TF: Unexpected Red 12 (old and bad)

Again you have the vague sensation that whatever dream you just had was important.
It's definitely something that you're starting to get used to though, and you sweep the whole subject into a crevice somewhere in the back of your mind. You've already spent more than enough time trying to remember that stupid dream in the past few days, and it never works. You've no doubt that whatever the dream is about is important, but worrying about it doesn't help anything. You'll remember it when you're ready. And if you don't, then you wont.

It takes a few minutes for you to acclimatize to being awake, but once you do, you notice that you feel kind of strange. Taut, or tense. Not like you're wound up, but sort of as if your body is apprehensive, about something. It's a very strange feeling, and the only thing you can think to parallel it to is the few times you could almost feel a flu coming days before it actually hit. You don't have to think very hard to guess what this probably means. Joy.

You stretch out with a small groan and open your eyes, blinking at the unfamiliar light. For a moment you're a bit bewildered as to where you are exactly. Then your memory places things, looks like you slept on the family room couch. What were you doing last night again? You wrack your brains for a second before the desired memory comes to the forefront. There was a lot of crying involved, and mixed emotions. You suppose it's probably a good sign that your psyche has repaired itself somewhat that you actually feel a little embarrassed about breaking down like that. You slowly sit up on the couch, and the few covers that Lizz had been kind enough to drape on you after you fell asleep slide off a bit to reveal your bare chest. You shiver a little. For some reason you're always cold when you woke up, no matter how warm it is. Thinking of Lizz has you wondering where she's gone. A brief inhale through your nose answers your question as an absolutely vile stench wafts from the kitchen. Sausage, you think.

You attempt to kick off the rest of the covers, but it turns out your smooth hooves don't quite have the same traction your toes did. Because of this you get a bit too enthusiastic in your attempts to get them off, and you momentarily become entangled. In your frustration you struggle even more, managing to fall to the floor during your battle with the blankets before finally emerging victorious. You toss your defeated opponent back onto the couch and stand up, with only a modicum of difficulty. You stretch again, noting with detached interest the limits of some of your repositioned muscles. Being reminded of your new body prompts you to do a quick check of yourself to make sure that nothing changed overnight, and are relieved to find that as far as you can tell, everything is the same. Though with some consideration you're not sure why you would be relieved by that news. Your experience has shown that while not painful, the transformations are not really pleasant either. It might have been better if you got some of them over with while asleep. Oh well. You roll your shoulders and plod towards the kitchen.


You were right about the stench being sausage, which apparently smells terrible to you now oddly enough. As far as you can tell it doesn't smell any different than it always did, you just don't like it anymore. It's just your perceptions that seem to have changed. In fact the idea of burning flesh in general kind of grosses you out, though it doesn't stop you from feeling hungry. You put it all out of your mind as you approach Lizz from behind. You intended to be stealthy about the whole affair, sneaking up on her was sort of a thing you liked to do. But the sound your new hooves make on the tile floor give you away. She looks over her shoulder as you draw near, and smiles.

"Morning. I was wondering when you'd wake up. You were asleep for almost twelve hours." She turns back to the meal she's preparing.

Twelve hours? That would explain why you're so hungry.

"Really?" You say as you look out the window, though you aren't sure what you expect to see. The sun glints cheerily off the water in your pool. "It doesn't feel that late."

"That's because it's not." She turns around and hands you a plate, which you take. "You just went to sleep early."

You look down at the plate. Eggs, hash browns, and sausage. An almost ideal breakfast a couple days ago. You aren't so sure now though, but the hash browns definitely smell good. You notice her watching you curiously out of the corners of your eyes. She must have noticed something in your expression.

"You don't want it?" She asks. She doesn't sound hurt, just curious.

You smile weakly, wondering how you can put this tactfully. "Well, I'm not actually sure I'm capable of digesting sausage anymore."

She blinks as comprehension dawns on her. "Oh. Right." She's silent for a moment as she looks you up and down, as if just remembering you aren't quite human anymore. "Well, more for me then." She plucks the two pieces of sausage off your plate, puts one in her mouth, and slips off towards the table.

You grin and start to follow her, although rather slowly. Balancing your plate on the base of one of your forehooves is more difficult than you would have imagined, and you have to take extra care not to drop it. You get about halfway to the table before remembering you don't have any silverware, causing you to turn around. In hindsight it might have been easier to just drop the plate off at the table. Especially since once you get all the way across the kitchen to the appropriate drawer you remember you cant even use silverware anymore. Lizz is attempting to not laugh when you finally sit down across from her. You glare at her halfheartedly.

"Not funny." You say, letting your plate slide off your hoof and onto the table.

"A little funny." She says, lifting her hand and showing the small amount of space between her thumb and forefinger.

You respond to this by scowling at her. When she lifts a glass of orange juice to her lips, you get an idea. It was a silly spur of the moment idea, but a good one, and you promptly smash your face into your hash browns. The result is a very satisfying spluttering laugh from across the table. Childish? Maybe, but this is how you have to eat anyway. You take a large mouthful of food before sitting back up. You sneer victoriously at her as you chew, holding back chuckles as she wipes orange juice off her chin.

"I suppose I deserved that." She says, still smiling.

"Yes, yes you did. Now would you be so kind as to salt my food?" You ask, nudging your plate over to her with a hoof.

"Since you asked so nicely." Lizz picks up a salt shaker and begins doing as you ask, putting some on her plate as well. As she pushes your plate back to you, she gestures towards her hairline. "You've got some egg in your hair."

You roll your eyes up in your head attempting to spot the offending bit of scrambled egg in your hairline, but to no avail. There probably wouldn't be anything you could do about it even if you could see it. With a quick glance you can discern that your hooves aren't really designed for things like grooming hair. You shrug dejectedly and wonder if you can still eat egg. Deciding to find out, you start to lean forward for a bite when Lizz stops you.

"Hold on, wait." She says, getting up from her chair.

You pause and sit up straight again, closing your mouth. Lizz walks over to you and leans over to get a closer look at your hair. It's at this point you notice that her cleavage is kind of in your face. Now normally you would ignore this kind of thing for the sake of being polite, but it really is inches away from your face right now. A little difficult to not stare at when it's all you can see. You also notice that she has a distinctive smell now, once you never noticed before. Something inside you starts to stir.

You can feel Lizz pick a few things out of your hair before finally standing back up. She looks at you appraisingly for a few moments, during which you just sort of stare stupidly back and try not to think sexy thoughts. Finally her face lights up, and she reaches behind her head, undoing her ponytail and pulling off a bright yellow hairband. She leans over you again, slipping the hairband over your head and tugging your red mane through it. You try to stay as still as you can throughout all of this, and you close your eyes this time.

Eventually she pulls back to admire her handiwork and smiles. "That should help. Go on and try it out."

Realizing what she means by that, you obey, bending over and taking a bite out of some of the egg. None of your hair falls forward onto your plate as you do so, and you also note that the egg tastes pretty good. As you sit back up, it occurs to you that you should probably feel a little humiliated for eating like this. Especially considering who you're with. But you don't. You add it to the list of things you should worry about later.

"Thanks." You say, swallowing your mouthful of food.

"No problem." She replies, sitting back down. "It makes you look cute."

That nearly sets your face aflame, and you try to mask your distress by eating some more, perhaps more quickly than you should have. You can hear Lizz chuckling. You decide to change the subject.

"So, you said I went to sleep early? What did you do before you slept?" You ask, forgetting that it's not polite to speak with your mouth full.

"Oh you know, got on your computer, found your porn stash, uncovered all your deepest secrets."

You nearly choke before realizing she's kidding.

"But really, I mostly just watched TV. I also slept in your bed, hope you don't mind."

You shake your head, indicating that you don't mind.

"I would have moved you up there, but you were out like a rock, and I'm not strong enough to carry you." She pauses, seemingly unsure whether she should go on. "Though I suspect that might not be a problem much longer." She smiles mischievously.

You swallow a mouthful of egg before responding "Hey, no fair. Don't tease me about that. This is no laughing matter." You say that, but you don't really mean it. One of the things you loved about Lizz was her ability to take any serious situation and make it seem funny. Even if it did lead to some awkward situations now and then.

"Alright, alright." She concedes, and raises her hands in defeat before returning her attention to her food.

You both fill your bellies in silence for a while, with the only sound being Lizz's fork occasionally scraping against her plate and the various noises you both make when you eat. You start to feel a little restless as the quiet stretches on though, and you decide to break it. Probably exactly what Lizz was waiting for you to do.

"We should probably talk about the whole pony thing." You admit with a sigh.

Lizz looks up from her meal at you and nods, her expression becoming more somber. "Only if you're ready."

"There wont be a repeat of last night, I promise." You hesitate slightly before clarifying "Not yet anyway."

She nods again. "I understand." She puts her fork down and focuses completely on you. "So, when did all of this start?"

You think back, trying to piece together everything that's happened so far into a coherent timeline. "It began with a dream that I've been having every night for the past few days. It started three days ago. I think."

You tell her everything that has happened so far, about the physical changes, about the slips in thought and speech, the odd dream and the color red, everything. Well, almost everything. You may have left out the bit about your sex drive being a little wonky recently. She didn't really need to know that. At least, not now.

When you finish she's silent for a while, looking ponderous. You keep quiet, waiting to hear her opinion on this whole fiasco. But when she finally does speak, it isn't exactly what you were hoping to hear.

"You know, I was really hoping that your story would at least give some hint as to why the hell this is happening."

"I know right?" You respond, exasperated. "This came completely out of nowhere! I haven't visited any creepy fortune tellers or anything!"

You're rewarded with one of her soft laughs for that one. The sound makes you feel much happier than you probably should, and you shift slightly in your seat. Suddenly you're quite aware that you've been completely naked this whole time.

"So." She says, her smile starting to fade "What are we going to do?"

That gives you pause, but the fact that she said 'we' causes your heart flutter slightly. She's in this with you now, and it makes you feel infinitely better, if slightly guilty for dragging her into this mess. You try to suppress the waves of gratitude flowing through you and focus on more important things. One thing is for sure, you owe Lizz big for this. Hopefully you'll have the rest of your life to pay it back.

"I've put some thought into that, and I'd like to bounce some idea's off of you. I need to make sure I'm not being too paranoid."

"Shoot"

"Before all this started, I would have considered what I'm about to say ridiculous. But recent events have opened my mind a bit to new possibilities."

"You're doing the stalling thing again." Lizz says with an air of good humor, but you can tell she wants you to get to the point.

"Right, sorry." You say and wave a hoof "It's just that I'm afraid of the general public finding out whats happened to me. I'm afraid I might be captured, locked away, or studied or something." It strikes you how very stupid it really sounds when you say it aloud like that.

Lizz doesn't respond immediately, so you keep going.

"I mean, it doesn't sound that crazy if you think about it. I cant be the first person something insane like this has happened to, but I've never heard of anything like this before. Why do you think that is?" You let that hang in the air, and wait for Lizz to respond.

"I think I get where you're coming from, but I have to say that it does definitely seem to be a bit on the paranoid side." She says, scratching at her chin with a thumb. You really wish you still had thumbs.

"I know, but isn't it better to be safe than sorry? Even if I'm wrong, what happens then? Best case scenario I become some renowned celebrity freak with hordes of creepy fans. That doesn't sound particularly appealing to me. And if I'm right, well. I wouldn't wish that fate on anyp0ny."

Lizz fixes you with a peculiar expression once you finish speaking.

"What?" You ask, cocking your head to one side.

You can feel her hesitate before speaking "Nothing. I understand what you mean now."

You eye her suspiciously "No, you wanted to say something else. What was it?" You press.

She shakes her head "Really, it was nothing." And before you can claim otherwise she continues on "You said you had some ideas? What do you suggest we do then?"

You want to protest some more, but figure it probably wasn't a big deal. There are more important things than being stubborn right now, so you let it go. "Yeah, that's where things get a bit complicated. We can't exactly go around telling my friends and family what's happened. It pains me to say it, but every person we tell is another person who might get a bit too chatty." And it really did hurt to say, but while you love your family, you can admit it to yourself that that doesn't mean you trusted all of them to not do something rash.

"So, what then?" Lizz prompts.

You draw yourself back from your reverie "Right, yes. So, that means that unfortunately I can't stay here. Eventually somep0ny is going to come looking for me, and the game will be up."

And she's giving you that look again, but it quickly turns to a more worried expression. "Well where would you go then? I don't think I'd be able to smuggle you into my dorm if that's what you're thinking."

You shake your head. "No, of course not. I'll be honest, I'm not really sure what to do about that part. But there's no hurry, it will be a while yet before anyone starts insisting to see me in person."

Lizz looks only slightly mollified by this. "Alright, so finding you a new place to stay should be our top priority."

You nod enthusiastically. "I've already been thinking of possibilities." You say, which isn't completely untrue. Your mind wanders to your friend Zander. Hes got his own place, and you think you can probably trust him if you have to. It's an unknown element, but it could work. "It's a work in progress."

She's quiet for a while, seemingly mulling things over. When she speaks again, her voice is hard. "So, you're sure you don't want to tell anyone?"

You sag a little in your chair, running through things one last time in your head before responding. "Yes, I'm sure. The point is to just.. Disappear. A clean break. I think it would be better for everyone that way."

Lizz's expression softens as she watches you. You can see the question in her eyes.

"Look, it's not like I WANT to do this. I just cant think of another way that ensures everyone, including me, will be safe."

Lizz nods her head "I get it. I just want you to be absolutely sure about this before moving forward. Changing your mind could be problematic."

"I suppose," you mutter, sinking into your chair slightly. Both of you seem to run out of things to say, and you spend a couple minutes just sitting together in silence. You really hate these awkward quiet moments. They make you feel beyond uncomfortable and you worry that there's something you should be saying that you're not. In an attempt to find a way to spark conversation, you start sounding random thoughts out in your head to see if they would be appropriate to say out loud. Concentrating as you are, you barely registers the movement as Lizz turns her head to look at the clock built into the kitchen oven.

"I should probably get going," she says, still looking over her shoulder.

"What?" you say, not quite registering her words at first, but after a second or so things click as your brain gets up to speed. "Wait, why?"

Lizz stands up, stretching "Well, I need to be in class in about an hour, and I have to drive across the whole city to get there."

Oh, Of course, school. You had completely forgotten that Lizz still has college classes to attend. Your life is getting so fucked that the fact that other people still have normal lives to live just slipped your mind. Or, at least you hope that's all it was. Did some part of you expect her to drop everything just to take care of you? You suppose some of you must, or else you wouldn't be feeling hurt that she would leave you like this. The mountain of guilt you're struck with for thinking something like that balances things out somewhat though.

You get up too, wobbling a little as heat flushes through your body, making you slightly dizzy. "R-right," you stutter, then shake your head to clear it a little. It sort of works.

Lizz looks at you worriedly. "You okay? Looking a little shaky there."

You nod, steadying yourself by leaning on the chair you just got out of. The warmth is still building inside you, and you have a sort of ringing in your head now. It's reverberating around in your skull and making your ears feel numb. You're probably not okay, but not quite not okay enough to make it worth making Lizz worry. You hope.

Lizz doesnt seem to be paying attention though. You think you can hear her rummaging around in the kitchen gathering up her things. "You said I could use your car right?" she calls over to you. "If not I can call a cab."

"Yes." You say, rubbing a hoof against your temple. The constant twitching that your eyebrows are doing means It takes you longer than usual to realize that your response probably didn't make much sense. "I mean yes, you can use my car."

You feel a little lightheaded, and your thoughts start coming more sluggishly.
You close your eyes and try to think through all the ringing and the heat, but it's getting almost impossible. Every time you try to form a coherent string of thought, the sound just vibrates it into oblivion. And the heat. The heat is just making it hard not to think of certain things. Something is screaming at you in the back of your mind, but it's so hard to pay attention to. You want to just ignore it, but when you do a nagging sensations of apprehension and fear start tugging at you. You think you might be losing consciousness.

"Hey."

Abruptly your head seems to clear just enough for you to think straight, like somebody opened the door to a steamy shower and let the cool air in. You open your eyes and see Lizz standing next to you with a hand on your shoulder. You feel like your body has been vibrating.

"You sure you're okay?" she asks, quirking an eyebrow questioningly.

You do your best to smile, which feels sort of strange for some reason. Slowly you manage to pull together a few brain cells and speak. "Yeah, I think so. Starting to feel better at least." No reason to get Lizz too worried when as far as you know there's nothing she can do to help. And it's half true. You ARE starting to feel a bit better. Far from the realm of okay, but better.

She looks skeptical, but has probably come to the same conclusions you have. "Well, alright. Just be careful, okay?"

"Okay."

Lizz stares at you for a while, and you stare back. You notice her eyes flicking downward more than a couple times, and she begins to blush, her pale skin tinged just slightly pink. This confuses you at first, but soon enough your foggy mind processes the implications, and you can feel your own face grow red to match. Several fantastic scenarios begin rushing through your head all at once, serving to shovel more coal into the flame blazing within you. This is becoming a problem.

"You should probably put some clothes on at some point." She says, averting her gaze.

You look down at your body, and marvel at how you still feel no shame in being naked in front of her. In fact, you want to be closer. More than that even, your twisted mind wants her to touch you.

"Nice ears by the way." Lizz whispers as she slips out the door and into the garage.

It takes a second for you to process that short little sentence, but when you do it blasts every other thought out of your head with the strength of a howitzer.

"What?!" You slap your hooves to your ears, and let out a small yelp as you nearly brain yourself doing it. You cant feel enough through your hooves to be sure if anything is different, and so you dash to the nearest mirror mounted on a wall outside the kitchen. You remove your hooves from the sides of your head, and whimper as a pair of lively red pony ears spring into sight, twitching slightly and pivoting in different directions as the sound of your voice echos off the walls.

"They're so cute," you mumble to yourself in despair. Lizz is going to tease you incessantly about this, you're sure.

Words fail you as you try to find something to adequately express your distress, so you swear with the first thing that comes to mind.

"Horsefeathers!"