I stare at the two earth ponies near Hitch’s desk and flex my new wings to the sides of my small green body, “Well, what are we going to do about these?”
Hitch turns his head right towards me as he sits at his desk, “What do you mean?”
My body jitters, “I have wings now!”
Hitch nods, “This is true!”
I widen my eyes, “Well, what are we going to do about it?”
“Well, are the wings hurting you?”
I frown, “Well um, no?”
“So what’s the problem?”
“Well, I’m a unicorn, right?”
He nods, “Well, I think so?”
I shout at the yellow stallion, “UNICORNS DON’T HAVE WINGS!!!!”
Little Snack looks at me from the other side of the desk and says, “Uh, Jessi?”
I gaze at the small orange filly staring back at me from the chair, “Yes, Little Snack?”
“You have wings now…”
I widen my eyes again, “Yes! And I don’t want them!”
She nods, “So I’ve heard! But listen… Have you ever tried to fly?”
I frown, “F-fly?”
She smiles, “Maybe you should try your new wings out before deciding if you like them or not?”
“What?”
She nods again, “Try them out! I mean, I’m an earth filly! I don’t have magick or wings! But now, you have all sorts with your wings and horn!” and nods a final time,”My best friend, Cozy Glow once had a similar situation but well, I’ve been thinking about it and I don’t believe this has to be bad, you know?” and she blinks. “I say you should try it out first, before deciding you don’t want them!”
Hitch looks at Little and widens his eyes, “Uh, actually… Earth ponies these days, uh...”
<*****>
I stared at the insane yellow pony in front of me, as I stood there on the desolate field of grass and lush vegetation. “Wait! So earth ponies have magick, now?”
Hitch smiles at me and nods as he looks at me over his right shoulder, “Sure do, squirt! Watch this!” he says before he stares forward and taps his right forehoof against the ground.
I see it glow green for a moment and suddenly, a cornstalk grows from the ground 5 feet in front of him! The stalk is an impressive 7 feet tall and has many ears of corn on its branches, wrapped in green husks.
“Oh, wow! Can I do that too?”
He looks back at me over his right shoulder, “Should be able to?”
“Um,” I blink, “does it have to be corn, or can I do any sort of plant I want? I mean, what are the restrictions here?”
He blinks, “I’m not sure? But the important thing now is to visualize the plant you wish to grow and make it happen through your will, working through the earth. That’s how I use my earth pony plant magick, and I’m guessing you’re not different?”
“But wait! During my period, earth ponies couldn’t do that! Do you really think I could?”
“Well, there’s really only one way we’re gonna find out?”
“Um, okay!” I blink. “Maybe I should try something smaller? How about squash?”
He smiles, “Alright squirt! Try to grow a small squash plant! Remember to visualize it! What does your squash plant look like? How are the branches and leaves arranged? See it in your head Little! You can do this!”
Oh, gosh! I’m gonna have to concentrate here! I gulp as I think to myself and blink and imagine a small squash plant on the ground in front of me…
<****>
“Wait! So you just automatically knew how to fly? Well, at least how to take off and land and fly forward and all that good junk?” I asked as I frowned up at the crazy white pegasus with her brightly colored red and blue fauxhawk mane-cut.
Zipp smiles down at me, “Well, yeah! I mean, doing it skillfully takes practice and work, but you should naturally know how to leave the ground, I’d think?”
“You sure about that?”
“Only one way to find out!” She says before smiling at me.
I stare forward and gulp, “Um, okay! Here I go!” I say before furrowing my brow in concentration as I start to flap my new appendages with all of my might!
“There you go, Jessi! Keep flapping! Just a bit faster and you should start to take off!”
“Ugh!” I grunt as I close my eyes… I suddenly notice that I no longer feel the ground underneath my hooves… I open my eyes and see that my little green body is indeed, now flying over the grassy fields! I see cow pies and anthills as I stare down at the rich lush dirt 20 feet below me and I move my gaze forward and smile as I keep moving forward! I can feel my little heart thumping away in my chest and the exhilaration of the wind in my mane as I stared forward at the hilltops and trees passing by underneath!
I can hear Zipp in the distance screaming, “You’re doing it, Jessi! You’re flying!”
This is amazing! I uh, I think having wings might not be so bad? I think to myself.
<*****>
I tap my orange right forehoof on the ground and try to force my visualized squash plant to life within me… Suddenly, I feel some sort of connection to the earth underneath and I can then somehow feel roots of a new plant forming in front of me… I open my eyes again and see a plant, a bit larger than the one I had pictured! It was about twice that size and had enormous leaves on big branches and the largest squash I’d ever seen on them!*
I widen my eyes and smile at what I had just done, “Hitch! I made a plant! I made a plant Hitch!”
<*****>
“I’m flying, Zipp! I’m actually flying!” I say as my wide eyes take in the beautiful landscape! I never realized how gorgeous the hillsides and setting sun actually are until I witnessed them from 5,000 feet in the air!
I hear her in the distance, yelling at me from below, “Great! Now come back down, Jessi! I’ll teach you more on how to use your new wings later, but that’s enough for now!”
I pretend I never heard her as I smile and keep staring forward to enjoy my new freedom! Freedom that only the open sky can give me!
I fly to a tall hill and land on the crest…
<*****>
Hitch turns his body to my creation and cranes his neck down towards it, “Holy crap, Little! That plant is huge! And you used earth pony magick, Little Snack! You did it with your mind and hooves!”*
I nod at him with a smile beaming on my happy face, “Yes, I sure did! I have magick now! Hooray!” I say as my tiny body shakes.
He smiles at me and it just seems like I’ve seen it somewhere before? That smile, I mean? It almost seemed like he was proud of me? “That sure is wonderful, little buddy!”
I blink, “Hitch?”
He widens his eyes, “Yes, Little Snack?”
“Um,” I frown, “you like having me around, right?”
“Little Snack, you’re probably one of the best things to ever happen to me?”
I widen my eyes, “I am?”
He nods, “Well, heck yeah! I mean, before you, who would I have to help me get my morning started? And who’s gonna drink coffee with me and get all jittery while I’m filing my paperwork? Who am I gonna talk to when I get lonely at the station? And who’s gonna help me by investigating strange alicorns?”
I stare back at the handsome green haired stallion and smile, “I love you Hitch!” I say, before widening my eyes as I suddenly realize that that was a bit more than I expected! I blink, “Um, can I go home now?”
Hitch widens his eyes, “Anything wrong?”
“N-no, Hitch, uh…” I blink once more before staring up at him again.”Actually, I kinda wanna go to Twinkle’s now!” I don’t mention Cozy’s name again, but I just keep thinking about it… There’s something I need to figure out for myself now…
<*****>
I stare up at this big monster centaur, with his red flesh and two long curved bovine horns on his head and the strange mask he wore. It was white with what looked like an angry face just drawn onto it with a marker. It stood about 20 feet tall I’d say, and roughly 5 times my size. Still, I can’t help but frown, “Wait! Gorgoroth the Destroyer?”
The centaur’s voice booms, “Yes! That is my name! Gorgoroth, the Destroyer! And you will buy Jessi a new plushie or I will drink your blood and eat your head! RAWR!”
By this point, I can no longer contain my laughter, “Come on, Jessi! Knock it off!” I widen my eyes. “Hey! I’ll buy you a new plushie, anyway! You earned it with all that awesome flying, today!”
Gorgoroth disappears and I see Jessi, flying towards me in the distance…
I smile at her as she lands in front of me, roughly 10 feet away and says, “Hooray! New stuffed friend!” as her little body jitters.
I grin at her and shake my head before saying, “Come on, Jessi! No more flying for today! Let’s trot back to town and get you something!”
She nods, “Okay! Let me go get my cloak so I can hide my wings!”
<*****>
I bring the freshly rolled joint to my lips and clamp down on the cardboard tip as Little squeaks at me from 5 feet away, there in my room, “Yeah, so I got earth pony magick, now! Isn’t that great!”
I ignite it with a red hoof lighter in my right hoof and inhale to bring the flame to the end where it catches and ignites the paper to start burning the herb contained in the wrap… I take a mighty inhalation and feel the warm smoke now filling my lungs…
I soon exhale a large cloud of smoke just to the right of the earth filly as she stares at me with a seemingly wide-eyed perplexed look...
I sigh and bring the joint to my lips for another drag and I feel the warm smoke traveling into my mouth as I stare at the strange earth filly in my room, now vibrating with her pigtails bouncing… I exhale smoke and ask her, “What’s wrong?”
She shakes her head and stops jittering, “I uh, I’m sorry! You just look so much like her…”
I lower my view and bring the joint to my face as I eye her carefully, “You mean, Cozy Glow? The friend you lost?”
She sighs, “Y-yeah… I liked her a lot! She was the first pony to give me real friendship! I uh, used to be by myself all the time…”
I smile lightly as I clamp my lips on the tip and begin to inhale and taste the herbal flavor of the weed I’m smoking once more…
She affixes her green eyes to me as I slowly exhale smoke with my nostrils, “And now, here you are, the same filly, only, not! You’re not like the Cozy Glow I remember, but you kinda are! It’s so weird!”
At that point, my stoned mind decides to take an unusual approach as I smile and say, “Well, maybe it’s time you met the real me? Hiya! I’m Twinkle Shine!”
She stares at me obviously suppressing a smirk, “Uh, hiya Twinkle Shine! I’m Little Snack!”
I nod, “Golly yes! There! Now we know each other and I’m not Cozy Glow!” I say before bringing my joint to my mouth and for some reason, I can almost hear a faint giggling somewhere in the deep dark recesses of my mind… The place I know where she lurks…
“Of course, Twinkle Shine! Yes!” She says before smiling…
I can tell I’ve almost won by this point and decide to drive my point home, “So, now you can get to know me again, for the first time!”
She smiles, “I know… You’re Twinkle Shine, now…”
“Right!” I say before nodding and taking yet another drag… I had a long day and could use the pick-me-up!
“I like what you did to your mane, Twinkle! It looks good all wavy like that!”
I smile back at her while exhaling smoke out of my nose, “Yeah, I knew it was time to change, so I started to make changes in the direction I wanted to go…” and bring the stoge to my mouth once more…
She giggles, “Yeah, you certainly did change! You’re not the friend I remember!”
I widen my eyes, “So, that would make me a new friend then, right?”
Her mouth straightens, “I think so?”
I nod, “Right! Current filly crew is one pegasus, one earth pony, and two unicorns!”
Little Snack’s face suddenly grows somewhat paler as she starts to frown and her eyes widen, “Actually, there’s something you really should know about Jessi…”
(To be continued…)