化け物, 第1章
Ueda Tsubasa stared out the window of her school, watching the cherry blossoms fall off the trees, buoyed by the wind. She then looked down at the baseball field in the distance, specifically at the pitcher on the mound as the team worked to prepare for the Spring Kōshien. She sighed with the complete and total rapture of a young woman feeling the love’s tugging of the heartstrings. And again, she looked at the pitcher on the mound, throwing fastballs with a grace and ease that none of the practice batters could keep up with.
Ryuji-kun, keeper of her heart, the boy that brought life into her eyes, the one who she longed to be with.
Now if she could only bring up the courage to confess to him.
“Tsu-chan, stop staring out the window and pay attention to the club!” a voice practically shouted into her ear. Caught off guard, she yelped in surprise, and the chair she leaned on gave way, slipping and sending her tumbling out the window – from the fourth floor of the school. Someone screamed and there was the tumble of chairs as someone rushed to their feet.
But seconds later the panic proved to be fruitless as the rhythmic rumble of flapping wings sounded from outside. Soft pink wings, the appendages that marked Tsubasa’s nature as a pegasus, flitted her back up to the window. Hovering just outside, a crossed look etched on her features, her lilac eyes showing annoyance. “Ha ha. Very funny, Yuka.”
Her best friend, Matsuzaka Yuka, was helpless in stitches as she pointed and laughed. “That’s what you get for daydreaming at the window, you bug!”
Another voice called out, “Ueda-san, you may want to come in before anyone decides to look up.” Adjusting his glasses, Yoshida Hiroshi looked at her briefly before returning his attention to the tablet he held in his hands.
Tsubasa blushed furiously and bolted through the window before anyone could look up her skirt, an easy feat considering the pony floated four stories above the ground. As she landed, she looked at Yoshida with indignation. “How could you even say something like that? That’s indecent!”
Yuka patted Tsubasa on the back and grinned. “One, Yoshida-san was just being practical; having you floating out the window like a billboard is kinda annoying. Two, yeah, just about any guy’s gonna look up, but all they’re gonna see is your tail and…wait, maybe there are some guys that get into that kinda freaky stuff. Then again, your love life, Tsu-chan.”
Tsubasa screwed her features into a hurt frown. “Yuka, you know that Ryuji-kun’s the only guy for me.”
A fourth person, another girl, called out, “Heh, good luck at getting Ryuji Daisuke to look at you, Ueda-san.”
“That’s just mean, Maeda-san,” Yoshida replied, looking briefly at Tsubasa before going back to his tablet.
Maeda looked at Tsubasa, shaking her head. “No, I don’t mean that at all, Ueda-san. What I meant was—”
“I know,” Tsubasa said, glumly. “Ryuji-kun won’t look at me because I can’t compete with Kanzaki. I don’t have those kinds of looks and I never will.” But she brightened. “But DJ-sempai said if I try hard enough, I can do anything!”
“Who?”
Tsubasa grinned. “DJ Martinez! She’s the first of our kind here, got magically sent to America over thirty years ago. She lives in down in Yokosuka with her husband, who’s in the American navy.” The pink pegasus teen practically gushed as she said, “She’s sooooo cool and nice, and she comes to my parents’ café all the time since I met her. She’s like a big sister I can always count on.”
Yuka shook her head. “You also pointed out that she was raised as an American and we all know Americans are weird. Plus, being sweet and nice only gets you so far, Tsu-chan. Unfortunately,” she said, pointing at her chest, “ya gotta have a pair of these.”
“Um….” she said, rubbing her forehooves together in nervousness, “I…um…I do….”
“Oh, that’s right – equinoids have physiology closer to primates than that of regular equines, so that means you’ve got all the parts in the right places!” At this, Tsubasa only blushed more and covered her face with her wings to prevent further embarrassment.
“Can we start the meeting?” Yoshida said, finally reaching his limit. “Miss President?”
Maeda looked at the door to the classroom and found that nobody was coming in. “Looks like nobody else is coming today, so let’s get started. I’m calling today’s meeting of the Astronomy Club to order….”
An hour later, Yuka and Tsubasa were walking home from school, enjoying the cool spring afternoon. “Don’t you have to work at your parents’ café today?” Yuka asked her friend.
Tsubasa nodded. “But I forgot my yukata and obi at home, so I’ll go, change into pants, grab it and then fly to the café. Shouldn’t take long.”
“I envy you, you know that? You never have to worry about being late or missing a bus or train – you just flap those things and they take you wherever you want to go.”
Tsubasa shook her head sadly. “It’s not always easy. I have to preen them regularly, or else? Pink feathers everywhere. And if they get too wet from rain or snow, they get too heavy to fly with. I do have jackets that have wing slips, but then it’s hard to do anything other than broad flight – can’t make quick course corrections. And, lastly, there’s a trade-off: being a pony – especially a pegasus – I have to watch out so that stuff regular people don’t have, like tails, wings and the like, don’t get in the way of anything. If someone gets their coat caught in the train doors? Embarrassment. If I get my tail caught? Trip to the hospital.” She then frowned as she added, “And I can’t always get the guys I’m looking for to look at me.”
“Oh, c’mon, you’re seriously not listening to what Maeda said, are you?” The look on Yuka’s face was serious, a rarity for the usually genki girl. “Look, Maeda’s just jealous that you like Ryuji as well. Everybody knows she’s been chasing him, which is why she mentioned Kanzaki.”
Tsubasa didn’t know what to say about that. Kanzaki Akane was the school’s “goddess”, a sixteen-year-old girl with looks, money and charm. She had a part-time job as a model, and could get any guy in school that she chose; of course she chose to focus on the guy with the best looks and talent in the school. They were the perfect couple, which meant that any girl vying for the attentions of Ryuji, from Maeda to Tsubasa and who knew how many others, were completely left out in the cold.
As they approached an intersection, Yuka said, “Well, this is where we split, Tsu-chan. Talk to you later?”
Tsubasa smiled. “I don’t have to work tomorrow, so if you want to go shopping, we can.”
“That’d be great! We can go right after school, okay?” Yuka waved to her friend as she departed, leaving the pegasus to walk the rest of the way to her place.
“Otō-san, Okā-san, sorry I’m late!” Tsubasa said as she walked into her parents’ café in the Ginza a half-hour later. “There was a huge flock of birds I had to fly around to get here.”
Ueda Kyoko gave her daughter a smile. “That’s okay, dear. It’s been a slow day. Oh, and Martinez-san dropped off a package for you. She said she’ll be out of town for a couple of weeks, but that you really wanted this and you don’t have to worry about paying her back.” Kyoko pointed towards the corner, where a bag sat on a shelf festooned with Navy Exchange branding. There had been a cute blouse and skirt ensemble that Tsubasa had seen in a magazine once, but wasn’t able to find it in town. Fortunately, DJ had overheard and said it was on sale at the base store. The humanized pegasus had begged the humanized pony to pick it up for her; DJ had apparently done so and even made sure the ensemble had the appropriate wing and tail slots.
“And there’s my beautiful little girl,” Ueda Goro said from the kitchen. “How was school today?”
“The club is trying to raise money so we can go on a field trip, but nothing other than that,” she told her father. “Let me go get into my yukata and I’ll take care of the tables.”
“Not so fast, little bird,” Kyoko said to her daughter. “I need you to take this down the street to Kappabashi-san. She placed an order an hour ago and you know the poor dear is hardly mobile.”
“Oh.” Though she didn’t like to admit it to her parents, old Kappabashi-san scared her. When she was younger, she’d heard the old legends about kappabashi – Kappa Bridges – where kappa, water imps, used to attack and drown children in the river. And to Tsubasa, the old woman looked a lot like a kappa. Part of her wondered if kappas were as interested in eating foals as they were children. Then again, she was a teenager, so she could at least escape that part of the legend. Then again again….
“Tsubasa, are you okay?” Kyoko asked. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for the past few seconds.”
“Sorry, I was thinking about something. You wanted me to take something to Kappabashi-san?”
“Yes. The teakettle there and the cookies – she apparently is expecting company soon. Don’t take long, though: from the looks of things, it’s probably going to be a busy night.”
“Be careful out there, little bird,” Goro told his daughter. “Remember you’re precious to us.”
Tsubasa gave both her parents a smile, picked up the kettle and cookies, slid them into the delivery box, then put it on like a backpack and headed towards the door. Due to her natural magical field as a pegasus, she could fly completely upside down and the contents within the box would not be affected. And with the evening traffic picking up, it would be easier to fly the package over to the building. The minute she stepped outside of the café and a quick look left and right to avoid hitting any passersby, she unfurled her wings and shot into the air, coming to a quick stop just above the tops of the buildings, then headed forward.
It was in the air that she felt well and truly free, and partly where she’d picked up her parents’ pet name for her, kotori, “little bird”. She enjoyed flying and when doing so at night and armed with a camera, she’d taken some pretty amazing pictures, which was how she got into the Astronomy Club in the first place. Yoshida himself had said those were some of the most incredible photos he’d ever seen, and Yuka had complained about being utterly jealous of her friends’ talents. That was about the time she’d started to worry about not having gained a cutie mark, but to find out that DJ had gone her entire life without one, well, that made Tsubasa worry far less about it now.
A few seconds later, she began to descend towards the building in question. Far older than the other buildings in the area (especially considering that Tokyo was infamous for not having buildings of a considerable age save for the occasional landmark), the brick building stood out like an eyesore against its metal and concrete counterparts. While a bar took up the upper two floors of the three-story building, the main storefront was taken up by a shop that clearly looked like a traditional medicine store as done by the folks at Toho or Shochiku, likely more to be at home in Chinatown in Yokohama than here in central Tokyo.
Landing in front of the store, she went in, wading into a place that assaulted her senses with a dozen different distractions. Scents and aromas, various and unfamiliar, filled her nose; statues, bric-a-brac and various other items, many completely unfamiliar to her despite having lived in Japan since she was three. What she did not see, however, was the old woman who was the proprietor. “Hello? Kappabashi-san? I’m here from the Versailles Café. I’ve brought your order,” the pegasus called out, but no one was there.
After a few seconds of waiting, Tsubasa set down the pack, removing the tea kettle and cookies and set them down by the antiquated cash register. “Kappabashi-san? Are you here?” Now partly worried that something could have happened to the woman and half worried that something was about to happen to her, she walked into the back area behind the counter, looking for the woman, passing through the bamboo blind that separated the front part of the store from the back.
A second later, Tsubasa regretted walking back there. There were dozens of shelves, all filled with traditional Chinese medicines – which was a polite way of saying there were some freaky things back there. Dried spiders and scorpions, frogs and snakes embalmed in some fluid, dozens of herbs and plants she’d never seen before – wait, is that a skull? Suddenly Tsubasa felt very afraid as a shiver of fear crawled up her back and her wings tamped down, caught in the natural fear method of her equine ancestry. It took her a few seconds to remember that she lived amongst humans, and humans were never afraid of just being in weird spaces.
Then again, I’m Japanese and living in the land of ghosts, she thought, remembering her father’s ghost tales now and then. Plus, summer wasn’t that far away, and tradition stated that’s when ghosts were closest to the mortal world….
And that’s when she heard it. The sound. It echoed like a bell in the middle of a windtunnel. There was something seductive, alluring about it. It was enough to make Tsubasa forget her fears and walk towards the back of the storage room, past several spiderweb-covered shelves filled with countless things that could be worse, until she stopped at the very back, looking at a single shelving unit, upon the middle shelf sat the object that sang to her.
Sitting in a glass case on a base of beautiful shimmering silk, was a near-perfect sphere of cinnabar. It was “near-perfect” not because of the sphere itself, which was clearly a perfect orb, but the spikes of pure obsidian that jutted out from it at various intervals. The object glowed with a soft red hue, occasionally putting out a blast of soft energy that dissipated into the air; it was this last effect that caused the musical tone she was hearing.
Part of her wanted to touch it, and before she even realized what was going on, she began to extend her arm towards it, her right forehoof already shaping into the hand-like motions as her hoofspace did what came naturally.
“What are you doing here?” a crackling voice erupted from behind her and nature took its course: her wings rocketed out and pushed her upwards, so much so that she slammed headfirst into the ceiling, coming down painfully on the ground. Her vision swam and it took a few minutes for her to regain her footing…only to find herself staring straight at a monster.
“I asked you, young missie, what are you doing back here?” Kappabashi asked her as Tsubasa looked up at the aged human crone. There were more wrinkles in her face than those of her human grandparents or the elderly ponies that played with her in the orphanage back in Manehattan, and there seemed to be something unnatural about the human woman. Something primal in the back of her mind told her to run, as if she were facing something a horrific danger like a nue, or a mythical monster, like the tales of demonic oni or inhuman noppera-bō, or…
...or a kappa…
Calm down, Tsubasa – you’re letting imagination run away with you. Chastened by her own conscience, she took a breath and finally said, “I’m here from Café Versailles. I…uh, brought your order.”
“I know that; I heard you twice,” the woman said, impatient. “What I want to know is what you’re doing in my back storage?”
“I…when you didn’t answer the first two times, I thought something happened to you, so I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
The woman smiled briefly and that truly unnerved Tsubasa; the rictus seemed to split the woman’s face in two. “That’s very sweet of you, young missie, but remember, I’m an old lady and I can’t move as fast as I used to. But I would like to know why you were just about to touch the object.”
There was no way to lie convincingly, nor was Tsubasa that kind of girl, so she admitted, “It…called to me. I’m sorry, but I can’t explain it any further.” She got up and bowed, hoping to placate Kappabashi. “I’m sorry!”
The woman took out an old smoking pipe; it seemed to be a human enough action and if anything detracted from her creepiness. “Should’ve known. You’re from another world, a magical world, and so magic calls to magic.”
“That’s a magic object?” Other than her own innate pegasus talents, she’d lived on human-Earth for so long, magic was a distant memory. Sure, she’d seen a lot of human “magic”, but those were just prestidigitation and smoke and mirrors; against actual magic from other lands, most performers that once called themselves magicians were more likely to refer to themselves as “illusionists” or “masters of stagecraft.” In any case, true magic was nonexistent on human-Earth, so for her to see something like this…it was nothing less than amazing.
“Here.” The woman held out a bunch of yen. “Here’s for the order, thank you much. I’ll have my assistant return the tray and teapot after the meeting.” The woman then pointed to the door and told her, “I understand that coming from a world where true magic exists, you’re curious about it – being a winged creature, you might even have some yourself. But doors are sometimes closed for a reason, young missie – remember that.”
Tsubasa walked back to the café from the store, curiosity having taken form in her mind. She ended up distracted for the rest of the night, and when her parents finally asked if she was okay, she said that she was tired. The trio went home, had a quick dinner and after kissing her parents goodnight, Tsubasa went up to her room, heading straight for the computer in an attempt to satisfy her curiosity. But despite her best description of the object, she couldn’t find anything at all after an exhaustive search on the internet.
The next day, the less than awake pegasus could barely get up. Sleeping through the alarm, she had just enough time to change, throw herself in the shower, towel and blow-dry herself and her wings, throw on her clothing and race out of the house, stopping just long enough to kiss her parents good morning, grab one of her mother’s handmade pastries and run as fast as her hindlegs could carry her. She’d gotten to the usual location where she met Yuka, but suddenly she remembered her friend had safety monitor duty this morning, so Tsubasa was on her own.
As luck would have it, however, Yoshida just happened to be rushing by on his bike, apparently late as well. He stopped with a skid, turning to look at her and said, “You’re never going to make it unless you fly.”
“Wings are still damp and no way am I flying in a skirt,” she told him. “Plus,” she added with a yawn, “I didn’t sleep well last night, so I don’t want to crash into a tree.”
He pointed to the standpoints on the back of his bike. “Hop on, then.” She did, and he pushed harder as she held on, tucking her wings in more to prevent drag. “So, you didn’t sleep well last night?”
“Not really, no.” She went into an abbreviated explanation of yesterday’s events, leaving out the part about Kappabashi being a scary crone and being admonished about the object. “But it really called out to me. I dunno, maybe if I touched it, I’m supposed to get my talent symbol?”
“Uh, I don’t think that’s the case,” Yoshida said as he rounded a corner tightly onto the street leading towards the school; Tsubasa increased her grip on his shirt so she wouldn’t fall off. “I think it’s a genderstone.”
“A what?” she asked.
“A genderstone. You see, I’ve….” He paused for a second, though she couldn’t see the look on his face – what was he thinking? “Well, the study of magic – real magic, not stagecraft – has been a personal hobby, and from what you described, that sounds like a genderstone.” The pair zipped through the gates just as the school principal started to close them; a few students were caught on the other side and would have to serve detention or some other punishment for being officially tardy, though that was their problem.
“What’s a genderstone?”
To her surprise, he blushed. “Ah…eto…I think you’re best looking that up yourself. Wouldn’t want you to get the wrong idea.” His embarrassment and disinclination to explain what it meant made it clear: it was probably something hentai. Normally, she would have chewed him out for that, but he did give her a ride in, so she blurted a quick thanks and raced off to her locker to prep for the school day.
As she did, she found Yuka there, slipping on her sandals for the day. “So, changed your mind about Ryuji-kun, huh? Well, I’ve known Yoshida-kun since we were in kindergarten, and he’s a nice guy, so—” Yuka said nothing further as she was playfully slapped by Tsubasa’s wing, getting a face full of feathers in an instant.
“You just like giving me grief, don’t you?”
Yuka grinned. “Somebody’s gotta.”
After classes ended for the day, four girls departed the schoolgrounds, headed towards the nearest stop on the Tokyo subway. It was Tsubasa’s day off from work and the four friends were about to enjoy time together.
Saito Riho adjusted her glasses. “I’m jealous of you, Yuka-chan! How do you manage to walk with perfect poise like that? You’re like a model or something!”
Kaneko Junko, the tomboy of the group, laughed heartily and clapped Riho on the back hard enough to nearly knock her glasses off. “Maybe if you tried to get your head out of your books, you megane, you could work on something other than being slouched over a desk!”
Riho was about to say something when a pink wing unfurled between her and Junko. “Girls, c’mon, I want to have fun today, okay? There’s this new chocolate shop at DECKS that I want to try, and then I heard they’re opening a new store there as well that we’ve just gotta check out!”
“Well, sure, of course, Tsu-chan – but you’re paying for the chocolate!” In turn, the pegasus scrunched her face into a frown and the others laughed.
The ride on the rails was a rather quiet affair; normally they’d have problems with chikan – various men wanting to grope the nubile bodies of young schoolgirls. Unfortunately for them, the first few times met with a slap on the wrist from Tsubasa’s tail or in one particular case, an “accidental” unfurling of her wing which knocked one perv off his feet. Shortly after that, pervs generally didn’t try anything like that in the presence of the pony, and Tsubasa’s friends knew they could enjoy the train ride in peace.
“So, how are things going with you and Sonoda-san, Junko?” Yuka asked.
The tea-haired girl sighed. “Tetsuo left for France last week. He’ll be studying at the Sorbonne for the next four years, so I guess that’s the end of our relationship. I wouldn’t be surprised if I got a letter from him in the next couple of months saying he’s dumping me for some Vietnamese-French cutie.”
“Maybe he’ll get with Takahashi Ai, instead,” Riho said in an attempt to be helpful, eliciting a groan from both Yuka and Tsubasa as to how their brainy friend could be so dumb at times. Takahashi Ai was an actress known for her beauty and gracing many a poster in a boy’s bedroom. Three years ago she’d made a film in Paris, and decided to stay there, much to the chagrin of every single male in Japan.
“You’re not helping, Riho-chan,” Tsubasa said, using her wings for a facepalm.
“That’s okay, I get that she’s not smart all the time,” Junko snarked. “But it makes me think: are we always going to be friends forever? I mean, in a few years, we’ll all be headed out to college. I know I’m not very bright, so it’s off to the Shinagawa Beauty College in Meguro for me. But you’re all so much better students than me! I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if Riho here got into Tōdai or Waseda in a heartbeat!”
“Eh, I have my heart on a better school, something overseas like Harvard in America or Oxford in England. If I don’t get into either of those, then I’ll apply to Tōdai or Waseda as a back-up plan.” Her confidence was strong enough that it was clear that she’d get into either of those schools with no difficulty whatsoever. “What about you, Yuka?”
Yuka grunted. “Doesn’t matter what I want. Family tradition is that the oldest granddaughter always goes to Dōshisha down in Kyoto. Since that’s me, it doesn’t matter if I get into Tōdai or Waseda or Yale – Dōdai is where I get to go,” she said, glumly. “But at least you all get choices. Y’know, I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned where you’re planning to go, Tsu-chan.”
The pegasus looked even less pleased. “My parents insist that I never forget about my heritage as a pony, so they want me to go to an Equestriani university like the Royal Canterlot University or the University of Los Pegasas. Personally, I’d rather attend Meiji or St. Paul’s. They’d be close to home and I wouldn’t have to worry about my parents spending any more money.”
“That’s sweet, Tsu-chan,” Yuka said, “but you need to start looking out for what’s best for you in life. We won’t always live with our parents forever – I mean, just because our parents’ generation did, and the ones before that and all….” Yuka at this point quieted down, figuring she wasn’t going to make her point with that line of reasoning. Instead, she asked her friend the obvious question: “What’s the best way to make you happy?”
The pegasus instantly gushed, “Being with Ryuji-kun.” It was so girly and…well, human…that every adult in the railcar seemed to look at her with the understanding and nostalgia of young love.
“Then I want you to picture this,” Yuka said, putting an arm around her friend and gesticulating to a point in the distance – the shopping mall, just a few streets away – just as the train was coming to a stop at Tokyo Ginza station. “You and Ryuji-san, walking arm in arm down the Ginza on a winter day, the snowflakes falling on you both in a symphony of love. It’s just like that movie we saw last week, remember? You and Ryuji-san will be just like Haruka and Kenji in the movie, I promise.”
Tsubasa looked in the direction her friend was pointing and tried hard not to break down at that moment, but instead cursed the fact that she was a pony. Her eyes – well, any pony’s eyes, but especially pegasus eyes – could see far better than that of humans. And what she saw there shattered her heart instantly: there were Ryuji and Kanzaki, arm in arm. And it took all her willpower to prevent her heart from breaking as the two kissed, punctuated by the dancing fountain behind them going off in a cascade of romance.
She stood there for so long, Yuka had to practically pull her out of the train before the train doors closed on her. “Tsu-chan? Hello? Are you okay?”
The look the lovelorn pegasus gave her friend was an answer in and of itself.
Later that night, Tsubasa was back at the computer. She was already completely disconsolate from what she’d seen earlier; Yuka and the others had finally coaxed it out of her and they felt horrible the moment they did. The lone consolation prize in all of that was that Junko ended up buying the chocolate since she wanted to cheer up her winged friend. So instead the four spent the day on “Operation Let’s Cheering!”, designed to bring a smile back on Tsubasa’s face. The rest of the time was spent in lousy karaoke – Tsubasa was never really a good singer – Dance Dance Symphony VR, and having a nice dinner together at the Italian trattoria at DECKS, the place having been recommended by Nicole-sempai, the American journalist who often had lunch at her parents’ café.
The rest of the night proved why they’d all be friends forever, always looking out for each other through thick and thin. Tsubasa smiled at that; she was blessed with so much: friends, family, a life that no other filly could imagine. She was, in nearly every way, shape and form a typical Japanese girl. She had a wonderful future that to look forward to, and since she was growing up as a pony on Human-Earth in a human manner, she could choose to be bound by the rules of her cutie mark or she could forge her own path, just like her mentor.
So why was something nagging her in the back of her mind? A few seconds later, the answer came to her, and it was rather surprising: It’s that “genderstone”, as Yoshida called it, she remembered. She was about to start another search for the object, when an email came up:
TO: “UEDA Tsubasa” <littlebird@princessmail.co.jp>
FROM: “SAITO Riho” <sai2riri@princessmail.co.jp>SUBJ: Did you hear?
Tsu-chan,
Just got some amazing news that I heard from Imae-san. Yes, I know she’s the school blabbermouth, so take this as you will, but…Ryuji and Kanzaki broke up! Supposedly he spotted her with a college student and they had a public fight, so he called it quits with her. Now’s your chance! You know we’re all rooting for you! Do your best!Take care,
Riho!
Tsubasa sat back, shocked at the news. Ryuji-kun’s single…. Ryuji-kun’s single! She happily fist pumped in her chair while whispering “Lucky Chance!” and whinnying in delight. But that still didn’t solve the question in her mind. So into browsing she dived, searching for results for ジェンダーストーン several hours, only to come up with nothing – nothing on Wikipedia, nothing on Yahoo! Japan or even Baidu Nippon. She even went so far as to brave the wilds of 2CH, but enough taunts requested naked pegasus pictures, she gave up on that rather quickly.
By this time, someone else would have just given up. But fortunately for Tsubasa, she was stuck with obsession and blessed with an alternative method of searching: being born in a different country, her parents insisted that she remain fluent in Equestriani; that is, Equestriani English. So after a quick reboot of the computer with her prize Derptech Ergoflow hoofboard now installed, she began searching in English.
It didn’t take long to find the answer she was looking for. The English Wikipedia site had the information – what little there was of it, regarding the “Genderstone”, which was a redirect to “Amniomorphic Transferrence Stone,” the technical name of the object. It turned out to be a pony magical artifact charged with Star Swirl the Bearded’s Amniomorphic Spell, heavily modified by a team at the Mage Guild. The stone allowed a pegasus or earth pony, as unicorns with level one spell training didn’t need it, to activate the spell. The results allowed the user to turn into another type of sapient being for up to twelve hours. The first known use of the spell had allowed its user, an earth pony, to change into a human woman in order to conceive a child with her human husband. The child, Stuart Charles Hengst, was born eleven months later, the first human chimera. The rest of the article went into the properties of the spell, the type of gemstones and precious minerals that could be used to fashion such a stone and research by dragons to create a similar spell to work on draconid physiology. By this point, she’d completely tuned out the rest of the article, her curiosity satisfied.
So DJ-sempai has a magic stone that she used to have her sons. I wonder why she never mentioned it. The answer came back immediately: it had just never come up in conversation, though in hindsight it should have been obvious. No longer worried about the stone, she turned off her computer and went to get some sleep, wondering what she would do about her real problem now: confessing to Ryuji.
She slept soundly that night, dreaming of being arm in arm with her beloved, walking in a winter paradise.
“I’m sorry,” Ryuji said as he bowed fully towards Tsubasa. “I just…I just don’t think of you in that way. I’m sure you’re a nice girl, but I’m not attracted to umajin.”
Her eyes burning with sorrow, Tsubasa launched herself in the air to get away, not caring who, if anyone, looked up. Tears streamed away from her eyes as she sobbed, her heart broken. She’d waited the week for other girls, including Maeda and a few others, to get shot down by the now very much in demand Ryuji. By Thursday, no girl had captured his heart, and all of Tsubasa’s friends encouraged her to take a chance. How cruel, then, was fate: to think he’d turned down all those girls in the hopes that she would be able to win his affections, only to be dashed by that very same smile that had turned down others.
It was bad enough that she’d skipped meeting with her friends right after and instead sat atop the janitor’s office at the top of the school. Someone had been here previously, the remains of someone’s lunch and an old-style print magazine; the magazine’s cover story was likely about fashion in Equestria and how it translated to the human world; the cover model was an older unicorn mare with a white coat and violet hair sporting a nightgown that in other circumstances the pegasus would have found interesting. Instead, Tsubasa just pushed the stuff out of the way; she wanted to be alone with her grief.
“Funny, I didn’t expect to see you here.” Tsubasa looked up and saw Yoshida, having just climbed up the ladder on the side of the structure. Noting that she was crying, he reached into his pocket for tissues. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, for a girl that had her heart broken,” she said, taking the tissues with gratitude. “What are you doing here?”
He grinned. “This is my special spot for seeing the stars. Usually I come here at nights with the school’s permission to look at the stars, but sometimes I just come when I want to be alone.” He looked at her and said, “I guess you do as well. I’ll just come back later, or I can find Matsuzaka-san, if you’d like.”
“Thank you,” she sobbed, wiping her eyes with the tissue.
Yoshida climbed down the ladder, but not before saying, “Sometimes, all isn’t lost. Sometimes…you have to realize there are just other ways to make yourself happy.” Tsubasa wasn’t sure who he was talking to or if he was saying anything of importance, but the words embedded themselves in her mind, refusing to let go.
He…he doesn’t like me because I’m umajin. Umajin, “horse-person”, the Japanese word for a pony. Because she had hooves and not hands and feet. Because she had a muzzle and not a distinct mouth and nose. Because her ears were weird, because of her useless tail and pointless wings, because she had fur all over her body.
Maybe if I were a person he could hold and kiss, he’d love me, she mourned. Maybe if I were a person….
Maybe if I were a human….
Suddenly, it clicked.
The Genderstone…it transforms ponies for a short time. Maybe I can transform myself temporarily until I win Ryuji-kun’s heart, and when he finally loves me, he’ll accept me as who I really am, just like Cinderella!
The teen mare smiled; it was perfect.
A few minutes later, Yuka came racing up the ladder. “Tsu-chan, have you been here all this time? We’ve been worried about you!” Yuka went up and hugged her friend, pointing down at the fenced-off area below. “C’mon, let’s get out of here and go do something. We’re all with you, okay?”
The pink pegasus smiled softly and said, “Thanks, Yuka-chan. But I need a favor.”
“Of course, anything.”
“I need to borrow some of your clothing, okay? Oh, and those blue contact lenses you have.”
Yuka looked at her friend strangely. “Look, I know we have the same tastes in clothing, but don’t you usually need something with, uh, tail and wing slots? And…well, your eyes are a lot bigger than mine, so I don’t know if the contacts will fit.”
“Trust me, I’ll tell you about it later,” Tsubasa said, a small smile coming onto her face. “I’ve got a plan.”
“Kappabashi-san? I’m here from Versailles Café!” Tsubasa came into the store the next day, carrying her transport case. “You’ve won our monthly drawing for a catered tea session, and I’m here to deliver it!” It was a lie of sorts: Kappabashi had won the monthly drawing because it was the first monthly drawing they’d ever had; Tsubasa’s parents had long thought about doing so as a form of marketing the café but much to their surprise when their daughter had taken the initiative to do so, selecting the old woman first and offering to put the news out about the next month’s drawing out to their regular customers afterwards. It was a pleasant surprise to both her parents, both of which were all too happy to agree.
And now here Tsubasa was, in the “winner’s” store, when in truth the proprietor was about to become a very big loser: minus one magical artifact. Part of her wanted her to turn tail and head right back out the door, but this was her only chance, she realized. If she wanted Ryuji, then she would have to take Yoshida’s advice and find another way to make herself happy. And the only way to do that was to get her hands on the genderstone here in the store. She knew of no other real way to get one.
But…stealing was never right, and she could get in serious trouble for it, she argued with herself. She could embarrass her parents, mortify her friends…and Ryuji-kun? Forget it, he’d never date her then.
But I have to try, she reasoned.
Why not buy it? her conscience asked her.
Because she already knows I was interested in it, so she’ll charge me a fortune! Although Tsubasa was diligent about saving her allowance when she got it, she didn’t have the millions of yen lying in a bank account that she was sure Kappabashi would demand as the price. Or worse, if she knows what it’s for, she’ll tell my parents and then they’ll wonder why I need a genderstone! After all, the ultimate purpose of a genderstone was for compatibility between ponies and other species when desiring children. Even if that wasn’t Tsubasa’s intent, her parents were very protective of her and might wonder why their only daughter needed such a potentially dangerous item.
She shook her head, forcibly ignoring the voice in the back of her head even as that same voice screamed that every one of the dozens of reasons why this was incredibly wrong and not the path to take. And only one reason why to do so – one reason that outweighed all the others.
“Kappabashi-san!” Tsubasa called one more time, waiting patiently for an answer before going off into the back area. It was then that she chose to stride into the back area, hoping against hope that the old lady wasn’t there. She’d walked through half the shelves when she felt something rustle against her back. She yelped in fright, and it took every bit of her nerves to ensure that her flight instinct didn’t take over. Instead, she turned around to face what was looking at her.
A reedy man stood there, his face partially obscured by a strange beaked mask. He looked wan and emaciated, as if breathing on him would slap him in two. With his mask on, he could easily be a noppera-bō in disguise, if not something worse. But instead of looming over her or silently promising violence on her person, he merely stood there, as if a robot awaiting a command.
Tsubasa calmed down, but not by much. “Ah, eto…are you Kappabashi-san’s assistant?” The masked man merely nodded yes, once, then looked at her, awaiting her continuation. There was something about him that seemed unnatural, but then again, there seemed nothing really natural about this shop – and considering she was born on another world, that unnatural definition could extend to her as well. Finally, she said, “I’m from Versailles Café down the street. Kappabashi-san won our monthly drawing for a catered tea service. Since I know she’s elderly, we brought it to her. Is there a place I could put it down?”
The man pointed to a table just across from where he was standing. To Tsubasa’s confusion, she hadn’t noticed it until the moment he’d gestured towards it – almost as if it were conjured out of thin air. Magic. Fortunately, Tsubasa knew that to be impossible; humans didn’t have magic – it was one of the defining characteristics of her adoptive species and one of the reasons they were so technologically adroit.
She looked at the table, then said, “I’ll just set it over here. Will that be acceptable?” He nodded and she took off the pack, setting it on the table and unloaded its contents, a large container of tea and a bunch of cookies. She did quickly, then turned to ask the man something again…only to find that he’d disappeared.
Creepy.
But in any case, this was her chance. Bolting as fast as she could, she raced over to the far counter and grabbed the case holding the genderstone. She tossed it into the delivery box and was just strapping it to her back when Kappabashi-san came in. “I thought I told you not to come back here,” the elderly woman said without fanfare or hellos.
Tsubasa bowed deeply. “Ma’am, you’ve won our monthly drawing for a catered tea set. I dropped it off just a few minutes ago and your assistant asked me to place it here.”
Kappabashi was quiet for the longest time, just looking at Tsubasa, trying to discern truth – or perhaps something else – from the pegasus’ purple eyes. The two stood there like that for an uncomfortable time before that unnerving smile broke out onto the crone’s face. “He did, did he? Well, that’s very nice of you to do so, thank you very much.”
“Well, I gotta get going,” she said, her voice trilling from nervousness. “We hope to see you around the café soon!” With that, she bolted out of the store and immediately took to wing, nearly hitting two people as she unfurled them – it was extremely rude on her part, but a thief always fled the scene.
She rocketed down the street towards an office building that usually bought lots of coffee from the store – she did promise her parents she’d do the notification after all – and began her rounds; afterwards, she would have to get a hold of her friends and have them all meet at one of their houses so she could tell them all about her plan and get their help in pulling off the plan of her dreams, and Tsubasa could start wooing the heart of her beloved Ryuji-kun.
And hopefully by the time all of that went on, Kappabashi-san wouldn’t notice the item was missing.
It was evening when the theft was discovered. The old woman and her assistant stood in front of the empty shelf, the only marks on it being the dust-free area where the case had sat and a slightly cleaned section that looked like a duster had briefly been dragged across the surface. The “duster” was clear as to who had done it.
Kappabashi looked at her assistant; though he said nothing, his posture indicated that he was very sorry for what occurred. “That’s alright,” she said, patting him on the arm, “I hadn’t expected her to be so deceitful, either. A shame: I had really expected her to be better than her peers due to her nature and upbringing.”
The assistant looked at her, silent yet somehow communicating something. In reply, the old woman shook her head and gave him a smile. Normally that rictus would be seen as unnerving, but now there was something outright alien and inhuman about it. “There’s nothing to worry about. This will all sort itself in time. Unfortunately for her.”
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At this rate I'm going to need to create ANOTHER chart to keep track of the characters in the various side stories!mlponies.com/forums/images/smilies/gonkity.png
Loves does make people do crazy things.
As long as that ball isn't anything like gantz I think Tsubasa would be fine, hopefully.
The second "ー" is meant to be before the "ン"
Also, the better translation of Gender Stone would be something like 性別石 or 性石. Seibetsuseki or Seiseki.
Oh no, why do I get the sense of a bad problem in the future for our "horse-person"
Something about that phrase makes me laugh.
I can see this in a manga format.
This will end in glorious tears!
Just which peers is the old crone referring to?
And another thing. Just because 'Genderstone' = 'Amniomorphic Transferrence Stone' doesn't necessarily mean that 'Amniomorphic Transferrence Stone' == 'Genderstone'
I mean, a Genderstone could easily be one of several subtypes of Amniomorphic Transferrence Stone, right? what if its name is significant?
Japanese folk tales rarely if ever have happy endings.
1900914
Typo on my part; I'll fix that. But Genderstone is likely a loanword; if the Japanese were more familiar with it it'd likely be 妊娠石材 (Nishinseki, "pregnancy stone") or 相手石 (Aiteseki, "mating stone"). EDIT: But 嵌合 (Kangouseki, also "mating stone") probably sounds best.
1902510
You'll find out soon enough.
1902799
Oh, but nothing bad ever happens in these stories, right?
1902848
True, the Japanese are fond of load-words, especially those that aren't needed.
Heh. Mating Stone. I might try and write a fic that includes one of those. The two ponies who look at it are compelled to copulate, something like that.
Poor Tsubasa, she doesn't know what's she's getting into.
1909099
Some parents are like that. "Abstinence is the best policy, but be prepared." Also known as hypocrisy, the depth depending on how much you believe he's being pragmatic or wrong. I'm not saying it's right. I am, however, saying that's what some parents would do.
EDIT: I should also, quite frankly, say that if I was a parent (which I'm not), if put into the same situation, I would probably do that. Matt's teenage...um...hijinks are a reflection of my real-life idiocies and stupidities and things I now regret. If I my father had been a bit more forthcoming (as Ayne's did with her - and thus Anna's did in the story), I wouldn't have the reaction of "be faithful but back things up", which is why I had Anna as the reflection of "you shouldn't mention the temptation."
As a Catholic and Christian, you are supposed to be more faithful and remain abstinent. But teenage wild oats and faith don't always mesh together as well as they should. Yes, I'd be a hypocrite and rightly so. But better that than a pregnant teenage daughter (or a potential one, as Matt fears.) Anna, in this case, is the stronger one.
Tsubasa is no monster!
1911561
what makes you think the title does (or does not
) refer to her?
1911570 Just a guess.
And, one question. You have Tsubasa referring to DJ as DJ-sempai. Would -san be the better honorific there? I've normally seen -sempai used to address a senior within an organization, like a junior to senior student or club member, or junior to senior worker. Tsubasa and DJ aren't a member of any shared group, save for the "ponies raised on Earth" group, and they're pretty far apart in age (20 years?).
1911622
She considers DJ a mentor so sempai applies. Although someone mentioned that considering DJ's the only other pony Tsubasa knows, she'd probably be referred to as DJ-(o)nesan/sama because she states that DJ is like a cool big sister.
In my mind i see your histories like a strange fusion of mlp graphics and borderland graphics (the way i imagine things i mean), this chapter was played in the most completely over the top shoujo anime fanfare, and i loved it. I just could not stop laughing whenever i pictured it, also....engrish.....damn i almost died there.
That ball isn't actually a genderstone, is it.
I would sense great tragedy in the near future, if not for the fact that this arc has 5 more chapters left.