Rainbow Dash sat on the 10 o’clock bus, with her hands in her lap, and a shapeless bag stuffed under the seat at her feet. She hated taking the bus, but getting her driver’s permit meant getting her dad to agree to it, and seriously, forget that guy. Might as well try to squeeze tears out of a stone if it didn’t involve kicking a ball.
She stared idly forward, as the noisy vehicle roared and rumbled around her. Maybe Rainbow wouldn’t have to... ride this bus, anymore. Was she ever gonna be able to drive, though? She really hadn’t thought about driving at all until today, but now she might never be able to do it.
Everyone on the bus kept staring at her, but Rainbow Dash wasn’t trying to hide it. It wasn’t secret anymore, or anything, so why should she cover it up? “There a problem?” she asked the guy across from her, who was staring the most dumbfoundedly.
He didn’t answer, other than to stutter and quickly look in the other direction, not that Rainbow Dash expected much different. It was the bus, after all. Nobody hung out on the bus, right? Though now that she thought about it, she couldn’t imagine why. Nevertheless, after she told off that guy, nobody was gonna do anything now but stare, especially considering what Rainbow Dash had going right now.
A lot of thoughts were drifting through her head, stuff she hadn’t had to worry about, and just random stuff that kept popping up. She knew where to go, and sort of knew what to do, so what was the problem? It wasn’t anything special, it was just... losing some things she didn’t even use, and gaining others, that she could actually use. Just sort of swapping parts out, just with her own... body. She couldn’t do anything about it, and plenty of people were already going through it, so why was she so scared? She was gonna get what she wanted... right?
It was not a good mindset to be in when you’re stuck taking the bus. While it trundles slowly, along however fast the driver wants to go, all you can do is sit there with your duffel bag stuffed with everything you could grab from home, and only your thoughts to keep you company. Was she going to have to go back? What would Dad think of her? Would he even care? Did she even care if he would care?
Patrons got on and off, but mostly off the bus, until finally Rainbow Dash was the only one on it. They weren’t avoiding her or anything, just that her destination was the end of the line. She stepped off the bus platform, not feeling any sort of weirdness yet, but boy oh boy was it gonna be weird when it got weird. She looked at an outstretched hand, trying to imagine it... different. How would that even look? How would it feel? Would it feel like an arm still? Or would it feel like a leg, and her arms would be her....
Rainbow Dash felt a lance of fear in her heart, and shouldered her duffel bag across her back. She just started jogging from that point. Not much point in trying to get anyone to come out to the entrance to the ranch on such a nice day, while Rainbow Dash still had the ability to jog. Spring was in full bloom around her, the meadow clearings dotted with flowers, flashes of color amid the green. The bushes, and even the trees were blooming. Last of the snow had melted a while ago, and no more had fallen, so it was definitely past the point of winter. The sun was warm overhead, the air was cool and fresh, and Rainbow Dash just really loved running.
Just under a half hour later, she saw the big red farm house down the road she was running on. Her blood was flowing, and her legs were pumping, and she felt pretty good like this. Only problem was when got close, she had to slow down and think again. The house she jogged up to was a much different place than it usually was. There were tents, a station for medical personnel, even a bunch of port-a-pottys off to the side. Bunch of portables had been trucked in, set up in a nearby pasture. And besides that, there were ponies everywhere.
There were ponies clumsily stumbling around, ponies capably trotting around, ponies laying on the ground and staring upward at the clouds, ponies of all colors, shapes and sizes. Dash didn’t see any of the winged ponies flying, but well, why should she? Pegasi were already super rare, or something. Plus none of them hardly knew how to fly, at least not outside of Scootaloo, and also that little white one who Scootaloo was showing the ropes. Dash wasn’t sure on the specifics of it.
Was Rainbow Dash going to have to get Scootaloo to give her lessons? Was that even possible? Could she convince the poor kid to do that? Dash didn’t know. She didn’t know much of anything anymore. But one thing she knew, as fear flared in her chest again, Rainbow Dash had to know. For sure.
“Hey, Sunset!” she called out, leaning in through the open front door of the Apple household, looking around the living room at (you guessed it) more ponies. “You in here, Sunset?” Rainbow asked, trying to sound confidant about it, but with an unavoidable creeping quaver in her voice.
“You mean the girl with the red and yellow hair?” a little round grey pony asked her.
Rainbow Dash nodded and said, “Yeah, about my age? Thinks she’s an alien pony unicorn?”
“Try her porthable,” another one suggested, and that seemed reasonable enough. Rainbow hardly paused to say hi to anyone. No one she knew would be in right now, considering it was a school day. But unlike Applejack, Rainbow Dash felt that she had a pretty good excuse for playing hookey. She turned right around from the door to the Apple family’s house, and jogged over to the dumpy looking portables, looking around for something sciency. Sunset’s laboratory was pretty obvious. It had all these radio antennas on the top, very sciency stuff. Plus you could see Sunset Shimmer standing there, in the window.
“Hey, Sunset!” Rainbow repeated, pressing her face to the window to be heard better.
Sunset saw her, and jogged over to the door, opening it up, with a look of surprise asking, “Rainbow Dash? What are... oh.” And there went the look of surprise.
“Yeah it’s... happening to me too, I guess,” Rainbow said looking aside awkwardly, trying not to blush as the girl no doubt noticed Dash’s ears. “But that’s okay, I’m here and all, I just really need to know something.”
“Something about... being a pony?” Sunset prompted without comprehension.
“Yeah, sorta... it’s just something I’m pretty sure I know, but not pretty sure pretty sure. Like I mean it’s totally obvious, but maybe it’s not entirely obvious and I sort of just wanted to make sure, for... sure,” Rainbow summarized eloquently.
“Well, what do you want to know?” Sunset asked in her annoyed voice.
Rainbow told her.
“Oh, well... it’s pretty obvious, right?” Sunset said, to Rainbow Dash’s great relief.
“Yeah, it’s just you said you knew that sort of thing, so I wanted to make sure,” Rainbow Dash replied with a relieved smile.
Sunset shook her head at that though, saying, “Oh, no, it’s not me. I hardly recognize anybody in the human world here. Besides Princess Celestia, most people are from Manehattan, Trottingham, and mostly Ponyville, and any I would know would be a whole lot older than I remember. You need to talk to Twilight Sparkle. She’s the one who lived in Ponyville recently, and knows all sorts of ponies over there... over here.”
“Oh, so it’s a... other world her thing, not just some magic thing, then?” Rainbow asked.
Sunset took a moment to process that, but nodded, responding, “Twilight’s the one you want to talk to, though she’s currently busy trying to determine... a-an issue.”
“Okay, but it’s kind of important,” Rainbow Dash said impatiently. “I’m kind of freaking out here. I mean, if I’m not, then I can sort of be okay with that I guess but it’s just really something I need to know! Are you sure none of your... loop things gave you any idea about it?”
“Actually there was Twilight’s first loop,” Sunset said, raising a thoughtful finger to her temple. “You did adopt certain pony features, but I don’t know if that was something to do with the Elements of Harmony or something else.”
“Fine, well... I want to ask her anyway!” Rainbow insisted. “Where is she?”
“She’s at... the library,” Sunset replied noncommitally.
Rainbow facepalmed. “Does she have a phone?” she asked hopefully.
“Oh! Yes, actually,” Sunset said, standing up and hurrying across the room, “Hold on while I go find what her number is.”
Sunset Shimmer found the number for the phone, that apparantly some thoughtful person had supplied Twilight Sparkle with, so that needy people like Rainbow Dash could ask her questions from anywhere in the world. Rainbow dialed it up, and let it ring... and ring... and pick up the answering machine.
“Pick up your phone, Twilight!” Dash told it, hanging up and calling again. And then again. And one more time for good measure—Twilight picked up.
“Stop making noise, you infernal... oh it stopped,” Twilight’s voice came through.
“Twilight!” Rainbow announced, “You gotta help me!”
“Oh, it picked up?” Twilight responded. “Rainbow Dash, is that you?”
“Yeah, I just need to know something I forgot to ask you,” Rainbow replied, holding the phone to the side of her... to the top of her... just holding it in front of her and shouting at it.
“What is it I can help you with?” Twilight’s pleasant answer chirped through.
“You know the other me, right?” Rainbow Dash asked. “The one who lives in Ponyvale or whatever?”
“Ponyville, and yes, she’s one of my best friends,” the girl stated over the phone.
“Great, great, and you said that I’m gonna turn into her?” Rainbow replied. “I mean, every person over here gets turned into the same pony as over there?”
“You are not going to turn into her!” Twilight stated hastily, “I have good evidence that there is a third factor involved that does not involve any sort of mind wipes or history rewriting. I’m still trying to put together a good case to announce publically, but you are not going to forget who you are!”
“What?” Rainbow said in confusion. “Look, I know that all the ponies remember who they are. Everyone knows that. I just want to know if I’m going to be her. Like, physically. You know, instead of some other... kind of pony.”
There was a frighteningly long pause on the phone, but a faint noise could be heard on it, and when Rainbow brought it closer to her ear, she could definitely hear the sound of Twilight Sparkle laughing on the other end.
Glowering at the phone, Rainbow had to wait, staring at it until Twilight became audible again, breathlessly saying, “Okay, okay...”
“Well?” Dash demanded.
“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight’s voice came across the phone confidently, “There is no force in the universe cruel enough to make you any pony other than a pegasus. You are quite possibly the epitome of what makes a pegasus a pegasus. There is no pony I know more pegasus-like than you, in this world, or in any world. If there were a world where we were all deer instead of ponies, I’m sure you would still be the flying one.”
“So my other me is a pegasus, then?” Rainbow said hopefully.
Twilight replied seriously, and definitively, “You are going to be a pegasus, Rainbow Dash. You are going to have wings. Use them wisely.”
Twilight sighed and hung up the phone. It didn’t seem like Rainbow Dash was going to stop squealing any time soon. It was that sort of situation for the rainbow haired girl right now, where you’re trying to make words, but you’re so excited that you can’t get your vocal cords to work right.
Twilight just had to smile at that. Same old Rainbow Dash. Even if it wasn’t, it still was. If Twilight ever made it back to Equestria, she resolved to never get involved with parallel universes again. Too much was hauntingly familiar, but at the same time dangerously alien. She was tired of making assumptions about ponies... people who were so much like her friends, when those assumptions just didn’t quite fit at just the wrong time.
Still, it was pretty clear that Rainbow Dash continued to love flying.
Twilight Sparkle replaced the square communicator back into her pocket, satisfied with herself for having figured out how to answer an incoming transmission so quickly. Then she returned to her reading material with a heavy sigh, reading out loud and grumbling to herself.
“This popular supplement among post-menopausal women was refined from mare urine and combined with... ugh I hate the passive voice. These articles have absolutely no information on the process or chemistry behind it. How am I supposed to tell if it’s another dead end, if humans won’t even tell anypony how their medicines work?”
Scootaloo sighed as she sat on the 4 o’clock bus. Sure she could have got a ride from Rarity like usual these days, but Scootaloo just wanted some time to herself, after a whole day of just getting drilled with school stuff she couldn’t care less about. The wind ruffled her hair, as the bus rumbled smoothly underneath her. She was pretty inconspicuous like this. They wouldn’t even have noticed the addition of a small orange pegasus on the bus, looking to get a break from winging it everywhere.
They were going down the highway at a steady forty mile per hour clip, which was another thing Scootaloo could do now, though she had to see a speedometer at first to figure out the exact numbers behind it. Safe? No. But fun? Heck yeah. With wind like this sliding over her, Scootaloo could catch instant air if she wanted. Actually that did kind of make it safer. Heck this bus could go off a cliff and everyone in it would get squashed, and Scootaloo would just... fly away from it.
Not that there were any cliffs around here. The hilliest part of town was over by Apple Bloom’s farm, and even that was just hilly. There were buildings in the city though, and some tall apartment complexes, and it was kind of like a cliff when Scootaloo took to standing on those, like a furry orange little gargoyle. She hadn’t gone up there much lately though, because it just wasn’t as exciting when you could flap off right into the air if you fell. It was kind of like being close to the ground all the time.
Still, it was fun enough. And Scootaloo wasn’t... too bored, here atop this commuter bus. It was just really, really, really... safe to be a pegasus. The sun peeking out through the clouds felt really nice on her wings. She couldn’t feel anything underneath her hoodie though, besides sweaty. Probably time to wash this thing again. With how days had been getting warmer, Scootaloo was not looking forward to having to wear clothes over the summer. She loved this thing, and how it let her wings come out, but she honestly couldn’t wait to get it off.
Someone else actually got off the bus when they arrived, but it was just one of the people living at one of the nearby farms, not any sort of half pony. Nobody in their right mind would go ride the bus if they were changing into a pony; they wouldn’t have the guts! And Scootaloo kind of didn’t blame them, but she also kind of thought it was silly, especially now when nobody had anything to hide. Scootaloo was all the way a pony, and she’d gone to school and learned... something. And she was even able to get herself all the way home still, even if her home was way out in the boonies on Apple Bloom’s farm now. So there shouldn’t have been any problem for someone half changed into a pony to ride on the bus.
But Scootaloo could understand not wanting to be stared at.
Having arrived at her stop, Scootaloo hopped off the bus and fluttered to the ground. Neither the occupants, nor the single orange-headed man walking down the other road saw her, which was probably good since technically you weren’t supposed to ride on top of the bus. Doing that sure beat sitting on those bus seats, with all those silly people who couldn’t stop staring at her in fear. Scootaloo understood that they didn’t want to be ponies, but she still wished they didn’t have to be so serious about it all the time.
Once a few paces down the Apple family’s driveway, Scootaloo paused on the road to step on her hoodie and wiggle out of it. Then, taking it in her teeth, she hurled it behind to drape over her thick neck. She held a sleeve in her forehooves as she used her mouth to pull the other sleeve into a crude knot under her chin. The hoodie still fell across her back and on the little bags she had strapped to either side of her under her wings with her school supplies in there, but it let her skin breathe a bit better like this. Facing forward, Scootaloo picked up the pace from a steady trot to a gallop.
Scootaloo could go really fast even just running on the ground, and that was kind of awesome. Her wings twitched, but she didn’t want to take off with them just yet. Too busy enjoying the pounding run down the crumbly dirt road, her tail flagging behind her like a banner. Her legs were small and short, but they still pumped powerfully underneath her, and propelled her forward at a good clip. Feeling the wind in her hair again and smiling despite herself, Scootaloo just really loved running.
It wasn’t long before she reached the house and... the complex that was starting to go up around it. There was some talk about setting up a second one of these pony recovery places at the fairgrounds downtown, which would be a lot more convenient for people to get to, not to mention it was getting pretty crowded here. Scootaloo wasn’t so involved with pony stuff anymore though. She had honestly only heard about that by proxy; Twilight and Sunset, Granny and officer Linky were mostly the ones organizing this thing. Scootaloo and her friends were all too busy with school to even participate.
It was frustrating, because Scootaloo was pretty sure all that time she spent at school was pointless, as for instance she couldn’t even remember what they studied today. But when it was so important to people that Scootaloo attend it, she just couldn’t say no to attending it, and at least trying to do good. It did seem like Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were getting a little more sympathetic to Scootaloo’s plight, now that they were foals too. It probably helped how much Scootaloo sort of confessed to them about her learning problems, and head problems, and stuff.
It couldn’t have been more than ten or fifteen minutes, for Scootaloo to get from the entrance gate, all the way to the farmhouse. Rarity wasn’t here yet of course, because she and Sweetie went for afternoon makeovers, another reason Scootaloo wanted to take the bus home. That namby pamby prissy primping, Sweetie seemed to like well enough, though she was kind of tough in her own way. Sweetie Belle was delighted that her hair was still... stylable as a pony, almost as much as her sister. But for Scootaloo, you just couldn’t beat a windblown hairdo, because that’s what she liked: the wind in her face, and exciting things happening around her.
Scootaloo saw no signs of Sweetie Belle, though she did see the green truck parked, and that meant Granny Smith, Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom were here.
Sticking her head in the door to the farm house, Scootaloo called out loudly, “Hey, anyone know where Apple Bloom is?” Some of the ponies there looked like they were going to answer, but not as quickly as a rainbow haired head shot up from the couch, shouted, “Scoohaloo!” and then its bearer ran over to her, immediately tripping over at least three ponies, going down in a “Woah! Woah sh–oopsh ack waouh—uff!”
“Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo said, trotting quickly over to the fallen girl, who was helping the disgruntled ponies out from under her and sitting up on the floor there. “What are you doing here? It’s a Tuesday!”
Scootaloo answered her own question in the next half second as Scootaloo realized that with the ears, and the nose, and the blotchy patches of sky blue fur growing all over her body, that Rainbow Dash was turning into a pony! Open mouthed, Scootaloo’s rear thumped onto the ground of its own accord. The corners of her mouth twitched but she just never thought this day was going to come. No way it would get Rainbow Dash! This was a bad thing, right?
Well, see, the big issue with that was this giant unconquerable grin that Rainbow Dash sported on her new pony muzzle.
“Scooaloo!” Dash repeated excitedly, “Scoo’loo you’re no’ gonna believe zhis! No wai, you are gonna believe zhis, becauzhe it’s sho obvious, but Twiright say I’m gonna be a pegashus!”
“Wow! That... is really obvious,” Scootaloo said in whatever the opposite of astonishment was, that was still astonishment somehow. “B-but why tell me?”
“Becauze you’re a pegashus, sho you know jus’ how it feels!” Dash said practically hopping in place as she climbed to her feet, “You can freaking fly Scoohalloo!”
“Heh... well, um...” Scootaloo blushed and had to admit that yeah, she sure could fly.
“Thishis gonna be sho awezhome!” Rainbow chirped excitedly. “I’m gonna lear’ howwa fly and I’m gonna go toush the cloush! Be’ I coul’ get all the way across the counzhry in no time flad! You know how fas’ birz fly? Twili said pegashi are really fas!”
Yeah... this was kind of... weird. Scootaloo was really really glad that Rainbow Dash was here now, and together with Scootaloo in this thing. She was glad that Rainbow Dash was so happy. But wasn’t this a little... too happy? “It’s not all good though,” Scootaloo said in confusion. “Aren’t you worried about losing your hands?”
Rainbow Dash scoffed, and said behind her weird looking hand thing, “For wha? Wriding eshays? C’mon Scoodz, my biggesh shkill iz kicking a barll aroun’. Wish my feet.”
She made a show of kicking her legs under her, with another two or three ponies getting out of her way again, with very annoyed looks on their faces.
“W-well they won’t let you play football,” Scootaloo said, desperate to make Rainbow Dash less annoyingly cheerful about the situation. She had to be upset about something. “Because you’d have an unfair advantage!”
“So wha’?” Rainbow said with a challenging look in her eyes, “I’ll make up my own shportz. Pegashus sportzh! Like, shkyball or quiddish or something!”
“...quiddish?” Scootaloo asked uncertainly.
“Eh, obshcure referenze,” Dash said offhandedly. “Point iz tha’ flying addz a whole new dimenzhion to any game you play! Up!”
“Wow, you’re serious?” Scootaloo said, as the possibilities started hitting her about that. “You’re gonna make a whole new game all on your own, just for pegasi?”
“Nah, nah, we can’ shink shmall like that,” Rainbow Dash insisted getting up close to Scootaloo to talk with her conspiratorially. “We coul’ have like, earsh pony goaliez. An’ unicornsh... something. Maybe they coul’ fly wifh magic!”
Scootaloo laughed at the thought of it, Sweetie Belle or one of those others just magically floating up into the sky. But something occurred to her then, and she gave Dash a wry look, saying, “Come on Dash, what would be the point of being a pegasus then, if unicorns could fly?”
Rainbow Dash was stumped about that for a second, but then she folded her arms and said confidently, “Becaush maybe a unicorn can fly, but pegashi live for flying.”
Scootaloo’s smile faltered a bit, and she replied, “Y-yeah, you’re probably right there.”
Rainbow Dash was infectiously cheerful, and Scootaloo just couldn’t fault her for it. When her wings started to come in, Dash was like a kid in a candy shop, trying to get them to move, and trying to get her tail to move, and stuff. Rainbow Dash’s tail was getting really pretty too. The solid stripes of color in her head hair extended down there too, and it really did make her look like a rainbow.
Scootaloo thought she figured out what was bothering her by that evening, when Rainbow Dash had finally run out of energy enough to collapse in one of the beds they had downstairs for people or... half people to sleep in. Scootaloo stayed down there that night, just in case Dash needed—uh, well, Rainbow Dash was being amazing about this and clearly didn’t need anyone to help her through it, but... Scootaloo stood by the bed of her exhausted hero that night for quite a while, before climbing up onto its surface. Rainbow Dash was smaller than she had been before, but not that much smaller. Her legs had grown shorter and thicker, and her torso had grown longer. She was still pretty huge by Scootaloo’s reckoning, but... not as huge.
“Hey Shoosh,” Rainbow Dash said tiredly when Scootaloo jumped up next to her. “Whassup?”
“N’much,” Scootaloo lied casually, lowering to her belly there beside the not-quite-pony. “Lots of people here really don’t want to be ponies,” she said. She tightened her muzzle and then added, “I didn’t want to be a pony.”
“Washisha...” Rainbow said, sitting up a little bit more as she looked to Scootaloo with genuine concern. Then crossed her eyes at her own tongue. “Shorry can’ talk sho hwell,” she said in a surprisingly humorless tone.
“Yeah, that takes a while to get used to,” Scootaloo admitted. “Don’t worry though, I just wanted to tell you um... about the other ponies.
“Some of them were really upset and c-crying when they turned into ponies,” Scootaloo stated, “So it’s really hard on them. You’re being so... awesome about this, I think some ponies might feel like you’re better than them, and you don’t care if they’re upset, because you’re happy and that’s all that—sorry.”
“Shokay, Schoohs,” Rainbow said understandingly. “Mayfe I am phu—laying i’ on a bi’ zhick.”
“I just think you could tone it down a little,” Scootaloo said, glad the darkness hid her blush, “For those other ponies, I mean. I mean, you’re like some kind of hero! I think it’s awesome that you’re so cool about this. I wish I could be half as brave as—as you.”
“Y’know, wasz prehhy shcared at firs’” Rainbow said evenly to Scootaloo. “Didn’ know I be a pegasush, an’ Twi shaid I wasz. I go’ sho egshited a’ thaht. Bud uh... maybe no’ sho great affer all.
Pink eyes wide in the cool blue night, holding up one of her new bony, slim appendages, Rainbow Dash said, “Can’ thalk, can’ hwalk anymore, an’ my wingsh don’ have fezzers. No fezzers, Schooahloo! I can’. Fly,” Rainbow Dash emphasized.
Rainbow then pulled back and frowned, pausing to correct herself, “I mean to say can’. No’ wai’ I mean. Opposhi’ of can.”
“Yeah, I... I get it,” Scootaloo replied with a little smile.
“Sho I’m shtill kinna shcared affer all,” Rainbow confessed in the night. “F’you tell anyone I’ll deny i’ bu’ I’m fugging herrified! I can’ even move. Got sho much to catch up. Wha’ if I’mma ba’ flyer? Ozzer Rainbow Dash bee flying her whole life.”
“What? But... I mean yeah, but... you’re gonna be awesome too, and I bet she doesn’t know anything about football!” Scootaloo said, not ready to defend her hero against... her hero? “But you don’t act scared at all!” she blurted out.
“Shwa’sha hero’sh all about,” Dash said with a yawn. “Ac’ing brave when you’re schared.”
“Oh, yeah I... guess so,” Scootaloo said with an uncertain smile that cracked open with a yawn herself.
Rainbow yawned even more dramatically, and just let her eyes drift closed. And Scootaloo was still... still up here with her on Rainbow Dash’s sleeping cot. Did Scootaloo have to get down? Or could she stay with her? Rainbow Dash was just pretending not to be scared? Her? And did Scootaloo have to leave, or could she just sort of...?
Scootaloo inched closer to the drowsing form of Rainbow Dash, and instead of kicking her off the bed or calling her lame, Rainbow just reached what was almost a hoof over, and laid it against the small of Scootaloo’s back. And so together, they drifted off into the
Apple Bloom snorted awake as Scootaloo jumped up on the bed and crawled under the covers beside her. Apple Bloom looked to her friend with worry, as Scootaloo turned away from her and curled up, grumbling, “You would not believe how much Rainbow Dash snores.”
Even the next day, it kept bugging Scootaloo, though. She was sitting in class alone, surrounded by students all working on their own thing, and just started thinking. Rainbow Dash would wake up today as a pegasus, and she wouldn’t be able to fly yet, but she sure would be flying pretty soon. It wasn’t that Dash was too confident, or too pleased about the whole thing. That didn’t bother Scootaloo so much, and Rainbow really did tone it down a bit after Scootaloo asked about it.
Rainbow Dash was the... would be the best pegasus ever. It was the perfect fit for her. If she changed into a pegasus pony, she’d be able to fly on her own power, and she wouldn’t have to keep nagging Scootaloo to do it. That... really was the problem there. Scootaloo loved making Rainbow Dash’s day, she really did, but it didn’t feel like she was losing anything, for Dash to take over on her own. Because that would mean that Scootaloo didn’t have to...
...fly.
Elias Doolots sat there uncertain about what she could possibly do here. She was sitting on a lab bench, in front of an electrophoresis chamber, a spectrometer, and some other familiar things. Gone was the ranch that saved her sanity, so to speak, but back in her normal occupation, it was really obvious how different she was now. Everything and everyone was huge. The horn on her head might not work for years, and what was once five slender blue digits had been reduced to only one. Four, if you counted all her limbs.
“Doing alright there, kiddo?” came a rough baritone. He called her kiddo, but he did that even when she wasn’t a kiddo, even when she wasn’t a she. She turned far too easily to face behind herself and said to the balding magenta man, walking up in plain brown slacks and a pocket shirt,
“Hey Uncle Star,” she said, looking back to her apparatus, “I can’t figure how to swab my mouth. I got everything else ready, but...”
“Say no more,” he said, reaching a hand for the swabs that still flummoxed Eli.
“I still want to do it myself,” she blurted hastily, making his hand hesitate. “But you can um... help a little.”
It was an amazing opportunity that Elias’s uncle, Dr. Amethyst Star, let Elias intern in his laboratory for post graduate studies. Amazing, until she turned into a pony at least. This return to the lab for testing had been her uncle’s idea, for the most part. A way to cheer her up? Feeling sorry for her? Well, either way, he said she was a valuable member of the team no matter how many fingers she had, and he needed her help to perform this analysis.
She had to admit, at least he needed her body.
“Alrighty then, open your mouth,” he said, and swiftly swabbed the inside of it. One experimental procedure later, and they were both puzzled by the results.
“I guess we’re still related?” Elias said in confusion, in a sweet lilt that she had become mostly accustomed to.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” her uncle replied. “Your DNA had to change.”
“I know!” Elias replied. “The pony metabolism is so different! Humans can only metabolize fructose in the hepatocytes. I could practically absorb the stuff by swimming in it! There’s so many genes devoted to things like height, and fingers, and and...”
“Not to mention you have a horn!” her uncle said.
“And I have a horn!” she agreed, wide eyed. “And... and a... X chromosome...” She blushed, looking down at the table.
“Aw, kiddo, don’t—”
“No, it’s,” Elias gulped, “It’s fine. It’s just something in these results should have been different. Peachy’s DNA was further away than yours!”
“What I wouldn’t give to have a measurement of your DNA before you turned into a pony,” Dr. Star said, shaking his head sadly.
Elias looked at the results for another moment, before brightening. “But,” she said, “We could have yours measured, right now!”
“Yes, but I’m not a” he said distractedly, then looked up, blinking. “Oh, hey, I could turn into a pony, couldn’t I?”
“We could be prepared this time!” Elias squeed, standing up and stepping around on the lab bench they sat at, “We could have instruments and tests and all sorts of readings beforehand!”
Her uncle folded his arms saying, “Not quite as excited about it as you, I’m afraid. They say you have a 50/50 chance of turning into a mare.”
“It’s not all that bad,” Elias whined. “Anyway, I’m sure you’d end up male. I can’t even imagine you as a mare. You wouldn’t know what to do with yourself! Do you think you’ll be a foal?”
“Maybe I should send out to that mail order thing,” he replied noncommitally. “See if they know? But uh...” he tousled the blue unicorn short purple mane, “It’d be a shame, since I was getting used to being the bigger one here.”
Her heart reaching out to him, Elias rubbed her cheek on her uncle’s shoulder and said, “Well, whatever it is, I’ll be with you the whole way.”
Rainbow Dash woke up, a pony. She was all alone when she awoke, in a strange bed, in a strange house. She knew what happened quickly enough though, because with the dawn filtering in through the window, it was clear that there were other ponies sleeping in here.
Other ponies.
Rainbow Dash hadn’t even fallen asleep with a blanket on. She remembered falling asleep with some... pony, but they weren’t there anymore. What was there was a sleek blue body covered in blue fur, with her legs all bunched up in a pair of spandex shorts, weird freaky chicken wing looking things alongside it, and a t-shirt that was uncomfortably bunched up around her neck right now.
“Um...” she murmured, lifting a hand to pull at the shirt and—wow, did that feel different! She lifted her smooth hoof, stared at it in fascination. Was this really happening? This was gonna be a thing? Hooves at the end of her arms? They kinda felt like... toes.
Well, her “toes” weren’t very good at grasping things, so despite how Rainbow Dash hooked them under the shirt and tried pulling it off her head, she had no luck. “Hnnngh!” she declared, but to no avail. Why didn’t she take this shirt off last night, like she should’ve? It’s not like she had anything to hide at the time!
Oh as a matter of fact, that reminded her... curling forward, Rainbow felt with a weird curly hoof, to confirm that she was more flat chested than she’d ever been. Her chest was just a chest, and her tits were... still pretty small, there down at the bottom of her round, blue, furry belly.
“Weww, thas’ kinna freag—oh,” Rainbow Dash started to say, then remembered about how ponies have a hard time with the talking thing.
“Ship,” she swore despondently, flopping her head back on the inflatable mattress that she’d woken up upon.
Her dolor was short lived though, because she wanted to get up and running ASAP! Rainbow sat up again... sorta, and the shirt was really constricting around her neck! How was she supposed to get this thing off?
“Uh... little helf?” she asked in as loud a tone as she dared, but nopony around her stirred. Actually there weren’t many ponies sleeping near her at all. They stayed a good distance away for some reason. Of the ones nearby, they were sleeping with their pillows over their heads. Weird. Well, it gave Rainbow Dash enough room to get off this bed and stand—woah—try and stand up.
As Rainbow Dash struggled to get to her hooves, it started to dawn on her just how much trouble this was going to be. She’d never been like... this before. Her wings were featherless, and her legs didn’t move the way she expected them to. And standing on her hooves felt more like stilts than feet! She wobbled on her toes, and then just sank to her belly, heart beating fast as she told herself, “Okay... thish ish fine.” Her expression of fear didn’t really support that idea, though.
She ended up just sitting there until other ponies started to wake up, and someone noticed her. “Oh hey, you’re new here, aren’ you?” said a green mare with a pink mane, strutting up to Rainbow Dash with a pragmatic cheer in her voice, and only a slight slur. “You shoulda shlept with the ozther newbies. They’re heading out to do shome walking practice, if you want to join them.”
“Shure... ishm...” Rainbow Dash frowned, at least that she could do. How was she gonna talk to people, if she couldn’t talk?
“Don’t worry about shpeaking, jus’ follow me,” the mare said, turning her back and swishing her tail agreeably. Wait, agreeably? Well, she swished it, somehow.
After a few paces, she looked back and trotted up to Rainbow Dash. “You can stand up, can’t you?” she asked.
Rainbow wanted to protest that she could do a million things more better than every other pony, but not even she was buying that one. Instead, she looked with watery eyes at the lady pony, saying miserably, “My clorthes’re shtuck.”
“Oh uh... here, lemme help,” the pony said with a worried expression, walking around beside Rainbow Dash and—holy crap she was gonna bite her!
Rainbow Dash jerked away from the pony’s seeking teeth, and the green pony stopped, saying in a miffed tone, “Hold shtill, I need to get your shorts off!”
“Wh— y—” Dash couldn’t have found words to say even if she could speak, so she just had to sit there weirded out as all heck, while the green pony took off her shorts, with her teeth! Rainbow Dash would normally be all in for the idea of another girl removing your pants with her teeth, but she hardly knew this one! This was a pony anyway, and... and a pony who didn’t have anything but teeth to pull with, so that made it feel less... special?
Anyway, Rainbow Dash got a rear hoof loose, and then another hoof, and then as her shorts came loose, she saw it. It was bright, and bold, and... uncanny. The patch Dash had been wearing on her t-shirt had somehow gotten stuck onto her butt. It was a cool mark and all, a tri-colored lightning bolt leaping out from a puffy white cloud, but she was looking at it on a horse’s butt now, not on a teenager’s t-shirt. Did it rub off, or something? Rainbow Dash’s t-shirt was stuck way up on her upper body though. Her shorts didn’t have any symbols on them!
The green pony tilted her head at the pitiful looking Dash, still tangled up in that t-shirt, and said, “Hol’ on, I’ll go get someone with handsh.” She wasn’t gone long, and a redheaded police officer followed along behind her, the pale yellow lady trying not to laugh as she saw Rainbow Dash stuck there. “Yeah, people forget to take their restrictive clothes off sometimes,” she said matter-of-factly, holding up a pair of scissors. “This is the easiest way to get it off, I’m afraid.”
Rainbow looked down at her shirt and frowned, and then rolled onto her belly again, saying, “Cu’ ih on my bagck...back,” she said carefully, “Wanna shave zhe pash.” Not sure she was understood, at least the part Rainbow Dash wanted to save was protected under her. She just closed her eyes then, and waited for the inevitable, the other woman’s capable hands lifting up the tight fabric of her t-shirt, and its abrupt loosening in little snip snips of cloth shears.
Dash sucked in a breath as it came loose, her shoulders getting all unkinked from where her arms had been being squished together. She stared at the ruined shirt mournfully, then tried pushing herself up on her front legs. Her toes planted on the bed, like she was pointing her fingers at it, but more solidly, and supportive. The policewoman helped Dash slide the shirt sleeves down her really weirdly thick arms, and then off her body entirely.
“Wai’” Dash said before the cop could take her ruined shirt away entirely. “Lemme shee zhat.”
The policewoman couldn’t exactly hand the shirt to Dash, so she just... draped it over Rainbow Dash’s side. Rainbow half sat up, using a hoof... finger thing, to slide the shirt around so that its design lined up with the mark on her hip. And wait... wasn’t this the other hip now? Did Rainbow Dash have a mark on both of her hips? It was just like her t-shirt, but made out of fur.
“Oh, that,” the green pony from earlier said looking with interest at what Dash was doing. “Don’t worry, itsshome weird pony thing,” she said amiably. “Ponies who aren’ the little kid ponies get those marksh. They didn’ say there was any reason for it, jusht that it sort of... randomly picks it from what sort of clothing you like to wear. Look, see?”
Sure enough, this pretty green pony had a bright yellow star on her rear end.
Well... that was kind of weird. But it made as much sense as anything else. Ponies had patch butts?
“Shoulda worn m’ firebhall theeshirt,” Rainbow remarked, dazedly.
“You have a fireball t-shirt?” the pony asked excitedly.
Dash looked at her and asked skeptically, “Ca’ hyou rearrly unherstan’ me?”
The pony’s smile got a little strained, and she said, “Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of talking again, jus’ go find the hnewbies. Newbies.”
Rainbow Dash tilted her head up and down at that. She supposed it counted as nodding. Free of her clothing, she was... actually, totally naked. That pony had even got her underwear! So totally naked, and free of her clothing, Rainbow Dash tried to walk like a pony.
Dash tried not to panic when she couldn’t even get one foot in front of the other at first. The green pony who saw she’d woken up was happy to let Dash lean a... hoof on her... shoulder blades or something, which got Rainbow Dash outside at least. Rainbow Dash had to just... balance on her... toe things, trying not to freak out about how this felt, and how bent over she was, and how bent over she wasn’t because her pony body just moved in different ways. Didn’t Scootaloo say something about sitting like a rabbit?
At the door, Rainbow decided to sit back on her haunches, bouncing a few times testily. Her legs folded naturally underneath her as she sat back, to push her heels to the ground, but her feet felt sort of... sideways for some reason. From there, Rainbow Dash pushed herself up to a straighter four-legged stance, looking herself over to see if she had everything standing right. She was walking a little better this way, and could sort of... clomp along, just by moving her feet stiffly. Her back legs were especially stiff. They would hardly bend at all at the knees. They seemed sort of... springy.
With that, Rainbow Dash made it through the back door finally, looking out into the beautiful spring morning. It was a sunny yard full of human colored mythological ponies prancing around like we owned the place. And then there was the smaller group of ponies over there, struggling to remain standing and having trouble walking forward or turning. Yep, that’s where she was supposed to go.
“Wai’ up!” Dash shouted, squeezing around the door frame, and then squeezing her rear around the door frame, stopping her forward motion as her finger hit dirt. And it was a hoof, not a finger, right. Rainbow Dash stepped onto the dirt, one hoof after another, and unsteadily walked in their direction. And that was how Rainbow Dash came to introduce herself to this pony farm.
Other ponies had to show her how to walk. Rainbow Dash hadn’t thought it’d be this hard. It was just so confusing being herself like this! And the wings were every bit as aggravating as Scootaloo had described. The darn things wouldn’t move when Rainbow Dash wanted them to, and they kept throwing her even more off balance. And her tail was... well...
Ponies had figured out by now that the best way to get used to having new limbs was for someone else to touch them, and stimulate them until you could feel what it was like to move them from within. Apparantly it was a big faux pas to do that with pegasi wings, so Dash was pretty much stuck for finding anyone to help with that, but her tail, there were any number of human beings armed with combs and brushes who were all too happy to offer her stimulation. Since it was helping her feel out her own tail, Rainbow Dash tolerated the attention, at least.
Rainbow Dash was not as tolerant when they started to pull out the bows and ribbons.
Really, she should have let them dress her up all pretty. Rainbow Dash wasn’t a big fan of dressing in style, but she had no clothing at all at this rate. She didn’t think it was turning anyone on or anything, so she was grateful for that. Though honestly, she couldn’t fathom why. With her sleek flank, and the graceful curve to her breast, Rainbow Dash had to admit she was was pretty hot for a pony. She caught a look at herself in a mirror at one point, and just had to stop and look, and pose a little. It was so awesome having wings just right there, whenever she wanted to use them, or it would be once her feathers finished growing in, and she figured out how to use her wings.
None of Dash’s friends had gone through this. None of her family had, but she had, and Rainbow Dash still couldn’t believe it. She woke up with hooves, and a tail, and nice, strong, chicken wing looking stick things. Okay, it was... kind of creepy seeing those sticklike things rise away from her side, way creepier than seeing a horse face in the mirror. But after she started to get feathers, Rainbow Dash knew it was going to be awesome, because feathers meant flying.
It was okay if Rainbow Dash had to wait a bit for the feathers too, because she also had to learn to walk again, and talk. Talking was the hardest part, but there were plenty of ponies, and people to help with that. Too many, really. So many people trying to help each other out, it was kind of awesome but also confusing. But it wasn’t long before Rainbow Dash was talking... good enough, and running around well enough that she could kick a ball, sort of.
Yeah, yeah, dumb sports chick at ten o’clock, but kicking balls was familiar to Rainbow Dash, and she kind of... needed familiar right now. She actually really wanted to go back to living with her dad, if he could have taken care of her. He didn’t want anything to do with this pony business though, and she kind of sort of told him off, before getting on the bus to come here. So that wasn’t going to happen.
But kicking a ball, that was something Rainbow Dash was familiar with. Even if she had to kick with her hands now. She tried kicking with her hind leg once... and ended up having to stumble across the field, down the hill, over the stream, up the hill, and across another field to get her ball back. That thing got air!
She kind of wanted to jump after it.
Rainbow was supremely pleased when her feathers came in, and when they just kept growing longer and longer, while they extruded out of that... feather maker thing that grew out of her wing. They were big, beautiful and blue. What’s not to like? Sure they were really itchy, but that’s growing pains for you. Rainbow Dash loved it when she figured out how to spread them, and it was so neat how you used muscles in your back to fold and unfold them, while actually beating your wings down was like clenching your... chest sort of. Like doing a push-up! Except pushing up with your wings.
Rainbow Dash hadn’t asked Scootaloo for much help. The poor kid had enough to deal with, rather than having to order around a pony who was like twice as big as she was. It was awesome being small-er, because it put her more on Scootaloo’s level, but Rainbow Dash was still definitely not a little kid. That Twilight Sparkle chick put Rainbow Dash at about uh, like, double her age now, but like maybe eighteen in “pony” years. So Rainbow Dash was more mature, and way cooler, and had to be the responsible one now instead of relying on some younger kids to take care of her.
She was pretty successful in that regard. She was already starting to talk pretty good, even with her weird horse mouth with its freaky alien tongue. She could do that gallop thing, and sort of trot a little without losing her balance. And she already knew how to flap her wings. She was getting used to being a pony, a naked little blue pony with rainbow hair. She sat on her haunches atop a hill one bright, sunny spring day, looking up at the clouds puffing along in that deep blue sky, and just itching to get up there. It almost felt like the sky was calling to her, and Rainbow Dash was ready to answer.