We all woke up around the same time, which I think was partially my fault. I got up and bounced over to the kitchen to whip up a little something to get us started, but the stove wasn't working right. While I was jury-rigging up an alternative, I might have been a little too loud, and soon the entire apartment was awake.

Hiro noticed something up with Homer. "What happened to your dog? He's larger, and shaped a little differently."

Homer sat up and smiled at him with doggy teeth. "Good morning! I'm a horse."

Emma roused and pushed herself up to her hooves. "What?" It was a little surprising to remember she was mostly stallion, which included her voice. She focused on Homer. "You don't look like a horse. You're a big dog."

The door leading to Aiko's room opened, allowing the slender unicorn that was Aiko to step free on light hooves. "Good morning," she said in Japanese before she raised a hoof to block a yawn. "Did you know unicorns have magic?"

Emma flopped onto her haunches. "You do? What do I get?"

Aiko looked over the stallion that was Emma. "Emma? Well, you have wings? If they work, you can fly."

Emma twisted to look over her new bat wings and spread them out, giving each an experimental few flaps. "Do you know if they should work, Pinkie?"

I looked up at her. They seemed big enough as far as pegasi and bat ponies I'd seen before. "Sure! You just have to practice. I hope everyone's ready for eggs, because I'm cooking what we have left before it goes bad." I pulled out some seasoning and paused, then realized something. "I guess we're all as pony as we're going to get, no real harm."

Part-pony or not, Homer hadn't changed a bit when it came to stalking food, and he kept trying to sneak a bit away whenever he thought I wasn't looking. Being bigger seemed to help his attempts. I let him get a little before I started waving him away. "We're all one big herd, which means sharing." He pouted, but didn't argue, and everyone had a belly-full of lightly sweetened eggs soon enough.

Fueled up and ready to go, I felt ready to take on the day. "So, where to?"

Hiro pointed into the city. "We're expected at the City Hospital. We should try to get there as soon as possible. Aiko." Aiko looked over at him curiously. "Do you have any camping supplies?"

Aiko turned back to her room and concentrated really hard. A few things floated out. She had a bedroll and a lantern and a little tent and she set them before Hiro. "That's all I have."

Hiro jumped a little in surprise at the magic. "You weren't joking... This is a start, it's better than nothing, but not nearly enough for all of us. We'll take it anyway."

There was a soft rapping on the door. We all turned to look at it in surprise. Aiko reached with her magic and opened the door. "Hello?"

The human standing there, a mare, gave a thin smile. "I'm sorry, but the building has voted to ask you to leave, and anyone else that has this new disease. We wish you well, but we don't want whatever you have. You understand, we hope?"

Hiro nodded at her. "We're leaving shortly. We're not here to cause trouble, ma'am."

She seemed relieved to hear that. "Good... Thank you, and good fortune to you all." She gave a little bow, then backed away from the door as quickly as she could go.

We didn't have much else to wait on, so it was as good a time as any to get moving. When we reached the front of the building, we saw another unicorn sitting there, looking dejected and sad. A few other ponies had been kicked out and were milling around. On noticing us, the unicorn quickly hopped to his hooves and rushed for Aiko. "I'm so glad to see you again!" he cried. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

Aiko smiled at her friend and they touched horns. "I'm fine. Did they kick you out as well?"

He sighed softly. "The moment they saw I changed, they said I had to go." He glanced away a moment, then back at Aiko. "Our time together was worth it." Aiko blushed brightly. "Aiko, may I go with you? We can be together, even if it's not at home anymore."

A few sets of furry ears rose. A younger looking colt raised a hoof. "Can we come too?"

A pegasus standing beside the colt wrapped him protectively in wings. "Please, pardon him... We don't mean to intrude, but if you know where we should go?..."

Aiko glanced back towards us while forcing a smile. I could tell fake smiles. She looked nervous about the whole thing. I pointed in the same direction Hiro had. "We're all headed to the City Hospital."

A pony old enough to rival Granny Smith, but a stallion, stepped forward on shaking knees. "Do they have a cure for this?"

Hiro looked saddened. "No, but we hope to help them. It's better than standing here in front of this apartment building. Gather everyone fit for travel and we'll set off. Are you alright, sir?"

The old stallion smiled. "I walk a mile every day. I even managed it with four legs. I'm not dead yet, child."

Hiro laughed at that. "That's the attitude! I'm Sasaki Hiro, police. I'll be trying to get us all there safely."

The crowd perked again at Hiro's introduction as they murmured with excitement. They couldn't believe they had a police escort, even if he was a pony at the moment. I guess it's nice to know a guard is right beside you. As we gathered everypony up, I noticed there were two ponies not getting into line. They looked up at me when I wandered up to them, and sniffed me, but they didn't say hi, or much of anything. "You two alright?" A mare and a stallion, earth ponies like me!

The mare opened her mouth and closed it a few times as if she was trying to figure out how to say something, but only a little wicker came out of her. The stallion whinnied in response, and they huddled together. What was wrong with them? "Hiro? I think these two are sick."

Hiro came over beside me and looked over the two ponies. He tried getting them to talk. He tried gesturing to the line to get them to stand there, but they didn't respond. They were more like animals than people, and they were getting scared. I felt awful for them. I pulled out a carrot I had left and offered it out. The stallion leaned forward, snatched it, and shared it with his mare. They both settled down to nibble on it.

Emma shook her head. "They need help, but we can't carry them there, and they'd probably panic if we tried."

Hiro agreed. "I'm sorry, but we have to go. Be safe." He turned away from the two ponies, knowing his words were probably nonsense to them. I followed after Hiro as we took the forward position of our crowd of ponies, and we set off. We marched in three lines through the streets. Normally there'd be a bunch of those carriages running through, but I didn't hear any, and there were tons of them just parked there, abandoned. Shame we couldn't get some of those to work, hmm.

As we walked, I heard Aiko talking with her friend, who had been a girl just the night before, before becoming her unicorn stallion. "Did you mean it?"

Aiko's friend perked his ears. "I meant everything. It was destiny that we found each other right then, and that I became your ideal mate, instead of one of those other kinds of horses." He smiled and rubbed up alongside her. "I know we're still getting used to being horses, but I wouldn't mind getting used to it with you."

Aiko flushed gently and nuzzled into his side a little. "You're alright with being a man now?"

He tilted his head a little. "I'm your man, and you're my woman. I feel... happy, joyful." He threw a leg over her neck and hugged her. "But only if you're alright with it. I don't want to be one of those creepy people. If you say no, then I'll accept it, and move on, not stalk you or anything."

She snorted softly. "I know you're trying, but that still came off a little creepy." Despite her words, she nuzzled back at him. I smiled at seeing them growing closed together. Maybe having a coltfriend would help Aiko relax and learn to enjoy being a pony.

Another pony slipped out of formation to be closer to Aiko. "Excuse me... are you in charge?"

Aiko looked at the young earth pony. "Why would you ask that? Hiro's in charge. He's the police officer."

The colt rubbed behind his head. "You looked like you were in charge, miss. Sorry."

The whole group came to a stop as we came across a man running a generator that kept a television running. He had a little sign hung in front of it 'News of the End', and he sat there beside the generator. Hiro stepped up towards the man. "It's not safe to be outside right now. You should really seek shelter and stay there until told otherwise."

The man looked up at Hiro. "If you're here to infect me, go ahead. We're all dead anyway. Otherwise, enjoy the broadcast." He looked back down and seemed to tune out anything Hiro said after that.

Hiro looked towards the television and its generator. "Did you even buy this?" The man just shrugged softly. Hiro sighed and settled. "We may as well catch up on what's going on."

The television showed a news lady facing us. "Good morning, Osaka, if you can see me." I guessed with the power being out, it was kind of hard to use these things. "The government continues to implore all citizens stay inside unless absolutely necessary. A special treat today, an expert on diseases has agreed to an interview..." She began talking with a man about how diseases could spread and how to protect yourself from them, which didn't sound that helpful to me.

"We've captured some photographs of the affected and will be the first to share them with you. We recommend avoiding contact with these people. Without trying, they could spread the disease." She went blank, and it didn't come for a few long seconds before a little picture appeared, claiming technical difficulties.

Hiro sighed softly. "They don't want those pictures shared just yet. Well, we already know what they look like." He turned to the rest of the crowd. "We may be sick, but we are still Japanese. We remain civil and reasonable in the face of catastrophe. If you see an uninfected person, avoid getting too close to them. We don't want to scare them, or infect them." The crowd murmured general agreement, and we got back to moving.

As I walked past the television, the guy grabbed one of my forelegs. "Well? Aren't you going to bite me?"

I tilted my head. "Why would I do that? People aren't for biting, silly. Now if you were a doughnut, I might consider that."

He frowned. "This isn't a joke. I don't want to be the last man left in the world."

One of the mares in the group moved up to us and smiled at him before turning away and waving her rump at him. She flagged her tail and even I knew what that meant. Gosh, just offering that to some guy you barely met? Oh wait, I did that before. I blushed with the memory even as the guy let me go. "So, is this it? A disease of carnality, instead of violence?"

The mare snorted softly. "You're turning me off. Do you want it or not?"

Hiro suddenly stepped between the two. "No. Get back into formation. You, be thankful you're still human." He led the mare away with a soft grumble, leaving the sullen man to sink back beside his television.

I quickly trotted up beside the others. "That guy was kinda weird. Did he want to be a pony or not?"

Emma sighed softly. "It's complicated. He's lost hope."

That actually made sense to me. He was like the crystal ponies before we cheered them up. Poor guy. "If I had a cupcake that didn't turn people into ponies, I'd offer one to get a smile on his face."

My mentioning of cupcakes brought that little colt over. He nuzzled at my cutie mark. "Can I have one, miss?" I wasn't going to say no to a colt! I dug one out with my mane and held it to him. He looked a little surprised at how I held it, then bit into it. He soon forgot about the hair holding it up and gobbled up the cupcake. "Thanks!" I hugged him and sent him back to his parents, or who I thought were his parents? They seemed happy to see him and had him walk between them. It was nice to see at least one family was sticking together, pony, human, or whatever they were.

We were coming up on a bridge, and there was a big collection of carriages with flashing lights in the way, along with a bunch of people dressed up like Hiro used to be. Guards? The crowd got excited. "The police are here! We're saved!"

Emma shrank back towards me. "How can they be so happy? Police make me nervous, especially a huge crowd of them."

Hiro set a hoof on Emma's shoulder. "I'll talk to them." He trotted up towards them as he fished out his badge and held it up in his mouth.

One of the guards looked suspicious. "Are you really one of ours? Tell your friends to stay back."

Hiro clipped the badge back on his belt, then turned back to all of us. "Let me discuss things with them for a little while. Relax and stay together."

I raised a hoof. "Is it alright to meet your friends?"

Hiro glanced over his shoulder. "Actually, that may be a good idea, come here, Miss Pie." I bounced over to his side while everypony else settled down to wait.

They let us come closer, but kept up about one carriage away. One of them nodded at Hiro. "Pleasure to see one of our's is holding it together even with the disease. We've lost a lot of good souls in the line of duty. We need to confirm your identity."

Hiro looked a little nervous. "I'm not sure how to do that. I don't have fingers to print, visual's right out. My name's Sasaki Hiro, Officer. I've served Osaka proudly for two years now, and I hope to continue to do so, sir."

The man nodded lightly. "I heard you, out guarding the clinic?" Hiro quickly nodded. "Fine work. The doctors were fine when the replacement got in. Who's the pink one next to you?"

I raised a hoof at that. "Hiya! I'm Pie Pinkie!" See, I could totally get it right. "I'm an actual pony. I mean, I've always been a pony, unlike the rest of these ponies."

Hiro gestured at me. "She is... an alien, for lack of better--"

"Hiro!" Another guard rushed ahead. "Is that really you?"

Hiro broke into a wide smile. "Yuki! It's good to see you in one piece."

Yuki shook his head. "I wish I could say the same. You're a horse!"

The guard in charge looked at Yuki. "You are familiar with officer Sasaki?"

Yuki snapped a salute. "Familiar? We went to academy together. He's gone and let himself go. Seriously, they invented this thing called a razor, try it sometime."

Hiro quirked a smile. "You're still a real asshole, Yuki."

Yuki grinned. "And still a human, must be working out for me. Seriously, good to see you."

The one in charge nodded. "Glad to hear we have confirmation, now if you don't mind, officer, Sasaki was briefing us."

Hiro nodded and saluted. "As I was saying, she is an alien, as incredible as that may sound. She never was human."

The one in charge raised a brow. "Is there any evidence behind that claim?"

I tilted my head. "Well I was born a rock farm, to two married earth ponies. I have three sisters, no brothers. I'm--"

He waved a hand lightly. "Do you have some distinguishing feature that differentiates yourself from the other horses?"

I considered that, then it hit me. I turned to show my flank to him and pointed at the balloons there. "I'm the only one here with a cutie mark! It symbolizes my special talent and purpose. Every pony gets one once they realize what that is." I ran a hoof over a balloon. "I make ponies smile."

Hiro softly coughed. "As aliens go, she is very friendly, sir. We're hoping to bring her to City Hospital for examination."

Yuki chuckled. "Demoted to horse patrol."

Another guard elbowed him. "Nothing wrong with horse patrol!"

The leader pointed at me. "You are under arrest. I trust you will remain in Hiro's custody?"

That was an odd way of putting it. "Of course I will."

He nodded. "Good. What's the status with all the civilians behind you?"

Hiro pointed back at them all. "They're coming with us, hoping to find friendly faces at the hospital. They seem to be cooperative at the moment. Better with us than wandering the streets."

He frowned a little. "The hospital's on lockdown. JGSDF has the place bottled up tight. There are some protests outside you're going to have to get through. I can radio ahead and let them know you're coming, but if you rush at them too fast, they've developed a nasty case of itchy fingers. They've kept their numbers clean, at a terrible price. They're not like us. They're not police. Don't expect them to be reasonable."

Hiro raised a slightly shaking hoof in a salute. "I'll be careful, sir."

Yuki waved a hand idly. "They have guns and they think that hammer is the solution to every problem they come across. Let's see them handle a full on riot with nothing but a billy club and some training."

Hiro chuckled a little, sharing something with Yuki that I didn't quite get. "We should be going. We hope to reach the hospital before nightfall. Permission to cross, sir?"

The police guards backed away to either side of the bridge, and we began guiding the ponies through the parked carriages to start crossing the street. The same mare that had offered to the television guy made an attempt with one of the police officers, but that only resulted in fits of laughter from the guard's friends as they called him not-nice things. No private parties for that mare today it seemed.

Getting curious, I moved in beside that mare. "Why are you so eager to play with everyone we walk past?"

She tilted her head at me. "Were you a man or woman to start with?"

I quickly replied, "Mare to start, both now. Why?"

She smiled. "I was a man who didn't get any, but now I'm a woman horse. Other horses seem to like me just fine, and it feels amazing."

I pointed at her. "Alright, but why the human stallions? You're going to make them into horses too."

She shrugged softly. "Then they'll like it. Some of them might become woman horses too. You're a woman horse, isn't it great?"

I couldn't exactly argue that. "Sure. I like being a 'woman horse'." I leaned towards her. "We're called mares, by the way. Boy horses are stallions."

She moved in and nuzzled my side before her head dipped right under me and she nuzzled my dangling stallion bits. She really liked private parties! "Want to play?"

I blushed as I started to feel ready to say yes to her offer. "We really should get to the hospital first. Please don't do that with the humans anymore. We're trying to not spread horsiness to them unless the really want it."

She rose to her full height and softly snorted. "The television guy wanted it, but fine..."

We made it across the bridge and resumed our trek through the city. Emma ended up beside me, and she nuzzled me gently. "I feel weird, being mostly stallion, not to mention these hooves, and these wings." She spread out her wings and flapped them hard enough to gain a few inches and come down wobbling. "Am I hideous?"

"What? No!" I hugged her from the side. "You're still pretty, Emma." Emma relaxed against me and I held her for a few moments before letting her go. "You did good at flying. You'll be soaring in no time at all."

My words seemed to encourage her, and she kept practicing her wings as we walked. She was at least learning how to land from her little jumps into the air smoothly. She even managed to do a few skips in a row with a smile. She was learning how to enjoy being a bat pony, and I was glad.

She came down for a smooth landing and folded up her wings tight. "I see a crowd up ahead." She pointed with a hoof along the street we were on. "Hundreds of mostly people, as in human people."

Hiro frowned at the news. "That may be the protestors we were told about. Everyone, stay close together. Keep with your partners and don't get lost. We're not here to get into fights, so don't let anyone goad you into one."

We got closer to each other. Emma was on one side, Hiro on the other. Homer was just behind me, sniffing at my tail for hidden treats. Aiko and her coltfriend were towards the center, surrounded by other ponies.

The crowd came into view ahead of us. There were tons of people. Most of them were humans. Some were quasi-human, tied up with ropes and chains to the ground. One loud voice pierced through the noise gathering, easily heard even as we approached. "My children, God works in mysterious ways, but he would not put an obstacle in our path if not for us to learn from it!"

It seemed he wasn't alone in shouting. Another man faced him with a scowl. "There is no one God. The kami are all around us, and they are furious at our lost ways." He shook a stick with little jangling parts hanging off the hand. "We must purify ourselves, and all of Japan, and return to balance!"

The people seemed divided into several groups, with some gravitating towards the One God guy, and others towards the Kami guy. A lot of them sat around looking miserable. No matter which side they sat on, they all cheered once in a while when an especially impassioned word was said. They were all listening a little.

They noticed us. I mean how could they not? We were this big herd just walking right down the middle of the road towards them.

The Kami guy shook his funny stick at us. "See the results of our impurities. We were given direct instructions on how to avoid this, simple rituals to keep our ki clean and our way clear, and now we fall to the bakemono, and we become them."

The One God guy turned towards us. "Don't be so hasty to turn our children away. See how they travel together, with clarity in their lost eyes. They are not beasts, to be shunned. They are lost children to be aided and protected. Children! Do you follow the One True God?"

Celestia? How did he know about Celestia? Hiro stepped forward ahead of us a few paces. "I am Sasaki Hiro, police officer. You are blocking our legal movement to the hospital. Please disperse."

Author's Notes:

Asking nicely always works... So we reached a kind of critical part and I feel a chapter should start there.

Who should they try to approach to get past this particular traffic accident?
1: Shinto guys
2: Christian guys
3: Neither!
4: Maybe the Buddhist guys will have a more chill reaction?
5: Make noise and hope to draw the attention of the military.

I haven't neglected the past poll, those results are still active until we get to them, promise!

Enjoying the story? Let me know! I love feedback.