Artemis and I have a bit of an unusual relationship. He’s not a “fan” fan of the show, but just someone who likes the episodes. And I’m a fan, fan, in the sense that I was involved in some of the big controversies on the Internet, and I knew enough to inform people which episode is the best, and which is the worst.

But despite my enlightened status as a brony, as the days pass, I can’t seem to convince him that the shooting stars episode is bad, and in fact he starts bringing up some troubling facts, such as how that the episode had great comedic timing, that Spike really was convincingly a baby dragon, not just a two-legged pony, and how interesting it was in terms of learning about Equestria, the only episode with a pony short of breath, one of very few episodes that had actual combat in it, and even I have to admit it was kind of ballsy of them actually admitting that owls eat mice, risking the ire of insanely protective parents everywhere.

That especially takes the wind out of my sails, because I lay in an actual bed that night, between Holly and Sue, looking at my own fuzzy belly in the darkness, wondering if I’m going to be a batshit insane protective parent. Am I going to start getting terrified at the prospect of kids getting upset at violence, when one of them comes out of my in-hole?

My parents weren’t insanely protective, but they didn’t really let me have... girls over, not that I had any to come over. Nor did they let me participate in stuff that didn’t involve adult supervision. Mira, they didn’t even let her hang out with anyone without their permission, since she could get kidnapped and raped or something. Uh... yeah I guess for most of my childhood, my parents were a teeny bit insanely protective. They stopped caring so much once we hit adulthood though.

I don’t really like to think of my childhood, because it was so... uneventful. Nothing terrible happened to me, but nothing... happened to me. I didn’t act out or rebel like Mira did. I just did what I was expected to, went to school, studied, and then... sort of... dropped out because I wasn’t doing so well, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be an engineer, and I never was very good at making decisions.

I don’t want my kids to be raised like I did, if that means they get stuck on their own at age thirty-two, watching over of an old house that their parents don’t even care about anymore. I think my parents only allowed me to watch over it, because I’d... be homeless otherwise. One does not afford to live in an apartment, when the only work you can find is the local Speedway. They felt sorry for me, or guilty, or something, since I was their most humiliating failure. If I have children, how am I going to keep them from getting as messed up as I am?

Gazing at the nondescript ceiling of my apartment above me and drifting off, I wonder how I can raise this little pony in my belly, without turning them into their mother.

As the days grow cooler and crisper, I fall in love with myself all over again, learning how to fight, and how to move. The sergeant tries her best to make things miserable, but it’s just so amazing how I’m blossoming into a whole new pony, practically. I’m moving faster, kicking harder, and it just feels so good to get out there and really push myself. I don’t feel like I have to hold back with the sergeant. I’m supposed to fail and get chewed out in her mind, so I don’t have to worry whether I succeed or not. Every time she ups the ante, I can’t help but feel the thrill of challenge, that I could push myself and impress her, and impress everyone, and impress myself, yet she’ll still treat me as the same old green recruit by the name of Meadowsweet.

I never felt that good about myself before. I think it’s a pony thing, but I can’t be sure of that, because I never did anything like this as a human. I was always hearing horror stories of the military and of boot camps and psychological torture, so I never even thought about getting into it. I was never all that fat, but I was never all that strong, or healthy either. Couldn’t take a lot of travelling. I feel as if I was exhausted all the time back then, just from doing a whole lot of nothing.

Now I’m strong, and sleek, and outright glowing in the mirror when I get up before dawn for the morning exercises. I think that’s just pregnancy, though I’m definitely not showing any sort of baby bump back there yet, so I can’t be more than six months from conception. But I look healthy, and feel healthy, and... I suppose my diet has something to do with it. I haven’t eaten much of anything sugary or fattening in the last half a year or so, and there were some packaged cookies here but... I honestly found the potato chips far more alluring. Even chips are few and far between though, and much better are the deer that my fellow uh... ponies have been taking down in packs of three or four. Whether you’re a pony or not, hamburgers taste like lard cakes compared to the nutty, musky, hearty strips of meat they get off of those beasts.

...actually, being a pony might have something to do with it.

I really don’t know what to think of ponies though, if we’re hunting deer in packs. Or would that be herds? I can’t believe we’re hunting in herds. Or whatever you call it. Not herds though. Anything but herds.

“It’s really amazing,” Brian tells me, when the green pegasus with blue hair isn’t busy with flying drills, or whatever the pegasuses do. She managed to get her hands on some genuine MRI scans of a pony. Because that’s the first thing that makes sense to do when you get elecricity back up, right? The military brought them here for our pony technology research stuff, and Brian was really happy to be able to see them. High resolution scans of bones, and even internal organs. It’s... kind of unsettling to look at, because they really do look like weird horse bones.

“This is the digestive system,” Brian says, tapping a hoof on the bluish vaguely intestiny sort of shadows, “It’s actually more convoluted in earth ponies, which makes sense given how you can tolerate hay better.”

“You can eat hay though, can’t you?” I ask Brian worriedly.

Nodding her head, Brian says, “Yes, there’s a functional cecum in every one of us. Overall, our digestive systems remind me more of deer than anything, which makes sense given our small size. The erh... hunting doesn’t makes a single lick of sense, but the rest of it seems sensible.”

“It’s cool how you get to finally study this stuff now that we have stuff to x-ray ponies with and stuff,” I tell her admiringly, “You haven’t been able to do anything but think about this for a while.”

“It’s incredible,” she repeats, happily scrunching her forelegs to her chest, “I’m just glad we’re so... sensible on the inside. This magic flight is just crazy, but anatomically I kind of... make sense.”

Curiously, I ask, “So where do your wing bones attach?”

“There’s a second lobe on each shoulder blade,” she replies, stretching out a green, feathery wing. “The muscles seem to attach around the mid-back area, and around the belly. My mid-back area feels kind of like an upper-back area, because of the extra musculature.”

“Huh, like here?” I ask curiously, laying my hoof across her back, while Brian spreads both her wings, and muscles in her back flex beneath my touch.

“Yep, see?” she says after a few times extending and folding her wings. Brian walks out from under my hoof as she says, “It makes as much sense as it could make sense. I just think it’s really cool how I have sort of... second shoulders in there.”

“I’m not even sure I have first shoulders,” I say, waggling a foreleg in the air, “My shoulders just don’t... shoulder. They like... bend toward the front of me and don’t move.

“That’s true for mine too,” Brian admits, “It’s an evolutionary adaptation to make ungulates more stable at running. What’s weird about our kind of ponies is how you can un-lock the shoulders. The x-rays are pretty clear. It’s kind of like how horse legs lock, except more, and for our shoulders. You know how you can pull your arms out, when you need to?”

I sit on my haunches and do so, looking over my upper leg, while asking her, “Yeah, so...?”

“So you’re moving your shoulders now!” she chirps, holding up my left leg in her forehooves to move it about in the air, “And when you walk again they’ll feel like they’re immovable.”

I touch one hoof to the place where the top of my arm worked free. Huh. “That’s kinda cool, I suppose,” I say, letting my arms slip into a more natural squirrel position sitting on my haunches. And yeah they... kind of do slide into place.

“There’s got to be a reason Twilight Sparkle’s species is sapient,” Brian says, spreading her wings and swooping up into the air. “Maybe we’re some sort of pony, raccoon hybrids!” she calls out, turning loops up there.

“Pony raccoon bird hybrids, in your case,” I point out, standing up on all fours as I watch the restless pegasus above me, not exactly with envy, but I definitely feel more stuck on the ground like this.

“It’s so arbitrary when you think about it,” she replies, gliding past me upside down, “And yet something about it feels so deliberate.”

“Twilight deliberately turned us into this,” I have to point out in unamusement.

“Touché,” she admits, fluttering down to perch lightly on my back. It’s weird. Pegasi are weird.

Brian and I can talk about that evil mare’s plans all we want, but there has been no sign of Twilight Sparkle anywhere near us, or anywhere at all. No more humans turned into ponies. Not one bit of news of her. It’s like she never even existed, except for the fact that we’re all... ponies.

At least I think there’s no news of her. It’s hard to get news with only basic TV broadcasting restored. That itself was a huge challenge, since with all the nation’s televisions set up to use cable, it’s a lot more infrastructure than just tuning in on the rabbit ears. Expensive, high maintenance equipment, to make sure we aren’t just watching the broadcast for free. There were a lot of things making money out of nothing like this, that just stopped being workable when everyone in the world woke up without opposable thumbs, and now we all have to figure out how to go back to doing it the easy way.

So there might very well have been news of Twilight Sparkle, but even the military’s eyes and ears are very limited, and false sightings abound in a world determined to find somepony to hold accountable for all this.

The relationship between me and Mira has been... changing since she came with us to the military base. For the better? I’m not sure. Seems like without Nick to get in between us and make some dry, snarky comment, it’s given Mira a chance to really open up to me, and I’ve felt comfortable about opening up to her. Only trouble is... we’re both complete perverts, I guess. I’m not trying to be a pervert, but then Mira tries to say that she’s a terrible person just because she has sexual desires, and I just can’t leave her feeling like that!

“It’s okay to want sex, and it’s okay to talk about wanting it,” I insist, “There’s nothing wrong with you just because you... like Dusty, and want to tell me about it.”

“I’m not saying it’s wrong,” Mira gripes in frustration as the two of us stand out back behind the cafeteria, “It’s just kind of slutty. Not even you talk about this stuff!”

“I do so!” I protest.

“Well—well tell me how you felt then,” Mira says, looking at me with anxious blue eyes, “When I made you just... get Peter’s babies. You looked so awesome and... and what do you even say about something like that?”

I pause in thought, and she’s right it’s really hard to put into words how I felt when Peter was impregnating me. But I can at least talk about it! “It doesn’t have to be anything complicated,” I tell her with a flutter of anxious frustration, “Like, just, um, Peter’s um... s-smaller than Sue.”

Blinking, Mira tilts a batty ear at me and says, “No he’s not?”

“No I mean, his...” Okay yes it is a little hard to talk about, but I force myself to say, “His penis is smaller.”

Mira snorts at that, trying to cover up a laugh under her wing, as I stick a forehoof out in her direction and immediately protest,

“No, no it’s fine! He still felt amazing. It just wasn’t really ramming against me in there. I—I get sore from that with Sue, sometimes.”

“It’s fine, Meadows,” Mira says still giggling softly, “I liked how he... I mean it’s okay for you to talk about it.”

Her ears are tilting down, so I reply earnestly, “Because I want to show you it’s alright for you to talk about. I want you to be okay telling me how you feel. Go ahead and tell me how Peter made you feel, or what you want to do with a guy, and I can’t promise Dusty will, but it’s alright for you to want it! So please, go ahead and tell me if you want. I’m totally okay with it! I–I want that stuff too now, right?”

Mira only pauses a bit after my entreaty, before saying, “I want—”

She blushes at that, but then continues more confidently, saying “I want him to... I wanna sit on... a guy.”

I try to imagine that, prompting, “His penis?”

“Yeah,” Mira says, “Like he’s lying there and... I want to f-feel him sliding inside me, so I can... push him as deep as I want, if I’m on top of him. So I can grind him deep and... h-how big is Dusty?”

“He’s... big enough?” I say uncertainly, “He’s a bit of a stretch though, like wider than Sue.”

“I-I wanna stretch around him,” Mira says blushingly, “Just hug him with my wings, and with my... my fucking dripping snatch. I wanna hug tight to his belly when he starts cumming, and feel him all...”

“...his penis sort of kicking in there?” I suggest.

Mira nods, “And those rushes of cum are just... fucking astronomical. When I fucked Nick, when I was... human, I didn’t even know. I just sat on him, and he was so adorable. I could push my boobs into his face, but I didn’t care because I really wanted to turn into a pony. When Nick came, I just... freaked out it was incredible. I just sat on him, and sat up and stared at my own freaking groin, feeling him just pumping it into me. It was... incredible.”

“I dunno why ponies cum so much, but yeah, it is pretty wonderful,” I say with a silly smile.

“So, you’ll set me up with Dusty’s uh, herd?” Mira asks hopefully.

“Currently Dusty only has Bubblegum,” I tell her flatly, “And it’s not a herd. But I just think Daredevil might be joining you soon. She talks with him a lot, I mean.”

“It’s a little overwhelming,” Mira admits uneasily.

“Well, Dusty’s managing the hay today,” I say helpfully, “So let’s go introduce you to just him. Just to talk and stuff.”

“And then Daredevil, I guess?” Mira asks.

“Yeah, sometime,” I tell her vaguely, “Daredevil’s the blue earth pony in my morning training session, with the purple and pink hair.”

“Oh, is she the one who managed to get herself drunk?!” Mira exclaims in surprise.

Grimacing, I say, “Y-yeah, that’s the one.”

“Now I really wanna meet her,” my crazy bat pony sister says with a toothy grin.

“Just come after training tomorrow, if you like,” I reply easily, “And I’ll introduce you to her too.”

“Man, Meadowsweet, you are on top of this,” Mira says in admiration, “When did you become such a... people person?”

“Since people started caring about me,” I reply, “So, you want to come meet Dusty, then?”

Wait why is Mira giving me a concerned look now?

She doesn’t explain though. She just admits, “You don’t have to work miracles, just... I’m kind of a wimp for just asking for that stuff,” squirming shyly, “Even if it doesn’t get serious, I’d like to at least get to know some people, so we can maybe do... stuff.”

“Y-yeah, I still have to return the favor you gave me with... Peter,” I tell her coyly, earning a little blush at least, “And it won’t take miracles, I think. They’re just as nice as you are.”

“I’m sure it’ll work out great,” Mira replies too casually, “Meet him, be myself, not get tossed aside, and we’ll be best friends!”

“Wait what was that part about tossed aside—” I start to add, but she just loudly states,

“So, show me which one Dusty is already!”

“Let’s go see ‘im,” I tell her amiably, trotting off away from the cafeteria. Turning and looking back, I see Mira trotting across the frozen well stomped ground after me, so I smile back at her and together, we head off on the hunt for Dusty.

It doesn’t take long. He’s over by the hay storage unit.

Mira and I approach the building we converted into a hay storage barn, and as luck would have it, and the fact that it’s between morning training and lunch, Dusty and Bubblegum are hanging out together. Mira balks on approaching, but I assure her that Bubblegum’s great, and that she can say anything she wants in front of her.

Judging by Bubblegum’s blushing, glowing complexion and her delighted tone as she talks with him, it’s pretty obvious what she and Dusty have been doing together. I don’t see Daredevil, but these two at least I think Mira’s gonna love. “Oh good, you’re here!” I declare, trotting up to them. They look at me curiously, as I gesture with my tail behind me, saying, “Dusty, Bubblegum, this’s my sister, Miranda!”

“Mira’s your sister?” Dusty asks in astonishment, as Mira stops to stand behind me with an awkward hoof wave. “The famous firestarter?”

“She’s not—” I blush indignantly, “Famous. She was the one who figured out that whole mouth fire thing though.”

“Figures she’d be your sister,” he says in amusement.

Rolling my eyes at him, I turn to Mira saying, “This’s Dusty, the famous farmer, and Bubblegum the famous uh...”

“Raincloud deliverer,” Bubblegum offers helpfully.

Mira snorts a laugh at that saying, “Wow, that’s useful if I start any fires.”

“So you’ve known Meadowsweet your whole life?” Dusty asks Mira thoughtfully.

“Literally, since I’m the youngest!” she says with a smile, “What do you wanna know about her?”

Uh...

“Oh, nothing much,” Dusty says looking my way fondly, “But she sure is adorable when she scrunches.”

...dammit!

“So how long have you two known Meadowsweet?” Mira asks, failing to hide her look of amusement my way as I furiously try not to scrunch.

“Oh, at least since Ainsworth,” Dusty says confidently, “She was the one who got me and Bubblegum uh... together.”

“Don’t tell me you’re the next girl she wants to introduce to Dusty?” Bubblegum asks curiously.

“Eh heh heh... in the flesh?” Mira says nervously, “Um...”

“Mira’s been alone since Ainsworth,” I speak up, “And she’s already pregnant, so there’s no risk if Dusty um...”

“Oh, right,” Bubblegum says shyly, the pink striped blue pegasus glancing at the ground.

“So... you’re the one who’s pregnant with Dusty’s foal, huh?” Mira asks Bubblegum with interest.

“W-we haven’t... I mean I haven’t noticed anything. Yet,” Bubblegum says looking anxiously up to meet Mira’s eyes, “Sorry it’s kind of something that’s—I used to be a... guy.”

“Woah, really?” Mira asks, wide-eyed, “So you’re as much of a noob as Meadowsweet when it comes to having babies!”

Bubblegum loses her blush, saying with a tilt of her head, “I guess you could put it that way?”

“Don’t worry, it’s my first pregnancy too,” Mira says, lifting a wing to look at her own still quite sleek belly, “I don’t think anything can prepare you for that, even those of us who were born as girls.”

“You were born a girl?!” Bubblegum asks excitedly, flapping her feathery wings to rush right up to Mira.

“Uh y-yeah?” Mira states in nervous confusion.

“I really have no idea how to be a girl,” Bubblegum frets there in the air before Mira, “Am I doing it right? I mean, I know it’s hard to say, but could you give me some... um... tips sometime?”

“Tips like what?” Mira asks. At Bubblegum’s shy confusion, Mira adds, “If you wanna know if you’re acting like a girl, yeah you’re acting like a girl. I think a guy’d be a better judge of that, really.”

Turning to Dusty, Mira asks hopefully, “Were you born a guy? Or are you new to guyhood, too?”

“Well, my name’s Dusty, which is a pony name, because I wasn’t. Born a guy,” Dusty says cautiously.

With a flap of her wings, Mira rushes up to hover before Dusty saying, “Holy crap, really? What’s it like? You’re a girl and you still put a baby in Bubblegum over there? Was it like having sex like normal, except the other way?”

“Uh y-yeah?” Dusty states uncertainly, “It was an... experience?”

“Dusty tries to explain how girls are supposed to act,” Bubblegum sighs, fluttering up to the two, “He’s just kind of distracted what with the whole being a guy thing.”

“Yeah, well being a girl around him is pretty distracting too, I imagine,” Mira says, with a sly look at Bubblegum.

“I’m just glad you’re all getting along,” I say, trotting up to the earth pony and the two fliers. “You know how I’m looking for you, Dusty, for any girls who are uh...”

“Interested?” Dusty says.

Mira squares her lips, but neither confirms nor denies.

“Mira is pregnant, so there’s no risk,” I say hopefully, “And she’s been kind of alone since coming here.”

“The past three months?” he asks, looking at my bat pony sister with sympathy.

“I just wanted to help with saving the world, a-and you know... y’know Peter, right?” Mira asks, giving Dusty a leery look.

“Yeah, one of the male bat ponies?” Dusty replies, tapping his chin, “I think I saw him once or twice. Did he come with?”

“No, he didn’t,” Mira replies in a tone of finality.

“Ohh,” Bubblegum cuts in, wide-eyed at Mira’s sobriety, “So you and him...”

“Yeah we were...” Mira glances aside, “I mean, I’m supposed to be with him, just he isn’t here now, and Meadowsweet was saying we’re on an adventure and...”

“You were the one who flew to catch up with us, weren’t you?” Dusty asks, giving my colorful sister a concerned look.

“Yeah, I really didn’t think that through,” she says with a sheepish titter, “But he got me good and pregnant before we left. So I might have a kid who’s...” She flaps her bat wings demonstratively. “Not yours.”

“No, no this is amazing!” Bubblegum says, coming right up to Mira again, still not landing, “Dusty’s been needing—we don’t really want to make anyone else pregnant, but you’re totally okay!”

“So... no problems if I’m carrying some other man’s child?” Mira says, as Bubblegum lays her forehoof over the other pony, landing beside Mira to lean against her affectionately.

“I dunno Peter, but I wish him nothing but the best,” Dusty says, standing before my sister, “Maybe guys are supposed to be offended but I’m not. It’s wonderful if you have his baby inside you as far as I’m concerned. And I don’t care if you’re a mother to be. It feels the same, right?”

Mira blushes at that, and bless his heart, Dusty actually chuckles. “Well, I think you’re alright,” he says, “And Meadowsweet really has been looking for a good match, for uh, us. So if Bubblegum’s okay with it...?”

“I’m more than okay with it,” Bubblegum says in excitement and relief, with a little hop beside Mira. She blinks and adds, “Unless something goes hugely wrong.”

“So I can just... do your boyfriend?” Mira asks testily, wings slightly spreading as she gives Bubblegum a sideways glance.

“Hey, I’m not really a girl, so it’s okay,” Bubblegum replies, strutting past Mira’s nose with a casual tailflip. “I don’t get all weird about that stuff. Dusty’s just another one of the guys, who,” Her tail droops a little, as she concludes nervously, “Ma-a-ay have put a baby in me.”

“Heck, maybe you can help each other,” Dusty says, looking between Mira, Bubblegum and me. “Maybe we could like, babysit each other’s kids so one would be taking care of three at a time. It could work!”

“Wait, three at a time?” I ask in sudden concern, “I’m not supposed to be in—”

“Well, you are,” Dusty says, giving me a flat look, “You’ve helped me and Bubblegum, and you might even be carrying my child, depending on when the pregnancy took.”

“Meadows, you dog!” Mira exclaims, staring at me, “You’ve been doing him too?”

“I... j-just on a temporary basis until he... until I find enough girlfriends for him, or something,” I mumble somewhat less than confidently.

“And Sue, wow,” Mira says, sitting to her haunches, “Like, at the same time?”

Dusty looks the other way, while I tell her defensively, “Not usually! There’s—”

“Ohmygod, you did do it at the same time,” Mira crows in shock. “How the heck do you handle two stallions?”

“The same way you handled Nick and Peter?” I suggest, confused.

“Not at the same time!” Mira protests, “I couldn’t just—both of them, without going nuts? You are something else!”

“Earth pony... endurance?” I venture with a timid wince.

“For the record I’m totally okay with that,” Dusty says, then blinks and adds, “I mean duh, of course I am. But she had fun, I swear. And I can actually get with a guy that way, just indirectly. I-it’s nice.”

“Because Dusty used to be a girl,” I point out, “So he originally liked guys,” though now that I think on it, so did Sue. Are they both attracted to each other for being former girls?

“You don’t have to do it,” Bubblegum says, stepping up with concern to Mira, “I tried it once and it was just too much. So no pressure or anything.”

“Yeah, Dusty’s the one who needs you,” I tell Mira, “Sue’s doing just fine with me, Lucy and Holly.”

“Still, it’s pretty crazy how much you’ve been balancing relationships and stuff,” Mira says to me, idly tapping the earth with a forehoof. “I thought you were just gonna be a matchmaker for other people your entire life, until you turned into a pony.”

“Until I turned into a mare,” I make sure to add in my almost-as-sweet-as-Holly voice, “It’s easier to match myself that way.”

Mira gives me a look, like she’s not sure how to respond to that, even though I wasn’t saying anything weird, was I?

“So, you’ll give it a try?” Bubblegum asks Mira hopefully.

“Why do you want me to?” Mira asks the pegasus intently, “I mean, you have to give up your time with him, if you let me y’know do him!”

“It’s kind of really a lot,” Bubblegum explains, blushing nervously, “Dusty’s wonderful, but I... I just...”

“She passed out once, and I was—we have to be kinda careful,” Dusty cuts in beside Bubblegum, “You know how crazy it feels, right?”

“Yeah, but,” Mira says with a distant look at Dusty, “Crazy that I could just... you’d really just do that with me. Any time I wanted.”

“My stamina willing, I can’t complain about a chance to be with more mares,” Dusty says, puffing his front out proudly.

“Keep saying that after Meadowsweet finds a third mare for you,” Bubblegum chides him dryly.

“For us,” Dusty says, with a significant look at Mira and me. Standing before Mira, he says, “You can take it however fast or slow you want, of course.”

“You wanna hug?” Bubblegum asks, fluttering up to Mira alongside Dusty, “Because I can totally give you hugs.”

“Heh, that’s...” Mira says with a a laugh, that fades into a hopeful smile, “Actually, I could use a hug right now.”

Bubblegum Comet and Mira both sweep each other up into an enthusiastic hug on both parts, and Dusty grabs ‘em both out of the air and wraps his arms around the two. Then he grabs me and pulls me in, saying, “You too, Meadowsweet.”

I shouldn’t, but I join in, practically purring at their warm, softness.

The brown haired, green furred bat pony stallion named Artemis ends up being my connection with the research team. He introduces me to the other scientists, on an individual basis. Dr. Herman, and graduate student Lieberman. Incidentally the mares at this base seem to prefer referring to each other by last name if possible. Guess that’s one way to deal with being formerly guys. I’d think these science types would all be straight shirted professionals, academic scholars concerned with brainy concepts, and not stuff like friendship. But actually they’re surprisingly nice people, who kind of... have a hard time with friendship in the same way I do, and are also concerned with it the same way I am.

I talk with Artemis a lot about Equestria, and what the Equestrian ponies have to say about places like Ponyville, and Canterlot, what he’s allowed to tell me at least. They really do call it Ponyville, he says. I talk with Artemis about the origins of the wormhole too, which... aren’t very remarkable and don’t make a lot of sense, but it’s something at least.

The story he relates is that scientists detected a spatial anomaly in one of those gravity detectors they have at the bottom of mountains and stuff. Investigating should have led them to some sort of radio interference, or some sort of meteor impact or something, but what they found was just... an abandoned cabin out in the wilderness, with a pile of ancient VHS tapes, and no apparent source of electricity with which to play them. The tape has not been played, but was only labeled with “My Little Pony” and otherwise unremarkable and blank.

The wormhole, and the tape it’s embedded in have been kept sealed away from the outside environment, so they could carefully study it, but it isn’t going to be sealed away for much longer. Because as I’m working on morning drills one day, I hear some shouting and yammering and a rousing cheer over to the area cleared out for unicorn practice. I don’t know exactly what’s going on over there, but it must be something good. So I shrug and continue my drills.

After my training and their practice ends, Lucy elucidates me, cantering up to me and exclaiming in an delighted tone, “I did it! Meadowsweet, I did it!”

Relieved, I turn away from Daredevil, who was... well, I was trying to talk with Daredevil about how she keeps watching me practice, trying to find out what she thinks is so great about just watching me, but she keeps being strangely obstructive about it, dodging the questions with noncommital answers. And it was getting really awkward.

So turning away from Daredevil in relief, I ask Lucy, “What did you do?”

“We were winking today!” Lucy says, beyond excited.

...

“I uh...” I blush heavily. “I might be getting my definition of winking mixed up,” I tell Lucy with a leery hoof lift, “All I know is winking with your eye, and... winking with your other part.”

Daredevil bursts out laughing.

Lucy blinks a moment, before blushing herself, ignoring Daredevil’s joyful mirth, saying, “No, no not that kind of winking. It’s what they uh... used to call teleportation in the show. Ponies—well, Twilight Sparkle mostly—would wink out like a... candle? And then wink back in again. And I... I did that.”

Lucy comes to stare past me as she declares, “I just winked. Me, not some cartoon character. I was here, then I was... something, then I was there.”

“Seriously? ” I ask, staring at her in amazement and intrigue, “What’s it like?? How do you do it?”

“I’ll show you!” Lucy says, strutting proudly, “You ready to... oh uh.” Lucy notices Daredevil then, and blushes for some reason, adding “Didn’t know you were busy with... her.”

“Hey, don’t mind me,” Daredevil says with a quirky smile, “Let’s see what you got.”

“I–I just didn’t know you two were um... friends,” Lucy says sort of bewildered in the ears. Then, before things can get even more awkward, she closes her eyes and concentrates. A soft blue aura bursts into life all around Lucy’s orange horn, with that weird twinkling sound. Then the glow grows brighter and brighter, engulfing her as Lucy grunts with the effort. Then there’s an explosion of blue that just... poof explodes where she used to be.

Then with a burst of identical light, she lands on the ground about 5 feet away, panting for breath and laughing to herself. “I’m not dreaming, am I?” she asks, looking at me and... Daredevil, whom Lucy also seems to know. Lucy herself looks lost in wonder, as she asks, “I really just teleported, right?”

“Yeah, you did!” I tell her, stepping toward her appreciatively, “It looked just like in the show, except blue!”

“It’s more of an azure really,” Lucy says smugly, and I have no idea what an azure is. Some kind of precious gem? “But the important thing is I did it!” the happy orange unicorn mare declares, “And it was so weird! ”

“What’s it like?” asks the blue mare next to me in wonder. Daredevil gives Lucy an honestly surprised and hopeful look, a look I don’t usually get from her at all, or from anyone really.

“It’s like turning inside out,” Lucy says in guttural glee, a little flicker of blue crawling down her horn as she speaks, “It pulls you into it, and then you’re just... popping out where you want to be. I dunno how it works, but it just does! I do the right things with my horn, pour all my magic into it, and poof! Then poof!”

“It doesn’t hurt, does it?” I ask with concern, but at Lucy’s enthusiastic head shake, I relax with a smile.

“The only thing they’re worried about is exactly where it’s pulling us,” Lucy says, pursing her lips, “Because we wink out, and then wink back in, so we’ve gotta be somewhere in between, right?”

“That is kind of weird,” Daredevil says in vague interest, “But hey if it works, who cares?”

“Congratulations Lucy, at any rate,” I tell her with gusto, grabbing her attention again, “We really made the right decision coming here, if it’s helping us uh... helping us who are unicorns learn how to teleport! Or... wink, I guess you’d say it.”

Lucy snickers at that, letting one forehoof dangle over the other as she leans lazily, saying, “Yeah, I’ve been winking all afternoon. Really long and hard, yup. Sticking myself out there, and then pulling back in again. It’s uh...”

Daredevil is definitely smirking, and I’m mightily trying to suppress a smile myself. Lucy’s joking tone turns puzzled though, as she says, “I think it actually is like winking, like with your...” She looks down at Daredevil still lying there trying not to giggle, then mumbles, “Because when I wink out, I get pulled back in. It’s like when you wink and your horse... junk back there pulls back in.”

“Huh,” I say, puzzled enough at the thought I don’t have to laugh at it, “I guess that is kind of peculiar.”

“Great, so I’m just one big peach colored clit,” Lucy concludes grumpily.

I think Daredevil’s going to pass out if she continues laughing like that...

It starts out innocently enough at first. I’m showing Artemis the grinding stone design that we figured out back in Ainsworth, sort of drawing diagrams with chalk, on that chalkboard in the meeting room. And I drop the chalk. Seriously, how do you hold this slippery thing in your mouth? Artemis gives me a pitying look as I have to crane my neck down to bite the chalk cylinder and lift it up again.

He sighs impatiently, and says, “Looks like I’m not the only one who has trouble holding chalk like this.”

Oh. Or... maybe... not pitying, and not impatiently.

I look at the stallion in surprise... then, I put down the chalk on the tray and look at him in surprise, asking, “But you have those claw finger things on your wing. Can’t you hold stuff with them?”

Rolling his eyes, Artemis strides over and unfurls a wing, easily picking up a piece of chalk with the little claws on the apex of it. Okay, I’m not seeing the problem here. Then, he puts the chalk to the chalkboard, and before he can draw a line, the chalk squips out of his grasp and drops to the floor. Oh.

“These wings are wonderful in many ways,” he says, “But those little claw finger things don’t have any strength to them. I have to be really careful, or I lose my grip, and it’s hard to write without pressing against the chalkboard.”

Then he picks the chalk up in his mouth, and writes, very crudely, “OR I COOLD DO THIS” then puts the chalk down in the tray again.

“Huh, I hadn’t thought about how your wing claws wouldn’t be strong,” I say, curiously fiddling with the little things on his wing. They do grip at my hoof kind of weakly.

Then Artemis pulls his green bat wing away from me, and folds it to his side, stumbling a few steps away and blushing as he says, “Right, yes so being a pony is strange. That’s abundantly clear.”

“If it’s any consolation, at least you got to stay male,” I tell him, wincing inwardly as I realize how close we were getting, and what my very female ass could end up provoking him to do. I rest safely on my haunches though, while he sighs, and says,

“You’re certainly right there. I can’t even begin to imagine what my colleagues are going through. It’s making them act so strange, and guarded...” his ears go low as he adds, “From me, I suppose.”

“More like from themselves,” I say, flicking my tail ironically. He looks at me in a questioning manner, so I blush (of course) and tell him, “Y-yeah, so the only time I um... avoided someone because he was a stallion, was because I wanted it, and I was afraid I would just go do it with him.” Eyes dropping down, I mutter mostly to myself, “Then I went and did it with him anyway.”

But I persevere in my thought, lifting my head and not letting the resentment of being pregnant get to me, at least not now, saying confidently, “So it wasn’t because I was afraid of any of the stallions. It was because I was afraid of myself. I’d never felt that way about... men before.”

“So you just started seeing er, male ponies as attractive?” he asks curiously.

Slightly nodding, I say, “It was mostly the scent that did it for me. You know how our noses are, and mine started smelling boys as... smelling good. Then I got stuck under a blanket for hours with my best friend, which concentrated the effect, and...” I curl one foreleg, and stick the other forehoof through the crook of it, in and out.

“Oh, well, um,” Artemis says, now blushing himself, as I guess we’re passing the blush ball to each other. “My scent isn’t... bothering you, is it?”

Yep, passing the ball right back at me. “I uh, don’t think so,” I tell him in a fluster, blushing as I try not to think of what we’d be doing, if his scent was bothering me, “No offense, but my uh... libido has gone way down since I finally got pregnant.”

“You’re pregnant?” he asks in surprise.

“I know! Isn’t it weird how not obvious it is?” I exclaim, forgetting my embarassment in excitement, “It’s gotta be going really well, because I’m not even getting sick anymore. It uh... growth is exponential, so I won’t be huge until the very end, but I haven’t even noticed a bump!”

“Huh, and how long have you been pregnant?” he asks, a little skepticaly.

“...I have no idea,” I reply glumly, “At best a couple months. At worst uh...” I look at the calendar hanging on the wall, “...10 months.”

He gives me a look. “You are not ten months pregnant, even for a horse,” he tells me flatly.

“Yes, I know that much. I just don’t know exactly when it started to take though,” I sigh, “I kept making mistake after mistake, and I just stopped... trying to avoid it. So I’m definitely pregnant now. Just not sure when it’s due.”

“You’re taking it remarkably well for someone who used to be male,” he says, drawing my ear his way.

Then I double take, following my ear to gape at Artemis in surprise, saying, “What? How did you know I used to be male?”

“You said you’d never felt that way about men before,” he replies, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, well,” I say shortly, shyness flaring in me as I lose eye contact again, “It’s just that I get a lot of people saying... I’m really feminine or something. It’s nice to um...” I sneak a glance at him, smiling slightly as I say, “It’s nice to have someone figure out that I’m supposed to be male.”

He stares at me silently for a sec, then shakes his head out, and says, “I can definitely see why people would think that you weren’t. But I certainly don’t think there’s anything wrong with you. You can act as feminine as you like, for whatever definition of feminine you like. I’m honestly worried about my colleagues acting a little too uh... female for their liking.”

“Have you ever thought of... letting them... do the female thing... with you?” I ask, standing to look (up) at him with concern.

He looks down to meet my eyes, then solemnly states, “I have a wife.”

“O-oh, so...” I say staring up at him sympathetically, “So you actually swore an oath not to... be with anyone else.”

“I’ll be honest, I’ve thought about it,” he sighs, looking aside, “I’ve never even been around this many technically biological women before. It’s not something I can do, though. I couldn’t do that to him.”

“To who?” I ask, tilting my head.

“...my wife,” he says.

“Your—oh,” I say, with even more sympathy.

“Yes, she didn’t... stay female,” he says, ears going down, “We’ve been having a hard time... dealing with it.”

“Have you talked with her about it?” I suggest, leaning against the poor guy.

He sighs, leaning back. “We have, and... he does seem to prefer to be called male while this is happening to us,” he says, “We haven’t... talked about my uh... feelings, in so many words. I can’t just tell him I’m contemplating cheating on him.”

“I’m guessing you haven’t been feeling especially homosexual,” I venture.

“Not particularly, for either of us,” he says, slowly shaking his head, “We tried some... experimentation, but it didn’t... go particularly well. I certainly haven’t been having feelings for any other er, stallions.”

“But you have been having feelings about mares,” I prompt.

He hesitates, then nods.

“And about... me?” I suggest.

“N-w-well yes just the... possibility, but,” Artemis says, blushing.

“Oh no that’s okay,” I assure him, patting his side, “Girls worry guys will jump them soon as they feel attracted to them, but I’ve been a guy. I know guys need a little bit more than that. So go ahead and notice my butt all you want. I’m certainly aware of yours!”

“So you’re not worried at all, that I might be having... feelings about you?” Artemis ventures, sparing me a sideways glance.

“It is kind of sad,” I admit a little shamefully, toeing the ground, “If you have feelings about me that you can’t act on, because of your marriage. But I’m not worried, no.”

“And you don’t have any feelings for me, yourself?” Artemis asks testily.

“Well, yeah I mean... maybe a little,” I say with a blush, “But I don’t need to do anything with you, since I have a boyfriend.”

Artemis winces.

“And we both...” I say, trailing off at his wince. Frowning, I have to admit, “Oh, I was gonna say we both have ways to take care of that, but you... don’t.”

Artemis seems speechless as I hang my head and groan, “Oh god... I just pulled the boyfriend card on you... I swear I didn’t mean to!”

“The boyfriend card?” he asks cautiously.

Looking at him ruefully, I say, “Yeah, where a guy can’t find anyone to make love to him, and the first thing the girl says is she has a boyfriend? I am so sorry.”

“It’s fine, really,” he grumbles, looking away from me.

“No, really!” I tell him assertively, “You need to find a girl who can do it with you and... oh god you have a wife.”

Sinking to my belly again, I stammer, “I–I don’t know what to do in this situation. You have to be true to your wife, but—”

“Well, you know,” he interrupts nervously, “I suppose I don’t... have to be.”

I’m supposed to tell him off, but instead I stay silent as he says, “If it’s not working out, and I suppose we could... I mean I do want it, and you’re... I won’t... tell if you won’t.”

Blushing apologetically, I stammer, “I-I should find you some other mare to...”

“And if I don’t want to wait?” Artemis asks testily, “You’ll let me just stand here, wanting... to have sex with you? Meadowsweet, do you want to have... I mean, I am t-thinking about it right now. A lot.”

“O-oh, your penis is coming out,” I say quietly, looking between his hind legs. “I-it’s not uncommon for it to be mottled like that, such a pretty shade of blue.”

“When I... climaxed, I never had so much come out before,” he says intensely, “I couldn’t stop. All over my belly, and the floor. Makes me want to be in a female, every time.”

“You’ve... never been inside a female as a pony, have you?” I ask quietly. God this is so wrong. I haven’t even told Sue yet! I couldn’t tell him, or Artemis might get in trouble with his wife! But Artemis needs my vagina, and I want him too.

There’s no one else in the meeting room.

Wordlessly, I turn, and lift my tail aside. Artemis doesn’t just mount me right then and there, so I look back at the nervous stallion, saying gently, “It’s okay. I know what’s happening to you, a-and I know you’re going to have sex with me now.”

“M-my wife...” he says reluctantly.

“Your wife can wait,” I say impatiently, “You need this. Females get like... I’m turning into the perfect place for your penis right now. Feels like I’m melting. S-so go ahead and enjoy me for now.”

“I–I don’t know how to... I mean how do horses...?” he asks, staring with anxious hunger at my ass.

“Rear up and hook your forelegs over my thighs,” I suggest to him hornily, backing up against the stallion’s chest, “Then you can just pull yourself into me.”

He hesitantly touches my butt with a forehoof, so I encourage him, “Go ahead. Just climb up on my butt.”

Then I face forward, tail turned while Artemis climbs up on my back, and slides his forelegs along up close to my flanks~. His penis slaps against my belly, so I shakily say, “Unhh l-lift your penis up, and drag it along my belly to find... yes, yes like that. Nnh, that’s it that’s my labia! C-can you feel it?”

“Oh god I’m doing this,” Artemis says in disbelief as I feel his velvety penis nudge against my labia.

“Just sort of work yourself in,” I say impatiently, shifting my thighs to wiggle him into me, “There now you can just push...”

“I need to,” Artemis declares desperately, his penis embedded in me, his urgent hips thrusting it in, in, in, “I need to climax inside you. I need to push. Oh god you’re like an oven there.”

He bottoms out then, hips shoving against mine, and I am so stuffed. “I am so stuffed,” I groan, staring forward and feeling him in me back there, “Holding you with my vagina, so incredible...”

“I... I did this to my wife,” Artemis says staring down at my hips in disbelief, “You feel just like she did. You just let me...”

“N-no problem,” I say dizzily, squirming around his thick phallus preparing to fill me with semen.

“I can just... t-talk about my wife while I... put my... unhh!” he thrusts in and out, “Penis inside you?”

“I love how you feel about your wife,” I tell the stallion passionately, smooshing my rump up against his pelvis to get his penis as deep inside my vagina as I can push it. “Tell me how much you love her! Tell me how she makes you feel when you... you married her, and then d-do you have a child?”

“N-no,” Artemis says tensely, sliding smoothly, needily out of my and back in again. “Though we might have...”

“Tell me... what you did to her,” I say dreamily, imagining some wonderful human just ravishing his bride.

“I was so worried, then... after I pushed my penis inside her, I changed. “ Artemis says, humping, humping as I pant, facing forward, thinking about him. What he was doing to her, what he is doing to me. “She was so hot inside. Unhh, I had to just... grab her and impregnate her was all I could... think about... c-can ponies have sex like humans?”

He ceases thrusting to ask that last question and I look back in confusion, while he qualifies, “If you were on your back, that is?”

“Oh,” I tell him happily, with a sly gaze, “You want me to be your wife huh.”

He blushes at that, and tenses against me, as I assure him, “It’s okay, just relax and let me pull your penis outta my vagina.”

I walk forward with an nnnh at the penis sliding slickly out of me, barely cognizant of the chalkboard room we’re in as I roll on the floor, legs spread.

“I’m not your wife, but I feel that way too,” I confess to him, as he stands before me looking conflicted, “As soon as you were inside me, I needed you to impregnate me. I need it. I’mma... I’mma female who needs you to put your semen...” touching the aching desire between my legs with a forehoof, “...in here.”

“How could you be so beautiful?” he asks in amazement, gazing at me with ardent violet eyes, “How could you be a pony and so beautiful?”

“Tell me I’m beautiful after you’re inside,” I tell him a little bit impatiently, “Please, I just felt your penis. My... my vagina needs you to fill it and cum.”

“I will,” he says, stepping over me, his stiff phallus swinging obscenely between his legs, “I don’t care about my wife, only about you, only about getting inside you and impregnating you.”

We pant and jostle together, his pelvis needily humping that penis against my teats and tail as I try to get him inside me. At last with an “aaahh” of relief from him, my pelvis distorts from within as Artemis slides smoothly into me, all the way up my vagina.

“I’ve been...” Artemis says, his hips rolling as crouching over me he thrusts in and out, “Wanting to do this... for months, Meadowsweet. So good...”

“This’s... what you did to your wife, I moan, hugging to him as my pelvis rocks of its own accord, needing that smooth, rhythmic thrusting almost as much as he needs me. “Push me down and... and fuck me.”

Artemis lays heavily on top of me, humping with unflagging determination and urgency to slide in and out in and out. I bite back a whimper of joy at the stallion who needs me so bad. Something occurs to me then, but my lust addled mind can’t find a spare breath until Artemis pushes deep into me and flares.

He groans intensely, as I feel him expanding within. “I... I’m sorry,” he says staring down at me wide-eyed, “It just does that it...nnhh!” I flex around him, “It gets... bigger!”

“Has your wife done this?” I ask serenely, stuffed to the gills below my belly button with wonderful dick, “Has she... pushed her penis, all the way into a mare, and felt this?”

“I–I don’t know,” Artemis says, trembling against me, “We haven’t talked about... she hasn’t said she did.”

“Maybe she was deep inside a mare,” I tell him slyly, as Artemis fucks me short and deep, “She needed to ejaculate just as much as you do right now. She felt seed inside her, just like you, but she didn’t know what it was going to feel like. Then... she felt herself start impregnating somepony.”

“I-I-I’m going to... oh god...” Artemis says passionately.

“It’s okay, just let it happen,” I assure him, reaching up to stroke the bat pony’s brown mane, “You’re a male impregnating a female... changing into a father.”

“I-I’m... changing...!” he whimpers with desperate urgency, pushing his soft hardness so deep~!

“That’s it,” I tell him soothingly, “Make sure your penis is nice and deep inside. You’re ejaculating now, and making me a mommy.”

Then I feel his semen start spurting up into me. With a satisfied groan, I arch up against him, and Artemis pants hoarsely with passion as he hunches there above me, making sure he spurts deep. He quivers against me, while his penis jerks wildly in there, pumping burst after burst of cum into my depths. “Isn’t it great how long it lasts?” I ask him giddily, as Artemis lifts up to stare down at the mare he’s impregnating in amazement. “Squirt, squirt, squirt, you still can’t stop,” I tell him, “I love what you’re doing to me Artemis! Good job.”

He kisses me hard. Then it starts to splurt out between us, his ejaculation forcing it to flow out through my beautifully stretched labia, all over my pussy, and down my belly and tail. I tilt my muzzle slightly to kiss properly as he bears down on me pressing me into the ground, his hips vaguely rocking against mine once for each of the last few spurts in his ejaculation.

He relaxes delightfully then, and pulls back from the kiss, sliding open his eyes, and I get a little worried now, because this is when stallions start to freak out about this sort of thing. “I promise not to tell, okay?” I reassure him, “Just... take as long as you need. Your penis feels pretty good in me, huh?”

“That was amazing,” Artemis says, bracing on his forelegs away from my chest to look down at me in wonder and affection, “I haven’t been inside a woman in months. Oh, Meadowsweet. I... I love you so much.”

...shit.

“T-thanks,” I tell him nervously, “I dunno if we can repeat this, s-so no rush.”

“It’s hot, and wet, and alive around me,” Artemis says passionately.

“...yeah, I am,” I murmur, bashfully, “I love being alive around you. You feel hot, and thick, and heavy. Just filling me. A-and that’s amazing. Mmm...” I snug my tail around behind him, feeling him just soften in there as he holds himself against me.

We stay like that until his penis is just kind of mooshed up in my labia, before Artemis slides alongside me. My groin is a total mess, and I love it, smearing it against him as I roll to the side hugging against him.

“I have... two boyfriends, you know,” I tell him sheepishly, “You need to love the mares who are lonely, not me. If I ask around, I’ll make sure they can keep a secret. And... if you need to cum in me again, then I’ll let you do it. As long as you’re not going for months without... feeling that.”

“I don’t think I could hold out, after that,” Artemis says honestly, “I couldn’t resist just mating with you, before I even started feeling that pent up again. Y-you’re such a wonderful person, Meadowsweet.”

“Tell me that after you’re in someone else’s vagina,” I remark in amusement, just tickled pink that he thinks I’m wonderful.

“Are you alright?” he asks with concern, “I didn’t feel that good, did I?”

“What do you mean?” I ask, stopping from nibbling at the edge of his wing to look at him, wide-eyed.

“Well I’m...” he leans back unsurely, “Not complaining or anything. You sure... warmed up to me quickly though.”

“Ohh, right, my eyes are dilated, huh?” I ask him happily, gazing into his beautiful violet eyes so that he can see mine.

The shining handsome stallion says “Y-yes actually. I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“It’s your semen, doing things to me,” I explain, cupping my head under his chin, “Can we just lay together for a while? It really makes me feel all cuddly and touchy and stuff.”

I end up curling up against his chest as he lays on his side looking at me in what I hope is amusement. But I don’t care, because I’ve got a vagina full of semen, and my best buddy in the whole world here who gave it to me.

“We... we really should get cleaned up,” he says cautiously, “So we don’t both smell like... what we’ve done.”

“Ohh fine, you’re right,” I gripe, standing up and stretching and rubbing my body alongside his, “Still, it really is an amazing feeling. I can get all nervous later, but right now, eeeeverything’s cool with me.”

Nobody finds out about us, not even... the second time Artemis needs my help. But it definitely has me on high alert toward finding someone to be with him, and to fix the problem between him and his wife. Right after I get Mira to start having sex with Dusty. Hoo boy.

Author's Notes:

Ended up just cutting out the whole "At least I don't have to worry about Maize" thing because I really don't wanna bore anyone with all sorts of tasteless smut.

I suppose some people might like tasteless smut, I dunno, but it's just... there are so many characters whose interactions are wonderful, but not a huge impact on the story in the long run. It's a great scene, but wouldn't you rather I stick with this story, instead of tangential relationships to it?