Unexpected Red 14 (old and bad)

You look down at yourself. Normally when you wake up you have to take a minute to actually think and remember what you were doing before you went to bed. But today isn't really normal. Last night might as well have happened just a few seconds ago. In fact, that's what it feels like. Your body was just consumed by drastic and horrifying changes that you watched occur right in front of your eyes. You would have screamed while it was happening, but your head was too clouded to really comprehend the true implications of what was occurring. After that though, it seems like you've just blinked, and suddenly your mind is clear. You wouldn't even be able to tell that hours have passed if not for the sun shining through the window. So now you stare down at yourself, watching your fuzzy chest rise and fall with a painfully, terrifyingly clear mind. You take a deep breath.

It isn't very often that you associate waking up with screaming. In fact you don't think you have EVER associated waking up with screaming aside from the few days where you really REALLY didn't want to go to work. But really, this is probably the only chance in your entire life that you're going to have to do it, and feel like it is entirely justified; so you might as well seize the opportunity. Not as if you have much choice in the matter anyway.

You scream. You scream loudly, flailing your wrong limbs about in awful WRONG movements. The normal visual and physical responses that you would expect from flailing your limbs look and feel entirely different in this body, and the terrible sense of dissonance you get from this sensation really isn't helping you calm down. Your reasoning abilities are temporarily put on hold, and your eyes dart about the room; an overwhelming sense of panic translating directly into a very powerful desire to RUN. To flee from whatever is causing your terror like some kind of animal. Never mind the fact that the thing you want to escape from is your own body. You manage to roll onto your belly, and try and fail several times to get to your hooves before abandoning the idea of standing altogether. Instead, you gather your legs under you, and launch yourself forward with all the might in your hind legs; which sends you flying across the room where you promptly smash into the side of a desk. Your continuous scream abruptly turns to a sharp yelp as pain shoots through one of your forelegs. You crumple into a heap on the floor and begin to sob loudly between your hyperventilation.

Your ears perk up as the door to the room flys open and Lizz comes sprinting into the room wearing a panicked expression that probably matches your own. Your own panicked horse expression. On your pony face. Your not-your-face face.

You scream some more.

Lizz dashes over to you and falls to her knees, looking distressed. Fear once again clutches at you as she begins to loom over you, reaching out. You shake your head vehemently and begin flailing again. She must not touch you! This is so wrong! EVERYTHING about you is wrong! You don't even want her to LOOK at you!
Lizz pulls herself back from you after being hit on the arm by one of your hooves. You can see her eyes glisten a little, and after a few seconds of indecisiveness, she throws herself forward and embraces you, taking a few of your kicks in the process. You thrash and struggle for a few moments, and Lizz squeezes tighter.

Constricted as you are, you finally stop your wild jerking; and are reduced to simply trembling violently in her arms. You bury your face against her, your shouts petering out into pathetic whimpers as your lungs empty. The two of you are quiet like that for a while, and you slowly start to calm down as the adrenaline drains from your little pony body. Now you just feel exhausted and miserable, and as you feel the warmth of Lizz pressed up against you, loved. Your mouth twitches into a slight smile at that, and you nuzzle at her arm.

Huh. Nuzzling. You don't think you've ever done that before. Felt natural though, which probably makes sense considering you're a pony now. You stiffen slightly as that thought crosses your mind, breaking through the peaceful lull. You start to become aware of just how much your right arm hurts.

"Ow."

Lizz's response is almost immediate. "Oh thank god. You can still talk." She lets you go, setting you down on the floor again; and breathes a great sigh of relief while simultaneously apologizing. She actually seems to blush a little. "Sorry, was I hugging you too hard?"

You shake your head, moving yourself into a sitting position and looking up at her. Jeez she is huge now! You feel so small. "No, it's just that.. Uh. I think I hurt my leg." You lift up your right foreleg a little, then pause, wondering what exactly would be the right gesture to make in this situation. It's right about now that you realize that this body is going to take some getting used to. "Also, I'm a pony now," you point out, rather blankly.

Lizz seems concerned as you mention your injured leg, but then quite visibly suppresses the urge to laugh at your bluntness, forcing herself to put on a serious expression. "Yes, yes I can see that hun. Let me take a look at your leg." She scoots herself backwards and lays down on her belly in front of you, gingerly taking your foreleg in her hands, making you wince. She lets it go, apologizing again. "Sorry, did that hurt?"

You shake your head and try not to look at Lizz's cleavage through her shirt's collar. "No, it's just a little tender is all."

She frowns, and narrows her eyes at your leg. "It's hard to get a good look at it when it's covered in fur. Can you put your weight on it?"

"I haven't tried yet," you reply, and briefly wonder if you're even capable of walking anymore. Your first attempt on the bed didn't end very well, but you were a little upset at the time. It shouldn't be TOO difficult, right? Just like crawling. You decide to test the theory, and slowly get to your feet.. Er, hooves. You only wobble a little bit before becoming stable. "So far so good," you say, and try leaning on your wounded leg, grinding your teeth slightly. It isn't agonizing or anything, but it's very uncomfortable. "I think it's just badly bruised."

"Well, that's good," Lizz says, smiling. Then she blinks, her smile vanishing as she quickly adds "I mean, it could be worse. That's what I meant."

You smile up at her, which has an unusual effect on her facial expression. You cant quite place what it means, and you find yourself quirking your head.

"Oh my god you are ADORABLE!" Lizz squeaks, breaking out into a wide grin. Abruptly, she hugs you again.

"Ow! Leg! Watch the LeEeg!" you complain, your voice modulating as she squeezes the air out of you.

"Oh! Sorry again!" She releases you and draws back, looking embarrassed. She's sitting on her knees now.

You shake your head and puff some of your hair out of your face. "It's fine. Just be careful, okay? I'm small now," you say, and shiver a little. The utter wrongness of your body starts to close in on your mind again, and you take a few shaky deep breaths. Calm. Have to keep calm. There will be time for more freakouts later. For now, focus on what needs to be done.

You look down at your two front hooves. You suppose the first thing on the agenda is to try walking. Better take it slow at first. You start lifting and setting down each of your hooves experimentally, trying to get a hang of things. Lizz makes a strangled sound, and you look at her with a frown as you march in place. "What?"

She shakes her head and pulls the collar of her t-shirt up above her nose before responding. "Nothing! Nothing at all."

You give her a little warning look before returning your attentions to the matter at hoof. Slowly, ponderously, you take a step forward. Then another with the other front hoof, and immediately discover that you've done something wrong. Now you're stretched out like you're doing some sort of yoga position. "Uh. Okay, that's wrong."

Lizz fails to stifle a giggle as you reset your walk cycle, and you shoot her a short glare. This attempt you get it right, mostly. Front left, rear right, front right, rear left. You manage a sort of weird staggered gait that has a few awkward pauses as you lose track of which hoof to step with next. And a few minutes after that, you feel confident enough to walk around without staring at your hooves. You look over at Lizz and grin. "I think I've gotten the hang of-"

Entirely predictably, you rear left hoof clacks against your front right hoof, and you find yourself tumbling to the ground in a sprawl, expelling the rest of your sentence in a whuff of startled air.

Your eyes spin around and locks onto Lizz's face, still half hidden behind her shirt. Neither of you move or make a sound. Gradually, you narrow your eyes at her, and her expression tightens. She had better not. You don't care if the comedic timing was absolutely perfect. She had BETTER not.

Lizz's face starts to turn red, and she makes a quiet choking noise.