You might think that being transformed into a fingerless beast of burden would be a terrible excuse to throw a party. You would think wrong. This Friday evening all the ponies came to understand that Pinkie Pie could throw a hell of a party, whether they liked it or not. So unbeknownst to Cheerilee, the afternoon before her unsettling discovery in her bathroom mirror, the humans and the ponies, new and old, threw one hell of a party.
The first thing you would notice is that the ponies, the new ones at least, would have spent the last few days of their lives in a craps shoot, of whether they figured out the right things for a pony to eat. But with a clumsy but well intentioned approximation of Equestrian cuisine, as filtered through a human baker’s assistant’s understanding of Twilight Sparkle’s best attempt to explain it, things were different. Actual baked goods, chock full of actual sugar and actual hay didn’t just whet everyone’s appetite, but filled that aching pit that had grown in them, that they did not yet know how to fill.
You wouldn’t think it was a good idea to play games and goof around, when many ponies were still having a hard time trying to walk, but in fact, many ponies had spent the last few days helpless, and wearily idle. It was a great excuse to try to walk, and there’s no pressure on anyone to perform in a simple party game! Even Simon Says was set up so that nobody lost, or felt left out. And say what you will about ponies trying to dance, when they can’t even walk, but as silly as it looked, it was more exercise than many of them had been able to accomplish in days, or even weeks! Even Cotton Cloudy got into it, if nothing else to show how it really doesn’t work to try to dance when you’re in the middle of transforming into a little pony.
Pinkie Pie arrived that day with a great purpose in mind. She threw the very first “Surprise! You’re a Pony” party. Everyone who was a pony hated and feared the idea. And ten minutes into it, everyone was flailing about and having a great time.
Even Elias was... looking cautiously optimistic. She, or he as such the case may be, was sticking to Sweetie Belle like glue, and not just because Sweetie had a horn. Actually, it turns out that Elias couldn’t use her horn either, so at least Sweetie wasn’t alone in that. But, two days wasn’t enough to tell if Elias could do it, so it still made Sweetie nervous that maybe she was just abnormal.
Scootaloo was the best dancer. She hardly even caused any property damage!
And Apple Bloom was... tired. She found herself halfway through a cupcake, and just leaning her cheek against the table, looking at it listlessly. “Aww,” came Pinkie Pie’s voice behind her. “Why’s such a cute little pony looking so sad?”
“Oh, hi Pinkie,” Apple Bloom said in mild interest, turning to look at the girl whose huge face loomed near. “Ain’t nothing wrong, ah’m just a bit worn out lately.”
“You wanna talk about it?” Pinkie said, in an uncharacteristically mellow voice, sinking down in the chair next to the one Apple Bloom was precariously perched on. Abandoning her cupcake, Apple Bloom slumped down in the chair, sighing, and looking up at Pinkie Pie, who like every human being now, towered so high overhead.
“Everybody’s been changing into ponies,” Apple Bloom said unhappily, “An’ ah just don’t know what to do about it. Some people are upset, and some are hurting, and... and what about the ones the police ain’t found yet? There’s lots of scared people out there and the only thing they did wrong was be a pony like me.”
“Maybe!” Pinkie admitted boisterously, “But why do you have to do anything about it?”
“Well somebody has to!” Apple Bloom protested. “Ah’m the first one who changed into a pony, so it’s sorta me who’s gotta be doing it.”
“But you didn’t throw this party!” Pinkie exclaimed in shock, “Are you saying this party just appeared all by itself?!”
“No, whattya mean?” Apple Bloom whined in a hurt and confused tone.
“Well, if you’re the only one who has to do everything, then I guess I didn’t do anything at all,” Pinkie said snarkily, “So this party must have just appeared by magic!”
Apple Bloom blushed and looked away. “Aww,” Pinkie whimpered unhappily, “Don’t be that way, that’s not what I meant. See all these ponies around here? See how much fun they’re having?”
Apple Bloom took a gander around, and... wow, was pin the tail on the donkey really appropriate for the current situation? At least it was velcro and felt, and not an actual pin. Amusingly, it looked like whoever took their turn last had discovered that Piña Colada’s flank had similar properties to felt. The pink pony was currently turning around in slow clumsy circles trying to snag the second tail in her teeth. She wasn’t upset though—far from it, her greatest obstacle was she kept laughing right as she came close to biting down on it.
Sweetie Belle was over there with that other unicorn named Elias, but also leading some ponies in drawing exercises, drawing with your mouth that is. It wasn’t the most active of tasks, but Elias actually gave a bright smile when she—uh... when she lifted up her paper and on it was a mostly legible rocket ship. Scootaloo was in the living room, cutting a rug with Truffle, and she hadn’t danced with anyone, much less a boy, since the Fall Formal! He was falling over his own hooves, but every time he did, he’d laugh it off, and Scootaloo would patiently stop to pull him back to his feet.
“It does look like they’re having fun,” Apple Bloom said distantly. “So glad you came. Things were all serious and sad, and just like that you got people’s worries off of what they were worrying about. It’s like magic, I gotta say.”
“Aww, shucks,” Pinkie blushed, “It’s not magic, just a little nudge here and there. And party favors. But I mean—gosh! All these people and ponies who are having fun, they’re doing it without me!”
“And... that bothers you?” Apple Bloom asked eyeing the pink party girl.
“No, and that’s just it!” Pinkie declared with a triumphant smile. “I don’t have to do anything about it. I just came here, and gave them the chance, and now they’re having fun all on their own. I don’t have to do anything because they’re helping themselves!”
“Well, that’s mighty convenient ah guess,” Apple Bloom admitted. “But what’s that got to do with me?”
“Well, once upon a time,” Pinkie began, touching a finger to her lip for... some reason. “There was a young girl named Apple Bloom. She turned into a pony, and needed a loootta help, and a lotta people helped her. Her friends, and her family, and her family’s friends. But then they started turning into ponies too, and they needed her help now. So she helped them, and now they can run around, and talk, and they know how to dress themselves, and Scootaloo can even fly!”
“Right?” Apple Bloom edged in, “An’ now ah have to—”
“And now,” Pinkie cut her off, “Just like you don’t need help, they don’t need your help! They’re having all sorts of fun without you, and when other people need help, they can go to your friends, without even asking you! I put up the confetti and streamers, but you,” Pinkie touched a finger to Apple Bloom’s pliable chest, “You all are the real party. It doesn’t happen without ya.”
“So, what you’re saying is,” Apple Bloom said, curling a hoof over Pinkie’s wrist, “Ah need to help people help themselves, and then I don’t gotta do nothing, whatsoever?”
“Yep!” Pinkie chirped. “If you keep trying to do something, you’ll get all do doned out, so you gotta just relax and let it happen, and take care of yourself instead.”
“But what about the people who need help?” Apple Bloom protested, “That ah ain’t helped yet? There are gonna be so many, if what Twilight said is right!”
“Well,” Pinkie Pie offered in a speculative tone, “Remember all those people you already helped?”
“Oh, so—” Apple Bloom stopped, and stared down at her hoof thoughtfully.
“All you really need to do is trust your friends, and take care of yourself,” Pinkie concluded, “Everything else will pretty much work out on its own. When you think about your friends, and all the people you’ve helped so far, and what they could be doing to help, don’t you feel less worried and down in the dumps?”
“Yeah ah guess I...” Apple Bloom yawned, despite herself. “Guess ah do,” she said. “An’ you’re right.”
She gave the bright pink girl a soft look, and added, “I cain see why Applejack likes you so much Pinkie; you’re real smart when you slow down a titch.”
“Titch!” Pinkie Pie cheered, “I love that word! It’s even funner than tisket!”
Apple Bloom blinked.
“That being said,” Apple Bloom offered slowly, “I think ah do know what I’m gonna do.”
“Yees?” Pinkie asked curiously, leaning over so extremely, that she was almost upside down.
“Ah’m gonna go to sleep,” Apple Bloom stated to the pink girl, unceremoniously standing up, then pushing the chair away from the table so she’d have room to jump down. “It’s way past mah bedtime,” she explained, “Like, ten o’clock at night, an’ ah usually gotta go to bed around 9 if’n ah wanna be up around dawn.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” Pinkie said cautiously. “Does every pony have to go to beddie bye early now?”
Apple Bloom vaguely nodded. “Yeah, uh, ‘beddie bye’ sure. Ponies just sleep more’n humans do. This party’s been keeping everypony up, but ah’m sure they’ll all be passed out before midnight.”
“Hmm, I didn’t think of that,” Pinkie Pie said in thoughtful frustration. “Maybe I can wind things down a—” she paused and grinned with a conspiratorial giggle, “—titch!”
Apple Bloom just eyed the giggling girl, not really sure what to make of Pinkie Pie’s sense of humor. “That’d be swell,” she said to Pinkie Pie, yawning again. “An’ auhm... ah hope you cain take care of the rest of this party here without me. Like a friend?”
“Reporting for duty madam!” Pinkie saluted smartly. “This party will be wrapped up so tight, you can bounce a quarter off of it!”
Apple Bloom really figured that she’d find these jokes a lot funnier, if she wasn’t so muzzy headed with the need for sleep. “Thanks Pinkie,” she said, “For being here even if we didn’t expect ya. An’ g’night.” With that, Apple Bloom trotted across the room, feeling a lot more light hearted, and a lot heavier in her eyelids after Pinkie helped her out there.
And as her luck would have it, on her way out of the kitchen, Apple Bloom spotted something that drove the sleep right out of her. There was a dog creeping around in their living room!
He must have came through the front door. Apple Bloom’d had such brave words about dogs before, and this was only a little dog, but that only meant she was looking at a carnivorous beast almost fully her own size, rather than a towering behemoth, and the first thing it did when she came trotting into the room is look right at her.
“W—where’d did you come from, lil’ fella?” Apple Bloom said in a cajolingly saccharine tone, taking a nervous step back, wondering if she should run or call for help, or what.
“Oh, hey Apple Bloom,” the dog said to her. “Don’t worry, I’m with Twilight. It’s alright if I come in, right? She said I need to stay out, but this sounds like a pretty sweet party. I figure with all this crazy stuff going on, nobody’s gonna be freaking out over a talking dog.”
Apple Bloom stared blankly, as her fear of the dog just crumbled into a dizzying dissaray. A talking dog? Twilight had a talking dog? He wasn’t gonna bite her? But he could still bite her, even if he talked. But he just asked her permission? Why was he asking her? Why did Twilight have a magic, talking dog? Was Apple Bloom just communing with animals now that she was one? No, but she couldn’t even talk to the horses, so that’s silly. A talking... what??
The purple and green dog adopted an alarmed look at... whatever he saw in Apple Bloom’s reaction. He sat on his haunches and waved his forepaws in front of him, saying, “Okay, okay don’t freak out, I didn’t think it was that serious. I’ll just go in my trailer, and we can all pretend this never happened.”
Apple Bloom pulled her jaw closed and blurted out, “No... what? How are you talking?!”
“With my mouth?” the dog said incredulously. Apple Bloom stared a moment more before he gave a coughing laugh, then saying in that gravelly yet childishly high voice of his, “I have wanted to use that line ever since I came here! But no really, it took me a while to learn, but basically it’s just like growling and besides that, it’s all in the tongue.”
Apple Bloom nodded, admitting, “Well yeah, the tongue’s real important, but wha?! When did you—where did you come from?!”
“Equestria!” the dog responded in a bright pseudo-bark. “I’m Twilight Sparkle’s number one assistant!”
“D-do dogs talk in Equestria?” Apple Bloom responded, drawing cautiously closer to this strangely cheerful talking dog.
He shook his head, saying, “Not usually, no. But I’m not a dog where I came from!” He flashed a toothy smile, announcing, “I’m really a fire breathing dragon!”
Apple Bloom tried to find the words for quite a while, before finally turning away and dropping her gaze to the floor with a lash of her tail, sighing, “Ah’m just gonna go to bed.”
“Heh,” the dog huffed smugly, putting a paw on his chest, “I knew things were too crazy for people to freak out.”
“You better stay in your trailer for now,” Apple Bloom grumbled. “You’re just lucky ah’m so tired.” The dog tilted his head questioningly as Apple Bloom told him, “Ah’ll tell Twilight in the morning that another one of her big fat secrets is out, and then she can properly introduce ya... or however it works for dog...dragons.”
“Well, okay,” the dog said unsurely, but Apple Bloom glared at him, saying,
“There’s new ponies in here, who haven’t been a pony more’n a day, and they don’t know up from down now. An’ they really would freak out if a pony eating predator half their size walked in the room.”
“Oh, right,” the dog said in a more subdued realization, casting his gaze away. “I was thinking from the whole—you know—talking angle, but I am a dog. I didn’t think about that.”
“Just please, go,” Apple Bloom pleaded, “Ah’ll make it better. Just wait till tomorrow.”
Not too reluctantly the dog walked on silent paw pads out the door, which Apple Bloom closed and latched behind him. A smart dog like him probably figured out how to pull the door latch, but she didn’t lock it, because a smart dog like him would probably know better than to try and break in after agreeing to leave.
Apple Bloom didn’t know where everyone was gonna sleep, or what tomorrow was gonna bring, but Pinkie was right. They could figure that out all on their own, and if Apple Bloom awoke with seven other ponies in bed with her, that’d be lots better than missing out on sleep. And maybe she could even have a dream, find the dream princess, and tell her about this monumental news. The Twilight Princess was gonna have a lot of company pretty soon, if the human Twilight’s speech held any truth to it at all.
That night, Apple Bloom did have a dream. She dreamt of a purple pony princess: a crazy one, and a scared one.
“Ah thought you’d be happy!” Apple Bloom exclaimed in distress. Smooth stone columns, big, bright glass windows, warm sunlit wood shelves surrounded them, filled with bits and pieces of the princess’s treasured memories. The two ponies stood, one little and yellow, and one tall, graceful and purple, in the princess’s favorite library dream. Only one pony was standing actually, and the other seemed to be crouching down on the floor, and trying to hide beneath her own wings.
“You’ve been so lonely so long,” Apple Bloom whined at the princess in confusion, “And now there’s gonna be so many pony dreams. We could go find ‘em right now!”
“I don’t want to!” the princess whinnied, hiding further under her wings. “I’m not ready there’s—so many of them! I can’t meet four new ponies. What if I say something? I say things! I always do! Or do I? I’m so confused!”
“Calm down, Princess Twilight!” Apple Bloom said, in worried aggrivation, rearing up to lean on the curled up frightened ball of princess pony. “You don’t have to! Ah just thought you wanted to. What’s wrong? Is something wrong with them?”
“No, it’s just...” the princess peeked out from under her wing, saying, “You met me, and—and that was fine. And I met Sweetie Belle and I got this feeling. Like I was falling. And Scootaloo, and Noi I just—things happen that I can’t control! I can’t make you dream what you’re not dreaming. Before, it was only me, and everything made sense! I just don’t want... I don’t know what you’re going to say I don’t know what to do!”
“Ah don’t understand princess,” Apple Bloom said sadly, settling down to lay against the princess’s side. “Ah ain’t gonna push you though. Never intended it. Just wanted to let you know. If’n we’re measurin’ right, gonna be a lot more ponies dreamin’ up stuff.”
“I did hear whispers...” the princess said semi-cryptically, uncurling and standing to her full, graceful height. “But what do I do?!” she asked in uncertain fear.
Apple Bloom started to answer, then rubbed her forehead, uttering, “Pinkie Pie...”
The princess tilted her head. “How do I do... ‘Pinkie Pie?’” she asked cluelessly.
“No, ah mean—” Apple Bloom clomped her hoof down looking up at the princess. “You gotta think of it like a party, and everyone dreamin’ is a party guest, and ah don’t really know if that’s the best analogy, but basically, you gotta do nothing.”
“Do... nothing?” the princess repeated incredulously.
“Do nothing,” Apple Bloom repeated firmly.
“Is that something I can do?” the princess worried, fidgeting on her hooves anxiously, “Do nothing? I’m the princess of dreams, I think! I can’t just do nothing. What if they all find me? What if they’re in trouble? What if they want me to wake up, and I can’t?”
“Princess, I cain’t find you, when you don’t wanna be found,” Apple Bloom said frankly. “An’ if people are in trouble, ain’t that just a nightmare? People deal with those all the time. You gotta let ‘em uh... have fun themselves? No that ain’t right, um...”
There was a pause, and the princess said, “Maybe I ca—”
“Can’t you just look at our dreams?” Apple Bloom asked hopefully. “You don’t have to walk up to anyone and say hi or anything, just like, watch over them and just help a little if’n they’re in trouble? Like a dream um... supervisor?”
“Yes! Yes I am almost entirely certain that is a thing that I do,” the princess declared. “Excellent idea, Apple Bloom! I have the strangest feeling I have had it before. Which is good! Yes, maybe I can... add some passageways in my library here, yes maybe a special book portal like in that... story about the place.”
“Story about the place?” Apple Bloom asked blankly.
“I can’t remember, sorry,” the princess hung her head.
“Listen, sorry ah upset you,” Apple Bloom said placatingly, brushing her tail against the princess’s ethereal nonsense. “Why don’t you just relax for now, and maybe Sweetie and Scoots will stop by if’n they get to sleeping.”
“What if another pony comes here to the library?” the princess worried. “I can’t give them these books, even if they want to check them out, because I can’t remember what’s inside!”
“To be honest, you might have a while to worry about that,” Apple Bloom commented confidently. “Ah was the only one who ever managed to find out how to reach you, without someone else showing them first. Not to toot mah own horn, but it just don’t seem like the sort of thing most folks would be just stumbling upon. I was lost in the darkness before I found you! Sweetie never was in the darkness... and Scootaloo sorta uh... the point is, this stuff takes practice, and nopony besides us three... four have been ponies long enough, to make it this far. And Noi barely knows when she’s dreamin’ still.”
Sweetie Belle came to them eventually, bringing a book in her mouth like a dog, a book that had actual stuff in it. She’d been helping the princess with her library, by reading stuff and trying to dream up what she read, and it worked out pretty good even if it wasn’t any good for the books that were already there. The princess was overjoyed of course, temporarily clearing the tense panic in the back of her eyes as she sought the proper place to shelve a book on philosophers of the 20th century.
But before Sweetie and Apple Bloom could say convince the princess to relax about the notion of more ponies showing up, above the three of them, there could be heard the sound of a filly hollering, growing in volume. Scootaloo came crashing in through one of the round windows overhead leading out to the sunlight. “Woahoah!” she shouted, cartwheeling into a bookshelf, as Twilight spun around and shouted angrily,
“Rainbow D—! Oh, Scootaloo?”
Scootaloo emerged from a pile of worryingly blank books, dusting off herself with her wings. “You can fly a whole lot faster in a dream!” she said with enthusiastic cheer. She looked between them, and added, “Were you... doing anything important just now?”
“We were just talkin’” Apple Bloom said. “Princess Twi here’s gonna hold off on meetin’ the other ponies, on account of she’s not used to this yet.”
“You told her about them?” Scootaloo asked intrigued. “What does she think is causing it?”
“What I think,” the princess said, moving to stand to the side of both littler ponies, “Is that anypony who really wants to visit me can figure out how to find my library. And if they find it, then I’ll be okay. But they won’t, so I’m safe.”
“That’s... um... one way to think about it?” Scootaloo said giving the princess an uncertain look.
“How about we help you, princess!” Sweetie Belle suggested with a widening smile.
“Wait, what?” the princess said with slight unease.
“Huh, that’s a good point Sweetie,” Apple Bloom stated, strutting back and forth as she spoke, “We’re basically already dream princesses in training. So if any ponies are in trouble, we can go help them, if’n it’s too much for you!”
The princess smiled sheepishly, saying, “I really don’t—”
“And I bet the other ponies will have a lot of crazy dreams!” Scootaloo put in with an enthusiastic hoof pump. “They’ll be having nightmares because they’re not used to being ponies yet, and we can kick their asses!”
“I guess that um...?” the princess said uncertainly, looking at the three with some memory of concern in her eyes. “I can’t think why you couldn’t do that,” she admitted at last.
“I sure would love to help Elias feel better, and maybe she’s not as quiet and shut down in her dreams,” Sweetie offered, looking around the tall, sunlit library halls they were in, with sturdy stone construction and solid oak shelves. “You can learn a lot about someone by what they dream about.”
“Ain’t some of that stuff private, though?” Apple Bloom said in a concerned tone.
“Yes! Private!” the princess interrupted. “So you probably shouldn’t really—”
“We’ll just have to swear a solemn oath, not to tell anyone about someone’s private dreams,” Sweetie stated seriously. “We should do that anyway, because I know Apple Bloom already can find other people’s dreams if they’re ponies.”
“We’ll be like the late... night patrol!” Scootaloo suggested hopefully.
“That’s definitely a working title,” Apple Bloom offered with a wince. Have to figure out something really amazing to call each other, just like the Cutie Major Crusaders, except in regard to their new responsibilities.
“You don’t have to, really,” the purple princess practically apologized to them, “I’ll just um... I mean, there probably won’t be too many nightmares, right? Am I even supposed to stop those? I think I am.”
Apple Bloom was stumped at that, but Scootaloo spoke up pretty quickly, stepping closer to the princess, saying, “No, there are gonna be a lot of nightmares, and they need our help. You were never human, princess. So, you don’t know what it’s like for us. People will be upset, and scared, and they won’t know what to do. I mean, becoming a pony? I was—okay I wasn’t fine with it, but I had my friends to help me, and my mom. Some people don’t have... anything.”
Apple Bloom nodded at that, recalling the somewhat troubling story of Noi, who could have had a seriously bad time if she hadn’t been so emotionally resilient when it happened to her.
“I don’t think I could live with myself if someone hurt themselves,” Scootaloo said apprehensively. “People are gonna be stupid and stuff, and you can’t do anything about that, but if I could have helped and I just didn’t because I wasn’t supposed to?”
“But what if something happens to you?” Princess Twilight said in a frightened tone. “You were my first friends! I like you! I don’t want anything bad to happen to you!”
“It’s not like it won’t happen anyway,” Sweetie pointed out somewhat bleakly, “We already go into each other’s dreams. One day we’re gonna end up in someone else’s, now that there are more ponies. Isn’t it better to be prepared for that, so we can do some good, instead of just trying to hide from it?”
“We’ll be careful,” Apple Bloom said, rearing up to push against the princess’s shoulder consolingly, “Plus we know plenty of ways to get outta someone’s dream if’n it gets bad. Worst comes to worst, we’ll have a nightmare with someone else, and when it’s over, we both wake up and do better the next time. Dreams are important but... they’re not reality!”
Stepping back from Apple Bloom who dropped to all fours again, the princess looking at the three of them with a guarded expression on her expressive pony snout. The three fillies looked back at her in the suddenly serious moment, with big, worried eyes, wondering if they crossed a line somewhere.
“Oh what the heck,” the princess said with an agreeable smile, crouching down to the three of them, saying, “I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want to, but that sounds like an amazing idea! All three of you will really help me like that? I–I don’t know what to say.”
“How about ‘let’s do this?’,” Scootaloo suggested.
“Let’s do this,” Princess Twilight said hopefully.
“No, no you gotta say it real wicked,” Scootaloo shook her head, “Like... let’s do this!”
“Let’s do this!” Twilight repeated with passionate enthusiasm in her beaming smile.
“Yeah!” the three others cheered together.
The princess was actually really shaky on exactly what they were supposed to do to accomplish this. All three of them had gone into other dreams before, and they all understood how frustratingly hard to teach it was, with so many ways to interpret a door, or portal, or pathway. But finally they came to relative agreement, that they could train themselves in dream travel tonight, using the books in the library.
The three of them combed the library, trying to find a book that wasn’t entirely blank, but a book that wasn’t entirely complete either. Not something that needed reading, but something that needed recalling. “I found it!” Scootaloo crowed triumphantly, “Blazing Trails of the Something Mountains! It’s like half written!”
“Ohh, I know that one,” the princess said in a tight, frustrated tone, rushing over to Scootaloo. “It’s the Blazing Trails of the burning—no the stink smell, no the... uhm... big grey cloud of barbecue... ugh, no, I... guess I don’t remember that one.”
“Well, I’m ready to explore,” Scootaloo professed. “Maybe you’ll remember while we’re in there.”
“This is so exciting!” the princess said dancing on her hooves. “I wonder what we’ll find there? Maybe I’ll even remember the name!”
And so the three of them went hiking around a mysterious mountain range, in the guise of dream training. The view from the mountain was indescribable. Beautiful, green valleys below, gorgeous cloudscapes filling the sky. The dream was so vividly realistic, that Apple Bloom almost felt like she was standing on that windswept peak.
Into the book they vanished, seeking to restore what they could of its pages, and in that way awaken the forgetful princess’s memories of her past, and her old home. The book was one of dozens that had sat lost on that shelf for who knows how long, words slowly fading away. One of the dozens of shelves in that wing of the library, one of dozens of rooms full of books. They threw themselves into it with gusto, and yet there was so far for them yet to come.
And among those shelves, behind a bookcase, there was already one little door in the wall, left alone and mostly forgotten. It looked like the doorway to a cottage, a cottage in a kingdom town, in a fantasy land that none of them had ever seen before.
Apple Bloom awoke slowly, blinking in the late morning light. She was more alone than she expected, which is to say Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were snuggled right up to her, but the other ponies, and any new people who weren’t ponies, had found somewhere else to sleep, apparantly.
She didn’t worry about disturbing her friends as she roused herself. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had been up even later than she had, and their only response was to murmur and settle more tenderly into her bed. Apple Bloom hopped over the backboard, using it to catch her fall, so that her hooves didn’t outright clunk on the floor. Then she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and took in a breath through her nose. The sweet, sweet smell of Apple Bloom’s new favorite meal: breakfast, was wafting up from downstairs. She hoped there was enough for everyone, but was fairly confident that if there wasn’t, they could all chip in to make sure there was.
She quickly slipped into her overalls, wincing as the fabric tugged against her fur. Apple Bloom supposed she would have to wear clothes every day from now on, otherwise people might think she was some kind of nudist or something, but she was already missing the freedom of all that pony skin of hers not being all covered up like this. Small sacrifices to maintain one’s grace and dignity, or something.
Apple Bloom spent some time combing out her mane and tail. She couldn’t do it as effectively on her own, but she could basically get most of the tangles out of her cherry red hair. She smiled at herself in the mirror, liking what she saw, even if a cute little yellow pony in overalls wasn’t what she would have thought she’d be looking at a year ago. It seemed like just a year ago, that Apple Bloom and her friends were making their way triumphantly through middle school graduation, but it also seemed like a time from a different age. Apple Bloom supposed that could be more evidence that Twilight’s story about time repeating a million times was true. But maybe it was just the huge changes in her life lately.
Clipping the pretty, bright pink bow into her hair, Apple Bloom faced the morning before her with confidence. She felt more human again, or whatever ponies felt when they were what they were supposed to be. Complete. With a light heart, she took a deep breath, and briskly trotted her way out of her room, curious but also anxious about how the other ponies fared the night, and what people, or ponies, might this day bring. She certainly was hungry for some breakfast chow.
Meanwhile, Cheerilee was not panicking.
No really, she was not panicking. “Don’t panic, Cheerilee,” she told herself as she hurriedly got her things together, “You knew this was coming. You’re not prepared, but... but you can make the most of this. You just have one more day before you need to get to the farm, and... and be the same apparant age as your own daughter again.” Silently, she continued to wish she had been better prepared, that she’d spent more time gathering supplies, or planning what to do if she should ever run out of hands one day. She walked through her empty apartment easily on two legs. The greatest announcement of her impending transformation were not her legs, but her ears that were most certainly on top of her head.
Cheerilee chose deliberately baggy pants, for what no doubt would need room to conceal a tail. She really wished she was more in the loop here, since she’d know what the heck to do. Though with this happening to her it was certainly looking promising that her wish would come true, sooner than later!
Cheerilee didn’t exactly know that ponies weren’t walking around all willy nilly in the city, but she had a good idea that it was not yet common knowledge. The last thing she wanted to do was start a panic. So she got the baggy pants, and a nice concealing cap. Cheerilee winced as she pulled it on her head, her ears scrunching uncomfortably underneath it. She wasn’t surprised by these sensations, but they were still astonishingly strange. One thing that cannot change in your life is the position of your ears. Gaps in bone do not simply migrate upwards, to adopt a more animalistic configuration. Experiencing that firsthand, well, it certainly made Cheerilee shiver to actually feel it.
This was what little Scootaloo felt, Cheerilee thought to herself, as she strode with false confidence out of the apartment complex to her beat up old beamer. It was a fine vehicle, for a second hand purchase that had enough cosmetic dents for a less discerning owner to send it to the scrap heap. You couldn’t beat the classics though. Revving her vehicle, Cheerilee’s fingers slipped on the keys. With the engine running, she peered at her hands worriedly, wondering what it was going to be like with them as hooves. Her slim, dextrous fingers seemed so much more delicate and ephemeral, now that their expiration date was set.
So no, Cheerilee was most certainly not panicking. The first thing Cheerilee did was go to work. She went to work, on a weekend. A librarian at a school library does not have desk duty on the weekend. As a matter of fact, she needed to find a janitor to get the library open for her. He didn’t once suspect that Cheerilee was about to betray her own place of employment, if on a temporary and emergency basis.
Recently, Cheerilee had been covertly planning, and arranging books that might be potentially useful for Scootaloo, and for... any other pony who might need them. Books on Animal Husbandry, on tack and feed, livestock management, books on speech disorders, and resources for the handicapped. While ponies seemed far from handicapped, they definitely had a different way of interacting with the world, that a book on how to deal with stairs and doorways in a wheelchair might somehow come in handy.
With those books prepared, Cheerilee sat down in the library kiosk, and ran her hands over her face stressfully, breathing out as she tried to make sense of this... thing that was happening to her now. It seemed so much crazier, now that she was feeling it. She was... feeling something poking her underneath her on the seat. Two guesses as to what it was, and the first one doesn’t count.
Cheerilee was actually... extremely curious what her... her tail would look like. She already had a relatively volumnuous head of hair. Would her tail follow suit, as it had with some of the others, or would it be short and uncharacteristic? It certainly wouldn’t look like much until the afternoon, she was pretty sure. But even having a tail was just... wow.
Cheerilee reached back and felt at her shoulder blades, but there didn’t seem to be any strange, alien limbs back there. It must have been too early for them to... grow. Cheerilee was honestly unsure of whether it would gratify or upset Scootaloo, were her mother to end up as a pegasus like her. But Cheerilee certainly wasn’t going to be a totally different species than her own daughter, and she was absolutely sure they were biologically related. Scootaloo was the best thing that ever happened to Cheerilee, but she could very distinctly remember the event in which it happened.
It seemed like only yesterday that Scootaloo was a squalling infant in an exhausted and sore Cheerilee’s arms, so very tired from that maddeningly unceasing labor, that she hardly had the strength to hold her own daughter. It was not something you forgot easily. Or, perhaps it was for some mothers, but for Cheerilee, the sheer pain of it kept it in crystal clarity. It actually hadn’t... hurt as much as she thought it would.
But then, Cheerilee had had some very pessimistic, and frightened thoughts about how it would be, back in that era of her life. It still was one crazy ordeal, and one Cheerilee could hardly believe had happened to her, not some other girl. Cheerilee didn’t exactly feel like “mommy” material, even so many years later, but there you have biology and stupid mistakes, rearing their ugly twinned heads.
Scootaloo was the best thing that ever happened to her, not by being her daughter, or completing her, but by teaching Cheerilee that even a babe can be their own person, and that even Cheerilee could be a mother. The little scamp was walking away from her mother without pause as soon as she could walk, getting into trouble, bothering passerby without fear. She was a handful, but... everything Scootaloo did made Cheerilee more comfortable with being a mother. Some daughters hate or resent their parents, but for Scootaloo, it was like having a daughter who was also your best friend. Your... very forgetful and inattentive best friend.
So there was no way on God’s green earth under the Great Blue Sky that Cheerilee was going to get out of this without four hooves and wings. You just don’t make up memories like that out of thin air. She sat there in the empty library that morning, writing a lengthy message to whoever would find it. Hopefully the assistant librarian would show up on Monday, or they would call someone in. But when they did, Cheerilee wanted to make sure they knew if not the exact nature of her affliction, that she was going to be safe, and that she might be gone for a very long while. Cheerilee didn’t precisely know that she couldn’t be a librarian, as a pony, but she certainly suspected if she did... transform as extremely as the others, it would be some time before things settled down enough for her to return to her simple, mundane occupation.
“some... time when things... settle down. Contact me by way... of the Apple residence, or my cell.. phone. I may have difficulty answering it, but I will... surely call you back when... my affairs are settled...” Cheerilee mumbled as she wrote. It was sad in a way, that the only people Cheerilee really had to notify were her fellow employees and supervisors. Her life was full of people coming in and out of the library, of bored students in her library science class, and none of them really had reason to give her a second glance. She and Scootaloo had really ended up alone in the world. Heaven knows a father being present might have done Scootaloo a world of good, but if wishes were horses...
Cheerilee deliberately did not finish that train of thought. Looking at the pen in her hand, she raised an eyebrow at it, then tried putting it in her mouth. Way too early for that, of course. A pen in mouth didn’t seem like the sort of thing you’d think to do, unless you were a pony, or an overstressed college student. Cheerilee took the pen in her hand again, chuckling softly under her breath. “Mouth writing...” she murmured to herself.
Then with a heavy feeling in her chest, Cheerilee, reached into the pocket of her baggy sweatpants, and pulled out one thing she really did not want to have to deal with: her cell phone.
“Hello?” came Applejack’s muffled voice from the phone’s speakers, after Cheerilee reluctantly dialed the number. Cheerilee could barely hear Applejack though. What was—oh.
Cheerilee sighed. She pulled the phone away from pressing against the... bare side of her head, saying into it,
“It’s Cheerilee. Hold one just one second.”
Cheerilee looked upward and slightly shook her head. Seeing as she was relatively alone here in the library, she pulled the hat off the top of her head, and her ears figuratively flapped— no, literally flapped out. An unsettling, yet quite relieving feeling. Cheerilee supposed she would get plenty of chance to experience it, in days to come. In a dazed puzzlement, she touched the side of her head, where her ears were supposed to be, feeling only smooth flesh, and... oddly loosening sideburns.
“Miss Cheerilee?” came Applejack’s voice again. “Ya there?”
“Yes, I’m—” Cheerilee fumbled with the phone, finally just speaking into it like it were a Star Trek communicator. Her new ears released were quite sufficient to make out what Applejack was saying even from way up... there. “I’m here,” she said, trying to figure out how she was going to formulate this.
“I’m in the library,” Cheerilee claimed clumsily. “I mean, if there are any books you need I think you should ask for them right now.”
“The library?” Applejack’s voice uttered in confusion, “But it’s Saturday! You got extra work or somethin’? I ain’t gonna have to tell Scootaloo you ain’t comin’ over, am I?”
“No, it’s...” Cheerilee tried to control her breathing, but her heart was fluttering in her chest. “Oh Applejack,” she said, her voice quavering with emotion, “It’s happening to me too!”
There was a very quiet pause, and Applejack said, “Do you want me to wake Scootaloo?”
Still asleep this late in the morning, typical Scootaloo. Or, atypical perhaps, now that she was living with the Apples. Cheerilee honestly Did Not Know.
“No, don’t bother her,” Cheerilee said, “I’m only calling to let you know that I’m... I’m all in, so to speak. I should have about a day to get my affairs in order. I have the library at my disposal, and about 2 thousand dollars in the bank, and I frankly would like to get all of that spent before I... can’t drive anymore.”
Cheerilee settled back in the chair, finding it rather easy to speak on the phone this way. You didn’t even have to hold it cradled in your shoulder this way, something that those tiny squares they called phones nowadays made it very difficult to do. “If there’s anything you need,” she repeated, “I need you to let me know. So far I’ve thought of dry goods, charcoal, blankets, and maybe some inflatable beds.”
“Inflatable beds?” Applejack asked incomprehending.
“It already happened to Sergeant Noi,” Cheerilee said frankly, “If it’s happening to me too, it could be happening to more people. I just want to be as prepared as possible.”
Cheerilee paused uncertainly adding, “Of course, if it’s more comfortable for ponies to sleep on a bed of straw I understand—”
“No, no inflatable beds are fine,” Applejack assured her. “Listen, you should get over here right away. We don’t need you to go pushing yourself an’ gallavantin’ around town if it’s happening to you too.”
“I’ll be careful, Applejack,” Cheerilee said placatingly. “I won’t push myself any further than I feel is safe. How’s Scootaloo?”
“Oh, Scootaloo’s fine,” Applejack said easily. “She was up mighty late last night, so she and Sweetie are sleepin’ in.”
Cheerilee chose not to question that, saying, “Well, tell her that I’m coming over. I certainly will be spending more time with her, if this is... what I think it is.”
“You’re not sure then?” Applejack wondered aloud.
“I have horse ears,” Cheerilee said flatly at the phone. She winced, shifting on her butt, adding, “...and a tail. It’s pretty obvious what’s going on.”
“Look, people don’t know about this still,” Applejack cautioned her. “We’re tryin’ to figure how to make a statement, but it ain’t exactly public yet. People gotta know, but uh...”
“I’ll be careful,” Cheerilee assured her. “The f—fur doesn’t even start growing until the afternoon, right?”
“Yeah, it starts gettin’ pretty obvious then,” Applejack sighed.
“I’ll keep a close eye on it,” Cheerilee assured her. “Now, this might be my last chance to get anything from the library. What do you need?”
“Huhm... lemme ask Big Mac real quick, he was wantin’ something,” Applejack said.
“You do that, and call me back. I still have to pack up these books,” Cheerilee said. Then she went to secure her own collection of literature.
Cheerilee stood from her place at the circulation desk, feeling a little odd as she did so. Was her balance off already? She had to make tracks here, if she wanted to get what she needed done before she was too ...horsey to do it. Big Macintosh called back, and he mostly wanted books on engineering and mechanics, which he was hard pressed to learn about, with his schooling cut in half by the pony predicament. It added to Cheerilee’s rather worryingly large pile of books, along with Apple Bloom’s pre-established desire for absolutely everything. Cheerilee was glad Scootaloo wasn’t awake, so that she wouldn’t have to... tell her. It was stupid, but Cheerilee just didn’t want to have to admit it to her daughter that she was changing into a pony like her. It was kind of... humiliating.
Cheerilee grunted, lifting up the large sack of purloined books. It wasn’t as heavy as she anticipated though, so she just slung it over her back and marched out of the library. So pleasantly surprised, she made her way stealthily to her car to drop off the books, ready to bring these books to the people who really needed it. People like herself....
If the janitor cared that Cheerilee was basically 20 times over the limit for books you can check out, they didn’t hassle her, and it’s not like there was a librarian to complain. Cheerilee didn’t mince words with the janitor beyond to let the man know that he could lock up the school again. Then she got to her car, and checked the time. Almost afternoon, time to pick this up a notch. Cheerilee pulled hastily out of the parking lot, and headed down to the bank. She was past ready to make a big withdrawal.
“Hey... Diamond?”
“Yeah, Dinky?”
The lavender boy sat up on his elbow, saying, “Why do your roommates hate you so much?”
Diamond sighed dramatically protesting, “Like, I don’t know! Why would I know? I do lots of nasty things to them, even if they do it to me. We just can’t like, like each other since we’re all fighting to get adopted.”
“My roommates are okay,” Dinky protested. “And yours don’t seem to be mean people. Plus aren’t they friends with each other?”
“I don’t knowww,” Diamond whined, flopping her head back down. “They are friends with each other, so like, maybe they just think I’m weird and like, wrong in the head?”
Dinky raised an eyebrow at that, but he at least tried asking, “Have you thought about switching rooms before?”
“Yeah, but like... if I’m the problem, I’d just make the next ones just as mad.”
Dinky lay beside Diamond, his hand idly moving to hold her own. “I think you should talk to your roommates,” he said. “Tell them you don’t wanna fight anymore.”
“Well, maybe I like, do?” Diamond offered peevishly. But she did squeeze his hand back.
“I think it’s really hurting you, Diamond,” Dinky murmured. “You need a safe place to sleep, and it’s just getting worse between you and them.”
“I can’t like, tell them that I just gave up, though,” Diamond fussed. “They’ll just humiliate me and think I’m a pushover!”
“What, are you too scared to do it?” Dinky offered in a teasing tone.
“No,” Diamond protested reflexively, “I mean... no. Of course not! I’m not scared of them.”
“Then tell them,” Dinky urged. “Tell them you don’t want to fight anymore, and that you’re afraid to sleep with them around. Tell them you won’t do anything to them ever again, if they just... like... stop.
“You all might be living together for a long time,” Dinky asserted. “It just doesn’t make sense to keep fighting like that.”
“Yeah, I guess so...” Diamond said in a defeated, almost uninterested tone.
“Plus, then I could um—” Dinky blushed, “V-visit your room, without them getting us in trouble.”
Diamond didn’t answer at first. She sat up silently, and leaned over. And then her beautiful smirk was right in front of his face. She said, “Oh, you are a sneaky boy, Dinky.”
“W-w-ell it doesn’t have to—” he stammered, but she silenced his protest with another kiss. Dinky’s eyes slipped closed, as Diamond passionately pressed her lips against his, loving everything about this. Every time they did, every kiss seemed like it was better than all the ones before it.