> Ruffled Feathers
>  by Some Leech
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aglow in the light of his computer monitor, Anon drew his hands over his face and hung his head. There was nothing going on, what few shows he followed were on a mid-season hiatus or had just wrapped up, and he hadn’t found anything even remotely eye-catching on any of his favorite sites - basically, he was bored out of his head. As he glanced over to the half-finished bottle of cheap liquor he’d picked on his way home, he grimaced.

Ennui - though he’d only just learned of the word a few days ago, it described his condition to a T. He had a decent enough job, managing a convenience store that was just a short walk from his apartment, and it wasn’t like he didn’t have family around, but everything was just so boring - worse still, the tedium of life and perpetual march of time had only made him increasingly aware of just how dull everything really was. Snatching up the bottle and bringing it to his lips, he helped himself to yet another slug of the bottom-shelf rye.

“Ugh…” he grunted, heaving himself up and lumbering in the direction of his kitchen.

Most of his friends had moved off, started families, or both, his mom and brother were just as prone to annoy him as they were to offer contentment, and his job - well, unless he somehow was able to bullshit his way into a regional manager role, climbing higher up the corporate ladder wouldn’t be possible without a master’s degree. He shook his head as he stumbled out of his study, the guest room which had yet to house a single guest, and leaned against the wall of the hallway. There was a very, very good chance he’d end up with a hangover in the morning, but the prospect of nursing a headache and spending the better part of a day in bed would at the very least be a departure from the norm.

Trudging into his kitchen, he stopped in front of his fridge and opened its door. While there was plenty to eat, including half a calzone left from dinner, there wasn’t anything in particular that struck his fancy. His eyes shot up to his cabinet, down to a box of miniature cakes on his counter, then over to his keys before he shook his head.

Nope. He may have been half-tanked and feeling a little glum, but he wasn’t about to do something so stupid as to drive anywhere - even if the thought of a greasy burger and some sweet potato fries were damn tempting. Closing his fridge and turning toward his study, he paused when he glanced out the window. There was a whole world out there, plenty of new friends and potential lovers to meet, although the notion of going out did anything but lift his spirits.

He waved his bottle at the window, took another drink, then coughed. “Screw ‘em…”

As the fire worked its way down his throat and warmed his belly, his mind aimlessly wandered from one topic to another. Maybe things would be better if his old buddies were around, perhaps he’d be happier if he had a cute, good-looking girlfriend waiting for him when he finished his shifts and got home - then again, it was just as likely that things wouldn’t be all peaches and cream. Ultimately shaking his head and dislodging his whimsical thoughts, he meandered down the hall and to his room.

There was only one thing that would, if only for a short time, brighten his mood, and that was a nice hit of dopamine. Given the unfortunate lack of romance in his life, and that he was a relatively healthy young man, there wasn’t a darn thing wrong with cranking his hog - plus he read that it was apparently good for his prostate or something. Coming to the side of his bed, he exchanged his hooch for a little tablet PC he kept on his nightstand.

“Let’s see what we got,” he murmured, unlocking the device and flicking through the various adult-themed sites he had bookmarked.

While he didn’t consider himself a porn addict by any means, being single for the better part of three years had broadened his horizons in regards to erotic material. As he eased himself onto his bed and rested his head on his pillows, his free hand ran down to unzip his pants. Screw it - it may have been anything particularly wild, but a video of some dude having a threesome with two college chicks would get the job done.

Playing the video and skipping ahead to the juicy parts, having no interest in the shitty acting or corny setup leading up to the actual porn, he slid his finger over the screen, accidentally dropped the tablet onto his chest, and inadvertently looked over at his dresser. Situated next to a stack of folded clothes and behind what he hoped was an empty pop can was an unassuming box which, despite its appearance, held something which was far from ordinary.

Swinging his legs off the mattress, he got to his feet and crossed over to the puzzling parcel which, coincidentally, had come with a smeared return address and unrecognizable, almost exotic-looking stamps. Who’d sent the thing, why it had been addressed to him, and where it had come from were all mysteries, yet those questions paled in comparison to what lurked within its cardboard confines. As he took the box in his hands and walked back to his bedside, his fingers opened the top flap of the package.

Seating himself and laying back down, he propped himself up under the headboard and thrust his hand into the box. He’d seen plenty of sex-toys before - hell, he used to have a pocket pussy himself, but the one he’d gotten in the mail, whether intentionally or not, was simply bizarre. With a hardened plastic housing, the cylinder had a soft, squishy interior that was meant to serve as an alternative for a guy’s hand. He would have used the toy ages ago, even though he hadn’t ordered it himself, were it not for one problem - it hadn’t been modeled after a person.

You see a lot of weird stuff if you surf the internet for long enough, which was the only reason why he had any idea what a horse pussy looked like. With two plump, darkly-colored, rubbery lips above a pronounced, bulging clit, the fleshlight had clearly been inspired by someone with, shall we say bestial tastes. It wasn’t like he was worried about the thing being used that made him hesitant to try it out, since it had come in a sealed bag inside the parcel, although the notion of sticking his dick in something that wasn’t human, even if it wasn’t real, had left the questionable toy sitting on his dresser for nearly a month - that was until that moment.

“Fuck it,” he breathed, pulling open his nightstand to blindly fish around for some lube.

Considering he couldn’t easily return the thing, what with the label being smudged to hell and back, and that there was no sense in throwing it out, the only logical course of action would be to give it a spin ~ right? Tossing the lube next to himself, he loosened his belt and wriggled out of his pants. He’d often heard that a bit of liquid courage was the cause of, and solution to, many of life’s problems, and now it was going to let him do something he’d been wary of for weeks on end.

Slathering his semi-rigid manhood with lube, he slid down the mattress, balanced his tablet on his chest, and brought the toy down to his groin. At worst, he could say he tried something different - at best, he’d be able to delay carpal tunnel from developing in his right hand. As he pressed play and kissed the silicone pussy to the tip of his length, the corners of his lips turned up.

“There we go,” he sighed as he sank into the cool, rubbery cylinder.

The toy was actually pretty snug, all things considered, and felt better than he would have guessed - on top of that, the texture of its interior was quite stimulating. Hilting himself, he looked past the tablet and down to his crotch. Aside from the idea that he had his dick buried in a horse’s naughty bits, he could see himself getting used to the unexpected and frankly weird gift he’d received.

With the threesome playing out on the screen, hearing and seeing the trio plowing and playing with one another, he found himself less engaged with the smut and more focused on the sex-toy he was screwing. Yeah, this had definitely been the right call. Stroking himself off was well and good, especially when he had a bit of lotion to keep things moving freely, but it couldn’t hold a candle to something designed to get him off.

Planting his feet, he bucked his hips and pushed the tablet off to the side. “F…fuck…”

His imagination had always been a blessing and a curse, just as likely to keep his mind occupied through mundane tasks as it was to make him pine for things he didn’t or couldn’t have, and it, coupled with the strange masturbator, would be more than enough to get his rocks off. Fantasizing about having some lithe little thing impaled on him, he bit his bottom lip and stifled a groan. Holy hell - he’d really, really been missing out.

Becoming rock-hard in mere moments, his manhood filled the toy and bottomed-out in its depths. It would have been impossible for the sleeve to have been made for him, yet the fact that it fit him perfectly and hit all the most sensitive parts over his length, made him think otherwise. Damned if he knew where to start looking, but he might have to do some extra digging to find out what company had made it - if only so he could make a few anonymous posts online about it.

He stopped as quickly as he’d started, opened his eyes, and peaked a brow. Either he was drunker than he thought he was or the toy was somehow warming up. Lifting the stroker and bringing it up to his face, he scrunched his nose and watched a bead of lube drip from its entrance.

The thing didn’t look any different than it had minutes prior, but it felt noticeably hotter. He hadn’t seen anything that hinted at the toy being powered, seeing as how its casing was smooth and seamless, but it was possible that he’d overlooked some small detail. Shrugging, crammed the sleeve back on his dick, clamped his eyes shut, and happily picked up where he’d left off.

His dick throbbed and balls lightly slapped against the toy while his passion soared. Ordinarily speaking he paid little mind to the way his shaft pulsed or how heavy his nuts felt, although that may be due to the drinks he’d had. Hearing the lustful moans and sinful promises from the video playing out next to him, his mind linked the audio to the heavenly sensations the masturbator afforded.

While it had been ages since he’d actually gotten his dick wet, he took some small solace from not being a virgin- sure, his first and only time having sex with someone had been a wild fling with a chick he’d managed to hook up with at a party, but that still counted! Though the toy clinging to his cock might wasn’t the genuine article, it was realistic enough to bring the memories of that fateful evening sailing back. Hot, slick, and with a velvety interior, the plaything was virtually practically as good as the pussy he’d gotten on that fateful night so many years ago.

His chest heaved, drawing in great lungfuls, while he grunted through his sinuses. The air in his room was crisp and smelled lightly of his aftershave and laundry detergent, something he hadn’t noticed before but which grew more keen as the minutes slipped past. Growling and fixating on the amorous vision his brain had concocted, he gave a small snort.

As he gradually picked up speed, the scenario in his head took a surprisingly perplexing turn. Instead of a young woman wantonly fucking herself on him, it was a small horse - no, a pony. Small and with oddly expressive features, the lustful little creature squatted over his waist fiercely gripping his turgid length. He shifted slightly, trying to get into a better position to finish himself off, and somehow lost his grip on the toy.

Even without the alcohol in his system, he could excuse himself for the sudden interruption. With as vehemently as he’d been going at it, railing the toy like a horny teenager who had a few hours to himself, it wasn’t that jarring that he’d bucked the thing out of his hands. Shifting and hearing the bed groan under him, creaking for some reason or another, he scowled. 

“Stupid…”

Glancing down at himself, unsure of how the masturbator had slipped out of his hand, he froze. Though his room was pretty dark, only lit by the light of the hallway, it was clear that something was wrong - not with his surroundings, but with himself. In place of the unremarkable chest, belly, and limbs he’d spent a lifetime being used to, a body that wasn’t human, much less his own, greeted his eyes. He remained still and breathed, drinking in the peculiar sight while trying to figure out what he was looking at, until an alarming realization dawned on him.

Lifting and turning what had been his right arm, he squinted. “The fuck…?”

Where his hand and five digits had been sat a hard, nail-like structure with a soft, sensitive underside. He wasn’t a vet, nor had he ever had any interest in livestock or farm animals, but he was lucid enough to recognize a hoof when he saw one. While he turned his extremity over and back again, wondering what in the hell was going on, a sudden movement at his side caught his eye.

Twitching and attempting to nestle itself to his back was a feathery appendage. Seeing a wing next to him would have been unusual enough in and of itself, although the outlandishness of the situation only amplified when it occurred to him that it was a part of him. Sensing the sheet, mattress, and his side against the extremity, his mind went wild.

The part of him that wanted to panic was overshadowed by his abject, intoxicated fascination with the unforeseen and wholly extraordinary development of whatever was going on with him. The booze he’d gotten had been sealed, still having shrink-wrap over the cap, so the chances were extremely slim that it had been adulterated - that and he was pretty sure he would have heard something in the news about a bad batch of alcohol making the rounds. Trying and failing to move the wing - his wing, he snickered.

For all intents and purposes, he felt fine, no less comfortable than he had been when he’d first crawled onto his bed, so he wasn’t overly concerned. Shifting his attention away from the disobedient limb to his torso, he ran his hoof down his chest and to his abdomen. He’d never had any interest in drugs of any kind, excluding the one or two times he’d tried vaping, but he couldn’t help but think this must have been what it was like to go through a really crazy trip.

The wildest thing about the hallucination, because there was no other reasonable way to explain what it was, was that he could feel everything. From the soft alabaster fur covering him to the pinions on his wings, every detail was immaculate, as real as real could be, and it felt good - like, better than it had any right to! Shifting to one side and pawing at the fuck-toy that had slipped of his boner, he burst into laughter when he noticed his manhood wasn’t quite as manish as it was supposed to be.

His dick was and had always been perfectly in the average category, large enough to get the job done but not quite as big as he would have liked, although that too had changed. With a blunt, battering ram-like head and a thick band of flesh above its base, his endowment, just like the rest of him, had become that of an equine. He’d often dreamt about how nice it would be if he was hung like a horse, and now, either because he’d given himself a concussion, was having a bad reaction to something he’d eaten, or had spontaneously keeled over and was on death’s door, he was able to see what it was actually like.

“Huh…” he grunted, sitting up to get a closer look at his loins.

Replete with a pair of plump, nearly tennis ball-sized nuts covered in the same white fuzz as the rest of him, his package was like something out of a nature documentary or a dubious video from a shady part of the internet. Experimentally gliding his hoof up the side of his now considerably hefty shaft, he shuddered, went motionless, then reached for the toy. If a stupid hoof felt as nice as it did against his dick, he couldn’t wait to see how incredible the horse pussy was!

He pursed his tongue between his lips while he attempted to pick up the masturbator. While he may have been enthused to continue getting himself off, his metamorphosis and a lack of digits wasn’t going to make it easy for him. Eventually turning onto his side and grasping the sleeve in both his forehooves, if that’s what he was supposed to call the things, he finally managed to sink his girthy length into the toy.

As he flipped onto his back and winced, having obviously pinned one of his wings beneath himself, his hips spontaneously thrust upward. “Oh yeah…”

Holy hell - the toy had felt good before, rivaling the time he’d gotten laid, yet now it was an order of magnitude more wondrous! Whether it was because of the liquor, the trip he was having, both, or something he hadn’t accounted for, the act of stroking himself with the masturbator was the best thing he’d ever experienced bar none! He closed his eyes shut and succumbed to his lust, seeing no point in doing otherwise.

It couldn’t have been a few minutes from when he’d first entered his room to when he’d discovered he was a small winged horse, yet his body wasn’t the only thing that had altered in that fleeting period. The girl he’d been imagining was gone, replaced by a cute little mare straddling him. Gyrating on his groin and perfectly mirroring the toy’s movements, the adorable and perplexingly alluring creature groaned and - wait.

His eyes flew open when he grasped that the sound he’d heard hadn’t been in his head. Peering up in shock, having downplayed the sensation of weight against him as part of the fantasy he’d been having, and gazed into a pair of twinkling eyes. Holy shit - it was one thing to picture something in his mind’s eye, but this was on an entirely different level.

“What?” she asked, seating herself and playfully wiggling her hips on him.

Aghast, he reached out and prodded her belly with a forehoof. “Y…you’re real?”

She leaned in and brought her muzzle to within an inch of his face, so close that he could feel the warmth of her breath against his nose - no, wait, his snout, and smirked. “What do you think?”

Moments from responding, he gasped when her depths fiercely contracted around him. Ok, yeah, if this was a dream, it was sure as shit the best one he’d ever had. Vice-like and sweltering, her sex was in a league all their own - to the point where he’d more than likely be beating his dick to the memory of this bewildering exchange for years to come. Caressing her sides, he warily smiled up at her.

Straightening up and reclining, she grinned. “Like what you see, pretty colt?”

“I…” he trailed off as the moon shone through his window and bathed her in light.

With an orange coat, eyes like twin rubies, and a long, luscious mane flowing over her shoulders and down her back, she was staggeringly attractive - you know, for a talking horse. Drinking her in, awed by how alluring she was, his attention was snagged by a horn affixed to her crown. If he’d had any doubt that he was dreaming, doped, or dead, the understanding that she wasn’t just some earthly creature resolved the matter right then and there.

“You’re a unicorn?” he faintly inquired.

As she shot him a wink, an opalescent spark popped from her horn. “Wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t, stud.”

He nodded. There were plenty of mythical equines he’d heard about over the years, from those horse-dragons in Japan to the creepy-ass ones in Ireland that would drown you in bogs, but none were as well-known as unicorns. Simultaneously amused and astonished that he’d cooked up a mythical creature to plow, he started and turned his head when he was hit with a revelation.

“Wait,” he croaked, “so I’m a pegasus?”

“Sure are,” she softly tittered.

As utterly fascinating as the development was, he looked back to her as she shifted. Situating herself on her knees, she reclined and patted him on his thigh. It was obvious that she didn’t mind doing most of the work, allowing him to lay back to enjoy the spectacle she provided and her balmy, silken pussy lovingly milking his length, so he’d be remiss for stopping her. If a chick, human or otherwise, wanted to ride him cowgirl, that was just fine in his book.

Lifting and planting his feet - er - back hooves on the mattress, he provided a backstop for her with his thighs. “This work?”

“Mmmhmm,” she hummed. Clenching as she lifted her waist, she threw her weight down on him and gave a throaty sigh. “Oh buck - you’re so big…”

He knew he should have said something, telling her thanks or remarking about how fucking amazing she felt herself, yet the sight of her bouncing on him was nothing short of enthralling. His gaze drifted from her face, down her featureless chest, past her cute little belly button, and settled on her abdomen. It made sense that equines, being mammals and all, had breasts, yet he’d never given much thought as to where a pony’s boobs would be.

Bucking and swinging her hips, she waved at her lower belly. “Knock - Mnnph - yourself out…”

“Okay,” he breathed as he extended a hoof.

Situated beneath her waist and above her crotch sat a perfectly perky pair of tits. As he reached out and gently touched one of the soft, doughy mounds, she gave a low, guttural groan. They felt just like a human’s knockers, yielding and supple against the underside of his forehoof, and they didn’t look much different than a woman’s hooters, barring the orange downy fur covering them, although it was still mind-boggling to consider he’d find himself wanting to play with them. Smiling all the broader, he gingerly rubbed one of her nipples.

Fuck ~ why was this so damn hot! He was aware that there were people in the world who got off to animals - shit, if the rumors he’d heard were right, one of the guys he’d gone through high school with had been arrested for shagging a sheep, but he would never have guessed his imagination would throw him a curve ball like this! Delicately fondling her breasts, he savored the bizarre situation for all his worth.

She looked phenomenal, her marehood, if that’s what he was supposed to call it, was god-tier, her lilting voice sent shivers up his spine, and her scent even smelled good - in short, though it was jarring to think his subconscious may have a thing for bestiality, she was flawless. Taking a moment and getting her rhythm down, he flexed his legs and drove his hips upward. Driven up and almost off balance by his thrust, she moaned and trembled with delight. There was a point at which anyone, regardless of their age or what was going on, would stop thinking and start acting - for him, hearing the unfettered bliss in her voice flung him well past it.

To hell with it - if he ended up talking to a shrink or consulting a myriad of self-appointed professionals on forums about his depraved thoughts and the hallucination he was having, it was a small price to pay for such an unforgettable experience. Moving in tune with her, he pushed any concerns he had to the side and yielded to his primal urges. As long as she was having fun and wanted to share a passionate tryst with him, he may as well enjoy himself too.

The good news was that making peace with himself allowed him to fully relish the exchange - the bad news was that his new form made things tricky. His limbs, in spite of being thicker than normal, felt far lighter than they should have - furthermore, everything felt off. It was hard to articulate, but it was like his senses, each and every one, had been amplified by a few levels, making sounds more crisp and the scent in his nostrils stronger. Grappling with the sensory assault, he concentrated and gave her the best A game he could muster.

Though the position they were in wasn’t anything you’d see on a ranch or in a biology textbook, they made it work with shocking efficiency. Between her whimpers and his grunting, heavy breaths, the air grew thick with their sinful symphony and the aroma of their unfettered lust. It wasn’t until she slowed, grinding to a halt and wiping a lock of hair away from her eyes while the moonlight played over her, that he was fully stricken by just how gorgeous she was.

Even in the faint light, the blush that crept into her cheeks was unmistakable. Acting quickly, he sat up and brought himself closer to her. “You are beautiful…”

With a silly little grin on her snout, she averted her gaze and fidgeted ever so slightly. “T…thanks.”

She turned back to face him after a moment, regaining her composure or having possibly summoned her courage, and struck. With her forehooves on his shoulders, she drove him back, threw herself forward, and locked lips with him. Had someone told him that the best kiss he’d ever received would be at the hands of a magical unicorn, he would have laughed and possibly had them committed to an asylum - nevertheless, he returned the mare’s affection and snaked a foreleg around her lower back.

With their tongues entwined, moaning and sharing each other’s breath, they made wild, passionate love. He hadn’t the slightest idea of who she was, why she’d come to him of all people, or how she’d presumably turned him into a pegasus, but none of that mattered - in that moment, the only thought consuming him was how grateful he was that she’d arrived. Inspired by his need to prove his worth, he plowed her like a field in spring.

“R…right there,” she wheezed, slipping her muzzle to his ear. “Don’t s…stop…”

The request was absurd. Why ~ why in the world would he ever dream of stopping. As her breaths grew hitched and she quaked atop him, he continued undeterred. She may not have been a human, yet she’d earned every ounce of his zeal. He set his jaw and concentrated, tamping down his wants and single-mindedly sought to give her what she deserved.

Never before had he so doggedly pursued a goal. His form, the alien sensations accosting him, his own pleasure - in the face of such a ravishing creature who had so gleefully chosen to be with him over anyone else, they were all beneath him. She wished to reach nirvana, the pearly gates of ecstasy, and so it was his duty to carry her there.

On and on he went, willing his unfamiliar body to obey him, until she tensed. A torrent of scalding nectar erupted from around his thick, pistoning shaft, bathing his thighs and nethers in her essence, while her rapturous wail pierced the heavens. Her climax was the very definition of inspiration, fueling the fires of his determination and motivating him like few things ever had, but he wasn’t finished with her yet - not by a long shot.

His struggle was herculean, like holding back the tide or fighting the dawn, and it reached its inevitable end all too soon. His heart thundered in his chest, sweat beaded his brow, and his pulse rang in his ears as he crossed the threshold. With a final, triumphant plunge, he buried every inch of his endowment in her welcoming, gushing confines.

He’d cum more times than he could possibly count over the years, although every orgasm he’d ever endured paled in comparison to the one she delivered. Though he held his breath, trying valiantly to maintain his composure, he mewled as he filled her. His seed, rich and impossibly thick, seeped down his taut coin purse, seeping into his fur and the sheets beneath him.

Save for their panting breaths and steaming, heaving bodies, the room grew still and silent. In comparison to the only other time he’d had sex, this was transcendent - so much so that he felt reborn. Wearily stroking her back, offering her some small sliver of the comfort she was due, he snickered then weakly laughed.

Had this really just happened? He wasn’t one to record his dreams, finding the idea of jotting such things down a meaningless waste of time, but he would have to type this out once he finally got up - if he hadn’t slipped from his mortal coil, of course. Sliding a hoof from his shoulder to the mattress, she falteringly pushed herself up a hair and smiled down upon him.

“Sweet Celestia - that was nuts,” she rasped, unable to contain her mirth.

Staving off the temptation to ask who this Celestia person was, he kept his lips sealed and nodded up at her. He wasn’t sure what was more astonishing - the fact that he’d had the best lay of his life with a horse or that he’d made a unicorn, a being that didn’t exist, cum. Drawing his hoof down to her flank, he patted her tush and feebly bucked his hips.

With her legs shaking, she stirred and unsheathed herself from his softening dick. He’d hoped she would stay, to cuddle with him and ride out the hard-fought euphoria they shared, although she had something altogether more lecherous in mind. Unsteadily stepping back and moving to the foot of the bed, she pushed his hind legs apart, laid down, and rested her cheek on his inner thigh.

She kept her eyes on his face, looking past his rising and falling chest, as she extended her tongue and began licking his clean. Okay, yeah, whoever this chick was, she was definitely a keeper. Simply snuggling would have been enough to sate him in every conceivable way, yet she’d decided to go the extra mile and lick his newfound, stallionly endowment clean after he’d just given her one hell of a creampie.

As she shifted slightly, his eyes were drawn to her rump. Though her tush was shapely and quite sumptuous, it was the strange mark emblazoned upon it which captured his attention. It was hard to make out in the gloom around her, but it appeared as though she had a tattoo of a book on her flank.

Following his gaze, she snickered and wiggled her rump. “Pretty fitting ~ right?”

“Huh?” he grunted.

“My cutie mark,” she mused. “Here, let me get the light so you can see it better.”

A rosy aura radiated from her horn for a split second before a fixture above illuminated the room - a room that wasn’t his own. Not only was there an additional window, one which was covered by a curtain, but the paint on the walls, furniture, and even the bed he reclined on were all different. While it was logical that unique exchange would warrant an equally unique environment, finding himself in such unfamiliar surroundings was still startling - still, irrespective of his bemusement, she was a point of calm in an otherwise mystifying sea.

An angel - she was an all but literal angel. It should have been impossible for a horse to be so utterly captivating, yet he couldn’t recall ever being so smitten by anyone or anything before. As he gazed into her eyes, he was consumed by a preternatural calmness and a sense that he was where he belonged.

She lifted her head and met his gaze. “Sapphire Shine.”

Shaking his head, he stared down at her. “What?”

“Sapphire Shine,” she tranquilly repeated. “I’m the reason you’re here.”

“I’m - um…” he faltered.

For some reason or another, his name, the thing everyone had called him for as long as he could remember, eluded him - instead, the only thing that came to mine were two words that felt both foreign and oddly familiar. With the age-old adage of ‘when in Rome, do as the Romans do’ bubbling to the surface of his thoughts, he chuckled. Since he was a winged, mythological horse in the company of an equally fabled equine, it stood to reason that he would play the part and roll with it.

“I guess I’m Nimbus Breeze,” he replied.

Flicking off the light, Shine clambered up his supine frame and pressed herself to his side. “Well it’s nice to finally meet you, Nimby,” she muttered before stifling a yawn. “Do you mind if I call you Nimby?”

Pulling her in and wrapping a foreleg around her back, he held her close. “Doesn’t bother me a bit, Shine.”

“I’d love to chat more and give you a tour of the place, but I am bushed,” she drowsily stated as she made herself comfortable. “We can pick this up in the morning ~ alright? I don’t have to go in for work until noon.”

He smiled as he cocked a hind leg over her hip. “Sounds good to me…”

With the exhilaration of the jaw-droppingly incredible sex fading, he basked in her warmth. There’d been plenty of times when he considered himself relaxed, although the solace of simply laying with her serenity incarnate. For as unbelievable as the circumstances were, they felt completely real.

The entire experience, from when he’d decided to christen his toy to becoming a pegasus canoodling a very sensual unicorn, was surreal. Fuck if he knew how he’d managed to have such a wild fantasy, but he was happy to have had it. Sensing her stir, he peeked down and found her looking up at him.

“I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect coltfriend,” she uttered.

Twisting to face her, he draped his head over her shoulder. “Thanks for having me…”

The remark had been spontaneous, the first thing that came to mind, but it was genuine. He wasn’t disturbed that she’d had a quickie with him, and he hadn’t been bothered that he’d been whisked away to what he presumed was her home - on the contrary, he was glad she was so happy to have him. Closing his eyes and surrendering to his exhaustion, he couldn’t keep the smile off his muzzle.

His one regret, if he had to name one, was that there was a possibility that he wouldn’t remember any of this - moreover, he may never see Sapphire Shine again. The machinations of the human mind were a capricious thing, prone to subconscious flights of fancy, and it was a shame that he wasn’t lucky enough to have a girlfriend, an actual girlfriend, like the adorable little mare beside him. As he tugged at the blanket and folded it over her, praying for the impossibility that she’d be there when he finally awoke, he drifted off. If by some chance he really had expired, there were worse fates that could have awaited him…
> Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stifling a yawn, Nimbus - wait. He bolted upright and his eyes shot open to gaze out on an unfamiliar room. It took him a moment to wade through the mental fog, to recall the wondrous tryst he’d had with the enchanting mare named Sapphire Shine, but he smiled as the memories came flooding back. Sleeping and subsequently waking up in a dream wasn’t the wildest thing, bearing in mind he’d become a pegasus, and a part of him was elated to see what his subconscious would come up with next.

As he glanced to the side and spotted the blue-maned mare slumbering soundly beside him, a smile crept across his muzzle. She was so serene that he almost laid back down to continue spooning with her - almost. Surreptitiously wiggling over to the edge of the mattress, he swung his legs off the bed, shifted his weight, and unsteadily got his hooves, all four of them, under him.

It was funny - his instincts told him that he was standing naturally, although his higher functions said that was anything but the case. Humoring himself, he briefly reared back onto his hind legs, stood for a fleeting moment, then inelegantly lurched forward and back onto his quartet of hooves. He could experiment with standing and walking bipedally later - for now, he had far more riveting things to pursue.

Cuddling with somepony - pffft. He snickered quietly as the word crossed his mind. Somepony - not someone, somepony. He must have harbored some latent fascination for equines, because there was no other reason why his brain would spontaneously generate such a phrase. Shaking his head in amusement, he glanced over to an open doorway situated at the opposite end of the room.

There was an entire world out there to explore, one that could hold any number of fantastical things, and he wasn’t about to let it slip through his fingers - er - hooves. Glancing back at Sapphire, ensuring she was still asleep, he trotted away and into what he hoped was a lavatory. There were all tons of things he wanted to do, although getting a good look at his new body was definitely a must.

Going to walk forward, he nearly lost balance and fell flat on his face. He’d spent most of his life walking around on two legs, so having to suddenly deal with four of the things was going to be a challenge. He scrunched his snout and steeled his resolve as he lowered his head and looked down at the quartet of hoofed limbs. It wasn’t like he did it on a regular basis, but trotting couldn’t be any more complicated than crawling around on all fours ~ right.

Instead of the typical left-right-left-right, he just had to double the process. Front right leg, rear left leg, left front leg, right rear leg - so on and so forth, taking his time and being cautious, he slowly and a bit clumsily acquainted himself with the novel form of locomotion. It was no secret that horses, even tiny ones, could be quite fast and graceful, although it was going to take a considerable amount of patience and practice before he was galloping around like a wild, untamed stallion.

Snickering at the notion of cantering, he stopped dead and looked over his shoulder. Wings - shoot, he’d nearly forgotten about the darn things! As he tried and failed to move the feathery appendages, his brow knit in frustration. Moving legs, even a foursome of the things, wasn’t all that difficult - unfortunately, getting a pair of alien limbs to obey him was like trying to command a second set of arms or legs that just came into existence.

He abandoned his attempt to will his wings into submission after a hoofful of seconds, wandered ahead, and discovered his suspicions were valid. Sapphire’s bathroom was pretty nice, and remarkably like the ones he’d find on earth. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to fly, but the threat of waking up at any moment meant he had to prioritize his time in horse land or wherever the heck he was - as such, he had to get a look at himself. Glancing from the tub to the commode and finally over to the sink, paying little mind to the hygienic products and linens, his eyes ultimately settled on a mirror.

“Alright,” he softly breathed, bracing for the worst, “let’s see what we’re working with…”

Trotting over and coming to a halt, he peered at his reflection with open awe. The creamy color of his coat and plumage clashed with the vivid green gradient of his mane and tail, yet it was his eyes that were the most striking. Like twin aquamarines, his eyes were striking - even pretty, and the sight of them caused him to smile from ear to pointed, twitching ear. He had no metric to go by, but he had to think he was a darn handsome horse.

He turned in place, doing what he could to inspect himself from various angles, and faltered when he noticed his flank - well, what was on his flank. Situated on his upper thigh was an intricate design of some sort. Situated in the same spot as the one Sapphire’s hind quarters, but being wildly different, the mark seemed to be a little tornado of some sort - actually, getting a better look at it, it appeared to be a cornucopia made from a twister and filled with clouds.

Chuckling to himself, he closed his eyes and shook his head. “Funny - very funny…”

Nimbus Breeze - now it made sense. His name denoted wind and clouds because that’s what was on his butt-stamp! Holy heck - he was gonna have to jot all this down once he got up. He could write a children’s book or cartoon show based on these juicy details! Exquisitely amused and pleased with his imagination, he hopped in place.

Everything was so vivid that he could swear it was real! The lingering scent of the sex he’d had the night before mingled with the crisp air wafting through the windows, the feeling of cool tile against his hooves, the sight of everything his eyes settled upon, the sound of songbirds chirping to greet the rising sun - the minutia if it all was staggering! He’d never been one to toot his own horn, but his brain had really been holding out on him.

He shifted and awkwardly trotted over the window to peek outside. Yeah, there was no doubt about it, he’d struck a goldmine of fanciful inspiration. Laying just outside and mostly out of sight, partially obscured by a tree, was what looked like a comfy little village! If he had somehow died and this was what lay beyond, at least he’d ended up somewhere pretty dang decent!

Drawn by a sudden movement at his rear, he watched his tail flick to one side. Having parts of himself that hadn’t existed a day prior was hard to describe. His wings and tail were as much a part of him as his tongue, legs, or head, although they acted like they had a mind of their own - sure, he could probably train them eventually, but there was no way for him to tell how long that would take in the grand scheme of things. Seeing as how it took a baby years to master their limbs, he had to assume he wasn’t going to be zipping through the skies anytime soon.

Smack

He yelped, went to whip around, and went crashing to the floor after something slapped his backside. It was a bit jarring to be shaken from his musings in such a sudden way, although his apprehension bled away when he twisted and saw who had decided to join him. With a coy little grin on her snout, Sapphire loomed over him.

“Morning, sunshine,” she murmured, rubbing one eye as she peered down at him. “You’re up early…”

“H…hey,” he sputtered while struggling to get his hooves under him. 

The moment he got up, she closed the gap between them and pulled him into a hug. “How’s my big, sexy stallion doing this morning?”

He moved to hug her but faltered when his right wing shot out to her back. What the heck? Though he hadn’t made a conscious effort to use the feathery appendage, it was almost like it went to return her embrace. With his wings involuntarily flapping and then settling on his back, he extended a foreleg to pat her upper back.

“I’m - uh - I’m pretty good,” he eventually responded.

While it wasn’t a lie, it wasn’t an exact truth either. Controlling himself and checking out his surroundings was one thing, but having somepony else acting autonomously and spontaneously slapping him on the tush was quite another. Backing away from her, he cocked his head and eyed the exit.

Sapphire moved past him as her horn began to glow. “You want to join me in the shower before making us breakfast?”

“Huh?” he grunted.

“Make us breakfast,” she coolly repeated, setting the water in the tub to run and warm. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d love some pancakes. You’ll find everything you need in the fridge and cupboards.”

Her flippant expectation that he cook for her was, to say the least, completely unexpected. She was a figment of his imagination, the only reason she was here was because he’d dreamt her up, and he wasn’t about to play househusband for her. Rolling his eyes, he saw himself out and left her to do whatever mental constructs did in his absence.

“On second thought, maybe - hey,” she bleated while he made his escape.

Ignoring her, he proceeded out of the bathroom, through her bedchamber, and to the only other door available to him. He clearly wasn’t in his house, and he was dying to see the interior of her abode. As he came to a stop at the exit, the corners of his lips turned downward.

On any other day, under any other set of circumstances, a doorknob would be the least of his problems - now, without the use of hands, it was an obstacle. Lifting and pressing a forehoof to the rounded bulb of metal, he reflexively clenched his leg and grimaced. How - how the heck was a horse supposed to open a door?

“Supid,” he grumbled, trying fruitlessly to see himself out.

Much to his amazement, and flying in the face of all logic, he was met with a small amount of success - regrettably, it wasn’t enough. Though he was able to twist the knob slightly, somehow able to grip it despite his lack of digits, the thing refused to turn fully. While his annoyance mounted and stymied his investigative pursuits, an idea came to him. There was more than one way to skin a cat, and there was no way in Tartarus he was going to let something as simple as a door stop him.

He backed away, lowered his head, and gently bit down on the handle. Dealing with a chipped tooth, be it in a dream or otherwise, would be unpleasant, so he gently twisted his head and kept his hooves crossed that he wouldn’t inadvertently hurt himself. With a soft, satisfying click, the door swung outward and unveiled a corridor.

“What the hay?!” Sapphire shouted. “Why didn’t you use your hoof?”

Licking his lips and tasting metal, he shrugged and sauntered into the hallway. “I got it to work ~ didn’t I?”

“I mean, yeah, but it’s not like you don’t have a perfectly good set of forelegs or wings!” she protested. “Is something - oh come on!”

“What?” he asked as he trotted by and casually inspected several pictures hung on the walls to either side of him.

Leaving her in his wake, he drifted into a den. The living room, much like the bedchamber and bathroom, was quite nice and fully furnished. If her taste in accommodations was anything to go by, Sapphire was a simple, practical mare. Along with a sofa, coffee table, and recliner, there was a fireplace and a yawning window that overlooked a street and yard just outside.

He scarcely paid any mind to the sound of hooves approaching from behind him as he delved deeper. The den led to a small foyer, replete with a desk and coat rack, which opened into a kitchen. Though he still had no interest in doing any cooking, he was curious to see what matter of vittles a small, horned and horny horse kept at her disposal.

“Stop!” she yelled, sounding somehow irritated and desperate.

“Why?” he blithely countered. “Since I’m here, I may as well get a good look around.”

“You’re supposed to be making me breakfast and fawning over me!” she insisted, cantering around him and prodding his chest with a forehoof.

Peaking a brow, he glowered. “Says who?”

“Says me -” she groused, “you know, the pony who made you!”

“Made - heh - yeah right,” he snickered, gently pushing her aside and making for the refrigerator. “You didn’t make - Woah!”

An odd hum met his ears and a strange tingling sensation enveloped him from the tips of his hooves to the top of his head as he floated off the ground. He kicked his legs and writhed against his magical, apparently arcane bonds, noticing the aura around him was the same color as the energy about her horn, yet his efforts to free himself did nothing. Levitated over to her, he squinted in silent indignation.

“What are you - Gah?!” he croaked as his jaw was prized open.

She leaned in and stared into his maw while effortlessly holding him aloft. “Did I fudge the conjuration or - oh shoot! I bet it was those discount crystals I bought!”

“Cwistahls?” he slurred, unable to speak properly while his tongue was lightly tugged upon.

Relenting and lowering him back to the ground, she gave a low, crestfallen sigh. “Darn it. I was this close!”

“This close to what?” he inquired.

He would have - should have been upset with her, yet his intrigue about what was happening eclipsed any possible ire bubbling up within him. She could use magic, actual magic, and she wasn’t bothered in the slightest about wielding it against him. Turning his head as she trotted around and behind him, he pulled away when she nonchalantly lifted his tail.

“Um - hello?” he grunted. “This close to what?”

“To making you perfect,” she lamented. “The looks are there, but it’s clear that something isn’t quite right in that noggin of yours.”

“Excuse me?” he scoffed. “If there’s anything that’s not quite right about this situation, it’s that I’m talking to a mythical horse.”

She balked, recoiling as if stricken by the word. “Horse? Horses haven’t existed in - jeez, like thousands of years!”

“Alrighty then, miss smarty pants, what are you then?” he huffed.

Staring blankly over at him, she reluctantly lifted a forehoof and tapped her horn. “A unicorn. Sweet Celestia - you’re more broken than I thought…”

Anypony - ahem - anyone could only be pushed so far before they’d had enough - for Nimbus, being called broken to his muzzled face was the final straw. Turning up his nose and as imperiously as he could, he marched away from her and to the foyer. It didn’t matter how cute she was or how incredible she was in bed, she couldn’t just stand there and insult him like he was some sort of plaything!

“And where do you think you’re going?” she barked.

“Out,” he scoffed. “If I’m so broken, you can find another coltfriend for yourself.”

Only halting at the front door for a moment, having trotted through the foyer, he gingerly clamped his jaw on the door’s handle, torqued his head, and made his leave. He felt no guilt for leaving Sapphire, for there was nothing to feel guilty about. He’d cooked her up in his head, he wasn’t beholden to her wishes, and he owed her nothing. She hadn’t made him! The only thing she had made was an ass of herself.

He strutted out, nudged the door closed as she came rushing up behind him, and smiled. She was a persistent thing, although he had a solution for that. While she may have been able to use magic, he had a few tricks up his nonexistent sleeve himself. Peeking over his shoulder, he kicked back with one hind leg and shattered the doorknob and, if he was lucky, the lock within.

“Seriously - seriously!” she raged, trying the door and shattered internal mechanisms spilling from the hole that once held the handle.

“Guess I’m not the only thing that’s broken now ~ eh?” he chuckled, spotting her through a narrow window at the door’s side. “Catch you later, Sapphire. It’s been fun!”

“You…you…” she seethed before spinning in place and bolting away.

He’d planned on taking his time, giving himself a leisurely stroll through the imagined town that awaited him, but seeing her run off, presumably to a backdoor or other exit, shifted his priorities. Unless she also had the power of divination, giving her the slip would be prudent - plus necessity was one heck of a good teacher. Not wishing to be caught, and hoping to test what he was capable of, he trotted toward what looked like the center of town as quickly as his unsteady gait would allow.

It would be difficult for him to say for certain, but he was pretty sure that Sapphire’s home lay closer to the outskirts of the hamlet. With a house to one side and a vacant, well-kept lot on the other, she had at least one neighbor nearby, although most of the development lay down the dirt road in front of her abode. Pressing onward and daring to hasten his pace, he took a long, deep breath and enjoyed the sweet air.

Wherever he was was actually pretty nice. There wasn’t any concrete or asphalt to speak of, most of the buildings he could see looked to be made of wood, and there were rolling hills and fields off in the distance. He’d never truly enjoyed the urban jungles of Earth, only residing in one out of necessity, and he’d kill to live in a place like this.

He came to an intersection after only a minute or so, slowed, and noticed a figure languidly making its way in his direction. The sight of somepony brought a smile to his face and fueled his determination. Tripping on a rock in the roadway when he tried to flag the stranger down, giving no thought that it would be wise to keep all four hooves on the ground while moving, he stumbled.

“Watch it!” they yelled.

Blushing slightly, he trotted up to a wizened mare tottering along on the curb and nodded. Aside from being an equine, the mare was wildly different from Sapphire. Her coat was a light shade of turquoise, her eyes were purple, and her mane and tail, both fashioned into buns, were a snowy white, although she lacked any wings or horn to speak of. Regardless of whether or not there had been something in that cheap booze he’d had, he had to complement his unconscious mind for its creativity.

“Hey - um - this is probably going to sound weird, but where are we right now?” he inquired, risking a glance over at Sapphire’s place.

“Where are we?” the mare parroted. “Ya mean that in an existential or more grounded sense?”

“In the here way,” he clarified, tapping the earth with a forehoof.

As fascinating as it would be to engage in a philosophical discussion with what was effectively a part of himself, getting a name for where he was felt important - if for no other reason than to include it in any literary works he may or may not produce in the future. Starting when he heard what sure as heck sounded like a small explosion, he swallowed hard.

The mare rubbed the back of her neck while she studied him. “If’n you’re talking about the town, you’re in Greener Pastures - now, if’n you’re referring to the postal code, that’d be -”

“Shoot,” he hissed, seeing a familiarly colored figure run into the road behind him and begin looking around. “Gotta go! Thanks!”

Greener Pastures - if that wasn’t funny and just a touch foreboding, nothing was. Increasing his speed as much as he dared, he made an abrupt turn at a nifty little corner store, sped down an alley, and wound up on another, almost identical street. Darned if he could say where he was going or why he was fleeing from an irate unicorn, but he was having more fun than he cared to admit.

He glanced around for anything particularly eye-catching until he heard the sound of voices - several voices in the distance. Considering there were talking horses around, and that at least two of which were of a legendary variety, the notion of meeting other fabled creatures spurred him onward. For all he knew, there could be griffons, manticores, or even dragons to meet out there!

His mind was awash with a whole host of possibilities as he moved at something akin to a jog. Fanciful setting had always held a special place in his heart, so discovering he was in one rekindled the fires of his passion. He’d presumed his imagination had atrophied over the years, dulled by the mediocrity and necessities of adulthood, but he was overjoyed to learn that was far from the case.

A blaring wolf-whistle shook him from his reverie and, sadly, threw the steady rhythm of his moving legs completely out of order. Toppling forward like some sci-fi walker, he landed on his chest with his head outstretched. Great - he hadn’t just managed to take a tumble, he’d taken a tumble in front of someone.

“Watch it there, cutie. I wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself,” a feminine voice intoned.

Pushing himself up and brushing himself off, he found himself looking down at a short, somewhat brawny mare wearing a reflector vest and a hard hat. Whoever she was, she was built like a dwarf, had a deep purple coat, and was smiling a bit too broadly up at him. Left to assume she was the one who’d whistled, possibly at him, he looked to the side and found a trio of similarly dressed ponies, two mares and a stallion, watching him.

“Well look at you,” one mare chirped, eyeing him from top to bottom. “You new in town?”

“I…yeah, you could say that,” he answered before remembering his manners. “The name’s Nimbus.”

“Short - Short Circuit,” she replied. “So what brings a tall, handsome drink of water like you to a backwater like this? Actually, no, lemme guess ~ you either got dragged here by your marefriend or you’re gonna be working at that casino they’re building outside of town.”

“There’s a casino?” he quipped.

Looking up at his face, Short narrowed her eyes. “You couldn’t have missed it if you flew in. It’s - you know what, it’s not important. With a face that, and a body like that,” she noted, gesturing with a hoof from his head and flank, “you can be as oblivious as you want.”

He stayed quiet and processed what she’d just said. Had he just been hit on and insulted in the same breath - besides that, was this how she talked to everypony? Torn between feeling offended and flattered, he leered down at her as she trotted up to him, reached out with a foreleg, and ran a forehoof over his chest.

“Mmmmh,” she half-hummed, half-grunted in what sounded like approval. “Since you ain’t got a marefriend, and because it’s obvious you ain’t familiar with the area, how’s about you let me bring you out for some breakfast.”

“Like ~ right now?” he blurted as she began circling him.

Giving his hindquarters a bit too much attention for his liking, she nodded. “Sure. Seein’ as how I’m the foremare of this here operation,” she explained and waved a hoof at an unfinished framework of a structure sitting just off the road, “I can do whatever I want.”

He opened his mouth to respond, but then he saw her coworkers - rather, her subordinates’ reactions to the exchange. Though it was as clear as day that the trio of equines were not pleased with their supposed boss, he noticed something rather interesting - a disparity between the mares and the stallion. The female ponies, a unicorn and non-mythical one, looked upset, while the poor guy seemed almost crestfallen ~ dejected maybe?

With a startled squawk, he spun, almost fell for the umpteenth time that morning, and rounded on the squat mare. “What the heck?!”

“What?” she innocently snickered, drawing amused titters from the two other mares. “If you didn’t want that kind of attention, you shouldn’t be so good lookin’ - ‘sides, you said you was single!”

Catching him completely off guard, and without his permission, she’d helped herself to a generous squeeze of his backside. He didn’t mind being flirted with - heck, he’d longed for the day when someone would come on to him, but getting groped by a perfect stranger was just wrong. The irony of the circumstances didn’t elude him, given that he’d just bedded a random, possibly unhinged mare the night before, and it left a sour taste in his mouth.

“You can’t do that,” he declared.

Short didn’t relent - if anything, she smirked even more wolfishly than before as she turned her attention over to the other construction ponies. “Look, mares, we got a real firecracker on our hooves,” she laughed before turning her eyes back to his face. “Listen, if you -”

“Back the buck off, Short!” somepony loudly and quite angrily bellowed.

Coming to a skidding halt next to Nimbus, Sapphire stared daggers at the pint-sized, perverted mare. Though he’d just spent the last few minutes getting away from her, the sight of her filled him with relief. She may have had a few screws loose, but he was glad that her anger was no longer leveled against him.

Pinching the bridge of her snout, Short chuckled. “This is too rich. Don’t tell me you’re dating this nerd…”

His jaw flapped for a second while his mind reeled. On one hoof, he had a pushy, chauvinistic mare - on the other, he had a unicorn who, just a short time ago, had expected him to make breakfast for her. There was no clear winner between the two, particularly because they both had a number of faults, but at least Sapphire hadn’t sexually accosted him in public.

“Short, I swear to Celestia, if you don’t step away right now, I’m going to…” Sapphire snarled as her horn crackled with energy.

“You’ll what?” Short breathed. “Go ahead, I dare ya - actually, I double-dare ya!”

Looking back and forth between the two, a sense of unease welled up within Nimbus. Having an extraordinarily realistic fantasy was one thing, although there was something more to this - something he couldn’t put his hoof on. Backing away, he instantly shot forward and pushed the mares apart when Short shoved Sapphire.

“Hey!” he barked.

“Gotta get your stallion to step in for you?” Short darkly chortled. “Bucking figures, coming from a -”

“Will you shut up,” he raged, baring his teeth at the dwarfish mare. “I don’t know or care who you think you are, but you’re being a jerk!”

Holding his gaze for no more than a second, Short snorted and took a step back. “Whatever. If you ever want to talk to a real mare, one who knows how to treat a stallion, I’ll be around.”

Sapphire ensnared him with her aura, unceremoniously plucked him from the earth, and stormed back in the direction she’d come from. “We’re leaving.”

Floating along beside her, he uncomfortably cleared his throat. “S…sorry about your door…”

“You’re going to fix it,” she softly growled, “and then you’re gonna make breakfast…”

“Just for the sake of argument ~ how? How am I supposed to fix anything?” he pressed. “I’m a horse with wings! Even if I was good with my hands, I -”

“Hands?” she coughed, stopping in her tracks and peering over at him. “What the hay are you talking about?”

“You know, hands,” he insisted, extending his forelegs and flipping his hooves at her.

Easing him down, but keeping her magical grip on him, she sat and rubbed a forehoof against her temple. “How - how in Equestria did I mess this -”

“Equestria?” he interrupted. “I thought we were in Greener Pastures.”

She rocked back and dumbfoundedly stared at him. “Greener Pastures is in Equestria.”

“So Equestria’s the country or something?” he openly posited. Seeing her confusion only deepen, he lifted and turned a forehoof. “You gotta work with me here, I’m trying to wrap my head around all this.”

“You’re a pegasus,” she flatly stated. “You’re in Greener Pastures, a town in Equestria which is an empire on Equus, and there’s something wrong with you.”

“I hate to admit it, but you might - Ouch,” he muttered.

Lifting the forehoof he’d just lowered and driven into the earth, he went motionless. Behind the rim of thick, hardened keratin, stuck in the yielding flesh on his extremity, was a briar he’d accidentally stepped on. He was far from a psychologist, and further still from an expert of inner workings of the human mind, but he’d always heard that pain was one of, if not the only thing that didn’t translate well into dreams.

Inching closer, she delicately took his foreleg in her hoof, frowned, and yanked the offending piece of vegetation free. “Doesn’t look like it’s gonna bleed, but I’ve got some band-aids back home. Why do you keep using the word horses?”

“Because that’s what you - we are,” he noted, still looking down at his hoof. Lifting his head and seeing her looking squarely at his face, he was hit with a feeling of apprehension. “Right? We are horses ~ right?”

“Unless you’re some prehistoric variety of pegasus, no. The closest living relatives to horses are Saddle Arabians, but they’re ponies just like everypony else in Equus,” she mumbled. “Before I got up, did you hit your head this morning?”

“No,” he responded. “I might have last night at some point - I mean, I’m not proud of it, but I did have a few drinks prior to you showing up.”

She released his foreleg and tilted her head to the side. “Me showing up? I didn’t even go anywhere yesterday afternoon. I got home from work, performed all the incantations, recreated all the spellwork’s seals, and then you showed up.”

“What do you…” he trailed off as a knot formed in his stomach.

From the way she was acting and talking, she’d have him believe that she’d summoned him - that or she thought she’d made him through some ritual. Glancing back at himself and watching his tail and wings nervously twitch, he gulped. There was no way - no possible way that she was right ~ right?

“Show me,” he softly but firmly demanded. “If you made me, I want to see how you did it.”

She eyed him with suspicion while maintaining her sorcerous grasp on him. “Promise you won’t run away?”

“I won’t,” he sighed, “scouts honor.”

As her aura dissipated, she turned and trotted away. “You’re still going to fix my door…”

He followed along in silence and kept pace beside her. While it was admittedly stupid to consider the possibility that she wasn’t lying, that she thought he was some sort of homunculus, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off - way off. Dreams could be incredible things, so strong that they could make one move around or even talk in their sleep, but this not so little adventure he was on was so vivid that he was starting to question his own sanity.

“This way,” she urged, leading him around the side of her house and to the backdoor. Through the laundry room, past the kitchen, and down the hallway attached to her bedchamber, she brought him to a door he hadn’t peeked through. “Here.”

Staying still as she swung the door open, he understood what she’d meant - well, partially understood what she’d meant. The room she’d brought him to was something like a small office, bedecked with bookshelves and having a writing desk situated in one corner, but it was clear that she’d been using the space for more than just reading. Fashioned on the floor from some sort of black powder, and dotted with cut gemstones of varying types, was a large, intricate circle lined with runes and ornate designs.

“And I used - Nnnnph - this,” she grunted, levitating a massive, positively ancient looking grimoire from her desk. “If anypony asks, I’m just borrowing it.”

He looked from the floating tome, down to the esoteric-looking sigil, and finally over to her face as his scowl deepened. “Supposing you’re right, you made a stallion because…?”

Shying back and returning the massive book to the table, she blushed and turned her eyes to the floor. “Don’t make me say it…”

Her suddenly bashful demeanor, paired with her mentioning that she’d only borrowed the grimoire, spoke volumes. Whether she was lonely, desperate, or some combination of the two was anypony’s guess - irrespective, she’d gone to great lengths to create a coltfriend for herself. Reaching out to her then pulling away, torn between the compulsion to comfort her or berate her for her actions, he set his jaw.

“Hey,” he breathed, trotting over and gently pulling her into a hug, “don’t be so down on yourself ~ ok? I won’t tell anypony about your big book.”

She returned his embrace and pressed her face against his neck. “Stars above, I’m such a screw up…”

A pang of guilt shot through him. Though he’d only known her for less than a day, he felt bad for her. Everypony, pony or otherwise, went through rough patches in life, and he’d be willing to wager that she’d only done whatever she’d done as a last resort - sure, he could and very well may have been wrong, but all he had to go on was his gut. He gazed into her eyes and smiled when a flicker of happiness crossed her face.

“Before I probably do more harm than good, how about we go make some pancakes,” he mused.

Shaking her, she moved past him and into the hallway just outside. “Seriously, how can you not even make pancakes?”

He chuckled as he trailed along behind her. Even if he hadn’t solved the greater issue at hoof, the possibility that he was in a coma or some wacky sort of afterlife, he took some solace that he’d cheered her up. Trotting into her kitchen, he marveled as she used her magic to simultaneously open a cupboard, grab a carton of milk from the fridge, and retrieve a whisk from the sink.

“That’s so cool,” he reverently gasped.

“Come on, it’s not like I’m doing anything impressive,” she laughed as she arranged the items and ingredients on the counter. “I would have thought you’d - I don’t know, come with all the ins and outs already in place!”

Mockingly holding a forehoof to his chest, he feigned being wounded. “Well excuse me! It’s not like we have magical horses on Earth!”

She quirked a brow over at him while uncapping the bottle of milk. “Earth? What do you think the world is made of, you goof?”

Just as he went to clarify what he’d said, his anxiety shot through the roof. Her reaction couldn’t have been faked, being the definition of innocently naive, and shook the foundation of his reality. Fighting through his dread, he shifted nervously in place.

“Earth the planet,” he explained. “Magic doesn’t exist there, but we do have some technology that’s pretty darn close.”

“Like steam engines?” she asked. “Why would you need those when you can fly?”

“Because we can’t fly - not normally,” he grumbled as his agitation vied for dominance against his growing alarm. “Humans can’t -”

“Hyuman?” she repeated, nonplussed. “What’s a hyuman?”

His heart sank and his blood turned to ice in his veins. Whatever was going on, disregarding the impossibility of it all, something told him that he wasn’t within the confines of his own mind or some great hereafter. Unsure of what to say, rocked to his core, he eased himself down and stared blankly at the floor. He could have been mistaken - in fact, he hoped he was mistaken, but the idea that he’d somehow been transported to another world and transformed into a pegasus seemed a bit more plausible than it had a few hours ago.

“Well don’t just sit there and make me do all the work!” she chirped, crossing to him and pulling on his foreleg.

“I…yeah…” he dully stated.

Listening to her remark on the differences between pancakes and waffles, he trotted to the counter in a haze. If this wasn’t a dream or some grand delusion, he didn’t have the slightest idea of what he was going to do. He took the whisk as she offered it to him, moving mechanically while he tried to think of something - anything that would prove his suspicions wrong - alas, he couldn’t. Housed in a body which wasn’t his own, in a far-flung land of colorful, talking ponies, he was, at least for the time being, going to have to make due…
> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lifting her foreleg, Sapphire gently pressed the back of her hoof to Nimbus’ forehead. “Are you sure you’re ok? There’s a clinic in town that -”

“I’m fine,” Nimbus softly insisted, taking her foreleg and guiding it back down to the floor. “Just a little under the weather, that’s all.”

Sapphire studied him for a moment as she lingered on the just outside the front door of her home. “Don’t push yourself ~ alright? If you’re not feeling up to it, I’ll pick up those groceries later.”

Smiling down at her, he leaned in and delicately kissed her cheek. “Seriously, don’t worry so much. Between the map, list, and bits you left me, I’ll handle it. I might have a few wires crossed, but I’m not that broken.”

It was a hard act to put on, and it was made all the more difficult by being mindful of his tone and body language, but he managed to pull it off - at least he was pretty sure he pulled it off well. Extending his foreleg and offering her a bagged lunch that had taken him far too much effort to prepare, he willed himself to smile just a bit harder. While he could tell that something was on her mind, he kept his hooves crossed that she wasn’t able to see through his subtle deception.

“Go on,” he softly urged, “I’d hate for my special little mare to be late for her shift.”

The slight flattery worked like a charm. She averted her gaze and blushed as the corners of her lips turned up. Though he didn’t enjoy lying, he didn’t have many other options - not until he was able to sort through the litany of questions and problems stacked against him.

She reluctantly turned, stepped onto the sidewalk, and glanced back at him. “See you soon…”

“Be safe,” he shouted, waving goodbye.

As she waved back, her expression faltered. “You too…”

He lingered there for well over a minute and waited until she’d turned the corner at the end of the block before stepping back into the foyer. The moment he swung the door closed, his shoulders went slack and he gave a heavy sigh. Most of the day prior, everything after Sapphire had brought him home and explained how she’d made him, was a jumbled blur. He couldn’t say exactly when it had happened, but he’d come to a conclusion - this wasn’t a dream.

Whether he was in a coma or in some utterly bizarre afterlife, he’d become convinced that he wasn’t asleep - not any natural sort of sleep anyways. The clarity of his actions, the richness of the world around him, and how unique Sapphire and the hoofful of ponies he’d crossed paths with were beyond what one’s imagination could conjure. This world, this Equestria, it was as real as the Earth he’d grown up on, and that realization terrified him.

He was a stranger in a strange land, displaced from his home and everything he’d ever known, and he was alone. The desire to understand his surroundings and the intricacies of his reality were still there - actually, they were stronger than ever, yet now they were motivated by a stark need. With nopony to turn to, no place to call his own, and being ignorant to the society he suddenly found himself in, he had to adapt, if only for the time being, or his situation could become much, much more complicated.

While Sapphire didn’t strike him as a bad mare in the slightest, he wouldn’t - couldn’t afford to gamble his well-being on his intuition alone. Supposing she’d been truthful about the spell she’d cast, regardless of if it hadn't worked quite as she’d expected it to, there would be nothing stopping her from kicking him out of her house or even attempting to reverse the sorcery that had brought him to her. Considering she seemed convinced that she’d made him, crafting him from stardust or whatever the heck unicorn magic utilized, he’d really rather not tempt fate and have her inadvertently atomize him or reduce him to a pool of primordial soup.

Closing his eyes, he lightly tapped his forehead against the door. To say the circumstances were frustrating would be an understatement of colossal proportions. He was a pegasus who couldn’t fly, he had all the worldly know-how of a child, and there were forces at play that defied all conventional wisdom - to put it succinctly, he was up the creek without a paddle. Until he had a firm grasp of exactly what had happened to him, he needed to play nice, bide his time, and hope he didn’t screw up badly enough for Sapphire to magically fix him.

“There’s got to be a way back,” he muttered.

The words sounded hollow, like he was trying to convince himself they were true, but they were all he had. Turning and pacing in the foyer, he poured over everything he’d been through in the last two days for the umpteenth time. He would have given virtually anything for answers - answers which didn’t sound completely insane, though there was no guarantee he’d ever receive them. He stopped when he recalled what he was supposed to be doing and meandered back into the kitchen.

Dealing with his bewildering state of affairs would have been arduous enough, but he was exhausted. Though he’d initially curled up with Sapphire the night before, he’d ultimately crept out of her room, made his way to her den, and cast himself onto her sofa. Sleeping with her, even if it didn’t involve anything particularly intimate, felt wrong. Sharing your bed was reserved for somepony special, somepony you cared about, and he hardly knew her, let alone had feelings for her.

Coming to a halt before her table, he peered down at the items she’d left for him. Along with a small coin purse of bits tucked in a satchel, a crude map with directions to a nearby grocery store, and a list of provisions he was supposed to purchase, there was something else - something she must have scribbled down when he hadn’t been paying attention. He leaned in and felt his heart sink as he read the hoofwritten words.

Nimby,

If you get lost, just ask somepony to show you to the library (that’s where I work). There should be more than enough bits to cover all the groceries, so feel free to get yourself a little snack. I hope you feel better.

Miss you already,

S

Her feelings for him only served to complicate matters and worsen his inner turmoil. She’d apparently gone to great lengths to craft him, alluding to even stealing the tome that held the spell she’d used to bring him to her, and even a confounded idiot could figure out she’d done so seeking companionship. Why she’d resorted to questionable, possibly even taboo sorcery to give herself a coltfriend was a mystery in and of itself, yet he felt a pang of sympathy for her.

Tearing his eyes off her note, he knit his brow. This wasn’t the time to ponder her machinations and how lonely she was - this was the time to act. Her shift was only going to last seven hours, which meant he could, once he was finished with his errand, do what he pleased until she returned home.

After clumsily pulling the satchel to the table’s edge and slipping it over his neck, he glanced back at his wings and snorted. Maybe it was foolish, but gaining full control of his body sat high on his list of priorities. The way he saw it, irrespective of if everything ended up going pear-shaped or not, being able to fly would give him an advantage in practically any unfortunate situation - that and the notion of soaring through the open sky was wildly inspirational.

His feathered appendages, though unruly and vexing, seemed both large and sturdy enough to be fully functional. Sapphire had displayed feats of magic - real magic, so it was only logical that his wings were for more than just show. As he grew distracted by the insubordinate limbs affixed to his back and just behind his shoulder blades, a yawn escaped him.

He shook his head to collect himself, keenly aware that the shellshock and lethargy was taking a toll on him. “Eggs, barley, carrots, apples, spaghetti, cheese…”

The list was his mantra, a way to help him focus until he had completed his task. Trotting to the front door, which Sapphire had begrudgingly asked a neighbor to repair, he froze when he caught sight of himself in the window. Instead of a human face staring back at him, a stallion held his gaze - a bewildered, naked stallion.

“Nope,” he grunted, dipping his head and shrugging the shoulder bag from around his neck. “No way, no how.”

While none of the ponies he’d encountered the day before were wearing much of anything, excluding the reflector vests and hardhats of the construction crew, he was not about to go prancing about in his birthday suit - especially now that he contended with the possibility that he wasn’t in some grand fantasy. First and foremost, one couldn’t simply dismiss a lifetime’s worth of modesty - secondly and just as prudently, no matter what Equestria’s societal norms were, he’d been shamelessly hit on the very first time he’d gone out of Sapphire’s home. Had he been completely, undeniably certain that he was within the confines of his own head, he would have gleefully strutted out in the buff - unfortunately for him and any other shameless mares who may drool over him, he wasn’t going to hedge his bets on that.

Scampering deeper into the house, he skidded to a halt outside the central bathroom. It had been ages since he’d done it, and he was struggling to remember all the steps involved, but he felt confident that he could fashion a toga for himself out of a bed sheet. His eyes played over the toiletries and neatly folded towels for a moment before he found what he was looking for.

“Here we - crab apples,” he cursed, lifting a forehoof and coming just shy of reaching what looked like a stack of sheets.

Hearing himself speak, he scrunched his snout in indignation. There were a litany of strange things about being a pegasus, ranging from how sharp his senses were to the jaw-dropping discovery that oats tasted amazing, yet there was one so subtle that he’d only just started to take notice of it. As he tried fruitlessly to think of naughty language, his irritation mounted.

Expletives, much like his real name, were things his odyssey had robbed from him. Try as he might, he wouldn’t - couldn’t swear. The words simply didn’t exist anymore, eluding him whenever he attempted to conceive them, but he wasn’t left completely unarmed. Nearly losing balance when he reared onto his hind legs, he unleashed his frustration.

“Darn it,” he shouted. “Stupid heckin’ useless wings!”

And there it was, his comedic, kid-friendly wrath in all its fury. Honestly, of all the weird stuff he was going through, the altered vocabulary was amongst the most bizarre. He knew good and gosh darn well that there were particularly bad words to express exasperation and nasty insults which weren’t suitable for children, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember any of them! With the thin blanket taunting him, just out of reach, he hopped up, snatched the sheet from its shelf, and unsteadily landed back on the ground.

He peeked at his back and grinned. “Thanks…”

The feathery appendages had actually flapped and prevented him from losing his balance. He still had no overt control of his wings, but they’d helped him out a hoofful of times; they’d move of their own accord, usually without any conscious thought whatsoever. While it was infuriating to have a part of him that didn’t obey his will, he tried to be patient with himself and his clumsy body.

Pondering the enigma of how to master an entirely new set of limbs actually was on his agenda, but not until he’d tended to his obligations. The quicker he was done with his chore, the sooner he’d be able to go into the relative seclusion of Sapphire’s backyard and make an ass of himself while attempting to fly.

Trotting into the guest bathroom, he threw one corner of the sheet over his shoulder and pulled it down his back. Togas were one of the simplest garments in existence, just a large piece of cloth wound around one’s self, so it couldn’t be that difficult to pull one off while one was a quadruped - or so he assumed. Minutes dragged by as his patience wore out, but his perseverance eventually basically won out. A pyrrhic victory at best, too loose in some areas while a bit stifling in others, his completed attire was far from perfect - be that as it may, he considered it success.

The fabric draped over him obscured anypony’s view of naughty bits and tush, and he thought he looked rather fetching in it. Squaring his shoulders, he brushed his mane back and struck a dramatic pose. While he’d had to improvise a bit, cinching the cloth around his neck and under his forelegs to keep his wings pinned, he didn’t think he looked half bad. So long as his wings behaved themselves and didn’t try to escape, everything would be fine.

He quickly returned to the entryway, stooped down, bit the handle of his shoulder bag and tossed it over his head. The store wasn’t far away, a short trot according to the map, and he only had a few things to pick up - all in all, it should be a brief and simple excursion. Seeing himself out and carefully closing the door behind himself, he took a breath of the cool, fresh air.

There were only a few things that could potentially go wrong, like actually picking up the items and figuring out how to push a cart, although that wasn’t nearly enough to deter him - plus he had the forethought to avoid a certain area. With no way of knowing if the lustful, pushy mare was working or not, and without the ability to sail over her head, the smartest course of action would be to take the scenic route to the shop. He set off at a decent pace, filled with as much cautious optimism as he could muster, and held his head high.

The day was gorgeous, the cloudless sky warmed by the sun overhead, and there was a faint breeze. As the wind danced over his fur and plumage, a trace of his concerns were carried away. In defiance of his various fears and the hindrances of his plight, he smiled. A great many things in his life had been out of his control, giving him all the more reason to take solace if and when he could.

He hesitated to say he’d had the best family, finding them a burden more often than a gift, although the words of an uncle, one he’d been particularly fond of as a child, rang truer than ever - ‘if you’re not laughing, you’re crying’. It was true, truer than he’d like to admit. Everything about this was funny, from how he thought of himself as Nimbus Breeze the pegasus to having bedded a unicorn, and it brought him a rueful chuckle.

Silver linings - he had to focus on the silver linings. Sanity and mortal status notwithstanding, he had a few things to be grateful for. The land he’d been flung to had different rules, having sorcery and creatures that had been nothing more than myths on earth, and in time he may even be capable of conquering the skies - plus he had gotten laid. Were things ideal? Heavens no, but they could definitely have been worse. He had shelter, sustenance, and somepony to talk to, things that some unfortunate souls lacked, and he was, at least in part, thankful for them.

Slowing as he approached an intersection, he peered over and spotted his destination. The building was unmistakably a shop, replete with an old-timey sign hanging above its open, welcoming doors, and there were a small number of ponies coming and going - including one that rocketed down from above, elegantly landed, and trotted inside without skipping a beat. He blinked, taken aback by the sight, and continued onward with a spring in his step.

Though he hadn’t seen the pegasus performing any aeronautical procedures, merely landing and breaking into a trot, the sight of another winged pony instantly bolstered his resolve and lifted his spirits. It wasn’t a matter of if he could fly, but how long it would take him to work out how to do it. Trotting across the street and up to the shop, he saw himself inside and inspected his surroundings.

While it was a bit antiquated compared to what he was used to on Earth, the grocery store was very much a supermarket. Roughly a dozen aisles dominated the cavernous interior, with helpful signs displaying where items could be found, and there were a pair of registers flanking the door. There was a lot to take in, ranging from unfamiliar advertisements on the walls to the products lining the shelves, yet it wasn’t the goods which caught his eye - it was the ponies.

There were at least three little equines shopping, and another two milling around by the checkout counters. Varying wildly in their coloration and species, but similar in size and proportions, each of the creatures were unique. Two unicorns, the pegasus he’d spotted, and two of the normal ponies - earth ponies, Sapphire had called them, and several gradually turned their eyes to him.

He bashfully waved a hoof, shifted to a tower of baskets by the entrance, and did his best not to make himself the center of attention. The last thing he needed was for ponies to think he was a newcomer and a loon - sadly, it was unavoidable. Ignoring the curious looks, he closed his jaws on one of the baskets, turned, and proceeded past the cashiers and down the closest aisle.

Eggs, barley, carrots…crud. Stopping in his tracks, he lowered and shook his head. The satchel slipped down his neck, over his face, and came to hang on the basket in his mouth. He’d gotten a bit better with his hooves, being able to perform the most menial tasks with some effort, but he still couldn’t comprehend how ponies were able to hold, much less manipulate things with an oversized, keratinous thumb! As he set his belongings down and began rummaging around for his list, the sound of hooves approached from behind him.

“Need some help there, sir?” a lilting voice inquired.

He shook his head and looked back. “No, I…”

The words died in his throat when he got a look at whom he was speaking to. Tall, slender, and with a luscious, flowing mane, the unicorn mare was the embodiment of an equine model. Her honey-colored coat, cerulean eyes, and sandy mane and tail were pleasant, but her figure - mercy, her figure was very appealing. Completely at a loss, he straightened and turned to face her. He told himself that he was just being polite, yet her gorgeous body and lustrous eyes sang to the most primitive parts of his brain.

“N…no,” he stammered, finally finding his voice.

Her eyes wandered over him, like they were appraising him, until they settled on his face. “Cute outfit.”

He glanced back at himself, having briefly forgotten that he was adorned in a bed sheet, and nervously chuckled. “T…thanks.”

“It’s a toga ~ right?” she postulated, inching closer.

“Yeah,” he sighed. Anxiously extending a partially-shrouded foreleg, he grinned. “I’m Nimbus.”

“Iridescent,” she demurely replied as she took and gently shook his proffered hoof, “but my friends call me Iri.”

Placing his hoof back on the ground once she’d released it, he shifted his weight. “Well it’s a pleasure to meet you, Iridescent.”

Another weird name to add to the growing list, although it was fitting for her. Standing at practically the same height as himself, if only a hair shorter, her stature alone put her apart from the other mares he’d met. Peering into her eyes for a fleeting second, he looked away and donned his satchel.

She giggled and batted a forehoof at him. “Please, you can call me Iri - after all, a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet.”

“R…right,” he mumbled, sensing blood rushing to his face.

Heck - this was bad. He’d only just laid eyes on her, and yet he was staving off intrusive, exquisitely inappropriate thoughts about her. This was his pony brain’s fault - it had to be. Getting a bit worked up by a woman, a hot, human woman chatting with him out of the blue would be a reasonable reaction, but for him to get flustered over a pony - yeah, this had to be due to his metamorphosis.

“So tell me, Nimbus, is there anything I can help you find today?” she sweetly pressed. “I wouldn’t be much of a manager if I didn’t make sure my customers had an enjoyable experience ~ would I?”

Shying back, he stared over at her. “You’re the manager?”

“Sure am,” she hummed as she flipped a bang of hair away from her face. Strutting - strutting by him, she took the note from his hoof and brought it up to her face while hovering his basket from the floor. “Come on, I’ll show you right where everything is.”

While he was appreciative for her help, he wouldn’t be shocked if she was coming onto him - in fact, he was almost certain of it. Gazing at her backside while he trailed behind her, in a delicious and all too poetic twist of fate, he watched as she flicked her tail and gave him a glimpse of her backside. The plump, hairless mound of her marehood was enthralling, exciting him in a way that shouldn’t have been possible, and his body responded the only way it knew how.

He gulped as he sensed his wings twitching and stallionhood slipping from its sheath. It was a darn good thing he’d borrowed the bed sheet to wear, because it would have been painfully obvious to anypony looking at him that he was a bit worked up without it. As he followed her around a corner and down an adjacent aisle, she slowed and magically lifted two items from a shelf.

“There’s the barley and spaghetti,” she noted, spinning and reversing course after depositing the items in his basket. “The cheese is over near the produce.”

“A…alright,” he stammered as she sauntered past him.

Unwittingly drawing a breath through his nose, he shivered. The scent of her natural bouquet and perfume was like a siren’s song that compounded his mounting arousal. She smelled good, she looked good, and her voice was like that of an angel, so he had to imagine she felt…

He clamped his eyes shut and set his jaw. No - not now, not ever, he would not start swooning over some random mare he’d only just known existed. His eyes stayed on her hooves while she led the way to the opposite side of the shop. It wasn’t until he detected the vivid aroma of fruits and vegetables that he found the courage to lift head.

With one forehoof resting on the bottom lip of a display, Iri stretched a foreleg up to the top of a stack of carrots. “I’m guessing you’ve got a big one?”

“Huh?” he grunted, doing a double take.

“Want,” she corrected as her eyes lingered above the fabric draped over his loins. “You want a big one?”

Dumbfounded, he instinctively looked at her rear as she adjusted her stance. He’d gotten a decent view of her goods while she’d brought him to the pasta and grains aisle, yet the eyeful he’d received paled in comparison to the display she put on. Her hind hooves rested slightly wider apart than her hips, her tail was flagged and held to one side, and her bare, moist marehood winked at him.

He peered at her nethers in a trance, utterly enslaved by his id. There was no question that she was showing herself off to him, enticing him and playing to his stallionly needs, and it was working - he hated himself for it, but her little game was actually working. Wrestling control of himself while ignoring his fluttering wings, he marched up to her, grabbed the carrot from her forehoof, and stormed off to a miniature pyramid of apple crates.

Immediately giving chase, she dragged her body up his side. “Gonna make your marefriend dessert?”

“No,” he huffed, refusing to cave to her wiles.

“Got a marefriend who’s gonna cook for you ~ eh?” she teased, playfully elbowing his ribs. “Can’t say I blame her. If I had a catch like you, I’d bend over backward to make sure you were satisfied…”

He trembled as she spoke the word. Images of her presenting herself, beckoning him to a rose petal-covered bed, assailed him and made it hard to think clearly. If he gave her the opportunity, what would she do with him - to him? Could she just be a massive flirt with exhibitionistic tendencies? Were all mares like this? Snapped back to reality by the last question that came to his mind, he stiffened.

Cantering back to Iri and clamping the floating basket in his teeth, he fled to the dairy section that was mercifully close by. He needed to leave and leave quickly, lest he attract more admirers from the woodwork. On the off chance that his spontaneous hypothesis was right, that Equestria was a world in which females were the assertive ones, his life was going to be more complicated than it already was - doubly so if he was what most considered a handsome stallion.

He came just shy of galloping to the front of the shop, not wanting to make more of a scene than he already had, and placed his basket of goods on the counter. “Just give me a second to -”

“What’s the rush?” Iri purred, rushing over and shoving the cashier aside. “Got a hot date to -”

“Here,” he interrupted. Withdrawing his head from his satchel and flinging the small sack of coins next to the till, he glared over at her. “This should be enough to cover everything.”

Iri’s expression hardened as she magically loosened the coin purse’s drawstring and withdrew several bits. “Yeah. Let me get you a receipt…”

He knew he’d made her mad, but he couldn’t have cared less. This was her fault, she’d been the one to start flirting with him like a drunken frat girl, and he’d be darned if he was going to feel bad for fending her off. Seeing her frown and fiddle with the register, an antiquated machine by human standards, he squinted when she stooped down.

“Out of paper,” she groused.

The second opportunity to eye her shapely rump hammered away at his resolve. She was hot, he’d give her that, and it wasn’t like she had to try to be provocative. Forcing himself to look out the front door and away from her behind, he impatiently tapped a hoof. The cultural nuances of courtship would be yet another topic he needed to pick Sapphire’s brain about, because there was no way he was going to ask anypony else.

To add insult to injury, shortly after he’d gotten his first look at Iri’s unmentionables, his wings had been acting up fierce. The stupid, feathery limbs hopped and wiggled against him, trying desperately to escape from their cloth confines. It was like his wings were attempting to betray him, both in casting the toga aside and acting as a tell for his arousal, but the knot he’d tied in his attire was managing to hold fast.

Straightening and bagging his purchase, as well as his receipt, Iri nodded over at him. “See you around, hot stuff.”

He snorted in response, took the bag in his muzzle, and stomped to the exit. Just as he crossed the threshold, moving from the hardwood floor to the gravel beyond the door, he misstepped, fell forward, and landed on his chest. Being a klutz and making an ass of himself would have been awkward, but the feeling of a breeze against his belly and groin filled him with dread.

His toga - he’d tripped on his toga, and in so doing given everypony standing at the front of the shop a bawdy and embarrassing display of his endowment and rigid, outstretched wings. Gripped with panic, he seized his groceries in his jaw and bolted. The spectacle couldn’t have lasted more than a second or two, although it was long enough to elicit a throaty, approving grunt from one of the mares at the checkout area.

Abandoning the bed sheet, he virtually flew back to Sapphire’s house, crashed against the front door, and fought to let himself inside. Equestria was a den of wolves, ravenous, lusty predators, and he was the newest item on the menu. He may have been wrong about it - heck, he prayed he was wrong about it, yet the notion that he was in a world where the gender roles had been reversed, something that should have been titillating, was terrifying.

He meandered through the foyer and into the kitchen before stopping to catch his breath. His lungs burned, his heart was racing, and sweat beaded his brow. Safe and relatively secure, unless somepony was peeping in at him through a window, he exhaled and dully plodded to the den. The weariness of his long night, exacerbated by the mountain of information his brain had been processing and the fact that his species had been changed overnight, was crushing and seemed to hit him all at once. As soon as he hauled himself onto the couch, simply hoping to give himself a few minutes to rest, he was asleep.

“Nimbus…”

“Mnnnnn,” he groaned, rolling over and turning away from the noise.

“Wake up!”

He bolted upright and gasped, overwhelmed by the sensory onslaught of the waking world. Standing beside him, looking downright furious, Sapphire presented a small piece of paper. As he rubbed one eye and the note came into focus, apprehension.

Pointing to the receipt with a forehoof, Sapphire snarled. “Who the hay is Iri? That’s not that Iridescent hussy who works at Barnyard Bargains ~ is it?”

To Nimbus’ horror, Iri had apparently scribbled down something on the opposite side of the receipt when he hadn’t been looking. An address and the imprint of two lipstick-adorned lips - an unspoken invitation to give her a visit, and it spelled his doom. Rolling and falling off the sofa, he hastily sat up and held a hoof to his chest.

“I…” he began, feeling his throat constrict.

He couldn’t speak - not because he didn’t want to, but because he could feel something within him break. This was too much - it was all too much. He’d lost everything, and the accusation, intended or not, was the final nail in his coffin. Above the maelstrom of anger, confusion, fear, and sorrow loomed a sense of hopelessness that nopony could ensure.

“Sapphire,” he breathed, “we have to talk.”

“About what?” she demanded, throwing the note to the side. “About how you -”

“You didn’t make me!” he bellowed, causing her to go motionless and wide-eyed. “I’m not a pony - at least, I wasn’t a pony! I’m not even from Equestria! I didn’t ask to come here, I didn’t want to be a pegasus, and I sure as heck didn’t do a darn thing to make that mare at the grocery store try to seduce me! I…I…” he sobbed, his voice cracking and cheeks going damp. “I just want to go home…”

Easing herself down, Sapphire reached over and wiped a tear from his face. “Nimbus…”

“I’m not Nimbus!” he impotently raged, slapping her hoof away.

She shied back, if only just, and met his gaze. “Then who are you then?”

“I…I can’t remember my name, but everything else is still there,” he sniffed.

“Tell me,” she quietly urged. “Help me understand, please…”

Filling his lungs, he gave a slow, shuddering breath. “Alright…”

It was awkward, not knowing where or exactly how to start, but he laid all his cards on the table. His childhood, how he’d stumbled through college, his dead-end job at the convenience store - he talked about them all for what felt like hours on end. She listened silently the entire time, only interjecting to ask for clarification on things that were unfamiliar to her, until he brought up the bizarre sex-toy he’d gotten in the mail.

Sapphire had questioned him extensively on the toy, much to his chagrin, and he’d given her as many details as he could on the thing. While he wasn’t particularly comfortable telling her about how he’d gotten drunk and resorted to using the masturbator, he did so for a good reason. There was only one thing he’d done before all the craziness had kicked off, and it was…

“The toy,” he murmured. “That has to have something to do with this.”

As he looked over at her, Sapphire got to her hooves. “There’s…there’s something I need to look into.”

Without saying another word, she trotted away and down the corridor leading to her room. He glanced to the window and saw the darkness outside as he pushed himself up to follow her. The sun had set some time ago, likely when he’d been taking his unplanned nap, and its absence did nothing to improve his dour mood. Plodding down the hallway, he went to her study, tried the doorknob, and found he’d been locked out.

She hadn’t appeared angry, although it was hard to tell what had been going through her head. Throughout and after his tale, her expression had been unreadable, a mix of concern and wonderment, and her tacit demeanor ran counter to her normal, cheerful self. More uncertain than ever, neither hungry nor wishing to distress Sapphire more than he already had, he trotted to the foyer, opened the door, and stepped out into the night.

Where was he going? What was he supposed to be doing? Should he go check on Sapphire? How was all this going to end? Was all this going to end? Adrift in a sea of disheartening mysteries, he wandered down the sidewalk and into a field at the end of the street. He’d always taken solace that he was the only person he could rely on, viewing that as a strength, but now it felt like a curse.

He finally stopped when he reached a lone oak beneath the cloudless sky. As he made himself as comfortable as he could, with his back against the tree’s trunk and soft grass under his rear, his eyes turned upward. The physical fatigue he’d felt before was dulled to a degree, yet he felt more drained than ever. He was drained, feeling hollow on an existential level, and his sense of powerlessness was palpable.

Even if he could return back to Earth and get his old life back, would he still be the same guy he’d always been - moreover, would he be able to just forget about everything he’d been through? Peering at the firmament above, his eyes were met with constellations and stars that, while similar at a glance, were totally alien. Wrenching his gaze from the heavens, he folded his legs beneath himself and curled up against the tree.

Perhaps all of this would end if he slept a little longer, discovering that this was all a bad dream, but that seemed increasingly unlikely. He had no question that any of Equestia’s denizens would insist they were as real as he was, and therein lay the core of his problem. If this, this reality he’d ended up in, wasn’t real, what was? As he closed his eyes, his wings unfurled and draped themselves over him. Regardless of whether he woke up in his bed or on the earth he was laying on, it didn’t matter - either way, he’d find a way to endure…
> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Easy,” Sapphire murmured.

With his brow furrowed, Nimbus fixated on the mug in his feathered grasp. “I got this…”

The statement was both to bolster his wavering confidence and to assure Sapphire that he wasn’t about to spill the coffee he was cautiously moving to his muzzle. Touching the rim to his lips, he tilted the mug and helped himself to a well-earned sip of the steaming java. The accomplishment was small, not unlike a toddler successfully coloring within the lines of a picture book, yet it brought him no small amount of pride and happiness.

Sapphire waited until he’d sat the cup back down to exhale. “That’s fantastic! If you keep this up, you’ll be juggling with those things before long!”

Glancing to his left and right, at the wings he held out to either side of him, he beamed. “I…I don’t know about that, but thanks…”

It would have been impossible not to elated, but looking to Sapphire’s face marred his otherwise stellar mood. The moment she met his gaze, the smile left her eyes and she turned her head. He’d made a number of mistakes over the last few weeks, more than he’d hazard to count, but the one which had taken the heaviest toll had been a complete accident.

He reached out with a wing, caressed her shoulder, and brought her attention back to him. “Listen, I -”

A rosy aura leapt to his lips and sealed them together as she grimaced. “What did I tell you about that? It’s fine ~ ok? It’s behind us, we’ve moved past it, and we’re going to keep it that way…”

Nodding over at her, he forced a grin when her magic dissipated. “R…right.”

“Besides, it’s a big day,” she chirped, finishing off her coffee before slipping from her chair. “There’s no sense starting things off on the wrong hoof ~ right?”

“Right,” he softly repeated.

Pushing himself back from the table, he eased himself to his hooves while keeping his coffee held in one wing. “I’m gonna go get ready.”

“No toga!” she shouted back with a touch of mirth in her voice.

One corner of his lips turned up then immediately fell. A lot - a lot had changed over the last two weeks, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about all of it. While he had made no small amount of progress acclimating to his body, going so far as to be able to use his hooves and wings for simple tasks, his relationship with Sapphire had been turned completely on its head. Peering out the window to the sun creeping over the horizon, he gave a shuddering sigh.

It had been just before dawn when she’d eventually found him, the first rays of morning gracing the earth upon which he’d slept, and any question of her character had been erased in that moment. Her tears, the utter sorrow, regret, and concern she’d had for him, angrily demanding to know why he’d left while simultaneously apologizing and begging for his forgiveness - they were the very definition of somepony in crisis. She’d feared for him, assuming he’d abandoned her and run off into an unknown world, and he had, did, and would likely always feel guilty for causing her such torment.

Ever since that morning, after she’d found him slumbering beneath that oak, she’d treated him differently. The casual flirting had ceased, she hadn’t asked him to run errands or to help with chores around the house, and she’d worked herself to the bone for him. When she wasn’t on the job, she was attempting to reverse engineer the spell she’d used to summon him - when she wasn’t doing that, she was caring for him and helping him adjust to his new form. Looking back in the direction of the kitchen, he turned and faltered.

“Need some help?” he called.

There was a brief pause before she replied. “No, I got it, but you can get my keys and purse if you want.”

He would have had every right to let her toil at his expense, seeing as how it was her fault that he’d lost his human form and been flung to another world, yet actually seeing how much she cared, seeing how hard she pushed herself day after day to make amends for her transgressions, was more than he could bear. Though he’d tried to let her have her way, enough was enough, marching back into the kitchen, he moved to her side at the sink.

“Move over,” he grunted, gently pushing his shoulder against her.

Glowering up and over at him, she obstinately held firm. “I said I got it!”

“You made breakfast, so I’ll help with the cleanup,” he insisted, snatching a levitating plate from the air.

She channeled more power into her magic, pitting her sorcerous might against the grip of his pinions. “If I wanted help, I’d ask for help.”

Looming over her, he shifted and locked eyes with her. “Just like you asked for help when you dropped the groceries the other day?”

“I…” she stammered, taken off guard by the assertion. “I got distracted…”

“Or like when I found you passed out at the table with a spilled cup of coffee after you pulled another all-nighter?” he pressed, keeping his town firm but not remorseless. Lifting a hoof to her chin when she went to look away, he softly caressed her cheek. “You’re doing enough - no, more than enough. I may be stuck here for a while, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you bust your butt at my expense…”

Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second before shooting down to the ground. “B…but…”

“If I’m not allowed to talk about that morning, you’re not allowed to talk about that night ~ ok?” he huffed, willing a bit of levity into his voice. He’d only known her for a short time, a mere blink in the grand scheme of things, but he knew her well enough to understand when to pull back. Lowering his hoof and shifting his attention back to the dishes, he nodded. “Donkeys ~ right?”

“I…yeah, that’s the most plausible explanation I can think of,” she explained, plucking a dish rag from the sink. “They can’t use magic or fly, most of them are from the Fields of Forever region, and they’re nomadic. Trust me, Crumble and Saturn don’t know the first thing about the region or the culture, so you don’t have anything to worry about.”

Having scoured a dish with the sponge, he moved it under the running tap. “And Crumble’s the husband?”

“Saturn’s the wife and Crumble is her husband, yeah,” she said with a nod, taking the rinsed plate from his wing. “It may not come up, but they used to run a bakery in Canterlot. She works as a business consultant, and he’s a part-time home economics teacher.”

He slowed and lifted a brow. “What happened to their bakery?”

“It got trashed during the changeling invasion,” she sighed. “Sweet Celestia - it doesn’t feel like it, but that was almost twenty years ago at this point.”

“I’m guessing they just took an insurance payment and decided to move on?” he postulated. Seeing her nod, he grinned. “At least they got a fresh start - plus you said the changelings aren’t bad any more.”

Turning her efforts to wiping off the counter, she nodded. “Yeah. We’re pretty sure that Chrysalis was the last unreformed changeling - sure, there are rumors or the occasional story that somepony saw or was attacked by one of them, but I think it’s all a bunch of bunk. If we’re going to start believing every tall tale that rolls around, we’ll be thinking ghosts and aliens are real.”

Nimbus snickered and smirked over at her. “Aliens like humans or aliens like little green ponies from outer space.”

“Ha ha,” she sarcastically laughed as she trotted past him and patted his shoulder. “Seriously though, it’s interesting how much overlap there is between Earth and Equestria.”

Finishing with the last piece of silverware, he turned the sinks’ knob and stemmed the flow of water. “It is pretty wild.”

“If it’s true,” she added.

Stepping around and to her side, he nudged her with his shoulder. “If it’s true.”

He snickered as he trotted out of the kitchen and to the foyer. Of all the traits Sapphire had, her honesty was one of the most admirable. She’d admitted that she didn’t fully believe him, telling him that it was impossible for her to tell if his memories were real or ethereal byproducts of a spell gone awry, but he didn’t hold that against her - on the contrary, he considered it admirable. She was a scholar and archivist, having gotten a degree in mythical studies, so it was only fitting that she questioned the nature of things - himself and his backstory included.

While he still wasn’t what he’d call pleased with his predicament, time and Sapphire’s consideration had tempered his fears and allowed him to assess things with a clearer head. It was abundantly clear that she hadn’t intended to steal him away from Earth, and it wasn’t like he’d wanted to be flung into a land of talking ponies, so it was hard for him to be mad at her for what was essentially a misunderstanding. Moving ahead of her, he lifted her keys from a bowl in the entryway.

“After - darn it,” he cursed, dropping the keys to the floor.

She opened the door with her sorcery, trotted by, and came to a halt just outside. “Are locks the same on Earth?”

“Yeah,” he grunted, finding success after a second failed attempt, “they’ve gotten smaller and more complicated over the years, but they’re pretty much the same. Believe it or not, there are some locks that you need a card or fingerprint to open.”

“Right, like on a hand,” she thought aloud. Remaining where she stood, she cocked her head as he stepped out and locked the door behind himself. “Do they use that electronic stuff?”

“Electricity, yeah,” he hummed, turning to face the street. “Most stuff nowadays uses electricity. A lot of locks are electronic, there are electric cars, and even toys - almost everything, really.”

“And you say magic is weird,” she joked, leading the way to the sidewalk.

He kept pace and passed her the keys, content with the change of topic from earlier. “Because it is weird! I can’t explain all the ins and outs of electricity, but it makes more sense to me than just poofing stuff around while ignoring the fundamental rules of the universe.”

“Magic doesn’t ignore the rules,” she tutted. “Sorcery is all about the use of energy, harnessing it and channeling it to do different things - if anything, it’s similar to your electricity.”

“Maybe, but humans can’t just produce electricity from - actually, no, humans do produce very small amounts of electricity, but not nearly enough to make things teleport or lift objects through the air,” he groused, stymieing himself by recalling biology lessons from high school. “They might be kind of similar, but they’re definitely not - Oof.”

He grunted and winced when she elbowed his side. Glancing at her and seeing her looking ahead, he followed her gaze and noticed a threesome of young ponies playing by an upcoming crosswalk. Considering he had no interest in hiding away in her house in perpetuity, and that he was still very much curious about the world he was stuck in, she’d devised a simple but effective rule for when they were out.

Under no circumstances was he to talk about Earth, humans, or any of the goings on with his old life - in short, he had to blend in as best he could. Sapphire may have made the mother of all blunders by ripping him from one planet to another, and that wasn’t even touching the changing of his species in the process, but she was far from being daft. The lengths she’d gone to to protect both of them was awe-inspiring, and he was genuinely impressed with her forethought.

As far as anypony else knew, he was Nimbus Breeze, the mail-order coltfriend from across the sea. He’d been raised by donkeys after he was found in a shipwreck, he has no known family members, and he’d woefully ignorant to Equestrian society as a whole. His fictitious history was, in a word, ingenious, bullet proof, and should ensure both he and Sapphire avoided any particularly sticky situations that may get them the wrong sort of attention.

He smiled and dipped his head at the youthful trio and earned himself a friendly wave in return. If there was one thing about Equestria that he could get used to, it was just how pleasant the world was. On Earth, the most he’d usually get is a slight nod of recognition by a passerby if he made eye contact - even then, it was less than personable. Every pony - every single pony he’d met had been nice to him, including the mares who’d quite enthusiastically tried to get into his nonexistent pants, and he’d quickly grown accustomed to smiles and congenial greetings whenever he was out and about.

When the three scampered off, laughing and chasing after a ball they’d been playing with, he smiled over at Sapphire. “Like I was saying, I think it’s fair to say that electricity and magic are similar but very different.”

“Fair enough,” she conceded. “I gotta say, if you’re making all this up, you’ve got a really wild imagination.”

“Heh -” he chuckled, “in the event that I get stuck here, maybe I’ll become an author. Would ponies even want to read about a world with tall, hairless creatures who’ve harnessed advanced technology?”

She shrugged and grinned up at him. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t be - after all, ponies love all sorts of different stuff. Did you know there’s a popular sci-fi series about how we conquered the stars and traveled into space?”

“No kidding?” he grunted, stunned by the assertion.

“Yeah! It’s about a mare named Del - Saturn!” she yelled, breaking into a canter and rushing forward.

Seeing her run off, Nimbus spotted a figure - no, two figures in the distance. He should’ve known that her friends wouldn’t live too far away, given that Greener Pastures wasn’t all that big of a town, but it was still a bit surprising to learn she had companions who were just a short trot from her house. As he casually trotted over while the mare who must have been Saturn and Sapphire embraced, his eyes swung over to the stallion.

Almost as tall as he was, the pegasus regarded him with curiosity and gave him a slight but curt nod. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t excited for the chance to meet and speak with another stallion, having only seen a small number in passing, but he wasn’t about to let his enthusiasm get the better of him. Though he was going to play the part of an unenlightened foreigner, he couldn’t just start peppering the pony with questions out of hoof.

“Crumble,” the stallion began as he extended a foreleg, “Crumble Crumb.”

“Nimbus,” Nimbus responded, accepting the proffered hoofshake.

Maintaining his grip, Crumble looked him up and down. “I would say you’re probably one heck of a weather pony, what with that build and all, but Sapphire tells me you ain’t exactly the sky-fairing sort. If you don’t mind me asking, is it true that you were raised by donkeys?”

Nimbus went to shake his head, then nodded. “Yeah, that’s about right.”

“I’ll be,” Crumble muttered in awe. Releasing Nimbus’ hoof, he rubbed the back of his neck and turned his eyes to the ground. “I…I didn’t mean nothin’ by that - just a bit surprised by it, that’s all.”

Waving away the stallion’s concern, Nimbus openly laughed. “It’s fine. Even if I hadn’t been raised by them, I think I’d still be making an ass of myself more often than not.”

Just like that, the ice was broken. He snickered and shared a moment of amusement with Crumble. Glancing to the side and seeing Sapphire looking over at him, he gave a faint, almost imperceptible nod. They’d both agreed that allowing him to chat with another stallion might ease his nerves, and give a bit of insight that would be difficult, if not impossible to get from a mare - as such, he loudly cleared his throat.

“Would you mares mind if we stretch our legs” he asked, looking between Sapphire and Saturn.

“Not a bit!” Saturn merrily replied. “Honey, can you go get me a tea? Sapphire and I will be waiting for you two in the park.”

Crumble gave a small bow to his wife, turned, and proceeded down the sidewalk. “Sure thing. Nimbus, want to come with?”

“I…yeah,” Nimbus sputtered, instantly thrown off by just how compliant Crumble was.

With Nimbus turning and trotting up alongside him, Crumble gave a pleased snort. “I’ll tell you one thing, it’s nice to have another stallion here in town ~ eh?”

“No complaints here,” Nimbus hummed. Trotting in silence for a hoofful of seconds, waiting until they were out of earshot from Sapphire and Saturn, he ran a wing over his hair. “Hey - um - I know we just met, but can I ask you something?”

“Shoot,” Crumble said with a grin, “and I was gonna ask you something myself! How’s about we take turns?”

Lifting his gaze from the sidewalk, Nimbus nodded when he spotted one of Greener Pasture’s two eateries that was just a street away. “You can go first.”

“So can you really not fly?” Crumble asked in disbelief. “No offense, but it’s hard to figure a strapping stallion like you can’t get airborne.”

“I wish I could say I was pulling your leg,” he lamented. “I’m sure I can fly, but it’s not like I’ve ever had anypony actually teach me.”

Crumble slowed at the intersection, looked both ways down the road, and bolted across to the cafe. “I - huh,” he grunted, coming to and pushing open the establishment’s front door. “Ya know, I never really thought about it, but that makes some kind of sense.”

“Yeah, it’s not exactly what I’d call ideal - on the other hoof, it could’ve been worse,” Nimbus sighed, coming to a halt at the front counter.

Trotting up alongside him, Crumble pulled a small purse from under his wing while waving down a server. “Let me get two boba teas to go,” he ordered as an employee stepped behind the register. “Want anything?”

Seeing the stallion look back at him, Nimbus gave a faint shrug. “I’m good, but Sapphire might want a tea.”

“Three boba teas, please,” Crumble cheerfully declared as he pulled a number of bits from his bag.

Nimbus stayed quiet while he waited for the order and drank in the surroundings. There were all sorts of things he wanted to ask Crumble, but one question stood head and shoulders above the rest. Biding his time until the teas were delivered, he drifted back to the exit and pulled the door open with a wing.

“Thanks for that,” he noted, motioning over at the trio of teas Crumble was carrying.

“Don’t mention it,” Crumble chirped. “You can always cover for us next time.”

With a smile on his face, Nimbus led the way to the nearby park. Learning the layout of Greener Pastures had been easier than he thought it would be - then again, the village wasn’t exactly what he’d call a bustling metropolis. The town had all the creature comforts one would expect, including a school, clinic, and library that was apparently renowned, although things had gone downhill over the last hoofful of decades.

The city’s star attraction, a university for the study of magic, had burned down nearly half a century prior - to make matters worse, new railways had been built which bypassed Greener Pastures. Like on earth, the settlement had simply been the victim of bad luck and modernization, withering over time and losing most of its appeal - yes, the library still drew in a decent number of tourists, but the town was a shadow of its former, glorious self. Reaching the boundary of the town commons, Nimbus scanned the area until his eyes settled on a table and two benches beneath a tree.

“Woohoo!” Saturn hollered, waving in his and her husband’s direction. As the pair made their approach, she slid over and made some room next to herself. “What are two handsome colts like you doing by yourselves?”

Crumble blushed, and his free wing fidgeted against his back, as he seated himself and sat the tea down. “Stop.”

“Come on, don’t act like you don’t love it,” she teased, plastering herself against him.

The interaction gave Nimbus a moment for pause, but he quickly eased himself down next to Sapphire. “I - um…”

He stopped himself and fell silent as he was hit with a wave of apprehension. Talking with Sapphire had been, and to an extent still was awkward at times, so he could only imagine how two perfect strangers were going to react to his curiosity about something that should have been commonsensical. Flinching when something brushed against his thigh, he twisted and looked over to find Sapphire encouragingly smiling up at him.

“Don’t be shy,” she softly urged.

“Celestia - don’t tell me he’s shy on account of us!” Saturn exclaimed. Leaning over the table toward him, she sat her chin on a forehoof. “Honey, you can say whatever you want! We don’t bite - not unless you want a little nibble or two.”

“That,” he exhaled. “That right there.”

Batting a hoof, Saturn withdrew. “I’m just playing with you! It’s -”

“Is that normal here? Like - hang on.” Nimbus pinched the bridge of his snout and gathered himself. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off, but this is just so weird to me.”

“What is?” Crumble inquired.

“This - everything,” Nimbus groaned. “Where I’m from, mare’s don’t just go flirting and hitting on anypony - plus they’re not as outspoken or assertive.”

Save for a light breeze, a stillness and silence fell over the table. He’d picked Sapphire’s brain on numerous occasions, but it would be unfair to take the word of one mare as the gospel truth - doubly so, since she was incredulous of the many admittedly outlandish claims he’d made himself. Looking from Saturn to Crumble, he was stricken by how wildly different their reactions were to his small outburst.

Saturn peered over at him like he’d grown a second head, appearing shocked and befuddled in equal measure, although Crumble’s expression was almost sympathetic. Reaching out with a wing, the stallion softly caressed his shoulder. They could both be forgiven for acting the way they did, effectively hit with a bold, bewildering declaration, but he gave his attention to the one soul present to showed an ounce of compassion.

“That’s…that’s just crazy!” Saturn guffawed and slammed a forehoof to the table. “You’re telling me that stallions are the ones running things where you’re from?”

“No, not really - well, not anymore,” Nimbus answered. “There was a time when stallions were in charge of everything, including relationships, but that was a long, long time ago. As it stands now, we -”

“Well I’m glad that somepony has a decent head on their shoulders,” Saturn huffed. “Honestly, I can’t imagine having a stallion tell me what to do or -”

“Honey,” Crumble whispered, shifting and placing a forehoof on her shoulder. “Please let him talk. It’s rude to interrupt.”

“I…” Saturn trailed off as she glanced between Sapphire, Nimbus, and finally her husband. “I…I’m sorry, that was impolite…”

Rubbing her upper foreleg, Crumble nodded over at Nimbus. “Go on.”

“Things are more equal now,” Nimbus faintly continued. “It’s…it’s just that this is a lot to get used to. I’ve been here for a week - a single week, and I’ve been catcalled and hit on more than I had been over my last year at home.”

“Well you clearly wanted a marefriend,” Saturn groused. “Are you sure he’s not pulling a fast one on you, Sapphire?”

“He’s given me no reason not to believe him,” Sapphire sighed.

Saturn snorted, leered over at Nimbus, and tapped a forehoof against the table between them. “Well you’re here now, so you’re going to have to adapt. Equestria was, is, and will always be ruled by the Princesses,” she flatly stated. “You can’t just expect to come here as some mail-order coltfriend and think everypony will cater to your preferences!”

Nimbus bit his tongue and broke eye contact with her. “I guess…”

“Oh don’t pout,” Saturn added. “You’re young, very good looking, and you could probably get a job at the casino after it opens - that is, if Sapphire wants you to be more than just a trophy coltfriend.”

“And that’s enough of that,” Crumble grumbled. Slipping from the bench and trotting away, he waved for Nimbus to follow. “Maybe we can have a pleasant conversation if we go for a trot…”

“H…honey?” Saturn called, sliding over and reaching for her hastily retreating husband. “You’re not mad, are -”

Silencing her with a glare, Crumble turned his nose up. “I’m not talking to you right now - not until you remember your manners.”

Saturn sat motionless then buried her face in her hooves. “For buck’s sake,” she moaned before straightening up and shrugging at Sapphire. “Colts, am I right? I swear, they’re so darn moody!”

Being spoken of with such flippant disregard strained Nimbus’ patience to the breaking point. Without saying a thing, he wiggled off the bench, got his hooves under him, and chased after Crumble. He wasn’t done talking, not by a long shot, but he’d be darned if he was going to sit there and be patronized by anypony.

“Wait up,” he yelled, charging up to Crumble’s side. “Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to -”

“Is all that true, what you said?” Crumble faintly inquired, slowing to a crawl.

Easing his pace, Nimbus nodded. “Yeah, it’s true.”

Crumble weakly laughed and shook his head. “That’s…that’s just wild - like, not in a bad way, but definitely in a weird way. I can see why Sapphire wanted to show you off.”

“She didn’t want to show me off,” Nimbus corrected, “she just wanted me to meet some of her friends.”

“Well she’s worked with Saturn since - oh, the last seven years or so, but I’m sure you’ve already heard about that,” Crumble unsurely chuckled.

Trotting around to face Crumble, Nimbus shrugged with his wings. “Yes and no. I know they see each other almost every day at the library, but I don’t know how close they are.”

“I’m pretty sure that Saturn is the closest friend Sapphire has here in town,” Crumble quietly noted. “I don’t know her that well myself, mostly hearing about her from the wife, but she seems to keep to herself a lot.”

Nimbus had been eager to gather insight from another stallion, although he was savvy enough not to let an opportunity slip through his hooves. “What do you know about her? I’ve only been with her for a week, so I’d be happy to hear anything you’ve got to say about her.”

Rubbing his chin, Crumble thoughtfully looked up at the sky. “She’s pretty quiet, mostly sticks to herself, and she moved to Greener Pastures seven years ago or somewhere thereabouts. I think she’s mentioned that she went to school in Canterlot - no, was it Manehattan? Shucks, I can’t really remember. It’s not like I’ve spent all that much time around her.”

“It’s alright,” Nimbus said with a grin. “Given what your wife said, all of Equestria is like this ~ mares taking the lead with most things in life?”

“Been like that for as far back as the history books go,” Crumble remarked. “That’s not to say stallions can’t hold higher rank in business or hold office, although that’s relatively rare. What with us being the minority, it only makes -”

“What?” Nimbus croaked. “We - us stallions are a minority?”

Crumble narrowed his eyes at him and slowly nodded. “Last I heard, there are roughly four mares to every stallion - granted, that figure might have changed a touch since I was in school, but it’s still gotta be close to that. I’m surprised you hadn’t noticed just how few of us there are.”

Nimbus pursed his lips and turned his eyes skyward. While he hadn’t consciously paid much attention to it, the ratio of females to males seemed pretty accurate - on top of that, it would explain many, many things he’d seen and experienced. There were roughly an equal number of men and women on Earth, keeping the playing field relatively even for both sexes, but having the scales tipped so heavily in Equestria meant stallions could be viewed as a commodity or even status symbol - a concept that was both bizarre and somewhat logical.

“Guessing that’s another thing you’re gonna have to get used to?” Crumble mused, bringing Nimbus’ attention back down from the heavens. “Trust me, it’s not that bad. Once everypony here in town knows you and Sapphire are an item, you’ll be left be for the most part - plus being a stallion comes with a few perks.”

“Perks?” Nimbus quipped.

Glancing over Nimbus’ shoulder and in the direction of the picnic table, Crumble leaned in close. “Some stallions might think it’s beneath ‘em, but you can get a long way with a few nice words, a smile, and just a bit of flirting…”

Nimbus’ wings flapped excitedly as he reared back. “Get out!”

“Nope, it’s true,” Crumble insisted. “Picked up more than a few discounts in my day, gotten out of a hoofful of tickets, and even managed to charm my way into a Coloratura concert years back! If you want a few tips, I’d be happy to - heads up…”

Following his gaze, Nimbus turned and discovered both Saturn and Sapphire steadily making their way over. “Yeah?”

Saturn marched up and snared him in a firm but not unyielding hug. “Nimbus, I wanted to say I’m sorry,” she pouted, relenting and backing away just enough to look him in the eye. “If I’d had the slightest idea that you were orphaned at such a young age. I…I know it may not make much difference at this point, but I feel just awful about being so discourteous.”

Nimbus slipped Sapphire a fleeting glance, saw the faintest trace of a smile on her muzzle, then turned his full focus back to Saturn. “It’s fine. If I was in your horseshoes, I’d be just as skeptical myself.”

“As relieved as I am, that’s not going to cut it. If you’re willing to, I’d like to invite Sapphire and you over for dinner one night,” Saturn added.

She may have been putting on a show, although Nimbus got the feeling that she was attempting to make amends for being so abrasive. “I’d love to.”

“Perfect!” Saturn whooped. “I’ll hammer out the details with Sapphire this week.”

Nimbus folded a wing over Sapphire’s back as she leaned against him. “Sounds good.”

Spinning and plodding back to the table, Saturn motioned for Sapphire, Crumble, and him to follow. “Now that that’s settled, you have got to tell me what you think of Greener Pastures! Would you believe I was almost a councilmare?”

With a genuine smile splitting his snout, Nimbus trotted along while looking between Sapphire and the couple. Though he’d only been in Saturn and Crumble’s company, he’d already made a few revelations - even better than that, he could already tell that he and Crumble were going to get along swimmingly. As he retook his place at the table, sitting beside Sapphire, a sense of cautious optimism overtook him.

They talked for what felt like hours, their conversation meandering aimlessly from one subject to another. He tried to keep his questions to a minimum, understanding that to be coming off as too nosy might come off as ill-mannered, although he trotted away with plenty of new information to digest. After they finally parted ways, with Sapphire and himself moving in one direction while Saturn and Crumble went in another, he felt more relaxed than he had in ages.

“So…?” Sapphire expectantly inquired as she trotted along next to him.

He grinned as looked over at her. “They’re nice. Saturn isn’t what I’d call a reserved mare, but I guess that’s not uncommon.”

“It’s not,” Sapphire affirmed. “Most mares are fairly pushy, although that’s not a good thing or a bad thing; that’s just how most of us are.”

“I’m starting to gather that,” he chuckled.

Coming up to a crosswalk, Sapphire stepped in his way and faced him. “Since it’s getting a little late, do you want to go out and get a bite?”

He scrunched his snout, fully aware that he’d been living off her dime while giving perilously little in return since he’d arrived. “If you want, I can make us - well, no, I can try to make us some dinner. I saw a recipe in one of your Vanity Mare magazines for a pilaf recipe that looks simple and pretty darn tasty.”

“I…” she faltered. Her expression was hard to read, fluctuating between confused, stricken, and pleased, though she quickly collected herself. “I’d…I’d actually like that. Do we have everything we need at the house to make it?”

Recalling the recipe, he mentally checked off the ingredients in his mind. “I think the only things we need are raisins and chickpeas.”

“Just don’t burn the house down ~ alright?” she teased and brushed her shoulder against him. “Once we get home, do you want to come back out with me to the store?”

His smile broadened as he gingerly nudged her back. “Sure.”

They returned to her home, retrieved her purse, and went on their brief excursion to the grocery store while enjoying one another’s company. For something as simple as going on an errand, the excursion was startlingly pleasant - so pleasant that he felt genuinely relaxed by the time they found themselves on her doorstep. Balancing the shopping bag of beans, raisins, and a spontaneous purchase of fresh peaches in one wing, he stepped back as she unlocked and opened the door.

“Thanks,” he hummed, trotting past her and making a beeline to the kitchen.

Following after him, Sapphire slowed when he sat the bag down on the counter. “Nimbus?”

“That’s my name,” he responded before giggling to himself. “I mean, that’s my name now, but - what’s wrong?”

She stared down at the floor, her shoulders had gone slack, and any trace of joy seemed to have fled from her. “Hey - um - I’m sorry…”

“Sorry for what?” he asked, turning and trotting back to her. “Sapphire, you didn’t -”

“I didn’t believe you,” she mumbled. “I thought all this talk of yours was a hiccup or something, an anomaly of the spell being cast wrong, but a…after seeing you talking a…and…”

“Hey,” he breathed, folding his wings over her and pulling her to his chest. “It’s alright. This was a mistake, sure, but mistakes happen sometimes.”

A half truth, one that had been shifting more and more as the days drew on. It would be impossible for him to say where the fault lay, be it with her, the tome she’d borrowed, or the sorcery itself, but it was clear that she’d neither intended nor expected to rip him from his reality and into another. Stroking her back, he released her when she wriggled free and took a step back.

Squinting up at him, she held his gaze. “You mean that?”

“Cross my heart and hope to fly,” he solemnly whispered while holding a forehoof to his chest.

Her mirth returned, if only in the slightest degree, and she hesitantly spun in place. “I’m going to go get the mail. You got this?”

He gave her a stern nod and saluted with a wing. “I got this.”

The moment she was gone, he slowly exhaled. It was funny - he’d hoped that she’d believe him, but finally getting what he wanted was bittersweet. Getting her to understand exactly what she’d done, that he wasn’t some magical homunculus coltfriend crafted from stardust, was one of the biggest obstacles he’d have to surmount - now that he had, they could start putting all their efforts into setting things right and sending him home.

Opening two cabinets with his wings, he plucked a colander and bin of rice from their respective shelves with his wings as he heard hoofsteps approaching from behind him. “I gotta ask, were you intending to have me as a trophy coltfriend or were you going to put me to…” He went quiet when he looked back. Standing in the doorway, Sapphire stared down at an unfurled scroll. “Lemme guess ~ you got a bill?”

She shook her head but didn’t budge otherwise. “No…”

He waited for a reply that didn’t come, sat the rice and strainer down, then trotted over and looked over her shoulder. His brow furrowed as his eyes scanned the parchment. The letter was terse, only a hooffull of lines, but it filled him with a sense of foreboding.

Sapphire Shine,

I hope this letter finds you well. It’s come to my attention that there was an arcane anomaly within Greener Pastures recently. After a small investigation, and with several substantiated reports from the townsponies, I believe you may be able to help me figure out what is going on and if there’s any imminent threat to Equestria at large. Please contact me at your soonest convenience so we can arrange a meeting.

I look forward to speaking with you,

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With his head lowered and eyes clamped shut, Nimbus took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then slowly exhaled. Baby steps - this was all about baby steps. He remained silent as he charged, his heart pounding and hooves pounding against the soil beneath him, and broke into a full gallop. There was a good chance - actually, it was almost a certainty that he was going to fail, but at least he wasn’t in any real risk of hurting himself.

Peeking out and reaching the hill’s crest, he extended his wings and leapt with all his might. The rush of air and the sun warming his coat brought a smile to his face - sadly, his joy didn’t last for long. The pull of gravity was sobering, lacing his adrenaline with fear. He fought the urge to kick his legs, knowing they’d do nothing but complicate matters, while he flapped hard and looked ahead.

The good news was that he actually managed to glide for a few feet, sailing over the slope he’d just trotted up - the bad news was that his landing was anything but glorious. Momentarily forgetting he had four legs instead of two, he threw his forehooves forward, lost his balance, and went rolling ass over teakettle. As he came to rest on his back, a broad smile split his features.

“You gotta slow down first,” Sapphire tutted from beneath a nearby tree. “At the speed you were going, you’ll have to land into a canter.”

He spat out a clod of soil he’d unintentionally shoveled into his muzzle, wholly undeterred by the small failure. It had been far from perfect, but it had been his most successful attempt to get airborne to date. Wiping off his tongue, he could virtually taste the triumph over the grass and dirt.

Wincing and rolling onto his side, he peered over at her. “You saw it ~ right?”

Sapphire shrugged. “I don’t think you’ll be pulling off a rainboom anytime soon, but yeah…”

He ignored what he presumed was a small, unintended slight as he got his hooves under himself and stood. “Well the Wright brothers didn’t make it that far on their maiden flight, so I’m not gonna go beating myself up over it.”

All things considered, he was pleased as punch. The cost of a few aches later was a small price to pay for the inspiration he’d just been given. He had no doubt that it was going to take a lot of time, patience, dedication, and probably a good number of scrapes and bruises, but the prospect of conquering the skies, of actually flying, was positively electrifying.

“Who?” she quipped.

Trotting over to her, he brushed dirt and grass from his chest with a wing. “The Wright brothers. They’re the ones who invented planes - well, I don’t think they invented planes, but they’re the ones who made the first functional one.”

“Didn’t you say those are the fast ones?” she asked, cocking her head up at him.

He nodded and eased himself down beside her. “Yeah, mostly. We’ve got dirigibles that are pretty darn similar to the airships here, but they’re pretty rare. Planes are way faster and have more practical use.”

Nodding her head, she peered up at the open sky. “It’s so weird how humans were - are able to do so much with so little.”

“Fingers,” he snickered, reaching out and waggling his hoof. “Think about having five, tiny opposable limbs that can be used to manipulate stuff.”

She snickered and playfully nudged his shoulder. “I know what fingers are, you goof! Diamond dogs, abyssinians, dragons, hippogriffs, griffons - they’ve all got digits.”

Leaning over, he rested his weight against her. “Just remind me not to stare too hard when I finally get to meet one of them - if I get to meet one of them.”

“I will,” she sighed. Her expression wavered when she looked up to his face. “Depending on what happens with Twilight, we should probably look into getting you some flight lessons. I can’t blame you for trying to teach yourself, but I’d feel even worse than I already do if you accidentally hurt yourself - like really hurt yourself…”

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it,” he admitted. “It’s just a shame these don’t come with training wheels,” he added, adjusting the wings on his back.

Following his gaze, she stared at the feathered appendages. “Can’t say we have anything like that, but there are classes and trainers available.”

“Even for adults?” he asked.

“Even for adults,” she affirmed with a nod. “You didn’t think I’d ask you to go to the grade school and sit around with a bunch of foals ~ did you?”

The mental image of himself surrounded by small, youthful ponies was both hilarious and a bit terrifying. Shaking his head, he got up and tousled her mane with a wingtip. “Not unless you were trying to get back at me for breakfast this morning.”

She snickered and batted a hoof at him. “You almost got me too! If my mom didn’t occasionally use the old trick of putting the burnt side of the pancakes facing the plate, I wouldn’t have had any idea.”

“Good to know I’m not the only pony who tries to cover their tracks,” he hummed as he turned. “You want a drink?”

“Some lemonade would be nice,” she remarked, remaining where she sat.

Giving her the winged equivalent of a thumbs-up, a maneuver he’d only recently gained the dexterity to pull off, he trotted around to the opposite side of the tree. Despite the rocky start of the day, things were going more smoothly than he’d hoped. As he trotted to and opened a little cooler that was stashed in the shade, a cloud darkened his thoughts.

The last week had been rough, and he had a bad feeling that things were only going to get worse before they got better. Simply put, ever since she’d gotten the letter from Princess Twilight, Sapphire had been a nervous wreck - to the point where she’d called out sick from work twice and was pushing herself harder than ever to accurately decipher the tome she’d borrowed. Ironically enough, though she’d just mentioned feeling bad for him, he felt even worse for her.

While he wouldn’t deny that his life had become pretty complicated, what with having to adjust to a new world, new customs, and a brand new body, he took solace that he wasn’t in any trouble - at least, he was pretty sure he wasn’t in any trouble. If Sapphire was right, her gambit to get a coltfriend may land her in some serious hot water. Pulling a can from the icy water, he peered down at the lemonade in his hoof.

There was so much he still didn’t understand, things that defied logic, that he felt like he might go crazy trying to wrap his head around all of it. It shouldn’t have been possible for a hoof to pick up anything, yet here he was holding a can. Shifting the beverage into one wing, he reached into the cooler and grabbed a second drink before turning and trotting away.

“One lemonade,” he announced, offering the can in his feathery clutches.

Taking the beverage in her aura, Sapphire took and cracked the beverage open. “Thanks…”

He watched for a moment as she levitated the drink to her lips and took a sip. “I don’t think I’ll ever get over that…”

Lowering the can, she quirked a brow. “Canned drinks?”

“Magic,” he clarified. Seeing her fighting a smirk, he rolled his eyes. “Remind me to tell you about freeze-dried food sometime.”

“Ok, see, you can’t just be amazed by magic and expect me not to find all that stuff humans have to be unbelievable,” she giggled.

He seated himself and leaned his back against the tree’s trunk. “I guess it’s all relative.”

“I suppose, but you could probably single-hoofedly revolutionize a number of areas with the stuff you know about,” she softly exclaimed.

Waving away the idea, he closed his eyes. “For starters, knowing about the stuff and understanding how to make it are two very, very different things - secondly, I’d really rather not have a bunch of eggheads picking my brain about how cell phones or the internet work.”

He knew he’d erred the second he’d finished speaking. Peeking out with a single eye, he watched Sapphire’s shoulders wilt. Darn it - hours of work, a batch of burnt pancakes, and his ostentatious and ill-prepared trial flight had all been flushed away in an instant. Fighting the urge to curse, he silently set his jaw.

That morning, the same as the last hoofful, had been spent in a valiant attempt to distract Sapphire from her inevitable meeting with Princess Twilight. He’d gotten up early, made breakfast, and even done a bit of cleaning all by his lonesome - furthermore, he’d planned for and successfully talked his way into going on a small picnic. The small kindnesses may not have been much in the grand scheme of things, but they were better than gloomily moping around.

A part of him was actually looking forward to speaking with the wise and supposedly magnanimous royal, having heard about her heroic deeds and penchant for scholarly pursuits, but it was hard to stay upbeat when the mere mention of her sent Sapphire into a bout of depression. What research he’d done, having read some of the literature in her study and the talks he’d had with the neighbors about the Princess, seemed to indicate that they had nothing to worry about. Twilight was, from what he’d gathered, a paragon of kindness and an all-around good mare - for buck’s sake, the few punishments she’d ever been forced to dispense had all been relatively tame!

The powers that be which governed Equestria were shockingly lenient with even the most vile and threatening creatures. Discord, a chaotic demigod, had been imprisoned for a time before he’d eventually escaped and become a hero in his own right, the villainous Nightmare Moon had been freed from her curse and rejoined her sister, and even Queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow, two megalomaniacal mares who’d nearly toppled the globe, hadn’t been executed! If the most heinous ne’er-do-wells were effectively handed light sentences which happened after an opportunity to renounce their evil ways, surely - surely a misguided unicorn wouldn’t get locked up in some dingy cell or shipped off to a far-flung friendship gulag ~ right?

“Come on,” he chuckled, feigning mirth, “she can’t be that bad.”

“You don’t know that,” she murmured under her breath. “I’m pretty sure I’m gonna get fired.”

Staving off the urge to rub her shoulder, he lifted a hoof. “For what it’s worth, I’ve been fired a few times - yeah, it sucks, but it’s not -”

“And you’ll probably be taken to Canterlot or something,” she whispered.

He blinked. “What? Why?”

“At best, she’ll probably take you in and personally supervise you until she can sort this all out -” Sapphire explained, “at worst, you might get experimented on.”

“I…what?” he croaked. “You’re pulling my leg…”

Lifting her head, she looked him in the eyes. “Nimbus, you’re an anomaly that shouldn’t exist. In all the research I’ve ever done, I’ve never heard of anything like this. The only thing that’s even close are some really, really old myths.”

He’d been about to press her on how she should be sure, but the last thing she’d said derailed his thoughts. “What myths?”

“They’re just that, myths,” she groaned. Seeing the curious look on his face, she rubbed her temples. “Old mares tales about how there was a rainbow bridge that crossed realities. Before you ask, no, I can’t give the stories any credit. There’s no tangible evidence, no documentation, and none of the Princesses have ever mentioned such a thing.”

“That doesn’t mean they aren’t or weren’t real,” he asserted.

“That’s just it -” she huffed, “if something like that existed, there’d be something written down about it, some record or ruin somewhere, but there isn’t.”

Knitting his brow, he peered down at the earth. “We had stuff like that too - ya know, back on Earth,” he mirthlessly chuckled, feeling more uneasy than he cared to admit. Getting no response, he rubbed the side of his neck. “There are some people that believe in aliens - like outer space aliens.”

He’d hoped to lighten the mood, but the undertaking was met with abject failure. A silence fell over them, leaving only the sound of the breeze and birds in the distance. Shifting and looking over to one side, he eyed a treeline that led to a dense, untamed forest and was stricken with an idea - one that was nothing short of insane.

“What if we went on the lam?” he muttered.

Rearing back, she went rigid. “Like ran away?”

“Yeah,” he replied, amused with how unhinged the notion was. “Going on the run, getting disguises, starting a new life somewhere - it could be fun.”

“Fun? Fun?!” she squawked. “Do you have any idea how crazy you sound right now?”

“No crazier than when I say I used to be a human,” he laughed, “and I don’t think it’s much crazier than you telling somepony you made a stallion out of nothing.”

Sapphire narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. “Right, sure, and we’ll run around in disguises and live off the fat of the land.”

“Or we could knock over banks and rob trains,” he mused. “You think I’d look with a cowpony hat and a mustache?”

The final question turned the tide. Sapphire’s grimace twisted and turned upward ever so slightly as she turned her eyes to the ground and shook her head. “Thank you, Nimbus…”

He held a forehoof to his chest while doing his darnedest to act surprised. “Don’t thank me yet. After we rob our first saloon, you can -”

“Alright, Birch Cassidy,” she laughed, cutting him off and punching his upper foreleg. “But really, thanks. If we both end up getting locked up, at least I’ll have good company.”

Throwing his foreleg over her shoulders, he leaned against her. “Do they even have prisons here?”

“Tartarus is the big one, but most…” She fell silent when she looked in the direction of Greener Pastures.

Nimbus followed her gaze and scrunched his snout. “Who’s that?”

Shaking her head, Sapphire continued staring at the steadily approaching figure. “Not sure. They look kind of like - Oh sweet Celestia…”

“What?” he coughed as she bolted to her hooves.

Her demeanor had shifted on a dime, going from somewhat relaxed to outright panic, but he couldn’t understand why. As he pushed himself up, his attention shifted to the approaching pony. Whoever this was and whatever they wanted, they couldn’t have picked a worse time to butt in. Steeling himself, he trotted out of the shade.

“Wait here,” he instructed. “Maybe they’re just out for a trot or something.”

Sapphire wouldn’t or couldn’t reply, keeping her eyes locked on the figure while beads of sweat formed on her brow. Though he had mixed feelings about chivalry, he wasn’t about to let this pony, whoever they were, ruin his day. Moving at a relaxed pace, he lifted and waved a wing while going to meet what he hoped was just somepony on a poorly-timed hike.

“Hello,” he called out, keeping his tone neutral while putting on a friendly face. “Beautiful day for a…”

His throat tightened and he came to an immediate halt when he noticed a glint of gold and ruby from atop the pony’s head. The closer they came, the more details he made out - the more details he made out, the more certain he was of whom had come to pay them a visit. Sapphire’s meeting with Princess Twilight wasn’t scheduled for another two days, two days he felt certain were going to be filled with anxiety and dread, yet it seemed as though somepony wasn’t particularly keen on patience.

The mare slowed and stopped a dozen or so paces away from him, close enough to let them get a good look at one another while being far enough away to respect each other’s space. Save for the crown, a modest tiara fitted with a large, ornately cut stone, she didn’t look much different than anypony else. With mulberry-colored fur, violet eyes, and a dark mane and tail streaked with purple and fascia, she studied him.

“I’m guessing you’re Twilight Sparkle,” he began.

Their eyes met and she gave a small nod. “I am, yes. And you are…?”

Only then noticing she was endowed with both a horn and set of wings, he slowly - cautiously trotted ahead. “Nimbus. Nimbus Breeze.”

He hesitantly extended a foreleg as he came before her. The logical side of his mind told him he had nothing to fear, that Princess Twilight wasn’t some tyrant or despot, yet the irrational part of him clung to the stories he’d heard. Alicorns were beings of immeasurable power, nigh demigods compared to their subjects and the rest of ponykind, and their arcane might was capable of incomprehensible feats.

Closing the gap between them, she ignored his outstretched hoof and began circling him. “I was hoping to find you out here, Nimbus.”

He turned his head and tracked her with his eyes as his anxiety gradually escalated. “N…not one for hoofshakes?”

Twilight stiffened and stared up at him for a split second before coming around to face him. He’d expected her to take the joke poorly or outright ignore him, yet she did anything but. Taking his hoof in a firm but somewhat delicate grip, she returned his greeting and averted her gaze.

“S…sorry about that,” she sputtered. “After all the - no,” she fussed, releasing his hoof and stepping back. “I am not going to get ahead of myself.”

Nonplussed, he sat down. Whatever he’d been expecting, this wasn’t it. From the way Sapphire had been acting, behaving like somepony who was on her way to the gallows, he’d braced himself to face the full inquisitorial wrath of a royal - not somepony was tripping over her words and getting flustered from a simple introduction.

“Ok, let’s try that again,” she grumbled to herself. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, and I was hoping to speak to you and Sapphire Shine.”

“Talk to me first,” he softly insisted while glancing back at the petrified unicorn. “She’s - uh - a little on the nervous side…”

Twilight leaned first to one side then the other as she looked him over. “That’s fine - honestly, I’m more interested in speaking with you.”

His eyebrows rose at her admission. “Really? Why?”

“Because I believe you’re not supposed to be here,” she casually remarked.

He opened his mouth to speak, to ask her what in the world would lead her to that conclusion, but he quickly sealed his lips and gave himself a moment to think. By all accounts, Twilight was a bit of a bookworm, preferring the company of literature before she’d been sent to Ponyville by her former mentor, so there was a darn good chance that she had some idea of what had happened to him - that and her letter had expressly mentioned an arcane anomaly. Lifting his gaze, he motioned to her crown.

“Is that one of the Elements?” he asked.

She started and reached up to draw a hoof over the headpiece. “Oh! As a matter of fact, it is! I take it you’ve heard of it?”

“Heard of it?” he began, pretending to be shocked. “Who hasn’t heard of the Elements of Harmony?”

There was perilously little he could do to stop her from doing whatever she wanted, being both outranked and metaphorically outgunned by the Princess, but that didn’t mean he had to spill all the beans right from the get-go. She’d come here to see Sapphire and apparently him, so he could forgive himself for trying to tease any information out of her.

With a slight grin on her snout, she locked eyes with him. “I’ve heard you’re new to the area - in fact, if the information I’ve collected is accurate, you’re relatively new to Equestria as a whole ~ is that right?”

“Sure is,” he stated, sensing his resolve buckle just a tad. “Far be it for me to talk about myself, Princess! What brings you to Greener Pastures?”

“You did - well, I theorize it was you,” she apprehensively answered. “This is going to sound a little weird, but do you mind if I run a quick test?”

As a dim glow radiated from her horn, his mouth went dry. “W…what kind of test?”

Dismissing his concern with a wave of a wing, she grinned all the broader. “Just a small scan.”

“L…like an x-ra-” He cut himself off by cramping a hoof in his muzzle.

The soft hum of magic and light around her horn dimmed while she squinted at him. “Like a what?”

Heck - darn it. He’d only just started talking to her, yet he’d managed to reference something that may not have existed in Equestria. Peeking over his shoulder and half-expecting to see Sapphire’s collapsed, fainted form, he warily smiled. Buck it - there wasn’t any backing out of this one.

“An x-ray,” he replied. “Is it like an x-ray?”

Twilight slowly turned her head from side to side. “Yes and no. While an x-ray uses electromagnetism to capture an image of internal structures, namely your bones, this spell is designed to detect a whole host of varying things. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt.”

Licking his lips, he braced himself and clamped his eyes shut. An odd tingling sensation washed over him and through him, making his fur stand on end. She’d been right, it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, yet he was both intrigued and horrified about what she was going to find - moreover, what she would do if the results weren’t to her liking.

“I knew it!” she bleated after only a second.

Cracking one eye open, he watched her jump to her hooves and start excitedly jumping in place. “S…so I guess that’s not a bad thing?”

“Bad thing?” she croaked, falling still and looking downright wounded. “Nimbus, how could this be a bad thing?”

He shrugged and remained where he sat. “You tell me!”

Practically vibrating with enthusiasm, Twilight threw her tush to the earth and materialized a notebook and pen into existence with a soft pop. “Ok, let’s start from the beginning. Where are you from? I know you’re not some mail-order coltfriend, so don’t give me that. Where are you really from?”

“I…” He paused as he processed what was happening.

Twilight sure as heck didn’t seem like she was here to get anypony in trouble - on the contrary, she was acting like a thrilled researcher or student who’d just made a discovery of some sort. It may have been slightly preemptive for him to get his hopes up, but her exhilaration was infectious. Giving her a genuine smile, he reflexively flapped his wings with pride.

“I am - er - was a human,” he admitted.

Twilight nodded vigorously while her hovering pen sailed over the notepad. “Fascinating. And what brought you to Equestria?”

“Well I - hang on a second,” he groused, stopping himself yet again. “Before I start giving you my life’s history, I need to ask you something.”

Lowering her ledger, Twilight met his eyes. “Of course, I’d be happy to answer any questions you have!”

Feeling a bit foolish, he blushed and massaged his neck with a wing. “This is going to sound silly, but I - no, we aren’t in any hot water ~ are we?”

“We?” she parroted. Following his gaze when he looked back at Sapphire, she snickered. “Not unless you’re here to cause any problems, of course not.”

The relief that flooded through him was immeasurable, like the weight of the world coming off his back. “You have no idea how good that is to hear.”

Tilting her head, she knit her brow. “You say that like I’m out to get you two or something!”

He laughed harder, finding the whole situation absurd. “I really don’t know what I was thinking. After Sapphire got that letter you sent, we thought we were in for it!”

“The only reason I sent the letter to her is because you’re the one who’s out of place,” Twilight jovially countered. “I’d intended on speaking with her in private initially, but since you were both here…”

“I get you,” he hummed. “Kinda awkward to get the inside scoop on somepony if said somepony is right there.”

“Exactly,” she clucked. “In any case, I apologize if I caused either of you undue stress. Where was I…” she whispered as she looked down at her notes. “Right ~ what brought you to Equestria?”

Hitching a pinion of a thumb over his shoulder, he nodded behind himself. “She did.”

Twilight went still and kept her pen held to the paper. “Excuse me?”

“She did,” he repeated. “One minute, I was in my apartment - next thing I know - Poof - I’m here looking like this,” he noted while waving his wings at himself. “I thought it was a dream at first, but then -”

“Wait wait wait,” Twilight interjected. “She brought you here - like, actually brought you here?”

“Yeah, like with some kind of magic,” he glibly answered. “It’s kind funny, but she -”

“I am so, so sorry,” Sapphire interrupted. Trotting over and giving a deep, reverential bow, she pressed her chest to the earth. “My Princess, I never meant t…to…”

As Twilight waited patiently for the unicorn to continue, her expression shifted. “Meant to…?”

Nimbus had intended to let Sapphire open up about what had happened, though she made no attempt to do anything other than mutely grovel. His guess was that she’d finally come to her senses and realized she had to say something, even if her trepidation had gotten the better of her. Taking up the mantle, he cleared his throat.

“It was an accident,” he breathed.

Swinging her focus from the prostrate mare to Nimbus, Twilight remained all but motionless. “I’m sorry ~ what is going on here?”

“Like I told you, it was an accident,” Nimbus said softly. “Hey, Sapphire, feel free to…”

Sapphire shivered and covered her face when he reached out and touched her side. This was bad - really, really bad. Not only was she on the verge of tears, if she wasn’t crying already, but she was having a full-blown anxiety attack and wouldn’t be helping him explain anything anytime soon.

He glowered and stared Twilight down as he summoned every bit of courage he could muster. “You said we weren’t going to be in trouble ~ right?”

“I don’t see why you would be,” Twilight responded, “but -”

“Yes or no,” he urged. “Nopony’s been hurt, there’s no danger, and I swear that neither of us are up to no good.”

Twilight gave a guarded nod. “If that’s the case, yes, neither of you are in any trouble. You have my solemn vow.”

Glancing down at Sapphire, he snorted. “I’m going to hold you to that. Ok, this is going to sound nuts, but here’s what happened…”

He was as open as he could be, detailing his side of the events from start to finish while keeping some of the more intimate details tactfully vague. It would be impossible for him to paint a full picture, neither understanding the nuances of spellwork or being able to talk at length about the ritual he’d been unwittingly snared in, but his account seemed to clear a few things up for Twilight. While he’d anticipated being stopped multiple times to be asked for specifics, the Princess stayed deathly quiet throughout his implausible story.

It was only after he’d finished speaking that Twilight turned her gaze down to Sapphire. “Where’s the book…?”

“It…it’s in my study,” Sapphire sniffled. “Princess Twilight, I…I didn’t mean to -”

“To what?” Twilight spat, her biting tone a sharp contrast to what it had been minutes prior. “To make a coltfriend for yourself? To steal from the library? To break the fabric of reality for your self-serving purposes?”

“I…I didn’t…” Sapphire choked out, shuffling back.

As she stood, Twilight’s baleful eyes never wavered from Sapphire. “Am I wrong? If I am, you’d better start talking…”

Sapphire hesitantly stood while keeping her head lowered. “I…I was lonely…”

“And you thought that justified you ignorantly using magic you don’t understand?” Twilight pressed, unable or unwilling to mask her disdain. “Sapphire, you should know better than anypony how dangerous sorcery can be! What were you thinking?”

Even if the castigation wasn’t directed at him, Nimbus winced. Being punished for a wrongdoing was never a fun experience, but being lambasted by somepony, especially if it was somepony as influential and idolized as a literal savior to a nation, had to hurt. Neither seeing nor hearing any sign of Sapphire trying to defend herself, unless a pitiable whimper counted, he steeled himself, got up, and took a single step.

“She said it was an accident,” he sternly declared.

“Accident or not, this is serious,” Twilight rebuked. “She could have done untold harm to the city, herself, or you.”

He didn’t flinch as wrestled with his growing unease. “But she didn’t.”

Relenting, if only just, Twilight broke eye contact with him. “She didn’t, no, but -”

“If anypony here has a right to be mad at her, it’s me,” he added.

Twilight’s eyes widened as a confused look crossed her face. “And you’re not?”

“I…” he stammered, unprepared for the frank question. “Truthfully, yeah, I was pretty peeved - as a matter of fact, I’m still not jumping for joy about what happened.”

“You’re not making a very compelling argument,” Twilight clucked, rolling her eyes. “Nimbus, you -”

Holding up a wing, he silenced her. “I wasn’t finished. Have you ever had something really scary or shocking happen to you?”

Twilight steadily nodded. “Of course I have…”

“Did any of those experiences end up being a blessing in disguise?” he continued while saying a mute prayer to any deity that happened to be listening.

“I have,” Twilight whispered.

“Then you’ll understand what I’m getting at,” he boldly claimed. “Listen, it’s not like I even lost much. I didn’t have many friends, I’ve never been all that close to my family, and I was stuck in a dead-end job with nothing to look forward to. Maybe things will be better for me in Equestria - heck, maybe this was meant to happen…”

It was impossible for him to know for certain, but it seemed as though his words were starting to have an effect. Twilight’s jaw worked noiselessly, as though she were trying to form a rebuttal, as her eyes darted between him and Sapphire. Sensing an opening, he faltered when a singular thought occurred to him - one which he hadn’t considered until that moment.

“If the book was so important and dangerous, why wasn’t it put under lock and key?” he inquired.

“It was ~” Twilight tentatively claimed, sounding less than convinced as she looked over at Sapphire, “wasn’t it?”

“It was in the antiquities collection,” Sapphire faintly replied. “Even though we don’t loan out books from that area, anypony can go and look at them with an attendant.”

Realizing he had Twilight on the ropes, he went in for the proverbial kill. “And who’s fault is that?”

“I…I didn’t know there was anything like that in the library!” Twilight stuttered. “Please don’t tell me there are more like it.”

Sapphire somberly nodded while she stood. “There are a few that haven’t been definitively identified, and even more which aren’t fully translated yet. The Canterlot University will occasionally send a historian to study them, but -”

“I knew I should have come here sooner,” Twilight lamented, all fight and fury bleeding from her. Wheeling around, she stumbled and glared over at the pair. “Don’t think you two are off the hook. Sapphire, I’ll meet you at your house in one hour ~ got it?”

Giving a small, curt bow, Sapphire dipped her head. “Yes, Princess.”

“And you,” Twilight murmured as she locked eyes with Nimbus, “I’ve got more questions for you.”

With her proclamation made, Twilight disappeared in a flash of light and pop of displaced air. Nimbus shudderingly exhaled, thankful that he’d averted or at least delayed what could have been a catastrophe. There was no guarantee that things would ultimately pan out in his or Sapphire’s favor, but he had a feeling that the storm had passed - if it hadn’t, he wasn’t above holding Twilight to the promise she’d made him.

“Well,” he rasped, shaken from the interaction, “it looks like - Oooph!”

Sapphire threw herself upon him and tackled him to the ground. “Thank you, thank you, thank you…”

The praise and impromptu affection left Nimbus at a momentary loss, but he quickly collected himself and caressed her upper back with a wing. “Come on, I just did what anypony would do.”

“N…no,” she sobbed, burying her face in his neck. “Y…you - Sniff - s…stood up f…for me a…and…”

“Sssssssssssh,” he hissed, allowing himself a small smile. “It’s fine…”

Pulling away, she wiped her snout with a forehoof. “It’s not f…fine. What if she - we can’t find a way to send you back? W…what will we d…do if -”

Gingerly pressing a pinion to her lips, he brushed a tear from her cheek. “No matter what happens, we’ll deal with it.”

She pulled herself together as she withdrew and stepped off of him. “That stuff you told her, d…did you mean it?”

“You mean about my life?” he posited. Seeing her nod, he looked away and ruefully laughed. “Yeah. Things weren’t terrible on Earth - then again, they definitely weren’t what I’d call great. The only thing I really cared about is Mr. Jonesy, but I’m sure Mrs. Wong is taking care of him.”

“Who?” Sapphire croaked.

“Mr. Jonsey is my cat,” he hastily clarified, attempting to avoid another emotional outburst. “Mrs. Wong is - was my neighbor. I swear, between her spoiling him and giving him treats all the time, she’s the reason he spent more time in her apartment than mine.”

Trotting up to him, Sapphire gave him a second, albeit somewhat less aggressive hug. “If you have to stay for a while, I…I can get you a cat.”

He grinned and folded his wings over her shoulders, holding her close while cherishing both her warmth and the kindly gesture. “That means a lot. By the way, since you brought it up, what are we going to do if - um - I end up a permanent guest.”

“We could…” Her response fell short as she let him go and shied away. “You could do whatever you want.”

“We,” he clarified, lifting a forehoof. “You dragged me into this, so we’re both on this wild ride together.”

Her eyes instantly went alight. “Y…you mean…”

“Hold your horses - er - ponies,” he chuckled. “I’m not saying I’m gonna be your homemaker or anything, but I’d be happy to have you as my friend.”

Looking from his face, down to the forehoof he extended to her, then back, she only barely seemed to hold herself together. “R…really?”

“Really,” he serenely reassured her. “You’re the only mare I’ve met who didn’t start hitting on me when - uh…” Bursting into laughter, he shook his head. “Ok, so maybe you did start hitting on me after we - cough - you know, but I’m just as guilty as you there. You’ve treated me well, you’ve busted your hump trying to figure out that spell, and you’re the only pony on the planet who knows the truth about me.”

“Besides Twilight,” Sapphire added.

He kept his foreleg outstretched while running a wing over his face. “Yeah, but she doesn’t strike me as the sort who’s gonna blab about this.”

Moving to embrace him for a third time, Sapphire faltered and shook his hoof. “You’re probably right about that. Wouldn’t want her newfound research subject to get scooped up by some other scholar.”

“I - gosh, I hope you’re joking about that,” he groaned. “I don’t care if she’s a Princess, she’s not going to probe me.”

“I doubt she would, but don’t be shocked if she comes back with an entire list of things to ask you about,” Sapphire weakly giggled. Relaxing her grip and lowering her foreleg, she brushed a lock of mane from her face. “We should probably get back and wait for her.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. Trotting around her and coming to her side, he nudged her with his shoulder. “Does she have a coltfriend?”

“Twilight?” Sapphire grunted, trotting alongside him as he started to move. “I don’t think she does ~ why?”

“Use that against her,” he noted. “She’s a mare, so she should sympathize with you - doubly so if you’ve both dealt with being single.”

Scrunching her snout, she thoughtfully looked down at the ground. “That’s…that’s pretty clever.”

“I have my moments,” he hummed as he swaggered his shoulders. “In any case, yeah, I think we’re going to be ok. Just do me one favor.”

“Name it,” she said without hesitation.

With a confident smile splitting his muzzle, he winked over at her. “If I end up staying here a while, help me learn how to use these.”

She glanced at his back as he extended his wings. “You have my word.”

“Thanks, Sapphire,” he whispered while resting one wing on her back.

Beaming up at him, she drifted closer. “My pleasure, Nimbus…”

A long, winding, uncertain road lay ahead of him, but he couldn’t stop a cautious optimism from welling up within him. Like it or not, this was an adventure, and he had no choice but to tackle it head on. Maybe he’d end up as some aerial acrobat, or maybe he was in a coma back on earth - in either case, he was going to hold his head high, make the best of a bad situation, and appreciate the friend he’d made along the way…