Confession
Language check. Anything wrapped in < > in this chapter is spoken Equish, everything else is in English.
"Michael?"
Candela's hoofsteps grew closer, but Mike felt rather than heard them. His headphones were on and his hand strummed across the strings. Life poured through his fingers, and just expressing his feelings in the music was so freeing he had no words to describe it.
Mike blinked a few times when his yellow-furred school teacher walked into his field of view. His fingers burned to play more, but he had to still them. "Hi, Candela. What's up?" Pulling his modified cans down to his neck, Mike twitched his ears like crazy now that they were free of the confinement of his headphones.
"<Rose is not doing so well. She needs a hug from a friend>." Candela's look of concern had Mike jumping to his feet immediately. "<I just got her and Joyce some tea in the living room, and they were happy to leave the door open>."
The words were significant to Mike, it meant that Rose was done with her medical stuff and he was allowed to intrude. "What do I do?" His talent flared, and he found himself already planning. "Wait, I got this…"
Watching Mike grab his guitar and amp—sans headphones now—Candela grinned from ear to ear at seeing him trot quickly down the hall towards the living room.
When he walked in, Mike heard the muffled conversation stop and both Rose and his mother stared at him. "Wait, before you say anything…" He walked across to the free couch chair and plugged his amp in beside it. "Rosetta, this is for you."
Rose opened her mouth to say something, but tucked it closed again when the deep, bass notes started to glide from Mike's guitar. Her eyes widened as the music rushed into her head and formed a link between them.
Focusing on his own fears at first, Mike worked everything he was experiencing into the music. His fingers flew across the strings and frets, despite an odd stiffness in them. As it wound on the music started to turn positive quickly. Everything seemed brighter now, and Mike looked at Rose for more inspiration. A smile creased her lips, and he returned it. He let the music wind on until it was done, which was another ten bars in total.
As his hands slowed, Mike breathed out and let the sound of the guitar fade slowly. "Did you—" He didn't get any further before Rose shot across the living room and landed on the couch beside him. Her arms pulled around his neck and dragged Mike into a hug. Letting his guitar swing to the side, Mike put his arms around Rose and returned her hug. "You liked it?"
"It was amazing." Rose clung to Mike like a barnacle. "I wasn't even sure if I wanted to see you today. I felt like I wanted to go home and eat a pile of chocolate, then stuff my head under a pillow."
"And now?" Slowly rubbing a circle on Rose's back, Mike felt the slight bump of the girl's bra strap. He didn't care that she wasn't dressed up, or that she didn't seem to like dressing up; Rose was a comfortable girl to be around.
"Now is better." Rose pressed her cheek to Mike's shoulder and inhaled deeply.
From Rose's own surprised expression, Mike had to assume she hadn't actually meant to sniff him. Oddly, he felt comfortable in her doing so. "It's okay. You aren't alone in this, remember? That music? I have never played that well in my life. Each time I play I am better than last time, and somehow I can just create songs from nowhere. They fit the moment perfectly, and Candela tells me that is how a special talent works, but it freaks me out.
"I got a book on horses, and if ponies are anything like them then I think we are going to be doing a lot more sniffing in the future." To prove his point, Mike leaned in and gave an exaggerated sniff of Rose's neck, which earned him a giggle.
"So where does sniffing count on the bases?" Rose looked up at Mike, a silly expression on her face that was, at the same time, expressing some interest in the answer. "Is it before or after kissing?"
"Before. Definitely before. It is really hard to accidentally kiss, but not so much smelling someone." Mike raised an eyebrow. "So, this date. What about if we just go to the—"
"Not on your life!" Shoving Mike in the shoulder, Rose laughed. "If you think for a moment you are getting out of this, you have another thing coming! You cheered me up, now you have to deal with the consequences! Your mum said I could shower here if I needed to. I have… I have some fur, and I was using shampoo to wash it."
"Nooo!" Mike threw his hand to his mouth in shock. "Don't do that. You will wash all the oils out of it. Come on, I'll show you what you need to use. On this one thing I am an expert." Jumping upright, Mike reached down to offer Rose a hand up.
"Lead on, McDuff!" Reaching up to take the offer, Rose let Mike haul her upright before following him through to the bathroom.
"Okay, this is totally not a come-on, I am just showing you how to do this." Mike looked at Rose, who wore a confused expression. Shrugging a little, he jerked up his shirt to reveal a sea of light aquamarine fur. Looking at Rose, he was surprised to see a lot of interest in her expression. "This is totally going to be 'in' next season, trust me."
Rose snorted at the joke. "You idiot. So what are you going to show me?"
"This, first of all." Mike walked to the shower and grabbed up a bottle. "This is literally the best stuff ever. Soft on your fur, and it makes it practically glow." He put down the first bottle. "Now, there is conditioner, and oil. And you will need a good brush. How much fur do you have so far?"
"N-Not much. Hips, thighs, and a little around to my tail and belly." Nervousness was evident in Rose's words, and was typified by her stutter. "Not as much as you have."
Mike tensed up, and he couldn't stop himself from wanting to pull back and away from Rose. Her words cut too close to his fears of the truth and undid a lot of the good work Robin had put in the previous day. Without a word he picked the bottle back up and put it back in the shower, and started to turn away.
"Hey!" Rose's tone was surprised. "Hey Mike! What did I say?" She watched him walk from the bedroom and followed. "You can't just walk away without telling me what is going on. What did I say?"
Mike ignored Rose, too trapped in the panic of a teen male with his manhood in jeopardy. She was the last person on earth he could talk to about this problem, and the moment he was in his room he swung his door closed behind him with a thump. "Go away."
Rose opened Mikes door, stepped in, and closed it again behind her. "Not until you tell me what I said wrong." She folded her legs and sat on the floor, blocking the door from being opened again.
Confronted with things he had no answer for, Mike regressed back to the teen he had been before moving to Cowwarr. "Fuck off." The words lacked heat, care, or any real emotion at all. He slumped onto his bed and turned to face away from the door.
"Is this about before you came here?" Rose's tone implied a lot of mixed emotions, but empathy was definitely one of them. "I don't care if you got some girl pregnant and ran…"
The words were enough to cut through Mike's self-destructive mood like an axe. "What? Who told you that?" The absurdity of it ripped him from his fugue, and Mike sat up and turned to face Rose.
"Uh… Well… Robin was saying you had an argument with your mum about pills, and she said it was right after you were hanging with your girlfriend that you left…" Rose trailed off and though she tried to meet Mike's eyes, just couldn't.
Mike couldn't stop it. The laughter bubbled up inside and he fell sideways onto the bed with his ears tucked back tightly, convulsing with laughter. "You—" He tried to get a sentence out, but the moment a word left his lips he lost control again.
"What?! It all fits." Rose managed to look at Mike properly. "Then what happened?"
"I knew my friends were into something bad, nearly everyone was doing something illegal there." Mike climbed down off the bed and sat on the floor—careful of his tail. "I rolled up to meet James and Stace, and some other friends. Jumped off my bike just before the basketball courts we usually hung at.
"I saw James passing something to Stacy, she put it in her pocket and passed him some money." The moment had almost broken Mike back then, and it still cut him up now. Only a bubble bath would have any hope of restoring him back to a semblance of normalcy. "A lot of little facts linked up and I rode in. That my friends always had plenty of cash, that they were always meeting up with guys and could never ditch these 'friends,' and how Stace had been acting a little on-edge.
"I asked James what he was doing, and he told me he was selling drugs. Then he offered to sell me some." Mike's hand clenched. "Stacy called me a wet blanket after our friends pulled us apart. I gave as good as I got, but it hurt a lot more than just the punches. Mum patched me up and got the truth out of me." With a sigh, Mike looked up at Rose. "And that's why we moved."
Rose blinked a few times, taking in the full story. "Well, I was a bit off my mark."
"Wait a second." Lifting a hand, Mike pointed at Rose. "You thought I had done that to a girl, and run out on her, and you still wanted to be with me?" Mike knew for a fact if the situation was reversed, he wouldn't want anything to do with him.
"I wanted to hear your side. You don't seem like the kind of arsehole who would do that, and you are too nice to throw away on a rumor." Rose shrugged at her words. "So the stuff…?"
Closing his eyes, Mike tried to remember all the details, and failed. "Speed. Mum gave me a big lecture about it, but I don't remember much apart from how much it'll mess you up. She kept asking me over and over if I had taken any." He snapped his eyes open when Rose pressed to his side. In an instant he was weighing up whether to move away and run away from all the emotions, but he waited too long and had an arm curl around his back.
"That's not what set you off, though." The moment Rose said the words, she felt Mike shudder a little. "What's going on Mike? If not as your girlfriend, then just tell me as a friend. Someone you can confide in."
Again and again Mike opened his mouth. Each time he was planning to either tell her the truth or to "get lost." At last, he just leaned sideways against Rose. Months spent working on and off at the mine had left Rose more solid than Mike, and he didn't mind one bit. "It's stupid, and I am totally freaking out over nothing… is what Mum would say if I wasn't her 'little boy.' "
Rose reached her free hand up and started rubbing one of Mike's aquamarine ears. "Nothing is nothing, here. At the start of the year I would have freaked out over having a tail, or that my tits were shrinking, now—"
"Your what?" Mike had almost been asleep when Rose dropped the bomb. "Hold on. Back up." He sat up a little straighter, mainly just trying to pull his ears away from Rose's fingers so he could think. "What happened?"
"Well, I started noticing my new bras didn't fit. I told Mum about it, and she just gave me fifty bucks and told me to get something bigger. But it isn't that they are growing… my tits are shrinking. I lost maybe half a cup size, and two centimeters of strap." Rose took in Mike's confused look and rolled her eyes. "Ugh, guys… Okay, so cup size is measured in inches larger than strap size, and strap size is measured just under your breasts."
"Your breasts." A little of Mike's humor cut through his confusion. "But I think I follow. So your chest shrank a little, and your breasts shrank as well?"
"Yeah. I spoke to Joyce… your mum… and she explained that I should really be growing, and I should, but this just makes me freak out. I mean, Candela doesn't have breasts. Am I going to lose it all?" It was Rose's turn to get a hug, and though Mike was not built quite as big as her, he definitely knew how to hug.
"I'm an idiot." Mike felt comfort not only in the hug, but also the knowledge that he wasn't the only one having strange changes. "Mum wants me to keep a closer log book of it, but I am pretty sure my penis and balls are shrinking." The words were just as scary out loud as they were in his head. Mike felt a tighter hug from Rose.
"Aren't ponies hung like horses?" Rose clearly didn't want to let go of Mike. They had both shared some intensely personal things, and each seemed to need a hug just as much as they were inclined to give one.
"When I visited Canterlot I wasn't exactly peeking under everypony's belly to see how big they were." Mike sighed. "What if I turn into a female pony?"
Rose snorted, leading to Mike staring at her in surprise. "What? You will be the first person in history to experience things from both sides. Literally the first." When her argument hadn't convinced him, Rose continued. "And so what? Are you saying girls—or mares—are worse than guys—stallions?"
"What? No!" Mike shook his head. "I guess it's part of the macho BS that society tells us we should be. Or something. Aren't you freaked out about it? Changing like this?"
"Yeah. I'm scared shitless too, but freakin' out and slamming doors in your friend's face aren't going to help." Rose squeezed Mike a little more.
Mike rolled his eyes. "I dunno. It worked this time." Rose's fist connected with his shoulder, but not too hard. "What?! It did!"
"When you can crack bad jokes like that I know you are feeling better. I still need that shower, so be a gentle… pony… and show me how to use all those bottles." Despite her declaring herself in need of help, Rose stood up first and reached down to help Mike stand up.
Rubbing at his eyes, unsure when he had even cried, Mike was surprised at just how strong Rose was. She hauled him upright with just one hand, and had Mike propelled towards the door. "Okay, okay. But I am so not washing your back for you." He managed to dodge the playful punch this time.
Following Mike back to the bathroom, Rose got a quick rundown on a mix of human and horse grooming that Mike had found worked. He then left her to try out his teachings in peace.
Mike walked back to the living room and, entering, found Robin cradling his bass guitar on her lap, plucking at the strings inexpertly. "Hey Spud. If you wanted to learn how to play, I could always teach you."
"Eww!" Robin quickly—but carefully—shifted the heavy bass guitar from her lap. "If I am going to learn to play, I want to play lead! Or sing!" Despite her proclamation, she grabbed the guitar back to mime striking an epic chord, and by the way she almost launched out of the chair hadn't remembered that the guitar was still plugged in.
"Really though. Do you want to learn? I think Mum would get you a guitar if you wanted." Mike reached for his guitar and took it from a flustered Robin.
"Well, as long as I don't have to learn bass." Sticking her tongue out, Robin made sure her brother knew what she thought of the instrument. "Now?"
"I need to get you a practice guitar first. Pinkie and Marble have my acoustic at their place, and besides, I have a date." Mike grinned wide, sticking his tongue out at Robin while winding up the cords for his amp and guitar.
"That is disgusting." Countering Mike's tongue with her own, she even blew a raspberry. "I don't know what she sees in you."
"Me either, to be honest." Reaching out, Mike ruffled Robin's hair before he picked up the amp to take back to his room. "We'll get you a guitar first, then see about some lessons."
"Your music is amazing, Mike." Robin looked up at her brother, an honest smile on her face. "But you still stink and have cooties." Rocking back on her seat, Robin laughed at her brother's inability to gain revenge.
"When my arms aren't full you are going to get it, Spud." His threat was empty, and Mike left the room with a smile on his face.
Walking back to his room, Mike put his guitar back in its stand, and set his amp beside it. Slumping down on his bed, he pulled his headphones on—adjusting them carefully for his pony ears—and turned something heavy on.
Dark music always raised Mike's spirits, in apparent perfect opposition to their intended effects. When Rose poked his shoulder, he jerked upright and blinked in surprise. "You done already?"
"Yeah. I think I got the hang of the stuff. Come on, let's head to my place and I'll get something nicer on. Then we can drive to Traralgon from there." Rose, again, reached out to help Mike up, although this time he launched upright on his own.
It was easier to let Rose take charge for the moment. Mike followed her from his room and outside. Putting his shoes on the road behind her, he took a deep breath. "Sorry about flying off the handle back there. I'm just… it's a sensitive topic."
"Yeah. But just remember, silly pony, you aren't going through it alone. We are all getting freaky." Rose slung an arm around Mike, and had the delight of getting his around her too.
Walking in silence, Mike appreciated having Rose pull him out of his bad mood, even if it was her that plunged him into it. It wasn't actually her fault, after all. They made it as far as halfway down the street Rose lived in before the girl let out an exclamation of disgust. "What's wrong?"
"The car's gone! Mum must have taken it to do something." Drawing her arm back from Mike, Rose jogged to reach Dave's house and saw the minivan was gone, but Dave's ute was pulled up onto the lawn. "Let me check if we can borrow Dave's ute."
"Alright. I'll wait out here." Stretching a little, Mike walked around on the front lawn. Each step felt a little strange, like his shoes weren't quite fitting. Walking to the veranda of Dave's house, he sat down and was about to pull his shoe off when Rose came back out. "What's the verdict?"
"Dave's asleep, and I don't want to take his ute without asking. Mum went somewhere without leaving a note or message. We are up shit creek in a barbwire canoe." Rosetta rolled her eyes and sat down beside Mike.
Mike reached out a comforting arm. "What about Mum's Falcon? We could ask her if we could go in that."
Jerking upright again, Rose pointed back the way they had come. "We are going on this date if it's the last thing I do!"
"Yes ma'am!" Mike stood up and started jogging after Rose, trying to catch up to her pace. "You are really focused on this."
"Silly. Of course I am focused on this. You are probably the second most interesting thing in this pokey little town." Sticking her tongue out to show she was unrepentant about calling Mike "second best," Rose waited a moment before replying. "Dave and the mine are number one, sorry Mike."
Stats
Page generated in 0.023 seconds
Total duration
996 users online
168,698 hits today, 2,314,256 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Dear Pinkamena Diane Pie,
Haven't heard from you since you got your cutie-mark. Haven't you and Marble been seeing Mike lately? If not, there's something pretty big you girls are in for...
you have another thing coming - you have another think coming (at least that's technically correct, but maybe Rose doesn't know that.)
I suspect that there may be a dual gender bender in the future for Mike and Rose. (Michelle and Ross?)
8356652 "You have another thing coming" is a common Aussie phrase.
See what happens when you don't bottle up your feelings? Sometimes it's good to let them out and disperse among your supports...
To Tufts: have you been getting enough attention lately?
Keep going! ;)
When I see the nickname Spud, I think of this OC:
derpicdn.net/img/2016/11/22/1301279/medium.png
Tater Trot. She's even more country than AJ.
I wouldn't be surprised if all the male characters became mares and the female characters became stallions by the end of the story.
8358350 Nah, but I am keeping to the apparent Equestrian gender ratio.
8358366 If you say so.
I'm not sorry, but any guy would absolutely freak the fuck out if his genitals began shrinking (unless he dreams and fantasizes about being female). I would be losing my shit in a most impressive fashion. I would return to Canterlot and get myself an audience with the Princess to see what could be done about it.
8999481
I'm very straight, but I would have about the same reaction as he did. As long as nothing actually goes wrong, who cares? Sure it's pretty traumatizing in general for a huge change like that, but unless you place your entire self-worth on your balls or your "manliness," there is no reason to be that upset, at least in the long-term.
Doesn’t come up much, but it’s been bugging me. How do I pronounce “Traralgon“? I read in my head, so when I hit that word it’s like a rock got thrown into my stream. Brain sputters for a minute. Trying out loud is even worse.
10404855 Tra-ral-gon
10404855
It starts like "tra-la-la" from that song, but you repeat ra instead of second la and skip last a. Then "gon" like that boy from Hunter x Hunter.
...that likely wasn't very helpful.