Prince of Errors

by David Silver

36 - Welcome Jacob

"Jacob!" Roseluck slid in beside the grey pony with a bright smile, the two walking down the busy road. "Just the stallion I was hoping to see."

"Hiya, Rose." He returned the smile, though not as wide. It was taking some getting used to, having ponies just walk up to him like that, but... It was... maybe a little nice? Rose was a nice mare so far he could tell. "How can I help?"

"Help? What? Me? Nah." She waved off the idea with a nervous laugh.

Which he noticed. Using the very skills she had shown him and he had been practicing constantly, he could see she was hiding something. "Is something wrong? You can be honest with me."

"Am I that transparent?" She rolled her eyes. "Or are you the best student I ever had? I swear, it feels like just yesterday I was telling you how to watch for what to see what a pony might be thinking."

Her angles and voice implied she was proud and happy, so his smile deepened a little. "I paid attention, and now, uh, I pay even more attention. I watch people for the signs, which includes you." He was becoming an expert at social! He thought? Maybe... He felt less clueless at least.

"You do that." She bumped against him gently. "So hey, remember that date? Daisy's still all a flutter. You really made an impression, a good one."

His cheeks warmed swiftly. "W-what was up with that kiss? I mean... It wasn't... bad, but I wasn't expecting it either."

"I thought you got better at reading ponies?" Rose cocked a brow at him.

"It's hard when you're involved with them and worried about what they think. I... guess I panicked a little and I couldn't really keep track of her." He raised a hoof behind his head, rubbing lightly. "You don't make me feel that way. We're just, you know, friends, not trying friend friend stuff."

"Just friends," she quickly agreed. "And that's alright. But, you know... There is a little something missing in Daisy's life."

He twitched an ear towards Rose curiously. "What's that?" Perhaps it was the conversation matter, but he missed a few signs that Rose was up to something.

"A nice girly stallion, of course." She brushed against Jacob gently. "Like you, really, soft spoken, nice, caring, but also smells like a mare and is, you know, mare shaped." She raised a hoof to his chin. "You're a cute little stallion boy, anypony can see that at a glance."

But instead of shapeshifting, he awkwardly shuffled away a step. "Oh, um... She doesn't like me then? It's alright, I guess, we--"

"Wait!" Rose frowned a little at how that had been received. "She likes you a lot. I'm just saying how we can make it better, and fill in a need she has. You want her to be happy, right?"

"I do," he uneasily replied, licking his lips. "But not as... not me? I thought she... likes me me..." He waved a hoof at himself in a wide circle. "Me, you know? Do you know? I'm rambling, sorry..." His confidence collapsed as soft pink'sh purple fur swept over him. "Maybe she really does need me," sighed out the pony he had become, an effeminate male version of himself.

Rose smiled awkwardly, suddenly feeling a little guilty. "It's not that she doesn't like you. In fact, you should be honest."

He blinked at her confusedly, asking in his suddenly far more female voice, "How do you mean?"

"Go ahead and tell her you're still Jacob," urged Rose with a quick nod. "You're Jacob, and you're doing this for her, for her comfort. She'll know it's you and she'll be really happy you went out of your way for her like that."

Jacob raised a hoof to his pink chin. "I'll... try, but that might break things. How do I look?" He turned left and right, displaying his mare-like form to Rose. If one did not know Jacob, they would likely be fooled.

"Adorable, but you were cute to start with." She patted him on the back and pointed forward with the other hoof. "Shall we go say hello to the other girls? I bet they'll be happy to see you." Rose softly took a sniff of him. As requested, he even smelled like a mare, with floral notes added. "You are too perfect."

She inclined an ear. "Though that makes me wonder. I mean, you are still a stallion in there, right?"

"Yes," Jacob assured. He hadn't felt things inverting as they did when he became a proper mare; always a strange sensation when it happened. "It's not my fault ponies are rated G."

Rose blinked slowly at that. "Rated G? G for... great?"

"They are that," he allowed with a smile. He giggled as a mare might, walking along with Rose. "They don't show a thing until they're using it, is what I meant, or you're really looking hard for it. I think it's pony magic."

"Must be." Rose shrugged softly. "I never really thought about it before. There we are." She pointed towards the flower stand they were approaching. "Girls! I brought a special friend."

The two of them blinked in unison, Daisy and Lily peering at the strange light-pink mare with a smudge for a cutie mark. Daisy was the first to respond, raising a hoof in a wave. "Hello there. A friend of Rose's?"

Jacob opened his mouth to reveal who he was before realizing it was Daisy, and just telling her could cause her to pass out. "I have a surprise, a little one, but I don't want to shock you." He didn't mean to flutter his new longer lashes, but they fluttered anyway. "How can I do that?"

Daisy's cheeks puffed out. "I can take a surprise! Just not... a surprise surprise. You told me it's coming. Lay it on me."

Lily bobbed her head in agreement. "We're made of tough stuff!"

Jacob curled his softly rounded hoof to his chest. "It's me, Jacob."

Daisy blinked with wide eyes. Lily crashed to her haunches. "Jacob?! What? Are you trying to fool me?"

Rose suddenly threw an arm around Jacob, squeezing the feminized stallion firmly. "I'll vouch, this is Jacob. And he's this way for a special reason. Go on, tell her."

"For you!" he blurted awkwardly, smiling sheepishly at Daisy. "So you can be comfortable with me, and not scared, and happy." He sat on his haunches and worried his hooves together. "Do you like it?"

"Aw, Jacob..." Daisy approached curiously. "You didn't..." She circled around him, examining his mare of a body. "You... really look like a mare, but are you?" She reached a hoof for his especially soft and pretty tail, casually lifting it up off the ground and tilting her head. "Nope!" The tail was dropped as if it were hot. "Nope... But... Jacob...."

"Like it?" he repeated with a nervous smile on his female face. "Now you don't have to be--"

"--I like you just the way you are." Daisy shook her head quickly. "It's... really nice that you'd go this far, but you don't have to. I don't need this, Jacob. You're a nice pony, even as a stallion."

With her official declaration of not needing the form, it faded almost instantly, leaving him as the dull grey stallion. She let out a relieved sigh. "That's... better."

Jacob didn't look shocked. He was smiling, a joyful expression on his face as he reached out a hoof for either of her shoulders. "That's great! You made real progress. I'm really proud of you."

Soon they were hugging, neither really thinking about how awkward they should have felt.

Roseluck slowly tilted her head. "That... isn't what I planned... but alright." She rubbed behind her head. "I kind of wanted to see how that worked..."

Daisy was the first to realize she was affectionately hugging against a stallion and she squeaked, but didn't recoil. "I... Can I say what I'm feeling?"

"Yes, please..." Reading Daisy's emotions was still harder than with basically any other pony. "Even the bad ones. I'd rather just know."

"I feel... safe." She didn't press further into the hug, but she wasn't retreating either. "I feel that you care about me, a lot. I feel... safe. Wait, I said that, but it's true." She sniffed softly. He was a stallion for sure, but he was one that cared about her and her happiness. He wasn't after anything. He didn't expect anything from her. "What do you feel?"

"I feel like I made a friend." He gently squeezed her. "One that needs me, but not to be someone who I am not, and that is special."

Lily sat beside Rose. "They are too adorable..."

"Too adorable." Rose rolled her eyes and smiled at the two. "Let's get back to work." She led Lily back to the stand only a few paces away.

---

"I dunno." Pinkie tilted her head left and right. "You know I love an excuse for a party as much as anypony else."

"But...?" Twilight rolled a hoof at her pink friend.

"But everypony already knows him, and he's been here for a while, so a welcome party doesn't even make sense." She shrugged softly. "I already told everypony that would listen what his name was." She sprang to her hooves with a spring of a noise. "Oh oh! What a bout a 'congratulations on coming out of your shell' party?"

Twilight blinked softly. "Wait, everypony?"

"We could invite everypony, sure!" She bobbed her head, only looking more excited.

"No no. I meant you told everypony his name already?"

"What do you think I spent the last day doing?" Pinkie rolled her eyes with a snort. "Everypony. Once I knew his name, I had to share it with the world! Well, at least Ponyville." She wobbled a hoof at the town as a whole. "There isn't a pony that doesn't know him now."

Twilight rubbed behind her head with a hoof. "Well... that does negate the purpose I had in mind. But did it work? Are ponies remembering him?"

"Hey!" Pinkie waved at a random pony wandering by. Time Turner looked to her quizzically. "Have you seen Jacob today?"

"Not today," confessed Turner with a shake of his head. "Wasn't he with Daisy before?"

"Oh yeah, thanks." Pinkie nodded rapidly. "Just checking."

"Any time, Pinkie." He trotted past onwards to whatever business he had.

Twilight put a hoof to her cheek. "Well... then we won? Problem solved."

"Mostly." Pinkie shrugged softly. "I mean, he's not cursed anymore, in Ponyville, but I bet he'd go right back to being cursed if he left. I think you were right."

"I was right?"

"Yep! He still has a problem up here." She pointed to her own head. "We have to finish teaching him that he wants ponies to know who he is and that he's an amazing pony that's worth knowing."

"If you believe that," she started with skeptical tones. "Why did you go around town telling everyone his name?"

"Because forgetting him was the worst part of this. I was the only one that knew him and that was the pits." She stuck out her tongue. "At least now we have a safe place to work, and you can stop calling me crazy!"

"Any crazier than usual, at least." Twilight reached out a hoof, pulling Pinkie in for a hug that wasn't resisted. "You know I love you dearly, even when I don't understand you, right?"

"What are friends for?!" She returned the hug, both squeezing tight enough to produce a squeak from either of their bodies before they separated. "Now let's finish showing him how great friendship is. Miss Princess of Friendship, are you ready to do your royal duty?"

Twilight blinked rapidly at that. "He's far closer to you, Pinkie. Would it really help for me to intercede at this time?"

"Aw, he likes you too, I can tell. A little chat won't hurt." She bumped against Twilight with a bright smile.

Author's Note:

Party, cancelled on account of Pinkie.

... That's not how this is supposed to work at all!

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Comments

[Kurolothgarian]

Next up: the REASON for the "Curse" approaches!

[badninja]

That I see so cute. I hope that the whole town can help bring him out of his shell.

[Zapper Frost]

Party, cancelled on account of Pinkie.

... That's not how this is supposed to work at all!

Da... umm... hmm... may- no... oh, i know! You could have pinkie pull a 'congrats on getting a girlfriend party!'

[tsaukpaetra]

Almost there....

[Vaalintine]

Daisy continues to be wholesome. But Pinkie deciding to NOT force a party on someone? That's bizzare. What concerns me is what she'll force on him on its place. She still seems to be trying to get what SHE wants from all this.

[snowleopard88]

"You do that." She bumped against him gently. "So hey, remember that date? Lily's still all a flutter. You really made an impression, a good one."

On a reread, I got a bit confused here as from this chapter on, Lily is referred to as the one who went on the date with Jacob instead of Daisy. In fact, it even swaps Daisy and Lily as the one who has problems with stallions.

Chapter 36:

"For you!" he blurted awkwardly, smiling sheepishly at Lily. "So you can be comfortable with me, and not scared, and happy." He sat on his haunches and worried his hooves together. "Do you like it?"

Chapter 35:

Rose glanced off a moment. "This is really important to Daisy. I don't want this interrupted, even by a princess, Twilight." She suddenly poked Twilight in the chest. "I knew you before you got those wings, and you knew Daisy. She needs to just have a nice time and, you know, lighten up around stallions."

Twilight blinked with clear confusion. "She has a problem with stallions?"

Rose quickly set a fetlock over her face. Pinkie was faster to actually speak, "She's scared of them. You didn't know that?"

Maybe I missed something but it seems like Lily and Daisy's names got swapped around by accident.

[David Silver]

11357862
Hopefully fixed.

[snowleopard88]

11357939

"You do that." She bumped against him gently. "So hey, remember that date? Lily's still all a flutter. You really made an impression, a good one."

Should be Daisy instead of Lily here.

"Just friends," she quickly agreed. "And that's alright. But, you know... There is a little something missing in Lily's life."

Should be Daisy instead of Lily here.

Daisy bobbed her head in agreement. "We're made of tough stuff!"

Should be Lily instead of Daisy here.

Daisy sat beside Rose. "They are too adorable..."

Should be Lily instead of Daisy here.

"Too adorable." Rose rolled her eyes and smiled at the two. "Let's get back to work." She led Daisy back to the stand only a few paces away.

Should be Lily instead of Daisy here.

In the next chapter, Chapter 37, I believe every mention of Lily should be Daisy.

I think that should be the rest of them