TF: Unexpected Red 5 (old and bad)

>Turns out mind numbing terror is something that you cant really feel for an extended period of time.
>After a while it just sort of fades into the background as a sensation of dread.
>You manage to keep your cool, and don't freak out even once over the course of your meal. The food helps calm you down. You notice thinking about other things with really good food in your mouth is a little difficult.
>A few times you catch yourself not worrying at all. You put a stop to that right away, pouring gasoline on the fires of dread.
>Not worrying is not good. Worrying about this is a perfectly normal and healthy thing to do. This is an extremely worrying situation.
>For some reason though. not alarming Lizz is your top priority.
>You're losing your mind, but making sure this is a good date for her is your top priority.
>Why? Because fuck. That's why. You're pretty much done trying to fight your conflicting desires and emotions when it comes to Lizz. It doesn't work.
>The logical part of you is huddling down for the long haul, constantly analyzing everything you say, making sure they make sense. You caught yourself nearly adding the word 'pony' to several other words for the duration of the dinner.
>You stumbled over your sentences a couple times, but you managed to not let another one slip.

>Walking is kind of hard. You stumble and trip over yourself more than once as you make your way out of the restaurant. Luckily you are behind Lizz again, and she hasn't noticed. You really don't want her to worry about you.
>You manage to nearly smash into a waitress carrying a platter of food near the exit, but avoid the collision by throwing your weight the opposite way.
>You smash into the wall next to the front door instead. Doing good so far, now you just need to get through an entire movie with Lizz. Piece of cake.
>You've earned a confused stare by the staff, but they shake their heads and continue on with their business after a moment or two. They probably think you're drunk.
>You stumble out the door, being held open for you by Lizz.
>"What happened there?" She asks, not sure if she should be concerned or laughing.
Tripped.
>Totally deadpan. You aren't feeling very well, and it's really hot out here.
>"Well be careful. Don't hurt yourself." She's looking you over, and apparently not liking what she sees. Her facial expression has changed. At least you think so, you cant see very well right now. That's probably not a good sign.
>Alarm bells are ringing in your head somewhere. Something is going down. You need to be ready for it.
>You attempt to re-acquire your bearings, but you're too busy trying to keep your balance to worry about metal balls right now.
>You hear Lizz's voice say "Hey, are you alright?" She doesn't sound happy.
>Was it something you said?
>You look at your car briefly, and wonder if you're going to be able to drive to the theater.
>Yeah, that's not fucking happening.
>Wow, you don't remember the ground being that close before.
>You are aware of somebodies arms wrapping around you.
>You think you're saying something, but you have no idea what it is.
>You hope it's important, because you're going to sleep now.

>Red, so much red. Everything is red. You are red.
>That dream again. You remember a little more now.
>You open your eyes. YOUR surroundings are familiar. You're home, on the couch it looks like.
>Your body aches. Your entire body aches, head to foot. Every muscle is sore, and nothing feels right.
>You slowly sit up, the covers falling off you. Every movement you make is difficult, putting a strain on your poor muscles.
>Standing is a painful affair. You groan and nearly collapse to the floor as you put your weight down on your legs.
>Christ it's like your brain has forgotten how to be bipedal.
>Steadying yourself by holding onto the side of the couch, you try taking a few steps.
>So far so good.
>You manage to get to the kitchen by developing a strategy of falling towards the next usable support in the direction of your destination. It results in moderate success. You have to drag yourself across the floor at one point there. You feel truly pathetic.
>You're not sure why you felt like you needed to get to the kitchen, but it appears to have been a good instinct. There's a note taped to the refrigerator that you don't remember being there before.
>You squint, trying to make it out.
>"Ana-"
>Ana?
>You let out a long pained sigh.
>Ana is you, you nitwit. That's your name, remember?
>You aren't really that surprised it took you a second to remember that. Not surprised, but still deeply disturbed. You can brood about your continuing spiral into madness later though. More pressing matters call.
>"Ana, you blacked out on me after we left the restaurant. I wanted to take you to the hospital, but the last thing you said before you were out cold was specifically not to take you there, and to bring you home instead. So I did."
>Why the hell would you say that? Of course you needed to go to the hospital. You should probably go now, actually.
>"I watched over you all night to make sure nothing went wrong, but you seemed fine. I wanted to stay until you woke up, but I really need to meet somebody today. I hope you know what's going on. Love you, call me!"
>You're not sure which emotion to feel about that. Thankful to her for watching over you, guilty about making her lose sleep, or curiosity over who she had to leave to meet so urgently.
>Argh, priorities.
>Call Lizz, go to hospital.
>That wasn't right.
>Go to hospital, call Lizz.
>No.
>Shower, call Lizz, go to hospital.
>Yes, that sounded about right.
>A shower sounds wonderful right now. Maybe afterwards you might actually be able to walk a bit.
>You make your way along the wall to the staircase, forming a plan on how to ascend.
>You decide the best way to do this is on all fours. This plan is met with better success than you expected.
>You think can hear the muscles in your back screaming when you stand up again at the top.
>You seriously consider that this might be a bad idea, and maybe you should just go straight to the doctor.
>Nah.
>Not much further now.
>Eventually you make your way into the bathroom, and you congratulate yourself at this marvelous feat. Perhaps you should make yourself a medal and give it to yourself in front of an audience consisting of yourself.
>You stop for a moment and think about what you just thought about.
>Perhaps the anxiety is getting to you or something, because that line of thinking was just fucked.
>Enough of this silliness, you need to get your clothes off.
>Your pants and undergarments are easy enough to slip out of.
>Raising your arms above your head to take off your shirt hurts like hell though.
>As you finish removing the rest of coverings, you take a moment to briefly wonder where your shoes have gone. You weren't wearing them when you woke up. Lizz probably took them off at some point. Where did she put them? You might need them later.
>Free of restraints, you slide into the shower and turn it on.
>When the hot water hits your back, you think you may have had a spontaneous orgasm.
Oohhh fuck me that's good.
>As the water flows over you and down the drain, it takes your tension with it. You can feel all your worries flutter away. This time you let it happen, you need this.
>You lean against the wall of the shower and just relax for a while, closing your eyes.
>A pleasant tingling sensation travels down your back, followed by what feels like the sensation of hot wax running down your spine.
>Fuck this shower is good.
>The odd feeling spreads lower, creeping across your entire lower back and consuming it in a warm, prickly blanket.
>Okay, that's definitely not supposed to happen.
>Immediately after, you can feel your spine shifting, followed by an incredibly weird sensation you don't even know how to describe coming from your tailbone.
>You yelp in fear and surprise, and you begin to hear audible cricks and pops from behind you as your spine warps and shifts from its normal position.
>You try to look over your shoulder and see what the hell is happening to you, but you freeze when you can suddenly and very vividly feel the muscles in your back re-arranging themselves.
>You can feel them wriggling beneath your skin.
>Something snaps inside your head, and you begin to scream uncontrollably as the sheer horror of this situation crashes onto you.
>You collapse to the floor, feeling the changes continue unchecked behind you.
>It feels like someone has reached under your skin and is subtly pulling thousands of thorns from within you. Then, quite abruptly, it stops.
>Your terrified shrieks shudder and die as you run out of breath.
>You begin to gasp for air, shuddering on the floor of your shower despite the heat. The water is still flowing, some of it is pelting you in the face. Your eyes are open so wide it feels like they might fall out of your head.
>You lay there in shock for a few minutes. Or you think it's a few minutes, you really can't tell.
>You know you should look behind you, but you're not sure what you'll see. You don't want to know what you'll see.
>Maybe you can ignore it, and pretend it never happened?
>No, that's stupid. Things are different now. This definitely isn't some kind of fever or stroke or any kind of disease you've heard of. Your body has just changed and warped drastically. You didn't see it happen, but you sure as hell felt it.
>Something new twitches behind you.
>You stiffen, bracing yourself for what comes next.
>Slowly, purposefully, you turn your head and peer behind you.
>It's a tail. A short tail, with long locks of red hair flowing from it. The same shade of red hair that was on your head now. You probably wouldn't be able to tell the actual tail part was even there if the wet hair wasn't clinging to it.
>It's a horses tail. You have a horse tail now.
>Relief
>Okay, that's not so bad. it's just a horse tail, right? That's not too out of the ordinary.
>Your eyes widen once again. Relief was not the proper reaction.
>Panic mode activate.
>NO BRAIN. THAT IS NOT ANYWHERE NEAR THE REALM OF ORDINARY. YOU JUST GREW A TAIL. THAT IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF NORMALCY.
>Okay calm down.
>Fucking nope.
>Right then, panic.
>You stand up, and either that shower worked wonders, or you are so pumped on adrenaline that you don't feel soreness anymore.
>You really need to do something. Anything to help yourself, but what? What can you do now? You're turning into a horse. What the hell are you supposed to do in that kind of situation?
>You cant call the hospital anymore, they might cart you off to some kind of fucking secret research facility for the rest of your life or something.
>Usually you don't believe in that sort of thing, but until a few minutes ago you didn't really believe in turning into horses either. You're pretty open to the possibilities now.
>Besides, you don't really think the hospital can help you now.
>You stand there, hyperventilating for a while.
Lizz.
>You need to call Lizz, tell her what's happening. She can help you out of this. Somehow.
>Phone. You need your phone.
>You step out of the shower, not even bothering to switch off the water.
>You begin rummaging through your pants pockets, finding your keys and wallet, but no phone.
Shit.
>You stand up again, trying to think of where your phone might be. Maybe Lizz took it out of your pocket so you wouldn't break it in the night or something.
>You dash downstairs, noting that you seem to be much better at balancing now. Another side effect of the adrenaline? Maybe your tail is a great counterbalance or something.
>You check the kitchen, the couch, under the couch cushions, under the couch. No luck.
>You know you took it with you to the restaurant. Maybe you left it in your car?
>You start heading towards the garage, tail bouncing behind you. but then you realize that your car is probably still at the restaurant. You never drove home after all.
>But you never left it in the car, did you? You remember checking the time with it after you got out. So where is it? Maybe it slipped out of your pocket at some point during the night.
>There were plenty of opportunities for that. When you were sitting on the hood, when you were eating, when you smashed into the wall, when you collapsed. It could have fallen out at any time.
Well bugger.
>Plan B. Whatever that is.
>You head back up the stairs, finally coming down from your adrenaline rush.
>You sit down at your desk, tagging your computers start up button, and drumming your fingers impatiently on the keyboard while it started up.
>Finally you get the thing running, and you bring up google.
>You hesitate, what exactly are you going to search for? You seriously doubt just typing "Help I'm turning into a horse" will get many useful results.
>So you go with the only other clue you've got, you speak the word aloud as you type it.
Somepony.
>You pause, not quite comprehending what you're seeing.
Oh. Oh no.
Oh HELL no.