or Luna were sent here. Why the hay did he need me anyways, he was an all-powerful God of chaos. Can’t he just snap his fingers and get rid of me or something? My thought process was interrupted by a crack in the sidewalk that caused me to stumble a little.

I saw Fireball walking beside me, his face a mask of confusion. “What’s up with you, usually your so refined and everything. Why are you suddenly out of sorts?”

“It’s nothing.” I replied, trying to kill the conversation before it started.

He glared at me. “I may be crazy at times but I sure as hay am not stupid. Somethin’s eating you. What is it? And don’t deny it.” He switched to walking backwards so he could make eye contact with me.

Should I tell him? Since Discord’s attention is mostly centered on me, anything I do or say could affect others. If I told him about Discord and his ‘offers’ he might be targeted as well. I scanned my mind quickly for a plausible excuse; coming up with one so obvious it should have been the first thing out of my mouth. “I'm just nervous about this whole transforming into a pony thing. There, now you have it.” I prayed that he couldn’t somehow detect lies.

He squinted at me as if trying to pressure me into confessing more but I held my tongue, my face remained straight. “Alright then, you’re over reacting.” WOAH, WOAH. Timeout. I'M overreacting? What about the fact that he ISN'T reacting?

“Overreacting?! We are losing our humanity; don’t you think that calls for a little panic?”

“Hmm, maybe you’re right, maybe you’re wrong. Either way, I'm not going to panic seeing as I can’t change what is happening.”

Logic, what used to be my friend, now betrayed me. CURSE YOU CRUEL FATE!

An hour into our walk I felt a pain in my spine. “Oh Luna this hurts. Holy Shit this hurts.” I sank to my hands and knees while the pain in my spine slowly dissipated. I looked over and saw my friend on the ground in a similar predicament.

Slowly rising to my feet I felt something furry roll up and around my legs. Oh buck me… Fireball had no problem discovering what had happened though. He immediately pulled down his pants and let lose a tail that matched his now dark orange and reddish orange hair; the latter now extended down past his shoulder to make it look almost as long as a girl’s hair.

Thankfully nobody was around to watch our little ‘performance’. “Fireball pull your pants up before someone comes out and sees you!” He was too busy holding his tail and trying to use the new appendage that he had suddenly gained.

I rolled my eyes and turned around to head home, hoping that my friend would get his head out of his tail and follow me. I got about 3 steps before the dreaded question came. “Dude what’s yours look like?” I shook my head.

“Probably the same as my hair, except as a tail.” I could not dissuade him. He caught up to me, his tail swishing behind him lazily. “Hey, put that thing back in your pants so no one can see it!”

“Are you kidding me, this feels great! How can you stand to keep it cooped up? Come on, let it out, I wanna see it. You’ve kept your hood on the entire time so I haven’t been able to see your hair much.” Ugh, I guess I’ll have to satisfy some of that childish curiosity.

I pulled off my hood to reveal hair that was about an inch or two shorter than his. “There, that is my hair. If you wanna see the tail I might feel up to showing you when we get home.” He sighed at this and resigned to the fact that I was not going to give an inch on the matter. I replaced the hood on my jacket and continued home.

Thankfully we didn’t meet many people on the way home. The people we did meet stared strangely at my friend’s tail sticking out of his rump. I simply smiled and mouthed the word ‘Brony’ to them. Either they knew or didn’t care it didn’t matter. They simply shook their heads and passed by without another look back.

Somehow we manage to make it back to the house without having an incident. I shove him inside and close the door, locking it with the deadbolt. I take off my hoodie and toss it on the couch. “What the hay do you think you’re doing? Walking around with your tail sticking out. At this rate we’ll be in the scientist’s lab before the end of the week. If we even are a little bit human by then.” I feel my ears flatten against my head in a threatening pose. “I'm here to protect you, but I'm not about to let you go get yourself killed. So stop your…” I trailed off as realization of what my body just did kicks in.

My hand reaches upwards and feels the soft fur triangles sticking out of my head. I felt them up and down, moving them with small sensory signals. I now had pony ears. “I give up, I'm turning into a pony and I can’t stop it.”

“Took you long enough.” He scratched his new ears and threw his jacket on the couch as well. “Well, aren’t you going to show me your tail?” Oh sweet Luna not this again. “Come on, you said you would. And if you don’t,” He grinned maliciously. “I’ll tickle you to death!”

“You wouldn’t dare…” He raised his fingers and wiggled them dangerously. “Try me…”

I had a few ticklish places. Only Fireball knew about them of course, but they can put me out of commission really quick.

He immediately dove for me. I nimbly scampered away. This was a game we used to play. Of course it was much harder for him when I had my wings but I would have to make do for now.

Wait, ‘when I had my wings’ the buck? All it took was that rouge thought to send me off track. I slipped up and managed to get pinned. He smiled dangerously. “Is there any way I can ask for a truce?” I pleaded.

“Eenope!” And with that the torture proceeded. It lasted for several minutes. Seriously if you want to break a prisoner you should tickle them. It is not only the most uncomfortable thing ever but after a while your lungs will start to hurt.

Finally I surrendered to the almighty Fireball. I made the necessary adjustments to my undergarments and my pants. My tail now hung out for the world to see. Surprisingly it felt much better to get the thing released from my pants. I felt the muscle and how sporadic it was.

“Dude your tail is so cool!” I can’t help but agree on that point. My tail was pitch black with a dark gray streak running through it, just like my hair. It kind of gave me the chills as I wondered what kind of pony I was actually turning into.

He gave a big yawn and I noticed it was nearing 10:00 at night. I didn’t feel tired but I know what happens if I get sleep deprivation. Trust me, it’s not pretty.

So we say our good nights and head to bed.

Not two hours later though Fireball came into my room groggily and woke me up. He complained that his head was giving him excruciating pains and wondered if I had any aspirin or something.

Giving a large sigh I got up and got him some pain killers, making sure to only give him two so he wouldn’t accidentally overdose.

I watched him paddle off and waited till I was sure he was asleep before returning to my bed, hoping for a dreamless night for a change.

Much to my chagrin however, my mind once again drifted into dreamland, the stresses of the day fading away to nothingness. Instead of a memory I found myself in a dark circular room, surrounded by mirrors reflecting back my transformed figure.

My instincts kicked in and I remained stoic. This was Discord trying to screw with me again. Well he can go buck himself for all I care. The images reflected in the mirrors changed sporadically. One showed a more feminine figure while another showed a more disfigured and more ponified version of myself. One grotesque image showed a kind of pony cyborg version of me. Half was pony and the other half was human, not symmetrical but misshapen. I stared at it long and hard. The glassed cracked under the mental stress and then shattered. The effort left me a bit weak but I bared my teeth and waited for the miscreant to show himself. I didn’t have to wait long.

I heard a slow clapping coming from where the mirror had been standing. The freak that called himself ‘Discord’ stepped out from the other side of the frame and bored his twin eyes at me. “Congratulations my little pony.” He sneered. “You’ve managed to conquer a rogue thought I’ve put into your mind.”

“You can leave now you messed freak. I don’t have time for bucked up pieces of flank shit like you.” I retorted.

The God’s eyes burned once more with a small amount of fury, only to be brushed again by calmness. “Somepony has a potty mouth don’t they?”

“If you here about the deal you can forget it. My answer is the same and it always will be. So get your sorry carcass out of my dreams before I make you.” I didn’t know if I could mentally remove a God from my mind, but I sure as hay was going to try.

“No no no,” he waved his hands in mock distress. “I’m not here to offer you that choice anymore.” His eyes turned hard and unforgiving. He snapped and my body resumed its transformation process. Not long after that I was full blown pony. I glared at him with defiance but he just laughed at my antics. “I know you won’t accept my offer so I'm going to try a different approach. I'm here to Demand the correct choice from you.”

I trembled inside but didn’t let my emotions come to bear. “And how do you plan to do that?”

He grinned evilly; it made me tremble visibly. “It’s quite simple, either you join me. Or for the nights you don’t you will be subjected to your worst nightmares.”

His form faded away with the rest of the room and I found myself sitting outside. I looked around and saw the familiar landscape of Equestria. Wait, familiar? “Shadow, lighten up a little. Your acting like a Manticore or a hydra is going to come out at any moment and attack.” I turned and saw Fireball, my housemate sitting on the picnic tarp beside me. Maybe it was all a dream, maybe Discord was just bluffing, making me think he could do shit but he couldn’t.

I heard some rustling coming from the forest we were settled beside. The dark trees rustled and a long shadow emerged from the foliage. I moved in front of Fireball and prepared to defend her. The rustling stopped for a moment. Then it pounced out of the bushes. An agile… dangerous… bloodthirsty… bunny; where did that come from? I picked it up with my foreleg and turned to show it to Fireball. “Hey Fireball look what I fou…”

Suddenly Fireball leaned forward and kissed me full on the lips. My eyes widened in confusion. Neither of us expressed interest in the other and had no intentions of ever getting together. We were housemates, I helped her with damage control sometimes and she helped me become less of a tight flank. Wait I did, no no no these memories weren’t mine. Before I could get into a mental argument with myself I heard Fireball speak again. “That was… delicious.” Uh oh. It was the only thing I could get through my mind before I was tackled. “You know I love you, I always have. They say opposites attract and that was true with us. Don’t deny it, you love me.”

I found it hard to keep my gaze away from her backside. “I. Don’t. Love. You. I like you as a friend and nothing more.” My eyes drifted back to her flank involuntarily.

She followed my gaze and smiled lustfully. She turned so her backside was more prominent. “Look, now tell me if you don’t want me.” I couldn’t fight it, the desire was too much, I resisted as much as I could before my eyes fixed them on her flank. Wait, my brain shifted into high gear. Discord! I snapped out of my trance and looked away. Fireball’s gaze grew angry at my action. But quick thinking saved the day.

Much to her pleasure I returned my gaze and spoke. “Yes, I want you Fireball. Give me all you have. I wanna buck you.” Thankfully she took the bait and relaxed her posture. My? guard training kicked in and I braced my legs for a powerful kick. She noticed movement and started to grow tense again. I gave a might kick for all I was worth and she went flying off me, sailing for 10 feet. I sat up quickly, seeing my opponent get up as well. Acting fast I took off at breakneck speed. It wasn’t quite as fast as the element of loyalty, but it was still a speed that rivaled most pegasi. I heard Fireball’s anguished cries as I flew higher. Those cries soon turned to anger though and I saw a small ball of electricity arc up in front of me. Instead of grinding to a halt like I desired too I kept going. Another ball flew by where I had been a moment earlier. Damn her and her training.

I couldn’t out fly her forever. My wings were unusually tired and I knew I wasn’t even making any headway. I couldn’t escape a nightmare. Suddenly Discord popped in front of me. “Now this is no fun. Your dreamtime is almost up and you have yet to buck her. We can’t have you skirting the inevitable now can we?” He snapped his fingers and the air around me disappeared. I was standing in front of a very angry much in heat Fireball. I tried flapping my wings but looked back and cried out in dismay at the fact that they were gone. I turned back to Fireball and watched in slow motion as she pounced. Her horn glowed and my hooves were locked into place. I tried to pull them away but the spell held fast. Right before she hit I tried dodging to the right, leaning my body over as far as I could.

I couldn’t make her miss completely but when she crashed into my shoulder it disrupted her enough to break the spell. Without the unnatural support I fell on my side and fireball jumped back on top of me. Her eyes glowed a dull yellow. “Oh, I'm going to enjoy this so much.” She proceeded to lick my cheek, moving ever so slowly towards my mouth.

Oh Celestia did it have to come to this? This wasn’t even my life! Was it?

More memories came flooding in, but not those of pleasant times. There was the pain of that first strike from the fireball. Then came the time I broke my foreleg in combat. The pain was excruciating, but it was doing its job. I was too distracted to notice that her tongue had entered my mouth and her body lowered to my nether regions. An image of Fireball lying charred on the ground flashed through my mind. We were no longer in Equestria, but on Earth. She lay there blackened by ash and soot. Her broken body barely moved and her breathing was ragged. “Why? Why didn’t you just give up and save me? You could have avoided all this if only you had given into Discord.” She sniffled and was about to continue. As soon as she said ‘Discord’ my mind dug its way out of the horror and back to reality. Just as I felt our bodies come together.

I gave a swift head butt to the construct that Discord had made. They say that when you’re in a dream any pain would wake you up. This might be true in some cases, but in this case it wasn’t. She drew back, disoriented, but a royal guard doesn’t become a royal guard by being weak. I gave another hard knock and saw stars dance before my eyes. She swayed a bit, but remained conscious. One… more… ought to do… it. I closed my eyes and braced myself. I threw every ounce of strength into the thrusting of my head into hers.

The impact shattered my vision. No literally shattered it. The nightmare froze and the pieces fell down before my eyes. I found myself standing in the all-familiar black emptiness I experienced when I first started dreaming. I heard some clapping coming from the blackness before me and braced myself. Only to find that I was still in my pony form and braced in a battle position that I somehow knew about. I didn’t relax, as the God of chaos walked out of the shadows, still clapping. “Well done my little pony!” He jeered. I gritted my teeth, “Don’t call me that, I'm not your little pony.” Discord could tell he was breaking me mentally and grinned menacingly. “Of course my little pony.” I gritted my teeth and refused to let him get to me. My mental strength was running dry. “I'm impressed that you managed to break your dreamscape. However, before you leave the realm of sleep I would like to know your answer, the correct one hopefully?”

I glared daggers at him, but he just stared back blankly. I hung my head in defeat and turned my gaze up to him. His smile had grown wider. “No.” I whispered.

“I'm sorry, what was that? I couldn’t hear you.” He pulled some torture devices out of his ear. I gulped at the sight at all the nasty tools, knowing full well how far he could get before killing me in dreamscape.

I pulled my courage together and focused on the one word in my mind. “No!” I shouted in defiance.

Discord just shook his head and tsked. “You know that wasn’t the correct answer. Well I guess it will take another night to break you. Luckily that silly night princess has yet to discover her powers and I have free reign in dreams.” He wrapped himself up in the blackness until all but his head were gone. “Oh and you might want to cut Fireball some slack, this morning is going to be a bit tough for her.” He winked and was gone out of existence. My eyes closed and I left the world between dreams.

I sat up quickly, panting and sweating a bit. That nightmare, and there were more to come… I don’t know how I was going to manage mentally. If I even survived the next one I would probably be scarred for life. It had felt so real. I shivered at the thought of having sex with Fireball.

FIREBALL! Oh my Luna! What did Discord do to her! If he so much as hurt a hair on her head I would kill him. I don’t care if it was a dream; the mare meant more to me than the world itself.

Wait. Mare?

Next Chapter: Roadtrip! Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 54 Minutes