Lyra was back in her chair. Sessions had resumed and she couldn't be happier about a return to the status quo. Sunny had returned a few days afterwards wielding apologies and trying to integrate back into the house. Most of the others were alright with it, but... "How are you, Sam?"
Sam shrugged. "Annoyed."
Lyra nodded lightly. "What's bothering you?"
Sam gestured in the direction of their shared home. "So Samantha turns into Sunny, she's fixed, but she insists on hanging out with us, and asking all kinds of questions about humans. I'm not trying to be a pansy, but she's making it the opposite of relaxing and calm."
Lyra held up a hoof. "No one is calling you a pansy, Sam. Have you asked her to leave you alone?"
Sam grunted softly. "She's a girl, a young girl in her, what, early twenties? I know she doesn't mean anything by it, but it still pisses me off."
Lyra rolled that same hoof, "Let's talk about a related thing, if we can? Sam, you were a truck driver, right?"
Sam bobbed his head. "Sure was, 'till I killed myself with some sloppy driving."
Lyra nodded slowly. "But you have no job now. What would you like to do? Did you enjoy truck driving?"
Sam tensed a moment before he sagged. "You might be right... I really am doing shit-all these days."
Lyra tossed over a chocolate. "You have, but that's not a mark against you. This has been a very traumatic part of your life, which is why I'm asking what you want to do, if you could do anything at all?"
Sam raised a brow. "Besides going back to being human? I tell you, that dollhouse universe looks more tempting by the day." He took up the chocolate and devoured it with barely a chew. Lyra doubted it could have been that tasty that way. "I'm not supposed to be a horse."
Lyra restrained the frown that wanted to come to her face. "As your fri--"
"They're not friends," cut off Sam. "I know their names but not too much more than that. Acquaintances you could say."
Lyra tilted her head a little. "Have they been excluding you?"
"No, nothing like that." Sam leaned back on the couch, sitting in a more biped fashion. Lyra couldn't fault him for that, being a guilty pleasure of her own. "They're just not my, uh, type? Besides, they're horses."
Lyra sighed softly. "We're ponies, and what's wrong with being a pony? Wouldn't you say we've done quite well for ourselves just the way we are?"
"Yeah yeah, that's good for you, but this." He clopped his hooves together. "It's like my fists are balled up all day, every day. I try to undo it, but 'just part of being a pony'. "
Lyra held out one of her own hooves. It didn't feel tense or clenched, but she wasn't a former human. "I'd like you to, if you're up for it, to discuss these feelings with one of your fellow former-humans. I can't really empathize with missing hands, seeing as I only had them for about an hour. They were interesting, but I prefer my horn."
"That's another thing." He thumped a hoof on the arm of the couch. "I don't have a horn or fancy wings. I got the shit pick of ponies, not that I wanted any pick, but it's the shittiest."
Lyra tilted her head a little. "Did you fly or do magic as a human?"
"Fuck no, but I also had hands, and walked upright without feeling like I'm tightroping. Now I'm just a talking animal that doesn't have anything."
Lyra rolled a hoof. "Earth ponies are not 'the worst', they have incredible endurance, great strength, and can be the fastest runners of all the tribes. It's all about what they do with their bodies, but they have the best ones, bodies that is." She tapped her horn. "Unicorns are all up here. Once something's grabbed us, most of us are out of luck. Pegasi are all about their wings. In tight quarters, or, again, once they're nabbed, they're also out, but you can't pin an earth pony easily, especially if he's been training that best weapon of his."
Sam raised a brow. "Best weapon being their body? I wasn't a boxer before, and I didn't plan to start now. Fighting isn't my bag."
Lyra shook her head quickly. "I didn't mean to imply just fighting. Any physical pursuit. Sports, construction, even some arts have amazing earth pony participants. Of course, none of this matters if you want to do something mental. Earth ponies are just as smart as any other. There are earth pony scholars that I feel downright stupid next to."
Sam suddenly pushed up to his hooves. "You should."
"I should?"
"Feel stupid." He turned and stomped out angrily without further word after his awkward lashing out.
Lyra sank a bit in her chair, wondering how she could have approached that differently, and how she could help Sam be a happier person, pony or not on the inside.
It was her last session of the day. She reflected on the other ponies. Sunny had returned and was much more attentive. She smiled more, and seemed excited to be around the former-humans. Lyra would have to be sure she wasn't irritating them, though only Sam had expressed any negative feelings to the presence of the not-human pegasus.
Lyra locked the door to her office and trotted for home, already planning for the next day.