All the mares lay on the floor in a bedroom grooming each other and sharing short stories and little laughs while a reinvigorated manticore pup played with a ball of yarn in the corner of the room in a sunbeam cast from a window. Zecora lay on the bed quietly grooming herself contently with a naked Scootaloo. Amber had taken her shower alone and last, she was nowhere to be seen.
“I don’t believe it’s stopped raining,” Night said as she pulled a loose feather from Rainbow’s wing.
“Yeah, but orange soda’s, like, awesome! I want a cloud of it when I get home, Fluttershy, can we get orange soda clouds?”
Fluttershy chuckled around the brush in her mouth as she pulled it across her foreleg. “No, Rainbow Dash. We have to leave them here to dissipate while we enjoy a free Equestria.”
“That reminds me, girls,” Twilight said as she moved a brush around in her magic before letting it slip into Applejack’s mane and begin pulling knots free, “what happened to the princesses? We didn’t really think about them when we were running for our lives or survivng in a desert, but now…”
“Ah think they’re just fine. They’re Alicorns, what could happen to them? They’re probably just holed up castin’ some spell to banish Discord without the Elements of Harmony,” Applejack said before she yelped at Twilight’s brushing. “Ya better braid my hair nice after this or I’ll make yer mane hurt, too,” she mock threatened before smiling warmly.
“I hope so,” Twilight mumbled, “I mean about the Princesses!” she corrected as the room fell silent before Rainbow snickered.
“Yeah, right!” Night laughed, “you like it rough, just admit it.”
“I don’t! Honest, and what’s it matter?”
“It doesn’t,” Fluttershy said loudly, “we need to think about how to stop Discord.”
“Maybe we can get that boomstick the towel had and boom Discord away!” Rainbow said hopping into the air with a flap. She began boxing the air. “And then we pummel him to next week and then next week we do it again until he’s gone, pow, boom.” Night sat up and bit Rainbow’s tail, tugging her hard and making the blue mare land. Rainbow curled up and opened her other wing to Night for a preening while she hummed contently. “Yeah, that’d be cool.”
“Well, aside from being cool, and hoping the rag thing shows up again with its boomstick rifle thingie; we need some kind of plan,” Night said before she began to preen Rainbow’s wing, “and why can’t you do this yourself?” she asked Rainbow.
“Cuz, you asked and it’s nice sometimes to have a pony help when they can,” Rainbow replied. Night sighed and straightened out a primary feather, then another.
“Look, we need a plan but we can’t just make one up. We need to discuss this and write it out in a logical way that can be weighed against other options until the best one, or ones, are chosen.”
Zecora chuckled. “The purple mare is right to say that we need a plan today. To enter into a battle with a reckless head will certainly lead to us being dead.”
“Or worse,” Twilight amended, “he’s the Lord of Chaos, he could turn us into immortal fruit and eat us every day.”
“Oh! Or he could turn us into chairs or toilets and use us every day,” Rainbow said sitting up excitedly.
“Before she gets ahead of herself, we need to get planning,” Fluttershy said quickly, “and we need somepony to watch over Simba here,” she looked to the manticore still batting and hopping around the yarn.
“Simba?”
“The nice person at the booth named him, it’s a nice name, right?” she asked. The others in the room thought it over, shared looks, then nodded silently.
“Where’s my clothes?” Scootaloo asked as she leaned back on the bed, “I feel weird not having something on. And since I lost my coat all I had was the dress and it was all sandy.”
“Speaking of Sandy, she said she had something better, but where is she?” Fluttershy asked. The mares shrugged and glanced at the peach and pink flesh of Scootaloo, letting their eyes glance at the odd place between her legs before returning to their grooming. Zecora placed a hoof on Scootaloo.
“The looks you get are only because they care, they do not mean to stare.”
“Zecora, I know that, but I’m a freak,” she said dejectedly, “I don’t have any fur, my mane is a mess, my tail’s gone, my mare parts are all… different,” she said gesturing to her girl parts, “and everything feels wrong. I feel every breeze, the sun and temperature changes, the roughness of the sand between these foots things, and I got sand in my girl thingie and it wasn’t fun at all,” she moped.
“Scoots, we all got sand in our parts. Wasn’t fun for any of us,” Applejack said with compassion. “Look, you’re in a different body, but that doesn’t make you bad or a freak. You’re still the filly we love and the element of courage that we need. Amber sure as heck isn’t gonna be you,” she let herself feel crossly for a second and it showed, “the filly’s about as useful as a fly on our butts.”
“Well, yeah,” Scootaloo sighed and crossed her arms as she sat up, “but that doesn’t make this body any better. I can even smell you all, and it smells weird, like…” she paused and looked around at the others, “like a horse smell.”
“Do you wanna eat us?” Twilight countered.
“No, but I am hungry for some meat,” she said bashfully.
“You can get some downstairs, the woman said it was free and healthy to eat.”
“Something called brisket,” Fluttershy said thoughtfully as she looked at the calm manticore, readying itself to nap in the sunlight, “he liked it a lot and you share some of the same diet. You should get some while we finish.”
Scootaloo sighed deeply and grumbled as she stood up. “I swear I’m eating my weight in grass when I’m a pony again,” she lamented as she went to and opened the door. “I’ll be back soon, and if I smell weird don’t tell me… it’s just the meat this freak body needs to work.”
She closed the door behind her and the mares shook their heads while Zecora chuckled. “The girl was hungry so much that she forgot clothes here are a must.”
Twilight looked to the others and stood up. “I’ll finish your mane soon, I’ve gotta get her before she embarasses herself and whines about it all day.” Twilight made for the door just as it opened and Scootaloo was ushered back inside with Sandy pushing her lower back.
“Stop it,” the girl whined, “I’m sorry, I was hungry and I-”
“Girls don’t go running down a hall to eat food naked. Oi vey, what’ll the customers say if they see you like this? Okay, little one, stay here and I’ll get your clothes ready. I called in a favor and you’ll be wearing a nice dress and babushka to keep your head safe from the weather outside.”
“I, don’t know what you said, but I’m really hungry! Please can I get some food? I’m a human so I need meat, please,” she said pouting.
The smile that crossed Sandy’s face was almost creepy. “Ah! A little girl who loves to eat! My prayers have been answered, stay here, baby, I’ll get you a meal to satisfy a princess!”
Sandy turned and left the room, slamming the door. Great, now you’re gonna get fat,” Night commented with a smirk. “At least you won’t be eating us.”
Scootaloo glared at Night. “Shut up, or I might try a nibble of Night soup.”
“You don’t nibble soup, silly filly,” Rainbow said, “you slurp it.”
“Don’t slurp soup, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy replied in a motherly tone. “I like Sandy, she’s got a kind heart.”
“So says the element of Kindness,” Twilight said. There was a round of chuckling before they went back to where they were and what they were doing before.
***