Welcome to Batstralia

by Damaged

A Loving Mother

Language check. All in English.

"There, there. You have every right to be scared, Michael." Joyce was nearly fully supporting Mike's weight, and if it weren't for her training with unresponsive humans and upset animals, she would have dropped him. "Come on, we can give the rest of the exam a break. It is bath time."

"But what am I going to do?" Mike's voice shook, but he managed to get his changing feet under him to support a bit of his weight. "I… I am a guy! This shouldn't happen!"

"It shouldn't. You are right with that." Manhandling her son out of the room and down the hall, Joyce didn't let go of him for a second. "But this isn't going to be the end of you, Michael. You are stronger than this, I know it.

"I raised you to be caring, and loving." Lifting Mike to the edge of the bath took just about all of Joyce's strength, but she got it done. She had to get it done, no one else would. "Talk to me, Michael. What is the worst thing about turning into a mare?"

"M-M-My…" Mike bit down on the word. "I'll be a girl, Mum. Is it going to make me want girl things? Will I suddenly need to wear dresses, am I going to start chasing guys around?!"

"Now you are being a bit silly." Hefting Mike's legs, Joyce slid her son into the big tub. "For one thing, how many mares have you seen wear dresses?"

"I-In Canterlot some did…" Mike's tone had changed a little, no longer with a burning edge of panic.

Joyce turned the taps on, checking the water to make sure it was not too hot. "Do you want to wear pretty dresses?"

"No!"

Mike's vehemence made Joyce smile. "Then don't. Don't let it change you and it won't." She reached for the prize, the one thing that would help her "little boy" calm more than reassuring words: bubble bath. "You are the only person who can say what you want, what you are, Michael. Only you."

Mike held up one hand, one deformed hand, and flexed it a few times. "I think I need to think about this."

"You want the shoulder straps?" Joyce ran a hand over Mike's fuzzy shoulder, and went to the cupboard to get them. The straps were simple, and hooked over the back of the bath and around a bather's shoulders.

Not struggling in the least, Mike let his mother fasten the straps to his shoulders, and hook them to the bath. Slumping down, the water covered him all the way to his neck. "Thanks Mum."

"You are a good boy, Michael Robertson. You will always make me proud." Tears stained Joyce's eyes, and she knew in an instant that she needed to get out of the bathroom. Turning the taps off, she beat a hasty retreat. "Just call out if you need help."

"I will, Mum. I will."

Joyce barely got the door closed before her own sob came. Then another. She raced for the living room, so her son wouldn't hear her crying for him. Dropping into a chair, she covered her eyes with her hands and clamped her teeth down on the cry she wanted to let out. "It's not fair…"

"It's not."

"He shouldn't have to go through this. Any of this!" Joyce's mind barely even registered the other voice. "He was doing so well! No drugs, no fast girls…"

"I have no idea what those are, but he shouldn't." The voice trailed off a little. "Can I have some more banana?"

Now fully cognizant of someone talking to her, Joyce jerked her tear-stained eyes up and looked around the room. "H-Hello? Who's there?" She got to her feet and walked to the front door. "Is anybody there?"

"Not that I can tell. But there is somebatty in here who could really use more banana. Didn't you see Robin take mine?"

Joyce spun around and stalked back into the living room. "This is really not the time for this. I am not in the mood for games, so whoever you are—"

"Just me." Tufts looked up at Joyce, his voice a little scratchy, and he carried his Es a little further than a human would, but it was definitely the bat's mouth moving when the voice came. "So… how about that banana? I saw there were more in the fridge…"

Her eyes narrowing down to pin-pricks, Joyce started hyperventilating. She stood in place, wavered, and felt the whole world start to tilt sideways. Tumbling down onto the couch. The rush of bat wings approaching did nothing to knock her out of her dazed state. She heard words, and saw Tufts pulling himself up into her vision, but none of it made sense.

Finally, the world snapped, and Joyce felt her mind rush back into her body. She wasn't sure how much time had passed, but there was a bat asleep on her chest. "Oh, boy. That was the strangest thing ever. I need to lay off the coffee in the morning. For a second there I thought you were talking."

Leaning his head into the ear-rubbing he was suddenly getting, Tufts closed his eyes in batty bliss. "You think that was bad? I still don't have any banana!"

Joyce had been through a lot in her life. She had studied both human and animal medicine, and while she had learned a lot from such study, none of it applied to a bat who suddenly very talkative. But raising two children had taught her a certain amount of self-reliance, and it had imparted the ability on her to become ultra-pragmatic. "Well, there is only one way to fix that, Tufts."

Tufts let out an excited kee when Joyce stood up. "Does it involve getting a banana from the fridge?"

"When happiness is just a banana away, who am I to deny it?" Joyce was still laboring under a little shock, and emotional whiplash, but she was a doctor, a veterinarian, and a single mother. Reaching the kitchen, she opened the door to the refrigerator and pulled out two bananas.

Blinking, Tufts flapped his wings. "Two bananas? You really are the best mate a bat could have!"

Joyce made it into a chair and was seated before her brain decided to process the information. "Wait, 'Mate'?"

Unfortunately, Joyce had already peeled one of the bananas, and Tufts lunged at it like a lion. With his mouth full of banana, crushing it up happily, Tufts just looked at Joyce with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Don't think I am going to forget to ask you. No more banana until you tell me what that was about." Joyce's heart was fighting with her head. The cute bat was chewing for all he was worth, and looked to be in the chiropteran version of complete bliss.

"Mum, no matter how much you talk to him, he won't talk back." Mike hobbled—mane and tail wrapped in towels, and wearing his dressing gown—into the kitchen. Sitting down, he took a deep breath and sighed. "I couldn't relax enough. Every time I moved I could feel the changes."

Joyce was stunned. She looked at her son, then down at Tufts, then to her son again. "You heard him, right? Please tell me I haven't started hallucinating…?" Nothing she could think of should cause such auditory hallucinations, at least nothing she had exposed herself to. "He was really talking! He asked me for a banana!"

Mike looked at his mother with serious worry in his eyes. "Tufts?" She nodded to him. "He asked you for a banana?" Another nod. "Well, there is only one way to settle it." Mike got up and grabbed some paper towel, and brought it over to the pair. "Spit out the banana, big guy, and start talking."

To Mike's (but not Joyce) surprise, Tufts discarded the spat of banana into the paper and looked up at Mike. "What did you want me to say?"

"I told you." Joyce peeled the second banana and took a bite. While she chewed, Mike seemed to be frozen. The taste of the fruit seemed amazing, and she couldn't help but twitch her tufted ears in delight at it the delicious banana.

"I asked for that, didn't I?" Mike shook his head and hobbled back to his chair. "I set up the perfect joke, I baited the hook, and of course you do actually talk. I should have known, I guess."

"You did, but I don't think it is unreasonable. I actually fell over when he first spoke." Joyce reached a hand out to rub Mike's shoulder in consolation. "His voice is deeper than what I thought it…" As she trailed off, Joyce remembered what her earlier question had been. She returned her full attention to Tufts. "Hey, back on topic. What was this about 'Mate'?"

"Maybe not yet." Tufts lifted a wing to his mouth and started licking at the thumb-claw. "But I am openly declaring my intentions to woo you."

A full minute of silence passed. Joyce stared at the bat in complete shock, unable to work out what to say. If he had been a human, she would have had plenty of replies (most of which would have had to do with picking a night for a date), but Tufts was not a human, he was a bat.

"Mum, I need one of those voice recorder things." Mike's face looked strained. "Be-Because I want to remember this moment for the rest of my life!" Unable to hold back his mirth a moment longer, Mike cracked up into an intense giggle-fit.

Joyce lifted her hand up and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Tufts… I might be a bit big—"

"More of you to love." Tufts' tone implied that size was no problem for him.

"Let me finish." Joyce tried not to glare, and while her eyes held a measure of worry that she would upset Tufts, she also didn't want to lead him on. "I looked after you when you were sick, I took care of you and… this is why you won't leave, isn't it?"

"Of course. Why would I part from such a stunning creature, particularly when she is turning into a bat. You will see, this is going to be perfect!" Tufts reached one wing out and tried to grab the banana with it.

Mike got his giggles barely under control, and managed to form a reply before Joyce. "Mum's turning into a bat pony, Tufts."

"But she will be a bat?" Just as he asked, Tufts managed to hook his wing around the fruit and pulled it closer. Taking a small bite, he began to crush it up in his mouth.

"Well…" Mike looked at Joyce, and found himself unable to challenge such logic. "Sure, I guess…"

"Perfect!" Tufts bit off a little more banana—enough to silence any further speech—and held the remains of the fruit up to Joyce.

Steadying herself, Joyce closed her eyes. "Alright. Ground rules. No more dropping spats just anywhere. When you are done, either the sink or the bin are appropriate. You know how to get outside, so pooping and peeing is done out there, and you clean up before you come back inside."

Tufts chewed as fast as he could, then with all the reluctance of a teenager, spread his wings and flew to the perch beside the bin, and spat. "If I must restrict my freedom to chase such beauty, then so be it."

Joyce turned her glare on Mike. "Michael Robertson, did you teach him to say this?"

"You have got to be kidding, Mum, I only just found out he can talk!" Mike held two imperfect hands up to ward off his mother's accusation.

"The language of love is universal." Tufts repeated his quick flap-and-grab trick, grasping firmly to Joyce's jumper again.

"Does that mean I get to call Tufts, 'Dad'?" Mike had to duck the moment he asked, as his mother took a playful swing at him. "Oh, so just 'Mr. Tufts' will do?" In high spirits, Mike dodged the second swing and got to his feet. "I am going to go think on things, and play some music."

"Something sexy?" Tufts didn't have eyebrows to waggle, but if he did—and by the tone of his voice—he would be waggling them. "So I can serenade my love…"

Author's Note:

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.
Airy Words
Boulder
Canary in the Coal Mine
Daremo
Dio-Drogynous
Ian
Javarod
Mary Rowland
Nils
Sirion123
Tanis

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

Comments

[Taranth]

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!
Caught in a bat romance~

Pffffft. That's fantastic XD

[Damaged]

8411640 Okay, you got a good laugh out of me for that. Thanks!

[Snow]

What.

derpicdn.net/img/2012/6/23/17718/thumb.jpg

[tsaukpaetra]

Bahaha! We knew it!
Now to see if it's just Tufts actually speaking or some other magic...
Keep going! ;)

[lunarderpy1]

this fic just got 10x better. tufts is best character!

[Fracturedheart]

I knew he could talk!

[Arcane Howitzer]

I'm not sure how, but I somehow saw this coming. Almost everyone else is going bat-pony, so why not the bat?

[Damaged]

8582579 Oh my, someone is asking the right questions!

*whistles and sneaks away*

[Viper Pit]

yea okay that would help with the becoming a diffrent species and gender just a tad

[Venerable Ro]

Bat got swag!

Perfect timing mate, that was one of the best pivots I've ever seen.

[Damaged]

9094824 Eeee~

[CoolBreeze]

The bat wooing was perfectly timed to lessen the load of trauma Mike and Joyce were about to spiral into.

[Teraunce]

8412054
Agreed.

[Maulet Paya]

How I meet your father Briny edition

[PinkDragonJr]

Leaning his head into the ear-rubbing he was suddenly getting, Tufts closed his eyes in batty bliss. "You think that was bad? I still don't have any banana!"

Genuinely made me LOL.

[Damaged]

11623774