Lost Tales Of The Slightly Longer Kind by ?
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Twilight followed Rainbow Dash as best she could, having trouble keeping up with the pegasus although rainbow-maned pony was visibly frustrated by their pace.
"Can't you gallop faster than that?!"
"What(PANT)is(PANT)the rush?"
"It's... wierd. The most bizarre thing ever!"
They approached Lero's home, a bolt of worry shooting through Twilight as she realized whatever had Rainbow Dashed so worried, it involved Lero. However, that worry was quickly overshadowed by doubt.
"Uh, Rainbow Dash? We've personally battled Nightmare Moon and the Spirit of Chaos himself, we attended my brother's wedding where he almost married a Changeling, and we're both in a relationship with a creature from another world. What could possibly qualify as weird to us?"
Rainbow slipped into the door, motioning for Twilight to follow. As soon as she entered, Twilight was suprised to find another pony already waiting for them, a stallion she didn't recgonize.
He had a pale tan coat, nearly white, and he was a bit taller than Macintosh but not as muscular. What really got her attention though was the pony's red mane, with a braid behind one ear, and the familiar mustache and goatee on his face.
"H-hi, Twilight."
"Lero?!"
"Told ya it was weird."
Rainbow loved Lero despite not being a pony. Hay, deep down some of his inequine features excited her more than a pony's would have. Then he was a pony.
Twilight, being Twilight, had almost instantly gone into 'scientist mode' and began examining and question Lero, when not thinking outloud about how 'interesting' this transformation was. Rainbow had still been feeling unreal, like this was a weird dream.
When Twilight turned to her and admitted she had no idea what had happened and thus no clue how to undo it, it actually hit her that Lero was a pony. Maybe forever.
Rainbow... she had been stunned by the suddeness of this transformation. When the reality of the situation came to her... she started panicking.
"WHADYA MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW?! MAGIC IS INVOLVED, RIGHT?! FIX IT WITH MAGIC!"
"Rainbow, calm down! You know unicorn magic doesn't work that way!"
"It-It's that Poison Joke stuff, right? Or maybe it-it's Changelings! Those jerks musta-"
"Lero has never even seen Poison Joke before, and I checked anyway and see no signs of it in his system. And Changelings can only change their own bodies. I'm sorry, I just don't know."
Rainbow trotted in place, fluttering her wings. Her first reaction to trouble was move fast and solve it quick, but what was she supposed to do?!
"It's okay, Rainbow!"
Rainbow turned to Lero, who had been very quiet this whole time. The human-turned-pony smiled at her in an attempt to calm her.
"I'm okay, I just... look different. And Twilight is the smartest girl I've ever met. She'll figure everything out, it'll just take some time, right?"
Twilight chewed her lip lightly before opening her mouth to say something, but was stopped by the look in Lero's eyes. The doubt on her face seemed to suddenly be replaced by, somewhat forced, enthusiasm.
"Um, yeah! I'll figure it out, so don't either of you worry!"
"See, Rainbow? So don't-"
As he spoke, Lero tried to walk over to comfort Rainbow only to trip over his own hooves. He would have bruised his face against the ground if Rainbow hadn't blurred over to him and caught him in time. With her forehooves holding him up, Rainbow realized how unused to his body Lero was, and now that she was close she could feel a slight tremble in his frame. Rainbow silently cursed herself as she realized the obvious. Lero was terrified. Of course he was, he woke up this morning a different species!
Rainbow pulled Lero into an embrace, an embrace that Lero welcomed. She held him like that for a moment, before Twilight joined the hug.
"I really am going to try my hardest to fix this."
Rainbow chuckled.
"We know, egghead. This is just..."
"Really weird?"
"Yeah, that. But it's gonna be okay, Lero. Me and Twilight are gonna take care of ya, big guy."
"Thanks Rainbow. And you two, Twilight."
The three ponies seemed to just remain there enjoying the comfort of eachother's presence for a moment.
And then...
"Um, I'm sorry girls, but I need to ruin the moment."
"Huh?"
"Whadya mean?"
"I sorta have to use the little boy's room..."
"PfftHAHAHA!"
While Rainbow rolled on the floor laughing, Twilight just blushed and disengaged her hug. But Lero didn't go, he just stood in place with an uncomfortable, yet contemplative, look on his face.
"Uh, what's the problem?"
"... How do ponies use toilet paper?"
Rainbow had taken a few days off to stay with Lero as Twilight researched a way to fix things. But those few days passed and now Rainbow really needed to get back to her job. The other ponies just weren't used to handling Rainbow's load of work that she did(In ten seconds flat). But she really didn't want Lero just sitting alone in his house, so... it was time for him to go outside and get used to being a pony, if only for a while.
"I don't think I can do this."
Lero nervously shuffled his hooves, he at least had gotten the hang of walking on four legs.
"It'll be fine, Lero, don't worry."
"But I... couldn't I put on some-"
"For the last time, ponies don't where clothes often, you'd probably attract more attention to yourself."
Lero blushed visibly, his light coat doing nothing to hide it. Rainbow leaned against his side and lightly nuzzled his neck, earning a laugh from him.
"Ha! Got ya to laugh! Now come on, you never stared at naked ponies before, right? Nopony's gonna stare at you or anything!"
Rainbow opened the front door and held the door open. Lero took a deep breath, and followed Rainbow out the door.
---
It had been a few minutes, and Rainbow was happy to see Lero getting used to being in public as a pony. As she'd expected, nopony recgonized him. The only reason she'd known it was him was his braid and facial hair. He'd removed his braid for now, and facial hair wasn't exactly rare.
Lero seemed to be somewhat amused by his anonymity, used to getting stares everywhere he went. Not that he wasn't getting stares, but they were of a different sort.
Whenever Lero would look away, at least two or three mares would look him over. Rainbow was glad they at least had the decency to not let him notice they were checking him out, she was sure that would send him racing back to his house.
But Lero hadn't noticed his increased popularity with the mares of Ponyville(which was actually impressive since he had already managed to catch the eyes of quite a few) and trotted lightly towards the fresh produce stands and stalls.
Rainbow looked around to see if Applejack had set up her apple stand today. Unfortunately, it seemed that Applejack hadn't come in today. Shame. Rainbow could really go for some apples, actually. When the multi-colored pegasus turned back around, Lero had already approached a stall. Rainbows heart nearly stopped when she saw whose stall he was at.
"Oh, Celestia, not her!"
Lero, for his part, was inspecting one of the melons he was considering purchasing. Finally, he tapped one of the melons with a forehoof.
"I think I'll take this one, Miss Dew."
Honeydew smiled at the stallion in front of her, who knew of her despite being new to Ponyville. She knew he must be new in town, she'd certainly remember seeing a handsome stallion like him around here.
"Oh, very good choice, sir! You picked the best one in the bunch! You must have alot of gardening experience!"
Honeydew fluttered her eyes a little, leaning just a little closer to the stallion. Lero smiled, he'd never really interacted with Honeydew before(Her stall always seemed to closed when he was shopping), but he was happy to find she was a very friendly pony. She'd given him these sideways looks before, he was worried she would be mean.
"Oh, not really. I'm just guessing, mostly!"
"Well, you have good instincts! Say, what's your name?"
Lero hesitated, wondering briefly why he hadn't thought of a fake name earlier.
"Um... well, Miss Dew-"
"Oh, no 'Miss'. Just call me Honey!"
Honeydew gave Lero a wink and a smile.
Just then, Rainbow rushed up.
"Sorry to interupt, but we've got somewhere to be."
Lero looked at her with a confused expression, since he knew they had no plans besides getting him used to being a pony. Honeydew glared at the pegasus mare, an aggressive look on her face, then questioningly glanced at pony-Lero.
"How does a loser like you know a guy like this?"
Lero turned to Honeydew, mildly suprised at the sudden change in attitude. He noticed a similar look on Rainbow Dash's face. What's going on?
"Um, is something wrong?"
Rainbow did her best to remove the anger from her face.
"No, everything's fine. Let's go."
Lero followed Rainbow as she walked away from the stall. Lero really wanted to ask about what just happened, but Rainbow looked like she was in deep thought. He'd let her tell him when she wanted to.
"Rainbow! Hey, over here!"
The pegasus and ex-Human turned their attention to three familiar mares. Apple jack was pulling a small cart filled with groceries, with Rarity strolling to the left of her and... Pinkie Pie bouncing on her right.
<?!>
The pink mare was excitedly waving her forehoof. Lero smiled at Rainbow.
"Oh, you saw the others and wanted to meet up with them! That's why you wanted to leave the stall."
"Huh? Uh, I mean, yeah! That's it!"
The two approached the three mares, Applejack and Rarity casting curious looks at the stallion they didn't recgonize. Pinkie Pie smiled at the two the way she smiled at everything, so it was questionable if she'd even noticed his presence. Rainbow was a little suprised at that, usually she freaked out when new ponies came to Ponyville.
"Uh, hey girls! What're ya doin?"
Applejack raised an eyebrow, then looked back over her shoulder at the plainly obvious groceries in the cart.
"Uh, ain't that obvious?"
"Oh! Right.."
"Now, darling, don't stall! Tell us about your freind! Oh, how rude! I should introduce myself first, shouldn't I? My name is Rarity, fashionista extrordinaire, personal freind of *the* Fancy Pants, and an aquaintance of Princess Celestia! Charmed, I'm sure!"
A single thought went through Rainbow's mind when she saw the way Rarity was looking at Lero.
Oh, HAY NO!
Honeydew flirting with him was bad enough. But Rarity being interested in him? No, this would not be allowed. She went through stallions like most mares went through tissues. If she thought she could treat *him* like that...
Before that thought could continue, Pinkie started laughing and rolling her eyes.
"Pfft, silly filly! You've met him before!"
<What the-?>
Rarity paused, then shook her head and sent her curled mane bouncing lightly.
"No, I think I'd remeber meeting such a handsome stallion before!"
Lero blushed next to Rainbow, and she had the distinct feeling he wanted to go back to his house to hide. Great.
"Well, that's cause Lero was a Human-thingy then! How'd you turn into a pony, Lero-Shero-Jero?"
<No! Applejack was supposed to figure it out!>
Rainbow's mind froze for a second, and she accidentally spoke her mind.
"What the- How could you tell he's Lero?!"
"Well, duh! Isn't it obvious?"
Applejack and Rarity both blinked, then stared at Lero with disbelief.
"Wha-Lero?! As in the tall fella?! Bu-huh?!"
"I share Applejack's confusion, but more eloquently."
Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck, and gave an apologetic look at Lero who looked really embarassed.
"You see-"
"Also, more beautiful and more cultured, too."
Applejack leveled a flat look at Rarity.
"Hush it!"
Rainbow decided that her and Lero's trip into town was officialy a bust.
"Girls, let's head back to Lero's house to discuss this, 'kay?"
---
Back in Lero's house, Rainbow filled the others in on the situation.
"...and Twilight still hasn't figured out how to fix this. I didn't want Lero sitting in this house by himself, but... I don't think wandering around Ponyville alone is good either."
Pinkie, being Pinkie, saw nothing unusual about the situation and accepted it immediately. Rarity, after getting over the bizarreness, seemed to view the whole thing as very amusing. Rainbow was mostly suprised by Applejack's reaction. She seemed really uncomfortable for some reason, glancing at Lero then quickly looking away or pretending to examine the walls. Weird.
Rainbow was brought out of her thoughts by Rarity.
"Well, darling, as it turns out I need some help at my boutique."
Lero blinked.
"Uh, I'm not sure what Icould help you with. I'm not very good at sewing or anything."
"Oh, I'm sure I could find a task suited to a strapping stallion such as yourself."
Rainbow Leaned over so that she was between Rarity and Lero, giving her a warning look. The fact that the white unicorn suddenly looked a bit paler convinced Rainbow that she undrstood.
"Um, completely innocent and harmless work, of course!"
Rainbow sat back down, a pleased look on her face.
"Of course."
"Um..."
All the eyes in the room turned to Applejack(except Pinkie's eyes, as they were eagerly reading through the newest Daring Do novel which Rainbow had left sitting on the table) as she nervously shifted in place.
"We could use a little help at the farm, all sortsa things. If ya wanted, you could come up an help us out."
Lero seemed to consider that.
"Well... there wouldn't be too many ponies around at the farm..."
Pinkie suddenly looked up from her novel(which she was holding upside down).
"Why wouldn't you want to be around ponies?"
"It's just... I'm a little... embarassed."
"About what?"
Rainbow sighed.
"Y'know how Humans have a taboo against being naked?"
"Yeah?...OH! Lero's embarassed cuz he's naked!"
Rainbow had to force herself to not laugh when Lero did a rather good impression of Fluttershy, his face turning red and covering his eyes with his forehooves. Rarity's giggling probably didn't help.
"Oh my! This *is* the first time I've seen you without clothing, isn't it? If you want, darling, I can create a few outfits for you if you could stop by my boutique."
"Oh, well... I don't think so... Twilight's going to find a way to fix this soon..."
"Oh, but it would be such a wasted opportunity!"
"I... I'll think about it. Um, how long were you planning to be out shopping?"
"Oh, I completely lost track of time! I need to get back to my boutique before Sweetie Bell tries to design dresses with my materials again. Ugh, that filly is guilty to at least a thousand crimes against fashion!"
Rarity trotted out the front door, and quickly levitated her groceries out of the cart the three had shared.
Pinkie bounded out the door and omehow balanced three bags of groceries on her head.
"I gotta go, too! I'm not really in a hurry, but I wasn't even supposed to be in this snippet and the writer's getting mad!"
The party pony dissappeared in a pink blur.
<Finally!>
Applejack got up, heading for the door as well.
"Ah guess Ah'll be headin out, too. Ah'll be sellin' a few apples early in the mornin since someponies like'em fer a snack before lunch, so Ah'll head by here after that an we'll head to the farm."
Lero smiled, glad he wouldn't have to walk through town himself. He felt really vulnerable right now, and not just because he was naked. Being in a body he wasn't born with left him feeling very unsure of himself. He honestly wasn't sure how much help he would be in a body he wasn't used to, though, but he'd do his best.
"I'll see you tomorrow, then!"
Applejack nodded, then hooked herself to the cart and started pulling it and her groceries home.
As she did, her mind started to race. About Lero. About the Human she'd secretly had feelings for. Silly feelings she'd never act on, cause they were different species and that went against tradition in the Apple family, and her family loved tradition. She'd never break tradition. Except he was a pony now. An earth pony stallion. A very handsome earth pony stallion.
And she was going to be working with him at the farm tomorrow. The two of them workin hard, till they were sweaty and had sore muscles. Applejack felt her body heat up a little at her brief thought.
"Aw, hay. What have Ah gotten mahself into?"