It was almost like a dream.

Pleasant breeze rolling over the lake, the sun warming the banks that they lay on. The sound of cheerful ponies going about their lives could be heard all around. Eris watched a trio of fillies running circles around an elderly stallion in a wide brim hat desperately trying to fish. Her tail remained curled around her waist, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs as she turned her gaze back out to the gently rolling lake.

… Yeah. Almost like a dream.

Although a number of the younger ones began to wander their way on numerous occasions, none of them came very close. Eris didn’t particularly mind. She simply gave a quiet sigh through her nostrils and continued her lookout. The colt beside her stirred after a long while, after the morning sun had nearly reached its peak.

“ Yo. You finally awake?” she peered over at the new and improved William. For some reason his eyes seemed to be looking in different directions.

“… I like waffles.”

“… Uh oh.”

Eris shifted in extreme discomfort, the words ‘merciful lobotomy’ coming back to mind.

“Uh… dude?” she frowned uneasily.

“What?” he blinked hard, screwing up his eyes for a few seconds before turning back to her. “What is it, Eris? What did I miss, how long was I out for?”

“Oh, god,” Eris held a talon to her chest. “Whoo, kind of scared me there for a second.”

“Why?” William rubbed the side of his head. “What seems to be-”

William then stopped talking very quickly when he found that he had no fingers. He stared at the hoof where his hand used to be, eyes trailing along the foreleg and over his body. The pale color of his coat seemed to disturb him even more though.

“… Eris.”

“Hm?”

“… Why am I pink?”

“You know,” the draconequus scratched her chin lazily. “I’d have thought you’d be freaking out about the whole ‘pony’ thing instead of coat color. 'sides, it's kinda cute on you, I like it.”

“Oh, believe you me,” William nodded seriously, trying his best to sit up on his weakly wobbling haunches without falling over. “Imminent nervous breakdown is approaching, and rather rapidly. It’s just taking me a little longer to process this than I anticipated. Give me a minute.”

“Two if I can find ‘em.”

William took another ten minutes curiously inspecting his new equine body, showing an odd fascination with his molars. He seemed particularly upset over something the entire time, growing more dissatisfied the longer he explored himself.

“So…” Eris said awkwardly. “You done touching yourself, or what?”

“Please don’t describe it like that,” he said with a frown. “Hm. Earth pony. Rather disappointing. I would have preferred unicorn and even settled for pegasus. Now, where was I… ah, yes. Nervous breakdown.”

“I think-”

Eris was promptly cut off by an unnaturally high pitched shriek that could have shattered a wall of glass. She clamped her hands over her ears at the shrill whistle, scowling until the atrocious wailing finally died down. By that point quite a few of the others around the lake were staring in their direction.

“… You done?”

“I-I think so,” William nodded breathlessly. “Glad I got that out of my system. Let’s go home.”

“Uh…” Eris started uncomfortably as William struggled to stand. “Actually, I think-”

“Hold on to that thought, Eris,” he shook his head, legs quivering ferociously as he collapsed back to the ground. “It’s more difficult to walk on four legs than it looks, give me a minute and then we can go home.”

“Look, dude-”

“Hold on, Eris!” William snapped as he fell back to the ground. “One thing at a time! I just need one minute, I’ll have this figured out.”

She shrugged internally, thinking.

It took William much longer than one minute.

For the next quarter of an hour, William strived with all his might to force his body into an upright position, center of balance still unfound. He eventually managed to stand upright, but only by tightly locking his limbs together so hard that he was slightly shaking.

“… T-there,” he heaved a pleased sigh. “I’m getting this down pat. Now for the walking.”

“Would you like some help?” Eris asked boredly, chin in her hand.

“No, no,” William furrowed his brows intently, cautiously unlocking his legs only to come crashing back to the ground. “This is merely another challenge, and one that I shall overcome post haste.”

He was extremely determined, she gave him that much.

“You sure-”

“Yes, I am quite certain!” he scowled indignantly. “I can do this myself, thank you.”

And with that, he promptly fell over onto his side.

Eris bit her thumb, doing little to mask her giggling. William gave a long, heavy and displeased sigh through his nostrils, glowering at her.

“… Eris.”

“Hmm?” she batted her eyelashes innocently.

“Why did you let Father turn me into a quadruped?”

“Because… I… get off on your suffering…?” Eris blinked honestly.

“Eris.”

“Hmm?”

“… I may require a miniscule amount of assistance.”

“Nah.”

William pawed at the ground in panic as the draconequus rose, straining to pull himself up.

“Hold – wait, where are you going?” his voice came out a couple of octaves higher than he expected.

“You already said you didn’t need my help,” she shrugged without turning around. “Laters!”

“Wait wait wait I take it back, I take it back!” William kicked desperately, wobbling legs making him look like a fuzzy pink crab. “I-I need your… help. Please?”

“Well…” Eris paused, turning on the spot and placing a talon on her chin in contemplation. “Since you said please…”

After a couple of silent moments she turned around once again and started marching away.

“For crying out loud, Eris!”

“Oh, fine,” she rolled her eyes, snatching the boy turned colt up in one arm and easily hefting him onto her left shoulder. “There. Better?”

“No,” William clung to her for dear life, the ground suddenly seeming much too far away. “This is terrible. I would have preferred any other mode of transport.”

“Do you want me to throw you in the lake, short stack?”

William fell silent.

“That’s what I thought.”

And away they went.