“Ah cain’t believe you get to be a unicorn!” Apple Bloom whined positively fussily, pacing the floor beside the couch where Sweetie sat in Rarity’s lap. “Why didn’t I get that!” Apple Bloom continued in exasperation.
“Sorry,” Sweetie said uneasily. She was seated in Rarity’s lap on the couch, holding the mirror herself now, and peering curiously at her forehead. Rarity was holding back her curls for a full view of Sweetie Belle’s horn. It was an unremarkable looking bony protrusion, short and stubby, but with an unmistakable structure: a spiraling ridge turning clockwise, coming to a conical point.
“Don’t be sorry, dear,” Rarity said delighted, “This changes everything! You are not a simple animal, you are becoming a graceful magical being!”
“I’m turning into Apple Bloom, wifth a horn,” Sweetie responded in a flat voice.
“Ah’m plenty magical, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said. “Rarity just thinks ah’m a boring old pony.”
“I certainly do not!” Rarity exclaimed, looking every which way but at Apple Bloom.
“Ah have the dream princess visitin’ me at night, and loads of other things,” Apple Bloom said almost defensively. She wasn’t being defensive though. Who said she was?!
“Ah cain do this,” Apple Bloom said as a for instance, bending down and lifting up the mirror, balancing it on her nose.
“Apple—” Rarity started to protest, but Apple Bloom was still shifting back and forth, balancing that mirror. Not flat ways either, nor upside down, but up on its end, with the thin side of the flat handle on her nose bridge. With a twitch of her neck, Apple Bloom flipped it up into the air and turned just in time to catch it in her hoof, gently placing the mirror back to the ground.
“And ah cain untie a bow,” Apple Bloom said, dramatically un...clipping her bow, but then sticking her face in it and pulling the ribbon out until it unravelled leaving only the clip left over. “And tie it again!” she cheered, shoving the ribbon back into the clip before it even had time to touch ground, and just... sort of arranging that she could pull it back into her favorite ribbon shape with careful pulls of her teeth. She clipped it back into her hair with a hoof.
“And clipping a bow with only one hoof,” Rarity pointed out.
“Yeah, that too!” Apple Bloom said cheerfully. “Wait,” she added looking at Rarity suspiciously, “Weren’t you tryin’ to prove ah’m not a magical pony?”
“I never said that, dear,” Rarity remarked lightly to Apple Bloom with a sly smile. Lord but that lady was infuriating at times, especially when she was cooking up a bunch of crow for Apple Bloom to eat!
Sweetie had picked up the mirror again, and was once more staring at herself. She reached up a hand and tried poking the horn on her foreahead.
“...huh,” she said reservedly.
“Do you feel something, dear?” Rarity asked her, peering over her shoulder excitedly.
“It feelth like an elbow,” Sweetie declared.
“An... elbow?” Rarity offered, hesitantly.
“I thoughth a horn would feel like a fingernail,” Sweetie clarified, “Actually feelth more like an elbow.”
“An elbow,” Rarity repeated.
“Yup,” Sweetie said mildly. She stopped poking at it.
“Does this mean you’re more magic than me?” Apple Bloom mumbled confusedly. “Can you like, purify water or something? Ah thought ah was just a pony, not a... whatever you call a unicorn without a horn. I ain’t even got cloven hooves!”
“Cloven hooves?” Sweetie asked in a worried tone. “You mean cloven like, broken? Why woul’ you do zhat?”
“No, ah mean cloven like,” Apple Bloom tapped her chin, “Like humans were too dumb to think that a hoof might be a toe, an’ some animals got two toes for a hoof, so humans thought that it was one toe that got broken in two.”
They looked at her.
“Like a deer!” Apple Bloom exclaimed throwing her hooves up in exasperation.
“I um...” Sweetie looked at her hand very leerily. “I canno’... move my lil’ finger or thumb anymore. Um, looks like is only one finger gething bigger...”
Apple Bloom hopped up on the couch, peering over Rarity’s lap with Sweetie at her hand... hoof thing. “Seems about right, Sweetie,” she said nosing at it. “If’n it was cloven it would be two fingers, not one finger dividin’ in half.”
“Wish I could have two fingers,” Sweetie mumbled. Apple Bloom sighed, and honestly truly sympathized. Sweetie could already tell what a difference just one extra finger would have made. She saw Apple Bloom’s difficulties with holding things. You could do so much with just two fingers on each leg: use them like pincers, or like chopsticks maybe, or make air quotes. It really just wasn’t fair that they had to make do with just one finger, no matter how much fun it was to run around on.
What was left of Sweetie’s hand came down behind Apple Bloom’s head and nestled against her, stroking softly down her back. “Guess I won’ be able zh–to do this much longer, either,” Sweetie said. Apple Bloom just lay her head in Sweetie’s lap, in Rarity’s lap. The evening was catching up to Bloom already, and she felt like she could drift off to sleep like this. She wished she’d something better to say, but all that was welling up inside her was,
“Ah’m gonna miss it too.”
“Whath zhe hell?!”
The three girls, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Rarity turned at Scootaloo’s alarmed outburst, Apple Bloom lifting up her head from Sweetie Belle’s lap to do so. From Apple Bloom’s guess, it would have to be about something Scootaloo saw in the mirror, because that’s where Scootaloo was standing right about now, right by the open bathroom door. With someone else’s footsteps behind her, Scootaloo came running to the couch, falling mostly, but still running over to the couch, saying “AP–ugh, Apple Blo–waugh! Apple– Apple Bloom somethinz–woAH” there was a crashing noise.
Apple Bloom really wished she could see over the back of the couch. That sounded hilarious.
Cheerilee leaned her head over the back of the couch shouting in a much less slurry voice, “Apple Bloom, something’s wrong!” right when Scootaloo’s ponyish head stuck itself over the back of the couch shouting, “Somethin’z wrohng!” Apple Bloom didn’t hesitate a second, scrambling to her hooves, and jumping off the couch. Sweetie was having more trouble getting up because her dress and undergarments were threatening to fall off, but Rarity helped her up by a hand. With her other, sort of hand, Sweetie scrunched her dress against herself, and hobbled with Rarity after her little pony friend. Apple Bloom turned the corner around the couch, and saw Scootaloo there and stopped and... stared.
“Scootaloo, wha’s—AHH!” Sweetie said, shrieking the moment she passed a mute Apple Bloom. Sweetie had turned to see Scootaloo standing there precariously balanced by Cheerilee supporting her from behind, with no shirt or undershirt on, and her breasts completely exposed!
“Scootaloo!” Apple Bloom whined admonishingly, “Why’d you take your shirt off? Ain’t you got no shame?”
“Sh–shame?!” Scootaloo exclaimed to the cranky pony, her eyes bugging out with disbelief. “We’re shanzhing intho ponies, how can you even thalk abouth hshame a’ a thime hlike this!”
“But your breasts are exposed...” Sweetie whimpered, still hiding her gaze from staring at Scootaloo.
Scootaloo’s face went blank at that. But then for no explicable reason, she glared at Sweetie and angrily shouted, “They’re no’ zha’ smarll!”
“Please honey bear, there is something more important to worry about,” Cheerilee said nervously to Scootaloo.
Sweetie was just staring at Scootaloo with one puzzled eye saying, “They’re no’... whad? I didn’ say that your breasts were small, even zthough I like small— never mind.”
“Well I though’ they weren’,” Scootaloo huffed. “But they’re sho shmall I guessh, you didn’th even notish they’re gone!”
Sweetie was staring with both eyes now, at Scootaloo, and in particular at Scootaloo’s even more flat chest, saying numbly, “...wha?”
“What,” Rarity echoed close behind.
“Oh, right...” Apple Bloom mused in recollection with an uncomfortable wince.
“My ti—” Scootaloo glanced uneasily at her mother, “My boobsh movethd,” Scootaloo admitted, “They’re uh... dhown here now...” she sort of pulled her pants up more firmly, so they’d stop sliding down her increasingly shrinking frame.
“What?!” Sweetie shrieked. “Is that a zhing that happenhs?” she asked frantically down to Apple Bloom.
“Well uh...” Apple Bloom’s voice died off, as she lifted a hoof and turned sideways, looking at the floor, “...yeah...”
Sweetie yanked away from Rarity who was stammering at her, and pulled open the neck of her blouse. Her underpants fell to the floor; she didn’t even care. She just stared at the two little smooth flat nipples that were flat and nestled way down almost in-between her legs!
“They were jus’ starting to ged big...” Sweetie whimpered in dismay, tears coming easily to her eyes.
“Abapathabuh,” Rarity stammered, her arms out but not touching Sweetie, almost as if she were afraid to do so.
“Can we stop talking about breasts now?” Cheerilee shouted irascibly. “There is something seriously wrong with Scootaloo here!”
“Yeah Shweetie, cohme on,” Scootaloo said pleadingly.
“Wait, so you weren’t talkin’ about your boobs?” Apple Bloom asked, giving Cheerilee a curious look.
“It is completely normal for horses to have their teats between their legs,” Cheerilee said irritably.
“Pfeats?!” Sweetie squeaked in alarm.
“Hepababah,” Rarity wisely contributed.
“Yes, the nursing foals just put their noses right between the mother’s legs,” Cheerilee explained, “She can’t exactly hold them to her chest if she’s standing on four legs, can she?. Really, what did you expect? We have—”
That was too much for Sweetie. She just sank to the ground and curled around the pooled remains of her clothes, whimpering in despair. Apple Bloom immediately ran forward and climbed on Sweetie, just hugging on top of the distraught half girl’s curled back, while Scootaloo immediately ran forward and fell on her face again.
“Ow...” Scootaloo groaned.
“Look!” Cheerilee shouted in unsympathetic agitation, gesturing at her ill fated child. “This is what we’re talking about! It’s some kind of... some kind of growth!! Is this normal??”
That was enough to shock Sweetie out of her tears, and she raised her head along with Apple Bloom, just as Rarity finally worked up enough nerve to lean down and embrace her sister, or what’s left of her, hugging Sweetie Belle with closed eyes and whispering, “Oh Sweetie I just don’t know...”
“Rari’y, look!” Sweetie said agitatedly. She and Apple Bloom, and soon Rarity were looking at what appeared to be some kind of... something. There were these twisted, weird, mutated looking arms, all covered in some kind of fuzzy orange material, emerging at a sharp angle from Scootaloo’s back.
Scootaloo shrunk from the attention, but still sat up and turned her back so they could see it better, looking at them herself with severe trepidation.
“So tha’ is why you remove your shirt,” Sweetie said faintly.
“Yeah I,” Scootaloo, “I’ wash all i’chy andh I couldn...could-en... could no’ –agh.” She stuck her hands up to her mouth and pushed at the offending muzzle angrily.
“Careful Scoots,” Apple Bloom warned her, “Just remember you purse your lips, an’ then you—”
“Bu’ whath if hyou hlost your theeth?” Scootaloo asked in a heavy lisp. “Canth shtop wishling!”
Apple Bloom mouthed out ‘wish-ling’ before shaking her head and saying, “You uh, gotta like... awrl...” she rolled her tongue around, trying to pay attention to the gap in her dentition. It turned into a yawn. “Ah ain’ essactly got that part down yet,” she admitted sheepishly. “Just uh... stick your tongue out more, ah guess?”
Scootaloo stuck out her tongue at Apple Bloom. “Fhine,” she said. “Thehn what’s hup withha fings onh my back!”
“Ah dunno!” Apple Bloom protested. “Ah didn’t get nothin’ like that! Ah’m just a normal pony! Who happens to be tiny, human colored, and unusually intelligent!”
Sweetie squeaked in alarm again, and everyone turned towards her. She and Rarity were sitting on the couch again, together. Really, Rarity had been pretty much inseperable from Sweetie Belle since, well... since that little freakout this morning. “Sthorry,” Sweetie Belle said blushing, “I just checked my theeth, and they’re loose...”
“leas’ you gotta finish your shandwish,” Scootaloo grumbled. “Mine cahme ohff in zhe tuna.”
“Would you like to keep them?” Rarity asked, leaning down to look at Sweetie imploringly. Sweetie looked at her blankly, so Rarity added, “As keepsakes. Sometimes we save our teeth that come out, as a reminder of our old... as a reminder of milestones in our life.”
“Okay, I guessh...” Sweetie said gloomily. Rarity handed her a lavender folded handkerchief, that Sweetie held onto clumsily in her pseudo-hooves.
“Just spit them out on that when they... come out,” Rarity said. “We can put them in a tooth box, like your baby teeth.”
“Aw man, ah wish ah’d thoughta that,” Apple Bloom said, kicking a hoof. “Ah dunno what the doctor did with mine.”
“Hol’ zhat thought!” Scootaloo yelped, jumping up and staggering over to the kitchen using furniture to balance herself. Apple Bloom perked up, but didn’t follow, just turning her ears that way and listening.
Judging from the sound of rifling through something and Granny shouting, “Get outta the trash yer lil’ varmint!” Scootaloo was looking for her missing teeth.
Cheerilee groaned, and stood up, running into the kitchen. “Granny, please stop throttling my daughter,” she said in the other room exasperatedly.
“Why’s she spillin’ trash all over mah kitchen then?!” Granny asked in a fuming tone.
“She accidentally threw away her teeth,” Cheerilee said, “And I assume in hindsight, she wanted to keep them.”
“Uh huh!” Scootaloo said enthusiastically, not sounding like she was getting throttled at all.
“She coulda jes’ asked!” Granny protested.
“Scootaloo, you can’t do everything yourself,” Cheerilee said in an exasperated strain, “Sometimes you have to ask for help.”
“Okay, mom,” Scootaloo said rather unconvincingly.
“I’m not kidding young lady,” Cheerilee said more strongly, “You were in real danger today, and you scared us all half to death. Do you really want to hurt people by not letting them be involved? I know you value your independence, but I want you to think long and hard about this, Scootaloo.”
A pause, and Scootaloo said more convincingly and meekly, “Okay, mom.”
“Now let me deal with this,” Cheerilee stated.
“But—” Scootaloo immediately protested.
“Ap!” Cheerilee interrupted her, “Who of us here has fingers?”
Scootaloo sighed, “Fine...”
Finally Granny saying, “Now you can shoo yerself right out. Get on then. Shoo!” and once again Scootaloo stumbled into the living room.
Her eyes flicked to both Sweetie and Apple Bloom’s ears, pointed right her way. “Uh... hey, girlsh!” she said in an artificially nonchalant tone, but her attempt to look cool just led to her falling over her own feet again, and faceplanting on the rug in front of the couch, losing her pants in the process.
“Ugh, how dtho you walk withph thfese things, Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo lisped unhappily, pushing herself up by her pseudo-hands. She ‘stood’ there a moment, looking back at her own depantsed bottom sticking up above her, with the bright magenta tail arching over behind it, before sighing in frustration and standing up straight on two legs. Then she yanked her pants back up around her midsection, instead of leaving them pooling at her legs. “Can’ sthand on four hlegs either,” she champed out in frustration, fighting back another yawn.
“Didn’ walk all that much this late at night,” Apple Bloom said with a long yawn. “Cain’t help ya much ‘til you’re all pony.”
“How long wishhhhh...” Sweetie Belle started to say but trailed off to a curious whistling. “Ptheh ptheh,” she added, running her tongue along her teeth and crossing her eyes. “Thath doesh feerl weirld.”
Sweetie held out her handkerchief to Rarity in explanation and... yeah, Apple Bloom could see there were eight very prominent teeth in it, with not nearly as much blood as when the doctor pulled out Apple Bloom’s. Then again, Sweetie had hung onto hers way longer. So, while Sweetie fingered, er, hoofed at her mouth, opening it and clacking her teeth together and sticking her tongue through the new holes, Scootaloo just sighed, and pulled herself up on the couch beside Sweetie and Rarity. Apple Bloom sat at their feet... and feet-ish things, looking up to the two of them, with sympathetic distress.
Scootaloo squeaked then, or squawked is more her style, and jolted up from sitting back on the couch. “Ugh, I forgothed about thoshe,” she groaned, looking at the strange tufty things on her back. “Zere lotsh bigger now,” she said unhappily, “Wish they’ be smaller.”
“What d’you think they are?” Apple Bloom said, jumping up on the couch beside Scootaloo to peer at her back. “They look kinda like real weird fuzzy arms.”
“Thentaur maybe?” Scootaloo suggested, then her expression darkened and she sighed, “No thath shtupid. Why they be on th’ back hten?”
“Can ya move ‘em?” Apple Bloom asked curiously.
Scootaloo concentrated, staring at them, then shook her head. “Nope. Dunno wath they are.”
Sweetie was leaning over to look at Scootaloo too, saying, “Maybe you’re like Quatho.”
Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at her cluelessly, but Rarity, she tossed her hair and rolled her eyes, saying, “I cannot believe you remember that awful movie!”
“Ith wasth a gool moofie!” Sweetie said insistently. “Quaith brough’ wather thoo Marsh!”
“It was a disgusting and bloody movie,” Rarity said insistently. “I regret even having allowed you to watch it before we returned it to the video rental shop.”
Sweetie blushed, staring at the floor.
“Do hyou have thethe Sweethie?” Scootaloo asked Sweetie, looking from her back to the other girl.
“Theeth?” Sweetie asked with confusion. “Rarity hath mine.”
“Thethe... theshe... the thingsh on my hback,” Scootaloo clarified, with difficulty.
Sweetie shook her head as an answer, and her blush didn’t diminish. She seemed real thoughtful then, like she was pondering a difficult decision, all flustered and clutching anxiously at the shirt there wrapped around her chest. Sweetie raised her head and looked over into Scootaloo’s eyes, with a serious look on her face.
“No, I do no’,” Sweetie said simply. Then, shrugging her shoulders, she let the neck of her blouse and her undershirt slip down entirely down to her waist, leaving her smooth chest completely open to view. Both she and Scootaloo had run out of patches somewhere along the line, the fur overtaking their bare, discolored skin. It didn’t look weird or anything. Something about Sweetie sitting there with a bare white chest made it... odd though. Scootaloo was a girl who could just casually threw off her shirt, and ignore any freakouts, but Sweetie sitting there without anything covering her chest, she looked ...uniquely vulnerable.
“No poinht wearing it now...” Sweetie offered as explanation. Rarity didn’t object, though whether it was because she agreed, or because she was afraid of hurting Sweetie Belle emotionally, it wasn’t clear. Sweetie then made it even weirder by feeling at her own chest. “Huh, my pethtoralsh are shtill there, bu’ no nipplesh...” she murmured distractedly.
She looked up at everyone else abruptly then stammering out, “S-sorry if ish weirld I was jus’—”
“Yer doin’ fine Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said. She was starting to become painfully aware that of the three of them, she was the most dressed. Her simple green dress adequately covered her chest and rump, and what clothing the others had left was hanging on them poorly at best. Scootaloo had plain white panties by the way, but it didn’t seem as so much of a forbidden thingy you weren’t supposed to do, not anymore now that everything was just lying around all baggy and limp. Apple Bloom wasn’t sure if there were any other forbidden clothing items you weren’t supposed to see. One can only glean so much cultural information from comic books after all.
“S-see?” Sweetie then said awkwardly, twisting her torso so they could see her back. It was as smooth and plush as her front, with no weird arm things. “Nothing szhere, justht a... horn...” Sweetie said turning forward. She started poking at the horn on her head distractedly again. Wasn’t clear if the horn was getting bigger, or she was getting smaller, but it certainly wasn’t a little nub anymore. Sweetie’s curls wouldn’t even cover it completely, just falling on either side. The horn didn’t look sharp, but... well, Apple Bloom didn’t know if that was a problem or not. It was yet one more thing Apple Bloom couldn’t offer anyone any help or advice on.
Bloom looked from Scootaloo to Sweetie Belle, both sitting there naked from the waist up, with no small amount of shock in their faces, but still calm and quiet and modest as can be. It occurred to Apple Bloom that she could probably remove the entire front half of this dress herself, without losing any modesty. It was convenient how her nipples and ...other parts were in the same place now. She could probably cover them up with just a pair of shorts. Apple Bloom blushed at the thought that she could safely go around in nothing but shorts, just like a boy.
“Penny for your hthoughts, Apple Bloom?” Sweetie asked her.
Apple Bloom shook her head saying, “Right now mah thoughts are a hundred bucks apiece, at least.”
Scootaloo laughed at that saying, “You’re a fthunny fony.”
“A ...fthun ...knee phony?” Apple Bloom asked hesitantly.
Scootaloo shook her head, “No a pthony. A th... A porn... thammit!”
“Scootaloo, language!” Rarity said in a shocked tone.
“You can understand what she said?” Apple Bloom said unbelievingly.
“No,” Rarity said pensively, “But the implication was rather obvious.”
“Maybe we sthould talk betther,” Sweetie suggested. “I mean practithe. Tith. You know, how do you thalk gool?”
“Hokay le’s...” Apple Bloom yawned deeply, “Let’s practice talking since y’all ain’t gonna be able to practice walking till tomorra.”
Scootaloo looked at Apple Bloom in mild protest, saying, “Prathithe—” but then she glanced down and said, “Okay yeah you hathve a pointh.”
Granny served her late meal, but the partial ponies didn’t partake. Whether it was their big late lunch, or the whole “turning into a pony” thing wasn’t really clear, but Apple Bloom just kept them busy so they didn’t have to think about it. She stayed with those two, and tried to drill them over the approximately 17 different ways she figured out to pronounce ‘s’ now. Her eyes were drooping closed before long though, and they kept laughing at her when Apple Bloom zoned out mid-sentence. It wasn’t long before each of them ended up going and yawning themselves though.
So Apple Bloom just gave up on the teaching, and curled in between them, hinting congenially, “Ah won’t mind sleeping down here... couch is big enough for me, for all of us come morning.”
“That how hlong i’ will take?” Sweetie asked.
“You should be ponies come morning,” Apple Bloom guessed. “That’s how it went with me, at any rate.”
“I don’ wanna sleep,” Scootaloo said crossing her arms resentfully. “Thith ish our lasht chanthe tho be hyoman.”
Sweetie looked at her own... well they sure weren’t hands anymore, hanging out in front of her bare chest. “We shorta are...aren’... we shorta already no longer humahns,” she pointed out, still hunting around for words she wouldn’t have difficulty speaking.
“Y’all ain’t gonna be doing much walking, not as humans or ponies, at this point,” Apple Bloom said to Scootaloo. “Y’may as well sleep it off. Ah’ll show ya how to walk an’ stuff after it’s all settled down.” The two of them looked down morosely at her words, but didn’t otherwise protest or comment further.
Applejack came over to the couch, after the late dinner the rest of the Apples ate, which wasn’t any particularly special meal. She was followed by Big Macintosh, and Applejack said quickly to the three of them, “Hey y’all, me an’ mah brother been busy tonight, sorry about that. Granny filled us in. You can stay here long as you need, don’t you worry about that. Anything ah can do for ya to get you settled?”
And Big Macintosh kind of stood at her side, supportively.
“Nah, we’re fine,” Scootaloo said easily.
Irrespective of that, Sweetie Belle said, “A glasz of water woul’ be hn...appreshiated.”
Apple Bloom winced at Sweetie’s request, but Applejack said lightly, “Sure thing, and how about a couple of blankets?”
“That’d be great, sis,” Apple Bloom said before Scootaloo could protest being helped out even more. Applejack headed off, and brought back two glasses of water, and the reason Apple Bloom winced was pretty clear. The two of her friends were now just too clumsy to hold the glass, even with both their hands at this point.
“Heh heh, sorry ah’ll just go get some straws,” Applejack said uneasily, backing away with a blush. They certainly had no shortage of drinking straws in the house, not since they had to deal with Apple Bloom’s lack of dexterity with a cup. And actually, she was getting pretty good with cups even without straws. The real problem was that most cups were just too big for her to handle now.
But Sweetie obediently drew the water up through the straw while Applejack held it for her. Scootaloo just waved it away, refusing to even consider the prospect. Apple Bloom was starting to get real worried about her. Scoots never acted this aloof and relaxed, if she wasn’t hiding some serious hurt feelings inside. Obviously this pony thing was bothering her, but... she just wouldn’t let it all out and kept closing them off from her, the more the evening progressed.
Cheerilee rejoined the group with a little pill box in her hand, in which she said Scootaloo’s teeth were... being sterilized. Rarity too joined them on the couch, and the five of them sat there watching the cooling fire. For all her touchiness, Scootaloo was still okay with leaning against her mother’s side while drifting off to sleep. And Sweetie was just about buried in Rarity’s side. Made sense really. Apple Bloom knew that Rarity lady and Scootaloo’s mom would feel a lot better, if they woke up knowing the ponies they were looking at were the same girls that they went to sleep with. It sure helped Applejack a lot with Apple Bloom. Boy that had been one crazy morning.
Rarity and Cheerilee were on either end of the couch, with each of their respective charge laying against them, both pairs wrapped up in one warm blanket each. Right in the middle, Apple Bloom had her own little blanket, more advisory than anything, that she curled up easily underneath, peering out at the dying embers in the fireplace. She wished her best friends didn’t have to go through what she did, but she couldn’t feel a little more secure with the thought that they’d all be in this together come tomorrow. It was so much easier to face adversity if you had companions to stand with you.
That was it for them, and they all slept off the rest of the transformation. During the night, a few restless mostly-fillies would shift around half asleep. Both were trying to get comfortable, as a leg started bending funny, or they shrank lower on the people they were lying on. It wasn’t the sort of thing you’d really remember, just that half waking daze where you shifted to get more comfortable before drifting off again. Just little adjustments. But by the time morning came, both Rarity and Cheerilee were greeted with a very memorable sight on awakening.
Some time during the night, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had shifted away from Rarity and Cheerilee, and Apple Bloom had kicked off her blanket as she sometimes did on warmer nights. So when the two human ladies awoke in the morning, they were treated to the sight of three little ponies all sleeping soundly, hooves wrapped around each other in a little pile at the center of the couch. Rarity was the first to awaken, but just watched them with a sort of confused fondness, like she couldn’t have expected some alien creature to be this cute.
When Cheerilee too awoke, the morning light was streaming in through the windows. She saw those three fillies sleeping together and took in a surprised breath, whereupon Rarity shushed her urgently. Both looked silently at the three. Scootaloo was so... tiny now. But she was still very clearly herself. Scootaloo looked just like a Scootaloo pony, just like Cheerilee had thought Apple Bloom was some sort of color matching pet, and not actually the girl in question transformed. Both Scootaloo and Sweetie were that way, but... seeing your own daughter in a strange, yet strangely familiar new form, that did something to you.
Cheerilee carefully stood from the couch, letting the blankets draped over her lap slide gently to the floor. Rarity followed in kind, and took a trip to the ground floor bathroom to—as she put it—do something about this horrible disaster. Rarity then began to primp at her poorly dried hair. Cheerilee had to say that girl’s priorities were... well, she was admittedly getting pretty bedraggled. It looked like Rarity had just washed her hair by dumping a bucket over it, or something.
Cheerilee looked away from that bittersweet girl Rarity, over towards the back of the couch, from where Cheerilee stood in the living room. Three sleeping little fillies were concealed on that couch, the pony Apple Bloom, and now uncanny versions of Sweetie Belle and her own child. Cheerilee should have been horrified but, it was just so adorable seeing little Scootaloo all curled up with her friends as cute as a button there. A sigh and a silly, sideways smile teased its way out of Cheerilee, just thinking about that. She quietly tip toed into the dining room to give them their peace, letting the three girls sleep as long as they needed to.
This, it turns out, was a mistake.
Her first warning was the sound of a thump in the direction of the couch. But what got her running was another much more disastrous, regrettable and worrying sound. It was the sound of Scootaloo crying. Cheerilee ran up to the couch, where the ponified Scootaloo had fallen to the floor, and fallen from there onto her belly, where she was doing something she never did in public. Something Cheerilee never wanted to see Scootaloo doing ever again. Just laying there, crying helplessly.
Apple Bloom was standing on the couch, looking down at Scootaloo with worry and alarm, saying, “Scootaloo, it’s not so—”
“’s no’ fair!” Scootaloo screamed in despair, her little hind hooves thumping into the side of the couch she had fallen beside. “I never wanned zhis! Why no’ Thiamond Hiara? Why me? I dont wanna be zhis. I can’ even move! I can’ talk! I dont wan’ id! Why can’ I even I can’ stop idh and I wan’ to caaan’ don’ wannit...” she sort of regressed into word salad at that point, if you could even tell what she was saying through the sobs and shrieks. And the disturbingly ponylike sound of those shrieks was just making Scootaloo feel even worse.
Cheerilee was especially scared, because she didn’t know how dangerous these ponies were, whether they could seriously hurt you from biting or kicking. Some stories about Apple Bloom’s raw power were... troubling at best. Her usual way to defuse Scootaloo’s almost unheard-of tantrums was under the assumption, that Scootaloo couldn’t accidentally take her eye out, or do something terrible like break her ribs or crush the bones in her hand by biting.
She didn’t know of anything else to do though, and she knew how much it hurt Scootaloo to act like this, how much it hurt her to terrify her friends. Those two hadn’t been up the pre-dawn mornings with Scootaloo’s nightmares, and they had been shielded from the fallout, when Scootaloo’s grades fell and she held it all inside until she got home. No, there was only one person who could deal with this properly, and that person would have to put up with a few injuries, because she was not going to let Scootaloo suffer like this for one more second, no matter what the girl had transformed into.
So Cheerilee took a flying tackle and hauled Scootaloo right off the ground like a giant orange screaming football. It was desperately hard to hold onto her, with her new limbs flailing about, lashing out at anything nearby, and Cheerilee’s fears were confirmed in that this little orange puffball had a fearsome strength, that left Cheerilee’s ample chest bruised and sore, from where those painfully hard hooves thunked against it. She just winced through the tears in her eyes and tried to rock Scootaloo in the air.
Scootaloo still didn’t ease herself, but at least calmed down enough that she was making sense again. She was so tiny now... Cheerilee took that as a hint to act, when Scootaloo landed a solid hit right on her eye and shrieked “Put me down!” at her, kicking out uncoordinatedly in the arms of her struggling mother.
“Honey bun,” Cheerilee said getting right in Scootaloo’s face, “Shut up.”
Scootaloo was so shocked that she did, just staring fearfully at her mother, who went back to gently rocking her in her arms. It was amazing how expressive Scootaloo’s new pony face was. You could see every centimeter of fear, confusion and rage in her vivid violet eyes. Cheerilee felt like sitting down, but she didn’t. Ignoring the pain in her ... Cheerilee told herself it was a pain in her chest muscles, she stood there shifting from foot to foot, and humming a lullaby that always seemed to calm Scootaloo’s nerves.
She knew the crisis was over, when Scootaloo’s unfamiliar, uncoordinated front hooves still managed to find their way to hug around Cheerilee’s neck. Cheerilee was surprised at how well it calmed her down, in fact. In her arms like this, Scootaloo was practically asleep again! Cheerilee could only figure to chalk it up to being able to lift Scootaloo totally, as if she were a toddler, instead of just restraining her and holding her close. Such power in that gesture. And Scootaloo was so light in her arms. She seemed even lighter than when Cheerilee had first grabbed her this morning, Scootaloo’s fluffy soft pony form feeling more like carrying a pillow than a living animal.
“What the heck was that?” came Apple Bloom’s thin reedy voice, snapping Cheerilee out of her thoughts. Scootaloo gripped Cheerilee with painful tightness when Apple Bloom said that, weighing heavily in her arms and hiding her head against Cheerilee, so Cheerilee just said admonishingly down to the upset little pony standing at her feet,
“That... was something Scootaloo never wanted you to know about, because she was afraid you would ask her ‘what the heck is that?’”
“But—!” Apple Bloom blushed and looked down, kicking one of her tiny front hooves against the wood floor. “Aw shucks...”
Sweetie Belle was still lying on the couch looking at her own hooves stuck before her in perplexion. She looked at Scootaloo with sympathy and said, “Hey, iz noth so—”
“Yes, it is,” Cheerilee told Sweetie Belle very firmly. The little white pony seemed so humanlike in her tensing, and her irises narrowing. The ears ducking back were new, but they didn’t seem out of place or unfitting. Sweetie just did it so naturally and automatically, just like she had been born that way.
“Scootaloo has every right to act this way,” Cheerilee continued, in an even tone of voice. “Even if she would rather not have to. We are all people, we—” she glanced at the orange fur in her peripheral vision. “We are all still people,” she affirmed, “And we all have feelings, even the bravest of us. We all get scared, and we all get upset, and there is nothing wrong with that. Some of us simply have a different way of... expressing those feelings.”
Sweetie didn’t say anything, just resumed looking at her hooves, not really looking at them anymore, just lost in thought.
“Not like ah wasn’t doin’ the same thing,” Apple Bloom said resentfully, flumping down there on the floor. “Last Tuesday at th’ dance. Maybe ponies just cry easy, I dunno.”
“Yeah, no,” Sweetie drawled out from above the lip of the couch, “You were only... dance waz a loht... thifferent.” And Sweetie saying ‘different’ just made Scootaloo hide herself in Cheerilee’s bruised chest even more. Even if her pronunciation of ‘different’ left a lot to be desired.
“Only a mattera time before you get your turn, Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said wryly.
“Hey, I wahz crying!” Sweetie protested. “When you shaid I couldn’ have shdopped ith, and tha’ ith wasz happening, even if I never ashked for thish.”
Apple Bloom shook her head, “Yeah, but that was...”
“Thifferent,” Sweetie insisted, finishing the sentence while Apple Bloom just scrunched her muzzle up in frustration, and hmphed.
Sweetie stared at Apple Bloom’s reticence and frowned, continuing in a tight voice, “Well, I don’ care if we-er thifferent. You’re shdill my frien’, and sho ish Shcootaroo. I wish she didshn’ hide from ush, but if thash wha’ she needsh thoo zoo, ven izh fieng wiff me.”
Looking with confusion at Sweetie Belle’s insistent... something, Apple Bloom stated, “Ya wake up with hooves, you freak out,” laying on her back and dangling her hooves above her staring at the things. “Nothin’ wrong with that. It’s totally unfair Scootaloo has to be a pony, an’ it sucks sweaty monkey balls, but ah just want to get past this, stop worrying about it so much, an’ get you two practicing speaking, so ah cain understand a single freaking word you say.”
Sweetie blushed horribly and looked away, and, perhaps very wisely, didn’t say anything in response to that. The unicorn girl was having trouble getting onto her back, and just lay on her stomach, twisting her forearm awkwardly to try and poke at her own squishy muzzle.
In Cheerilee’s arms, Scootaloo relaxed at their words, but she still didn’t turn to face them. Cheerilee herself sat down on the couch next to Sweetie Belle, with a hiss of pain when Cheerilee bent forward slightly to do so. Scootaloo pulled away from her then, just enough to look at her with worry and exclaim, “Oh my gosh, you’ eye!”
“I suppose we match now,” came the voice of a partially coifferized Rarity, leaning over the back of the couch. It was even funnier, because Rarity had also applied makeup that seemed to subtly accentuate her new black eye instead of covering it up. Or, wait maybe that was intentional?
“You didn’t do any permanent damage, honey bear,” Cheerilee said to her... more literally bear-like daughter. “Just be more careful with your hooves in the future. Those things really hurt!”
Scootaloo started saying, “I-I’m shorry—” and Cheerilee cut her off with,
“I believe you.” That mollified Scootaloo enough, and she was soon staring at her own hooves there in Cheerilee’s lap.
“Thish ish reallry real,” Scootaloo said distantly. “We’re all pohnies now!”
“I canno’ believe veeze are my hoovesh,” Sweetie said herself, finally managing to lie on her back, and wiggling a front one above her, looking at it in fascination.
Apple Bloom jumped up on the couch in between them then and said in a frustrated whine, “Alright you two, ah need you to stick your tongues out!”
“Thungs?” Sweetie said in puzzlement.
“Muh thung feelth rearly thigk,” Scootaloo muttered, poking her own squishy muzzle with a hoof.
“Yeah, tongues. Just stick ‘em out as far as you can,” Apple Bloom instructed. “Give you an idea why speaking might be hard now, so you can speak better again,” she explained to her pony friends.
“A-a-and nobody freak,” she added hurriedly, looking at Rarity with worry. “Ah promise it’s natural, ah think.”
Scootaloo was looking wary, but Sweetie just rolled her eyes saying, “Thmooth Affle Bloob.” Then she tried sticking out her tongue and... well, it just kept coming! Not to say that she had half of her body cavity taken up by tongue, but Sweetie Belle had a very large tongue.
“Woah,” Sweetie said, stupefied at the sight. Probably the only syllable she could say at this point. There was the muffled sound of Rarity collapsing limply to the floor behind the couch.
Cheerilee looked uneasily at the pony in her arms. Scootaloo already had her tongue out now, and she said, “Woah gooth, eh thn thch mth sthst!” Sure enough, not that anyone could understand her, but that orangish licker coming out of Scootaloo’s mouth went all the way below her chin, to prod against her round orange... barrel.
“Scootaloo,” Cheerilee murmured to her, “Don’t you think that’s kind of ...strange?”
“Yeah ith ththally githhh,” Scootaloo said indulgently.
“Stop scarin’ your momma, Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said up to her chidingly. “Ah just wanted ya to know so’s you can talk better.”
Scootaloo pulled her tongue in, looking at Cheerilee abashedly. Apple Bloom took that as a cue, saying, “So y’gotta keep your tongue nice and small when you say ess or tee or uh arr or anything. If you expand it too much, you’ll sound like you got a mouthful of marbles.”
“Thoothaloo,” Scootaloo said crossing her eyes searchingly. “Sgoota—Scoorahoo. Woah, thaths... thads... thack...” she groaned and put a hoof over her face, saying, “Ith sthill harld!”
“You’ll get it, Scoots!” Apple Bloom said. “Just listen ter me, ah’m sounding almost like my old self. Don’t worry it didn’t take me months to figure it out.”
“Yeah etheth...” Scootaloo looked like she wanted to respond with a comeback, but she really was struggling there trying to figure her new mouth.
“Thweethie,” Sweetie said experimentally. “Shweezhe... huh.” She seemed a lot more hesitant than Scootaloo to spray out her syllables to test out different things.
“Alright,” Apple Bloom declared. “So first we gotta... uh...” She tapped a hoof on her chin. “Practice or something... ah don’t recall what ah was saying at first... ah wasn’t talking a whole lot, ah’ll tell ya. Hm...”
“Well I—” Cheerilee spoke up, pausing but forging on with, “I might have a book in the library with speech exercises in it. Would you like to che—I can get it this afternoon, if you like.”
“That’d be great!” Apple Bloom said, relieved. “Ah guess until then, we can try um... walking an’ all.”
“Cahn yhou rearlly sthand on theshe?” Scootaloo said, eyeing the untextured hooves at the end of her legs, and her new legs, with consternation.
“Y’can do lots more than that,” Apple Bloom said. “Might take a while to learn, but if your hooves are mah hooves, then you’re in for a treat when it comes to moving aroun’.”
“Hath anhyone stheen Rarithy?” Sweetie said, craning her head around curiously.
After Rarity had been found, and revived (again), the three pony girls did try to figure out talking a bit better. It was lots easier with Apple Bloom there to provide advice. The other two just focused on trying not to slur their esses, and putting their ts in the right places. And that weird z-buzz that kept sneaking into Sweetie’s syllables. Not even Apple Bloom was sure about how to fix that.
That was how Applejack and Big Macintosh happened upon them, with Scootaloo smooshing her face in while Sweetie Belle was ignoring the two of them, still trying obsessively to figure out how to curl her tongue properly for ‘r’. Granny started trying to whip up a quick breakfast for Apple Bloom’s two siblings, before everyone had to run out for school. They weren’t quite stocked to feed five people, would have to get some more eggs from the grocery. But that brought to mind another issue Apple Bloom wanted to address.
“Oh, hay,” she said in sudden realization.
“Whath is id?” Scootaloo asked, looking to Apple Bloom with concern in her eyes.
“No,” Apple Bloom said, putting a hoof to her face, “Ah said hay.”
“Whas going on?” Sweetie Belle asked, lifting her head and looking (more) big eyed at Apple Bloom.
“Nothing,” Apple Bloom said to them seriously. “Ah just remembered about hay. Y’all can eat it now!”
Unsurprisingly, Sweetie’s gaze dropped and Scootaloo looked away. Sweetie remained silent, but Scootaloo muttered unhappily, “Don’ wanna eath glass.”
“Gla... oh, yeah,” Apple Bloom blushed herself. “It is a kinda grass. An’ you can eat that too, if’n you want...”
“Not leally,” Sweetie said in dismay.
“Hey c’mon,” Apple Bloom nickered to the two of them, “If’n I cain eat it, it cain’t be so bad. You’re not like all animals just ‘cause you eat something different. Think of it like a superpower. Y’cain eat something that grows right off the ground!”
The two still hesitated, until Granny leaned into the living room and exclaimed, “There’s a pancake with seerup fer any pony who eats their hay.”
Sweetie brightened immediately at the prospect of syrupbreakfast, and Scootaloo said eagerly, “Ooh, okay, so how do we eat it?”
Big Macintosh was busy taking over flipping the flapjacks. Granny was quite busy getting ready to go to work herself, as was Cheerilee. Applejack was due to head to school today, and Rarity was about having a fit with how she was going to get prepared for her morning classes.
“Ain’t you got all your books already?” Apple Bloom asked her in passing, to which Rarity exclaimed,
“Books? Books?!” and Rarity turned her streaky face to Applejack, waving a hand at Apple Bloom and tearfully crying, “She thinks all I need are books! She doesn’t even no-ho-hotice!”
Yeah Apple Bloom was not planning on disturbing Rarity’s frantic... whatever that was.
Instead, she stood before the bale of alfalfa all by herself, looking at it thoughtfully. Her two friends were still stuck over by the couch, and Apple Bloom didn’t exactly want to serve it on a plate, but all her family was sorta busy. So she just got... frustrated, and bit down on one of the cords wrapping around the hay bale, and tried pulling on it.
Surprisingly, it started to move. An exultant feeling filled her when Apple Bloom realized she was moving a hay bale that was bigger than her. It’d be as big as a couch if she were her old size. It was taller as the top of her head, like she was dragging a wall of straw alongside her, but it was easy! Hay wasn’t too heavy anyway. She could totally do this, and didn’t need to impose on her family any more hardship, not one bit.
So Apple Bloom smugly as possible, dragged the bale of hay over to the couch, and patted it, with a smile to her pony friends who looked at it apprehensively. “Hold on a sec,” Apple Bloom added, charging off and filling up her water bucket... hopefully it’d be enough for the three of ... kind of weird to be sharing a glass like this. Even if by glass you meant bucket. Oh well. Nothing to be done about it, because Apple Bloom was tired of pussyfooting around. Or would that be pussyhooving? Ponyhooving around?
Once fully situated, Apple Bloom said before the two of them instructively, “Y’can bite off little pieces if’n you like.” She demonstrated by nibbling at the hay bit by bit until she had a good sized bolus in her mouth. “It’s lots quicker to just let it hang outta your mouth, while you bite off pieces to roll to your back teeth. ” she said around the hay ball, “But for now, just bite off little pieces thirectly, so you can get used to it.”
Scootaloo was actually the most hesitant of the two of them to eat it, but she warmed up after she saw Sweetie Belle take a nibble of some hay sticking out, and then another nibble and another, until Sweetie had a mouthful to slowly chew on, looking pleased as punch with herself for doing it. Scootaloo cautiously stuck her neck out, putting her teeth around a tiny tuft of the straw. It snapped right off like a pair of shears when she bit down and she pulled back sticking her tongue out with the bit of grass on it. “Bleah,” she said neutrally.
She didn’t reject it though, pulling her tongue in and running her teeth over the stuff awkwardly. Apple Bloom offered, “It’s easier to chew if you get more in your mouth than a little bite... it kinda clumps together. Try takin’ a few more bites first.”
Scootaloo did, and the third bite was a bit too enthusiastic, the surprised pony pulling out a big clump of hay before her teeth bit off the end of it, the discarded strands settling to the floor. Apple Bloom hoovered them up though. She noted her friends’ shocked expressions as she stuck them into the hay bale again, and blushed, saying, “Don’t worry, ah sweep the floor.” At their continued looks of trepidation she said, “Aw gimme a break. The hay is a lot dirtier than the floor!”
Sweetie said very uneasily, “Um, maybe we shoul’ wash id firsh?”
Apple Bloom shook her head negatory. “That just encourages mold, an’ plus dirt has helpful microbes in it. A teeny lil’ bit is actually good for you, or so said th’ Survival Society’s Sweeping Soil Syllabus.” She blushed and looked away saying, “Which ah was uh... readin’ in mah spare... time.” Among other things. Many, many other things.
“Look, ah’ll show you,” Apple Bloom said fixing her jaw determinedly. She reached forward and biting off a big clump of hay, then standing there chewing it up until she got it all in her mouth, while the two of them watched with morbid fascination. “Ah been eating vish stuff for monthsh,” Apple Bloom said, “So ish fine to eat. You’d be surprished how mush dirt you might find in your food.”
So Sweetie hesitantly went back to getting herself a second mouthful of hay, while Scootaloo went and pulled out another big clump of hay, once again dropping it to the floor before she could eat it. She stared down at it kind of like a kid who just dropped their ice cream cone on the sidewalk. Apple Bloom went and picked up the dropped strands and slid them back in the bale, saying,
“If’n you really wanna do that Scoots, jus’ hold it the hay your lips, an’ bite with your chompers. You can hold lots of things with just your lips now.” So that’s what Scootaloo did, and it worked great once she used her lips to stop it from falling out of her mouth when she bit on it. Even expecting it, Apple Bloom had to admit that a ponified Scootaloo, with a tranquil expression on her face, slowly chewing a bunch of hay dangling out of her mouth, that was some sort of off-the-charts adorable.
So the three of them got their hay like good little fillies, and the three of them got their pancakes, even though Apple Bloom had to help them with the fork and knife. It was actually the first time Apple Bloom had put anything into a mouth, with a fork, all the way back to the day she changed. Usually Apple Bloom could only use her utensils for cutting it up and then just had to eat with her face. But helping them eat, she could bite the fork and spear the pancake segment, then put it over so Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle could snap up the syrupy thing sorta like she was their momma bird.
It was an odd experience, having to feed her friends, but throughout this whole ordeal Apple Bloom had gone through: turning into a pony, being stuck on a farm, changing her diet, all the troubles with her friends and family, it was all worth it to see the look on Sweetie Belle’s face. Sweetie’s eyes got real big as she took her first bite, learning just how much better maple syrup on a pancake tastes to her now. Scootaloo too, but Sweetie Belle’s reaction was just something else. Apple Bloom really shouldn’t have been glad that her friends were ponies. She really shouldn’t have been.
In the meantime, everyone who had to bow out for Canterlot High bowed out. Rarity’s boat scraped out of the driveway first, for a trip to her emergency salon, then Cheerilee’s beamer, and finally Applejack and Granny Smith in the Apple truck. That left Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, under the watchful eye of Apple Bloom’s brother, who really didn’t need to have too much of a watchful eye, as two out of three of the friends still hadn’t mastered walking yet, much less running around and getting into trouble. Plus they were sixth graders and could mostly take care of themselves, even if the kind of pony they turned into looked like a little kid.
All in all, the day went as uneventfully as it possibly could have for a trio of girls turned into little ponies. Oh and they never figured out what those weird twisted fuzzy arms were for on Scootaloo’s back. Then again, Sweetie’s horn seemed just as ornamental, so for all they could tell, they were just being a trio of ponies together, with no real differences between each other. It was the best day of Apple Bloom’s life since that dream long ago, because for the first time she really, genuinely, honestly wasn’t alone.
For Applejack and Rarity on the other hand, the day didn’t go as well. The latter had to minor in Olympic sprinting to get to her class on time, once her was hair properly squiggled out. Applejack was stuck with a pop quiz on yesterday’s lesson, which she hadn’t been able to attend due to watching over Apple Bloom at first, and then as the day progressed a whole lot of crazy drama with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. The two girls were already looking exhausted by the time lunch came around, and Rarity just slumped in her seat morosely, twirling her spoon in the pudding cup, while Applejack was still up getting her food. Sunset, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were all looking at Rarity with worry, but she hardly seemed to notice the attention, too lost in her private thoughts to even decide what to tell them.
Applejack meantime dropped her tray on the table her friends were sitting at with a clatter, flumping down in front of it, leaning back and declaring, “Whoo-wee! Y’all would not believe the day ah had yesterday!”