//------------------------------//
// 8) Emotions. 
// Story: Five Score, Divided by Four 
// by TwistedSpectrum 
//------------------------------//

The sun was pouring in through the window and basking the two of us as we lay there. It was unbelievably comfortable and I was about ready to take a nap curled up against Jack's back. But of course, Jack was more interested in cleaning the kitchen. I speak a protest "Pfft, way to ruin the mood dude. We were having fun and relaxing over here, but you just had to bring up chores."

“Haha, yea sorry about that. So, um, I guess we have to get up now” Jack says quietly, but makes no effort to move.

“Eeyup” Cleaning the kitchen was Jack's idea, not mine. I was not getting up before her.

Jack remains on the ground, but takes advantage of her new body shape and twist her pony neck all the way behind her to get a full view of the living room and look into the kitchen behind us. “Meh, it doesn't look that bad. Just gotta wash that bowl and put some bags away. Probably get it done in a minute or so.”

I flick my ears "Mmhmm, well get to it then. I'll be here, lying in the sun and napping" 

I feel the floor bend slightly as Jack twists over and get up on all fours, she stretches for a moment and then looks down at me. I pretend I can't see her and she reaches down to start nosing me with her muzzle. I hold back laughter as I realize how adorable this probably looked. Jack speaks up and she pokes at me “Come on... get up...”

I smile "Just give me one more minute sweetie."

Jack takes a step back “Dash, I think you read too many AppleDash fics."

"Hmm? Probably. Gotta admit though, we would make a cute couple" I lift my head off the floor and wink at her.

Jack rolls her eyes "Not gonna happen. Even if you ignore the fact that they were friends, not lovers, I still kind of consider myself a dude. So yea, I have no plans in entering a lesbian relationship. Sorry to disappoint?”

I stand up and stick out my tongue at her “But you’re not a dude. You are a mare!” I went over and rubbed my muzzle on her shoulder. It was nice to be closer than ever to my best friend.  

Jack grimaces at pretty much every part of my dialog, but held back her reply. Instead she just turns tail and trots over to the to the kitchen, then starts giving orders “Dash you wash the bowl, I'll put these bags away. Turn on the fan too, it's supposed to be a warm day”

I was a bit put off by her attitude, why was she so upset I pointed out the obvious? Oh well, that I can let slide for now, there was something I couldn't let slide though. "It's not going to be warm until well into the afternoon AJ; the warm front won't get here until lunch time and the cloud cover will get thicker until it finally breaks clears around 3pm" 

AJ stops what she was doing and turns back to me "Yea yea... Show off."

I wave a hoof "Hey, you're the one who brought up the weather. That's my domain sister."

AJ goes back to putting stuff into the cabinets, "Whatever you say, Dave”

I protest “I’m not Dave, I’m Rainbow Dash!”

Jack seems to prepare a retort, but bites her tongue and holds back her reply. 

Why was she in such a sour mood all of a sudden? Well, whatever, AJ really was a silly pony. I trot up behind her to get a sponge from the cabinet near here. Unfortunately, pony bodies were quite bulky in this human-sized kitchen “AJ, I wanna get something from the cabinet over here, but your giant butt is in the way."

AJ looks back and cocks an eyebrow "Giant butt? We're the same size as each other..."

I give her a sly smile "Well either way, you giant, child-bearing hips are in way"

The phrase 'child-bearing' makes the fur on Jack's neck stand up. Her tail goes flat against her body as she tried to cover herself, then she looks away. “Come on Dash, you know I don’t like bringing up the fact that I’m a mare...”

I raised an eyebrow. “Eh? I thought we talked about this yesterday? I mean, I have been calling you a “she” and “her” for quite a while now. You’re still sour about the female thing?”

Jack looks at the ground “Well the name thing is fine, female pronouns just feel natural at this point, but everything else is still kind of creepy. Child bearing? Did you have to bring up--” 

I cut her off “Oh come on AJ! It was a joke! And last night you literally ripped off your underwear and walked around the house naked! Seemed like you were fine with your sexuality back there!”

“I was drunk last night. But really now, I am not a fan of this gender flip thing, I never was.” Jack lowers her eyes and ears drop as her tail sways from side to side.

I can’t help but smile at the appearance in front of me, as Jack was acting sad in a very pony-like way. I walk up along alongside her, “Aww come on AJ, it’s not so bad. And just you know, some of us in this room are actually like you how you are now. I lean forward and rub cheeks with her while smiling. 

Jack snaps and suddenly turns to face me, kicking out her front legs and pushing me away from her. “Knock it off Dave!”

I hit the cabinet behind me, rocking it violently. I ignore that and instead speak up, correcting her with annoyance in my voice “My name is Rainbow Dash.”

“Oh come one Dave--" Jack was about to say more, but a bag of sugar on the top shelf of the cabinet slides forward from the rocking and tumbles in the air towards the both of us. We both clumsily try to reach up and catch it. The bag hits our raised hooves and bounces off to the side, but not before showering both of us with sugar. 

I let out a sigh "Ah, so that sucks. Now my mane is going to be all sticky."

Jack let's out a sigh and sits down, looking over at me "Guy gets turned into a female pony, and his only concern is that his mane is sticky. I don't know how you do it Dash."

I move forward and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Jack, I’m sorry about all this. I keep forgetting you and I are taking this so differently.” I sigh, I wish Jack would be more accepting of things. Being bitter about something you can't change, why do that to yourself? I look back at Jack and notice tears in her eyes. “Come on Jack, let’s go rinse this sugar off us before Evan gets back.”

Jack nods in agreement and wipes the tears from her eyes ”We have a hose hooked up to an outdoor shower outside, that’s going to be the easiest way to clean.”

Jack stands up and does her best to shake her sadness away, then leads us to the outdoor shower. She works the hose so the crude overhead faucet pours cold water over a wide area. At first I wanted to protest taking a shower using unheated water, but I soon realized I was covered in fur and didn’t really mind the cool temperature of the shower. Chalk up another bonus point towards being a pony!

“So... how is this going to work?” I ask of AJ, glad to see that her eyes had dried.

“What do you mean? It’s a shower, you stand under the water and wash yourself.” Jack takes the initiative and steps under the water.

I pause “Well, it’s pretty much impossible for a pony to wash their own back and flanks isn’t it?”

AJ bites her lip and stands under the water for a moment. I smile slightly, she was actually looking pretty saucy with a wet mane, but I knew I couldn't say anything about it. After a moment under the water, Jack speaks up “Well, yea I guess. Grab one of the sponges from over there, we can take turns giving each other a mini sponge bath under the shower” 

Now it was my turn to bite my lip. Really now? The lord was testing me, Jack had just told me she was sensitive about her femininity. Yet here she was, standing there with a wet mane and telling me we’re going to give each other sponge baths like some sort of bikini car wash. 

I grip the sponge between my hooves and start washing her, trying not to enjoy the process too much. Man, I thought rubbing a sponge over her back would be awkward enough, but then I got to her legs. I rub the sponge over her thighs and glance at the area between her legs. “So Jack, um, how far you want me to clean back here?”

Jack looked back, seemingly confused about the question ”Go as far as you can reach, clean everything.”

I shrug my shoulders, okay, if she insists. I get the insides of her leg and then lift up her tail and wipe the sponge over the entire area underneath it. I keep it professional and just run the sponge over the entire area in a normal fashion to get everything clean. Surprisingly, Jack doesn’t protest in the slightest at the fact that I am cleaning her lady parts. I reach under and clean her teets and other areas as well. Jack gives out a depressing sigh so I speak up “I'm almost done Jack. Are you doing alright?”

Jack sighs again “Yea, just thinking about how many times I used this exact shower to clean my horses... in the exact same manner you are using to clean me right now. It’s just kind of degrading, you know?”

I paused my washing “Oh. Right, well we’re done here, your turn to wash me.” I try passing the sponge from my hooves to AJ’s, but it falls onto the ground. I bend over and pick it up with my mouth, pausing for a second as I realize my tongue is touching the sponge, and remembering what body parts I was just rubbing this sponge on.

Jack laughs “A wingboner? Really now Dash, try and contain yourself buddy.”

I blush. Damn, looks like Jack did catch onto the uncontrollable action of my wings. “Sorry Jack, can’t help it. I guess you should take it as a compliment?” I pass the sponge and smile shyly, hoping I wasn’t crossing the line.

AJ shakes her head “Honestly Dave...”

Grrr, that was like the third time this morning! I get a minor flash of anger and turn to face Jack “Dude! I thought we went over this, stop calling me Dave! Wrong gender, wrong species, just call me Dash! You did so all day yesterday fine, and now that I actually AM Rainbow Dash, it shouldn’t be that hard to use my actual name.”

Jack drops the sponge and then turns to face me, her eyes narrowed and her teeth bared “You’re NOT Rainbow Dash. You just have her body.”

I ignore her drama and roll my eyes “Close enough, same thing.”

Jack gives me a slight push.“No, it’s not the same thing at all. You are not her! You’re just not. You’re a human that lived on Earth for twenty five years, please stop pretending you are a pony that was born a filly and raised as a pegasus her whole life. Stop referring to yourself as Rainbow Dash herself. I mean, going by ‘Dash’ is fine I guess, but you really have to stop pretending that you are actually her. I’m honestly creeped out everytime you do it.” She picks the sponge back up and starts washing my back.

I give a little pout “Fine, fine, I’ll stop using the full name. But then you have to stop calling me Dave! I’m trying to fully adapt to this new body and accept this new gender, and everytime you call me by my old name it gets weird.”

AJ moves to cleaning my legs “Alright, alright, fair enough Dash.“

I smile as she says my pony name. I like that name. I don’t know why she got so defensive about me using the full name, but whatever, I’m fine just going by Dash. There is a small lull in the conversation and then Jack lifts my tail and cleans my thighs and the area underneath my tail. It felt strange.

Jack finishes her sponge work and steps back to make sure she got every spot, then she chuckles softly to herself “I find it amusing that one week ago you would have done anything to get to sponge wash your favorite pony, and yet here you are. So close, yet so far from that fantasy...”

I grin “Oh yea, rub it in why don’t you! You get to enjoy the view and delights of this smoking hot filly, but I got stuck washing the backside of that ugly, orange colored farm pony who was just under here.”

I am rewarded with a sponge thrown at my face. I laugh again “Hey, I thought you hated being a girl and didn’t want any of the pillow talk?”

Jack smiles and shakes her head, but says nothing. Soon the wash is finished and she puts the sponge away and turns off the water. “Well, still no sign of Evan.”

I do a dog-like shake and get most of the water off me. “I’m sure he’s fine, it’s only been like an hour and a half, we’ll give him another 30 min before we go looking.”

Jack yawns “So, now what?”

I look around “Good question my fine freckled filly friend. We might as well work on unpacking some of the stuff from those shopping bags.”

“Sounds good my multicolored magnificent mare” Applejack says sticking her tongue out at me, proving that I wasn’t the only one who knew my way around a thesaurus.

We share a few more laughs on the way and return to the house, slowly unpacking several bags worth of stuff.

“Oh hey, totally forgot about these things!” Jack pulls out two boxes that we picked up from the WalMart pharmacy.

I look over “Oh yea... those.” Jack ripped open a bag with her teeth and was now trying on the ‘Universal Cuff’ that was essentially a bracelet of velcro with a few snaps and pockets that could be used to hold things that normally required an opposable thumb.

Jack tosses the other one at me as she plays around with the one she had on. I look down at the bracelet and frown. I don’t know why I needed such a thing, the entire point of being a pony was to be a pony. Relying on this bracelet things seemed silly. Jack notices my expression and speaks up “What’s wrong?”

I looked up at Jack, I probably shouldn’t tell her my thoughts. Jack seemed really hell bent on clinging to whatever remains of humanity she could. I don’t blame her, that certainly is the logical thing to do. I’m not sure why I was the other way, I wanted the opposite, I was more than happy to embrace every aspect of ponydom there was. I enjoyed every step of this transformation, and now that it’s complete, the more that I think about it, the more I realize I wanted this to be permanent. Everything about this body just seemed right. I mean, as weird as it sounds, I just loved being a pony! I smile widely as I acknowledge this thought.

I look up from my thoughts, grinning like a crazy person. Jack was staring at me with a  raised eyebrow, waiting for an answer from me. Shoot, I knew I couldn’t tell any of those thoughts to Jack. She wouldn’t understand my feelings about this; hell, I don’t even really understand them. I lower my grin and speak up “Oh hey Jack, sorry what was the question? Oh, you were asking me if something was wrong. No, nothing’s wrong! Sorry I’m just busy thinking about... stuffs. Right, where were we? Universal cuff bands? Good idea, let me put this on.” I reach down and put the band on my hoof. I wasn’t a big fan of it, but I guess it might come in handy, and wearing one was certainly easier than trying to explain to Jack that I had no desire to ever be human again.

Jack stares at me for a few seconds but says nothing and I go back to unpacking bags. Jack looks around, seeming wanting to try out the cuff on something. After a short while she speaks up “Where are the vaccines?”

I was in the middle of unpacking dry goods but I stop and point a hoof at the kitchen door. “In the fridge, bottom shelf. Gotta keep those chilled.”

Jack walks over to the fridge and comes back with a series of pre-packaged syringes that were prefilled with vaccines. She then carefully tears open the package and fastens a syringe to her universal cuff. I look on as she sits back on her haunches and injects herself in the flank. I had to admit, the universal cuff worked really well. 

I turn back to my packages and start rummaging through stuff when I feel a poke in my flank and a slight burn. I turn my head to see Jack finishing an injection on me. I speak up “Um... Jack, did you just use the same needle on both of us?”

“Sure did. Congratulations, you’re now vaccinated against Equine Encephalitis.”

I protest “But, we’re sharing needles now? I don’t want to catch pony AIDS!”

Jack laughs and grabs another syringe with another vaccine “Ponies don’t get AIDS! Yet another reason why ponies are clearly superior.”

I raise an eyebrow, did she say ‘ponies are clearly superior?’ Huh, well maybe Jack was liking her pony body after all. Maybe she liked being a pony and was just mad that she was a she? Well, too bad, if you’re going to be Applejack, you’re going to be a mare. Applejack as a stallion makes about as much sense as Applejack without her...

I drop the bag I was holding. “Oh no, Jack we forgot to buy something at the store!!”

Jack looks over but doesn’t stop preparing her next vaccine. “Hmm? Like what?”

        I throw out my hooves in desperation “YOUR HAT!!”

Jack blinks. “Hmm? My what? What are you talking about, I’m not really a hat person.” 

“Well you’re not, but Applejack is! You need to wear a Stetson! You can’t be Applejack without it!”

Jack grits her teeth and goes back to injecting herself with the next vaccine before responding, coldly “Well then, good thing I’m not actually Applejack, I’m just a guy with her body.”

I roll my eyes. Oh boy this again. Man, what was her problem today? Jack walks over and stabs me with the next vaccine, using more force than probably needed. “Ow.”

“What’s the matter, my sister here isn’t happy with who she is supposed to be?” Evan appears from the patio, slightly out of breath as he trots over to us. 

Jack’s ears go flat “I accept our current situation, but I’m just trying to remind Miss Dash here that we aren’t actually the characters from the show.”

Evan trots between us, glancing from side to side at the scene in front of him. “How can you be so sure sis?”

Jack rolls her eyes “Because the fact that such a thing makes no sense! At all! Why the hell would the characters from the show be banished from Equestria and sent to Earth to live as random humans for 25 years? And then they all suddenly become ponies again with none of their old memories? And in the meantime Hasbro had made a cartoon that showed their previous lives as ponies? What? Come on, that makes less than no sense.”

Evan laughs “Not a single damn thing about any of this makes any sense. When every possible explanation sounds equally insane, well every possible explanation is equally possible then isn’t it?” 

I raised an ear and tilted my head. That... made sense? I guess? Silence falls upon the three of us as we think about his words. I take a deep breath and can’t help but notice Evan is positively reeking of grass and pony sweat. I speak up, somewhat eager to break this tension “So... Evan... how was the run?”

Evan turns his neck, smiling at me “It was wonderful Dash! Thanks for asking! Utterly fantastic day out there, great day for a run.”

I blink, whoa, what happened to Evan. I thought he was supposed to be the sad and depressed one around here. I look over to see Jack roll her eyes and enter the conversation “Well, you missed breakfast. There’s some food in the kitchen if you want, we have--”

“I already ate” Evan cuts her off.

I cock my head ”Um... what? What did you eat out there?”

Evan looks at me as if I just asked him on what date the Fourth of July was. He glances over at Jack, and then back at me, confused as to how neither of us knew what he ate for breakfast. “Uh.. dude, I ate grass. I mean, we’re ponies are we not? What the heck did you think we were supposed to eat?”

I blink. Ponies eat grass? Huh, I guess they do don’t they? Never seen it in the show...

“You did what!?” Jack leans forward and glares at her brother. “Come on Evan, we’re sentient ponies, not farm animals! We don’t roam pastures and eat grass off the ground like a common beast.”

Evan laughed at Jack “A pony is a pony. I don’t see the problem” he faces me but gestures his eyes back at his sister “Man, Jack is pissed, what is she having PMS or something?”

I wince, knowing how much bringing up her womanhood was going to sting Jack. I look over at her and she’s just biting her tongue and glaring at Evan, apparently having decided to just bottle up her anger for the time being. I try and defuse the situation. 

“Calm down everyone. First off, Jack you can’t yell at Evan for eating grass. He hasn’t seen much of the show and he knows next to nothing about MLP ponies. You can’t really blame him for not following their rules. Second off, Evan, I gotta admit, eating grass is a little creepy. For future reference, next time you’re hungry just come to the kitchen, we have plenty of proper food.”

Evan flicks his mane to the side a “Fine, so, Rainbow Dash, what’s the plan?”

I hold up a hoof. “And Evan sorry, it’s just Dash. Don’t call me her full name, I’m not her. At least I don't think I am.” I hang my head. “Jack and I talked about this to great length already and I kind of agree with her. I mean, as much as I wish I was Dash, the fact remains that I am not her.”

Evan just stares at me “Well, that all remains to be seen.”

Jack lets out a mockful laugh “What the heck is that supposed to mean? You don’t know who any of these ponies are, you haven’t seen the show, and you certainly don’t know what caused any of this! You don’t know anything! Stop pretending to be have all the answers, you’re not fucking Gandalf, you’re the most clueless one here.”

I raise my eyebrow. Who lit the fire under Jack all of a sudden? Jeez no need to yell at Evan for such a small transgression. I look over to see that Evan had just bit his tongue and turned to face me once again. “Sorry about her” he gestures at Jack and then goes back to talking to me, though it’s clear the message is actually aimed at his sister. “She always gets cranky when her uterus starts cramping up. Women these days, am I right? Now anyways, like I was saying, this all remains to be seen because in order to find anything out we have to first talk to Fiona and--” 

He was once again cut off by Jack who spoke surprisingly calm considering Evan had just purposefully pushed all of her buttons. “Fiona didn’t cause this. This entire thing goes way back. The transformation was triggered when we turned 25, but don’t you see signs of this started earlier? We each have had aspects of these ponies for decades. We were all born on the same day, Dash here was predicting the weather like a pegasus ever since she was five years old, and there’s the strange fact that when Dash and I first met 10 years ago we both felt like we were old friends that found each other. This transformation wasn’t random and it wasn’t just done to us by Fiona or whatever. We’ve been following this path--

Evan snorts, now it was his turn to cut off his sister. “Oh please, so now you’re saying this was our destiny or something? We were born to meet up and become ponies together? What the heck sis, didn’t you just say that Dash here was not actually Rainbow Dash? But now you’re saying it was her destiny all along to turn into Rainbow Dash? Which one is it then? Make up your mind!”

I look at the ground, I was really not comfortable with being a pawn in the middle of their fight with each other. I turn to Evan “Look, there’s something we don’t understand at work here. I can’t quite put my hoof on it, none of us can. But there’s definitely things going on behind the scenes. We need information! Trying to jump to conclusions will just frustrate us! Fighting gets us nowhere!”

I look from Jack to Evan. Jesus they still looked like they were ready to kill each other at a moment’s notice. What was going on with these siblings? They used to be so close, but ever since the body changes started, being around them was like going over a minefield. Any minor nudge or bump in the road seemed to set off an explosion. I clear my throat “We all just need to calm down. There’s a hell of a lot of stuff we don’t know, and I think we’re all just getting really stressed out because we are uncomfortable in these new bodies.”

AJ gives a mean smirk and stares straight at his Evan but pretends to speaks to me. “All of us uncomfortable? Oh no, no I don’t think so Dash. My brother here just spent the entire morning eating grass off the ground and running around like a wild horse outside. I think he’s right at home in this body. He just relishes the idea of becoming a random barn animal. In fact, we should prepare a stall for him in the stables outside.” Jack reaches out a hoof and strokes Evan’s mane “Ain’t that right horsey? You just want a nice stable and some hay to lay down on don’t you? Maybe some carrots that we can feed you through the gate? Yea, don’t worry, maybe soon you’ll forget you were ever a human. You can be a regular beast of burden that helps us on the farm. Then we can start calling you ‘horse’ instead of Evan, I bet you’d like that. You’re going to be a such a good horsey! Yes you are! Good horsey!”

Before I can respond I realize I need to step back because every single muscle in Evan’s body just tensed up, he looked about ready to explode. See, unbeknownst to Jack and I, this was not the first time this week Evan was called a ‘good horsey’ by a nearby female. Evan started to breath heavily, he didn’t like where Jack’s conversation went and the way she was mocking him. She was hitting on his worst fear, the one thing that truly terrified him about this entire ordeal.

After grinding his teeth for a few seconds Evan finally spoke up, smiling with malicious intent as he did “Yea Dash... I don’t know what you mean about all of us being uncomfortable in these bodies. I mean, my sister here loves her new female body...” My eyes go wide, oh my god, Evan, don’t take this where I think your going to. I know Jack just made fun of you, but don’t do this, please don’t...

Evan doesn’t hear my thoughts so he continues, every one of his lines cutting deeper and deeper into Jack. “You see, I bet ever since Jack was a little boy she wished she was female. I imagine she would always sneak off to the stables when the horses were mating, then watch the mares and wish how she could join them one day. Now that she finally has a right equipment between her legs she is just thrilled to peaches! The reason she was the last one to wake up this morning was probably because she stayed up all night playing with herself like some mare in heat, which coincidentally is the perfect description of what she now is. I bet she just can’t wait for the day when she can go out feel the real thing mounting her. In fact, I think she’s just upset because there aren’t any eligible stallions here to SCREW HER like the mare she is.” Evan turns and spits on the ground, then turns back to face his sister who was already on the verge of tears and was holding her ears and tail flat. Even decides to twist the knife a little deeper, ”That’s why she doesn’t want us to talk to Fiona! She want’s us to just give up! So wants us to stay like this so she can have a pussy for the rest of her life. Hell, this MARE won’t be happy until she’s nursing a dozen foals of her very own!” 

I took a few steps back and raise a hoof to my mouth... holy... shit... 

Evan keeps staring daggers at Jack and waits for her to respond, but she was not going to. She was down for the count. It was as if Evan took the source of Jack’s fear and depression and shoved it front and center for the world to see. Unable to meet the eyes of anyone in the room, Jack held her ears and tail completely flat against her body and tried to stand up. She found she barely had the fortitude to stand, but after tripping on her hooves a few times she gets up and slowly makes her way out of the room, looking down the entire time.

Jack leaves the house and I hear the front door close behind her. I stand up to follow and comfort her but before I can move Evan puts a hoof on my back and speaks up “Oh hey Dash, I think it’s time we went over and paid Fiona a visit. I mean, you’re the only one who knows her address, so you can lead the way. This should be a fun trip!”

I push Evan’s hoof off my shoulder and look up at him, flabbergasted that he was acting so cavalier about what he just did “Jesus Christ dude! What was that about!? You know how sensitive Jack is about the gender change!”

Evan rolls his eyes and snorts loudly “So what, she had it coming. Ha, the mare--”

SMACK!! I send my front leg flying with full force and slam the hoof directly across Evan’s face.

“OW. Holy shit dude~” Evan whimpers and takes a step back then leans on his flanks, holding his muzzle with both his front hooves.

I move to stand over Evan, readying my hoof over his head to strike a second time. My legs and entire body were now visibly shaking with anger, I was nothing short of livid and could feel the blood pounding in my ears. I started debating if I should put my front hoof down so I could get ready to buck instead of punch. “Apologize to your sister! NOW.”  I realized I was so angry I didn’t even recognize my own voice.

Evan looks up at me with a measure of fear in in eyes, his muzzle was leaking blood profusely from my first blow to his face. The blood had quickly soaked through the red fur around his hooves and was now starting to drip down onto the carpet.
 
“Dude you hit me in the face with a hoof...” Evan whimpers once again. 

“And you just CRUSHED your sister! Dude, you don’t think she’s having a hard enough time right now? I mean, Jesus, it’s not like she didn’t just wake up as a pony and has to deal with all that, she’s also the wrong fucking gender and is painfully aware of it at every moment! Do you have any idea what that’s like for her? This is not what she wants, and every moment that passes she feels more and more trapped in a body and gender she doesn’t want! I mean heck, she’s probably under more stress and depression than anyone else on the planet right now. And she’s not only trying to make it through the day herself, but she’s the one trying to hold us all together! She’s barely holding in there herself, but she’s still laying everything she can out for us!. And then you come in here and utterly rip her apart like that! And for what? Come on Evan, what the hell were you thinking! 

Evan’s eyes welled up with tears and he breaks eye contact with me, not wanting to face the realizations I was throwing at him. I continue speaking “Why can’t you two get along? You’re TWINS! And for 25 years you two have been closer than close! And now, at the exact moment when your close family bond is needed more than ever, you two are fighting? You pounce on each other’s throats and make fun of their worst fears and nightmares?! What is wrong with you!? I mean, come on, we’re like the only three ponies in the world and we'e surrounded by 7 billion humans! Why are we fighting each other, when we need to be helping each other getting through this?! Gah!!” I lower my hoof and step away from Evan, too frustrated to continue talking. 

Evans ears lie flat and tears start to fall from his eyes as he realizes what he did to his sister back there. She was his twin, and Dash was right, right now they needed each other more than ever. He gets up and starts to walk after Jack, tail between his legs and blood and tears now dripping on the ground from his muzzle as he walked. He leaves the house choking on his sobs as he opens his mouth to cry out “Jack... Jack come back, I’m sorry!”

I fall back on my haunches and let out a sigh, my heart still pounding from the anger I had felt at Evan for mocking Jack like that. Truthfully, it wasn’t that fair that I only went after Evan that hard. I mean, Jack deserved almost as much blame for this as Evan did. But still, I think Jack suffered enough. The mental blow as large as the one he just suffered at the hands of his brother, man, he wasn’t going to spring back from that one very easily. That’s a deep wound right across his very psyche. 

I sigh once more and shake my head slowly. All this drama, jeez. Why can’t three friends just turn into ponies and then have a nice relaxing time?

I rest my large pony head in my hooves. Well, today kind of sucked didn’t it? I mean let’s see here: Wake up, am horse, have good time with friend, get yelled at by friend, take cold shower, watch friends yell at each other, watch best friend get destroyed, then personally attack other friend and make him bleed. Sigh. I close my eyes, all that was missing was a letter to Princess Celestia explaining that when people are faced with the unknown they will turn and destroy each other.

I slowly get back up and follow the trail of tears (and blood) that leads me outside. It wraps around the front of the house into an area alongside their barn. I stop a few meters away and observe the two ponies in front of me. Jack is curled up on herself and laying down. Her face was covered with her tail as she seemingly tries to hide from the world. It pains me to notice that while her face was covered, the ground around her head was clearly wet; she had been streaming tears ever since she got there.

Evan was a few feet away, looking down at his hooves and trying to talk to his sister, I start to hear his words as I get closer “...I don’t know, I think I turned my own fear from this into anger. Then I took it all out on you, it wasn’t fair of me to do it. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry Jack.”

Jack didn’t respond, her body still shaking from the continued sobs.

Evan’s head hangs even lower than before, and then he lets out a sad sigh “Jack...” He slowly takes a few steps closer to his sister, then lies down next to her, saying nothing.

I slowly back away from the scene, this was an issue they had to solve between themselves. Whatever rift that formed between them, they were the ones that had to mend it. I make my way back to the house and look over my shoulder one last time as I get there. The two of them were just lying down next to each other, neither of them saying anything. I give out a small smile, hopeful at the fact that Evan is refusing to leave Jack’s side. Maybe that action by itself gave a strong enough message.

I return to the kitchen and try to figure out what to do. Might as well call Fiona, that was the plan for today right? I trot on over to the guest room and rummage around trying to find my cell. I move around and use my muzzle to flip some bags over trying to find it. In my boredom I start talking to myself ”How do ponies in the show keep their rooms so clean? It's impossible to properly tidy things up with hooves and a muzzle.” I clumsily pick up and flip over my pair of pants from yesterday, I found my wallet but no phone. “Hmm, I wonder if it's in my backpack?”

        I glance over at my backpack leaning against the wall “Oh god I hope it's not in my backpack.” The bag was zipped closed, and the zipper on that thing was old and always got stuck. It was hard enough to open using fingers, how the crap am I supposed to open that with hooves?        

After several minutes of awkward wrangling and growling at the bag, I finally managed to snag the small zipper on my tooth and twist my neck to open the stupid thing while I held it down. “Zippers. Not even once...” I chuckled to myself as my phone proudly tumbles out of the open backpack. I looked down at the glossy black rectangle and smiled. It was hard to get to this thing, but it was worth it. Ponies were pretty awesome by themselves, but ponies WITH modern technology? That’s just wasn't even fair!

Using years of muscle memory I move my arm down to grab the phone and turn it on.

THWACK. The sight of my phone had made me temporarily forget that I had hooves for hands, and my hoof had sailed down and clumsily smashed right into the screen.

“Ahh! No! Phone, I'm so sorry!” I pray I didn't crack the screen, and there was only one way to find out, gotta turn this thing on and check the display for damage. I move my hand to turn the phone on.

THWACK . “Aaaah! I did it again!!!” I start hitting myself in the forehead with my hoof “Stupid, stupid, stupid, stop breaking my phone! Must be careful, must be gentle with phone.”

I now focus very carefully and slowly move my hoof towards the phone and bump the button on the side to turn it on. The phone blinks to life and I breathe a sigh of relief to see the display is not cracked.





But then I find myself doing a scrunchie face as I look back at it. I just realized my phone was locked. To unlock it I usually just looked at the display, it had one of those facial recognizer things using the front camera. But right now I didn’t have my human face. Now when I look at the phone to unlock it, the front camera just displays the face of a very confused looking Rainbow Dash staring down at it. The camera focuses for a second and then 'FACE NOT RECOGNIZED' flashes across the screen.

I let out a sigh, well this was annoying. Thankfully it's not the end of the world, I can just enter my password to override the face camera lock. I carefully reach out my hoof and tap on the 'Password Lock' option on the screen.

Nothing happens. TAP TAP TAP TAP. No response. “Oh you gotta be kidding me!” I facepalm again, it appears that touch screens don't recognize hooves. In frustration to use a body part that wasn’t hoof, I bend my hoof joint, which I think was called the fetlock? I don't know, I'm a pony not a veterinarian. I bend the joint and press my cyan covered leg forward so the leg touches the screen. Still no response from the phone. “Oh, so what, you don't detect fur covered limbs either? What kind of useless phone are you?!”

I growl with frustration at the wall and try to think what else might work. My wings maybe? Do feathers work on touch screens? I didn’t have fine motor control of my wings yet, but maybe if I just grabbed a feather? I glance around and spot two or three feathers lying on my bed, it seems overnight I molted a few feathers here and there. I trot over to pick one up with my mouth, then trot back over to the phone. On the way back I find myself passing by the mirror.

I stop in my tracks and once again get a look at myself. 'Yep, I still look awesome!” I smile at my reflection and then look at the reflection of the feather I was carrying in my mouth. What would I have done to own this very feather 48 hours ago? “My god, an actual feather from Rainbow Dash, I would have sold my apartment to own one of these.” I make a mental note to gather all the molted feathers I could find and put them in a bag somewhere. If we ever found a way to change back into humans I would want these feathers. I could probably sell a few of them and retire a millionaire; well, that is assuming the world would believe me.

Anyways back to the phone, let's try this feather out shall we? I turn the phone back on and reach down and poke at the screen with the blue feather. No response. “Urgh, why do I even bother at this point?” In frustration I reach down with my snout and poke at the screen with my tongue. “Hey look at that, it works... Well, kind of, I can't really see what I'm typing.” After several tries at trying to lick the correct password into the tiny touch screen keyboard I give up. The tip of my tongue is the size of half the keyboard, this is fruitless.

“Screw you phone!” I bat my hoof at it gently, hitting it on the side and sending it sliding across the room. “No one likes you!” I yell after it, then I stand up on all fours and leave the room, flicking my tail towards the phone to show I didn't care for the damn thing. “Stupid device, ponies don't need your fancy technology!”

I trot my way into the living room and go to the house phone sitting on a small wooden table near the wall. This device was an antique, it was analog based and had big mechanical buttons at the base. I use my muzzle to nudge the headset off the receiver and start typing in Fiona's phone number using my hooves on the large mechanical buttons. “This is MUCH easier! Thank you old phone! It's nice to know at least some phones here care about ponies.”

I finally dial the last number, then awkwardly lie my head flat on the table near the headset. See, I couldn't really pick up the phone, so I was just going to leave it on the table and use my long neck to position myself. I hear the last number go through the phone and the connection start to establish itself. As I wait for it to start ringing I think about what to say once Fiona picks up 'Hmm, maybe I shoul--'

My thoughts are interrupted by a robotic voice that comes through the speaker before the phone even has a chance to ring. “I'm sorry, this number has been disconnected. Please hang up and dial a new number.”

I take a step back. What the heck? I dial again, triple checking that I have the right number. “I'm sorry, this number has been disconnected...”

Oh for fucks sake! All this work with the phones for nothing! With frustration mounting, I turn around and buck the table, instantly hearing wood splinter into a dozen pieces. The table legs then snap, sending the metal phone clanking down loudly on the floor. I looked back and cried out “No! Phone-that-was-kind-to-ponies, I'm so sorry!” I reach out and pick up the poor thing, it didn't do anything wrong! Thankfully, it seemed to be okay, appliances this bulky were certainly built to last. Can't say the same for the table though, I was surprised at how much damage one kick did. “Not to self, don’t buck indoor furniture...”

I gather up the pieces and throw away the splinters. Hopefully Jack and Evan weren’t particularly fond of that table. Speaking of, I wonder how they are doing? Hopefully they manage to iron things out, we need to get our house in order before we set off on a quest or whatever to find Fiona. With her phone disconnected it meant we were going to have to pay her a visit in person, and since we couldn’t really control cars anymore, we were going to have to hoof it. It was about 20 miles to her place, that was a day journey easily. I should probably look at a map and plan out a route we can use that keeps us away from residential areas...


~~~~~~


It was early afternoon when I hear the front door swing back open. Evan walks into the house and glances over at me, quietly saying "Hey Dash"

I look at him and his disheveled mane and muzzle that were covered in dried blood. "Hey Evan. You look like shit."

Evan wipes his hooves on the welcome mat and slowly trots forward "Yea, well I feel like shit, so I guess the shoe fits."

I frown "Any luck with your sister?"

"Sort of? I don't know, she still isn't saying much. I thought if I apologized she would be fine, but that doesn't seem to be the case." Evan lowers his ears once more " I think she took my rant back there pretty hard."

I sighed "Yea, that's what I was afraid would happen. What can I say, you screwed up Evan. "

Evan throws his front hooves in the air "How was I supposed to know she was that sensitive? She was prancing around naked yesterday, but now if you so much as mention her gender she starts to cry? A little warning would have been nice!"

I shrugged "I told you, everyone is just tense due to these new bodies. I think Jack is particularly uncomfortable with her gender today because now that the transformation is done we are starting to settle down. We are thinking about the things we want to do now, and who knows, maybe she doesn't like where that puts her sexually."

Evan takes a step back "Sexually? Who's thinking sexually?"

I put on my poker face. Crap, stupid Freudian slip. "Uh nothing, I'm just saying... she works as a horse breeder right? That's how she thinks of mares, and now she is one. It's immensely awkward for her right now"

Evan nodded "Oh, I see. Well, in either case, she still doesn't really want to open up to me.” Evan moves over to the sink and turns it on with a hoof, then dunking his muzzle in the water to clean his face “Maybe you can talk to her? I mean, you're her best friend, and you’re the only one who knows what she's going through."

I stretch, preparing to go outside “Well, I can see if she wants to talk to me, but I was kind of hoping you two would be able to-- holy crap Evan, your face!” I raise my voice in shock at the sight of Evan’s cleaned muzzle. With the dried blood removed I could see the extent of the gash on his face. There was a long cut under his nose from where my hoof hit him, it looked quite painful.

“Ah, yea, that. See I got into a fight with this one pretty girl this morning and she sucker punched me with her hoof.”

I blinked and felt my ears go back “Oh so I'm a pretty girl now?” I sit back on my haunches “What? Evan, it's me Dave. You know, born male? Pretty sure you don't wanna think about me in that way.”

“Hmm? Oh right, sorry. Bright rainbow colors and feminine face throw me off over here"

I rolled my eyes and tossed him a towel “Well I was GOING to help you bandage that up, but after that extremely awkward display I think I’m going to let you do it yourself. I don’t wanna fulfill any nurse fantasies you might have.”

“Damn, so close!” Evan laughed, but then got more serious “But really Dash, if you could talk to Jack...”

“Yea yea, I’ll talk to her. Besides, we need to get going soon if we want to make it to Fiona’s by nightfall”

“Can’t you just call her?” Evan asks and he pulls the first aid kit from under the sink and makes his way over to a mirror.

“I did call her, but her cell phone was disconnected.”

Evan looks back at me and raises an eyebrow “Huh... well, that’s strange”.

“Mmhmm” I start making my towards the door “Well, I’ll go talk to Jack, you clean up and start packing for the trip. It’s 20 miles so we’re going to need some basic supplies and maybe some food to take with us.” And actually, speaking of food, Jack hasn’t eaten since breakfast. I should bring her something as a peace offering.

I made a crude salad (hard to be precise with hooves) by tossing some lettuce and carrots into a bowl. How can I carry this thing outside without getting saliva all over the edges? Hmm, I grab the bowl in my mouth, twist my neck all the way around, balancing the bowl on my back, once again surprised at just how far my neck can strech. With the cargo secured, I make my way out of the house and down to the area where Jack was last seen. Sure enough, I find Jack lying on the ground, pretty much exactly where she was earlier today. She glances over at me as I approach, but says nothing. I finally reach her and twist around to grab the bowl and then place it at her side. I smile wide “Hey Jack! I brought you lunch! It’s got lettuce and some carrots and--”

“--yea no thanks, I already ate” Jack says quietly.

I take a step back “What? But you were out here the whole day.”

Jack shrugs her shoulder “Yea, after Evan left I walked around the barn and just ate some grass. Fills you up pretty quick.”

“You what?” my eyes go wide, this wasn’t making any sense, Jack nearly killed Evan for suggesting that we should be eating grass, and now here she was doing the same thing? I facehoofed “Jack, I thought we all agreed to keep eating ‘normal’ food like the ponies in the show do.”

Jack once again shrugs her shoulders “Yea I guess. I was just hungry and there was grass here, so, you know. Can’t blame a fish for swimming, right?”

I raised an eyebrow “Jack you alright? This isn’t you at all. You’re my fun-loving best friend who’s always responsible and optimistic. You’re not supposed to be Strong Sad.”

Jack laughed, which it itself I was grateful to see. “Strong Sad? Really now Dash, 2005 called and wants their meme back.”

I grinned “Come on Jack, lets go back inside. Moping around around here won’t turn us back into humans.”

The remains of Jack’s smile immediately vanished and she turned cold “Yea well, you wouldn’t want that anyway. Heck, you should probably be begging me to stay out here if it you really think me staying outside will keep us as ponies.”

I took a step closer “What do you mean Jack?”

“Stop pretending man. You have no intention of turning back into a human. I’ve seen you Dash... everytime you pass a mirror you look like a kid in a candy store. I mean, I have never seen someone so happy to see their own reflection.”

I blush and look away. That was kind of true wasn’t it? Jack looks up at me and continues “That’s great, I’m happy for you. At least one of us is enjoying all this bizarre stuff that’s going on. Who knows, maybe I should to, I mean, since we’re stuck like this for the rest of our lives--”

“We don’t know that Jack. We can’t pretend to understand what’s going on right now, making long term assumptions is fruitless until we get some answers.” I walk over to Jack’s body and sit down next to her, tossing a hoof over her shoulder and giving her a small hug. “You’re right Jack, I do kind of enjoy this body. However, I also know you and Evan don’t feel the same way. And if you’re both miserable, I will be to. So I’m going to do everything I can to try and figure this out and see if we can change back.”

Jack turned her head to me and gave a little smirk “Sounds noble, but how exactly do you plan to do that?“

“We gotta start with Fiona. Now I know what you’re thinking, she didn’t cause this. Well you’re probably right, but it’s the only lead we have. We can go over there and talk to her, see what she knows. Heck, if she knows nothing, we can still use her help. She’s probably the only human we can trust right now, having her on the farm with us would be fantastic! She could go to the store for us, bring us books, pay the electric bill, reach things on high shelves, give us baths, brush our manes, cuddle our cheeks, braid our tails...”

As I go on Jack starts to stare at me with a look of horror on her face. I burst out laughing “Haha, just making sure you were paying attention.” Jack smiles and shakes her head, I’m happy to see her expressing some emotion ”But no, really now, Fiona would be a great help to us if she could join us on the farm”

Jack stands up at this point and starts stretching her neck and shaking out the hooves that she has been lying on all day. “So, um, what makes you think she would want to come out here and live with us?”

I look at Jack and show a wide grin. “Dude, we’re ponies. Freakan ponies! There is nothing Fiona likes more! It will be like when Fluttershy meets Spike in the first episode and she goes nuts. I can see it now, she opens her front door and:  ‘A real pony! Oh I've never seen a real cartoon pony before! There's so cute! AND THEY TALK! That's just so incredibly--’”

“Yes, yes, we get it! We’ve all seen the show Dash!” Jack flicks her mane to side in mild annoyance, but I can’t help but laugh.

“So great, you’re on board. Well, get ready, Evan just has to lock the house and then we can get going. Shouldn’t take more and a few hours to get there at a mild canter.”

Jack raises her eyebrows “What? Oh no, sorry, I’m not going.”

I pull my head back in surprise “Huh? Why not? I thought you said you understood why we had to go and get Fiona.”

“Well yea, you and Evan go get Fiona. I’ll be waiting here.”

I tilt my head in confusion “What gives? You don’t wanna come with us? What are you going to do here by yourself?”

AJ shrugs her shoulders “Meh, I just don’t see the reason why I should go. You’re just going to her place and knocking on her door. It doesn’t require three ponies to do that, right? Besides, I really just want some alone time, try to get this all sorted out in my head.”

I stare at AJ for a moment. I wasn’t fully comfortable with leaving her alone right now, her mind wasn’t quite all in one piece. She just admitted to eating grass for lunch, who knows what she might end up doing if we leave her alone for a day or two. I don’t wanna come back to find Jack running around the pasture and sleeping outdoors.

Jack seemingly read my thoughts. “Dash, come on, I’ll be fine. You’ll be back in a day right?”

I nodded, she had a point. Also, as a former introvert myself, I knew that sometimes you really did just want to be left alone.  “Yea, we will be back soon. I suppose we can let you stay here if you want. You sure about this?”

Jack smiles “Dash, your concern for me is admirable, but really now, I’ll be fine. What’s the worst that could happen?”.

I start to form a witty reply but stop myself as I hear the sound of hooves approaching. Jack and I turn to see Evan slowly walking towards us from the house. He has a small canvas bag slung over his neck, presumably filled with supplies for our trip. Evan gets closer and smiles at Jack “Good to see your standing ‘sis, now, are we all ready?”

Jack returns the smile but doesn’t look Evan in the eye. I speak for her “Jack has elected to stay behind for now. She just wants some time alone to think.” Evan looks shocked and starts to reply, but I cut him off before he can say anything “I stand with Jack’s decision, and besides Evan, we’re trying to sneak into a residential area, and we need to remain undetected by humans, right?. The fewer of us that go, the easier it will be to stay hidden.”

Evan, always the practical one, ponders that thought. “Yea... I suppose that does make sense. But what is Jack going to do here by herself for a full day?”

Jack shrugs her shoulders and finally speaks to her brother “Oh, you know, still some chores to do around here and such. I’ll keep busy. Don’t worry about me, you’ll be back before you know it.”

Evan takes a deep breath and gives it one final thought. “Well, okay, I guess if this is what you want. If anything happens when we are gone, just give us a call.” Evan twists his neck and reaches into his canvas bag, pulling out two black phones. He then drops one at Jack’s feet.

I stare at it for a moment and start to laugh, remembering all the old memes about the ‘indestructible’ old 90’s cellphone. “Evan, really now, where did you get a pair of old Nokia 3310s?”

Jack smiled and answered for him “Oh man, we got these things like 20 years ago! I was in grade school at the time, this was my very first cellphone. Ah, good memories.”

Evan chuckled as he turned it over in his hoof “Nice analog buttons. No touch screen, so it’s pony-compatible!”

I smile, Evan was smarter than he looked. Grabbing old cell phones was a good idea. I turn to Evan “Right, so, are we ready to go?”

Evan nods “Yep, got the map, got some supplies, I also grabbed your apartment keys in case we want to camp there for the night”.

I glance up at the sky, it was getting to be late afternoon. Probably 4pm or so. We would probably have to find someplace to sleep in town, and my apartment was pretty close to Fiona’s. Hmm, pretty sure they had a “no pets” rule though. I wonder what we classify as.

Even pokes me in the side “What are you smiling about? You ready to go?”

Jack smiles and waves back “Yea, you two have fun. See you around.”



~~~~ Later~~~~

        
        Well Evan and Dash were gone. It was just me, good ‘ol Jack left alone on the farm. I let out a yawn and reach up to move the blond hair out of my eyes.  As much as I hated thinking of myself as Applejack from the show, I realized I might have to emulate her a bit more and get some hair bands. Having a full mane of long blond hair was not very practical for someone who did chores on a farm. Dash was lucky, her hair was shorter and seemed to naturally stay out of her eyes. Not mine though, this earth pony really needed some sort of accessory to hold her hair.

        I let out another small yawn and started to head over to the stables. Dash and Evan left about four hours ago and I did my best to keep myself busy. I went around and checked on the fields and then on some of the animals. All the chickens and such had plenty of feed and water, they should be fine for a while. There was only one place left and I had been putting it off for a little while now. I had to check on the horses.

I approached the entrance to the stables and stood there for a moment. Going in here as a pony was going to be strange that’s for sure. I slowly moved forward past the doors and was immediately impacted by the smell. Hoo, boy, this was something else. Hay, feed, sweat, urine, some other stuff, there was a very potent mix of smells hitting my sensitive nose. It wasn’t unpleasant though, it actually smelled kind of comfortable in here.

I make my way down the central path in the building, passing mares on my left and stallions on my right. I glanced sideways at the mares and took in their size for a moment. I was probably around 1/3 of their size. Smiling I went over and compared hooves with the mare standing closest to me. I was far more colorful than her, and that gave me some satisfaction for whatever reason.

Well, time to do the chores I came in here to do. I fill their water and then go to the back and grab some feed bags and dump their contents in the feeding troughs. Finishing that, I sit there for a few minutes and think about things. I soon realize the smell of all this food around me was making me really hungry. I look down at the food in the trough, it was a mix of oats, berries, and some nuts. It looked really tasty. I lick my lips, but stand up and start to walk towards the exit. Eating actual horse feed in here with the farm animals, that would be weird, right? 

I make it to the exit and step outside, the scent of the stables soon fading into the wind. However, just as soon as it left, I realize I miss it. I turn and look back at the stables, I really want to go back inside for whatever reason. No, I can’t, that would be wrong. Pretty sure Evan and Dash would frown upon that. ‘but Evan and Dash aren’t here now, are they?’ floats across my mind and I slowly take one step back towards the stable entrance. I start talking to myself as my legs carry me back inside “Yea... they are gone for a day, this is my only chance to be in here...”

I enter the stables again, and this time I close the door behind me, feeling a wave of comfort as I do so. “Yea, it’s much nicer in here than outside. Now, time for a proper meal.”

I grab another bag of feed and open it, thinking where I can pour it to eat out of. Well heck, might as well use the ‘plate’ that this is designed for right? I go over to the mare’s side and empty the bag in their feeding trough, adding to the pile of feed that I already poured there. I put the bag down and look at the trough. I couldn't really eat it from this side, it was tilted so the horses in the stalls had better access to it. “Well, only one way to fix that...”

I calmly trot down a few stables until I find the gate for the mare’s side. I promptly unhitch the gate and move inside, closing the gate behind me and hearing it click shut. I smile, I could open it from this side if I wanted to, but right now I didn't want to. Why would I?

I turn around and see the dozen or so mares standing around in this enclosure. I trot between them, occasionally we brush past each other and I enjoy the comfort of feeling fur on fur. I finally make my way to the feeding trough and find an open spot near the food. 

I join the other horses and shove my muzzle into the feed, scarfing down the food in a purposefully animalistic way. I wouldn’t be able to act like this when Evan and Dash were back, so I might as well enjoy this strange pleasure while I can. I continue feeding away and I ponder my recent thoughts. Wait, why would Evan and Dash not want me to be in here? Wait, why was I in here? Wasn't this really wrong? As I chew I look around me, on both sides of me are other horses, eating in the same manner I was, and standing in the same manner I was. Sure I was a cartoonish pony and they were full grown horses, but it was close enough. I smile into my food as I realize I feel really welcome here. Standing here with the other mares, eating like one of them, it all just felt right. I feel like I belong here, and with that thought my eyes start to glaze over a little bit. Mmmm, this was nice.