Drifting gave a small little yawn as she wrote notes down in her book. As always, she sat in the front. It tended to help avoid trouble, since being in the front meant she was under the watchful eye of the teacher. She'd still sometimes get hit by a random spit ball or someone would 'accidentally' kick her chair, but it was far better than the alternatives.
Unfortunately, even being in front during the lecture did little to help her focus. She couldn't believe how excited she was and how great she was feeling. She'd spent a lot of time the previous night looking through all of the things Twilight had given her.
Well, about... a thousandth of what the princess had given her. She couldn't imagine how the alicorn had found the time, it would have taken Drifting months to come up with all that information, then write it all out. It was so well organized too, and she was fairly certain it had been proof read. But there were methods, little goals she could set for herself. While there weren't ways to actually fix everything, like getting pregnant was impossible, she was fine with that. She'd be an infertile mare and, frankly, as long as she was a MARE she didn't mind that part. Adoption was always a possibility if she ever decided she wanted children.
The biggest worry was she needed her parent's permission to do any of it, at least until she was officially considered an adult. Before anything else, though, she needed to talk with this new therapist the princess had suggested. She'd have to give them a call and then set everything up that way.
Either way, she was now super, duper excited and she didn't think anything could ruin her day. Buck, she'd only been hit by two spit balls today and--
“Drifting? Hello?”
She yelped when she realized the teacher was talking to her. “Y-yes?”
“Your answer?”
Red flooded her cheeks. “E-err... w-what... was the question... a-again?” The class burst into laughter.
The mare sighed. “When creating magical limbs or attachments such as wings or claws, where does the extra mass come from and what are some differences between them and standard mass?”
“Solidified magic drawn from the surrounding environment, usually from nearby leylines and often molded with a nearby natural substance, for example water. The biggest weakness is that it can be a bit unstable and shares an increased weakness compared to the element it makes up. For example wings made of water may fly well, but too much heat or cold and they would evaporate or shatter. Claws of dirt might be strong, but get them wet and they'd turn to mud. But the created limbs also tend to be, uhhh... prettier, due to the occurrence of magic flowing through them, giving them a glimmering, jewel like appearance.”
“Very good, Drifting. Now, do try to pay attention,” her teacher said.
Drifting tried, but soon her mind was already going back to thoughts of what her future could hold. There were so, so many options. Things she could do to fix herself, to make her appear more like who she was.
Unfortunately, as excited as she was, the princess had also mentioned how expensive some of the things could be. The most important part, the hormones, wouldn't be so bad and could do most of the needed work for her. Other things, such as gradually... sculpting her body to better fit herself and make her more feminine was far, far outside her price range. She'd need to be rich to afford something like that.
Another thing that terrified her, just a bit, was a full surgery. Making her more or less appear a female. All the way. The price on such a thing was obscene and she wasn't sure she could ever afford that even if she saved up her money for the rest of her life.
More importantly, she wasn't sure she wanted to or was willing to risk it. The surgery could be dangerous. There were also apparently plenty of cases of mares who stopped before getting it, and she couldn't find herself imagining they were any less mares for it. Though she wondered if she'd ever be able to really see herself as a mare if she DIDN'T do it. She really, really wished there was just a quick and easy magic spell she could do to fix everything. It would be soooo much easier. Or maybe a button she could push, or a lake she could fall in, or anything really to just quickly and easily make everything about her make sense.
The bell rang and she jumped with a yipe, her face going red as she looked around. She quickly got to her hooves and made her way towards the door, her mind completely void of whatever the teacher had said. All she wanted to do was run back to her room and start doing more research. She still had two more classes to go though. Why did school have to be so long and boring? It wasn't fair! She wanted to go now! At least her next class was study hall, so she could probably read something to try and keep her mind off it.
She stopped in the halls as she caught sight of Branding. She gaped for a moment, before galloping towards the mare. “H-hey! Branding!” she called out.
The mare looked up and gave a little smile. “Hey. Ummm, Drifting, I--” She then yelped and stepped forward as somepony stepped on the back of Drifting's dress and made her fall back when she felt the sudden tug. “Are you okay?”
“Sorry,” a pony mumbled before he walked off.
Drifting groaned, her face red. “Y-yeah. Pride's a little sore, but ummm... yeah. So, errr... h-hi again. It's... not torn, is it?”
“What, your pride?”
“N-no. The dress.”
Branding shook her head. “No. I don't think so.” She held out a hoof to help the other mare up.
Drifting coughed nervously and gulped. “S-so, err... the note. Uhhhh... you left it?”
“Uh huh.”
“And, uhhh, well, you said... err... you thought I was... interesting?”
“Yes.”
“And... would like to... get to know me a bit more?”
“I was the one who wrote it, no need to repeat it towards me.”
Drifting blushed redder. “R-right. S-sorry, can I uhhh... can I ask why?”
“Oh, I thought you were interesting. I'd never seen a stallion like that, who actually looked pretty good in a dress. I thought you were a mare at first, but then I saw you go into the Starswirl Wing. Is it true you met the princess?”
Drifting blinked a few times, lowering her eyes. “I... I am a mare.”
“Wait, really? I thought... oh. Sorry, I mean, I heard you had a room in the Starswirl Wing and when I asked around, a few ponies said you were a stallion. I thought... err...”
Drifting took a slow, deep breath. “It's a... long story. I... I'm... born a colt, but I am a mare. I uhhh... would... you like to ummm... we could talk about it... I mean, if you're... if you still think I'm interesting.”
Branding nodded. “Sure. Meet me outside after class?”
“Sure! I--” He paused. “Err... can we meet just outside the gate? It'll still be sunlight so... not anywhere secluded this time. Please.”
“Wh--” She then cringed. “Ah. Right. That'll be fine. I'll see you then!” She said before turning and trotting off.
Drifting watched her go, her heart hammering before she turned and started trotting off. Eeeee. She was INTERESTING!
------
Drifting blushed as she looked across the table at the other mare, her heart hammering as she eyed her. The two had gone to Pony Joe's and were now enjoying a couple of milk shakes. Well, Branding seemed to be enjoying hers. Drifting had barely been able to get through the cherry on hers and nibble a little of the whipped cream as she explained the situation.
Branding swallowed a bit more of her shake, before nodding. “Sooo... you're a guy who likes to dress up like mares then. Weird.”
She sighed and lowered her eyes. “No... it's not... I am a mare. I just... I'm not... I just was born in the wrong body.”
“That doesn't really make a lot of sense, how can you be born in the wrong body?”
“I just... I was. There's... tons of evidence to support it. I literally have stacks of information about it now.” Sure, she hadn't read most of it, but it still counted.
“I guess, it just seems kind of...” Branding cringed. “H-hey, don't cry. It's cool, really. You say you're a mare, you're a mare. No need to be upset about it.”
“But I am a mare... the only reason I... was staying in the Starswirl Wing was because I'm listed as a stallion on the files. I don't even know if I can be listed as a mare. Even if I was, I don't know if they'd let me in there, they told me not to use any of the mare facilities.”
“Well, yeah, you're a stallion. That'd be dangerous.”
“I'm a mare!” Drifting said quickly, shaking her head.
“Right, right, sorry. So you use the guys, then? Err... as a... mare?”
“... No,” Drifting said, closing her eyes. “We... came to an agreement. It really wasn't safe for me to use the male ones. Nopony was comfortable with me going in there anyway, since the other students would probably just beat me up. So... instead I use the staff faculty ones. They're gender neutral.”
Branding grinned. “That's pretty cool. You know, you're pretty lucky.”
“Huh?”
“I mean, you get all this special treatment. Getting to use the faculty stuff so you don't need to do it in front of the other students. Getting all the benefits of being a mare and a stallion has to be pretty cool. You even met the princess!”
Drifting sighed and shook her head. “I'd rather have just been born a mare and not have any of this stuff happen,” she grumbled.
“Oh, it's not so bad. At least you'll never have to deal with periods.”
Drifting face hoofed.
“Err... is something wrong? Sorry, was that a bad thing to say?”
“No... just... I've been told that before. I'd rather have the periods than be... this way.”
The two sat there in awkward silence, soon just sipping their shake. Finally, Drifting gulped and lowered her straw. “I... ummmm... I-I'm sorry. I thought... I mean, when you left the note, I thought... maybe you knew and... I thought you were kind of... interested in... sorry...”
“Hmmm? Oh, no. I still think you're pretty cute and interesting,” Branding said with a smile. “Never really seen a stallion like you.”
Drifting almost corrected her, but nodded slowly. “So... ummm... does that mean...?”
“Wanna see a movie this weekend?”
“I-I'd love to!” the mare said, nearly jumping out of her seat. She then blushed. “I uhhh... what... kind?”
“Well, there's a few out. There's this cute romance from pranch, do you like those?”
“Not really, I usually like the romantic comedies,” Drifting said, before freezing. “B-but I don't dislike them, we can see that. What's it called?”
“Crispe Deh Morveux. I hear it's pretty good.”
“T-that sounds delightful,” Drifting said, before gulping and glancing down. The other mare reached for the check and she shook her head. “I... I'll pay. I ummm... I... kinda called you out here to talk about everything. So ummmm...”
“Okay,” Branding said, before glancing back. “Oh, that reminds me. You're in the school, right? What's your specialty?”
“Transformation magic, yours?”
“Fire magic.”
“Oh, you're—”
“If you make a joke along the lines of 'you're really hot', I will light you on fire.”
“... I'm... going to just shut up now.”
“Good boy. See you this saturday. I'll have the time figured out and let you know by then,” she said before trotting off.
Drifting sighed and put a few bits on the table. She looked down at her shake, a frown on her face. She... didn't know why, but something felt off. She had a date, shouldn't she be happier?
She shook her head and got to her hooves. No time to worry about that. She still had to get her dress fixed and set up a meeting with her new therapist.
Eeeee, she had a date! Yeah, that was more like it.