Language check. All in English.
Rose focused on moving. Moving was way different with four legs. Like bipedal motion, you could see two legs, and they moved as you would hope, but the back legs were a whole other kettle of fish. Back legs couldn't be seen easily while walking, and though you would hope that they just followed along, such wasn't the case.
All four legs needed to move in a synchronized pattern. When done right, a pony moved in various grades between a very slow walk, to running faster than a human, but the best way for any pony to move was a trot. First, Rose had tried to trot by moving his forelegs, and driving his back legs to match. This was completely wrong.
His back legs were the driving force, pushing him forwards with each two-beat step. Rose's forelegs matched his back legs, but in a cross-wise fashion: left-back right-front, then vice versa. Once set in a rhythm it was easier to do than walking, and covered more distance.
For a human-turned-bat-pony, trotting worked great so long as they thought of their wings as their arms, and ignored the fact that instead of two legs there were four, until their brains had settled into their equine form. It was the last bit Rose kept having trouble with; he would get a good trot going, and get nearly ten paces before his mind would try to track the motion.
Fortunately, coming to a dead stop on four legs was a lot easier than on two. Stumbling—as his brain tried to make corrections for limbs it had no right trying to correct—Rose braced all four legs out, froze, and let out a high-pitched kee. "I can't get this!"
"You're doing great. Just don't think about it so much." Dave stopped to wait for Rose. What with the mine explosion he seemed to have enough on his mind already, and managed a trot without a single stumble. "Just look ahead. Focus on where you are gettin' to, not what you're doing."
"I keep thinking something is wrong with my back legs. And there is." Rose relaxed and kicked out his legs one by one. Moving freely, he was aware of the slight sway between them, and that was what was throwing him off.
Rose took two steps, leaned into a trot, and immediately stumbled again. "How do guys even deal with this?!" He gestured back at his back legs. "I swear, it just sways around. This is the worst!"
Dave snorted—something that was very natural for a pony. "Just don't think about it. It's not like you can change it."
Something odd that Rose hadn't considered was how the aging-down effect had made him and Dave practically brothers in appearance. He looked at Dave and couldn't help to compare the two of them. They were equal size, had the tell-tale tufts on their ears, and both of them had the expansive and expressive bat wings.
"Why don't we fly? We have wings!" Rose spread her leathery wings out, the odd feeling of extra-long fingers with webbing between them striking her as a little strange.
"You haven't worked out walking properly, and you want to try flying?" Rolling his eyes, Dave reached out to Rose with one of his wings and set it over Rose's withers. "Come on, keep time with me."
Pulling his wings back to his sides, Rose shivered a little at Dave's touch. "Okay, so lead with the right?"
"Right-rear and left-front." Dave smiled and gave a nod. Both of them stepped forward, jumping right into a trot. After a few strides, Dave gave Rose's shoulder a little squeeze. "There, now just focus on me."
Having Dave's wing around his shoulders made it much easier for Rose to not think about his own body. The leathery wing, covered with soft, tiny fuzz, was a lot more intimate than Rose knew it was intended, but he couldn't stop the blush from forming at the feel of it.
Wrapped in new emotions, Rose was quite distracted from his legs, and kept up the steady trot all the way back to Dave's house. In the driveway, Rose's mother's wagon was parked, which instantly filled him with trepidation. "What's Mum going to say about—this?" Rose slowed, gesturing to himself with a foreleg.
"No fuckin' clue. She didn't see pony parts all the time, did she?" Dave gave Rose another squeeze of his shoulders, and then Dave pulled his wing back and folded it. "Wonder if she'll see it all now?"
When Rose blew out an exasperated breath, it came out like a whinny. "If we're lucky she—" Rose was interrupted as the front door to the house swung open, and the woman in question staggered out with a pair of large suitcases. "Mum?"
"There you are, Rosetta!" Jenny Stein (Rose's mother) glared at Dave and Rose, but apparently registered nothing different about them. "Get in the car. We aren't staying here a moment longer with these—these freaks!"
"Mum…" Rose trailed off, unable and unwilling to correct his mother on the matter. "What are you doing?"
"We. Are. Leaving!" Punctuating each word with a stomp of a foot, Jenny dragged the cases to the car, opened the side door and started tossing them in. "Get in the car, Rosetta. We are doing here."
Rose turned to look at Dave, then back to her mother. "Mum, I kinda like it here. I fit in here." He watched as anger grew on his mother's face. Being turned into a pony by an explosion was nothing compared to the wrath of his angry mother. "I was about to graduate!"
"You can do that elsewhere, young lady." Jenny's glare turned from her "daughter" and settled on Dave. "This rebellion is your doing, isn't it? I should have known this fucking dump was a bad idea."
Staring in shock, Rose watched as his mother ranted at Dave. She verbally threw everything at him, including his shrewd way with money, his dedication to his work, and finally started blurting hateful words that questioned why he had never slept with her.
Rose was in a nightmare, or so he hoped. When his mother stomped right up to him, Rose had to look upwards to see her face. "Mum." The one word seemed to quell Jenny for a moment, as if she suddenly hoped Rose was going to climb into the car and drive off to safety. "I'm staying he—"
"Get in the car. Now!" Jenny Stein's voice echoed up and down the street, ensuring there was a small audience of people watching from their windows. When Rose didn't move immediately, Jenny opened her mouth to let out another tirade, but Rose beat her to it.
"Just shut up!" Rose's blood was boiling in his veins. He had had a rough day, and now his mother was determined to make it worse. "No!" He stepped forward, glaring up at his mother. "I am sick of you doing this. You move in with some guy, use him for his money until no one can stand the sight of you anymore, and then you storm out like a princess. I am sick of it, Mum!"
Rose panted, his feeling boiling up inside. "I want a normal life, Mum. I don't want to spend six months in the next place, only to have to repeat year twelve again. I like it here, and I have finally found something I enjoy." The thudding sound in Rose's ears was his heart, beating rapidly. "So go, but I'm staying!"
"But… You're my little girl. You can't stay here on your own." Staring over Rose's head, Jenny clearly didn't see Rose as a pony.
"I think you will find Rose can live wherever they want." Joyce had been wandering up the street, and had stumbled into the argument by dint of not having anywhere else to go. "Rose is an adult, Jenny." Her tone was even, calm despite the inferno of emotions raging around her.
"But she's my little girl!" Jenny stared from Rose to Joyce, even if not making actual eye contact. Her shoulders suddenly straightened, and her eyes flared with the fire of her own convictions. "I'm going to get the police, and they are going to come here and arrest all of you—you freaks!" She stomped back to her car and slammed the back door closed.
The moment the car started to pull out, Joyce turned to Rose. "Your things?" She pointed one hoof-like hand towards the house.
Rose ran inside, not trusting his own handling of the situation. Racing through the house to find his room, he looked around, finding all his clothes gone. His school books had been roughly thrown to the floor, and two of the rock samples he had collected were now embedded in the wall.
Using his wing-claws, Rose teased the two pieces of quartz from the wall. The first piece was milky quartz, and nothing special—to anyone else. The piece had been polished, and was part of the first rock Rose had thought held a gemstone. The second was something more important to him; it was a piece of rose quartz, and had been polished, like the first, to a bright shine.
Turning, Rose walked back through the house with his two little treasures cupped in one wing. When he reached the front door again, he looked outside to see Joyce and Dave talking quietly. "She packed all my clothes up." He looked at the two little gems in his wing.
"I need to make a call. Rose, something tells me being without your clothes shouldn't be too much of a problem." Joyce wore a slight smile, but she didn't look overly happy. "Dave, can I borrow your phone?"
"Sure, Doc. What's the problem?" Dave gestured back towards the house, and started walking along with Joyce.
Joyce sighed. "Even if Rose is an adult, legally, her—his—mother can try to say things to get him, and you, in a lot of trouble. I am going to make a call to head that off."
Watching Dave and Joyce walk inside, Rose didn't feel like following them to find out who Joyce was calling. He lifted up the rose quartz to look at, and sighed. "Why don't I feel like an adult, then?" All alone, he stared at the gemstones, trying to find an answer to his question in them.
The stones were silent, and no matter how hard Rose stared into them, he didn't hear a magical voice give him any advice, or send him on a magical adventure.
Rose was startled from his contemplation by Joyce's voice. "Hey, kiddo. Lyra thought it would be a good idea to get the town together, and have a talk about what happened today." Joyce stood beside Dave. "She wants to have a potluck, but you don't have to worry about bringing anything if you don't want."
Turning to look at Dave, Rose got a nod and a smile. Standing up, he ruffled his wings and stretched a little. "That sounds really cool, actually. All us 'freaks' have to stick together, after all." He stepped forward as Joyce and Dave passed, falling in beside them. Curiosity started to eat at him, however. "Who did you call?"
"Traralgon police. I let them know that your mother was acting a little irrationally, but not enough to commit. I explained the situation, that nothing untoward has happened, that you are safe, and you don't wish to leave." Without thinking further, Joyce reached out a hand to rub Rose's ear. "They took note of it, and will handle any accusations accordingly."
Rose almost stopped in his tracks. Ear rubs were clearly every pony's absolute weakness. Slowing enough, however, to break the touch, Rose shook his head to clear the fuzz that had momentarily filled it. "Uh, what sort of stuff do you think she will say?"
Joyce let out a sigh. "Depends on how desperate she feels. She loves you, Rose, and I think she really is trying to do the best she can for you."
"You're not going to tell me?" Rose looked up at Joyce.
"I didn't want to, but the more I talk with you, the more I realize how much you have grown. Your mother will probably start by not telling them your actual age. When that gets her nowhere, she will probably make a lot of very nasty accusations,"—Joyce held a hand up to forestall interruptions—"things that could get you and Dave in a lot of trouble."
Rose blushed, and felt his anger grow. "I never even—"
"I know. I told them I had recently done an exam on you, and that you have not been sexually active." Joyce blew out a breath. "It might be easier if you stay at my place for a few days. If the police do come to investigate, it would go a long way if you weren't living at Dave's, not to mention it would be awkward if they did want to take you to be examined by someone else."
"Huh?" Rose didn't quite follow the reasoning.
Joyce chuckled. "A doctor would be looking at a young stallion instead of the woman they expected. Assuming they don't see you as a man."
Staring for a moment, Rose sighed. "Everything's happening at the worst possible time. Isn't it?" He couldn't help it, he leaned sideways and pressed his shoulder against Joyce's leg.
"Yeah, but that's life, kiddo." Reaching to Rose's ears, Joyce was careful to only rub the sensitive flesh around the base of them. "But you did a brave thing today."
"It doesn't feel brave. I feel like I have abandoned her." His breath calm, mostly due to the reassuring petting, Rose walked with Joyce to the next house on the block.