The Mystery of a New World

by Fanthrose

Helping the Broken

Chapter 52

Ditzy let out a quiet sigh as she lay in bed. Applejack and Twilight had long since left for their own rooms, leaving her alone with the foals and her own thoughts. That’s not to say she didn’t welcome a bit of alone time right now, but what she really wanted was to be with AJ in his time of need. Unfortunately that would probably only make this whole thing even worse. All she could do right now was wait and hope.

She looked down as she felt something moving around in her hold. Knight, who she was hugging to her body with her left arm, was adjusting in his sleep. A slight smile grew on her face as his little hooves began gently kicking against her. ‘He must be having a dream,’ she thought to herself. Even if he was putting any sort of strength behind the kicks, he wasn’t strong enough to make it hurt.

Dinky, who was being held in her right arm, let out a yawn as she nuzzled into her right breast. Ditzy was honestly surprised with just how well Dinky was taking everything over the last week and a half to two weeks. She was actually kinda worried she was just keeping everything deep down so nopony would worry about her. When asked about it, the only thing Dinky said that really bothered her was ‘Daddy’s sick and there’s nothing I can do.’ In the morning she would make sure to ask Twilight or Applejack to take the kids to see AJ. Maybe seeing them would help him.

Ditzy looked up from the bed as she heard a knock on the door. She was curious who, exactly, it was at the door, considering just how late it was. She figured most ponies in the castle would be sleeping at this point. “Come in.”

The door opened slightly and a snow white mare’s head poked in and began looking around. “Hello? Dit...zy?” The mare’s eyes grew wide and her voice trailed off when she found who she was looking for. Soft Spoken had met Ditzy once before. She and her daughter were over at the farm house for dinner one day when she came for AJ’s consultation. She was nice, and her daughter was absolutely adorable. This is why seeing her how she was now was a bit of a shock to her. If AJ hadn’t had told her about the change when she was talking to him, it probably would have been even more of a surprise. “O-oh...right. AJ did say you were a...a...human? I think he called them?”

Ditzy squinted to get a better look at the pony in the dark as she entered the room. “Aren’t you AJ’s therapist? Soft...Spoken, was it?”

“Y-yea. That’s me.” She was clearly still a bit uncomfortable around this strange species she’s never seen before. This was the second time that day she saw one of these big, hairless ape like creatures, and it still wasn’t any less weird. “I know AJ said you’re all just ponies turned into...that, but this still feels really surreal. Like something out of a fantasy novel or something.”

“Did he tell you that he wasn’t originally a pony? That this is what he used to look like?”

“That...might have come up, yea.” Soft Spoken closed the door and walked further into the room. She didn’t want to have to speak too loudly this late at night. “He told me a lot about himself. A lot of things he just so happened to leave out on our first day. Can’t say I really blame him. If not having actually seen one with my own two eyes, I probably would have thought him to be insane. Probably would have had him diagnosed with some sort of psychosis, and...well it would have been a mess.”

Ditzy didn’t even want to think about that. AJ’s already been through enough in his life. The last thing he needs is somepony throwing false diagnoses at him. She pushed those thoughts away and let the real question bubbling around in the back of her mind come to the forefront. “Is he going to be okay?”

“Well, that entirely depends on your definition of the word ‘okay.’ He’s pretty drained right now. Both physically and mentally. On top of that he’s so...scared right now. About everything. Going to visit his mother. If your parents will ever fully accept him. Making sure Knight Wind is healthy and that he’s raising him right. About your unborn foals. Congratulations on the twins, by the way. But mostly about you.”

“Me?”

Soft Spoken nodded. “He kept going back to you. Asking if I knew if you were okay. No matter how many times I said I wasn’t sure, he’d bring it back up ten minutes later. That’s actually why I’m here. Before leaving for the night he asked if I could come and make sure you were okay. I don’t know exactly what happened, he couldn't really give me the specifics, but whatever you did, it terrified him to his core. So if you really want my professional opinion, no. He is far from okay. Though I’m hoping I’ll be able to make more progress tomorrow.”

Ditzy knew she didn’t even need to ask this, but she couldn’t help herself. “Please, is there anything I can do? Anything at all?”

A gentle smile grew on Soft Spoken’s face. “The best thing you can do is take care of yourself,” she said as she placed a hoof on Ditzy’s arm. “If he’s really worried that you’re not okay, that you’re hurt or whatever’s the case, the best thing you can do is show him that you’re fine. When he’s able to see you, prove to him that he doesn’t need to worry. And you can start by doing the exact same thing I’m going to go do in a minute here.”

For the first time since this morning, Ditzy let herself giggle. She was right. If AJ truly was terrified that she wasn’t okay, then she would prove to him that he has nothing to worry about. And besides, she was pretty tired. “Thank you. For everything.”

“I’ll come let you know how he’s doing when I’m done talking to him tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll have better news to give you. Just be strong, and most importantly, don’t blame yourself. You had no way of knowing he’d react like that. Good night.” With a smile Soft Spoken stood up and left the room.

********************

AJ turned his head and looked to the left as he heard the door to his and Ditzy’s room open and close. In the hall he could hear hoofsteps walking down the hall before they got too distant to hear. Though he could hear another door further down the hall opening and closing. He could guess that it was Soft Spoken leaving their room and going to her own.

Despite having slept all day, he still felt like he hasn’t slept in days. Even with that, he couldn’t fall asleep. Too many things were running through his head. Specifically thoughts about Ditzy. Was she okay? Did she really get transformed? How could she do it? Why would she do it? Why? Why? Why?!

That was the major question that tormented him. Why? Why would she do it? She knew he didn’t want her risking both her health and the health of their unborn foals, so why did she do it? Why would she risk doing something so dangerous and stupid?

He couldn’t help himself. He had to get his answer now. With as much strength as he could muster right now, he threw the covers off of himself, and scooted to the edge of the bed. He pushed himself out of bed, as he always did, bringing his hind legs to the floor first before letting his forelegs hit the floor. As they did, his left leg landed with a loud thud as the metal hit the rug hard. Just like before it felt like his artificial limb weighed a thousand pounds right now. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get it to cooperate just like he wanted it to.

Fear began creeping into his head once again. Was there something wrong with his leg? Did he do something to break it? Could it even be repaired, or would he lose it for good? With his right hoof, he struck himself in the head a few times to try to knock the thoughts from his head. He had more important things to worry about right now. He closed his eyes and tried his hardest to calm his breathing a bit.

After about a minute, he opened his eyes and looked to the door. He looked back down at his metal limb and took a deep breath. With as strength as he could, he tried once again to move it.

He succeeded, barely.

He was able to lift it maybe an inch off the floor before he had to let it fall. But that was all he needed. As long as he could move it, he could get over to the next room. Unfortunately walking with it was much more difficult than just lifting it. When he tried to take a step, it was less of a step and more of a drag as he did his best to move forward. At least he could work with it.

He managed to struggle his way over to the door. Unfortunately with his current mindset, he wasn’t able to think straight enough to use his magic. It wasn’t until moments like these that he realised just how much he came to rely on his magic. “Son of a bitch,” he said to himself as he racked his brain on how to open the door. There was no way he was going to just use his hoof. He didn’t trust his ability to balance on his artificial limb right now. He just didn’t have enough control of it. The only thing he could think of was to use his mouth to try to bite the knob and twist it.

He opened his mouth as wide as he possibly could and tried to wrap his mouth around the knob. When that didn’t work, he angled his head to bite down on the very top of the knob so he could just crane his head to turn it. The metallic tang of the brass knob filled his mouth as he bit down on it. He cringed as he tightened his bite to get a grip on the metal before slowly turning his head.

His lips began curling upward as the knob began turning with his head. When his head had twisted to the side, he pulled his head back, successfully opening the door. He thankfully pulled his mouth off the knob, spitting the taste of metal from his mouth, before nudging the door open the rest of the way.

He wasted no time making his way into the hallway and down to the room next door. He stopped once he got in front of the door. “Celestia kill me now,” he cursed to himself when he realised he’d need to open yet another door. Using the same technique he used on the previous door, he managed to open this door, too. After he got into the room, he just stared ahead to the bed. He decided to leave the door open so there would be some light in the room. He didn’t want to turn the light on.

“Mmmmmhm?” mumbled Ditzy. She was just about to actually fall asleep, and now there was light shining onto her face. As she rubbed her eyes and yawned, she could hear the sound of dragging metal coming closer to the bed. “What in Celestia’s name i…” Her eyes got wide when she opened her eyes to see AJ slowly making his way to the bed. “Oh sweet Celestia, what are you doing in here?!” she loudly whispered as she pushed herself up in bed. At this point the kids were no longer lying on her, so she wasn’t interrupting their sleep.

AJ didn’t even speak. He was at the foot of of the bed when she pushed herself up. That’s when he got a better look at her once again. His fears were, indeed, confirmed as he stared at the human before him. His eyes grew wide, and he fell to his haunches as his hind legs gave out on him. His chest became tight as his breathing got ragged, and he started shaking again.

Ditzy climbed out of bed and kneeled down next to AJ, and placed her hands on his shoulders, causing him to flinch upon contact. She had a look of panic on her face. “Oh no, please tell me you’re not having another one.” She looked out the door to see if she could see anypony passing by she could call to. When she saw and heard no one, she prepared herself to shout at the top of her lungs for somepony, anypony, to come and help.

Before she could though, she felt AJ’s shoulder shift as he brought his hoof up and placed it on her hand. She turned her gaze down to her left hand, and the indigo hoof that was resting on it. As she did, she noticed something about his shaking body. It wasn’t shaking like it was earlier that morning. It was different. When she looked up into his eyes, it all became clear.

Tears were running down his cheeks.

He wasn’t shaking, his body was wracked by sobs. He was looking up at her, pain clear in his eyes. He took ragged breaths through clenched teeth. Just like she had seen Dinky do so many times when she got hurt, and was brought to tears. With how he was looking at her, and with how his grip on her hand was slowly tightening, it was as if he was making sure she was real. That he wasn’t looking at a figment of his imagination.

“W-w-why?”

Ditzy was pulled out of her thoughts as AJ’s weak, barely audible question hit her. “Huh?”

“W-w-why?” he choked out between sobs. “W-why did you do it?”

“Why did I...oh.” She knew what he was talking about. It’s been one of the only things she’s been able to think about throughout the day. “I’m s....”

“Y-you knew I didn’t want you to do it,” interrupted AJ. “You knew it was dangerous, but you did it anyway.” He stopped to take a deep, ragged breath. “You knew about the risks! About what could have happened! You could have been hurt! Our babies could have been hurt! So much could have gone wrong! Why did you do it?! WHY?!”

The anger suddenly dropped from his eyes. His teeth were no longer clenched as his jaw went slack. All he did now was look up at her with sad eyes as tears continued to roll down his cheeks. The only notable sounds in the room were his almost pathetic sounding whimpers and sobs.

Ditzy didn’t know what she could say. She was pretty sure nothing she could say right now would help any. All she could do was try to comfort him. She removed her hands from his shoulders and wrapped them around his neck, pulling him against her chest so he knew someone was there for him. She did have to maneuver him so she wouldn’t be jabbed by his horn, though.

“Why is daddy crying?” came a small voice behind Ditzy. She turned her head to the bed. Knight was looking on from the bed. He must have been woken up by all the yelling. She could see Dinky sitting up and rubbing her eyes on the far side of the bed.

As Knight jumped off the bed to try to help his dad, Applejack came rushing into the room. Her shorts were askew, and her top was only half pulled down as if she hurried to get them on. “What in tarnation is all th…” She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the indigo stallion sitting in Ditzy’s embrace. Knight was sitting next to him, looking between AJ and Ditzy for a moment before hugging his dad from the side. Dinky, who looked like she was still half asleep, was looking on from the bed in both confusion and worry. “What’s goin’ on? Why is he in here?” Applejack asked as she walked closer to the group.

“I don’t know. He just came in here when I was about to fall asleep.” She gently ran a hand through AJ’s mane. “He said he wanted to know why I asked Discord to be transformed, but…” She couldn’t bring herself to say it was because she was jealous in front of AJ. It still felt like she was just being childish. “What should I do? Should we try to get him back to Twilight’s room.”

“N-n-n-nooo,” whimpered AJ as he tensed up. His sobs seemed to get worse as he shook his head. “I-I-I-I don’t w-want to go. Ple-he-hease.”

Applejack put a hand to her chin as she took the situation in. She knew little to nothing of panic attacks. “Well, the darned fool seems pretty adamant about stayin’ here. Doubt we’d be able ta get him ta leave without a fight. Ah think lettin’im stay here is th’ only thing we can do right now.”

Knight looked at Applejack and vigorously nodded his head. “I’ll make sure Daddy gets all better,” he said with a bright smile. He was just happy he’d get to be with his dad again. Even if it was trying to make him happy again, that’s all he wanted the entire day. “So he can stay, right?” he asked as he turned to Ditzy.

As Ditzy looked down at Knight, a small smile grew on her face. “Well, I guess we have our answer.”

“Ah suppose we do,” Applejack said with a tinge of apprehension. She wasn’t completely convinced this was the best course of action.

Ditzy placed a caring hand on AJ’s shoulder. “Come on, let’s get you into bed.” She waited for his nod of acknowledgement before standing up. She took his right foreleg and gently helped him stand before leading him into bed.

Or at least that’s what she tried to do.

His metal leg was acting like an anchor. While the rest of his legs seemed to be trying to move forward, his left foreleg remained planted on the floor. Afraid to hurt him by simply dragging him along, Ditzy turned to Applejack. “Uhh, c-could we get a little help please? I never realised how heavy that leg was until now.”

Applejack let out a chuckle. “Ah suppose Ah could help. Just get inta bed yerself and let me worry about him.” Ditzy’s smile grew as she bent over to pick up Knight to get him into bed easier. As she moved away from the pony, Applejack took her place to his left. She knelt down and grabbed his metal limb, lifting it up and bending it into a resting position to make it easier to lift him. “Alright, on th’ count of three, Ah’mma lift ya,” she said as she got ready to lift him. He didn’t respond. He looked like he just felt lost without Ditzy there. “One...two...three.”

With a grunt, Applejack hefted up AJ’s body. “You weren't kiddin’. That leg really does add a few pounds. But don’t worry, nothin’ Ah can’t handle.” She looked over to see if Ditzy was ready. After waiting a moment for her to get situated, she carried AJ over to the other side of the bed. She gently placed him down so he was facing Ditzy.

Figuring he’d want to be close to her again, Ditzy adjusted herself and helped him rest his head on her chest. His left leg was still curled underneath him, and his right leg was resting over her body as if he was giving her a hug while his hind legs were sprawled out. Knight wasted no time finding a comfortable position next to AJ, and Dinky happily nuzzled up against her mother’s side. With everyone finally in position, Ditzy ran a hand through AJ’s mane again. Being close to her and the children seemed to calm him down a little. His sobs seemed to be less prominent than before. “Thanks Applejack.”

“Anytime,” she said with a smile. “Now y’all get some sleep. Hopefully this’ll all blow over by tomorrow. G’night.” With a wave, she turned to leave the room.

As darkness once again overtook the room, Ditzy let out a sigh. This was not how she expected the night to turn out. Though she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t happy to be with AJ. Even if he wasn’t the most mentally stable at the moment, having him there was doing her own psyche a load of good. It felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She allowed herself to relax as her exhaustion began to hit her once again.

********************

Celestia stifled a yawn as she walked down the hall to the visitors quarters. She had just woken up a few minutes ago, and hadn’t even had the chance to bathe yet. Not that she was dirty, or had a bad odour to her, but it was always good to be the best she can when meeting with ponies. For now though, she had somepony she wanted to check on before she did anything today. She wanted to make sure he hadn’t relapsed or something like that.

When she reached her desired hallway, she stopped when she saw her sister already standing in front of the door to Twilight’s room with a small cart full of food next to her. Judging by the look on her face, and the dark bags under her eyes, Celestia could guess she probably didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night. “Hello? AJ are you awake?” Luna called as she knocked on the door. She shuffled back and forth as she waited for some kind of response. When she didn’t get one after a few seconds, she knocked again. “AJ?”

“He’s probably still sleeping,”

Luna jumped at the sudden voice behind her, nearly knocking over the cart as she did. All her attention was on the door she was in front of. It didn’t even occur to her that somepony would come up behind her. After making sure her heart didn’t just stop, she turned to see her sister giggling at her. “Sweet Celestia, Tia! What are you trying to do to me, kill me?”

“‘Sweet Celestia?’ So you’ve started using that expression now, too?” questioned Celestia with smile on her face.

Luna took a deep breath to calm herself down. “I’ve heard some ponies say it when playing some games. Kinda stuck after a little while, I guess.”

“I think it’s cute,” Celestia said with a giggle. “Though I admit, it did feel awkward the first time I heard it used.” She took another look at the cart of food. “By the way, what’s with all the food? Looks like a bit much for you to eat.”

“Oh, with all the studying I did last night, I came across something saying we should make him as comfortable as possible. So i figured a nice breakfast in bed would help him. I know he likes chocolate, so I asked for some chocolate chip pancakes, orange juice WITH pulp, because...somehow that’s how he likes it.” Luna stuck out her tongue at the thought of having a cold glass of orange juice with the pulp. “A bowl of fresh fruit, toast with grape jam, some oatmeal with honey…”

“And I’m guessing those muffins are for you?” Celestia asked noticing a platter of Luna’s favorite small, breakfast muffins alongside everything else.

“Of course, what breakfast wouldn’t be complete without some of these tasty little things,” she said as she picked one up in her magic and popped it into her mouth. “Ah’m jusht hopping he liksh dem ash much ash I do,” Luna said as she chewed, ending her sentence with a loud gulp.

“I’m sure he will, but are you even sure he’s up yet? You may have brought all this food for a pony that could very well still be sleeping.”

“Don’t worry, I made sure to check before going to the kitchen. He wasn’t dreaming, and I didn’t get anything when I specifically looked for him. So either he’s awake, or he got powerful enough to block out my magic overnight.” Using her magic she opened the door, smiling when she found it unlocked. “And I think we both know that just isn’t possible. Especially with his current mental state.”

Celestia could only assume what Luna said was true. She knew very little about the world of dreams, or the spells Luna uses to visit them, so it was best to just believe her in this situation. With the door now open, she watched Luna push the cart into the room. “Well, if you’re sure.” With a sigh she followed Luna into the room.

“Gooood morning!” Luna said with a bright smile as stopped in front of the bed. She lifted the plate of toast and one of the glasses of orange juice in her magic. “I hope you’re hungry, I brought a bunch of food for us to enjoy. Let’s start with this perfectly toasted toast and this freshly prepared oran…” Her voice trailed off when she finally noticed the empty bed.

Celestia noticed Luna’s face go pale as the plate and glass dropped from her magic. Before she could even make it to the bed herself, Luna turned and rushed to the bathroom. She threw the door open and began looking through the room. As Luna was inspecting the bathroom, Celestia finally got a good look at the bed. “Empty? Where’s AJ?”

“Celestiiiiiaaaaaa!” Luna shouted as she bolted from the bathroom. She stopped in front of Celestia and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her as she spoke. “He’s not in the room!”

“I-I-I-I-I c-c-c-can s-s-s-s-e-e th-th-th-a-at,” responded Celestia in an attempt to speak through the shaking.

Luna let go of Celestia, and began pacing around in front of her. “Where could he be? Did he leave the castle? Is he wandering the streets of Canterlot? What if…”

“Luna, please.” Using her magic, Celestia picked up Luna so she would stop moving and listen to her. Now she knew for certain Luna was running on minimal sleep. She only over reacted to this extent when she was really tired. When Luna was finally paying attention to her, she let out a sigh. “If he would have left the premises in the middle of the night, we would have heard about it. The night guards keep very good track of any traffic in and out of the castle during the night. They would have told us. Which means he’s still in the castle, and given his mental state, I think it would be safe to assume he probably didn’t go very far. Which means…” She let Luna fill in the rest.

Luna stared at her for a moment before a relieved smile grew on her face. “Yes, of course. He’s...probably in one of the other rooms. That’s it.”

“Well ya won’t need ta look very far,” came a voice from behind the two princesses.

Celestia looked over her shoulder to see Applejack standing in the door. She was currently in the middle of a big stretch. “Oh, I apologize if we woke you, Applejack.”

“Nah, y’all didn’t wake me. At this point Ah’m hard wired ta wake up this early. Ah just heard th’ commotion an’ thought Ah’d come ta see what was goin’ on.”

“Well you sound like you know where he is,” Celestia said as she placed her sister back on the floor. “Did he make his way into your room last night?”

“Nnope. He went back inta his room for th’ night.”

“Excuse me?” The smile on Celestia’s face fell.

“He went where, and did what now?” Luna brought a hoof to her head as she tried to rack her brain for the information she had just read about panic attacks over the night. “But...but you’re supposed to avoid the trigger of your panic attack. Wasn’t Ditzy becoming human the trigger? Why...what...how…” She brought her other hoof to her head and began rubbing her temples. “My brain hurts.”

“Sister, please go back to bed. You’ll think much more clearly once you get more rest.”

“Yes. Thinking clearly is good. Thinking clearly will help get us past this emergency.” As Luna continued to ramble about thinking clearly, she made her way over to the bed in the room. Ignoring broken plate and glass, she lifted up the side of the duvet and crawled under the covers. Her tail was still sticking out the side by the time she came to rest.

Celestia let out a slight sigh. “You could have at least tried to go to your own room.” Using her magic, she picked up the shattered bits of the glass, plate, and floor toast. She made a mental note get a maid in here as soon as possible as she placed them on the bottom of the cart to dispose of. Hopefully that rug would still be salvageable. She really did like it. “While Luna...rests for a while longer, I’d like to go see AJ. I’m both curious and worried about how he’s handling being in Ditzy’s presence right now.”

“Ah don’t know how much you’re goin’ ta get outta him. He didn’t exactly say too much after he got done yellin’ his head off last night.”

“What was he yelling about?”

“No idea. That’s what woke me up. By th’ time Ah got there he had calmed down,” Applejack said as she and Celestia started leaving the room. Celestia was draging the cart behind her in her magic. “An’ he refused when Ah tried ta bring him back here.”

“Hmmmm.” Celestia thought about the situation as she left the room, closing the door after the cart was out. She took a moment to search for a maid. When there wasn’t one within sight, she turned to Applejack. “Could you go find one of the maids and let them know about that mess on the rug? I’d like to get it taken care of before the stain can set.”

“No problem, Princess. Want me ta take care of that while Ah’m at it?”

“Feel free to eat what’s left. It would be a shame for all that food to go to waste.” With a smile, Applejack took left the cart in her room before going off to search for a maid. As Applejack left, Celestia went one door over and knocked on the door. “Hello? Is anyone awake in there.” When no one answered, she gently opened the door. She didn’t want to make too much noise in case Luna was wrong, and everyone was sleeping.

From where she was, Celestia couldn’t see much in the bed. She could see part of Dinky’s tail hanging off the right edge of the bed, but that was about it. She could also hear Knight mumbling in his sleep, and Ditzy quietly snoring. The only one she couldn’t tell was there was AJ. He made no sounds, and she couldn’t see any part of him hanging off the bed. As quietly as she could, she moved through the room. It didn’t take long before she saw a brown mane on the bed that could only belong to the stallion she was looking for.

As she came up to the bed, she saw that AJ was indeed awake. His eyes seemed to be trained on nothing in particular, and he was slowly rubbing Ditzy’s belly with his free foreleg as if he was cherishing it. He didn’t even seem to notice the presence of the new pony in the room. With a soft smile, she walked to the side of the bed, and slowly placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Good morning,” Celestia said in a soft voice.”

It took him a few seconds, but AJ’s eyes eventually found their way to Celestia. He turned his head enough so he could comfortably look at her. “...Morning,” he mumbled in a raspy voice.

“Are you thirsty? You sound like your throat is awfully dry.” Her question was returned with a subtle nod. “I suppose you didn’t exactly get much of a chance to hydrate yourself yesterday. Give me one moment.” Celestia walked over to the opposite side of the bed, where the side table with the water jug sat. Upon lifting it, she noticed that it was empty. “I’ll be right back.” With a quick trip to the bathroom to fill the jug from the sink. As she came back, AJ was slowly pushing himself up. He grunted as he used his artificial limb to right himself. It looked like he was having a bit of trouble. “Is everything alright?”

After he finally finished pushing himself up, he slowly shook his head. “...Don’t know. Can’t control my leg.”

“It’s possible it could be all in your head. I noticed you seemed to be having trouble with your leg after...it happened,” Celestia said as she lifted and began filling a glass. AJ seemed to only half pay attention as the filled glass floated over to him. Once it did, he seemed to just stare at it for a moment. It almost seemed as if he was trying to determine what exactly it was floating in front of him. “Go ahead, drink up.” He continued to just stare at the glass for a couple seconds before lifting his right hoof.

He didn’t grab the glass though. He just didn’t trust himself right now. Rather, he just placed his lips on the rim of the glass and slowly tipped it with his hoof, letting Celestia do all the “hard work.” Once the glass was empty, Celestia brought the glass back to the table, filling it again in case he wanted another one. “...Thanks.”

“Would you like some more?” He slowly shook his head before trying to ease himself back down onto the bed. “Please, let me he…” Before she could get it out, his mechanical leg buckled under him, sending him crashing down to the bed. She cringed when she saw his horn come down and jab Ditzy hard in the right side of her chest.

“Ooooowwwww,” groaned Ditzy with a pained look on her face. She initially tried to move her right arm. Unfortunately for her AJ had also fallen on top of her arm, so with that out of the question, she reached over with her left hand to try to rub the pain away. She opened her eyes when she felt AJ’s fuzzy, boney horn. “I don’t know what you’re doing down there, but that really hurt.”

“It was an accident, I assure you. Are you going to be okay?” Celestia asked with concern on her face?

“Princess Celestia?” Ditzy looked over to see the Sovereign of the Sun standing next to the bed. “What are you doing in here?”

“I came to check on AJ. To make sure he’s doing okay being around you so soon after it happened. Are you going to be okay?”

“Yeah. He just stabbed me right in the...chest teat.”

“I believe he said they’re called breasts.”

“Whatever. I’ll probably have a bruise, but I’ll be fine.” She looked down to her right arm, or more specifically, the pony lying on top of it. He was staring at the spot his horn accidentally hit with a terrified expression. Judging by how worried he was that she was hurt last night, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going through his mind right now.

She pushed herself up, pulling her arm out from under him, and adjusting herself so she was sitting against the headboard. She reached out, and began pulling AJ over to her by placing her arms under his forelegs and pulling him to her. To Celestia it almost looked like a mother pulling her child to her. Though a child wouldn’t have a heavy, metal limb weighing him down.

With a grunt, Ditzy was finally able to overcome the weight of his limb and pull him to her chest. She wrapped her arms around him, and began running a comforting hand through his mane. “Shhhhh. Everything’s going to be okay.”

“B-b-b-b-but you…”

“But me nothing. I said I’ll be fine, didn’t I?” With her right hand, she brushed over the spot he had stabbed her. “See? No blood. It’ll probably just be a bruise. That’s all.” She went back to hugging him, but rather than running her hand through his mane, she instead began rubbing him behind the ear. That spot had always calmed him down. “So just relax. I’m here for you.”

“Mmmmmdaddy?” came a moan from behind AJ. Ditzy looked over to see Knight stirring from his resting place. He must have realised he was no longer leaning against AJ’s warm body. Knight sat up and began rubbing his eyes. As he looked around, he saw Celestia looking at him with a warm smile. “Pincess Cestia?” he mumbled in a quiet, tired voice.

“Good morning, my little pony.”

Knight didn’t answer. He was tired, and wanted to continue sleeping. But before he could do that, he needed to find a way to get comfortable again. And for that to happen, his daddy needed to get back into a more Knight friendly position. Or at least have some warm body to be able to snuggle up against. With Daddy currently indisposed, and Mommy just not as comfortable to snuggle up to now that her coat was gone, that left one pony.

Standing up, Knight slowly stumbled around Ditzy’s legs to her other side where Dinky still peacefully slept on her side. “Dinky?” he asked as he lightly nudged her. He got no response. “Dinky?” he asked with a slightly more forceful nudge. Dinky just grumbled something incoherent before falling back to sleep. Knight let out a tired groan. Since Dinky wasn’t going to help him in this, he’d have to take matters into his own hooves.

Celestia tried her hardest to muffle her “awww” as Knight tried to nudge his way into Dinky’s hold. Despite how much easier it would have been to just lift her foreleg and crawl in, he decided the best method to achieve his goal was to just nudge his way in with his snout. It took a bit of fighting, and a little help from Dinky when she inevitably woke up, but he eventually got comfortable with his new snuggle buddy. A small, tired smile grew on Dinky’s face as she hugged Knight before falling back to sleep herself.

“Well, I can see you have things under control for now,” Celestia said as she turned back to Ditzy.

“I think so, yea.”

With a smile, Celestia turned towards the door. “Good. I’ve got to go get ready for the day. I’ll check in on you all later.” With that, she left the room.

********************

“I’m beginning to think that pony has zero sense of self preservation,” Soft Spoken said as she slowly face hoofed. She had met Applejack in the hall after she had woken up. Despite the farm owners different look, she could tell it was the same orange pony she met back in Ponyville due to her voice and mannerisms. Not to mention AJ told her about the change the prior night, so she kinda knew to expect it.

At the moment, they were both sitting in Applejack’s room and chatting about AJ’s change of rooms the previous night. “What do ya mean?”

“I mean despite the fact that he’s in no condition to be up and about, much less being around Ditzy right now, he did it to himself anyway.”

“Ya mean like when he was in th’ hospital after gettin’ his leg amputated an’ he just got up n wandered around th’ place.”

“Exactly.” Soft Spoken remembered Applejack bringing that little detail of AJ’s hospital visit up the first visit after he got back home. She looked towards the door with a sigh. “He’s really not making it easy to help him work through things. I know you said he seemed calm when you left them last night, but the simple fact that he, on his own volition, went to go be with what triggered his panic attack very well could have undone some of the progress we made last night.”

“Danged idiot,” Applejack said as she shook her head. “Ah really hope it didn’t. Not only fer his sake.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re pretty far behind schedule as is. We were supposed ta have left fer his world last week already, but with everything that happened we haven’t been able ta start most of th’ preparations ‘till a few days ago. Ah left Big Mac in charge of th’ farm ‘till we get back. While Ah know fer a fact he can hold down th’ fort, Ah’d rather not leave’im high an’ dry fer too long. Spike’ll like having some free time ta do what he wants around th’ library, but Ah know fer a fact he’ll start missin’ Twilight before too long. Ah might send Big Mac a letter tellin’ him ta invite Spike over till we get back so he’s not so lonely. An’ then there’s lil’ Dinky. Ah’m sure she was only cleared ta miss a few days of school before she returned home with Ditzy. By th’ time she gets back, she’ll be pretty far behind all’er school work. Speakin’ of Ditzy…”

“I think I get it.” Soft Spoken let out a sigh. “Well, as soon as he’s up, I’ll go see if I can help a bit more.”

“If that’s what yer waitin’ for, he’s probably been up for at least an hour by now. Given when he’s up an’ about on his days off.”

“Really? Well then, if you’ll e…”

Soft Spoken was interrupted as a door across the hall was opened and another voice filled the air. “...old you we’d ask for a wheelchair. It’ll be much easier to take you around the castle like that until you can get that leg of yours under control again.”

“N-no...I can do it,” came a certain stallion’s quiet voice.

Ditzy let out a groan. “If you don’t wait here for that chair, I’m going to go get Applejack and have her hold you until it does.”

“B-b-b…”

“No buts, mister. I’m worried about you, and I don’t want to see you hurt yourself cause you’re dragging that thing around everywhere.”

“Is everything alright out here?”

“Huh?” When Ditzy turned her head to see Soft Spoken poking out from Applejack’s room. “Oh, hi. Everything’s fine. It’s just that this lovable dork of mine being difficult...as usual.”

“I-I’m not…” AJ’s voice just kinda trailed off. It was like he forgot what he was saying as he just continued to stare up at Ditzy.

Soft Spoken looked at AJ with a hint of concern. “What was that?” AJ didn’t respond to her. All he did was turn and look at her for a moment before turning back to Ditzy. She let out a small grunt of contemplation. “He most certainly wasn’t so...withdrawn last night. Despite what happened, he was talking pretty normally,” She said quietly to herself.

“Excuse me?”

“Hmm?” Soft Spoken looked to Ditzy. “Oh, sorry about that. Bad habit. I was just thinking to myself about how AJ seems so withdrawn right now. Last night he was scared, but he was coherent. Now he seems almost…crap muffins, I can’t think of the word”

“Like he’s really needy? He hasn’t let me out of his sight since he came into the room last night, and he always wants to be by my side. Well...for the most part, at least. Bathroom’s a no go.”

“Yes, needy’s a good way to describe it. It may be because he’s so worried about you. He’s probably not convinced that everything’s totally okay, so he wants to always be with you until he’s sure everything’s fine.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“It’s just an educated guess, really. Until I can talk with him more about his current state, that’s all I really have to go on.”

“Well, it’s funny you should say that. Because we just got a visit from Proper Manners saying Princess Celestia set up a visit with the castle doctor to perform a full physical on me. And she wants AJ to be there for everything so he can see that everything’s okay.”

“Oh...well that’s convenient.”

“Speaking of, could you keep him company until I can get us a wheelchair? I refuse to let him drag that leg around everywhere.”

“Of course,” Soft Spoken said with a smile. “It’ll let me get a feel for where his head’s at right now. And if you’d like, I’ll even watch the kids while you’re getting your checkup.”

“That’d be great, thanks.”

“Are you sure ya wanna go lookin’ like that?” came Applejack’s voice from behind Soft Spoken. She was staring at Ditzy with a questioning look.

Ditzy looked down at her body in confusion before looking back at Applejack. “Looking like what? You mean without clothes on?”

“Eeyup.”

“Well, I’ve been without anything since yesterday and nopony’s said anything. I don’t see why I couldn’t just go like this.”

“Aren’t you at all embarrassed by everyone starin’ at all yer...bits? At least when you were a pony ya had yer tail ta keep it all hidden. It wasn’t on display fer all ta see.”

Ditzy had a look of contemplation on her face as she looked from Applejack back to her body. She did have a good point. While it is true that most ponies walk around without anything on, most ponies had tails long enough to hide anything important. And even those that didn’t, due to them being cropped or what not, it was basically an unwritten rule that you don’t gawk at another pony’s privates. It was just rude.

But as a human, she had no such coverage. Aside from a bit of short, blond hair down on her crotch, that didn’t cover anything anyway, she was on full display. It was just something she really didn’t think about since she had just been in their room the entire time. A light blush began to form on her face. “U-umm, I guess you do have a point. Excuse me.”

As Ditzy walked back into the room, Applejack looked down at AJ who watched Ditzy walk away with a look of longing. “Ah’m surprised you didn’t say anything about her walkin’ around naked. Then again, ya were probably too busy oglin’ her ta care, wern’t ya?” She chuckled to herself when AJ shrunk back slightly with a blush on his face.

“S-shut up…”

“Well, can’t blame ya for it too much. Ya do love’er ta death. An’ you droolin’ over her is better than ya oglin’ me an’ Twilight all day.”

“I-I wasn’t…”

“You wern’t nothin’. Don’t think we didn’t notice ya starin’ at us the entire time.”

“It’s okay, Applejack. I teased him enough for that already,” came Ditzy’s voice from inside the room. She walked out a few seconds later with the bed sheet draped over her. “I’ll have to ask Twilight how she got it to stay up when we get back, but this’ll do for now. Now, if you’ll excuse me. It’s finally time for me to go get that wheelchair.”

********************

“Thanks again for the help with the blanket, Twilight,” Ditzy said as she got up off the bed. After her check up, and she and AJ returned to their room, Soft Spoken wanted to talk with AJ a bit more. See where his head was at after all the tests.

“It’s not a problem. Maybe you should have Silver Needle make you some clothes like ours. It’s easier than constantly having to deal with the blanket.”

Ditzy let out a sigh. “If I was going to stay like this for longer than just a few days, I would. But once Discord gets back from...wherever the heck he went, it’s back to pony life for me.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us now that you’re human? I’m sure AJ would appreciate the emotional support.”

“As tempting an offer as it is, I just can’t. Not only do I need to get back to Ponyville and explain to Boxxy in detail why I needed more time off, but on the way back to the room, AJ told me that my mom wants to see me again while I’m still in Canterlot. They had enough trouble believing that I was magically changed into a stallion. Imagine their reaction if they were to seem me looking like this.”

“Yea, I guess you’re right. Still, it would have been nice if yo…” Twilight was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Huh? I wonder who that could be? Come in!” A moment later, the regal forms of Celestia and Luna came through the door. “Princesses, hello.”

“Hello Twilight,” Celestia said with a warm smile.

“G’morning,” Luna said as she rubbed the sleep from her eye.

Ditzy stared at Luna for a moment. “She...does know it’s almost 12, right?”

“Princess Lazy Butt here just woke up,” Celestia said as she chuckled to herself. “She was up all night, so she slept in a bit.”

“You still won’t tell me why I woke up in the guest quarters.”

“I’ll just let you figure that out yourself.” Celestia giggled as Luna grumbled something nonsensical. “Anyway, we wanted to ask how everything went with the tests,” Celestia said as she turned to Ditzy. “Our inhouse doctor said everything was fine, if not a bit strange working with a patient that wasn’t a pony.”

“Yup. Everything was A-OK. Thank Celestia it was. Heart rate was normal. Blood pressure was a bit high, but he said that’s normal when you’re pregnant. He...did what he could with a pelvic exam. He said it didn’t look like there was any tearing or any other damage...down there.”

“Are human female genitals really all that different from a mare’s genitals?” Luna asked as her more scientific side came out. “Not really having seen them myself, I can’t really say. If it’s alright, would I be able to take some pictures for my research?”

“Now’s hardly the time to be wondering that, Luna.”

“I didn’t say it has to be now, dear sister. I just thought it would be nice to have a more complete research. We have pictures of a human male body, thanks to AJ. But until now, we’ve never been able to find a human female. It’s not like I’m trying to perv on their bodies, or something. Get your mind out of the gutter, Celestia.”

“I wasn’t…” Celestia let out a sigh.

“If it’s for your research, I’d be more than happy to help you out, Princess Luna,” Twilight said with a smile. Of all ponies here, she knows the horrors of having unfinished research material.

A great, big smile grew on Luna’s face. “Wonderful! Just come to my room a little later. I have to make sure my research camera isn’t full.”

Celestia rolled her eyes. “Just ignore them. So, did they run any other tests?”

“They put a rush on the blood work, and everything came back okay.”

“What about an ultrasound? Given your condition I’m sure he would have done one,” Luna said now that she wasn’t off in her own world.

A soft, warm smile slowly grew on Ditzy’s face as she cupped her belly. “Yea. He did an ultrasound. And that’s when I knew everything was going to be just fine.”

********************

”Well...it’s definitely not what I’m used to seeing,” Dr. True Shot said as he was finishing up Ditzy’s pelvic exam. “But nothing looks to be to be out of the ordinary. No abnormal bruising, tears, or anything like that.”

“Th-that’s nice t-t-to hear,” Ditzy said with a light blush on her face as he pulled the instrument from her nethers. To this day, she never understood how doctors could act so calm and professional while practically being face deep in a mare’s most intimate of areas.

Now that she wasn’t being split wider than she thought possible by cold metal, she chanced another look at AJ. He was sitting on a stool with wheels just off to the side of her. Close enough to be able to reach out and stroke his face lovingly, but far enough so the doctor could work comfortably. With each passing test, he seemed to relax, little by little. But they weren’t done just yet. There was still one very important test that needed to be done. So far, the tests have only gone to prove that Ditzy, herself, was just fine. There was still the question of their unborn children.

As the doctor went to go grab the materials he’d need for an ultrasound, AJ slowly inched closer to Ditzy. She smiled as AJ got right next to her. He lifted his hoof and placed it on Ditzy’s hand as he gave a weak smile back. Without saying a thing, she twisted her hand to hold his hoof. “See? Everything’s come back fine.”

“Yeah. Just the...babies...” He seemed to tense back up at the thought that the fate of their unborn children was still unknown.

Seeing this, Ditzy pulled him close for a hug. “Don’t worry. I’m sure our little buns in my oven are doing just fine.”

“We’ll see in just a moment,” Dr. True Shot said a he wheeled the ultrasound machine over to the bed. He set up the machine on the opposite side of AJ, and grabbed the bottle of gel that sat on the small shelf attached to the machine. “Just going to apply some of this gel to your belly. It’ll help the ultrasound get a more clear picture.” After squirting some of the gel onto Ditzy’s belly, he put the bottle back and grabbed the probe. It looked to be a little small for a human body. Given it was made for a pony’s smaller frame, that’s not too surprising. “Just lie back, and relax. I’m just going to run this prob over your belly so we can get a picture.”

Ditzy nodded her head before looking back to AJ. “Just pay attention to that screen, there. That’s where all the magic will happen.” AJ didn’t even answer. Even with his head still being hugged to her chest, all his attention was turned towards the ultrasound machine.

As the doctor began running the probe over her belly, a picture immediately popped onto the screen. It took a moment, but after a little searching, Dr. True Shot was pretty sure he had found what they were looking for. There on the screen, in two separate amniotic sacs, lay two small, barely formed bundles of cells. “There we are. I believe I’ve found them. You can see the two, separate amniotic sacs, there. Fraternal twins. How lucky for you,” he said with a smile. “Aaaand those…” He pointed to two little beating lumps in the middle of the two clumps of cells. “...look to be the tiny, beating hearts of two, healthy, fetuses.”

“You’re sure they’re healthy?” Ditzy asked with hope in her voice.

“Well, while there are obvious differences between your anatomy and a pony’s, from what I’m seeing here, there doesn’t appear to be any abnormalities.”

Ditzy unintentionally tightened her hug as relief washed over her. While she could guess there was nothing wrong with the unborn babies, considering she herself was fine after the transformation, she had no way of knowing for sure without help from an external source. “Did you hear that?” She turned to AJ, who currently had an unreadable look on his face. “They’re fine. The babies are fine!”

AJ just continued to stare at the image on the screen for a few seconds. “T-they’re fine…” A smile slowly began creeping onto his face. “The babies are fine.” Ditzy noted that it looked as if all the fear, pain, and worry that had built up over the last 24 hours seemed to slowly melt away. Tears began to well up in his eyes as he reached up with his metallic limb to return Ditzy’s hug. “You’re okay...the babies are okay...everything’s going to be okay.” He ended with a sniffle before tears of another kind fell to the floor.

********************

“It was like the weight of ten worlds just...lifted from his shoulders. He was so happy to see that everything was okay. He was even able to walk back on his own.”

“That’s wonderful news,” Celestia said with a smile.

“It’s good to know he’s back to his old self,” added Luna.

“Well, kinda.”

Luna eyed Ditzy with a questioning look. “What are you getting at?”

“He still looks like he’s a little uncomfortable around me. Because I look like this.”

“I’m sure that’ll pass with time. His fears have just been alleviated. By the end of the day, he should hopefully be back to his old self.”

Ditzy mulled Luna’s words around in her head for a moment before letting out a small sigh. “I hope you’re right.”

“I’m sure she is,” Celestia said with a comforting look. “He has you, the kids, and his friends here to support him. He’ll be just fine.”

“Princess Celestia’s right. You’ll have to give him a bit to get used to you as a human. It usually depends on the pony, but AJ tends to warm to change fairly quickly...most of the time,” Twilight said as she remembered back to when he was initially forced to come to Equestria.

“Yea, you’re right. At least if he has trouble getting used to this, it’ll only be a couple more days until I get changed back. Or however long it takes Discord to get back.” Ditzy perked up a little when she heard a door open and close in the hallway. “Oh, excuse me for a minute.” Ditzy got up off the bed and walked to the door, poking her head out the door. Just down the hall she saw Soft Spoken coming down the hall with a smile on her face. “So? How is he?”

Soft Spoken turned her head when she heard Ditzy speak. “Oh, Ditzy. Just the pony I wanted to see. He’s actually doing really good. Much better than the last time I talked to him. Seeing the results of those tests really did him a world of good.”

“You should have seen him when we were looking at the ultrasound,” Ditzy said with a giggle. “It was like a complete 180.”

“I bet.”

“So can I go see him?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“Why not?”

“After everything he’s been through, he was feeling a bit tired. He felt like taking a nice, relaxing nap.”

“I...suppose he probably didn’t sleep very well since the incident,” Ditzy said, clearly disappointed at the news.

“Buuuut, he told me to tell you to go wake him in about an hour. Now that he’s feeling better, he’d rather not spend the day sleeping when he could spend it with you.”

“I’m surprised he’s not planning on going back to work on the trip,” came Celestia’s voice from the room. Her and Luna wern’t really all that far into the room, so they were easily able to overhear the conversation.

“Maybe he figured it’d be best to take some time off before getting back to it,” reasoned Luna.

“That’s exactly it, actually,” Soft Spoken said with a smile. “After getting so stressed out he suffered from a panic attack, he figured a day or two off was probably the best thing he could do.”

“Thank Celestia.” Ditzy was clearly relieved. Not only was AJ not going to overwork himself again, but she was finally going to get to spend some time with him again. Well, time that wasn’t spent just trying to make sure he wasn’t going to freak out again.

Celestia snuck past Ditzy and moved into the hall. “It’s good to know he’ll start taking better care of himself. Were you planning on sticking around to talk with him some more?”

“As much as I’d like to, I don’t think there’s anything else I could help him with in this situation. I feel like I’d just be treading water at this point. Which isn’t exactly a bad thing, right now. I’ll probably head back to Trottingham in a little bit. I probably have some requests waiting for me back at the office.”

“I understand. Please, as thanks, allow us to take care of your travel back home.”

“I...I’d be honored.”

“Alright. I’ll send somepony to come get you when the carriage is ready,” Celestia said as she started down the hall.

“Seriously though, thank you. For everything,” Ditzy said as she kneeled down to be more on Soft Spoken’s level. “I doubt we’d have understood the situation as well if not for you.”

Soft Spoken bashfully rubbed the back of her head. “I was only doing my job, but thank you. It’s always nice to know all those years of collage and that degree hanging on my wall weren’t for nothing.”

“And sorry if the kids were acting up in there while you were talking to him.”

“Those two? They were perfect little angels. Though, Dinky did have to keep Knight Wind in check so he couldn’t be too loud,” she said with a giggle as she remembered Dinky sitting on Knight at one point to keep him under control.

“That’s a relief. Well, I’ll let you go get ready. I’ll see you later.”

********************

After waiting an hour watching Applejack try to help Silver Needle with human clothes, Ditzy made her way back to her room. She probably would have spent the time talking to Twilight more, but she went with Luna to help with her research on humans. It would have felt rude to sit there and watch as Luna took pictures of Twilight’s nude body. Besides, some pony named Atom Split was also going to be there, so it would have felt a bit crowded in the room. She didn’t want to go into the room and risk waking AJ up early so that left Applejack.

She didn’t even bother knocking on the door. It WAS her temporary home after all. When she got into the room, the first sight she was gifted with was the sight of Dinky and Knight drawing at the foot of the bed with crayons. Knight was filling in something with quite a bit of fervor, while Dinky was trying to be a bit more delicate with her art. That’s not to say Dinky was good at art. Art was just one of those things Dinky wasn’t very good at. Even compared to the art of other kids her age, but that didn’t keep her from having fun doodling in her free time.

The two of them looked up when they heard the door opening. “MmmMmy,” mumbled Knight through the crayon.

“Hi mommy,” Dinky said after placing the crayon on the floor.

“Hello my little muffin. My brave, little Knight.” She bent down to give a hug to the two foals as they came running up to her. “And just how have the two of you been while I’ve been gone?”

“We’ve been drawing!” Dinky said with an excited squeak “It’s so fu…”

“Boring!” interrupted Knight “It’s so boring. I wanted Dinky to read me a story, but she doesn’t want to.” He ended with a small huff.

“I told you we ran out of stories,” Dinky said matter of factly.

“You could have read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” again. It’s my favorite.”

“I already read that one two times.”

“So?”

“Now, now you two, what did we tell you about fighting?”

Dinky and Knight looked at each other before looking back at Ditzy. “That...if we fight, we have to hug for an hour?” Dinky asked as she tried to remember. The two of them rarely fight, so it doesn’t really come up very often.

“Ewwww, hugging Dinky?” Knight said seemingly forgetting that he was snuggling up to, and being hugged by Dinky as they slept this morning.

“That’s right. So if you don’t wanna hug each other for an hour, you better behave.”

“Oookaaaay,” the kids said in tandem.

“Alright then. Now, have you two eaten lunch yet?” She smiled as Knight shook his head. “Well Applejack was going to go get some lunch right now. If you hurry, you can probably catch her before she leaves.”

“Yaaay, I want some applesauce,” Knight said as he ran from the room.

“Aren’t you coming, mommy?” Dinky asked as she stared up at her mother.

“I had a little something when I was watching Applejack before, so I’m not hungry. Now go on, Applejack won’t wait forever.” She gave Dinky another big hug before sending her on her way. Once she was out the door, Ditzy closed it. “And now, for my prize,” she said as she turned towards the bed.

She could hear the sounds of AJ’s snores coming from a lump in the sheets. As she got closer, she felt her heart sink for what she was about to do. “Aww, he looks so...peaceful.” When he was sleeping with her over night, he seemed so jumpy, and woke up multiple times. It was as if he thought she’d just disappear if he slept for too long. She was pretty sure he woke up at least every half hour, or at least that’s what it felt like.

So to see him sleeping soundly, and knowing that she’d have to be the one ruin that sleep made her feel bad. “Well, I guess he did ask for this.”

She sat on the side of the bed, causing AJ to shift in his sleep as the bed beneath him did the same. “...dun wanna go school, mommy,” he mumbled before settling back on the mattress.

Ditzy stifled a giggle. Dinky always did the exact same thing when she tried to wake her up early. Unlike Dinky, however, she had a different idea of how to actually wake the stallion up. She turned her body, now kneeling on the bed with one knee, so she was facing him. She lowered her head close to his before puckering her lips and giving him a long, loving kiss on the lips.

When she pulled away, AJ’s face seemed to twist in confusion. “Mmmm? Mom doesn’t kiss me,” he said as his eyes cracked open. Since he didn’t have his glasses on, he blinked a few times to attempt to clear his vision.

Ditzy looked over to the side table and grabbed his glasses. “I believe these will help.”

After his glasses were placed on his head, he looked up into those beautiful amber eyes he’s come to know and love. “Definitely not mom. This is a much better view to wake up to,” he said as a smile grew on his face.

A big, prideful smile grew on Ditzy’s face. “Glad you feel that way.” She pushed herself off of him when she noticed him begin to push himself up.

AJ let out a yawn before rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “I almost regret telling Soft Spoken to ask you to wake me after an hour. That was the best sleep I had in the last 24 hours.”

“Well, the sooner you get up, the sooner we can start spending some time together.”

He stared at Ditzy from the side as he continued to rub one of his eyes. She was beginning to remove the sheet from her body. He wasn’t completely sure, but it almost looked to him like she was making a show of the whole ordeal. A knowing smirk grew on her face when she saw him staring. She kept her eyes on him with an almost hungry look as she undid the knot. She could have just let it drop, but she held it there for a moment before letting it slowly fall down her chest. It finally fell past her breasts before she stopped it once again at her belly. Again, she teased him. From her belly, she slowly eased the sheet down her body until a hint of her, seemingly, golden pubic hair could be seen. After what felt like forever she let the sheet fully drop, revealing all of her to the stallion. “Well...I did say almost.”

Ditzy giggled as she climbed onto the bed, and sat up against the headboard. She pat the spot next to her on the bed, beckoning AJ to come over to her. “Well we have the next day and a half to do whatever we want. Any ideas of what you want to do?”

AJ did just as Ditzy wanted and sat next to her. “Off the top of my head, no. For...obvious reasons, I haven’t exactly had much of a chance to think of activities for us to do. I’m just happy to be to, well, me.”

Ditzy slowly nodded her head. “Yea. You gave us all quite the scare. I think the only one who wasn’t freaking out was Princess Celestia. If not for her, we all would have been left flapping in the wind, so to speak.”

“Trust me, I’m more than thankful for what she did. I’d probably still be emotionally broken if not for her.”

“It was even her idea to have Soft Spoken come to help.”

“Which I appreciate. She really helped me collect my thoughts today. And last night she helped talk me through the worst of it.”

“Heck, she even helped me get through this. We didn’t talk all that much, but what she did say helped a lot.” Ditzy let out a slight sigh. The direction this conversation was going was slowly killing the mood she had started before. If she wanted this to go her way, she’d need to change things up. “Well, thankfully that’s all in the past. No more scaring us like that.”

AJ let out a small chuckle. “Given my luck after coming to Equestria, I make no promises, but that doesn’t mean I certainly won’t try.”

“For now, let’s just think of all the fun we can have on your time off. Once we think of something to do, that is.”

“I almost wish there was a TV in these rooms. Wouldn’t mind relaxing with you while we watch a movie, or something like that, but I’m sure it won’t be too hard to think of something.”

“Oh yea, shouldn’t be too hard.” Without giving him warning, Ditzy snaked her arm around him and hugged him to her body. “Shouldn't be too hard at all.”

A light blush began to grow on AJ’s face when he realized his head was resting on Ditzy’s breast. “U-um, Ditzy?” He tried to look her in the eye, but with his current vantage point, the view of one of his eyes was filled with Ditzy’s nice, soft breast. It made it kinda difficult to concentrate on other things.

“Yeeeees?” Using the hand that was wrapped around his body, she began slowly rubbing circles around AJ’s belly. "Is there something you wanted to say to me?”

The blush on AJ’s face intensified. Not only was his head currently being forced into Ditzy’s breast, but her hand was rubbing awfully low on his belly at times. It didn’t take a genius to pick up on the hints Ditzy’s been dropping. “Now...I know I’m not as smart as Twilight, but I’d like to think I’m intelligent enough to know when you’re dropping...hints.” He let out a small squeak and jumped slightly as Ditzy “accidentally” brushed his equipment with her fingers. “O-o-o-oh yea. Definitely dropping hints.”

“On a scale of one to ten, ten being super subtle, how subtle am I being?”

AJ jumped as Ditzy brushed him again. “I-I’d say maybe…negative ten.”

“Okay, good. I wasn’t trying very hard to hide it.”

“Are you sure we should be doing this? I-I-I-I don’t know where the kids are, but they could find us at any moment, and…”

“And I highly doubt that. Right now they’re with Applejack getting some lunch. And I MAAAAAY have dropped a hint that I wanted to spend some alone time with you. She seemed pretty sure that she’d be able to buy us a couple hours.” She removed her hand from his belly and went a bit lower.

AJ swallowed the lump in his throat as he felt Ditzy’s hand begin to fondle his berries. “A-a-are you sure you want to do this?”

Ditzy looked down at him with an amused look. “I’m currently grabbing your boys right now, and you’re wondering if I really, truly want to do this?” She let out a small giggle. “Well, to answer your question, yes. I’m more than sure. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious to see how this new body handles you.” She congratulated herself for a job well done as she saw AJ’s Mini Me slowly growing. “Looks to me like you’re also interested in finding out.”

“I...um...maybe.”

“Good. Now come on, let’s not waste this grace period Applejack’s giving us, and test out this new model of mine.”

********************

“You know, after spending most of a year on four legs, this feels awfully...strange,” AJ said as he stared at his now human form in the mirror.”

After a couple days, Discord returned from...wherever he went and was able to finish the changes that needed to happen. Unfortunately it happened fairly late into the day, but better late than never. While she was finally getting used to her human body, Ditzy admitted she was happy to be back to her old, familiar self. It’s what she knew, and it’s how she felt most comfortable. Plus, the teats were a lot easier to manage when they’re back down between her legs, so that’s a plus.

AJ, on the other hand, seemed a bit mixed about being changed back into a human. While he did look happy to be back to his true self, he felt a sense of longing as he thought of all the happy moments he spent as a pony. All those times with Ditzy, the kids, and the friends he’s made were some of the happiest times he’s had. Now that he was bipedal again, that sense of happiness felt a bit...distant.

And that wasn’t because he didn’t have a coat of hair on his body to cover the scars he’s gotten as reminders of all the bad times. In fact, a good majority of those injuries had actually healed quite nicely, barely leaving a mark in their place. The most notable scars were a big, nasty one on his chest from when he was attacked by the razorbacks, and a scar on his back and leg left by some whip strikes.

And then there was his mechanical limb, of course. What once looked fairly simple on the outside, it now looked like a complex piece of machinery with five digits. It was also still heavy and required a lot of concentration to keep his balance. It made getting used to two legs again that much more difficult when you’re being weighed down on one side.. “I REALLY wish Discord could have done something about this. It was so easy to forget how heavy this thing when it’s always planted on the ground.” AJ said as he flexed his arm. He slowly balled the fingers into a fist before extending them again. Fortunately the more complex nature of it didn’t seem to hinder the movement. He honestly expected all the extra joints to make it a nightmare to control. “If not for the weight, it would have made for many less questions from mom. I can guess there’ll probably be questions about it until we come back.”

“I’m sure everything’ll be fine.”

“Oh, you don’t know my mom. She is VERY over protective. Even at 22, before I came here, at least, she’d always call me to make sure she knew where I was, or who I was with. You know nothing of what I had to go through.”

Ditzy looked at AJ as if he was stupid. “Excuse me? You seem to forget who my parents are. Maybe you’ll remember them. They tried their hardest to get you out of my life? Treated me like a foal until I slapped my mother across the face? Took you getting kidnapped for them to realise how important you were to me? This ringing any bells?”

“Ah...yes. Forgot about that.”

“It’s only natural that parents are going to worry about you. Even if they go a bit overboard at times.” She walked up to him and placed a hoof on his hand. “Not all ponies can say their parents actually love or care about them. I’d rather my parent care a bit too much rather than not at all.”

AJ let out a chuckle. “I’ve actually had that exact conversation with mom before.”

“Well it’s true. And while I, obviously, get aggravated at them sometimes, I love them so much.”

“And they’re...getting used to me...somewhat. Sooooo yay for me. And yea, I’m not saying I hate my mom or anything. I love her so much. I really do.”

“Slowly, but surely. Just keep showing them you’re not going to run out on me when times get tough and they’ll come around.”

“You know, I really do wish you could come with us. Having you there would do wonders for my sanity.”

“I want to. I really do, but I just can’t stay away from Ponyville any longer than I already have. I’m pretty sure the only reason I’m not going to get fired is because Princess Celestia herself informed Boxxy that I needed to be here for longer than anticipated. Not to mention Dinky’s schoolwork is already far enough behind.”

“Yea, I know. And I’m sure Knight’ll be more comfortable at home. At least, I hope he will.”

“Don’t worry. If it gets too bad, I’ll have him sleep over at my house. He can sleep with Dinky. Her bed’s big enough for the two of them.”

“I appreciate it.”

Ditzy smiled as she took a step back and took another look at AJ’s human body. Aside from the obvious changes, like his arm and the scars, he did look like he lost a bit of weight from the last time she’d saw him like this. He was noticeably thinner, though still overweight, and had a lot more muscle tone than he used to. In that there was actual muscle tone to be seen. All the work he’s done on the farm has clearly been good for his health. “You know, I gotta say. All that work you do around the farm’s clearly done good things for you.”

AJ looked at Ditzy with a questioning look. “You think?” He took another look at his body. He was currently naked since his old clothes weren't taken out of wherever Celestia had stored them yet. “I guess I do look like I lost some weight...I think. Don’t really remember exactly what I looked like before.”

“Well, I never saw you without clothes before, but you are thinner. Got some nice muscles there, too. Another year of this and you’ll be quite the looker.”

“Are you saying you don’t think I’m attractive as I am?” he asked with a knowing smirk.

Ditzy let out a giggle. “I’m teasing you and you know it. You being chunky as a human never bugged me in the slightest. Besides, you were squishy and comfy to sleep on.”

“Excuse me, but I am not “chunky.” The proper term is fluffy. You’d do good to remember that,” AJ said with a chuckle.

“Yeaaaa, I’m not calling you fluffy. Not when I’m fluffier than you.”

“It’s a joke from a comedian. He had a joke about there being different levels of fatness. He himself was a big dude.”

“And I assume fluffy was one of those levels?”

“Eeyup. The bit’s a lot funnier when it actually comes from him, though.”

“I’m sure it is.” Ditzy stretched her body as a yawn escaped from her lips. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I think I’m going to go to bed. I think Dinky and Knight could use some company in that big bed.”

“I’ll join you shortly. Just want to spend a bit more time getting used to the old me.” He kneeled down to get on Ditzy’s level and pulled her in for a kiss. “Night, beautiful.”

“Night, lover boy.” Ditzy happily turned to leave the bathroom, humming a happy tune to herself as she passed through the doorway.

****************************************

Comments

[Rubahhitam]

floor toast.

Hah!

-Ru

[Mix-up]

This was a fun chapter once again

[jxj]

It's good to see AJ getting better after last chapter.

[SomeRandomPone]

9018795
Agreed

[Garuda IV]

Ever since AJ said he was going to visit his mom as a human, I've been picturing his mechanical leg changing into an arm that resembled Edward's "Automail" arm from FMA. Now we just have to wait and see this reunion, and how his mom will react to everything. Who knows, maybe she'll end up moving to Equestria to be with her son, Ditzy, and grandkids?

[Fanthrose]

9024388
For what his arm looks like, It's got a mount to the body, much like Edwards automail does, but his arm looks much smoother than the automail does. Less armored looking, more just metal, looking arm. The fingers would probably look pretty similar, though.

[Noctis Prism]

An amazing breakdown for his state of worry going into calm again. Eager for the remeet on earth!

[tsaukpaetra]

And the emotions have stabilized again! Well, for the moment at least.
Now to actually finish preparations for the world hop and smash it all up again!
Keep going! ;)

[FnordBear]

Seven chapters until I am caught up.

Our Hero Protagonist is such a punching bag that the next time something happens to him he should just randomly shout, "My safe word is kumquats!"

[SomeRandomPone]

I dont think anyone can understand how much I love this story.

[Blackdust]

... I've had it with this. Too many errors, and not even that interesting. Suck a dick.

[Fanthrose]

9190782
9191196
9190853

You do realize when i first started, the authors notes section at the end wasn't there, right? There's no need to lose your shit over something so trivial.

[damnaion]

9274101
dam only a week and i'm up to Helping the Broken chapter dammit now i have to find something to read until next chapter is out.

[Detsella Morningdew]

9204342
This is why I don't complain about formatting and stuff for stories that are this old (at least at the start). Things like Author's Notes might not exist, and site rules could be radically different.

Like older stories being able to use copyrighted song lyrics, or things like that.

Anyway, going to start reading now. Might end up giving mostly-useless advice along the way.

[Silas5399]

Is this story dead

[Fanthrose]

9664657
Not dead, more in hiatus until i can work through the block again.

[White seal]

Oh...0)-(0

Ok

[SethFilms]

why the lack of chapters?

[NurLeser72]

Hello Fanthrose
I have been waiting for a long time for a new chapter, is there still hope?

[notAperson]

10620700
Dang, you right, i was just going off my anger there, didn't stop to think what horrible tortures i could put the guy through

[Blackdust]

11051461
Ah. My apologies then! Thank you for answering that rather than just downvoting and moving on!

[DangerDolphin09]

11096423
Amen, Yeeeah!

[Rikkity]

10887049

Yes this is true. they can end up in a coma, and there is the HIGH possibility they never wake up (if they do it's considered a miracle). And these kinds of coma's do typically result in fatality.

I've only known one person who woke up after such a coma after a YEAR, and the doctors wanted to pull the plug. His mother held out hope for him, and would go off on the doctors. She wasn't having ANY of that doom and gloom crap. That's one hell of a year of prayers, and hope. This was a co-worker of mine when I worked at Amazon, but yeah all of us were pretty damn surprised to say the least.

[Rikkity]

10101143

images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/0d22b634-b3fc-4653-a632-a05e34773731/d8bfvos-69af121a-7d4a-4d88-b5cb-f621909537ce.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzBkMjJiNjM0LWIzZmMtNDY1My1hNjMyLWEwNWUzNDc3MzczMVwvZDhiZnZvcy02OWFmMTIxYS03ZDRhLTRkODgtYjVjYi1mNjIxOTA5NTM3Y2UuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.EJFQ8Llrd97DpRFGcYsqoHKehw6M3CM4_JH86KVih0Y

[Rikkity]

9987873
Hey now, tarantulas are fucking cool!