Welcome to Batstralia

by Damaged

Trapped

Language check. All in English.

"… and she was really happy that she got paid. When I asked her, she gave me half just like we said!" Robin paused talking only to stuff another fork full of vegetables into her mouth. "Can I have a banana for dessert?"

Joyce rolled her eyes to Candela, who snorted as well. "You can if you eat all your vegetables." Her heart still light from the date-that-wasn't-a-date, Joyce barely listened to her daughter, but did absently make note of the facts. "Did Rose say she could take care of you again tomorrow?"

"Yuff umf!" Robin's mouth was stuffed full, and it was obvious "eat all your vegetables" made dinner into a race. She gulped hard, emptying her mouth of the accursed green things. "When's Mike getting back?"

"He only just left, and he has the whole week." Joyce's mind was still on the matter of the people gaining pony attributes. "Tomorrow I need to find Dave O'Brian, his place's where Rose and her mother are living, isn't it?" Her daughter nodded now, rather than slow down the relentless sacrifice of green beans. "I might just drop you off there tomorrow, before Rose leaves." With her plan for further study cemented, Joyce focused on the situation at hand. "Slow down, Ro—"

"All done!" Robin's knife and fork clattered to the plate, and she was practically vibrating in her chair. "Can I please leave the table?"

"Don't look at me, Joy. You set her a task and now she has completed it early." Candela's grin was insufferable.

"Of course you can dear. Make sure to leave one for Tufts' dinner." Joyce tried to ignore how ravenous her daughter had become for fruit, and succeeded most admirably.

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

"Buckle up." Joyce had the internal light on in her car, and was urging Misty and Robin to put on their belts. "I don't care if it's just across town," she wanted to forestall the argument before it could form, "in any car, you wear seat belts." She waited, and watched, until both girls had their belts fastened, albeit in a not quite normal fashion for Misty.

It was good enough for Joyce, and she started the car and, checking for traffic, pulled out into the street. The drive was short, no more than two blocks—in a town of just two blocks. "Here you girls go."

Dave froze at the sight. Dull old lights belonging to a station wagon pulled in behind his work ute. When he spotted Misty and Robin climb out, he visibly slumped his shoulders. Walking up to the car, he hung his head like a dog that knew a kick was coming. "Hi doc." Wearing his work overalls, Dave had a beanie cap on his head, and a flannel shirt.

"Hello Dave. Let me…" Joyce trailed off a little, until Robin and Misty entered the house, to the surprise of a bleary-eyed Rose. "Let me cut past the bullshit. Something strange's happening here. You know it, Steve knows it, and now I know it. I'm not going to take this to someone else until I know it's really a problem, and a patient who has a disease I've never seen before, and who's reluctant to keep regular appointments, makes this a problem."

It was impossible for a guy to grow up and not be told off by women. Dave's head was hung, his ears tucked back, and he gave a deep sigh. "It's getting worse." He didn't need to say it, but she had already all-but said she knew it was. "I think my ears are fully… whatever. And my tail's… it's nice and soft." Dave blushed.

"And the mark on your hips?" Joyce was grabbing at a straw, but she knew she had guessed right at the jump Dave made. "Fur growing? We both know it isn't just body-hair, Dave." She reached across for her bag, and started to climb out of the car.

"Wait, Rose and the girls are inside, and Jenny'll ask questions. It's hard enough keeping her at arm's reach already." Dave walked around the car and, without asking, climbed in the passenger side. "Your place'll be better."

The short ride back to her home didn't need any words to fill it, but it felt more awkward to Joyce without them. "How are Rose and Jenny, her mother?" Dave nodded to her question. "How're they fitting in?"

"Rosey's amazing. The girl'd be in the mine, with a helmet on and up to her elbows in dirt if either of us let her. Closest I let her get to actually working in there's going through the tailings… piles of dirt we dig out." Dave felt relaxed talking about Rose, she was a safe topic. "She and Robin picked through one pile, found a few hundred bucks of gems we'd missed."

"Only a few hundred?" Joyce turned the car into her street.

"Well, we can't exactly sell pre-cut gems of those sizes. We crush them down and get a few friends to sell them here and there. They're gouging us, and skimming off the top, but it's still making us rich enough."

Joyce turned off the car and climbed out. "It's probably for the best you don't let her go in the mine regularly, I think that might be the source of…" She trailed off and just gestured to Dave's ears.

"No shit? Well fuck…" Dave started in the rough direction of the mine, as if it was a monster he hadn't even realized was there. "I kinda figured it might'a been hanging around with the ponies so much."

"The kids spend all day with Candela, and there are no changes in them yet." Joyce opened the door, bag in hand. "Head on in, kitchen's on the right if you want some tea. I'd prefer to do the examination in the living room, though."

"Well, you've got me at your mercy, doc." Dave's attempt to lighten the mood folded as he saw a bright eyed Candela poke her head from the kitchen. "Uh, hi!"

"Hello." Candela looked at Dave, then up to Joyce. "This's your other patient? Have you tried gluing him to something big? I'm sure he'd be harder to lose then."

"I… I just don't like doctors, okay?" Dave rubbed one arm in a nervous twitch. "Really don't like em…" He looked embarrassed at the glance Joyce gave him. "It's nothin' personal or nothin'."

"Iatrophobia. Well that explains a lot. Okay Dave, we're doing this the harder way, but it should make it easier on you." Joyce looked to Candela. "Sorry to bother you, Candy, but could you make a nice hot cuppa for him? Anything to calm down."

"Does this mean I count as a nurse?" Candela winked at Joyce. "I always wanted to be a nurse… well, not really, but they always seem so important. Six hundred see sees of Earl Gray, coming up!" Turning the words into a sing-song, Candela pranced back into the kitchen.

Joyce herded Dave to the living room, and pointed to a couch. "You sit there and get to have this." She pulled out her notebook and pen, and dumped her bag beside him. "Because if you're so scared of doctors, you get to do the measuring."

"Huh? No needles?" Dave's voice almost cracked on the word, and at his age his voice really shouldn't crack.

"Please, you're in top physical shape, I can see that plain as day. I just want you to measure your ears, your tail, and any patches of fur you're growing." Joyce flopped down in one of the big single chairs. "And, if you're good, you can even have a lollipop."

"Do I look like I'm a kid?" Dave looked into the bag and spotted the bag of lollipops that Joyce really did keep for her patients. "So what do I do?"

"Take out the measuring tape, should be on the left near all the loose needles." Joyce's joke had the desired effect, earning a bark of laughter from Dave. "Right, I need the length and circumference of your dock; the dock's the fleshy part of your tail."

"Okay, length…" Leaning to the side, Dave laid out his tail on the couch beside him, and started measuring. "Uh… thirteen… no, twelve and a half centimeters. You want the circumference now?" His hands worked, adjusting the tape measure.

"Thank you." Joyce started filling in the information as quickly as Dave gave it to her. It was automatic, she asked for a measurement and Dave supplied it. She was doing fine until he asked a question back and it snapped her from her records. "Sorry, what was that?"

"I said, 'Do you want me to measure just the fleshy part of my ears, or the little tufts of fur on the ends too?' " Dave pulled his beanie off and showed Joyce his ears. "It's odd, they're different from Steve, Burrow, or Delves' ones." His expressive aural equipment twitched this way and that, turning to the doorway the moment Candela entered with two big cups of tea.

"This's the medication you ordered, doctor?" Candela was grinning widely as she carried the two cups in her wings. Offering one to Dave, she passed the second to Joyce.

"You're a lifesaver." Joyce brought the mug up to her lips and sipped at it, letting the warmth of the hot, dark tea pour into her. "I need to look at your ears, Dave." She waited until her patient had sipped at his tea, although in his case it was more a nervous gulp.

"I'll leave you two." Candela made her way from the room, ruffling her wings a little.

"I dunno if…" Dave closed his eyes and took a deep breath, visibly fighting the inner demon of fear. "Just do it, don't—" He froze as Joyce got up and kneeled down just in front of him.

"Just lean forward and let me look at them." Joyce knew it was supposed to be demeaning, but the slight dip in her shirt that gave a hint of her cleavage did its magic as it always had. Taking a firm hold of Dave's head, she tilted it forwards so his eyes were inches from her chest. "Okay, good enough." She recognized the ear shapes quite easily, since she had been looking at a pair just like them on a daily basis. "Tufts."

Wearing the most shaky smile ever, Dave sat back up straight and curled his ears back. "Tufts? What do you mean?"

"Those aren't pony ears, Dave. Those are bat ears, and not quite those." Joyce couldn't believe the evidence, but it was there. She held up her arm and rolled her eyes. "Mango." The effect of saying the word was instant. Screeching in excitement, Tufts winged into the room and instantly caught his legs on the arm of Joyce's jumper. The bat looked her right in the eyes and gave another kee.

"Strewth doc!" Dave shied back a bit from the sudden arrival. But when his eyes fixed on the still bat's ears, he froze. "Holy shit…"

"Language. But yes, 'holy shit' indeed." Joyce apologized to Tufts with a good chin scratch. "You have a tail, you have the fur markings, but your ears don't match to a pony." Once her duty to Tufts (scratching the bat's chin) was complete, she grabbed up her pencil and started to sketch Dave's ears. "Your coloration's darker…" She stood up and carried the still-protesting Tufts with her. "Stand up, please." She was at the wrong angle to use her cleavage to distract him again, so tried to give Dave some space to breathe.

"Oh… Okay." Dave got to his feet, his overalls were down around his knees, leaving his furry thighs and tail hanging out for all to see. "Wait a sec, don't bats have nasty diseases?"

"Some, yes. But Tufts here has not been spending any time with his kind for over a month now. Don't worry Dave, he's safe." She held Tufts out a little, keeping the bat's attention while she held his body beside the patch of fur on Dave's thigh. The color and tone were a perfect match.

Apparently forgetting all his worries about bats, Dave reached his hand out to touch Tuft's back—the nearest part of the bat to him—then ran his hand over his own fur on his hip. "It feels the same."

Joyce had been holding back from touching Dave's leg so as not to trigger his iatrophobia, and took his word for the similarity. "Candela!" Her tone wasn't demanding, Joyce just made sure her friend heard her.

"What's the matter, Joyce?" Candela was quick to slip back into the living room. She looked at Dave—with his overalls on the floor—then back to Joyce. "Is there a problem?"

"Bat… ponies." Joyce sat back down with Tufts still clinging to her, although the bat adjusted his grip from her arm to her front. Tufts suddenly decided that his wing needed cleaning, and curled like a contortionist to start licking it.

"Bat ponies? Never heard of them." Lifting a hoof, Candela tapped her chin. "We do have bats in Equestria, and you can trust me when I say they love apples, but no pony that looked anything like a bat."

"Great, something completely new." Joyce's tone implied the exact opposite of it being great. "Well Dave, on the plus side you seem to be something new, Steve's ears are definitely pony, and his fur's a fair match for any other pony's."

The words prompted Candela to look from Tufts to Dave, to his hip, and then up to his ears. "It's definitely quite striking. If you turn all the way into a pony, you'll definitely turn heads in Equestria."

"I don't want to turn heads in Equestria." Shaking his head, Dave bent down to grab his overalls and pull them back up. "I just want this all to be over…"

"If it's related to the mine…" Joyce didn't need to finish the words, Dave's head turned so sharply it could have given him whiplash. "I'm telling you what might be doing it. Why not take a week off, see if you stop changing?"

"I can't, doc." Dave pulled the overalls' straps over each shoulder and fastened them. "We're at a bit of a crucial spot…" With his ears tucked back in worry, Dave ran a hand through his hair. He looked down at the floor, heavy thoughts twisting his expression into knots.

Joyce had given bad news before, and as much as she didn't want to use it with Dave, she slid into her doctor voice. "You have a choice then. Stay and let it continue, or go and—"

"Lose half my share of everything. Me and Steve were… we hadn't worked together before, we didn't trust each other." Jostling a little, Dave had to reach down the back of his pants. "Sorry, tail's a little out of alignment…"

"I hate it when that happens. Usually when wearing something completely impossible to adjust." Candela reached her wing up and ran a primary feather past Tufts' snout. The bat sneezed at the shock, and gave her a soft kee. "You're lucky."

"I don't feel lucky." With his tail problem sorted, Dave turned his attention back to Joyce and Candela. "We had a guy draft us up a contract. We have another two years working here, and whoever bails first loses half their share of the mine."

Joyce was dismissive. "A week off wouldn't—"

"The terms were strict. Any more than a day off and it defaults." Dave slumped back onto the couch. "I wouldn't blame Steve, he's a good mate now, and deserves what he works for." Silence in the room thickened as nearly two minutes passed before anyone spoke. "I guess being a pony wouldn't be that bad, and I'd be a rich pony."

"Being a pony's quite good, and if you get wings… even bat wings I guess… you could learn to fly, too." Candela gave a supportive smile.

"Th-Thanks." Dave rocked forward on the couch and got his legs back under himself. "Well doc, I think this's the best doctor visit I've ever had… almost the only one too. I need to get to work." He walked like a man who had been told he was dying to the front door.

"Bye Dave." Joyce looked at her notes, and slipped into a little bit of a daze. "This might be too much for me, Candy."

"Well, firstly it isn't a terrible thing being a pony. I certainly didn't appreciate having it sound like it was the worst fate he could possibly suffer." Giving a huff, Candela gave Tufts a rub under the chin. "Although looking at it, if I were to turn into a human, I think it'd annoy me."

Author's Note:

Candela is being remarkably insensitive here.

“I heard that.” Candela rolled her eyes. “Joyce and I are... we're closer than I think either of us really realize. Gentle ribbing, for the sake of a pun, is beneath neither of us.”

~~~~~+++++~~~~~

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and I they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, I they will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! I They will pick one question per chapter.

Support me on Patreon or fuel my writing on Ko-Fi!

Join me on Discord. Warning, said chat may contain NSFW material and should be considered adult in nature.

Awesome ponies who are already helping to keep me in keyboards and rum:
A.P.O.N.I.
Boulder
Canary in the Coal Mine
Daremo
Dio-Drogynous
Ian
Javarod
Jeffh4
Mary Rowland
Mephia
Nils
Sirion123

And special thanks to the following, for careful eyes and friendly words:
Cross Lament
Jeffh4
Vutava

Comments

[tsaukpaetra]

Humans fear the unknown, and there are few things more unknown than changing species in the normal world.
Hey, at least he isn't getting r34'd!
Not a single day off? Dang, that's brutal. Still, probably worth it.
Makes us wonder though, if the gems are imbued with magic and they're spreading it...
To Candela: maybe you could start making plans to teach a class for the transformed?
Keep going! ;)

[Damaged]

8217570 “Batting: 101”

[A.P.O.N.I.]

8217582
“Why did you give me a cricket guide?”

[Damaged]

8217676

[A.P.O.N.I.]

8217687

[Damaged]

8217730 How did an entomology guide get in here?

[A.P.O.N.I.]

8217734
Based on your response, I’m honestly not certain if I messed up the joke. I was referencing cricket bats. Because they play cricket.

I’ll go away, now.

[Damaged]

8217908 I know, I was taking it a step further.

[A.P.O.N.I.]

8217928
Huh. There’s no emoji for “chagrined”.

[harts fire]

I can say this is a vary interesting story and I will be watching for more updates.

[Boulder]

8217582 8217676 Coulda said roof and wall insulation guide too.

"Joyce herded Dave to the living room, and pointed to a couch. 

Delete quote mark at start

"Lost half my share of everything. Me and Steve were… we hadn't worked together before, we didn't trust each other."

I think that should be 'Lose'?

[Damaged]

8279011 Fixed, thanks!

[Vutava]

"I don't care if it is just across town,"

I am not going to take this to someone else until I know it is really a problem, and a patient who has a disease I have never seen before, and who is reluctant to keep regular appointments, makes this a problem."

And my tail is… it is nice and soft."

"Wait, Rose and the girls are inside, and Jenny will ask questions.

"Your place will be better."

The girl would be in the mine, with a helmet on and up to her elbows in dirt if either of us let her.

"She and Robin picked through one pile, found a few hundred bucks of gems we had missed."

They are gouging us, and skimming off the top, but it is still making us rich enough."

I would prefer to do the examination in the living room, though."

Okay Dave, we are doing this the harder way, but it should make it easier on you."

"Because if you are so scared of doctors, you get to do the measuring."

"Please, you are in top physical shape, I can see that plain as day. I just want you to measure your ears, your tail, and any patches of fur you are growing." Joyce flopped down in one of the big single chairs. "And, if you are good, you can even have a lollipop."

"Do I look like I am a kid?"

"It's odd, they are different from Steve, Burrow, or Delves' ones."

"You are a lifesaver."

"Some, yes. But Tufts here has not been spending any time with his kind for over a month now. Don't worry Dave, he is safe."

"If it is related to the mine…" Joyce didn't need to finish the words, Dave's head turned so sharply it could have given him whiplash. "I am telling you what might be doing it. Why not take a week off, see if you stop changing?"

"We are at a bit of a crucial spot…"

"Sorry, tail is a little out of alignment…"

"I guess being a pony wouldn't be that bad, and I would be a rich pony."

"Well doc, I think this is the best doctor visit I have ever had… almost the only one too. I need to get to work."

Contraction suggested.

He didn't need to say it, but she had already all-but said she knew it was.

Awkward phrasing.

"Wow are they fitting in?"

"How

"Joyce herded Dave to the living room, and pointed to a couch.

Joyce

"Take out the measuring tape, should be on the left near the all the loose needles."

Her tone wasn't demanding, Joyce just made sure her friend heart her.

heard

“Joyce and I are... we are closer than I think either of us really realize. “Gentle ribbing, for the sake of a pun, is beneath neither of us.”

Gentle

[Damaged]

8497286 Thanks!