Ghost of the Everfree

by David Silver

26 - A Little Song

Dry blinked as he fell from the bed. Some sort of sound was reaching him, and he wasn't sure what it was. Scrambling out of his room to hear it better, it seemed like... a song? Like an entire town was busy doing it. "What?" He went to the front door and nosed it open just enough for a peek. "You're so vague. I'm so impatient." His whisper wasn't a whisper. He had sung it, loud and clear.

"What are you trying to say?" He emerged from the house to scurry to a bush, eyes wide at the strange melodic magic that washed over him. "I should just let it go, but I can't help but ask. You're so vague. I'm so impatient." His heart was fluttering in his chest. Part of him knew that he should hide, not be out, seeking the strange magic that was overwhelming him.

"I want to know." He crept out of the bushes, slinking towards the singing he couldn't quite make out. "What are you trying to say..." He trained his ears on the melody, trying desperately to make it out properly, but all he could hear was the enchanting hint of meaning.

"I should just let it go, but I can't help but ask you. I heard you singing that song outside the window." He glanced back at the house he had come from, the window that separated his room from the rest of the dwelling. "I am curious but also scared."

He felt a resistance, a mild one. Like a thin film in the air, he passed it effortlessly, but with it, he became a thrall to the magic, and joined in its melody without further thought on the matter. The song, he discovered, was that of a mare fretting about getting things together in time for her anniversary, and the town coming to lend a hoof and comfort her.

Dry was helpless to recite the exact words later, even if he sang some of them. He was a part of that song, delivering his lines as if he had practiced them for months! But that wasn't even the worst part, really. No, at the climax, not the climax of the song, but of his specific part of it, he slid forward on his knees. That move was not one Everglow ponies did often, but it felt right at the time, and he did it.

And everything bent and moved without complaint. He was left panting as the song went on without him for a moment. "What?" He lifted a hoof into view and gaped. "What?!" A tingle washed over him. It was time for him to sing, but he was in no mood. "What?!" He fled from the singing, tears stinging at his eyes. He fled all the way back home, slamming the door on the still singing populace of the town. He had other things to worry about.

---

"Dry?" She knocked gently on his door. "We have to get to school. You're awake, right?" She knocked more firmly. "If you didn't lock the door, I'm comin' in!" The knob rattled with her grab and twisted open. "Nope." She pushed the door open, revealing her smiling face. "Wakey wakey!"

"Go away." It was hard to see who had spoken that, covered in their blanket as they were, just an oddly conversational lump on the bed if one didn't know better.

Scootaloo closed the door behind herself with a kick. "Not feeling good, or something else?" But no reply came. "If you didn't want me here, you really shoulda locked that door." She came closer on spritely hooves. "And we do have to go to school."

"Tell them I don't feel well." The lump moved, rolling over?

"How can I help?" She reared up, hooves on the edge of the bed. "Got the sniffles? Need some tissues? Soup?"

"No!" Dry curled all the tighter on himself. "Those won't help..."

"What will?" Scootaloo stepped up onto the bed entirely. "Just tell me what you want and I'll go get it."

"Nothing!" he spat with a sudden fire, just to deflate, becoming a smaller lump. "Nothing's wrong... Maybe it's all better. You probably think it's all better."

Scootaloo considered a quiet moment. "Alright, I'm guessing here... But did you go more Equestrian last night?"

"_Yes." A soft sniff followed it. "I... fit in better now... yay..."

Well... sure, but Scootaloo resisted the urge to take it as any kind of good news. "You're still Dry Whisper, you know that, right?"

"Am I?" With a ruffle of the blanket, his hoof came into view, simpler and Equestrian in make. "This isn't Dry!"

"Looks like it to me." She reached towards the hoof but hesitated, not making contact. "Because Dry's a thing on the inside, not the outside." Scootaloo sat back, still on the bed. "None of us stopped being us when we went all Everglow."

With some wriggling, his face came into view with the rounded cuteness inherent in Equestrian ponies. "It didn't bother any of you?"

"That would be a lie." Scootaloo waved it away. "It bothered us a lot." She coughed into a hoof, her little wings spread out. "But we got past it, and you will too. If you're worried, what I can see of you looks pretty great."

"You're just saying that." He kicked the blanket free, revealing the entirety of his form. Equestrian physics had taken some liberties, with his limbs thin and long. The deer-like ratio of his body had been amplified as he rose tall, taller than he had been, though narrower the other way. He hadn't gained mass, just moved it around. "What even is this?" He shook his floofy cloud-like mane atop his head. "Ponies don't look like this that I saw."

Scootaloo grinned at her revealed friend. "What are you talking about? You look like a Featherweight or a Snails, who are two perfectly normal ponies, just on the lanky side, and there's nothing wrong with that." She folded in her left wing and pointed to her right. "These are awfully small for a pegasus..." Her cheeks began to glow. "They actually stop me from doing some things I wanna do... But they're still me, and they don't make me a bad pegasus or a bad pony... just different."

He considered the many foals he knew, settling on Snails. Snails was kinda tall and lanky... he... "I'm a snail..."

"You look like Snails, share his general... shape." Scootaloo fashioned the air with her hooves as best she could. "You didn't think he was ugly, did you? You two were getting along."

"He seemed nice." A little smile appeared against his will. "Will he be surprised?"

"Probably! But not in a bad way." Scootaloo hopped down from Dry's bed. "Feeling better? Let's get some food in you and we can get to school."

Dry followed her out into the main room where her aunts were relaxing around the table. "Oh, there you are." Aunt Holiday had spotted him and was patting the table. "Come on and get your breakfast."

But he slowed instead of finishing his approach. "Don't I look... at least different?"

"Oh, of course you did." She nudged a plate closer with a hoof. "But you need to eat no matter what, and a growing pony, double so!"

Auntie Loft smirked at her partner. "Leave the colt alone. He'll eat when he's good and ready."

Dry arrived at the empty chair, resting a hoof on it as his tail curled slowly behind him. "I... changed..."

Auntie Lofty shook her head. "A colt your age? That'll happen, a lot." She put a hoof on her chest. "When I was about that age, I changed a lot too, let me tell you!"

"If you let her tell you, you'll be late for school." Holiday nudged the plate a little closer. "Eat. Being hungry won't help you."

Dry climbed up on new limbs, only tripping twice before he got himself seated. "Um..." Well, if he was Equestrian... He reached for a fork, a tool that had confused him and grabbed it. His hooves were sticky when they needed to be and he held it easier than he had before. His stickiness was really coming in. He beamed at the mastered eatery with more pride than a colt his age should have had.

Lofty noticed with a raised brow. "Not used to cutlery? Scootaloo said you were from far away. Do they not have those, there?"

"Um..." He put the fork into his pancake, slicing it easily. "Sort of. Where I'm from, no, not so much." Ponies didn't have enough grasping digits to hold a fork and eat at the same time. One advantage of Equestrian life, he could shovel in the food into his waiting mouth. "Mmm... Did you cook this?"

Lofty pointed to Holiday, who burst into merry giggles. "Guilty as charged. I'm glad you're enjoying it. Eat up and good luck at school, both of you."

Scootaloo had already eaten and waited with an impatient hoof-tapping for Dry to finish wolfing his portion down. "Let's go!" She dashed for the door, grabbing her scooter along the way. "Hey, wanna ride? I bet you'll have a better time."

"Than last time?" Dry went to her side, considering her and her riding device. "It was very scary."

"It'll never stop being that." That didn't stop her from offering a hoof. "But you can hold on better, so try it! It'll be scary but fast and we'll be there in no time!"

He wasn't sure, but... "I will trust you." He stepped up behind her, reared onto his hind legs. Equestrian ponies could stand on their hinds just as easily as Everglow ponies. He hugged her firmly and clung, his stickiness applying to her. He did feel more... Oh no!

She had accelerated suddenly, small wings fluttering in wild abandon as they fired through the town. He screamed. There was no other answer he could think of but to do that, only stopping when she slowed down at the school. On the positive, he was still clinging to her. "Um..." He stepped off slowly, releasing her. "You weren't wrong."

"I knew it!" Scootaloo parked her scooter safely and came trotting up in time for the other girls to appear. "Hey!" They met, hooves clopping together. "He's--"

"--changed," cut in Apple Bloom, beholding Dry's new form. "Neat. Looking sharp! Wait, the opposite. You are not looking sharp, but that's cool."

Sweetie nodded firmly. "You are looking Equestrian! Are you in any physical pain?" She casually poked at him, feeling him for any places out of order, but he was a perfectly fit Equestrian, just that he wasn't that previously.

"Dry!" Silver Spoon had just noticed them, eyes wide. "What happened to you? Are you, like, alright?!"

Dry smiled at her, but that expression crumbled. It was her, the mare suiting him, and he was looking extremely improper compared to his usual self. "Sorry!" He wasn't dressed, and he was Equestrian. That she was Equestrian to start didn't register in his young mind. "I'm so sorry!" He covered his face in his hooves and flopped to the ground as if to hide from his shame.

"Woah woah..." She walked up to his prone form. "You didn't, like, hurt me. Is he alright?" She looked to the other fillies, who all nodded quickly. "Good. Stand up, Dry. Let me get a look at you." Shaking like a leaf, he did just that with little jitters of fear at what she would say. "There, so..." Her eyes wandered, taking him in entirely.

He could barely breathe as she examined him. Was he hideous?! Had he already lost the first mare to show interest in him? Maybe he was too young to worry about that. Equestrian ponies seemed to take their time about-- "Not bad." She set a hoof on his chest. "I bet your suit doesn't, like, fit even a little anymore. We're gonna have to get it adjusted."

Despite all his fears, the ponies around him were ready to accept him as he was.

Author's Note:

Welcome to the Equestrian life, Dry! With a song, he completes his transformation. That feels proper.

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Comments

[badninja]

Poor kid. I wonder why didn’t someone tell him that this could happen? Still I wonder how his mother is handling him being missing this long?

[David Silver]

11230626
He was warned, but being told and actually having it happen are different things.

[Booster Spice]

Is there a Pink Pony Party Presentation in Drys desk already?