JP was sitting down on a case with 'Marshall' written on it, while April was sitting on another case with 'Fender' written on it. Frank, S and D were standing beside JP.
"Lemme get this straight. Ya ran away from your home 'cause you were tired of being spoiled by your stinkin' rich parents." S said.
"Pretty much." April confirmed sheepishly.
"Leave the poor girl alone about that." JP said. "Do ya play any instrument?"
April nodded.
"I play the piano and the cello."
"Too bad we ain't got any of those here." D said.
Then, a blue-and-magenta light blinded the teenagers. The intensity of the light grew until it was too powerful to keep your eyes open. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the light vanished.
"Where's JP and that April chick?" D asked.
. . . .
JP slowly awoke. His head hurt like it had been rolled over by a bulldozer. He looked around, taking in his environment. He was in a small clearing in the middle of a dense forest. It was night.
JP passed a hand through his hair, half to make sure he still had his ears and half to 'comb' his hair. He then crossed his arms behind his back, but quickly brought them back in front of him as he felt something hairy coming out of his back. He made the thing come to the front where he could examine it closely. He chuckled a little.
"I keep forgettin' 'bout it." JP said to himself.
He then grabbed his tail and pat it like he used to do when he was younger. It always seemed to make him better, no matter the situation. He then felt something fall from his hoodie. He looked on the ground and saw a small crystal attached to a black chain. He grabbed it and put it around his neck.
As the crystal pendant was put around his neck, JP felt a surge of energy run through his body, from the tip of his ears to the tip of his toes. He shivered for a moment despite the relatively hot and damp air. He then shook his head, clearly not in the mood for any thoughts.
"What is this place?" He asked out loud.
Suddenly, a movement caught his attention, causing his ear closest to the movement to swivel towards the origin of the movement.
. . . .
April slowly sat down, her eyes still shut tight. Her head was hurting like nothing else.
"I thought the spell would bring two humans here." A voice, definitely female, said near April.
April tried to open her eyes, but found herself unable to do it. She tried to open her mouth to speak, but she was also unable to do that.
"Hmm. The other human must be somewhere else." Another female voice said to the first one. "As for you, young girl, the spell still has a hold on you as it has yet to finish affecting you."
'Thanks for the support...' April thought sarcastically. She was now able to pinpoint the location of her headache, and it was confined to a single point on her forehead. 'Kinda like in those fanfictions where the main character goes to Equestria and turn into a pony, with a headache if they become a unicorn or with back pain if they become a Pegasus... Crap.'
Already, April felt her body change. Her legs were slowly starting to bend backwards; her feet became smaller and more round; her headache increased, as if something was about to puncture the skin; two points of sharp pain appeared near her shoulder blades; her fingers slowly disappeared; and her arms were becoming similar to legs.
She managed to let out a scream of pure pain before she passed out.
. . . .
JP was panting heavily as he tried to push his way through the thick undergrowth of the forest.
"Damn... Wish I had brought a knife..."
As he kept pushing onwards, furtive pairs of eyes spied his every move, gauging him. The further he went in the undergrowth, the closer the eyes got, until they were right behind him. That's when JP's ears caught the sound of rustling leaves.
He turned around, but much to his relief, he was alone. He kept going until he reached a break in the undergrowth.
"Huh? This looks awfully familiar... Where have I seen this before?" JP asked out loud as his eyes laid on the sight of a ruined castle with a rope bridge connecting the castle grounds with the apparent path he was on.
Then, he heard a deep growl similar to what his father used to make when he was angry. A tear rolled down JP's cheek at the thought of his deceased father. The growl sounded again, this time closing in on him.
Just as JP turned around to face the source of the growl, he was tackled to the ground by a creature made of wood. Sap-like saliva was dripping from the creature's open maw as it stared at its next meal with hungry eyes.
"Timberwolf? Great... Just my luck." JP sarcastically said, earning a growl from the wooden beast pinning him down.
JP began to wriggle, trying to get his tail out of under him, mostly for comfort. The Timberwolf applied more pressure on JP's chest, causing the latter to let out a strained moan of pain. He looked around, trying desperately to find something to help him get out of his current situation.
Just as he was about to give up and accept his fate, something hit the Timberwolf hard enough to make it stumble away from JP. Not wasting a second, JP got up and put some distance between the Timberwolf and himself. The Timberwolf snarled at whoever had interrupted it in his meal, turning around towards JP and the source of the thrown boulder.
Standing slightly to the side of the path next to a crater where a boulder could have rested, a mysterious mare smiled at JP, who had turned to the side to see what had gotten the Timberwolf off him. She had a pale grey coat, dark blue eyes, short, pale blue mane and tail and wore black boots and a black jacket covering her back and flanks.
"We'll meet again, Jean-Philippe." The mare said before darting off in a seemingly random direction.
JP huffed before turning back towards the Timberwolf. He closed his eyes for a second, but during that second, he could feel the power flowing through his veins. As he opened his eyes, he began to feel a burning sensation on the inside. Shrugging it off as not important, JP let out a growl of his own, his fox instinct kicking in.
The Timberwolf shifted his weight to the back, and jumped towards JP. He reacted swiftly by sidestepping out of the Timberwolf's trajectory. As the Timberwolf landed in a big heap with a snarl, JP could swear the temperature had risen quite a lot. He was getting sweaty, and if he didn't know better, he could have sworn he was on fire.
Before JP could attack, the Timberwolf pinned JP to the ground again. By now, JP was panting, struggling to take a breath. The heat was unbearable, like it would be in the midst of a blazing fire. Sure enough, as the Timberwolf let out a yelp of pain and JP examined his body, he was, in fact, on fire.
"Handy." He said.
The Timberwolf took a step back, allowing JP to stand up again. His tail and ears' fur had gained a fire-like movement, and you could easily see flames dancing on JP's arms and legs. He raised an arm, palm outstretched, and fire shot straight for the poor beast. As soon as fire licked one of its paws, the Timberwolf yelped again and ran away, giving up his meal.
JP smiled as he felt his body cool down. He walked along the path, crossing a river, a dark and eerie part of the forest where the trees seemed to have faces, a small gap between two cliffs, climbing up the cliff on his right, and a narrow part of the path where the rock seemed to have fallen down, until he reached the edge of the forest.
As he crossed the tree line, his eyesight fell upon the pink and white town of Ponyville. He let out a little sigh and a small smile crossed his face. He began walking in the general direction of the town, unaware of the ominous shadow following him.
. . . .
April sat up, her head still aching a little.
"Oh, you're awake." The young feminine voice of earlier said.
"Where am I?" April asked as she slowly opened her eyes, only to see a stone wall, a stone roof, and Princess Twilight Sparkle sitting in front of her.
"You are under Canterlot, just above the old tunnels." Twilight explained.
April slowly nodded, and slowly got up, much to Twilight's dismay. Despite her brain yelling at her to stand on two feet, April got on all four, and it seemed to be natural for her. The memories then came back like a flood in spring. She let out a sigh.
"Am I stuck here?" She asked, and Twilight sheepishly shrugged.
"I don't know. Sorry."
April took the time to look at her self. Her coat was a light goldish gray. Her mane and tail had the same style as Rainbow Dash, much to her dismay, and were alternating between streaks of royal azure and white, creating a blue-and-white rainbow pattern. She had no cutie mark.
Then, Princess Luna walked in. She noticed April standing, and smiled.
"It is good to see you are well, fair April."
"How do you know my name?" April was suddenly really nervous.
"Do not panic. We might have probed your memories for your name."
April calmed down, slightly relieved with Luna's confession. Just as suddenly as Luna had walked in, a guard ran to the two Princesses.
"Princesses! There have been reports of a monster rampaging through Ponyville!"
"Ugh! Why do they always attack Ponyville?!" Twilight said more to herself than to any of the present ponies.
"We will head there. Thank you, sir." Luna dismissed the guard, who left with a bow.
Luna then turned towards April.
"Follow us." She said before she darted away, Twilight close behind.
"Wait for me!" April yelled as she ran after Luna and Twilight, oblivious of the shadow watching her.
. . . .
Ponies were frantically running in all directions as the one they identified as a monster tried to get the ponies to listen to him. In the sky, one could see a rainbow trail following the 'monster'. On the ground, a white unicorn mare, an orange earth pony mare and a pink earth pony mare were trying to stop the 'monster' by throwing small potted flowers, party decorations or lasso-ing him.
"YEE HA!" The orange mare said as she managed to catch the 'monster's' arm with her lasso.
"Nice catch, Applejack." The white mare complimented the orange mare.
"Thanks, Rarity!" Applejack replied.
"For the umpteenth time, I ain't a fucking MONSTER!" JP said, yelling the word 'monster'.
Taking that as an aggression towards her friends, Rainbow Dash dove straight for JP, who felt his insides burn. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them back, his ears and tail flared up as the fur gained the fire-like movement.
"Okay. Now, I'm pissed!" JP said the obvious.
He grabbed the lasso with his free hand, and the lasso instantly turned into ashes, freeing JP's wrist. He then extended his arms, palms open, towards the three mares in front of him. Rainbow changed her trajectory to protect her friends from the roasting they were about to experience.
She landed between Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie and JP. Fire began to gather in JP's palms, but before he could do anything he'd regret, Luna, Twilight and April appeared beside Rainbow Dash in a flash of white.
"STOP!" Twilight yelled, causing Rainbow to look confused and JP to lower his arms, the fire-like movement still active.