Chapter 10

We pull into the driveway as the sky is starting to lighten. Dawn is still a little ways away, but the night is definitely coming to an end. I hit the button to open the garage door, pulling the car in and shutting it down.

I open my door and slump over, falling out of the car, suddenly too weak to get myself up.

"Irony! Are you okay?" Moon Shadow asks, leaning over to look at me through my door.

"Are you--Oh my GOD! Irony, you're bleeding! All that blood! JIM, SHERRY!!" she screams for help.

Sherry comes flying out the door into the garage at Moon Shadow's cry, "Kate, what is it?"

Then she comes close enough to see and covers her mouth at the sight of all the blood. The door panel and floor mat are soaked in my blood. I must have bled all the way home...wonder why I never felt it? I wonder, my mind fuzzy from the loss.

"Oh shit!" Jim states as he sees me lying there. He reaches down and gets an arm under me and starts lifting me. "Let's get her inside, to the bathroom!"

"Jim, my car's a mess," I say blearily as Sherry and Shadow help him get me into the house and down the hall, leaving blood drops and smears as we go.

"I know Irony, I know. We'll clean it up later, I promise," he says to comfort me.

They finally manage to wrestle my limp body into the bathroom and into the tub. Jim yells for a pair of scissors, which Shadow retrieves from my dresser, and then starts cutting my clothes off.

"No, no...you'll see me naked," I say, halfheartedly trying to push him away.

"It doesn't matter! I have to see where you're hurt!" he tells me, blocking my hands and continuing to cut. Soon he has my pants off and he can see the wound.

"Shit, you're still bleeding!" he says, inspecting the hole in my left thigh. He turns my thigh and says, "No exit wound, the slug must still be in there."

He calls for towels and bandages, putting pressure on my thigh while he waits for them to arrive.

I scream from the sensation, and my mind flees into the void.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I float in the dark for an unknowable amount of time. No visions or dreams come for a long time, much to my surprise. My consciousness simply floats, like a jellyfish in the current. Formless as the void itself.

After a wait so long I start thinking that I have died, I feel an ephemeral tug on my mind, and I'm slowly drawn to my bedroom.

I look down on my room, seeing myself lying in bed, covered with a sheet and blanket. Well this is weird, I think, look at me, I've gone full pony. And I can see myself. Is this what they call an out-of-body experience?

I see Moon Shadow enter my room quietly and sit down on the bed next to my body. She takes one of my hooves into her hand and begins to stroke it gently.

"Come back to me, my love," she whispers to me, and I can see the tears flow unchecked down her face as she gazes upon me. "Come back to me, I have news to share with you." I see her hand furtively move to rub her hip as a small smile breaks over her face.

The door opens and Sherry enters the room, followed by Jim and a man I don't know.

"Is she awake?" Sherry asks, to which Shadow shakes her head.

"She may sleep for a while yet," the man says. "She lost a lot of blood and will be weak even when she does wake. She needs rest for now."

Shortly after that they all file out of the room, Moon Shadow last to leave my side.

I return to the void, darkness surrounding me like a blanket once more. But I am not alone for long. A pony saunters up and sits next to me. I realize that it's my pony self. I look down and realize I am now in my human body.

Irony nuzzles her head under my arm and rests against my side. Neither of us speaks. It is odd to me how comfortable it is sitting here next to my pony self.

"We've been through a lot," she finally breaks the silence. I simply nod, somewhat at a loss for how to respond.

"It's hard to think about it all. We've had our lives turned completely upside down too many times. It's amazing we're still sane," she says, smirking at me.

I laugh, "Are we still sane? I'm sitting here, talking to a pony version of me, in my head, and I'm acting like it's no big deal at all. How sane am I really?"

"We learned how to compartmentalize our mind a long time ago, it was the only way to keep from going insane from the torture we endured so long ago. It's also the explanation for why you can accept this all. Our mind has been protected, and is now piecing itself back together. There is still much of us that is separate, but in time we will truly be one again. I look forward to that time," she looks at me a little wistfully, then her body turns to mist and merges with mine, and I am back in my pony body.

With our merging comes a misty memory of our mother singing us a lullaby in the flickering candlelight as we drifted off to sleep.

As the memory ends, I feel my mind falling back into my body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awaken to my quiet bedroom. I can see light shining in through a gap in the curtains. I figure it must be about mid-day. I am alone at the moment.

Sitting up I feel a little bit dizzy, but it soon passes. I open my mouth to call out and let everyone know I'm awake, but my throat is so dry, all that comes out is a light rasp. I decide to get out of bed and get a drink of water to help.

I slowly slide out of bed, mindful of my new body, and manage to stand there without falling down. Unfortunately, as soon as I try to take a step I faceplant directly into the carpet, my body crashing down with a thud that rumbles through the house.

As I am regaining my hooves my bedroom door opens and in comes Moon Shadow followed closely by Jim, Sherry, and the stranger I saw before.

Shadow throws her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly to her. It feels really strange to now be no taller than she is while on all fours.

"You're finally awake! We've been so worried about you!" she says, her voice muffled as her face is buried in my mane.

"Water," I finally manage to rasp out. Sherry runs back to the kitchen and shortly returns with a cup with a straw. I reach my neck out and take the straw in my lips as she holds the cup for me and drink greedily.

"More, please," I ask after I finish the cup.

"What happened?" I finally ask after the third cup of water.

"Evidently, you got shot," explains Jim, not really shedding any light on the subject.

"And what else?" I ask, arching an eyebrow at him.

"Maybe I can help with that," the stranger says.

"Who are you?" I ask, "And why are you taking a talking pony in stride?"

"To answer your first question, I'm Dr. Ray Stevens. I'm a veterinarian. As to your second question, I'm not. I tried to run screaming from the house the first time you spoke in your delirium while I was trying to remove the bullet from your thigh. Your, um, brother? Yes, your brother stopped me, with the help of your other friends. Frankly I have no idea what's going on, and am really hoping these last couple of days will turn out to be a really big dream!" says Dr. Ray.

"Okay, doc, what happened?" I ask him.

"When your brother realized you had a bullet trapped in your leg, he decided to call on me to come remove it. Which I did rather well, even with no prior experience, I might add. You lost a lot of blood, enough that I was almost certain you wouldn't make it, though I didn't want to tell them that," he says, looking specifically at Jim as he finishes.

"So...I managed to survive, at least it seems so," I say. "How long was I unconscious for?"

"Three days," Jim answers for the doc. "It's the 1st of May today."

"Well damn. Umm, happy birthday Jim and Moon Shadow, I guess?" I say, shocked at how long I was asleep.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Shadow says into my mane, giving me a shake in emphasis.

"I'll try not to," I say quietly, wrapping a foreleg around her and holding her close.

"I have something to show you when everyone is gone," she whispers into my ear, and I can see a smile light up her face, easing the worry that has so recently taken up residence there.

I kiss her gently and whisper back, "I can't wait to see it."

"I hate to break up the moment, but I think someone should address one of the elephants in the room," Sherry says, stepping forward.

"What's that?" I ask, looking up into her eyes.

"What are we going to do with the good doctor now?" she asks.

It dawns on me then that the doctor now knows my secret. Damn, what are we going to do with him? All it would take is for him to tell one person and then who knows what would happen.

"What do you mean, what are you going to do with me now?" Ray asks, looking decidedly unhappy.

Jim slashes the air with his hand and firmly states, "Nothing. I gave you my word when you came with me that you would get home safely. We will take you home when Irony is better. As long as you keep your word to say nothing of what you see here to anyone, that won't change. You hold our lives in your hands. Do you understand?"

Dr. Ray nods and says, "I do. I swear I will take this to my grave.

"Now, if we're done with threats and fear, I'd like to examine my patient," says the doc.

"Please do and I'm sorry for all that," I say to him. He waves off my concern, moving up next to me and removing the bandage. Twisting my neck around, I can see several stitches just beneath my cutie mark on my left rear leg.

"This looks better than I would have expected for a three day old gunshot wound. I think you will heal up nicely. Obviously you can stand on the leg, so I think as long as the pain is tolerable, you can walk on it. Just don't overdo it for the next couple weeks," he says, surprisingly talking directly to me.

"I'm a veterinarian, but I don't have any experience with creatures that change their shape like you did. Having said that, I think your transformation helped to heal this wound. You should count yourself very lucky. That much blood loss would have killed almost anything else," Dr. Ray states, looking into my eyes carefully as he redresses the wound.

"Thank you for all that you have done, doctor," I say earnestly.

"And that ever so helpfully brings me to the other elephant in the room, if you'll excuse us for a bit, doc," says Jim, motioning for the doc to leave the room. Dr. Ray eagerly complies, probably afraid to hear some secret that we'd actually kill him for.

"And what elephant is that?" I ask Jim after the doc exits and the door is closed once more.

"You'd better get comfortable again, this might take a little bit for us to talk about," he suggests. I carefully climb back up onto the bed, with a little help from Jim and Shadow.

Once I am comfortably ensconced in the bed again, Jim begins, "Irony, when we got to the warehouse, you could barely move. Your body was in between a two-legged form and a four-legged one. I didn't count on any help from you at the warehouse, as I was sure you wouldn't be able to come if I needed you.

"So imagine my surprise when I see you rampage down the hallway and beat a guy almost to death with your bare hands. And I do mean hands," he says, looking pointedly at my hooves.

"I didn't have time to think about it in the moment, but I've had plenty of time since. Also, seeing you change to a four-legged pony got me wondering even more. You stayed bipedal until after the vet was able to remove the bullet. After that, you gave a great sigh and your whole body relaxed. Then you changed, your body flowing like water into its new quadrupedal shape. Do you have any idea how you did any of that?" Jim finally winds down, asking me the 64-thousand dollar question.

"I have no clue. I didn't even know I was doing it at the time. Though thinking back on it I can feel that there was a difference," I say, caught completely off-guard by this news.

"I was afraid you'd say that. Ever since I realized what'd happened I've wanted to know how you did it. It sucks that we don't have a clue about what all is happening to you," Jim says in frustration.

I shrug at him, knowing that worrying about something I can't change won't do any good.

Leaning in and whispering in my ear, Moon Shadow says, "You sure had one hell of a pair of tits when you were on two legs. It was enough to make me jealous!"

I laugh, which causes Jim to glare at me, "Oh come on Jim, lighten up. I have no idea what happened, or how it happened. Worrying about something we don't understand at all will drive you mad if you let it."

"How can you act like this is nothing? You've turned into a fucking pony! But not just a pony! You seem to have random transformations! Doesn't that bother you?!" he's yelling at me now. I can see fear and anger warring on his face.

"Jim, I have to accept this because there isn't a damn thing I can do about it. What good would it do me to freak out? I wouldn't feel better; I'd feel a lot worse! Letting my emotions control my actions would make this infinitely harder on me. Since I can't do anything about it, I have chosen to make the best of it. It helps to have someone who loves me here for support," at the last I look into Shadow's eyes and smile.

"Well I'm glad you and Kate can accept this so readily. I thought I was doing okay, but this is all too much for me," he says, shaking his head vehemently.

"Jim, please call me Moon Shadow, or just Shadow if you want," she said, looking at him pointedly.

"What--why?" he asks her, confused.

"Well..." she stands up and rolls down her pants enough to show him her hip, which now has a beautiful cutie mark on it. It is a crescent moon, partially obscured by a night cloud, with a small six-pointed purple star just off the upper tip of the moon.

"Shadow, you got your cutie mark!" I say excitedly, wrapping my front legs around her in a hug.

Sherry squeals in delight and throws her arms around both of us. Jim just stands there, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. I look at him and can see his mind trying to process this new information. For a few moments I think it's not going to process and he's going to pass out, but he finally comes back to his senses and clamps his mouth shut.

Celestia, he looks unhappy! What's his problem, anyway? I think to myself as I look at him.

"Why the hell are you all so fucking happy about this?!" Jim roars unexpectedly.

"Jim, calm down!" Sherry yells at him, giving him a hard stare.

"I will not calm down! Evidently Kate is going to turn into a pony too, and you guys are happy about it! What the fuck? I thought we were going to look for a way to cure Henry!" Jim shouts. I can see he is at serious risk of coming unglued now.

"I imagine that I am happy for her for the same reason Irony is," Sherry starts, "it will be much easier for them to be together if they are the same species! What is your problem?"

"What is my problem? What is my problem?! My problem is everything is going bat-shit crazy here, and you all seem to be happy about it! What if you're trapped like this forever? What if it spreads to the rest of us? I don't want to be a pony!" Jim rants at us, his fists clenched at his side, his face a rictus of anger.

Ah, so that's why he's being so acting so damn weird. He's afraid of it happening to him too! I realize sadly. I guess he's in for a world of hurt soon.

I sigh sadly, "Jim--"

Shadow puts her hand on my chest and interrupts me, "Shut up Flash! This isn't some disease Irony gave me! We're all ponies that were banished to this world. I saw it for myself when my cutie mark appeared!"

"What did you just call me?" he asks, his eyes opening wide.

"Flash, that's your name! Yeah, you too, asshole!" Shadow yells at him, obviously angry at Jim for being such a dick.

All the color drains from Jim's face and I hear him whisper, "No...it can't be." Tears stream down his face as he storms from the room. I hear the front door slam and his truck start, and then peel out of the drive, roaring down the street.

I turn to Shadow and say, "That was pretty harsh."

She flushes and says, "I know, and I'm sorry, but he was such an ass. You're not diseased!"

"I know that, and really so does he. He's just worried about having to go through this himself. And you just told him in the most undelicate way that it will be happening to him, confirming his worst fear! Don't you remember how you responded?" I admonish her.

"I--I owe Jim a really big apology," she hangs her head in shame.

Sherry, who tried to follow Jim down the hall, re-enters the room and says sadly, "Well he's gone. I hope he comes back okay."

Moon Shadow walks over to her and, putting her arms around her, says, "I'm so sorry Trixie. I didn't mean to drive him off. I was just so angry at him for saying those hurtful things to Irony. Please forgive me."

"It's not really your fault. I think he's been having nightmares about turning into a pony. He cries out in his sleep sometimes. He won't tell me about the dreams, though. The last couple of days he's been getting worse. His worry about Irony hasn't been helping," Sherry says.

"I'm still really sorry. I didn't know he was having such a hard time, but I still shouldn't have told him like that," Shadow apologizes again.

"Speaking of that, how do you know he's a pony too?" Sherry asks.

Shadow looks at me and I shrug, so she says, "Irony and I figured it out when we went looking through papers at the storage unit. Well, I should say we found evidence that suggested it, but now that I have my cutie mark again when I look at him I sometimes think 'Flash' instead of Jim. Kind of like I'm recognizing him. It's like when I look at you, I think 'Trixie' sometimes. It's been happening to Irony too."

Sherry looks at me and I nod, then I see the last part of what Moon Shadow said hit her. Her eyes get huge as she quickly looks back and forth from Shadow to me.

"I...I...I'm a pony too?" she stammers out quietly.

Shadow and I nod at her, then I say, "Not only are you a pony too, but you are the 'Great and Powerful Trixie'."

She squees in excitement, "Really? Really!?" I can't help but laugh at her exuberance.

"Wait," she stops for a second, "is it wrong that my favorite pony is...myself?"

I laugh again and say, "No, but it might be very Trixie of you...Muwahaha!"

Then Sherry gets a sad look on her face, "I wish Jim were here sharing this with me, and that he wanted to. I hope he'll be okay, he was so upset."

"I'm sure he'll be fine. This isn't the first time he's had a bad reaction to something life changing. He just needs some time to get things straight in his own head," I say.

"I remember how badly he freaked out when your parents died," Moon Shadow says, shaking her head.

"Yeah..." I say, drawing the word out long as I think back to then.

"What happened?" Sherry asks me.

"Well...he kind of disappeared, like he's done today," I say, not really wanting to elaborate.

"How long was he gone for?" she asks.

"A week," I say quietly.

"A week?! Holy crap!" Sherry almost shouts.

I nod at her, "Yeah, a week. And he wasn't really in good shape when he got back. It took him a long time to come to terms with their deaths. In the end he joined the Marines with me rather than really deal with it, I think."

"How long do you think he'll be gone this time?" Sherry asks, almost in a whisper.

"I wish I knew. I'm hoping not more than a few hours, but I won't be surprised if he's still not back tomorrow. I just hope he comes back before the changes get too far along," I answer.

Sherry pulls out her phone and dials, calling Jim I assume. Evidently he doesn't answer, because she leaves a message for him, "Jim, it's Sherry. I love you, please come back to me. It's okay, we'll get through this together."

I lean against Shadow and say, "This is not good, not good at all. We need to stick together. We need to think and work together, especially now that we have confirmation that there are more ponies in the world than just me. I'm still worried about how the humans are going to take this."

"I bet the bronies will be ecstatic," she replies.

"Probably so. Though just because they're bronies doesn't make them necessarily any safer than anyone else. They're still people, and not all of them are wholesome, if you know what I mean?" I say.

"Yeah, it'd be our luck to find some really bad ones and end up R34'd to death," Trixie chimes in as she walks up to us. I hold out a hoof and she leans in, so I can wrap my leg around her in a hug. Shadow folds her into a hug from the other side.

"It's going to be okay," I say to her.

"I sure hope so," is her only reply.

After several minutes of us sitting there holding each other, I finally break the embrace, inching toward the edge of the bed.

"What do you think you're doing?" Moon Shadow asks me.

"I'm going to relearn how to walk and then I'm going to eat something. I'm famished!" I reply.

"The doctor told you to take it easy," she reminds me.

"Take it easy is not the same as being stuck in bed," I remind her.

"You almost died!" she says, trying to keep me from getting off the bed.

"True, but I didn't. And now I need to rebuild my strength, which I won't be able to do from my bed," I tell her as I slip past her and slide off the bed, landing on my hooves.

"You'd better not get yourself hurt any more than you already are, or so help me!" she raises her voice at me.

After a couple of minutes learning to walk I am able to reach the bedroom door. I lift a hoof to open the door and quickly come to a realization. All the doors in my house have knobs, which I can no longer turn with my hooves.

I clear my throat and say, "Would one of you be so kind as to open the door for me?"

Shadow grins in triumph and says, "Now you have to get the rest you need!"

I turn around in preparation to buck the door. What the hell, it's my house. I'll fix it later. I think as I wind up my hoof.

"Irony! Don't you dare buck down that door!" she yells at me.

"If somepony would open it for me, I wouldn't have to," I reply with a grin.

"Alright, alright. You win," Shadow gets off the bed and opens the door. "Would have really done it?"

"Eeyup, I shore 'nuff would have," I say, mimicking Big Macintosh from the show. "Thank you, little lady." I giggle at the stern look on her face. I look over and see Trixie is trying to stifle a giggle herself. I wink at her.

Moon Shadow throws her hands up in the air with a growl, "You two are incorrigible!"

I trot down the hall with a grin on my face, until I reach the kitchen and see Dr. Ray sitting at the table nursing a beer. There are two more "fallen soldiers" next to him, but he doesn't appear to be intoxicated.

I wave a hoof at him and say, "What's up doc?"

He gives me a pity chuckle and says, "Yeah, because I've never heard that one before."

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. Besides, I'm sure you'll have to admit, it's the first time one of your patients said it to you," I say.

"Very true. My patients usually don't say much to me," he replies.

I walk up to the fridge and, opening it with my mouth, peruse the interior. I see there is a large bowl of salad that someone made and decide it looks rather tasty. I very carefully grip the lip of the bowl in my teeth and pull it from the fridge, shutting the door with my flank as I turn toward the kitchen table.

I set the bowl on the table and look at it for a moment. Then, deciding not to stand on ceremony, I climb up into a chair and bury my face in the bowl. Oh wow, salad has never tasted so good!

The doc finishes his beer and, setting the bottle with the others, goes to the fridge and pulls out two more. He sits down at the table across from me, pops the cap off one and offers it to me. I nod, so he sets it next to me. I pause in my eating and see that I have inhaled over half the huge bowl of salad. Note to self: going three days without eating, even if you're unconscious, leaves you REALLY hungry!

I reach for the bottle of beer, only just barely stopping myself from knocking it over with my hoof. Oh yeah...that is going to take some getting used to, I think. I shrug and lean my head over and, wrapping my lips around the neck of the bottle, lift it up and tilt my head back. I let the sudsy liquid slide down my throat until the bottle is empty.

"Not bad," I say after I drop the bottle back onto the table and letting forth a little belch, "but not nearly as good as the Apple family's hard apple cider."

"Never heard of that one," Dr. Ray says.

"Erm, it's a brand from back home," I reply, realizing I actually remembered the taste of the cider from back in Equestria.

"Home, you mean as in Equestria?" Trixie asks me. I look around and see Shadow next to her.

"Hi, sorry, I didn't hear you two come in," I say, "and yeah, from Equestria."

"Do you actually remember, or are you just quoting from the show?" she asks.

"I remember it. Funny how I remember something like that, but can't remember much else," I answer.

"I wish you could remember more. I want to know what it's really like," Trixie says wistfully.

"Maybe you'll remember more about home than I do," I say.

"Why would she remember more about your home than you do?" asks Dr. Ray.

"You don't want to know, doc," I say, looking intently at him.

"No prob. I asked out of habit, I'm naturally curious. I don't really want to know any more than I already do. I'm trying not to freak out here as it is," he responds.

"Well, you're damn good at keeping it hidden," I say.

"Yeah, well, I was in the army for a lot of years before I decided to become a vet. You get good at not freaking out, you know?" he says, I nod in response.

"I want to thank you again for patching me up. I probably would have died without your help," I say in appreciation.

"Maybe, maybe not. You seem to be a pretty hardy creature. Truth be told it's been interesting. Of course, that could be the beer talking," he replies, waving around the almost empty bottle in his hand.

"Now that I'm on the mend, you are welcome to go home," I say.

"Nope. Even if I wasn't well on my way to being three sheets to the wind, you may not be completely out of the woods yet. I'll stay a couple more days to keep an eye on you," he says, smiling at me.

"Okay, you're welcome to stay. Just don't try to make me stay in bed. I don't handle being cooped up well," I say.

"No problem, really I think you'll be fine. I just don't like taking chances with my patients," he responds.

"Well, this has been an interesting day," I say after a few minutes of silence.

"That is has," Moon Shadow agrees with me. She starts rummaging around in my cupboards. Soon she returns with four glasses and a bottle of Bushmills Irish Whiskey.

"I think we should raise our glasses, to old friends and new," she says as she pours.

"To friends, and to birthdays!" Trixie says, and clinks her glass with all of ours. We all drink, me with only a little difficulty.

We drink to our friends many times that afternoon, and into the evening.