//------------------------------// // "You're Fired!" // Story: Free to Good Home: Talking Pony // by Mike the Red //------------------------------// Today was Sunday, so at least I didn't have to work. Today's problem was that I usually do laundry on Sunday, but since I was still in Twilight's body and couldn't use my magic, I had no way of being able to take the laundry basket with dirty clothes in it to the laundromat nor did I have a way of putting the clothes into the washers or dryers. Brenda called up her oldest daughter Katrina and asked her to do the laundry for us. Since I was now in a pony's body I had no need for clothes, so Brenda's clothes were the only ones washed and dried. Katrina also drove Brenda to the grocery store to get food for dinner. There was no breakfast today. I continued to trot around the house trying to keep my mind occupied and trying to keep from falling further into depression. Xaviera and her kids did their best to avoid me again, either staying in their room sleeping or watching TV in our bedroom or the basement. I asked Brenda to put some water into a bowl so I could have something to drink. Watching TV held no interest for me, so I decided to get some more sleep. For dinner, I had some more lettuce and tomato. I wasn't in the mood for eating, but my stomach bothered me, letting me know I needed something. Every once in a while, I tried using magic again. It still wasn't working, and the day was getting late. I decided to sleep in the basement again. ---------------------------- The alarm went off at 5:20 AM, and I heard it from the basement. I was going to go upstairs to turn it off until I realized I was still in Twilight's body. Monday morning had come and I was still Twilight Sparkle. I tried using my magic again. Nothing. My heart sank. I knew I was going to lose my job today and there wasn't anything I could do to stop that from happening. Brenda got up and turned off the alarm. "Mike, why do you set it so damned early?" she asked from upstairs. "Because that's normally the time I get up," I said. She heard me and cursed. She knew I hadn't changed back and now she was angry. "Mike! Tell me you're not still in Twilight's body!" she demanded. I heard her stomping around on the hardwood floor. I went upstairs and showed her that nothing had changed. Her expression was no longer friendly. "Damn it, Mike! I was hoping this wouldn't happen! I can't pay all the bills on my job's pay! What are we going to do now?" "I don't have any ideas, Brenda. I don't know." "Can you use your magic?" she asked. "I tried that already. Nothing's happening." My ears drooped again and I hung my head. "Mario will be taking me to work today, and he will be needing the car keys," Brenda said. Mario is Katrina's husband and was presently unemployed. Looks like he might be using the car quite a bit if he can get a job and manage to pay for it. "What are you going to be doing today?" she asked me. "I dunno, Brenda. I don't know what to do anymore." "Do you want me to call Dave or Kevin?" she asked. "It's too early to be calling them right now. They probably won't be awake for at least another hour or so." "How are you going to answer your phone?" "I don't know. I have tried using it, but my hooves just don't have the fine motor control that I would have if I had hands." "So your phone is going to ring, and you won't be able to answer it. That's just unbelievable," she said. She stared at me as I started crying again. "Stop that!" she shouted. "That's not going to help you! I don't know why you think crying is going to help you accomplish anything but you need to stop! It's like you've turned into a little baby!" Her words hurt me and I couldn't stop crying. It was as though the more frustrated I became the more I cried and she just couldn't take it. She took a shower and got dressed for work, brushing her teeth before she left. That reminded me that I needed to do that as well, but when I tried to use my toothbrush and put paste on it, the brush fell from my hoof onto the floor, getting the paste dirty. I turned on the tub and washed the brush off, then brushed my teeth the best I could with what little paste was left on the brush. I did okay but needed more practice. I rinsed my mouth under the flowing water from the tub tap. Mario came to the door, Brenda gave him the car keys, and then they left. I decided to go downstairs and sleep some more. The ringing of my phone woke me and I went back upstairs to the room where Xaviera and her kids slept. "Xaviera! Can you answer my phone for me?" I asked. She was still asleep and couldn't hear me. I tapped at the door with my right fore-hoof, trying to wake her. I had to tap very loudly to get her attention. "Can you answer my phone for me, or call back whomever it was who tried to call me?" I asked. She got up and rubbed sleep from her eyes and got my phone. She hit a few buttons and handed me the phone. "I can't hold it, can you hold it for me?" She grumbled, and held the phone to my ear. "Mike, why aren't you here?" asked Dave. "Because I'm still in Twilight Sparkle's body," I responded. "I can't drive my car, and I still don't have use of my magic." "Mike, you're fired." Click. The finality of the statement hit me like a ton of bricks. My face dropped. "Mike, what happened? You look like someone just shot your dog," Xaviera said with some surprise. "My boss just fired me," I said, and started crying again. I went downstairs and laid down on my makeshift bed, crying myself back to sleep. I was inconsolable at this point. My mind raced with all the possibilities of what the future had in store for me. "What more can happen?" I asked myself. --------------------------------- Dave came by our house about four hours after firing me. He pulled up in his car and knocked on the front door. Xaviera answered it. "Who are you?" she asked. Her kids were behind her, watching with mild interest. "Name's Dave. I'm Mike's boss and I'm here to collect his uniforms." I heard his voice, and got up to go upstairs from the basement. Dave saw me, and was shocked. "What ... what ... is this... who?" "Dave, this is what I woke up as on Saturday morning, and I haven't been able to change back. This is what Twilight Sparkle looks like. I was able to use magic until this girl broke my horn off," I said, pointing an accusatory hoof at Samantha. She looked like she was about to cry as she hugged her mama's leg. "Looks like it's not broken," Dave said, still not quite sure what to make of me in my pony form. "That's because it's been glued back on, but I can't make magic flow from it -- I think it has to be fully mended before I can use magic again, and since the break hasn't healed yet, it's not working." "How do you use magic if it works normally?" "What I do is create a magic field around whatever it is I wish to levitate, then manipulate the field in whatever manner I wish. Kinda like this," I said, trying to imagine an aura around his body. My horn failed to glow. "Well, if it had worked, you would be enveloped in a purple aura. It's still not working, and I don't know when I will regain that ability." "I'm sorry, but I still have to collect your uniforms. If you ever change back, we'll be happy to have you back with us, but until then, we can't have a talking pony on our property." "Xaviera, can you get him a couple of black bags from under the kitchen sink? He's gonna need those." I was resigned to giving up my uniforms which constituted about half of the clothes I wore. She got two bags from the box, and gave them to Dave. "Where are your uniforms?" "Upstairs, clean ones are in the chest of drawers in the middle bedroom, dirty ones are in the room by the bathroom in a laundry basket." He went up and took as many as he could find, putting the clean ones into one bag and the dirty ones in the other bag. He took my uniform coat and jacket and three knit caps with our company logo on them. "You have an Airborne Express knit cap? I haven't seen one of those in about ten years," Dave said. He left that behind. "My wallet should be in the pocket of one of those pairs of pants," I said. He fished it out and tossed it to me. It hit me in the face. "Ow, you didn't have to throw it at me," I said. "Sorry, Mike, I wasn't trying to hit you with it," he said apologetically. He threw the bags down the stairs letting them plop onto the main level floor. I managed to dodge them before they hit me. He came downstairs and took each bag out to his car. "Okay Mike, that's all of them. Be seeing you. Good-bye and good luck," he offered almost too cheerfully. I went back downstairs and laid down on what had now become my bed. Xaviera took her kids upstairs to lay in what used to be my bed and turned on the TV. I drifted off to sleep as best I could, bad dreams plaguing it. Brenda came back home from work a few hours later and went downstairs to see how I was doing. She saw I hadn't changed back into a human yet and cursed under her breath. My fur was starting to get a bit matted and my mane and tail were looking quite unkempt. "Mike, you need to get in the bathroom and take a bath or something," she said. "Your sweat is starting to stink up the place." "Can you help me with that? I don't have any shampoo for that," I said. "I'll have Xaviera help you, I have to make dinner," she said with quite a bit of disgust in her voice. She went into the kitchen and got a pot out to make rice. I went upstairs to the bathroom. "Xaviera, can you help me bathe?" I asked her. She grumbled, but obliged me. She turned on the shower and I got in, allowing my fur and hair to get wet. She took a bar of soap and a back-scrubber brush and soaped it up, then started soaping up my fur and mane with the brush. The water felt good against my body as it ran through my hair and fur, rinsing the soap out. "Can you use some shampoo on my tail?" I asked her. I think I may have been pushing my luck, but she went ahead and did it. "You're a lot easier to wash than a dog," she said. "Thanks, I guess," I said with resignation. When is the humiliation going to end? The combination of soap and water dissolved the bonded glue and the broken horn piece fell off again into the tub. I saw it and freaked out. "NOOOO! Not again!" Xaviera saw the broken horn piece fall off again and grabbed it, setting it on the vanity. "I'll take care of that once we're finished in here," she said, trying to reassure me. "Mike! What's wrong now?" came Brenda's voice from our room. She got up and went to the bathroom to see what had happened. She saw the broken horn piece on the bathroom vanity and turned around to go back into the room. "My horn broke off again," I said to her turned back. "I saw it," she said, not bothering to acknowledge my chagrin. She resumed watching TV. Xaviera finished washing me and dried me off with a towel. She got the super-glue out again and glued my broken horn piece back on. I thanked her for doing this and went back downstairs to lay on my bed. Xaviera brought her kids downstairs to watch TV, making it difficult for me to fall asleep. Eventually she and her kids went back upstairs to sleep in their room. My sleep was still troubled, and I occasionally cried during some of the more disturbing dreams I had. Brenda woke me up and dragged my makeshift bed out to the car. "If you can't stop braying, you're sleeping in the car tonight. And you will sleep in the car until I think you're ready to stop feeling sorry for yourself and sleep normally without crying all night long. Hopes and wishes will not make your magic come back, and you have to do something. If you can't, you're gonna have to find somewhere else to live." Brenda unlocked the car, put my bed in the back seat, and made me get in -- well, actually, she picked me up and put me in the car as well. She slammed the door shut, and locked the car on me, but not before activating the child lock so I couldn't get out through the back doors. Opening the front doors from the inside would set off the alarm, so I was stuck now sleeping in the back seat of my car. I think I cried more that night than any before. It got cold that night and it was difficult for me to keep warm.