I stared in shock as Dash and Fluttershy’s faces both turned red. My brain couldn’t comprehend what just happened but my wings did, they shot out with a “pomf” as they opened behind me. Dash didn’t even hesitate after that, jetting out of the room through the window. All three of us stared at her as she disappeared into the still cloudy day.
Fluttershy mumbled something and ran out of the room, her face obscured by her mane. All me and Twilight could do is stare dumbly as we heard her hoof steps disappear.
“What… what just happened?” I asked Twilight, who could only shake her head.
“I have no idea,” she said with a faint blush on her face.
“Why did my wings do that?” I asked, staring at the traitorous limbs.
“Uh… they do that when… you know… see an attractive mare…” She said, her voice breaking up and her face getting red.
“I had a feeling that’s what it was…” I said, my face red as my mind came up with some reasons why they did that. “Fantastic,” I muttered.
She smiled apologetically at me. “It’s not like it can get any worse right?”
I groaned and slapped a hoof across my face. “You just had to say it didn’t you?”
“Say what?” she asked, perplexed.
“The universe hates me and you just had to tempt it didn’t you?”
Her eyes widened as she realized what she had said. “Oh… whoops.”
I laughed. “Whoops; if I had a nickel…”
She cocked her head. “Nickel?”
“Ugh... form of currency from where I’m from.” I said.
She nodded her head. “Oh. Kinda like bits?” she asked, pulling a golden coin out of her dresser.
“Yeah…” I said, looking at the coin. I got out of the bed and stretched, earning a loud pop from my back. “Much better.”
She smiled. “How are you feeling?”
“Mentally or physically because mentally I have no idea what the hell is going on. Physically I’m tired.”
“Oh….” Was all she said.
I sighed and I walked over to her and asked for a hug. She nodded and embraced me, relaxing her head on my shoulder briefly. After a few moments, we broke apart and smiled. “Thanks again Twilight.”
“It’s no problem, always happy to help a friend.”
I headed back towards the door.
“Where are you going?” She asked.
“I’m gonna go relax and try and think some things out.”
“Oh, just be careful. Your body still hasn’t recovered enough to do any strenuous activity. If you try and do too much, you’ll turn back.”
“Okay, see ya later Twi.” I said over my shoulder.
“Bye Leon,” she said, waving a hoof as I shut the door.
I walked around Ponyville, watching the townsponies go about their daily business, most of them tended to crowd around the town hall and the marketplace. I sighed and flew off the ground, hovering in the air as I scouted for a nice quiet place to think. I found a nice cloudy haven away from the hustle and bustle of town, near a farm from the looks of it.
I flew up to the cloud and gently landed on it, still amazed that it could hold my weight and I didn’t fall through. I looked around and seeing no pony looking, starting jumping up and down using the cloud as a trampoline. After acting like a kid for a few minutes, I laid on my cloud sanctuary, avoiding everypony and thought what happened. Let’s see… Dash seemed upset when I said I’d work with Fluttershy… then Fluttershy… kissed me… what the hell is going on?! I groaned and smacked my face into the cloud and punched it in aggravation. “What the hell?” I said, staring at the cloud hoping it would have my answers. When it remained silent, I sighed and rested my head against it.
“LEON?” Somepony shouted below me. I looked down and saw it was Applejack; her cowboy hat a dead giveaway.
I rolled off the cloud and landed gently on the ground. “Hey Applejack, how are you?”
“Ah’m doing just fine, how bout yourself?”
I forced a laugh. “Can’t complain too much.” I lied. She stared at me for a few moments before I felt myself blush. “Uh… is there something wrong?”
“Your lyin’,” she said.
I laughed nervously. “Maybe a tad.”
“Ah know ya don’t like talking bout yourself much, but if ya ever need an ear, Ah’m here for ya.” She said with a sympathetic smile.
“Thanks Applejack; that really helps.”
“Don’t mention it sugarcube and please, call me AJ; all mah friends do.”
“Alright AJ,” I said with a sigh. “So… do you remember when we first met and I offered to help you on the farm?”
“Of course, why?”
“I was wondering if you needed any help.”
She laughed. “Not that Ah couldn’t handle it myself, but Ah guess Ah could always use the help.” She said, beckoning me to follow her. We walked in silence the little way before we stopped in front of a big white fence and sign that said ‘Sweet Apple Acres’. My eyes widened as I saw nothing but apple trees for miles.
I looked at her. “Do you own all of them?”
“Yep; mah family has owned this land since Ponyville was founded. Hay, Granny helped found Ponyville and made it to what it is today.”
I whistled. “Wow… wait, you do all this by yourself?”
She laughed and lightly smacked me on the back, which almost made me fall to the ground. “Nah, mah brother Big Mac helps out.”
“Big… Mac?” I asked, trying not to laugh.
“Yeah…” she turned and glared at me. “What’s so funny?”
“Nothing; nothing.” I insisted but got nothing but a glare back. “Okay, okay; back on my world, we had food called Big Mac.” She didn’t say anything, merely looked at me weirdly and an awkward silence fell between us. “So, what do you need help with?” I asked, trying to get rid of the tension.
“Well first Ah got to see if ya can even buck the apples.” She said, walking over to a tree and turning around.
“What do you mean-” She kicked the tree with her back hooves and all the apples fell into conveniently placed buckets. My eyes grew wide and my jaw dropped to the ground in surprise.
She looked at me and laughed, walking by and closing my jaw. “It ain’t that hard; all ya gotta do is give them a good ol’ kick.” We headed towards another tree and she put down the baskets around the base. “Alright, now you try,” she said.
I stared at the tree for a few moments before walking up to it and kicking it as hard as I could. The tree shuddered and a few apples fell off. I collapsed onto the ground.
She looked at me with concern. “So maybe ya ain’t cut out to buck apples. But if ya are still willing to help, you could pull the wagon.” She offered.
“I think I’ll do that,” I said.
“Alrighty then; we just have to work the west side of the orchid today then we’ll be done.”
“Sounds like so much fun,” I said sarcastically.
“Sure is Mr. Sarcasm,” She said, laughing.
We went around and chatted little, enjoying the quiet. I thought about everything that’s happened in the last four months, surprised by how easy it was to switch to pony life. How easy they were to accept me as a pony, how they didn’t get furious when you made a mistake.
I sighed as I thought of Rainbow and Fluttershy; that was a situation I had no idea what to make of. On the one hand… or hoof rather, Fluttershy had been the only pony in the beginning that I got along with; her kind, quiet demeanor a lot like mine and she liked animals. She was also the one that visited me every day in the hospital, even with all her own problems; she’d still make time to spend with me.
Then there’s cool, confident Rainbow Dash. At first, she and I never really saw eye to eye, my pacifism conflicting with her competitiveness. We talked very little and she was the one that visited me the fifth most, only because AJ couldn’t leave the farm. But once you skim off all the egotism, you had a very insecure and loyal individual. That’s a big part of her personality, loyalty; she’ll never leave you alone and will help, even if she doesn’t agree. She loves the spotlight, but hates the other side. She doesn’t let anypony really get to know her in fear of them finding out her “softer” side and leaving.
I sighed again. Just my luck. I stared at the ground, thinking.
“Uh… Leon; you there?”A southern voice asked.
“Huh?” I looked up to see AJ staring at me with concern.
“Ah’ve been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes.” She said, sounding worried. “Maybe it’s time we call it a day?”
“No… no, we’re almost done.” I said, moving to the next tree.
She caught up to me quickly and nodded as we both went silent again to finish up.
The next several hours passed slowly as both of us were too busy to try to chat; AJ was focusing her remaining energy on finishing up the trees while I tried to pull the cart. The cart was overloaded with apples, the buckets balancing precariously on the top. AJ finally finished the last tree, wiping sweat from her forehead as she carried the final basket to the cart and we made our way back to the barn.
A tall red colored earth pony was waiting for us. He easily towered over both of us and I almost wanted to say he was taller than Luna. He had a dirty blonde mane and tail; his eyes were light green. He had some freckles under his eyes, the same as AJ. He had a green apple sliced in half as his… cutie mark. He also what looked like a piece of straw in his mouth.
“Hey Big Mac, mind givin’ us a hoof?” AJ yelled as we got closer.
“Nnope,” he said, walking over and taking the cart harness off me and placing it on himself, which he pulled easily. We followed him into the barn and separated the apples quickly, the three of us making it short work.
We relaxed on the porch and Big Mac headed inside along with AJ. I sat there, alone with my thoughts as I stared at the sky. The sun was slowly disappearing over the tree tops. I heard … hoof steps behind me and felt something cold on the back of my head. I turned around to AJ offering me a jug of water. I accepted it gratefully and started to drink. She sat down next to me and sighed.
“Ah heard what happened at Twi’s house. Why didn’t you tell me bout your seizure things?”
I nearly spat my water all over the place. “What, how?”
“Big Mac was on his way to talk to the Cakes for something for Granny’s birthday and saw Dash and Fluttershy fly out of the library. After he saw you leave, he asked Twi what happened.” She looked at me.
I sighed and stared into my water. “I don’t know what happened and I don’t like to worry ponies.”
“If Ah would’ve known, Ah would’ve taken it easy on ya.” She was quiet and looked into my eyes. “Ya like them both?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“What do ya mean ya don’t know?”
“I just don’t!” I suddenly yelled as I stood up. “Fluttershy has always been nice to me and has always been there for me… and how do I repay her; by making her worry over my stupid, reckless impulses. Then Dash… I have no idea! She’s funny, confident in her abilities, always there for me suddenly… knows what I’ve been through and can still accept me for who I am…” I sat down dropping the jug of water and held my head in my hooves. “I just don’t know.” I felt hooves wrap around me and I relaxed into her embrace. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. I could feel the tears building.
“It’s okay; Ah know how love can be a fickle thing. Ah may not be as knowledgeable as Rarity but Ah know mah way round a confused heart.” She said. She pushed my head up to meet her eyes. “You need to think about everything ya just told me and decide what you want. It won’t be the easiest thing ya have ever done, but doing what you’re doing now ain’t helping anypony.”
“I know,” I said, looking away. “But I can’t; knowing no matter which one I would likely choose the other would be hurt.”
“Ah think you're underestimating’ them Leon; they’ve both been in many relationships before. They know they can’t always get what they want.”
I chuckled. “Good song.”
“Pardon?”
“What you just said was a title of a song from where I’m from.”
She tilted her head sideways a bit. “You’re an odd fella.”
I gave her a small smile. “I get that a lot,” I gave her a brief hug, “I’m sorry for my little outburst.”
“Hey, it’s what friends are for right?”
I stopped again; what’s with everypony saying that word. “Friends?”
“Well ya; you offered to help me on the farm. You saved Fluttershy from that manticore and all, hay you almost died. And heck, any friend of Twi is a friend of mine.”
I faintly smiled and nodded before I stood up and stretched. “I think I’m gonna take off, thanks for letting me work off some steam.”
“No problem,” she stopped, “wait, where are ya stayin?”
“Probably gonna crash on a cloud; those things are amazing.” I said with a grin.
She chuckled. “Are ya sure? We got an extra room if ya wanna sleep here.”
“That’s okay, you’ve done more than enough; I don’t want to be a burden.”
“You’re not so quit your belly-achin’ and come inside.” She said.
“No seriously, its okay; I want to sleep outside.” I flapped my wings and launched off the ground “Thank you!” I yelled back, looking over my shoulder to see her looking at me smiling and shaking her head. I waved once before I flew too high to see her. I let the cool wind blow through my mane as I closed my eyes and listened to wind whistle against my wings.
I flew with no direction in mind, letting the wind take me wherever it wanted. Ponyville quickly disappeared and I ended up in a field surrounded by trees. I saw a floating cloud house that looked way more like a castle. Rainbow streams were coming from the top and the entire structure had a blue tint. I assumed only one pony could live there and I slowly flew towards it, hoping to settle some things.