Of course it wouldn’t stay like that, that would be boring. No, for four ponies that day, and a griffon and zebra, things were going to take a turn for the strange.
Inside the ventilation system of the Stableton Community Center waited a filly, of unusual eyes and temperament. She had a trap set up, a snare, for a certain griffon. Why? Nopony knows, and unlikely nopony would know, as she wouldn’t be around for her trap to be sprung.
Elsewhere in Stableton, a mare, known for her unarmed skills and cooking prowess, was attempting to bathe her radhog. Not a euphemism, but an actual, pet radhog. Unfortunately for the mare, the pig decided, as it often does, to shove his master under the water and sit on her, putting her in a rather uncomfortable position.
Meanwhile, two other mares, a unicorn and a zebra, sisters in arms, where having a discussion while walking the streets of Stableton. What they were discussing was unimportant to what is to follow, as it was not a conversation they would be finishing anytime soon.
While those two chatted on, unaware of what was to come, a griffon, rather large and well known in the town because of that and his cold temperament, was silently plodding towards the Stableton Community Center, having received a note to meet somepony there for a job. Whether or not he expected the prank that would follow, was unknown, and relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
And finally, a kind-hearted but clumsy pegasus was enjoying herself at the local tavern, laughing, singing, dancing, and in general having a merry time. Although it would not last.
With the players in position, the game began.
Suddenly the vision of the six individuals flashed, one of them noting that her own vision should not be doing that. It flashed again as the edges of their vision started to go black as a woozy...displaced feeling began to creep into their minds. Their vision flashed again as the encroaching blackness began to consume their sight. They stumbled around, losing their balance as their limbs went limp, and numb. The last thing they felt before everything went black, was a strange feeling...As if they were being dragged out of their own bodies.
Moments later they reawoken, finding themselves, with two exceptions, awaking in a completely different place then they passed out in. Some of them were surrounded by worried ponies who saw ‘them’ pass out, others awaking to no fanfare as there was nopony to see them.
Zestari and Mona Tones would initially suspect that nothing was wrong, besides the fact that they just past out all of a sudden. They would get up, give their thanks to the townsponies who helped them up, and wonder what the heck just happened. They wouldn’t realize what was wrong until they turned to one another, and find their own bodies staring back at them.
The rest would discover things were wrong much more quickly.
Bakewell Tart awoke in a dark, cramped, and rather cold tunnel of metal. She would find herself feeling...Weaker, much weaker than before, and somehow smaller. Examination of her hooves would reveal them to be a bright white color, contrasting with the darker metal walls, which is obviously not how her hooves should look. Not only that, the hooves themselves looked wrong, they looked too clean, none of the wear that her own hooves should have, not only that but they seemed smaller. As she gave the hooves a good, hard look over, suddenly the skin of the hooves disappeared, revealing the muscular and blood vessels below it. The skin was still there, she could tell that by the fact that her hooves weren’t burning in pain, but she was seeing...right through it...
It would not take long for realization to hit after that.
Violet Star herself suddenly found herself submerged underwater and being squished by a large pig. Her lungs already burning, she would, in a surprising, for her, burst of strength, haul the pig out of the tub and onto the bathroom floor. She then would burst out of the water, gasping for air and coughing up liquid, before realizing a few things.
One, she felt much bigger and stronger than before,
Two, she was seeing things in color,
and Three, she had beige colored fur.
It would not take long for realization to hit after that.
Jasmine found herself outside of the Stableton Community Center, groaning as a few ponies were cautiously watching her from a distance. Dizzy, and wondering why her body suddenly felt so tough and huge, the clumsy mare stumbled forward, trying to get her bearings as she fell through the Community Center’s door. As she stumbled through, she felt something catch around both her hind legs before hoisting her into the air, the mare suddenly finding herself hanging from the ceiling of the Stableton Community Center by both of her hind legs.
As she hung there uselessly, rope tied around her ankles, she would notice that her hooves were looking particularly odd that day. Specifically, they weren’t hooves anymore, they were mean, wicked looking talons. Not only that her fur was different, for one thing it was absent completely on the fore-part of her forelegs, and the parts of her legs that did have fur were black. Not only that, the texture itself was much different than what her fur usually was. Beneath the fur were bundled cords of powerful muscle that Jasmine certainly didn’t have before.
Further examination of her own body would prove that, well, she wasn’t a pony anymore. She was a griffon, a large, black, and very powerful griffon with an onyx black mask. Not only that, but a glance straight up confirmed that she was now a guy...
It would not take long for realization to hit after that.
And finally, Kestrel would find himself laying flat on his back on a table, several ponies looking at him with concerned eyes. He got up with a grunt, and quickly noticed something very, very wrong with his grunt.
It was rather high pitched, kind of squeaky, and something more fitting for a mare than a griffon...And that's when he looked down at his forelimbs and saw that instead of talons, he had hooves...And even looking even further down, at his suddenly yellow and slim torso and past that, he realized that the mare thing may have hit closer to home then he thought...
It would not take long for realization to hit after that.
Six individuals in Stableton, each with bodies not of their own. What could have caused it, and how it could be reversed, was something the six would have to find out. If they failed, the consequences should be obvious.