Tom sat in a restaurant waiting for his food to arrive, but primarily he was waiting for Paul and Devon to finish up trying to see Tonya at town hall. Being here had been a decision he had come to just this morning when the couple had shown up to pick up Robby. He was going back to Summerville and getting it packed and officially put on the market for sale. He'd been suprised when the couple had agreed to have him come along back to the Charleston area.
Across from him in the booth sat Amanda, with Jackie cuddled close against her. Who like him was also going back to pack up her home. The two had agreed to help each other out with their respective homes. His magic was very useful when trying to pack boxes, and her strength made her able to move furniture and appliances he wouldn't be able to budge with his horn. They'd take care of her house first and then move on to his house.
In a booth several booths down sat the two foals Jessie and Robby, watched over by Devon's mother. The mare wasn't going to be coming with them, but had been overjoyed to help watch her grandfoals while her daughter and son-in-law were busy. The mare cuddled Jessie close to her with a wing and enthusiastically recounted her night pony exploits to Robby. Tom didn't feel particularly comfortable around that mare so he was glad they weren't sharing a booth with her. Nocte reminded him far too much of his wife with her regular assertions of how life was better now that they were ponies. Amanda also seemed to be uneasy around the mare.
For about the fifth time since he had met up with them today Amanda turned around and sniffed her butt and sat back up with a frown.
"Why do you keep doing that?" He finally asked, having kept silent about it up to this point.
Amanda blushed and then leaned forward to whisper. "I don't smell right back there. I woke up having this odor and even with extra showering it isn't going away. I'm worried ponies will smell me."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm sitting across from you and I don't smell anything. It must be so faint that no one can possibly smell it. Don't worry about it."
Amanda sat back and frowned. "But I am worried, maybe it's a sign of a health problem or something. I'd go by the clinic to check, but the clinic got demolished yesterday and I don't know where the staff went. It doesn't really smell bad, it just smells weird, and on top of that it has been about a month since Jackie was born and I haven't had my periods start again. It makes me worried if there might be some sort of infection or something."
"You shouldn't get your periods again yet," Tom explained. "It takes about a month and a half to two months after a birth for that to happen. Longer if you're breastfeeding. Don't ask me how I remember that after so long since my wife gave birth, but I remember her freaking out about the same thing back then and the doctor explaining it to her."
Amanda gave a small sigh of relief. "Well, that's good to know. I'm sure I would've known that if I gave birth as a human, but the doctors were all so distracted trying to deal with a pony giving birth they gave me virtually no advice after she was born. It could still be an infection or something though." She then blushed again. "Sorry, probably not the right conversation to be having right before a meal."
"I'm not bothered by the conversation," Tom said, keeping his voice down just in case other ponies were listening in. "If there's something that not quite right about what your body's doing--aside from the fact we're all ponies now--then you have a right to be concerned about it. Maybe we can go to a hospital or clinic when we get back, or worse case a veterinarian, and get it checked out."
"You'd go with me?" Amanda asked in a hopeful tone.
"Of course," Tom said with a nod. "I know going to see the doctor can be intimidating, and someone has to help with Jackie while you're being checked out."
Amanda gave him a grateful smile. "I really appreciate you doing that, and appreciate you agreeing to help me get everything packed. I really wasn't looking forward to trying to do that all by hoof and mouth. You've been the nicest pony to me."
"It's just common decency, and you'll be helping me out as well with my house," Tom replied. Where was their food? If it took too much longer Devon and Paul would be done and ready to go.
"I know, but I'm still happy you're going to be there. I feel more comfortable around you than a lot of other ponies," Amanda said as she glanced around at some of the other pony patrons.
Tom looked at them as well. Most were happily chatting with one another and sometimes would start chatting with ponies in other booths. They all seemed completely content with their changed lives.
He turned back to Amanda. "I'm more comfortable with you too. You're the only other pony I've met who's shown any amount of discontent about what they've become. It bothers me that they all embrace it so readily."
Amanda frowned. "It isn't so much that I'm upset to be a pony. I just wish I hadn't gotten this type of pony to be. Everypony else seems to have gotten a type that fits them well, but me...I don't know what the magic was doing when it made me an earth pony. There's just nothing appealing to me about being an earth pony. I'm ashamed to say it, but I look at unicorns like you or even the pegasi and I get jealous."
"You feel like you've been limited in what you can do. That you've been handicapped," Tom said. "I can understand that a little. I just am unhappy in general that this wasn't any choice of mine. It wasn't hardly anyone's choice, yet despite that they just accept it even though it was forced on them."
Amanda turned and looked at her flank for a second then looked back. "I know, it doesn't seem right. This is what we are now though. I'm marked and so are you, we can't go back to being human. I was unhappy to be a pony just like you at first, now it's just the fact I'm an earth pony I'm unhappy about, and am content with being a pony. I want to feel content with the fact I'm an earth pony too, but it's just slow coming."
"What made you change your mind about being discontent being a pony in general?" Tom asked, curious what had won her over if she had felt like him.
Amanda looked down at the filly at her side and ran a hoof over Jackie's mane. "She did. When I looked at my daughter for the first time ever I saw a pony, a beautiful little filly that came from me. She was born a pony and I can't imagine her as human or wanting her to be. I saw her and I knew that being a pony wasn't a bad thing, because then I'd have to say her existing as what I first laid eyes on was a bad thing. I could embrace the fact I was a pony now for her sake. It didn't come all at once, but that's when it started."
Tom thought over his experiences with his family. "Charlotte...Sunset Blessing seemed so radically different after her change, and with how much she embraced this. Phobia embraced this as well and was even more radically changed than my wife. I look at them and I don't know what to think. These aren't the people I spent most of my life with anymore. Phobia I'm learning I never really knew as much as I thought I did, but her mother..."
Amanda looked at him in sympathy. "You're life as you knew it was taken away, and on top of that you felt like you lost the family you knew. That's a hard thing to take. I felt that way, only it was months before ETS even started...when my husband died."
Tom watched as Amanda began softly crying. He started to feel guilty as he did. Here he was being upset that his family had changed so much and he had been turned into something against his will while here was this person across from him that had lost the person most important to her and had her life turned upside down in worse ways before ponies ever got involved. He at least still had his daughter and things hadn't been perfect with Charlotte even before the outbreak.
He made a decision. He got up from where he was sitting and came over to join her on her side of the booth. He then pulled her into a hug with Jackie sandwiched between them. Amanda leaned into him and just started to openly sob.
"I m-miss him so...much," Amanda said through her sobs. "I keep expecting him to just show up and it was all a bad dream. It isn't fair. He was a good man, and he would have been a good father. He made me feel so special and happy. Everything was perfect. Why'd he have to be taken away from me?"
The automatic response of the Lord works in mysterious ways or it was in God's plan was on his lips, but he bit those responses back. They were hollow answers and they were hypocritical if he wasn't willing to apply them equally to what had happened to him and his family. He struggled for what to say that could give her comfort as he continued to hold her tight, but he couldn't think of anything to say.
Amanda's crying slowly lessened as she continued to lean into him, and she wrapped her forelegs around him and held on tight, tighter than he was comfortable with to tell the truth--she was strong, earth pony strength was not an exaggerated concept. She seemed to realize she was gripping too tightly after a moment and lessened her grip slightly, though she didn't let go. Jackie for her part seemed fully content to be caught between two adults hugging, and put up no objections about her tight quarters between them.
The earth pony finally released her grip and sat back up after some time had passed, and Tom found he actually felt disappointed that the embrace had ended. Amanda wiped her eyes and then gave him a small smile.
"Thank you, I needed that," she said with a final sniffle.
"You don't need to thank me. I didn't do anything. I didn't even know what to say," Tom said in confusion.
Amanda did a quiet chuckle. "You were there for me giving me comfort when I needed it. That was more than enough. Sometimes there isn't anything to say, sometimes I just want a shoulder to cry on. You gave me that, thank you."
She then leaned over and gave him a small kiss on the side of the face, then jerked backwards. "Sorry! So sorry! I don't know what came over me."
Tom laughed. "It's alright. You were just expressing your gratitude. I understand."
"Yeah, that's exactly it," Amanda said with a hasty nod. "Um, do you mind letting me get by you and you watching Jackie for a minute? I think I need to go to the restroom."
Tom got down from where he was in a hurry and then used his magic to float the little pegasus onto his back. Jackie put up no complaint about it and giggled as she was lifted through the air, letting off a soft burble of disappointment when her trip through the air ended.
Amanda hopped down from the booth and came over and nuzzled her daughter. "She enjoys flying so much. I have a feeling she'll be one of those pegasi that never want to keep their hooves on the ground when she actually gets to fly again on her own. Jackie, be a good filly for Mr. Tom until I get back."
After that Amanda hurried off towards the restrooms. Jackie was not pleased with this development, and expressed it with a loud wail. Tom thought quickly and gripped Jackie back in his magic and lifted her up again. The filly immediately stopped crying and let off a gurgle of delight.
He brought the filly up in front of him and gave her a smile. "You want to fly, huh? Spread your wings and let's have you fly a little."
He used his magic to carefully loop her around in the air over his head and the little filly enthusiastically beat her wings and squealed with joy. Some nearby ponies looked on and he could hear them giving awes at them as they watched.
Nocte and Robby were watching him as well. The night pony mare gave him a serious look and hopped down and walked over to him.
He gave the night pony a questioning look and she sighed before saying anything. "The mare that just went to the restroom thinks a lot about you, I can tell. You'd better not hurt her."
Tom's face hardened though he kept Jackie doing her simulated flight. "She's my friend. I'm not going to do anything to hurt her."
Nocte snorted. "She's looking for a little more than a friend I think. I don't really know her since we just met today, don't know you either, but I care what happens to a mare who is trying to trust a male. Way too often that trust gets betrayed."
"We're just friends," Tom insisted. "And again, I won't do anything to hurt her."
Nocte frowned. "You better not. You see this cutie mark? It doesn't mean I enjoy martinis--I don't even drink. I got this the day I beat a rapist to death and got back the power over my life that I lost when a man drugged my martini years ago and took advantage of me; a man I trusted who ended up doing that to me. I've always been on guard for others since then, and intend to protect other mares from bad situations. Took me forever to get to trust Paul to be with my daughter."
Tom growled. "I am not some rapist or a someone trying to take advantage of her. I'm just her friend. You have my sympathy for what happened to you, my daughter was just raped a few days ago and I was tempted to kill the pony that did it."
"We understand each other in that then. Maybe you aren't a rapist, but you're still a pony that could hurt her alot emotionally," Nocte said firmly. "You take care you don't do that, or I'll come looking for you."
The night pony turned and returned to her seat before he could retort any further. At the same time he saw Amanda returning from the restroom with the fur on her face a little damp from where she must have been washing it. She smiled at him as she approached.
"I see you found a way to cheer Jackie up. You're really good with her. Thank you for watching her for me," Amanda said as he gently placed Jackie on her back.
He put on a smile to hide the fact he was still angry at Nocte insinuating he might hurt Amanda. "Let me help you up into your seat so you don't disturb Jackie trying to jump up."
Amanda giggled. "Thank you, you're such a gentlestallion."
She turned towards her seat and he walked behind her and used his magic to lift her. Lifting a full grown pony, and an earth pony who was as a result muscular, was harder than lifting a filly. But he got just enough lift to get her up into her seat. She stood on it for just a moment and faned her tail. For the first time he picked up on the scent that she had mentioned. It wasn't a bad smell, it had a musky earthiness to it. In all honesty he actually liked the smell.
After getting her to her seat she sat Jackie back down beside her and the wait staff finally arrived with their food. He returned to his seat and they ate in silence.
He caught her watching him on and off with a small smile on her lips. He thought about what Nocte had said about Amanda looking for more than a friend. He didn't know what to do if that was the case. He really could end up hurting her by rejecting or ignoring her advances, and he didn't want to hurt her.
As he snuck his own glances he couldn't help noticing for the first time that he did find her attractive. It was slightly jarring to the part of him that wanted to hang on to his humanity that he found her attractive. It was another sign of how his mind had been changed so he could now find ponies attractive in that way.
He snuck another glance at her at the same time she was sneaking a glance at him. She gave him a shy smile. He returned that with his own shy smile and let a little more of his humanity slip away.