Michael Anderson was staring at his reflection in the mirror. He was in the bathroom of the temporary clinic in Fort Smith. Thompson knew Anderson was a rare case in that he was in the earliest stage of the transformation. There had not been many chances for a complete clinical observation of the changes so Wilder had been flown in to observe the entire transition. It was still a minute or so before Wilder was to begin so he took the time to personally witness his physical humanity slip away. He refused to think of it as his entire humanity. “My mind is still my own.”
On impulse, he glanced at the phone sitting on the side of the sink. Thompson had come through with giving him a phone call so he could tell his parents he was alive, although the call had been recorded. If he had said anything pertaining to ponies, the monitor would have severed the call in an instant. Mother was distraught and dad wasn’t exactly happy either. I don’t think they bought the whole highly contagious super virus story either. But then again I wasn’t trying to sound convincing.
A knock on the door brought his inner musings to a halt. “Mister Anderson. Are you alright in there?” It was Wilder in a warm bedside manner tone.
He glanced back at his reflection, watching his face slowly being warped by magic. “Yeah, I’m fine.” He sounded less than convincing.
“These changes are constant Mister Anderson. I know it can be frightening, but I need to record the entirely of it.”
I hate physical exams. He ground his smoothening teeth in irritation. “Fine, I’m coming.”
Michael left the bathroom to come face to face with Wilder along with Alexia and crew off to the side. The future pony felt extremely embarrassed being garbed in only a pair of boxer briefs with a hole cut into it for his tail. Wilder was able to ignore his embarrassment and acted as if nothing was wrong about it. With most of her recent patients having nothing but a fur coat on, it was not very difficult for her. The full ponies were busy with their new items to care at the moment.
The presence of the trio dispelled some of his ill at ease. Wilder pointed a guiding hand towards an examination table. “If we can get started, I’d like to start with what changes have occurred already.”
Anderson was having mild trouble with his walking gait as his heels no longer wanted to touch the floor. “How long is this going to take?”
“I’ll need to do some observations to see how fast it is with you, but tomorrow afternoon by the latest.”
He moved his tail out of the way before plopping on the table. Well at least it’ll be quick. He understood why Wilder wanted to start as soon as possible. He could feel almost every muscle and bone in his body shifting to their future state. The leading edge of his fur inched as it covered more bare skin with its pale yellow color.
The examination room was sizable enough that the three ponies had chairs of their own. After realizing that sitting on their haunches made sitting on human chairs far more comfortable, the trio did just that. As for Michael, they were here to lend moral support.
Conrad was more interested in the magazines Thompson provided after being asked and was reading the latest Sports Illustrated. Loki was ecstatic to have a laptop again and had her face buried in the screen. Alexia had a tub of cookies and cream flavored ice cream with a scoop in her magic. If her face was anything to go by, it was as if each bite was ecstasy.
Conrad noticed her reactions with amusement. “Since when did you like ice cream?”
She licked the spoon clean to keep it wet so it was easier to scoop. “I never disliked ice cream. I just have a craving for something sweet.” She offered the scoop to him. “Want some?”
He snickered at the offered scoop and accepted the bite. “Not my favorite, but I can’t complain.”
Loki was disinterested in getting a scoop for herself when she saw Michael sit down on the table. A predatory grin came over her when her eyes darted to his hands. Wilder left him sitting there for the moment as she went to retrieve some instruments which gave the green mare her chance. She put her laptop down and jumped up onto the examination table. “Hey Mike, can I ask a big big favor?” She gave her best puppy eyes.
He wasn’t as affected by it as she thought, but it was enough. “I don’t know. Depends on what it is.”
Loki flopped on her back and shuffled to be right next to him. “Can I get a belly rub?”
“Isn’t that kind of-“
“Pleeeease?” Loki waggled her legs and laid the sad eyes on even harder.
“How can I say no to that?” Jumping at the opportunity the moment he caved in, Loki rolled over so he could start rubbing her belly.
The mare melted under his touch. “Oooh yea. That’s the stuff.” Michael laughed when her left hind leg started twitching while every other limb was completely limp.
Wilder returned to find the green mare hanging precariously off the table. “Miss Loki would you please let me examine my patient.
She waved a feeble hoof at her. “Don’t call me Miss. Makes me feel old. Just Loki.”
It's like rubbing a cat that won’t try to claw your hand off for a belly rub. “Is it really that much of a hindrance Doc?” Anderson asked.
“I suppose not over much, but you won’t be sitting the whole time.” The veterinarian relented. She found an adjacent examining table and dragged it over so Michael could lift the catatonic mare up and place her front half on the second table. The earth mare fussed for a bit until she realized she would still get rubbed and settled down.
Wilder brought her smartpad and tapped it a few times to bring up the proper app. “I reviewed your medical records on the flight over so I have a baseline to work with. Try to sit as straight as possible.” She started writing proper medical terminology into her pad while speaking in laymen’s terms for the benefit of her patient and the dictation of an audio record as her observations began.
“Cranium size is increasing along with the elongation of the jaw and nasal passages. The eyes are nearly double in size.” She brought a small flashlight up and checked his dilation. “As with all other subjects, both the pupil and sclera dilate together.” A rather strange evolutionary path. “That explains why the iris rarely maintains a constant diameter.” She still slipped in more proper terms out of habit.
“Patient’s ears are two centimeters short of their final position and they have already taken their final shape along with a thin layer of fur covering them. The hair on the side of the patient’s head has been replaced by short pale creamy yellow fur. The rest of the hair has lengthened considerably and is nearly the same coloration as the tail. Strangely none of this hair was shed and later replaced with new follicles, but its the existing hair that is changing.”
The table was towards the center of the room so she didn’t need him to move to observe his back. “The neck is noticeably longer than human standard and the hairline has encroached completely down the length. It would be more proper to say this is a mane now. Fur now covers the patient’s back but currently cuts off abruptly at the top of the shoulders. Fur is still continuing to cover all remaining bare skin at a steady rate.”
She moved back around to the front. “Oddly, the fur has thus far not covered much of the front half of the torso as of yet, but is instead growing along the sides and coming in at all angles. Nipples have completely disappeared and the initial formation of teats on the patient’s abdomen has begun, two total as per the norm.”
“Overall shape and size of the torso is diminishing. As to where all the mass is going, I can only guess.”
Alexia’s ears perked up at that and she put the ice cream aside. “Maybe I can help with that.”
Wilder didn’t like being interrupted while in full examination mode, yet she concealed it well. “I was going to list it under the cause of magic and leave it at that. There’s no way to measure something that defies physics.”
“Ah but Doctor. Magic doesn’t break physics, it's just the laws we’re used to were discovered in the absence of magic.” Tune stood in front of the half pony and closed her eyes while her horn lit up. She probed for any obvious effects that her novice skill in discerning purpose. As expected, she didn’t know a tenth of the magic at work. She wasn’t scanning for intricate details, but for a more overt one. Wilder expressed interest in knowing what the unicorn could detect.
“Its just as I thought.” She said at last. “His body is radiating mana at an incredible rate. I knew it was odd too sense so much coming from you Mike, but now I know why.”
“Would you care to enlighten us?” The veterinarian asked.
“Certainly.” Alexia felt giddy at being able to play the expert. “As Mike was the size and build of an average adult male at the age of twenty five, he has more mass than even the biggest earth stallion I’ve seen. Since the transformation is powered by magic rather than metabolic processes, his carbuncle is converting the excess mass into pure mana. However he has far more mass than the total conversion seems to require so the left over mana is being radiated out of him and into the atmosphere.”
Michael stopped rubbing Loki for a second and stared at Alexia with a dead serious face. “Are you trying to say I’m fat?”
The silver mare recoiled at the implication. “No. Of course not, it's just that bigger-“
He chuckled at her. “I tease. I could tell I was bigger than any of you from the start.”
Loki laughed sluggishly and waved her forelegs at her friend. “Way to talk to a new friend there mage.” She couldn’t think of anything wittier to say because of the tranquilizing effect of the belly rub.
Wilder was jotting his reaction down and over all demeanor. “I must say you’re taking this far better than any other affectee thus far.” Possible side effect of his increasing sensitivity to the herd mentality. Every patient to date had fully converted by the time they arrive at The Ranch. Not to mention they were always alone when it occurred. “Did you have any fantasies about being non-human?”
Michael would have been insulted if that question had come at any other time, but a moment’s reflection made him realize it was a legitimate question. “Not a single day of my life. But…” He looked down at the drooling mare who was completely at his mercy as he continued to rub her belly. “I’m trying to focus on the fact that I’m not turning into a sociopathic zealot…” The cult leader’s upraised halberd flashed in his mind. “And that I’m still alive.” He looked to Alexia and then to Conrad. “If losing my humanity and old life is the price for that.” He tried to forcibly calm his voice, but his effort wasn’t enough to accomplish that. “Then I’ll learn to live with it. Its not like I have a choice in the matter anyway.” He ended with a depressed sense of finality. His mood sank and he cupped his face in his hands, wincing at how different it felt.
Tune gave him a friendly and brief nuzzle on the side of his leg. “Hey. You have to remember there are well over two thousand of us in the U.S. alone. And so long as you’re with the three of us, you’ll never be alone.” The half pony looked at her with a mix of silent pleading and fright. “I won’t lie to you and say life will be easy or simple anymore for you, or any of us. But I can tell you that I’ll do whatever I can to help you acclimate to your new life.”
Loki was getting antsy without her rub, but was sympathetic enough to not ask for it to continue quite yet. She rolled over to lay her head on his lap. “Listen bud. It’ll take while to get used to it. I know the feeling more than you might think, but I can promise you this.” She placed a hoof on his chest. “It took time, a long time for me. But I love being a pony, nothing can change that now. Despite the government and the shit they put us through, it only makes me love what I am even more.”
He searched her face for the joke, but found none. “Are you a masochist or something?”
Conrad chuckled, but said nothing. Loki ignored him and kept her gaze fixed on Michael, Alexia was a little concerned as to what she was going to say. “No Mike. I love it because at the end of the day, the government and everyone else who beats us down will only make the moment we’re free of the sanctions to our freedoms that much sweeter.” She turned to the silver mare. “And I know exactly who will get us there.”
Alexia was baffled by the comment. “Why are you looking at me?”
“Come on leader girl, don’t you remember how you took charge back there?”
Tune stuttered for a bit before formulating proper words. “I just did what I thought was a good idea. Conrad’s the one who kept a level head through the whole thing. If anyone should be leading it should be him.”
“Nope.” He announced, bringing Tune up short. “Just because I’ve taken lives before doesn’t make me a leader.” He put the magazine down to give her a confident expression. “Plus I lack the vision and charisma you have.”
“Vision?” She glanced around the room’s occupants. “Sure I want to help our kind find equality, but-“
Loki interrupted her. “I move that Alex be nominated to the position of Glorious Leader.”
Conrad raised a wing. “Second.”
Loki turned to Michael with an expectant look. He shook his head. “Don’t look at me, I don’t know enough about any of your to make a fair vote.”
“Then it's settled.” Loki announced. “Alex is from hence forth our Glorious Leader.”
Alexia tried to rub away the headache that was forming. “Can we talk about this later? After we’ve had a night’s rest from the fighting today?”
As the full ponies bickered about who would have the leadership role, abdominal pain started to bother Michael. Ordinarily he would ignore it, but while in the throes of transformation he decided to speak to Wilder who was currently taking a video recording of the relentless changes to his legs’ skeletal structure.
“Hey Doc. Everything so far has been rather painless, but I’m getting some terrible gut pain. Is that normal?”
“Its normal for men to suffer some discomfort on the final changes towards being a mare, yes.” Wilder replied in a warm manner that belied reservations.
Anderson was not familiar enough with equine terms to know the meaning. “What type of pony is that?”
Conrad watched in anticipatory amusement as Loki decided butt in and firmly plant her hoof in her mouth. “You’re trading your shaft for a snatch.” She patted him on the belly. “Didn’t you know stallions don’t have nips?”
Michael looked to Conrad with creeping panic. The pegasus raised an eyebrow from the magazine he wasn’t truly reading anymore. He groaned at the implied question. “No, I don’t.”
Wilder assumed a more authoritative tone of voice. “I realize this is extremely confusing and traumatizing but, you should know this happens to roughly half of all those transformed into ponies thus far, including Alex here.”
That stopped his downward spiral in an instant. “H-Half!? Are you shitting me?”
“Its not a joke.” Alexia declared sternly. “All three of us have lived in the… settlement for some time now. There’s a massive support group for everyone who got switched. You’re not the only one who will have to adapt to this. Just like I did.”
Loki snickered at her. “I don’t know if your method of adaptation will work with everybody there Miss Horny.”
Tune harrumphed at the green mare. “I don’t see Conrad complaining that my libido never dropped from switching genders.”
Conrad guffawed. “Damn right I’m not.”
In the face of such information and flippant banter Michael’s state of mind couldn’t handle the emotional overload and it blanked him out to a pseudo neutral state. He gently pulled Loki off of him and stood up as best he could. “Excuse me. I’ll be back.” He started walking to the restroom.
Loki felt gimped at losing her belly rub partner and held out a pleading hoof. “Wait, where are you and that hand going?”
Anderson hesitated at the door and looked her square in the eyes. “To have one last hurrah.” Without another word he shut the door behind him.
“Awww.” Loki’s hoof fell to hang limply over the table. “He better use the other hand when he gets back.”
Tune groaned at her and slapped her lightly on the dangling fetlock before returning to her ice cream. “At least we know you’re not suffering any lingering physiological damage from earlier.”
Loki couldn’t formulate a proper response to that so she just let it hang and returned to her laptop. Wilder was miffed at missing potential changes while Michael preoccupied himself, but resigned herself to allowing it if for nothing else than as a courtesy. That did not mean she couldn’t have a bit of revenge on the instigator.
“Loki. Would you return to the table please?”
The mare had just logged back in and looked up with a quizzical gaze. “Are you offering a back scratch doc?”
“I’m afraid not. All three of you were just in a combat situation and I need to run a full examination on you to make sure you didn’t suffer any harm that you’re not aware of.”
Sensing a way out, Loki pointed at Conrad. “I’m fine, but the samurai got shanked in the flank.”
Petty revenge fell away in the presence of a real health issue. “Conrad, would you please step up so I may have a look?”
He was going to decline, but Alexia knew him well enough to beat him to the punch and she grabbed his forelegs and pulled him off the chair. “Come on tough and rugged, I won’t have you avoiding the doc.”
He gently shook her loose. “I’m going, I’m going.” He flapped twice to fly the short distance to the table and presented his injury which was wrapped in gauze. “Thompson already had one of the medics patch me up, I don’t see the need. Besides we heal quickly.”
Wilder expertly started removing the bandages. “There’s always a possibility of a mistake for a medic used to working on humans.” She found nothing but perfectly healthy skin beneath four thin lines of missing fur and the interior of the gauze had blood on it. “Its still remarkable every time I see it.” She threw the gauze in the biohazard trash. “Nevertheless I still need to do a full workup. We’ll start from the front and work our way back.”
Anderson didn’t return until Wilder was done with Conrad. The veterinarian quickly noticed Michael’s torso was now almost completely covered in fur save for a thin strip of bare skin in the center. Fur covered most of his arms and legs. Of it all though, she noticed he wasn’t wearing his boxers anymore and that there was nothing for them to hide. He had proto hooves where his feet used to be and they had an irregular clip clop to his steps. He wordlessly sat down on the examination table after Conrad flew off to resume his seat. He had some difficultly with that due to his awkward bone structure rushing to put him on all fours. He looked down at himself. “It just slipped right out of my hands.” At least I was able to get off twice before it happened.
Alexia blinked from the chair to his side on the table and put a comforting hoof on his shoulder. “You can talk to me about whenever you feel like it okay?”
He nodded slowly. “I will, thank you.”
“That’s what friends are for right?”
Anderson could feel the sense of calm radiating from Alexia and the others. He knew he could easily ignore that feeling as the positive effects of the herd mentality were extremely resistible if unwanted. But he didn’t want to feel alone and miserable. He wanted to trust her, more so than Conrad or Loki. “I could use some friends going through this.”
Loki bounced over and landed heavily on the table behind him. She started prodding Michael’s back. “Hmm, no growths there.” She twisted around to the front and rubbed his head. “Nothing there either.” He face lit up like the sun and pumped a hoof. “Oh yeah! Earth ponies represent!”
Michael’s depression sank deeper. “I was sort of hoping I could fly.”
Loki looked offended and was about to speak her mind when Alexia cut in first. “All the tribes are special Mike, especially the earth ponies as they are the linchpin of Equestrian society.”
That produced a raised eyebrow out of Loki, while Anderson listened intently. Wilder tried to document the last of the changes silently as Tune explained. “I asked Sensei Twilight about how earth ponies in Equestria deal with not having wings or horns and her answer was surprising.”
She had both earth mares’ full attention. “Well?” The green one asked. Wilder let the audio recording on so she could preview it later as she documented the final stages.
Alexia sat down and cleared her throat. “Earth ponies are a lot like humans in multiple ways. Unicorns such as myself are defined by our magic and our deeper connection to the arcane. Pegasi have their wings and connection to the air and weather. Earth ponies have a strong connection with the Earth itself. This allowed earth ponies to develop agriculture first and they quickly became the bedrock of pony society. It was because of earth ponies that Equestria, the homeland of our species, was able to grow.”
“Now, granted not every earth pony is a farmer. But like humans, who have neither magic nor flight, earth ponies became the most innovative and creative thinkers in Equestria. This is mostly due to the fact that Earth ponies in that day in age thought their magic was limited to agriculture.”
“So…” Michael started. “We have better mental abilities?”
Alexia hummed negatively, trying to word it correctly. “Not innately. We all have equal capability of intellectual pursuits. I like to think of earth ponies as being pony versions of humans who have the addition of earth based magic tossed into the mix. Man wanted to fly, he built an airplane. Man wanted to go to distant places quickly, he built the car; the list goes on. Earth ponies did the same things with airships and carriages respectively. They don’t sulk over what they lack, they think of ways to circumvent it and become better people because of it.”
Conrad raised a hoof. “Question. Who exactly would pull the carriages?”
Alexia’s cheerful scholarly tone faltered. “Ahh… Other ponies… but that’s beside the point.” She added quickly. “Each tribe complements the others and we are all far better off as a harmonious whole rather than any one tribe over the other.”
Conrad sniffed in amusement before licking the edge of his right wing’s primary so he could turn the page of his magazine. After a few minutes he glanced at the unicorn continuing to expound on the importance of earth ponies and how that correlated into the five prime virtues of pony society. By then Michael was already nearly the same size as the rest of them. The lone pegasus gave an equine snort and returned to his article. She really can talk up a storm when the notion hits her.
It was shortly after dinner when Michael’s fingers faded away into the sprouting hoof and she was confined to four legs. Wilder surmised the presence of three other ponies accelerated the physical changes. As to the mental ones she could only guess at, as she believed the current theory that the mental ones were far less pronounced and slowed down shortly after the physical ones did.
Loki was ecstatic about Anderson being a fellow earth pony and insisted on showing her the ropes on how to move and use the “magnetic” hooves. It was not long before the two were racing each other around outer fence of the airbase. Thompson had to talk to the base commander beforehand who was originally completely against it, but finally relented to allow them to run around the southern airfields because no flights were scheduled to take place that night. It was decided amongst the trio of original ponies to ease Anderson into life as an equine first before getting her settled into her new gender.
Alexia was starting to believe it was wiser to find ways to help all ponies adapt to those changes rather than try and wait until she was ready to use the alteration magic. With many ponies at The Ranch starting to do just that, she felt the better about mass acclimation being the permanent solution.
The sun had just passed under the horizon and darkness was rapidly approaching. Alexia and Conrad had been able to enjoy the sight as they watched from a blanket near the cross of the runways with the tome in front of her and Conrad lying down next to her. A small tub of ice cream sat half eaten to the side. He was winded after joining the earth mares’ racing from the air before he had been called back to watch the sunset with her. Tune found the faint body odor strangely pleasant. Must be a species thing as I know it's unpleasant when it's stronger than this.
The latest lesson in magic was theory into abjuration. However the day’s events had worn her out and she couldn’t find much energy to study so she was content to lean against Conrad. He smiled as she nuzzled him and he wrapped a wing and foreleg around her and pulled her in close to reciprocate. She closed her eyes and took the simple enjoyment of his loving touch. They were silent for several minutes as the two earth ponies experimented with their magic in making the grass around the runway lights grow to obscure them.
Loki had her accomplice cover four by the time Conrad spoke to the unicorn. “I’m glad you made it through unharmed today.”
“And I you.” She replied. Alexia pulled back enough to kiss him passionately. She lost herself in his strong affection, and cherished the act as she did every other display of his love. After breaking the kiss she rested her head on his withers. “Thank you for not abandoning Loki when the shelling started.”
“It would not have been honorable, no matter how much-“or little”-I wanted to.” He received no response for several seconds and craned his head around to see the tired unicorn was snoring softly on his withers. He smirked at the mare and decided to let her rest. Her open tome sat beside them and he felt some curiosity that had lain dormant since Alexia first showed him how to use an array. He took the edge of the book in his teeth and carefully dragged it over to be in front of him.
Once it was out of Alexia’s reach, the glowing text of the Dusk Guard faded from view. A lack of sunlight didn’t stop him as he pushed a lantern flashlight forward with his free wing and activated it. “Can’t read any of this. Better start at the first chapter like she did.” As before with Tune, the first chapter was the only one legible to him. Alexia’s explanation of the language implantation spell had gone completely over his head when she explained how she sometimes lapsed into Equish.
“Guess I should see what sort of magic I can use on my own.” He mused aloud as he started at the first page.
Dear reader, thank you so much for buying my guide…
Michael slammed her hoof on the grass next to the runway light and felt her magic shoot out of her leg and watched the plants around it grow half an inch. Without sunlight, the grass needed much more magic than normal to grow. Her massive eyes were still able to see some color in the night that was only illuminated by the distance city lights and those along the runway. She sat down to inspect her foreleg more closely. “I can’t believe how easy this is.”
Loki’s grass had grown almost three inches. “Yeah it is. Alex said something about how swiftly non-unicorns can learn how to use their basic magic.” She bent down to eat the blades of grass she had just grown. “Plus magically grown grass tastes really good.”
The prospect of eating grass was not very appealing to the crimson and yellow pony. “I’ll take your word for it.”
Loki pulled her head up with a mouth full of greens. “Try it.” She insisted.
Michael looked at the grass at her hooves with trepidation. Were it not for Loki’s content expression as she happily munched on her food, Anderson would have left it alone. “You don’t happen to have any dressing on you by chance do you?”
Loki swallowed. “This isn’t just basic grass Mike, this is magically grown grass. This stuff doesn’t need dressing.”
“How does the method of growth change the flavor?”
Loki drew up a large amount of mana and stomped the ground, causing a patch of grass to grow several inches. “First, I want you to take a bite of that grass over there.” She pointed at the level grass a foot away that had not been touched be either of them. “Then try this grass here.” Shifting her hoof to the patch she just grew.
“Alright.” Michael walked over and bit into the plain grass. It was not as bad as she expected, but was dry and bland. Like eating a plain salad with bad lettuce. Choking down the flavorless roughage, she walked back to take a tentative bite out of Loki’s efforts. Her eyes widened at the stark difference. The blades were sweet and moist enough that dressing was indeed not necessary. Neither mare knew that they were drying the soil out with the rapid growth however. “Okay, I’ll admit it does taste a lot better this way, but there’s nothing wrong with adding some caesar to it.”
Loki had a second mouthful of food. “Fair enough. But just wait til you try tulips, they make the whole equine thing worth it.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” Michael was determined not to let the species thing get to her. After seeing the vast differences in how the ponies and cultists behaved, she felt easier about resigning herself to having a tail and fur. It was the other part of the package deal she was still having difficulty about. “Loki, you were a woman before all this right?”
“Yeah huh.”
There goes that line of questions. I still need to know a few things. “What sort of adjustments am I going to have to get used to as a mare?”
Loki’s first thought was to direct those questions to Alexia, but one quick look revealed she was sleeping next to Conrad. “Well I helped Tune out through it so I guess I can tell you some stuff.” She walked over so she could sit on the edge of the runway, Mike followed and sat down next to her. “Be glad you’re a mare instead of a woman at least. As you can see we don’t bother with clothes, make up, shoes, nail polish, all that jazz is out the window for us.” She could see Anderson was grateful for that at least. “Now you’ll have to spend more time on brushing your mane, tail, and fur, but that’s to be expected really. Even stallions have to do that much even if their manes and tails are cut short.”
“Makes sense.” Anderson commented.
“Also, if you start missing the ability to stand and pee you can forget it if you’re using a toilet, even Conrad has to sit for that.”
Michael tilted her head. “I thought he was with Alex. How would you know that?”
“Because of how we’re shaped and that we’re always in the buff, we shower together and I know how his thing hangs. Unless it’s against a tree or fire hydrant, it’s just impossible for stallions to stand over the bowl anymore.”
Standing to pee wasn’t exactly the biggest thing on Michael’s list of things she would miss, but it was a sort of guilty relief to know it wasn’t gender specific anymore. The communal showering was not something she was looking forward to having to get used to. “What about…bleeding?”
“Well you’re out of luck there girl. Its still once a month, at least as far as I know. There could be a longer pause between the start and end of the cycle for all I know; but my first one as a pony only lasted four days so it could be worse.” Could be better. She thought with irritation, but hid it from the yellow mare.
“How did Alex handle her first one? So I can guess on what to expect.”
Loki opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again to think. “I don’t know. I thought she’d have come to me at some point for help on that, but she never did.” The green mare shrugged. “I guess she decided to handle it like a trooper and not complain.”
The new earth pony glanced in Tune’s general direction. Can’t believe she adapted so well. “Anything else?”
“Well there’s the sex obviously, but I don’t know how willing you are to try that.”
Mike shook her head with a scowl. “What did Alex do to get over it?” She glanced at the mare in question. "Tune said she and Conrad have intercourse on a regular basis.”
Loki snickered at the memory. “Alex is a special case. She had some mental barriers that kept her from even touching the samurai back there.” She jabbed a look towards Conrad. “So she decided to let him rut her over and over until she started to like it. And you thought I was the masochist.” The green mare was silent for a while as she waited for another question, but none came. “Why? You want to give the flesh spire a whirl?”
“I’ll pass, thanks.” Mike replied curtly.
“You don’t know what you’re missing.” Loki teased.
Micheal glared at her. “I am very much aware of what I’m missing, thank you.” She barked back and she stood up. “I’m going to burn off some steam.” She cantered towards the rest of the airbase.
Loki flinched at the anger in Mike’s voice. She knew it was directed more so at her than anything else. “I think I chipped a tooth with that one.” She stood up and walked back over to the couple lying on the blanket. Movement by the helipads caught her eye. “Better let them know we’ll probably be leaving soon.”
Conrad had given up on the book after halfway through the first chapter on account of his exhaustion. He yawned before closing the book and seeing Loki was almost within speaking distance. “Where’s Mike?”
“Fuming.” She replied with a touch of resignation. “I wasn’t exactly tactful about somethings.”
“Hardly a surprise there.” He scoffed. “You tell her to get plowed like you did with Alexia?” His tone was joking and he laughed at it until he noticed her cringing slightly. “Oh wait, you’re serious. Let me laugh even harder.”
She growled at his deep laughter. “Hey! She seemed cool with everything else I was telling her, how was I supposed to know she’d blow up like that?”
“Given you’ve been female your whole life I’d think you would understand how to talk to other mares better than that.” He smirked at her discomfort. “I guess even mares don’t understand mares.”
Loki tilted her nose up in mock disgust. “In case you forgot, Mike doesn’t have a mare’s mind yet. So no, I don’t know how to talk to half mares.”
All the bickering woke Tune up and she slowly assumed a normal posture on her belly and let out a loud yawn. “What are you guys arguing about now?”
Conrad decided to be kind. “Loki’s having problems with Mike’s adjustments.”
The unicorn scratched an itch on her left ear. “Is that all? She just turned into a pony today. Give her some time to sort things out herself.”
“Is that wise though?” Conrad remarked. “We’re all aware of our herd mentality. If she’s alone and feels alone, that’s only going to make things far worse than they are now.”
Alexia’s brain was starting to shake off the after effects of sleep. “I know, but we were all alone in the beginning too. Mike knows we’re here for her if she needs us, but right now she needs some alone time.”
“Since when did you become the resident therapist?” Loki demanded.
Tune rubbed her eyes and yawned again. “Since I joined the Gender Swapped support group in The Ranch. Didn’t I tell you about that over a week ago?”
“How’s that going by the way?” Conrad inquired as he tugged the blanket to get her off so he could fold it up.
Tune took the lantern and book in her magic and complied with his silent request. “It has its ups and downs. Some are near suicidal, others are more like me and completely at peace with it. There’s no real mean reaction to it as its all over the place.”
“Well, I’ll go talk to her and convince her to go.” Loki declared. “But in the meantime, Thompson will be wanting us to fly out of here fairly soon.” She jabbed a hoof in the general direction of the helipads. “I saw some people over by the bird so I bet they're refueling it now.”
Alexia balanced the tome and lantern on her back and started walking. “I’d prefer a bed to sleep in anyway.”
The CH-53 was already spooling up by the time Mike reached the helipad, having diverted course when she saw Thompson wave her down. He had four equine helmets on a length of rope and pulled one off as she approached. “Want some help getting it on?”
Anderson took the offered equipment. “No, I have to learn how to do it eventually, I might as well start now.”
She fumbled for a bit, still thinking with fingers rather than the gripping magic her hooves possessed. The Director made no move to help her, knowing what she said was true. “How are you holding up?”
“Why do you care?” She replied tersely.
“I make it a point to look after the wellbeing of those under me. They perform better that way.”
“They’d preform even better if they didn’t have to lie to their parents about what’s happening to them.” She spat back.
“That was not my call to make. If it's any consolation to you, I wouldn’t keep your existence a secret. But orders are orders.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” She had great difficulty, but eventually placed the helmet correctly upon her unfamiliar head and clipped the strap in place. “I’ll be inside.” She yelled over the whining engine and trotted to the Sea Stallion. Wilder was already onboard and drafting her notes from the day’s examinations. She waved at Anderson before returning to her work.
The rest of the ponies filed in shortly thereafter. Thompson made sure Alexia was given a helmet that had a working, if crudely implanted, intercom. The trio settled down in their original seats with Alexia in the middle. Mike was sitting across from them, still fuming about her predicament and Loki’s insensitivity.
The green mare was too tired to notice and settled in to sleep with her head leaning against Tune. Conrad simply scooted as close as his restraints would allow, but otherwise could only drape a wing over the silver mare as he put his head straight down to sleep. Alexia couldn’t rest at seeing Mike’s obvious isolation. The helicopter had ascended to its cruise altitude fairly quickly and leveled out so Tune could gesture for Mike to join them.
The yellow pony resisted, feeling it was uncomfortable to snuggle together as the trio were doing, as her only options were either the focus of her ire or a stallion. Thompson sat towards the cockpit and observed their behavior.
Alexia kept a pleasant and welcoming expression as she tried to pick through Anderson’s resistance without being able to speak to her due to the lack of a radio in the earth mare’s helmet. While the positive effects of the herd were resistible, the negative effects were much harder to ignore. Mike felt the cold air chill her to the bone while Alexia was offering a welcoming hoof to join her. Mike refused to budge for several minutes, but her resistance to Alexia’s intoxicating offer to escape the chilling isolation she had placed herself in was eroding. Tune knew this from her time in the support group and had rapidly picked up on ways to pull ponies out of their shell. It helped that Michael was not a naturally introverted person and the desire to join the unicorn eventually won out.
Groaning to herself, Anderson undid the restraints and found that she had to pick either Loki or Conrad. The green mare was still a subject of her ire so she relented and took the seat next to Conrad and buckled herself back in. She tried to scoot as close to him as possible for heat. In his sleep, he instinctively unfolded his left wing and draped it over the yellow mare.
She glanced at Alexia who nodded kindly at her. A feeling of warmth from both his wing and her spirit grew at Alexia’s welcoming expression before the silver mare rested her head on Conrad’s neck. Anderson was against it at first, but tentatively placed her head on the stallion’s withers. His body heat was a welcome change from the cold midnight air and she found herself sinking into his fur before exhaustion finally overtook her and she nodded off. Smiling at Michael allowing herself to be included into the group, Tune drifted off; secure in the notion that someday, Michael would be at peace with herself.
Thompson wanted to speak with the voted upon leader about the coming week’s training exercises, but decided it could wait til morning. Instead he decided to review her complete file that had been sent from The Ranch. That mare has such a profound effect on the ponies surrounding her. Organizing a construction effort within a week of arriving when the rest were barely content with existing, and now she’s drawn Michael fully into their little herd.
He didn’t like the negative connotation that he automatically associated to the term ‘herd’. After seeing the effects it had, he was determined to amend that personal flaw. Whatever the case may be with her. She’s far too important to lose. I’ll have to make sure the training regiment can prepare her to keep herself alive as long as possible.