The foals ran happily from the silo.
Even Maud expressed some sort of joy from the movement, despite it not reaching her face, which was the opposite for Limestone, who moved more reservedly though had a much more obvious smile upon her face. As Pinkie bounced and her sisters followed through the, once again gray, rockfarm, I couldn't help but wonder what the hell we would do for the rest of the day. I never had the opportunity for socialization when human, video games notwithstanding, so general social activity was quite new to me. I supposed if I survived long enough I would have the magic shared with me.
'Hey, Pinks? Since you all have the day off, whatcha gonna do with it?' I asked.
Pinkie hummed in thought before turning to her sisters, bouncing still. "Hey, anypony know what we should do now?"
A look of contemplation overtook Marble, Limestone looked constipated, and fucking guess how Maud looked.
Maud blinked and said, "We could go rock gazing."
The look Limestone gave her was hilarious, as if Maud had suggested reviewing homework. "I saw enough rocks yesterday."
Maud returned Limestone's gaze with her monotone stare. "It probably wasn't the amount, but how you looked at them."
I swear I saw Limestone's eye twitch, seemingly thoroughly done with the hardly started conversation.
The twitches sort of scared me, so I decided to try something. No need for the sisters to tear each other apart, and well, I was the adult in the- the giant bland field of dirt and rocks. ‘Uh, Pinkie, what ever happened to that rockball thing from the river?’ I said ‘something’, not the smartest thing.
Pinkie flopped her head side to side as she processed my, probably odd and out of nowhere, question. “Hey, yeah? Where is the rockball?”
I thought I saw something flicker behind Limestone’s eyes, some sort of thought process brought on by Pinkie’s words, which, really, were just repackaged ‘my’ brand words. "We're going to Holder's Boulder. Follow me." Nopony objected to the order, or even looked like they wanted to.
The trek was short, Pinkie occasionally adding a bounce to her steps which her sisters barely took note of. Thinking over it, they really were taking the hair and personality shift in stride all things considered. Though, they could just be assuming Pinkie is just hyped over her new cutie mark and not a literal shift of mind. That will only grow if I manage to not fuck up.
I did my best to ignore the break in gang literally down the street back at Rockville.
After the short jaunt the sisters stood in front of the Boulder of Holder. I forgot if that thing had an actual backstory or reason to exist, but damn was it big. Limestone walked up to Holder’s Big Boulder, seemed to pat it I guess and then held up quite the familiar rock. I didn’t know how I recognized it honestly.
“Hmm, yup. That is the rockball I almost lost. I completely forgot to put it back after fishing it out of the stream.” Pinkie said, as if we didn’t narrowly avoid rocky death at the watery hell hole.
Limestone nodded as she turned to face the rest of the group. “Yeah, I made sure to put it back here. Eventually. Since Maud wants to look at rocks, I want to kick rocks and Pinkie wants the ball, let’s play rockball. Any complaints?” The way she finished her question honestly made it sound more like a threat.
Her sisters didn’t seem to mind the tone as Maud shook her head, Pinkie happily denied complaints and Marble didn’t seem to mind much either. “None.”
“Alright,” Limestone said, “To the field.” Ominous, Lime, ominous. As if the entire place wasn’t multiple fields.
Yet another silent walk, this time to the middle of relative nowhere ensued, though Pinkie seemed to be distracted by something. Less bouncing and almost seemed like she had to remind herself to follow Limestone. ‘Uh, what’s up, Pinks?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know.’ Pinkie replied, ‘My right fetlock feels funny.’
I felt like I should know what the hell a fetlock was, but that was neither here nor there I supposed. ‘Well, I guess don’t go too crazy? And if it goes from ‘funny’ to a more negative feeling, tell your sisters?’
Pinkie hummed in agreement, I assumed, as she tried her best to ignore her fetlock. I swear, I knew what that was…
Not long after we found ourselves, well, a field. I noted that I really should try and memorize the layout of the farm.
Limestone surveyed the land before her, as if appraising its worthiness to live. Seriously, how does a small filly just passively death glare?
Limestone turned to her sisters, holding aloft the rockball. “Normal rules?”
Everypony nodded, while I could only ponder, ‘What are the rules?”
‘Normal rockball rules.” Pinkie helpfully replied. Quite honestly it would have been more helpful if she didn’t respond but we’re in that room now.
My eternal agony of unanswered questions raged while the four fillies spread out in the field, preparing for the coming rock war. Following that thought I could only imagine that wars had been waged over rocks.
I watched through Pinkie’s eyes as she eagerly glanced between her sisters who have made something of a diamond shape between the four of them. Marble scuffed at the ground, seeming anxious at the coming game but not without a look of anticipation. Maud stood quite still, waiting with emotions hidden from all but the most observant.
Limestone however looked demonically giddy. She lightly juggled the rockball in one hoof, before rearing back with a yell. “Play ball!” And she threw the ball towards Maud with what seemed like incredible strength that shocked me. Not shocked she had the strength, but rather she’d use that strength in a simple game between sisters.
Maud didn’t even flinch as the ball flew towards her. She didn’t quite catch it, so much as she punched the freaking rock right in the ground, causing a plume of dust. She then spun on a dime and kicked it about as hard as Limestone threw it, this time sending it flying towards Marble.
The seemingly meek sister looked at the flying ball head on. Well, head on until she quickly turned and hip checked the high speed rock with her flank, stopping the rock in its tracks, causing it to just fall to the ground. I didn’t know how to feel about that. I supposed that Earth ponies were made quite sturdy all things considered.
Marble picked up the ball and seemed to wobble a little as she lined up her aim, at Pinkie and me, and let it fly, not as fast as Limestone’s throw, but nothing to sniff at either. A part of me pondered if ancient pony wars did not have catapults but instead really strong earth ponies.
Pinkie kept her eye on the flying ball, at least until something went through her mind. ‘Ooh, ooh! I have an idea.’ Pinkie thought to me, and I didn’t even have the time to worry what she was thinking, as the actual feeling of nerves rushed me. Rushed me much like the rock that rocketed into my face.
‘Oh! I’m sorry Mena!’ My negligent charge thought to me, and all I could manage at first was a disgruntled groan. Having nerves again I was able to at least know Pinkie’s fetlock stopped feeling weird. Or the face pain overpowered all.
“Oi! Pinkamena! You okay?!” Limestone yelled at me from her position, her voice gruff, almost angry, but behind the gruff I could hear the distinct emotion of worry. I guess I was getting used to their inflections or something.
I clumsily wrenched the rock from my face, happy to note my face didn’t feel out of place and no red stains on the rock were present. “I’m okay! I got the rock!” I responded, faking naive happiness as I held the rock aloft, and almost dropped it. And decidedly did my best to avoid looking at the sister’s reactions. I did what I could to balance the rock in hoof, vaguely wondering if I knew how to properly hold things as a pony, and with a mostly graceless heave, threw the rock in Limestone’s direction.
The rock tumbled in the air, at an almost alarming speed -I obviously did not know Pinkie’s strength- before it hit the ground and rolled at Limestone with its impressive speed. She darted towards the rolling ball and yelled, “Ah! That’s dirty!” And she freaking headbutted the rock into the air and kicked it spiraling toward poor, poor Marble.
And yet, poor Marble stood unflinching as she caught and redirected the spinning rock right into the ground with a small crash. Without skipping a beat she moved back and kicked the rock towards Maud, once again at modest speed.
Maud easily caught the rock in one hoof, absorbing all the kinetic force with ease and placed it on the ground with a disturbing amount of ease. She looked towards Pinkie, at Me, and seemed to hesitate on kicking the rock. It wasn’t a long pause, it might not have been noticeable to most really, but I could have sworn it took her an extra beat to absolutely smack the rock in my direction.
Considering I last caught that rock with my face I had to do my best not to tremble, also not helped by Pinkie’s silence during the game. Then again if I caused someone’s face to be smashed with a rock due to poor communication I too would be speechless.
I shook my head and kept my eye on the flying rock. All in all, I believe I overthought things. As soon as the rock got near me, I didn’t even try to catch it. I just punched it at Marble on instinct.
‘Whoa! Good hit Mena!’ Pinkie cheered me on.
I’m sorry Marble.
My inner pain of subjecting poor Marble to my inelegant violence of a rock pass only increased as I saw Marble, a look of simple dread on her face as she tried to keep up with the rocketing rock that was about to fly beyond her reach. She attempted to jump and catch the rogue rock, only for it to pass through her hooves and absolutely crash behind her.
I felt mortified.
Despite my churning soul Pinkie was cheering on the inside, and Limestone gave a yell of support. “Nice one Pinkamena! Point to Pinks.”
First blood, and yet all I felt was my still stinging face. At least I knew then how the rock ended up in the water so far away to begin with.
Marble quickly scampered after the rock, while I decided that was enough excitement for a minute, and unceremoniously tossed Pinkie back into control. I didn’t really think about the process, which was probably for the best. ‘I scored a point. Your turn.’
Now, it wasn’t that it wasn’t fun, it was fun! But when that fun is undercut by just a constant barrage of firsts and worries, well, it becomes a tad bit less fun. Not knowing Pinkie’s strength, discovering the others’ strengths, not knowing the rules- Just being thrust into something without time to prepare really threw me so off kilter I didn’t even know what to think. I need time to process shit damnit.
I mean, sure, I probably should have said something to Pinkie under the line of thought of ‘perchance may we not jeopardize our ruse with uncoordinated times of enjoyment?’ But… Pinkie was having so much FUN. I didn’t want to undercut her fun too, like mine was. Why, it was her cutie mark achieving day and everything. Who was I to potentially ruin her big day with my feelings? Who was I-
Then the rush of nerves shouted again, with another fucking rock in my face. Limestone took it well, while it wasn’t a shout, I still was able to hear her slightly muffled annoyance. “Fucking rock.”
Oh, how did I concur.
That’s sorta how it went for quite some time, only I started to catch on to Pinkie’s gifted ability to swap on the fly like that. When I finally managed to not get hit in the face I realized the rush of nerves and loss of balance did still exist on my end. Gaining a body is weird. Ping pong with a body. But, I only got splatted in the face with the rockball three more times! Which pissed me off to Lucifer’s funeral. At least I scored a point each time, although I think Marble was starting to think she should get points for headshots, but wasn’t willing to say so out loud.
It was more back and forth, Limestone and Maud scarily bashing the rock out of the air like nothing, while Marble preferred catching and I alternated catching and just punching the rock like Chris Redfield, more catching towards the end though. Didn’t want to compress Pinkie’s leg or something with all the rock punching. If that’s even a thing. I prefer paranoia to, ‘oh I could have prevented that,’ hindsight.
As I started to pay more attention to the game at hoof, if only out of fear for low flying rocks, Pinkie was as energetic as expected, practically bouncing into the air to catch rocks that probably should have flown clear over her. All in all, she didn’t even seem to notice the fact our face had been smashed with a rock multiple times. I supposed she was hardier than I gave her credit for. When I was in charge of the body I started to feel the strain, the soreness of activity and the weight of our limbs.
Eventually the game began to wind down, Limestone’s voice was sort of hoarse from her point yelling, Marble looked tired, but happy, and Maud, well she didn’t look tired, but she seemed tired. If that makes sense. Even Pinkie was getting a bit slow from all her jumping, and I wondered if swapping between the two of us drained anything. If the day's activities were anything to go by, I was sure we’d find out in the future.
Wait, Pinkie and I didn’t sleep at all the previous night…
Through Pinkie’s tired eyes I looked to the sky and saw the sun was setting. How long was the party, the game and just what? Well, at least Pinkie was going to get much needed rest soon.
Either way, Limestone soon called the game off, and, get this, Marble won. I still don’t quite know how that happened, but she probably deserved it. She did get the most headshots after all.
“Alright,” The hoarse Limestone almost whispered, as she picked up the ever battered rockball, “I think, I think that’s enough for today.”
It was an odd feeling, well, not feeling the tiredness as Pinkie was in control. Going in and out of bodily control and feeling is a bit, just, I don’t even. Thinking about it honestly ‘hurt’ more than just accepting it and moving on.
Marble sighed, a mixture of fatigue and contentment, as she moved back towards Limestone. Maud herself looked practically no different, a bit of sweat and dirt aside. “That was enjoyable.”
Marble nodded in agreement, almost as if she wanted to nod harder but was shackled by exhaustion, “Y-yeah, it was fun.”
Seeing Marble’s tired smile brought one to my own mental form. Just seeing the sisters’ dynamic and sisterly bond was ever so slightly worth the rocks to the face. Sure, it was Pinkie’s body but I owned the nerves at the time of impact.
Limestone coughed lightly, apparently her tiny vocal chords not used to constant bellowing. “Well, we, we should probably head back.” She glanced to the rock in her grasp, and I noticed a small smile creep on to her muzzle. “We should do this again sometime.”
Heartwarming with a side of fear of face pain. Ah, worth it.
The sisters seemed to agree to head back after that, only stopping by Holder’s Big Boulder to drop off the rockball. The walk was a bit slow, even Pinkie no longer bounced, content to keep her hooves on the ground for the time being.
The sister squad entered home once more, and the sound of the door opening summoned Father it seemed, as he peaked around the doorway to the dining room. “Ah, perfect timing girls. Wash up, dinner will be ready in a minute.” And then he ducked back in. Huh, he kinda made it sound like he was helping with dinner. Neat.
At the prospect of dinner the sisters seemed relieved, like they almost forgot about food, and a hot meal around the corner was just the thing to help push on the relaxation. In no time flat the girls cleaned themselves up and prepared for a meal. I really wondered what it would be. I had only been there a few days, and most of my diet back home had been meat based, so beyond the obvious hay and flower food choices, I was quite stumped.
Soon after everypony had situated around the table, Mother and Father brought out a veritable feast. A platter of ingredients so everypony could make their own sandwich, which actually sounded refreshing, cheese stuffed bread rolls and even some kind of pie. Fitting, that last one.
Pinkie let out a gasp at the sight of the pie. “Is that…?”
Her mother chuckled as she set it down on the table. “Granny Pie’s special pecan pie. Yes. I figured since you earned your cutie mark, Pinkamena, that you deserved something extra special. Especially after throwing us a party already.” Her voice was warm, proud.
‘Wow, uh, gee.’ I said, shocked by her parents’ actions for reasons I couldn’t quite tell.
Ma placed a slice of the pie in front of Pinkie. Truth be told, I never had homemade pecan pie, so I lamented not being able to smell the freshly made pie. It looked so good, and Pinkie seemed to agree if the sound she made, of delight and anticipation, were any indication.
That’s when Pinkie had an idea, a truly monstrous, devious idea. ‘Hmm…’
‘Pinkie I swear to-!’ And then I had to catch myself before Pinkie’s head bounced off the table. Luckily nopony seemed to notice, but I was in a torrent of emotions. Kinda livid all things considered, but mostly ashamed. I didn’t like the idea of taking the first bite of the pie from Pinkie. It just seemed… wrong. But I couldn’t rebuke her at all, ruin the happy moment, put Pinkie on the spot. I simply smiled, and really beyond the annoyance I kinda did appreciate it. Whether I was deluding myself or sincere I couldn’t quite tell.
In the torrential emotions I somehow managed to pick up a fork and take a bite of the pie. Godly. Just absolutely terrific. My annoyances and anxieties melted away amidst the sweet flavor of the pecan pie. I would need to have a talk with Pinkie about the bodyswapping later. Maybe. But for the moment, I could let it slide.
I made sure not to eat all of the pie, so Pinkie could enjoy some herself. It was made for her after all. The sandwiches were good too.
Once I swapped with Pinkie again I was able to properly look at the rest of the family. Marble was absolutely enraptured by the pie, Limestone seemed to not want to let on how much she liked it, and was failing. Maud, as always, was Maud.
Really, the whole day was great. Even if the party planning was kinda stressful. I had to sing. Not the best. But, with the familial support, the rockball game, and just everything. It was great.
Eventually dinner wound down, Pinkie was, like, ready to crash I think. She was up for god knows how long. An unhealthy long I surmise. Sleep could not come soon enough. Luckily, in no time flat, Pinkie flopped onto her bed. “Ah… I’m sore all over.” She complained.
Maud looked up at us, and said, “You did spend all night moving heavy objects. I am surprised you’re only tired now.”
Pinkie groaned in response, “But I felt fine until the rockball game.”
‘To be fair, I really should have noted the passage of time more. Sorry about that.’
‘It’s okay, Mena. I wouldn’t change a thing about today.’ I wasn’t sure how I felt about that at the time.
Maud simply blinked at first. “Then it’s even better, I would hate to see fatigue creep on you.”
“Haaaa, Imma get some sleep now. Night Maud.” Pinkie said, closing her eyes.
I was about to tell Pinkie she didn’t take cover under her bed sheets, but a moment later Pinkie cracked her eyes open, the corner of a bed sheet slightly in view. “Good night Pinkie.” Maud whispered.
I swore I could feel Pinkie smile at that. ‘Night Mena.’
I smiled myself, ‘Night Pinka.’ And once again I tried my best to not think on the logistics of being part of a brain yet trying to sleep.
I couldn’t tell exactly when I fell asleep, but this time I could remember a dream. It made about as much sense as my dreams back home. Normally they would be odd, sometimes based on immediate happenings in my life, but always wrong.
This one was no exception. I distinctly recall the world being made of white clouds, rushing winds, a perpetual sun raining golden light onto pony me and a pegasus, creating a sort of purple tint to everything in a really beautiful way. Buildings were clouds, streets were clouds, but not like pegasus buildings from the show. They were odd, not that dream me noticed.
I simply seemed to vent to this obscure pegasus. I didn’t remember anything specific about what, but I did recall feeling safe, secure. Like I was in the presence of a long time friend who wouldn’t judge me. I just felt safe. That’s about when dream me cried, I think, again, not sure about what, the whole thing was like watching a silent movie without subtitles, or I simply didn’t remember the audio track. Amidst dream me’s crying the pegasus hugged me. That was nice, at least until a group of Pyramid Heads in cop uniforms initiated a car chase with monster truck bumper cars. It somehow didn’t feel that jarring in the moment.
And then we woke up. Yeah, pretty accurate to my dreaming and sleeping experience back home.
It was nice to wake up together, really. Pinkie yawned, and seemed to work on auto pilot, climbing down the ladder stairs as the morning grumblings of her sisters sounded around. Honestly I felt lucky and unlucky. Lucky in that I didn’t have to suffer the morning obligations, unlucky in that I didn’t get to experience that nice morning, post sleep stretch that feels kinda sore but very satisfying. Well, I supposed there would be more mornings in the future.
I decided to initiate morning contact as Pinkie sort of stumbled down the hall. ‘Morning Pinkie.’
‘Morning Mena.’ Pinkie sleepily responded. I guessed she really did use all her energy yesterday. And yesterday’s yesterday night. ‘Ya sleep well?’
‘Eh, you know. Dreams.’
‘Dreams good.’
‘Indeed.’
She finished her stumbling to the bathroom for her morning routine, like brushing that nightmare of a mane, still bundled all up in its bushy ball, as seen in the mirror. I honestly had no idea how to healthily care for the beast. Well, at least it wasn’t my- ‘Mena…’ Pinkie whined, signaling my doom. ‘Could you take over morning stuff for a bit? Me tired.’ Technically the Me here would be Me, Mena, and I doubted swapping would fix the tiredness.
As much as it annoyed me that Pinkie was continuing the bodyswap ping pong, I wanted to reward the kindness of actually asking this time. ‘Ah, sure, why not?’
‘Thanks ya, Mena.’ Pinkie said, probably wanting to sound more excited but being too tired to. Understandable.
I braced and accepted the flood of fatigue, and yup, was it something. No wonder the supernatural pinkster was worn out. It was not a pleasant feeling at all. Almost as unpleasant as when the bushy ball unraveled itself into a perfect curtain despite me not touching the damn thing.
My eye twitched, both from the unhealthy sleep pattern we’d established and the hair situation. I don’t think Pinkie even noticed. ‘Huh, wow Mena. You work fast!’ No she did not, but some of her energy seemed to come back now that she was no longer bogged down by the body.
With my work done by itself and not feeling as nice as such an occurrence should, I exited the bathroom, where Limestone tiredly stood, waiting her turn. She blinked in surprise, not expecting me to leave so soon. “What? How did you fix your mane that fast Pinks?”
I looked at her, feeling my eye twitch again. “Idunevenknow.” I mumbled, walking past her.
She quirked her head and seemed to shrug, too tired to deal with my bullshit. And oh how did I concur.