I leaned against the counter towards the trouble customer. "Ma'am, I can't do that. That would get me fired."

"Get you fired?!" The angry woman glared daggers at me. "I'll get you fired! Give me the number of your manager and we'll see about that."

I wish I could say she was the only one that week, or even that day. People were going crazy. Thankfully my manager was not one of them. She appeared behind me, summoned by that supernatural sense she seemed to have for trouble, or maybe she was watching the cameras. "Hello there. I'm the manager. Let's solve your problem today."

That was my hint to vacate, and I took it. You'd think working in a survival and sport store would be relaxing. People don't come here for day-to-day supplies, what is there to be worked up about? I shared a quick slap of the palms with my coworker before heading to the break room. A small TV back there was playing broadcast television, news in particular. People were yammering about the upcoming elections. Democrat this, Republican that. I didn't care too much for that kind of thing. They both wanted to screw over the little guy, like me.

I sat heavily in a chair and bounced up almost as fast. My ass was wet. Someone spilled something on the chair, like... I wasn't sure what it was, and didn't care to identify it. I grabbed some paper towels and got to mopping up the mess. Who left that treat for me? I wondered about it grumpily and went back to work. No time for unscheduled breaks anyway.

I escaped from retail hell as the sun was setting and got to walking. I was fortunate enough to live not too far from work, so I usually hiked back and forth rather than bother with a car or something. As I navigated the city streets, I saw a man dressed up for a business meeting, but he was walking oddly. His fists were balled and held up like someone trying to be a cat, and his eyes darted around unsettlingly. He gave me the creeps, so I crossed the street away from him. That was enough to get his attention, and he started staring at me with wide eyes.

He suddenly bolted at me, and I did the only reasonable thing I could, I ran faster. Being chased through the streets by a crazy business man? A perfect ending to a perfect day. I ran wildly until I arrived at my apartment complex. My keycard unlocked the door quickly and I threw myself in, slamming the door shut behind me. The psycho ran into it and battered against the door a moment before seemingly losing interest and wandering off. What the hell was that about?

I put a hand over my wildly beating heart and panted for breath a moment before resuming my trip inside. That look in his eyes. They were so... manic. The way he banged was odd too, slapping with his knuckles instead of the meat of his fists like a normal person would. It was like he was trying to knock instead of bash the door in. Nothing about it made sense.

That all faded from importance when I got into my comfortable little apartment and collapsed to sleep. If I had stayed up, I might have heard about the odd reports of psychotic behavior coming up around the country. People were advised to be cautious and alert officials of strange behavior, but no curfew or other 'official' move had been made. Many blamed some kind of new political movement for it, calling the whole thing a huge stunt to prove something or other.

I stood in a dark garden. The moon was high and full. The wind was cool and fresh. The horse in front of me was dark-furred and regarded me with curiously-intelligent eyes. She spoke in a smooth and commanding tone, "Can you understand me?"

I nodded dumbly, figuring this was some kind of crazy dream. I don't normally notice when I'm dreaming, but it happened sometimes. "Hi?"

She stepped towards me, lowering her horn towards me. "I am Princess Luna, and your world is in great peril. We cannot aid directly, but I can offer some advice." Advice sounded good, and I nodded again. "Good. You..." She paused, sniffing at me. "There is something amiss. You are already touched. I am too late." She turned away, and the dream ended.

I woke up to the jingling of my phone and dug it out quickly. "Hello?"

"Hey, Will, don't bother coming in." It was my boss.

Was I fired? "Uh, did she actually get me fired?"

"What? No. That 'thing' made corporate decide to close up shop a day or two. What a load of bullshit. Not paid time off. Enjoy the sudden vacation." He hung up without further word.

I threw myself out of bed and bounced to my feet. I felt really rested, though a glance at the clock showed only five hours had passed, huh. It wasn't quite dawn, but I wasn't in the mood to sleep, so I walked springily into the living room in time for my phone to go off again. "Hello?"

A female voice spoke into the phone with a scared tone. "William? Is that you? Can you pick me up?"

It was Sandra, a friend of mine. "What's wrong Sandy? You sound worked up."

"There's a gang going up and down my street. Every time I walk past a window, they start staring. One time they came up and started trying to get in. They were making an awful riot, trying to kick it in or something. Please. You have a car, right?"

Her voice sounded genuine, and I decided to handle it seriously. "Alright, calm down. I'll come over. You stay there, and if windows work them up, avoid them." The sound of breaking glass suddenly came through the phone.

"Oh god, they broke a window! Get away from me!" I could hear the sounds of a scuffle as I rushed for the stairs and hurried for my car. I shoved the keys in the ignition after several misses, my hands shaking in excitement.

Once I got the car moving, I put the phone back to my ear. "Sandy, you over there?" I heard very little beside the hum of my car as I pulled out of the parking lot and made my way towards Sandra's house. The city wasn't nearly as quiet.

I ran into a thick jam of traffic that brought my 'heroic' rescue to a dead stop. This wasn't slow, it was just stopped. I thumped the steering wheel in frustration and tried dialing Sandra back up. To my surprise, she picked up. "Hey, Sandy? You OK?"

"Y-yeah, I'm OK. They... left." She sounded rattled and frightened, not that I blamed her.

"They just left? Did they rob you?"

"No! It was the strangest... thing. I think I've been raped."

"I'm trying to understand you, Sandy. Did they or did they not rape you? This is not something most people are unsure of."

Her voice raised to a shrill tone. "What do you call it when three guys hold you down while a fourth gives you a french kiss so hard he's trying to figure out what you ate last night, and then they all run off? I don't really know what that is, but I've lived it."

I cringed, doubly. First out of sympathy, than at the thought that the businessman from the day before might have wanted to give me a wet one, if they really were related. "Ugh! Are you OK? No, stupid question. Did they hurt you, physically? Do you still want me to come over there?"

"I... Where are you? Why do I hear so much honking?"

"Traffic is dead and buried. Not a single car has moved an inch for the last ten minutes."

"You might be better off walking?"

It sounded stupid, but she wasn't wrong. I didn't feel like abandoning my car to the fates though. I noticed some activity up ahead. Some people were rushing the cars, pulling open doors and wrenching the people within out onto the street. Thinking reactively, I quickly pressed the lock button on my own car. "Things are getting wierder. Someone's pulling people out of the cars left and right."

"Are they carjacking?"

One of the people pulled free threw a punch at his assaulter, knocking them to the ground. This seemed to draw the attention of the other 'carjackers', and they converged on him, knocking him to the ground and, were they biting him? They scattered as quickly as they came, leaving the brave man looking more puzzled than actually hurt.

One of the attackers rushed past my car and I could see his hands were balled like the one yesterday, but it was different. His knuckles were fused together, more like a hoof than a fist, with a blackened wall forming where individual fingers once were. The runner stopped and looked at me a moment, staring at me as I stared at him. He bore his oddly-flat white teeth at me then ran off.

"Hello? William? You there?"

I picked up the phone from where I dropped it. "Everything has gone insane. I got a look at one of them, and I swear he had hooves, not hands."

"Oh, uh, I... didn't want to say anything, because I thought you'd think I was crazy, but two of the ones in my house had tails, big... brightly colored tails."

"Like a cat?"

"I don't think so. Too bushy for that. I'm not a damned zoologist, they were big and one was bright blue and the other was kinda pink. They weren't natural colors, that's for sure!"

"So... let's assume it was something with hooves, I guess? A cow, or a horse, or something?"

Sandra sighed into her phone. "Get out of your car. It's not safe there."

"Like it's safe at your house?"

"Your place has a solid gate, right? I'll get over there. You go back home. We'll meet there, stay by the door to buzz me in. Don't get jumped by horse/donkey/whatevers." The phone went red as she hung up and I stuffed it into a pocket.

I looked around quickly for more crazies before I slipped out of the car and started cutting through the cars. Some people were still inside, honking at me as if I had caused the jam. Screw 'em. My eyes turned to a loud sound. A horse-like creature landed on a car with an angry winny. On its back were two wings of the same bright turquoise of the rest of its body, though its mane and tail were off-blue. It drove a hoof through the roof of the car and quickly pulled the hole apart before vanished into the car, likely attacking the passenger inside. I didn't wait to find out, running full speed, limited as I was by the tangle of cars.

The ground in front of me rumbled before a hole appeared, another horse-like creature poking its head out at me. It was almost cute, if it didn't look at me with those hateful and hungry eyes. It sniffed at me, then snorted, vanishing into the ground, the rumbling growing quieter. Was it tunneling? How the hell did a horse tunnel like that?! I jumped over the small hole it left behind and continued my mad departure.

The sounds of sporadic gunfire came from a street over. Looking between the buildings as I jogged, I saw a police officer trying to take a stand. He plugged a pony full of holes and it fell over as surely as any other creature, but another jumped on him from behind while a third wrenched his gun away with a glowing horn as if by magic. Shit, they had magic. We're so fucked. The unicorn spun the gun around wildly in its grip before it discharged. The unicorn fell over with a fresh wound, neighing in agony. Alright, magic doesn't equate to gun safety. Mark one for humanity.

Fortunately, most of the attackers I saw were human, rather than ponies, but many of them sported bits and pieces of the pony attackers. Hooves, snouts, fur. The majority were only partially pony, as if they were... becoming them? I ran past one guy that was curled up in a ball. I could hear unsettling cracks and pops as a tail forced free of his pants, tearing a hole. Every inch drew a pained groan, and it was clear this was no magically-instant transition. I didn't want to be a pony, and I had no idea how it spread, so I ran past him without looking back.

The pony invasion had begun.