Chapter 7: Blue Flowers Are the Worst
“Get back here, you giant blue bastard!” Shepard was sprinting full tilt through the Everfree, little droplets of water forming a glittering trail behind her as she ran naked after the massive ursa minor. Gripped in the creature’s mouth was her breastplate, no doubt being covered in bear spit and tooth marks.
For its part, the huge bear seemed to be very much enjoying its game of keepaway, waiting for the woman to nearly close before it would charge ahead again, its huge steps carrying it away from her easily. “That’s it! Shock it, Legion!”
“I am not going to ‘shock’ the animal for playing a game with you, Shepard-Commander. It is only running because you are chasing. If you stop, it will stop. And I will once again reiterate, you should have at least taken the time to retrieve your boots.”
“And let him get away with this crap?! No chance! Besides, who needs boots when you have personal shielding?” Shepard ducked a low branch before coiling her legs tightly beneath herself and springing into the trees overhead.
“Individuals who do not wish to be referred to as wild animals, for one.”
Ignoring the A.I., Shepard sped up the chase. She nearly had him when the ursa looked back in confusion, not seeing her giving chase still. At the last second, he glanced up and spotted her closing quickly before vaulting forward again. Cursing under her breath, Shepard followed relentlessly.
She thought herself finally victorious when the huge animal skidded to a stop, but he merely bunched his hind legs behind him and sprang into the air, soaring smoothly over a vast field of wafting blue flowers. Not seeing any trees between herself and the star bear, she dropped down into the field, crushing the bright flowers underfoot.
An earth shaking roar ripped through the field, causing Shepard to skid to a halt and whip around in fear, the ursa doing likewise. At the edge of the field to her right was the big star bear, the little one’s mother. It bellowed again, making Shepard reach for a gun that wasn’t there. She wasn’t the source of its ire, however. Storming around the edge of the field, knocking trees out of its way as it went, the colossal creature stared down at her offspring, growling quickly and emphatically.
The ‘little’ bear lowered his head and gently laid out Shepard’s armor with an apologetic look to the woman. The mother eyed her a moment before inclining her head once and leading the cub away. Letting out the breath she’d been holding, Shepard crossed the rest of the field to her waiting breastplate. Frowning down at the long strands of saliva dripping off, she sighed and plucked it from the ground. “I’m not putting this on until Rarity goes at it again.”
“Perhaps you are not quite as uncivilized as I had begun to fear.”
“Yeah, yeah. Come on, smart guy. Let’s go see this room Fluttershy’s got the girls setting up for us.” Now that the rush was over, Shepard set a more leisurely pace back to the river. She took a moment to admire the field of blue she was standing in. “Don’t think I’ve ever been over this way. I definitely don’t remember these.”
With a shrug, she made the trip back to the river in relative quickness. Tugging on the bulk of her armor, she took a firmer grip of the dripping breastplate and set out for the cottage. Part of her protested walking about with nothing but the diamond studded bra to cover her upper torso, but she remembered quickly enough that the ponies were literally one hundred percent nude just about all the time.
It had been a little over a week since she’d accepted Fluttershy’s offer to occasionally sleep in a room at her cottage. Shepard wasn’t entirely willing to completely abandon her camp for good, but the past few weeks spending more time with the six ponies had done wonders for her mental health. She’d even made the trip to Sweet Apple Acres once on her own to pick up some apples for Fluttershy.
Of course, her nightly visitor was helping as well. She was still getting used to the idea of Luna not only being real, but being just as inhuman as the rest of the people she’d met here. Every companion she had on this world being of another species was strangely not as uncomfortable as she imagined it would be. Either by virtue of their warm and welcoming nature, or the likelihood that she regularly associated with non-humans in the past were equally valid reasons. So far the only two people she could remember were a krogan and a drell.
Feeling a little proud of herself for leaving the forest with no hesitation this time, Shepard smiled as the cottage came into view. There was a small, but noticeable addition to the cottage. Approaching it with a faint smile, she gently tried the much taller door. Before she could get a good look around, she was greeted by six excitedly smiling faces. A large ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ banner hung across the room. There was even a large cake sitting on the low table. Smiling widely, the woman peered down at it.
Her smile dropped as she saw the image of a faux-Shepard greedily cramming handfuls of parasprites into her face. “Legion!”
The image of her A.I. appeared as her omni-tool blinked into view. “The cake is perfect, Pinkie Pie. You prepared it to my exact specifications.”
Seething at the A.I.’s humor, Shepard took a deep breath, turning to face the ponies with a smaller smile. “Thanks. You didn’t have to do this.” She glanced as the practically vibrating Pinkie Pie in alarm. “Is she alright?”
Rolling her eyes, Twilight Sparkle nodded to the pink earth pony. Immediately, she threw her hooves out wide. “SURPRISE!”
Twilight offered Shepard a faint smile. “She wanted everypony to hide and jump out at you, but after the teleport incident, I felt it might be a good idea not to startle you like that.”
Sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck, Shepard laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, uh… Again, sorry about that. Probably a good idea on your part.”
“So did I surprise ya? Huh? Huh? I didn’t know a whole lot about you other than you really, really liked to eat parasprites—ew, by the way—And that you lived in the Everfree! Also you make hydra’s heads explode! I asked Legion what would be a good cake topper, and he said...”
Pinkie’s rapid fire voice faded to the back of her mind as a face clarified in her head. Large glossy black eyes, brown skin wrinkled around the eyes and mouth, numerous scars… one horn missing. Salarian…
"Lots of ways to help people. Sometimes heal patients; sometimes execute dangerous people, either way helps."
Shepard staggered to one knee, putting a hand on her head. “Mordin. Doctor Mordin Solus! Pinkie, your gibberish made me remember someone else!”
The ponies blinked at her for a moment before erupting into small cheers and congratulations, Applejack even patting her on the back.
“Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong.”
Shepard stood silently and watched as Mordin rode the elevator up. It was the last time she’d lay eyes on her strange, but beloved salarian friend.
The ponies fell silent as tears began to form in Shepard’s eyes and roll down her cheeks unchecked. Gingerly, Fluttershy laid a hoof over Shepard’s hand. “Shepherd? What’s wrong?”
“He, ah…” She paused to sniff loudly. “…he died. He died doing… Doing something important! Something for me! For everyone! God, why can’t I remember something like that?!”
Fluttershy flinched back as Shepard’s voice rose. The mood in the room had done a complete one-eighty from when she first walked in. The warm welcoming joy had turned to nervous tension. Her eyes flicked across the concerned faces before she shut them tightly. “I’m… I’m sorry. I’m going to, uh… To stay at my camp tonight. Sorry about this.”
The ponies watched quietly as she stood and stepped outside again. Frowning up at the cheerful sunny sky as if it were mocking her pain, she stormed back toward the forest’s edge. She’d not gone far beyond the tree line before hoofsteps drew her attention. “I’m sorry about leaving, but I’m just not in the mood, alright?”
She was surprised to see it was Pinkie Pie who’d followed her. Fluttershy seemed more apt at dealing with a serious matter like this. The bubbly mare’s face was unusually stoic as she approached. Pinkie didn’t say a word until she’d trotted to Shepard’s side, then began to slowly walk forward, deeper into the forest. “I know how you feel. Not the whole forget everything thing, but the losing somepony close thing.”
The strange seriousness in her behavior and voice forced Shepard catch up and walk at the pony’s side. “ … Yeah?”
Pinkie nodded. “Yeah. None of the girls do. They haven’t lost any friends or family. Twilight told Legion I grew up on a rock farm, right? I’m sure he told you about it.”
Shepard nodded slowly. “He did.”
“Well none of the girls know that my family was attacked by a dragon. It wasn’t a very big dragon, but you know, big enough. We were all earth ponies, so we couldn’t put up much of a fight against something like that. Dad had gotten the idea to start growing gemstones; try and make a little more money for the rest of us, y’know?”
Shepard followed silently, staring intently at the strange mare. They were moving unerringly toward her camp, and every now and again the pony would shift or shuffle on the path, easily avoiding all of her traps. “Dragons like eating or collecting or whatevering with gems. You’ve met Spike, right? Little guy loves his jewels.”
Shepard had met the little dragon once when Twilight brought him along on one of her visits with Fluttershy. “I did, yeah.”
Pinkie nodded as if she knew the answer all along. “Anyway, the dragon showed up and dad told us to run. I was so scared, all I could think of was running. So… I did. I ran and I ran until eventually my legs wouldn’t run anymore. I didn’t realize I had been running alone the entire time.”
Shepard’s eyes widened at the implication. “You don’t mean…”
Pinkie nodded again, a small smile teasing her lips, but tears glimmering in her eyes. “Yup. I dunno if they all stayed behind, or if they just didn’t make it. We were a tiny farm, pretty far away from anypony else. Dad had to haul the harvest to Hoofington. It was a few days walk there and back. I went back to the farm eventually, but I um… I didn’t find anypony waiting for me.”
“Pinkie, I don’t know what to say.”
Now Pinkie’s smile was a little brighter. “You don’t need to say anything, silly; I’m here to make you feel better. Anyway, the whole point of this sad boring story is that I know how it feels to lose somepony important. But being sad and mopey all the time doesn’t help anything. You have to remember the good times, the fun you had and the love you shared with them. I know my family wouldn’t want me being all sad and down in the dumps all the time. Do you think your friend would want that for you?”
Shepard sighed. She couldn’t remember everything of the quirky salarian doctor, but she did remember he smiled a lot. He liked to joke around with her in as serious a tone as he could muster. He had made her laugh on more than one occasion. “No. No, I don’t think he’d want that.”
Nodding, Pinkie planted her backside by Shepard’s fire pit, patting the ground beside her. Shepard lowered herself to the ground. “Good. So. You can go ahead. I won’t tell anypony. It’s an important part of the process.”
Shepard didn’t need to ask what she’d meant. It was something she’d been holding in for a very long time. The tears started again, harder this time. She cried. She cried for everything she’d lost. She cried for herself, for her unremembered friends, her home, her life. She cried for Mordin Solus, and for Thane Krios. She even cried for Urdnot Grunt. She didn’t know if he was dead or not, but he was just as lost to her.
Pinkie had sidled up, and now had her forelegs wrapped around Shepard’s neck in a warm embrace. The woman threw her arms around the pink pony like she was a warm, fuzzy life preserver, letting her pent up anger and sadness at the past months out all at once.
Pinkie Pie balanced on her hind legs patiently, holding the sobbing woman for as long as she needed. Gently rubbing a hoof along her back, Pinkie smiled as the sobs slowed and quieted. Stepping back, she saw the woman’s face was a mess, and offered her a hankie. Shepard accepted it silently, blowing her nose and cleaning herself up. “ … Thanks.”
“Sure thing. You can keep that, by the way.” She cracked a little smile.
She was rewarded by Shepard doing the same. “Heh. Well thanks for the handkerchief too.”
Shepard blew out a heavy breath, sitting back on her hands and just closing her eyes, breathing deeply. Pinkie allowed her the time to collect herself. At length, she opened her eyes and looked around in mild confusion. “Pinkie Pie, how did you know how to get here and avoid all the traps?”
Pinkie just smiled and hopped to her hooves, nudging the human back to her feet. “Ask the girls when we get back to the party.”
Shepard did. She got a very unsatisfying ‘that’s just Pinkie Pie’ from each of the girls she asked.
Waking up in a warm, soft bed. This was a very novel sensation Shepard could get used to. The party had gone on surprisingly long into the night. Things even got a little wild when Applejack brought out some of her ‘hard’ cider. Fluttershy had a shockingly high alcohol tolerance, even drinking her fellow pegasus under the table when challenged to a drinking contest.
She was more reluctant than normal to wake up. A warm shaft of sunlight filtered through the window, shining in her eyes. With a grunt, she cracked them open and waved a hand toward the curtains. Her ears instantly perked up at the loud ‘clop’ sound her hand made when it connected with the window sill.
Also, her ears perked up. That didn’t sound right. Eyes flying wide open now, she sat bolt upright, getting a strange twinge of protest from her back as she did so. Looking down, she could see her nose extending a good deal further than it should from her face. Shakily, she brought her hands up to her face, only to find she didn’t have hands anymore.
She was sporting a set of hooves.
Fluttershy sighed at Angel’s insisted thumps against her hind leg. “I know, Angel bunny. You want your breakfast. But we have a guest, remember? Don’t you think I should get her breakfast first?”
She wasn’t surprised that her beloved rabbit shook his head firmly, just a little disappointed. “Fine. If you want it now, you get a quick one.” She filled his bowl with some simple, leafy greens before going back to preparing Shepard’s eggs. An alarmed scream from the new addition to her cottage triggered the usual warring emotions when she heard somepony screaming. Concern for the pony in question, and the strong desire to run as far as possible from whatever was causing them to scream.
Steeling herself, she rushed across her cottage to the new, tall door in the side wall. Flinging it open, she could only gape at the sight within.
A cream colored earth pony mare staggered from the bedroom in the addition. Her emerald colored eyes were wide as dinner plates, and her fiery red mane and tail were messy and disheveled. “What happened to me?!” The ex-human’s odd undergarments were stretched to their maximum around her warped pony body.
“Uh— uh— uh… I’ll go get Twilight! Y— you just wait here!”
“Get Twilight quickly!”
Fluttershy eeped and zipped back out, galloping for all she was worth toward the library.
“Shepard-Commander, stop. Sit and take a deep breath. I realize this is a shock, but you are nearing a panic attack, and I will be forced to sedate you.”
Shepard scrunched her eyes tightly shut and awkwardly planted her furry butt on the floor. Taking several deep breaths, she found she really wasn’t calming down all that much. “Legion, why am I a pony?!”
“Unknown at this time, Shepard-Commander. I am running every diagnostic on your body I can, and am finding no trace of foreign chemical or biological material. This could be a side effect of ingesting the foreign food or drink. Perhaps there is a magical property to their edibles we were unaware of.”
Whining softly, Shepard cracked an eye open, looking past her new muzzle to the hooves planted on the floor between her legs. Her hind legs, she had to remind herself. “Christ, what do I look like?”
“Lift your right foreleg. I will open a display with your omni-tool.”
Shepard did as she was asked. Immediately, a large screen stretched to show her new pony body. Turning her head left and right, opening and closing her mouth, blinking one eye than the next her digital reflection copied her perfectly. She was forced to come to one conclusion.
She was adorable.
A bright flash caused her to recoil and drop her leg. “Legion!”
“Apologies, Shepard-Commander. It was hard to get a good angle for the photograph with your foreleg lowered as it was.”
“Delete that right now, Legion!”
There was a pause before he answered. “It is deleted.”
“No it’s not!”
“No, it is not, and there is literally no force in the galaxy you could muster that would force me to delete this photograph; the pinnacle of my collection.”
The fuming earth pony stomped circles around the room, venting her anger. “How did this happen?! How did you not notice it happening last night while I was sleeping?!”
“I believe it safe to assume some sort of magical nonsense is involved. I had shut down most of my monitoring functions in order to focus more on data reconstruction. I felt the environment safe enough that I would not be required to monitor every second.”
About to lay into him for his negligence, the smell of something burning from the main cottage drew her attention. Torn between her own situation and Fluttershy’s home potentially burning down, Shepard maneuvered her new body into the other room. A small fire was burning on the pegasus’ stove, threatening to ignite the curtains. “Shit! Legion, what do I do?!”
“I would suggest you put out the fire, Shepard-Commander.”
“With what?! I have hooves!”
“As does the entirety of this country. Applejack and her siblings did the bulk of the construction of your new domicile with their bare hooves. You can douse a small kitchen fire.”
Growling under her breath, Shepard stood on her hind legs, draping her forehooves over the sink to support herself. Awkwardly using one hoof to turn the cold water in the sink on, she gripped a nearby pot with both and held it under the water. She had to put a good deal of pressure on either side to keep it from slipping out of her grip, but she managed. Once it was full, she just flung it at the small fire, dousing it. With a relieved sigh, she dropped to the floor and—with a little effort—switched the burner off.
“Well done, Shepard-Commander.”
Blowing out a breath of air, the pony flopped onto the floor on her belly. “ … Legion, what if I’m stuck like this?”
“I have seen Luna transform herself from pony to human shape seemingly without effort. I have no doubt she could do the same to you.”
Shepard’s ears involuntarily perked at the mention of the lunar Princess. “Luna! She’s supposed to come by tonight and see my new place! I can’t let her see me like this!”
“I fail to see the problem. If anything, I would think she may at last find you physically attractive. You are a member of her species now.”
Shepard opened her mouth to comment, but snapped it shut again. Legion had her there. “Well I’m not— I’m not trying to attract her! It’s just… embarrassing!”
“Of course, Shepard-Commander.”
Glaring at her omni-tool, all the view of her foreleg and hoof did was infuriate her more. She was torn between a relieved sigh, and running and hiding in embarrassment as Fluttershy arrived with Twilight in tow. “Oh my goodness! What happened?!”
“I turned into a pony is what! Oh. Oh, you meant the kitchen. Whatever you were cooking caught fire. I put it out.”
Fluttershy smiled softly. “Oh, thank you. I was making you some breakfast and then, well… I got distracted.”
Twilight approached Shepard slowly as Fluttershy went to clean up her kitchen. The young Princess paced around the new pony, taking in every inch of her altered form. “What in Equestria happened to you? Is this some sort of integration program Legion came up with? How did he alter you like this?”
Shepard felt the fur on the back of her neck rise. “Legion didn’t do this! Your stupid… Magic whatever did this to me! Fix it!”
Twilight blinked, a little taken aback by the venom in the mare’s voice. “We didn’t do this. I certainly didn’t cast any spells like this and I know Rarity doesn’t know any physical transmutations. What happened leading up to your change?”
The earth pony mare shook her head vigorously. “Nothing! I came here in the morning, we partied all day and night, I went to bed! When I woke up, BOOM. Something had to be in that food!”
Sighing softly, Twilight turned her attention to the image of Legion watching it all from his screen. “Legion, did anything unusual happen yesterday?”
His attention shifted to Twilight. “I do not believe so. There was a minor incident with the ursa minor, but nothing terribly out of the ordinary ensued.” The image of the A.I. vanished, replaced by the view of a nude Shepard chasing after the massive animal. Twilight just glanced at the pony in question with a raised eyebrow.
Shepard huffed, crossing her forelegs over her chest. “He stole my armor. I was chasing him.”
“Mmhm.” Turning her attention back to the image, she gasped. “Wait! Go back!” The video froze and rewound. “Aha!”
“Aha? What aha?!” Shepard craned her leg up so she could see the image clearly.
“Those flowers. I’d bet my horn that’s poison joke.”
“ … No. No, no, no. Magical transforming party cake I can handle. Being magically turned into a talking pony by a flower called poison joke? Absolutely not.”
Twilight smiled, quite pleased with herself. “Well! The good news is, this is very easy to reverse.” Shepard breathed a tremendous sigh of relief, until… “The bad news is, my friend Zecora keeps the herbs required to make the cure at her hut in the Everfree. Ordinarily, that in and of itself wouldn’t be a problem, but she’s away for the weekend visiting family. So you’re going to have to sit tight until she gets home.”
“The whole weekend?! You want me to spend the whole weekend like this?!”
Twilight ruffled her wings, frowning gently. “And what’s wrong with being a pony? I’ve been one for the past nineteen years. I think you’ll survive the next two days just fine.”
Snorting through her new, larger nostrils, Shepard had a hard time poking a hole in that. “If all this stuff is at your friend’s place, just go get it. I’m sure she won’t mind.”
Twilight looked aghast. “You mean go into her home uninvited and just take what we need? Absolutely not.”
Fluttershy perked up now. “Oh, um, Twilight? Don’t the girls at the spa have some of the poison joke cure?”
Twilight beamed. “They do! Great idea, Fluttershy!”
Even Shepard perked up, until the yellow pegasus continued. “But, um... They’re away on business until next Tuesday...”
Another snort from the new mare. “Fine. I’ll be in my… whatever this new part of the cottage is. And no, I’m not going outside looking like this.” Twilight followed Shepard back into the addition. “Legion, how is the omni-tool even in there still? Are all my cybernetics still working?”
A large screen appeared in the air, depicting Shepard’s new innards. “It would seem that they have all been altered to fit your new body.”
“How… How is that possible?!”
“I could hazard a guess, but I believe Miss Sparkle could inform you accurately. Twilight Sparkle, how is this possible?”
Shepard looked to the scholarly Princess, who shrugged. “Magic.”
That one simple word set Shepard’s eye to twitching. “You… you can’t just say magic and use that as an explanation for what happened!”
Twilight inclined her head. “Alright, if you want the technical explanation.” Shepard immediately regretted her words as Twilight took a deep breath. “Poison joke works by triggering a physical transmutation to create a humorous or embarrassing situation for the victim. It blends transmutation to alter the body with enchantment to scan the mind and find an appropriately ridiculous circumstance to thrust the pony or, um, person in question into. Many high end transmutation spells affect not only the body, but also whatever the target of the spell is wearing or carrying. I won’t go into detail about spell matrices and proper mana manipulation to fuel the magic, but suffice to say, poison joke is very powerful.”
Stomping back to the other side of the cottage, Shepard felt her eye begin to twitch as Legion flashed several more photographs. Storming over to her armor, she wrestled with one of the plates in her greaves before it popped open and she retrieved a small glossy disc. “Out! You’re staying with Twilight Sparkle this weekend!”
“Shepard-Commander, I feel this is a poor time to leave you on your own.”
“If you don’t get in that disc I will gnaw through my new hoof and spit that omni-tool interface into the trash. Now out!”
While Legion could sedate the incensed mare if necessary, he knew better than to continue provoking her in such an agitated state. The mental firewalls he’d erected were already slowly eroding, and overwhelming emotional responses would cause them to break down significantly faster than he would like. “Very well, Shepard-Commander.”
A small jolt ran from the omni-tool to the disc as a miniature image of Legion appeared above it. “Try to calm yourself. As Twilight Sparkle informed you, it is only for two days. You will be restored soon enough. I suggest you look at this unfortunate situation as a learning opportunity and—”
He was muffled as Shepard clamped her mouth down over the disc, trotted to the door and hurled it as far from the cottage as she could. “I’ll see you at the end of the weekend, Twilight.”
Shepard may be a pony all of a sudden, but the mare had the same steely glint in her large green eyes that she had as a woman. The kind of look that warned crossing her would end up very poorly for whoever was on her bad side. “Eheheh… I think I’ll just be going. I’m going to be away until Sunday evening myself, but I’ll take Legion with me. I’m sure he’d be interested in seeing the Crystal Empire.”
“Fine! Great! Goodbye, Twilight!”
Taking the not-so-subtle hint, Twilight dashed out the door, tail tucked between her legs. Shepard blew out a heavy gust of air in frustration, turning to head to her bed only to be met with a sternly staring Fluttershy. “You shouldn’t have yelled at Twilight. She only wants to help.”
Shepard could feel her ears lay back against her head. “I know. I know! I’m sorry, and I’ll apologize to her later. It’s just… This is all a bit stressful on top of everything else I’m dealing with.”
Some of the edge left Fluttershy’s eyes. “I’m sure it is. But that’s not excuse to yell at your friends and make them feel bad. Legion should have known better than to tease you, but Twilight didn’t deserve that.”
“I know! I said I’ll apologize later!”
Fluttershy however, returned to her semi-aggressive posture, something Shepard didn’t miss. “You’ll apologize to her now. Anypony living under this roof is not going to behave like that.”
“Fine! I’ll apologize to her now. Go get her.”
Fluttershy shook her head. “No. You go to her and apologize, Shepherd.”
The earth pony’s eyes darted toward the door, then back to Fluttershy. “Go to her? As in go into… into town? Like this?”
“Mmhm. I think this is the perfect time for you to go into Ponyville. You look just like anypony else now. I’ll come with you if you like, but you’re going, missy. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.”
Feeling a very uncool whine starting to well up in the back of her throat, Shepard choked it back down. “Fine! Fine, I’ll… go into town. But just to Twilight’s, and just to apologize.”
Now all the hostility melted from Fluttershy’s stance and eyes. “I’m very proud of you. But you, um… might want to get out of those clothes before we go. You look a little silly.”
Glancing down at the bra stretched tightly across her new pony chest, Shepard couldn’t help but laugh. Fluttershy soon joined in.
Fluttershy was by far the last pony to comment on another’s nervous behavior. She was more than patient as Shepard set a snail’s pace from the cottage and onto the main road into town. Every few steps, the new earth pony would hesitate. Her eyes would dart back and forth, often looking back the way they’d come. A kind word or reassuring brush against the other mare’s shoulders was all Fluttershy did to keep her moving.
The pegasus took the opportunity to study Shepard closer. Her network of scars were still visible, though only to somepony who knew what to look for. Faint discoloration of her coat here and there were the tell-tale signs. It helped her coat was already a pale beige color, and the discoloration was barely noticeable. Her musculature rippled with the same impressive shape and size as Applejack’s. It was hard to judge exactly how physically strong the human was in her natural shape, but seeing her like this, it was clear she was very powerful.
“Hey Fluttershy!” Fluttershy blinked at the voice overhead. She yelped a little at the harsh crackling sound coming from the pony at her side. When she looked again, only a vague warped outline remained where Shepard had stood.
Rainbow Dash hit the ground beside her friend, eyes wide. “Did I just see what I think I saw?”
A nervous smile formed on the other pegasus’ muzzle. “Well, um… What do you think you saw?”
Wordlessly, Rainbow Dash poked a hoof out and prodded Shepard in the flank. With a yelp, the earth pony lurched forward and fully reappeared. “Hey! Did you just grab my ass?!”
Rainbow’s eyes went wide as saucers, and then she smiled. Then she started to snicker. Finally, she broke down into mighty guffawing, clutching her sides and rolling helplessly about the ground.
Fluttershy looked from her cackling friend to an increasingly angry looking Shepard. “Rainbow Dash…” She began warningly.
“Oh man! What the heck happened to you?! You’re a pony! And look at those freckles! You’re cuter than Applebloom!” She broke down again, laughing so hard her eyes were beginning to water.
Shepard’s face was starting to turn an alarming shade of purple. Wide-eyed, Fluttershy tugged at Dash’s tail. “Rainbow Dash, stop…”
Sitting up, Dash wiped a tear from her eye. “Hah… oh man. Sorry! Sorry, Shepard. Don’t get your tail in a knot! Bwaaaahahahaha!”
“That’s it!” Shepard’s right foreleg flew up and her omni-tool appeared, letting out a snapping, crackling sound as a jolt of electricity punched straight into Rainbow’s stomach. The mare grunted and jerked spastically for all of two seconds before shaking herself off.
“That’s it? A little zap of electricity? I kick lightning bolts around for my day job; you gotta do better than that. C’mon Shepard, pony up a little for Celestia’s sake!”
The next thing Rainbow Dash saw was a pair of cream colored hind hooves hurtling at her face almost too fast for the eye to follow. When she finally landed some distance away, she sat up wobbly. “That’s, uh… That’s better…” Before collapsing onto her back.
Breathing heavily, Shepard planted her legs back on the ground, going so far as to scuff the dirt some. Some of her anger cooled when she found Fluttershy once again staring at her in an intensely disapproving manner. “What? What?! She started it!”
“I don’t remember seeing Rainbow kick a bolt of lightning at you, or bucking you in the face, Shepherd. Words only hurt if you let them. That’s a lesson I learned the hard way. Hooves hurt no matter what. Yes, Rainbow Dash was out of line, but we don’t settle arguments with violence.”
Bristling a little, Shepard stomped petulantly in a circle. “Well was I supposed to just sit there and take that?!”
“No. You tell her calmly that you don’t appreciate being laughed at, or being made fun of. Rainbow Dash is a little rough around the edges, but she’d never do anything to genuinely hurt a friend’s feelings. Now go get her and apologize.”
Casting her gaze toward the distant landing point of the bucked pegasus, she frowned. “I didn’t mean to hit her that hard. Should we get a doctor?”
“From one little buck in the face? Rainbow Dash has crashed into the ground flying at the speed of sound. I doubt one little kick is going to do her serious harm. But that’s not the point.”
With a disgusted groan, Shepard set off toward the fallen Rainbow Dash. Other than sporting a pair of black eyes, the pegasus seemed none the worse for wear, gently rubbing her forehead. “Could give AJ a run for her money, I think.”
Feeling a little bad now, Shepard extended a hoof. Rainbow accepted it with an embarrassed smile of her own as Shepard hauled her to her hooves. “ … I didn’t mean to kick you so hard.”
“Well I might have gone a little too far. So I’m sorry, I should have been a little more, uh… sensitive to your… feelings or whatever.”
Rainbow Dash sounded pretty close to throwing up the whole time she forced the sentence out. This brought a smile back to the earth pony’s face. “It’s alright. We were both out of line, right?”
“Right. So… what did happen?”
Shepard grunted in disgust. “Poison joke.”
Rainbow Dash was careful to make sure she was well out of Shepard’s reach before she started laughing again.
Twilight’s ears perked at the knock coming from the library’s front door. “Honestly, I keep telling everypony this is a public library. You don’t have to knock during business hou—” She blinked as she opened the door. “Shepherd? You’re here? In town? What are you doing here?”
Glancing back toward the patiently waiting Fluttershy, Shepard ran a hoof over her leg. “I uh, came to say I’m sorry. For yelling at you. I know you just want to help, and I shouldn’t have snapped. So… I’m sorry.”
Twilight’s concerned expression melted into a warm smile. “Oh, it’s alright. Really, I understand, your situation is stressful enough without adding full body transmutations to your list of problems. If I knew where to get the herbs myself, I’d rush right into the Everfree and take care of it, but I just have no idea. It could take me longer to find them on my own than it would to wait for Zecora to come home.”
Closing her eyes, Shepard took a deep breath before finally nodding. “It’s just a weekend. In two days I’ll be back to normal. I’ll live.” She ended with a small smile.
One Twilight shared. Of course, the moment was interrupted by a bright flash coming from the table. Slowly, Shepard turned to regard Legion after he’d taken yet another photograph.
Lips pursed tightly together, the mare’s sides heaved in and out as she sucked in deep lungfuls of air, trying to calm herself. Rigidly, she left the library before she even had much time to marvel at the fantastic notion of a giant tree housing a library. She slowly marched around to the back. Finding a suitable target, she stomped up to a poor, innocent tree.
Both Twilight and Fluttershy winced at the sharp crack from outside, then the sound of a tree toppling over. Fluttershy offered Twilight a little shrug and a smile. “At least it wasn’t Rainbow Dash this time.”
Pacing back and forth in front of her current-front door, Shepard worked hard to calm her nerves. So what if Luna saw her like this? It wasn’t that embarrassing. She was a pony too after all. And they were just friends. Nothing else. She definitely didn’t have any interest in her, she was a pony after all. Practically an ordinary horse.
An ordinary horse with a star studded mane, and deep sea foam eyes she could stare into for hours…
Shaking her head vigorously, she snorted. “None of that!” Again, she glanced over her nude body, and not for the first time she considered racing back to her room and trying to tie a bed sheet around her lower half at least.
Her musings were interrupted as a small puff of glittery blue smoke burst overhead, and a scroll dropped from the air, bouncing off the top of her head and rolling to a stop on the floor. It was easy enough to gather who it came from by the royal blue wax seal embossed with the insignia of the crescent moon. Poking her head into the next room, she cleared her throat. “Fluttershy, are you busy?”
Her roommate for lack of a better term lifted her head from the book she had her nose buried in. “Of course not. What’s wrong?”
Shepard waved her into her little area. “That uh, letter just bounced off my head. I’m not really too great with these things.” She held up her forehooves.
“Oh! It’s no trouble at all. Let’s see.” Gently, she lifted the letter with a hoof. Gripping the blue ribbon in her teeth and giving a little tug, it unfurled. “Would you like me to read it to you? It’s in Equestrian.”
Shepard nodded. While she could speak and understand it, Legion hadn’t gotten around to teaching her to read the pony language. “Please.”
Fluttershy cleared her throat.
My dear friend, Shepherd Commander,
It is with some regret that I inform you I cannot leave Canterlot to welcome you properly into your new home. While I dearly enjoy the time we spend together, at times my royal duties will force me to break such engagements. By way of apology, I wish to invite you to Canterlot this coming Wednesday. We are going to be hosting a small celebration in honor of a great moment in Equestrian history, one I very much would enjoy sharing with you. Twilight Sparkle and her friends have already confirmed their attendance. As you will be riding the train as part of her entourage, there will be no fee.
I am aware of your feelings regarding the more populated centers of Equestria. I can only tell you that your attendance would mean a great deal to me. While Twilight Sparkle and her friends are kind, caring mares one and all, I have not become close friends with them as I have with you. It is somewhat embarrassing to admit, but you are the first real friend I have made since my return from the moon.
I apologize if these words make you uncomfortable. It is not my intention to do so, merely to convey how much your coming to Canterlot would mean to me. Please do not feel that I will be angry if you choose not to attend, I understand well the scars that troubles of the mind can leave.
Always your friend, Luna
Fluttershy gently laid the letter on the table in Shepard’s room. Her strange friend had a thoughtful look on her face as she silently studied the floor. “Well, um… I hope you decide to come. Nopony thought to invite you because you seem very… determined not to go into town. Canterlot is a lot bigger than Ponyville, after all.”
Shepard’s eyes drifted back toward the letter. “ … I’ll come. I need to grow up sometime, right? Besides, it’s just more ponies. Not like there’re gonna be timberwolves or manticores or anything, right?”
Fluttershy smiled brightly. “That’s the spirit. Why don’t you come over and I’ll make us some nice tea.” Her ear perked at the sudden growl from Shepard’s stomach. “And maybe a little dinner.”
Shepard laughed as she followed the pegasus into the cottage proper. “That sounds great.” Both turned toward the front door at a sudden knock. Nodding her head toward the kitchen, Shepard approached the door. “I’ll see who it is. Probably Rainbow Dash, come to apologize for the hundredth time.”
Nodding to the earth pony, Fluttershy ducked into her kitchen to put a little something together. Shepard glared at the door knob a minute before gripping it tightly in her forehooves and awkwardly tugging it open. Instead of Rainbow Dash outside, it was… three of the smallest, cutest ponies she had ever seen.
All three stared at her with the same mix of wide-eyed, heart melting adorableness. The little orange pegasus with the purple mane, the lily white unicorn with her pale lilac and pink curls… Shepard had to actually bite down on her cheek to keep from letting out an audible ‘awww’ at the earth pony filly with the big pink bow in her mane. “C— can I help you?”
The three exchanged a confused look. Shepard then noticed the backpacks strapped across their backs. “Is Fluttershy home?”
At the filly’s voice, Fluttershy quickly returned. “Oh! Oh my goodness, I completely forgot in all the excitement. I told the girls they could have their camp out here. Oh, um… Shepherd, this is Applebloom, Applejack’s little sister. Sweetie Belle is Rarity’s sister, and their friend Scootaloo. I look after them from time to time when their families are busy. Girls, this is Shepherd. She’s my house guest.”
Applebloom’s eyes lit with recognition. “Hey, yer th’ mare that taught them ornery sheep of ours some manners! Pleased t’ meetcha!”
Shepard smiled at the well-mannered filly. “Nice to meet you too. Camping out, huh? No tents?”
Scootaloo puffed her chest up proudly. “No way! We’re totally roughing it all weekend!”
“If by roughing it, you mean sleeping in Fluttershy’s backyard and coming in to get a snack or use the bathroom whenever we want.” Sweetie Belle commented under her breath.
Shepard quirked a grin at the marshmallowy little unicorn. Fluttershy cleared her throat softly. “Alright girls, go on back. You let me know if you need anything, alright?”
“Yes, Fluttershy!”
“Thanks, Fluttershy!”
“See ya later, Fluttershy!”
Shepard watched the three tear off around to the back of the cottage with a smile. Fluttershy shrugged sheepishly. “I’m sorry about that. I can’t believe I forgot they were coming. I hope they won’t be too big a bother.”
Shepard snorted softly. “Three little pony kids? How much trouble can they be?”