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Grounders10's Forgotten Files and Drabbles (Worm, Ranma, etc.)

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Maybe a strange thing to say, but I really enjoyed the descriptive text in this particular chapter. It felt quite vivid and made the scenes very easy to visualize despite the complexities of some of the imagery. Nicely done.
 
So is Ranma still joy drunk by the end there?

Because Ranma doesn't get blunt with thier mother ever and being joyfully chill could lead to a frank conversation about manliness or pretty much anything.
 
Neat!

So, Ranma's gonna lay the fucksmack down on some Constellations, and from the whole thing about "a few flickering lights", I'm guessing crisis crossover with every Magical Girl Grounders can think of?

Although calling the Sailor Senshi, one of whom equates to fucking Super Shenron and another to a Death Star, flickering lights is pretty ominousm
 
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I would like to see more In the Blood.

It'll be interesting to see Ranma be challenged to fights, only to have her refuse. "Right now, if I try using a Moko Takabishi, I could blow Nerima off the map."

Also, Ranma could eventually cast illusions to help train her control. Which could lead to shenanigans.

"Ranma, why do you keep turning your clothes into a wedding gown?"

"Well, it's been sunny with off and on rain all day. Remember what that weather is called."

"A fox wedding...okay, that's actually kind of funny."


View: https://youtu.be/zPq8VxHTa98?si=OxI70XH7GSjzQPyH
 
Grounders10 said:
Peripheral multicross for the first arc.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
See Setsuna reacting as if she saw a ghost, from the past, that she doesn't know how to handle.
Star Guardian Ahri is back and she brought friends, including the brightest of them all.

"Hey Setsuna, how's it going? Hope you ain't messing too much with my great something grand daughter, now would you?"
*Deathscream*
^slaps it aside^ "How rude, seems locking yourself with those gates of yours, made you forgot your manners(?), do I have to reteach you, Setsuna?????"


"'Rei, why is she attacking a Kitsune?'"
""How would I know?""
"'But your a priestess, Rei.'"
""That doesn't tell me, what Setuna her beef is with that Kitsune, Usagi.""

Edit:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgXfFhdbgSU&ab_channel=LeagueofLegends


Edit Two:
Heh, this makes it soooo easy to add in Lolirock and Senki Zesshō Symphogear, you know, Grounders10.
See two outers wondering if everybody they know in the music industry, has something magical going on.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW1BpABbzHs&list=PLbAFXJC0J5GYVLLnjullmZ2NuG6ay-SXw&index=6&ab_channel=LeagueofLegends

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TX_2EcFXrk&ab_channel=TheMagicWinxClub

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV92qhrsV78&list=PLT7rPvE-K-npbdqLS9EFAvpwT762FtQXv&ab_channel=%E6%88%A6%E5%A7%AB%E7%B5%B6%E5%94%B1%E3%82%B7%E3%83%B3%E3%83%95%E3%82%A9%E3%82%AE%E3%82%A2YouTubeOfficialChannel

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX-ZCuugrpw&ab_channel=Dglhf-D
 
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Grounders10 said:
Darktide is relaxing for her.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

DarkTide do be relaxing. Especially if you work in service and imagine the enemies as your customers from the day..... ^___^

Nice little ficlet. Only grievance I have: I think that there would be absolutely zero chance that Ranma, with all his previous experiences with the bullcrap magical items can cause, would ever willingly go into that place.....

Maybe if his cousin went missing and he noticed that the door to that warehouse was open. But just letting himself get dragged in there? Especially after he noticed that heavy magical/Ki auras? Feels a little out of character.

Beyond that though? A joy to read, hints into possible greatness further down the line (Genkai?! Yuss), Nodoka having a bigger family, Magical Girls becoming mainstream enough that there is a DAILY show that only focuses on their latest sightings? All these are nice tidbits that I greaty enjoyed.
 
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Bad Deals Prologue (Ranma x MLP)
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    A Ranma ½ / My Little Pony Crossover Fanfic

    Bad Deals

    By: Grounders10

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    Prologue
    A Regrettable Deal

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    Running through the rain was a pain for Ranma Saotome. For most people, it merely meant getting wet. Damp or soaking really depended on the intensity of the rain and what the person was wearing, but it was usually a minor inconvenience in the end. For Ranma, who suffered from a Jusenkyo curse it was a touch more irritating. While he had long gotten used to, and occasionally took a great deal of delight in abusing the advantages of, being a victim of the Spring of Drowned Girl, the annoyance at having something as fundamental as his (or her) physical form be dictated by the whims of chance or just the average humidity had never really gone away.

    "I told you we should have left earlier," his Fiancee Akane Tendo said as they ducked through the front door with the last few straggling students for morning classes.

    Ranma huffed and wrung her red pigtail out. "The forecast said it would be sunny all day. It wasn't supposed to rain until tomorrow," she replied. It had started pouring nearly halfway to class. "You realise we're going to have to go back in the rain, right?" She grimaced down at her red shirt and loose black pants. Everything was soaked through except her schoolbag and she didn't exactly have a towel to dry off.

    She spotted a few of the guys eyeing her with grins and fired a glare at them from behind Akane's back. A few gulped and looked away. Those who didn't she made note of for their next gym class. With luck it would be dodgeball or basketball or something where she could 'accidentally' knock them out with a ball.

    "Don't remind me," Akane grumbled, brushing water from her short hair. Unlike Ranma she had the foresight to wear a jacket over her uniform.

    After changing shoes, and checking the time to confirm that there really wasn't enough time to run to the washroom before class, Ranma resignedly followed Akane to their first class of the day. She tried to ignore the stares she garnered. She might have gotten used to the curse, but there were still moments she despised it and walking through the halls getting leered at by the less upstanding students was one of them. There were a lot of less 'upstanding' students in Furinkan. There was a reason Tatewaki Kuno had been able to unleash a horde on Akane daily for months on end.

    Class itself was, by Nerima standards, fairly quiet. After the first period she managed to duck into the boys bathroom and change back to a guy. Wet clothes, thankfully, didn't count for the curse otherwise she'd have never managed to change back to a guy for very long. For the rest of the day teachers taught, students either paid attention or tried to pretend they were and no crazy kicked in the windows or stormed the classroom after cutting down the door.

    As classes wrapped up an oddly familiar voice spoke up. "Hey, Saotome," Ranma looked up to find a guy he didn't recognize standing beside him. He was wearing the Furinkan boys uniform, though it had clearly been tailored to him and his black hair was slicked back and neatly trimmed. His face was, eh, it was something. Handsomeish except for the shadows of shadows around his eyes like he'd spent a lot of time not sleeping properly until recently.

    "Who are you?" Ranma asked, getting a friendly chuckle from the boy.

    "I want to say that hurts, but I've been trying to improve my life so," he said, "Hikaru Gosunkugi, at your service." He bowed mockingly.

    "Gosunkugi?" Ranma stared at him. He recalled the creepy kid only vaguely. He had an obsession with voodoo and earlier in the year had acted on behalf of Kuno to try and trap Ranma with a tiger. There had been that suit of powered armour as well and… a few other much less successful incidents. He hadn't heard from the other boy in months and had honestly forgotten about him. "Decided to stop being creepy and get some sleep?"

    Gosunkugi chuckled again and Ranma felt the hairs on the back of his arms stand up. "Something like that," he said before glancing around at the busy classroom. Ranma's friends Hiroshi and Daisuke were busy chattering with the class president about something while Akane had been immediately swarmed by her friends. Ukyo seemed to be having a few issues getting their homework into her bag.

    Gosunkugi leaned closer. "Listen, you're still interested in magic that might help with your… condition, right?" he whispered.

    Ranma perked up. "Define help?" he asked softly.

    "Remove it."

    Ranma raised an eyebrow at the nerd. "You're serious? How?" he asked.

    Gosunkugi shot a glance about the room and placed a piece of paper facedown on the desk. "Not here. If you're interested, meet me there, I promise it's not a game."

    "How can I be sure about that?" Ranma asked, carefully taking the paper. He peered at it carefully. It was an address. A quick moments thought placed it somewhere near a group of warehouses he recalled. Perfect area for some very sketchy things, like an ambush. Multiple tigers this time?

    "If this works out we both benefit. See you at seven," Gosunkugi said, patting the desk once before walking back to his desk. Ranma watched him go before peering down at the address. It was not as tempting as it would have been a few months prior, but it would get his mother off his back at least.

    Maybe she should stop and have a hot fudge sundae after class, just in case?

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    A redheaded Ranma trudged through the late spring rain. She pulled her raincoat a bit tighter as she scanned the addresses. She had been sort of right. She was near the warehouses, but this stretch was commercial. Mostly restaurants and services.

    It had to be- she paused on spotting Gosunkugi sitting in the window of a cafe. He raised a teacup in greeting. She glanced up at the name to make sure it wasn't someplace she'd get in trouble for entering. Seeing that the name, 'Kuro's Cafe', didn't ring any bells she entered. She tossed back the hood of her raincoat and walked over to the table Gosunkugi was seated at. It was a small table meant for two.

    "Konichiwa, Saotome," he said, raising his teacup, "Please sit." He waved to the other seat.

    Ranma dropped into the offered seat, both hands in her coat pockets as she eyed the snappily dressed Gosunkugi. "What's with the suit?" she asked. Between a fancy suit and the new look he was barely recognizable. It was almost like he had money or something. Maybe his parents had inherited some wealth or won the lottery or something.

    "I was dealing with important things before this," he said before setting his teacup down, "Any issues finding the place?"

    "Not really. I've been through the area a few times," she replied.

    "Hmm, last time was… Yakuza if I recall," Gosunkugi mused before waving to a barista and flashing two fingers. She nodded.

    "Not many know about that," Ranma said, staring at the changed boy. Changed in more ways than she'd realised.

    "Well you kept it out of the gossip columns that time, but people talk when a teenage boy, no matter how famous, drives an entire Yakuza chapter out of a district," Gosunkugi said.

    Ranma pulled her hands out of her sleeves and crossed her arms instead. It would make it easier to react if it came down to a fight. "So, I didn't come down here to be impressed by how much you know," she said.

    "Oh I know," Gosunkugi said, sipping his tea again. "You want to know what the price is for getting rid of… That." He gestured to all of Ranma with the teacup.

    "Yeah. That. I've been trying for nearly two years now. What do you have planned that the Old Ghoul couldn't think of?" she asked.

    Gosunkugi chuckled. "Truthfully? Nothing." Ranma made to stand up. He held out a hand. "Easy, Saotome. Hear me out."

    She dropped back into her seat. "Talk."

    He inclined his head before taking a sip. "It isn't something she can't think of, but more something she wouldn't consider viable," he said, "So, let me give a little background. A few months back I found a few others who were interested in magic. Some had books, some had artifacts, some like myself had enthusiasm and far too much experience on the wrong end of things."

    "That's one way to put it," Ranma said, earning another creepy chuckle. He might have looked nice, but he was definitely still a creep.

    "Yes it is," he said, staring down at his teacup, "The big issue we've run into is that none of us has much in the way of magic-" he paused as the barista placed a second cup in front of Ranma along with a steaming pot of tea. She retreated a moment later. Gosunkugi set his teacup down and gestured to the teapot. To Ranma's surprise both his hand and the pot lit up with a red glow. She scooted back as the teapot refilled Gosunkugi's cup then filled her. He raised the teacup with his actual hand and a smirk before taking a sip.

    "Go on, drink. It's perfectly safe," he said, cradling the cup in one hand. Following the suggestion she scooted forward and took a sip. It was a touch bitter, but not terrible she supposed.

    "So you have magic now," she said.

    "Some, but this is about my limit at present. It's still far more than everyone else in my group and we mean to fix that," he said, "That's where you come in. Most people with poor magic use strong artifacts as channelling aids but we only have so many and they aren't the strongest. Truthfully I already have more than all but one of our current artifacts."

    "You need my curse for something then," she noted.

    "Correct," he said, nodding, "There are methods to increase your magical capacity, however they are normally frowned upon. Finding magic animals and draining them of power for a temporary boost followed by a much smaller permanent increase of your own magic is time consuming and people tend to not like it when you kill things for power."

    She stared at him through narrowed eyes. "And…?" she prompted.

    "This is where your curse comes in. We believe, after much studying, that we can use it, and you, as a channel to draw out the power of Jusenkyo and use its raw unshaped potential to empower ourselves," he said. He set the teacup down. "In theory a curse like this has a throughput limit. Once we exceed that point it's only a matter of time before the curse's connection back home snaps. When it snaps your curse will be gone."

    Ranma put her teacup down. She turned it over in her head. "So… You're sure this won't just turn everyone present into girls, forever?" she asked.

    "On that point, yes we're sure," Gosunkugi said, "Likewise we'll cut the ritual if it seems like we're going to do permanent harm to you. Not much point in curing you if it kills you."

    "Permanent harm?" Ranma questioned.

    "I won't pretend that this is harmless. It's risky, I'll admit it, and certainly painful. But I'm sure you're familiar with pain. When has learning a new technique been painless?" he asked.

    "Never," she replied.

    "Precisely." They sat there for a moment, with Ranma considering the offer. "There is one more thing," he said, "A positive for you regardless of how this goes. Unless you die, but as I said that's highly unlikely and counterproductive."

    "And that is?" Ranma asked, ignoring the risk of death. She'd been told she'd be in danger of death so many times learning techniques that the risk barely registered these days.

    "As you will be part of this ritual it should leave you with a fairly sizable amount of magic for yourself," Gosunkugi said. He paused to take a sip of tea. "I also have several books on transformation magic including spells for… altering, one's gender. They're yours if you wish."

    "Why would I want those?" Ranma asked after a moment. The part of her that loved running about the city scamming free treats and visiting festivals with Akane perked up.

    Gosunkugi raised an eyebrow. "Come now. There's no reason to disassemble here. We both profit from this."

    She set the teacup down. "... Say I am interested," she said finally, "How long would it take?"

    "To learn? Months at most. Spells aren't difficult if you have the power. At least, if you have even a lick of talent. I can't imagine someone as capable as yourself with non-magical energy manipulation would find magic all that difficult to learn and master," he said.

    Ranma tapped the teacup against its saucer. Was she willing to risk trusting Gosunkugi…? "And… what are you going to do once you have magic?" she asked.

    "Study, learn, practice. What any magician truly wants," he said, "I'm hardly going to bother you. I'm no longer interested in Akane that way. Can't quite understand what I was thinking."

    Ranma stared at her teacup, looking at the reflection of the mosaic ceiling in the brown liquid. "When do you want to do this?" she asked.

    He smirked. "Is that a yes, Saotome?" he asked.

    "... Why me? Why not Shampoo or Mousse or…?" She waved a hand rather than answer his question.

    "Cologne would have never allowed it. For either of her charges," Gosunkugi said, "Hibiki is never in town when and where you need him. Your father would… well, I think we can both agree that he doesn't need yet another method of causing problems."

    Ranma grimaced at the idea of her pops with magic. That was, indeed, not something she wanted to deal with. "With my luck he'd blow himself up along with the house," she muttered.

    "Precisely. Hence, you. You're reasonable, Saotome. You're also a risk taker. There is risk here," he said.

    Ranma traced a finger along the rim of the teacup. She looked up at him. "So when do we start?"

    "Excellent. We can start tonight if you wish," Gosunkugi said, finishing his cup of tea.

    "Tonight?" She asked surprised.

    "Why do you think I approached you today?" he asked rhetorically. He reached into a pocket and produced several high denomination bills that he slapped down on the counter. "Shall we?" He stood up.

    Ranma glanced at the time, just after seven-twenty in the evening. She stood up. "Sure, why not," she said.

    Gosunkugi waved a hand to the barista and grabbed an umbrella leaning against the wall by his chair. He popped it up as they stepped out into the rain and held it so she could fit under it as well.

    "Thanks," she muttered. He chuckled and slowly led the way down the street.

    "We've set up the ritual in a warehouse not far from here owned by one of our group," He said as they plodded through the puddles. A few street lights were starting to flicker on as they walked.

    "One I'm familiar with?" Ranma asked.

    "Possibly, I don't have information that accurate on you," Gosunkugi admitted, "Rumours through my group is one thing, actually tracking you? I'll leave that to the Journalists of Nerima Today."

    Ranma twitched at the name of the local newspaper. She had been quite annoyed to discover that there was a gossip column called 'Ranma Watch' which talked about the latest incidents to affect the district that involved him. "Want to bet our meeting will be in tomorrow's paper? It's been a slow week," she said.

    "Not likely. This isn't one of your usual hangouts. Why do you think I picked it?" Gosunkugi said.

    "Hmmm."

    "We finished the diagram last night. Final checks and everything. It should be ready to go today," Gosunkugi said, "If not today, then we would have to wait nearly a month for conditions to be right again."

    "Lunar bound?" she asked, thinking of some of the things she'd seen over the last two years.

    "Not quite. According to our research the flows of Jusenkyo cycle at a rate just shy of a full lunar cycle," Gosunkugi said, "I'm thankful you've agreed to this. Convincing Hibiki to stay in one place long enough would have been… Difficult, I imagine."

    "Imagine what it's like dealing with him regularly," she replied, getting a grimace from Gosunkugi.

    They fell silent as they walked. They turned the corner then another and soon enough, as the skies darkened, they reached a block of warehouses. They walked passed several warehouses before Gosunkugi stopped at a side door lit up by a flickering bulb.

    Ranma glanced about as he pulled out a key. The area had quite a few streetlights, but many were flickering casting the street into less than stellar lighting. There wasn't, however, any signs of anyone else moving in the shadows. She turned as the door clicked open and Gosunkugi ushered her through.

    The inside was, honestly, nothing special. An average old warehouse. Old shelving lined the walls while a cluster of desks covered, and surrounded, by many texts sat at the far end of the room. Between her and the desks was a large diagram of circles and squiggles in complicated patterns that probably had a purpose. Six others around Ranma's age, or slightly older by the looks of it, were gathered around a desk examining a book. Three boys, three girls, Ranma was surprised to see Yuka, one of Akane's friends, amongst the group. The other five were unfamiliar to her.

    "Look who I've brought," Gosunkugi said, raising his voice so it echoed across the room.

    The six looked up. "You convinced him, I'm surprised," Yuka said, stepping away from the desk.

    Gosunkugi folded the umbrella up and chuckled. "No faith in me?" he asked as he dropped it into a nearby umbrella stand. "Careful around the circle. We don't want to have to try and redraw it," he said to Ranma. She nodded.

    "After everything the two of you have fought over? Not in the least," Yuka said. She waved to Ranma. "Welcome to our little workshop, Ranma. Not much to look at is it?"

    "Don't listen to her," One of the boys said, "We'd still be looking for an ancient labyrinth to set up in if she had her way." His hair was short, light brown and curly.

    "We would not be, but we could definitely do better than this," Yuka said, crossing her arms and scoffing.

    The boy laughed and stepped forward. "Yuichi Tanji, nice to meet the famous and mysterious Ranma Saotome," he said.

    "Hey," Ranma waved a hand distractedly as she walked around the diagram on the floor. It seemed to have two circles of chalk opposite each other inside a circle of black gemstones with more spots marked out at six equidistant intervals around the outside. All linked together by the strange squiggles.

    "I think she's a bit distracted," Another boy said. His black hair was pulled back into a ponytail.

    Ranma shook her head. "Not that much. Just comparing this to some things I saw on my travels. Am I seeing some Taoist influences on some of this, or am I crazy?" she asked.

    "There's a bit," one of the other girls, a blonde haired girl said, her voice hinting at a southern US origin. "We cribbed some of this from Taoist meditation rituals."

    "That would explain it," Ranma said. The last pair were watching her quietly. The girl had purple hair a few shades darker than Shampoo's pulled up in a bun with a blue cape tossed over her shoulders. It looked a bit ridiculous when paired with her jeans and t-shirt. The boy was black-haired with a suit much like Gosunkugi's.

    "Checking the time, we don't really have much time," Gosunkugi said as he stepped up beside Ranma, "In order of talking, Yuka, Yuichi, Katashi, Faye, and the silent pair are Hiroshi, not the one you know obviously, and Daiki." The last two raised a hand in greeting. "Let's get back to work everyone. Get the final preparations finished while I walk Ranma through his role. Oh, and Yuka, hot water."

    "I'd rather not try this in girl form," Ranma said. Her mother wouldn't be happy about her getting permanently stuck as a girl.

    Gosunkugi waved her over to the circle as the rest of his group went to work. "Not exactly the point. You're going to have to activate the curse to start the power channelling. It should work when you turn back to a guy which will let the ritual lock onto the curse and snare it to act as a power conduit to Jusenkyo," He said before waving a hand in the air, "I'm getting too deep into the technicalities. Don't worry about that. What you need to do is sit in that internal circle there."

    "The one beneath the water pipe?" Ranma asked flatly.

    "There's no water, we made sure to drain it," Gosunkugi said flatly, "We've tried to account for the curse at every point to avoid accidentally leaving you with the wrong body. In theory your form should shift back to male even if we overload it while you're a girl but there's theory and then there's practice."

    Ranma nodded. "And the other inner circle?"

    "That's my position. I'll be leading this ritual. Beyond that, you'll just need to take a seat and wait. Do you want a leather strip or a stick to bite? We're fairly certain there's a risk of you biting your tongue off from the pain, so…" He glanced at her. She winced at that thought.

    "I'll take the leather," she said after a moment.

    "Right. Carefully step into your circle and sit down however is most comfortable but keeps you inside it," Gosunkugi said as Yuka arrived with a steaming mug of water. "Excellent timing," he said, taking it with his red magic, "Everyone else ready?

    "Candles set."
    "Chalk triple checked."
    "Incense burners placed."
    "Crystals scattered."
    "We're good."

    Gosunkugi smiled and looked around at the group. "Everyone, today we become proper Magicians. Take your spots," he said, clapping his hands together.

    Ranma tiptoed through the diagram and took a seat in her circle. She accepted a hefty strip of leather from Yuichi before he took his own seat. She glanced about at the ritual circle. Well, this was either it or she was going to have a funny story to tell Akane when she got back home.

    "Ready?" Gosunkugi asked as he sat down in seiza position. She nodded, her teeth already clenched about the strip of leather. Gosunkugi sat straight as everyone else chimed in their readiness. He eyed his watch. He held up a hand.

    Five…
    Four…
    Three…
    Two…
    One…

    The words that he spoke were in no language Ranma recognized. They sounded vaguely like horse noises to her. The six around them started up a different chant twenty seconds later. Her vision wavered drunkenly, the sounds intermingled. Suddenly she felt drunk as something inside her shifted. She swayed where she sat.

    The mug of warm water floated over her head. There seemed to be five to her eyes as it poured out over her. The moment the water touched her skin the feeling deep inside boiled out and he bit down hard on the leather as he screamed out in agony. It was more than the soft whisper of a tingle that normally accompanied the change. It was to that what a single ember was to the sun.

    Things lost meaning after that. Time bled together in a way he'd never experienced. It could have been a minute, a day, a year, or all of a single second as the world faded away in a blur of pain. After an indefinable period of time he even stopped registering his own screams.
    Then it stopped.

    The surging power that had seared his body and soul stopped.

    Then it swirled within and around him rippling and shifting like a thousand unseen currents that crashed and twisted against one another. In and under, over and around, spiralling downward even as other parts twisted up and back again. Despite the prickling left across his body a wave of nausea struck. It was as though his very essence was being twisted, stretched, folded and pulled only to be repeated again.

    Then he exploded. Power roared in all directions out from his body with little coherence and no conscious thought directing it.

    Cold filled his body and the dull and sweet sensation of hitting the floor pressed against his body. It felt strange as the darkness replaced the white out of agony and for a moment his consciousness wobbled on the edge of sweet rest. He pushed through it forced his eyes to open.

    His vision was blurry as he registered something damp and wet pattering across his side. It must have been raining, he realised. Had they blown the roof off? Did they break the water pipes?

    His vision swam and the echoes of voices finally made it through into conscious thought.

    "... mbra!"

    "It was not…. You should have asked…"

    "... stop you!"

    Piles of shattered bricks lit by the flickering of flames and the dull glow of old lightbulbs finally worked its way into Ranma's head. Something was wrong. One of the voices was Gosunkugi's and the other, he couldn't place the smooth rasp. He tried to sit up to look for the other voice only for nothing to move like it should. The pain from face planting into the ground barely registered through the whole body numbness that remained.

    "Ah, our pawn lives. How impressive," the second voice said as Ranma tried to push himself up, only to pause and stare at what should have been his hands. There were hooves, pale blue hooves with a glacial blue fuzz that might have been fur going up his… arms?

    Ranma screamed and jumped backward. He tried to at least. All Ranma managed was an undignified backwards roll into a heap. "H-hoof," he waved the 'arm' when something registered. That wasn't his voice.

    "She isn't our pawn. Don't you put words into my mouth every again," Gosunkugi shouted from somewhere to Ranma's right.

    Ranma swallowed nervously as she wrenched her gaze from the impossible hoof to the rest of the room. Her vision was still shaky, the world felt like it was trying to tilt back and forth, but she could see.

    It looked as though a bomb had gone off. The roof was mostly gone, only a few jagged edges remained which allowed the rain to wash over the shattered concrete floor. When she turned to Gosunkugi she paused as she found a grey animal instead. It had the appearance of a pony. It's mane and tail were each divided into two strips of grey and black while a small conical horn of a similar colour to its coat poked out of its forehead.

    "A King speaks as he wishes," the second voice said and Ranma's eyes were drawn to a second equine figure. Taller and simply larger than the first he too was grey with a wild black mane. His horn, however, was a burning red and curved like a fang. Over his back hung a red cape lined with white fur that was attached to a heavy steel collar. Steel boots on his hooves reflected the light around them. A steel crown with small steel fangs decorating it sat behind his horn. "Is it not true, however? This would not have been possible without her playing the part we desired."

    Assembled around him were six significantly more colourful ponies. Ranma squinted at them as she felt herself tip to the left. She caught herself with a crack of a hoof striking concrete. Her… other… arm's hoof… Shaking that off she peered at them. Three of them had horns while another two seemed to have wings instead…? And the last one had neither. Their colours seemed to bleed together in Ranma's swimming vision but she was sure at least one was purple… And all of them seemed to have glowing green eyes. How… odd…

    The pony that sounded like Gosunkugi growled. "I would have never talked Ranma into doing this if-"

    "You had known, yes. I'm aware," the larger equine said, "Now I have places to be and I am disinclined to leave assets behind. For your services, Hikaru Gosunkugi, you may leave. Flee however far you wish." He waved a hoof before turning to Ranma. "You on the other hoof are somepony I would rather wish to take with me. You are pretty enough to keep by my side as a consort." His horn lit up with a bubble of purple and black tinged with a sickly green.

    As woozy as Ranma was, there was no time for her to react when the 'bolt' leaped from the dark unicorn to her.

    She blinked as the world turned green and she paused in confusion.

    "Come, join your king," a heavenly voice whispered in her ears. They twitched and she stumbled upright onto all fours. "That's right. Come to your King." With grace she hadn't been capable of a moment before Ranma started toward the older stallion. She smiled vacantly as she glided across the debris-strewn floor.

    Something shouted and she ignored it. Only her King's voice mattered. She gazed up at him as she approached the toppled wall he was standing atop looking down upon her and the rest as was his right. "Yes, now bow little pony," his voice whispered.

    Despite never doing so in her life she knew what to do and began to raise one foreleg as she lowered her head.

    Bow…?

    Ranma paused. Something was off. Her right ear flicked backwards.

    "Bow to me, your King," her King's voice whispered again and she started to finish the motion only to freeze once again.

    Bow…? King…?

    King?

    Something stirred within her. That same energy that had roared through her painfully minutes prior swelled and the green haze lifted just a touch.

    "Bow to me! Your King command-"

    "What King?" She murmured as the magic within her burbled and the green withdrew further. She lifted her head to stare at her… at the King. King. Who was this pony?

    He scowled down at her, an imperious look on his face as his horn blazed with dark power again. A bolt slammed her between the eyes and she took two steps back as the green haze encroached on her mind.

    "Kneel for your King!" An angry yet heavenly voice roared through her mind.

    The magic surged. "NEVER!" She snarled, lifting her head as the magic within her swelled and burst out through the top of her head. A horn she had failed to register in her daze, glacial blue just like her coat, lit up with a pink aura as magic, also pink, roared toward the grey Stallion.

    The 'King' dissolved into shadow as his 'servants' scattered and the bolt of magic ripped through the rubble and disappeared into the night and the buildings beyond. The shadow of the 'King' skittered away floating through the air to a new place where he reformed into the same stallion as a moment before… only to dissolve again as Ranma dragged her head toward him sweeping another beam of barely directed magical force toward him.

    The King's servants ran for cover, diving behind walls; while Gosunkugi simply hit the floor and the king… He stayed one step ahead of her, his shadow flowing around the coruscating beam of magic without issue until it petered out and Ranma dropped gasping to her knees.

    She shivered as the rain, blasted away by her release of power, resumed its thundering fall.

    "Magnificent! Hahahaha," the 'King' laughed, "Such raw potential! A strong will as well." Ranma glared at him as she shivered in the rain. Between the outburst and the earlier bout of pain she was spent. She couldn't even lift herself back onto her… hooves.

    "Go to hell," she muttered. To her surprise he simply chuckled. It was like Gosunkugi's, only less creepy. It was a rich warm sound out of place with the dark magic he was slinging about.

    "Ranma Saotome, I am King Sombra, ruler of the Crystal Empire," he said, inclining his head toward her. "You have earned my attention, and my leniency." He bared his teeth in a cruel smile. Fangs, longer and sharper than Ryouga ever had, decorated his mouth. "Had I a place to keep you at this time, I would whisk you away to be my apprentice. As things currently stand, I have no such place at this moment. Instead, I shall leave you here. I look forward to seeing what you accomplish until we encounter each other once again."

    Ranma just watched, too exhausted to speak further as Sombra turned away. He paused to gaze at Gosunkugi. "In fact, I offer you a gift," he said with a cruel smile. His horn flashed with dark power that lashed out toward Gosunkugi. The boy-turned-pony let out a cry of pain. "My former apprentice here was… adequate enough. He will serve you well as a tutor and servant. Consider my offer, you could become something worthwhile. Perhaps even a Queen." He nodded to her as she shuddered, recognizing the gleam in his eye before he turned away. It seemed even as a pony she attracted creeps.

    She glared at him, provoking a chuckle before he turned away completely. His power flared and he dissolved into shadows taking the other ponies along with him. Ranma didn't last more than a few seconds after he left, slumping to the ground as the darkness flowed over her mind.

    -0-0-0-0-0-​

    Ranma woke to the sound of birds chirping. She lay there listening at first, her eyes closed as she processed the throbbing of bruises and worse across her body. The worst was the strange sensations she was feeling. Her head was lying on the pillow, except it was resting under her chin. Her fingers felt like one solid mass. The same was true of her feet and both of them were curled under her. Her ears were twitching at every little sound and she'd swear there was something moving at the end of her spine.

    The only conclusion she could reach was that the previous night had, in fact, actually happened.

    Worried, she cracked open her eyes and stared pointedly at the glacial blue snout filling part of her vision. A haze of red and pink hung over one eye. It was easily brushed out of the way with a hoof. She eyed the limb, twisting and turning it carefully. Despite appearing equine it seemed to have nearly as much freedom of motion as her arm had.

    Glancing behind her she found that she'd been placed under a blanket atop a bed in a room that was, honestly, rather creepy. Little voodoo dolls covered a shelf on one wall while heavy leather books filled shelves in a hefty bookcase on the other side. Small skulls with candles in them glowed around the room. It had to be Gosunkugi's room.

    Brushing off the blanket she sat up with a yawn despite the anger she could feel simmering beneath the surface. She had been tricked, lied to. Though, if her fuzzy memories of the night before were true then Gosunkugi had been as well. "Who the hell is 'King Sombra'?" she muttered, noting absently that while her voice was nearly identical to how it usually was it had seemingly gained a softness that had been missing before.

    She stood and carefully stepped toward the edge of the bed before hopping down. The floor was surprisingly tidy for what she'd always thought of Gosunkugi. Maybe his mother had been riding herd on him. Though apparently not enough to prevent him from getting involved with evil wizards.

    She paused for a moment. While she didn't know how tall Gosunkugi's bed was exactly, it served as a decent measure to guess her own height. Even standing straight she was fairly sure her height was at least a foot shorter than it had been before. She was hardly the size of a small dog, but she was definitely rather little for a pony. Had she been turned into a foal of some kind?

    With a worried glance about the room she turned to leave. Her steps were unsteady. The instinctive grace she'd had during her brief brush with mind control had disappeared leaving her with just her ability to adapt and a body that was utterly alien in a way being a girl had never been. As she reached for the door she instinctively reached up with a hoof, grabbed the doorknob, and turned. The door popped open easily.

    She frowned. "How did I…?" she stared at her glacial blue hoof in confusion. It had no fingers, so how had she turned the doorknob…?

    Shaking it off as a mystery she pushed open the door with a hoof and stepped out, nearly walking into a grey pony head on. She growled and surged forward, throwing Gosunkugi across the narrow hallway into the wall with her shoulder. He let out a cry of pain as she pinned him to the ground with a hoof.

    "Give me one good reason I shouldn't beat you to a pulp for what happened last night?" she demanded, glowering at the pony beneath her hoof.

    He coughed. "How about, 'I'm sorry, I was lied to Mistress?' " he asked.

    Ranma's brow furrowed. 'Mistress'? "What did you just call me?" she asked, pressing down. Gosunkugi whimpered.

    "Mistress, I called Mistress! I'm sorry I can't call Mistress anything but Mistress. Please, it's this!" Gosunkugi whimpered, placing a hoof on a charcoal black collar around his neck. Thin, with lines that glowed green wrapping about it, it was almost invisible in his coat.

    The last few seconds of the night before came back to Ranma and she jerked backwards. "What did he do to you?" she demanded, letting him up.

    Gosunkugi coughed and rubbed a grey hoof across his chest. "A lot, Mistress. He lied to me and through me to the group and now they're all in his hands and we're a pair of ponies. He nearly took you as well then he cursed me despite saying he was going to leave me be," he scowled, "I never should have listened to him."

    Ranma glanced up and down the hallway. She could see a bannister railing, which was now at around chin height, to the left and a bunch of doors to her right. "Who was he?" she asked.

    "King Sombra is who he said. King Sombra. Some sort of evil unicorn spirit," Gosunkugi said as he rose shakily on four legs. "When my Grandfather died a few months back he left behind a lot. Money, heirlooms, memorabilia, an entire company. I was just interested in the books and curios he left. I found a black crystal just like those we used in the ritual. I accidentally released this weird black smoke from it when I was experimenting. It was Sombra and he… I think he possessed me partially, Mistress." He grimaced as he apparently tried to say her name. "He offered to teach me magic. He claimed that he'd been imprisoned by an evil witch and helped me manage my parents' money. They're hopeless you see."

    Ranma nodded. "So he gained your trust. Taught you magic, helped you build a group, am I right?" she asked. He nodded. "Then betrayed you."

    Gosunkugi nodded. "The ritual should have just channelled magic for a power enhancement, but I made two mistakes," he said, "First, Jusenkyo doesn't have a break point. There is no point where you can overload it. I'm sorry I don't think even Sombra realised that."

    Ranma grimaced and gestured for him to continue. She peered at the collar on his neck. Now that she was paying it attention something about it felt subtly wrong. Like it was something whose existence defied nature. Unnatural in the worst way.

    "The second was trusting Sombra. I let him walk me through things I didn't truly understand. The ritual didn't do what I thought it was supposed to," he said, sagging.

    "You're not calling him King," Ranma said, staring at him oddly. "When he tried to mind whammy me, all I could do was think of him as 'my king'."

    Gosunkugi shuffled awkwardly. "Right now all I can think of you as is 'My Mistress'," he said, "He did say he was giving me to you."

    Ranma scowled. "And suddenly, I find Kuno's obsession with Roses tolerable," she muttered. This was probably the creepiest attempt at flirting she'd been on the receiving end thus far. Who treated people as possessions to hand out like boxes of chocolate? "Gos, jump for me please," she said.

    With a confused look the grey pony jumped.

    "Keep going," she said.

    He jumped again, and again, and again and kept jumping. His hooves clattered on the hardwood of the hallway. "Is. There. A. Point. To. This?" he asked between jumps.

    "Stop," Ranma said and he did so immediately, "Kneel." He knelt, one foreleg curled like she had been in the middle of doing the night before. Gosunkugi never would have kneeled before her, or jumped at her command.

    "Mistress…?" he asked, a hint of nervousness in his voice as she stared horrified at him.

    "Get up," she muttered, feeling ill. He rose to his hooves again as she turned away. Sombra had bound Gosunkugi to her just like he'd tried to bind her to himself. He was basically her puppet.

    "Are you alright?" he asked.

    "I should be asking you that," Ranma replied as she started walking toward the stairs. Her steps were hardly graceful, but she was finding her balance quickly enough. If only she could ignore the 'clip-clop' of her hooves on the hardwood.

    "I've been better," he admitted, "I thought my days of being someone else's minion were behind me. I thought I had a mentor that cared… Never thought I'd be your minion now, Mistress."

    She rounded on him. "You aren't my minion!" she snapped, poking him in the chest with a hoof. They stood there frozen for a moment. If he was bound to follow her order then…?

    "Did it work Mistress?" Gosunkugi asked before hanging his head at his own words.

    Ranma rubbed her snout with a hoof. "That would have been too easy if that's all it took," she muttered, turning away. "Where are we?"

    "My home. Um… before we go any further, there's something you should know, Mistress," Gosunkugi said, fidgeting. Ranma turned back to him with exasperation.

    "What now?" she asked, not wanting to hear whatever else had gone wrong.

    Gosunkugi never got a chance to say what was wrong as a rippling rainbow wave of light rolled over them and disappeared through the next wall like nothing had happened. Ranma shivered as all the hairs on her body stood up. Every. Single. One. Her horn was even tingling with an oddly familiar power.

    The grey pony was just as puffed up and gave himself a shake. "Um. That. That's what I wanted to mention," he said after an awkward moment. Distantly Ranma heard the sound of nearby police sirens.

    Ranma took a deep breath. "How long was I asleep?" she asked.

    "... About a day. That's the third time that thing hit us," Gosunkugi said.

    "What is it?" she asked, already suspecting she had some idea.

    He took a deep breath. "I think it's a runaway reaction caused by unleashing all of Jusenkyo's magic on the world," he said.

    Ranma paused to process that. "That wasn't all of it," Ranma said after a moment, "Not even close." Her unwanted servant paused himself, his eyes slowly widening.

    "Really?" he croaked. She nodded. "Oh," he said in a very small voice, "Then…"

    "What does it do?" she asked.

    He scuffed a hoof against the floor. "It turns people into ponies," he said.

    Ranma looked down at herself, then at him. "As in…?"

    "Yeah… I… think Sombra underestimated how much energy we would get and when he used it to restore his own form instead of empowering us there was too much for just him and now it's sort of… running rampant. Our group was the first victims."

    "In Tokyo?" Ranma asked, horror once again growing. He shook his head and she relaxed a little. "In Nerima?" she asked.

    "No… it's… It's easier to show you Mistress," he said, gesturing to the stairs. With a sinking feeling she let him lead her down the stairs. Doing down steps face first was different, and rather tricky at first. She managed to just barely avoid rolling down the steps when her front hoof slipped on the hardwood and went straight off the step. Gosunkugi led her down to what seemed to be a kitchen.

    A hornless orange pony with age lines and an orange-red mane and tail was sitting on the floor of the kitchen next to a grey pony with wings and white mane and tail. They looked up. The orange one cleared her throat. "You must be Hikaru's guest. Good morning. You slept for an awfully long time," she said.

    "You must be his mother," she said, pausing to bow, lifting one foreleg in greeting. "Thank you for letting me stay."

    "Oh we could hardly toss you out, especially once Hikaru explained your predicament," she said, shooting her son a disappointed look. He winced.

    "I promise I'll try and not get magically bound to another person again mother," he said with a sigh.

    "You told her about that?" Ranma asked, shuffling awkwardly.

    "Was I not supposed to, Mistress?" he asked. She groaned.

    Hikaru's father chuckled. "You know some women would quite like having a dashing boy like my son call them Mistress," he said, sitting up like a dog. His wings quivered and half stretched before folding again.

    "Dad!" Hikaru shouted as Ranma rolled her eyes.

    "And I'm not one of them," she replied, "Gos, you had something to show me? Other than your parents I assume."

    "Right, um.. TV…" He pointed to the small TV that looked like it had been on the countertop previously before someone had decided to move it down to the floor for better viewing by quadrupeds.

    A news segment was playing, though the TV was muted. The by-line below the speaker read: 'Mysterious Rainbow Wave Turns Humans to Ponies' Hikaru's mother tapped a remote control beside her with a hoof.

    "-continuing out into the pacific for its fourth rotation about the globe. No word yet on how many people have been affected by the prior waves," a black haired man was saying, "Let alone how many have been affected by the most recent exposure. I can testify that our very own Hikari Matsumoto was amongst those just affected. Hikari, how are you holding up?" The feed cut to a typical meteorological display. Only instead of the usual woman giving the weather report there was a pink mane, a pair of red eyes and a loose blouse sitting like it was being possessed by a pony ghost.

    "I've been better. I mean I've just been shrunk and- what do you mean I'm the same colour as the green screen?" the woman's voice spiked as an arm of the blouse pointed off screen and her mane whipped about. "Then turn it off!" A moment later a pony with a coat the same colour as the green screen came into focus instead of the weather display. "I've had better days. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to the break room and getting drunk." She turned and walked out of frame, stumbling every few steps. Distantly Ranma could hear her wail 'WHY AM I GREEN-SCREEN GREEN?!' in a beleaguered tone.

    The view snapped back to the awkward looking newscaster. He straightened his sleeves. "Well, while Hikari takes a well deserved break, let's take a look at the wave's progress," he said. His image slid to the side as a picture of the world appeared beside him. On it was a moving red line. "As you can see it's already soaring out into the pacific."

    Ranma's legs collapsed under her as she stared. She felt numb as the report continued, bringing up flaring incidents around Japan and even a few from overseas. She let out a hysterical giggle. "I'm dreaming," she muttered. That had to be it. She'd dreamt yesterday and this was just the same dream. She giggled.

    This couldn't be real. It couldn't be because if it was then…

    She shuddered. Had they just destroyed human civilization?

    "Probably not," Hikaru said. She jerked as she realised she'd said it out loud. "Each rotation has to be going slower. We aren't still caught in a power stream so it's on a finite power source. I've tried to estimate how long it'll take to run out but… Your point, Mistress about how much more power there was in Jusenkyo makes me think that I may have underestimated how much power it had initially. I'll have to redo the math again, but based on what I know, and admittedly my math isn't the best, we've got six weeks to a year before this runs out. The sooner it does the more humanity will be left… At least, I think that's how it'll work…"

    "You learned from the evil wizard that started this mess," Ranma pointed out before punching herself in the shoulder. She winced at the pain. Okay, not a dream.

    Shit.

    She stood up. "I'm sorry, I need to run," she said to Hikaru's parents, "Everyone back home is probably going nuts right now." She needed to talk to the old ghoul.

    "Take Hikaru with you. He got you into this mess, the least he can do is help you get out of it… And get himself out of it at the same time," Hikaru's mother said with a look of pointed expectation at him.

    "Yes, mother," he said, ducking his head.

    "I'd planned on it anyway," she said, looking at him, "Someone has to explain to the Old Ghoul what the hell is going on." Her stomach rumbled and she paused. "... Could I have something to eat before I go though?" She looked hopefully to his mother.

    The older woman laughed. "Of course. I've found both rice and vegetables are good to eat. We have plenty in the fridge. Hikaru, help our guest get some food," she said.

    "Ah, right," he said, stepping up. To Ranma's surprise his horn lit up with a soft green aura. An identical aura lit up the fridge door handle and it swung open. A moment later several tupperware containers floated out and onto the counter before the door closed itself.

    Ranma stared at the blatant magic as Hikaru prepped the food using his magic.

    "This is not what I thought I'd be using phenomenal cosmic power to do," he muttered.

    "We wouldn't be in this mess if you hadn't decided you wanted phenomenal cosmic power," his mother said, one ear pointed in his direction. He winced.

    "How are you doing that?" Ranma asked.

    "It's the same trick that I used for the teapot at the cafe. I can show you later, if you wish, Mistress," he said, shooting a look her way, "Technically, it's why he bound me to you."

    Ranma winced. Normally she didn't mind taking advantage of an opponent to learn a new technique, but right now she literally could ask him to teach her everything he'd worked so hard for and he'd do it without hesitation. It was so wrong it turned her stomach.

    Didn't stop her from eating the entire Tupperware container he deposited in front of her. There was only a little embarrassment from eating like a dog.

    As she finished the meal she licked her lips and a thought occurred to her. "Gos, could you get me some hot water?" she asked.

    "I can, but there wouldn't be much point, Mistress," he said, already filling a glass from one of the cupboards with water from the sink.

    Ranma grimaced. She'd been afraid of that. "Already tested it?" she asked nervously.

    "And tried to analyse why you wouldn't change," he held a lightly steaming glass of water out for her to take.

    "Pour it on me," she told him, not wanting to risk dropping it.

    "As you wish, Mistress," Hikaru said, pouring the water over her back. Despite being nearly hot enough to scald nothing changed.

    She sighed and felt her ears and tail go limp. "Thanks anyways," she muttered.

    "You're… welcome, Mistress," he said, sounding regretful as he put the cup up on the countertop. "So, as far as I can tell both of your forms have changed to be what you are now. I'll admit I'm not entirely sure why you're a female pony rather than male, but this entire thing was already at the edge of my understanding. A lot of it was someone else's work not mine… and even mine was mostly Sombra's…"

    Gosunkugi's mother walked over and pulled them both into a hug. Ranma squeaked in surprise then flushed with embarrassment.

    "I'm sure you will find a way through this," she said, planting a kiss on Hikaru's head. She ruffled Ranma's mane, "You take care dear. Hikaru, you better take care of her after everything."

    "I intend to," the wannabe wizard unicorn said to his mother.

    "Good. Now get going you two," his mother said, shuffling them out the door with her nose, "I'll deal with the dishes. It should be good practice."

    "Thank you, Mrs. Gosunkugi," Ranma said before they were hurried out into the daylight by the mother.

    While she had never been to the Gosunkugi house before, she had passed through the area quite a few times and recognized the location. There was no one on the street, but she could see the occasional person, and even one or two ponies, peering out of curtains.

    She turned and started jogging down the street. It took a moment to find a proper rhythm for her hooves, but after some stumbling, she was cruising down the sidewalk. To her surprise, Hikaru kept up with her. They were definitely going faster than a jog, but that didn't seem to bother the other unicorn too much.

    It took two blocks to find the first wrecked car. It technically wasn't even a car, but a truck half buried in a convenience store. A half dozen people, including a pair of ponies without wings or horn, were busy cleaning around the truck as a tow truck driver and a police officer were discussing something by the vehicle itself. All of the ponies seemed to be taller than both her and Gosunkugi by at least a full head.

    Ranma picked her way through the debris over to a pony that was sweeping up broken glass with a broom they were holding with their forelegs. It didn't look like the most comfortable thing in the world, but it seemed to be working. "Hi," she said, causing the older pony to jump a little. "What happened?"

    "Oh, hello," she said before glancing at the truck, "I um, turned into a pony while driving." She sighed and sagged. "I'm so going to lose my job over this." Ranma took a step back as the woman grumbled about stupid magical rainbows.

    "I see, hopefully, things get better?" Ranma said.

    "Hard not to. I'm literally a pony, how could this get worse?" the woman asked before going back to sweeping.

    Ranma winced and hurried on. "I wonder how many that's happened to," she said to Hikaru. The grey pony shrugged, which looked rather awkward on a pony.

    "A lot. Haven't you noticed the smoke clouds all over town? The police and fire department are probably being run ragged trying to keep up with all the chaos. I mean, this is hitting literally everywhere right now," he said.

    "I noticed," she muttered, glancing at said smoke clouds. They were literally watching the city catch fire because a bunch of people turned into technicolour-talking ponies.

    They breezed by several more incidents, including one couple who clearly hadn't heard the news since the wife was busy accusing her husband of always being a horse in disguise. Well, they'd figure it out later.

    Ranma froze at the sound of a bicycle bell chiming. She glanced up and spotted a familiar purple-haired girl zoom by on a bicycle along the tops of the fences. She barely spared Ranma a glance before she jumped the next gap and turned the corner at breakneck speeds.

    "Well at least Shampoo hasn't been hit yet," Ranma said with a sigh.

    "It confirms that the spell didn't propagate back through Jusenkyo itself," Hikaru said as they started moving. "Mistress, this means we're just dealing with the magic we drew off. So long as nothing is feeding into it it should stop eventually on its own."

    "Before or after everyone is a pony?" she asked bluntly, getting a grimace.

    "As I said, I don't think it'll go that far, but given who taught me arcane equations in the first place I can't really be sure, can I?" he replied, hanging his head. "I'm going to go down in history as the guy who turned half of humanity into ponies at best."

    She didn't say anything, instead speeding up just a bit. The sight of Shampoo had prompted worries about her family and the Tendos. Plus he did deserve to worry. After all, he had turned her into a pony with his screw-up.

    They turned the corner, and sprinted, galloped really, down the last street to the gate of the Tendo Dojo. She came to a stop before the tall doors, hooves skidding a bit on the sidewalk. The gate was closed. She swallowed.

    "You know I only accepted because I wanted to get Mum off my back," she said to Hikaru, "She's going to go ballistic about this."

    "If you tell her," he replied. She shot him a look.

    "I'm sorry, how am I supposed to explain away having you following me around?" she asked pointedly.

    "... Life debt?" he suggested after a moment. She rolled her eyes and raised a hoof.

    The gate was, thankfully, well-maintained and swung open easily… ish. Taking a deep breath she walked in, head low as she peered around for anyone. There didn't seem to be anyone out in the front yard, not that there usually was. Her ears perked up at the sound of what had to be the TV.

    "-riots spreading through Beijing and Shanghai following detention efforts against recent victims of the wave by the CCP."

    She climbed the steps to the front door and slid it open, paying little attention to Hikaru Gosunkugi behind her. She swallowed. "I'm home!" she shouted as she walked in.

    "Ranma!" came Akane's voice followed by… the clatter of hooves.

    "Oh no," Ranma whispered as a bright yellow pony with a dark blue mane came charging around the corner and promptly lost traction. With a yelp, Akane slid straight into the closet door.

    "Ranma I don't know if you've seen… the…" Akane trailed off as she spotted the two ponies in the entrance hall.

    "News?" Ranma finished dryly, walking over to Akane, "Thanks to mister wizard over here I was at ground zero for 'the news'."

    Akane's eyes went wide. "You were- what happened?" she asked, "They haven't said what caused this." Ranma nudged her back toward the center of the house.

    "That's 'cause no one knows. I was out cold all of yesterday and this idiot didn't bother telling anyone," she said as they turned the corner, and found the rest of the family waiting for them expectantly. Or rather, half the family and a bunch of ponies she presumed were the missing members.

    She could see her pops leaning out from the sitting room along with Mr. Tendo. Neither looked very happy with the situation. Nabiki was leaning out of the kitchen with an expression that spoke of being beyond disturbed by everything. Her eyes seemed to be gazing through Ranma into the distance.

    At the feet of the fathers was an older glacial blue unicorn with a fire engine red mane, her head nearly even with Genma's shoulder. Beside her was a chestnut pony with a sky-blue mane. Ranma swallowed as she realised the other glacial blue unicorn was probably her mother. Dipping her head she walked over to her mother. Her tail hung low and felt her ears flatten themselves atop her head.

    "Mother I-" she started only for the older unicorn to grab her with both hooves and drag her into a hug. She stood there wide-eyed as her mother started crying into her fur. "Mom?" she asked, raising a hoof to gently pat her mother on the back. She looked up at her father who just shook his head and walked into the sitting room without a word.

    "Ranma, how could you get afflicted with this?!" Soun asked, tears already forming. "The schools can't be joined like this!"

    "Daddy, really?" Nabiki muttered, pushing him into the sitting room.

    "Oh my," the normal pony sighed in Kasumi's voice, "Welcome home Ranma."

    "Thanks… Mom, are you okay?" she asked, pushing her mother away gently.

    "I- I was worried," her mother said, trying to wipe her eyes with a fetlock. "Ugh, these limbs. I miss my hands." She frowned at her hooves.

    Ranma looked about at the other four ponies and sighed. "Lets… let's just go sit down, and can someone call the Old Ghoul? She's going to want to hear this," she said loudly.

    "I'll do it," Nabiki said, walking out of the sitting room toward the home phone. Ranma stepped sideways to avoid getting run over by the taller girl. The older girl really didn't seem to be all there.

    "Is she okay?" she asked Akane.

    "With the way she's acting you'd think she was the pony," Akane replied flatly as she filed into the sitting room.

    "Come along dear," Ranma's mother said, nudging her along with her snout to Ranma's side.

    She let herself be herded along to a seat between her mother and Akane. Gosunkugi followed, taking a spot in the corner and looking rather awkward as he did so.

    "So Boy, what happened?" Ranma's pops asked. Genma Saotome leaned forward from his spot next to Soun at the head of the coffee table.

    "Just wait a few. Like I said, the Old ghoul's gonna want to hear this," Ranma said as Nabiki entered the room and collapsed onto a cushion beside her sisters. Akane rolled her eyes while Kasumi patted her on the thigh with a hoof.

    Ranma settled down onto the cushion she'd claimed, curling her tail around her legs as she sighed. It was an inhuman posture, but rather comfy for a pony. Not too different from some she'd use in the past either admittedly.

    "So who's the grey stallion?" Akane asked.

    "Stallion?" Ranma asked, opening an eye.

    "Yeah, stallion," Akane pointed to Gosunkugi, "Mare," she pointed to Nodoka, "and fillies." she pointed to Ranma, Kasumi and herself.

    "... he's our age," Ranma said, "That's Gosunkugi."

    "Hi," he said, waving a touch awkwardly before sitting up straight, "Hikaru Gosunkugi, wizard at your service."

    "My service you mean," Ranma muttered, though not quietly enough as her mother and Akane both looked down at her questioningly.

    To her embarrassment, Gosunkugi had somehow heard her. "As you say Mistress- I probably shouldn't have said that," he facehoofed as everyone turned to stare at Ranma.

    "Mistress?" Akane asked, her tone going icy. Well her brain had clearly jumped into the gutter with all four hooves. Again. And Ranma was the pervert somehow?

    "Long story. It'll get explained when the Old Ghouls gets here Akane, but the short story is there's magic involved and he can't help it," Ranma said, trying to ignore everyone.

    "I must say I hope you haven't been doing anything… improper," Nodoka said with a frown.

    "Ponies or not Akane is still your fiance boy!" Genma said, though his tone was softer than it usually was when the engagement was brought up.

    Ranma opened her eyes to stare up at her mother. "With Gosunkugi? Seriously?" she asked, wrinkling her nose. Ugh, nope nope nope.

    "Ow, my pride, Mistress," Hikaru complained, placing one hand over his heart in mock pain. Or where his heart would have been as a human. Where even were pony hearts? Being quadrupedal Ranma didn't even know where to start when it came to anatomy anymore.

    Nabiki reached over and unmuted the TV.

    "-several deaths when the driver of a milk truck was transformed into a pony," the reporter said, "A reminder to everyone. The Government recommends staying inside and avoiding driving vehicles when the wave approaches." The image changed to show a tracker of the wave. It had already hit the western seaboard of North America since Ranma had last looked.

    "That's what, a six-hour cycle?" Ranma asked, glancing at Gosunkugi.

    "About that," he replied.

    She smirked at her Pops. "Hear that old man, give it another four or five hours and maybe you'll join Mum and I," she said.

    "Ranma, that's not a nice thing to say," her mother chided. Ranma looked away. She had a point, but Pops was being oddly standoffish. Then again, she'd just turned into a girl pony for possibly forever.

    "-ten minutes ago the USA's TSB confirmed the downing of several international flights within their airspace due to the sudden ponyfication of their pilots," the News anchor said as the show moved onto a new topic, "At the same time they have also confirmed the safe landing of at least a dozen aircraft by afflicted pilots. As a precaution nations around the world are grounding flights until further notice. Until safe conditions return, the sky is closed ladies and gentlemen."

    "Enough," Nodoka said abruptly, "we've heard far more than enough of this… disaster." She let out a sigh as Nabiki muted the TV and flipped on subtitles. "Ranma, are you sure that you don't want to start now?"

    "I'd rather not repeat this conversation if we don't have to," she replied, sitting up. Thankfully the family seemed to accept that for the ten minutes it took for a trio to come bounding over the back garden wall.

    Shampoo and Mousse were perfectly fine, but the shrivelled form that pogoed over the wall on her walking stick wasn't human. Ranma stared at the small orange mare with a grey mane who looked more like a raisin than a living being as it joined the group.

    "Well, son-in-law," the mare said without a trace of her usual amusement as she stomped over to the table, "This is quite the pickle the world is in, now isn't it?"

    Shampoo looked about curiously clearly trying to find Ranma.

    Ranma sighed and pointed to Gosunkugi. "Blame him," she said flatly, causing everyone to look at the grey stallion. He froze like a deer in the headlights.

    "Airen?" Shampoo said, looking at Ranma with wide eyes.

    "Mistress that really isn't fair," he whimpered.

    "Mistress?" Cologne asked, her voice sharp.

    "Okay, technically it wasn't him but some spirit he contacted that used him as a pawn," Ranma said, "Gosunkugi, tell them everything, from the top." She watched him twitch clearly trying to find some means of not essentially confessing to a room full of violent maniacs.

    Finally, he sighed. "Yes Mistress," he whimpered before he walked over to the table and sat down. "So… it started when my Grandfather died…"

    It took an hour to get every relevant detail pried out of him. Not because he was holding anything back, but because he was actually providing too much detail. Cologne had to walk him back onto the important things with questions. Ranma let her work. Partway through the interrogation, Ranma's mother reached out and pulled her closer. For once she didn't fight it as she leaned against her mother. She was tired. Not physically, but emotionally and mentally. This had gotten so far out of hand as to be unrecognisable compared to the normal craziness they dealt with. The feel of her mother's hoof running through her mane was relaxing, if a little strange at first.

    When Gosunkugi explained the events that followed the failed ritual -- Akane gasped in horror at Yuka's fate as one of Sombra's puppets and started crying -- Cologne held up a hoof. "He tried to dominate your mind?" she asked Ranma who was rubbing Akane's back with a hoof.

    Ranma nodded. "It was… strange, disturbing in hindsight but at the time it felt like I was happy to follow his commands," she said, "Until something deep inside rebelled. I… think it was my magic. I can still feel it right now." If she closed her eyes she could sense the magic she'd gained. It was stronger than when she'd woken from the ritual and not so deep within. Or perhaps just as deep within, but simply easier to reach. Rather than a winding path to her magic, it was a straight shot to something that had always really been just beneath the surface. It felt stronger than that night as well. "It's stronger than it was back then actually."

    She pushed a little into her horn and the pink aura appeared. "This is easy," she said after a moment. Maintaining the soft glow that was easily strong enough to read by took her no effort after the first few moments.

    Nabiki giggled into a fist. "And now Ranma has magic," she snerked, "And it's pink." Ranma blinked as she tipped backwards crashing to the ground.

    "Nabiki!" Akane shouted worriedly as she turned to her sister.

    Nabiki giggled. "I'm fine, not like the world is falling to pieces because of a Ponypocalypse. The end is neigh!" she giggled again.

    "Um…" Ranma eyed the middle Tendo warily. She let the magic fade from her horn.

    "Are you sure you're okay, Nabiki?" Kasumi asked, leaning over her sister.

    Soun rose to his feet and hurried to his daughter's side. "Nabiki, please be okay," he said holding three fingers before her. "How many-"

    "I'm having a panic attack not a concussion Daddy," she groaned, clapping her hands on her face and letting out another deranged giggle.

    "Shampoo thinks Mercenary girl has lost mind," Shampoo said with wide eyes.

    Nabiki giggled. "Says the girl legally engaged to a popsicle pony." She pointed at Ranma with a finger, a demented giggle bubbling up.

    Soun cleared his throat. "I think I'm going to take Nabiki to bed. Kasumi, where are the sleep meds?" he asked.

    "I'll show you," Kasumi said, leading the way out of the room.

    "Not tired, just done with this," Nabiki said, though she didn't fight as her father picked her up and carried her out.

    Cologne looked back to Ranma. "Can you describe the effect?" she asked seriously.

    "The world was fogged with a green haze and I could hear him whispering to me to do things," Ranma said, shuddering at the memory, "I kept thinking of him as 'My King'. It was, bleh." She stuck her tongue out and said nothing as her mother held her tighter. "The others affected had glowing green eyes. His magic when he used it was black and purple with a bit o' green mixed in. Sorta green you get when something's sick."

    Ranma's mother nuzzled the top of her head and she leaned into it herself, returning the gesture instinctively. She frowned a moment later. The action wasn't normal for her, or for her mother, but it felt right for her now. It had to be pony instincts.

    "Dark magic," Cologne said grimly, "And an experienced Wizard who wields it. Gosunkugi, continue." He glanced at Ranma who nodded.

    "Not much left to tell. He was impressed by Mistress's outburst of magic," Gosunkugi said, shuffling in place awkwardly, "So much so he apparently decided to change his mind about me. Rather than let me go he decided I would make a good 'gift' to her. Called her pretty as I said before and offered Mistress an apprenticeship before he zapped me with this." He paused to touch his collar, "And now I call Mistress, Mistress." He paused and sighed. "Like that. After he left Mistress collapsed and I brought her to my home. It wasn't far but it was away from the giant crater we'd made out of the warehouse. After that I waited for her to wake up and my parents were both turned into ponies on the second wave."

    "No signs of him since?" Cologne asked.

    "None I've seen," he confirmed.

    "I see, that is all I need to know. What you did was foolish in the extreme, boy and I wonder why son-in-law thought it was a good idea to poke Jusenkyo directly. Nothing good ever comes from that," she looked to Ranma again.

    "One, not your son-in-law," She said, glaring at the Old Ghoul knowing it wouldn't do anything. "Two…"

    "Boy," Genma said. Her father raised an eyebrow judgmentally.

    "The other was because of Mom," Ranma admitted, looking down.

    "Me?" her mother said, shock clear in her voice.

    Ranma nodded. "I got tired of the looks I'd get whenever I turned into a girl. That look of disappointment that always appeared. Like I'd somehow failed you just by existing," she was muttering by the time she finished. Her mother hugged her harder while Akane scooted over and placed a hoof on her side. "I'd stopped looking for a cure after Jusendo, but I figured if anything could do it then maybe this would?"

    "It was a foolhardy plan, but I cannot fault your part in it," Cologne said, shaking her head, "You are but the instrument this Sombra used to manipulate his way back to physical life and even then for all that your curse was required for such a thing, it can be said that Gosunkugi bears this burden in truth though he too has received punishment for his action already."

    "I'm Mistress' eager servant-" he paused, "That's not what I meant to say."

    "No, I imagine it is not," Cologne said, tapping her staff against the tatami mats. "Your actions were beyond reckless. Jusenkyo is not some minor place of power that can be tapped by inexperienced wizards looking for a quick power scheme."

    "I noticed, but for this to happen we must have taken a lot of its power," Gosunkugi said, gesturing to the TV that was still muted but on. A bulletin of 'Masked gunman taken down by pony' was playing.

    "Hardly. Jusenkyo's source is Jusendo, and Jusendo is no normal well of power," Cologne said, "From it springs the magic of the world. All magic. All magic from everywhere starts with Jusendo. There are legends of those who tried to harness its might. Civilizations rose and fell until Jusendo was forgotten by the world at large. A state we have long wished to persist because of things like this. Storms have been created in the past that plunged the world into an ice age. Legends of things for which modern science has no reference have happened because of those who dabble with it. Its power is limitless, but prone to rampage. This 'King Sombra' must have great talent and experience to wrangle its power."

    "He claimed to have been trapped in those crystals for a thousand years," Gosunkugi said.

    "Yes, and now he is loose within Japan. Unwatched, unsupervised, and capable of anything," Cologne said. She tapped the table and sighed.

    "Then we need to stop him and stop this spell thats turning everyone into a pony," Akane said, rapping the table with a hoof, "Then we can try to get Ranma and I back to normal later."

    Cologne shook her head. "This is too big for us to handle, and he is too dangerous to risk confronting," she said.

    "Then what are we supposed to do?" Ranma asked, "We can't- I can't just…" She scowled at the table and tried to ignore her mother attempting to calm her down. She was going to make him pay for this.

    "It is simple son-in-law. I do not have the resources. So we must contact someone who does. This is not something that a small group or even a large group can accomplish. We will need more than that," Cologne said before sighing. "I'm afraid we must reach out to your government for help."

    Ranma and Hikaru shared a glance. This, they both decided, sounded like a terrible plan.

    -0-0-0-0-0-​

    A/N: Hello everyone~ From turning Ranma into a magical girl I move onto turning them into a magical pony!

    Again.

    This seems to be a thing. But! This time I've brought the rest of the world along for the ride! I hope you've enjoyed our little ponypocalypse. It's been fun to write.

    Now a thank you to Gekkou for her wonderful editorial skills~! I have no idea what I'd be doing without her help… especially since she seems to get these done before I ask her to.

    Gekkou_Yoko: And you *Still* ask me to do it, even when it was done months ago, because cha never checked. *headpats*

    Grounders10: Well… more like because I forgot ^^; *sheepish floof*

    Gekkou_Yoko: *patpats* It's ok, we know your memory is akin to a lintball in a fire.

    Grounders10: *sweatdrops* Oi! Why has it been downgraded from goldfish?!

    Gekkou_Yoko: ^^ Because you keep forgetting to set your alarm before going to bed. Like clockwork.

    Grounders10: … Only sometimes. *grumbles* *notices the readers still watching* Oops. *picks up Gekkou and flees to continue conversation without an audience*

    Gekkou_Yoko: Wheee!~
     
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