“What happened? He had Smash and he died...I dunno what happened.” An annoying voice called out from the speakers of Alex’s laptop as he searched for information on pre-orders for various games in another window.

“Ugh. I don’t know how you can stand listening to that guy’s voice, even when it’s in videos that call him out for his stupidity it just hurts.” Nicole reached over and quickly poked the mute key to avoid hearing any more of it. “Have you at least thought about Karen’s proposal? It’d be sweet of you to help us out with the trio idea.”

Alex frowned, glancing up from his laptop. “It’s not an idea I like all that much. Can’t you get Ashley to do it? She actually has black hair.”

“That’s true, but her face is just all wrong for it and yours would only require a bit of contouring makeup. Karen still has her old ‘emo phase’ wig, so it’s not like you’d be dying your hair for it either. All we’re asking you to do is buy or make a hooded trench coat for the costume, and the two of us will take care of everything else to make it convincing.” Nicole thought for a few seconds, then giggled. “Besides, Ashley’s also a bit too busty to pull off the androgynous look we need.”

“God, I hate you sometimes.” Shifting his gaze to his mirror, he groaned. “You’re just not going to let this go, are you? I can just see it now; the two of you huddled around me, making me look as confusing as possible.”

“You think it’s going to be bad for you? Karen’s still trying to convince me to wear nothing at all under the barely-there white gown, and I have to keep reminding her that would most likely be illegal.”

“You know that won’t stop her from doing it.” Alex snorted, a smirk growing across her face. “Knowing her though, she’s been studying that picture of Kairi’s panties for proper recreations.”

“Well, I think you might like my idea a little better. It’s not like either you or me would be going for perfect accuracy in our costumes like she is. What if I told you I’d be wearing stockings that you’d never get to see me wear otherwise?”

“I’d say that it would mean less people would try to hit on me,” he replied, letting out a whistle. “Those guys will be drooling all over you.”

“The fact that you think guys would be trying to hit on you just because of a more feminine look to your face...whoa, scroll back up. Do you see what I see there or am I seeing things?”

“If you’re seeing a deal that’s too good to be true, then yeah, I’m seeing that.” Alex whistled as he opened the listing and the image became larger. “Holy crap. If that’s an actual picture of the coat, how is this making any profit?”

“I have no idea. That’s easily forty dollars in leather alone, nevermind the time and care that would go into crafting it...does that say it includes the game!?” Nicole leaned in closer, and then squealed as she saw the details of the special offer. “A hundred dollars for Kingdom Hearts
Three, an Org. 13 jacket of your choice in size, AND special collectible packaging with delivery guaranteed within two weeks? Limited quantities available…”

“That has got to be a scam.” Alex leaned back, staring at the image. “Get idiots to pay for what amounts to a cardboard box and a bootleg fangame.”

“Or a pirated copy, most likely. Buy it. Even if the coat only looks half as good as that image it’ll be something we can use as a base for customizing. A good high-quality leather jacket can go for a hundred by itself easily anyways.”

“If I open that box and it’s some nylon piece of crap, you’re paying me back.” Tapping at his touchpad, he added it to his cart. “I’m not getting ripped off again.”

“Pffft. Tell you what, if that’s anything less than a perfect Organization XIII leather jacket when it gets here, I’ll not only pay you back and pay for any alterations needed to bring it up to par...I’ll do something extra special just for you after we get back from the convention. Deal?”

Alex nodded, clicking to confirm his order. “Deal. You had just better make sure that special something is really good.”

Nicole’s phone began chirping an alarm, and she swore as she quickly stood up and headed for the door. “Crap, work. I gotta go. As for that special thing, I can guarantee it’ll be something you’ll remember! Take a picture when it arrives so I can figure out what we need to do with it, okay?”

“You got it!” Alex called back, giving her a thumbs up. He sighed, sitting back on his bed. “I totally got scammed. There’s no way I didn’t.”

“There ya go pal. One wooden crate with whatever you ordered inside. It’s kinda light for its size.” The UPS driver held out the container, easily the size of an old CRT TV.

“Huh, didn’t expect a crate... thanks.” Reaching out, Alex took the package into his arms. “You have a good day, man.” Walking backwards, he awkwardly closed his door with a foot. “Maybe this was legit after all?”

Light for its size or not, the outer container was still made of wood, and therefore still heavy enough that setting it down somewhere quickly was a good idea. A quick inspection revealed that a hammer was going to be needed to open the crate.

Grumbling to himself, he took a hammer to it, cursing his average strength. “Way too much work if this is bullsh... Whoa.” Clearing away the broken pieces of crate, a chest greeted his eyes. Red and gold, it was a perfect recreation of the chests from the original Kingdom Hearts.

An envelope was attached to the front of the chest, with the Kingdom Hearts 3 logo the only visible mark on the outside. Within that envelope was a letter that looked like a standard ‘thank you for ordering’ form letter from a big company, but lacked any Disney or Square-enix logos. “‘Your Kingdom Hearts adventure awaits within alongside your new jacket...’ Holy shit... this is real.”

Dropping the envelope onto the table, Alex giddily reached out to the chest. With trembling hands, he grasped the sides and opened the lid. Silver and black greeted his sight as the lid easily swung back on the hinges built into the chest, along with the smell of leather. The coat was easily lifted from inside the chest, and it looked like it would be just the right length for him.

“Nicky was right for once.” Unzipping the coat, he marvelled at the quality. “Must have cost a fortune to make this thing. Oooh, it even comes with gloves.” Without further thought, he slipped the article on, astounded at just how well it fit. “How are they making any money selling this for just a hundred bucks? It even has the chest, and the wooden crate couldn’t have been all that cheap either.”

The lights in his house flickered briefly, followed by a soft rumble of thunder as he zipped the coat up and moved over to take a look at himself in the mirror nearby. “And the game, gotta check the chest for the game too after I see this for myself.”

For a moment, his face wasn’t the one that welcomed him on the mirror. This face had black hair and blue eyes, and features very much unlike his own. A shout and a few blinks dispelled the illusion, his reflection returning to normal. "Just a trick of the light, or I need more sleep." Alex muttered in relief as he saw his own face in the mirror once more. “Okay. Check the chest for the game, then take a picture for Nicole.”

Swiping his tablet off the table, he strode over to the crate. “Makes you wonder just how they got the copy. Better not to think about it.” As he reached into the chest this time, his hands seemed to vanish as they passed where the coat had been resting, and he could feel a numbing cold through the gloves.

“The fuck!?” Wrenching his arms back, he was rewarded with impossible resistance. “Shit, shit, shit!” Digging his heels in, he pulled back harder to little success, other than just dragging the chest around as if his arms were attached to something inside of it. The numb, empty feeling began crawling up his arm to his elbow as the chest worked its way closer through all this, effectively swallowing his hands and arms a few inches at a time.

“It’s just a nightmare! I-It has to be!” Denying the reality in front of him, he whimpered as it began to pull his head in. “Nicole, you bitch! This is your fault! I’ll haunt you until the day you die!” The chest cut off any further ranting; his head followed his arms into the cold blackness within.

Alex continued to stagger around for a few minutes, completely blind until the only thing he could feel was the rush of wind against his blinded face. In the home he’d been forcibly taken from, the chest landed on its base and the lid defied gravity to close itself with a soft click.

Wind buffeted Alex like a freight train. A seeping cold worked its way into his bones, and he was keenly aware that he was in the middle of a blizzard... laying face first in the snow, as a matter of fact. Despite this, he couldn’t find the energy to move. The world faded to a buzzing haze, his imminent freezing to death floating from his thoughts.

Some time later, a number of voices were just barely heard over the wind in the area where Alex had landed. “- Diamond, is that…-ound your skis?”

“Yeah. Funny how neither them or my helmet were buried.”

“No, I mean there’s something else there. Look, something black in the snow.”

Padded hoofsteps approached and brushed some snow away while gently nudging the fabric. “You’re right! It kinda looks like that X guy. Maybe it’s a foal?”

“Out here, in this cold? Oh dear, we need to get it back to town quickly!”

“I think I can carry them back.” A head squeezed under Alex’s stomach and in a few quick movements, he was laying across Diamond’s back. “A little heavy, but nothing I can’t handle.”

“Do we still have a doctor in town or did the last one we had leave before Starlight arrived?”

“Back to town first, worry about qualified medical treatment later!” Steady hoofsteps turned into full on gallops. “Who knows how long this one’s been out in the cold! They could have hypothermia!”

A bit of warmth began to surround Alex as they moved. “M-maybe this reheating charm will help a little?”

“Careful Sugar Belle. Isn’t that meant to make your muffins warm again? We don’t want to cook the foal by accident.”

“I’ve used it on myself before on colder nights, it won’t hurt the poor thing.”

“Where should we bring it? Not many houses have much spare-”

“Starlight’s house has plenty of empty space now, and nopony will complain about putting a guest there anyways.”

“I’m sure the princess and her friends will know what to do when they wake up.” The galloping slowed down to a light trot, the crunching of snow falling away. “I’ll take the foal, you can get the princess.”

“You better hurry, that coat doesn’t look like it’s meant for weather this far north.”

Alex felt himself slipping back into blackness, only barely able to shiver as the wonderful warmth faded from directly around his body.

“Fuck... feel like I just had a bender...” Groaning, Alex winced as consciousness returned to his mind. Wherever he was, it was not out in a blizzard. It was warm and soft, most likely a bed if the pillow under his head meant anything.

“Oh dear, you can talk too? You look so young though.” The gentle voice came from the ‘pillow’ he was laying on, and part of the warmth around him moved to cover and comfort parts that remained colder. “Does fuck mean something different in your culture, or are your parents just irresponsible for teaching you that word so young?”

“I’m twenty five, I can speak how I please,” Alex responded, rubbing at his eyes. “Doesn’t change that I feel like crud. Ash get me drunk again or something?”

“Is that weeks, months, or years? I’ve never seen anything like you before, so I’m sorry if that’s impolite.” This other person cleared her throat softly while shifting her position again and laying her head on his shoulder. Her extremely fuzzy head.

“Holy shit!” Alex scrambled to get to his feet, only for his pants to jumble up around his ankles. Face planting, his panicked urge to flee was replaced with a dull acknowledgement of pain. “Ow...”

“Oh dear, did I frighten you? I’m so sorry. Here, climb back into the bed if you can move.” Four light clops sounded as the yellow mare moved off the low bed herself and quickly moved to help Alex up. “We have no idea how long you were out in the cold, but it didn’t look like there was any visible frostbite when we took off your jacket and other clothes for a quick examination. We only put your pants back on because my wings wouldn’t reach below your waist to help warm you up faster.”

“You took my clothes off!?” Alex demanded, indignation replacing fear. “The hell is wrong with you!?”

“We had to check for injuries. Finding a little filly like you out in the snowy mountains, alone, we assumed the worst and wanted to make sure that they weren’t hiding a deep cut or broken bones. Nothing seems to be moving anywhere it shouldn’t though, and you aren’t screaming in pain from moving…”

“Yeah well, I’m fine thank you very...” The words died in Alex’s throat as he processed her words, and the sound of his voice. “Aren’t fillies female horses?”

“Oh, we generally call all girls fillies if we’re unsure of species-specific terms. Unless your kind works like dolphins or some reptiles; that’s one thing we noticed as soon as we started examining you. Oh, have your parents not told you the difference yet?”

Alex ignored her, glancing down at himself. He had always been on the scrawny side, but that didn’t account for the body he now sported. With speed he didn’t know he had, he managed to pull his pants back up and turn his back to her.

“This is all just a bad dream. That’s all it is, a bad dream caused by whatever subpar Chinese paint that chest used. Ya, that’s it. Just a bad reaction to some chemicals.”

“Umm, there’s no need to cover yourself unless the fire’s not warm enough. We’re both girls here. My name’s Fluttershy, and if this is all just a bad dream of yours, I do wish you hadn’t thought of how bad it felt to have my cutie mark ripped off.” Fluttershy moved in close again, trying to nudge Alex back towards the bed.

Pulling back, he gave Fluttershy a hard shove. “Just keep away from me, Pink Aisle nightmare.” He covered his chest, desperately looking around for his shirt.

Fluttershy backed away at the shove, and let out a soft squeak as she ended up against the wall without noticing it. “I-I don’t understand. I’m just trying to make sure you stay warm and safe until your father has a chance to come see you.”

“The hell are you talking about?” Alex scoffed, spotting his shirt by a table. “This is my weird ass hallucination, no matter what dark depths it dredges up, that deadbeat wouldn’t show up for five bucks.”

“Oh...so you mean the older being that looks almost exactly like you isn’t your father? He didn’t seem like the kind to hurt without reason, so you should be okay anyways, I guess.”

Alex stood up shakily, gingerly making his way over to his shirt. “I’m going to put this back on and get in that bed and wait for this nightmare to end. That okay with you, yellow horse?”

“I already said my name is Fluttershy, but that seems like it shouldn’t be an issue. As long as you’re safe until an adult takes responsibility for you. Did you still want to lay on me? I was mostly doing it to warm you up, but it felt... nice.”

It took a moment for Alex to remove his arm from his chest to grab his shirt. After an awkward juggling of hands, he managed to get it on without losing his pants again. Looking at Fluttershy, he let out a long sigh. “Just don’t... touch me anywhere...”

Fluttershy nodded quickly in response and gingerly moved over to climb into the bed again. “That’s fine. The only reason I didn’t ask permission before was, well, it was an emergency.”

Alex moved over to the bed, glancing down at her. “I mean, thanks for looking after me but... you wouldn’t understand...” Sitting on the bed, he waited for her to get comfy before laying his head back down.

“I’m a good listener if you want to talk about it.” Fluttershy extended her wing over Alex once again for a moment before remembering the request to not touch, and she quickly shifted its course to pinch at the blankets that had been shoved aside instead to offer them. “We could start with your name.”

“Alex. My names is Alex...” he grumbled, pulling the blankets over him. Glancing at her, he frowned. “Being a good listener and understanding are two different things.”

“That’s true, but talking about problems tends to help even when the pony you’re talking to doesn’t understand completely. It’s something you should keep in mind if things start getting hard for you.”

“They’re already hard,” he rebutted, glancing down at himself again. “I’m not supposed to look like this.”

Fluttershy began to tremble almost immediately after hearing those words. “Y-you’re not some kind of changeling, are you?”

“Uh, no, I’m human... probably...” Alex groaned, closing his eyes. “Look, you don’t have to be afraid of me.”

“O-okay, if you say so. Human, so that’s what your kind of animal is called, and your name is Alex, right? That’s a nice name.”

“Thanks, I guess uh, Fluttershy isn’t that bad either.” Cracking an eye open, he glanced over at her. “You ever wake up as someone else, Fluttershy?”

“Oh, um… does waking up thinking you’re supposed to be acting like a completely different pony count, because there was that one time where Twilight accidentally made me think I was supposed to be acting like our friend Pinkie Pie by switching five of our cutie marks around.” She shivered again. “That was a strange day.”

“I have no idea what you just said but...” Alex gestured to his body. “I’m supposed to be an adult... and male...”

“Oh...I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anything like that before. I don’t know if even Discord can change somepony from male to female…”

A knock at the door interrupted them. “It’s Heart Soother, can I come in? I’d let to check up on our patient.”

“That’s the doctor who helped make sure you weren’t injured.” Fluttershy slightly raised her voice, still sounding only a little louder than a whisper. “She...he’s awake, and he says his name is Alex.”

“Oh my, she’s old enough to talk?” Heart Soother pushed open the door, carrying a tray of examination tools on his back. “Perhaps she’d be willing to tell us where her family is?”

“Oh, umm, it’s ‘he’ doctor. Alex says he’s supposed to be a male and seemed almost scared when he looked down at his body a few minutes ago.”

“Bah! I may not be a vet, but I know the difference between male and female reproductive organs well enough, miss.”

Alex frowned, glaring at the doctor with contempt. “I don’t need a vet, and I know damn well what I should and shouldn’t be.”

“Doctor!” Fluttershy’s tone hardened considerably at this display of callousness. “If he says he’s supposed to be male then I believe him. For all we know his species is just that different that we can’t know for sure, and maybe this is just how they all look when they’re young.”

“Will the two of you stop talking about me like I’m a goddamn animal!?” Alex snapped, sitting up. “It’s this simple: I was an adult male before I blacked out and now I’m a female teenager. Some weird shit just happened to me and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about me like I’m not here!”

“I’m sorry, Alex. It’s normal for doctors to talk to adults before they talk to children...wait, teenager? But you’re so small compared to the one who intervened…”

“See, she just confirmed that she is female. Thank you for that, child. Now, since you’re awake I’m going to have to ask you to remain calm while I give you a more thorough examination. Can you do that for me, hmmm?”

“You’re not touching me,” Alex responded, pulling the blankets closer to himself. “And if you’re an actual doctor, you know you need a patient's permission, which I’m not giving.”

“You’re a child, which means I only need the permission of a parent or appointed guardian. Your father is busy right now, but he gave permission for me to examine the child we found in the snow since you obviously aren’t related to one of the ponies here in town.”

“Alex told me that he’s pretty sure his father isn’t here, though, which leaves me as his guardian for the time being.” Fluttershy spoke a little louder this time, and wrapped a wing around Alex’s shoulder in a protective gesture. “And I’m not giving you permission to do anything he’s uncomfortable with. Don’t make me ask Twilight to send a letter to Bedside Manner.”

Heart opened his mouth to protest, only to huff. “I’ll be having a word with the princess about this. Children are incapable of making this types of decisions for themselves, Ms. Fluttershy.” Turning away, he made his way out of the room.

Fluttershy nodded, and then immediately pulled her wing away and tucked it carefully back against her side. “S-sorry. You said no touching and I…”

Alex shook his head, pulling her into a hug. “Thanks. I probably would have hit him if he kept going. Jesus, that wouldn’t have gotten me anywhere. Especially like this...”

That unexpected hug caused a disturbingly cute squeak from Fluttershy before she eventually returned the gesture with a gentle squeeze from her wings. “He probably wouldn’t have taken it well, no, but I don’t think it would have hurt you at all.”

“I just... I’m not even ‘me’ anymore.” Pulling away, he glanced towards the corner of the room. “Could you bring me that mirror?”

Fluttershy nodded and hopped down to trot over and grab the mirror with her teeth. It was quickly brought back and gently placed on the blanket for Alex to pick up. “Are you hoping that your face will look right? You don’t have any cuts or scars...it’s not hurting, is it?”

Alex gingerly lifted up the mirror, hesitating for a moment before looking at his reflection. Staring back at him was not the man he had been. The face in the mirror was a fictional character; the person he had become. Seized by his own anguish, he tossed the mirror across the room with a shrill cry.

Fluttershy immediately ducked and cowered at this sudden display of apparent anger. Her wings twitched a few times as she stayed curled up on the floor, waiting for whatever came next. She was rewarded with the sounds of sobbing. Peeking at the bed, she discovered that Alex had curled up on the bed; crying his eyes out.

“Oh, oh dear. Please stop crying…” She pranced in place for a moment before climbing back up into the bed once more and doing her best to hug and comfort Alex. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand why you’re so upset, but I’m here, and you’re safe. I promise you’re safe.”

“I’m not me anymore...” Alex sobbed out, hugging her like a stuffed animal. “I’m not me...”

“Yes, yes you are.” Fluttershy did her best to hug back, but one wing was pinned by Alex’s arms. “You’re safe with me and you’re Alex still, no matter what you look like, okay?” She sighed as Alex merely continued to sob. “It’s alright, I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”