Pony bound

by Shortcourt

Death2fearofDeath

I departed from sleep with my own accord. Without opening my eyes, my upper body lifted and I bent my head forward, stretching the calloused bones in my neck. “Augh!” I groaned after I felt a snap in my neck, which in turn fully woke me up. For some reason, it felt like my body was absorbed in something… as if I was sinking. I opened my eyes and saw my hindlegs legs spread out in front of me. My hindlegs rested on a comfortable pink surface… but it wasn’t couch, it looked like a bean bag.

I frowned and feisty tapped the sides of the ‘bean bag’, which actually confirmed it was one because I swear I felt some dried beans incarcerated in there. After squirming for a couple of seconds, I held my hooves on the bag and pulled myself off the bag. Well, sleeping like that sure beats the couch. I’m still tempted to sleep in Katie’s bed one day… but she did say she kick a lot. Hell, I used to sleep with her when she was younger, I think I have a few bruises on my own.

Haha, you were sinking in something pink.

I just noticed that… damn.

I know you’re going to miss vagina for sure.

The scary thing is Jessica was so petite but her legs were-

STOP!
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I ambled downstairs with no anxiety present, which you can say was a pretty very ignorant move for me because downstairs could have had any unsuspecting guests. This was the case when I stepped down the flight of stairs, because my mom came into prospect when I felt my hooves touch the floor.

My mother was watching TV, while I’m in the open directly behind her. See, usually I’m happy seeing my mother, but today is an anomaly. You see, I forgot I didn’t talk to her ever since I came home yesterday. She left me in the school but what she didn’t know was she basically gambled with my life! I could have just went home with her, but no, I was being a stubborn dullard and decided on walking home with Kaise, whose monkey mouth almost got me in more trouble!

I didn’t even tell her what happened, but I couldn’t! She would have been be so pissed… but you know what? I’m dumb for one specific reason: She will find out eventually. And when she does find out, it will be over for me! She could have passed out seeing me on the news with the ‘murder’ caption next to it. She would have been prepared for it, especially after hearing it from my mouth, but on the news? Oh god.

I frantically picked up my hindlegs and took a step so lightly my hooves scarcely connected with the floor. The sight of Mom watching T.V. quietly really riled me up, huh? She’s just sitting there with the volume low, not moving an inch or anything. Just sitting there… like, is she even watching T.V. or daydreaming?

Hell no.

I gingerly turned around and began to walk up the stairs again.

“Shawn, I know you’re there…” Mom muttered.

“SHIT!!!” I spat (literally) out apace.

“What did you say?!” Her monotonous tone quickly changed into one of pure vigor and authority.

“What do you mean? I just sneezed. ACHIIIIIIIIIT! See?” My left eye twitched at how corny that sounded.

Hey, it might be corn, but it will work! People eat up corn, if you know what I mean.

“That’s one terrible sneeze you got under your belt, Shawn,” Mom said. I couldn’t confirm if she was grimacing or smirking, but her tone suggested it was one of them.

“Um… yeah… so, how did you know I was here?”I asked dumbfounded.

“You’ve been walking around for three days; I think I know the sound of my kids’ movements. Now, come downstairs and stop hiding.”

Damn, motherly instinct at its finest. Why does motherly instinct never activate when I ask for a sandwich? Things never work to my advantage, man.

I sighed and walked towards the television while putting my head down shamefully. My heart started pounding as I prepared to buy what was in store for me. I glanced at the TV for a second and show some random movie on with the ‘LMN’ bug on the screen. Ugh, I hate that channel. I want to piss on whoever created it. “Yes, Mom?”

Mom un-attached her eyes from the television and blankly stared at me. To my surprise, Mom didn’t look too bad. I mean, she’s looking paler than usual, but her eyes aren’t bloodshot red and her hair is pretty straight. I expected her to look like something I poop out after eating a taco, but okay.

“Shawn… you know the Five W’s, right?”

“Yeah, the who, what, where, when, and why right?” I wonder what Mom is trying to search for with that question; it's really unusual.

“Well, you had the order wrong, but yes. Now, before we get into things, who is Shawn Hopkins?”

I grimaced. “Um… Me…”

“What was Shawn Hopkins doing yesterday?”

I bit my tongue. I know what she’s doing, she’s asking a litany of questions in hope of me coughing up the information she wants to hear, but lucky for me the interrogation I had yesterday primed me for things like this.

I smirked. “Chilling.”

“And when was Shawn Hopkins supposed to be home?”

“I don’t know, you never specified a time.”

She squinted her eyes, obviously becoming irked by my jargon. “And where was Shawn Hopkins?”

“At school.”

She slammed her hands on the couch and shot up in the seat. “THEN WHY THE HELL DID SHAWN HOPKINS SHOW UP ON THE NEWS REPORTED FOR KILLING SOMEONE!”

I swear I felt one of my eyes shrink the moment Mom’s volume rose to one of a person trying to hold a convo in the club. I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. “Mom…” I struggled to find my voice, but all that came out was an adenoidal cough. Man, now that we are on topic, how do I explain? How can I explain without sounding… stupid. I need something convincing. “Mom, I’m going to be honest… it was totally random. Like damn, I know it sounds so ridiculous, but I somehow ended up in a scrap with an ‘alien’ who was disguised as a cab driver. I know it sounds absurd, but I just wanted a cab ride.”

“A cab ride? Why couldn’t you take a bus like you usually do!?” Mom continued pressing further.

“Because I couldn’t, Mom! I just couldn’t! The asshole bus driver wouldn’t let me on!”

“Watch your language, missy!” Mom chided.

“I’m sorry, Mom, but I’m just angry that...-" I frowned. "Don't call me that, alright? Anyways, the bus driver said no ponies can come on… but that’s bulls-crap because Kaise went on earlier.”

“W-Why would he say that?”

Before I replied, I hopped on the couch and rested my body on it, which prompted Mom to sit back on the couch. “And he said that because he isn’t real. Something tells me the jerk was probably a bigger fraud than Carlos Mencia, which means he stole his shit! The bus, uniform, everything was just a prop!”

She frowned. “Shawn… what did I tell you about-“

“I’m sorry I’m sorry, it just makes me angry. Anyways, look, the whole thing was predetermined or something.” Mom’s frown became wider, which means I’m going have to get deeper into this conversation. “Predetermined isn’t the right word… but you get my gist. I wasn’t looking for trouble, there are just a lot of weird creatures out there… A LOT! I’m more alert than ever now, but ain’t it scary how the most normal looking person can be an alien?”

Mom’s eyes puffed out as she brought her slender hands towards her mouth. “Oh my god, Shawn…” she wheezed while fully burying her head into her hands, small tears accompanying her sobbing.

Oh no.

I quickly wrapped my replacements for hands around Mom neck and tugged her in for an embrace. I nuzzled Mom on the neck and patted her back softly in hope of comforting her. The way Mom appeased me a few days ago will not be elapsed form my memories. In fact, I think I learned how to be somewhat more sympathetic after that. “There there, Mom, it’s gonna be okay…”

Instead of Mom leaning into my chest further, she pulled back and broke my grip. Before I had a second to lament the release of my comforting hold that I felt strong about, I was soccer mom slapped in the face, which means I was bitch slapped by a middle age mother.

I stayed stunned, not even attempting to look at Mom once more. In fact, I scrambled off the couch and ran to the nearest wall unit in the room, hugging on it while shuddering. I would have hid inside it, but I’m too big.

“Why do you gotta do things like this, Shawn!?” she bellowed.

“Things like what?” I squeaked.

“These stupid things! I try my best to be as nice and supportive to you, but you always gotta do something extra! You could have just come home, but you chose to go ‘hang’ out with your friend! I’m at work praying that you are okay… b-but-“ her voice hinted she was about to break down again, but she took a much needed sniff, “Y-you almost got killed and I’m at work thinking you’re fine! Do you know how scared I was when I saw that news report?”

Great, now I feel shitty. At least Mom isn’t blaming herself for my sumer eve actions. “Mom, I never did anything stupid. I always walk home with Kaise, even at night sometimes. I-I’m sorry if I upset you, but I never knew it would be like tha-“

“YOU DIDN’T KNOW!?” She snapped. “TAKE CONTEXT CLUES, WILL YA?! IF THEY WOULDN’T LET YOU ON THE BUS, WHY WOULD YOU CONTINUE TRUSTING TRANSPORTATION!? YOU SHOULD HAVE CALLED ME!”

My expression softened. “Y-you right, Mom. But, that wouldn’t make sense, because you were in work and-“

“DON’T EVER SAY THAT AGAIN! I DON’T CARE IF I’M IN WORK, AT THE AIR FORCE, OR IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY; IF MY BABY IS IN TROUBLE I’M GOING TO SAVE HER!”

To my perplexity, I didn’t cringe at the feminine pronoun. Then again, I have too much on my plate to deal with frivolities such as pronouns.

Wait, frivolous? Forsaking the chance to keep my original gender intact isn’t frivolous at all! I’ll just say it’s not needed anymore. Look, it’s time for me to move on now, but I don’t want to act like my worries were dumb.

She paused for a couple of seconds. “Why Shawn, why?” The more she repeated that question, the more distant my eyes became. “Why would you do that? My brother just passed and here you are trying to get killed-“ she couldn’t finish her sentence, succumbing to tears that surrounded her eyes. Mom just began bawling on the couch and blocked the view of the rest of the world with her hands. In fact, it looked like she was ‘shooing’ me away. Once again, I just absorbed everything with my eyes and made no compromise of reconciliation yet. What do I do? What can I do?

I felt my lower lip quiver. My face felt hot as my vision slowly blurred. If I wasn’t so shocked I would have sworn that I felt water coming from my-

No, fuck that. I’m done with crying. Mom is crying right now and I’ll be damned if I CAN’T re-assure her! One thing that helped me stay sane since transformation was my family, especially Mom even though she is a nuisance.

I blinked back my tears and marched towards the couch, climbing on it quickly. Once again, I pulled mom into a hug, but this time I actually applied pressure to the hug, making sure I actually have Mom’s body clasped. I tried my best to smile, but it’s difficult to smile when you’re hesitant.

“Mom... it will be okay, trust me.” I let out a smile that was so small it could have been mistaken for a smirk. Mom’s response was more fits of sobs. “You know, Uncle Ray was my best friend,” The mention of his name cajoled me to look up towards the sky. I might not be the most religious person, but I’m very deferential towards dead people and look to the sky when I mention them. Or in Osama’s case, look at the ground.

“I don’t know why he had to die, but I guess God has the answers, because everything happens for a reason, right? He’s in a better place, I’m sure. But, let’s stop with these depressing thoughts.”

“Huh?” Mom moaned.

I sighed and patted her back. Mom’s head is somewhat too big to rest on my chest, but I’m not tetchy about it. “I I survived, right? Think about that instead of how close I came to dying. Be positive, Mom! It could have been worse, don’t even stress anything anymore.”

“Oh, Shawn, you’re right! But, it was too close! What if you did die? What if?”

What if, my least favorite word. I don’t wanna hear anything dubious, so maybe ‘what will’ will suffice. Oh well, she has a good question. “Then I will meet Uncle Ray in heaven. Plus, if I do die, I won’t have to be in this go-sh darn pony body anymore! You know what I mean? If I died one day, it would be a holiday... for us!”

My confidence seemed to have calm Mom down a bit. She stopped sobbing and lifted her head from my torso. “You’re right, Shawn… but…”

“But what?”

“I just never spent much time with you, Shawn. If you do plan on dying, it would be nice to be a family for once.” I was ready to bring up the ‘drinking’ subject, but I told Dad the same thing. But you know what? I smoke! I’m no better than her, haha.

I nuzzled her shoulder once again while shutting my eyes, smiling brightly. “I love you, Mom.”

Finally, she returned the much-needed hug. “I love you too, sweetie. I just wish we spent more time together.”

So do I. But beggars can’t be chooser, can they? It’s no way I can go back in time and make sure we had a proper bond, but I can make sure we will in the future. From this day fourth, I’m not gonna stay in my room 24/7, but 12/7. A big improvement, right? “So… when is the funeral?”

“Next week. I already started arranging for it. Expect the house to be crowded one day with a bunch of people.” I can say something witty, like how most people don’t care but just want to eat, but I’ll chill.

What now?

I think I’ll take Mom up on her offer.

“Okay… so, I have nothing to really do today, so why don’t we hang out until you begin your work shift?”

She raised an eyebrow. “I work at 10:30-7:30 today and its 9 something. What can we do?” I broke our embrace and fixed my eyes on Mom. I can’t believe I’m gonna say this…

“You know what? I’m feeling generous today… so maybe you can finally get a chance to do my mane.”

Without future ado, Mom grabbed one of my hooves and dashed upstairs.

In the words of Nevel Papperman... I will rue the day.

........................................................................................................................................................................
“Can I look now, Mom?”

“Not yet, sweetie, I still have to put the finishing touch.”

I groaned. I still don’t know why I allowed Mom to do anything she desires to my mane. The only condition was it must not be overly girly, but you see how long it’s taking her to do it? She evidently has something big in store. No seriously, I don’t care if it takes 100 hours: If it’s something frilly I’m going to revolt.

“Ouch!” I exited my stupor with a yell, feeling Mom pluck on a strang of my mane. I swear, that’s the 100th time she did that! Is it too late for me to run yet?

“Okay, I’m done!” Mom announced while forcing a mirror in front of my face.

My straight face never survived the moment I saw my reflection. With my stomach fluttering, I gasped and ran a hoof through my new mane style. The two puffy curls in the front of my mane are sadly gone and replaced with a short yellow bang with orange highlights that didn’t completely conceal my eyes, albeit not giving it the same freedom my old haircut gave me. I thought it was okay, but back of my mane completely jutted my mind: it was two braided pigtails that were kept in place with two purple hair ties… hair ties! The pigtails were a mixture of yellow and orange and seemed to be a patterned swirl. They were both equal in length, which means I now have two strands of braided mane running down my cheeks.

Why didn’t I just say brush it?!

Because you’re so lazy you couldn’t even say it. You got what you deserved.

Damn it, brain, if I wanted you to talk I would've asked you!

“So, what do you think?” Mom asked. "I think you look cute!"

"I'm tired of cute.." I said under my breath, forcing myself to smile while lifting my hoof up, making the pony equivalent of a thumbs up. “It looks good…” I said from the corners of my mouth., “How long do I have to keep it?”

She laughed. “Honey, you can take it out whenever you want to.”

I slid off the woman’s lap and landed on the floor. “Mom, couldn’t you use rubber bands or something? In fact, how about nothing at all?” I asked while playing with my braids.

“But, it contrasts nice with your hair color, dear. Without it, it wouldn’t look right."

“NO! I HATE IT! I look girly, take it out!!!”

“What’s wrong with that? You are a girl… so…”

I brought one of my yellow appendages towards my face and face hooved. “How long are you gonna keep this up, Mom? I’m not Katie, I was born male! Do you even member that or what?”

“Look, I have to go to work. You told me do what I want, and I did! I have no time to do it all over, so if you wanna walk around with an afro, then go ahead,” she murmured while averting her head from me.

“Yes! Give me an afro!”

“Matter of fact, it might take awhile taking your braids out. I have to leave now and you’re coming with me. I’ll take it out when we get to my job.”

I sighed and nodded. “Okay, Mom, I guess I’ll- wait! Did you say you want me to go to work?!”

She returned the nod. “Yes, no and, if, or buts.”

“W-why?!”

“Because, Shawn, you think I trust you in this house by yourself? Haha, no. You’re banned from going outside, unless a human is with you.”

Dammit… no more smoking weed at the retirement home again.

“I can’t go to your job though!”

“Why not?” Mom pinched her lips inquisitively.

“Because… because…” I clenched my teeth in exasperation, pondering a convincing way to make Mom reject her idea of taking me to her job. Something factual, because I’m sure my feelings aren’t relevant right now.

No animals allowed.

“No animals allowed! Yeah, that’s why!” I hate calling myself an animal, but it is what it is. Plus, I got to go to practice.”

“You’re not an animal, you’re more of a mutant.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, a mutant animal. Still an animal. That’s like saying a white person is black just because he has a tan. ”

Mom’s arms crossed. “I don’t care, if I can’t take you to work, I’m staying home. I don’t trust you home alone.” Damn she’s tenacious isn’t she.

I blinked. “Mom, I have to go to practice later on today. It’s obligatory.”

Mom replied with a cutting chuckle that implied disbelief. “You’re not even a human anymore, or a boy. It makes no sense.”

“Horrible excuse because I’m still a part of the team! Unless I get cut I still have to go, and I haven’t been cut yet so stop it!”

Mom eyes widened. “Watch your tone, missy.”

“Don’t call me that!” I huffed.

“Don’t think I won’t whip your butt just because your father isn’t here. Get out of line with me and I’ll put you in line,” she calmly, yet forebodingly stated. “Now come on before I get late. If I don’t get promoted because of you're incessant whining, I swear, no more sneakers for you!”

“Pshh! I don’t even wear sneakers anymore!”

“No more socks for you!” she retorted.

“NOOOOOOO!” I shrilled while hopping on the floor, “Look, Mom, I promise. I’m just going to the school later today and come straight home. I have to go, Mom. What if I turn human again, huh?”

“That's not my concern, your life is.”

“Pweeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeee?” I beseeched while unleashing my ultimate weapon: ‘puppy dog eyes’. Look, four days and I’m already legit at this. I’m a quick learner.

Mom cringed for a split second and eventually jerked her head back while shutting her eyes. “Alright, fine! Take your phone with you, and if you don’t pick up one time, one time; I will hurt youuuuu!”

I grinned. “Thank you, Mom! But, how about if I’m using the bathroom, like number ‘two’ and you call. What to do?”

“Tough crap,” she joked.

I faked laughter for a couple of seconds. Mom isn’t even like that. “Fine, I promise.”

“When do you leave?”

“Three something o’ clock. I’ll be back in like a half hour if the meeting goes well.”

“Good. That’s my lunch break so I’ll be happy to drive you there.”

I smiled. I suddenly pushed myself off the floor with my back hooves and hugged Mom. I don’t know why, but I’ve had a habit of hugging people more and I can’t say that I am angry at this. Maybe turning into a pony is slightly making me a better person.

“Thanks Mom… you’re cool.”

“I know, right?”

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Comments

[Shortcourt]

3872541
Shawn's Mom is still very visibly upset from Shawn's refusal to enlightened her on the events from yesterday, so the mean streak was expected. I probably over did it, but I think this is how a overprotective Mom would act. This is just based off my experience with paranoid parents.

And I think you interpreted that sentence a little wrong, it's not that she doesn't care if Shawn turns human again, it's just that she doesn't care about Shawn's future endeavors as a human if Shawn's life is at risk.

[ferret]

That's not my concern, you're life is.

[Shortcourt]

3876733
good looks.

[Scarlet Storm]

In the words of Nevel Papperman... I will rue the day.

YESH!