//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Take Your Pony To Work 
// by Ximer 
//------------------------------//

I was already awake by the time the sun had started to peek over the horizon. My human would be asleep for at least another hour, but that was fine; he had earned the extra hours of sleep he snuck in on Sunday mornings. Besides, he was an excellent source of body heat, and the steady beat of his heart was soothing to listen to.

Soon enough, my human was awake and quite the morning mess to behold. His hair was in disarray, stomach audibly empty, but conscious enough to mumble “good morning, Harmony.” The depth of his voice always brought a smile to my muzzle.

Even on a Sunday, our mornings would always start the same; get up, shower, eat breakfast, and get dressed for the occasion; be it slacking off all day, or staying busy. It was the same thing, every day since I first met my human, we’ll call him Hue.

More exciting than work or play was when Hue would write; his mind filled with countless ideas, each one brimming with potential, and ready to be given a solid foundation. Perhaps I am a bit biased since he’s used me in one of said ideas that eventually saw the light of day. It still makes me smile knowing that others know about a small part of me.

When watching him write eventually grew boring, his lap was the perfect spot for a nap. The bed near the desk was a solid choice as well, but I enjoyed being near my human and still do even when he claims he wants to be alone. He always says I know how to bring him out of his shell when he doesn’t feel like coming out. I simply know him better than others do, to the point of being his voice of reason sometimes.

The deer around our house were always a welcome sight, and offered a bit of a reprieve from the chaos of the rest of the world. It reminded me of home, and it was always a treasured moment when we would feed them corn through a feeder during the winter months when food was scarce. Occasionally, they would linger nearby, waiting for us to finish and leave before returning to the food we had left for them.

Yes, my life was good here, what more could a mare ask for? A nice stallion, a good home, and the worries of tomorrow were far from our minds. As much as I hated to admit it, there was something that brought a frown to my muzzle when Hue wasn’t looking.

Despite being so close to him, despite all of the warmth he had to provide, I couldn’t return any of it. I was just a thought, a piece of a story that had one day spoken out to him. Needless to say watching him fall out of his chair after hearing his name spoken in a supposedly empty house was quite the experience.

Neither of us is certain as to how I came to be, but we have a loose theory; that enough thought, love, and work was put into the idea that was Harmony to breath a sort of life into me. A silly theory perhaps, but with no history of mental illness, no symptoms of multiple personality disorder, or any other logical explanation it’s the best we could come up with.

It was quickly decided that I be kept a secret, since talking about a plum colored unicorn, with a blue mane and tail from a land of talking ponies dwelling inside one’s mind might not be the best way to make friends; at least not the kind you’d want to make anyways.

Despite having to live in the shadows of his personal life, I was happy. During my year with him, I had experienced a lot and cherished the connection we shared. It was strange at times, being seen, but unable to truly interact with the world. I suppose I could be considered a ghost, or perhaps a guardian angel, but neither of those fit my style.

One day, Hue noticed my frown despite my best efforts to hide it from him. Even if I had, he didn’t need to see me to know that something was wrong. Our connection worked both ways, and while I was better at hiding some things from him, I could only mask my emotions for so long.

“What’s got you down?” Hue asked.

“Nothing, just thinking about things,” I shrugged nonchalantly. “Watching you go about your business.”

“Sounds boring,” Hue commented.

“Are you offering to trade places?” I joked with a halfhearted laugh.

As I spoke, I moved to push a hoof against him, only for it to phase through him effortlessly. The dark reminder of what I was, and what I could never be quickly dampened the mood between us. There was no hiding my frown this time, as I felt my expression shift against my will, dislodging the emotional mask I had worn.

“Harmony,” Hue said, his voice taking an unusual tone of concern. “What’s eating at you?”

I looked up at him, past the dark pools of brown that were staring back at me. I could tell he knew, or at least had an idea what was on my mind, but he wanted me to say it. He wanted me to tell him out loud what had caused perhaps the closest friend he had to frown.

“Here we are in the same room,” I started. “And I can’t touch you, play with you…hold you.”

Hue sat in his chair, giving me his undivided attention. I liked that about him, he didn’t try to multi-task when he was talking with somepony; he stopped and listened.

“I can ‘feel’ you to a certain extent, but that’s it,” I explained. “Sometimes, I think it would be better if I had just stayed a story. I just want more sometimes; I want to be something more than just a piece of fiction.”

“I think you discredit yourself,” Hue said after listening to me lament about being incorporeal. “I mean, you’re pretty real to just be a piece of fiction. None of the other characters I’ve made have just started talking out of the blue.”

I reluctantly nodded in agreement, as much as I didn’t like it, Hue had a point. There was something different about me, something special, but we had never been able to fully nail down what it was. Pondering on the subject usually led to frustration as no answers seemed to exist.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I said, putting on the best smile I could muster. “A mare can dream though.”

I thought the subject would leave my mind after vocalizing it, but quite the opposite was true. Hue’s answer had only kindled the desire to be more than what I was. Even as I willed myself into his lap, I was reminded of my own limitations. I wasn’t truly laying there, it was only my will being projected there, nothing more. The heat I felt was from his emotions, the confirmation that he cared for me despite the lack of physical intimacy between us.

Night eventually came, the rest of the day having passed us by with nothing of major interest occurring; another lazy day in our home. As Hue prepared for bed I knew that would soon change, however. Soon, I would slip into Hue’s dreams, where even then the simple concept of touch eluded me. Existing was all I could do, and the scariest part of my existence was that if something were to happen to Hue, if his mind failed him, there was a good chance I would cease to exist. I would simply return to the void of nothingness I had supposedly come from, my only remnant being a few sentences stored on a website that will eventually fade into obscurity.

Even as Hue lifted the sheets for me, I envisioned another individual looking at him as if he were crazy holding his sheets up for thin air. I didn’t ponder on it for too long, however, wanting only to feel the warmth he had to offer. It was the closest thing for me to contact, and my tired soul yearned for it. Upon removing support to the sheets, they fell though me as if nothing was there.

“Goodnight Harmony,” Hue said before slowly drifting off.

“Goodnight,” I replied quietly, unable, and unwilling to simply fade away as I normally would tonight.

My mind was full of thoughts, some belonging to Hue that had drifted into mine, but most revolved around my dilemma. I had trouble believing I wasn’t some imaginary friend myself sometimes, but imaginary friends couldn’t ponder their own existence. I simply didn’t desire to share the fate of one, eventually fading away into nothingness.

A star caught my attention through the window. I smiled fondly as I remembered how I was inspired in the first place. Hue told me the story that spawned his stories in Equestria all started with a star, reminding him of when he used to make childish wishes. This gave me an idea; a silly idea, but something I felt I needed to do.

Slowly, I phased through the sheets, knowing I wouldn’t disturb Hue in doing so. I stopped myself from phasing through the floor, which was starting to become hard due to Hue’s mind slowly drifting off. I knew I had little time, but I didn’t need much for what I had in mind.

“Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight,” I chanted. “Wish I may, wish I might. Have this wish, I wish tonight…I wish…I wish…”

I found my vision blurring, and my voice failing me. Hue was nearing second stage of sleep, and taking me with him. I wanted to finish before then, but opening my mouth produced only a quiet hiss as I steadily faded away. I was determined to finish though, viewing what was once a childish task as a challenge now.

I mustered up what willpower I could and tried to speak once more, the desire to be heard driving me to remain in the waking world. I just wanted to be seen, to be heard, to belong. I wanted…I wanted to be- “re-al.”

---

I yawned before opening my eyes lazily; the vibrant swirling colors, and more proportionate surroundings that greeted me assured me of my location. I was in Equestria once more, or the Equestria that Hue had created at least. It was more of a collective effort really; most inspiration came from the show I was based on; other input came from fellow writers and theorist fans. Some even came from readers who had left comments that Hue applied to the world.

It all came together to make a pretty decent place. The only complaint I had was how I fit into this world in the beginning. I was blind when it came to sight, relying on my magic to see. It only worked when noise was made, which meant I had to constantly have some sort of sound in order to see.

I had quickly grown tired of such a limitation and given myself the ability to see, deviating from Hue’s original design. With a little thought, my vision became normal, or as normal as dream vision could be I suppose. It was a bit blurry, but not intolerable.

How I could see clearly while Hue was awake, and became blind for a brief period while he was asleep fascinated me. Unlike my existence question, however, I had a solid theory that his mind still associated me with a story, and the character I was linked to was blind in said story.

Rolling out of bed as I usually did, I put my thoughts aside and opted to venture out into Ponyville. It was always nice, warm, and peacefully empty. With the stories no longer continuing for the saga I had been a part of, there was no more timeline. The second Hue had typed in the last period was when this world froze in place.

There was no Celestia, no Luna, nopony. Not even Discord was immune to this fate; he had simply ceased to exist in this timeline. There was nothing left to do, nothing more to be said. At first, such a realization had disheartened me, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I wasn’t truly alone. I would only be here for a few hours before I would wake up once again to the sight of Hue. I didn’t have the heart to tell him what became of the world he created within the depths of his mind.

I stepped outside, greeted once again by the eerie silence. Not even the chirping of birds could be heard in this world, only the steady rise and fall of my hooves against the ground as I walked to the park. Of course, it too was empty, save for the occasional rubber ball or frisbee.

I sat down on the grass beneath a nearby tree and closed my eyes. I was pleased with myself for at least trying to defy what I was, what I was limited to. I could remember whispering one last word before vanishing from the waking world. “Real” such a strange word to utter before disappearing to those who could touch and feel what they wanted. It was a concept so close I could almost taste it, metaphorically speaking of course.

My left ear twitched as if irritated by something. I willed it to stop, only for it to resume its odd behavior once I broke my concentration from it. I soon realized why it had twitched to begin with, as the faint sound of hooves could be heard in the distance.

“Impossible…” I mumbled, rising from my resting place.

As I followed the hoof beats, a new sound joined in breaking the silence. It seemed to echo through the empty town, which put me on edge. I felt confident nothing could hurt me, but then again I was supposed to be nothing to begin with.

“H-hello?” I called out, still following what I could now clearly distinguish as singing.

“Twinkle twinkle little star~” sang the voice. “How I wonder what you are~”

The voice was feminine which eased my mind slightly. Still, I had seen enough horror movies with Hue to know that nursery rhyme songs didn’t always lead to good things. In fact, it usually resulted in the untimely demise of a key character.

As I cautiously rounded the corner, I saw another unicorn. She seemed to be busy casting some sort of spell on the building. Upon closer inspection, I noticed a broken window which made me wonder what in the world the mare was doing to break a window in the first place. Her coat was teal in color; her mane and tail a carrot orange, and her cutie mark looked like a white pawn chess piece with a black pawn partially hidden behind it.

“Umm…” I said, still struggling to accept what I was seeing.

“Hmm? Oh, there you are Harmony, how’ve you been?” the unicorn asked, turning to face me with bright yellow eyes.

“I’m…good,” I hesitantly replied. “I’m sorry, who are you, and how did you get here?”

“Oh, right, my name’s Teal,” Teal chirped happily.

“Teal,” I thought the name was about as creative as a wad of gum under a school desk. “Right, so…what are you doing here, nopony else is supposed to live here. I mean, the story’s over.”

“Hah, silly, the story only ends when you want it to,” Teal replied. “This world is still kicking, after all.”

The mare gave the building a solid kick for emphasis. I looked around, expecting to see something I had been missing the countless times I had been whisked away to this version of Equestria. As I expected, there was nothing new to be found; same sky, same ground, same Ponyville.

“No offense, but I don’t follow,” I confessed flatly.

“I didn’t expect you to, I’m not here to give you answers, after all,” Teal giggled.

“Then why are you here?” I asked.

“To give you what you want, of course,” Teal replied. “You want to be real right?”

“How do you know that?” I took a few surprised steps back from the mare.

“I know a lot about you, Harmony,” Teal said. “What you like, dislike, what you wished for more specifically.”

“Ooookay, officially freaked out now,” I muttered.

“Oh don’t be, you made a wish, so I’m going to help,” Teal said before vanishing and reappearing beside me. “I can help you.”

“How can you help me, when you’re nothing but a dream?” I asked, stepping away from the mare.

“Easy, all I need you to do is focus your magic where I tell you to,” Teal said happily.

“Sounds too good to be true,” I narrowed my eyes at her suspiciously. “And you still didn’t answer my question, how did you get here?”

“Does it really matter?” Teal giggled. “I’m offering you a chance to hold your stallion, the things your heart craves. Everything would be perfect.”

“At what cost?” I asked again.

“No cost to you,” Teal smiled. “Save for a bit of your time and effort, but I need answer in the next….five minutes, otherwise jolly green giant will wake up and our conversation will end.”

If this was a dream, it was one of the most vivid dreams I had experienced. A mare, to date the only other occupant in this barren version of Equestria, was offering me a chance to be corporeal; not just a vision or thought form. Logically, if it was a dream, there could be no negative outcomes in agreeing to this seemingly impossible perfect offer.

“Tick tock, tick tock,” Teal reminded me. “Time flows different here than in the real world.”

“Okay, I’ll do it,” I replied.

“Perfect, now just stand in front of me and do as I do,” Teal instructed.

This seemed too easy, there were no negative consequences that could immediately be detected, and I was getting what I wanted with what I could assume was of little to no benefit to this dream mare. Still, it was worth humoring her, and truthfully a small part of me believed that whatever she had in mind would work.

"Now, I'm going to focus my magic on the ground," Teal explained. "You do the same, but go light at first. Only increase when I say, understand?"

I nodded, as the reluctance within my soul began to fade, drowned out by the sound of two streams of energy pouring into the ground. My magic only worked within this dream world, which only solidified my belief that there was no harm in playing along with Teal.

"A little more," Teal said, cueing me to increase the output of energy from my end.

I did so and watched as a small pillar began to rise into the clear sky. It slowly grew with our efforts, until it seemingly reached what must have been the limitation of this dream. A black hole, exposing what appeared to be the room I had seen hours ago through a small rift.

"No way..." I mumbled.

"Focus, just a little bit more," Teal said, bringing me back to the task at hoof.

I did so and was treaded to a mirror image of the world we were both in now. Despite the two distractions, I maintained my concentration, unable to break focus to ask her how this was possible. I felt certain her answer would be "you made a wish."

"One last thing," Teal said with a mysterious smile on her muzzle. "I need you to wake up."

With an exaggerated step, the mare entered the pillar. Before I could react, her aura surrounded me, and pulled me into the phenomenon as well, causing me to black out.

---

I opened my eyes to darkness; it was Monday, the first work day. Today would be difficult to wake Hue up, but our schedule ran like clockwork, and it couldn't stop just because it was the first workday.

"Hey," I groggily mumbled. "The house is on fire, and your cat's dying."

"I don't have a cat," Hue mumbled back, his arms stretching out thr-over me?

I let out a squeal of surprise as I was tugged against him, too stunned by my new found solidity to protest. Hue, his brain still functioning at minimum capacity only sighed as he inhaled once my neck was against his nose.

"You're warm..." Hue mumbled lazily at first, not quite processing what he had just said. "Wait...warm?"

My human released me, sitting up in his bed as we faced each other; the dim light of his cell phone providing enough illumination in the room to see. Ordinarily, I was simply visible to him through his mind’s eye, no light needed.

"Sweet Celestia...it was real..." I whispered, staring up at Hue.

"Harmony, how?" Hue asked turning on the nightstand lamp.

Teal hadn't been just a dream, and I wanted to tell him everything, but at that moment my only response was to tackle him in a hug. Hue was knocked back onto the mattress from the impact, giving me time to plant a firm kiss upon his lips for the first time.

I couldn't keep the tears from flowing as I felt two strong arms wrap around me. It was a new feeling of security and warmth that I hadn't experienced yet, one that was much stronger than anything I had felt before.

"You've been wanting to do that for a while, huh?" Hue asked, wiping a tear from my eye.

"You have no idea," I sniffled, snuggling against him.

Reason slowly began to flood back and override my emotions. As much as I wanted to keep Hue in bed, he had a job to do, and for the first time I could do more than just watch. I finally felt as if I could contribute.

“I guess you need to get up, huh?” I grinned sheepishly.

Hue chuckled, lifting me up easily in his arms. I let out a squeak of surprise before falling into a fit of laughter as I was carried. Until this morning, I had only the vaguest assumption as to how strong Hue actually was, or how light I might be if I was actually corporeal.

I pouted when I was finally set down on the couch while Hue lazily gathered clean clothes from the laundry basket that he had washed and dried yesterday. A bit of a procrastinator, he had decided to wait until he absolutely had to hang his clothes up before doing so. I found this to be one of his less desirable traits and would regularly voice my displeasure about it.

As my human left me to shower, I decided to test my magic abilities. Focusing on a shirt, I tried to turn it inside out, imagining it and willing it to do so as I would when I manipulated objects in Equestria. Much to my delight, the shirt twisted in on itself, revealing a blurred decal of Darth Vader on the front with the words “who’s your daddy?” appearing to be backwards.

I rolled my eyes with a smile at Hue’s taste in clothing and let the shirt fall from my magical hold. This all seemed too good to be true; even my magic worked now. I couldn’t help but wonder what spell I had assisted that mare with that could possibly do something like this.

A growling noise took me by surprise, it was a sound I had only heard humans make before, but the only human present was currently in the shower. The sound made itself known once more, revealing it to be my own stomach. Of course, I was real now, which meant I had a stomach and was faced with the uncommon dilemma of figuring out what I could and couldn’t eat.

If this form was based off of the show, than I should be able to eat just about anything but meat. The problem was that Hue…was a carnivore, or considered himself to be one. This limited my options to fruits mostly, and Honey Nut Cheerios. I personally despised the cartoon bee, and found the puzzles on the back of his box to be of little challenge.

Begrudgingly, I decided to submit to the bee overlord, and pour myself a bowl of his cereal. I was thankful Hue had a secret unicorn fetish when making characters, otherwise doing so may prove a bit more challenging, as I was only two feet tall, and the cabinet for the box was a good seven feet above me. Were it not for my magic, I probably would have cursed Hue for having such a tall form with long arms.

Cereal suspended near me by magic, I made for the living room and stared at the T.V. Hue didn’t fancy it as much as other methods of entertainment, but always tried to catch old reruns of Star Trek The Next Generation. I preferred Ghost Adventures, and without what Hue called a DVR it was usually a debate between which show we would watch.

As I turned the large screen on with a muzzle full of milk and cereal a blond woman came into view after a brief delay. Hue had left it on the news channel, which put a small smile on my muzzle. I was a new inhabitant in this world after all, so I needed to learn what was happening in this new world that was now open to me.

“Last night’s strange turn of events still has most researchers baffled this morning as they scramble to find answers,” the woman said.

My chewing slowed as the image of what looked like Celestia’s mane lingered above a group of buildings from several different pictures. I had seen this in Hue’s world before, it was called the aurora…aurora…

“This unusual worldwide sighting of the Aurora Borealis was accompanied not only by the closest orbit of the moon in hundreds of years, but the arrival of a number of small equine beings that miraculously have the ability to communicate. A few claim to have been in the company of humans for quite some time, but so far they all speak as if this is their first time actually being present on Earth,” the woman said.

As the screen cut from her to a video of a stallion, and a mare talking with three humans my eyes widened. My mouth had stopped chewing altogether, and hung open long enough to allow the milk I hadn’t swallow to slowly drip out.

“Harmony,” I barely registered Hue’s agitated voice. “You’re making a mess, what’s-“

My magic swirled around his head and gently turned it towards the screen. I felt a weight against the couch as Hue sat down beside me, just as stunned as I was. I wasn’t quite sure if I should be relieved that I wasn’t the only pony who had been caught in some sort of rift, or worried if this was a dream that was slowly spiraling out of control.

“We reached out to Hasbro who has given us no comment on this recent development, as these equines share a striking resemblance to the My Little Pony franchise,” the report continued before switching over to three different humans who proceeded to debate if I was an animal or a sentient alien.

“Rude, I’m not an alien!” I huffed.

“To be fair, they don’t have a whole lot of options when it comes to labels. Calling you a pony is accurate, but it’s kind of degrading, since you clearly don’t roam around pastures all day,” Hue said. “I suppose this is one thing that PC can’t handle.”

“More important than what to label me as, look at how many reports there are of them,” I pointed out.

“I know, thousands,” Hue replied. “We weren’t the only ones…but how?”

“Uh…the magic of friendship?” I grinned.

“Funny, but I doubt it’s that easy,” Hue said, ruffling my mane.

“Whatever it is, we’ve got to put it aside for work,” I said, making my way back to the kitchen.

“We?” Hue asked.

“Yes we,” I repeated. “If there’s more than one pony that’s shown up, I’m not about to pass up an opportunity to experience the outside world.”

“You’ve seen it hundreds of times when you’ve been out with me,” Hue said.

“True, but I could never go where I wanted, or do what I wanted,” I smiled. “Please let me come, I promise I’ll stay out of the way.”

Hue sighed as he rubbed his forehead. I knew he couldn’t resist it when I put on a pleading expression, being a softie at heart. When he looked down at me I proceeded to give him my best puppy dog eyes, hoping to pull at his heart strings even further.

“Okay, you win,” Hue relented. “But you have to stay low, understand.”

“It’ll be like I’m not even there, I promise,” I gave a salute in an attempt to assure him I would be on my best behavior.

---

I sighed as I sat behind the counter where Hue was currently ringing another human’s goods up. While I had insisted on coming today after learning of other ponies somehow arriving on Earth, I felt confident I would get to meet one. So far, the number of ponies I had met remained a stagnant zero.

“I’m bored…” I moaned.

“You seemed fine when you weren’t corporeal,” Hue quietly replied as the customer left.

“Yeah, but that was when I could only watch you,” I said. “Now I can go where I want.”

“Not entirely, I’m pretty sure you had your ear against the door when my boss was telling me that there was no “bring a pony to work day,” Hue said. “I have to try to keep an eye on you so you don’t get into trouble.”

With an eye roll I got up to roam the isles at the game store, admiring card and board games alike. It wasn’t a common video game store that kids would supposedly beg their mothers to enter only to buy mature games for them, but a classy, more interactive game store.

There was a large area for card games and table top games to be held. Occasionally, Hue would take part in grand events like tournaments. Even though I could never participate, it was always fun to watch him play.

I couldn’t help but feel the occasional stare of other humans as I walked past them. It was clear that not everypony was as excited about us being here as Hue was. Much to my surprise, however, I noticed another mare holding a box of what appeared to be some sort of miniature game. I hadn’t even noticed her walk in.

Desperate to distract myself from the stares and whispers, I trotted over to the yellow mare. Her mane and tail were red and stopped just short of her glasses; a bottle of ink, with a pen beside it served as her cutie mark.

“Hi there,” I said as brightly as I could.

“Oh, um, hi,” the earth pony murmured quietly.

“My name’s Harmony, what’s yours?” I kept up my best smile, as I could tell this mare was a bit shy.

“Penny Bottle,” the mare blushed. “My human uses a pen most of the time so…it’s the first thing that came to her mind.”

“Wait, so yours doesn’t write with a keyboard?” I asked.

“Oh goodness no, she’s not very good at writing stories,” Penny giggled. “But she can draw amazing works of art, though I think I ruined one when I first spoke to her.”

“I see, weird,” I mumbled. “Anyways, what’s that you’re looking at?”

“Warmachine,” Penny replied. “I thought it would be fun to actually play a game with my human after just watching her for so long.”

“Really? Where is your human?” I asked.

“In there, playing against what she calls a neckbeard,” Penny said. “I didn’t want to distract her.”

“You mean you’re not there to cheer her on?” I tilted my head with a small smile.

“W-well, when you say it like that…”Penny put the box she had been considering down as she stood up, proving to be a bit taller than me, even with my horn taken into consideration.

“I’ve never seen a game of Warmachine anyways, I’ve only watched Hue play Warhammer, and that’s gotten kind of dull,” I explained, trotting alongside her into the larger portion of the store that held the gaming tables.

“Does he not do well?” Penny asked.

“Oh no, he does great,” I smirked. “A bit too great though, I’ve tried to talk him into moving onto something else.”

Penny pointed out her human, whose name was Nichole, who as she said was tied up in a game with another human. So enthralled was she, that when the two of us appeared beside her, she jumped slightly; the carpet of the game room muffling our hooves.

As I watched the two humans play, the more interested I became in this game. Magic controlling giant robots, what wasn’t to like about it? While I had never considered myself a nerdy pony by any means, just watching this game was slowly luring me in.

“Say, are you hungry?” Penny whispered.

“Now that you mention it…kind of, yeah,” I replied.

“What exactly is there to eat here?” the mare slowly rubbed the tip of her hoof against floor.

“I’m still new to the whole food thing myself,” I laughed, even though I was more than willing to experiment. “Even tried funyuns?”

---

I groaned as I clutched my stomach in one of the seats at the vet’s office. While funyuns had seemed like a good idea at the time, neither of us knew how I would react to certain foods. The tasty circles had been addicting, to the point of buying three bags, only to regret it roughly an hour later as partially digested chunks came back to greet me. Much to my displeasure, Penny seemed completely unfazed; perhaps her iron vat of a stomach was linked with her being an earth pony.

I had protested coming here, but the argument that I wasn’t an animal didn’t hold water. Technically speaking, I was a pony by definition, if you didn’t count the horn or ability to speak. Hue had also taken off from work to get me help, so I wasn’t really in a position to pick and choose where I went, even if the other humans there made me uncomfortable.

Hue hadn’t spoken to me much since we left the store. I felt guilty for causing him to leave early, and quite possibly causing trouble for him. It wasn’t hard to tell that he was upset with me, especially since I had promised to stay out of trouble.

“I’m sorry…” I whispered quietly.

Hue hesitated before speaking, taking in a deep breath before looking down at me. “Let’s just worry about getting you better right now.”

“Are you mad at me?” I asked.

“Yes Harmony, I am mad,” Hue sighed. “But I’m more worried about you being okay right now.”

Nothing else was said between us until we got home, after it was determined that I would be fine. Apparently ponies were tougher than we looked, according to the vet that degraded my intellect by using baby talk. If I hadn’t been sick, I would have told him off, but as it was I was too distressed to concern myself with him.

If anything good came from me being sick, it was the round the clock treatment and attention from my human. I felt pitiful not being able to do much after embarrassing him at work, and doubted I would be allowed to go back for a while. I had made a friend though, and that’s what I had hoped to do today, knowing that others had somehow appeared as well. 

As the opening theme for Star Trek began to play while Hue and I shared the couch, I felt the desire to tell him everything about my strange dream, but something held me back. Perhaps a fear of ruining the moment, or making the day worse. Whatever it was, it won me over in keeping my thoughts to myself and I instead opted to snuggle up to Hue as best I could. 

I smiled as I felt warm fingers slide through my mane, stroking my ears occasionally. Slowly but surely, the steady strokes and head rubs from my human lulled me to sleep with a goofy grin on my muzzle. Perhaps by tomorrow I would be over the damage I had done to myself, and be able to truly begin to explore this world.