//------------------------------//
// Potty Emergency 
// Story: Follow the Melody 
// by Astrocity 
//------------------------------//

I walked into my room like usual, more like trudged really, after warming myself some dinner: cheap frozen pizza. Another day of classes had me drained. The thought of going to work the next day was something to not look forward to. Juggling between classes and a part time job was the expected life of a college student. The only thing to look forward to was another new episode of My Little Pony. It was too bad that the season finale aired already, meaning the next season wasn't due until a couple months. I trudged into my dark room, not bothering to turn the lights on, before flopping onto my bed with my clothes still on. It was only two more years of this routine before getting a full-time job and doing that for the rest of my life and retiring to live out my days in old age. The very thought of that was depressing. As I laid in my bed, pulling out my phone and earbuds to listen to some music, I looked up at the sky through the window. It was one of those rare nights where you actually see the stars out, like little diamonds on a black canvas, despite the city lights. A full moon lit the night sky.
 
Hours from now and I get to wake up and do the whole thing all over again. Oh joy… Is it too much to ask for a little something to spice up my life? I wish my life was exciting, like those ponies. At least they get to go on crazy adventures. What am I saying? Like that’ll ever happen.
 
My eyes grew heavy, the sound of music caressing my ears. A shooting star streaked across the sky as the next song began to play.
 
“My Little Pony, My Little Pony
Ahh, ahh, ahh, ahhh…”
 
A yawn escaped my lips before my eyes closed. The soothing darkness of sleep enveloped me as I fell under its spell.


~~~~~~~


I woke up as the sun was setting. The sky was painted in an orange hue while the clouds were given a shade of pink that darkened to the color of violet. Although the sun was my morning arch-nemesis, I couldn't help but be entranced by the sheer beauty of the warm, yellow orb, dipping below the orange horizon like a great fire dying out, as I stared out the window. As Celestia's sun was swallowed by the horizon, the shadows that covered Lyra's room grew and elongated, like creatures of the night awakening from their slumber.
 
Feeling refreshed from my midday nap, I was able to think with a clear head now that my fever was gone, although trying to remember what happened the night before didn't bring back any memories. My mind drew a blank whenever I tried to. The pains from falling down the stairs this morning had dulled significantly. With a stretch and a loud pop from my spine, I proceeded to walk out of the dark room. While walking, however, I felt a familiar pressure near my lower region, signaling my bladder's wake-up call.
 
Right, I haven't taken a piss since yesterday morning.
 
Motivated by the urge to expel the urine from my bladder, I hastily made my way out the door, almost bumping into a cream-colored pony. Thankfully, I was able to avoid colliding into the mare as well as preventing any possible "accidents." The mare who I almost crashed into was certainly surprised by my sudden appearance out of Lyra's room. I recognized the mare as Lyra's friend, Bon Bon, and to not seem rude, I gave a quick apology.
 
"Oh! Sorry for almost bumping into you."
 
Her surprised expression turned into a smile. "Oh, it's okay. Hey, you're that colt Lyra found last night. How are you feeling now?"
 
I really didn't want to stick around to chat because my bladder insisted that I find a toilet soon. "I'm feeling much better now, thank you." I replied quickly, hoping to end this conversation as soon as possible, but the mare kept the conversation going.
 
"Well, I'm glad you're alright. My name is Bon Bon by the way," she said while beaming.
 
"Hi, my name is Lyle," I said while trotting in place, or as I like to call the "potty dance." Before Bon Bon could pursue this conversation any further I quickly changed the topic. "Not to cut our meeting short or anything but where's the bathroom?"
 
The cream-colored mare, sensing my urgency, pointed down the hall. "Second room to the right."
 
As I began to gallop down the hall, I looked back towards Bon Bon. "Thanks. It was nice meeting you, Bon Bon." She gave a smile and a nod before heading downstairs. I turned my attention back to the task at hoof. Gotta go. Gotta go. Oh god, the dam’s gonna burst!
 
When I got to the door of what I assumed was the room of the porcelain throne, another problem was presented to me as if fate had decided that today was a great day to fuck with me. Unlike Lyra's door, which was open when I woke up both times, the door to the bathroom was closed. I still hadn't figured out how to hold things. I desperately tried to grasp the door knob with my short, stubby hooves. The door knob kept slipping out of my grasp, making turning impossible. God dammit! Who would invent door knobs in a world without hands?! Well... when in Equestria, do as the Equestrians do.
 
With the urge to pee becoming more frequent, I decided to turn the door knob with my mouth. Since this was the door to the bathroom where ponies did their business, I was starting to have second thoughts on using my mouth. But at this point, I was desperate. I held the door knob between my teeth and tilted my head. As I pushed the door forward, my tongue partially grazed the door knob, giving me the taste of metal. Just don't think about it, Lyle. You can worry about that later after you empty the piss tank.
 
After making my way inside, I shut the door behind me and walked to the sink to spit out the taste of the door knob. In the corner of the bathroom was a heavenly sight before me. The white toilet before me seemed as if it was giving a radiating glow. The only way to make this scene perfect was if there was an angelic choir singing. Admirations aside, I made my way to the Porcelain God. However, my new unfamiliar equine body presented me another dilemma. It was as if fate decided to give me a handful of problems today.
 
How the hell do ponies use the toilet? Do I stand up? Sit down?
 
With the dam near bursting, I just went with whatever felt natural in this body. I won't go into the specifics of what had occurred but I will say that I was glad I didn't make a mess of things, which would have been embarrassing if Lyra and Bon Bon found out.
 
After washing my hooves, I made my way to the door, only to be reacquainted with a familiar predicament except this time was in the bathroom. I reluctantly used my mouth again to turn the door knob, taking extra precaution to make sure my tongue didn't get a taste of the metal knob. Thankfully, it didn't.
 
Closing the door behind me, I made my way to the stairs. Once again facing the dreaded flight of stairs, I prayed to some god of misfortune to stop fucking with me. I slowly crawled my way downstairs at an agonizing snail’s pace. Minutes of climbing down the stairs later, I finally reached the living room.
 
The room was lit by the lights from the ceiling, showing that Equestria had at least electricity and fairly modern technology. The room was rather simple and quaint. It had an olive green sofa that was big enough to fit three ponies, a small mahogany coffee table holding three cups of tea, an oval rug with intricate patterns, and a recliner that matched the color of the sofa. The walls were adorned with paintings of landscapes, giving the room a homely feeling to it. In the corner of the room was a door that led outside and right by the door was a window with vanilla curtains that complemented the light yellow walls.
 
Sitting on the sofa were three mares. One of them was Bon Bon , who gave a small wave with her foreleg. Next to her was Lyra, who wasn't sitting like a human like I expected her to, sipping her tea using magic to hold her cup. Finally, at the far end of the sofa was a lavender unicorn with a violet mane and a pink stripe streaking her mane. From her bookish appearance and the set of stars depicted on her flank, there was no way of mistaking her for any other pony other than the star of the show -- Twilight Sparkle. Looking back at the other two's cutie marks, I noticed that Lyra's was a lyre and Bon Bon's was three wrapped pieces of candy, just like in the show. While I was staring at their flanks in a completely non-sexual way, Lyra caught my attention.
 
"Lyle, why don't you have a seat so we can talk?"
 
I gave a nod of acknowledgement and headed towards the recliner. The seat was really soft. As I sank in my chair, I felt small. Very small. I sat on my haunches and made myself comfortable before turning my attention back towards the group of mares on the sofa.
 
With the sudden appearance of one of the main characters from the show, I contemplated on whether or not I should tell Twilight about me being a human from another universe. However, Lyra's reaction to when I told her about my age didn't really go exactly as planned. I decided that telling Twilight about my predicament would probably make her think that I was delusional or mentally unstable. She would probably say something along the lines of: “That’s not scientifically possible.” After all, she was pretty stubborn when it came to believing in Pinkie Pie's Pinkie Sense.
 
I needed to think about my actions thoroughly before going through with them. If I could somehow convince Twilight that I was a human from another universe, then maybe I could to talk to one of the princesses of Equestria and get help from them. But then again...

Do I want to go back? If I stayed in Equestria, all I have worked for in my life would be all for nothing, and I wouldn't be able to see my family and friends ever again. But if I did stay, I would be living my dream and be able to meet my favorite ponies. It was a tough decision.
 
I decided I was going to find a way back home while at the same time having fun in Equestria. If I can't choose either, then why not choose both, right? For the time being, my goal was to establish some credibility with the ponies I was going to meet, maybe make some new friends on the way.
 
Twilight cleared her throat. "Good evening, Lyle. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m the town’s librarian."
 
"Uh, hi Miss Sparkle. My name's Lyle... and you already knew that... when you said my name..." I wanted to just cut to the chase and tell her everything, like me being an adult and from another world, but I held my tongue. There was no need to act like a crazy colt pretending to be an adult just yet. It was better to act calm and polite, like a good little colt should.
 
Twilight giggled behind her hoof at my stumbling introduction. "You can just call me Twilight, Lyle. Lyra here told me that you've been living on your own without your parents. We just want to help you, but to do that, can you tell us about yourself?"
 
This whole meeting with Twilight was starting to feel like an intervention already, and I hadn't even said anything crazy yet. But, I complied anyway. "Sure, uh, what do you want to know?" I had to choose my words carefully, but at the same time, I really didn't want to lie to these ponies. I decided to tell a partial truth if I needed to.
 
"So Lyle, where did you come from?" I couldn’t say I was from another universe, and knowing Twilight, she would probably know the lands and cities of Equestria.

"The Everfree Forest," I replied. Technically, I spoke the truth since I woke up in the Everfree Forest, and Twilight didn't really ask me to specify my place of origin.
 
My answer elicited a chorus of gasps from the mares in the room. They probably didn’t expect a little colt to be in such a dangerous place. "T-the Everfree Forest, Lyle?" Lyra asked, her voice touched with concern.

"What were you doing there? Don’t you know how dangerous the Everfree Forest is?!" Twilight exclaimed. Bon Bon just sat at the sidelines and watched the conversation instead, though her face showed that she, like the other two, was worried about my own well-being.
 
"I got lost," I said flatly. It was better to play the naïve colt than to speak the truth. You know, for their sake. I didn’t want to add more to their worries by talking like a lunatic, and spouting things like being a two-legged creature who watches a cartoon about them definitely fits the crazy image. But again, no lies to be found here since I really was lost in a forest filled with natural predators, like the ones that tried to kill me earlier.

“Where are your parents?” asked Twilight. “I'm sure they're very worried by now."
 
I couldn’t just say, “My parents are in another universe,” because then I would have to explain where Earth was, and that would lead to a long, crazy explanation about humans, leading to therapy sessions and talking to a psychiatrist who has no idea how to help me. I could already see the looks of pity from all the ponies, saying “Oh, that poor colt” or “What an unfortunate thing to happen to him.” To be treated as such would be torturous –- trying to tell the truth when every single pony sees it as a made up story by a poor, little foal. No, I wasn’t going to go down that path. So instead, I answered the latter question and ignored the former, hoping they wouldn't ask anymore about my parents or where I'm from.
 
"I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be worried about me. I'm old enough to take care of myself now." From the frown she gave me, I took it Twilight didn't take this as a satisfactory answer.
 
"You're not even an adult yet. You’re still too young to be doing things as dangerous as going to the Everfree Forest! Now, where are your parents?"
 
Twilight was pretty sharp to notice that I didn't answer one of her questions. I used a hoof to brush a hair out of my face but really I was wiping away the moisture that was gathering on my face. "I've been taking care of myself for a while now. And I didn't go to the Everfree forest on purpose. I just happen to wake up there last night. As for my parents, they're not here... in Equestria."
 
“You mean they’re abroad?”
 
I fidgeted in my seat. The room felt hotter. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead. What do I say? What do I say?! Should I lie or come clean? My mind went back and forth between two decisions: lie or truth? I felt a headache forming as I thought about what to do. I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
 
“I mean you can’t find them anywhere in the world even if you tried…” I only got confused expressions from the mares in front of me. “… Because an unfortunate accident is keeping me from ever seeing them again…”
 
The room grew deathly quiet. So quiet that I was pretty sure I heard a mouse fart two miles away. All three mares stared at me with utter shock on their faces as I stared at them back, waiting for their next reaction. Lyra was the first to break the uncomfortable silence. "S-so when you say your parents aren't here in Equestria, you mean they’re..." The rest of her sentence died in her throat, the silence creeping back into the room.
 
I said nothing, letting the misunderstanding take its course. I didn't want to lie, but I didn't want to say the complete truth either. I remained silent and stared at my new appendages, avoiding all eye contact with them. The sound of sniffling was what I heard, and when I took a glance at them, they each had tears gathering in their eyes. They all got off the sofa and trotted closer to me, and soon I was surrounded by the three mares, nuzzling me in sympathy, for a misfortune I made up on the spot. Their touch was warm and caring.
 
If I ever told any of them the truth, it would not only be awkward for me but it would also potentially destroy their trust of me. I couldn't just tell them the truth. They wouldn’t believe me. I had no proof, no substantial evidence to back up my seemingly ludicrous claim. I had to remain silent for the time being. The truth and apologies could come later. The guilt stirred in the pit of my stomach for deceiving them like this.
 
When all three mares broke contact, Twilight continued the discussion from where we left off. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up anything you don't feel comfortable talking about."
 
"It's… it’s alright, Twilight." A tinge of guilt weighed on my mind.
 
"How did you end up in the Everfree Forest then? Did somepony foalnap you?" Twilight asked, the look of sympathy not leaving her face.
 
"I just woke up in the Everfree Forest. There wasn't anyb--, anypony around when I woke up." I almost slipped up when I spoke, but fortunately I was able to catch myself in time so that none of them noticed. I could tell I caught Twilight’s interest by the look in her eyes. It was the look of a calculating mind wanting to satisfy an itch of curiosity.
 
"So you woke up in the Everfree Forest?" I nodded. I had no idea where she was going with this.
 
Twilight furrowed her brows in deep thought before continuing. "And did you meet anypony before you woke up?" I shook my head. "Hmm, if it's not too much trouble, can you come with me to the Everfree Forest to where you woke up?"
 
I couldn't believe my luck. Here she was asking me to take her to the place where I woke up to find out how I got there. At this rate, I would probably be sent back home in no time. Though, I felt bummed out that I won't get the chance to stay a little longer. Sure, I would like to get back home, but a part of me wanted to stay in Equestria, though not as a little colt.
 
"Isn’t the Everfree Forest too dangerous for the two of you go in alone?" asked Bon Bon, who had been mostly silent in the conversation.
 
“How can you think of letting him go back there after what he’s been through?!” Lyra shouted.
 
Twilight visibly winced from the little outburst, her ears folding back. "I know the Everfree Forest is dangerous, but I promise I'll keep him safe. Most of the predators in the Everfree Forest are nocturnal, so we’ll be fine during the day. I'll also bring some friends along so there’s safety in numbers. And I didn't mean I would take him tomorrow. I mean until he feels better and ready for it. I just need to take a quick look around the place and we’ll be out as soon as we can."
 
Twilight was the Element of Magic, and if she said she was going to keep me safe, then that would be a pretty hard argument to go against. Also the fact that she would bring the other girls only solidified her stance. Even Lyra knew Twilight brought up some pretty good points but that didn’t mean she liked the idea, clearly shown by her glare in Twilight’s direction.
 
"Well, it's not really up for us to decide," Bon Bon said, glancing in my direction.
 
All eyes were on me. "I guess I could go there once I get better."
 
"Okay, Lyle. I better go and get things ready for when we set off for the Everfree Forest. Thank you for the tea, Lyra. Good night." With that, Twilight made her way to the door and exited the house, probably heading home I assumed.
 
"Lyle, I'm guessing you don't have a place to stay since you woke up in the Everfree Forest, right?" Lyra asked.
 
"Er, no. Not really.” Being new to Equestria, I had no home, no money, and no job. I was homeless. I hoped sleeping outside wasn’t going to be too bad. I imagined it would be like camping, except without a tent... or food... or bug spray...

"You can stay here with me and Bon Bon if you want."
 
I guess that solves that problem, but still… “I don't want to impose on you two. I would just be a burden to you." The free pancakes and the bed was nice and all, but I didn't want to take advantage of them too much.
 
Bon Bon shook her head. "You're no burden to us, Lyle. You can stay with us until we find out what we’re going to do with you.”
 
"Yeah," said Lyra, "we even have an extra room for you to stay in. But, we gotta clean it out first. We've been using it as storage."

I didn't know what to say. These ponies had shown nothing but hospitality for me. I felt like I was taking advantage of them and doing nothing to pay them back. In a quiet voice that rivaled Fluttershy's, I consented, "Um, okay... Thank you..."
 
It was then that my stomach signaled that it was feeding time again. The growl of my stomach was heard by the two mares as they looked at me. I gave a sheepish grin. "So... what's for dinner?"