//------------------------------// // Small Return 2 // Story: Short Hand // by Andrew Joshua Talon //------------------------------// Twilight trotted in with Granny Smith and Applejack. Applejack at least had the decency to not laugh out loud at me... For five seconds. "Hahahaha! Well lookit you! This what your foals look like, huh?" Applejack giggled. "Why, you're cute enough to be called a Shepherd's Sweetie Pie!" "Leave the jokes to Pinkie Pie. Please," I begged, as Applejack continued to giggle. Granny Smith slowly trotted up, and leaned in wayyy too close to peer right into my eyes. I cringed back a bit. I mean, I like her plenty, but her closing in like this made me feel like I was gonna get gobbled up by a large snapping turtle. Especially with how small I was. She chuckled in her creaky way. "Landsakes! Ya got into ma Youth Juice, eh?" Granny Smith observed. "Youth Juice?!" Twilight asked, excited. "You mean you unlocked the secret of immortality?!" "Nuttin' that impressive, Twilight," Granny said, shaking her head, "don't last very long, and relies mostly on Earth Pony magic." "Eh? Earth Pony Magic?" Twilight asked, blinking. Granny pulled back, and concentrated. "Gimme a sec..." My jaw dropped as Granny... Stretched. Her skin became firm and supple, her muscles filled out, and she stood a lot more firmly on her hooves as she transformed into a mare no older than Applejack. Twilight, Fluttershy and Spike weren't much better as they stared in amazement. Granny grinned. "Ah can still do it! But once you hit two hundreds years, it gets harder to maintain! Gotta pull a lot of magic out of the Earth to maintain it!" She spoke in a sweet country alto. She gave me a wink. "The Youth Juice helps maintain it for a bit longer... When ah go to Las Pegasus to have some fun, find a young stallion to-" "GRANNY! PLEASE!" Applejack cried, her mirth replaced with horror. Granny reverted back to her normal, aged form, and huffed. "T'ain't that bad to listen to. Maybe if you did, you could get some stallion, alien or otherwise, to loosen ya up-" "GRANNNYYYY!" Applejack groaned. "This is tremendously fascinating," Twilight said, quickly interjecting, "and I'd love to hear more, but do you know how long it will last with Shepherd?" "Yeah, I'd like to know if I'll have to grow up the old fashioned way," I deadpanned. Granny hummed, thought about it for a while... Then shrugged. "No clue." "No clue?" Applejack, Twilight, myself, Spike and Fluttershy chorused. "Well! Ain't like he's a pony!" Granny sniffed. "Don't know when it'll wear off! But, probably will. Jest chemistry, right? Nothin' can last forever." "Oh good, that's reassuring," I muttered. "Don't worry Shepherd," Twilight said, "I'll work with Granny and anypony else I can to solve this! You can stay with me until we figure it out!" "Oh, um, wouldn't it, uh, make more sense to stay with me?" Fluttershy asked softly. "I-I mean, my house is closer, and he did it before... And he's sooo cute...!" "I-" I tried, but Applejack interjected. "Fluttershy, what if yer bear tries to eat him?" "Oh, Harry would never eat him!" Fluttershy said insistently. "I'm going to need him to stay here anyway, to do experiments-" Twilight tried, but Fluttershy gasped. "You-You can't treat him like some kind of-of lab rat! That's horrible!" "Would you-" I tried, but again Twilight interrupted. "I have to do tests to figure out how to fix this! It's to help him! I'm not going to abuse him or anything-!" "Your eyes literally lit up when you heard about 'new magic' and experiments," Fluttershy shot back, "I-I mean, I know you mean well and I don't want to sound accusatory, but he's a child now and he needs help-" "THAT'S IT!" I shouted. All eyes were on me as I pulled off the various doodads Twilight had stuck to me. "Look! I may LOOK like a child, but I'm still ME! And I don't appreciate you all making decisions for me like I'm not even here, or can't make them for myself!" I growled. Twilight and Fluttershy looked down guiltily. Granny chuckled. "They're jest concerned is all, Shepherd! Don't take no offense," she said, "ah mean, you ain't exactly yerself right now." "I am just fine!" I grumbled, getting up onto my feet and stomping back up the stairs. I pulled open the door, and stomped out into the library-quite maturely, I thought. The ponies and Spike followed. Twilight smiled gently. "I'm really sorry, Shepherd. I just want to help you." "I know, but stop treating me like I'm a kid!" I grumbled. "I am not..." I watched a falcon dive on a bird and catch it in mid air out the window. "Woah... That was so cool," I muttered. "Oh yes, wasn't it?" Fluttershy asked. I shook my head quickly. "That doesn't mean I'm a child though!" I insisted. "But uh... I don't mind staying here. The fewer ponies who know about this, the better." The door to the library burst open, and three little fillies charged in. "SHEPHERD!" "GAHH!" I was slammed into the floor by all three Cutie Mark Crusaders. "We're sorry! We didn't know it would do that!" Scootaloo insisted. "Though you are really cute now!" Sweetie Belle added. "Ooh! Will he go to school with us now?" Applebloom asked eagerly. "HELP!" I shouted. Applejack didn't even bother to hide her grin as she shooed the fillies off of me. Fluttershy was squeeing while Twilight and Spike both giggled. I sighed. This might be more complicated than I thought...