Healthy as a Horse

by Crescent Pulsar

Chapter 6: Foal's Errand

Author's Note:

I had to force this one out of me, so I hope this turned out alright. I've been dealing with some domestic problems on top of the usual, and I was getting tired of not being able to get myself to write much for a long while, so this was kind of the equivalent of screaming into a pillow for me.

The hoofprints led Isopropyl and Anon to the opposite end of the castle from their room, three floors above their own, where they stopped in front of a door before fading away.

Even though she couldn't be sure that they had been guided to the right place, particularly since no one had given the glowing hoofprints any direction, Isopropyl looked over her shoulder and — just in case Rainbow Dash was inside the room before them — softly asked Anon, "Are you ready?"

Anon gave a hesitant nod despite steeling himself for what lay ahead of him. He could only hope that Rainbow Dash hadn't been exercising again, because her strong and pervasive scent had really done a number on him last time, due to the bonding that had occurred between her and his body before his mind had awoken. He had been caught off guard, though, so he was fairly confident that he would be able to control himself better this time.

Regardless of whether he could or not, or how much his effort was influenced beyond reason, he was convinced that he was doing it for a good cause, and that was reason enough for him. Besides which, this was going to be his life for an unknown length of time, so he figured that he should accept that and treat his new life and those around him as if they mattered. That meant he couldn't simply ignore Rainbow Dash's circumstances, and he felt that he was in a unique position to give her insight into an issue that he had strong feelings about, or — at the very least — a warning about it.

After Isopropyl lowered him to the floor and transferred the stickerboard into his possession, she stepped up to the door and gave it a couple of solid knocks.

"Come in!" Came the response.

Isopropyl opened the door, and Anon hurried into the room before he could have second thoughts, his hooves slipping a few times in his haste. When he came to a stop, his search for Rainbow Dash ended when he saw a pair of hooves and the tip of a rainbow tail hanging off the side of the bed, which was all that he could see of her because of his short stature.

When the door closed behind him, Rainbow Dash began to ask, "Did you forget something, Twi—" She'd been in the process of sitting up as she spoke, and stopped when she saw that the only pony that should have known of her location in the castle had not been the one to visit her.

"What the hay!" She exclaimed, as she quickly pushed herself up onto her haunches and became more alert. "How'd you find me!?"

The unexpected use of the stickerboard initially kept her silent, because she had realized that she shouldn't expect a verbal reply from a newborn and had been about to move on from her question. When the answer didn't make any sense, because she'd never heard of such a thing happening in the castle, she decided to abandon that line of questioning anyway, since she had a more important issue to address after her surprised reaction.

"Never mind," she impatiently said, her displeasure clearly showing on her face. "What do you want from me?"

"I'm really sorry about what I did to your house," Anon tapped out, his sincerity unintentionally resulting in drooping ears and a look that approached puppy dog eyes.

Losing some of her fire in response, Rainbow Dash turned her head away and said, "Yeah, well... It won't take too long to repair it." Clearly uncomfortable about their meeting going any further than that, she looked askance at Anon and added, "Is that all?"

"I know you didn't want to," Anon began, doing his best to look at Rainbow Dash as he wrote his message, "and that you didn't like it, but thanks for carrying me to term. If not now, I hope you come to think that I was worth the trouble some day. It means a lot to me, to be able to leave quarantine and interact with the world normally."

In the lull that followed, because Rainbow Dash was conflicted and didn't know how to respond to that, Anon put his thoughts together and gathered his nerves for the hard part. Ordinarily he wouldn't be inclined to be so forthright about poignant or emotional subjects, and would have — in fact — preferred to not broach them at all, but he felt a strange sense of freedom from being in a new world and body, as well as from being able to establish a new reputation and history with everyone. Of course, the detachment from his past didn't hurt that sense either.

"Also," he tapped out, after making sure that Rainbow Dash was still paying attention, "I'm sorry for wanting to be picked up earlier. I wasn't really thinking straight, but that's no excuse. I was just reminded of my mother, who worked a lot to support us, and had little in the way of free time with her other responsibilities. She became aloof and bitter, and I didn't want that to happen to you, since, well..."

Not being able to express his thoughts any further on the matter after a couple of false starts, he decided that he'd said enough and turned around to leave, hoping it would be enough.

Before he could knock on the door, to let Isopropyl know that he was ready to leave, because he wasn't sure if he could pull open the door and didn't want to risk embarrassment if he couldn't, he paused when he heard Rainbow Dash quietly say, "Hey."

Looking over his shoulder, Anon saw that Rainbow Dash was hesitating to continue, perhaps struggling to find the right words, but she eventually got out, "Look, uh..." She began to fidget and couldn't make direct eye contact. "Back when I found out you'd chosen to become a pegasus, I was kinda thinking that it would be interesting to teach you how to fly, and I have some free time right now, so..."

Anon smiled, figuring that the offer that was being suggested was Rainbow Dash's way of forgiving him, and was at least willing to clean the slate between them whether she cared to listen to the advice that he had alluded to or not. Turning his body about to face her properly, he brought his stickerboard up and messaged, "Thanks. I can't wait."

Relieved to hear that, Rainbow Dash regained her composure and replied, "Cool. I'll drop by tomorrow and we can figure out when you can have flying lessons, okay?"

Nodding his head in agreement, Anon proceeded to knock on the door and rejoined Isopropyl in the hall after she opened it for him. Once the door was closed, she reclaimed the stickerboard before picking him up and setting him on her back. With that done, she began to make the walk back to their room.

In Rainbow Dash's room, the pony in question flopped onto her back again once the hoofsteps outside had faded to nothing, only this time she had her forelegs folded over her closed eyes as she thought to herself, "What in the world am I doing? This is so confusing!"

"So," Isopropyl casually began, once she had turned down a different hallway and looked over her shoulder, "how did it go?"

When the stickerboard was placed within his reach, Anon tapped out, "Rainbow Dash offered to give me flying lessons, so I think it went well."

Isopropyl smiled weakly and responded, "That's good to hear. She's a Wonderbolt, so you'll be in good hooves."

Anon could see beyond the smile, to the fear that she might be replaced by the pony that had actually given birth to him, but didn't know what to say or do about it right then. Frankly, just thinking about it felt strange. Still, he mulled the issue over in his head during the trip back to their room, which was just as well since the rest of it was accompanied by silence. By the time they reached their destination, he had come to a tentative decision on how to allay her fear, inspired by some of his recent thoughts and experiences — among other things.

So, after they entered the room and he was placed on the floor, he went over to the bed, made eye contact with Isopropyl and pointed up at it.

"Do you want on the bed?" Isopropyl asked, just to be sure.

Upon receiving a resolute nod in confirmation, she hoisted him onto the bed and placed the stickerboard nearby, in case he wanted to talk, then joined him. Before she could lay down at the head of the bed and do some reading until she felt tired enough to sleep, she noticed Anon picking up the stickerboard, who was already turning to face her and making his intention obvious. His hoof hovered over the first letter he wanted to touch, making her wonder what would cause him to hesitate.

Eventually, Anon wrote, "I don't want to sleep in the crib."

Tilting her head slightly, Isopropyl made a guess and asked, "Did you want to sleep on the bed instead?"

Anon simply nodded his head.

"Alright," Isopropyl granted, before pointing at the spot between the pillow and the nightstand, which was close enough to the bed to prevent someone of Anon's size from falling off of it. "When you're ready to, you can sleep there."

While she went to lay down and rest her head on the pillow, with the covers beneath her, Anon psyched himself up for what he was about to do. He also had to remind himself that he wasn't a human in a human society, male, or — technically — an adult, and that he was doing this because Isopropyl was a nice, well-meaning pony. And, well... Maybe he was willing to explore one of the new optional activities in his life after experiencing a taste of it.

Isopropyl had just finished levitating a book over to the bed when he made his move. With determined steps, he made his way over to her while she was still distracted and plopped down next to her, with his back against her side, before curling up into a comfortable resting position. While he wasn't particularly tired at the moment, he was sure that would change soon.

"What...?" Isopropyl voiced her confusion, then saw the source of the unexpected contact. "Anon? What are you doing?"

When he didn't answer in any way, she eventually gathered the nerve to cautiously ask, "Is this why you wanted to be on the bed?"

He nodded his head.

She had to wrestle with her emotions when she realized what that might mean, so it took her some time to clearly, yet quietly, query, "Are you sure?"

Upon receiving another nod, she set the book down and gazed down at Anon with a gentle expression on her face, wondering why he wanted to rest with her of his own volition. Had she been too obvious about her feelings, and this had been the response? Either way, and whether or not he was doing it for his or her sake, she wasn't about to reject him, so she scooted back a bit so she could lay on her side and softly envelop his small form with her larger one, hold him to her belly, and rest her chin upon his head.

"Thank you," she softly whispered.

Comments

[evilpoptarts]

This story is so cute, and heartwarming so far.

[Viper Pit]

That is sweet

[Vaguely Demented]

Seems a bit young for flight practice, but then Pound and Pumpkin exist. Touching either way.

[borgvicugna]

I'd been getting tired of the "Anonymous" fics but this one encouraged me to not automatically pass over the "ge-non-re" (or Anon genre).^OU^O

[Gizmo Gear]

9591795
Yep.

[TheUltimateBalanceChaos]

The feels man the feels brought a tear to my eye

[evilpoptarts]

Enjoyed what you have so far, hope to see more eventually.

[Viper Pit]

I wonder what happens next

[TartarusFire]

I don't know how I ended up here or why I read considering that it is not the type of story I read _{especially anon stories}, but I like it.

[rikusorasephiroth]

Hello?

[Crescent Pulsar]

10591168
Huh. I didn’t get a notice that this story had gotten a new comment recently.

Anyway, this story is on my shortlist of things I’ll be working on relatively soon. After Friendship Day, I’ll write a new story to completion (it shouldn’t be too long), then I’ll work on this one until it’s finished.

[Cold Philosophy]

Just rediscovered this story with the help of the Transformations Group. I read it some time ago and greatly enjoyed the concept. I hope you come back to this story, but if you don't, thanks for writing it.