//------------------------------// // 11- Research About Exercise // Story: Research About Fluffy Ponies // by Axel Azabash //------------------------------// "You have gained five kilograms in the last two weeks. You are getting fat" Mike said thoughtful, looking at the bascule that Twiley had stepped on. "I'm not fat!" Twiley yelled. "Are you slim?" Mike asked. Twiley looked at her belly. "Um... no..." Twiley replied shyly. "So, you are fat." Mike concluded. Twiley frowned at him. "Nooou!" Twiley whined. "What are you then!?" Mike asked. Twiley lowered her head and looked away for a moment. Then she looked back at Mike in her peripheral vision. The eye that looked at him was half closed, her ears folded back and a shy duck face on her lips. "I'm pwetty." She whined in a barely audible voice. Mike's left eye twitched. He had little fear about what was really inside the mind of that weird being in front of him, a part of pity about the poor thing, having to live indoors and hiding from everyone. And finally, a big part of metaphorical diabetes caused by the sugar overload from her cuteness. "Oh... Okay... T-Today is my free day..." Mike stuttered. Twiley's ears perked up immediately at that and looked at mike hopefully. "Ow! A day togethew! What awe you going to teach me today? TV? Computew? Books?" She squealed, bouncing in place, the bascule going crazy in the process. Mike stared at nowhere, thoughtfully, finally he looked back at Twiley. "We are going to go out for a walk." "Go out fow a wawk?" Twiley asked, tilting her head and giving Mike a confused look. "Yes, we are going to go to the park. We need to do some exercise to not get fat. You have to behave, there are going to be a lot of people." Mike clarified. Twiley frowned at the word 'fat', but returned to a confused look. "A wot of peopwe..." She muttered thoughtful. She didn't notice that Mike had just left the room. Something touched her neck and she startled. Looking down she found the collar on it, Mike was attaching the leash. Something clicked in her head... 'You have to behave...' She suddenly remembered when she was angry at everything and Mike kept her in her room tied with the leash to the window bars. "No! I didn't do anything wwong! I don't want the weash again, PWEAAAASE!!" She started to panic, tears falling down her cheeks. Mike tried to pet her to calm her down, but she avoided him and began to struggle. He tried to restrain her, but she managed to hit him with a hoof. In a last attempt to calm the panicking unicorn down, he threw himself, putting all his weight on her. Mike hugged Twiley, holding her in place, preventing her from moving and causing more damage to the already slightly cracked bascule. She struggled for a few seconds. She finally gave up and stopped the fight. Mike started to scratch her ears. She lost all her strength and relaxed, unable to move, all her fears going away. She tried to say something, but couldn't coordinate, emitting an unintelligible mumble, ending in a pleasured sigh. "Sorry, but I have to put this on you. It's the first time I take you for a walk and I have to be careful." Mike said. Twiley looked confused. The leash that kept her bounded to wherever she was, now was going to be used to let her go outside. How can that be possible? It was nothing that could make sense about being on a leash and being outside at the same time in Twiley's head. Mike tried to convince himself that taking Twiley for a walk was just a part of taking care of her, and was nothing like going to have fun with your pet, he didn't liked pets. He tried to convince himself that he wanted to maintain her healthy, rather than spend a nice time with her... and failed. He actually wanted to take her for a walk. He also was worried about what the people will think about Twiley if someone saw her, but on second thought, people were really used to see weird things this times. Maybe a few stares and questions, but the advantages were far bigger than the disadvantages of an insane lifestyle indoors. He ended up wondering about what her reactions would be to the outside world, and all the cute situations her innocence was going to put her into. He decided that this was a part of his research about her behavior, that was all. He was a cold and emotionless scientific who works for an important research and development company. When they were outside, Mike walked near her, holding the leash in his hands. That made no sense. Twiley was on a leash but she wasn't tied to anything like the window bars, the leash was useless, she didn't get it. They walked side by side for a while, Twiley looking at everything with fascinated curiosity. On the other hand, people reacted quite well. Surprisingly, almost everybody ignored her, maybe a few curious stares and surprised children, but nothing else. Mike started to relax a little. Eventually, they got to the park. Mike sat on a bench and released Twiley's leash. The park was a relatively safe zone for children to play, and there were a few dogs and fluffies playing around. "Well, Twiley... this is it, the park." Said Mike. "Um..." Twiley tilted her head, sniffing at the smell of the 'outside' and looking around her. "What do we do hewe?" "Oh, just walk, run, play... I don't know. Just stay inside the fence" Mike answered, not knowing what to do at this situation, he never had had a pet before. Twiley headed to a little park for fluffies, with some little slides and swings matching the size of those little creatures. There were some of them and some people watching them play. The second Twiley came in, she became the center of attention. Mike came near there too to watch over her. Soon he was flooded with people asking questions about what kind of fluffy pony was Twiley or how did he got her, how old was she and other things alike. Mike answered that Twiley was a special breed and it wasn't publicly traded, and people started to ask him general questions about fluffy ponies that he didn't even knew. He started to feel awkward, because he looked like the typical freakish expert in fluffy ponies, owning one of those special breeds. Trying to break the awkwardness, he told to the people that actually he only was taking care of it, because one of his friends had gone on holiday and didn't know what to do with the... 'thing'. Of course, Twiley was having her own slice of awkwardness. The slides, swings and other things were way too small for her. Playing with the ball in the other hand would be possible, but... She found that chasing the thing around was a little pointless, despite how enthusiastically other fluffies played the 'chasing the ball' thing. Eventually, Twiley realized that a lot of eyes were on her, that made her awkwardness grow a little more, until she decided that it was enough and jumped out of the fluffy playpen. Some people startled a little, the fence was too tall for a normal fluffy to jump, but for Twiley was really easy. Some normal fluffies thought that what Twiley had just done was a great idea and started to try to jump out of the playpen. They failed, of course, they fell back, rolling and bumping with other fluffies in a quite comical way, causing laughs and giggles from the people who were watching them. Twiley got closer to Mike, with the head low and her ears folded back. "I want to go back..." She whispered. "But why? You're not having fun?" Mike asked. Twiley's face was expressionless. "No, this is no fun, this is awk...awww... akwaaaa... ARGH! Why awe some wowds so diww... difff..." "You are too cute for your own good when trying to say difficult words..." Mike suppressed a laugh, but it was a little too evident and Twiley noticed. Twiley pointed at mike with a hoof. "YOU! You shouwd twy to speak with a pony mouth... you wouwd undews... thawnd how funny it is..." Mike backpedaled a little. That comment was really unexpected, and someone could start being suspicious about her intelligence. Luckily, people were too distracted with the other fluffies trying to jump out of the playpen to notice it. "Ok, ok..." Mike tried to silence her. "But we can't go home so early. We are here to do some exercise. Well, maybe we could walk around the park." Mike attached the leash to Twiley. Twiley groaned in frustration. "...And pointwess weash again... Humans awe weiwd..." They started to walk around. It was slightly better. All the fluffy owners were around the playpen, so, the awkward questions and stares would be minimal. There was an actual playpen for kids, with normal sized slides and swings, with some children playing there. Of course, Twiley got their attention immediately. The children stared at her, some of them started to get close, trying to catch her attention. Twiley backpedaled a little, hiding behind Mike, but it was futile, they were surrounded in a few seconds. "Mike... Mike... Hewp..." Twiley pleaded. "Hey, they are just children, they are not going to hurt you... I think..." Mike answered. "You... THINK!? I wan to go baEEEP!!" Twiley shouted when a random child touched her tail and withdrew his hand quickly as if it had burned. 5 minutes later... "WEEEEEE!" Twiley squealed while she threw herself down the slide. Mike was sitting on a bench, watching the show in front of him. Twiley playing with the children, like if she were just another one. The swings and slides were perfect for her size this time, and the 'Don't let the ball touch the ground' game was far more interesting and funny for her than just chasing the ball. They eventually managed four, five or even six hits in a row before the ball went out of control and ended on the floor. The children used their hands and Twiley used her head. Twiley wasn't very accurate with her head, but she was fast enough to play efficiently. The boys tried to make her play with the ball and some girls tried to play other games. One of the girls even managed to make Twiley let her ride on her back for a little. Some adults who were taking care of their children joined Mike watching the show. Twiley was happy and smiling all the time, except for the occasional frown and sticking out her tongue when someone made a prank about her or made her lose one of those little games. "Excuse me... Are you the owner?" A man asked to Mike. There was a little crowd of people watching Twiley play with the children. "Oh... yes?" Mike answered, a little confused at first, but then rolled his eyes mentally... Oh, boy... here we go again... Except for the people getting curious about Twiley, it was okay... an excellent day at the park. Twiley was doing a lot of exercise and looked so happy.