There is an element of non-con in this chapter. If you get uncomfortable you can skip ahead to the next chapter.

Nathan ended up getting his wish and I ended up joining them in the living room. After the initial obligatory declarations and a long explanation on the nature of what and who I am, Nathan’s high acquaintances took a talking purple pony in good stride. They both instinctively wanted to pet me; I guess I just had that effect on people now. It felt awkward being around three guys completely naked but they didn’t seem to bat an eye at my nudity. Naturally, they wanted ‘the purple cartoon pony’ to smoke with them. I understood the appeal from their point of view and I didn’t like to disappoint. Pretty soon we were gathered around the coffee table passing the bong. ‘The guest’, who I learned was named Cody, and ‘the dealer’ took the couch. The dealer was a slightly older guy with long hair and a goatee named Garrett. I appreciated Nathan sitting next to me on the floor so that I didn’t feel like a pet not allowed on the furniture.

Garrett demonstrated some smoke rings before he passed the bong over to Cody. The bong was the old one of Nathan’s, still complete with pony stickers. Friendship is Magic was playing on the TV on low volume because to them there was nothing more perfect in this situation as background noise.

“So... what’s she like?” Garrett asked Nathan as he gestured to me.

“What do you mean?” Nathan asked him as he idly rubbed my back.

“I’m a guy; he/him, please,” I reminded Garrett. To Garret’s credit he nodded in agreement and clarified his statement.

“Like in bed. When you’re fucking. What’s his horse pussy like?”

Cody added laughter to the conversation before he started his hit. I thought I was humiliated from that. And then Nathan answered.

“It’s amazing. It’s hot and slippery and it’s got this... grip. And when she winks she flexes. And I can feel it, like, it feels like it’s milking my cock.”

Nathan, high as a kite, went into horrific, praise-worthy detail about my pony sex. I was mortified and once again my burning blush went unnoticed thanks to the purple hue of my coat.

“God damn,” Garrett reacted to the raving review. He turned to me and gave me a playful wink. “Think you can give me a ride sometime?” Before I could answer Cody interrupted, just as he was passing the bong to Nathan.

“You’d actually fuck her?” Cody asked his friend. “What if you catch a disease or something? What if... whatever the fuck she has infects you?”

“It’s he/him. And I don’t think I’m contagious,” I told him. Then looked back to Garrett. “And this pony doesn’t give any more ‘rides’. That was just… friends experimenting. I’m still trying to figure this body out.”

Nathan finished his hit and slid the bong over to me. He was ready with the lighter for my turn. I was definitely needing to relax. My muzzle fit well over the tube and Nathan helped light. I found my pony lungs were deeper and stronger than they ever were as a human. I held it way longer than I could have before.

Muscles in my neck and back I didn’t know I was tensing up relaxed. I exhaled. Everyone stopped to watch the purple pony nearly disappear in a puff of smoke.

As if to congratulate me, Nathan’s hand found the spot on my head right behind my ears and began to massage. I immediately liked it. From my loosening posture Nathan seemed to have caught onto this fact. I pressed my head into that hand and closed my eyes.

“So you two really aren’t going to fuck anymore?” Garrett asked. “You made it sound awesome.”

“It was! But it was like… a trade. I bought her absinthe,” Nathan tried to explain.

“He/him,” I chimed again while lolling from my head rub. Seeing as I was incapacitated, Nathan took the bong from me with his free hand and sat it down on the table closer to Garrett.

Forget the weed, I was defeated by Nathan’s endless rubbing. It felt like Nathan’s fingertips were kneading my worries out of my brain.

“So. Do you guys do other stuff now then?” Nathan asked.

“N-no. We’re just... going to be cuddle buddies now,” Nathan answered solemnly.

“Well what did you do before that then? What’s that muzzle feel like?” he said to Nathan. Cody was chuckling. I didn’t like this conversation.

I craned my neck upright from its relaxed state and re-opened my eyes to check on this man. His eyes seemed noticeably more focused than Cody’s and Nathan’s. I wouldn’t have thought much of this except for the fact he was studying me intently with those eyes. A deep, primitive part of my brain interpreted that look as one of a predator.

Cody gave Nathan and Garrett a skeptical look.

“Are you asking... a horse for a blowjob?” He asked his long-haired friend who shrugged.

“Honestly?” he replied. “I’d probably settle for a hoofjob. If vaginal costs a bottle of absinthe, how much for a hoofjob?”

For emphasis Garrett blew me a kiss. I mockingly gagged on it.

“Berry isn’t a whore,” Nathan came to the defense of my character. Garrett waved dismissively.

“You say that, but it sounds like that’s her best skill. If you aren’t fucking, what is she to you now?”

“It’s he,” I tried one last time.

“What? Berry’s my friend,” Nathan said as he put an arm around me. I leaned into him for emphasis.

“Is she?” Garrett questioned. He seemed to pretend he was confused. My way higher companions didn’t seem to notice the difference. “She’s crashing here. You buy her whatever she wants, you pet her, you feed her. What is she doing for you now? She’s not cleaning. I bet she’s not cooking… and she’s not putting out... that sounds like either a pet or a shit girlfriend.”

“Dude, how can she pick up anything… she’s got hooves…” Cody contributed.

“Berry’s… my friend,” Nathan repeated like a waning mantra. I looked around at these people trying to figure out what was going on. They were all talking about me as if I had no say in the matter.

“Friends still give back, don’t they? It sounds like she’s taking advantage of you,” Garrett pointed out. I remembered all the times I most certainly did take advantage of Nathan. I was still taking advantage of him in a way. Apparently I was wearing my emotions on my face because Garrett looked more smug as he continued.

“So really, if you think about it, she should be doing something for you to show you how grateful she is. I let my friends know I appreciate them. And I’m just saying, it sounds like she’s amazing at taking cock,” Garrett said before shrugging innocently.

“She said she doesn’t want to,” Nathan said, looking at anything other than him now. Without Nathan’s eye contact Garrett’s piercing eyes settled onto mine. He stared at me like I was nothing; like he was looking right through me.

“Well you know, sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do. Sometimes our friends have to do things they don’t want to do too. And if they aren’t doing them? Sometimes they just need a little push. What’s she going to do if she doesn’t like it? Call the police?”

This was wrong. What he was suggesting. What he was trying to plant in Nathan’s brain. It was a web of twisted logic and appeals to desire. There was no empathy. Only manipulation.

“What are you trying to do?” I demanded. He finally acknowledged my words and grinned down at me with authority.

“I’m just looking out for my friends. I don’t want you taking advantage of Nathan,” he replied confidently.

“No. You’re a psychopath,” I corrected him. “You’re the one confusing and taking advantage of him. You need to leave!” I commanded as I pointed a hoof at the door. Garrett smiled at me like I said something funny.

“You can’t kick me out. This is Nathan’s home. You’re not in charge here.”

I turned to Nathan.

“Nathan, please tell him to leave,” I begged and shook the person beside me. Nathan looked a little confused but sympathetic. “Nathan, this person is a manipulator.”

After searching my eyes Nathan finally nodded in agreement. He turned back to Garrett.

“Please go,” Nathan told him.

“Okay. You’re the boss, Nathan,” Garrett agreed and stood up to his full height. He turned to his friend and gestured. “Come on, Cody.”

“Aww, I was wanting to see what the new dresses looked like,” Cody said, gesturing to the My Little Pony episode playing on the TV. After seeing the room was against him, he mumbled something while staggering to his feet to follow.

I helped Nathan walk them to the door. Once they were outside Cody ambled towards his friend's car but had to wait because Garrett turned to get the last word in.

“This is your home, Nathan. Don’t let that pussy control you,” he said pointing right at me. “Especially if you aren’t getting any of it.”

Once they had left, Nathan and I went back inside. In mostly silence we finished off the weed to ease the tension in the air. What little relaxation I got from smoking was replaced by paranoia. I helped finish off the bud still in the bong but Garrett’s words were bothering me.

My phone on the table buzzed. After all that excitement with our ‘guests’ I wasn’t able to check my messages. I got up to pick up my phone and stylus. Taking a note from what I learned from the My Little Pony show, I carried my germy phone and stylus back to the couch in my mouth. I got to checking my phone while Nathan continued watching ponies. I got past my lock screen and reread the message there:

Conner: “Carrot Top says we got a place we can all stay. It’s her grandparent’s old farm in Creighton. Apparently they were Doomsday preppers.”

“It’s a bit of a drive but that’s for the best since I want to check a lead I got for a Joseph Revert. She’s got the right birthday. Her alumni info puts her in the Kansas City area. ”

“Do you want us to come pick you up? Chad’s driving us all down tomorrow.”

A place to stay with more ponies! With my friends. With my daughter. I immediately tapped out a short response, which was all I cared to do with the stylus in my mouth:

Me: “Yes”

I turned to Nathan to give him the news.

“So, it turns out all my friends are going somewhere,” I started. “They’re going to come pick me up tomorrow.”

Nathan looked shocked and a little hurt. He remained mostly silent. So much that I asked, “Are you going to be okay?”

“Can… can I come too?” he asked. I felt my ears deflate a bit.

“I… I don’t know,” I admitted. I remembered all the times I should have introduced him to my friends. All the times I should have stood up for him and invited him along. “I… I’ll ask,” I promised.

I saw the outro to My Little Pony playing on the TV. I still felt awkward doing voice-to-text, especially in front of others and I had a lot of messages to reply to, so I asked Nathan to go shower while I asked about him and told everyone I was alright. Reluctantly he agreed.

I asked the group, specifically Carrot Top, if Nathan could come along. Minuette and Comet Tail were mostly just asking how I was and how they were handling being a pony. Ruby’s were a little different though:

Brianna: “I spent an hour trying to move a pencil across my desk. I have a headache.”

“I remembered a step-by-step process I was taught when I was in my dream and tried to follow it but in my dreams I could feel the objects in my mind before I moved them.”

“Maybe Ruby can only move minerals. I’m starting to regret giving my rock collection away.”

“I think I can make my watch run slower? Aren’t there gems in old watches?

“Okay it might just be a bad watch.”

If anyone could figure it out it would be her. I noticed my other unicorn friends didn’t seem to be interested in trying to figure out if they could do magic. I suppose they knew there was probably a limit to even what the curse would do. After all, this was a curse, wasn’t it? Nothing good was supposed to come from curses.

Carrot Top sent a new message:

“Absolutely not I don’t want any humans here the only one I’m allowing is Chad because he’s Minuette’s fiance”

Yeah, that sounded like the Claudia I knew. I thought it was odd she referred to herself as not human. I suppose I knew what she meant though: we didn’t look the part and people could be dangerous.

A cleaner, less smelly and still slightly damp Nathan rejoined me on the couch. I had to give him the bad news. He took it about as well I would have expected. He was crushed. I felt like I needed to spin this. Somehow.

“Nathan, I really appreciate all you’ve done for me,” I started. “Tonight might be our last time to hang out for a while. So… let’s live it up!”

Seeing as I declared it a party and I wanted to thank Nathan for taking me in, I wanted to start the evening off right. I shared what I could with him with what I had on hoof and I walked him through how to properly louche absinthe. As well as one could with a spoonful of loose sugar and tap water anyway. Nathan found the cloudy, diluted and sweetened absinthe much easier than the straight stuff. I thought the sweetness was appropriate for pony watching, which is what Nathan and I both wanted to do. I drank. Just a little. Enough to keep the headaches and tremors at bay. And to make sure Nathan’s drinks were properly balanced, sweetened and emulsified. The weed that he did manage to buy though, that was fair game.

Nathan and I were both getting the munchies so he ordered a pizza. Nathan promised me the next episode was really good and I was piqued. With a stomach full of pizza, a gentle buzz and a small high, by the time we started up the following episode, Sonic Rainboom, I could tell we were both feeling better. Nathan was idly petting my back, probably enjoying the sensation of my coat while half-baked. In my state of mind I was quite content with the petting as well.

All petting stopped though when Rarity had literally flown too close to the sun. I was so emotionally invested in the show when Rarity plummeted to the earth, I didn’t even realize I was standing on the couch.

The Wonderbolts dived into action to save her but were knocked out by her panicked kicking. It reminded me of the stories of people being pulled under by panicked drowning victims.

With the rescue attempt failed, there were now three ponies falling to their death thousands of feet from the bottomless arena. There were screams and ponies covered their faces or looked away. A tragedy was going to occur, far too late now to rescue the ponies now falling in a group.

But Rainbow Dash tried anyway. She didn’t give up. Not when her friends’ lives were at stake.

Rainbow Dash dived.

It was silly to get worked up by a children’s show. Of course she would save her friend. This was that kind of story and I knew Rarity would survive… but I knew what was going to happen. I was excited anyway when what they called “impossible” earlier in the episode did indeed happen: One little pony broke the sound barrier to save her friend. A burst of light accompanying the sonic boom radiated outward at the moment it broke. That sweeping stretch of rainbow must have stretched out for miles at that height. At the speed she was now diving, she should have caught up to her friends and hit the ground in a matter of seconds. Somehow, with a rainbow trail following her, she made a 90 degree correction. She flew parallel over the ground at Mach one then pulled up to rejoin her friends and a cheering crowd in what was a matter of seconds.

The whole crowd was cheering. She was immediately gifted first place for the competition she was in. The Princess came to congratulate Rainbow Dash. Rarity gave her friendship lesson but as the episode winded down it seemed so surreal to me. Like something too good to be true had happened. What she did was impossible. What she did was a miracle in their world.

“That was awesome!” I turned to tell Nathan. Maybe it was just the alcohol talking. Or the pizza or weed. It would have been true either way. Rainbow Dash earned the word ‘awesome’ in my book. She was just as cool as the Elements of Harmony in the beginning to me. Nathan was happy to see how much I was enjoying this.

We continued more episodes, talking longer and longer in between. He wanted to talk about ponies and the nature of my curse.

“Do you think some people turned into the mane six?” Nathan asked. I was surprised I hadn’t thought of that sooner. But if there were so many ponies that I was Berry Punch there might have been the mane six too. Maybe they were even the ones responsible?

We discussed what the mane six would be like as humans and tried to figure out what gender they would be.

We agreed on Rarity and Pinkie Pie being female. Rarity had to be a fashion designer. We brainstormed Pinkie Pie was probably an overnight baker who liked their ‘powder sugar’ a little too much and maybe even had an exotic pet or two. Nathan insisted Fluttershy was female but I disagreed. There were plenty of shy, quiet guys like that. They were the type to want to date a Fluttershy. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were probably guys. Twilight Sparkle was probably a huge nerd and a genius but apparently found time for their five friends. Twilight was smart; maybe she got a hold of some dark magic bullshit and that’s how this came about?

“Do you think the pegasi can fly?” Nathan asked while rubbing that little extra bit of fluff on my chest. I shook my head.

“I have three friends who are all unicorns. They don’t seem to be able to do anything like magic and Ruby is trying her hardest. Plus pegasus wings would be too small to help them fly,” I reasoned before I paused and looked at the television in thought. “But if there is a Rainbow Dash, from what I’ve seen of her, she’s probably already tried to jump off of her roof to fly and broke a leg.”

Nathan snickered and it was funny but I’d hope the hypothetical pony would be okay.

“What about bees? Bees aren’t supposed to be able to fly but they do, right?”

“Yeah but have you seen how those things fly? Imagine a 200 lb horse flying like that. You would think she was bucking drunk!”

The rest of the night went much smoother. We got increasingly more drunk and finished off every bit of food in front of us. We just nearly finished off Season 1 before Nathan started nodding off on the couch. I guess it was bedtime.

“Hey, you want to go cuddle?” I suggested to him. He ran a hand all the way down my mane and rubbed me under the chin. He then agreed. He tried to carry me off to bed again. This time, being more familiar with my weight, he got a step further, but I was still a small horse and Nathan was very drunk and very full.

Despite how drunk I was, I managed to get up onto his bed on my own this time. The sheets smelled and felt so much better. The room as a whole had a salty smell still but it was an improvement.

“Do you want me to get the absinthe?” Nathan asked as he started stripping. I was a little surprised but then calmed myself figuring he just slept in the nude.

“Uh, no. I’m good,” I said as I rolled over and claimed some of the pillow for myself. The main light turned off and I felt Nathan climb into bed and lay down in front of me. He started stroking and rubbing me right under the jawline. I smiled. Nathan was really affectionate.

“Roll over,” he breathed on me. I rolled over and tucked into him, figuring he wanted to spoon with his pony friend. He pressed into my back and began massaging my chest with the arm wrapped around me.

I guessed he was just an affectionate drunk... that made sense.

He kissed me on the back of the head and his hand slipped lower and began rubbing my belly. The long, slow strokes were ticklish. A few giggles escaped me before I pushed his hand off of it.

“Don’t do that. I’m ticklish there,” I complained. His hand rested there for a moment before he started up again. I grabbed hold of it with both front hooves. “I mean it, stop.”

His hand stopped tickling me but I started to feel a peppering of kisses just right behind my ear.

“Can we do it one more time?,” Nathan asked me in a hushed whisper. I hesitated for a moment, trying to think of what he meant other than that. To remove any shadow of a doubt his hand found its way under my tail and I felt a finger slither across my entrance. I went rigid.

“Nathan, no,” I said firmly as I started to push him away and get up. He was just drunk, I told myself. Nathan’s arm didn’t release me though; instead his arm pinned me back down to the bed and pulled me back towards him. Nearly under him.

“It’ll be the last time though. ‘It’s a party’,” he breathed his answer onto the side of my face. A fragrance of alcohol, weed and pizza made me tuck my head away.

“Nathan, I said we’re not doing this anymore!” I said into the bed as I found myself just about pinned under him. “Stop!”

“But you owe me,” Nathan explained as he applied more weight to my back to keep me in place while he physically lifted my tail out of the way. “I bought you food... and body wash... and weed and… and you’re just going to leave me.”

“I said thank you! Nathan! Stop,” my lower legs were splayed out behind me. “I don’t owe you this.”

“It’s not that big of a deal. We already did it,” he said dismissively as I felt him try to enter me. My body was much less receptive than it was last night.

“It’s gay! I don’t want it! Stop,” I insisted as I tried to lift him off of me. For my squirming he crushed me with more body weight. He tried again to push himself inside of me. “Thi-this is rape!”

“Just let me have this again,” he begged, hot breath tickling my ear. “You’re so good at it. Just do what you’re good at. Wink for me.”

Whether it was the crushing weight or my fear my body started trembling. He met resistance again but he was determined and hurt me. I started to wonder if it would be easier and less painful to just give in.

“You used me. Just let me use you. Then it’s fair,” he said into my ear. I realized how close his face was to me and turned to face him. For the second time today, I was surprised how far my neck turned. I panicked. WIth no other opportunity present I bit his nose. Just hard enough to scare him, I thought.

He immediately jumped away and I could breathe again. With just one good breath in my lung I threw myself off the bed. I landed on some old plates and plastic bags.

I was surprised how quickly my legs worked with the amount of shaking they did. I galloped to his cracked bedroom door but when I went to open it my stupid hoof closed the door shut with a click. I looked at the door knob. There was no way I could open that.

Sound started registering again in my head just as my attacker wrapped his arms around my middle.

“Berry! Come on!”

My back legs went out to kick him away. They met mostly air and stomach but it pushed him back. I reared my back legs up and blindly bucked again.

I felt something snap behind me and I heard a great topple to the floor. The longest moment of my day happened within that second of silence.

Nathan started screaming and he didn’t let up. I finally looked back to see what I had done. He was sitting there among clothes and cans and attempting to hold his arm against his body but it looked like his arm had a new spot in it where it bent.

No. No, that bone was not supposed to bend that way. Even in the low-light I could clearly make out swelling now. I stood there in shock as he continued screaming. How did I break his arm like that with just a kick?

I saw lights come on outside. Other people in other mobile homes were waking up to the sound of his screaming. Finally my panicking pushed me to action.

“Nathan! Stop screaming! We’ll call 911!” I stepped toward him to reassure him. He pushed himself away from me. “It’ll be okay! Let’s get your phone!”

“I’m sorry!” he screamed in between the hoarse calls of pain. “I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay! It’s okay! Let’s just call the police for you!” I told him. Of course, I prayed they wouldn’t find me here.

There was a banging on the front door and shouts from outside. The neighbors were coming to investigate what was going on. People were going to come in here to help him. They were going to ask questions and they were going to find me.

I made my decision then. I couldn’t let them find me the way I was. I had to not get caught or dissected. I had to see my pony friends again and my daughter. So I had to leave Nathan. There was more pounding on the front door. Nathan’s screaming was down to loud, sporadic moans.

I initially thought I was trapped but my panicked fight-or-flight brain saw a way out. “I’m sorry, Nathan,” I told him as I approached his window and peaked out. The rear of the mobile home was clear.

“...it’s… o-kay,” he moaned out. “I… I’m sorry…” He looked pale and was shaking. I thought his neighbors were going to break his front door open. I couldn’t wait. I turned around and bucked the window. To my relief, it shattered. As easily as…

I knew I had no time to wait now. I carefully stepped through the window and jumped out. I hit the ground running. Distant screams and shadows danced in the corner of my vision as I ran.

I could still hear his screaming when I saw the red and blue emergency lights in the distance, it played in my head. The sirens sounded like pained wails.

My adrenaline was pumping so hard the only reason I wasn’t running at a full gallop was fear of being caught that night. Instead I was taking blocks in sprints at a time. I hid behind trees, parked cars and trash cans. I went a block over when I saw a human walking their dog. The dog had seen me and started barking like crazy. The human fortunately seemed oblivious and annoyed.

The street Comet’s parents lived on came into view. Beyond the street lights the street was otherwise bathed in shadows. Seeing the coast seemed clear enough I just booked it the last few hundred yards to their yard, up their driveway and onto their porch. I didn’t stop until I knocked on their door.

Still somewhat in shock I noticed how despite the tremoring I wasn’t the least out of breath. After a few minutes I knocked again with my hoof against the door. For a split second I wondered if they weren’t home. I wondered how else I could get their attention and stood up on my hind legs to ring their door bell as well.

After what felt like far too long, the porch light came on and a middle aged man with short gray hair and a trimmed goatee tentatively answered the door in sweatpants and an old t-shirt. For some reason I had expected Comet Tail and was thrown off until the face started to register again from nearly a decade ago. I had only met Comet’s parents a handful of times.

When he saw me he looked relieved. “It’s Connor’s friend,” he called out behind him in a gruff, tired voice. He turned back to me. “It’s Brian, right? Are you alright?”

I really didn’t know anymore but nodded. He beckoned me inside where an equally aged woman in a bathrobe and a yellow unicorn closer to my size were waiting for me. His clean, light yellow coat was fully nude. His large, tired sapphire eyes were tired and worried.

It was so good to see a friend I felt safe around. Especially a pony friend. When I saw Comet I broke. I felt guilty for what I had done. I went to him with my head hung low. Without a word Comet Tail sat down on his haunches and embraced me with forelegs. He pet my mane and I cried.