Part 1 – Out of Place

Samuel opened his eyes. He didn’t like light…at least, not in the morning. Pure white light was pouring in through his bedroom window. Sam decided against trying to go to sleep now that the light had awoken him; he got out of bed and began getting dressed for school.

Sam was a junior in high school. His grades weren’t stellar, and he wasn’t the most motivated person ever; still, he wasn’t failing, and he had friends he could count on. Recently there had been pressure in his group of friends, caused by some sort of show that his friends were always going on about. As far as he knew, Sam was the only one who hadn’t even given it a shot. He wasn’t interested in colorful cartoon horses and he had too much to do anyway.

He thought his friends were joking at first; that they must’ve been pulling his leg to see if he’d actually boot up his computer and take a look on the internet. But when they started wearing shirts and stuff, and actually talking about the show, Sam was startled. He wasn’t disgusted, he had weird friends to begin with, but he certainly hadn’t seen it coming.

After tying the final lace on his shoe, Sam paused and looked hurriedly at his calendar on the wall. It was a Wednesday, that he knew, but it was his school’s “Spirit Week.” This special week entailed a pep-rally at the end of it, with special days of dressing up in themed costumes chosen by the ASB members. It was “Wild West Wednesday,” and Sam actually had something to wear. His Halloween costume from the month prior was still hanging in his closet. He took it down and began getting undressed to change.

It was cold out, and he needed some sort of jacket. Sam was planning on wearing a fancy sport coat, but the cowboy duster fit the theme of the day much better. He put on the boot-cut jeans, the boots themselves, and a loose-fitting t-shirt. The duster and the old cowboy hat were the last things on before he ran out the door. The door opened almost as soon as it had closed and Sam ran back inside. He had forgotten the holster. He grabbed it, minus the prop-revolver, and remembered to get his backpack too before he was out the door again in a flash.

Sam felt a bit out of place waiting at the bus stop, but once he boarded the bus, he was pleased to see a couple of his friends dressed up as well. He sat down wordlessly beside them as they sized him up.

“Same costume you wore a few weeks ago?” A girl by the name of Kachira asked him.

Sam looked at her and replied teasingly, “At least I have a holster for my phone, Kashy.”

She rolled her eyes at the mention of her nickname and softly shoved him. It was true, his cell-phone fit perfectly in the holster, and he put it there in place of a gun so he actually had some weight. Kachira was wearing a tight flannel shirt and a vest as well as shorts, and boots similar to Sam’s. She had a hat on, resting slightly askew behind fake orange horse-ears on her head. Her shorts had three apples embroidered on either pocket, and it was Sam’s turn to roll his eyes.

Sam’s friend Ramon tapped him on the shoulder, prompting Sam to wheel around enthusiastically to face him. He scrutinized Sam carefully for a moment before reaching into his backpack.

“You didn’t eat today,” Ramon said in his characteristic deep voice.

Sam shrugged, “So?”

“So, have an apple,” Ramon tossed Sam a healthy green apple, which he tore into like a ravenous wolf.

Sam stopped eating abruptly and looked from the half-eaten apple to Ramon. Ramon had a brown handkerchief tied loosely around his neck that was a few shades lighter than his skin. He also had a vest on similar to Kachira’s. Sam took a deliberately slow bite out of the apple and gestured for Ramon to present his back to him. He sighed and complied, showing that he also had something embroidered on his clothes. The words “Big Macintosh” spelled out like a name on a sports jersey, with a “01” below them. The zero was actually a green apple-half and Sam sighed as well.

“You too?” He said with his eyes half-closed.

“Eeyup,” Ramon beamed as he leaned back again.

Sam looked past Ramon to his remaining friend sitting against the window. Jose was leaning against the window, looking up at the sky. He was dressed similarly to Ramon, except he had a Stetson on his head.

“Don’t tell me…” Sam sighed again, extra loud.

“It might rain, it’s getting darker,” Jose replied.

Sam rolled his eyes and pushed Ramon into Jose, “That’s not what I meant.”

Jose comically pressed himself against the window, showing that he had the same sports-jersey/cowboy vest combo going on. The name “Braeburn” and a “02” were on the back. Like Ramon’s vest, the zero was replaced by an apple; only, Jose’s apple was a bright red one, and was whole.

Jose was the source of the “brony-infection” among Sam’s friends. He had been the first to admit to liking the show, and Ramon and Kachira had soon followed. Sam didn’t have the heart to tell them that he thought it was really weird, and he settled with just, “You guys can do whatever you want, I’m too busy for such shenanigans.”

Kachira’s reply to that had been a pouting face that lasted weeks. Sam had to admit, it was hard to not give in to her sad face; but he had told himself he was too busy so much that he started to believe it to be the truth.

They stopped bugging him about it after about a week (with the exception of Kachira who pouted for a good couple of weeks after that), and they would even politely turn off the TV when he was in the room. Despite how weird he thought their love for the show was, Sam DID feel a tad bit left out. He felt as if he had turned down a one-time chance to be admitted to a very exclusive club.

Sam knew that he could watch it whenever he wanted to, and that he could even end up liking it and joining said-club. But the mere fact that he ‘might’ end up liking it startled him more than an approaching freight-train.

Sam made it through his first few classes okay. He had gotten assigned no homework, and he had finished what little class work had been assigned early, allowing him a few more minutes of sleep.

He met up with his friends again at lunch in their usual meeting place. One of the teachers had let them use his room whenever they wanted so long as they cleaned it up afterwards. On the rare occasion Sam was absent or busy during lunch, he was told that his friends would hook up a laptop to the TV and watch an episode.

Sam wondered what the deal behind his friends’ costumes was, and he almost made the mistake of asking them to show him. It had apparently become an inside-joke amongst his friends that he actually loved the show, but was afraid to admit it; but Sam just shrugged their hopefulness off and changed the subject whenever it was brought up.

For the rest of the day, even after lunch, Sam’s mind lingered on his friends and their biggest common-interest. He felt more and more as if he was being excluded from an elite group…or at least a group people wanted him to be a part of…and he wanted in. He wanted in without having to give in to such an enormous demand.

Sam stayed after to finish the homework from his last class, effectively missing the bus. Kachira and Ramon had stayed with him, missing the bus too in order to finish their respective workloads. They all walked home together as the rain began to come down. It wasn’t too hard at first, but the sky got steadily darker, and the rain got steadily heavier.

The rain wasn’t the only thing that got heavier. Sam’s duster wasn’t meant to get as wet as it did, and it felt as if it weighed a ton. Kachira looked a little cold, so Sam dug around in his backpack for a large bath-towel he always carried around. He wasn’t a fool, he knew just how many uses a towel could have.

A streak of lightning got the trio’s attention. It illuminated the sky with a brilliant white, and startled Sam half to death. That was when the sky decided to drop hail on them. They sprinted for Sam’s house to get out of the maelstrom that had picked up.

Kachira convinced her parents to allow her to stay the night because it was raining too hard. Ramon phoned his parents as well to let them know where he was going to be, and they gave him permission. Sam was home alone because his parents were on a business trip, but he called them anyway and made sure they were okay with the idea.

They had done things like this before; Sam’s parents were always away on some sort of business thing or exotic vacation. All of their parents trusted them with staying home alone at a friend’s house as long as they didn’t get into trouble; one slip-up though, and their fun would be killed.

A couple of their parents, just to abate any concerns they might have had, did surprise drug-tests a couple of times after they got back home. They understood their parents’ concerns, and those concerns were put to rest when all of the tests came back negative each and every time. Besides, what kind of idiots did their parents take them for?
The power went out around four o’clock, effectively cutting Ramon and Kachira off from their favorite pony blog, leaving them with nothing to do.

Sam wasn’t used to no power either, and his TV didn’t run on magic like he was convinced it did in preschool. Ramon seemed to be prepared for any situation, and he took out a large sheet of paper. He and Kachira were in an art class together, and he figured they could all just draw. He didn’t think that Sam might feel excluded again.

Kachira refused to join in on something Sam wouldn’t do, much to Ramon’s dismay. Sam said he’d draw as long as they didn't criticize Mr. and Mrs. Stick. This drew a good laugh from them all, but Kachira stopped laughing sooner than the men, and her eyes lit up enthusiastically.

“What are we doing out here anyway?” Sam asked her.

“She said something about lights and then sprinted into your garage, remember?” Ramon pointed out.

Sam shivered, “Yeah, but it’s bloody cold in here.”

Kachira was digging through a heap of junk in the corner. Sam didn’t know what to make of her goal.

“We have a bunch of lanterns from that time we slept in Sam’s backyard,” Kachira said suddenly, “But I can’t find them.”

“They’re over here,” Sam face-palmed, “You’re digging through car parts.”

“Oh,” she said, dismounting the pile of stuff, “I knew that.”

They retreated back inside and set up the lanterns for when it got dark out. Sam insisted they start without him, and he went to look out of the window. It was still somewhat light out, but what illumination they had was dying quickly. There was another flash of lightning and an instantaneous boom of thunder. The lightning illuminated a strange phenomenon in the sky that seemed rather out of place to Sam.

“Hey guys,” Sam said calmly, “Do rainbows form in a lightning storm?”

“I don’t think so,” Ramon replied, “Why?”

“Because there was a flash of lightning just now…” Sam said, letting his voice trail off.

“We know,” Kachira pointed out, semi-annoyed.

“And now there’s a rainbow in the sky,” Sam said, transfixed.

Ramon and Kachira scrambled to get over to Sam, and they saw the rainbow just as it faded away. There was another flash of lightning, but the rainbow didn’t come back.

“Weird,” Ramon muttered, “Well…let’s all go draw some stuff.”

“Right…right…” Sam was still glued to the window, waiting for something strange to happen again.

“Sam,” Ramon said sternly, snapping him out of his trance, “Kachira won’t tell me what her ‘great idea’ is until you get over here.”

Sam quietly walked over to them and spread himself out on the carpet. He pressed his stomach to the floor and put his head down comically on the paper.

“Mm rrdee tuh druh,” Sam said with his mouth pressed up against the paper.

“How did you guess it?” Kachira snapped at him.

Sam lifted his head up, “Huh?”

Ramon had an equally quizzical look on his face.

“We’re going to draw with our mouths like the ponies do!” Kachira said, rubbing her hands together and cackling evilly.

Sam paused as Ramon rolled his eyes and put the pencil in his mouth.

“What,” Sam said more as a statement than a question.

“You know…oh…you don’t…ugh,” Kachira seemed to remember only then that Sam had no idea what she was talking about.

Sam just stared at her blankly, trying to decide whether he would partake in her game or not.

“Never mind,” she said, drawing an annoyed groan from Ramon who had just gotten himself set up to draw with his mouth, “We’ll do something else.”

“No,” Sam said, confused as to why he said it, “We can do it, I don’t mind.”

Her eyes lit up again.

“Besides,” Sam continued, justifying his previous statement, “It’ll put us all at the same skill-level.”

They all awkwardly drew pictures with their mouths for a short while before they had to get up and turn on the plethora of lanterns they had brought inside. Sam wasn’t great at drawing anything more than a face, and he could never get any good ideas for what he was going to draw. He found the process of making art monotonous and boring.
The stress of having nobody around most of the time and the stress from his grades and other things made him more than a little depressed. Having his friends around made him feel a bit better, but he still felt rather empty. He was drawing absentmindedly for a moment, and Kachira gasped.

Sam looked at her lazily and followed her gaze. She was staring in disbelief at what he had just drawn. He had started poorly drawing circles and stuff for heads and such when he got sidetracked. He was thinking of making a comic. What he had drawn instead was a perfect grey-scale sketch of some sort of Pegasus-pony-thing that he could’ve swore he had seen as a desktop wallpaper before. It was drawn as if by hand…by someone who was very talented at drawing no less. How or why Sam had drawn a pony was beyond him, and Kachira and Ramon were shocked as well.

“How…?” Ramon started.

“How did you do that?” Kachira asked in genuine disbelief.

Sam stared with more shock than both of his friends combined, which was saying something. He didn’t know why he would’ve drawn that. Did it have something to do with him feeling left out of the brony-club? What about his friends? His thoughts kept getting interrupted by the rainbow from earlier; he kept seeing it vividly in his head.

“-with his mouth too!” Ramon said.

Sam realized he had just rejoined the conversation after a small absence from reality. He shook his head and glanced at his phone; it was almost eight o’clock. He got up, leaving a distracted pair of friends to marvel at the strange thing he had drawn while he went to make get something out of the pantry for dinner.

They had finished their dinner, and seeing nothing better to do at nine o’clock in the evening on a school-night with no electricity, decided to get to sleep. Sam had a large bedroom, and he let Kachira take the futon in the corner. Ramon was content to lean against his backpack with a blanket over him.

The worst part of the storm had passed and it was just raining outside. The pitter-patter of raindrops lulled Sam to sleep once he was sure his friends had fallen asleep as well.

Sam’s dog, a golden retriever named Maxwell who had been sleeping in his own room for the majority of the day prior came over to wake Sam up. It was just getting light out, and Sam was already beginning to stir. The big sloppy dog-kiss that Max gave Sam was enough to make Sam recoil and cover himself with his blankets. Once he was safely hidden under his sheets, Sam reached out a hand to pet Max.

When Sam realized his hand was missing, his eyes shot open and he fell out of bed. All he had was a stump! Both his hands were gone! Sam’s terrified shriek was enough to rouse the other two teens from their sleep. They moved over to where Sam had fallen and their jaws hit the floor. Sam…or what used to be Sam…was writhing around on the ground in panic, not really taking time to calm down and look himself over.

Ramon recovered from shock first and tried his hardest to calm Sam down. When he realized Sam couldn’t, or wouldn’t, hear him, he resorted to pinning him down. Kachira slowly recovered and sat down on the bed, still completely baffled by what was happening in front of her.

“DAMNIT SAM! STOP MOVING!!” Ramon shouted.

Sam froze and turned his head slowly toward Ramon. He looked up at Ramon with unbelievably huge eyes.

“What’s going on?” Sam croaked weakly.

Ramon didn’t release his grip, “I don’t know,” he sounded panicky.

“Mirror…” Sam managed to say, “And water…”

Kachira stood up like a zombie and grabbed a hand-mirror from the bathroom, as well as a small cup of water. Ramon slowly poured the water down Sam’s throat and then held up the mirror to his face.

“That’s not…” Sam said, his expression changing to disbelief as well, “That’s not me…”

“I don’t know how, or why, or what,” Ramon said sternly, “But that IS you.”

Sam refused to believe his friend. It couldn’t be true…it couldn’t. Kachira was staring at him with a blank expression…a tinge of worry and…what? Intrigue? Fascination? An unreadable expression was written upon her face. Ramon released his hold on Sam, who rolled over and pushed himself up onto all fours. He had hooves, HOOVES; FOUR HOOVES.

Sam barely managed to form the words in his head. The words that his subconscious didn’t expect would ever happen, but words that it just didn’t want to think. Words that he never saw coming, and words he didn’t want to admit to himself.

Samuel was a pony.

End Part 1

Part 2 – lkajsdfhn caflgsj

This is NOT happening to me, Sam thought as he slumped against the side of his bed, I’ve just finally lost it. The stress finally got to me. That’s it, this is all a mental-breakdown inside of your head.

Kachira stared at Sam; she had finally snapped out of the trance she had been in, but she was now genuinely worried. Sam was chuckling maniacally to himself whilst propped up against the bed. Ramon appeared concerned too, but he had taken it upon himself to figure out what to do next while Sam had a mental breakdown in the corner and Kachira sat and gawked.

“Sam,” Kachira muttered, hoping it would get through to him.

Sam slowly turned around; his face was almost a perfect match to the creepy one Twilight had in “Lesson Zero” which Kachira had to admit, scared her a little. He stared through her as if she was transparent, and he kept giggling like a mad man.

“Sam stop it!” Kachira shouted at him.

Her scream had an effect on him; Sam ceased his madness and locked eyes with her. She didn’t know how long his lucid moment would last, or if he had simply decided to stare at the same space that her eyes occupied.

“Sam, are you okay?” She firmly inquired.

“Fine, I’m fine,” Sam said, fighting back another giggle-fit, “But this isn’t real. I’m hallucinating aren’t I?”

His mouth began to stretch into a fanatical smile again. Kachira slapped him good on the cheek and immediately regretted it. Whatever force her palm had carried seemed to get through to Sam though and he finally did a reality-check.

“What’s…what’s going on?” He asked, massaging the sore area on his face with his hoof.

Sam still couldn’t stand without support, and he hadn’t the slightest clue how to walk; but he knew his forelegs still behaved suspiciously like arms, despite the placement of their joints.

“I don’t know,” Ramon rumbled from the other side of the room, “We need to start somewhere though.”

“How did this happen?” Kachira voiced the question that was on all of their minds.

“I don’t know…that rainbow from yesterday…I…I dunno, I can’t stop thinking about it,” Sam said.

“You don’t think that ponies are real? Do you?” Kachira asked, not speaking to anyone in particular.

Ramon gave her an annoyed look and then turned his gaze to Sam, who was looking at them with a very confused expression.

All Kachira could manage was a simple, “oh.”

They all just sat there for a while; no one knew quite what to say to break the ice.

“We need Jose,” Sam said as he reached for the nightstand behind him.

He managed to knock his phone off and he slid it open. He started mashing the keys, frustrating himself even more. He nosed the send-button, satisfied that his message of “aqdsilfnfliwuhasncn weks jcghdb” would get Jose’s attention.

Ramon policed the phone just before it vibrated with Jose’s reply of, “What the hell?”

He tapped out a proper response, despite Sam’s pleas to get his phone back. Sam started to hit Ramon’s leg weakly with his hoof; a battering-ram straight into his friend’s knee.

“What’d you say?” Sam asked when Ramon tossed the phone carelessly onto the bed.

“To meet here after school,” Ramon replied simply, “I haven’t the slightest clue of what we’re supposed to do with you now.”

“School…” Sam trailed off.

With the excitement of the morning thus far, Sam had completely forgotten about school. Ramon began to pack up his things and Kachira went downstairs to fetch her own backpack. Sam sat down on his haunches and stared at the wall in deep thought.

What am I supposed to do? Sam thought, Do I just sit here? And what’s that feelin-

Sam wheeled around, a dubious look on his face. He only then realized he had a tail. It wasn’t very long and it was tangled and messy, much like his hair. Sam paused and looked himself over again; he wasn’t wearing anything.

Ramon’s semi-relaxed demeanor was shattered by an ear-piercing scream. Kachira came running to see what the fuss was about, and Sam was frantically trying to drag the sheets off of his bed and onto himself.

Kachira realized why he was freaking out again and moved closer to him, “Sammy, it’s okay, it’s okay,” she reassured him in a high-pitched voice she might have used to talk to a dog or baby.

Sam froze and his head shot up; his ear twitched before he looked at her blankly.

“What did you just call me?” He asked, suspicious about what he thought he heard.

“Nothing,” Kachira quickly responded, her cheeks becoming a bright red.

“You called him Sammy,” Ramon stated in a state of almost-disbelief.

“And you used a cutesy-voice,” Sam added.

“Did I? I don’t remember that…” Kachira tried to back herself out of the conversation.

“What, do you think I’m some kind of animal?!” Sam shouted at her, his temper flaring, “Some kind of thing that doesn’t understand basic language?!”

“Calm down bro,” Ramon gestured for Sam to cool it.

“Well…” Kachira admitted, “You are really adorable.”

Sam flinched visibly; he had never heard that word used to describe him before. And to make matters worse, she had put a very heavy emphasis on it. She turned away from him quickly to hide her scarlet-colored face.

“That isn’t what I meant,” she said quietly.

“Huh?” Sam was dubious.

“I didn’t mean it like that. Can’t I call something cute and you guys not take it sexually?” Kachira mumbled embarrassedly.

“I didn’t, I…” Sam was even more confused than before, “I didn’t think that you…I mean…”

“Whatever,” Kachira said, “We have to get to school.”

She turned back to face him; poor Sam was blushing and they could tell despite his efforts to hide it. They left his room and trudged down the stairs wordlessly.

“We’re going to be back later!” Kachira called out as they closed the door behind them.

Sam slumped down into a restful position; he felt hopeless and clueless and confused. He was living in a nightmare and he couldn’t wake up.

Sam woke up from his stress-induced nap several hours later. He decided that the loud noises his stomach was making weren't the best in the world, and that he needed sustenance. He tried, fruitlessly at first, to stand up without leaning on something, and he eventually got the hang of it.

Sam felt a rush of adrenaline after he realized that he was standing without support. The feeling was similar to the feeling he got when he first rode a bike; wobbly, but oh-so satisfying. His adrenaline rush crashed almost immediately once it dawned upon him again just WHY he was attempting to stand up in the first place. He tried a step forward, but he ended up in a tangled mess of hooves.

Seeing no better option, Sam crawled using his forelegs to drag himself along the ground like someone with disabled legs. His trip down the stairs was short and bumpy and ended with a dizzy and bruised Sam crumpled against the wall opposite the bottom of the stairway.

“Max!” Sam cried out, realizing that it might be easier to imitate a four-legged creature than try to crawl, “Max come here!”

His faithful companion bounded down the stairs and met him at the bottom. Max seemed unfazed by Sam’s transformation, and he licked him on the face several times. Sam needed a way to get Max off of him so he could watch him walk and avoid all of the drool his face was accumulating.

“Max!” Sam said in an excited tone, “Do you wanna play…BALL?!”

Max’s ears perked up and his tail began to wag. He backed up, his front legs dancing a happy and enthusiastic dance.

“Go get it!” Sam said in a voice similar to what Kachira had used on him earlier.

Max took off like a bullet-train and Sam watched him run. It wasn’t enough to go off of, and Sam rolled over and stood up again; he waited a few seconds for Max to come back with the ball. His furry companion trotted up to him with a big green tennis-ball in his mouth. Sam got a good idea of how to trot, but not how he was supposed to do it without thinking very hard about it.

Max dropped the slimy ball at Sam’s hooves. He realized he wasn’t going to be able to grab the ball and throw it, and he hated to leave poor Max hanging. Sam reluctantly, and with much disgust, lowered his head and gently picked up the ball in his own mouth; he flicked his head to the side, tossing it halfway up the stairs with a dog seemingly tied to it by a rope. Before Max had a chance to bring it back, Sam took off at a full gallop for the kitchen without realizing that he was moving just fine. He quickly closed the door and slumped against it. He couldn’t fit his hoof between the doorknob and the door to click the lock, but knowing Max, he wouldn’t need to.

Sam got the hang of walking rather quickly, as if he had always known how but had never tried. He didn’t know how to cook with hooves or his mouth, so he bit the refrigerator’s door-handle and pulled it open. Sam examined his choices of food carefully; he decided on a half-eaten party-sized bowl of home-made vanilla pudding, and he tenderly grabbed it off of the shelf with his mouth. He placed the bowl on the floor and closed the fridge-door with a swift kick from his hind leg.
Seeing no alternative, Sam plunged his face into the bowl and lapped up the pudding like he had seen Max do to spilled juices and such. He hadn’t realized quite what time it was, nor did he hear the door to his house open; and he was so wrapped up in the taste of vanilla pudding that he didn’t even realize when the kitchen-door a few feet behind him was opened.

“Aww, now isn’t that cute,” Jose whispered from the doorway while an oblivious Sam continued to gobble up his afternoon snack.

“What is it?” Kachira shoved Jose out of the way, “What’s going on-”

Sam picked his head up lazily and licked his chops as he turned around. He was frightened nearly half to death by the presence of his friends in the kitchen with him.

“How long have you…? You didn’t see me did you? Oh man this is so humiliating…” Sam blubbered in a flurry of words.

“It’s okay,” Kachira said, “I thought it was pretty cute too,” Ramon shot her a glance and opened his mouth as if to speak, but she cut him off, “And before you go perverting that statement, I did NOT mean it like that.”

“I was going to say that Jose made the same remark a few moments ago, but never mind,” Ramon said, defeated.

Sam tried his best to wipe his muzzle with his foreleg while his friends argued. Before he could retreat however, Jose pulled himself away from the small fight to examine Sam closer.

“Wow,” he said, grabbing Sam by the tail to stop him from running away, “Whoever did this to you must’ve pulled out all the stops.”

Sam was still feeling modest, even after realizing that despite his nudity nobody could see anything, and he quickly recoiled from Jose.

“Are you okay dude?” Jose asked him seriously, examining Sam’s eyes now.

“I’m not dressed,” Sam said quietly, accidentally drawing the attention of both Kachira and Ramon.

“Beg pardon,” Kachira grinned, “But uh, ponies don’t normally wear clothes.”

Ramon and Jose chuckled at the reference, and Sam just shrunk back more. He thought they were acting way too normal and calm for the situation they were in. Why didn’t they seem even the least bit concerned?

“GUYS!” He shouted, “Can we please take this a bit more seriously?! I’m a fucking PONY right now for crying out loud! WHY?!”

“Yeesh,” Jose rolled his eyes, “It’s not all that bad.”

“NOT BAD??!!” Sam retorted angrily, “NOT BAD???!!!”

“Uh oh,” Ramon whispered to Kachira.

“I had to re-learn how to WALK while you guys were at school having a NORMAL day. I was stuck here, confused as hell, wondering if I’m dreaming or not! And you guys just shrug this off and say it isn’t that bad?!” Sam shouted.

“Well, you could’ve been turned into a slug, that would’ve been bad,” Kachira pointed out.
Sam shot her a dirty look before returning his gaze to Jose. Ramon seemed as if he wanted to speak, so Sam let out an explosive sigh and let him.

“Did you guys notice how Mr. Schism was extra happy today?” Ramon stated, once again turning the subject away from Sam.

Sam’s eye twitched and he glared at Ramon, “Please guys,” he said with a lot of restraint, “Can we please focus on me? PLEASE?”

“Fine, fine,” Ramon gave in, “I just thought I’d turn the subject to something less…you know, dark.”

“Well,” Sam said, returning to the matter at hand, “We need to figure out what happened…so let’s all try to get some sleep tonight at our own respective homes, and then we’ll convene tomorrow after school. It will be a Friday after all…”

“Weekend getaway?” Jose asked hopefully.

“Yes…but this time we work on finding clues to what happened to me,” Sam said slightly angrier than he meant to.

Kachira spoke up, “Alright, fine…but I’m only listening to you right now because you’re frigging adorable.”

“Why not because this is IMPOSSIBLE and BAD?” Sam retorted, dragging the conversation on.

“Because frankly, what she’s trying to say is that some bronies would die for what happened to you,” Jose said matter-of-factly, drilling that into Sam’s head.

Sam rolled his eyes and stormed out of the room. The trio waited a few moments and heard his bedroom door slam shut. They all looked at each other and wondered; what exactly did they do wrong?

End Part 2

Part 3 – Viral and Exile

Sam fell out of bed the next morning. He kept thinking too hard about what he was doing, and he kept forgetting how to walk and move. He found that if he didn’t think about it, he was fine; but his mind would always gravitate towards it.

His parents were due back on Monday, and Sam didn’t know what he was going to do. The reality of just what had occurred began to sink in. He doubted his sanity, but decided to roll with it and at least believe everything happening was real to a certain extent. He came about such a conclusion by considering what would be done if he acted either way; and acting as if everything happening was real and happening in his head while he slept, he deduced, would get him further.

“Unless this is just some sort of really strange and really bad mental-breakdown due to stress,” Sam thought out loud.

Sam nosed open the door to his parents’ room and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling mirror that acted as their closet-door. He examined himself thoroughly for the first time; he was a light brown color with jet-black hair and a tail, both were very unkempt and messy…the way he liked it. He had huge eyes; no, huge was an understatement. To say his eyes were huge was like saying an apple was bigger than an orange. His eyes were gigantic. His pupils must have been severely dilated or something because they took up the most space. They were surrounded by brilliant emerald-green irises that were more vivid than his eyes normally were. Sam blinked rapidly and shook his head, hoping maybe he would be able to escape the dream and the thing staring at him. He looked like some sort of stuffed-animal a kid might own and snuggle up next to at night.

But he did have to admit, the creature staring at him in the mirror was kinda cute.

No, he thought to himself, I’m not some sort of girly man. Girls say things like ‘cute.’

He fell back on his haunches and continued to stare for a long while. Eventually he decided to try posing because he had nothing better to do. The entire time he was making faces and heroic poses at himself in the mirror, Sam didn’t realize that the window on the other side of the room was open.

He had decided to take another nap, hoping that maybe he would wake up from the entire dream he perceived he was having. The front-door to his house was opened explosively, rudely rousing him from his slumber.

Kachira, Ramon, and Jose all ran inside, pausing only briefly to close and lock the door before splitting up and calling Sam’s name.

“Mmm,” Sam moaned sleepily from under his blankets, “mm uhb here…”

He heard his slightly-ajar bedroom door swing open and his friends streamed into his room, panicked expressions on their faces.

Ramon took command, “Jose, you go close all the windows and blinds downstairs. Kachira, I want you to lock everything, go!”

“Whuz goin on?” Sam asked, peeling the blankets away from his face.

“I really hope I’m having a weird dream right now,” Ramon said, “Or else we’re going to be in a heap of trouble.”

“Wha-?” Sam tried to blink away the sleep that was attempting to subdue him, “You arrn thuh only one…”

“You’ve just gone viral!” Ramon shouted, “Are you an idiot?!”

Ramon’s alarmed tone shook Sam out of his stupor and he shot straight up, only to fall sideways because his frame wasn’t made to balance that way anymore. He picked himself up off of the floor with Ramon’s help and he sat down.

“How have I gone viral?” he inquired, his voice laced with worry.

“I haven’t watched the video yet, but it seems like someone was spying on you,” Ramon told him as he pulled out his phone and began to look up the video.

“What are you looking for?” Sam asked as he leaned in closer to get a better look at the phone.

“Jose heard it at school. Some sort of strange creature was spotted inside your house!” Ramon said as the video loaded, “Ugh, what were you doing man?”

“I don’t know!” Sam replied helplessly, “I got up, looked at myself in the mirror, ate an apple I found in the fridge, and then I went back to sleep!”

“Hold on, let’s see…” Ramon said as the video began to play.

“Hey!” Sam said in an accusatory tone, “That’s the window to my parents’ room!”

He jumped up and galloped off towards the other bedroom, forcing Ramon to pause the video before anything other than the location could be gleaned from it. He got to the window and looked out. His backyard was up against a hill; and at the top of the hill, on a tier above his house, was another street of houses. Sam looked back at Ramon’s phone to see what angle the video was shot from, and then he went back over to the window. He jumped up and put his front hooves on the windowsill and looked in the direction he had determined.

Some kid with binoculars was staring intently at the window, and when he saw Sam, he fumbled the binoculars and grabbed for his video camera. Sam ducked down in time to avoid being caught on tape again, and Ramon closed the blinds in a flurry of motion. Sam slumped against the wall and Ramon crouched next to him. Kachira and Jose had heard the commotion and they entered the room and sat on the floor next to Sam.

Sam whimpered and Kachira put a hand on his head, “Sam, this is all real, I’m sorry,” she said in a gentle voice.

Sam merely nodded weakly, not even bothering to shake her hand off of him; for some strange reason her hand provided a sort of emotional comfort that he badly needed right then. He looked up at his friends, his irises and pupils even bigger than before. He was pleading with them to make everything stop; any moment now, one of them would admit that he was dreaming and he’d wake up, plain and simple. At the same time, the fact that he was indeed awake was cemented in his brain; he felt so out of place and lost. Jose and Ramon both placed their hands on his back, showing their support for him.

Their added support helped him recover to a functional point, but not much beyond that. Sam shakily stood up and walked very slowly towards the door.

“You guys and your stupid ponies…” Sam said, not meaning to speak his thoughts out loud.

His friends were visibly upset at his remark, and Sam wanted to take it back; but he had meant it, he was starting to hate the ponies for ever coming around in the first place. If they didn’t exist, then none of what was going on would have ever happened.

Kachira seemed to get the hint first; she was always good at reading people. She silenced Jose’s and Ramon’s retorts before they could be made. They watched him go and lock himself in his room; fumbling could be heard on the other side of the door.

“What’s he doing?” Ramon whispered to Kachira, knowing she might have a clue.

“I don’t know,” she quietly admitted, “But have you guys noticed how he’s been acting really reclusive the last few months?”

“I suppose,” Jose chimed in, “But I just thought he was upset that his parents were going away more frequently.”

“That’s what I thought, but I ran into him the other day when he was on his way back to class from the office,” Kachira said, “He said something about all F’s and then moped back to class.”

“I can hear you guys out there!” Sam shouted angrily from within his room, “Go away!”

There was a clink of metal and a sharp inhalation on the other side of the door, and Sam’s friends all looked at each other quickly.

“Sam!” Ramon shouted, “Let us in!”

“No!” Sam growled, “Go away! Let me die in peace! I-um…uh oh…”

Sam had just let slip what he was doing, and Ramon had had enough. He and Jose kicked in the door and ran over to Sam. He was on the floor with a deep gash in his left foreleg; and there was a knife laying suspiciously on the ground next to him.

“GET BACK!” Sam shouted, “My life is miserable! My parents are always gone, my grades are suffering, and my grandparents just died in a car accident a few weeks ago…just…leave me alone…”

Samuel tried to back away from his friends. He didn’t even want to consider them friends, they were obviously messed up in the head; and for all he knew, THEY were behind him turning into a blasted pony!

“What’s wrong? I thought you were all better a few minutes ago in the other room?” Jose asked frantically as Ramon tried to get in to look at Sam’s leg.

“I was, and then I realized why you guys have been so nonchalant about this whole thing, and why you freaked out when I got caught on tape,” Sam retorted, bending the past events to his whim to make his twisted story sound legitimate.

“And why is that?” Kachira asked, concerned as blood began to drip onto the carpet.

“You guys wanted a pet! You like your little equines so much that you wanted a real one! I don’t know how you did it, but now that the media knows, you’re freaking out! You wanted to keep me for yourselves!” Sam spat.

Kachira didn’t know what to say, she knew he didn’t completely believe what he was saying; but he was so delirious that he was probably forcing himself to accept it as the truth. He backed away when Ramon came near, and he smacked him in the face with his good hoof.

“I don’t want to be some sort of pet!” Sam shouted, “STAY AWAY! Dying is better than being some sort of animal!”

“Dude, you know that isn’t true!” Jose retorted angrily.

“Yes it is! I don’t want to be a pet! Especially to lying assholes like you! Pretending to be my friends…BAH!”

“Not that, the part about us doing this, it wasn’t our fault. But we honestly have no way to fix this. Just roll with it until we CAN find a way. If it makes you feel better we’ll come here every day and do research into what caused it and how to fix it,” Jose yelled as Ramon lunged at Sam, catching him by the slash in his leg.

Sam let out a bloodcurdling scream and Ramon used the distraction to his advantage; he peeled his bloodied hand away to look at the injury. It was deep, but not particularly life-threatening. With surprising strength, he ripped off the sleeve of his shirt and tied it around Sam’s leg.

“Well what are you waiting for, Kachira? Call the ambula-no…the vet. Sorry Sam, but they’re more qualified to treat you,” Ramon said as Sam weakly tried to fight his way free.

Kachira darted out of the room to grab a phone. Ramon loosened his grip on Sam, who surprisingly didn’t fight back or move away.

Jose picked up the switchblade on the ground; it had teeth-marks in the handle from Sam handling it. He rolled it over in his hands for a moment before pointing it at Sam.

“How long?” Jose demanded.

“Wha-?” Sam asked, staring at the tip of the blade.

Jose jabbed the air, “How long have you had this and been planning on killing yourself?”

“It was my grandfather’s…he made the mistake of leaving it to me in his will. I was planning on ending myself for the last few weeks, but I just couldn’t…I needed something to push me over the edge,” Sam cried to himself.

“That isn’t the ultimate solution to everything,” Ramon said, “It’ll get you nowhere, and end up hurting us as well.”

“Is that all you care about? You guys getting hurt? Is that why you don’t want me dead?!” Sam recoiled.

“No…think, why would we be hurt if you die?” Ramon said quietly.

Sam hung his head in shame, he should’ve realized that before. He wanted to cry, but it wasn’t the manly thing to do; he choked on his tears instead.

“It’s okay, big boy,” Kachira was standing in the doorway with a phone hanging in her hand, “We don’t care if you do.”

“How do you know what I want to do?” Sam said, his eyes already starting to water against his will.

“Your eyes are tearing up, your life has just fallen apart around you, and you think it’s the fault of the only people you thought you could trust. That, and you only now told us that your grandparents died,” Kachira analyzed him.

Sam didn’t bother to reply and instead collapsed and buried his head in his hooves, soaking them with salty tears that made the cut on his leg burn. His friends stayed back and decided to let him finish pouring out tears before talking to him again. His snap and subsequent breakdown had scared all of them; and nobody knew quite what to say.

Once Sam was done having an episode, he pulled himself up on his bed and gestured for his friends to get up onto it as well. He was done trying to be macho around them, and he couldn’t really degrade himself much more than he had already. Kachira leapt onto the bed and squeezed him; Sam was fine with the gesture until both Jose and Ramon did the same thing, causing him to grit his teeth from the awkward feeling his gut was giving him. He was officially split 50/50 on what he wanted right then. Half of him wanted to keep his friends off of him because guys just didn’t hug guys…did they? What did he call that handshake and pat-on-the-back that he greeted his friends with? The other half of him wanted to not care and just let them because it showed that they cared for him.

For the second time in just a few minutes, Sam felt as if he had recovered somewhat; however, contrary to the first time, he was feeling almost completely better, and he was sure that he wouldn’t lose it again anytime soon.

The trio plus one pony were all startled out of a contented nap by the doorbell. They had fallen asleep in a strange tangle of limbs, and they were all cramped and relatively stuck. Ramon was the first out of the lock and he ran down the stairs to get the door.

There were a few news-vans parked on the other side of the street, and a couple of full news crews were hanging out by them. He scanned the area to make sure nobody noticed that he had opened the door, but the reporters weren’t stupid; they had posted lookouts who alerted their crews to the open front door.

“Ahem,” The man at the door wasn’t quite sure why he was being ignored.

The kid who had opened the door ushered him in and closed the door before the mob of reporters could get onto the porch. The man carried only a bag of medical equipment and a pair of glasses.

“I didn’t know vets still made house-calls,” Ramon said, breaking the silence.

Kachira appeared at the top of the stairs, “Of course they do, some people have pets that can’t be taken to the vet. Most farm-animals can’t be put into a car and driven somewhere.”

“I resent the comparison to a simple farm-animal!” Sam shouted from the other room, obviously having recovered his sarcasm.

The vet had a quizzical look on his face to say the least. Ramon ushered him upstairs quickly. The man paused to make an unnecessary adjustment to his collar before pushing open the door to Sam’s room.

“So tell me why your pet is in the bedroom and not outside. And why are there reporters around?” The man inquired immediately as he walked into the room.

“I am NOT A PET!” Sam shrieked, obviously annoyed, but coming across as more than he actually was.

The vet’s eyes widened to rival Sam’s (figuratively speaking, of course) when he heard the strange creature on the bed talk. His shock was quickly replaced by intrigue.

“What is this thing?” He pointed at Sam while glancing back at Ramon.

Sam mock-growled through gritted teeth, “I’m an intelligent being; we can start with that.”

Again, the vet was surprised, but he recovered faster than the first time. He moved over to Sam and looked at him with a very curious expression that, quite frankly, was creeping Sam out.

“Doc, stop your gawking and just look at my leg, okay?” Sam said, his voice trembling with uncertainty.

“Right right…what are you?” He replied with wonder, “Your anatomy must be…wow…”

“Less talk, more helping,” Jose guided him along.

“I’m…er…I was human…but no more talking! Just look!” Sam said, offering his hoof to the doctor.

“Fascinating…” the vet replied to Sam’s comment as he gently took Sam’s leg and began undoing the shirt that was tied around the wound.

He set about cleaning the wound, causing Sam to holler in pain; and he eventually began to stitch up the wound. Jose wimped out at the sight of the needle and turned his head away. Ramon wasn’t even in the room, and Kachira was gripping Sam’s good hoof as he bit down on his pillow from the pain.

Once the veterinarian had finished, he leaned back and gave his prognosis, “Keep off of that leg and you’ll be fine, but I can’t say whether or not it’ll scar up. How did you do this anyway?”

Sam looked at the knife on the nightstand, the blade had dried blood on it. The doctor picked it up and looked it over.

“Can I have this? I want a blood sample,” He asked.

“Absolutely not,” Ramon entered the room, “We need to figure out why our friend was transformed, and we’ll have none of you doctors poking your noses where you don’t belong. The last thing we need is a group of curious scientists chasing us down and trying to dissect Sam.”

“How did this happen anyway?” The man asked, leaning back.

Kachira started, “We don’t know, but-”

“What are you though?” The vet turned to Sam, “Some sort of small horse-thing by the looks of you.”

“A pony,” Sam deadpanned, not liking the answer he had to give.

“Ponies don’t look like you do-” the doctor began.

“A little pony,” Kachira emphasized ‘little.’

“Oh…” the man said simply, “Never mind, I won’t ask any more questions. Just wait until the guys hear about this!”

“You are NOT going to tell anyone about it either,” Ramon jabbed, “No matter how hard it is to believe, we aren’t going to risk someone validating your story. Why do you think we won’t give you a blood sa-”

“I get it, I get it,” the vet said, “Not a word. I owe confidentiality to my patients anyway…or usually, my patients’ owners.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed at the comment, but he kept his tongue in check; he wasn’t about to start another scene. The vet left and was immediately bombarded with reporters asking if there was some sort of strange creature in the house. He silently pushed his way through the crowd, got into his car, and drove away.

Sam peered out of the blinds at the end of the hallway to see just how much attention he had gathered. There were quite a few reporters, but none that he recognized from TV; they must’ve been rookies or something. As he pulled his hoof back from the blinds, it got caught in the string, and before he knew it, he had an entire set of wooden blinds crashing down on him. Sam shrugged it off, but the reporters had heard and seen him do it, and their cameras were trained on him. Jose tackled him to the ground before they got more than a few seconds of footage, but it was already too late.

“You’re going to have to go into exile, man!” Jose said loudly as Sam’s slip-up played over and over on the news in the background.

“But where will I go? And more importantly, how do I get out of here without being seen?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know,” Ramon put it simply, “I don’t know…”

End Part 3