Tall Tale was a town about the same size as Ponyville (which seemed a lifetime away now). There were towns around this size all over Equestria, with ponies gathered together in peace and harmony, living and loving—and feeding us.

As we walked our cart toward the edge of town, I could smell the curiosity in the air. I felt a touch at my side—starting at my flank and moving forward—that included nuzzles and nibbles.

"I know that last one was tough, but you did well." Feather Bangs' didn't stop until he nuzzled under my muzzle. "And now you have your own gem. The legends of sirens are old enough to not be common, but we can't risk somepony seeing you with those fins and that gemstone."

Without even meaning to my hoof lifted and felt the hard shape embedded in my chest. Twilight had books about sirens, about three sisters. "I've read a book about sirens, remember? How do I hide?"

"You need to memorize every part of the illusion I made for you. That is the ideal for your pony-body now. Do you remember it?"

Of course, I did. Sleek, compact stallion with expressive and expansive wings. That white fur—white as Rarity's—and the pink hair with another streak of white that drew attention to the intensely blue eyes with thick lashes. But there was muscle under the coat that tipped the entire ensemble from possibly feminine to definitely male.

"Yup. I remember." That image lingered each night in my dreams, and I ached to see it in the real world again. For the first time in my life I shivered with excitement.

Feather Bangs walked around me. He casually touched me again and again. When he returned to stand in front of me, I looked at him with excitement. "I'll supply the magic, you supply the form. This isn't an illusion, McIntosh. Once you do this, you will be that stallion."

I nodded to him. The moment I moved I felt power—Feather's power—flow around me. This wasn't formless magic. I could feel the spell searching for the form. With an excited whinny I didn't think I was capable of making, I pushed that shape into the magic.

The magic stopped.

Feather let out a little chuckle. "Every detail, McIntosh. You have to imagine every part of the stallion I'll make you. Each hair on his ears, the ears themselves, the curve of his cheeks and the glisten in his eyes. You have to imagine all of it."

It took us five tries before I made an image in my head that the spell could use. The moment the magic picked up the picture I gave it I knew it was going to work. The power wrapped the image and spread it out and over me like a net.

There was no changeling fire, nor was it an instant pop transformation like I'd seen Princess Twilight perform. It started at the tip of my snout.

My nose bleached white, my teeth reshaped and jaw adjusted, and the magic started to wash backwards. I let out a squeak of surprise, then a moan of delight as it found the rest of my face, my eyes, and then my mane.

I squirmed and shook as my shoulders shrank—the last of their visible bulk fading under my new smooth, white coat. Turning my head I watched as the magic reached my new wings. One moment there was only smooth fur, the next there was a pair of sleek, feather-covered limbs that I'd never had before. The feeling of new muscles, of new skin, was amazing. I stretched my mind out and explored the new sensations.

"Somefish likes his new wings." Stereo Mix's voice did nothing to steal my attention away from my changing body.

As I worked the wings, I felt new muscles guide new bones into hinging at new joints. The change hadn't slowed, however, and I could vaguely feel my body being squeezed down all the way to my flank.

Arching my spine—and you better believe it flexed a lot more than it ever had before—I stretched my legs, wings, neck and tail. I turned my head, holding the pose, and looked at Stereo Mix. Then I stuck my tongue out at him.

Stereo shuddered visibly, but though I had a good angle I didn't see him get any further excited.

I straightened up and walked toward him, slow and slightly prancing (like I'd always dreamed of doing). "Tonight we'll find two stallions and teach them how glorious our bodies are, together."

Locked in a gaze with me, Stereo Mix smiled and took a step closer, then another, and one more so that our lips touched. He was needy and insistent—his tongue searched around my mouth before sliding along my own.

Flapping my wings a little, I was amazed at how intense and wonderful everything felt. I let Stereo shove my tongue around before fighting back and shoving into his mouth.

"I take it you approve, Stereo?" Feather's voice came from right beside us. As one, Stereo and I turned our heads and located our target. Keeping contact with Stereo Mix's lips, I pressed against Feather Bangs' mouth and licked along his grinning lips. But Feather pulled back after the most cursory of kisses. "Enough, my fish. Come and let us swim the waters of this town and find those ponies that need our tender care."

I broke the kiss with a laugh. "I'm sure we can find somepony!"

Town after town. Each time I found myself possessing more power than before. Feather Bangs taught me everything: I could sing a pony into a daze and whisper commands to them, I could empower my voice with raw energy and cause explosive blasts, and I could look into the heart of a pony and see exactly what they wanted.

As sirens, we used none of that. The only spell we ever relied upon was our transformation. We didn't encounter any other sirens, although there was often little problems in a town that four close brothers could help with.

The deserts of southern Equestria had been interesting, but it was Appleloosa that truly startled me when we reached it. The passage of time had been impossible to track—we'd done at least two full circles around Equestria, and never found the same town more than once, except for Neighagra.

Apple trees—Apple family trees, that is—surrounded the town. I was outside the wagon, which meant I wore my pony form. The gemstone in my chest had grown, and I had started to grow too. When I wasn't a pony, I had noticeable fangs and a pair of red, slit eyes.

"Your eyes wander around with an air of familiarity." Glamour Trot lived up to his name, prancing at my side. I couldn't blame him—I was prancing too.

"I have kin here." My voice was lighter and a few octaves higher than it used to be, not that I didn't still sound like a stallion, but I now had the larynx of a singer.

Glamour burst out laughing, but his trot never broke stride with mine. "You have kin everywhere. What's special about here?"

I let out a soft wicker of annoyance. "I visited my kin here. Cousin Braeburn moved out this way, and if it wasn't for my sister and her friends, he would have moved right back. It's grown."

"Maybe we should see if this cousin has something he needs from us? Did he marry?" Given the choice, Glamour would always hunt couples. He would tease stallion and mare until both gave in and partook of him, and Glamour Trot was a heady drink indeed.

I ruffled my wings. "Don't know. How long have we been on the road?" The joy of moving, with a pony as beautiful as Glamour Trot at my side, was its own reward.

"I've been traveling with Feather for nearly six hundred years. You have barely marked up ten." The happy look Glamour gave me said that he regretted not a single year. "Don't worry, Sure Beat, we have plenty more time together."

The thought of ten times as many years spent with my brothers only filled me with anticipation for the future, but then I remembered Glamour's earlier words. "You think we should pay cousin Braeburn a visit?"

"That depends on many things—your desire to taste his balls being highest."

The casual way that Glamour referred to sex had been brushing off. Rather than any of the normal pony reactions such an image should cause, instead my mouth watered. "I bet he keeps them close-trimmed."

Glamour Trot's eyes gleamed. "Soft and fuzzy? What will you bet?"

"First taste," I said.

We were just rolling into town. Behind us was the wagon, being pulled by Smooth Vibes. I kept my eyes on the ponies walking around (most of them stopping to stare at the newcomers), without shifting my gaze. It wasn't a siren trick, just the fruit of years of practice.

I recognized one or two ponies from the last time I'd been here, but, for the most part, the town was full of strangers. Then I spotted Her.

Marble Pie'd always carried a certain amount of strength, but in the ten years and change since I'd seen her last she had grown-up. Gone was any trace of the young mare I'd been special someponies with. She spared less than a glance at us, her attention instead pulled to a stallion walking up to her side. "I should have known."

"Please tell me you're not joking. That stunning gray-pelted mare and the yellow stallion kissing her? This is going to be a blast!" I could tell Glamour was watching the pair, despite his otherwise apparent lack of interest in them. "I call dibs on the mare first."

"You're about eleven years too late. We used to date." I had the distinct pleasure of seeing Glamour Trot's mouth fall open in surprise. "But sure, you can have her 'first'."

We passed the point where we could watch the pair without letting them know they were being watched. Our normal plan of attack was to pull the wagon through town. Any who knew of us would know we were in town, and those who liked the look of virile stallions could follow just as easily.

Feather Bangs called a stop to our little parade, and we all helped set up the wagon.

There wasn't a river in sight, sadly, which meant no fun swimming. Still, Equestria was our ocean, and by the looks ponies gave us through town the fish were biting. We set the wagon wheels with chocks, then retired inside and worked on brushing our manes and primping a little.

Appleloosa was a bigger town than the fifty or so ponies that had lived there ten years previous. There had to be houses for nearly two-hundred ponies.

Feather Bangs turned and looked at us. There was pride in his eyes, and excitement. "Come my little brothers, let us find ponies and make their dreams come true."

We'd just made it to the edge of town when a stallion walked up to Feather Bangs. He wore the typical Appleloosan vest and neckerchief, had a black hat and a fantastic moustache—if you were into moustaches that is (Spike would be the dragon to see for such an example). I knew him by name, but didn't know him personally.

"Well, look who it ain't. If Ah didn't know better, Ah'd say that Ah see Feather Bangs and his boys." The stallion had the same twang to his voice that I remember hearing the last time I'd visited, but his voice was deeper (to match the gray creeping into his moustache and mane).

"Lightning Hooves. It's great to see you again." Feather Bangs tossed his mane and looked over the stallion with the kind of hunger that would put a changeling to shame.

"Ya know Ah ain't been called that since Ah got my cutie mark. Sheriff Silverstar's me name, and you know it." Sheriff Silverstar looked more amused than confused. "An' ya ain't aged one bit. Again. Do Ah even want to ask?"

"You can ask me, Sheriff, but then I'd have to eat you all up. I don't bring any feuds to your town. Again." Stepping up to Sheriff, Feather nuzzled the big, burly stallion lawpony's jaw.

Blushing, Sheriff Silverstar started to jerk back and then trembled. "Ah—Ah'll be the judge of that. Come along and you can answer a few questions." Sheriff gestured to a house. "Yer boys are free to do as they wanna, so long as it's all above board."

"Oh Sheriff, are you going to arrest me?" Feather Bangs was already trotting off at the Sheriff's side. He turned briefly to give us a wink.

"Is he really going to…?" I asked, watching Feather nuzzle and lick Sheriff whenever the big stallion wasn't looking. The two soon disappeared into a house.

"Feather has fine tastes, and Sheriff has always been lenient to us. We first met him when he was just a colt." Smooth Vibes surprised me by coming up on my flank and giving my rump a nip. I looked back at him and once again was momentarily in awe of the wings on my flank. The Apple was long gone.

"I'm hungry. Do any of you have somepony lined up?" Stereo looked around at the rest of us, then grinned wide and looked right at me. "Who is he?"

"They," I said. "And we—Glamour and me—already called dibs. There's plenty of fish in the sea tonight." I turned, ruffled my wings, and started to prance off toward the one house I knew would never belong to anypony else. Once an Apple, always an Apple.

Author's Notes:

Big Mac: Would you see yourself going back to Ponyville with in the next ten years time to check up on your sisters?

"Nope. Feather Bangs said I should keep clear of there until my mannerisms are different enough that nopony will recognize me, even as different as I look."

---

So I do this "Ask X" thing. X can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and they will definitely, hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories, and they will answer the best question in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer. Try to keep it to one question per post! They will pick one question per chapter.

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