I’m sipping coffee while relaxing with my back on the purple couch. I suddenly wonder where Trixie got a purple couch, as I set my white coffee mug down on the wooden coffee table before me while held in my azure glow. I sigh and can’t help but think that I finally seem to be getting used to my new life and using my new unicorn magic when suddenly, there’s a knock on the door!
I raise my head with a wide-eyed start as I wonder, Who in Equestria could that be? Before hopping out the couch to my hind hooves, suddenly realizing that I can’t really stand on them, and then, falling back to the floor before my forehooves hit it with a resound clack! I sigh before turning left between the coffee table and couch towards the door and begin trotting that direction…
I hear another knocking and raise my head as I shout towards the red door, “Hang on! I’m almost there!” as I begin to hasten my pace towards the entryway. I stop 2 feet shy of it and look down at the golden doorknob on the right side of the door and scrunch my brows as I begin to concentrate and make it glow blue before turning counterclockwise and opening inward…
I see a rainbow maned blue pegasus outside who widens her magenta eyes and says, “Sup Betty! Trixie was telling me you used to jog, and I was hoping you’d be up for a quick power-trot around town to help you get used to your new pony body!”
I raise my head and turn it slightly to the left as I yell, “Trixie! Rainbow Dash is at the door! Make her go away!”
At this point, the blue pegasus before me begins to grin and giggle and I can only hear distant murmuring in the backroom where my marefriend is asleep… She stares at me and says, “Come on, Betty! It’ll be fun!”
I narrow my eyes, “Okay! Fine! We can go for a quick jog… But I’m finishing my coffee first!”
<*****>
I stand in front of the tan cottage with the rainbow maned pegasus on my left as I stretch and jog in place to limber up my new pony body and she smiles while saying, “I know it’s been awhile, Betty! So, limber up and take your time to get ready and we can go slow, alright?”
As my body is facing the ground with my two forelegs stretched out before me, I reply, “Yeah, that and the fact that I’m a freaking purple pony now, ought to make this interesting!”
Rainbow snickers, “Yeah! You’ve never been jogging with four legs before, have you?”
I raise my body back upright to my hooves and shake my head, “Uh, not really, no!”
Rainbow smiles, “We’ll take it easy, okay?”
I turn my head towards her, “Yeah, sounds like a good plan! I uh, guess we should get started?”
She kicks up her legs and starts to jog in place for a moment before saying, “Come on Betty!” and then, she takes off forward!
I look at her go and say, “Wait for me!” before I begin to briskly trot and gallop to catch up to her…
She slows her gallop as I approach on the dirt path in front of Trixie’s cottage and we both take off at a quick pace towards the rising sun…
Nopony is out this early and the illuminated rustic path between the buildings is flat and level as I put all four of my legs to work propelling my small violet equine body forward and my long silvery-white mane begins to jostle my shoulders and I feel my new ponytail out there, swaying in the breeze as the cool morning air invigorates my body! I can’t help but think that even though I haven’t had wake n bake yet, this day is already starting to feel good!
She looks over at me to her right and asks, “How are you doing, Betty? Adjusting well?”
As I breath heavily from my mouth and try to actuate my muscles into action, I say back to her, “Well, we’re getting there, yeah! I can apparently jog now, anyway!”
She giggles, “Oh, ponies can normally go faster than this, Betty! This is a training jog!”
I pant and breathe hard through my mouth and ask her, “Are we gonna be doing this a lot?”
She smiles in my direction as she briskly trots on my left, “Just every other day until you’re acclimated and fit again! Getting your new body up to snuff is what I’m gonna do for you!”
I slow down as I pant hard, “Gee, thanks Rainbow!”
She slows with me as she says, “No problem! We’ll go slow for a bit now, and we’ll pick it up again heading back towards your house, okay?”
I breathe once more out through my mouth and say, “Uh, yeah! Okay!”
We both slow to a power-trot as she says, “Well, how’s the magic training going? I’m sure Trixie has you doing all kinds of crazy mind-bending illusions and stuff, right?”
I giggle at the pegasus, “Not really? I learned how to eat with it!”
She nods, “Awesome! Progress!”
I smile, “You care about me, huh?”
Her magenta eyes widen, “Of course! You’re my friend!”
I nod, “Right! Friendship! Yes! Of course!”
She frowns as we continue to jaunt together through a dirt path on the Lower-Eastside of Ponyville through the desolate multi-colored buildings on either side, “Something wrong?”
I breathe out heavily through my mouth and stammer back, “Uh, no! I think I’m okay?” before slowing down significantly to just a slow trot…
She slows with me, “You sure about that, Betty?”
I stop trotting and she reciprocates, “It’s all just so much, you know?”
She turns her body over to frown, “Uh, what do you mean?”
I’m looking down as I say, “Well, this strange new world is all so weird to me!”
She reassures me with a small smirk on her muzzle, below her pinkish eyes, “No worries, Betty! You’ll get used to it!”
I breathe out through my mouth and repeat what they told me when I quit drinking all that time ago, “One day at a time!”
She smiles, “Right! See? You’re not doing so bad right now! You’re jogging with your new good friend, Rainbow Dash!”
I smile and chortle, “Right! The good friend I barely know! Of course!”
She giggles, “Well, there’s only one way you’re gonna get to know me!”
I look up at her, “By hanging out with you?”
She nods, “Well, right! But the thing is, you need to catch me first!” before she turns her body quickly to jog in place for a moment before taking off at a steady speed!
“Dammit!” I whisper under my breath before taking off myself to attempt to catch up with the multi-colored tail, now flying in the breeze ahead of me, roughly 20 feet!
I begin to close as she turns her head right and yells back, “There it is, Betty! You can get used to your new body, no problem!”
I’m huffing as I stammer back, “Can we slow down please!” She begins to giggle as she slows her pace and I finally start to catch up to her and am now just a mere 10 feet from her while I say back while huffing. “Thanks! You know, I’m not an athlete, like you!”
She smiles again, “That’s okay, Betty! I’m awesome! We can just settle for okay for right now, and you can get better from there!” before she stops trotting…
I stop and turn my body towards her on the dirt path leading out of town to the west, “Thanks Rainbow! So uh, I guess I’ll be meeting the other five soon as well?”
She nods, “Yup! We all talked to Trixie about you, and we decided to help you!”
I smile and snicker, “Oh, there’s a shocker! The Legendary Guardians of Friendship want to befriend and help a new pony!”
She smiles sublimely, “Well, it’s kinda what we do!”
I nod, “Well, I know that!”
She frowns, “So, what’s the problem?”
I eye this pegasus carefully before finally saying, “I’m not used to that!”
Her mouth straightens, “Well, get used to it, Betty! We’re all here for you!”
I narrow my eyes, “I don’t understand? What do you get out of helping me?”
She smiles back, “How about an awesome new friend named Betty?”
I grimace at her, “What’s so great about me?”
“Well, you’re not a horrible jogger and I like talking to you!”
I widen my eyes while saying mechanically, “Um, right! Of course!”
She giggles, “I’m loyalty, Betty! The whole point is to be there for somepony you care about!”
I look at her and frown as I still don’t quite grasp this concept in my ultra-cynical mind, “Wait! So, you’re never gonna give me up?”
She frowns, “Uh, no…”
“Never gonna let me down?”
“Uh, not really…”
“Never gonna run around and desert me?”
She widens her eyes and exclaims, “Wait, what?”
I smile and snicker while shaking my head, “Uh, never mind!”
She frowns, “OOOOOKAAAAAYYYY! Uh,” she blinks, “ready to go back now, Betty?”
I stop my head at her, smile, and reply, “Sure! I feel like another cup of coffee!”
Rainbow nods, “Yeah, she also mentioned that you were a chronic coffee addict and drank it all day!”
“This is true, and the longer we stand here, the longer I’m not drinking coffee!”
She grins again while snickering, “Come on, junkie! Let’s go get your fix!”
<*****>
I huff as I open the door and trot into the kitchen from the back and make my way to the coffee maker on the other side of the counter while the blue pegasus trots in behind me and says, “No worries, Betty! You can only get better! Canterlot wasn’t built in a day!”
I grumble something incoherent as I mentally encase the coffee pot in a blue glow and levitate it towards the white coffee mug sitting on the round wooden table in the center of the room, on the right side as Rainbow pulls out the chair nearest to the door with her mouth and props her haunches onto the seat.
“Ugh!” I grunt as I’m mentally floating the carafe back to the maker and it dips in altitude a few inches before rising back up and proceeding its journey towards the machine…
Rainbow sees this and says, “I guess magic is also tied to your physical stamina somehow?”
As I set the pot back into the black machine, I say, “Well, it doesn’t help when you’re tired!”
Rainbow smiles at me with her head turned left at the table, “Aw, Betty! It’s good for you! Builds up your strength!”
I widen my hazel eyes and say robotically, “Of course! Yes!”
Suddenly, a different blue pony trots into the kitchen from the other door leading out the side of the kitchen and stops 7 feet shy of the table and widens her eyes while standing there in her fuchsia silk robe with golden floral prints, and says, “Oh! Rainbow Dash! When did you get here?”
Rainbow looks at Trixie on her left and nods, “I was just taking Betty here for a quick jog! She’s not that out of shape, despite everything!”
I raise my snout after swallowing a big gulp of lukewarm black coffee and lower my mug to the table inside the azure glow as I stare up at the pegasus sitting to my left, “Everything?”
Trixie yawns while magically fetching her own cup from the cabinet over the coffee pot and pours black coffee into it, before setting it down at the table at my right, where she proceeds to daintily shuffle her haunches into the seat, with Rainbow and the backdoor before her and me on the one side of the kitchen that doesn’t have a door.
Rainbow looks up at me and says, “Okay, I gotta go to my Wonderbolts practice! I’ll be back in two days to jog again and then, once your stamina is better, we can add yoga!”
I widen my eyes and smile automatically while saying mechanically, “Of course! Yoga! Yes! Great!”
Rainbow sniggers and nods her head, “Alright, so I’ll be seeing you around, weekend warrior!” before dismounting her chair to the left and turning her body around to begin trotting out the back…
Trixie turns her head left towards me and smiles as the door shuts at Rainbow’s exit, “So, did you have fun, sweetie?”
I let out a long breath from my mouth and stick my tongue out the right side, “Never knew jogging with four legs would be so exhausting!”
She giggles, “Well, hang on baby! Trixie will get you some breakfast!”
I start and say, “Right! Waffles and sausage would be awesome!”
She lowers her smile, “You’re a vegetarian now, remember?”
I frown, “Soy sausage?”
She grins and shakes her head as she says, “Trixie will get the fruit bowl!”
I widen my eyes and my mouth is horizontal as I say mechanically, “YES! Fruit and coffee! Of course!”
She smiles again, “Right!” before raising her gaze to the big blue plastic bowl with apples, pears, bananas, and oranges in it behind me and causing it to glow blue and float over my head and then, slowly lower to the table in front of us… She looks up at me from the bowl, “Adjusting well?”
I look up at her and frown, “You ponies keep asking me that?”
She nods, “Of course! The Great and Powerful Trixie and many other ponies care about you now!”
I breathe in and out through my nose, “I think I get it now…”
She frowns at me, “What do you mean?”
I adjust my gaze to her and correct my mouth, “Rainbow Dash talked to me about loyalty and told me how it’s being there for somepony you care about…”
She nods and fixes her mouth, “Yeah, that’s kinda her thing!”
I breathe in and out through my mouth, “Right! Well, that’s why all of you are here for me, isn’t it? I mean, loyalty is the tie that binds us all together, and without being loyal to those you care about, you wouldn’t be there for them… And that’s a bad system…”
Trixie keeps her eyes wide while staring at me as she says whimsically, “Oh no! She’s been infected with the friendship virus!!!”
(To be continued…)