Pull Me Through

by NightsongWrites


Chapter 5- Heartbeats and Laughter

Michelle gaped down at the bounty of food in front of her in abject awe, glancing up at a beaming Applejack to make sure it was really her’s. Up. Down. Up…
“A-all for me?”
“All of it,” Applejack replied softly, giving the young pegasus’ ear a gentle nuzzle, “Go on. Fluttershy will be here with the eggs soon.”
Ooooh…
It had been Twilight’s idea to get Michelle out of her library, and let her see the town, along with its pride and joy: Sweet Apple Acres. The town itself was marvellous: like a fairy tale come to life, with little thatch-roofed homes and barn doors. Fantastical colors lit up the homes in ways that would have made the HoA’s back on Earth shit themselves in pure, artistic horror. But the ponies didn’t care about that. They didn’t care nearly so much in cookie-cutter homes that lined up with all the others and looked nice and orderly. They simply made… homes. And that was what Sweet Apple Acres was, as well. Not only a place of business, but a home. A well-loved, well-tended, well-stocked home.
With the promise of eggs to come, Michelle gazed down at her plate. Warm bread, fresh out of the oven and glistening with melted butter, whispered of soft goodness. A wheel of soft cheddar wafted it’s delectable scents to her new and enhanced pegasi nose; the main actor of the dish, however, had come from the most unlikely of sources. All the ponies had gaped in shock when Rainbow Dash had flown down from her home, blushing as she presented several strips of expertly fried and seasoned bass.
“Most ponies kinda steer away from any kind of meat,” Rainbow had explained when Michelle had looked confused at the expressions on the others’ faces, “But pegasi need protein for our metabolism. It’s why we have sharper teeth.”
“Don’t eggs have protein?”
“Hush, you. C’mon Michelle, try it!”
God, it had been forever since Michelle had had something fried. Leaning down, she carefully crunched into the fish, momentarily amused by the lack of pony utensils… until the taste hit her tongue. The fried fish was delicious, and clean. There was very little extra grease, and it didn’t sit heavily in her stomach like a lot of fast food back home had. Licking her lips, there was just enough salt to make her pony body shiver in delight.
“Holy cow,” she mumbled around a mouthful of fish, gulping it down… and diving eagerly into the next strip.
Twilight peered down at the plate, then scowled over at Rainbow Dash.
“Salt?” she deadpanned, “Really?”
“What!?”
“We don’t want to get her salt drunk on her first day!” she scolded, frowning dramatically and drawing herself up.
Michelle, however, had her head tilted curiously, ears cocked, “Salt drunk?”
To her surprise, it was Rarity who answered, smirking faintly, “We ponies have different… stimulants than other races, darlings. Alcohol is one. Salt is… well, quite another. Too much can… weeeell…”
“Make you loopier than Discord on caffeine?” Applejack offered, though she also had a gaze locked over on a giggling Pinkie Pie.
“...quite.”
Rainbow Dash sighed heavily, waving her hooves defensively at her mix of scowling and smirking friends.
“Oh calm down, guys!” she admonished, almost pouting, “I only added a pinch. For flavor!”
Hoping to earn some points with the rainbow-maned pony, Michelle smiled warmly around at them all.
“She’s not lying guys,” she told them happily, “It’s just a little salt. But it’s great fish!”
She sighed in relief as all the ponies began to relax; Twilight shot her a sheepish smile, which sent a little thrill through her heart. Not that she was… entirely sure why. Twilight Sparkle was a pony. All of them were, and her brain hadn’t changed. At least, she didn’t think it had. But every smile, every shy look or proud grin… It was like she had known Twilight forever. She lowered her ears, and squeaked as everypony quickly turned to look at her.
“What’s wrong, sugarcube?” Applejack asked softly, gently scooting over to Michelle’s side as the new-pony fiddled with her hooves.
“I-it’s… it’s nothing!” Michelle replied sheepishly, glancing back as her tail began to swish, “...well… it um…”
“Is hitting all at once?” Pinkie Pie spoke up quietly; that in and of itself got some incredulous looks from her friends, “That you’re a pony now?”
Wincing faintly, Michelle closed her eyes, wings drooping. She could feel all of it now; the alienness of this body. The soft, sensitive fur. Her odd, yielding hooves, or the twitching, moveable ears. And of course, her wings. Her glorious, wonderful… alien wings. She wasn’t human anymore. She wasn’t Michelle anymore. And in that case… who was she? Should she take on a pony name? Maybe… Fox Mane? No, that’d be stupid… Maybe-
Two hooves gently embraced her cheeks, and Pinkie’s surprisingly firm voice spoke up.
“Look at me, Michelle.”
Hesitating a moment, Michelle slowly opened her eyes, mentally preparing herself for a verbal assault as she looked at Pinkie’s stern face, and the stunned faces of her friends behind the pink mare. There was quiet… and then…
“Pfffbt!”
Michelle blinked, gaping as Pinkie blew out her cheeks, tongue sticking out cartoonishly while her eyes went in two separate directions. Silence.
“Pfft… nnnh… bwuahahaahahaha!”
Michelle couldn’t help it! With that one face and sound, all of Michelle’s stress
had poured out, flowing down her stream of laughter as she- careful of her wing, of course- fell to her side, hysterically kicking out her new hooves. Rainbow Dash was next, her snickering giving way to full blown gales of laughter, and it all fell apart. Michelle’s new friends fell out on the grass of Applejack’s lawn, giggles and guffaws echoing throughout the orchard like a horde of lunatics, fresh out of the asylum.
Pinkie Pie, shockingly, was the first to recover, beaming widely at the mare at her hooves.
“Yeah, you’re a pony now, Michelle. Your body is a pony. But you’ll always be Michelle inside, right? No matter what your body is.”
Blushing, Michelle sheepishly glanced around. All of her friends had managed to cover from their laughing fits, smiling down at Michelle with understanding in their eyes. A purple blur moved at the edge of her vision, and Michelle turned just in time to be hugged firmly against Twilight’s neck. Her fur was almost obnoxiously soft, and perfect for Michelle to bury her muzzle into. Shyly, Michelle lifted her arms, wrapping them around Twilight’s withers and holding on tightly. She wasn’t sure that ‘that was that,’ but… with friends like these at her side, and a mare like Twilight with her… Michelle was fairly certain she would be fine.
“I just can’t wait to introduce you to Trixie!”
Trixie?
***********************

Octavia felt like crying. In a good way! Her hooves brushed slowly across the smoothly polished wood of the cello, a wide smile splitting her face. The young musician had already had had one major relief that day, upon finding out that her hooves had a kind of… latent magic about them, allowing her to grip objects, or pluck the strings of her lyre, or play her violin. It was a tad odd, and had taken a few hours getting used to, but she had managed. And Octavia was certainly glad to have found that out before Vinyl took her shopping.
“Told’ja she’d like it, Nighty,” Vinyl said smugly, grinning over at a sheepish-looking unicorn behind the store counter.
Vinyl had introduced the indigo-maned, cobalt-furred unicorn mare as Nightsong, the foremost instrument maker in Ponyville. According to Vinyl’s happily embellished account, which had Nightsong blushing furiously and stuttering out tiny denials, Nightsong used only the best materials for her instruments, and never, ever overcharged.
“I-I just want everypony to be able to play, i-if they truly want to,” Nightsong had responded softly, smiling over at the two mares.
“Now, I don’t usually play classical,” Vinyl explained, ducking her head at Octavia’s smirk, “But! I do like to mix, and it’s really good to have Nightsong’s instruments around when I need some music to go with.”
Her eyes and smile suddenly grew three sizes, and she spun on Nightsong,
making her eep in surprise.
“Nighty! You HAVE to show Octavia that song you did!” she exclaimed eagerly, practically bouncing where she stood, “One of those from that movie!”
Blushing furiously, Nightsong nonetheless gave a small smile from what was obviously a fond memory.
“W-well, I… which one, you think?” she replied slowly, tilting her head thoughtfully.
Vinyl tilted her head as well, the pair of ponies humming softly before their brains merged, smiles coming to both their faces at practically the same thing.
“M-music box?”
“Music box.”
Octavia blinked, “Music box?”
“Music box,” they both replied eagerly, more life coming to the otherwise shy unicorn as she scurried to a back room, with Vinyl eagerly tugging Octavia along.
To say Octavia was surprised by Nightsong’s back room would be an… understatement. As she gaped around at the fully stocked theater, complete with stage and rows upon rows of seats, the charcoal mare gaped back at a grinning Vinyl.
“There’s no way her shop was this big on the outside.”
Infuriatingly, Vinyl merely giggled and shrugged, tugging Octavia down to the front seats. Bloody hell, they were top of the line too, and totally dust-free. How often was this place used? Up on the gleaming stage, Nightsong’s horn was glowing a soft silver as she levitated a variety of instruments and contraptions into place. Magic was new to Octavia too, but, just as it was when Vinyl used it around the house, it was amazing to simply watch. So many little things flying around with hardly any effort at all…
The last instrument, and by far the largest, was a massive pipe organ, wheeled out of a dark back room and settled carefully into a slot in the wall, allowing the small pipes to feed into those built into the section. The pipe organ was oddly organic in appearance, painted a fading ocean blue, with strange knobs across it.
“Oh dude, they let you keep the one from the film?” Vinyl exclaimed excitedly.
Nightsong grinned back at her, a proud gleam in her silver eyes, “Well of course. I made it, after all. Now… let’s begin.”
Turning back to her organ, the silver glow lit up her horn once more, and a small music box lifted off from the side of the organ; a soft tone began to play out of the box, amplified to echo around the theater. Octavia smiled softly, settling back in her seat. Well… that was certainly relaxing. Her ears perked as, quite suddenly, several violins began to harmonize with the box, playing along with the slow, soft tune. And as it began to fade, Octavia lifted her hooves to applaud…
Nightsong’s hooves, held nearly to her head during the harmony, swung down onto the organ’s keys, a snarl etched over her once-soft features. Deep, powerful music washed over Octavia, practically slamming her back into her seat. Nightsong’s hooves were a flurry of movement over the ivory keys, her head weaving and bobbing, always turned in an expression of utmost sadness and concentration. Deep, haunting voices began to emanate from nowhere, following along with the song with such intensity that it churned Octavia’s stomach. The music-loving pony couldn’t tear her eyes away.
The glow from Nightsong’s horn grew in intensity, and two massive handles rose up from the thick drums in the back of the symphony; they had kept the beat with the song, but now it was their time to shine. Nightsong’s hooves slammed down, and the beats sounded all the world like a massive, thundering heart.
Boom Boom.
Boom Boom.
Boom Boom.
Boom.
Boom Boom.
Boom Boom.
Boom Boom.
Boom.
Leaning back in her seat, Nightsong’s eyes were closed tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks from the intensity of her song. She was certainly not alone, as her audience were frantic to clear their own eyes so they could fill the deafening silence with applause.
“D-didn’t I tell you she was awesome?” Vinyl asked shakily, smiling widely over at the stunned Octavia.
“Y-you were right,” Octavia replied softly, a fire burning in her very soul.
She… was going to like it on this world.