Elias couldn’t believe this. Elias could not believe this. Elias was physically, mentally, spiritually, existence...ly unable to believe this. He couldn’t believe it, when he dropped off half his weight, and then half again all in one day. He couldn’t believe when a purple tail sprouted from his bottom, the same lavender and violet stripes that should have been on his head. That stuff he could couldn’t believe just fine.
He couldn’t believe that when it started, he had to hustle out of the lab right in the middle of a titration, and ended up hiding at his uncle’s house because he didn’t trust going back to his apartment. He couldn’t believe how big his uncle had gotten, how big everything had gotten! He watched his fingers dwindle away, until only one was left on each hand, until his arms were feet. Fur sprouted all over his body, a small comfort that it was the same powder blue formerly owned by his increasingly pale, pink, patchy skin. All the while everything just kept getting bigger, until Elias found himself nothing more than a roly poly little animal.
All that, Elias couldn’t believe, but that was just your everyday average disbelief. This? This. This was not happening. This could not be happening. It was disturbing, and it was fascinating. He couldn’t believe it was happening. When he transformed he couldn’t sleep, not one wink. Had to observe every moment of this process. The tail, the ears, the changing skeletal structure; he took notes until he couldn’t take notes anymore. But now he wished he had slept because he wouldn’t have been awake when it... and then... then it... it changed him more than he could ever imagine!
Elias could believe he had transformed into a tiny, magical unicorn, but even a tiny, magical unicorn could not believe this.
It wasn’t that the cops had come, or that his own uncle had called them, after seeing Elias in such distress that he could hardly function. Uncle Star couldn’t even process what had happened to him. Neither of them knew how to deal with it. It wasn’t the police spiriting Elias away to some weird pony farm, where there were tons of other ponies just like him. Just like him. Elias could deal with all that. He could deal with so much trouble, but this?
He just curled into a vague, shivering ball on the floor there, staring forward at nothing, as he tried to just... think for a minute, what to do, how to react to all these people looking at him, how this could possibly be happening. Elias could walk, barely, but he didn’t want to walk around. He didn’t want to stand up on four legs. They could all see him. They could see what—what happened to him. He couldn’t hide it! He didn’t want them to see.
He felt his ears perk up on their own, as above him a girl’s warm voice started talking to him, in a gently apologetic alto. “Apple Bloom tells me you been having the hardest time of it,” she said in a low country drawl. Elias lifted his head and stared up at the lady who spoke... she was not more than a girl, really, but even when she squatted down to talk closer to him, it still seemed like this stetson bearing lady towered over him.
“How are you holdin’ together?” she asked, giving him an even look.
Elias couldn’t even answer. He didn’t want them to hear.
After a pause, the lady introduced herself saying, “Sorry, where are mah manners? Ah’m Applejack! This here farm’s my home, and Apple Bloom over there is mah sister. She didn’t used to be a pony neither. Nobody here did. You know y’all called ponies, right?”
Elias really didn’t want to answer.
“Look. Elias,” Applejack said in a sterner voice that drew Elias’s gaze inexorably up to meet her eyes with a frightened stare, her soft purple eyes caught in Applejack’s warm green. “That’s mah sister over there, and she’s been real upset on account of she cain’t help you at all, on account of you won’t even speak to her. Ah know it’s upsetting, but cain’t you at least talk about it with us? Sure as sugar it’ll help.”
Elias’s fear warred with outrage at this girl’s insensitivity. His emotions had been all over the place since this started. Of course his emotions had been all over the place. That was like the most stereotypical thing ever! He wanted to tell her, to answer her honest entreaty, and he couldn’t! Not like... like this.
“So, you don’t wanna talk about it?” Applejack said a bit impatiently.
“I can’—” he tried, but the sound of his words just stopped him cold. His vision started to blur with tears again. From his stupid new eyes that just wouldn’t stop crying. He didn’t want them to hear; he didn’t want himself to hear. He tried to whisper.
“How can I dalk, hwhen I shoun’ like dis?!” he whispered angrily, in that sweet little voice that he couldn’t stop making. He would have loved a voice like this, in anyone else, but him? It wasn’t supposed to be this way.
“I no supposeta be hlike dis!” he protested, as if it would make any difference protesting it to yet another person who was as helpless as he was to change things. “I no’ supposeta shoun’ hlike dis! not shposeto be a... a...”
“A pony?” Applejack offered in a hopeful tone.
“No, a girhl!” he shouted at her, in exasperation.
Applejack smiled grimly, and said, “Right. That too.”
Elias blushed heavily then, just like a girl would, dipping his head down and staring forlornly at the floor, the weird sensation of his ears moving on their own accosting him, as they drooped downward. He couldn’t believe this. He could not believe this! He... he could not stop crying again.
Elias fought the sobs making his chest shake, and Applejack, she—a complete stranger he’d never met before—did the one thing that his uncle couldn’t do. She touched him. She hugged him. She embraced him like this. She was... lifting him up off the floor. It was like the least manly thing that could have possibly happened to him, . Elias just lost it, and the strange sound of his new voice just started filling the room, because he simply could not stop from crying.
“It’s alright now,” Applejack told him soothingly, cradling Elias’s much smaller form in her arms. “Come on now, calm down. It’s gonna be alright.” Elias wanted to distrust her. He wanted her to be just saying that, just being sappy and lying to try and make him feel better. But it was just... impossible. More new alien thoughts from his new body, and his new mind, that he never ever even once asked for. He should have been upset. But it just didn’t work. He inexorably calmed down, with his whole body feeling the warmth of the girl holding him. His cries turned to hiccups, and they sounded so ludicrously adorable it was too funny to stay upset.
“Imma put you down now,” Applejack said evenly, “And I’m gonna get you some water, okay?”
“Y—yuh —’s oka—kay,” he mumbled between hiccups, trying to hide his face. He knew how feminine that must seem, and he didn’t even care. Elias let the lady place him on the ground, and settled his legs vaguely underneath himself as she did, but he still didn’t get up and walk around, or anything. He just didn’t want to draw attention to the strange, unfamiliar anatomy between his legs now, neither from others, nor from himself. He just wanted to be back at work, with a nice boring chem analysis, and with a nice ice cold glass of—a bucket plunked down in front of him.
A metal bucket. Clear water sloshed inside it, below its brim.
“Trust me, y’don’t wanna try figurin’ out cups just yet,” Applejack told him. Elias had to tilt his head up again, just to see her talking. “Use the bucket fer now,” she told him, “You probably ain’t had nothin’ to drink in a while.”
Elias just wanted to... reject it, and not be... what he was. But he was having trouble thinking, when the prospect of soothing his dry throat and puffy eyes was at hand. Or maybe that’d be at hoof. Elias glanced at that hoof: still a familiar pale blue, but not a hand any longer. Then he glanced up at the Applejack girl one more time. Then, Elias just firmed his lip, probably in a totally cute and feminine way.
He leaned down... leaned his head down, to just sort of stick his face into the water. His new muzzle entered the water, before the surface reached his eyes. It was cold and beautiful. Elias just closed his eyes, and sucked up gulp after gulp of the slightly metallic tasting but cold water. By the time he was done, he actually had his hands—both his front hooves—on the edge of the bucket to steady it.
“Feel better?” Applejack asked with a slight smile.
Elias nodded silently, then inwardly cursed and forced himself to say aloud, “Yh-yeah,” even though his voice sounded like a girl. It’s not like it shouldn’t sound like a girl, nothing wrong with that at all, considering that he was one now. How could this have happened?!
“An’ don’t give mah sister the cold shoulder,” Applejack added to the troubled Elias, glancing meaningfully over to his side. “Ah assure you, she don’t want nothing more than to help.”
Elias’s gaze followed, and one of the ponies, a red and yellow one had approached him again. The real girl pony was standing there nervously at attention, as Applejack pointed her out. Unlike the others... unlike Elias, this pony had some sort of clothing on. A bright pink bow, that was way too big for her head, and a weirdly pony shaped pair of denim overalls. Applejack walked away then, to see if anyone else needed help, and Elias found himself relatively alone, together with... the red and yellow pony, with the pink bow and green dress. The pony who must have once been Applejack’s sister, since she spoke with an accent similar, but not identical to the lady who comforted him.
“Ah cain’t possibly imagine what you’re going through,” the pony named Apple Bloom said clearly, with a rounder voice than Applejack’s, quite higher in pitch, but sounding uncannily human. “Ain’t none of us judging you for it,” she said. “Nobody knows what’s causing this, and it ain’t anything you did, or anything anyone knows about just yet. We got some friends coming over, who know more than I do, but they ain’t solved the conundrum either, so just...”
“Thank you,” Elias said softly. It came out sounding perfect, which is bad because he shouldn’t have been able to pour so much shy gratitude into his own voice. But his voice just... fit his emotions perfectly. His girl emotions.
“No problem!” Apple Bloom said with an embarassed smile. “Ah’m just... aw, ah just been standing here, not all doing anything to help you. Just if y’need anything, let me know.”
Elias nodded slightly, feeling skittish as he said, “...okay.”
A slight pause, and Apple Bloom asked, “So, you were really a...?”
Elias blushed again and his head sunk to rest on what were now his forelegs. “I yam sho differen’ nohw,” he moaned in hopeless confusion.
“What’s it like?” Apple Bloom said with an inquisitive curiosity.
Elias glanced to his side, where Apple Bloom was still standing, looking at him hopefully. “M-barashing,” he mumbled, hoping she’d get the hint. It was hard enough sounding like a girl, but he couldn’t even get these weird new lips to move the way he wanted them to.
...
Mouth lips! Mouth lips!
Elias could not believe this.
Twilight Sparkle exploded onto the scene, in a scattered array of papers and clipboards, saying loudly and immediately, “Alright everypony! we have a lot of points to cover so let’s get to work. I need every pony in a line so I can get a census, check your temperatures, and isolate any residual magic on your oh wow, you haven’t completed your transformation yet I am going to science the heck out of you!”
Sunset followed behind, looking at Applejack somewhat apologetically, as the hyper purple girl started setting up podiums and posters right on top of the photos on the wall, and the clock, chattering all the while. One of the officers, an important looking one standing around in the living room full of tiny little ponies, stated in a clear baritone to the nearest authority on such things, Applejack:
“Uh, you know this girl?”
Applejack jolted at that, and turned to the officer saying, “Why of course, officer! These are the girls ah told ya about. They know more about what’s goin’ on than anyone here.”
Sunset smiled nervously as everyone turned to face her, and waved unsteadily, while Twilight bustled around behind her in a blur of activity.
“We can start mapping out a pattern of spread,” Twilight was muttering ignoring everyone else as she fiddled with her wall map. “It might give us a clue on what the vector is. We’ll have to examine histories of genetic proclivity, perhaps even a blood analysis. Blood, yes!” She spun to face the terrified half pony, who looked like she wished she turn an even more pale white.
“The doctor got one already from Apple Bloom,” Sunset immediately said.
Twilight visibly wilted a bit. “Right,” she snapped up again, turning back to her graphs and checklists. “So next we—”
“Twilight,” Sunset interrupted her. “How about we take a little break, get something to eat, and then we can do science?”
Twilight’s interjected, “But she’s clearly halfway and—”
“And nobody knows what to make about half pony blood cells,” Sunset said, as if she were familiar with this sort of thing.
“We can do science after eating, though?” Twilight asked, lip quivering.
“Sure thing,” Sunset said easily, “You’ll feel better when you’re not running on fumes anyway.”
“I’m sorry,” Twilight sighed slumping her shoulders. “I’ve just been trying so hard to figure this out... to figure something out. I can’t help but feel like I’m to blame for all this.”
“Scuse me miss,” came Noi’s voice from down by Twilight’s feet. The pony was standing there looking up at her, unimpressed. “If you knew whose fault it was,” Noi queried, “Would that let you fixsh anything?”
“Well, no not necessarily,” Twilight admitted.
“Then leave the investigating to the police,” the blonde pony said conclusively. “And you do your shience thing to get us a way hout of this mess. Not your job to find out whodunnit.”
“Yes, about that erm, science thing,” interrupted a tall man, in what vaguely looked like a lab coat. “This phenomenon doesn’t lend well to forensics, but if you know something we don’t, I’m sure we would all appreciate if you could tell us about—”
“It after eating,” Sunset cut him off, before Twilight’s smile could grow any bigger. “I haven’t eaten since breakfast. I don’t care what you geeks geek out on, but we are not going back into it without a break and some food. ”
Sunset Shimmer, it turns out, had been tortured by the smell of burgers and fries the entire way here, as Twilight Sparkle had got it in her head to offer some kind of food reward to the ape creatures in order to pacify them, or in other words a peace offering. It... actually sort of worked, though Apple Bloom doubted that that food had been gotten with legitimately acquired funds. It was kind of hard to think of anything as legitimate at this point, if what those girls were saying about a time loop was true. Or maybe they were just genuinely crazy girls who somehow had freaky psychic powers.
Either way, a lot of the cops hadn’t had lunch either. And the Apple family didn’t exactly prepare fast food. It was probably a good thing, because while everybody—everybody human at least chowed down, it gave Twilight a chance to set up her some kind of presentation thing, and it gave Apple Bloom a chance to try and deal with a whole other bag of scared people who’d turned in one way or another into ponies.
Elias Doolots was the only one like... that. There was one other boy—an upperclassman named Truffle, but he stayed a boy. Other than that, it was just a bunch of girls, and women maybe. Apple Bloom could see it added up to seven ponies, counting the one who was still going through the transformation. Her name was Cotton Cloudy, and her mom was there, though she seemed kind of tired and out of it. Staying up late worrying about the transformation?
Apple Bloom didn’t really know any of these people. She might have seen them before on the street, as humans of course, but didn’t know them the same way she knew Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. She vaguely remembered having a class with Cotton Cloudy, but Apple Bloom had honestly been out of class this year, longer than she had been in class.
Changing into a pony was definitely not how Apple Bloom anticipated beginning her high school experience. This high school thing seemed so intimidating, a death knell to any kid’s childhood. You just have to give up on life, and just go to school. It wasn’t like elementary school, or even junior high. High school, you had to think of your future all the time, and make the best decision for what’s good for your future... and, in doing so, leave your past wanting. Apple Bloom thought she would be ready to do that, even though nobody gave her a choice, or a chance to be ready for it. She figured every boy and girl just had a biological... forwardlookedness built into them, that showed up when you walked onto that campus as a high school Freshman.
But no, apparantly the truth is that your biology stays exactly the same, until a month into school, whereupon you change into a tiny little, colorful pony. And once you’ve changed into a pony, you feel even less sure about your future than you did graduating from junior high! In all seriousness, Apple Bloom didn’t know any of these ponies, but she did know what they were going through, and what it was like to become this way. Except for that Elias fellow...er... girl..., that pony was out of Apple Bloom’s league entirely.
He...she...he seemed scared of his own backside, and Apple Bloom could definitely understand why. Apple Bloom never really paid much mind about her own femininity. It was just something about her, that she didn’t feel one way or another. Sweetie Belle had been upset at the loss of her budding womanhood, in a specific chest mounted form. But for Elias, it was like... what if one day, Apple Bloom woke up with a... y’ know...
She shuddered. She honestly didn’t know how she would feel about that. Definitely not positive. Apple Bloom loved being the way she was, and never had any problems with it. Elias was even afraid of talking; probably because his voice changed even more than any of the rest of them. Apple Bloom didn’t know what to tell him, didn’t have no experience with anything like that. Ponies and humans both had a mammalian ancestor, so Apple Bloom at least retained some of her old, familiar self, but to go all the way back to when life divided up into boys and girls, that was... like... way farther back!
Though on the other hand, Apple Bloom couldn’t help but bring to mind that she had changed into an alien pony from another dimension! That was even farther back than life itself! Farther back than even... molecules or something! So, why in the world did Apple Bloom feel normal, but Elias felt so different? Shouldn’t Elias be more concerned with not having hands, than not having a... thingy? Apple Bloom sighed. Maybe it was just a boy thing.
She certainly didn’t want to find out first hand. But that didn’t stop her from being so goddamned curious. And the worst thing is, Apple Bloom couldn’t ask Eli any of that stuff, because he—she—he was already on the verge of tears, any time you even brought it up! Or talked to him. Or mentioned the weather. Apple Bloom knew it was easier for ponies to cry, but that sure didn’t make it easier for her to find out from him what it’s like. If it is even like anything!
The one boy pony—stallion, Apple Bloom reckoned—had been nothing but helpful since getting here. He could walk himself, since he had changed a few weeks ago in fact, and he was already helping two of the other new ponies with walking. Truffle was his name, which kind of fit his rather rotund figure. His colors were grey and dark grey, nothing especially stand-outish.
But pony or human, Truffle didn’t seem concerned about his lot in life one bit. Not to say being a pony wasn’t totally throwing him off his game, but Truffle just seemed to have a naturally calm and patient personality. Or, if he was upset, he was covering it up real good, in order to be there for anyone else who needs his help. Apple Bloom could respect that.
Apple Bloom hadn’t gotten the story of how he spent the last couple weeks. She hadn’t gotten any pony’s story, in fact. Truth be told, she was feeling just a bit overwhelmed by the sudden influx of people into her home. It’d been a nice month or two by herself—well actually Apple Bloom couldn’t kid herself, it’d been a lousy month or two by herself. But now the world wasn’t waiting for her anymore, and things were happening, whether she liked it or not. It was a jarring feeling to Apple Bloom, still a lot more welcome than loneliness, but... jarring.
As Apple Bloom corrected Truffle’s attempt at demonstrating a walk, she noticed Scootaloo and that white half-one both getting pretty upset, but Applejack was hurrying over that way, so Apple Bloom just sighed and kept to herself for now. She couldn’t help but notice that of the four new ponies, Truffle had been at one point giving poorly pronounced advice to the blue white one still changing, until Scootaloo commandeered her attention. And now he was helping out the blue eyed pink pony. But he was not even coming close to even approaching Elias.
“You dun’ unnerthand,” Truffle told her calmly, when Apple Bloom confronted him on it, and tried to make sense of his speaking, which... wasn’t as bad as some ponies. “An’ I dunnerthand ether. Harld enough f’rim aroun’ other girlth. Now ywant him to hafta faishe another boy? ”
Apple Bloom really didn’t have an answer to that.
“Shust give him shome time,” Truffle assured Apple Bloom, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “He’ll be ogay.”
Truffle frowned, pulling his hoof back. “Oghay. O... I meantha say he be allhright,” he decided to say instead.
“Hey!” the pale pink pony who Truffle had been helping whined at Apple Bloom, “How lohng unthill we cah thalk betther?”
Apple Bloom gave her a level, sympathetic look, saying, “Uh, well it depends how much you practice. Noi over there, that blonde pony talking with those police officers, she went pony not quite 3 weeks ago. She still slips an ess or so, but she worked real hard at it. But it took Scootaloo like, a month? She didn’t put a lot of effort into it. So I guess, a month?”
“I’ gonnha prathstice a loh sho I cahn tahlk again,” the pink pony grumbled. And now that Apple Bloom got a good look at her...
“What is that ?” Apple Bloom asked, tilting her head in confusion at what she was seeing.
“Wath wha?” the girl said nervously, looking like she wished she knew how to back up, or shy away. This pony girl probably did want some personal space, so Apple Bloom kept her distance. But uh... how to put this diplomatically?
“You got some sorta tree on your butt,” Apple Bloom stated. There really wasn’t any subtler a way to put it. Apple Bloom was looking at a soft pink rear end, supported by short legs and unconfidently braced hooves. There was a good sized striped pink tail coming out of her rear, shifting around uneasily as this girl tried to get used to it. And a tree on her butt. Like, literally the picture of a palm tree, that you’d find on some sort of tropical island, complete with a little circle of sand. It just looked like it had been painted right on top of her fur.
“Oh thath?” the girl said, looking at her own ass in puzzlement. “No hidea. Juth appear whe I wath all thleeping. Ith no’ normal?”
“Well, uh, no it ain’t normal I guess,” Apple Bloom remarked uncertainly, glancing at her own butt, but thankfully she didn’t get any nasty surprises just appearing there for no reason. It couldn’t be a prank. None of these ponies was in any state to be joking about things.
“I goth onnathoeth thoo!” came Truffle’s voice to Apple Bloom’s left. She followed her ear to look, and saw that Truffle did have one of those too on his hindquarters. He had a... fork and knife? It wasn’t quite as stark in contrast as the green and brown on the girl pony’s pink bottom, but it was definitely there. Apple Bloom could swear his gleamed in the light, and the other one... it was downright impossible for fur to just change color so abruptly like that! Pale pink, and then sharply brown, green and sandy yellow, in crisp detail. But touching it only revealed a soft, plush, warm thigh. The hairs in the fur seemed totally normal, other than how they changed color halfway down their length, at exactly the right moment to make a picture out of it.
“Uhh, thuse me?” the pink pony said, warily.
“Oh! Sorry, I just—” Apple Bloom jerked her hoof back, smiling awkwardly. “I jus’ wanted to see if’n it was painted on or what. Maybe it’s like, part of your pony magic?”
“Mashic?” the girl said, leaning towards Apple Bloom curiously, with wide eyes.
“Yeah, even we uh, normal ponies get some kinda magic thing,” Apple Bloom answered uncertainly, not sure on how to indicate the lack of wings or the lack of a horn, that she and this pink pony both shared as part of their earth pony heritage, or whatever you called it. “I guess yours could be makin’ a tree appear on your... uh... butt?” Apple Bloom said at last, in regard to the strange mark this pony had.
“Hunno,” the pony repeated, looking at the thing on her rump again. “Ith was on my hclotheth tho!”
“Hecklo......what now?” Apple Bloom asked in confusion, batting at her own ear with a wrist.
The girl crossed her eyes, looking at her own short snout. “Hcl...clh...clhoes.”
“Oh, clothes! ” Apple Bloom declared.
“Lemmethee,” the girl suddenly demanded, getting her deep blue green eyes right in Apple Bloom’s face.
Apple Bloom shied back, yet the other girl continued to assert, “Sthay i’ again, stho I ca’ thee!”
Apple Bloom blinked at that, and then carefully pronounced “clothes,” so the girl could see her do it. It was actually a pretty hard word, for a pony’s mouth at least.
“Florthes,” the girl said carefully, but it obviously didn’t work.
“Clothes,” Apple Bloom repeated.
“Glohthes,” the girl tried.
“You’re getting closer!” Apple Bloom said cheerfully. “But what were you saying about your clothes?”
“Justh...” the girl adopted a cute pony frown. “Loth of peeful have ha zheeme...a pa’ch hthey wear, lihke a sthyle. Thith htree wazh short of my fing. Thith parlm three. ...three. I mee’ Dree. Dree. Dthree... thith thing! ” she exclaimed in frustration, pointing at her rear emphatically with a forehoof.
“Wiszh I broughth my hclothesh wif me, coul’ show you,” she added, in a disappointed tone.
“But it’s on your body now?” Apple Bloom said uncertainly. “I dunno why any kinda magic would do something like that. How’s your fur know what patch you were styling? You didn’t have like a tattoo or anything, did you?”
“No,” the girl repeated, blushing self consciously, “Hunno whacoolbe.”
“Well, don’t worry your head just ‘cause I brought it up. Probably ain’t all that important,” Apple Bloom shrugged, adding with a smile, “But it sure looks cute on you!”
“Really?” the girl said with a bright smile, and then added with a more reserved blush, “Thangs, I fink.”
“Mah name’s Apple Bloom!” Apple Bloom continued cheerfully, sticking out a hoof. Then Apple Bloom decided against that, when the girl gone pony didn’t know what to do with her own hoof. “Ah don’t think I caught your name,” Apple Bloom prompted gently.
“Peinhya Gohl—” the pony quickly answered, then cut off, staring at her own nose again. She sank her shoulders with a disgusted sigh. “Terll you when I cahn thalk aghain,” the light pink pony girl muttered bleakly.
“Hey,” came a third voice above them, lower in tone and more morose, “Mom.”
Both ponies, Apple Bloom and the other pony looked up, to see the mulberry colored girl, who was fully human, having walked up to stand beside them.
“Lemme do the talking for now,” she said to the other pony. “I’m still human after all.”
“Thansh giddo,” the softer pink pony girl said, with an awkwardly appeasing smile that didn’t really convey any genuine enthusiasm behind it.
Apple Bloom smiled uneasily, then blinked. “Wait, mom?!” she exclaimed in surprise, taking another long and hard look at the little pink pony.
The pony blinked back at her. “Yesh?” she offered in confusion.
“Sorry, ah...” Bloom backed off and rubbed the side of her head in consternation, trying to not be a complete idiot about this.
“I forget how ponies are of all ages,” Apple Bloom explained, “Even though you look about the same age as me. Of course you’re her mom! Noi is like, a million years old too, though she ain’t got no kid. But, I mean, your kid is even uhm—” Apple Bloom stared up at the tall cerise girl, declaring, “You’re even older than I was!
“...than ah am ,” Apple Bloom corrected herself.
“What, were you a student?” that girl asked, looking curiously down at Apple Bloom.
“Yeah, I was just starting mah first year though,” Apple Bloom said self consciously. “This whole pony thing just sorta got in the way of that.”
“I’m just a junior, so I’m not that much older than you are,” the girl said, in an annoyed tone. “I thought you meant you were in like, junior high!”
“Ain’t that young,” Apple Bloom admitted in relief, “But ah dunno why I gotta be the one making all these decisions nowadays. Just because I been a pony longer’n everyone else? I ain’t even graduated Geometry!”
“Fine, I’ll make sure not to ask you to help with my Trig homework,” the girl said unimpressed, rolling her eyes.
Apple Bloom gave her a thoughtful look.
“Okay, sorry this is bugging me,” Apple Bloom said, scrunching in frustration, “Ah still don’t know either of your names! There’s Elias, an’ Truffle, an’ uh... Cotton something.”
“I’m Berryshine Colada,” the tall human girl said smoothly, “And my mom’s name is Piña. It’s Spanish for pineapple.”
“Pineapple, huh?” Apple Bloom mused, looking at the round pink rump of Piña again. “Kinda odd that you got a coconut tree, not a pineapple plant, then.”
“Ith thropical,” Piña remarked, with a resigned look to her eyes as she glanced at it. “I boog peethle for highland tourth. Bethighs, I din ge’ tchoosh my hname.”
“You got to choose mine,” Berryshine said with a curious shrug. “Why did you pick Berryshine, anyway?”
“Becauth you’re...”
Piña lifted a hoof as if confused, rubbing at her chin.
“You thook a shine to... berrieth?” she tried, with a hopeful smile.
“You don’t even remember why you named me after berries?” Berryshine said angrily. Piña just blushed and looked away. “I can’t believe you, mom!” she griped, turning away and crossing her arms.
“Hey, it ain’t her—” Apple Bloom started to say, but then remarked, “Ah guess it is technically her fault, but that don’t mean”
“Ith fine!” Piña assured Apple Bloom. “Thees a teenhager.”
“Sorry if we can’t all be happy ponies,” Berryshine said with a bitter edge to her voice. “Maybe I’d cheer up if I had even one chance to relax once and a while,”
“No’ thith abou’ thcool aghain!” Piña said in a resigned dismay. “Ith very imphortant tha hyu shtuy...shu...shutudy.”
“Yeah I’ll get right to it, soon as I’m done freaking out over you turning into a pony,” Berry asserted grumpily. “Over there!” she added, stalking away from the two of them to stare at the wall, or... something.
Apple Bloom watched after her worriedly, but Piña just sighed, seeming familiar with this sort of attitude. That in itself was sort of worrying. “Theesh...” Piña said resolutely, “My daugh’er ish sho srs allhe thime, ish no’ goo’ foll her... for... her. Buthas jussa hway she iz.”
“Attention everypony!” announced Twilight Sparkle, drawing the attention of Apple Bloom, Piña, and everyone else in the room. “Er, I mean,” Twilight said touching her mouth with a finger for some reason, “Everybody, I would now like to take some time to explain my role in what has happened, or is currently happening to all of you...”
About ten minutes earlier, Scootaloo was so excited about the newest new pony. “Oh, man it’s gonna be so awesome!” she cheered, circling the still quite tall half-pony, literally walking on air. Scootaloo’s new hoodie was weird and didn’t fit perfect, but it was still cool since she could have a hood for her wings now too, and that meant that it was easy to stick ‘em out, and that meant it was easy to fly!
“You’re gonna love being like this, Cotton Cloudy,” Scootaloo said excitedly, “You can fly, and... you can fly! And it’s awesome! Kinda sucks though, but it’s still awesome! There weren’t any pegasi before, and I was the only one, but now you’re here! Isn’t that just so radical? You’re not gonna believe what it’s like. Can you move your wings yet? Those are wings by the way, even though they look really weird, they’re gonna be just like this once the feathers grow in. Hey, are you okay? What are you doing? Are you crying? What’s wrong?!”
Scootaloo’s excitement died as she landed heavily, stumbling to a halt. Cotton Cloudy was this girl’s name. She was still changing, so that meant that it just started today. But why was she breaking down right in front of Scootaloo, her eyes welling up with tears?
“I don’ want tho be a pony!” she cried in sheer mewling distress.
“Please don’t cry!” Scootaloo urged frantically, “I—I’m sorry! What did I say? I said something stupid, didn’t I,”
The girl sank to her... knees, but then tilted back onto her haunches, because she had those now, sort of. She tried to tell Scootaloo, but Scootaloo couldn’t understand with her trying to talk through the crying.
“Please stop, I didn’t mean it!” begged Scootaloo, climbing up the girl’s loosely clothed side to entreat her. Now Scootaloo was getting upset too! “I can’t stop it nobody can!” Scootaloo said anxiously, trying to wrestle her dark emotions back deep down inside. “I’m sorry, please, I—just was so happy I wasn’t the only one I’m sorry...”
And now Cotton Cloudy was worried about her ! The weepy half pony tried to reach out, to comfort Scootaloo somehow—probably trying to pet her—and then Cotton just jerked back, as her weird half transformed hands came into her eyesight. Scootaloo hated that look of horror that flashed on her face, when Cloudy was reminded of what was happening to her. Scootaloo hated feeling like that, herself. But what could she do that would help Cotton Cloudy feel better?!
“Everything alright over here?” Applejack asked, striding up to the two of them.
“I ju—I just—she doesn’t want to be a p–pony, and I jus’,” Scootaloo tore herself away from Cotton and faced Applejack, wiping at her eyes with a foreleg trying to stop getting so stupid upset. “Jus’ kept bothering her, and now it’s my fault and she’s—”
The miserable orange filly squeaked as she found herself grabbed from behind, and unceremoniously pulled into a close embrace. Cotton Cloudy hugged Scootaloo to her breast, like a large pony doll. It would have been a medium sized pony doll, but... Cotton Cloudy was a lot smaller now.
Scootaloo didn’t understand why Cotton was hugging her now! Wasn’t she just too upset to do this a second ago? Scootaloo never knew what to do when people got all touchy feely, and she just sort of looked up at the po—the girl holding her, with her short little muzzle, and her clumsy hands with their one large finger on them.
“Can’ do this much longer,” Cotton said with a tearful smile, “Just wanted to... whirle I shtill can...”
“Hey, don’t say ponies can’t hug!” Scootaloo protested trying to look backwards, trying not to blush at her compromised situation, “Or I’ll sic Sweetie Belle on you!”
Cotton laughed shakily, her tear stained cheeks forgotten for now, saying, “Sorry, ish just so weird, never in my whole life would have shushpected... and why ponies?!”
Applejack eyeballed the two uneasily, but had to run on over to put out some other fires.
Scootaloo shrugged as best as she could. “I dunno. Guess Twilight is gonna tell us over there, but spoilers: she already tried to tell me, and it was way boring. But I’m just saying it could be a lot worse. Ponies’re actually way cooler than you think.”
“Really?” Cotton said, in a warily hopeful tone.
Scootaloo squirmed out of Cotton’s grasp all casual-like, saying, “Yeah, I mean c’mon, wings? Haven’t you ever wanted to fly?”
“Well, I hahve...” Cotton Cloudy remarked thoughtfully. “Everywhone has flying dreamsh, right?”
Scootaloo blinked at that.
“Y-yeah, sure!” Scootaloo said, probably the last person who should talk about what normal people dream about. She heard that was true too, from... somewhere, so yeah it was probably true. “Don’t worry, once you get back on your feet, you won’t even miss your hands!” Scootaloo assured her confidently.
“...that was a lie,” Scootaloo then admitted guiltily, “But it really isn’t so terrible, just really, really...”
“Differhent?” Cotton posited.
“Strange,” Scootaloo decided. “Anyway, sorry about freaking out about you. It’s just, if you look around, you’re the only one besides me with wings. You know how freaking lonely it gets in the sky?”
Cotton looked at her blankly.
Scootaloo facehooved. “Of course you don’t,” she said, “But it’s like... it’s even boring up there. There’s nothing to dodge! Anyway, so, sorry and uh, yeah.”
“You made me feel better,” Cotton said with a simple smile. “Thanksh.”
“O-oh, and don’t worry about talking!” Scootaloo added raising a self conscious hoof. “You’ll sound dumb, but ponies have super... lips or something. Once your mouth’s done changing, you can work on it, and get back sounding like your old self in no time!”
“Ssh,” Cotton told her with a nervous urgency. “I thingk the purfle gurl is gonna talk.”
Scootaloo looked over her shoulder, and there was purple girl Twilight Sparkle herself, standing over by a chalkboard which apparantly she’d brought with her, currently in the process of clearing her throat.
“Ugh,” Scootaloo groaned, with her shoulders slumping.
“Attention everypony!” announced Twilight Sparkle. “Er, I mean,” Twilight said touching her mouth with a finger for some reason, “Everybody, I would now like to take some time to explain my role in what has happened...”
Not too long ago, Sweetie Belle could not believe this. Sweetie Belle stared across the room, filled with worry. The room was filled with worry, but she was also filled with more worry. When the police came charging in, Sweetie thought it was the worst of it, but when they brought more ponies with them? She thought that was the worst of it. There was someone still changing into a pony: a blue haired white girl, and there was a girl who was totally a pony, shades of pink all over. There was a greyer colored boy pony... stallion? And a purple haired, blue furred, unicorn mare.
Sweetie simply could not believe that of all these eight ponies, that “mare” had to be the only other one who ended up with a horn! 6 out of 8 of the ponies were just “pony” ponies! And even Scootaloo could have a nice conversation sorta, with the pony who had wings like she did. There were so many things Sweetie wanted to find out, if differences in her were because she was a unicorn, or because she was just herself. Sweetie would have appreciated being some kind of special pony, and not have felt huffy about it at all, but that meant the one pony she really wanted to talk to was... Elias. The one pony, and what happened to Elias was something Sweetie couldn’t even think of how to approach.
Hi, do you need any help learning how to be a girl? What’s weirder, being a pony or being a girl? What can I say to you that wouldn’t upset you even more? Oh, and did you know you would look so lovely in a dress?
It was pretty clear Elias wasn’t okay with this, and she was feeling really isolated considering many others shared her transformation, but none shared her change in gender. Sweetie had to do something, not just for her own curiosity! But what? From how Apple Bloom interacted with her, Elias didn’t seem to like talking, even though she sounded perfectly fine, so the worst thing Sweetie could do is ask her questions, or make Elias move in ways that... reminded her. Elias couldn’t hide it from anyone, and certainly not from herself.
She looked so vulnerable and alone. Really, what Elias needed was a reminder that she was a pony, and that she had people all around her, sharing in that situation. But not a reminder that involved talking. Or singing. Elias just needed someone to help her tune it down a bit, give her back some semblance of normality.
So that’s why Sweetie Belle bit down on a blanket laying on the couch, and trotted over to Elias, dragging it behind her. To make contact with the only other pony who had a horn, to ease some of the quivering fear in Sweetie’s heart, and because Elias really sort of really needed it. None of the ponies here had asked about it, but they were all kind of unsure whether they should ask about clothing, and humans just didn’t seem to realize ponies were... not just cute animals.
The purple-haired powder blue pony looked up in surprise, as Sweetie flung out the blanket over her. It landed sort of rumpled, and only half on the other pony, so Sweetie had to methodically go around pulling all the corners of it just right, but finally Elias was relatively covered. Just a lump under the blanket, with the head of a cute unicorn girl.
“Thought you could use something to cover your butt,” Sweetie Belle said frankly. She couldn’t really think of a more poetic way to put it.
Elias looked at the blanket over her rear end with a sober expression. Then she gave Sweetie Belle a grateful look, and Elias opened her mouth, but then closed it, looking worried. Then opened it again, but Sweetie held up a hoof, saying,
“No, no, no, you don’t have to thank me. I know it’s still kind of... weird for you to talk. You can tell me later, after you... feel better.” What? No, that was terrible. Why did Sweetie even say that? Sweetie scrunched her muzzle in constertation, mind racing as she tried to think of what to say that wouldn’t end up putting her foot in her mouth.
Hoof. Hoof in her mouth.
“Want some hay?” Sweetie asked, with a big, fake smile. She facehooved then and said, “No, I mean—sorry... I was coming over to ask you that, because it’s something ponies can eat, and I thought you might feel better if you... tried some.”
Sweetie was about to hurriedly blurt, “No, nevermind,” about-face, and retreat, when Elias uttered the softest little, most delicate,
“okay.”
Sweetie couldn’t believe how adorable it was.